Last Retro Game You Finished And Your Thoughts

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Maybe I’m not alone, but whenever I think of Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, I think of the Dreamcast.

In the words of the sequel's Michael Jackson, you are not alone. I also think of R2RB as a Dreamcast game - it was one of the launch games if I remember correctly and definitely used to showcase the graphical prowess of the Dreamcast. It was smooth, colourful and a blast to play. Was it as good as Fight Night Round 3 when that similarly helped show off the Xbox 360 in 2006? Probably not, but it was a fun, arcadey boxing game which was like a 3D Punch-Out, at least character-wise. I'd quite like to play it again, but yeah, not on the N64.

ROUND 2 was so good on the Dreamcast

I tried finding the tech demo from Midway showing someone playing Ready 2 Rumble with motion controls on the Dreamcast but I can't find it.

Cheers for bringing that to my attention, I'd never heard about this before. 



Dated twenty years ago today, strangely enough. Gaming wouldn't have been ready for the complexity of motion controls like those in 2000. Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution on Wii a decade later seemed to prove that gaming wasn't ready in 2010 either...

Yeah that's the video and I believe Midway or whoever owned them at the time were one of the one's trying to sue Nintendo over the Wiimote.

There's also a video like that with a slightly different looking motion controller but still on the Dreamcast playing Monkey Ball.

I completely forgot there was even an N64 version of Ready 2 rumble, I played and loved that series on dreamcast and when you think it about it was probably the last of the great arcade games from Midway before they went tits up in the mid to late 2000's.

gjones wrote:

Was it as good as Fight Night Round 3 when that similarly helped show off the Xbox 360 in 2006? Probably not, but it was a fun, arcadey boxing game which was like a 3D Punch-Out, at least character-wise. I'd quite like to play it again, but yeah, not on the N64.

I loved the EA's Fight night games as well but I have to say fight night round 2 was my favourite.

Midway backed the N64 in a big way, stepping up when the likes of Capcom, Square and Konami stepped away. True, three versions of San Francisco Rush isn't much of a substitute for Street Fighter, Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid, but there's still lots to enjoy. I've completed several of their games, and when I get round to reviewing them, there's a couple I'll be rating very highly 

Whatever happened to boxing games? It doesn't seem like anything's come out since Fight Night Champion.

Yeah, it really was only EA that seemed arsed about making boxing games and from what I've looked up the Fight Night team went on to make the newer UFC games.

I have a soft spot for Midway. You can't say that any of their games were truly world class but they were good fun more often than not. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing was a good game.

It's a shame they went under as they seemed to understand how to deliver decent arcade style games.

If anybody's still got a PS2, I highly recommend the three Midway Arcade Treasures compilations. They're a broad and even spread of their output between the early '80s and the mid '00s with excellent emulation.

~



I’ve completed Knife Edge, a futuristic on-rails 3D shooter that plays like a lightgun game, just without any use of a lightgun. That just killed Knife Edge off. The Nintendo 64 doesn’t have that sort of peripheral available, and without that tactile feeling of aiming a gun, the magazines of the time surmised that Knife Edge was a colossal waste of time. Having now completed it for myself for the first time, I fully agree with that. 

You fly about sci-fi environments in a nose gunner helicopter, playing in a first-person point of view and shooting down the usual sorts of alien/robot baddies that you always get in these types of games. Though it’s mechanically fine, Knife Edge is only remarkable in how pedestrian it all is. The visuals, sounds, character dialogue and weapons are all sorely lacking distinctive and interesting characteristics for me to type about. Honestly, there’s bugger all to say. And it’s all done in about an hour. The developer seemed to make a concerted effort to beef this up though, with multiple routes throughout the games six levels, which I have to guess was designed to encourage several replays. I’ll not be doing that though, as nothing I experienced in my runthrough of Knife Edge suggests that there’s entertainment to be found anywhere on that cartridge.

With lightguns, this might have made for a OKish weekend rental, especially if you were doing a high-score attack with your pals in multiplayer. That’s hypothetical though, and in the state it was released, Knife Edge just isn’t up to much. Even as a £4 loose cartridge on CEX, I don’t feel like you need to bother.

There’s an odd spot of dodgy Japanese-to-English translation, with a piece of text reading as “You have Score 10000 point ! ! ! !”. But no, Knife Edge: You have Score 4/10.

I'm going to post a different review every three days until I go back to work in mid-August, and add old N64/ONM/Total 64/N64 Pro magazine quotes where I can.



N64 Magazine said: "Mario Kart clone that's short on innovation, but long on thrills". 80% in Issue 50, 4/5 in Issue 59.


I'm saying:

To be honest, you’d be forgiven for having forgotten all about Mickey’s Speedway USA, the black sheep of Rare’s N64 family. Rare developed stoater after stoater, and contributed hugely to the critical success that the Nintendo 64 still enjoys today. Nobody’s giving Mickey’s Speedway USA any credit for that, mind you. I read that this is what the makers of Jet Force Gemini did after that game was finished, roughly a year before Mickey’s Speedway USA actually came out. With that short of a development cycle, fair play to Rare for getting something of this quality out so swiftly. But nobody paid attention, and this sunk without much of a trace. That’s somewhat surprising, as not only was it developed by Rare, but it was published by Nintendo too. Alongside Majora’s Mask and Mario Party 2, I’m remembering that this would have been one of the N64’s big Christmas games for 2000, and that must have been a big deal. I’d moved on from the N64 by that point, but of course I returned, and this is yet another game I got for a couple of quid in Gamestation years later.

The most striking thing about Mickey’s Speedway USA is it’s speed. I’d say it feels faster than even F-Zero X, it really gives off that impression. That everything zips past you so smoothly adds to that impressive level of immersion. I’d say that’s the work of the high framerate and really nice visuals. Fair enough, it looks a bit blurry these days, but you acclimatise to it. After playing through Knife Edge, World Cup 98 and Wailalie Golf,, I thought Mickey’s Speedway USA looked like an 8K technical masterpiece. The handling is solid and convincing too, with good powersliding mechanics and a hop button that you can always rely on. Another thing that struck me (and took me a bit off guard, to be honest) was the difficulty. Considering that this is obviously aimed at children, it’s a pretty tough game to finish. I chose to play this through as I felt I needed a break from lengthier, more difficult games like Beetle Adventure Racing and Castlevania 64. In the end, this took just as long – it’s definitely harder than the other N64 kart racing games. That’s a good thing…ish.

This all adds up to a game that, while proficient, is unfortunately underwhelming in lots of ways too. The unbalanced characters, inconsistent AI difficulty and rubbish power-ups wouldn’t fit in any game of this genre. There’s just certain racers that are better than others, certain times where the AI races too perfectly, and just certain weapons that are useless. And while the scenery was pleasant enough and reminiscent of the actual settings, I didn’t feel that any of the tracks offered up anything too surprising or original. I don’t think they’ll stay in my memory. Also, the whole gimmick of racing around real-life locations just feels like a strange use of the license. There’s just nothing Mickey Mouse-like about this game. You don’t even go through Disney World in Florida, surely the most obvious thing to do here. I think this is a game that needed an idea more than that the idea needed a game, and neither mesh together all that well.

Yet the biggest disappointment for me was with regards to what it had to follow. Diddy Kong Racing was three years old by the time this came out. You’d have assumed that Rare would have used that massively successful formula as a sort of template for Mickey’s Speedway USA, and then built on that. However, they didn’t – if anything, they stripped things away. Surprisingly, there’s no open-world hub like in DKR’s Adventure Mode, no boss battles, and no alternative vehicles like aeroplanes or hovercrafts either. It’s a lot more basic and straightforward than Diddy Kong Racing, with just your Grand Prix championships, time attack and multiplayer battle modes. It’s a lot more subdued and dare-I-say uninspiring as a consequence.

Mickey’s Speedway USA is a very competent game that’s got a good amount of challenge and depth, but it desperately lacks vitality and inventiveness. Coming from the company that made Diddy Kong Racing, it’s hard not to be disappointed. Unfortunately, that spark of genius and that tangible Rare magic just isn’t here. 7/10.

I think I remember the N64 review of Knife Edge as well! It got 42% or something in that ballpark, and they said pretty much that - it's a light gun game without a light gun. Also there was a picture of a screaming face or something?

Issue 59's Club Directory 64 mini-review for Knife Edge reads "a light gun game when there isn't one. Dull". and then gave it 42% and 2/5. That's some memory you've got...!

N64 Magazine said: "Contemptible attempt to update Tetris with rubbish new shapes. Avoid, please". 51% in Issue 34, 1/5 in Issue 59
Nintendo Official Magazine said: "Another Tetris game. Lacks the usual Disney magic". 71% in Issue 96

Imagine hanging about for years, waiting for word of Capcom’s N64 debut, and finding out that’s not a Street Fighter, or a Ghouls n’ Ghosts or a Mega Man, but a 2D Tetris game with a Disney license slapped on top. What a kick in the baws that must have felt like. All the same, at least Capcom had a glistening legacy with that license. They’d developed and published DuckTales on the NES, Disney’s Magical Quest on the SNES and a load of other fondly-remembered titles from Nintendo’s past. I wasn’t buying this Disney game when it was new, because it was full retail price and because I was at dangerous age where I supposed to be growing up and not playing with Mickey Mouse things. But Capcom’s reputation with the Disney franchise – coupled with what I recalled as being good reviews from the UK magazines for Magical Tetris Challenge itself - made me curious to pick it up when I saw it in the 99p bargain bin at my local Gamestation several years later, well free from committing any sort of social suicide.

Anyway, I completed the Story Mode in Magical Tetris Challenge because, for some stupid bastard reason, there’s a Story Mode. You play as either Mickey, Minnie, Donald or Goofy in this needlessly convoluted adventure that intertwines between the four character’s own plotlines. With the way the script pans out, I think you’re supposed to play in a certain order to get the full story. Yet as you don’t unlock characters once you’ve played through it once, I don’t see where the game indicates that. So, there’s nothing stopping you from playing the story out of sequence, which is a daft oversight. There’s no sense behind any of it too. For example, in Mickey’s story, Goofy will only give you directions to Evil Pete if you beat him at a game of Russian Roulette Tetris, and you help Minnie in the kitchen with her bakery by beating her at a game of Tetris too. I get that it gives Magical Tetris Challenge a focal point, but it’s totally unnecessary.

Magical Tetris Challenge has three modes, and two of these - Endless Tetris and Versus Mode – are as you’d expect. Where it all goes absolutely insane is with Magical Tetris, the game’s third mode and major selling point. This game’s twist is to give you a Magical Meter, which builds up as you clear your lines. That’s fair enough. Yet instead of adding these cleared lines to the bottom of your opponent’s grid like in every other Tetris game, this instead gives you batshit mental, game-ruining pieces to send them over. I’m not some sort of Tetris traditionalist, but these Magical Pieces really bugger things up. In one game, I lost because the computer sent me over four 5x5 blocks in a row. In another, I watched the computer get these bizarre ‘W’ shaped pieces at least five times straight. There’s loads of incredibly awkward pieces that get thrown at you when you’re in even in the slightest sniff of danger, so awkward that I didn’t come across any scenario where they’d fit into my carefully-laid plans. I wish I could find pictures of these online, but I can’t, so I instead encourage you to watch some gameplay footage and see for yourself. They’re proper game-breakers; no amount of skill and forward-thinking can help you strategise for most of these pieces. Although can see how this Magical Meter would create a type of anarchy that would be fun in multiplayer, when you’re ten minutes into a head-to-head battle against the computer, it’s just a massive pain in the arse. Ten-plus minute matches aren’t uncommon, as another function of the Magical Meter is to clear away all but the bottom four lines of your grid. It works for you, it works for the computer, and it just prolongs the game without adding any excitement.

It’s a game that’s filled with odd, never-again-seen mechanics, plainly just here for the sake of shaking up the Tetris formula for marketability. Magical Tetris Challenge lacks the polish and visual appeal that Capcom’s older Disney games had too, as it looks about on par with the aforementioned Disney’s Magical Quest on SNES, but with rougher spritework. You don’t even get the catchy tunes that you’d synonymise with Capcom, Disney or Tetris either, the sound is nothing to write home about. Really, the only things I have to write about Magical Tetris Challenge are negatives ones, as none of it’s positives really stand out as being anything that's particularly worth a pat on the back.

Magical Tetris Challenge is familiar enough to not be a bad game, and the Endless Mode is back-to-basics old school Tetris, which is always good. However, when Tetrisphere offers something more clever and innovative, and particularly when The New Tetris just plainly plays a better version of the classic 1989 game, there’s not much reason to hunt out Magical Tetris Challenge on Nintendo 64. 5/10.

I own this game! I got a second-hand N64 quite late in the day (probably about 2000?) and I only really remember expressly asking for Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Stadium 2 and Pokemon Snap. The other 7 games I owned were ones my parents either found cheap and/or had heard good things about: Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Bros... and then Tonic Trouble and Magical Tetris Challenge.

I really don't remember much about MTC other than I just never got along with it and found it frustrating - which adds up with your summary of it! This is coming from someone who grew up playing Tetris (I had it on the Game Boy, and my mum and sister played it a lot on our growing up too). I'm tempted to boot it up and try it now that I've read this. I never thought I'd see an in-depth review of it in 2020! You done good, Cappa.

Not much to say on the game, but I only just noticed the Tetris dispenser's face. Like some deliberately creepy thing out of Cuphead.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

N64 Magazine said: "Contemptible attempt to update Tetris with rubbish new shapes. Avoid, please". 51% in Issue 34, 1/5 in Issue 59
Nintendo Official Magazine said: "Another Tetris game. Lacks the usual Disney magic". 71% in Issue 96

The difference between these says a lot, doesn't it.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Issue 59's Club Directory 64 mini-review for Knife Edge reads "a light gun game when there isn't one. Dull". and then gave it 42% and 2/5. That's some memory you've got...!

I'm so glad that memory is devoted to useful things like this!

Balladeer wrote:

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Issue 59's Club Directory 64 mini-review for Knife Edge reads "a light gun game when there isn't one. Dull". and then gave it 42% and 2/5. That's some memory you've got...!

I'm so glad that memory is devoted to useful things like this!

I don't know if my memory's as good, but the star system N64 Magazine implemented into their directory "mini-reviews" was to do with whether the game held up, was it not? I distinctly remember some top games having a 3-star rating, but some lesser scored ones having a 4 or 5. If it wasn't, then please correct me, but I think that's an amazing system that nobody else really used. It helped highlight 3-year old games that may not be as great as they were on release.

Bang on. I think that in their later incarnations they just took to rescoring the games, which I agree wasn't as good. Also: would have avoided the whole hoo-ha about Smash Bros. Mêlée being rescored to 91% from 95% (although I guess it'd have got a 5 in the star system anyway ).

Rum Rapture wrote:

I really don't remember much about MTC other than I just never got along with it and found it frustrating - which adds up with your summary of it! This is coming from someone who grew up playing Tetris (I had it on the Game Boy, and my mum and sister played it a lot on our growing up too). I'm tempted to boot it up and try it now that I've read this. I never thought I'd see an in-depth review of it in 2020! You done good, Cappa.

Cheers! I wouldn't really encourage you to boot it up again though, you'll only wind yourself up!

Tonic Trouble is a weird game, it's almost like a beta version of Rayman 2. I was tempted to replay it but I was simply attracted to other platformers that I'll get round to reviewing in the coming weeks. 

If anybody's arsed, Tonic Trouble has quite an interesting back-story that's explored here:

Balladeer wrote:

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

N64 Magazine said: "Contemptible attempt to update Tetris with rubbish new shapes. Avoid, please". 51% in Issue 34, 1/5 in Issue 59
Nintendo Official Magazine said: "Another Tetris game. Lacks the usual Disney magic". 71% in Issue 96

The difference between these says a lot, doesn't it.

A 71% from Nintendo Official Magazine is harsher than a 51% from N64 Magazine, NOM loved everything! I used to have a rule that if a game scored less than 80% from NOM, it wasn't worth playing. I remember being on the fence about buying Rakugakids because they 'only' gave it 85%.

What you're saying Cappa is why I've stayed away from this new Nintendo mag as it's from the Switch Player chaps (why do they two mags??) and I've had a few of them, along with the VITA Lounge before that and it's pretty much Burnout Paradise is on Switch 5/5 amazing.

Yeah isn't the new one with Tim Street, who was Editor during that run of terror where everything (like Disney's Tarzan) would get a 90%. You're bringing THAT guy back?

As much as I'd like to support and have a new Nintendo magazine, I get my Nintendo-focused content from YouTube these days. NintendoLife still has some well written reviews, but I've accepted that we aren't going to see another N64 or NGamer, because they felt like close-knit clubs where all the writers had their own personalities. Those personalities effectively exist on YouTube now. Plus, there would be 5-10 games reviewed each month, and you wouldn't see 16 or 24-page reviews of games, or reader letters, or "tips/cheats" or even previews. What is the structure of the Switch Player magazine, mas?

I remember Tim Street best for using the phrase "sell yer granny (for this game)" in several of his reviews. I'm having a look through an Nintendo Official Magazine Total Test directory from their September 2000 issue right now, and, honestly, one of the lowest-rated games I can see in this list of hundreds is Wave Race 64, with a mere 80%. 

Disney's Tarzan seems to be an intersting(ish) example of what NOM might have been like. They gave it 90% right enough, saying it was "superb". N64 Magazine gave it 35%, calling it "completely bereft of imagination, invention or any sense of fun"! I don't have the game so I can't really comment, but it's eyebrow-raising anyway.

Cappa, you might find a letter of mine in an NOM from that era. I remember writing in to say WCW/NWO Revenge was the bees knees and they right to praise it, or something like that. It would most likely have been an issue in 1999.

Digged out the newest issue of Switch Player I've got which is Issue 19 from Sep 2018

Stuff about SMASH Direct
Interview with a pro about DBFighterZ
Another interview
20 reviews

That's the lot over 49 pages

I read NOM from arund 2003, and even travelled to their offices to take part in a big competition. In the period I was reading it, it had a pretty decent sense of humour, at least for a lad in his early teens.

I remember being pretty disappointed when we switched to ONM, which felt incredibly soulless in comparison. That's probably why I moved over to NGamer when I did.

Rereading my issues more recently, there's some real immature and problematic stuff, but there's a genuine love for Nintendo at the heart of it all.

Also, when I was reading, they were perfectly happy to dish out drubbings . . . to third party games.