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Mar 6th, 2008 at 00:39:47 - Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (SNES) |
Game: Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers
Date: 3/4/08
Time: 9:00-10:30pm
CMPS 80K
Gamelog 5, Session 2
Gameplay
The New Challengers has multiple modes one can play from. There is the regular mode, in which you fight against the computer, versus mode, time attack, group, and tournament mode. In the time attack mode, you fight against the computer in hopes of KO’ing your opponent in the quickest manner. The group mode is much like the versus mode, only instead of picking just one character you pick many, anywhere from 2 to 8. Lastly the tournament mode allows the player to fight in a series of tournament brackets; this mode is good if one has multiple people wanting to play.
In the previous log I had briefly touched upon the characters that are in the game. In fighting games it’s all about getting good with the characters in order to more efficiently beat the hell out of your computer opponents and friends. When it comes right down to it the most known characters of the whole Street Fighter series is of course Ken and Ryu, and there is a good reason for this, they are characters whose moves are easy to learn, who are iconic, and who don’t suck, but its hard to find a character that just totally sucks in this game. That’s another great thing about this game, each character has their pros and cons, which makes the game dynamic. Now while these pros and cons are not necessarily finite, that is to say that Ken does not always lose to Ryu just because Ryu’s Hadouken has a cooler animation, no these pros and cons are not that apparent and must be figured out with one’s own time. For example I have found that Chun-Li works really well as an aerial fighter, by this I mean that she jumps higher than other characters and can even bounce off the back walls, however while playing as such one must watch out for anti aerial moves such as Ken and Ryu’s Shrouyken.
Design
The level design in each level is simple, and most have no real interactivity within them, but there are a few that do. For example on Ken, Guile, and Bison’s levels, there are a set of breakable items within the levels, but only two of each. Also on Vega’s level there is a cage, that only Vega can climb up on. So in that sense the level design is interactive, even though it is very limited. However, what is more interesting about the levels is the fact that each one is set in the fighters home country. Each level is completely different from one another, and they range from America, Thailand, Japan, China, and even Jamaica. Each level has its own feel, and its own music to boot. For example, in Brazil, which is Blanka’s level, the fight takes place in what seems like a fishing village, and the music has a very samba feel. In China, Chun-Li’s level, there is a market in the background and bicyclers that ride by, you can even hear a chicken in the market and the bell of the bikes. These I feel are great design elements, while not necessarily interactive, like a lot of current 3d fighters; it still feels good and fun.
Another interesting element put into the game is the bonus challenges that appear in the regular arcade mode. There are 3 bonus challenges that occur during the span of the arcade mode, and you get to one after every 3 fights. The first challenge is trying to destroy a car as quickly as possible. The second is trying to destroy a big stack of cement blocks as quickly as possible. And the third, is trying to break all the barrels that fall from the roof of the level. Now the hardest of the 3 is the last one, I can never seem to break all of the barrels; one always hits me, or like doesn’t break when I hit it. These stages seem to just break up some of the fighting and give the player a chance to simply shoot for a high score, which is of importance in fighting games.
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Mar 6th, 2008 at 00:36:19 - Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (SNES) |
Game: Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers
Date: 3/3/08
Time: 4:00-6:00
CMPS 80K
Gamelog 5, Session 1
Summary: Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers was a game developed and published by Capcom, and was originally released in 1993. The game is much like other Street Fighter games, in that you choose one of the sixteen characters and take them through a series of fights leading up to the end. While not as recognized or celebrated as other Street Fighter games, The New Challengers to me is filled with fun and enjoyment.
Gameplay: As stated before there are 16 characters within the game, all of which are playable including the 4 bosses, the characters are: Ryu, Ken, E. Honda, Chun-Li, Blanka, Zangief, Guile, Dhalsim, Balrog, Vega, Sagat, M.Bison, Fei Long, Cammy, T-Hawk, and Dee Jay. Each character has their own personal ending, which can be seen after completing the game on at least normal mode. The buttons are typical of most fighters; there are 3 different punch and kick types, all of which fall under the category of weak, medium, and strong. Overall the actual gameplay of the game is very typical of a fighter, however when compared to other fighters of the time, such as Killer Instinct, The New Challengers is head over heels better, and just more fluid of a fighting game.
The games story is not really fleshed out within the fighting, but all occurs at the end after one has defeated Bison. And the game is fun, especially while playing against others. The versus mode of the game can really create some competition between people who are playing. This is especially true for me and my friend Jake, who play against one another whenever the game is on. And while my skill level is above that of Jakes, we still continue to play for a good chunk of time, which means that there is something that is keeping Jake sitting down and playing. The controls in the game are pretty precise, and the special moves are lots of fun. Figuring out the moves of the characters is part of the fun, and watching the different animations, and mimicking the sounds (i.e. Hadouken!!), is all part of the experience.
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Feb 20th, 2008 at 19:04:40 - Super Mario Bros. All Stars (SNES) |
Game: Super Mario Bros. All Stars
Class: CMPS 80K
Time: 3:00-4:00
Gameplay
It has been a lot of the same for me lately for gaming. I have been dividing my time, as evenly as possible between the 3 main Mario titles. That really was one of the best things about Super Mario All Stars was the fact that all the games where on one cartridge, and all had been enhanced to look graphically better than the original games. Also, it had always seemed to me that many games from the past just seemed easier to play then many current games. This thought is both true and not true for all 3 Mario Bros. games. It is untrue in the fact that there are many parts of the game where one must find the right timing which can become immensely hard, or in some cases one must be able to complete various levels with a limited amount of lives. However, the statement is true that eventually one builds up enough lives to where that factor becomes moot. Also it is very easy to simply run through most of the levels avoiding most conflicts; simply put speed runs are possible.
The various story lines have not been totally reveled to me, that is to say that for the most part I am still at the beginning of the games (i.e.: 2nd or 3rd worlds tops), but that is not to say that I don’t already know the basic premise of most Mario games, which is of course save the princess. However, that story does not seem to apply to Super Mario Bros. 2, which is very different from the other two volumes of the game, so much so that I have seen it dubbed as “the black sheep”. Overall the gameplay has been basic Mario: run, jump, get coins, and power ups. But even those change in various areas of the game, which is just its own basic evolution within the series.
Design
Each of the 3 games are very different from one another. But Super Mario All Stars overall has a few Design elements, mainly the fact that it is in its essence a gallery game, where you have multiple games to choose from. Also all the games are graphically enhanced, and in that case better looking than the original games. Within the game themselves there are differences between them and their originals, the differences range anywhere from visual, point systems, sound, and even the fixing of bugs.
One of the greatest things about the Super Mario Bros. series of games is the level design. Each level, although basically the same, jump on platforms, smash enemies, pick up coins, reach the flag/icon box (for Super Mario Bros. 3), is interesting and visually different from one another. Even in each series of the game, where there can be some overlap, I mean there are only so many above ground, below ground, water levels, mountain levels, desert levels, one can do, but within the series each one is done in a different way within each series.
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Feb 20th, 2008 at 19:01:56 - Super Mario Bros. All Stars (SNES) |
Game: Super Mario Bros. All Stars
Class: CMPS 80k
Time: 2:00-3:00
Summary
Super Mario All-Stars is a collection of the early Mario games which include: Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 2, and Super Mario Bros. 3.
Gameplay
My emotional state going into the game was very nostalgic; I had not really played any of the older Mario games in a long while, and was looking forward to looking at the games in a new way. All of my playing has been divided up between the three main Mario tittles, this has mainly to do with the fact that I was in the process of writing a paper about the three. The positive to playing all three at the same time gave me the chance to look at all the similarities and differences between the 3 titles. Each of the three have their own distinguishing characteristics that make them stand out.
A major similarity between the 3 games is the fact that each game has the same characters within them. I find this interesting because in today’s age of video games that would be somewhat unheard of, depending on the series, but in many popular games of recent (Halo 3, and COD 4) some of the characters die, that is not something that occurs within the stories of the Mario games. That however could be greatly due to the fact that death is just not usually a topic dealt with at Nintendo, especially when it comes to a franchise such as Mario. But even minor characters, such as Toad, and many of Bowser’s children consistently appear throughout the series of games.
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EvrythNuthin has been with GameLog for 16 years, 10 months, and 10 days |
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