sdelfin

@Ryu_Niiyama It's a very good controller and I saw some lag testing and it's very low. I can't vouch for it on the Switch, however. Unless something has changed recently, Switch compatibility for that controller is unofficial and last I saw required a bit of a workaround. I believe it required an extra purchase of some other receiver. I just wanted to point that out before you or anyone else spend money on without knowing what's involved.

Neo Drift Out is quite a surprise. I didn't think that would see a re-release. I wonder if they removed or modified the car makes and logos. It's a fantastic little arcade game. I've had a blast every time I've gotten to play it.

I voted for Lost Levels which is known for its difficulty. It's definitely hard, and consistent in that regard, though it was more playable than I imagined based on its reputation. Mario Sunshine just annoyed me with its overall design and the way the camera behaved. I wasn't having any fun, so I just stopped playing it. It sounds like its harder moments later in the game would have just made me angry.

This whole topic of difficulty is interesting because there are a number of ways to make a game challenging. Plus, 2D and 3D game design is very different. For some time, I could not decide whether I thought Super Mario 3 or Super Mario World was the best Mario game. Both have things going for them. I finally started to clearly favor SMB3 because the baseline difficulty was a bit higher(but not too high) to a level I found was more engaging, and was more consistent throughout the game and in how it ramped up. In SMW, most of the game feels a bit easy to me now, with just some of the secret exits and the secret levels providing sudden difficulty spikes. While that is a way to add challenge, as well as making it optional, I think it took away a little bit from the main stages. I still think it's an excellent game, but I do prefer SMB3 specifically due to the approach Nintendo took with its level design.

@artax33 Mario 1 and Lost Levels don't play quite right on All Stars due to a mistake in programming in regards to breaking bricks. There's a hack that fixes it. It doesn't make them unplayable, but they do feel different because of it.

But the main reason for this reply is those bubbles are tough to dodge. I find it more manageable to get to the right side before he shoots the bubbles so that I'm moving left when trying to dodge them since they're also going to the left and that makes it a bit easier to position the characters where there's an opening.

@bigpale No. I have seen others say the same. While I don't have a problem with the graphical updates for SMB3 and SMB2(USA) in All Stars, I really didn't like the graphical changes for SMB1 and Lost Levels. There are hacks that change the backgrounds graphics in those two so they look more consistent with the original, though in an updated style as opposed to all-new graphics they went with. And there are hacks that fix the block-breaking behavior which is way off in those two.

"(hearing him say "woohoo, just what I needed!" whenever he picks up an item never gets old)"

A lot of people would disagree on that one. I thought the voices got old after hearing it for a second time. I said it back when it was new and I'll say it again, there should have been an option to simply disable the new voices.

I just played through the NES version of SMB3 last week. I last compared the versions a year or two ago. I have thoughts. The GBA version is largely good. The audio is simultaneously better and worse than the SNES version. The zoomed-in view due to the fixed resolution of the GBA screen and the colors to compensate for the GBA's dark screen hurt this version. Also, the voice clips are annoying to many.

The SNES version is well done, though the updated graphics take away from the theme of the game being a stage play as there is a loss of consistency with that. The audio is a bit weak and muffled as is common on the SNES. Being able to save was a huge upgrade, though that is less of a factor now.

The lack of saving of the original NES hurts it in this comparison, though that's why the warp whistles exist which is how I originally beat the game, though I played most of the levels eventually as a kid. Modern save states mitigate that issue. While the SNES version looks great, I like the general aesthetic of the NES game as well. But it's the sound that I really love in the NES version. Every time I played the SNES game, I felt compelled to play the NES game too, and I realized it was because of the sound. The NES music and sound effects are just much punchier(I've seen others describe it the same way). The jump sound effect specifically is just so much better to me on the NES. Overall, I think the NES version as a whole is just the best package, especially now that saving is not an issue.

@AndyMcDonald In a strange coincidence, that's very similar to how I got the original DMG Game Boy. It was left behind at a restaurant that my grandfather ran and it was never claimed. It's how I've got an original Game Boy but have never owned Tetris, as Super Mario Land was in the slot.

It doesn't happen often, especially when there are three main choices, but I like them all. Japan's lags behind the others for me, though. The concept is the weakest one just shaping random things in the game into an egg. Some elements of that egg are reused too. The Euro and NA covers are both really strong. First, I love the art for the title itself(Japan's too). The Euro cover has a strong pose for the main Wario with interesting and detailed background art. Everything is well executed. NA is also extremely well executed. The art is strong and it succeeds in how dynamic it was intended to be. Some would say it's not as fitting for a cover image, but I think it works in this instance. So I voted for NA, though Europe's cover is very good and a close second for me.

I voted " Pffidunno shrugs ". It was kind of its own thing, but also not. I remember when it came out, it seemed like it was just a modest upgrade. It certainly wasn't the leap you'd expect from a next-generation device. That would come with the GBA. I wasn't into the Game Boy platform by the late 1990s. I was playing Neo Geo Pocket when the GBC came out and was very happy with that. But I remember the GBC made the Game Boy scene more interesting as I liked to read reviews to see what developers were doing as there were a number of examples of clever uses of the hardware. I've always had an appreciation for when developers found interesting uses for limited hardware or somehow managed something that was unexpected.

@Turbo857 I think the reason for the 4K resolution is to get clean integer scaling and better CRT filters. Also, as 4K TVs are more common, it also alleviates the need for the TV to do any of the upscaling itself.

My least favorite is the Euro cover. It has a good layout and concept, but it lacks something in execution for me. The art within the clock looks faded and cloudy, while the added reflection of the watch glass further takes away from the art. Basically, I think the artist went overboard with the clock design, and took it too literally in depicting it as a physical clock.

So that leaves NA and Japan. I voted for Japan due to the smaller border at the bottom which I think ends up working out better overall.

"We not overly keen on the logo itself, mind" Same here! Also, the tag line on the side "...order from chaos". And the giant border. Also, the key art with the pyramids and the lightning. Basically the nonsense minimalism for this cover. I'm not keen on basically all of it, but aside from everything, it's great.

Japan for me by a mile.

The western cover is okay. While basic in concept, the Japanese cover works much better due to the cookie jar and more cookies overall. It also has much better placement of its logos compared to the western cover where all the logos and things get in the way.

While I think Mario World is excellent and right up there with SMB3, so much better than mediocre, I also don't get on well with a lot of the titles many people often put forth as among the best on the SNES. I do like the SNES, but a lot of what I like to play are deeper cuts. But as for Mario World and Zelda:LttP vs. their Gameboy counterparts, issues with the SNES games could come down to pacing, action, and music. I always thought Zelda on the SNES was slow to really get started, and SMW also picks up steam a little slowly. The GB titles might also be a bit more action oriented, though I'd have to play them again to compare. But also, for all the capabilities of the SNES and its sound chip, sometimes the limitations left the music lacking in some way. I know that SNES games that go for an orchestral feel usually don't do much for me. I've played other major SNES games where the music was putting me to sleep. While simpler, the chip-generated sound on the Game Boy is often punchier, compared to the sample quality for the SNES in some cases. One of the reasons I prefer to play Super Mario 3 on NES over the SNES remake, which is good, is because of the punchy NES sound over the questionable samples of the SNES game.

The NA cover's art feels cramped with the main Kirby being larger and having the sword which takes up more space. It shoves all the other Kirby guys over and almost fully blocks view of the mirror. Add the game logo and the box is just totally crushed. The Euro artwork has a bit of space for everything that makes it more visually coherent and enhances the box art. Easy win for the Euro box for me.

I'm lucky in that I've never really been prone to fear of missing out(FOMO). Don't worry, as I'm not bragging. I have other problems. I'm not saying I'm immune to hype, but the pull is not strong and I never really feel compelled to jump on things day one. I will share some general observations on gaming and game design. First of all, sometimes people are just not in the right place mentally for a game, even one that is otherwise their thing, at a particular time. Sometimes, a break from certain games, or gaming is all that's needed. I've encountered games I didn't like at first or just thought were okay that ended up becoming favorites of mine later upon a second or third go with them. I think with big, 3D, exploration and open-world games, it's a bit worse. There's so many hours involved, so much exploring, so many things to do that once I've had my fill, I've had my fill for quite a while. So when a sequel comes out that is largely the same thing, but bigger, it's not necessarily what I'm looking for, the novelty factor isn't there, or I haven't had enough time to miss it. Bigger games require more time for me to want to play again, And I'll admit, I'm less into exploration and narrative in games than others.

@DemonKow I kind of like the idea of this game paired with some Iron Maiden, but I might be a bit biased as well. Though I didn't get into them until a lot later. Sadly, I had to skip their show last year because I got sick at the worst time. But I have seen them many times since Bruce rejoined and they definitely still got it. I've gotten a handful of lapsed fans of the band from back in the day to go see them again and they've always agreed.

I love the idea they had with the presentation of this to look like an '80s cartoon and they really nailed that. While the reviews are mixed on Steam too, there's at least a chance for it to be enjoyable on other platforms for those who absolutely must play this.

On Switch, I think it is wise to wait for reviews before committing to a buy due to performance, especially now as the Switch is quite old. But even on PC with capable hardware that is an issue because games are often unfinished, unoptimized, and buggy regardless of the platform. A shame to see this is running so poorly. I just started looking at reviews yesterday, so I knew what to expect here.

As for the core game, I like the concept and presentation. They really nailed the '80s visuals, but the roguelike nature and some other things probably mean it's not for me. It does sound like the other versions run well, so it might we a worthwhile game for those that are interested.

Edit: On how '80s cartoons hold up, it's really a mixed bag. Some of my old favorites as a kid don't hold up well in my opinion. Others, including some I didn't know existed at the time, such as Galaxy Rangers, I think hold up rather well. But I do love old animation, and I am fond of old Japanese anime from the '80s which I think holds up very well.

I see what some people mean on a lack of animation in some spots. As resolution has gone up, the need for more animation frames has gone up too. I remember thinking that even with the HD remaster of Street Fighter 2. But back to this,. I do really like the environment visuals here, and I also think they did a good job giving the visuals a nice, black, inky look like pre-digital comic books.

I like the concept behind the Japanese one, but being clever does not make it a good game cover. However, I would suggest it would fit very well as the back of the box. Remove the game title logo from it, and you have space for screenshots, which tended to be very small on Japanese boxes anyway.

The western cover is just way better as a game cover. It's well laid out and well drawn. It depicts the game in some way as well and succeeds in that.

As I was reading the section on The Simpsons, I thought it would be funny if they made Maggie a playable character. Then I looked at the image included here, and she's actually the only one there in a fighting pose of sorts. It looks like she's in a karate stance. I get why it's mentioned, but Simpsons doesn't excite me as I fell off of that one a long time ago. But I do like the old arcade game and the template is there.

When you say the "Shredder's Revenge treatment" if that specifically means a beat-em-up game, then I would say that Ghostbusters and Transformers would be tougher to do in that style due to the nature of the properties. They would be better suited to a different kind of action game.

Both He-Man and Thundercats I think would work well as a Golden Axe-style beat-em-up(AKA hack-and-slash). That style might be the best way to adapt those, much like how it was always a great fit for TMNT. I voted for Thundercats in this poll. When I was a kid, my favorite properties were probably Thundercats, He-Man, and Voltron. Leaving Voltron out since it's not mentioned in this article, looking back, I find the prospect of a Thundercats game more interesting of the two. It's really quite a shame Thundercats never got a great game.

I don't like either cover. I think they're both rather poor. Both have messy composition due to trying to make it look like a scene from gameplay which also keeps things from being dynamic. Both have elements just placed anywhere. The NA cover is worse because it's zoomed out to feature giant Mario, but having him on the edge of the frame is not good. It draws the eye to the extreme left and up towards his face. That's why I say its composition is worse. So I voted for the Japan & Europe cover for being less bad.

I disagree about the composition of the western cover. The moon is not drawing the eye down. It draws the eye up. I'm not really into the use of space there or the way the characters are posed. It is not badly done, but doesn't make for a great cover, in my opinion.

The worst aspect of the Japanese cover to me is just that it's the typical "throw a bunch of characters on there" kind of deal that we've seen before. Still, we've seen it before because it works. The quality of the character art is very good with lots of detail and shading.

I voted for Japan for what I consider to be better composition and use of space, for the purposes of a cover, and higher quality character art, as opposed to the attempt at visual punch featuring the moon so prominently on the western cover.

I do see what people are saying regarding the gameplay footage. The rest of the trailer had its issues as the animation certainly wasn't up to my standards. But, in regards to the game itself, the basic graphics look good enough. When looking at attack animations, what I saw were weak key frames. For example, when Duke was kicking, it had no energy. It just looked like he was lifting his leg and not kicking. Key frames are the most important animation frames, so for a kick, it would be as dynamic as possible, perhaps exaggerated, to give it some energy, and makes it believable that there's impact to it.

I'd also like to see proper combos. I do have to agree with others that a beat-em-up might not fit G.I. Joe as much as it would other franchises, but I'm willing to see how this goes. I can see this being very early footage, which would explain some of the issues here.

Neither cover strikes me as good. The western cover has weak composition, lots of empty space, and the guy and the bike look very static for what's supposed to be a dynamic shot. And, as I always like to point out, it has the stupid red border and corner peel that help make N64 covers consistently among the worst for me.

The Japanese cover isn't amazing either, but it is a better use of space and the biker has "Excite Bike" brand tires, which is a nice touch.

Westerns fell out of favor on TV and in movies partly because of over saturation. And I think kids who grew up later, after Star Wars had such a big impact, ended up seeing westerns as old fashioned, not only because of the setting being in the 1800s, but also because the shows and movies tended to be from the '50s, '60s, and '70s. But sci fi and westerns have a lot in common in terms of the human storytelling they allow, because they don't have to adhere to as many rules as something like a police procedural. I had no interest in westerns for my early youth. In the '80s, my heroes were wrestlers, comic book superheroes, GI Joe, Transformers, Voltron, He-Man etc. But when I was 10 or so, I was exposed to a western by chance, and while the setting didn't draw me in, once I saw a bit, I was very interested. I think that's the sticking point. The setting itself isn't exactly appealing on its own for people who grew up after the western boom. I wouldn't be surprised if samurai shows in Japan are viewed in a similar way.

Japan's is a bit busy, sure. On the flip side, the NA cover is a bit sparse. Mega Man looks good, front and center in a dynamic pose. NA Mega Man covers sure came a long way at this point. But there's so much nearly empty space. Putting tiny enemies around the background randomly doesn't really lift up the composition. It's not bad. The Japanese one continues the design of jumbling up all the characters like a collage, and it's not a clean design, but I always thought it worked. Plus, the art style for Japanese Rock Man art just can't be beat. I prefer the Japanese cover, as usual.

@Daniel36 "But I will say I am a big outlier anyways. I love the animé look, but I hate the forms of storytelling found within."

I think I understand what you mean there. Anime has a lot of tropes that work against it. There's plenty of stuff I don't like. What I have found that works better for me is to just be really picky compared to in the past when choices were limited. One way that I do that is by focusing on old stuff, mostly 80s and 90s, which is more to my taste and tends to have better storytelling than later stuff, though that's not always the case. But I've found far more enjoyment doing that and there's still no shortage of stuff for me to watch.

@Serpenterror There's a SNES game called Dragon View that is considered the sequel to Drakkhen. It's called Super Drakkhen in Japan. Other than the overworld looking similar, it's different in a lot of ways, so I'm not sure if it's what you're after if you want more of what the first game offered, but it's the sequel you were wondering about.

I've been pretty good with remembering most of the games I want to remember. The games that stump me are old DOS games from the 80s. And I'm not even sure they were commercial releases or some kind of early homebrew. I have the issue more with trying to remember old toys, though some of those may have been knock-off toys as well, which makes it even tougher. I had some old robot toys that I now wonder if they were from some old anime shows.

I have gotten enjoyment over the years on this site by helping others remember games from their youth on the forum. Others here are very good at that as well. It's almost like a fun puzzle to solve. People have the most vague memories, and I try to figure out the best way to use that limited info for a decent Google search. I've had some pretty good results in figuring things out for people with very limited, sometimes incorrect, details and with the game sometimes being really obscure.

I'm a bit surprised to hear so many people really like the Japanese cover. I saw that thing and just thought it was a mess. I'm not especially fond of either cover here, really. But Japan is too messy for me, so I picked the western cover.

Though Zelda's gold cover may have won the three-way battle, the two Japanese designs were so similar with the same key art that it's clear they split the vote and that a clear majority preferred the overall Japanese design, which makes me happy, or a feeling somewhat resembling that.

Edit: The US cover uses the same art as the Euro cover, but it has the typical US N64 cover nonsense like the red border strip and the corner peel. All that makes it much worse and I'd pick the Japanese version over it.

@Daniel36 The number of episodes is a fair point, though there's no telling if the storytelling for the adaptation will be up to par. But I wish you well if you're interested in seeing this.

I just know that the track record of live-action adaptations of anime is not good, whether that's the quality of the product, or it just fails to find an audience, partly because anime fans don't necessarily want to see live-action versions. We're not even a year removed from the high-profile failure of Netflix's own Cowboy Bebop. Given how long big productions take, I'm not sure there's been enough time for the producers to have learned from that disaster.

Oh, a live-action adaptation of an anime show on Netflix. What could go wrong? The idea of doing live-action adaptations of animation, especially Japanese properties, has always struck me as an odd notion, and it seems to have actually picked up steam more recently. Part of the appeal of animation is that it's not live action, and things that work in one don't work in the other. I know why they do it. It's an existing property so much of the creative work is already done, there's an existing audience for these properties in theory(not so much in practice much of the time), and live action is considered serious in the west while animation is viewed as for children, regardless of the subject matter. Still, I find it all unappealing. Good luck to them, I guess.

With that said, Gamecube was a really fun system and was the last home console I owned when it was current. Metroid Prime is the game that convinced me to get the system, and it was a fantastic experience. Wind Waker was also a top experience for me on the system. If this guy genuinely wants to go back to the Gamecube and it's not just a PR statement, I can see it because that's the generation when 3D games really started to be refined and turned into new and amazing experiences compared to what came before. And the cel shading of Wind Waker has aged very well.

It was the gold cartridge, not the gold box, that first caught my interest. The western box never did much for me and, as much as I'm a retro gamer, I'm not a nostalgia guy. So I vastly prefer both Japanese covers, and if you combine their scores in the poll, so do most people. I voted for the Disk System version. I like the white on the top and the overall layout. Plus it has Disk-kun. The regular Famicom release is also nice, and the green isn't bad, but I don't like the overall layout quite as much. Both Japanese covers would make me interested in the game. The gold US cover would not.

This looks super cool, especially as I'm a huge fan of Shatterhand, Power Blade, and Natsume's old games in general(Just got Ninja Saviors on Steam last week as it finally came to PC). They nailed the NES look and feel, and the whole presentation is wonderfully '90s, including the game's title Prison City. I was thrilled to see it had a demo, and I tried it out to see how it felt and to get some questions answered. First off, it has nice options including some visual filters, and toggles for screen shake and screen flash. All of those things are things I appreciate. The game looks and feels a lot like Power Blade 2, with Power Blade 1's stage design. There's a bit of Shatterhand thrown in. There's probably some Shadow of the Ninja in there as well, especially with enemy layouts and how they behave. The premise is basically Escape from New York/LA, except in Detroit. And there's some amusing dialogue in the demo. Some of the level design is cleverly deceptive, though everything was pretty fair once I had a chance to examine things. The demo is really good. This looks like a winner.

@KingMike I did consider that and it is likely what they were after. I think the problem there is that Zelda as a property was already established. Zelda had the benefit of Nintendo's marketing push fairly early in the successful run of the NES, so it didn't need to stand out with its cover. The sequels sold because of the name and the reputation of Nintendo. Some people may have been drawn to the covers, the gold box. The gold cartridge was another effective marketing gimmick. But I doubt the Zelda boxes alone did much to sell the game. So doing a totally new property with that approach to a cover seems like a tougher sell for me. Then again, maybe it did intrigue Zelda fans and perhaps it got a marketing push via Nintendo Power. It does nothing for me, though, as a cover.

To use the phrasing of a previous commenter, though not intended as a knock against that person or their opinion, the US cover tells nothing about the game, and does nothing to demand that I learn more. And that's the problem with mystery and logo covers. I literally have no interest in this game based on that cover. I consider it dreadfully boring. Same for the UK/Belgium cover. The US cover is also made worse by the border and and silly corner tear, two things that both got worse for N64.

Germany is okay, though it's crushed by the aspect ratio. Japan is the one this week by far.

@HalloHerrNoob Yeah, that didn't bother me as much(though it did some), but it didn't really fit the Castlevania aesthetic, especially with it being a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow complete with the same characters. Luckily, the touch controls and the art have been addressed by the hacking community.

As this is Tengo Project's first NES remake, I didn't know what to expect. Looks like they tried to give it a SNES-like makeover. I'll definitely keep an eye on it to see how it goes. I am really into Shatterhand, and a friend recommended Shadow of the Ninja to me a while back, and that is an excellent game from Natsume as well. It is a tough one, especially at first.

On a related note, due to the teaser that previously came out for this remake, I discovered that The Ninja Saviors was finally coming to PC via Steam after nearly four years of waiting. It just came out a few days ago. I'm happy as that's the platform I prefer.

I said it before, Double Dragon Advance is PEAK Double Dragon. I missed out on it until I had a chance to play it a few years ago, and, just as a friend of mine told me, it's fantastic. It has the look and feel of the original arcade game, but with lots of gameplay enhancements that take it to the next level. I'd rather see new Double Dragon games build on Advance rather than trying to re-invent things.

@WaveBoy I grew up with Double Dragon on the Master System, so I still have fondness for that, so I get your feeling for the NES counterpart. But as for DD2, it's a bit of a mess. I don't know if you'd like it, but I think the best version of DD2 is the PC Engine CD version. Would be cool if that was made available too.

@HalloHerrNoob I played them in the right order as they came out. While the first two were good, after Aria came out and was a big upgrade over the previous games in technical terms, it also became difficult for me to go back. As for Dawn of Sorrow, it is very good, but the touch elements just get in the way for me.

@smoreon Yeah, there are a number of elements to that Flash look, some of which you mentioned and with which I agree. A lot of those come from the rise of digitally-created artwork. Thick black outlines tend to contribute to that flatness. A lot of professional visual work in older video games, traditional cel animation, and inked comic books, avoided thick black outlines which was seen more often in humorous comic strips and animation where the gags were more important than the visuals. If you think back to when Streets of Rage 4 was shown, the art was divisive with some saying it had a Flash look. I wasn't a fan of it, myself. But I did look at a "Behind the art" video which showed some of their unused concept art including some alternate designs without those thick outlines and I thought that change ended up looking way better and more serious and, perhaps, professional. You can check it out if you're curious. As for that game, I eventually did get it and I give the developers credit for the feel of the game, but for also including a couple of CRT filters which I thought did a nice job in my view.

The problem is that hand-drawn graphics doesn't really mean much. There are many styles that are possible. The issue I have with a lot of hand-drawn games(or digital art by hand) is the use of thick black outlines that are perfectly crisp and uniform, which has the effect of making everything look flat, with the characters looking detached from the background. This isn't a rule, and even that style can work depending on the theme of the game, but that's a lot of what people mean when they say something looks like a Flash game. It would be interesting to see what they could have come up with for a hand-drawn Sonic. Cuphead was a fantastic example of hand drawn, perhaps too much so from the perspective of sustainability of development, but that's a different issue. And even pixel art done at a high enough resolution can look amazing.

NA #2 is my least favorite. The frame is way too cramped between the space taken by the logo and how the group of characters are zoomed in a bit compared to the Euro cover. The Euro cover is better with a nicer background, and a better use of the space. It has room to breathe. But, that little character with the white hair front and center looks out of place and draws my eye away from the other characters which all seem to be doing more interesting things. That composition looks poorly judged in that regard. NA #1 is my favorite. The composition is well done, especially factoring in leaving space for the logo. It's dynamic as the party looks like they're ready for battle. It's not exactly purpose built to be a cover, but I think it works best overall.

I like them both, which is refreshing. This comes down to composition. The Europe/Japan cover is dynamic, but I don't think it works as well as a cover image, especially with the logos added to it. The logos detract from the image because of how dynamic the art is which is obscured somewhat by those logos. I find the composition of the North American cover to be better as a game cover. The NA cover isn't as dynamic, though it doesn't feel static either due to the artist's style and Shanoa's hair blowing in the wind, but I think it's still quite interesting to look at. The logos don't hurt it in any way. Looking at it here, I feel more enticed to play the game again, which is what a good cover should do.

I was that odd American kid that had a Master System in the late '80s. I had a lot of good times with it. There were also plenty of games that were frustratingly 8-bit hard. I wasn't sure how the Master System would be to revisit, with those tough games and its sound not being the best, and since I'm not really a nostalgia guy in the purest sense. But I did go back some years ago, and it held up better than I expected in a lot of ways. Of course, game selection matters. Some of my old favorites include Shinobi, Double Dragon, Rambo(for me, perhaps the best overhead run-and-gun of the early batch before MERCS), California Games, Ghostbusters(finally got to beat that one after all these years...hadn't forgotten a thing either), and Rastan. I really like that port of Rastan. There were other games I played a good bit, but those where the main ones for me.

Not a bad trailer. It looks interesting. I did notice some of the things people were pointing to as issues like stiff animation, but none of it bothered me. The art style is interesting. It looks like Okami in 2D. I didn't like Okami(PS2 version) for a number of reasons. I hope this game doesn't have a 20-minute intro of repetitive gibberish sounds which can't be skipped(again, PS2 version). That would be the wrong influence to take from that game. This looks interesting enough to keep an eye on.

It's case by case with Super Mario All Stars. I think Super Mario 2 is the best of the SNES versions. I had trouble getting back into SMB2 on GBA or the original NES version. The SNES version is the one that got me back into it. Now I can play the SNES or NES versions depending on what I want. The SNES cleans up some of the slowdown. The NES version is fun when I want that look and sound.

Super Mario 3 is also well done on All Stars, but it loses much of the stage-play aesthetic. And the sound is a bit muffled. SMB3 was such an achievement on the NES that I still prefer it. It looks good considering the limitations, but the music and sound effects are very strong in the original. The jump sound effect is especially fun. But both versions are excellent.

Super Mario 1 and Lost Levels are flawed on All Stars. I think they look weird from the graphical overhaul too, much of which comes down to some of the tiles they used. There are ROM hacks to restore the normal brick floors which helps. But there's also a hack to fix the REAL problem. When big Mario breaks a brick block, he gets sucked upward toward the block instead of bouncing off. Turns out, it was a programming gaffe. There's the hack I mentioned that reverses that particular momentum and then it feels and performs the way it should. Playing it with the flaw feels really odd since I'm familiar with how it's supposed to feel having grown up playing the original NES game.

As for Lost Levels itself, I finally played it a few years back. I liked it more than I expected. It is hard, but not as hard as I thought it would be. I was worried it was going to be closer to some modern games that designed to be super tough, or some Mario Maker type stuff. It wasn't. But it was definitely the right call for Nintendo to convert Doki Doki Panic as Mario 2 back in the day.

I had the original SF2 and Turbo for SNES back in the day, and the ports were mostly well done, but some of the music is disappointing. Perhaps the best bit of music is Guile's stage, but I'd rather it sounded more like the arcade. But I just can't stand Ken's stage music now. As a result, I prefer the Mega Drive's Special Champion Edition, despite its faults, and Super SF2 on SNES.

@shgamer I'd agree that the SNES version of Super Street Fighter 2 is more enjoyable. I was playing the Genesis, SNES, and arcade version of Super a few months back and, in addition to the normal ways that SF2 already cheated, the damage rates seemed ridiculous in the arcade version. As far as I could tell, the CPU players could deal more damage with the same move. On top of that, the difficulty setting seemed broken as well. The SNES port is pretty good with the one oddity of there being no announcer saying "fight" or another sound effect to start a round. It's not a huge thing, but it's also very strange.