/vr/ - Retro Games

I like them when done well, but its becoming a bit overused now, like people are just jumping on the pixellated graphics bandwagon.

>>1085080
Who's jumping on the band wagon?

I'm fine with them. I used to actively avoid titles that tried to be "Retro" but retro city rampage made me rethink that.

>>1085080
I think alot of devs jsut do that because it's easier/cheaper

>>1085091
I do actively avoid most of them cause its just such a shitty gimmick. Also I dont know what kind of faggots do the art for those games anyway because NONE of their characters ever look like the belong on nintendo, its always some commodore atari looking pitfall harry lookin shit, or its too many colors on screen at once and ruins the retro aesthetic

>>1085046
The pixel art is usually not nearly as good as actual old games, though some retro games come close

>>1085080
Not only do hipsters eat that shit up, but it's infinitely cheaper.

Why do something well when you can do it half-assed and say it's supposed to be retro?

>>1085086

Steam has an entire section full of them.

>>1085108
>implying only nintendo games are retro.

Nigga.

>>1085108
Tell me this doesn't look great and I'll show you a goddamn liar.

>>1085114
No but every hipsters idea of retro seems to be the same I just find it stupid how fucking characters like McPixel, vvvvvv, and all the junk on steam. I never said it had to look like nintendo style graphics its just every damn game looks like a modern game with simple graphics, the resolutions they use take away any illusion of it being retro. You think nintendo games would play the biggest influence though not shitty fucking commodore graphics,

>>1085124
It looks great but it doesnt look retro you goof.

>>1085141
>$.50-$1.00 game

That game is supposed to be shitty. It's basically a flash game. I think you're complaining about nothing honestly. There's alot of good games at that price-point that are fun as hell. Ever played dead pixels?

>>1085147
>opinions about retro inspired games
>retro inspired games
>retro inspired

Never said it looked retro.

>>1085149
shut the fuck I know its a fun game, the art style just doesnt look retro it looks like shit. Stop being stupid

>>1085153
>doesnt look retro
>artists can't make very good graphics
>lets call it retro to sell to hipsters

a fool and his money...

>>1085046
I've only seen a single retro-inspired game come out in the last few years and that was La-Mulana.
The rest are mostly shit too.

>>1085156
McPixel is a save-the-day guy that you guide through 100 short challenges in an old-school point'n'click fashion.

And what definition of retro is that based on? Your own?

>>1085108
Maybe because Nintendo is for children and clapping americans and nobody cares about it.

>>1085163
someone who gets it!
Yeah la Maluna is sexy as fuck, I saw it getting recommended all over when I was checking out Maze of Galious. Now Maze of Galious is a game that could use a remake.

>>1085171
You're fucking stupid the backgrounds are too high res to run a game with McPixel that kings quest style hero, IT JUST DOESNT WORK. How fucking stupid are you, its like putting pitfall harry into super mario 3 it just looks wrong. Sorry I upset you and your wannabe retro games mr underage hipster

>>1085173
how come NES is the system that gets whored out so hard for OMG IM SO LE RETRO xD shitstains?

>>1085163
>Little Samson
>A game made at the end of the NES life
>Showed what the NES Hardware was actually capable of.

Too bad no other NES games looked like that. This is what they normally looked like

>>1085182
still looks better than that fucking mess

>>1085171
>old-school point'n'click fashion.
>McPixel

>>1085180
Dude I don't even like the game. It's just fun seeing how much people hate something for no reason. Especially when they're only reason for hating it is because that's their opinion.

>>1085189
You're an idiot, the game tries to look retro, it doesnt look retro. Is that not a reason? I never said it was a bad game either shithead I just dont think the art style is retro despite how hard it wants to be.

>>1085184
This.
>inb4 you point and you click

>>1085184
It's directly from their page on steam

>>1085182
you know this is a rare and poorly designed shovelware game right?

>>1085197
>It's directly from their page on steam
So not only are you a piece of shit, the developers are as well.

I've been enjoying Spud's Quest, it may not have that "true look" but it's still quite fun.

>>1085193
What's your opinion on Rad Raygun?

>>1085046
They don't belong in /vr/ unless they were released in 1999 or earlier.

>>1085180
>>1085160
>>1085141
>>1085110

>hipster

You keep using that word.. and.. well I don't even need to finish....

>>1085202
You realize 60% of of the NES library was poorly designed shovelware right?

Most of them are pretty bad. I've nothing wrong with x-bit based graphics when they're done well in modern games, but it seems a lot of indie devs just use them as a cop-out because they can't actually design models or a 3D game for shit, or want to get some "retro" feel.

I want someone to make a retro game with the limitations of retro consoles.

That's why I have more respect for Pier Solar than most "retro" games on PC made in flash with sprites animated with tweens.

Good Retro Style Games
>8/16-Bit-esque if you will
Fez
Evoland
Rad Raygun
Dead Pixels
Zombie Estate
Mercenary Kings
Jamestown

The creation of these outweigh all of the McPixels

>>1085220
Super House of Dead Ninjas is good.

>>1085219
You mean like Battle Kid? People have been making NES re-makes and things like this for a while

>>1085220
>Zombie Estate

Mah nigga.

>>1085228
Dat card shuffler. It's all I need.

>>1085215
Got some specific ones you think were done well?

>>1085046
I would rather play Binding of Isaac than most triple a titles out this year.
I think "Immersion" is code for shitty gameplay
I dont like the state of games today or where they are heading, but smaller, simpler pc games are sustaining me.

>>1085212
that may be true, but nintendo made tons of effort to put out quality first-party titles and promote third party titles their prestigious seal of quality. They really did want to have a higher quality library than the second generation systems.

>>1085046
not retro faggot

>>1085296
Neither was your post.

I want someone to try and make a game that uses early-mid 90s 3D graphics and tries to make them look good.

>>1085303
Neither was yours.
Neither are most of the posts in this thread.
This thread doesn't belong in /vr/
Take it to >>>/v/

>>1085304
No one can make n64/ps1 3D look good. That's why no one has made games like that recently. Unless you count minecraft and I think it looks like shit imo

>>1085210
Yeah, people you're right, all those NES belt buckle showin, mario wallet havin, yoshi hat wearin are nerds just like you and me brother. OMG I'm so le nerdy xD no such thing as hipsters in vidya!

>>1085220
Fez is not a 16 bit style game, like this is what you fucking underagers need to get through your skull. Just because the graphics are simple doesn't mean the main CPU would be able to handle all the shit going on in those games. Its not a bad game its a very good game, but its not fucking 16 bit.

>>1085349
That's why I added the -esque part to if you fucktard so idiots like you wouldn't get all butthurt. Guess that didn't work. Get the fuck over it.

>>1085334
well current games are still 3d. We still make FPSes, but no one would make Goldeneye with the same look. That would be like making a SNES game with the graphics of an atari 2600.

>>1085349
That's why I added the -esque part you fucktard. Be more butthurt next time, please.

>>1085359
Did you even read -
>>1085304

Using the look and style of your forebears in attempts to appeal to nostalgia in a hip and trendy way is a cancer upon the media and our culture. It ruined indie music, and it's ruining indie games.

Also, not retro.

>>1085349
>underage

How old are you?

>>1085334
Some of them could have a good display as long as you make the right kind of game. If it was super arcade then I think you could get away with it if the title had someone singing/shouting the game's name.

>>1085367
how is that comic relevent in the slightest? You're trying to imply that I am kenji because I don't think fez is a "le retro style" game, when Kenji is vehemently supporting american animation? Sorry I missed the part where I said fez was shit, get over yourself retard and learn to read.

>>1085375
>taking things this literally.
>being this mad

Oh noes i shudda put pic unrelated

>>1085338
this post is correct

It really depends on how they're used.

One thing that bothers me is that most people who use the retro style don't actually understand how games actually worked back then, and they don't care to find out. They just think large, aliased pixels = retro.

Let's be clear, I have nothing against pixel art, but some people seem to think pixels were phased out with the SNES. If you're dead set on recreating a retro feel, you should choose an older console/computer and thoroughly research its capabilities and limitations. If you don't challenge yourself to work within them, you haven't made a retro game, you've made a modern game with modern pixel art. Again, if that's your goal then it's fine, but calling it "retro" or assigning it some arbitrary number of bits (as if they were ever a measure of how good the graphics are) is just wrong.

>>1085395
Now thats how you make a a point without sounding like a faggot.

>>1085349
Please learn how 2 argument like the previous anon.

>>1085407
I said the same thing he just used more words.

I'm all for "retro-inspired", if by that you mean the modern successors to a lot of old school games. On the tablet front you have good shmups, beat 'em ups, adventures and all the rest.

However, if you mean some imitation crap, then no thank you.

>>1085410
You said it like a 16 year old would. He explained it like an adult. It's not the same

>>1085415
I believe you are looking for reddit.

>>1085178
It got a remake. Before La Mulana. By the La Mulana team.

>>1085427
You know what, thats probably how I remember it actually hahaha. Both those games are good as shit though

>>1085414
What game would you recommend for someone who feels that SOTN is the greatest game of all time for the iPad?

>>1085427
Just bought La Mulana since it was $3.00. It's gonna sit on my backlog for now since I'm going through humble bundle games atm.

>>1085046
I don't care about the graphics and style.

What I want is a game with fresh new good gameplay.

Gameplay suffers mostly from the graphic and music, it means I don't care.

I am not into this hipster game with focus on the retro style not the gameplay.
Right now my favorite retro inspired game is Super Puzzle Platformer

>>1085395
This is also why I don't like the remake of La-Mulana.

The original La-Mulana was a love-letter to a specific retro console, the MSX2. The remake is just some generically retreaux iPhone graphics.

My friends and I have been playing a shit ton of Rogue Legacy. Game is addictive as hell, feels like Castlevania+Ghost&Goblins had a baby with a cool generation feature!

>>1085442
nobody is talking about that version shithead

>>1085108
The only games that I can think of that have used the ascetic properly are maybe the House Of Dead Ninjas series and maybe 3D Dot Game Heroes

>>1085448
>yabba dabba derp I can't read

See: >>1085436 >>1085427 >>1085163

>>1085463
were talking about the MSX 2 which is still a modern game you stupid cunt

>>1085334
>>1085304
I think some of those games do have an Arcade charm.

And Panzer Dragoon really made their limitations work and provided a great setting.

>>1085124
What game is that?

>>1085265

Cave Story.

>>1085475
hyper light drifter. It's on kickstarter atm

>>1085304
The problem with earlier polygonal games is that no one has nostalgia for them. Everyone thinks they look shit and are incredibly dated looking. Jagged character models just don't have the same amount of visual polish as pixelated sprites

It's sad because I'd love to see some games with the same amount of drool inducing beauty as the uprezzed port of Virtua Racing for the PS2

>>1085160
>implying that's not good.

Let's see you do better mr opinionated

>>1085490
>The problem with earlier polygonal games is that no one has nostalgia for them.

Speak for yourself nigga, I get nostalgiagasms from Jumping Flash and Toshinden

>>1085467
The original La-Mulana isn't available on Steam, way to fail.

>>1085494
>jumping flash

My nigga. I bought a PS2 at goodwill earlier this year and it had a copy of that already in the console.

>>1085497
one person mentioned steam. also the remake isnt retro style so just shut your fucking mouth already

>>1085490
I don't know, I've always loved that low-poly, blurry look of the N64. Don't really know why.

>>1085124
It looks /okay/.

>>1085509

The only thing that bothers me, and they all tend to do this, is that they'll use 16 bit graphics and 8 bit music. It's fucking stupid to do it that way.

>>1085502
>one person mentioned steam
Very good, did you figure that out all by yourself?
>also the remake isnt retro style
Yeah, that was kinda my point. It seems we aren't in disagreement.

>>1085510
>combining radial glow effects with pixel art
absolutelydisgusting/10

>>1085510

what the fuck is going on with the perspective in the lower right there

>>1085539

>>1085517
God, this. It's not even that hard to simulate "16-bit" sound.

>>1085552
>simulate
no
>do it right
yes

>this thread
we /v/ now

>>1085046
>AVGN
wait.... there is an AVGN game?

>>1085774

Have you been gone from /vr/ for the past few days? It's been pretty awful in general.

Retro City Rampage is GOAT.

The creator of it really went the extra mile with it getting an actual NES port, and all the color filters for different consoles/pcs

>>1085460
>game that has a style reflecting the NES' color limits
>numerous references/homages to Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest/Zelda
>games that were on Nintendo consoles

>is not on Nintendo consoles

>>1085806
No, it's not a port in the slightest. It's a proof of concept demo of what the game could be like. It has no music, only one vehicle, only one mission, half of the map, very barebones.

What is interesting, though, is that this started life as an NES port of GTA3, which eventually got C&D by Rockstar. He then took his engine and tweaked it, and to speed the process up, he developed two versions (PC and NES) so that he could fine tune stuff in the former and transplant it to the latter.

Of fucking course no one will read this.

I don't really think this is appropriate for the board.

Pixel artists back in the day used to try to make pixel art look good. A lot of pixel artists now just use pixels because it's easier, because of nostalgia, or because they want their game to stand out (ironically, retro art is becoming ridiculously common on the PC market). I'm all for it when pixel art is done well (in my opinion, a game like Gunpoint still managed to have a lot of style to it, and didn't feel like it was using pixel art just "because"), but shit where it's just pixel art because lol90snostalgia without any effort to make it look good is just silly.

TL:DR Just like with games on the bleeding edge of graphical fidelity, style is more important than anything.

I wish I had the funds to round up a team of Japanese programmers and make NES games. Or at the very least, hire others to make faux-retro games which would be direct parodies onto the genre itself, including the whole "referencing Nintendo IPs but not being on Nintendo consoles" gimmick most seem to have. The commercial for it would be a poorly made WMM presentation but filtered with a VHS filter to "look old", and even throw jabs at Nintendo.

"Hey dude, guess where you WON'T get this game?"
"Xbox?"
"Nope, try again!"
"Playstation?"
"Not even close!"
"Atari Jaguar?"
"No way, Jose!"
"Uhh...N-GAGE!?"
"Aww, too bad. Give up?

YOU CAN'T DO THIS ON NINTENDO"

>cue blazing guitar solo with some record scratches and Ice Cube rapping

>opinions about retro inspired games
Depends on. There are some great ones which not only they pay homage to old games, they also improve the formula by having more balanced difficulty, bigger variety, smoother controls and animation and so on. Some good examples are games from Locomalito games ( http://www.locomalito.com/index.php ) and konjak ( http://www.konjak.org/ ).

On the other hand there are tons of mediocre or crappy retro-style games that try to sell nostalgia by making uninspirited clones of popular games like Super Mario, Megaman, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Earthbound and so on. Most of them don't even try to make appealing sprite graphics. Their idea about retro graphics are blocky ones a la Atari or graphics from early NES games with shitty graphics. Some other don't even bother to make graphics from scratch. They just rip them off from other games. And this is quite common with retro-style rpg which they stole sprites from FF, DQ or Earthbound. Even Kemco follows the trend of retro-style rpg, therefore they make one game after another on RPG Maker and even if they are supposed to be 16-bit quality they don't have the quality of Square or Enix games. Heck, even rpg from smaller companies at SNES had better graphics or at least more charm.

Before playing Pixel Dungeon on Android
>Oh dear. Another unoriginal "pixel" game with blocky graphics?

After playing it
>Holy shit! Best rpg for Android! And one of the best indie rpg! And it's a freeware offline game with no advertisements? And 2MB only?

>>1085220
Volgarr is pretty good. It feels like playing a genesis/arcade game for the first time.

>>1085912
>implying I'll fall for your marketing
>>1085834
If it makes you feel better, I read it.

I really like VVVVVV's aesthetic, as someone said it looks like the hazy memory of a Spectrum/Commodore game. The visuals are used for a reason and they invoke a specific era (those weird enemies that remind me of Manic Miner).
Now if there was more shit like that...

>>1085276

I'm with this Anon right here. I have only played Rouge Legacy and Fez and it may not be "true" retro games because of the hardwear or whatever but to me they both caught the spirit of retro games in terms of both design and style and I found that more enjoyable to play than pretty much everything.

Very much looking forward to Shovel Knight and Hyper Light Drifter.

graphics suck.
they are both technically (low specs), fail to accuratly recreate old graphics, and are usually stylistically lacking. Usually they relay heavily on particle affects or glowing shit to look impressive.

They are often filled with modern concepts that are very contrary to retro games: infinite lives, checkpoints every room, objective markers.

They appeal to the players ego by giving them shiny trinkets to collect, gimmicky RPG elements, skinnerbox garbage, and constantly congratulating them, rewarding them with cutscenes telling them how epic their adventure is.

All of these modern convences help to kill the pacing.

Most of them are farily simple, in a bad way. Look at VVVVV than look at metal storm.

>>1085447

This. Is a pretty good game.

>>1085492
>you're not allowed to criticize a car that explodes when you turn the key, because you can't build a car!

I sure love your "logic"

>>1085046
Made by hacks who haven't even touched older games.
It's like the fucks who call their games rougelike. It's all a marketing ploy.
Not /vr/-related for that matter.

Generally they're artistically uninspired and just trying to cash in on the nostalgia factor. That doesn't mean they can't be entertaining, or artistically creative if there's a purpose to using only 20 year old graphics, sounds, coding, etc. MM9, for instance, did it right.

>>1086117
>you're not allowed to criticize a car that explodes when you turn the key, because you can't build a car!
You're not allowed to criticize that car because you're fucking dead

What games aren't retro inspired?
Everyone takes mechanics from previous games. Or are you falling for the marketing ploy of pixely graphics making it look "retro"?
Its all just bullshit, please don't fall for it.

This thread really shouldn't be here.

>>1086151
retro is "A fashion, decor, design, or style reminiscent of things past."

depending on your defination of 'things past' just about anything can be retro

>>1085442
>The remake is just some generically retreaux iPhone graphics.

The remake is a stunningly accurate love letter to 32bit 2D games like Symphony of the Night.

>>1085046
>modern shovelware using retro for marketing purposes
Take it to /v/.

>>1085046
"Retro" games are the reason I hate the indie genre as much as I do the AAA titles. Both are uninspired copycat games made by people who think about money before the game itself.

>>1085490
I would love to see more low poly vidya

>>1085837
Grey area, really. OP just wanted the opinions of people who actually like proper retro games about modern games that claim to be retro-like.

>>1085490
There's a huge difference though, with 2D, making pixel graphics is way easier, while with 3D graphics making lowpoly is way harder. The limitation of keeping as little as possible polygons is way harder than having no limitations on that number. That's why we don't really see lowpoly anymore, because it's way easier doing high poly models

These so called "retro" game developers should be required to also run their games on actual toasters, as most games are unoptimized as fuck for the 2D graphics they use.

Oh and low poly should definitely come back. But I mean stuf that uses low poly, doesn't stress your system more than its due and either artistically overcomes it's limitations (Vagrant Story for example) or uses the fact that it's low poly to have more asset variety or more shit on screen at one (or longer draw distance).

>>1086214
>There's a huge difference though, with 2D, making pixel graphics is way easier, while with 3D graphics making lowpoly is way harder.

They're both challenging. A single pixel makes a huge difference. And animating 2D properly is hard.
Low poly can be a bitch too, but you can always ressort to texture detail to compensate for the removal of shape; and provided you have the tools, animation is comparatively easier. Texturing on the other hand is hard/tedious IMO.

>>1086169
>implying shovel knight is not going to be fun

Also just about every game looks for funding first. They generally have the ideas in their heads but without the proper funding they don't know how far they can push their imagination and creativity to make everything they want. Believe it or not even pixel games cost alot to make due to time, effort, and labor. There's a lot that goes into angame like shovel knight or dead pixels that a lot of people don't see. Thats why I appreciate games like that. They at least try to remain true to the golden age of gaming and i always look at it as "if this came out on NES/SNES/GEN we would all be blown away".

>>1085778
Yea and it actually looks pretty fun. The devs actually talked about how they purposefully made it NES hard. Meaning it'll take you a while to get used to a level and know where the pitfalls are but once you know what's where you can essentially breeze through the game in like 90 minutes. It looks really good too. Combines platforming with a shooter has shmup levels. Everything is avgn related as you'd expect. It was really underhyped.

>>1086220
I want to hug the witch girl

I really liked La Mulana and Cave Story, which had retro graffix and retro style gameplay. Shovel Knight looks like a good game too. Generally not too keen on faux-retro games though. The ones that use the 8-bit aesthetic but have shallow gameplay, like every other pretentious indie platformer.

>>1085220
I don't like Fez solely because I dislike Phil Fish for wasting 30 minutes of my time at a game festival. Fuck you, Phil Fish. >>1085460
That game was so disappointing. I liked how it looked, I liked the music, I liked the setting. It's a shame the gameplay was just boring Zelda.

>>1086220
Is that from a game?

>>1086305
Howd he waste your time. Tell us this Phish tale

>>1086305
Hatred towards Fish is more than justified.

>>1086312
My city has an annual game festival, with a big emphasis on indie games and games as art and all that shit instead of being the average gaming event with previews of upcoming releases. One of the events was an opportunity to play Fez in a private screening room in an upmarket cinema with Fish, and this was 2011 so it was before the game was revealed to be a disappointment. The event was due to start at 11AM, so I arrived at that time. Fish and his tour manager or whatever were still setting the Xbox up, and told me to come back in half an hour. I did, and they said they still hadn't set it up and said they'd be three hours. I came into town for nothing. Fuck Phil Fish for creating a minor inconvenience for me.

>>1086315
Completely understandable. What an ass hole. Je wasnt filming indie the movie was he?

>>1085046
I was looking for an excuse to post this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua2c4Dt-ajg

>>1086319
Omg look at this hipster game the hipster devs just made it look hipster retro cuz hipster hipster hipster band wagom mc pixels hipster.

No serioualy though that looks amazing. Why have I never heard of it before??

>>1086335
You probably have. What did I do to deserve this my lord 2 was the sequel. First game was only released digitally in America.

There is a new game in development for Vita though.
http://www.siliconera.com/2013/09/17/holy-heroes-badman-is-back-for-playstation-vita/

>>1086338
>psp

Thats why i havent heard of it. I havent payed attention to the psp since it came out. Looks good though.

>>1086341
>haven't payed attention to the psp since it came out

What. You missed out on a ton of JRPGs.

>>1086265
>"if this came out on NES/SNES/GEN we would all be blown away".
This only counts for games that work within the LIMITATIONS of the the hardware. The retro games that I and everyone else hates are the ones that just have atari-level block art on a shader 3.0 engine. Even if you stripped all the technical shit so it could run on older hardware you realize the game would be just one of many shovelware titles.

It's just cashing in on hipsters through and through. Of course game developers have to worry about money, but there's a difference between a game dev realizing a game and a game dev just hopping on the "retro" bandwagon.

Expense is also dependent on your team. If you're developing an atari pixel game the artist is objectively worth less than a 3D modeler/animator/rigger which requires far more experience than drawing fat blocks. While there is good pixel artists out there they certainly aren't the ones churning out turd after turd.

>>1086349
>hispter
>cash in
>turd

People keep saying these things but no one has offered examples. One person said mcpixel but said it was good. I've personally not seen these shit games and I generally look for retro style games because they interest me but haven't found these mounds of shit games people keep talking about. The bad ones must not be notable enough to warrant any attention and they're not exactly raking in hipster money if its shit. Inb4 fez because it has a very nice soundtrack and looks great. Fish hate aside. Objectively its a good game. So, could you give me some examples of all these hipster retro bandwagon devs turning out tird after turd and calling it retro??

>>1085220
how the fuck can you call fez a good game, selling me a retro aesthetic and then giving me a game where there is no challenge or punishment for messing up is fucking insulting

>>1086357
>looks good
>sounds good
>fun
>it's my opinion

Just because it doesn't meet your criteria doesn't mean everyone has that same opinion dude.

>>1086362
I like Independence Day but I still know it's a bad movie.

>>1086367
welcome to erf

>>1086367
>independence day
>bad

Nigga please. I know everyone hates the super mario bros movie but I still love it and it's one of my favorite movies.

>>1086374
Exactly. But a lot of people have the problem where they think their opinion invalidates the shortcomings of whatever piece of entertainment they're talking about. It's alright to like shit but don't try to dress it up as something it's not and convince everyone else.

>>1086380
I never said fez was a masterpiece or GOTY. I said it was good. Meaning visually, audibly, and mechanically it functioned properly and worked as it should. Just because it has no challenge or point doesn't mean it's bad. The retro look was a style choice, fishdick even said it's a game about nothing. You use the 3D perspective to advance in a puzzle-platformer. So there you go. The game is exactly what it sets out to be therefore I say it's good. Also, what you just said can also be said for what you're doing as well. Being that expectations not being met validates their opinion that it fell short based on personal reasons. It's alright to dislike something, but don't expect it to be something that it's not and convince everyone else that it's shit because you say so.

>>1085794
/vr/ was only good the first days.
The problem is that a lot of other boards usually get new stuff to talk about.
This board doesn't, which means that we will have the same threads over and over.

>>1085794
I'm just coming back after a long absence, it doesn't seem to be that bad. It's only been going less than a year, give it a chance.

>>1086390
It's hard to talk about anything new here, you're right. Because even when things are related to retro we still have retards spouting the rules and pointing to /v/. These topics are fine in my opinion because it promotes a healthy discussion of current things instead of this being a "Pretend you live in 1998" board. Which gets old.

>>1086390
This is why I think, changing the topic a little I know, we should have a sliding timescale. So we're always a few generations behind.

Like, is the WiiU an 8th gen system? Then now the 6th is allowed. Or wait until the PS4/Xbone is released and call it then.

Either way we need new content or the board will be nothing but a sticky with infographics in. We needs new content to keep the board alive.

>>1086402
>This is why I think, changing the topic a little I know, we should have a sliding timescale. So we're always a few generations behind.
This would be logical.
Technically the 7th gen hasn't been superseded yet (fuck the dead-in-the-water Wii U).
Though I think allowing 6th gen should be delayed a couple more years.

>>1085141
You know, for a board where people play and defend games that are often lambasted for their graphics, people really like to lambaste games for their graphics.

I thought VVVVVV was a really well-designed game, gameplay-wise. The graphics looked stylized well-enough, and I didn't buy the game for its graphics but because it was recommended to me by a friend as good.

>>1086424
Yeah it was, but it would never been popular just with mid-tier music.

>>1086429
I will agree that I found the music was one of my favorite parts of the game. Same with Cave Story, though I think that game is better than VVVVVV all around.

>>1085046
Most of them are annoying, look like shit and play like shit, and the novelty of retro-style pixelart and chiptune soundtracks wore off in, like, 2005.

>>1086402
>This is why I think, changing the topic a little I know, we should have a sliding timescale. So we're always a few generations behind.
I propose a different approach: grudgingly accept PS1 as "retro", because there are people born in the nineties here, too, sadly; and ban for everything post 1999.

Yeah, I think that's what we're likely to be doing for the next 5 years or so.

>>1086438
This is what we're doing now.

>>1085550

That is a pretty cool optical illusion.

>>1086447
I know.

>>1086476
So, your idea to get more people and get more conversation...Is to do what is limiting conversation?

Please, tell me more about this idea of yours.

>>1086484
THe idea is for the retro board to be a place to discuss retro games. If you need a bigger, more expansive community, you go to /v/. You know there's such a board, right? There's also /vg/ that technically serves as a board that has sub-boards for every game possible, and you can add your own.

/vr/ is not a general purpose and it's choice of topics is purposefully limited. It's a place about retro games, period. Only people who want to talk about retro games go here. It's not a club, it's not a growing community and it doesn't need popularizing.

> People playing shitty retro-style rpg at their smartphones
> Not playing actual retro rpg on emulators for smartphones
Why? For example there was a thread on Dragon's Den (a very active Dragon Quest community) where some people were praising a shitty Dragon Quest rip-off just because "they could a Dragon Question-style rpg on thei smartphones".

If it's done well, and isn't obviously copying another older game, it's fine.

Hyper Light Drifter actually looks pretty good, and looks like actual work was put into it. And the design decision wasn't "hurr lets make it look like Megaman".

I think the biggest problem is that the gameplay is usually even lazier than the graphics. They're made under the false pretense that every old game was ultra simplistic and never had any interesting gameplay mechanics.

If there's a "retro inspired" platformer, usually what that means is "I played the first level of Mario, and made an entire game based on that". If there's a "retro inspired" RPG, it usually means "I played 3 minutes of FF/DQ and made a game based on that"

I don't know if they're creatively limiting themselves by trying too hard to be retro, or if they're just that creatively bankrupt that they can't think of any interesting twists or hooks to make their game unique.

I think it's borderline laziness. The great thing about retro games is that when they weren't retro, they tried to push the envelope with technology and gameplay.

>>1085338

But who cares about those people? I think this thread is about the actual games.

I am in my 30's and I see those Teenagers/Early 20 year olds wear that stuff all the time. I roll my eyes and move on. You should as well. I personally like retro inspired games, a lot of the people making them aren't exactly hipsters. Many are actually older and just want to make their own retro inspired game.

The Binding of Isaac is one of my favorite games


It's like Zelda mixed with that random cool item shit you'd see in old PC games like heroes 3.

>>1085091
o hai, game designer here: It's cheaper and it sells better to grown ups. Not a lot of money, just another gig.
> i hate them myself

>>1086220
That's the thing, low poly can only look good with HR textures. PS1 and especially N64 couldn't do either of those very well. The PS1 (and Saturn) had wobbly models and the texture resolution was half the one in this model, the N64 had much better model stability, at the cost of textures being a quarter of PS1's. So this witch wouldn't be feasible at all on an N64 or PS1 unless this was a static image with literally nothing else going on.

>>1086603
>not bothering to make something unique, just trying to reach the largest audience possible with the least amount of work
The game industry in a nutshell

>>1086275
Do they throw in modern conveniences such as constant checkpoints, or is this designed in an arcade sense like most old games?

>>1085046
Looking at this, then looking at NES homebrew games, makes me wonder why don't the "professional" or "good" pixel artists or composers do anything for homebrew NES games? Hell, most of the challenge from developing for the NES stems from fucking assembly language and how it's near unreadable unless you were raised to it. Most NES games look and sound like this.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSAg9R6PL1M

All because of a lack of game direction, art, music, and the unneeded complexity of assembly programming. Where compared to flash or modern programming languages, you could program a game with the complexity of Zelda within a matter of weeks.

>>1086625
I wish it was only that. you get hired to do shit if you're no one.

>>1086603
You're just awful

>>1086681
hey, you're the retards that buy the games I do.

>>1086683
Name one of the games you've been apart of and I'll tell you if I've bought them.

>>1086683
This is /vr/, most people here only buy old games for their collections or emulate/pirate everything.

>>1086685
Doritos Crash Course 2
Scooby Doo Mystery Mansion

>>1086695
I doubt you'll find anyone, even on /v/, who's bought those games.

>>1086695
All sorts of nope. You should be ashamed of yourself.

>>1086721
DCC2 was free actually

>>1086726
Then that doesn't really count, does it?

>>1085497
It has a bunch of Konami references with the roms they'd have to change. That's way too much work.

Also, one of the songs in the soundtrack has a part that sounds like a tune from a certain MSX game. They changed it in the remake.

>>1085220
fez is total shit. Get out.

>>1087315
>I hate fil phish
>I HATE HIM
>WHY WONT YOU LOVE ME FIL PHISH

retro: IMITATIVE of a style, fashion, or design from the recent past.

>retro inspired
>inspired by something recent that is inspired by something even older, but still not the original thing that inspired it

fuck that pisses me off. this board should be called CLASSIC GAMES

I love this board, I love these topics, but my autism can not be contained any longer

>>1087474
this stuff used to bother me, along with American english altering spellings for seemingly no reason, but then I realized language just naturally evolves and no words really have true, set meanings. it's always going to change overtime just through people communicating.

>>1087474
point is, this is a thread about ACTUAL retro games. Games that are inspired by classic, 4, 8, 16, and even (some) 32 bit games.

>>1085498
>arin hanson
my nigga

>>1086042
>implying I'll fall for your marketing
Implying that I care.

>>1086308
IDK, I got from a thread on /v/ about low polygon art.
Only saved these two

Come to think about it the only good game that comes to my mind with Atari-inspirited graphics is Bit Trip francise (expecially Bit Trip Runner). And a great game that emulates perfectly Atari graphics while having enjoyable gameplay as well is Don't Look Back.

>>1085046
They're bad. None of them really play like the old games, and they never bring anything new to the table other than some modern design decisions that feel like they were created by and aimed towards people who play all their games on emulators.

If people want to make real "retro" games, they should be making the games for old hardware. There's hobbyists that still do this.

>>1090316
>None of them really play like the old games, and they never bring anything new to the table other than some modern design decisions that feel like they were created by and aimed towards people who play all their games on emulators.
ugh. Super Meat Boy is like Save States: the game.

It doesn't punish you in anyway whatsoever for dying. You simply brute force every jump/obstacle until you beat it instead of actually having to improve your abilities until you're able to actually clear the game.

>>1086308
It reminds me of the Final Fantasy 3 and 6 remakes on the DS.

>>1088193
I wonder why the idea of using low poly 3d models like the one you posted in a game. I really love how they look.

>>1086220
The guy who made this model does paid low poly 3d commissions, if i remeber well.

>>1090328
There was no 6 on the DS

>>1086357
>Fez
>game with no challenge
You just went full retard.

>>1090342
Fez has no challenge though, it barely qualifies as a fucking GAME for cryin' out loud. It's like a handholding tour through a sooo retro pixel world with really bland puzzles throughout, and a perspective flipping aspect that Crush did 10x better years before fez was a thing. Phil Fish is a hack

>>1090358
I thought the art direction was nice, mostly during the ending. I honestly enjoyed playing the game. Plus, dat soundtrack. Disasterpeace is amazing. But I completely agree with the idea that Phil Fish is a complete autist.

>>1090364
I'm not sure about you but I don't play games to admire the art direction, or soundtrack. The gameplay itself, the very fundamentals of Fez's game mechanics, are fucking piss poor. Then Fish tries to sell it off as the modern SMB. jesus fuck I weep for the world

>>1090378
And didn't he also claim that Japanese video games are shit?

>>1090364

My problem with the art style is that it obviously copies Cave Story.

Which is weird, since Fish hates Japanese games.

The game apparently spent 4 years in development. It certainly doesn't look like it. If all you can come up with in 4 years is simplistic retro art and incredibly bland level design, then that's pretty pathetic.

As for the gameplay, not once is the perspective switching mechanic actually used in interesting and creative ways. It was never anything more than just switching when you run out of places to jump.

And I won't even go into trying to pass off shitty internet memes as humor, and Fish acting like a megacunt.

>>1085163
This is my primary complaint about these types of games.

There was this one game at PAX that everyone was saying was amazing, and it had a "retro" art style. Something about rewinding the game and playing with yourself from previous tries. It was obviously "retro" just to save cash on the visuals, which were terrible but as soon as you criticize them you get someone saying "well it's supposed to be retro."

Okay, I get that. But why the fuck is it so damn ugly? Put some fucking effort into it, fuck.

>>1090397
There are memes in FEZ?

>>1090383
Yep. He's a piece of shit.

>>1090415
Yeah, there's a whole drawn out scene of sunglasses falling on the little guy and DEAL WITH IT is the punchline of the joke or whatever. It's pretty obnoxious.

>>1090316
>If people want to make real "retro" games, they should be making the games for old hardware. There's hobbyists that still do this.
I made this for you, /vr/

http://www.mediafire.com/download/5seqin9smk6zb4s/Typical_AGDG_game.SMD

>>1090397
I remember being completely stupefied that the XBLA demo that was released in 2012 was 100% identical to the little "proof of concept" demo made in 2008. It's like, what did he spend all that time working on?

It can be good when there's gameplay going for it other than just lame pixel graphics

>>1085163
>sun's pixel 3x the pixel space of everything else
>BG doesn't blend with the actual room
>sub 8-bit gen like sprites. That's is ugly and scream lazy no matter how you put it.
>8-bit gen like tiles, also ugly
>16-bit gen like fireplace which is the size of a truck's garage compared to those lemmings
>BG has over 16-bit gen like colors

>>1090342
if you miss a jump you literally go back to the place you fell from with no penalty

there is no challenge

>>1090671
You'd think they would learn the basics, like:
>consistent pixel size
>image approx. 240 pixels high
>8x8 px tile background alignment
>per-tile color limitations
>global color limitations
>sprite sizes multiples of 8

What about Volgarr the Viking?
Enjoying the fuck out of that game. It's pretty much like Ghosts and goblins and those games are amazing.ghsot

>>1090681
But that's hhaaaaarrrrdddd.

>>1090675

I don't even like Fez, but would you say Myst doesn't have a challenge because you can't die, either?

I dont mind them because I understnad that 9 times out of 10 its just a simple way for a non artist programmer to get an acceptable aesthetic for his game

>>1090761
THANK YOU! I've been waiting for more people to start saying things like that. The way the game industry is right now, it's incredibly hard, nigh-on impossible for small independent developers to make something that even approaches the average triple A game these days. Yet you still get people complaining about developers using simple graphics and daring to actually ask for money for their games.

I really like reading about how old European games were made, like how the first Lemmings game was made by a very small team and the way they almost made it an internal contest to design the hardest levels and get one another to play them. It's an interesting story, especially considering DMA Designs would go on to create GTA: http://www.javalemmings.com/DMA/Lem_1.htm

Point being, at the time there were definitely better looking games than Lemmings around, but the game still looked acceptable by the standards of the time. As the industry grew, DMA Designs grew along with it until they became Rockstar North, and now GTA5 is one of the most expensive games ever made. They didn't get to that point by releasing all their older, comparitavely simpler games for free.

>>1090697

Fez is supposed to be a puzzle-platformer. The challenge of a platformer roots in the possibility to die and to replay parts of the game until you fucking master the platforming.

Myst is a pure puzzle-game. The challenge roots in the puzzling-aspect and the possibility of being so dumb that you completely get stuck on a puzzle.

>>1090675
Okay let me tell you something. There are two aspects to a game; Gameplay, and Bullshit.

When you actually play the game and progress and have fun, it's gameplay. If you end up having to check every damn wall for a secret passage with zero hints, it's bullshit. Mandatory tutorials? Bullshit. Convoluted systems? Bullshit. Randomness that can be savescummed away? Bullshit. A tiny mistake making you do an entire segment or even a level over and over and over? After a point, it becomes bullshit. If progress grinds to a halt or even reverses, you're not exactly having fun because you're going to have to do a part all over again.

Too much bullshit, the gamers lose interest, become frustrated, and end up playing something else. Making something tedious is not 'hardcore', it's shit game design. Fez is well designed because it removes the bullshit of having to climb all the way up to somewhere if you fail, removing a sizable chunk of artificial longevity, frustration, and annoyance.

>>1090675
Theres no penalty for dying in modern games either. Unless you count reloading a previous save as a penalty. Other than that you continue right from where you left off or last saved. Your argument holds no weight as games now have no challenge due to save states. In bastion if you fall off the map you take minimal damage and get returned to the spot you fell from.

In terms of penalties for losing in a game, I think sending you to the start of a level is pretty fair, while forcing you to start the entire game over again feels like busywork. The best comparison I can think of is what the AVGN said about it: "What happens if in high school you fail senior year? You do senior year again. You don't have to go back and start freshman year again!"

>>1090815
>Fez is well designed because it removes the bullshit of having to climb all the way up to somewhere if you fail, removing a sizable chunk of artificial longevity, frustration, and annoyance.

Not to mention the fact that Fez's REAL challenge comes from collecting the anti-cubes and the three-red hearts. The yellow cubes are just the red-herring for the real puzzles in the game.

> ctrl + f
> no sworcery

This game pushed the limits of pixel aesthetics, not just mimicking old games and just rehashing, superbrothers really have something peculiar, that has been later reused into that lost island games and many wanabees,
but man
that atmosphere
that simple gameplay
the writing

Not a fanboy but that little game hasa lot into it,would heavily recommand it.

I bought Völgarr the Viking on Friday and gave it a go but it may have been a mistake because I'm pretty terrible at 2d platformers and this one's a particularly hard one. I couldn't beat the first level in like, 15 tries.

>>1090891
It was also the most pretentious indie game ever.

>>1090901

I'll happily trade all the pretentious bullshit in the world if they are to make better games with some interesting features in it
at least its not the 1000th rehash with shitty poorly executed spritework with the same gimmicks over and over

but yeah there's no game everyone likes

has anyone made a game where the main character is done in a retro style but the rest of the game is done in a more modern graphic sense?

>>1090891
It was more like a storybook than a game. That's not to say we can't have both. But it's also not what I look for in games.

>>1090912
Bit Trip Runner, kind of.

>>1086512
But generally the only time you're supposed to direct someone to /v/ is when you don't want them on your board.

>>1090901
What is Fez?

>>1090445
Okay, I don't know how I fell for this, but I downloaded it, booted up the emulator, and loaded the ROM.

I don't know what I was really expecting.

>>1090891
>This game pushed the limits of pixel aesthetics
I can't tell where's character's head on this screenshot.
>that simple gameplay
appinteract fits better for this.
>the writing
random pop-culture references?

>post-1999
>>>/v/

>>1090991
>I can't tell where's character's head on this screenshot.

Oh so you're retarded. I get it.

>>1090815
Subhumans like you are infuriating.
If a game sends you back to the beginning of the level after dying, that's 'bullshit'?

If a game just starts you right exactly where you left off then all you're doing is brute forcing the game until it's over. By the time you've beat a game like Castlevania or Mega Man you're able to clear most of the game without dying much, because you've learned how to actually play the fucking game.

If you just respawn right where you died then you've learned nothing. That design is made specifically for retarded wastes of life with no kind of patience or willpower like yourself

>>1091140
>That design is made specifically for retarded wastes of life with no kind of patience or willpower like yourself

No it's made for people who want to play a video game yet have more important things in life to do than spend 50+ hours repeating the same fucking levels over and over again.

When you're a kid you have the whole day for that when you're an not autistic working adult you maybe have 2 or 3 hours a day to play a game and I'd rather spend those hours having fun than retreading the shit I did five days ago because I ran out of the lives which have always been a bullshit system from the arcade era invented so you would constantly waste money on a game.

>>1091161
If you spend 50 hours on a level it's because you're bad.
And no 'lives', are not just a vestige from the arcade era. In Zelda games there are no 'lives' but the game still punishes you by sending you back to the beginning of the dungeon when you die. The game would be pointless bullshit and no fun if you just spawned right where you died and brute forced your way through it like Fez or some other objectively bad game

>>1091140
People without down syndrome tend to have low tolerance for doing the same thing over and over again.

>>1091172
No, idiots like yourself enjoy brute forcing their way through games. People who actually like and understand games prefer to learn how to play them so that they can actually clear them without having godmode on.

If you're too inferior to beat a game without repeating the same shit a million times that's fine but don't blame the games for your inadequacy.

>>1091174
>brute forcing

You keep using that word. I don't think you understand what it actually means.

>>1091175
Jump, die, jump, die, jump, die, jump, die, got it! Now I'll never have to see it again.

That's brute forcing.


Game overing a few times on a new level in a game you haven't learned yet until you eventually grasp how to play it and can then clear the level without respawning at every failed jump is learning to play a well-made game.

>>1091174
>playing a level over again until you've memorized and then claiming you're "good" at it

>>1091179
>Game overing a few times on a new level in a game you haven't learned yet until you eventually grasp how to play it and can then clear the level without respawning at every failed jump is learning to play a well-made game.

By your retarded logic you're also brute forcing the game until you get lucky and pass it except with your case instead of repeating the one thing you fail at you repeat the whole level just so you can repeat the one thing you failed at.

Keep being a faggot faggot.

>>1091189
Going through a whole level of jumps, obstacles, enemies, etc. without failing requires actually knowing how to play the game.

Repeating a single obstacle is quite different and I think you know this and are just grasping at straws.

But perhaps I'm assuming too much.
>>1091183
Now I'm sure you also know why this is bullshit, unless I'm way too generous with my estimations of your intelligence.

If you introduced a new super mario world level to someone who was good at super mario world, they'd be able to clear it with ease. They don't have to memorize each individual level

>>1091179
Not that guy but what you're basically saying is, you don't like challenges in video games.
(whether you realize it or not, your post is literally saying this)

>>1091296
I think you replied to the wrong post by mistake

>retro-INSPIRED games, i.e. not retro being discussed
>younger /vr/ would be saying to go to /v/ -- which is where it rightfully belongs

What happened.

Let me preface this by saying I was born in the 80s, grew up playing NES and SNES, and haven't really been following new games since the mid 00s.

Hotline Miami is a fucking awesome game. It's kind of like the overhead levels in Contra but a little more complex in terms of combat (and A LOT bloodier). Enemies hear gunshots in other rooms, most weapons are melee, guns run out of ammo (quickly) and can be thrown to stun enemies, you can use human shields. One hit kills, and dying resets the floor you're on (levels are divided into floors). Quitting before beating a level puts you back at the first floor. It's pretty fun and addictive, if a little short. There are even some secrets to find that unlock new perks and abilities, which gives it some replay value. As a gamer stuck in the 90s, I can't recommend Hotline Miami enough.

>>1091327
We've matured.

Seriously though, leave moderation to mods. If you think a thread doesn't belong, report it and move on.

>>1091327
>Younger /vr/
>Board has barely existed for a year

You are the worst kind of secret club person.

New retro titles are trying to capture the feel of the old animated sprite. As far as im concerned for the most part the industry is doing a great job. Not on ALL of them but most.

>quitgettinmadatvidyagamesfrog.jpg

>>1091193
From what I remember alot of pre-1994 games were complete trial and error. I dont have the patients to deal with repeated skull fucking without some sort of save function. On another note I think games should have a tutorial that can be turned on/off at any time so it is accessible to pros AND noobs

It's 99% shovelware.

>>1091402
Not to mention the game itself is just plain fun.
The level designs force alot of trial and error but not in the "Shive your way through enough and it'll work" way, but more in the way that you need to strategize and experiment to get through it. Trying multiple paths and weapons to get past one part while dying a million times just trying to figure out how to murder everyone before you can shotgun blast the fat guy leads to alot of gameplay value.
Not to mention soundtrack of the year.

>>1091440
Some games were indeed (and some games still are) trial and error, such as Ninja Gaiden for example (though I still enjoy that game for some reason).

However, this fact has literally no bearing on the argument at hand.
The argument is about games that you actually have to learn to play vs games where you just brute force through everything, such as Super Meat Boy, which is just trial and error in super small increments. A shame considering the level design is pretty good, they just needed to add game overs or some kind of punishment for dying so that you were forced to actually learn to play the game. you have to fucking speed run that game before you can actually say you know how to play it.
My point is if a game doesn't punish you for messing up in some way by sending you back or whatever, you're not actually learning to play the game and you're just forcing it until it's over.

And no, games do not need tutorials. A well-designed game simply teaches you through gameplay. Play Mario 3, Mega Man X, or Link to the Past. The beginning of the game teaches you everything you need to know without interrupting the flow of the game with obnoxious text boxes or whatever.

The tutorials these days are getting ridiculous. Mario Sunshine is a game where they could have just taught you with some sort of intro stage how the F.L.U.D.D. works, but instead they rely on that annoying fucking demonstration and cutscenes, as if that's really needed in a mario game.

I don't really like many of them but a few slip through that I really enjoy. A few I can think of.

>Super Meat Boy
Probably my favorite game ever. I'm not even lying.
>Hotline Miami
>Fez
Regardless of how anyone feels about this game it is truly beautiful imo.
>Retro City Rampage
>Bitfighter
Bitfighter can best be described as an asteroids type game played in an arena FPS style(Deathmatch, CTF, etc...) Too bad it's all but dead.

>>1091440
On another note I think games should have a tutorial that can be turned on/off at any time so it is accessible to pros AND noobs

Legends speak of ancient texts from days of yore that would help a player to understand the game he was playing. As the story goes, these archaic tomes were known as "instruction manuals." But perhaps it is only a fairy tale. Players in these dark times are met only with legal disclaimers, end user license agreements, and technical support contact information when they consult their meager scrolls.

Also,
>alot of pre-1994 games were complete trial and error. I dont have the patients to deal with repeated skull fucking without some sort of save function.

By definition, a challenge is something you have to work to overcome. You aren't winning if you can't lose. These games aren't hard because we were too stupid to make them better; they were made to be a challenge that could be overcome through practice and dedication. You don't game over and start at the beginning because they didn't know how to let you continue; you start at the beginning because if you were learning from your mistakes and adapting to the challenges in the game, you wouldn't be gaming over so early. You game over because you just aren't ready for the next step yet, but you COULD BE with practice. Just about any game that doesn't expect you to beat it in a sitting has either a password system or some kind of level warp like Mario.

>>1091483
In addition to these manuals there was something called intuitive level design

"Retro-inspired" games are absolutely always fucking terrible. 99% of the time some shitlord says "my game is inspired by Earthbound! It's got a lot of charm! Home-made graphix guys!", what it really means is "I can't program for shit so I made my game with RPG Maker, and I can't make graphics for shit so I'll just halfass them and say they're supposed to be retro, thinking that retro means low quality".

The other 1% is alright.

>>1091521

I am going to need some sources on these percentage figures.

imagine how much worst the atmosphere of super metroid were if instead of letting the player figure out moves for themself or having the cute aliens teach you every time you got a power up a tutorial stage played where and you got an achievment for completing it

imagine how much worst gradius or contra would be if every other screen you where checkpoint and you had unlimited lives and never lost your power ups

Cave story is praised as the height of retro gaming

The game itself is mediocre. If it was released on the super nintendo in the same era where it would be compared to link to the past and super metroid it would be largely forgotten. The level design is bland with nonthreatening enemies and annoying power ups that bounce away from you. I never died in it so I can't say theres any challenge. Half the items you collect are just used to unlock some door. The game isn't even paced particularly good with tedious fetch quests and lots of empty space in the levels with no enemies or exploration.

>>1091543
but it's free!

>>1091543
A lot of games have mediocre gameplay. Look at Star Control, the battle system is awful and the first three years of the game is one big fetch quest. People go head over heels for it mostly because of the story. Same deal here.

VVVVVV
-Gravity flipping is done by touching an item, this part of the game essentially plays itself
-No enemies, just platforms
-No abilities other than jumping
-No power ups
-No bosses
-Difficulty is flat, after the first few minutes it never gets harder
-Same gravity flipping platforming till the game ends
-Shit graphics, no details or style lazy
Metal storm
-Gravity is flip is done at any time by the player, requiring you to make descions
-Variety of enemies, new ones every stage. In addition to platforming
-Power ups that change how you play
-Shooting in addition to jumping
-Boss after every level, each one fights very differently
-Difficulty curve starts easy enough for someone who has never played a game, gets harder and harder as you play. If the game is too easy theres a 2nd quest which is one of the most difficult things on the NES
-Variety in level design: some have maze elements, some have endlessly spawning enemies, some have strict time limits, one is a boss rush, new enemies and challenges every stage
-Distinict IREM artstyle. Manages to have detailed robots even with the simple graphics. Not the best looking NES game but effort was put into it

This is why 'indi' games are a fucking joke

The only good "retro game" that I sort of liked was Hotline Miami. But really, besides the pixel art it wasn't really retro at all. Still good game/soundtrack.

>>1091587
It was retro, just not video game retro. 80s retro kind of like Blood Dragon or Vice City.

>>1091561
>Gravity flipping is done by touching an item, this part of the game essentially plays itself

No it isn't, except in the gravitron, but that part is hard.

>>1086367

No you don't. You can argue it's a bad movie and you can probably do so at least moderately well. You don't KNOW it.

>>1085537

You're not a person.

>Phil Pish saying that modern japanese games suck
>Copying a modern japanese game
http://www.dorkly.com/video/30941/dorkly-bits-mario-is-too-mainstream

>>1091747
But mario is Murican game.

I'd have to make an indie game pixelated because I don't have the skill, man power to go hand drawn and I have a craptop so no 3D modeling I assume.

>>1090420
That's not a meme you fucktard. It's the part when you start New Game + and get the ability to go into first-person mode. What the fuck was he supposed to do, give him another hat?

>>1091968
>Being this retarded

What's /vr/'s opinion on GunLord?

>>1092416
>right over your head

Subtlty doesn't work on idiots like you. I forgot.

>>1092401
Take the pain out of you ass. Deal with it is a meme. The fact fishfuck used that for his new game + is blatantly obvious he was trying to turn fez into a version of that meme. You're very dense if you can't realize that.

>>1091561
what? You absolutely do have to flip the gravity. Its a buoon

>>1092694
Pretty cool, not a single original idea going for it though, it's just straight up Turrican. Wish it had a wider release than just Dreamcast/Neo Geo

>>1093193
Actually they will release it soon at Wii U and 3DS.
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/09/eurostyle_neo_geo_shooter_gunlord_is_blasting_its_way_to_3ds_and_wii_u

>>1085110
There is an obvious difference between halfassed retro art and well done retro art. Plenty of bad games with "programmer art" don't go anywhere because even with pixel art you need a level of competence to take off. Unless you already have a rabid fanbase to begin with.

Games that capture the essence and technical skill of the late era NES sprite work is phenomenal. Shit that captures the essence of Action52 and the Bible Adventure games are garbage.

And then you have the amazing. Actual games for retro systems like Battle Kid, and the upcoming Owlia or whatever it's called. That shit's got me excited.

Ones like that "brothers" game on Steam that get indie "connoisseurs" panties wet are fucking dumb looking, but show a lot of technical skill. I just can't stand the skinny limbs style.

>>1085160
>artists can't make very good graphics

Except the artist works as an illustrator and has posted concept artwork which looks good. He initially wanted to go with a 16-bit style but explained that he went with a more 8-bit look because of time and money restrains.

You are so overly cynical and retarded you don't have a clue about anything. Even with pixelated stuff it should be very obvious whether somebody is good or not but you, YOU are too fucking retarded and blinded by hatred to see it.

I feel sorry for you, your life must be hell.

I wish people knew about Noitu Love 2. This is how it's done, people.

>>1085207

calm down atropos

"retro graphics" seems like an excuse to have shit pixel sprites, worse than what we actually had back then. I don't think this fad will ever go away considering how little work it requires.

We'll just have to live with this hipster fanbase that never actually grew up with retro games and buys this shit.

>>1093709
I wish Golgoth Studio would never cancell the Wii port of this game. The controls of this game wouuld be more suitable for Wii Remote and Nunchaku. At least the controls were ok even with the mouse and the keyboard at PC.

If you think about it Golgoth Studio was supposed to make remakes for Toki and Joe & Mac but no news about them. The only game they actually finished is Magical Drop V and only the Steam version. Where the hell are the console versions they were supposed to make?

One of my favourite retro-style games for Android. Not to mention it's totally free without commercials and "pay-to-win" crap.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=kipple.castaway.cat&hl=el

>>1093709
IDK why this game isn't more popular. It's not super awesome, but it emulates that "thing" Treasure games typically have, and you guys know how rarely their release games these days. And it's already very cheap on Steam.

It's certainly easily better than most indie games that /v/ constantly dribbles about everyday.

>>1093664
>Games that capture the essence and technical skill of the late era NES sprite work is phenomenal.

>all those colors onscreen
>realizing that in a given 8x8 pixel block there's only ever 3

It really depends. Quality action games have plenty to choose from, such as Oniken, Noitu Love 2, and quality platformers have dozens that are easily found. Then there are hardly any that give respect to a few genres, like RPGs. Strange enough those seem to be the hardest to make, and when they are made, they are typically garbage RPG Maker efforts and the developers make jokes out of the experience to disguise the lack of effort, like Breath of Death 7. Somehow that ended up on steam.

>I-I n-never meant to have it t-taken s-seriously anyways!!

(This doesn't count for Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden, obviously, which is on a whole different level entirely.)

There are some extremely well-designed ones, however, like Spellshard. A good game in itself, it was even designed to fit the NES architecture right down to the exact palette and actually takes itself seriously as an experience. It's also very challenging but it has the love other genres seem to get all the time and is definitely worth checking out. Especially since it's free.

>>1095373
>Then there are hardly any that give respect to a few genres, like RPGs. Strange enough those seem to be the hardest to make, and when they are made, they are typically garbage RPG Maker efforts and the developers make jokes out of the experience to disguise the lack of effort, like Breath of Death 7. Somehow that ended up on steam.

It's hard enough trying to find an artist who wants to care about color and memory limitations. I would guess that trying to also find a writer who's willing to cram text into ~36 columns for an entire game isn't too fun.

Also, RPGs are really heavy on the programming - they're not nice and "generic" like a platformer where you can set up the mechanics and have a bunch of level data that uses them in different ways. There's typically tons of special code for all the battle animations, story events/cutscenes, etc. Plus, I would guess they squeeze your memory budget much more than platformers.

There's always Pier Solar, right?

"Cloaks and Spells" is a petty cool retro inspired game. I love the art style and gameplay!

>>1090891

I'm sorry anon but S&S is exactly the sort of thing that ruins the concept of "retro indie design" by giving it the watermark of high pretension (the infantile and smug writing didn't help things at all).

At the very least it definitely did not translate well at all to the PC platform, it seemed better as something you play and chuckle about on the train while going to work or during a coffee break.

It should have stayed a phone game.

How does it feels when a mainstream commercial game has a better sense of humor than a pretendious indie game?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnt72FGWA6A

These kinds of games are getting really played out,. I'd be okay with it if most actually captured the spirit of older games, but they don't.

For every Shovel Knight and Megaman 9 you have, there's a billion crap ones. Which I guess is true for everything, but these kinds of games in particular seem especially oversaturated.

Not retro-inspirited games but quite related:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqbOhp771QY
SNES-style game my ass!

>>1085334
nothing is wrong with low poly. It's quite charming. the issue isn't the poly count, it's always been the texture mapping.

>>1097120
>pretentious

On this episode of "Words I Don't Know the Meaning of..."

I think a line needs to be drawn between "games that are trying to emulate retro graphics" and "games that use sprites and pixel artwork". Also using sprites in games didn't just end when the SNES died; Playstation, arcade games and beyond continued using sprites and took advantage of the amount of colors, sprites on-screen and other graphical effects that more modern machines were capable of.

For example Rogue Legacy uses sprites, but everything else about it makes it pretty obvious they're not just trying to ape a "16-bit" style.

>>1098432
How did he use it wrong? A ton of indie games try and have good dialogue and writing under the PRETENSE that it's deep or meaningful, and in most cases it's not. You're trying too hard

>>1098452
No. You're using it completely wrong. Other anon was right. Lrn2context.

>>1093791
>Nunchaku
I'm sorry, I just can't take you seriously after that, even if I actually agree with you.

>>1098485
You can't take accuracy seriously?

>>1098491
Accuracy is great.
I disagree because on a primarily english-language website, using "nunchaku", though absolutely correct, seems to insist upon itself in stead of the equally adequate, and possibly more colloquially appropriate, "nunchuck".
Given the target language, of course.

>>1098469
then explain how the way I used it is wrong

>>1098469
>attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed.

And how does this not describe indie games that present themselves as more than what they are?

>>1098491
Nintendo doesn't even spell it that way on the packaging for wii accessories. You're trying too hard

>>1098530
They spell is "Nunchuk" don't they?

>>1098537
Yes, yes they do.

>>1098529
The only indie games that you think do that are fez and braid. Mostly because of their creators. If you can name some more games that meet your requirements that try to promote a deep storyline while offering shit mechanics, graphics and game play then you would probably have a etter argument. So far all ive heard in this entire thread are people basing their opinions off of a hatred for fishstick and john blow.

>>1098556
Just go to the games section of newgrounds and pick a platformer man, I'm not doing your homework for you

>>1098567

> I'm not doing your homework for you

You got it backwards, homeboy. Making claims without evidence and telling people who challenge your claims to find evidence to support your claims is making people do YOUR homework.

When you make a claim, you need to be ready to actually defend your claim, or else people will (rightfully) disregard anything you have to say. If you aren't willing to back your words up, keep your mouth shut.

>>1098567
Thats all people have said is
>omg just go to steam
>omg just go to newgrounds
>omg just go to xbla
>omg just go to psn

All it does is show you have no idea what youre talking about. Like I said before all of your opinions are based on two devs who are popularly hated due to the fact they made a game while making themselves look like douches in the process once their games became mainstream. That is not a good basis for an
Opinion when talking about an entire genre. Are you saying that just because theyre indie games and can sometimes come off pretentious that it's worse than triple A titles doing the same? It's a retarded childlike mindset to say everything sucks just because you heard other people say so on the internet. Do some research kid.

When I bought the humble indie bundle that included Fez (and Brütal Legend which is what I really wanted), it was the only time ever I set the sliders to $zero to the developers. 100% to bundle and charity. I didn't want to put even a single penny in Phil Fish's hipster pocket!

>>1098698
In the process you shortchanged bro tier Tim Schafer. Son, i am understand but still disappoint.

>>1098698
You can control what money goes to what dev. In my case I just set phil Fish's Slider to Zero.

>>1098708
Yeah, I felt bad for the other developers. I know how much hard work making games is. Usually I set the sliders to 100% for developers. I really wanna support those guys working hard, making games and even offering them for next to nothing. But that FISH... damn he is just so unlikable!

also: somebody spent their evening registering the polytron email to a bunch of porn sites under the username "Douchemaster".

top lel

>>1098718
Sounds like an evening well spent.

>>1098713
Oh... I didn't realize that. That would have been the way to go.

As it turned out Brütal Legend wasn't really that good. It had a lot of style and great music, but not so much to offer in the gameplay department.

>>1098721
I bought the bundle for that too. way to disappoint me dude.

>>1098586
breath of death 7
not the guy you are arguing with but thats a shining example of what people are complaining about. Its pure cash in on a retro gimmick. the combat is boring as fuck and its just a boring game I want my dollar back.

>>1095409
I wasnt even aware they ported it to pc ! but yeah the touch interface does a lot to if.
Infantile and smug writing? I found it better than most games...
But maybe it is off topic in Retro Indie design, and it is just using pixels as block just as retro games does, but in a new fashion, I just found it was refreshing

>>1090991
I will accord you some flaws but thats merely 1% of the game, really how can you bitch on these graphics ! But maybe I overstudied pixel techniques

>>1098765
>pure cash in
>dollar game

Shut the fuck up. You just look like an idiot now.