Congratulations!

We all wish you the best in your new position, and the new opportunities and openings in life that may flow forth.

Please know that each one of us has joined your site and community for a reason. I can say with clarity that my appreciation for your hard work and dedication knows no bounds. I've spent hours playing games in the RGR I would never have personally discovered.

At the end of the day, best of luck to you and keep fighting the good fight. We're rooting for you!

zanderlex : are you putting your items on the vizzed market or do we PM you to buy?
Either way, thanks for brining the market with you =)

In the 16-bit era of multiplayer classics, none can go without mentioning Super Bomberman and its many incarnations. Super Bomberman was released by Hudson Soft in 1993 for the SNES. The Bomberman franchise had already been going strong 10 years before this entry across multiple consoles and would continues to this day (albeit on the mobile platform now). That's several decades of Bomberman action and countless hours spent blowing up friend and foe alike!
Super Bomberman is played with a top-down view of the level, typically arranged in a grid format, as you guide your character through the aisles to lay bombs and blast unsuspecting foes. Certain walls can be destroyed as you collect power ups that either boost your character's abilities or upgrade your bombs. Continue to survive and collect power ups until the point where you effortlessly vaporize all enemies! Super Bomberman games may be most known for their multiplayer, but single player mode is pretty solid, too. The primary discussion of this review focuses on single player, but will entail both aspects of the game.


Graphics: 7

Every bomb blast is a bright, crisp orange. The sprites are a little rough compared to later games, but that means that it only goes up from here! There are some minor animations within the enemies (e.g. spinning propellers, walking, facial expressions, etc.). The graphics are, overall, simple but effective.


Sound: 7

The most prominent sound in Bomberman games are the bombs blasting. Granted, that sound isn't overpowering to the point it occludes the great music throughout each level. Some other great, notable sound effects include acquiring power ups, punching bombs, and the prominent horn-like sound that lets you know you've been killed! There is only one multiplayer battle theme across that mode, but it's a very well known tune that returns in most of the later games of the Bomberman series.


Addictiveness: 9

Super Bomberman is very easy to pick up and play. In single player mode, there are multiple worlds to explore. While there is no password system, progressing through each level is fairly quick starting from the very beginning. In truth, the bulk of Super Bomberman's addictiveness comes from its multiplayer mode. Whether you face off against the AI or other players, every match is action packed and typically doesn't last too long. Since the same concept applies to single player, either branch of Super Bomberman can be addicting to just keep playing through!


Story: 4

The gameplay itself tells very limited story with the player largely filling in the blanks and assuming the story on their own behalf. From looking up various other sources, Carat Diamond and Dr. Mook are assembling an army of robots, and want to incorporate a new weapon using Bomberman's abilities. To achieve this, they launch an invasion of Bomberman's world. This is where you, Bomberman, come in to fight back their assault. In the game itself, we do see sprites of Bomberman following the two evil guys across each level culminating in a gauntlet of deathmatches at a coliseum. The Bombermen eventually take the fight to the enemy's HQ before fighting Diamond & Dr. Mook head on. Honestly, the story isn't the main selling point of the game. If you're playing Super Bomberman, you're looking to blow things up, rather than become engrossed in a story. Understanding the plot isn't integral to understanding or enjoying the game itself, but you have the option!


Depth: 6

In single player mode, the goal of each level is to find the exit (hidden amongst the destructible blocks) and kill every enemy before being allowed to enter. If you blast the exit for any reason, more enemies spawn. Technically, you're on the clock for each life, but levels rarely take so long that you would be killed by time itself; plus, there are power-ups that specifically give you more time. The only level where time becomes an issue is the coliseum.
There are no ways to skip levels so each progressive playthrough will play out similarly. However, the power-ups will appear at random as blocks are destroyed. In this way, it always pays to blow up every block possible before exiting the level. A second player can jump in turning “single player” mode to co-op where the continues are shared. Just make sure you don't accidentally blow up your buddy! While there isn't inherently a lot of depth to Super Bomberman, each level's ease of access gives this game great replay value.


Difficulty: 6

There are two main power ups: number of bombs, and distance. As you collect these power ups, you can lay more bombs out at a time before any explode, allowing tactical bomb layouts that corner enemies or destroy multiple blocks at once. Distance affects how far a bomb blast travels and aids in that tactical effort. If you lose a life, you still maintain these power-ups, but if you lose a continue, then you start at square one.
Meanwhile, there are other abilities like being able to punch, kick bombs that allow safer/alternative methods of attacking enemies. The most powerful items give you the ability to detonate your own bombs remotely, at your own discretion, as well as the ability to walk over walls. Be warned though, losing a life means you also lose all of these power-ups.
After achieving various milestones of score, you're rewarded with an extra life. Continues remain finite. As long as you can gain momentum and power through the levels, the game isn't difficult. It's tougher on first timers who may be getting their bearings; the first time I played Super Bomberman, I hit my wall at the coliseum. Keep in mind, when respawning, you're briefly invincible for a few seconds. Do what you will with that knowledge!


Overall: 8.2

Super Bomberman doesn't have an intricate, engrossing story, nor is it a major graphical spectacle. What it does have is addicting gameplay (more-so in multiplayer) and wonderful replay value. There's nothing more satisfying than quickly excavating each level with a powerful arsenal of remote bombs + wall walking. Just don't get careless and lose it all! The Bomberman formula is already pretty fleshed out at this point in the series, and only continues further with each successive game. I feel that most folks remember Super Bomberman for its head to head multiplayer, but my personal favorite way to play the game is going through the normal game mode in co-op. Whichever option is your method of choice, you will have a blast playing Super Bomberman!

Lufia and the Fortress of Doom was released for the SNES in 1993, developed by Neverland, and published by Taito. This is an RPG in which you gather and control a party of four that must fight to save the world. While this basic premise can be boiled down to a multitude or RPGs, Lufia mixes it up in the prologue section of the game. Here, you control a different party of the game's previous generation informing the player of the overarching story, as well as introducing the villain characters right away. While that concept & execution may not be uncommon now, Lufia is one of the earliest games I can think of that featured its beginning in such a way.



Graphics: 7
Starting with battle, animations are pretty simple. Enemy sprites appear large with intricate designs, while your characters' sprites are smaller (not unlike FF: Mystic Quest, but without enemies changing appearances). The battles themselves happen overlaying the world map or current location. The world map is populated with terrain features and doodads with the only functional differences being what is traversable or not.


Sound: 8
For me, the best music is, far and away, the opening dungeon theme. The various town themes are relaxing, as well. I appreciate the actual sound effects in battle. Attacking, healing, applying buffs/debuffs sound crisp & clear. In fact, if a curtain were pulled over the screen, you would still mostly be able to correctly pair the general effect to what is happening on screen.


Addictiveness: 8
Like many good RPG games, Lufia keeps you hooked with the objective-based nature of its plot. It's easy to want to continue playing for hours in order to find the next party member, VIP npc, or other mcguffin. Sometimes, that desire gets bogged down after X number of random battles. The encounter rate isn't insanely high, and there are items that affect that chance, but I've occasionally felt the pace of progression stop to a halt after fighting scores of random battles.


Story: 7
To briefly reiterate what was mentioned above, the intro/prologue immediately inform us of a world on the brink of destruction at the hands of a few prominent villains called Sinistrals. The world has chosen several over-leveled fighters with a beefy inventory to vanquish these foes. Now, you take control of this party and attack their stronghold. Here, the game gives some instructional tips on how to play/navigate. Because your characters are overpowered and have lots of magic, you have the chance to explore what spells do and some enemy weaknesses. As someone who plays other RPGs, I really appreciated this element, but I can understand how a newbie to the genre may feel overwhelmed here. In any case, the Sinistrals are vanquished, but the heroes pay a price of their own.

The world ushers in a golden age of peace & prosperity for 99 years, until you (self-named Hero) notice monsters have started returning. From this point forward, the game's plot can be oversimplified to: investigating the cause of this strange occurrence, gathering like-minded allies into your party, finding the means to overcome the root cause, and achieving that ultimate goal. The process of fulfilling these objectives takes the player all around the world meeting various characters, and resolving smaller conflicts along the way. Lufia is largely straightforward with its overall story in that the heroes and villains are well defined, and tackles the matter of good VS evil on a global scale (in contrast to games such as Fire Emblem, Yggdra Union). Even within that frame of storytelling, there is a significant plot twist I won't mention here


Depth: 7
In terms of story & exploration, you must travel to almost all parts of the world in completing the game; there aren't really sidequests, and there is only one ending. With that said, there are two areas the game briefly mentions, but never directly urges you to visit: Forfeit Island & the Dragon Shrine. Regardless, missing these optional areas won't penalize the player regarding equipment, story elements, etc.

In the game's opening dungeon, one of the instructional tips informs the player how to read what their magical spells do. Thank god for that tip because the language localization wasn't the best. Moves with names like STONE or STUN are actually antidotes to those conditions (and don't cause said ailment). Also, various buffs/debuffs are not evident by name alone (e.g. DRAIN lowers an enemey's defense). I wish that feature to look up information applied to items & equipment, too!

Your characters don't have any class names describing their abilities, and can only remain in that 'class' while learning their preset arsenal of spells. With that said, here's a quick rundown: You (main protagonist) are a Paladin, Aguro is a Warrior, Lufia is a Black Mage (with some healing), Jerin is a White Mage (with some offensive magic).


Difficulty: 6
The hardest parts of Lufia are much more present in the first 3rd of the game, and that difficulty primarily exists because of one or more of the following: not all party members have been acquired, certain spells haven't been learned, and you haven't obtained a wealth of gold. In effect, you start off choosing between certain equipment or healing items, having to pay to revive KO'd party members (until learning revive, aptly named “Dead”), and grinding so you can beat those damn Goblins!

Otherwise, after passing some of the major difficulty spikes, progression becomes much more steady & manageable. Boss fights have similar strategies that require setting up buffs/debuffs, and keeping the party healed above some threshold, while others use physical attacks.
I forgot to mention actual combat! It isn't particularly difficult, but deserves a note. Combat is turn based. If two characters target the same enemy group, and the first character wipes out that entire group, character 2 will still try to target the now-dead group and automatically miss. This means that, in large part, you can't just spam the attack button to fight. Regular battles involving tougher enemies will actually require some sort of strategic approach as targeting one specific enemy may not be a sure-fire hit.



Overall: 7.8
Lufia and the Fortress of Doom is a great RPG game for the SNES that still holds up. When playing games of a certain era, I can't help but compare them to their respective contemporaries for reference. In Lufia's case, I found that its appearance resembled FF IV. In retrospect, FF VI would only come out a year after this game. Meanwhile, Breath of Fire came out the same year as Lufia as another RPG not released by a major company of that genre. In playing older RPGs like Lufia, I can't help, but take note of some of the rough edges present in earlier RPG games, such as: lack of item descriptions, poor localization, no way to zoom out or get a bigger picture on the world map, and so forth. However, this was a different era for video games, and I'm able to appreciate it so much more when newer, more modern games do have features addressing these older concerns. Lufia can sometimes come off as a more bare version of the Final Fantasy games that came out around the same time, but even when factoring in everything, I can still say Lufia and the Fortress of Doom is a game worth playing.

Congrats to the winners!

Looks like the rules dictate that I must step aside for next month's competition.
Yikes! I didn't think I'd land this far from the mark. Who doesn't like the (Zelda 2) Temple theme from Smash Bros??
Well, the masses have spoken.

Best of luck to the future competitors!

Long ago, my friends surprised me with a birthday gift consisting of the Gamecube with a few games: Metroid Prime, Super Monkey Ball 2, and Animal Crossing. Each of these games I've spent many hours on. I'll have to request the soundtracks for some of those in the appropriate thread. My sister and I spent numerous hours playing the Mario Party Gamecube games, too. Ah, bygone days.

Anyway, here are my entries:

(Content hidden until thread is closed!)

Let me know if there is any issue therein. I look forward to seeing what the other entries are; lots of good music for the Gamecube.
Good luck to everybody!

The last game I played was Final Fantasy Tactics (playstation version). Believe it or not, this was my first playthrough of the game. I'd already played the GBA Final Fantasy Tactics games, but was stepping back to the original and I've been enjoying it!

For the Fire Emblem fans out there, Fire Emblem games 4 & 5 (Genealogy of the Holy War, Thracia 776, respectively) are likely remembered for their stories, epic battlefields, and significant difficulty, among other attributes. Fire Emblem Gaiden (the 2nd game) was remade last year under the title Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Remaking older games seems to be a bit more popular as of late; some other examples include: Secret of Mana, Shadow of the Colossus, Crash Bandicoot, Metroid: Samus Returns, not to mention the anticipated FF VII remake, whenever that happens!


Now, the big question:
will they remake Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War?
...Or perhaps, should they?


My experience playing Genealogy of the Holy War

I personally discovered Genealogy after playing the GBA Fire Emblem games and was enraptured by the characters and the story. The story plays out similar to an episode of Game of Thrones; there are characters with rich histories, varied relationships, and it is full of political intrigue. Of course, unraveling that story requires playing the actual game. While difficult, the challenges stoked my interest for problem solving, which is what kept me going (and why I like strategy RPGs, in general). The soundtrack provides great listening for its long maps.

However, other things I quickly noticed were the lengthy levels/chapters. Each chapter takes a very long time to complete. Because of the long distances across the map, cavalry units are almost definitively better as non-mounted units essentially play catch-up.
Genealogy is not beginner-friendly; you're thrown to the wolves right away provided with little instruction. Combine that with the game's difficulty as you ward off debilitating ambush spawns, crippling status ailments, and a handful of very powerful enemies.
Also, units can't trade directly with each other. Be prepared to buy/sell through the market in order just to "give" an item.


Anticipated challenges to a remake (within the game)

While I think the story is the best aspect of Genealogy, it may also be its biggest obstacle in a remake. When I mentioned Game of Thrones above, it should be noted that there is a lot of written violence (nothing animated). Also, like GoT, there are... forbidden relationships without going into too many spoilers. I recognize that this game may not have been able to exist based on the restrictions Nintendo of America exercised (no depictions of violence, religious references, etc.), but I feel this could be fleshed out in a suitable way, while keeping complex character motivations and themes intact.

The levels would likely have to be re-worked. Each level is very long, and expansive, taking quite a while to complete. However, the original game essentially breaks down each level into a series of sub-levels (e.g. take over Caste 1, Castle 2, etc.). Breaking up an original chapter into separate levels would make a (hopeful) remake easier to pick up and play throughout its duration.

Unit re-balancing will be necessary in order to shift power, and actual usage to non-mounted units. Though, I feel this could also be solved in level re-works if maps were made smaller so that distance traveled wasn't the primary factor for a unit's utility.


Have you played Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War?
If so, do you think they could, or should, remake this game?
What do you feel would need to be changed in a possible remake?

Let me know what you guys think.

My favorite game is Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past.

I remember playing this game when it came out over 20 years ago. For those unfamiliar with the Zelda series, this is a top-down adventure game. As a child, I first played this game before I was fully literate so I couldn't make use of the dialogue and hints. And yet, I still loved playing the game because of the sense of exploration, gameplay, and vibrant sprites and graphics.

This game certainly has a personal, nostalgic bias going for it, but even when picking up the game again years later, the gameplay remains solid with a few options of tackling the dungeons in different orders. Also, Link to the Past is easy to pick up and put down throughout multiple playthroughs with the entire game itself only taking several hours to beat in its entirety. Not too short, and doesn't drag things out either.

Writing about this makes me want to play it again!

I'm half expecting the actual games to be in black and white too.

Unless....

Good evening!

Glad to be able to participate in this month's music competition. I didn't play very many games for PS2 growing up, but I still got to enjoy my share of gems from this console. There are plenty of great games and great soundtracks to enjoy and I hope to catch the stream and listen to the other entries. Please find my list below:

(Content hidden until thread is closed!)

Best of luck to all entries and competitors!
Time to get back to playing some PS1 games on here... recently started FF Tactics for the first time =D

Ciao!

Hey Davideo,

Sorry to hear about the troubles you've been going through. It takes a lot of strength to be able to come forward and admit your vulnerabilities as you have and I hope you're able to find the inspiration and resources to get back on the horse, so to speak. I cannot speak on behalf of the greater Vizzed community, but I can certainly say I enjoy playing video games here on Vizzed and greatly appreciate all the work and dedication you've poured into creating and maintaining this community.

Even though I'm a relatively newer member of this site, I've been around through some of the past shake ups and roadblocks that hit Vizzed and have seen you persevere. If you can make it this far, then you surely possess the resolve to see it through.
Family and self always come first. We're on your team either way and we'll still be here all the same.

Best regards,
G789

"There ain't no gettin' offa this train we're on, till we get to the end of the line."
   -Barret Wallace

What an unexpectedly pleasant surprise!
I recall last year or the year before, I entered the Christmas competition and didn't do so well.
This year, I noticed some new tracks were added, particularly for some newer systems.
Congrats to all participants and thank you for allowing us the opportunity to compete in these events.

Happy New Year!

It's that time of the year again! But instead of listening to Christmas music in every store, I'd rather listen to wintry video game music!
Instead of doing my Christmas shopping, I've perused the music room for my VGM winter picks. Please find them below:

(Content hidden until thread is closed!)

Let me know if there is any issue with my submissions. The added challenge this month was jumping across multiple systems to find suitable tracks. Best of luck to all the contestants in this month's contest and beyond. Well, time to get some more egg nog.

Oh man, the Game Boy!
I still refer to the Nintendo DS/3DS as today's "game boy" and my little cousins have no idea what I'm talking about. I randomly stumbled upon a video clip of a toddler trying to play a game boy, but she kept trying to use the thing as a touch screen device!

Most Game Boy games have not aged well, but it was a very nifty device for its time and I still get nostalgic over it. That's why I'm compelled to submit my entries for this month's competition! Please find them below:

(Content hidden until thread is closed!)

Let me know if there are any issues with my entries or their formatting as posted. I noticed that most of the tracks seem to be expanded to last 3 minutes. Anyway, best of luck to all entries and contributors.
Have a great day!