Earthbound is a great game and other notes from the SNES classic

[Himu]

- DKC1 still sucks
- Super Metroid is rife with flaws but still manages to ascend to greatness despite them
- Something about this replay of FFVI may have made it my favorite FF. IDK at this point. But like, I fucking loved this run. I don't want to play the Advance version ever again because it made me not enjoy this classic anymore.
- The Kirby games seem like they're trash.
- Super Mario World has some broken stuff like Yoshi and the cape but it's still the funnest traditional 2d Mario I've played.
- Yoshi's Island is still the GOAT
- Playing Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting with an snes pad is probably the worst way anyone can play it.
- Super Ghouls and Ghosts feels like ass.
- Earthbound is fantastic. First time playing it.

Haven't modded the system yet but I already know what I'm putting on mine: Ninja Warriors, DKC2, Goemon 3 and 4, Wild Guns, Prince of Persia, Uniracers, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, and some others.

Nintendo

[demi]

If you hack it, refer to my list of games that work on the default emulator

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12HKfz4ZQBy6Ip5awvh8t2aV5cVswYlnsdKxn9xoIW2Y/edit#gid=2014317767

[Tasty]

- DKC1 still sucks
- The Kirby games seem like they're trash.
- Super Mario World has some broken stuff like Yoshi and the cape but it's still the funnest traditional 2d Mario I've played.
- Yoshi's Island is still the GOAT

Can't vouch for the others but each of these is 100% true.

SuperStar Ultra is the closest Kirby's gotten to goodness and it's still a complete snoozefest.

[Tuckers Law]

Grats on the Earthbound!  The Mother series is probably my favorite RPG series after Zelda, since you liked Earthbound you should also check out Mother 3.

Regarding Super Metroid, I'm curious in what parts you feel are flawed.  For me, I know the controls themselves definitely can get cumbersome and were later improved with the GBA games.

[Himu]

i've already played mother 3. i played it when it when the fan translation came out. Loved it. Couldn't play Earthbound because of the backgrounds in battle made me sick.

Super Metroid flaws: bad controls, boss fights aren't that fun or well designed, more backtracking than I can stomach even for a metroid game, no warps, maridia, pacing issues, wall jump controls. SOTN, Aria of Sorrow, Zero Mission, and arguably Metroid Prime are all better games.

[Tuckers Law]

Fascinating, it must've been weird seeing Pokey as just some snotty kid after having played Mother 3 first.

I still haven't played any of the Castlevanias on GBA and DS, my backlog is just so ridiculous 

[Himu]

the only ones on gba/ds worth playing are circle of the moon, aria of sorrow, and JONATHON!CHARLOTTE!JONATHON!CHARLOTTE! and maybe Dawn.

Aria is the only must have of the bunch.

[bork]

I can agree with that.  Aria Of Sorrow on GBA is superb and if was ever remade with CD-quality music, it would surpass SOTN for me.  Loved that game so much.  None of the other games are as good as Aria, IMO, but if you like Metroidvanias are worth checking out. 

I still need to go back and re-play Order Of Ecclesia.  I never even got to Dracula's castle in that one.

[Himu]

Order of Ecclesia came out when igavania was getting long in the tooth. Starts out well but gets boring.

[bork]

Didn't think it was bad, but got stuck on a boss and didn't feel like level-grinding to try to beat it.  Getting stuck on bosses happened to me in each DS 'Vania- In the other two, I got stuck on the end bosses and gave up after a bunch of tries.  That was after getting stuck on the bonus Richter fight in Portrait for a while.  Never had those kinds of problems in any other CV game.

[I'm a Puppy!]

I was a big fan of Earthbound, but then tried Mother 3 and I sorta got tired of it. More style than substance.

[Tasty]

That style though.

I'm gonna make a cheesy vid like the DMC5 one Wrath posted whenever/ifever Mother 3 gets released outside Japan.

I had a lot of fun with Earthbound Zero fwiw, but never played the sequel.

[naff]

Super Metroid is the only thing I've finished since I bought it. (on ANY system, not just the SNES classic) If I had to complain about a flaw in Super Metroid, it would be some elements of the backtracking and directions to take at times are incredibly poorly communicated, with a few parts requiring random tile destruction choices near og Zelda levels of obtuse, and the required wall jump mechanics, while easy for someone that's played before, are pretty difficult (and poorly communicated) for anyone new to the game. The environmental queues are good, but the move is difficult enough that a lot of newcomers just won't get it without going outside the game anyway. I think it's a small price to pay for such unwavering commitment to such an incredible vision though. GOAT.

I will get back to Earthbound at some point.

[Himu]

I was a big fan of Earthbound, but then tried Mother 3 and I sorta got tired of it. More style than substance.

Disagree

[paprikastaude]

Maybe wall jumping and screwattacking is too finnicky, but there's no flaw in overall SM game design, except I guess a few Maridia rooms. All these indie knockoffs still can't compete with the level design of the GOAT to this day.

Also out of the platformers Yoshi's gotta be the trash one. Alongside Wind Waker it's probably Nintendo biggest offender of style over substance. I want to love it, because Mario World's style is my favorite rendition of the series, but it's so boring. The platforming isn't interesting in any way because I feel it was dumbed down in favor of collecting shit in these huge levels. Now the problem is that unlike later collectathons, there's no meaning to the collectibles. You can finish the game with zero flowers and red coins and it wouldn't make a difference. And if there's no point to the collectibles, there's no point to the entire thing, because the rest of the gameplay is a snooze. Not a fan of later Kirbys, which is why I waited forever on Superstar, but I loved its fast paced nature compared to other entries. It also has like a Metroidvania and a Megaman mode in it. DKC was no doubt bested by the sequel it isn't even funny, but I still like it for the raw challenge. And it has aquatic ambience... aquatic ambience. G&G feels like ass at first, but once I got used to it, I could appreciate it.

Most of the Mini RPGs weren't released in EU back in the day, so now I'm only getting into them the first time. FF6 was very good, Mario RPG was good despite having a bad style, Secret of Mana sucks. Have yet to start Earthbound.

[benjipwns]

I changed the controls in Super Metroid, I forget if you can change everything or it's just an alternate setting, whatever it is, I never used the default. On the actual SNES pad. Haven't played it since then, always one of those things to get around to...

Zero Mission's maps are designed to accommodate its flexible control additions to keep you moving. Prime does the same thing in a lot of places to make it seem more fluid than it is, this breaks down in Corruption in places. The other earlier games would have to be redesigned as they all have you stopping a lot even if the gameplay was reworked to allow you more movement.

There's something similar in the Castlevania games too, one not on the above lists for probably known obvious reasons, Harmony of Dissonance is almost like overboard movement abilities that breaks the map and causes it to slow you down and hinder you. It's also why a lot of the bosses are so simple to avoid as they aren't actually totally designed to handle your movement speed or abilities. It almost seems like they boosted that quite late in development without going back to change much. There's a large part of that game where you basically kill enemies because they're annoying and you can't easily skip them rather than they're threats or you want the XP/drops.

[paprikastaude]

Putting run on the right shoulder button does Super Metroid quite a big favor, at least for me. I think it's the only one that actually has full button prompt costumisation.

[demi]

No comment on Star Fox 2 and how trash it is EW

[Himu]

I forgot how bad Star fox and Star Fox 2 are.

On the rail shooter quality tier you’ve got Panzer Dragon Zwei and stuff like that. On the other end you’ve got Star Fox.
 Trash series.

[bork]

Saw someone mention somewhere that there's a way to patch the Starfox games so that they run at a much smoother framerate. 

Have barely touched my SNES Classic, TBH.  Probably shouldn't have purchased it...but I'd probably get some use out of it if I hacked it already.

[Svejk]

I can agree with that.  Aria Of Sorrow on GBA is superb and if was ever remade with CD-quality music, it would surpass SOTN for me.  Loved that game so much.  None of the other games are as good as Aria, IMO, but if you like Metroidvanias are worth checking out. 

I still need to go back and re-play Order Of Ecclesia.  I never even got to Dracula's castle in that one.

Didn't think it was bad, but got stuck on a boss and didn't feel like level-grinding to try to beat it.  Getting stuck on bosses happened to me in each DS 'Vania- In the other two, I got stuck on the end bosses and gave up after a bunch of tries.  That was after getting stuck on the bonus Richter fight in Portrait for a while.  Never had those kinds of problems in any other CV game.

AoS was this shiz.  I remember it being a bit of a breeze near the end, cheesing with that ridiculously large sword, but awshum overall.
I never finished OoE either.. Loved the character design, but much prefer the standard 'sword or whip' vanias.  Also never finished Circle of the Moon... it got a bit tough at certain points.  I need to go back to it at some point.

[Tasty]

Star Fox is a lot of fun at 60FPS. The platform holds it back.

Music is still grade-A in any case.

[bork]

AoS was this shiz.  I remember it being a bit of a breeze near the end, cheesing with that ridiculously large sword, but awshum overall.
I never finished OoE either.. Loved the character design, but much prefer the standard 'sword or whip' vanias.  Also never finished Circle of the Moon... it got a bit tough at certain points.  I need to go back to it at some point.

I remember finishing AoS on both difficulties and then replaying it a couple of more times after that.     It and SOTN are the only two I replayed multiple times.

[Joe Molotov]

Star Fox 64 is a classic

[bluemax]

I was a big fan of Earthbound, but then tried Mother 3 and I sorta got tired of it. More style than substance.

Earthbound has always just been a clone of NES Dragon Warrior gameplay with a funkier color palette.