NecroPhile's game clears and mindless musings

[SuperPlay]

I loved the Maison Ikkoku Anime and I have also given this game some play, however I never managed to complete it.

Dam another one I need to go back to ;-)

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Clear #28 - Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective



I like such games and luckily my memory has enough holes that I can come back every few years and relearn the particulars of each case.  The game is afoot!

The Good: sizable cast and nicely varied sets; pretty decent acting, especially by videogame standards; and some humorous bits, mostly from Holmes mocking my pathetic detective skills.

The Bad: while overall they're quite good for a very early FMV game, the videos are rather grainy and not exactly smooth; only three short cases to solve (it needs more cases and/or deeper plots requiring more detective work);  it uses high-res mode to shrink the videos, which might be a good thing making the videos smaller and hiding some of its flaws; and there's not much replay value - you can try to beat Holmes score, but where's the fun in skipping almost all of the videos?

The Ugly: a few videos would crash and automatically repeat (clean and unscratched disc). 

[Xak]

Necro do you have all your games complete? I would hope so if you took on such an ambitious goal. I know I made sure I had the best of the best when 'collecting'

[esteban]

Necro: I bought the DVD version of Sherlock Holmes and Dracula Unleashed but now I can't find the damn things. I'm afraid I accidentally stuck them with my regular DVD's (which are all crushed in box somewhere in the garage).

Anyway, I bought the DVD version because I was curious about the improved video quality (needless to say, it is superior to the TG-CD and Sega-CD version of Sherlock). The trade-off, though, is that the "cheapness" of the costumes/sets is more apparent on a full-screen. It's actually not that bad, production-wise, so my point is not to mock the production values, but, rather, to show the silver cloud has a rusted iron lining.  An obvious complaint: the awkward DVD controls/menus detract from the flow of the game (it's not a deal-breaker, mind you, it's just a shame). I'm sure this varies by DVD player...my DVD player is nothing fancy (Samsung DVD + VHS combo from a decade ago).

DUH! MOMENT: It never occurred to me to play DVD Sherlock/Dracula Unleashed in their entirety on my COMPUTER/laptop! I don't know why I never did that (I took screenshots at some point using my laptop, but that's it).

OH, NOW I REMEMBER: I played Sherlock DVD whilst taking care of my daughter and she would have destroyed the laptop if it was with arm's reach.

BOTTOM LINE: NecroPhile, you're one of the few crazy bastards to play Sherlock.

[JoshTurboTrollX]

Esty- Another 'DuH moment':  Play it on a PS2 or Xbox to gain the ability to play with a console controller!  ;)

[esteban]

Esty- Another 'DuH moment':  Play it on a PS2 or Xbox to gain the ability to play with a console controller!  ;)

Wait, PS2 plays DVD's? Holy crap, I've never done that.

I bought PS2 late (2005-2005?), when I didn't watch DVD's much anymore.

Holy crap. 

[Xak]

Good job on beating order of the griffon Necro. I kinda wish someone would bugfix the battle music before I dive into it.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

I'd love to see comparisons of Sherlock between Turbob, Sega, and DVD versions.  Doo eeeet, esty! 


Clear #29 - Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective Vol. 2



There's very little difference between the original and the sequel.  The judge is now in FMV glory and the video quality seems a touch better (SuperCD improvements or just wishful thinking?), but otherwise it's the same exact game with three different cases to solve.

[turboswimbz]

268 that isn't to shabby of a score.  Last itme I played a case I scored 3XX to holmes 30 ish.   not sure of the exact amount just rember thinking damn I need to solve the case 10X faster to break even with him. 

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Out of curiosity, I just checked gamefaqs to see what it takes to get Holmes's score; you only get to visit a handful of people / locations (a mere 3-5 for most cases).  Boring!

[blueraven]

The game does look kind of boring. How quick did you beat it?

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Maybe three hours for each game, about an hour or so per case.

[Xak]

Man I COULD NOT play through Sherlock Holmes. Not back in 2005 when I first got it, not now after I dont have it.

Props for slugging through that .

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Why not?  Too slow paced, can't take the fmv quality, just don't like the genre, or ?

[Xak]

Love FMV games. It the pacing I suppose. The Genre is hard to distinguish. I do like mystery games like graphic adventures a lot. But Sherlock I could not do it. Nor the giant ant game it came from ....

[bob]

Nor the giant ant game it came from ....

BLASPHEMY!

[Xak]

I love Loom and Beyond Shadowgate

[Mathius]

I remember loving Sherlock Holmes on the Sega CD (even while squinting through the grains). I am not sure I could handle the crazy frame rate of the Turbo version after growing up with the version on the Turbob's rival.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Clear #30 - Yawara!



Not a horrible digi-comic but not a particularly good one either.  Maybe it'd be better if I could read the script, but from what I could figure out not a whole heck of a lot was going on.

The Good: cute Yawara; nice looking pastel, watercolor-esque backgrounds; and funny facial expressions from your boss and Yawara's sensei (particularly the intermission screens).

The Bad: the backgrounds are almost all static; mostly muzak tunes; no real puzzles or challenge; and the story is rather bland.

The Ugly: only one upskirt panty shot!

[Nando]

only one Pantsu shot? Meh...

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Clear #31 - Yawara! 2



More of the same type of stuff as found in the first game.  It's quite a bit shorter, though, which is somewhat made up for with mini-game crappola (trivia game, othello, vs. fighting game, character stats, etc.).

[Xak]

do you speakie japanesie?

[Nazi NecroPhile]

do you speakie japanesie?

Nope, I still don't (nor do I read/write it), but I don't let that me keep me from enjoying PCE games.

[bob]

I admire the time you have to kick the PCE's ass.  Not only having the time, but actually using it constructively

[PunkCryborg]

Necro makes me want to play comic adventure games

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Clear #32 - Gain Ground SX



The Good: lots of characters to pick from and different enemies to defeat, requiring careful planning; cool tunes; and the action can get pretty hairy in spots.

The Bad: sometimes bland backgrounds; it defaults to easy (hit select on the title screen to set it to normal); a couple levels are kinda cheap hard, where you might run out of time trying to trigger an enemy to appear so you can whack him; no cinema or intro stuff; and no two or three player like was in the arcade original.

The Ugly: lots of flicker.

[Nando]

well that sucks on the no two player part.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Clear #33 - Cadash



The Good: some nice, gory details (talking corpses!); cool bosses; atmospheric tunes; good replay value with four characters to utilize; two player action; and mermaid tittehs!

The Bad: kinda short, but there's no save feature either; cheap hits from iffy collision detection; and a few small bits of Ireland 'humor'.

The Ugly: NA

[Nando]

I have a super soft spot for Cadash. Love, LOVE that game.

The cheap hits were quarter munchers.

[Miracle_Warrior]

I have a super soft spot for Cadash. Love, LOVE that game.

The cheap hits were quarter munchers.

Tell me about it.  I poured so many quarters in to this game growing up. 

[HailingTheThings]

Cadash is sweet. It cracks me up that I, without realizing it, spent so much time grinding that by the time I finished the last boss, I kinda didn't even realize it at first.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Clear #34 - Efera & Jiliora



Not a horrible action rpg, but its got a lot of little flaws that hold it back... and will sometimes make you want to punch a squirrel.

The Good: lengthy with lots of different places to explore; a few good tunes; neat cut scenes composed of static but good looking back drops and small but well animated character sprites (think Beyond Shadowgate cut down to fit regular CD format); lots of different bosses to whack; and two player capability.

The Bad: it sometimes gets lost on loads; slow down when there's seemingly very little going on; clunky, backwards menus; much of the game play environments are bland and ugly; the light/dark gimmick gets real old, real quick; and the damage done from stuff on the floor/ground is just ridiculous.

The Ugly: lots and lots of cheap hits due to poor hit detection, only being able to hit one enemy at a time, the screen scrolling only when you're near the edge (leaving little time to react), and the limited range of sword attacks (especially if the enemy is below you).

[HailingTheThings]

Clear #34 - Efera & Jiliora



Not a horrible action rpg, but its got a lot of little flaws that hold it back... and will sometimes make you want to punch a squirrel.

The Good: lengthy with lots of different places to explore; a few good tunes; neat cut scenes composed of static but good looking back drops and small but well animated character sprites (think Beyond Shadowgate cut down to fit regular CD format); lots of different bosses to whack; and two player capability.

The Bad: it sometimes gets lost on loads; slow down when there's seemingly very little going on; clunky, backwards menus; much of the game play environments are bland and ugly; the light/dark gimmick gets real old, real quick; and the damage done from stuff on the floor/ground is just ridiculous.

The Ugly: lots and lots of cheap hits due to poor hit detection, only being able to hit one enemy at a time, the screen scrolling only when you're near the edge (leaving little time to react), and the limited range of sword attacks (especially if the enemy is below you).

Kinda wish there was an English translation for this game.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

You'll miss out on the story (more so than most rpgs due to the way the cinemas are done), but it's easy enough to play without moon rune skills.  It's fairly linear with the only back tracking being to places you couldn't enter the first go around.

[PunkCryborg]

You me and gbaplayer are all neck to neck on our game clears # at 34. I need to step up my game 

[esteban]

You me and gbaplayer are all neck to neck on our game clears # at 34. I need to step up my game 

You kids have a long way to go to catch up with me. The fact that I can't play nearly as much as I used to will help even things out in the next decade or so, though.

Don't give up, little ones! 

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Clear #35 - Air Zonk



The Good:  nicely colored and detailed backgrounds with great parallax; sweet chip tunes (among the best on the system); tons of variation in enemies and bosses; many different weapons to try out; and great replay value to test out the various helpers, or go it alone and get different mini-helpers.

The Bad:  a little slow down and flicker; and King Drool (end boss) is balls tough compared to everyone that came before, but thankfully you can build up a pretty good stock of extra lives along the way.

The Ugly:  NA

[Mathius]

Air Zonk was one of my first clears on the system. The final boss rush is a doozy.

[PunkCryborg]

King drool is easy once you get his pattern down. I first thought little thing that circles around you hit you but all it does is block your shot but you just need a couple good charged shots to clear it

[Nazi NecroPhile]

I first thought little thing that circles around you hit you but all it does is block your shot but you just need a couple good charged shots to clear it.

Heh, no shit?  I'd die a lot less if I weren't flying in circles trying to avoid that thing.

[bob]

Air Zonk was one of my first clears on the system. The final boss rush is a doozy.

I was playing this a few nights ago on me TE. I got to the boss rush, died, got pissed and shut it off. Then, literally 5 mins later i turned it on again and got to the boss rush again and died.  Got REALLY pissed and stopped.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Clear #36 - Quiz Econosaurus



I think of the LA as part of the Turbob family (they're branded as such), so I'm putting this here. 

The Good: cute animated opening video, nice background music, not terribly engrishy, and a good spread of questions running the gamut from easy to esoteric.

The Bad: very little video - it could've been on Super CD and been just as enjoyable.

The Ugly: NA

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Clear #37 - Galaxy Fraulein Yuna



A fun, colorful, and darn cute digi-comic with a bit more action than most, though the story isn't as easy to follow as some others.

The Good: many pretty girlies to beat the pants off of (quite literally), with lots of variation in their appearance, armor, and weapons; humorous bits sprinkled throughout; tons of voice work, not that it did me any good; a couple nice red book tunes; well done animated cut scenes; and a bikini contest with special guest judges!

The Bad: chip background tunes are rather bleh; turn based battles are repetitive and I never got the hang of the strategy required (if there is one), making their outcomes seem based more on luck than anything else; mostly static in game pics where the action between characters is shown with changing character portraits, which is why it's kinda hard to follow the story if you don't understand Japanese.

The Ugly: the sound of the different girls laughing at you is like an ice pick to your ears, but we'll see who get's the last laugh, bitches!

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Guide added to Bazaaru de Gozaaru.   

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Clear #37.5 - Galaxy Fraulein Yuna HuVideo



If you're gonna get Yuna, it's well worth paying a couple bucks more for the re-release with the extra disc.  The HuVideo is short and kinda grainy, but it's pretty cool and there's not exactly a dearth of OBEY FMV to look at elsewhere, plus, the extra artwork stills are well worth a peek. 

[Bardoly]

Clear #37.5 - Galaxy Fraulein Yuna HuVideo

If you're gonna get Yuna, it's well worth paying a couple bucks more for the re-release with the extra disc.  The HuVideo is short and kinda grainy, but it's pretty cool and there's not exactly a dearth of OBEY FMV to look at elsewhere, plus, the extra artwork stills are well worth a peek. 

I did not realize that this existed.  It is not in the PC Engine Bible, although it is in PCE Daisakusen!  Is this the first two Yuna's combined on one disk with the extra disk being some HuVideos clips, or what?

[Nazi NecroPhile]

It's just the first game and a separate disc for the HuVideo clip and art stills.  As far as I can tell, the game disc itself is identical to the original release with the same product ID / disc number (HCD2031) and same track listing and sizes.

The PCE Bible could use a mention in the overview maybe, but I believe all the scans in the 'images' section are from the re-release version.  The manual front cover and game cd, however, would be the same from either version.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Clear #38 - Galaxy Fraulein Yuna 2



I didn't think it possible, but it's even cuter and more humorous than the first outing; and if you don't smile at Yuri's "om-nom-nom-noms" and save screen graphic, you have no soul.

The Good:  as in the first game, cut scenes are quite well done; better animated on-screen action, making it easier to follow the story; gobs of good voice work; a couple mini-games (which are too short to really get into) and a few first person maze sections make up for the linearity of the story line; a nekkid bathing scene (more funny than sexy); and cute colored pencil / crayon art at the end credits.

The Bad:  after the dandy opening cinema, the title screen is queerly silent; the music is again rather bland; instead of all new stuff, the intermission pics are shared with the HuVideo disc; and a couple blinky, seizure inducing screens.

The Ugly:  the fucking battles!  They almost ruin the game, taking far too long, requiring more luck than strategy, and the deck is often stacked against you (literally).

[esadajr]

Clear #37.5 - Galaxy Fraulein Yuna HuVideo

If you're gonna get Yuna, it's well worth paying a couple bucks more for the re-release with the extra disc.  The HuVideo is short and kinda grainy, but it's pretty cool and there's not exactly a dearth of OBEY FMV to look at elsewhere, plus, the extra artwork stills are well worth a peek. 

Sweet.

Do you know if there is a guide? (I haven't found any). Still, it is fun trying to figure out what every option does.

[slinkyturd]

No Bloody Wolf?