sdelfin

I consider myself lucky in that I don't feel a strong pull from such bonus content. I understand why some are compelled to do everything in a game. I do feel it too, but it's not a strong feeling for me. I've long ago approached Zelda games with the mindset of only doing side quests that aren't ridiculous and sticking with the main quest as much as possible. It may be because I always had a strong preference for straightforward arcade-like design. I have only vague memories of this figurine section, but that's because once I realized what a slog it would be, I simply didn't bother. I have reminded myself that optional bits are optional. I have absolutely no problem with finishing a Zelda game with missing hearts.

Is the Japanese cover a mess? Yes, but it's a glorious mess. I love it. It's so '90s in the best way. It also just looks fun, like they're throwing a party for the hats. That's in contrast to the decidedly un-fun NA cover. The "What is it?" on the Japanese cover really put it over the top for me too. I couldn't vote for Japan fast enough, both because I hate the NA cover, but also because I genuinely like it.

This is an odd coincidence as I just bought these a few days ago after randomly thinking about them one day. I ended up looking them up for PC and saw they were on sale both on Steam and GOG. I ended up going with GOG so that they are mine forever(maniacal laughter). I haven't really had much time to game lately so I haven't played beyond the opening sequence of Asylum but it seems cool and it was just nice seeing it running since I'm not running Windows which makes things a bit less straightforward.

From the review, I'm leaning toward getting this one and will look into some more reviews and videos to learn a bit more, especially more about the secondary weapons. The pixel art is very nice. While I think grab moves tend to make beat-em-ups better and most of the best games in the genre have them, I have played plenty of very good ones without them, with both Konami Turtles arcade games, the 16-bit ports of them(different enough to be worth mentioning), X-Men arcade, and Knights of the Round coming to mind right now. All of those I enjoy quite a bit. They also each have other signature features that counter the loss of grabs. So it's not a deal breaker to me, but it is worth knowing.

As others have said, the comic-panel thing doesn't really seem to matter here. Also, the comic aesthetic isn't as striking or distinct now, due to digital art and coloring, as it was back in the day when they used the four-color process. That was a case of a limitation that shaped the product and became its signature look. As such, Comix Zone looked more authentic, unique, and inventive in terms of presentation.

I always liked Nintendo Karen and her fictional thought process. To be fair, that rooftop party was probably pretty boring before she got there. I also thought the casting was well done and that whoever played Karen did a good job in her role. She had good expressions, but also seemed natural.

I don't think either cover is especially good, but just like another commenter above, I also don't like the upside-down character for the Japanese cover. The yin-yang concept seems better in theory than in execution on the cover. It just doesn't work for me. Because of that, I chose the western cover as the better of the two.

@KingMike That's a pretty good response, creatively speaking. I have to give you credit for that one.

None of these are what I would consider good. The NA black-box design, even when it's silver, is terrible in my opinion. Also, why is there a magnifying glass as part of the "Password Pak" banner? Europe is better because it doesn't use the pixel art, which is especially bad for the game's NA box compared to other games, but it's still not a great layout. And that leaves Japan as the winner! I don't think it's all that good — just boring, really — but it's the one I think is the best of this bunch.

I had Croc when it was new on Saturn but didn't like it due to the camera. I found out years later the PS1 version has a better camera setup. I had an odd urge to revisit Croc several years ago(PS1 version). I was specifically in the mood for a basic 3D platformer with d-pad/tank controls. I ended up having a good time with it. I'm glad to see Croc remastered. There's value in improving it by adding a modern control option, along with offering the original controls, along with other updates.

I also revisited another 3D platformer some time later, a much more famous and popular 64-bit platformer featuring plumbers(supposedly), and I had a miserable time with it. I'm only speaking for myself, but I just did not enjoy it and I mention just for the sake of contrast. I look forward to this, though I wonder if I'll be able to run it on the old GPU I just bought(I truly am retro!).

@ITAFTRS First of all, thank you for the correction. I saw a listing for the game showing the pixel art that was stated to be Norway and/or Scandinavian. I don't know if Norway got a different box from Sweden. It's also possible the listing I saw was just totally wrong. Looking further into it, it appears it may have been the French box.

@Daniel36 You're definitely right that there were sub-variations of the boxes within Europe. I just wanted to correct that one thing as Nintendo was still refining their US box designs. I think there's a bit of editorial discretion that applies with these for the sake of making a better poll/brawl when it comes to selecting the European boxes.

In doing a quick check on this one, it looks like the Scandinavian box was also the pixel graphics like the US box.

If I see a black-box game in one of these polls, there's a 99.999 percent chance I'm voting for a different option. I don't think they have very good design, much of that coming from the blown up pixel art. That applies here. I think the European cover is not a good use of the available space. So Japan wins for me!

@Daniel36 It doesn't look like that method, circle vs. oval, can be applied to these early games. There are many images out there showing early US boxes with the circular seal logos.

@Mgalens I suspect they would use the PS1 version as the base. It sounds like it was the main and best version. I either was not aware or forgot about the PS1 version having the most music. On top of that, the camera is a bit zoomed out for PS1 compared to the Saturn which makes a positive difference in gameplay. The camera was quite frustrating to me on the Saturn. I revisited Croc a few years back, but the PS1 version, and had fun with it. That camera placement really helped a lot.

What comes to mind for me is if this is a situation they would rather conceal, and they may not care about that, then whoever set these up should remember to disable the operating system's sound effects. I don't particularly like those sound effects anyway, so I turn them off any time I install a new operating system.

I love that this project exists. I have no personal connection to these figures, and you can't preserve everything, but it seems like a good call to preserve these Nintendo-related figurines. I love this particular use of modern technology to preserve these digitally and allow people to make their own via 3D printing.

This is a case where I think the longer Japanese box works against it as far as the composition. The western box art fits the narrower format rather nicely. The extra stuff on the Japanese box does not lead to better composition to me. Less is more applies here, so the western box gets me vote.

I do see why people would think it's a "blatant" clone. And if people think that, they can pass on it. In some ways, it's continued an old tradition of game development from back in the 1980s of copying other games and making minor changes. Some games then were pretty close to existing ones on other systems and a bunch of top developers did that. As the stages are not copies and there are graphical differences, to me that's enough to be fine. Especially now, so many years later, there are bound to be more games that look similar than in the past. If you look at Zelda Link to the Past, the visuals in that have become a template for a lot of indie games now.

In this case, the Christmas vibe actually detracts for me as far as overall appeal, but that's just a matter of taste.

The one thing I determined right away is that I liked Japan's the least. The other two are very similar, so I thought about it for a bit. Europe's cover is a bit more cluttered, but it's not a huge difference and you could argue the additional things are at least informative. I'm not fond of the tag line for the NA cover. Despite that, I like the graphic design for the Euro cover more, from the shade of purple of the background, so the frame designs and shapes showing the different elements. It was Europe that got my vote.

I always find it amusing when people go out of their way to criticize places like California while also losing the plot. That isn't to say California is above criticism, but the framing tends to expose a lot of of hypocrisy and ignorance behind it. If you talk to Californians, you'll get a mix of responses including those that are very happy with the conditions in the state including metrics that are objectively better than other states. One of the issues, of course, is cost of living, but that partly stems from supply and demand issues. There are ways to address it, but influential people are desperate to avoid doing that.

As for the law, I think it's good that there is a clarification going forward. Digital distribution is as good or as bad as the specific service. Steam has been great for me and I have no hesitation in using it. In fact, they just updated their user agreement to eliminate arbitration for disputes which I perceive to be a positive move. I do favor GOG though and tend to buy there when I can because as the games are DRM free, as long as I save the installer files, I do own the game. I prefer physical over digital for audio and video content and buy more DVDs and BDs now than I ever did. But as games are often released incomplete or buggy requiring large patches, and with DLC coming later, physical media is a tougher sell for gaming. It's great when it works out, but there are many big downsides to physical media due to the realities of modern gaming. But I've been very happy with digital games on the PC side.

Europe's cover is just a mess. I suppose cramming characters everywhere technically qualifies as composition, but it's not good. Japan's cover benefits quite a bit from the wider frame compared to the NA cover. Japan is the easy choice for me.

@SmaggTheSmug Yeah, MSH vs. SF may be the sweet spot in the collection. It feels a bit more refined and maybe more forgiving than X-Men vs. Street Fighter, aside from the boss fight, but it also feels just right in terms of the gameplay. While MvC1 is still very good, I didn't think the additions made it a better game. While X-Men vs. Street Fighter is a bit less refined, it's not by much and is worthwhile if you like the roster(which I do prefer).

Personally, I don't miss CRTs. They were unwieldy above a certain size. I had some really mixed luck with various monitors only lasting a handful of years. The very last CRT I had was an early HDTV, so it was garbage from a retro-gaming perspective anyway. It was also over 200 pounds. The only thing I'd like to temporarily have a good CRT for is to compare it to an emulation setup and get the scanlines and everything as close as possible. I'm curious how close it can get, but it would also be nice to have the reference. If it's not possible to match the CRT, I'd be okay with that since it would still look very good. As for lag, with quality emulation and enough CPU power(typically not all that much), you can subtract the lag the emulator adds and it works really well. You can get virtually lag free gaming, at least for the 8-bit and 16-bit systems. I haven't tested where the limit is with that.

@Inaroomalone That's right. Thanks. I have a tendency to forget about that one. As a port, it's okay. It does a lot right, but it's also lacking in a lot of ways. Some of that is typical of ports at the time, but some things simply could have been done better, like the color use. One of the biggest problems I had with it when I played it was it was missing the combo variations that end with throws which are a huge part of crowd control in that game. The arcade version is so much better in this case that it really is a great thing that it's finally available.

Punisher is an excellent beat-em-up and a definite highlight here. It's popularity here comes a bit from never having a home version before, unlike the rest of this collection. As for the one-on-one fighters, X-Men vs. Street Fighter is my favorite of this bunch. Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter is excellent as well, but the roster is a mixed bag. Marvel Super Heroes is also great, especially if you want a break from the tag-team action and want a straightforward three-round setup. It's a good bit harder on default. I do like how it uses the Infinity Gauntlet saga as the setting and it's cool having to beat Dr. Doom and Thanos. The other games are fine. MvC1 is good, but I didn't love all its changes. MvC2 is well liked, but I hate those backgrounds, so I don't play that one.

On the on hand, the Japanese one highlights Tom Hulett and Simon Lai as the producers(how odd). But on the other hand, the two guys on the cover are so lifeless. The cover also barely depicts anything about the game. The NA cover does have "20th Anniversary" on it which counters the producer credit. It's also just better. NA for the win!

More than ever, it seems like a constant struggle for game developers to balance the length and amount of content in their games. Luckily, I think it's easier to reach different groups. There seems to be a larger audience now for shorter, retro-style experiences. There are plenty of options for those that like longer games. I think the hard part for the players is figuring out or finding the games for them.

I get the idea of value for money being correlated to time spent in the game. A good long game must feel like an excellent value. The problem is some games can feel overly long, and that's not value. Going back to the Gamecube days, I loved Wind Waker. Some people thought it was too short and unfinished. When Twilight Princess came out, it was common to hear it was 40+ hours of gameplay. 40 was like the new thing then and was considered hefty. For me, it felt like a slog, just stretched out specifically to reach a certain length. And plenty of people love it, so that's fine. It was not that it was badly made, but I have no fondness for it. I just bought Shadow of the Ninja Reborn on Steam last week. I think it was $18. I beat it for the first time within 24 hours, but I already felt like I got my money's worth. I went and beat the game several more times, and got a lot better along the way. I yelled at the game a number of times too. I had a great time. A lot of my favorite games are short, but are also games I can play over and over. Punisher arcade, which just finally came to home systems, is a game I can literally play over and over without taking a break and it will never stop being fun for me. But I can totally understand it being too short for many people, even if they like arcade beat-em-ups. I thought Streets of Rage 4 did a great job of making a beat-em-up game longer without hurting the enjoyment. In SoR4, I can play two or three longer stages and feel a similar level of satisfaction compared to a full run of something like The Punisher, so they struck a great balance, in my opinion.

For 3D stuff, Metroid Prime is one of my all-time favorite 3D games and the 15-20 hours to beat it felt just about perfect to me. Other 3D stuff I enjoy, like the Tenchu games are level based with less narrative, so it's easier to jump in and out which makes it easier to add length without feeling long.

Punisher is up there among the greats in the beat-em-up genre. Fantastic to see Capcom include it. It's one of the best.

I don't love everything here, but it's a great package. For me, aside from Punisher, the stars are Marvel Super Heroes(especially for its traditional two-round structure), X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. Marvel vs. Capcom is good, but I felt like the previous three were just right, so I didn't love some of the changes and additions as much. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 didn't interest me for a number of reasons, including the music and the 3D backgrounds not being to my taste. I didn't like the backgrounds in Capcom vs. SNK 2 either. But people love MvsC2, so this is a great package.

A school friend showed me X-Men: Children of the Atom when it was new in arcades at a shop near his house. It drew a crowd for sure. I couldn't keep up with the action, but it sure was pretty. It was the first time I saw the CPS2 in action, or the first time I cared as I wasn't interested in Street Fighter Alpha. The only issue was that my enthusiasm for Marvel was already fading when they went on this run. A few years later, I became a devoted SNK King of Fighters fan as I found their characters more appealing. But these are quality games in their own right, and it sure was impressive when it was new.

@bobby_steurer I think this is a good place to jump in. First of all, if you like the characters and the presentation, then you're more likely to stick with it. I think the games are beautiful and well made, so even when I lose I'm enjoying it. These games also come from a time when Capcom was trying to keep their fighting games accessible, starting from Street Fighter Alpha. They wanted casual players to be able to enjoy them, so they're not overly complicated. Worth mentioning, the games in the collection tend to get easier, specifically Marvel Super Heroes is much tougher on its default setting than X-Men vs. Street Fighter, with Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter seeming even easier on default to me, though it has a tougher final boss, as examples. Then, of course, you should be able to adjust the difficulty settings of each game too, so you can lower it until you get better. Capcom's control inputs are pretty forgiving on these games, and the combo system is intuitive.

To the point, I don't like any of them, so my vote is for the one that is least bad. The NA cover is a bit messy because of the trainer face at the top. The Euro cover is the one I think is the best. The desert background doesn't add much since everything looks disconnected from it, but I think the lighter color of the background ends up working out best for this game's cover design.

@Nintendo4Sonic You may have already realized this as it's been a few days since you commented, but just in case you haven't, the game does save your progress, but they decided to do it in a strange way. You have to die in the game and then choose to quit. Then it will save your progress. It's a clunky way to do it, and that's an understatement on my part, but at least it works. I got bit by it last night when I finally sat down with the game on Steam and got a crash in stage four. The game froze and I had to reboot. As I did that stretch all in one sitting, I had not quit the game and had no progress at all saved. I wasn't as hot about it as I should have been, so I guess that's good.

If you take a look, the comment right above mine explains the same thing about the saves to someone else. It's definitely something they should have thought more about. It's probably the biggest flaw of the game. I've seen some really silly complaints beyond that.

I got to the North American cover and thought to myself, this is pretty generic and is just missing something. Then I scrolled down to Europe. While I thought the focus on the ship was better in concept, though still generic, I thought the execution was lacking there as well. So I thought, this should be an easy win for Japan. And then I scrolled down. I wasn't digging that one either. So this is a week when I don't really like any of them. I'd say the one I dislike the least is the North American cover, so that gets my vote this week.

I've been looking forward to the review, and to the game itself. I wish I was more aware of Natsume back in the day so I could have known where to direct my mom's money. I have since come to appreciate Natsume as one of my favorite developers ever. A friend let me know about this one after I had played and loved Shatterhand/Solbrain. Shadow of the Ninja started off a lot tougher, but once I got used to it, I loved it too. I was able to beat it legitimately some years back, maybe 2017-2018, but I have to hone my skills back to that for this remake. But it was very doable. I looked on Steam, and the only negative review so far points out that it's old(and I assume too hard for them), so that's a great sign of the quality and design I like.

I love Tengo project and their updates to the old games. My only complaint was that Ninja Saviors took four years to come to PC for some odd reason unlike all their other games.

@Serpenterror A collection of Capcom vs. SNK could work if you include all three Capcom games, SNK's arcade game, SNK's Neo Geo Pocket fighting game, and the various card battle games. The second one never did get an official English release. That wouldn't be a bad collection. But that's just a thought and the games have come out in other ways and most of them are now available which is the most important thing. It probably is easier to do it with each company releasing their versions on their own.

Japan is way better this week. Whatever issues it may have with its layout, such as the Treasure logo covering some (useless) text and the game title being a bit small, it's still far better as a game cover.

The western cover isn't badly drawn, but that image doesn't work as a cover for me. Plus, the limited space available for the artwork just kills it. The framing is so tight it just crushes it. The logos make it worse. If the perspective was pulled back a bit, so there was a bit more space around Astro Boy and he wasn't cropped by the edges(who thought that was a good idea?) The NA cover is a bit better because it doesn't have five logos on the bottom like the Euro one does, with one being the size of two logos. But even with that change, I'd still pick Japan because the other issues remain.

Capcom really hit their stride with beat-em-ups in 1993 with The Punisher and Cadillacs & Dinosaurs, both of which are some of the best ones they ever did. Both of those have their strengths and weaknesses, but they are both excellent. Glad to see Punisher get a home release of some kind. It's also surprisingly manageable on default settings, so a 1CC as a previous poster mentioned is realistic, perhaps even easy for serious players.

Wow! 30 years. KOF reignited my enthusiasm for 2D fighting games in 1998. I played a lot of other fighting games, but there was always something missing for me. This includes Capcom as some of their decision making and presentation put me off, and I was down on Marvel stuff when they were doing those. Don't get me wrong. Capcom did excellent work. A friend of mine wanted to show me a Street Fighter 3 cabinet when he finally found one at a local shop. While it was technically impressive, the designs did nothing for me. Right next to it was a KOF 97 cabinet and I loved everything about it, especially the stylish character designs. It was one of those moments when I fell in love with a game immediately without playing it. When I finally did play it, it turned out to be excellent in gameplay as well(I love that roll). KOF 97 and 98 remain among my favorite fighting games to this day.

I see others in the comments with the same thoughts I had. The description of the premise and some of the game mechanics make me think this likely won't be for me, but the idea is clever and the presentation looks nice to the point where I definitely am curious how it turns out. Hopefully it ends up being a good experience for those who are interested in what this game eventually offers.

As I scrolled through the options and reached Japan, I instantly knew that was the one. Fastest decision I've ever made. The classic anime look is my favorite, and it's very stylish here. That is a box I would be compelled to pick up. I want to pick it up right now.

The other two are not bad. I like the Probotector designs. They're posed, but posed well. The way it's shaded and colored is so soft and it looks flatter than I think it was intended to be. The NA one goes for a dynamic layout, so kudos there. The composition is very good. I really like the enemy with the teeth. But it also looks overly soft. The main character looks a little off. Maybe it's the way the shading is done, or perhaps it's what we can see of his expression. That's one place where the anime aesthetic(or an authentic western comic book style, which this is not) would add something as the way the character is drawn just comes across as generic and lacking in appeal to me.

I'm definitely not the target audience for this. I don't go to the movies anymore, and I know very little about Borderlands. Obviously, the reviews are not good, and that seems to be both critics and regular people. As others have said, there didn't seem to be a lot of buzz about it. I had not heard this was a thing until a few days before its release. On top of that, the promotional shots like the one above don't look particularly good to me. I don't know if the casting is good or not. It just looks like a bunch of mostly recognizable people playing dress up. It looks cheap to me. And then I wonder if the timing for a Borderlands movie, as the game series seemed to be more popular years ago, so timing is a factor here too, if it was ever a good idea.

Having more "stuff" on a cover doesn't always make it better, but in this case, it does. I've always been indifferent to the "classic" North American gold Zelda box arts like this one. Frankly, I find the box designs lazy. I get it, those games sold themselves, but that doesn't make their boxes good. In this case, NA is covered in logos, so it's not only boring, but doesn't even get the benefit of the "clean" design. Europe's is a bit more interesting, but it has the same logo problem, and the image of Link with one eye open is a bit odd as some have said.

Much like with other Zelda box art polls, I voted for Japan. I think it's clever how they split the box art in half with the sword as the divider. That hurts the overall composition a bit, but the art and character designs are very strong and I find the Japanese box to be the most appealing.

@Zeldork I had to go back and double check that it said he played all the western released games for each platform, so that would explain the omission of Rondo of Blood. That is an amazing game and is my favorite of the pre SOTN Castlevania games. I know Alien Soldier got a European release, but not in North America, and that is, in my opinion, one of the best games of the era.

There's no getting away from bias and taste for something like this. It is subjective, after all. Super Metroid is very good, but it's not upper echelon for me. Contra 3 is great, except for the Mode 7 stages, which really mess with me. I'd put the likes of Castlevania Bloodlines and Shinobi 3 pretty close to the top. Ranger X is another strong effort too. On the SNES side, aside from typical heavy hitters, I recently played Cybernator which was great. And I never get tired of playing The Ninja Warriors for the system.

Japan's box is well drawn with excellent composition. However, I prefer the more dynamic image for the NA cover, and that is enough to get my vote.

The main character's pose looks more awkward when he's alone o the cover. It works better with the other characters there. There's also a significant amount of wasted space on the bottom of the Euro cover, and too many logos overall. So it's NA/Japan for me.

Regarding the switch to a more typical anime aesthetic, I would say the actual art is very good. The issue is that it's not necessarily the best fit for Castlevania. Kojima's art was especially moody and seemed like a perfect fit for the game. If this anime style was for a different game, I don't think it would get as much criticism. It's technically very good and far from ugly as far as I'm concerned.

They both have things going for them. The composition is not great for either of them. For the western cover, the design of Arremer is kind of odd as far as his facial expression. But it's well made and it looks like the artist put some effort into it. The Japanese cover is simpler in style, but it's also more stylish. I think that little bit of anime style is more appealing, and I think this is a case where it's important to make the main character as appealing as possible on the cover. I also like the enemy designs more on the Japanese cover and recognize them from the game. Based on that already, I think the Japanese one is better, but there's still the logo which is much better on the Japanese cover.

I'm not on top of things enough to know where SVC Chaos fell short and I'll take people's word for that, but I did enjoy it when I played it. I would have liked it to have had the roll move from KOF as it felt like it should be there. I always preferred SNK's stuff to Capcom once I discovered KOF, and one reason for that is the really stylish sprites. Don't get me wrong as Capcom had excellent sprite work as well, especially the Marvel stuff. I just have a soft spot for the SNK renditions of the Capcom characters which generally look great. To be fair, both companies seemed to do a good job in how they treated the other's characters. I also liked the idea of the two different end bosses. Athena seemed easier to me, but that might have been luck.

Some would say that Japan is too cluttered, and that would be fair. While there's less on the western box, it's not much less cluttered in terms of overall composition. The Japanese cover is better. It has a fun vibe. The flat, unshaded art is more appealing for Kirby. The NA cover isn't bad for what it is as far as finding a way to depict pinball. As I said, composition is not great, but it's not bad. But Japan's is much better.

I didn't really think Mother Brain in Zero Mission was that big of a deal. Seems the poll respondents agree. I'm not saying I crushed it on my first try, but it did not strike me as much of a thing. I did, however, find the next section of the game annoying and detracted a bit overall. In fact, that to me is a better justification for save states and rewind in Zero Mission. I think Fusion is the better game overall on GBA, but if it was close for me, that stealth section would have been the deciding factor and not to Zero Mission's benefit. It's still good though.

I am a big fan of save states and rewind. I haven't used rewind in a while, but those are great things and I think they improve many games. There's nothing stopping anyone from going on to master games without them. I've gone on to beat a number of games, some which are considered very tough, without those tools because I enjoyed them and the process. Plus, some games cheat, so I don't feel bad about evening things up a bit. But, states and rewind often makes things better in my opinion. Overusing them is possible and that can detract from the enjoyment. I'm aware of that and found the right balance for me, but I am very much in favor of these things.

Now that Tengen is back, I wonder(not really) if they'll offer repair or exchange on faulty Grind Stormer and Gauntlet 4 carts for the Genesis. Great games, but with faulty PCBs.

Sometimes, "because you can" is as good of a reason to do something as there is, and since Tengen was available, more power to him for registering it. I wish him luck answering all the questions about how it's pronounced as that is an issue that persists to this day.