Comments 40

Re: Poll: Vote for Your Favourite Main Series Pokémon Games - 20th Anniversary Edition

LostHeaven

Look at how close the voting is! Every single game has its fans. How many videogame series with more than 20 titles can claim this?

Red/Blue probably is the most impactful game that I ever played, and I've been playing videogames since the ZX Spectrum. For many years, I considered titles such as Mario 64, Ocarina of Time or Super Metroid as the best videogames I ever played. But, after some introspection, I came to the realization that it was Red. It's simply a technological marvel. A game for a very limited portable console, with no colours, in a cartridge with little storage capacity and where every single bit mattered, the fact that such a rich universe was created, dozens of characters, each with their unique charisma, with an almost unlimited gameplay, is simply a miracle of inspiration.

Black 2/White 2 is the one that seemed to incorporate all of the previous games' best features. At the time, it seemed like the eauivalent of a "Best Of" album on the Pokémon universe. The 5th generation had the most interesting story, in my opinion.

Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire corrected every single thing that I disliked in X/Y, (the first and only Pokémon game that I did not enjoy, although I wouldn't consider it a bad game), and I'm still enjoying it today. I feel no need for a new Pokémon game yet, which is a testament on how polished ORAS is.

Re: Video: Get a First Look at the Pixelated Chaos of Shakedown Hawaii on 3DS

LostHeaven

@Nin10doh Thank you for sharing and answering my question.

I really can't understand it. I currently have around 40 games for the 3DS and, excluding Virtual Console ones, only 3 of them don't have 3D (Pokémon X, Pokémon OR and Pokémon Picross). Whether they're gems developed from scratch for the console such as Fire Emblem or Zelda, ports of PC or console games such as Street Fighter 4 or Smash Bros, or even indie games such as Shovel Knight, all of them found a way to implement stereoscopic 3D beautifully. Doesn't seem that complicated, honestly, but what do I know?... 😕

Re: Video: Get a First Look at the Pixelated Chaos of Shakedown Hawaii on 3DS

LostHeaven

@Gen0neD I might be one of the few who bought the 3DS first and foremost for the stereoscopic 3D. Still in love with it!
I understand why the first game didn't use the feature, as it was a port of a game that had been released for a while. Perhaps the extra work needed to implement 3D wouldn't be worthwhile.
This sequel is being created having the 3DS in mind, hence my hopes.

And yes: the first game is still well worth it! It's just a shame, because there's something about 2D or sprite based games that look stuning in stereoscopic 3D. If any of you have bought any of M2's remakes of Sega classics, you know what I'm talking about!

Re: Online Battles Coming to Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden in Japan

LostHeaven

I hope this does get released outside of Japan. The game's AI is unbelievably easy. You can win a battle with the game's weakest character (Raditz or Nappa) against a team with the strongest ones (Kid Buu, Majin Buu and Gotenks, for instance) and the difficulty set to the hardest setting, just by repeatedly pressing the Y button (weak attack). In fact, you can win every battle in the game and clear it just by doing this blindfolded. Try it. Absurd waste of money.

Re: Feature: What Can We Expect From Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire?

LostHeaven

Only now I noticed Joe is a Nintendo Life contributor! Great asset, top guy!

Regarding ORAS expectations: I'm already afraid that they will feature the single thing that truly disappointed in X&Y: the poorest implementation of 3D effects I ever seen in a 3DS game.
I used to think Game Freak ran out of time upon X&Y's development and weren't able to optimize the 3D feature, hence the severe frame-rate drops during battles and why it wasn't available outside of caves or even double battles. However, now that these games have been announced and it seems they won't support it yet again, I just don't know what to think. They should have had time to pick up where they left and optimize everything.

Of course, this didn't stop me from enjoying X, but I couldn't shake the feeeling I was playing something rushed and half-finished, particularly after having played works-of-art like Fire Emblem: Awakening that seemed to use almost every feature of the 3DS to their full potential…

Still looking forward to ORAS, nonetheless

Re: The Nintendo Phone Almost Happened A Decade Ago

LostHeaven

Good God, if this ever became a reality at that time, it would be Nintendo's piece of hardware that aged the worst. It looks butt-ugly!
Then again, it wouldn't really be a Nintendo hardware, it would simply run its software, which is pretty much the buzz that has been going around as of late.
The point is: it's pretty amazing how most of Nintendo's hardware seems to have aged so well, aesthetically speaking.

Re: Harvest Moon: Connect To A New World Shows Us How To Get Started

LostHeaven

@Zombie_Barioth @64supermario
It's a bit hard to explain in a rational manner. I guess the Game Boy Colour version (alongside the SNES one) was the one that defined what an Harvest Moon game should be about, to me. The game's mechanics were simple and addictive, as were the perfect controls. The graphics were beautiful and, despite the drawbacks that we now see in the Game Boy Colour's screen, it was pretty darned amazing and revolutionizing at the time to be playing an handheld game like that in colour. The sprites were sharp and pixel perfect. The best I've ever seen in the series. There was a simplicity in the gameplay (probably unintended and caused by the hardware's limitations) that actually made it feel more enjoyable than other iterations where the sum of all the new features and gimmicks just don't add up to a better gaming experience. Just like many other games in this generation, less was more.
I didn't enjoy Friends of Mineral Town as much as the GBC one, but this doesn't mean I didn't like it. It was a great game and an improvement on its predecessor in many ways. However, something that really bothered at that time with it were the graphics, which always seemed fuzzy and blurred, unlike on the GBC, where everything was sharp and clear. This is very likely a problem of mine because I usually prefer sharp, albeit jagged, visuals to smooth and slightly blurry. The biggest example I can give you regarding this is Advance Wars 2. I loved and adored the original Advance Wars game. Easily clocked more than 1000 hours overall and I'm just waiting to finish Fire Emblem Awakening to pick my GBA and start a new campaign. When Advance Wars 2 was released, which seemed to be pretty much a slight improvement on the first one, with a couple of extra units and a new story, one would expect I would be delighted with it too. Well, to this day, I still can't play the game. I felt the same thing with Friends of Mineral Town: something was made to the game's graphics that made them look extremely soft and blurry, like there's a coat of vaseline on top of the GBA's screen. I got used to it on FOMT (it wasn't as noticeable), and was able to enjoy the game. Never got to go past it on AW2, to much of my frustration, because I know there's an incredibly good game beneath the looks.
I was very excited when I bought A Wonderful Life but struggled a bit with the shift to 3D. I knew this was bound to happen, sooner or later, but I just never got the feeling I was playing an harvest Moon game. I also didn't care much for the game's visuals, which looked outdated to me at the time, adding to the feeling that switching to 3D didn't benefit the game that much.
Magical Melody (I only played the Wii version, not the original one. I think the only difference was the added suport for motion controls, though) was the closest I came to enjoy a HM game as much as the GBC version. I appreciated that they took a step back from the previous games and returned to the original art-style. I found the visuals much better than AWL's (again, not sure if it has something to do with it being the Wii port). It was a good game, it just didn't captivated me as much as the original.
I never got to play Tree of Tranquility. I think this was when I started losing hope on the series and became fatigued. I also feel the series art-style have been becoming increasingly more infantile, which has nothing wrong with it, it's just something I don't appreciate; others might.
As for the Nintendo DS version, I remember I got it almost at the same time as I bought Animal Crossing: Wild World (which was my first AC game and quite blew my mind, at the time) and, although surely being different games, they had some elements in common and I felt AC was more inovative in the way it approached them. Overall, it really made me feel I was playing a DS game, whilst HMDS reminded me of a slightly updated Mineral Town.
I didn't enjoy Island of Happiness at all due to the stupidity of making you have to use the stylus to control the character. I feel this was unneeded and didn't benefit the game at all. I found it made it needlessly harder and frustating, specially when you were trying to water a particular vegetable, or seed in a certain spot with precision.
The last game I played on the series was Hero of Leaf Valley. I bought it more in hope that a PSP version could mean an improvement over the last ones I had played, but I found it the opposite. It was the Harvest Moon game I enjoyed the least and sold it soon after I bought it. Again, didn't enjoy the artstyle, the full 3D and the controls.
I didn't play another Harvest Moon game released since Island of Happiness (with the PSP exception). Also didn't play the games released on Sony's home consoles, so I admit I might have missed a good one that would have made me change my mind.
Then again, some days ago I was browsing the 3DS pre-owned shelf at a GAME store, and found a copy of A New Beggining. I felt tempted to buy it but, as soon as I start paying attention to the art-style (really looks like bad manga) and screenshots, I become fearful of wasting money in something similar to my last experiences.

@PrincessEevee9 I'd still like to know what the hell does cancer has to do with this.

Re: Intelligent Systems Development HQ Image Emerges

LostHeaven

Not a mention to the "Wars" series?! Serious momment of brain flatulence there

Amnesia aside, I'm overjoyed to see Intelligent Systems grow. One of my favorite developers of all time, from Super Metroid to my 2013 GOTY Fire Emblem Awakening. Can't wait for the first 3DS Advance Wars game!

Re: River City Ransom

LostHeaven

This game is AMAZING! One of NES' best games. It's so rare to find one, I tried forever with no success. I never had the opportunity to play it on the GBA, so this is a must download for me. Barf!

(if this one is released, then Nintendo World Cup Soccer must be next)

Re: R-Type

LostHeaven

Ok, I'm stuck for ages on level 4, it's just amazingly difficult. I guess all these years playing child-easy games took the skill out of me...

Anyway, the game is very good. I too agree with the music part. I actually found myself humming the first level music one day without noticing it! For it's 600 points, and for the challenge it represents, it's a good purchase.

Re: Kirby's Avalanche

LostHeaven

In my honest and impartial opinion, the Kirby version is slightly better than the Robotnick one. The music on Robotnick is kind of... outdated. And the graphics are not as good, as the game suffered from that "grainy" sindrome late Genesis/ Mega Drive games had.

Only downside, indeed, is the fact you can't play it with the Wiimote. But those who try to blame it on some malefic conspiracy to get your money need to pull their act together. How many SNES games can you play with the Wiimote? Enough said -.-

Re: Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels

LostHeaven

I bought it before Nintendo remembers to remove it from the shop, like they did on the Euro version xD

I haven't had time to play much, so I'm not going to rate it now, but I can say this is like a SMB remixed and improved. It's like playing the game for the first time! This should be enough to earn your 600 points ^^

Re: R-Type

LostHeaven

I think I just suck at shoot 'em ups, I struggled just to pass the first level.

The game seems indeed to be very hard, but that's an advantage in my opinion. I will need to play it some more until I'm able to give it a rate, but so far I'm enjoying it.

Re: Super Metroid

LostHeaven

It's out now, just go get it. Probably the best week of the VC's life xD

I promissed myself to only download it after I beat Metroid I (also purchased it for the VC), and I will do so. What better motivation to finish a game?

Re: Metroid

LostHeaven

I'm a huge fan of the Metroid series (I regard Super Metroid as the best videogame ever made), but never owned the NES version. I did play the GBA's remake though.

I ended up downloading it, and I think it's worth the 500 points. The visuals show it's age, but aside from that, it's pure Metroid. You just have to commit on playing the game, it starts paying off in the middle levels.

Re: Battle Lode Runner

LostHeaven

I also played Lode Runner on the Gameboy and it was a good surprise. If you like puzzle games this has a very interesting gameplay. It can get pretty hard sometimes, but that's a good challange in my opinion. I'm very curious to know how the multiplayer works out!

Re: Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting

LostHeaven

I remember having spent something like $90 USD for this game the day it was released here in Portugal. It was the most expensive videogame I ever purchased, but the money was well spent, I played this forever with my friends. Watching the video just brought the nostalgia back xD

For 700 points it just seems a bargain now!

Re: Super Metroid

LostHeaven

Best videogame ever made.

This had to be played on it's time, it was an experience like no other. The dark and futuristic visuals, the incredibly immersive music, the complexity of the maps, the bosses...

It's still a must download for the VC, just don't expect to feel the impact you would 13 years ago.

Re: Kirby's Dream Land 3

LostHeaven

This game is sweet! It really shows some of the great capacities of the SNES, just check out the cartoonish effects of the game. A must download of the SNES games.