4
Sega SG-1000:
Elevator Action - 8 min.
Sega Master System:
Air Rescue - 38 min.
Comical Machine Gun Joe - 7 min.
Marble Madness - 2 min.
Mortal Kombat II - 18 min.
Pit Fighter - 3 min.
Sega Game Gear:
Double Dragon - 2 min.
Dynamite Headdy - 7 min.
Gunstar Heroes - 4 min.
Sega Genesis:
Atomic Robo-kid - 60 min.
Chiki Chiki Boys - 5 min.
Columns - 20 min.
Dark Water - 2 min.
Dynamite Headdy - 3 min.
El Viento - 3 min.
General Chaos - 3 min.
Granada - 70 min.
Gunstar Heroes - 4 min.
MERCS - 22 min.
Ranger X - 2 min.
Sparkster - 2 min.
Sega CD:
Android Assault - 56 min.
Chuck Rock - 3 min.
Final Fight CD - 5 min.
Out Of This World - 7 min.
Sega 32X:
After Burner - 3 min.
Sega Dreamcast:
Worms World Party - 172 min.
Turbografx-16:
Atomic Robo-kid Special - 3 min.
Without planning it, I dedicated my week almost exclusively to Sega consoles, and ended up playing all of them except the Saturn (which I don't own). Granted, the SG-1000 and SMS/Game Gear stuff was via emulation, but at least I was emulating it on the Dreamcast!
Android Assault and Atomic Robo-Kid are very different games, but they share an affliction that seems common to many Sega titles: the first 95% of the game is a relative breeze, and then as soon as you get to the final level or final boss, boom, all hell breaks loose and you're completely outgunned. Android Assault is by far the worst offender of the two: level after level of manageable difficulty, and then absolute bullet hell for the final stage. Challenge is one thing, but this seems like a cheesy way to extend the game's longevity, and it's one of my pet peeves. (At least they didn't change the gameplay style for the final level, which is unforgivably bad design when that final level is brutally hard. For that, see Back to the Future for NES, Toys for Genesis, et al.)
Air Rescue for the SMS has a similar problem, but it's not as bad, per se. The issue here is more that by the time things start to heat up, the game's questionable control becomes a major factor. Still, for a port that's nothing like the arcade title on which it's based, it's actually a pretty well-done game. I also had fun playing, and beating (on Easy level), the bizarro port of Mortal Kombat II which I'm told is pretty much identical to the Game Gear version. I even fought and defeated Jade (I reached her purely by accident), which I'm not sure I've done before on any other platform.
Even so, I have to say that I remain largely unimpressed by the Master System library; one reviewer described it as "mostly ranging from mediocre to terrible", and I have to agree. Oddly enough, I like the Game Gear just fine, so I'm not sure what the issue is.
The SG-1000 was roped in mainly for the sake of "completeness", once I realized that I'd played (or emulated) all the other Sega consoles. But actually, I enjoyed my games of Elevator Action, which strikes me as one of the best titles on the system. I've read criticisms of this port, but it certainly plays well enough, though I have yet to get past Level 2. Are there any bonuses for not using your gun? This game seems like it would benefit from that sort of thing, in the same vein as the "Use the Force" no-shooting bonus in the Star Wars arcade game.
By the way, I'm a big fan of the SNES version of Out of This World, but I have to say that the Sega CD version looks almost identical but is a lot faster and crisper by comparison. I kind of liked the slow framerate of the SNES version, in the same way that I like the Intellivision's 20Hz animations, but I could get used to the brisker pace. OTOH, at first listen it sounds like the SNES version's music is a lot better.
Oh, and I also played about 35 minutes of Super Monkey Ball 2 for the Gamecube, though that doesn't count towards the weekly standings here.
Edited by thegoldenband, Mon Mar 22, 2010 12:16 AM.
I was very interested and appreciated the time you took to write about your experience. Unfortunately, I've been extremely busy this week so I haven't had time to comment.
