N64 Works: Wonder Project J2
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Jeremy Parish Presents: Retronauts Video Works (Chronological Retrospective Series)
- Thread starter Nerdkiller
- Start date
Game Boy Works: In Your Face | Koro Dice
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NES Works: Renegade
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Renegade retrospective: Shoulder-tossed in translation | NES Works #071
No Lorenzo Lamas here.
Game Boy Works Gaiden: Mr. Driller: DrillLand & The History of Mr. Driller
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Metroidvania Works: Zelda II | Rygar | The Goonies II
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Zelda II / Rygar / The Goonies II retrospective: NES is more | Metroidvania Works #11
Metroidvania Works: Romancia | Ys | Legacy of the Wizard | Faxanadu
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Romancia / Ys / Legacy of the Wizard / Faxanadu retrospective: Falcom Works | Metroidvania Works #12
Alas, I just posted an update that includes some (implicit) bad news about Pippin Works.
Jaguar(my friend found in the trash) Works when you get to 1993 is good too.
In no way trying to steal thunder from Retronauts, which is great, but it's probably of interest to anyone reading this thread that there's a new episode of Chrontendo (which is a long, long-running series that goes over every NES/Famicom game).
These were essentially on hiatus for a while (years!), so every new episode is a delight:
These were essentially on hiatus for a while (years!), so every new episode is a delight:
Man this is so nice to see. I kept up with every episode of Chrontendo for a while. Can't recall if I got up to where he eventually stopped. But it was so oddly addictive at the time - nothing else quite like it. Appreciate how it's quite a different style and focus (JP library) from Jeremy's project.
Game Boy Works Gaiden: Lynx 1989: Blue Lightning | California Games | The Gates of Zendocon | Electrocop | Chip's Challenge
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Lynx 1989: Blue Lightning / Cali. Games / Zendocon / Electrocop / Chip's Challenge | GBW Gaiden 06
Something, something, small library meaning actual completion of series, yadda, yadda.
Even if you don't count the semi-official Telegames releases, Lynx lasted until 1995, and I'm going to be running episodes in parallel to GBWorks progression, so... completion is a long way away.
Game Boy Works: Double Dragon II | Scotland Yard
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Double Dragon II & Scotland Yard retrospective: Mean green streets | Game Boy Works #119
'Ello, 'ello, 'ello. What's all this, then?
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Game Boy Works Gaiden: Lynx 1990 (1 of 3): Paperboy | Klax | Roadblasters | Gauntlet: The Third Encounter
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Lynx 1990 (1 of 3): Paperboy / Klax / Roadblasters / Gauntlet Third Encounter | GB Works Gaiden #07
Game Boy Works: Bubble Bobble | Chibi Maruko-chan
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Jeremy's fizzog now in frame full time, it seems.
Bubble Bobble & Chibi Maruko-chan retrospective: Shop 'til you pop | Game Boy Works #120
Bubble Bobble & Chibi Maruko-chan retrospective: Shop 'til you pop | Game Boy Works #120
I don't care if he puts his face or not. It was just surprising to suddenly see it after having watched his videos for years now.
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He did it way back in his Paperboy 2 review, doing Seinfeldesqe schtick (comparing the music to the show's score) while simultaneously recording a promo for the FlipGrip Kickstarter.
I think he had more hair in it too.
I should also mention, I am now irritated that I've got the Maruko-chan theme stuck in my head.
There was also this outro:
I have no more or less hair than I did then, I just used a really crappy webcam for the live bits of the new episode, and it suffers from a lot of unflattering distortion. I've upgraded to a proper DSLR for the most of episodes I've produced since Bubble Bobble.
I have no more or less hair than I did then, I just used a really crappy webcam for the live bits of the new episode, and it suffers from a lot of unflattering distortion. I've upgraded to a proper DSLR for the most of episodes I've produced since Bubble Bobble.
That Game Boy Bubble Bobble port :/ I hate games that zoom way in to compensate for the smaller screen; Super Mario Bros Deluxe on GBC, Sonic Advance etc. Makes playgin them such a chore.
Super Mario Bros Deluxe in particular is a tragedy to me, the game's extra content is REALLY cool, but the screen really messes with it.
I still hope someday we get a Super Mario Bros Deluxe Deluxe or something, just for the better screen size. I mean hell, I wonder how many Game Boy games would get massively improved by stuff like that in general! I swear you could make a drinking game out of how many times in game boy works, the screen size gets mentrioned as a huge problem!
The real tragedy is that we still haven't gotten a proper sequel (or even a remake) to Donkey Kong 94. What a game! (Which also suffers from a zoomed-in view AFAIK).
DK94? Nah, some levels scroll, but the original 4 stages are single-screen. The gameplay was designed around a mix of fixed and scrolling stages.
To be fair the first Mario vs DK was a sequal. I havent played both games in a while so I only remember thinking DK 94 was a masterpiece (I think I'm due for a replay for next year for DK's 40th anniversary actually!), but yeah its a damn shame the Mario puzzle platformer died... Would love to see more of them!
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I would say spiritual successor rather than sequel. That whole Mini shit just leaves a bad taste.
The later levels are the ones I meant. If the GB screen were bigger, those levels would have been single-screen like the rest.
Right, but what I'm saying is that those levels were designed with scrolling in mind—it wasn't some sort of limitation imposed on them afterwards to their detriment. Game Boy resolution wasn't a deal-breaker, it just required considerate design.
Game Boy Works Gaiden: Game Gear 1990 (1 of 4) Columns | Pengo | Super Monaco GT
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Game Gear 1990 (1 of 4): Columns / Pengo / Super Monaco GP | Game Boy Works Gaiden #08
NES Works: Karnov
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Some part of me wants to keep alive 30-year-old fanboy wars by griping how unfair it is for Jeremy's Lynx coverage to wind up as GameBoy Works Gaiden... but of course the actual content gives Lynx its due as a legit threat that just missed the mark. Latest video is up and also is fun: Ms. Pac-Man, Rygar, Rampage, Xenophobe.
Only one I didn't pick up at the time was Ms. Pac-Man. The other three I beat. I even played all the way through Rampage organically, even though there was a level-select cheat. When you spent all your money on a Lynx for college instead of a GameBoy (color! backlit!), you made sure you got your money's worth.
Rampage for Lynx as I mentioned has a pretty easy level-select cheat, you just hold one of the option buttons on a certain screen and push left or right to select your city, IIRC. It's also pretty interesting in that it has none of the arcade music, and in fact it's title screen music is the same music from an Epyx C-64 game called The Movie Monster Game which actually featured licensed monsters like Godzilla and look-a-like monsters like The Glog wrecking cities in an isometric perspective.
This makes Rampage kind of the last Epyx-feeling titles on the system, and the lack of their music talent would help make future releases seem more shallow. I'm enjoying the Lynx GameBoy Gaiden series so far but it did miss a bit of appreciation for that early Lynx music from the Epyx masters of the hardware. If you played with headphones the audio was in stereo, too. Composers Alex Rudis and Robert Vieira really made the system sing.
Anyways, great Lynx videos Jeremy. Thanks!
Only one I didn't pick up at the time was Ms. Pac-Man. The other three I beat. I even played all the way through Rampage organically, even though there was a level-select cheat. When you spent all your money on a Lynx for college instead of a GameBoy (color! backlit!), you made sure you got your money's worth.
Rampage for Lynx as I mentioned has a pretty easy level-select cheat, you just hold one of the option buttons on a certain screen and push left or right to select your city, IIRC. It's also pretty interesting in that it has none of the arcade music, and in fact it's title screen music is the same music from an Epyx C-64 game called The Movie Monster Game which actually featured licensed monsters like Godzilla and look-a-like monsters like The Glog wrecking cities in an isometric perspective.
This makes Rampage kind of the last Epyx-feeling titles on the system, and the lack of their music talent would help make future releases seem more shallow. I'm enjoying the Lynx GameBoy Gaiden series so far but it did miss a bit of appreciation for that early Lynx music from the Epyx masters of the hardware. If you played with headphones the audio was in stereo, too. Composers Alex Rudis and Robert Vieira really made the system sing.
Anyways, great Lynx videos Jeremy. Thanks!
Game Boy Works Gaiden: Lynx 1990 (2 of 3): Ms. Pac-Man | Rampage | Rygar | Xenophobe
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Oh my, way to remind me that there's a new video out.
Lynx 1990 (2 of 3): Ms. Pac-Man / Rampage / Rygar / Xenophobe | GB Works Gaiden #09
NES Works Gaiden: Atari 7800 1986 (1 of 3): Pole Position II | Dig Dug | Ms. Pac-Man | Joust
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More Atari. Yay.
Atari 7800 1986 (1 of 3): Pole Position II / Dig Dug / Ms. Pac-Man / Joust | NES Works Gaiden #12
Atari 7800 1986 (1 of 3): Pole Position II / Dig Dug / Ms. Pac-Man / Joust | NES Works Gaiden #12
NES Works Gaiden: Atari 7800 1986 (2 of 3): Asteroids | Food Fight | Robotron 2084 | Galaga
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Atari 7800 1986 (2 of 3): Asteroids / Food Fight / Robotron 2084 / Galaga | NES Works Gaiden #13
Surprised you didn't go with Game Gear this week, considering the 30th anniversary just game and went.
I played a lot of Robotron on my Atari 800XL. I have no idea how I managed to do it with one joystick. Maybe holding the fire button down let you keep firing in that direction and let you strafe? It's been so long, I forget how it worked.
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I love it so much, though. It's always nice seeing that kind of crazy stuff from that era under that kind of hardware.
I gave it about a month to really let it settle and avoid just giving my gut reaction, but even after all this time, I just have to say that I don't feel like the inserts of Jeremy really work. Like, I know that Jeremy's opinions of these games obviously influence how each episode is written, but Video Works never felt like a "personality-driven" series, and that the lack of an on-screen presenter just felt like the more natural fit for these videos. The inserts just don't feel like they add anything, especially for a video series that really leans towards substance over style. Also, there's that common youtuber problem where the audio is way worse when they're on-screen than when they're in narrator mode.
Hey, no hard feelings. Your stuff is still great, but I just wanted to give my two cents on the recent experiment.
There are no hard feelings. That was an "oh well" for your sake, not mine, as I'm satisfied with the revisions I've been making and don't intend to walk them back.
