Completion Thread: 2010 Edition

[Tain]

35. 999: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors



Could have used some seeerious editing down. Lots of bloated text for no good reason.

Still, pretty cool in the Phoenix Wright sense. Last puzzle should probably make you scoff.

[gameoverDude]

#37: Splatterhouse (Xbox 360) Story Mode, Savage Difficulty.

While the story starts off very similarly to the original, this isn't a retelling of the first Splatterhouse- actually it's a reboot. The Terror Mask's smack talking gets hilarious- it'll make some smartass comments as you're preparing to finish an enemy off with a Splatter Kill, and often has some comments about certain weapons you pick up. Some of the pictures of Jen you can find in the game show a bit of her naughty side.

The new SH is mostly beat'em up style action. Namco had already taken the series in this direction with Splatterhouse 3, but this one is more linear. Rick can now do a tackle & mounted punch combo straight out of Tekken. The Mask specials can be done as one-offs by holding LT and using X or Y- which is sometimes better than going into full Berserk and leaving your Necro meter empty. Certain platform sequences have jump nodes for you to aim at- just aim there, jump, and you're automatically on your way.

The three things I didn't like were the instant kills in a few parts of the game, the long ass loading screens that last about half a minute (every time you die!), and the occasional camera problems during fights. It did lock up on me once right at a save point- the 360 controller kept rumbling nonstop. This required me to power cycle the 360. Luckily my save data was not trashed.

Your progress in story mode unlocks the three original titles- clear chapter 2 for the arcade Splatterhouse, 4 for SH2, and 8 for SH3. Part 3 leaves out the digitized pictures from the actual Genesis version, and has redone character art in the cinemas due to some legal shit. The reboot isn't bad, and does deserve a sequel- the ending leaves it open for one.

[Compass]

the long ass loading screens that last about half a minute (every time you die!)

I can't believe we're still putting up with this in 2010. I might just have to stop buying any game with load times over ten seconds.

[gameoverDude]

Shadow Blasters was average, Mystic Defender on the other hand is very under-appreciated. Need to dig that out again sometime.

Mystic Defender has far better visuals and BGM than Shadow Blasters, and is definitely more challenging as well. I probably won't be playing SB again- it's the kind of game I would trade in after beating once.

[Geen]

Just beat Sonic Colors from casual playing it over two days. Not a bad game, but not the next coming of Sonic-Christ either. No interest in trying to get all S rankings or all the hidden emblem crap.

[Melf]

Mystic Defender has far better visuals and BGM than Shadow Blasters, and is definitely more challenging as well. I probably won't be playing SB again- it's the kind of game I would trade in after beating once.

I love Mystic Defender. It has that early Genesis release charm, and it gets pretty hard trowards the end. I need to check out Spellcaster and the Saturn sequel as well. Hmm, that has the makings of a good article...

[gameoverDude]

#38: Splatterhouse Part 3 (MD/JPN) Good ending on Default.

The quad spin kick is weaker in the Japanese version. You can not abuse it, since it does no damage. You hit B+C together to do it, unlike the Genesis one.
No wonder Namco rebooted the series- the good ending in part 3 doesn't leave room for the series to continue past that.

This one has a limited version of the Berserker ability which gives Rick a more powerful moveset (it doesn't refill his health OTOH- you find hearts to do that), and is not linear. After clearing a room out, you can see a map when you pause the game. Each level must be cleared within a time limit or something bad happens.

If Jennifer and/or David die, the mask will not be destroyed. It feeds on suffering- Rick's in this case. You end up with one of two bad endings or the worst ending depending on who died.

[NeoZeedeater]

I love Mystic Defender. It has that early Genesis release charm, and it gets pretty hard trowards the end. I need to check out Spellcaster and the Saturn sequel as well. Hmm, that has the makings of a good article...

There's a Saturn sequel? Or do you mean Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru ( which is similar but not from the same license)? Mystic Defender is very underappreciated, and a big improvement over Spellcaster.

[Melf]

Psychic Killer is a spiritual sequel of sorts, right? I meant that one. Unfortunately, there's no way I'll ever play a legit version, since it goes for so darn much.

[gameoverDude]

#39) Splatterhouse (arcade) 202,700 pts. Default, 1CC
It's definitely got more gore than the Turbo-Grafx/PC-Engine version. The cleaver from stage 1 in the arcade doesn't make it into that one (either because parents would shit over zombie heads being lopped off, or maybe so they could remove that animation as one of the needed cuts to help crush the 24 Meg arcade game down into a 4 Meg card. Hell, maybe both.).

Do, say, Taito's F3 games run perfect? There's a lot of 2D stuff in MAME that a Celeron 700mhz probably can't handle.

Some of the F3 games have imperfect graphics (Darius Gaiden doesn't have the cool tracer effect on the warp in zones G-J, there are no blackouts in Elevator Action II, and Ray Force has that invisible laser issue with one of the midbosses. Kaiser Knuckle is perfect in game, but the high score table is not visible.).