X68000, MSX, FM Towns, Thread

[Korian]

I always wanted to play the FM Towns version of Shadow of the Beast II. It looks a lot like the Sega CD version, but with added graphical details and much better cut scenes.

Not part 2 but damn there were a lot of versions. The Genesis looks like it has more parallax scrolling.

[Frogacuda]

I don't know how I feel about the FM Towns Shadow of the Beast games. They're interesting in that they're total remakes with much bigger, more detailed sprites, but it's just one of those cases where technical improvements aren't necessarily artistic improvements, and I always had a lot of love for the original's pixel art.

Also, I played the shit out of that Atari Lynx port. Hardly the best version of the game, but it was damned impressive for a handheld game at the time, and the Lynx didn't have many side-scrolling platformy games, so that did the job nicely.

[YellerDog]

I have neverrrrrr understood the whole Shadow of the Beast thing. It's always looked like one of those fake games from a TV show or something, like an "idea" of what a game is supposed to be without actually being the real thing. Cool cover, though.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

That game perfectly en-capsulizes everything both great and awful about Euro games all in one package.

[Yoshi]

Assuming they own them, Sony should bust out the old Psygnosis IPs on PSN.

[Frogacuda]

I have neverrrrrr understood the whole Shadow of the Beast thing. It's always looked like one of those fake games from a TV show or something, like an "idea" of what a game is supposed to be without actually being the real thing. Cool cover, though.

Play it again, but go left this time.

Shadow of the Beast didn't give you a lot of direction, it was a little hard to get your head around at first, but it was really an incredibly atmospheric game and that soundtrack is haunting.

That game perfectly en-capsulizes everything both great and awful about Euro games all in one package.

This is probably fair. It is the epitome of everything that Euro gaming was in the 16-bit era. The surreal aesthetic drawn from fantasy painters and heavy metal album covers, the eerie ambient MOD soundtrack that can't even begin to make sense on an FM chip, the non-linear gameplay that forced players to explore... And also stiff controls, brutal difficulty and a general lack of clear direction or hand-holding.

[YellerDog]

Nah, SOTB is still pretty gay dood. Your goggles are stuck.

note: I am extremely bigoted against old European games. (Because they are terrible.)

[Frogacuda]

They're definitely a lot more different from American games than most people realize, that's for sure. Culture gap and all that.

[bVork]

DID SOMEBODY SAY EUROPEAN GAMES!? The first SotB is very pretty but not fun to play. I don't think either of the sequels match the original's look and sound, but there's no question that they play a lot better.

But back on topic, I have an FM Towns computer. Ignore any hype you've read about Truxton II on the system. The graphics are 1:1 arcade perfect, and that's not a good thing. As there is no tate mode, this means you get the top portion of the arcade image cut off - but without any adjustment to the gameplay. That means the exact same enemy and bullet patterns, but with far less time to react since you can't see a lot of them until later than the arcade version. Ultima VI for the system remains my most desired game ever. It's Origin's first CDROM game, and most of the voice acting was done by the people who were the inspiration for each character. That means Richard Garriott voices Lord British, David Watson voices Iolo, and so on and so forth. It's really neat if you're into the history of Origin.

[Frogacuda]

Oh yeah, the FM-Towns had the best version of Zak McKracken, too. I guess that's worth mentioning.