From: v089l3s3@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (JER HORWITZ)
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
Subject: Re: WHat are 'essential' carts for Genesis
Date: 16 Dec 92 19:47:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1gnr90INNhkf@aludra.usc.edu>, tehyang@aludra.usc.edu (Teh Kao Yang) writes...
>In article <BzD1DG.3us@acsu.buffalo.edu> v089l3s3@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (JER HORWITZ) writes:
>>In article <1992Dec16.145623.7279@exu.ericsson.se>, exuhag@exu.ericsson.se writes...
>>>JER HORWITZ writes:
>>>>
>>>>>Elemental Master MD - another superb shooter by Technosoft, only out in Japan
>>>>Not essential... and too easy.
> 
>The game is much harder when played on a Megadrive for some reason. It's a
>breeze on the Genesis but I still haven't finished it playing on a Megadrive.

That's why I said "too easy"... this is Genesis essentials.. :)
> 
>>>With Genesis games I feel very cheated if I pay $60 for a game
>>>and then finish it (with finality) the same weekend, or if the
>>>game doesn't have a level select, and so on.  
> 
>So that's why we need these kinds of discussions to help you choose better.
>But are you saying that you won't feel cheated if you buy a $60 SNES game and
>finish it the same weekend? 
> 
Although I didn't make the original statement, I do agree with it. I
have the same feeling about SNES games, although I'd say it helps to
be damn picky about what you buy. That means no more "buy a game to
raise your lousy spirits" days, but it means that you buy the
game to savor it...

> 
>>product. I think that's really sad. As far as "good feel", I
>>think once you've played F-Zero, no race game can come close.
> 
>To each his own, I guess. I've never been able to get into F-Zero. I guess
>I just dislike driving games with a third-person perspective, as opposed to
>a first-person perspective driving game like Monaco GP. The Mode-7 effect
>was neat at first but somehow I disliked the way the game "feels". BTW am I
>the only person who thinks that almost every SNES driving game is a clone of 
>F-Zero?

The first and third person things matter so little, really. F-Zero might as
well be first person except for the end of the race when the camera shows
a side view of the car, the camera moves exactly where the car moves, drifts
and all (amazing for a car game to have good drifts) - the 3rd person is
more to show you the proximity of other cars than it is to look at something
instead of your car - to alleviate this in Super Monaco, they put the rear
view mirror in, IMO too difficult to focus on when you're driving.

I disagree about the "feel" - I think that the feel on F-Zero is absolutely
perfect. That's why I rated it so high in my review list -- you can really
sink into the feel of the car perfectly. Also, Top Gear and Big Run [not
for US release] are definitely not F-Zero clones. Any game with scaling
almost automatically feels like an F-Zero clone - except none have touched
the quality of F-Zero (except perhaps Mario Kart). The big excitement for
me will start if and when Nintendo's new hardware can provide either true
sprite scaling while the backgrounds scale or more sprites for better
psuedo scaling...

[ -> Jer Horwitz ] [INTERnet Game Consultant]