Random Game Challenge!!!

[Boo Man]

I got this
View attachment 141853

cool what's it like? Tell us about it! :)

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

cool what's it like? Tell us about it! :)

No idea, haven’t played it yet

 

[Boo Man]

No idea, haven’t played it yet

well good luck, it looks like it could be good!
i just got K-1 World Grand Prix 2002
its a Japanese kickboxing game on PS2

I was surprised to see Mark Hunt on the cover
he is a former UFC fighter from NZ and i forgot he did K-1 before that.
The game itself is pretty bad i dont think there is any skill or technique involved

im not a button masher in fighting games but this game is very button mashy
its frustrating just trying to get a hit in because most of your shots get blocked or collide with the opponents shots, its pretty messy and awkward.
no notable or interesting mechanics besides "select your tactic" between rounds
i normally choose the KO option because its a good choice and i cant read the other options

i also had to turn the internal resolution down to PS2 default because it chopped up the screen like that

sorry for a negative review but i guess that's what you get sometimes when you play a random game
i don't think im going to play an hour of this XD
getting beaten up now and its not much fun

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

well good luck, it looks like it could be good!

I don't understand a damn thing in this game

Music's good though

Not my type of game, too complicated even from an Ace Combat player

 

[PupinDaTurd]

I wanna see this thread thrive, so I'm gonna take up the challenge middler did but at a higher frequency. Unfortunately it's too late to do the full Gregorian year but uh, maybe it can be a full Chinese year? (The lunisolar Chinese calendar's NYE is Feb 16th this year, so I'm a little early.)

Anyways, I'm aiming for once a week!

---

Random Game 1/52: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Eye of the Beholder on SNES

I'm a big fan of this genre of dungeon crawler, often called the Blobber. It's the kind of game where you and a party move one square at a time in first person as a unit (a blob if you will) and fight monsters, solve puzzles, loot treasures and level up.
I love dungeon crawlers and old D&D, and I'm familiar with EotB as well. It was the first Blobber I ever really played, but that was the GBA remake by Infogrames that wasn't a Blobber. It replaced that simple combat with a really cumbersome turn based tactics style that slowed the game to a grinding halt and looked awful. I've never played the Capcom SNES version or the DOS original from the Strategic Simulations Inc. Apparently the Sega CD version has a soundtrack by a couple of total geniuses of 90s electronic video game music so I'm a little jealous but the CAPCOM sound team is good too. It'll probably be fine.

I'd love to beat this game, and will try. I don't know if I can do it in a week but we'll see how it goes. Next week I'll post a followup 'review' as well as the new roll. Let's game!

 

[middler]

I wanna see this thread thrive, so I'm gonna take up the challenge middler did but at a higher frequency. Unfortunately it's too late to do the full Gregorian year but uh, maybe it can be a full Chinese year? (The lunisolar Chinese calendar's NYE is Feb 16th this year, so I'm a little early.)

Anyways, I'm aiming for once a week!

---

Random Game 1/52: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Eye of the Beholder on SNES

I love this!

I will be here every week to read your adventures and misadventures.

 

[PupinDaTurd]

(Warning: These posts are probably gonna be long. I don't apologize.)

First up let's cover last week's game:
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Eye of the Beholder
CAPCOM's port of Westwood Associate's PC game for the SNES.

I did not beat this game. In fact, I quit playing it on purpose halfway through because it sucked. I did beat the superior Sega CD version.

Hear this if you don't hear anything else: Sega CD's version of EotB kicks the absolute doodoo out of the SNES version and I'll tell you the biggest reason why - Controls.

I played the first six floors (of twelve) using the control pad and buttons. This was awful. It's so slow and cumbersome to have to scroll and click on movement arrows, or move box to box for inventory management with the game window.
It also made combat very clunky and more difficult that it would ever be if I could move and click attack buttons independently like on PC.
It's even worse for Spellcasting. When you click a tool to cast a spell you have to select from a new menu that appears elsewhere on the screen, then you have to select a target for most spells, most notably the Cure Wounds spells from your Cleric. Then the cursor starts on your back-line (where you'll be putting non-fighting type) characters on the bottom row and you have to go up one box at a time through your third row's weapons/tools, their portraits, their name bar, then the second row's weapons/tools, portrait, then name bar, then your front row's weapons/tools to finally click their portrait to cast the Cure. By this time they've taken two or three more attacks and been KO'd or Paralyzed by later enemies like the Drow and Mantis Warriors.

Both consoles let you use the Mouse peripheral! You can move faster between boxes and the game window, but it makes movement worse because you have to click every single time you want to move, and you move a lot. It's also impossible to Square Dance (which is a strafing technique in Blobbers to help in combat) because when you click an attack the game still gives you the controller assistance where it moves the cursor to the next character automatically, so you're dragging your mouse from the attack box to the movement arrows to the attack box and then from the next character's attack box to the arrows and back again. It sucks OK. It just sucks.

Now some literal genius at SEGA decided that yknow what? We've got two controller ports right? What if we had it so Slot 1 Controller let you move with the control pad and Slot 2 Mega Mouse worked at the same time so it's just like using WASD and Mouse on PC?
I can't overstate how much this fixes the game.
On top of that, the Sega CD version has a kick ass soundtrack by the Streets of Rage guys, semi-animated cutscenes, and goofy voice acting.
Also like the original version, the Sega CD version lets you basically cheat by Modifying your Ability Scores. I didn't do this because it's cheesey, but I did swap some if I ended up with good stats that just didn't go in the right place. Like I swapped a 16 Charisma with a 10 Constitution for my Fighter. SNES doesn't have that either, you just take 'em raw.

Now that I had a decent version to play, I can rate the game more fairly on its own merits.
Overall, I like it. It's got a fun and simple plot and it was surprisingly Dwarf heavy. I made an all Dwarf (with one beautiful elven lady, as seen in my screenshot) party because I like them then it turned out we were finding an old Dwarven Kingdom and rescuing a Prince and King and fighting Elves. Awesome.

At 12 Floors (that don't get too big) it feels long enough for a nice adventure without overstaying. There's not an obnoxious amount of backtracking to do, but there's a couple instances of floor hopping through alternate stair sections and a Floor Teleportal system. You can end up lost a couple times thanks to traps that specifically interfere with mapping attempts. Keep an eye on your Compass!

Wrapping up: If you like these kinds of games and haven't played EotB I'd say give it a shot.
If you're new to the genre there's better ones for beginners I think, or I'd even say maybe try Mystery Dungeon type titles first to see how you like dungeon crawling in the first place.
Whatever you do, avoid the SNES port at all costs.

---

Phew. OK. Now for our next game!

Random Game 2/52: 舞-HiME 鮮烈! 真 風華学園激闘史!!
Mai-Hime Senretsu! Shin Fuuka Gakuen Gekitoushi!!

This is a Japanese only, Visual Novel Fighting Game based on a ~2006 anime by Sunrise Studios I've never heard of. In this case I'm gonna consider it beat if I finish a main story scenario, or if there isn't one the goal will be to clear every initially available character's arcade mode or equivalent. Shouldn't be too hard, I can do fighters.
See ya next week with my report!

Post automatically merged: Feb 17, 2026

OK this one's pretty bad too.
I already powered through it so I could roll and play something else so let's just get it over with.

Mai-HiME no Daiboken is a game that's
* 90% several minutes of mashing O through anime still frames with text boxes
* 5% three second long clips of a decent looking anime
* 100% a shitty fighting game

Spoiler: Story Synopsis

Long ago there lived 12 Princesses of the Moon Kingdoms. Each one possessed the power of a Stand that manifested itself for combat with other rival Princesses. Eventually, the evil King Cyber imprisoned their souls in 12 Digital Device Monsters and sent them to Earth where they lay dormant for 10,000 years.
Eventually, the creation of Project L.E.E.R. (Lunar Excavation for Earth Rehabilitation) awakens these spirits that then take over the bodies of 12 young women attending the prestigious Assassin's High School. The fight for Moon Supremacy resumes.
It's a deadly battle, mostly against the same two characters over and over.
The main protagonist is Nami, elected as the leader of the gang because she's got the largest boobs. Her power is the worst though, since she can only summon costume jewelry and slightly float. How can she overcome the evil forces of the Dark Dimension and save her new home? You'll have to play this game to (not) find out.

This was one of those godawful fighters that has one attack button, painfully slow movement, zero momentum jumps, un-guessable special move inputs (if they exist at all), and CPU opponents that are either extremely stupid or extremely annoying. It's the kind of bad fighting game where the only way you can tolerate playing it is by figuring out the exploit and cheesing it. Any actual attempt to engage the "gameplay" is just frustration.

I do think I'll give the show a try though. Seems cool.

---

I've rolled a new Random Game, we'll call it 2a/52. I think I'll keep it a surprise though. This is already a double post and a long ass one with the merge. It's one I definitely can't beat in a week though so I shouldn't have to roll again before next Monday. See ya then.

 

[DanCalibur]

(Warning: These posts are probably gonna be long. I don't apologize.)
View attachment 154493

First up let's cover last week's game:
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - Eye of the Beholder
CAPCOM's port of Westwood Associate's PC game for the SNES.

I did not beat this game. In fact, I quit playing it on purpose halfway through because it sucked. I did beat the superior Sega CD version.
View attachment 154515
Hear this if you don't hear anything else: Sega CD's version of EotB kicks the absolute doodoo out of the SNES version and I'll tell you the biggest reason why - Controls.

I played the first six floors (of twelve) using the control pad and buttons. This was awful. It's so slow and cumbersome to have to scroll and click on movement arrows, or move box to box for inventory management with the game window.
It also made combat very clunky and more difficult that it would ever be if I could move and click attack buttons independently like on PC.
It's even worse for Spellcasting. When you click a tool to cast a spell you have to select from a new menu that appears elsewhere on the screen, then you have to select a target for most spells, most notably the Cure Wounds spells from your Cleric. Then the cursor starts on your back-line (where you'll be putting non-fighting type) characters on the bottom row and you have to go up one box at a time through your third row's weapons/tools, their portraits, their name bar, then the second row's weapons/tools, portrait, then name bar, then your front row's weapons/tools to finally click their portrait to cast the Cure. By this time they've taken two or three more attacks and been KO'd or Paralyzed by later enemies like the Drow and Mantis Warriors.
View attachment 154495

Both consoles let you use the Mouse peripheral! You can move faster between boxes and the game window, but it makes movement worse because you have to click every single time you want to move, and you move a lot. It's also impossible to Square Dance (which is a strafing technique in Blobbers to help in combat) because when you click an attack the game still gives you the controller assistance where it moves the cursor to the next character automatically, so you're dragging your mouse from the attack box to the movement arrows to the attack box and then from the next character's attack box to the arrows and back again. It sucks OK. It just sucks.
View attachment 154501

Now some literal genius at SEGA decided that yknow what? We've got two controller ports right? What if we had it so Slot 1 Controller let you move with the control pad and Slot 2 Mega Mouse worked at the same time so it's just like using WASD and Mouse on PC?
I can't overstate how much this fixes the game.
On top of that, the Sega CD version has a kick ass soundtrack by the Streets of Rage guys, semi-animated cutscenes, and goofy voice acting.
Also like the original version, the Sega CD version lets you basically cheat by Modifying your Ability Scores. I didn't do this because it's cheesey, but I did swap some if I ended up with good stats that just didn't go in the right place. Like I swapped a 16 Charisma with a 10 Constitution for my Fighter. SNES doesn't have that either, you just take 'em raw.
View attachment 154502

Now that I had a decent version to play, I can rate the game more fairly on its own merits.
Overall, I like it. It's got a fun and simple plot and it was surprisingly Dwarf heavy. I made an all Dwarf (with one beautiful elven lady, as seen in my screenshot) party because I like them then it turned out we were finding an old Dwarven Kingdom and rescuing a Prince and King and fighting Elves. Awesome.View attachment 154491

At 12 Floors (that don't get too big) it feels long enough for a nice adventure without overstaying. There's not an obnoxious amount of backtracking to do, but there's a couple instances of floor hopping through alternate stair sections and a Floor Teleportal system. You can end up lost a couple times thanks to traps that specifically interfere with mapping attempts. Keep an eye on your Compass!View attachment 154508
View attachment 154509

Wrapping up: If you like these kinds of games and haven't played EotB I'd say give it a shot.
If you're new to the genre there's better ones for beginners I think, or I'd even say maybe try Mystery Dungeon type titles first to see how you like dungeon crawling in the first place.
Whatever you do, avoid the SNES port at all costs.
View attachment 154518

---

Phew. OK. Now for our next game!

Random Game 2/52: 舞-HiME 鮮烈! 真 風華学園激闘史!!
Mai-Hime Senretsu! Shin Fuuka Gakuen Gekitoushi!!
View attachment 154523

This is a Japanese only, Visual Novel Fighting Game based on a ~2006 anime by Sunrise Studios I've never heard of. In this case I'm gonna consider it beat if I finish a main story scenario, or if there isn't one the goal will be to clear every initially available character's arcade mode or equivalent. Shouldn't be too hard, I can do fighters.
See ya next week with my report!

Post automatically merged: Feb 17, 2026

OK this one's pretty bad too.
I already powered through it so I could roll and play something else so let's just get it over with.

View attachment 154855
Mai-HiME no Daiboken is a game that's
* 90% several minutes of mashing O through anime still frames with text boxes
* 5% three second long clips of a decent looking anime
* 100% a shitty fighting game

Spoiler: Story Synopsis

Long ago there lived 12 Princesses of the Moon Kingdoms. Each one possessed the power of a Stand that manifested itself for combat with other rival Princesses. Eventually, the evil King Cyber imprisoned their souls in 12 Digital Device Monsters and sent them to Earth where they lay dormant for 10,000 years.
Eventually, the creation of Project L.E.E.R. (Lunar Excavation for Earth Rehabilitation) awakens these spirits that then take over the bodies of 12 young women attending the prestigious Assassin's High School. The fight for Moon Supremacy resumes.
It's a deadly battle, mostly against the same two characters over and over.
The main protagonist is Nami, elected as the leader of the gang because she's got the largest boobs. Her power is the worst though, since she can only summon costume jewelry and slightly float. How can she overcome the evil forces of the Dark Dimension and save her new home? You'll have to play this game to (not) find out.

This was one of those godawful fighters that has one attack button, painfully slow movement, zero momentum jumps, un-guessable special move inputs (if they exist at all), and CPU opponents that are either extremely stupid or extremely annoying. It's the kind of bad fighting game where the only way you can tolerate playing it is by figuring out the exploit and cheesing it. Any actual attempt to engage the "gameplay" is just frustration.

View attachment 154867
I do think I'll give the show a try though. Seems cool.

---

I've rolled a new Random Game, we'll call it 2a/52. I think I'll keep it a surprise though. This is already a double post and a long ass one with the merge. It's one I definitely can't beat in a week though so I shouldn't have to roll again before next Monday. See ya then.

I had a very good time during the pandemic with the Eye of the Beholder trilogy. At the time I still believed that save transfer was a recent invention. I remember carrying some daggers all the way from the first game to the last

 

[PupinDaTurd]

Last week's Mystery Random Game was:
Sunrise Eiyuutan 2 for the PS2

This is another game that my interests cover. I love Mecha, love these old Super Robot Wars style crossovers and I do enjoy a StratRPG.
Plus this one has some awesome inclusions:
Gundam, Zeta, G, and Wing
Ronin Warriors
Big O and friggin' Cowboy Bebop

Like look at this shit. This makes you wanna play just so you can see this crossover right? Check out the opening, it's very exciting.

Well... sorry folks. I couldn't get that far. In fact I couldn't even get to the first battle that's not a cutscene that you sit and watch the CPU play by itself while you get tutorial'd. After that you're taken to some kind of labyrinth of location choices that I just had to guess where the game wanted me to go and at what time. I spent about an hour (with Fast Forwarding Dialogue) trying to get to the actual gameplay but I was stymied. Every now and then I'd accidentally go to the right place at the right time and get a little dialogue with some girls but-
That and the fact I got busier with other stuff put this out.
It seems cool but you gotta be able to read moon and have plenty of time to dig in.

---

Alright so let's see what we get from RepoVideo Rentals this week!
Game 3/52: DEF JAM VENDETTA for PS2

Yeeeeeeeaah Booooooooooy!!!
I rolled the PAL version but I'm gonna play the NTSC in case there's issues with my TV. No big difference between versions from what I can see.
See ya next week.

 

[PupinDaTurd]

Wish there were some more adventurous gamers here...

Def Jam: Vendetta for PS2
This game stinks!

It's cap. This game's actually OK.

Of course it is though, it's late-stage AKI. It plays like the best wrestling games but instead of regognizable WWF guys hitting each other with chairs it's semi-recognizable rappers (but mostly original characters) doing goofy ahh kung fu and physics defying finishers.

Yeah I said it's just OK. Now take your 5 Dollar Ass outta here before I have to make change.

There's a Story Mode where you fight your way up to take vengeance on D-Mob being the man your trifling ho ran off to when you stopped fighting? Dunno why your beef's with him. She chose to leave you. Be mad at yourself for not being good enough, or at her for cheating (if she did).
You can only use one of 4 original characters. I chose the fat guy because it's funny to see him beat up huge muscular gangsters. The protagonist is silent so there could have been a lot more choices though. I find the limit disappointing.

I did beat it. It's not too long and there's a leveling up system you can grind if you need. I did a little just for an edge in a hard match near the end. You use money from the matches to raise Attack, Grapple, etc.

The most notable weird feature of this game is the honeys gallery. Imagining some hard street thug bent over his PS2 controller in the early 2000s looking at the most advertisement friendly softcore American gravure he has meticulously unlocked is so funny to me.

The soundtrack is supposed to be a star in this game but it was really repetitive and I only recognized like three tracks honestly. Also 'X gon give it to ya' is a fucking instrumental version which sucks cause I wanted to sing along while I bodied some chumps.

---

Anyways-
Game 4/52: 102 Dalmations: Puppies to the Rescue for PS1

Since I'm not a 6 year old girl I'm not very excited for this one. I've never even seen the sequels to most Disney movies. But hey, Crystal Dynamics on the logo? Could be decent, and the Cruella is hilariously terrifying. Looks like some Dark Souls enemy.
Once again I rolled the PAL but I'll be playing NTSC since there's no content differences.

 

[middler]

Wish there were some more adventurous gamers here...

I second that notion. I always thought retro gaming was about discovering the gems of the past, not just talking about the same 4 games for each console...

 

[JustLooking456]

Well, crap. I don't have an emulator for this. However, this game is interesting to me because Hideo Kojima made it. He apparently made a sequel to it called Penguin Adventure. I'll check them out one day. Time to roll again!

Once again, I can't play it. My computer is a potato and the only games I can play on my phone with any sense of doing it right are RPG's. Touch screen controls suck, plus I can't read Japanese. Roll time!

Now we're talkin! My computer can at least play this one. Not 100% translated but that's cool, I already dig the pixel art in the screenshots. I'll post my review tomorrow though, got too much going on rn.

Post automatically merged: Mar 5, 2026

Ok, so I played it. I played the USA release though, it's called Super Bonk. Fun little platformer, I love how you headbutt everything, and holy crap this is the game where our angry react comes from!!

Didn't play it too long, but it's good. 10/10

 

[PupinDaTurd]

Alright, I didn't play much of 102 Dalmations: Puppies to the Rescue.
Shocking, I'm sure. From the first screen you can tell what level of effort went into this tie-in licensed 'product'.

Yeah, it's one of those games with just a gradient and big button prompts.

I did two levels and honestly I could kinda feel the Gex, Spyro kind of DNA in this game. Just not enough in any ways to be good enough for a grown man to play through it. I probably could have, I doubt it's long or difficult -- but I didn't want to.
It is what it is.

---

Game 5/52: Touch Detective 2 1/2

Looks neat. I'm not super huge on the DS because I don't care for the touch screen gimmick, and this obviously leans into that, but the artstyle and a mystery adventure type game could be fun. I rather play the first game than a sequel but that's the luck of the roll.
I'll be back next week to unravel the mystery!

 

[PupinDaTurd]

Touch Detective 2 1/2 seemed like a cute game with quirky characters and silly situations. Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of game time this last week for other stuff I had to tend to and work picking up.
I'm actually gonna keep playing this later because I barely got started but the style was interesting and the idea of a weird Japanese PnC mystery solver is appealing to me. However, I did notice that there was a couple of nonsense solutions even this early in and that worries me a little. It's OK for there to be one or two of those in a WHOLE PnC Adventure, like the infamous Monkey Island 2 Wrench, but this game had two already like an hour in. Maybe I'll get used to that as I play. Most likely I'll go back and play the first one first. I prefer to do a series that way.
I recommend checking it out if it piques any of your interests.

This is Mackenzie. She's a detective.

---

Random Game 6/52: Eternal Eyes

Never heard of this one, but the screenshots are promising. Looks like we got some classic PS1 JRPG on the plate. The cover's - questionable. I might have flipped this over to look at the back of the box but just from the front I don't think I would have rented this one. Well maybe. The more I look at it the more drawn in I am...
Dev'd by TamTam (not familiar) and published I guess here in the States by Crave Entertaninment (another no name to me) and SunSoft (whom I do recognize).

Looks like it's a Tactics game? OK. Let's dig in. Be on the lookout because I'll be back next week to report on "Eternal Eyes".

 

[PupinDaTurd]

Eternal Eyes is like Final Fantasy Tactics made for your little brother who only liked using Chocobos and Moogles in their party, and skipped all the cut-scenes.
It's a really basic SRPG that mechanically centers around using various Gem items to change and enhance a cast of Mappets, which are monster party members that the main character can control thanks to being the last in a line of special people called "Eternal Eyes".

Aesthetically, I like this kind of late 90s anime style. It's kind of stupid in some places, like whatever is going on with your boots that would keep you from bending your ankles and walking correctly, but mostly it's pleasantly generic JFantasy. It reminds me of random mysterious manga volume covers you would find at bookstores for series you've never heard of before or since.
Something that pisses me off I have to mention is the American localization did that annoying shit where they remove the Japanese lyrics from the OP. It's senseless. Why do they try to remove the anime from anime games? People are buying this because they like it, not in spite of it. The cover (as seen above) tried its damnedest to hide what kind of game this was too. It's that really cringe thing where someone in marketing decided that Americans don't want to buy anime looking things so they go to lengths to hide it instead of wearing it proudly and counting on the people who do like it to buy. It's specially aggravating in 2000 because by then anime was booming in the USA. Toonami and Pokemon were out for years, anime was a household thing. For your entertainment I've attached the JP version. The localized version replaces the words with a Spanish Guitar .midi or something. It's OK but it's so obvious it's to replace words you'd know it right away.

On the game itself: this is a budget game. I got that feeling a few hours in and I read it was only 10 bucks on release. I'd say it's worth a tenner. No more though.
The sprite art's pretty good and the monster designs are all cute but not very imaginative. It's not challenging Digimon or anything that's for sure.

It's not a very engaging game. The cut-scene snippets are put between like 3-5 battles in a row so it's kind of a slog fest with really slow narrative pacing. Even then though, it's apparently very short so I guess not a lot happens. I didn't beat it. Honestly I just got bored in the Chapter 4 Battle Stage.
The characters are quite shallow and never join you in battle despite all looking like a Mage, a Warrior, and a Healer. You only use Mappets and yourself. There's no overworld, it's all menu based.
It's a small game made for SRPG novices and kids. It's OK.
I wouldn't recommend it unless you're a PSX RPG nut or something.

(Good to see even 26 years ago professionals getting paid to write were still mixing up "your" and "you're"!)

---

Random Game 7/52: Metal Slug 6

Hell yeah. Never played Metal Slug above 3. While I rolled this version of the game I'm going to play it on the USA version of Metal Slug Anthology for PS2 because I have that already. It includes this one plus all the previous ones. What a deal!
I'll probably beat this quickly and maybe roll another like I did with Mai-Hime before.

 

[PupinDaTurd]

Another week, another Random Game Complete.
I didn't roll a second one because I started playing some other stuff more and figured I'd give those games room instead.

Let's quickly touch on Metal Slug 6.
Cool game. Run and Gun like it's always been, beautiful sprite work, few neat little Slugs to hop in and do some shooting. It's tough as nails as typical of a Credit Munching arcade game, and towards the end it gets kinda ridiculous how many times you're just dying and Continuing repeatedly.
That kind of sets up a realization though, that these games don't really have challenge so long as you have infinite Credits. Real Arcade Gamers aim for 1 Credit Clears!

The plot for this one is, I guess, a new worse alien race shows up so you, the Commies, and the Martians team up against them. Play Fio because she spawns with a Heavy Machine Gun and gets more ammo for power up weapons, which you want above all the bonuses the others get.
I had screenshots but forgot to back them up and lost them when I did an OS reinstall last week. Honestly, I think they're not that good looking on the PS2. The backgrounds were really blurry and many times it was hard to even tell what I could stand on. Overall, it's good if you like these games. There's no reason not to play it, and them all.

---

Next up for Pupin's Random Game Challenge Weekly (sponsored by PlayStation apparently)
Game 8/52: ルパン三世　～ピラミッドの賢者～ aka Lupin The Third - Sage(s) of (the) Pyramid

We've got a few coincidences here! First of all, it's Lupin, the character my forum name's based on. Second, it's another Asmik Ace game, like Def Jam. Neat.
I've never heard of this one. Only Lupin games I knew were the NES and PS2 ones. I have no clue what I'm in for here, the Repo Screenshots don't show any gameplay, just menu screens. Don't know if that's good or bad... come back next week to find out!

 

[DjQuick2008]

This 1 is good i enjoyed it even better than T.E which i grew up with youll definitely love
it if your into this genre of arcade sport.

 

[PupinDaTurd]

This 1 is good i enjoyed it even better than T.E which i grew up with youll definitely love
it if your into this genre of arcade sport.

What's TE?

 

[PupinDaTurd]

Little late, but I've been good on it for a couple months so forgive me.

Lupin the 3rd is a pretty neat game, for what I played. You're going down the hidden underground part of a Pyramid that's like twice as deep as the Pyramid is tall above the ground. I presume you're trying to get to some great treasure at the bottom. Some other reviews and blurbs say it's like Tomb Raider but it's really not. The only similarity is you're running and jumping over pits and in a tomb, raiding it. I got a gun and bullets but didn't figure out how to shoot. When you get the first treasure thing in the second level Jigen and Goemon show up and start helping you fight so I didn't need to defend myself.
Raider had tank controls, this does not. It's actually more like Kingdom Hearts. You have Camera Turn on R and L and normal movement, plus an Action button that presses buttons or ducks traps, a Jump, and a Punch/Kick.

(Each level had a spinning 3D map showing the important objectives, and gameplay has a minimap)

I had some issues with the BizHawk emulator running this game. It would like to freeze up before, during, or after cutscenes, which kind of killed the enjoyment for me because I really like Lupin and the FMV are (I think) original anime clips. There's not a "Sage of the Pyramid" OVA or Movie so this is either from a single episode or completely original animation. I'll probably come back to this too one day. Apparently you can even change Lupin's jacket color but only Red was unlocked at the start which is OK. Red's my favorite.
Check this out if you're a Lupin fan, or just like classic video game content like jumping pits, punching enemies, and acquiring treasure.

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Game 9/52: 走り屋 ～狼たちの伝説~
(Racer - Legend of the Wolves)

To be level with you guys, I'm not very good at racing games. I don't expect I'll have a lot to say about this one unless it surprises me with a VN story mode or something.
See you at the finish line next week.

 

[PupinDaTurd]

Admittedly, the Retro Game Society thread has taken up most of my game time lately, playing Ico for PS2. I managed a little Hashiriya over the weekend but yeah, like I figured it's outside my taste. There is a VN-like story mode kind of thing that looks like it would be fun to follow like an Initial D episode or something but-
Otherwise it looks good I think. Controlled actually pretty well compared to some other racers that are too stiff or way too hard. I was actually ahead for a lap or two in this one.

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Game 10/52: Final Fantasy VIII

Damn. Don't think I'm beating this in a week! But I have been intending to eventually go back and play this. I've only ever started it and played a couple hours. Actually the only Final Fantasy I've ever finished is the first one...
The version I got on Random was a PSP eBoot but I'm gonna do the PSX one. Also it was a hack version that enables like PocketStation stuff? I'm interested in that because I hate when content is locked in a game behind shit like the Tingle Tuner or VMU but I've found that hacks usually don't have RetroAchievements and I kinda like those as a record of my play. So I might just do straight up vanilla VIII instead. I'll check into it.

See ya after class for the next game.

 

[doll_in_spell]

just got chrono trigger for the psp which is perfect because i have a modded ps vita and this is a game i would probably never try otherwise so i'll update when i spend 2 hours playing it!

Post automatically merged: Apr 22, 2026

just got chrono trigger for the psp which is perfect because i have a modded ps vita and this is a game i would probably never try otherwise so i'll update when i spend 2 hours playing it!

very happy update! i've been playing for like 3 hours and
its been super fun! i very much expected to not like this game like i do for a lot of turn based jrpgs but im totally hooked. during my play time i got up until you save the real queen and go back to the castle.

i decided to play with the real time combat and it was a great decision. the combat is super fun with all the quick decision making and strategic use of placement and abilities. having to manage your mp and health while you go through an area is very fun and reminds me of persona 5 palaces (even if though persona 5 could not keep me long enough to finish the game).

another thing that usually causes me to lose interest in jrpgs is the world outside of exploring and combat. like for example the millennial festival. the writing really did a good job of not letting me get board. a lot of jrpgs i've played it felt like the side npcs were very boring and there wasn't much of a point to talking to them which puts a lot of friction on wanting to continue but chrono trigger's npcs are interesting and don't try to tell you their life story. if something needs to be said it'll be within one or two interesting sentences and then you continue to the next person or you continue the main story. the main characters are also interesting so far and there hasnt been like "harmful stereotype character a, b and, c", they're all unique and bring something interesting to the group.

[transition word] the exploration is also a strong point. lots of rpgs (especially older ones) have random encounters after walking for a bit which annoys me sooo bad. instead chrono trigger has enemies that you can see and predict that feel like they're actually a part of the world. exploring the city and the castle was very fun. it feels like theres just enough enemies, items, paths, people, and puzzles for it to be interesting the whole way through without being too overwhelming. i also appreciate that the game doesn't hold your hand and it trusts that you're competent enough with games (and that you own the manual i guess).

the art and music is really good. i dont have much to say about it but i feel like it does a rally good job of immersing you in the world and giving its own personality.

extra little things at the end: i think the menus are pretty well made which is good for a game where you spend a lot of time in there. the menu moving sound is kinda grating but not terrible. it wouldn't let me save until i was in the middle of the castle (i probably missed a checkpoint) but it was okay because i didn't die before then. i also couldn't figure out why those guys were still blocking the entrance of the invention so i had to look up a guide and i just had to talk to a kid i already talked to which is meh.

OH YEAH I FORGOT ABOUT THE STORY im very interested to see where it goes and i think this premise is very good.

tldr: i didn't think i would like the game but it does a really good job of not doing the jrpg things that i dont like and a good job of doing the things i do like! like the combat, npcs, and exploration.

anyways im definitely gonna keep playing and i hope it stays as good as i think it is now!

 

[PupinDaTurd]

Oops. Tuesday went by fast.

OK, so it's Final Fantasy VIII. You guys know it already. It's the one that starts in the school with the swords that have guns on them, and the main character that Nomura turned Cloud into with Advent Children and later media. Yeah I said it. Most of how people think of Cloud is actually Leon. I mean Squall. Once again I didn't get very far at all. I just played Triple Triad motherfucker!

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Game 11/52: マジカル ポップン ( Magical Pop'n)

I've been slacking for the past few games.
This time: I'm going to beat it!

 

[PupinDaTurd]

Magical Pop'n is a hidden gem of platforming goodness on the Super NES.
This Japanese exclusive is a delight to the eyes and hands. Large colorful sprites with fluid animation and expressive movements dot the screen across six levels of familiar video game set dressings. The controls are tight and free-ing. The Princess can crouch, crawl, slide, jump, swing, roll up walls, attack in all four directions with her sword and while jumping as well, and the magical spells are on a quick select with L and R, no fiddling with menus during gameplay.
The Princess is a super cute character and even has cute voice acting for when she's looking upwards or crouching so long that she takes cover, pulling her big floppy hat over her face.

Overall, I enjoyed this game quite a bit...

Until the last level ran a gauntlet of a stage about four times longer than a normal stage and featured no less than six Sub-Bosses. Fortunately there are unlimited Continues because Lives are a bit hard to come by in this game even if it's kind of generous with HP restoring items and you can grow your total HP by finding Hearts in Chests. Hey that sounds familiar! On top of that, there is no Save or Password. You have to beat this bad boy in one session. Hope you can Pause and walk away for a break and the dog doesn't run into the controller cord jerking the system and cartridge.

I did beat it. I powered through the final Stage in all its monstrous, maze-like glory. It never really got too bad on being maze-like except for that final level. Eventually I found a route that returned me to the Final Boss quick enough and through repetition and memorization got to that enemy with the resources I needed and figure him out and lay him to rest, saving the Kingdom and returning peace to the land!

I give this game a solid 5 out of 7. Wish every Random Game Challenge was a title of this quality.

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Game 12/52: Winx Club - Secret Diary 2009

 

[HoyeBoye]

Let's try my luck with the Random button...

AV Bishoujo Senshi: Girl Fighting (Taiwan) NES ROM​

Initial reaction
Oh, I recognize Bishoujo Senshi as Sailor Moon. Sweet! Wait…
Girl fight?
Who’s that brunette scout with a pink ribbon?
Is that person wearing girl-type Ranma’s red shirt?
And is that Kodachi’s leotard?
Adult Content? Ah, bootleg. Now all the pieces fit.

My Review
I am not a fighting game connoisseur, but like Dr. Zoidberg, I am up for whatever. So I set the number in the Options menu to 2 (scale of 0-5, maybe 2 is easy?) And went to work!

For my first 30 minute play through, I wanted to pick a character I didn’t recognize. Turned out to be Hinako Ninomiya from Ranma 1/2, but when you file off her serial numbers, her name turns into Jean. I am matched against Chun Li (yes, that Chun Li) who brings two of her signature moves to the game; the Lightning Kick and Spinning Bird Kick. I discovered the standard fireball move works and spam that until Chun Li is defeated, then I’m up against a green-tinted Sailor Mercury, AKA Sugico. Then on to girl-type Ranma (Ramma) who is wearing thigh-high boots and a bikini; the red tint and outfit of Ramma is giving off Sean Connery in Zardoz vibes.

At this point, I stop playing and let my character get beaten while I take some initial notes. While jotting down my thoughts, the demo starts to play and my tween daughter walks in. After one demo match, some "adult content" was displayed which is thankfully superficially mild (no nipples). My daughter commented “She’s pretty”, completely oblivious of the implied impending sexual assault as suggested by the pose, ripped clothes, and facial expression.

With the help of a Bootleg Games wiki, I learned who some of the characters are (or are supposed to be), and their signature moves. I decide to take Sugico and fight through the ranks on difficulty 2 of 5. Switching between her fireball and Strong Flip Kick, the latter of which create a bit of lag, I complete the game which just takes me back to the main menu. No cutscene. No congratulations. Not even some mildly suggestive content. Just menu. Further reading of the wiki revealed you have to be on difficulty 3 or higher. Gotta work for your smut.

For the characters I recognized, I appreciated the sprite animations. All of Kodachi’s (Vivian’s) poses were in rhythmic gymnastics poses, Sailor Mars (Janifer???) had some great kicks, and Ranma (Ramma) flew in the air after getting kicked in the same pose as in the show. But I suppose my praise should be directed to the original sprite artists and not the bootleggers who ripped and re-used them. I suppose the only praise I have for the developer is that all characters have a fireball move. Bravo!

As someone who does not play fighting games, I can't really speak to how it compares. Thinking about NES games that probably lacked a fancy co-processor, I'm pretty impressed. Each character gets two melee attacks and 3 special attacks, which sounds reasonable for the limitations. Decent frame rate. If all I had was an NES and I wanted a fighting game, this would definitely fit the bill for an afternoon. Otherwise, this game will only be played again if the subject of bootleg games comes up among my friends.

 

[PupinDaTurd]

Nice. Always glad to see someone else giving it a shot.

Alright so I couldn't even play Winx Club Diary or whatever. It had some kind of "Can't find Save Data" error I couldn't get past on the Title Screen. Needless to say, I didn't really try very hard to fix this.
Only thing to note is this is the only DS game I've ever played that made you hold the system like a book with the pages open. I don't think I'm missing much though to be honest.

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Game 13/52: Mike Tyson Boxing

This looks awful from the screenshots. It's an '02 GBA port of a '00 PS1 game.
The GBA was like the precursor to the Wii in the amount of shovelware slop it had in its library huh. Oh well, let's give it a whirl. Maybe I'll be surprised.
See ya next week after I go nine rounds with Tyson!