Believe it or not, I had never played the arcade version of Contra until just now. I am very familiar with the NES version of the game, as it was one of my childhood staples growing up. But the arcade version? Nope, never played it.
I didn’t think I’d ever get the chance to give it a try, but to my surprise it was on the Contra Anniversary Collection for the PS4, which I recently purchased. After playing and re-reviewing the NES version of the game, I figured it would be a good time to give the arcade version a whirl. Which I did.
Story:
Shoot a bunch of bad guys until you’ve killed them all. The end.
Gameplay:
Shoot a bunch of bad guys until you’ve killed them all. The end.
I kid, I kid. There’s a little bit more to it than that. But not much.
Rather than sit here and recap how the game works, which I already did in my review for the NES version of the game, I will break down the differences between the arcade and home versions. Normally when you compare an arcade game to its console counterpart, the arcade version wins. Look at TMNT. Look at Double Dragon. Look at Gauntlet. The arcade versions for all these games are better than the NES versions. In fact, for most games this is the case. Contra is the exception to the rule.
At its core, this is the same basic game as the NES version. Similar level design, similar characters, similar gameplay. But the NES version takes things farther than the arcade version, and it is better for it. The arcade version’s levels are a lot shorter. The bosses aren’t as “cool” (look at the waterfall boss for an example of what I’m talking about). Towards the end of the game, things start to feel rushed. Several levels that were individual levels on the NES are truncated and combined into one longer level.
I also don’t think the arcade version of the game is very challenging. Perhaps I am only saying this because I JUST played through the NES version of the game twice. But I didn’t even have to burn through a single continue on the arcade game. In fact, I don’t think I died more than three or four times overall. You’d think the arcade version would be the tougher one, because you know how they like to get you pumping in quarter after quarter after quarter, but I found this to be the opposite of the truth. I breezed through the game easily. A lot of this has to do with the overall shorter length of the game as well. Obviously if the game isn’t as long, there will be fewer opportunities for you to die.
The whole thing took me about 20 minutes to beat. It might have even been less than that, but I didn’t think to time my playthrough. All I know is that it was short as hell.
As far as actual gameplay goes, the game looks, feels, and controls just like Contra as I know it. No complaints there. The major differences here mainly have to do with the graphics and the level design. Speaking of the game’s graphics…
Graphics:
The NES version of the game looks better too. While this version has a little bit more detail in its characters and landscapes, its color scheme makes everything look really dull and lifeless. The home version of Contra has a lot more of a simplistic feel to it, but its colors are very vibrant and eye-catching. It helps give the game a timeless feel which the arcade version doesn’t have.
That’s not to say that this is a bad looking game. Look at the screenshots. It looks fine, especially by 1987’s standards. But it is definitely one-upped by the NES version.
Sound:
Gaaahhh, I don’t really remember anything about the game’s music or sound effects. I guess I wasn’t really paying much attention as I played. Or it could just be that the game’s audio quality is very similar to the NES version’s and I didn’t think to make a mental note of it. Some reviewer I am. Let’s give this game the benefit of a doubt and say that it’s good.
*shrugs*
Overall:
If you take away the NES version and look at this game on its own merits, it is a good game. I enjoyed myself. The negatives are that it’s just so dang short and easy, and there isn’t a whole lot of reason to come back and play it again.
I am sure that back in 1987, when this game was out in the arcades, it was an absolute blast to play. Contra was not present in any arcades I frequented, but if it was I can just imagine myself being a fan of the game and waiting in line to play it. But we ain’t dealing in hypotheticals here. How is Contra by today’s standards? It’s fine. That’s about all the excitement I can muster for it. It’s fine.
I am glad I played this game. It checks a box. It satisfies my curiosity. But in the future if I ever get the urge to play Contra again I am just going to play the NES version. It is superior in every way.
Final Score:
C
Check out my review and my re-review of the NES version of Contra here:
Back in 1996 the gaming world, myself included, fell in love with Tomb Raider. The game was such a massive hit that there was no doubt a sequel would be hot on its heels… which it was. Almost exactly one calendar year after the first game came out, Tomb Raider II hit store shelves. You bet your sweet patootie I went out and got this game immediately.
I was really hyped for this game. Almost every day after school I would take the bus to the Blockbuster near my house and play the demo that they had on display. Crowds of people gathered around me, completely in awe at how good I was at the game. I had the entire first level basically memorized before the game had even hit store shelves. Once I did get my hands on an actual copy of the game, real life went out the window. I spent days, weeks, maybe even months completely wrapped up in the world of Tomb Raider II. It took me a while to beat the game, but once I did I went back and started playing it back from the beginning again. I loved it. As much as I liked the first game in the Tomb Raider series, I thought its sequel was infinitely better. If I was to compile a list, Tomb Raider II would easily make my top ten favorite games of all time.
This is one of those games that I like to revisit every five years or so. I don’t have anything else going on in my life right now. I figured, since I haven’t played Tomb Raider II since I started writing these reviews, that now would be a perfect time to revisit it. Is it still top ten material, even 22 years after its initial release? Let’s find out.
Story:
This game has a good story, but not necessarily a very deep one. It starts with Lara exploring the Great Wall of China, looking for an ancient dagger that is hidden inside of it. She discovers a seemingly impenetrable door, where she is attacked by a goon who is watching over said door. Lara interrogates the goon, who spills the beans that a guy named Bartoli has hired him to keep watch over the door. Bartoli himself is off somewhere else looking for a way to open the door. Lara decides to go to Italy to pay Bartoli a visit.
In Italy, Lara fights through a bunch of Bartoli’s thugs. She discovers that he is searching a sunken ship at the bottom of the ocean for a way to open the door. Lara stows away on a plane headed to the offshore diving rig, but is attacked and knocked unconscious by one of Bartoli’s lackeys. Lara awakens without her guns or any of her equipment, and she has to bust out of her cell and recover her lost items. Items in tow, Lara hitches a ride on a submersible headed to the sunken ship. After several underwater stages, Lara recovers the artifact and heads to Tibet, where she uses the artifact to unlock the key to the mysterious door. Key in hand, Lara returns to the Great Wall. Unfortunately, Bartoli beats her to the ancient dagger, and uses it to stab himself in the heart, turning himself into a dragon. Lara defeats the dragon, retrieves the dagger, and escapes the crumbling ruins with her life intact. Returning home, Bartoli’s remaining goons swarm Lara’s mansion. In the game’s final dramatic act, Lara (in her bathrobe) defeats the attacking goons, killing them all.
With Bartoli no longer a threat to her or her household, Lara strips completely naked for a nice relaxing shower…. psych! Har har har, very funny game makers. Very funny.
So yeah, a very basic “get the ancient item before the bad guys do” storyline. There is not depth much to it. You can completely forget about character development or anything along those lines. But I still like it. Heck, I like it even more than Shadow of the Tomb Raider's storyline, and that game has a lot more going on than this one. Just goes to show you that more isn't necessarily better.
Gameplay:
You can’t talk about a PS1 Tomb Raider game without first addressing its control scheme. If you are a younger gamer or someone who has just recently entered the world of gaming, you may find this control scheme to be a bit archaic. The left and right buttons on the D-pad turn Lara left or right. Up makes her run forward. Down makes her take a hop step back. You can’t just pick a direction and go. These are what has been described as “tank controls.” Some people just can’t get past the controls, and they don’t give Tomb Raider a chance. Maybe it is just because I grew up playing this series, but I never had an issue with the controls. If you are one of those people who skipped over the early Tomb Raider games because of the controls, I have to tell you that you don’t know what you are missing out on. These games are E P I C.
As far as changes go, only a few minor tweaks have been made to the classic Tomb Raider formula. Lara can now pull out flares to light her way in dark spaces. You can also drive vehicles in this game, most notably a speed boat and a snowmobile. As far as gameplay innovations go, that’s about it. Not much has changed from the first game in the series. I do have to give a shout out to the new save system, however. Tomb Raider II definitely handles saving better than both its predecessor and its successor. In the original Tomb Raider, you can only save at set save points located throughout each stage. In the third Tomb Raider game, you have to ration a finite number of save crystals that you use to save your game. In this game, you can just save whenever the hell you want. Seeing as how you are going to be dying quite often, this is great as it will save you lots and lots of backtracking if you are a constant saver like me. Quite frankly, if Tomb Raider III had had this game's save system, I would have liked it a lot more than I did. All the early Tomb Raider games should have had Tomb Raider II's save system. It baffles me that they didn't.
There are a few new weapons thrown into the mix. The two machine gun-like weapons were my favorite to use. The grenade launcher is awesome in theory, but has a very limited range. Same thing with the automatic rifle: cool in theory, but not practical to use very often in the game. You have to stand completely still in order to use it, and in a game where you are constantly jumping and flipping around while firing at your enemy, this doesn’t translate well. In the rare situations where you can practically use this gun, it is great because its so powerful. Unfortunately these situations are too far and few between.
The scope of Tomb Raider II is much more impressive than the first game. The stages aren’t necessarily all caves or tombs. There are many large, open areas to be seen here. To me, what makes this game really click is its level design. The stages are SO well designed. Before I started playing, I was looking forward to a small handful of stages that I remembered as “classic” stages. Not just classic Tomb Raider stages, but all-time great video game stages. The Opera House, the Barkhang Monastery, the Floating Islands. Turns out, there are a lot more iconic stages in this game than just those three. Nearly every stage in this game is classic or iconic in some way. Aside from maybe one or two clunkers (I could have done with one fewer underwater stage), this game delivers the goods. There was never a moment where I thought “ugh this stage sucks. I wish I could skip it.” Each stage is just so dang fun to play.
Graphics:
Again, if you are a younger gamer or someone who has never played a classic Tomb Raider game before, you may find its graphics to be a bit primitive. Lara looks better than she did in the first game, but the overall look and feel of the stages is the same. Expect to see lots of messy, pixelated surfaces. There are also many small glitches everywhere to be seen, but nothing game breaking. Mainly you can just see through walls or the camera will screw up and disorient you for a second or two. But like I said, nothing game breaking.
While the graphics may look a bit messy or sloppy at times, I am willing to forgive this. I grew up playing this game and I remember when this was cutting age stuff. You have to admit, some of the lighting effects are pretty darn cool, particularly when you are using flares to light up dark areas.
Where the game really shines, however, is in how it creates atmosphere. A lot of this has to do with the game’s music and sound effects, which I will touch on in my next segment of this review. But you can’t deny how well-designed this game is. Whether you are cruising through Venice on a speedboat, swimming around the bottom of the ocean with sharks in hot pursuit, exploring a moldy old sunken ship, or trespassing in a dark cave filled with giant, nasty spiders, Tomb Raider II really makes you feel like you are a part of the action.
Sound:
Voice acting is… fine. Like I said, this game is a little light on storyline and character development. Not a whole lot of emphasis is put on good voice acting, and it shows. In-game, Lara’s voice is a lot more natural than it is during story sequences. I like her little grunts and groans and how she goes “ah-ha” when she picks up an item.
Music in this game is sparsely used. You really only notice it when something intense is happening or you enter a new area. Most of the time you explore in silence. Not complete silence, however. As I said above, this is an extremely atmospheric game. Walk through the streets of Venice and you hear running water, birds chirping, and the sound of Lara’s footsteps. During the sunken ship portion of the game, you can hear echoes, dripping water, and all kinds of other small little atmospheric effects that really sell you on the idea that you are walking around on a sunken ship at the bottom of the ocean. This is a game that really does a wonderful job at pulling you in and making you feel like a part of the action. Those sunken ship levels really fueled my paranoia and kept me on the edge of my seat, even when nothing major was going on.
Overall:
Tomb Raider II is a challenging game, and I can’t lie about that. There were a few frustrating moments for me where I kept dying repeatedly, even though I knew where I was supposed to go and what I was supposed to be doing. Some of this is just the natural challenge of the game. It doesn’t matter how good you are, you aren’t making it through this game without dying. Another part of this ties into the game’s control scheme: it is very, very touchy. You have to line up your jumps perfectly. You have to make sure you are holding the walk button so you don’t fall of the edge. You have to watch where you are rolling. Sometimes you have to slide down a steep incline and jump from ledge to ledge without a whole lot of time to think about what you’re doing.
There were times where I was really starting to get pissed off. Like, I KNOW I have to slide down this slope, jump at the bottom of it, grab onto the ledge in front of me, drop down, slide down another slope, and jump and do a backflip at the bottom of the slop to grab the ladder in front of me. Tried it once and died. Okay cool, now I know what to do. Tried it again and died. Tried it again and died. Again. Again. Again. After multiple deaths I would randomly get it, even though it felt like I hadn’t done anything differently than I did before. It was really annoying. Like I said, everything has to align perfectly and your jumps have to be timed perfectly. You know how they say football is a game of inches? Tomb Raider II is a game of centimeters.
Occasional frustrations aside, I can't bring myself to seriously criticize this game. It is as close to a perfect video game as you can get. An iconic main character, iconic stages, fun combat, creative puzzles to solve, one of the most immersive atmospheres of all time - this game has it all. Still top ten material in my mind? You betcha.
Final Score:
A+
If you liked this review, check out some of my other game reviews:
I didn’t really have any plans to replay Contra, but then along came the Contra Anniversary Collection for the PS4. As soon as I saw this collection and saw all the games on it that I had never played, I knew I had to buy it. Being the “play everything in order” kind of guy that I am, I decided to start going through these games from the very beginning, even though I have already played and reviewed the first game in the series. Would my opinion on it change almost 5 years after my initial review?
Nope. I still love this game. This is probably going to be the quickest and easiest re-review ever.
I fired up Contra and all the warm and fuzzy feelings I have about the game immediately came rushing in. The graphics, the music: classic.
I started playing the game and yep, just as fun as I remembered. I immediately found myself in that leaning forward position you get when you are concentrating really hard on something. I was bound and determined to beat this game, which I did after a few tries. Contra is fun, addictive, and a good challenge. I dare you to say anything bad about Contra. It's about as perfect an NES game as you can get. I don't know how I gave this game a score of A in my initial review. That’s criminal! Spoiler alert: I am giving it an A+ this time.
If you have never played Contra before, I advise you to get out there and do so. The Anniversary Collection gives you the perfect opportunity to give the game a whirl. Don’t let the game’s “legendary” difficulty affect your decision. I think its difficulty is overrated. It really isn’t that hard to me.
Yeah I guess you can say it is tough, but with a little trial and error it should only take you a couple of serious attempts before you make it to end and beat it. If you want extreme difficulty, I suggest you give Kid Icarus or Batman a try.
I don’t really have anything new to say that I haven’t already. Contra is an all-time classic and one of the best NES titles ever made. Play it. Love it.
I used to be a pretty big fan of the Silent Hill series. I gobbled up the first two games in the series when they first came out, but for some reason I never got around to buying the third. I did, however, end up purchasing Silent Hill 4: The Room. The year was 2004. I spent a lot of time playing this game with my ex-girlfriend Jessica. Both her and I were obsessed with this title for a pretty long time. Looking back on my time playing the game, the main thing that jumps out at is me how different this game was than other titles in the Silent Hill series. Mainly: the first person segments. The other thing I can remember is being pretty scared by this game as well. There are some cool haunting effects that take place inside the room that had both me and Jessica on the edge of our seats.
Other than that, I couldn’t remember much else about the game except that I really liked it. Assuming I played this game into 2005, that means that about 14 years have passed since I last gave it a whirl. Would it still hold up in 2019? Some of it, yes…. but for the most part no.
Story:
In Silent Hill 4: The Room, you take control of a man named Henry Townshend. Henry wakes up one day to find himself locked inside his own apartment. There are chains barring his front door, his phone doesn’t work, the windows won’t open. No one can hear any noises Henry makes. He can, however, still observe the outside world. Everything seems to be moving along as normal outside his windows. When he looks out his front door peephole, he can see people in the hallway and hear the conversations they are having. After a few days of this weirdness going on, a large mysterious hole appears in the wall in Henry’s bathroom. Since Henry really has nothing better to do with his time, he crawls inside of it to check things out.
Throughout the game, this hole takes Henry to several different sites, where at each one he witnesses a different murder. These sites include a subway station, an orphanage, a prison, a hospital, and an apartment complex. In between each of these trips, Henry returns home to his room, where it is starting to fall into disarray as it becomes more and more haunted. Someone also begins slipping notes under the front door. I am not gonna lie, I found the notes to be pretty cryptic and confusing. To me, they looked like gibberish and explained nothing at all as to what was going on in the game. Looking online, however, the notes apparently explain that there is some kind of ritual going on where 21 people need to be sacrificed, and Henry has been witnessing these murders.
During a foray into the “hole world”, Henry comes across a woman named Eileen, who coincidentally (or not?) is his next-door neighbor. Apparently she was intended to be one of the victims for the ritual, but he saves her from death. The whole rest of the game, Eileen acts as a companion character who joins you on your journey. Long story short, Henry stops the killer and puts an end to the craziness. Game over. There is a lot more going on here that I didn’t bother recapping, but to be honest I didn’t really understand most of what was happening in the game. The game doesn’t do a great job at explaining what is going on. You either have to be really astute to pick up on these clues, or you have to look online (like I did) for easy answers.
Gameplay:
This is definitely the most unique of the Silent Hill games that I have played. Henry’s room acts as the game’s hub world. While in the room, you control things from a first person perspective. There is a save point and a chest where you can store items. Obviously, the portals that take you out of your room are located inside your apartment. There isn’t much else to do here, other than things that advance the story, such as reading notes, looking out your peephole, and spying on your neighbor Eileen. The deeper into the game you progress, the more haunted your room becomes. For example, you may notice a big ugly stain on the wall that looks like it is made out of faces. Get too close to the wall, and you start to lose health. You want to combat these hauntings by placing candles near them. You want to keep your apartment as pristine as possible so that you can get one of the game’s good endings.
When not in your apartment, The Room plays out like a regular Silent Hill game. Same control scheme, same map scheme, same combat. One thing that is different about this game is that it tends to be more focused on fighting. In previous Silent Hill games, I always found it better to run from enemies and save my ammo and health items. In this game, I found it much more beneficial to just kill everything in sight so they would leave me alone. Part of this could be because of the close quarters situations you find yourself in in this game. Other Silent Hill games had more open spaces that you could use to your advantage to shake your opposition. This one does not.
I do have a few bones to pick regarding this game’s design. I don’t like the fact that so many of the stages are repeats. I didn’t mind visiting the subway, the orphanage, and the other murder sites the first time through. I was having a good time. But halfway through the game when Eileen joins you, you have to work your way through these stages a SECOND time. Not only is this very annoying and repetitive, but Eileen drives me nuts too. I am not alone in my hate for escort missions in video games, and the whole second half of Silent Hill 4 acts like one big escort mission. Eileen can’t die, which is cool, but the more damage she takes, the more erratic her behavior becomes. You also get the bad ending if she takes too much damage. I don’t know how many times I have played through this game in my lifetime, but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten one of the good endings. I place the blame fully on Eileen. She has to be the DUMBEST companion I’ve ever had in a video game. Her decision making drives me up the wall!
Another thing I can’t stand: the freaking ghost enemies. These things follow you around from room to room, doing constant damage to your character. This would be okay if you could kill them, which you cannot. It is a waste of ammo and health to even bother attacking them. All you can do is knock them down for, like, two seconds before they get up and start coming after you again. And that is not an exaggeration. Two seconds. The only way to rid yourself of these ghosts is to pin them to the ground using these special swords you find throughout the game as you play. But during my whole playthrough I encountered two of these swords and about 15 ghosts, so that was a wash. These ghosts were CONSTANTLY following me around and it was driving me freaking nuts! It really began to ruin my enjoyment of the game, especially in the second half of the game when you are trying to fend off these ghosts while protecting Eileen. Ugh.
Graphics:
For 2004, this game looked amazing. Now it just looks simply okay. It doesn’t look ugly by today’s standards, like a lot of PS2 games tend to do nowadays, but it doesn’t look great either. If you have played any of the other earlier games in the Silent Hill series, you know pretty much know what to expect here.
I do have to say that the interior of Henry’s apartment is pretty well-designed. It looks nice and realistic, like someone could actually live there. It is pretty boring and sterile looking, but Henry is a pretty boring guy himself so I guess it is appropriate. Also, many of the game's haunting effects while in said apartment look pretty cool. And creepy. Can't get any better than cool and creepy, am I right?
Sound:
The Room’s audio quality is pretty darn good! The whole game is very atmospheric and tense. Even when nothing is going on, you can feel the tension in the air. Small audio cues add to the tension, especially when you are inside Henry’s apartment. Early in the game you hear a thunk from the other room, and when you go to investigate you see that the ceiling fan has collapsed onto the living room coffee table. Sometimes static will blare from the radio or the TV and scare the crap out of you. When you stand next to the portal in the bathroom, you can hear all kinds of screams and tortured sounds coming from inside the portal. This is all really cool stuff. I played the whole thing with headphones on so I could soak it all in.
Outside of the game’s cutscenes, there isn’t much music here to speak of. What music there is is fine but nothing spectacular. Voice acting is pretty stiff and bland, but that’s to be expected from the Silent Hill series. I don’t know if this is done on purpose to help contribute to the confusing, otherworldly quality of these games, but it is noticeably bad here.
Overall:
Based on all the fond memories I have of this game, I would have thought I’d like it a lot more than I actually did. Going purely on memory and nostalgia, I would have said (before replaying this) that this was the best game in the Silent Hill series. Now, however, I would have to rank it dead last among the games in the series I’ve played. Not to say that this is a bad game, it’s just a bit tedious. I don’t like replaying all the old levels. I don’t like having to escort Eileen around. I don’t like the ghosts. I don’t like that this is more action-oriented than previous Silent Hill games. It is very dark in this game, which is fine, but I often found myself missing key items that I needed to solve puzzles. You don’t know how annoying it is walking around the same area of the game for 45 minutes only to discover that the item you need is lying on the ground in plain sight. Dark is fine, but when you can’t see things that you need in order to progress the game, that points to a serious flaw in game design.
It seems like I am only being negative in this review, but there is a lot to like about the game. The whole concept of the Room with your character being locked in his own apartment. The hauntings. The sound effects. The overall atmosphere. This is one of the more unsettling games in the Silent Hill series, and I truly do love and appreciate that.
If only it had been more fun to play.
I have to admit. I am torn between the warm and fuzzy nostalgic feelings I have for this game and the fact that I didn't really have a fun time on my most recent playthrough. Part of me really wants to give it a C-, however a different part of me says "remember the fun times!!" that I used to have playing this game with my ex. The late nights, the jump scares, the getting stuck and helping each other out, that feeling of satisfaction when we'd solve a particularly difficult puzzle. I'd be lying if I said this game didn't mean something to me.
But like I said: if only it had been more fun to play in present times. I can't honestly say I look forward to ever playing this game again, and that is one of the criteria I use when I give a game its final score. How likely I am to ever play it again. Playing this game again seems relatively unlikely. So I am sticking with that final score. C- it is!
Final Score:
C-
If you liked this review, please check out some of my other game reviews:
Is it possible to have a spiritual connection with a television show? Don’t laugh, but I think I have one with Survivor. Not necessarily Survivor as a whole. I am talking about one specific season of the show: season one set in Borneo.
Let’s go back to the year 2000. I was a 17-year old high school student on the brink of graduation. There was buzz building up for this new television show called Survivor. From what I’d heard it sounded pretty cool. I didn’t know a whole lot of details about the show, but I had an idea in my mind of what it was going to be like. A bunch of random people would get dumped onto a deserted island. The weaker people, the people who couldn’t handle roughing it in the wild, would end up dropping out of the game or getting removed for health reasons. The remaining contestants would stay on the island for months, even years, until one person was left standing to claim the million dollar prize. It would be the ultimate test of man versus nature.
Turns out, I was just a little wrong with my prediction. My mom had been doing some reading on the show and she gave me the inside scoop on it. She told me that every week one player would get voted off the island by their fellow contestants, until only one was left standing at the end. This person would walk away with the million dollar prize. Believe it or not, I was actually very disappointed by this. I wanted to see a true test of will. I wanted to see people gritting it out until they were physically unable to continue. I wanted to see people getting sick. I wanted to see people getting hurt. I wanted to see people get dragged kicking and screaming off the island. I thought that voting someone out every week was a cheap way of shortening the show, and that whoever won wouldn’t really be the true survivor.
Still, I made it a goal of mine to give the show a look. May 31st rolled around and I put Survivor on in my bedroom, which is where I watched it all by my lonesome. I wasn’t immediately hooked. I did a lot of channel flipping during the commercials, and often didn’t come back in time to catch everything going on in the episode. I still enjoyed the show, however. I didn’t have any favorite castaways just yet, but my winner pick was obviously Kelly. A professional white water rafting guide, in a survival competition? Who could beat her? It almost wasn’t fair to the other castaways. Clearly Kelly was going to waltz to the end. Or so I thought.
Despite not having any obvious favorites, I had a few people I didn’t like. That guy who said “I’ve got the million dollar check written already. I’m the winner”…. man, I hated him. How could you be that arrogant on day one? This may come as a surprise to people, since everyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE fan of Rudy Boesch, one of season one’s most popular castaways. But believe it or not, I didn’t like Rudy one tiny bit when Survivor first aired. It seemed like all the contestants were bickering about him and talking about how rude he was and how he’d sneak food out of the kitchen. When Tagi lost the immunity challenge and had to go to Tribal Council, I was devastated when he wasn’t voted off. Not that I was a huge Sonja fan, I just wanted to see the grouchy old man get what was coming to him.
I tuned into Survivor once again for its second episode. Again, the show didn’t have my full attention as I channel flipped back and forth during the commercials. My main takeaway was that BB was annoying with his arguing and would undoubtedly get voted off the first time Pagong went to Tribal Council… which is exactly what happened. I had a moment of doubt that they might vote off Gervase after he cost his team the challenge by failing to eat the grubs, but that didn’t happen.
Episode three came. I watched. The contestants were now eating rats, and Survivor was starting to demand my full attention.
When Tagi lost the immunity challenge, I was convinced that this time it would be Rudy voted out, but instead it was Stacey. I threw my arms up in frustration that one of the younger, more attractive girls had been voted out. Why bother watching if this was how the show was going to go? In present time, I can only giggle about my line of thinking back then. But I was a teenage boy. What else did you expect?
Despite my heartbreak, I continued to watch the show. On to episode four we moved. Sue started to get on my nerves with her accent, her abrasive personality, and the way she was always getting on people for not working hard enough. Coming from a blue collar Wisconsin family, she reminded me of several people I knew (and despised) in real life, and I wasn’t having any of it. I didn’t like Sue, Rudy, or Richard at this point in the game. This was when I really started to back the Pagong tribe. So of course they lost the immunity challenge. In the end, Ramona was the next one voted off. No surprise there. A little too little too late.
Another week passed. We were now up to episode five. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe this was the first episode where a voting alliance was discussed. I remember being so repulsed at the very thought, which is funny to me for so many reasons. It is a game for a million dollars. Why wouldn’t you do whatever it took to make it to the end? But I was turned off by the idea, believing that it was playing dirty and that the ultimate survivor would somehow “rise to the top” and win the game. Whatever. Since Tagi was the tribe that was mainly talking about alliances, and they were the tribe I liked the least, this only made me hate them even more. They lost the reward challenge, which I was thrilled about. Sue was going around talking about how she wanted to stomp on “some guy” at the challenge, so it was super sweet for me to see her lose. Tagi also lost the immunity challenge, as Gervase – the guy who couldn’t even swim – beat river guide Kelly in a rowing competition. Once again I expected Rudy to be voted out, only to be sorely let down by the final results.
Week six. Joel on the Pagong tribe started to talk about how his team needed to stick together and vote out the Tagi members once the merge came around. I was very excited about this. Vote those Tagi bastards out! Funny how I was okay with a voting alliance when it came to the team I liked, but I scoffed at it when it came to a team I didn’t. Hypocritical much? Anyway, Joel (who I had previously not given much thought to) got a lot of screen time in this episode. I believe it was Colleen who referred to him as the golden boy who never did anything wrong. I started to think. Hmm… maybe he was being set up as a potential winner of the game? lolno. He was surprisingly (to me anyway) voted out when Pagong lost the challenge and had to go to Tribal Council. I thought for sure that it would be Gervase, based on his poor performances at the team challenges and the fact that he’d rubbed some tribe members the wrong way with sexist remarks. It also bugged me how he kept saying he felt 100% safe at tribal every week. It seemed like he was due for a reality check. But he was not. In fact, it was Joel who took the heat for laughing at Gervase’s comments, and also for his somewhat condescending attitude towards women in camp. Baby bye-bye! In retrospect, this was probably the worst decision Pagong could have made, as Joel was basically the one person who looked ahead and wanted to stick together to vote out Tagi.
The merge came. For being such a monumental event in the game, I actually don’t remember much about the episode from when I watched it the first time. The only thing that stood out to me was how cool it was that Jenna and Sean had gotten the “ambassador” treatment when it came to picking beaches. I was secretly hoping that they would get it on and give everyone back home something to talk about. But that didn't happen! Other than that, I recall being shocked when Gretchen was voted out of the tribe. Once again I thought it was going to be Rudy. Gretchen seemed like she was well loved by everyone. How could this have happened? Even though the Tagi members in their confessionals went around clearly saying they were in an alliance, I still couldn’t see what was right in front of my face. I would have fit in perfectly on Pagong.
The next episode was the first one that I MISSED completely. I had gone out on my first date that night, and had completely forgotten about Survivor. Could you blame me? I was a naïve, hormonal, virginal teen that had never gone out on a date or even kissed a girl before. My mind was in other places. I remember coming home that night and having my stepmom fill me in on who had gotten voted out. Greg had gotten the boot, and had left Tribal Council in tears. Greg? Weird. I wouldn’t have guessed it would be him. Why not? My stepmom wanted to know. The Tagi people were voting together and saw Greg as a threat to them, just like they did with Gretchen. I don’t know, I thought. I don’t see a voting block happening.
Sigh. I was either really dumb or in denial. Once again, I would have fit in perfectly with the Pagong tribe.
After the Greg boot, I never missed an episode again. In fact, from the next episode on is where my obsession with the show truly began.
Summer vacation with my family came around. We were staying up north in my grandma’s cottage. I wasn’t worried about missing Survivor, because my grandma got one channel on her TV, and that channel was CBS. Thursday night rolled around and we all gathered around her little fuzzy TV to watch the show. Colleen won the reward challenge, and I remember thinking to myself: “whoah, Colleen actually did something???” For some reason she had been one of the more invisible castaways to me. However, I quickly came around to her when she started chatting with Jenna during the reward about teaming up with Gervase and voting out Richard. Finally, FINALLY, Pagong was playing the game.
Rudy won the immunity challenge, and this is where my love of the ole’ Rudester started to bloom. I began to look at him in a different light. Part of this is because my family didn’t like him, and I like to be contrary. Why not start fanboying for the guy that no one likes? Plus I started to look at his comments in a more comedic light. Love him or hate him, the guy is a quotable comedic gold mine.
I was really, really pumped at the prospect of seeing Richard get voted out. I wanted to see his arrogant ass knocked down a peg. It would have happened too, if it wasn’t for Sean’s alphabet voting strategy. J… for Jenna. I was irate at the time, but in retrospect I love how that whole tribal council went down. It was the first truly chaotic moment in the game, and in a way it was responsible for kicking off my obsession with the show.
My grandma had several older episodes of Survivor on VHS tape. After watching Jenna get voted off, I realized that the episode I had missed (where Greg was voted off) was on one of those tapes, so I went back and watched it. Again. And again. And again. She had also recorded the current episode (Jenna’s boot), so I watched that one over and over again as well. The obsession had begun.
Before heading back home, I found a picture of Rudy in a Star magazine that was running a cover story on Survivor. I cut the picture out and put it in a yellow flower refrigerator magnet and stuck it on my grandma’s fridge. 19 years later, that magnet is still up there.
Upon returning home, I made it my goal to do what my grandma did and start recording the episodes so I could rewatch them at my leisure. I started with episode ten. Richard had just escaped the vote, and wasn’t taking it well. We began to see cracks forming in the Tagi alliance regarding Kelly. I knew that it was a longshot, but I was really hoping that after Rich’s close call he would get voted out next. Nope. I visibly got upset and started huffing and puffing when Richard won immunity and started dancing on the beach. I knew that that was basically everyone’s last chance to get him out, and that the numbers would no longer be there after the vote. Lo and behold, Gervase was voted out next.
Another week came by, bringing along with it another episode of the show. By this time I had probably rewatched the previous episode about four or five times. Even though Tagi looked like it was continuing to crumble, they were able to finish off the Pagong tribe and vote off Colleen. Sad, because she had really started to grow on me post-merge. The most memorable moment of this episode, for me, was seeing Sean snub Kelly after winning the yacht reward. I was so pissed at him. How could he do Kelly like that, when he’d promised her he’d take her? Even worse was that he took Rich along with him. By this point I LOATHED Rich and wanted him out out out. I don’t think I’d ever hated anyone on TV as much as I hated Rich. It is silly, because in present day I think Rich is awesome and that he played a terrific game of Survivor. But back then? Wow, did I hate him. If you had asked me who I wanted to win, my reply would have been "I don't care, as long as it's not Rich!"
I probably rewatched this episode a good five times before the new episode came around. At this point, it was clear that the alliance had turned on Kelly and that she would be next to go. Seeing as how much I hated Rich and Sue, this meant that I became Kelly’s number one fan. I couldn’t have been happier to see her win both the immunity and reward challenges this episode. When Jeff was talking to her during the reward and she started to say bad things about Sue? Sweet music to my ears.
This is also the episode where the legacy of Rudy cemented itself in my mind. Rudy answered every question during the immunity challenge with “I dunno”, and I thought that was just the funniest thing I had ever seen. Hell, I still think it is pretty damn funny.
Before I knew it, it was finale time. I rewatched every episode that I had on tape multiple times leading up to the finale. Saying I was obsessed with the show would have been an understatement at this point. I still wanted Rich to lose, but when Sue was the first one voted off, I didn’t lose any sleep over it. Kelly or Rudy were holding the torch for me. I actually preferred a Kelly win at this point, but Rudy winning would have been an acceptable alternative,
Neither happened. Rich took himself out of the final immunity challenge – another move I considered cocky and insufferable. Kelly ended up winning the challenge and earning the decision of who she wanted to vote out of the game. I knew that if she took Rudy to the end, her odds of winning were pretty low. Believe it or not, I was happy when she voted him off and took Rich to the end with her. Remember I was on team Kelly at this point. No way in hell would people vote for the naked and arrogant gay guy who played dirty to win the game. Kelly had it all locked up!
I was feeling confident in my home girl Kelly all the way till the end… and then Sue and her speech came along. If you’re familiar with this season at all, I am sure you know about Sue’s famous snakes and rats speech.
In case you've forgotten about it, here it is:
Sue absolutely ripped into Kelly, tearing her and her gameplay a new one. Remember: I loved Kelly and hated Sue. Sue’s words felt like a personal attack on me. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This only further cemented me in Kelly’s corner. F Sue. And F Richard too. Now I really wanted Kelly to win. She HAD to win after enduring that crap, right? She deserved it.
The votes came in. Three for Richard, three for Kelly. Jeff looked down at the parchment in front of him. The winner of season one of Survivor is….. he holds up the vote. Rich.
What?? Wait, WHAT???
How could they possibly have voted for Rich after what Kelly had just been through? How could they even vote for Rich at all? He was smarmy, arrogant, he treated people like pawns, he played the game in a dirty fashion. I hated Rich. I LOATHED Rich. I was so mad. So mad. I felt like throwing something. Of all the people I didn’t want to see win, he was at the top of the list. I felt like I’d just wasted all this time watching and rewatching the show for nothing. Survivor was ruined for me. I couldn’t believe it. Anyone but Rich!!
I was so mad I barely even noticed the little after piece where it showed a cleanly shaven Richard saying what he would do with the money. I was in nearly a black-out type rage. I couldn’t recall ever being as angry as I was in that moment.
Yeah... I had issues.
I allowed myself to cool down a bit when the reunion show came on. I watched. I didn’t really like everything I was seeing and hearing, but I watched. The most interesting thing to me was seeing the preview for the next season of Survivor: The Australian Outback. As disappointed as I was by the end result of the show, I had an absolutely fantastic time with the journey and I was ready to go on another one again.
A week or two passed and Survivor started to fall out of my head. By this time I had long since graduated high school and my parents were pushing me to go out and get a job. Fat chance of that happening… especially when I saw that CBS was going to be replaying Survivor from the beginning, one episode every night. Whoa! I couldn’t believe it. It was almost too good to be true. Back then, when you missed an episode of a show, you missed it. This was my big chance to record EVERY episode on tape, so I could watch them as many times as I wanted. So that is what I did. Every night I spent glued to my TV, watching Survivor, recording the episode, and then going back and watching it again. Upon rewatching the show, I even began to see Richard’s game in a new light. By the end, I had nothing but respect and admiration for his approach to the game. He was a good winner.
I can safely say I have never been more obsessed with a television show than I was the first season of Survivor. I started off a bit slowly with the show, only half paying attention the first few episodes and later on even missing an episode completely. But when you factor in how many times I have watched and rewatched this show over the years, I would estimate that I have probably seen this season of Survivor from beginning to end at least 20 to 30 times. That’s not even counting the 30+ seasons that have come out since season one aired. I am talking solely about season one!
This show has touched me in more ways than one. I was always a quiet and shy kid, even around my own family. Survivor opened me up and got me talking with people. I talked about what was going on on the island, who was with who, who would be voted out next. The internet wasn’t readily available to me back in the year 2000, but I did eventually find my way online to Survivor related groups and message boards, where I found other like-minded people who loved the show. Through these groups and message boards I have made some great friendships over the years, many of which have held up over time. I’ve introduced Survivor to girlfriends. I’ve met Survivor contestants in real life. I’ve even participated (and won!) a few online Survivor role playing games. And it all started with season one of the show.
Who would have thought when I saw a group of strangers jump off a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean back in the year 2000, that this show would have such an impact on my life? I sure didn’t.
Let’s go back full circle to my first sentence in this posting. Is it possible to have a spiritual connection with a television show? Probably a silly question, but I think there may be some merit to it. I recently rewatched Survivor: Borneo a weekend ago. My goal was to watch the entire thing in one epic marathon, but let’s be real: I don’t have the attention span for that. I ended up finishing it in three days, which is pretty darn fast for me. That was the first time I have rewatched season one in a good nine or ten years.
I found that my time away from the show actually strengthened my bond with it. It was like hanging out and visiting with a bunch of old, dear friends that I hadn’t seen in years. It brought all kinds of fuzzy, nostalgic feelings bubbling to my brain. It warmed my heart. I was home. For one weekend, I was home. I know that sounds silly, but you can’t really control the way your heart feels.
I felt like I knew all the contestants. I felt like I knew the island itself. I felt in some way like I was THERE when the show was being filmed. I’m sure this is a result of watching this so much when I was younger, but some kind of connection has formed between me and this show. I can’t shake this feeling like I was a contestant in a past life, maybe even a crew member. Maybe I was even native to this island once upon a time. I feel as if there is something more present and at work than simply me watching a TV show over and over again.
Even a week after I finished watching the show, I still can’t shake this feeling. It is one of the weirdest things I have ever experienced. I truly believe I have some kind of connection to this island, some kind of connection with Survivor. Not Survivor as a whole, just this specific season of the show.
Maybe it’s just a whole lot of me being weird. Maybe there is more to it. Maybe it’s a sign. I’ve always wanted to be on the show, but I’ve never even bothered applying because I know there isn’t that much that’s interesting about me. They’d never in a million years pick me. Or would they? Maybe the sign is something completely different. I’ve been thinking a lot about visiting Pulau Tiga, the island in Borneo where the show was filmed. I could never in a million years afford that kind of trip, but it does feel like something I am destined to do at some point in my life.
I don’t know what any of this means, if it even means anything. But I can’t help but shake the feeling that me and this island are somehow inexorably linked. Where things go from here is anyone’s guess.
Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings. If and when I ever rewatch Survivor: The Australian Outback I will post my thoughts on that season as well. I don’t have anywhere near as strong a connection with this season as I do the first, but I still have many memories of it that I would like to share.
So long for now!
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Back in the late 90's I was a casual fan of the Spyro the Dragon series. I wouldn't say I was a super fan by any means, as I only rented the games and never actually owned any of them. In fact, I can't say with any certainty that I even played the second or third games at all.
Nevertheless, when I saw that they were remastering these three games with today's graphics, I got excited. I knew that the classic gameplay of Spyro the Dragon coupled with the graphics of today would be a winning formula.
Would my prediction prove true? Let's find out.
Oh yeah before we start, I should note that I am counting this collection as one game instead of three individual games. If I ever go back and play the old PS1 versions of these games, I will review them individually. But not now.
Story:
Each game has its own unique storyline. The first game finds all the dragons around the world being turned into stone, and Spyro must rescue them and take down the bad guy responsible for the chaos. Spyro 2 finds the purple dragon working to free a captive people from an angry warlock named Ripto. The third game has Spyro rescuing dragon eggs that have been stolen.
Really though, the game's storylines are pretty inconsequential in the long run. You don't play Spyro games for their stories. They just kind of exist as a formality. You are here for the gameplay. Very quickly I found myself not caring at all about anything going on in any of these games' storylines.
Gameplay:
Basic gameplay is the same for each Spyro game. You control the titular dragon from a behind-the-back 3D perspective. The square button is a charge attack where Spyro lowers his head and barrels forward, attacking with his horns. The x button makes you jump. The circle button makes Spyro breathe fire.
Your main goal in each game is, quite frankly, to collect as much shit as you can possibly collect. You start out in a hub world, and this hub world contains several self-contained stages. Pass through these stages, collecting jewels, eggs, rescuing dragons, whatever it is you need to do. This unlocks further stages within your hub world. Pass all these stages and you can move on via hot air balloon to the next hub world, where you do more of the same. Spyro comes, he collects, and he conquers. This basic formula is pretty much the same for each game in the series.
Later Spyro games introduce twists into the mix. For example, in the second game Spyro can pass through gates that give him temporary special powers like the ability to fly or shoot destructive missiles from his mouth rather than his standard fire cloud. The third game introduces different playable characters you can take control of, including a bouncing kangaroo and a bird that packs some serious firepower.
While you will spend most of your time exploring stages and collecting everything in sight, each game does offer little wrinkles like minigames to help break up the action and make things seem not so monotonous. I hated these stages when I was a kid, but the stages where you have to fly around and destroy things within a set time limit were some of my favorite segments in the game.
Correct me if I am remembering improperly, but the gameplay of the classic Spyro trilogy remains completely unchanged for this collection. Aside from the graphics, the stages are just as I remember them. Everything handles and controls just as it did in the past. This seems to be a very, very faithful adaptation of the original Spyro games.
Each Spyro title can be not only beaten but fully platinum trophied in just a couple of days, maybe a week depending on how much time you sink into your playing sessions. There were a few tricky hidden collectibles for me to find, but all in all I did not have a very difficult time playing any of these games.
Graphics:
This game's graphics may be one of the best things about it. It can't even say it "looks good." That is doing it a disservice. It is stunning. This game has zero rough edges. It is bright, it is colorful, it is basically a Pixar movie come to life.
Magical is all I have to say about this game's look.
Sound:
None of the game's music really stands out in my mind. Not to say that its music is bad, it just isn't iconic like Mario's, Sonic's, or even Banjo-Kazooie's. It does its job in helping bring the magical world of this game to life, and that's all I really have to say about it.
The sound effects, though, are very good. I enjoy the sound of Spyro breathing fire. I like the sound of stampeding feet when you do your charge attack. The sound it makes when you collect a gem is very satisfying. Little touches like the "baa-ing" of sheep and the noises your enemies make really put things over the top. The voice acting is decent too, but like I said I didn't really care much for any of these games' stories, so I didn't pay too much attention to it.
Overall:
This was a really fun trip down memory lane. I had forgotten how enjoyable these old Spyro games were. Aside from a few minor twists and changes, however, each game is very similar to the one before it. By the time the third game on the disc came around, I was experiencing major Spyro burnout. Heck, I was experiencing this burnout already on the second game.
Not to say that the Spyro formula isn't a good one. I like these games a lot, and I think they still withstand the test of time even 20 years after their initial release. But yeah, they can be a little repetitive, especially if you play them back-to-back-to-back like I did.
Fans of the original Spyro trilogy should definitely check this out. I can't say it is worth buying if you already own all the old Spyro games, since really all that has changed is the graphics. It depends on if the visual upgrade is worth it or not for you. If you don't own the old Spyro games but are a fan of this genre, then you definitely need to check out this title. I won't lie and say that Spyro is better than Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Conker, or even the Gex series, but it is still pretty dang good.
Final Score:
B+
If you liked my review of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, please check out some of my other game reviews:
I remember being REALLY jazzed for this game when it first came out. The year was 1996. I was a freshman in high school who just absolutely loved fighting games. Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Eternal Champions were my go-to fighters for the Sega Genesis. When I made the jump to 32-bit with the Sega Saturn, I ended up playing a lot of Virtua Fighter and Fighting Vipers. Fighting Vipers was a lesser known fighting game that was similar to Virtua Fighter but with armored characters fighting in cages. When I heard that Sega was creating a game with both Virtua Fighter AND Fighting Vipers characters, I nearly jumped out of my seat with excitement. Mash-ups or crossovers between two different franchises are something that’s pretty common nowadays, but back then this was almost unheard of. Not only would this game combine two of my favorite fighting franchises, it would also include unlockable characters from other Sega series (Sonic, Virtua Cop, Daytona USA, etc).
I went out and got Fighters Megamix and it quickly became one of my favorite fighting games of all time... for a few months. And then I stopped playing it. I’d say a good 20 years passed before I ever picked the game up again. Would I still like the game as much as I did back in the late 90’s? Let’s find out!
Story:
As far as I know, this game doesn’t have a story. You just fight, and that’s it.
Gameplay:
This is a pretty standard, no-frills fighting game. You pick a character and you fight the opposing character. There is a timer. Whoever wins two out of three matchups wins. Nothing mold breaking there.
What makes Fighters Megamix unique is the way it mashes up two different gameplay styles into one. Virtua Fighter is more of a slow, tactical, martial arts-style fighting game. Fighting Vipers is faster paced and focuses more on aggression and brute strength. The characters wear armor, and the battles all take place inside caged arenas. You can break the armor of off other characters with special attacks, which makes them more vulnerable to taking damage. If you end the round with a special attack, you can knock your opponent through the wall of the cage, which is super satisfying.
With the odd mix of different gameplay styles, you would think this game wouldn’t work. But it does. Virtua Fighter characters aren’t given armor, however they are given armor breaking attacks to help even the playing field a little bit. Depending on who you fight against, the type of stage changes. Virtua Fighter characters fight in open arenas, whereas if you take on a Fighting Vipers character, the action shifts to a cage match.
There are several different gameplay modes you can partake in. There is the typical one-player mode, a two-player mode, team battle - which I never bothered to check out, and also a survival mode, which I also never bothered to check out.
Unless you like to play with friends, which I don’t, the one-player mode is where you will find the meat and potatoes of the game. There are nine different tracks you can play, each one consisting of six regular fights with a boss battle at the end of the track. Not all of these tracks are available immediately, however. You have to beat the earlier tracks to unlock the later ones. I just went through and beat all of them in order one by one. When you beat a track, the boss character that you beat at the end becomes available as an unlockable character. Unlockable characters include the Virtua Fighter Kids versions of Sarah and Akira, Janet from Virtua Cop, Hornet from Daytona USA, a couple characters from Sonic the Fighters, and more.
Playing on the default difficulty for the game, I finished unlocking all the characters in about an hour. After that, I found that I had no reason to keep playing the game. There is no storyline, no hidden scenes to unlock, no extras outside of the unlockable characters. I don’t have any friends, so playing multiplayer was out the window. I don’t know how this game kept me occupied for so long back in my teenage years. Once you beat all nine tracks and unlock the secret characters, there is really no reason to keep going. You’ve seen everything the game has to offer.
This is a fun game and I had a good time playing it, don’t get me wrong. But on the default difficulty I found the game to be laughably easy, with a replay value that is basically nonexistent.
Graphics:
The game looks a little sloppy now, but you have to cut it some slack. Fighters Megamix came out in 1996, which is 23 freaking years ago. WOW am I old or what? Anyway, this game looked top-notch when it first came out, and I remember drooling over the game’s graphics and how good it looked.
The main thing that stands out to me is the game’s color. Everything is so bright and colorful and bursting with life. Yeah the characters are a little blocky and pixelated. The closer you look at arena textures, the worse they become. Still, that is kind of part of the game’s charm. It is a product of its times. And as blocky as all the characters look, they all have their own unique styles and personalities, and are all easily distinguishable from one another. They may not look great by today’s standards, but you can’t help but appreciate how diverse and well-designed they are.
Sound:
I really like this game’s music and sound effects. Most of the music tracks are pulled directly from their source material. You hear it in Virtua Fighter, you hear the same song here. The same goes with Fighting Vipers. I like how some of the bonus characters have special songs for their stages. For example, Hornet (the car from Daytona USA) has the “Rolling Start” song as his stage music. Janet from Virtua Cop has the theme from stage one of Virtua Cop 2 playing in the background. Overall, this game’s soundtrack is about as “Sega” as you can possibly get. All it is missing is the Green Hill Zone theme.
Sound effects are good, but nothing too spectacular. Just your standard whops, thwocks, grunts, groans, and smashing sounds that are pretty typical in fighting games. I do have to give a special shout out to the game’s announcer, who if I recall correctly also does the announcing for Virtua Fighter 3. I love that guy.
Overall:
I had a relatively enjoyable time playing this game, however I found that the reality of the game’s situation overpowers any nostalgic feelings I have for it. It’s just too dang short and lacking in any kind of substance for me to take too seriously. Give us some kind of cheap story mode. Give each character a special ending, even if it is just a crappy 20 second FMV sequence. Something. Anything to give us incentive to play through the game as each character. Instead, I found that once I’d played through all nine single player tracks and unlocked the secret characters, I had no reason whatsoever to keep playing.
If you have a lot of friends and you like playing with other people, you can probably prolong the lifespan of this game just a little bit with its multiplayer mode. Even then I question this game’s replay value.
For its time, this was a solid fighting game that was one of the best of the Saturn generation. Maybe it is because I don’t really enjoy fighting games anymore, but I found that I didn’t like it NEARLY as much now as I did when I was a teen. It’s an okay game, and that’s about as far as I am willing to go with my assessment. It does a lot of things right with its character variety, unlockable bosses, music, graphical charm, and its seamless blend of two different fighting styles. Even with all that, I feel as if I should have liked this game a lot more than I did.
If you are a diehard Virtua Fighter/Fighting Vipers fan then you should probably have this game in your collection. If you aren’t, then there really isn’t much of a reason to go back and play this. I do enjoy this game, and it does hold a decent amount of sentimental value for me, but I can't imagine I'll be spending much more time with this title, if any, between now and the day I die.
Final Score:
C+
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