sdelfin

Some might say the European cover is cluttered, and that's fair, but the composition keeps it under control. Mario and Luigi are dynamic and are the clear focal point. All the characters around them are well drawn and well placed. Color choice is great. The Euro cover was immediately pleasing to my eye. Point is, any clutter it has is more than counteracted in every other way. Europe is my pick, easily.

The other cover is killed by Mario and Luigi doing that creepy, stiff-as-a-board pose with their eyes crossed. They look more unappealing than I can remember seeing them since their modern looks were established. Who thought that was a good idea? From that cover, I'd rather play as the Shy Guy and the Boo and go on a quest to destroy Mario and Luigi with fire.

Of all the ways to backpedal on this for PR reasons, this is a reasonable way to frame it in order to save some face. I'll take it.

@Rainbowfire if you don't understand any of this, then I'd day you understand it perfectly.

@ChromaticDracula That's good to hear. It demonstrates what I said about how there are many styles of shmup, so if you're trying to get into the genre, it's important to try things out and find what works for you. GleyLancer is a very good one on a system with a lot of great shooters. I also liked having speed control and the variety in how you can use the pods. And its overall presentation is strong.

On the Genesis/Mega Drive, MUSHA is another one with speed control, an interesting weapon system, and auxiliary pods that can be set to behave in different ways. Thunder Force 4 also has speed control and selectable weapons. Both are considered among the best on the system in terms of gameplay and presentation and I believe both are available on Switch and several other ways.

I don't know if any of these are exactly good, but I do know that the NA cover is absolutely horrible. From the stupid marketing line on the bottom to the random stock picture of people fake smiling for some reason, a tactic that reminds me of the TurboGrafx 16 box(also horrible), it's a total disaster. I voted for Europe because I don't think the game's logo is strong enough to carry the Japanese cover.

@Daniel36 the Genesis/Mega Drive has a reputation for rough sound, but it's a bit complex and misplaced in some ways as there are many Genesis games that sound fantastic. The worst sounding games tend to be American games due to a few things. Some are quite awful. None of these are anywhere near that level. Here we have four games with different issues. Centy just chose some odd sound effects. The music is pretty strong in my opinion. The issue from the clip of Landstalker seems to be scratchy voice samples. That's a more common issue on the Genesis due to trying to get more out of its sample channel than it was originally meant for. Many games have better sample quality, but that's something that you may run into more often on the system depending on how ambitious the developer was. As for Ghouls & Ghosts and Revenge of Shinobi, the sound effects are a bit basic, but that is more to do with both being very early games. Both games have good music as well, if it's to your taste. I should also mention that Ghouls & Ghosts is pretty faithful to the arcade original including with the sound. That one was itself an early game for that particular arcade system.

A good set of games here. Revenge of Shinobi is an excellent classic, regardless of which version. Tough game, though. I think save states and rewind serve that one more than Ghouls & Ghosts. I had a really fun gaming weekend about a decade ago(how??) where I played a ton of G&G and Ristar and beat them both. G&G is very tough, but also not nearly as tough as many seem to think. It's a manageable game, and much more fair and enjoyable than its predecessor.

@Greatluigi I get where you're coming from. The blurred lines between RPGs and Zelda-style adventure games have always been a thing and the origins of Crusader of Centy show that. It was part of a push by Sega to provide more RPGs to appeal to more Japanese gamers at the time. So even developers didn't quite make the distinction between RPGs and RPG-like adventure games. I guess that became a stronger distinction later. It's a helpful distinction too.

I am considerably less drawn into the Japanese cover, despite what the writer for this Brawl says. I like the swirly rainbow background for the Japanese cover, but creepy Wario isn't enough on his own to make a good cover image for me. This is a case where the simpler and cleaner cover is not a positive. I find seeing Wario's friends/colleagues/associates on the western cover is much more interesting and appealing and that's how I voted.

Add me to the list of those that aren't a fan of it being first person or having rogue-like elements. But did they ever nail that classic cartoon aesthetic, so kudos to them for that. They did a good job there and it looks beautiful.

@ChromaticDracula These aren't bullet hell so they likely will be to your taste that way. My only issue is that the second and third games are all 3D, though they play in 2D and I find that visually more confusing than most 2D shmups. The first one of these seemed pretty good from what I played. When I first got into the genre, I was terrible. I did have fun at least, so I kept playing. After a little bit of time, certain parts and bosses that seemed impossible got much easier once my mind adapted. So if you're enjoying what you're playing, keep at it. Also, it's not a bad idea to find some shmups that are considered easier and have difficulty settings and other options to help you build up your skills. Some games require more memorization that others, and R-Type seems to be one of those. My favorites tend to be ones that don't require a ton of memorization, though I'm find with some of that. Good luck to you.

The Japanese one is way too busy and the logo cramps the key art. I thought the European one was also a bit visually confusing at first due to the odd character design and posing. The NA one is the easiest one to understand visually, but it's also boring. I think the Euro cover does things the best with the most interesting concept and execution.

@Koda1000 yeah, I couldn't make out her shorts until you mentioned it. I didn't notice her second leg at first either, because the two covers are so busy. She's got one leg kicking high next to her head, while the other is straight down with a bit of foreshortening going on. It's finally making sense to me visually, but it took some time.

@RobotReptile I'm prone to that as well with some 3D games. I haven't played one of these in a while, so I went to check out a video, and I did find parts that bothered me. It's definitely the camera control(same for some racing games) for me. It seems to be if the camera moves too fast. I could probably cope with it in the Katamari games since they're not super intense. Last one I played was on PSP about 10 years ago and don't recall having that issue, though the screen brightness may have been its own. But I say that because maybe playing on a bigger or even a smaller screen could help.

I was a bit concerned when I started reading that first one. But then it took a turn and became truly funny. Nicely done. Games are not high art, and I don't think they should strive to be. So called high art is often overrated anyhow, in my opinion.

Review scores are merely a tool. I've hated top-rated games, and enjoyed some lower-rated games(not low enough to be broken). Some years back, Nintendo Life stopped providing review scores, and people were always asking for scores to return, as imperfect as they are. A review is only as good as the points made within. Anyone who is only looking at the scores is doing themselves a disservice.

For me, it comes down to composition. The cover image for the western version looks way more cluttered to me, and it's not as dynamic as it wants to be. The Japanese one isn't dynamic at all, but it's not trying to be. The thing that really brings down the western box for me is the side and bottom border, and that "only for" in the top right corner. DKC is looking like a prototype for the N64 boxes which I hate. While the Japanese one has borders, they're not crushing the art. I picked Japan.

The North American one is the most dynamic which, to someone like me that is not into this series, seems to be the most interesting one. The Japanese one is not bad, though a bit boring. The European cover is also a choice in the poll, which is about all there is to say about it.

I also have some concerns with the visual and audio presentation, and some of the gameplay choices, but I will definitely be checking a review or two to see what the game is like. It is interesting how much of a departure it appears to be from the early games. Double Dragon Advance is peak Double Dragon in my opinion, and would be a great foundation for a modern edition. That was quite an upgrade over the arcade games while still feeling like them.

I chose the European cover. Obviously, Japan would be a close second. The NA cover is horrible.

The Euro/Japan cover is arguably not a great image for a game cover. The characters are small and the composition is odd. However, it is colorful and conveys a lot about the game. The NA one may have better composition with the characters in the center with the game title underneath, but the background is rather boring. I prefer the Euro/Japan cover.

I don't know if the Pixel Remasters fixes things, but there are bugs in the original where certain magic and maybe items and stats don't work properly. I got Final Fantasy back in the day after a friend recommended it, and I loved it though I couldn't beat it then. It's funny because I would not go on to get strongly into RPGs. I've always been picky about that, especially with pacing. But I enjoyed how straightforward FF1 was. I finally went back to it last year and had a great time beating it twice, which felt like righting a wrong from my youth. I wanted to try some different classes which is why I played it twice, and the Thief/Ninja seemed limited in use. I thought the class change would help more than it did, but the Ninja was weaker than I hoped and made for more of a slog getting through the game.

So strange to see this here, as I was just thinking about this game yesterday. It was on my radar when it came out and I was planning to get it. The game's failure to sell well enough led to it being marked down to $10 a few weeks after its release which worked in my favor. One of the best deals I ever got.

As for the boxes, I think they both end up communicating the same overall vibe, but I prefer the composition of The European cover. It's a bit more dynamic while also having more room to breathe, which I think works better in this case.

Japan, easily. As others have said, I don't think the 3D renders on the US cover really hold up. But on top of that, US N64 covers are the worst due to the red strip on the right side and the peeling corner on the top right. Both of those box-art features were ill advised in my opinion and always drag down the quality of the box art.

edit: the more I look at the western cover, the worse the composition seems to get.

Regarding the Streets of Rage 4 art style, I also was not a fan of the direction they went(in fact, I thought some of their unused concept art was better). However, to their credit, the retro CRT filter largely addressed my issues and I thought it looked wonderful that way. It's worth looking at again for those who may have found SOR4 unappealing and were not aware of the retro filters.

As for this, I think it looks good in some ways, but I also have concerns. I don''t hate the visual design, though I probably would have preferred they just build on Double Dragon Advance, which I think is peak Double Dragon. I'm not sure the tag-team mechanic is something I want in a beat-em-up, so we'll have to see how that turns out. I also find it weird how Marian has yet another version of herself. Based on design only, I am partial to the River City Girls 2 version. Besides that, there's the typical concerns I have regarding general gameplay, screen shake, and other visual effects. I'll definitely want to see a review, but it's definitely interesting to see this as a concept.

As photographic covers go, the western box isn't bad. I think it still looks interesting enough to catch my eye. But I prefer a nice illustrated cover. It's something I miss from old movie posters. I was always drawn more towards comic books and animation over live action. So for me, Japan wins.

While I tend to prefer box art that features detailed art over minimalism, the Japanese cover doesn't really do much for me. It doesn't feel as polished as I expect cover art to be. As someone else mentioned, it feels like a rough sketch or unfinished. On top of that, it's not really dynamic either. And for Final Fantasy, the minimalist covers tend to work to some degree. I prefer the white background in this case, so I voted Europe.

@Nebnosneh The pixel resolution is 448x224, but the games were meant to be displayed in 4:3. The graphics were drawn wider and the graphics would be squeezed when displayed and would look correct that way. Capcom's CPS arcade games also had a wide pixel resolution, but when displayed in that resolution everything would look too wide. The reverse is true for NES and SNES. Their pixel resolutions are more narrow than 4:3, so their graphics were designed to be stretched a little bit to look correct.

While things have gotten better in the last few years, add this one to the long list of examples of retro games and collections being sold for money while presented with significant issues regarding the emulation or options. I'm glad to see these IGS PGM games made available as some of them are quite good, but this sounds like a poor product. There are those who condemn emulation, but when the companies that make their old games available show over and over they don't care about their games and their customers, it comes across as a silly viewpoint.

I voted NA for having what I consider to be a better layout to the Japanese cover. One thing that was immediately clear to me was that I would not even be considering the Euro cover. That one looks just awful to me. I absolutely hate it.

Funny to hear people saying there's nothing Ghibli-inspired here. I hit play on the trailer and I was seeing the Ghibli inspiration everywhere, from the premise and setting, to some of the enemy designs. Based on that setting, I'd say a lot of inspiration came from Mononoke Hime. Regardless, I think it's looking very nice so far and I would like to see or hear more.

Unexpected, but very cool news. IGS's PGM is a cool platform. Obviously, their games were targeted to various Asian countries which is why many do now know these. Martial Masters is an impressive fighter to see in action, though I have only played it a little bit. My favorite two games here are Demon Front and The Gladiator. Demon Front appears to be a shameless Metal Slug rip off at first, but it's different enough to be its own thing and has some interesting ideas and a good number of secrets that can be found. It's slower and more defensive than Metal Slug. The Gladiator is quite a good beat-em-up with an interesting control scheme and great looks. It has some crazy secrets and alternate paths and bosses that are super tough to find even when you know what you're doing.

This brawl reminds me that I tend to hate covers for survival-horror games. They seem to favor weirdness and mystery over good cover art. For me, the worst one here is the US cover. The symbol being so prominent doesn't do anything for me. Japan tried something, whatever that is, but it doesn't really work in my opinion. That leaves Europe as my pick by default as being least bad, but I don't like it either.

I also voted for the western cover. It's eye catching due to how big Kirby is, but it's also a clever concept having him inhaling the background. But this duel is going to be a case, I think, where the result is an easy victory in the voting, though with a lot of those people actually having to think about it and considering the Japanese cover nearly as good. That was the case for me. I like both covers and did consider voting for the Japanese one and it seems others like it too regardless of their vote.

I can see the Shovel Knight influence others have mentioned. That's fine, and it's also different enough. It reminds me how Panzer Paladin(which I have played) and Cathedral(which I have not yet played) both also looked similar to varying degrees. This one sounds good and I'll have to make a note of it.

I'm in the never group. I wasn't doing much gaming when the system first came out. Then the 3D effect was unpleasant for me when I tried it in a store, which made it even less compelling. There were some games that did interest me, though I can't remember what they were, aside from the Sega Ages stuff. I did contemplate getting one of the various 2DS models at certain points. I liked the concept of those, even that weird first slab model.

It's interesting to note, and easy to forget, that Super Mario USA was released in Japan in 1992. I think you could make a good case for either one. The simplicity of the Western box art works as cover art. Of course, it could have been anything and would have been massively successful. As far as the art goes, I do prefer the Japanese cover. The pink doesn't bother me, but the amount of space taken by the border and the title vs. actual art takes away from it. Still, I voted for Japan, but it was fairly close for me. I should say, I like the Yume Kojou Doki Doki Panic cover the most here.

Sadly, Dark Void Zero is no longer available on Steam.

@bransby No. They're different games and not related directly. Obviously, Metal Warriors was designed to feel similar to this game. In fact they were developed by different companies. Aside from the similarities of the games, some of the confusion comes from Konami publishing both of them, despite not developing either game.

@Key19 the game is already on Steam and for a lower price than the GBA ROM, so as far as broadening the appeal, that's covered. And I agree with that. I find it annoying when new games that appeal to me aren't made available on modern platforms. I think some developers do this for a few reasons. I think some just enjoy porting their games and the challenge of it. But there's also extra publicity that comes with making these games for old platforms as it helps their games get discovered as opposed to being so much harder to stand out on Steam. And there are some people out there who are die-hard enthusiasts of the real hardware and will pay higher prices. Some of the modern Neo Geo stuff is really expensive, for example.

@Captain-N Thanks. That's where I would have guessed that I heard that before. He sure did a particularly fantastic job on those videos about Mario 3 and 4.

Mario 3 was both a hugely important game, but also a massive development undertaking. It's not a surprise that for Mario 4 they would pick up from there and the prototype maps would resemble the prior game at an early stage of development. It was a good starting point and probably would have worked fine. It's interesting to see how they started, but also how the game evolved. It may have been covered somewhere, but there was probably a conscious decision during development to try to make the maps look different from SMB3 to avoid some criticism.

She seems nice! But I voted for the western cover. In fact, I think the artist did a nice job on that, especially with the facial expressions. I love the evil pickle slice. He looks like the ringleader.

Japan by a mile! While Japan may be cluttered, the art style and dynamism more than counteract that. The NA version emulates the Japanese art style, but the shading doesn't look right. The composition doesn't really work for me. And while it's supposed to be dynamic in concept, it has all the energy of Mega Man testing out a motorcycle in a showroom. It's not bad on its own, or as bad as some of the early Mega Man covers, but it's also quite forgettable.

I was very excited for Fusion way back in 2002 and it didn't disappoint. I appreciated the game's design being more focused and action oriented as that is more to my taste than a heavier focus on exploration in these sorts of games. But I also understand how and why others would prefer a different balance. Not only did I appreciate that, despite the lower-resolution of the GBA, I ended up liking the graphical style of it more than Super Metroid and Metroid 2. The Samus sprite is really well done and I like the new stance they used here and on Zero Mission. Not that Super looks bad, but the GBA games appeal to me more here.

Funny. I just dug out the GBA sequel last night to sample it for the first time in a while. I played the GBA version before the Mega Drive/Genesis version, and even the GBA version sat for years before I got around to it. It was a crazy time right after I got it. The original took me a few tries to finally get what all the fuss was about, but I finally got it and agree it's a great one.

I never felt compelled to get a 3DS, but I can appreciate the role it played and importance of it at that time. The GBA is probably the platform that had a similar role for me. I was so happy to go back to the style of games of the 16-bit era with some modern adjustments and I was at an age where I could really dive into it and put together a high quality library.

I picked Japan for having a stronger illustration of Link and being more dynamic. I agree with the people who had criticism for the layout of the western version. I get what they were going for, but I don't think the execution is ideal. The dog head pointing straight down is a bit odd. I've noticed with Zelda games, people seem to like the minimal covers. Some might consider it tradition. I don't agree and tend to prefer the Japanese covers as a result.

As for the game, I'll just say that I got annoyed at the pacing of it and it just felt like a chore to me. I liked Wind Waker a lot and considered it the second best Gamecube game, at least that I played. But with Twilight Princess, I wasn't having much fun by the end.

Sometimes, empty space can work well, but I don't think this is one of those times. For me, all that unused space doesn't really add anything of value. So in both cases there is a character that is covered by logos. However, in the western version, it's less obvious that the dragon is there under the logos while the eagle is very obviously obscured by the title logo on the Japanese cover. The western cover is my pick.

I think both are very good, which is refreshing to say. The western cover is a bit cramped, especially with the big logo, but it's a good use of space under those circumstances. The Japanese cover's layout is its weakness, with the logos shoved to the left, but the strength of the artwork more than makes up for it. Both covers have cool poses for Samus, but I really love the background for the Japanese cover with very good use of shadow giving it that Metroid feeling. Japan is my pick here, but it was a strong effort on both covers.

I took the test and, as expected, am not color blind. I've always wondered how that condition affected gaming, both retro and modern. Good to see that Prime offers that option as it seems like a good idea, especially if it's not too difficult to implement. It's a much smaller thing, but I hate screen shake and excessive flashing, and I always appreciate when games include toggles for those.

Based on what's presented here, my favorites are Super Metroid, Metroid 2(GB), Prime, and Dread. It's no coincidence those look like the most mechanical suits as that is my preference here. Fusion's suit looks more like a skin of sorts, which is fine in concept, but not as cool to my eye. I'd probably put the Metroid 2 and Super Metroid suits up top. That they're drawn is a plus for me.