Jessica's Retro Underground

Trans femme, she/her. I like to play old video games and then write about them

[jessicajagg]

Why I love Sonic Adventure

Picking favorite video games has always been a challenge for me. There are so many games that I like that narrowing it down has always proved difficult. However, there are a select few that always spring to my mind without fail whenever the subject comes up. And one of those games is Sonic Adventure.

I didn't always love it, as a kid my first 3D Sonic was Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on gamecube. I held it's Sonic speed stages in very high regard which only grew when I got older and became nostalgic for it. So much that I initially dismissed Sonic Adventure upon playing the PS3 port, simply because it was not SA2. But I eventually grew out of that bias and upon revisiting SA1 with a more open mind, I found a game that I would grow to love more than any other in the series.

What immediately springs to my mind when I think of Sonic Adventure are the zones. Alot of Sonic games will usually have "that" level I'll dread revisiting but in Adventure there's not a dud in the bunch. I love the sky road in Windy Valley, the snowboarding in Ice Cap, the Nights pinball machine in Casinopolis and ofcourse the iconic run down the side of a building in Speed Highway.

Emerald Coast in particular has a special place in my heart. It's bright blue skies, white sand, it's hard to describe but I can't help but smile whenever I think about it. It genuinely puts me at ease somehow and I think about it alot when I'm feeling stressed or overwhelmed.

Something I didn't find appreciation for until recently were the hub worlds connecting these zones. I used to think they were a bit of a nuisance, especially unlocking the next zone can sometimes be cryptic. It was only after a recent playthrough where I decided to slow down and take everything in that I found them to be really chill spaces to just hang out in.

Alot of the NPCs have their own little stories that progress as you make your way through the game. They're small but really cute and amusing. I got way more invested in them that I thought I would and honestly I think you're not getting the full SA experience if you don't talk to everyone.

Among the Sonic games that shuffle between multiple characters and play styles I think Adventure 1 did the best at structuring it all. Each character has their own campaign so if you only feel like playing speed stages you can just do Sonic's story and be done with it.

Tails is handled best here than in any other 3D game, I love the idea of having you play levels again with an OP character that just breaks them.

The three playstyles that differ the most from the core Sonic gameplay, Knuckles, Amy and Big are the shortest campaigns. Which keeps them from getting too monotonous, especially when it comes to Big's unfortunately clunky fishing controls.

Ofcourse every moment and stage in this game is punctuated with one of the most memorable soundtracks in the entire franchise. I'm not much of a music gal, so all I can say is that the music fucking rules.

I know as a game there's alot wrong with Sonic Adventure. The presentation, the voice acting, the odd physics, re-using content but none of it really bugs me. If I fall down the floor, I just shrug in an "oh you" kind of way and continue on. It's one of those games where I'll plow through the entire thing in one sitting on a whim.

In the end all I can say is, I love Sonic Adventure.

[jessicajagg]

Technic Beat (2004) Review-

When the name Arika is brought up I'm sure most people think of the Street Fighter EX series along with it's spiritual successor Fighting EX Layer, however the studio founded by ex-Capcom employees actually quite a diverse catalog of titles. From the most frustrating Mega Man game ever conceived to the extremely charming and unique Rhythm game 'Technix' and it's sequel 'Technic Beat'

Technic Beat follows standard Rhythm game conventions, markers appear on-screen to the beat of the music playing and the player must sequentially activate each one with more points being awarded for how on beat you are.

The difference lies in that you control a character who must hover over circle markers to activate them in a small 3D stage. They appear on the ground and can even be picked up to overlap with other markers to activate them all in a chain. I personally found the emphasis on moving and positioning of your character in addition to rhythm and timing made this game more approachable to me than some of it's contemporaries.

The characters each have their own unique abilities and are very um...diverse? There's a doll, a toy robot, a platypus and a bear in a teddy bear costume (unfortunately Skullomania from Street Fighter EX is exclusive to the previous game).

The real star of the game is the music. Over 87 tracks are featured in a myriad of genres and subgenres. I'm not really a music person so I can't find the words to accurately describe how great this soundtrack is other than "I like how it sounds" but trust me the OST is amazing. In addition to original tracks there are also alot of remixed music from Namco arcade titles. Again not a music critic so all I can say is that they fucking rule.

The difficulty increase is very gradual and restarting is instant so it's not a big deal if you mess up. The level increase from 1 to 6 is very manageable, just difficult enough to keep you on your toes but once you get to the level 7 tracks you really have to start bringing your A game. Level 8 tracks are definitely for hardcore maniacs, markers pop in so fast it feels impossible.

Technic Beat is a sadly underrated game, atleast outside Japan. The fact uploads of the OST on youtube can get less than 1k views is a crime in of itself. If you have any affinity for the genre I cannot recommend this game enough.

[jessicajagg]

King of Fighters: Maximum Impact (2004) PS2 Review

SNK was in a weird spot during the early 2000s. Their contemporaries had shifted nearly all of their focus on 3D games made to be played at the home but SNK continued to produce their coin-op titles for a dwindling arcade industry.

In an era where arcade games were largely released in collections, SNK put out single game home conversions with little to no extra features while Neo Geo emulation became more prevent online.

None of this is to say SNK's output at this time was lackluster. Metal Slug, Garou, Samurai Shodown and King of Fighters continually pushed the standards for pixel art, still looking gorgeous to this day. But the market trends had shifted and without a digital market place to sell shorter arcade games they had trouble finding an audience outside of hardcore enthusiasts. Hence in 2004, rather than another yearly entry of KOF we would receive a 3D spin-off "King of Fighters: Maximum Impact"

Maximum Impact ditches the staple team battle system for a traditional 1 on 1 bouts. Team battles are only available in versus mode and have loading screens inbetween each round. The game still mainly takes place on a 2D plane with the only 3D manuver being a side-step that I personally didn't find particularly useful. What is incredibly useful are the 'body slams'. Simply hold forward or back while mashing punch or kick and you'll perform a little combo string, no doubt a mechanic implemented to help newcomers but it can go boths ways and you can easily find yourself cornered.

Which brings me to the most frustrating aspect of this game, the final boss Duke. Now we all know and accept SNK final bosses are bullshit but Duke has to be the cheapest and most uncreative version of an SNK boss. Duke has an aoe super that will drain more than 80% of your life in a single hit. He can activate it instantly and unless you hit him just before it activates he has super armor, meaning most of the time if you press a button he can just activate his super and get you. Said super also breaks your guard when you block it, can't be jumped over and because Duke has infinite meter he can just spam it over and over again.

But the thing about Duke is that it's also insanely easy to break the fight if your character has a good jump kick. I've had fights last between 1 minute to an hour entirely depending on my characters ability to bullshit their way through the fight.

The game features 20 characters, 6 of them being original. The story sees two lead characters, brothers Alba and Soiree take on the KOF Tournament to wrestle control of Southtown from the aforementioned Duke and avenge their friend Fate. If you play as anyone else you basically get the same intro and outro cutscenes for everyone with minor dialouge changes.

The original character designs are rather hit or miss. The only real stand out is the disciple of Kim Kaphwan 'Chae Lim'. The others range from unremarkable to bland, it's not surprising alot of them haven't made any return appearances.

The game does however feature some stellar alternate costumes and models for each character. Some of which are so good, you have to wonder why it isn't the default. The alternate costumes for Mai and Yuri in particular are ones I'd love to see make a comeback.

The visuals while they don't match the visual splendor you'd see in the previous years KOF 2003 or Namco's 3D fighters of the time they get the job done. The music doesn't quite hit the mark but there are a few standout tracks. The english voice acting however is hilariously horrendous as nearly the entire original KOF cast are given voices that don't match the characters at all. The voice acting was the biggest point of contention from reviewers of the time, so much so that the Xbox port gave the option to swap to the Japanese.

Maximum Impact for all it's faults is a fascinating time capsule of the times and SNK's efforts to break into the mainstream. The game was successful enough to see a sequel 2 years later that would greatly expand on the foundation this game laid out.

[jessicajagg]

Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) Retrospective

When I was younger my experiences with shooters were limited. Outside of attempting and failing to clear the first stage of 'Shogo Mobile Armor Division' most of my games were of the platformer or fighting variety. The first shooter that really caught my attention, that made me want to buy a console just to play it was Halo.

During the early aughts I was knee deep into gaming news between a subscription to GamePro and infrequent access to G4Techtv, all singing the praises of Halo 2. It was talked about so much that I felt like I was missing out, that I had to play it for myself. I'd constantly read articles and go to the ilovebees arg site. Unfortunately I lacked an Xbox at the time, I had written off the console before then as none of it's early titles really appealed to me.

There was no way my parents were gonna fork over money for a third console (we already had a PS2 and Gamecube) but I managed to get one put in layaway. However there was one caveat. You see I wanted Halo 2, but my mom noticed it had "language" in the ESRB rating on the back. Halo 1 however did not have a pottymouth so that's what I ended up with. After a few months of allowances and probably my parents just paying the rest anyway, I got my Xbox.

Halo CE's title screen is the definition of iconic. A panning shot of the titular ring and the theme plays, I can't help but let it play for a bit before starting a new playthrough. The story does a good job of letting you know what's going on without over explaining lore details. I love how the games opening level goes out of it's way not to show you any of the covenant before one jumpscares you after opening a door.

I can't say much about the core gameplay aside from shoot gun feel good. It's as simple as that, Bungie nailed the control and feel. There are few pleasures that rival feeling the controller vibrate in your hands as you unload an assault rifle clip into an Elite.

The weapons give you a good selection of options on dealing with enemies. For example the Jackals have a sheild that can deflect bullets. You can either overload their sheild with a charged plasma pistol, lob a grenade at them or just run up and beat them.

The stages start off varied and unique, with my absolute favorite being "the silent cartographer". Unfortunately around the halfway point you can tell the devs were crunched for time. You start seeing the same environments from previous levels popping up and run through the same copy pasted room again and again.

Combat also becomes less varied when the flood are introduced. The parasitic enemy mainly consists of infected who charge towards you and little spores that try to jump you. The game basically locks you into using the shotgun to 1 hit kill the big guys and the assault rifle to pop the spores.

The final stage sees you racing in a warthog against the clock to evacuate before your ship destroys the ring. I still remember the first time I playing, I was extremely tense and struggling hard against the vehicle controls. I was kinda dumb as a kid and didn't usually beat games so I felt really proud of myself as I watched Halo go boom, even if I was playing on easy.

Despite the flaws in the later portions of the game, I was hooked. I was officially a Halo megafan, constantly replaying the campaign and playing multiplayer with my friend and cousin. And ofcourse it only made me want to experience Halo 2 even more. The e3 trailers were included in newer printings of CE and I'd watch them constantly.

Eventually I'd finally get to play it but that's a story for another time. Tl;dr Halo's fucking good.

[jessicajagg]

Pac-Man Fever (2003) Review

Something I always love about browsing used game stores is running into oddities. Games I wouldn't really go out of my way to order but might grab if it's sitting on a shelf at a cheap price. And recently I found a game I'd previously only seen in magazine ads, Pac-Man Fever.

Pac-Man Fever takes the basic foundation of Mario Party but simplifies it. Every game is a race to the end of the board rather than a contest of who can collect the most things. The end of every round has a mini-game which determines how many spaces you can move in the next round. Your coin equivalents (which are admittedly cleverly are arcade tokens) are mainly used to move yourself or other players forward/back on the board.

These changes make Pac-Man Fever much more simple than Mario Party but that also means it loses alot of its chaotic energy. There's no real way to screw over other players, at best you can inconvenience them by moving them back a few spaces or taking some of their tokens.

The mini-games are unfortunately pretty bland overall. They run the gambit of really simple to kinda confusing. This game could've really benefitted from Mario Party's practice option.

Easily the most stand out thing about the game is it's roster. Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are joined by Heihachi and Tiger from Tekken, Astaroth from Soul Calibur and the lovely Reiko Nagase of Ridge Racer.

This selection of namco characters is the main reason I picked the game up although it makes me wonder who the audience for this game really was. The simplistic gameplay make me think this was intended for parents to play with their kids, but the roster is mostly made up of characters only avid game players would know.

Pac-Man Fever tries to offer a full game experience but with only 3 game boards and a small selection of mini-games I can imagine being disappointed spending 50$ on this back in the day. But for a tenner today it can make atleast make for an interesting afternoon.

[jessicajagg]

Burning Road (1996) PS1 Review

Hey there kid, do you like playing Daytona USA at the arcade but your parents bought you a Playstation instead of a Saturn? Then do I have a game for you.

To say Burning Road borrows alot from Daytona would be an understatement. Everything from the menu layout, announcer and even the flashing outline over which options you pick are clearly attempting to ape the style of Sega's arcade classic. However once you start racing you'll find Burning Road is a bit more than a simple clone.

The game features an assortment of 4 vehicles. 2 cars and 2 monster trucks that you can race across 3 tracks that like Daytona are labeled Beginner, Advanced and Expert.

Once you get into a race you'll notice that Burning Road has an incredible sense of speed as you zip across the track and go flying off inclines. Unfortunately the games handling is on the loose side, you'll find your bumper almost magnetized to the wall no matter how hard you try to brake. This combined with the games erratic rubberbanding ai can make taking first place difficult, especially in the expert track.

The tracks while small in number are all varied and fun to look at. Beginner mixes a windmill forest with the great wall of China. Advanced meshes a volcanic area with a snowy arctic climate and Expert gives us a dark rainy city. Pop in, however is a recurring problem in every track, with level elements coming into existence as you approach.

The sound design and music are fun and fit the arcade vibe perfectly. The opening jingle, the engrish announcer and the lady singing "burning road~" in a few of the tracks add to the games overall charm...if you choose the 'classic music' option in the menu anyway. The NTSC release of Burning Road features a 'US Remix' that replaces the music and announcer done by Tommy Talirico Studios. It is incredibly boring with a tryhard announcer that made me groan whenever he spoke.

Despite the technical issues and general lack of polish I personally find Burning Road to be an incredibly fun arcade racer that deserves more recognition than it gets. I'd definitely recommend checking it out, just make sure you change the music to classic before you start.

[jessicajagg]

Back in elementary school, I hadn't started reading game magazines yet so my knowledge was limited to whatever I saw at the store and what got commercials on tv. So when a friend told me about a Digimon game he got, one that was a one on one fighting game I immediately became giddy with excitement as we hurried to my house to play together. This game was Digimon Rumble Arena.

The game is a very simple platform fighter in the same vein as Smash Brothers. Both Digimon run around an open stage beating each other up and grabbing power ups in the form of trading cards that randomly spawn.

Unlike Smash the game uses a standard lifebar health system, falling off the edge will merely deduct some life and put you back in the fight. The controls are fairly simple. One standard attack, 2 special moves, jump, guard and your meter button. This will either activate a Digivolution or a meter draining ultimate attack.

The controls are kinda slippery, maneuvering around the stage can be a hassle at times. Every fight basically goes the same way. You smack each other around until your meters fill, wait for the computer to digivolve first to save meter and then smack them more until you win.

You start with 9 rookie level Digimon from the first 3 seasons of the tv series that can digivolve to their Mega level forms after filling your super meter (with the exception of wormmon who digivolves to his Champion level). The roster opens up quite a bit with unlocks but the majority of them are either standalone Digivolutions or pallete swaps like BlackWarGreymon or Imperialdramon Paladin mode. Thankfully however the game features nearly the entire English voice cast reprising their roles in glorious 32-bit crushed quality.

The stages are a random assortment of different themes. Forest, lava, ice, etc. None of them come from the series but they fit the Digimon aesthetic. However some stages feature stage hazards like having the entire stage rotate which can be a bit annoying as it interrupts the flow.

The final boss Reapermon is a comically overpowered character whose ai ranges from comicly inept to can touch of death you in seconds. Incidentally Reapermon itself was never part of any of the anime the game is based on and wouldn't make an animated appearance until the 2020 Digimon Adventure reboot.

Digimon Rumble arena isn't very good but despite that I find it a fun game to revisit from time to time. Partly because of nostalgia and because I just have a soft spot for these old anime tie-in games. But unless you grew up with it, you'd probably be better off playing the 6th gen sequel instead.

[jessicajagg]

Transformers has had a pretty inconsistent history with video games, from the legendarily awful "Convoy no Nazo" to the excellent Cybertron duology from High Moon studios and plenty of middling games inbetween. One game I've always had a passing interest in is the 2004 PS2 title simply named "Transformers"

Despite the title, this game is actually based on the 2003 animated series "Transformers Armada". If I had to guess I'd say they wanted to try and appeal to nostalgic G1 fans as the game features quotes from the original Transformers movie in it's dialouge and unlockable PSAs from the original series.

The game is a 3rd person shooter with sandbox levels that put an emphasis on exploration. You have a specific path you need to follow to progress but the game won't stop you from exploring. The levels are surprisingly vast and can look really pretty at times. Although there isn't much variety, mostly jungles and arctic climates but this can be forgiven given the games short development cycle.

Your main collectibles are the minicons an ancient race of Transformers that act as weapons and upgrades. Each one has a power level with a maximum level you can't exceed meaning you have to be smart about which ones you use instead of just equipping the best ones. Although some minicons like the glider are necessary for level progression and I wish they could've just been additions to your core moveset instead of taking a slot.

There are also datacons which serve as unlockable extras. If you're a transformers fan there's actually some cool stuff in there like reference sheets and toy prototypes.

Your 3 playable autobots are Optimus Prime, Hot Shot and Red Alert. Each have different stats although I personally didn't notice much of a difference between them. Combat will see you strafing around shooting at enemies. You can transform but unfortunately it has no real function outside of traveling across the map slightly faster.

Your main enemies will be the decepticlones, basically a bunch of different types of faceless mooks for you to shoot at. They aren't to be taken lightly though, they can turn your autobot into swiss cheese if you aren't careful even on the easiest difficulty.

The boss fights against the main Decepticons are easily the highlight of the game. The most memorable being against the giant carrier transformer Tidal Wave. The ambition and scale that went into this fight really impressed me. The game managed to pull off a fight with a giant enemy so well that it baffles me how the final battle with Unicron ended up so dull.

Yeah the game definitely has its fair share of quirks. The game could definitely use a map and a way of tracking your collectibles in a stage. There are some weird control decisions like how jump is mapped to L1 because X is mapped to accelerate....in vehicle mode....and does nothing in robot mode. The most hilarious quirk is the ragdoll physics, you'll often see your autobot flaiing about when thrown and it's never not funny.

But these quirks are more than likely again, the result of the games short one year dev cycle and despite them all I actually came out really appreciating this game and everything it tried to do.

If you're a TF Fan and have a PS2 definitely check this one out.

[lowpolypeople]

Rio from Lifeline (a.k.a. Operator’s Side)

[jessicajagg]

I've been reading alot of old game magazine issues lately. It's fun looking at screenshots of early builds of games and laughing at the edgy ads. But my favorite part is finding lesser known games from the 6th gen, one of which ia Quantum Redshift.

During the early days of the Xbox, Microsoft wanted to cover all of their bases to compete with the Playstation 2 and Quantum Redshift was made to directly compete with Sony's futuristic racer WipEout. With over a million dollars and former WipEout devs they failed to make a splash in the market. Which is a shame because Quantum Redshift is actually quite good.

The graphics look great, even by today's standards. You can really see the money put into the game. While the tracks lean heavily into a futuristic aesthetic there's plenty of variety in locations from blending together. Little details like water drops on the screen when you splash into water and the pre-race countdown being in the language of the country the track is in really add to the charm of the game.

The handling is a little slippery, especially using the boost. You'll be hitting walls alot until you get used to the controls. You have a sheild and two weapons, a lesser one you have to aim and lockon missiles that stop racers in their tracks. Timing your sheild to incoming missile alterts is essential to winning.

While the game features an impressive roster of futuristic vehicle the same can't be said for the drivers. A bunch of one-note boring characters, nowhere near as a iconic as the cast of F-Zero. You'll definitely want to skip all the cutscenes. But the lackluster character designs are thankfully the only real mark against this game.

I picked up Quantum Redshift for only 7 bucks on eBay and spent way more time in it than I thought I would. If you like futuristic racers and have an OG Xbox or 360 then you owe it to yourself to check it out.

[jessicajagg]

Lemme tell yall about this little gem of a PS2 game I've been playing, it's called Auto Modellista.

It's one of two racing games put out by Capcom before they gave up on the genre. What makes it stand out among its contemporaries of the time is its use of cel-shaded graphics.

Unfortunately the game is plagued by some poor design choises that were only made worse when the game was re-tuned for North America.

The steering just feels off, if you tilt the control stick all the way in either direction you will spin out. If you try to hit the emergency brake while turning to drift you will spin out.

The track design boils down to either ovals with mostly straight lines or down/up hill tracks that require turns so tight they feel like they weren't designed with the games controls in mind.

And finally the games balancing is a bit of a joke, just pick a Nissan Skyline and make sure to tune for the course your driving and you'll be almost guaranteed a win.

Despite all these issues, I have a fondness for this game. It's aesthetic oozes early 2000s in its menus and music. You also get a cute customizable garage that you unlock more items and posters for the more you race.

Auto Modellista is definitely not the best racing game you could play on the PS2, but it's definitely worth playing for anyone who loves 6th gen arcade racers like me.

[jessicajagg]

Twitter might be going up in flames so I'll be setting up shop here just incase.

Let's try to get along.