I saw one guide that got up to the final dungeon and then went "You're on your own." I wonder if they were being evil or if they just hadn't figured it out either.
So I am making a video game.....
- Thread starter The Predaking
- Start date
I strongly recommend looking up Retro Game Challenge for Nintendo DS, as it sounds like your premise is incredibly similar.
Only one of the games made it west in 2009, but it might be worth looking into how it approached things for ideas.
Only one of the games made it west in 2009, but it might be worth looking into how it approached things for ideas.
I never heard of that game before, but I am not surprised that the concept has been done before. After all, there is nothing new under the sun.
I looked into it, and in the first hour of so of gameplay I can say its a decent little game. However, it definitely starts in the NES/FamiCom era gameplay wise and doesn't really look like NES games, rather it looks more like 16 bit sprites laid over the classic game play of some old NES games.
Yeah, a lot of people trying to emulate the old ways tend to "cheat" a bit for whatever reason.
But there's a lot going on there, from included magazines for tips and other stuff that recreates the "back in the day" feel that people really loved, so I thought you might want to take some notes. =)
Here's the Metacritic page: https://www.metacritic.com/game/ds/retro-game-challenge
Mind you, I'm not saying to copy what they did verbatim, but it seems like something good to study to know what works, what pitfalls to avoid, etc.
I'm eager to see how this turns out! =)
Oh, and uh, if you decide to include something Mega Man-esque in there... well... XD
But there's a lot going on there, from included magazines for tips and other stuff that recreates the "back in the day" feel that people really loved, so I thought you might want to take some notes. =)
Here's the Metacritic page: https://www.metacritic.com/game/ds/retro-game-challenge
Mind you, I'm not saying to copy what they did verbatim, but it seems like something good to study to know what works, what pitfalls to avoid, etc.
I'm eager to see how this turns out! =)
Oh, and uh, if you decide to include something Mega Man-esque in there... well... XD
Even Shovel Knight, which aped the NES style REALLY WELL, cheated a bit here and there and in more ways than simply allowing more than 8 sprites per scanline. The developers even admitted such. This article contains details on the the ways they broke NES conventions and the reasoning behind those decisions.
I watched the 8 hour playthrough video of it last night and read some of the reviews. From what I saw, they really only had a few games in there.
A Galaga 88 clone,
that Haggleman game twice (Which reminded me more of a C64 game than anything on the NES),
a Final Fantasy/Dragon Warrior game,
a top down shooter reminiscent of the Neo Geo era,
and a Shinobi game.
I should note that as of where I am at right now, I have 38 game play mechanics that I will be utilizing, and I am not even halfway done with the story. I am still in the NES era with at least 15 more games that I want to include. Like I said, I know that this is an ambitious project, but I wanted to make it and I wanted my girls to have a taste of what gaming was like for us in the 80s and 90s. I am also estimating that this will be a long game.
I liked their magazines and all, but I can't really think of a way to implement that in the story I am telling. The challenges was a pretty neat feature, and that gives them little goals to get to. I think I might do an achievement system for stuff like that. However that will be something to consider later on.
The reviewers seemed to like the game, but most of them wanted to be able to play the games without unlocking them in story mode. So that gives me an idea for a new gameplay mode. Previously, I was just going to have Story mode and on certain games, you could play it in minigame mode afterwards to unlock bonuses later on in the game. Kind of like, you only need to play to this point for the story, but you can help yourself later on by doing more. However, I think I will add a quick play mode too. Kind of like, you have 5 minutes to kill, so jump into a random minigame and see how well you can do.
And as someone that grew up owning and playing Megaman 1-4 on the NES and Megaman 1 on the Gameboy, Megaman gameplay will definitely be in there! I haven't wrote that part yet, but I am getting close to it.
It's hard to say for sure what the intentions of the guide were without more context, but it's possible that they simply hadn't figured out how to beat the final dungeon themselves. Alternatively, it could be a deliberate decision to let players figure out the final steps on their own, in order to maintain a sense of challenge and discovery.
Well, I have completed the second part of the story, and I am up to the 16-bit era now. The NES stuff was fun, and I really enjoyed writing the end of it. Just need to get a good start for the third part.
I'm curious what you're doing gameplay-wise to differentiate the 8- and 16-bit sections. Generally speaking, the games on offer tended to be pretty similar. Even The Messenger, which has you "time travel into the distant future" and indicates it by switching from faux-NES to faux-Genesis graphics and music, didn't change up the gameplay at all and instead just used it as a reminder of which version of the zone you were in, sort of like the day-night cycle in Castlevania II.
Well, the two main 16-bit consoles had a lot of differences from the Previous 8 Bit NES era.
1. More controller buttons. the SNES controller two more face buttons plus two shoulder buttons, and the Genesis eventually had its own 6 button controller. So that gives a lot of difference in Game play.
2. The sprites were a lot better, a lot more detailed, and had a lot more colors.
3. Music was a heck of a lot better. We used to plug the stereo out of our Genesis into the stereo to hear the awesome music.
4. More Processing power for faster pace games.
5. More adult theme games with increased graphics and gore. And the inclusion of FMV later on in the 16 bit era for Sega CD, gave us some interesting games at the time.
Also, the game play on my game is constantly changing. Some times there will be an over arching game play to bring your character to point X, but for the most part, the game really utilizes the gameplay of all the classic games we had growing up in the 80s and 90s. So while some gameplay mechanics form the 8 bit era were reused again in the 16 bit era, especially for Sequels like TMNT: Turtles in Time or Super Mario World, the gameplay still had a distinct difference between the two consoles. My game will mirror those differences.
1. More controller buttons. the SNES controller two more face buttons plus two shoulder buttons, and the Genesis eventually had its own 6 button controller. So that gives a lot of difference in Game play.
2. The sprites were a lot better, a lot more detailed, and had a lot more colors.
3. Music was a heck of a lot better. We used to plug the stereo out of our Genesis into the stereo to hear the awesome music.
4. More Processing power for faster pace games.
5. More adult theme games with increased graphics and gore. And the inclusion of FMV later on in the 16 bit era for Sega CD, gave us some interesting games at the time.
Also, the game play on my game is constantly changing. Some times there will be an over arching game play to bring your character to point X, but for the most part, the game really utilizes the gameplay of all the classic games we had growing up in the 80s and 90s. So while some gameplay mechanics form the 8 bit era were reused again in the 16 bit era, especially for Sequels like TMNT: Turtles in Time or Super Mario World, the gameplay still had a distinct difference between the two consoles. My game will mirror those differences.
Small update:
Working through the 16-bit era. The protagonist is leading a council of worlds against the evil kingdom. I call it the Council Wars.
Working through the 16-bit era. The protagonist is leading a council of worlds against the evil kingdom. I call it the Council Wars.
I thought about having a line in the game where the evil queen says, "I will decimate these 16 bitty council worlds!" but it might be too on the nose.
Update time!
So I am almost through writing the 16bit era. Its taking a bit of time as I wanted to include some popular games that I am not familiar with as much. Let me ask you folks a question. Are any of these games that you played or are familiar with from the 16-bit era:
Actraiser
Super bomberman
Zombies ate my neighbor
Super Star Wars
So I am almost through writing the 16bit era. Its taking a bit of time as I wanted to include some popular games that I am not familiar with as much. Let me ask you folks a question. Are any of these games that you played or are familiar with from the 16-bit era:
Actraiser
Super bomberman
Zombies ate my neighbor
Super Star Wars