Overall a poor form factor for the games included tho. While some have double sized fonts to make them easier to read, others don't, and the display is clearly half the resolution of the NES/VT so pixels are simply being dropped making a lot of things very difficult to make out.
Also it's oddly quiet, most games have sfx only, no music.
Yabba Dabba Doo! is an entirely normal death sound... (as well as the name of an infuriating game I had on the Speccy as a kid)
the bootscreen doesn't stay active long enough to take a photo
some of the games are more suited to this tiny screen than the others. One of them is a Mario's Cement Factory clone (although you can't fall by getting on the lift at the wrong time)
it really is too small to be comfortable to use tho
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@reidrac games certainly have higher production values, are they better games? that's questionable. you can't really review relative to previous generations of games, or we'll be stuck at a point where every game gets a 10 because of better graphics.
@reidrac although I agree with your main point, you can't dock points for framework. If the 'maker' results in less interesting games due to maker limitations, or being too similar to existing games then that should be factored into the general review, not as an automatic penalty.
@reidrac In some cases engine weaknesses do ruin games for me, the Bethesda games for example, I'd struggle to give Skyrim a 3/10, at least on consoles. You're playing game but having to actively think about the engine, and planning your play as not to break (on top of all the other bugs)
this is also a thing that happened... (for those not in the know, neither of these was released, these are cancelled JAKKS GameKeys)
The 'Star Wars Classic Battles' aka 'Original Trilogy' was released, but previously the only dumped set was the later touchpad one, and the controls on it aren't emulated. There's now a version of the original release of this 4-in-1 playable.
@0x15e@Darren__O@yesterzine a fair amount of the Defender difficulty comes from the control scheme however, as you don't have left/right inputs, only 'thurst' and 'turn around' Adding l/r joystick inputs on an original cab that aren't used except in a hypothetical 'easy' would make it more confusing.
@0x15e@Darren__O@yesterzine (of course in console compilations containing the game there are code hacks / cheats to do exactly that)
@0x15e@Darren__O@yesterzine Control schemes and difficulty are another complex subject btw. some would say the Ikari 8-way joystick hack is easier (shoot in the direction you're moving, not rotary) The problem is it makes some sections impossible as enemies aren't always in front of you.
@yesterzine Then consider just giving the player more (but not infinite) health. The player will play the first half of the game not worrying much about enemy attacks, not learning the patterns. They'll then hit a brick wall later when that matters, but they didn't learn it early on.
@yesterzine It's actually a pretty in-depth subject anyway, one that I'm sure will make for some great research papers. Maybe a sign on the box that tells you the developer has implemented such things, so buyers can decide, vote with their wallets, but mandating them in a can of worms.
@yesterzine Arcade games are a bit like this if you use infinite credits btw. Take a beat 'em up, if you play it knowing you're limiting your credits, you use the first stages to learn how the enemies attack, group etc. As a result, you know how to deal with later stages and enjoy them.
@System11b Indeed, I'd consider it a platformer, because gravity plays a key role, but that brings us to The New Zealand Story, which Taito explicitly declare 'for Maze game fans' in the attract mode.
@System11b I wonder if a Maze needs defined walls. Electric Yo Yo is in there a a 'Maze' game though, and from what I can see, while the levels have patterns, there are no walls. I'd say that wasn't a maze game. Outside of that, where does 'Maze' end and 'Level' begin.
@System11b If we go to computers. Sultan's Maze on the CPC is clearly a maze. Are Doom and Wolf3d mazes? Most modern FPS games are not, because there's no element of having to explore to find the way forward, but some of those early FPS games do have that.
@SoftlistG I did play Wardner on a stream, but I think it's one I ended up not exporting because of Twitch / Streamlabs issues. I don't hate it, it just fits in a very specific genre of slow paced, slightly stiff platformers, and is maybe not what you expect from Toaplan
@SoftlistG But yeah, that's one issue with a 'worst' list. You could fill it with Kyle Hodgetts games or 'stealth' gambling frontend games and be done, but that's not too interesting to watch, as expectations were 0 to start with. The other is arcades had location testing as a filter.
@SoftlistG Not that location testing stopped all bad games, some got through on hype waves, unexplained phenomena, eg. Guardians of the Hood (and quite a few other Atari titles of that period)