The Official WTF are YOU playing right now thread

[Shou]

It is the year 2008, I have bought brand new 5.25 inch DD floppies to play Xanadu on PC-88 since the original save disk I had is no longer usable.

I'm not sure how anyone really figured out how to get into the first dungeon without some external hints as the game does not say a damn thing!

Scroll to the left x pixels and move to the right or forever be stuck in a looping Pacman-ish maze....

Otherwise, it's intriguing to play through the beginnings of the J-ARPG genre.

[Technosphile]

Saru Get You 2 (PS2)
I'm not usually into 3D platformers, bu this is a great game. Full of charm and style, with nice presentation. I love how each level has a theme (casino stage, haunted house stage), and the whole game has great music. Its like a cutesy Zelda without the grandiose, epic angle--get new item, clear the stage using it, find various bonus items along the way. All in all, a nice surprise here.

Hokuto no Ken Atomiswave (PS2)
Funny how a little fan service can change just another Guilty Gear thing into something playable. It really could have used about five quarts more blood, tho.

World Stadium EX (PSone)

[Kaneda]

Fire Emblem - DS
I'm not a big SRPG fan but I like this series. The art is apparently by Masamune Shirow but I don't see the resemblance. I'm starting to abuse using the warp spell and just having Marth rush the boss so I can win a battle in two turns, but this strategy will bite me later on.

Mushihimesama Futari - Arcade
When I can make it out to an arcade I like to play this. Cave's most underrated game.

Puzzle Bobble 3 - Mame
So very close to beating puzzle mode.

[Gaijin Punch]

Puzzle Bobble 3 - Mame
So very close to beating puzzle mode.

Replay, please. I started play PB4 on the Playstation. I found the pully system to be quite unfair and confusing.

[Mappy]

Last night I started playing MAGIC SWORD on MAME for the millionth time...
I think it is one of the best game, ever
I'm not a score player, but if I ever want to got a record, I'll try it on this game..

[Kaneda]

Mushihimesama Futari Black Label
If only I could afford this. I'm gonna stick my neck out a bit and say this is my favorite Cave game. They should get cracking on a 360 port because I'll never buy the board.

Panel de Pon DS
A game I've put off buying for ages now and finally got around to it. Superb in every way. Once I get a WiFi USB thingy I'll never put it down.

Legend of Kage 2 DS
I like it pretty good. Level design is pretty plain but the boss fights are great. I like the music a lot too. I think the quality in this game has much to do with the fact that they don't make 2D ninja action anymore so I like it just for what it is.

Bangaio Spirits
It's decent.

[Technosphile]

Legend of Kage 2 DS
I think the quality in this game has much to do with the fact that they don't make 2D ninja action anymore so I like it just for what it is.

This part of your review is what I don't get. Is it good, or just good because its the only Ninja Action Game in town at the moment? On our rating scale, what would you give it?

Warrior of Argus (PS2)
AKA Rygar. Why are there so many games like this, these 3D sword action games? Its like Capcom made Onimusha, and the dam broke. They all follow the exact same formula: kill thousands of weak enemies, collect glowing orbs, power up your weapons three levels. One thing about Rygar that I actually did enjoy was its graphics; some of it approached Ico-like levels of beauty, stuff you don't really expect on the PS2. And I did like it better than the ass Xbox Ninja Gaiden.

World Stadium EX (PSone)
Sad to report that things haven't been going so well lately for the Wave. We're still in first place, but with six games to go and Fukuoka only two games behind, we are in an essential playoff series when we face them again in a few days. Its like I can't get a decent hit at the plate anymore; even my home run beasts, Troy Neel and Yasuo Fujii, have stopped going yard. And I think I've been spoiled by the phenomenal pitching of Suzuki. His "chute" is unhittable (I had a 15-strikeout game with him and that pitch), and I in turn overuse him. Most of my other pitchers are average at best. I nonetheless am really looking forward to finishing out the season and whatever comes next. I have been eagerly anticipating my upgrade to 1997's Famista 64, with a familiar Blue Wave team and high marks from Famitsu.

Tecmo Super Bowl (SNES)
Just a little bit. Its all Elway in this version, the Bronco running backs are straight trash.

Hokuto no Ken Atomiswave (PS2)
Getting a little better. This was everywhere in Japan when I visited, I wish I could go now and see where I'm at vs. the masters. I've never played a fighter with instant-kill moves competitively, so I dunno if I would still think they were cool or just really irritating in that setting.


Visually....

Home Movies
I love this show. Its funny and relaxing, very low-key. And I like all the characters, a rarity with anything I ever watch.

The Simpsons
Its seriously the best thing in the world to watch while eating dinner. I can say with confidence that the "worst episode ever" is the one where Homer breaks his jaw. The best? Hard to say, but I really love the one where the nuclear plant employees go to a company team-builder retreat in the mountains, and Homer and Burns team up.

Otaku no Video
Showed it to my girl for the first time and was really pleased that she enjoyed it. There should be more anime like this.

Denver Broncos Football
I realize that most of you nerds don't have a drop of Jock in you, but I will hype the Broncos any chance I get. We're sitting at 2-0, have scored a combined 80 (!) points in those two games, and everything I have been saying about Jay Cutler for two years is proving 100% true. Like I told Kaneda once, "John Elway, Part II: Jay Cutler". Big game tomorrow vs. the Saints. Go Broncs!

[Kaneda]

Legend of Kage 2 DS
I think the quality in this game has much to do with the fact that they don't make 2D ninja action anymore so I like it just for what it is.

This part of your review is what I don't get. Is it good, or just good because its the only Ninja Action Game in town at the moment? On our rating scale, what would you give it?!

It's quite good. The game it most reminds me of is Ninja Spirit which I also liked. I haven't finished it yet, but on our scale I'd give it a 6.5. I could see it being a 7.0 by the end.

[RadiantSvgun]

Ninja Spirit on Turbo Express. Also playing Soldier Blade. Its almost time to leave work too.

[ave]

F-Zero GX. One hell of a fast game, but I just don't manage to snake. Any hints? I do like I'm told to, but nothing happens (R+>, <+L)

[RadiantSvgun]

Puzzle Bobble 2 and Puzzle De Pon. Trying to get a score for Kaneda's score thread.

[Technosphile]

World Stadium EX (PSone)
In news that no one except maybe Kaneda will care about, I finished the season on an 8-game winning streak (including sweeps of Fukuoka and archrival Seibu), posting a final record of 92-37-1 and capturing the Pacific League pennant. Though the game is from 1996 and things may have changed since then, I learned something interesting about Japanese baseball: there are no playoffs, the winner of each league moves directly into the Japan Series.

And so, the Technosphile-led Orix Blue Wave prepared to face off with the mysterious Yakult Swallows of the Central League for the championship. I had no idea what to expect, as there was no inter-league play during the season, either. It was with anticlimactic boredom that we swept Yakult with stupid ease in four games, by a combined score of 29-2. The game's ending was a staff roll accompanied by 3D renditions of the Wave roster and an a capella choir rendition of the marching-band theme heard in the stats menu. "Thanks for your playing!". In clearing the Pennant Race mode, I unlocked an additional two stadiums.

My favorite baseball game ever prior to playing World Stadium EX was the Neo Geo Baseball Stars 2, which has been supplanted. WSEX (heh) is a fantastic game, seamlessly integrating 2D sprites and pretty 3D stadiums. All 12 Nippon Pro teams of the era are present, with real players, including guys who were young stars at the time and are now seasoned vets playing in the American Major Leagues, such as Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui. In addition, there are four "joke" teams: the Namco Stars, the World Stars (with players like Napoleon and Nobunaga), the Mechanical Robots, and my personal favorite, the Grass Baseball Errors. There's training modes, newspapers which herald your achievements, and an Edit mode which honestly leaves something to be desired. All of this is presented in a lighthearted manner, from the Alvin and the Chipmunks-style main menu theme to the option of "comical" music and sound effects. Of all the Famista/World Stadium games I have played to this point, EX is the best. 8.5 Silver Award.

Next stop: Famista 64!

[Kaneda]

Congratulations on capturing the title. It was a long season of ups and downs. Just think back to the start of the year when the management had no clue how to run the team, work the auto-fielding, or even how to pronounce some of the player's names . Who would have thought that months later The 'Wave would go all the way. A great team and certainly a notch above other teams-that-shall-remain-nameless that manage to have over 100 losses this year even with Ichiro on their team.

[Technosphile]

Okay well since no one else is apparently playing anything, this is now the Technosphile all yakyu games, all the time thread.

Famista 64, N64
Here we have an example of shitty controls killing an otherwise decent game. No D-pad play whatsoever; everything from movement to pitch trajectory to swinging the bat is done via the analog stick. There is a dash while fielding, something I have always wanted in a baseball game, but it inexplicably shares the same button as diving catch. So while trying to run down singles, watch as Ichiro instead dives and turns it into a triple. The Z button, B button, and R button all have specific actions, but this is all a bit much when you just want to quickly turn the double play. There is no custom control option. As someone who prefers manual fielding, having to switch Auto on merely to compete is a drag.

But I'm not competing. In fact, I'm getting the shit kicked out of me in every game. The best I've done thus far is a 9-4 loss, and I've played at least ten games now. So why the losses? Well, this goes back to that friggin' analog stick. Batting with this is needlessly complex. All eight directions swing the bat a certain way, as in swinging with a desired effect in mind (short grounder, home run, etc). So not only do you have to judge the pitch as strikezone or not, you have to recognize the pitch and swing the exact way necessary to counter it. My desired effect is just to hit the ball deep, every time. I'm not a big batting strategist, and prefer simple arcade-style, swing for the fences batting. It doesn't help that pitches are fairly indistinguishable in this game, or that nearly every pitch from the CPU is a strike--I haven't come close to being walked, not even once.

Speaking of pitching, the analog hurts here, too. Its VERY touchy, but mostly just when you're trying to pitch inside and you instead bean the hitter. Or when you try a nice Slider than never has the right amount of slide, and either is called a ball or gets popped for a two-run homer.

All the control problems, no cursor for player-controlled guys on the diamond ("who the fuck am I here, the shortstop or the third baseman?!?"), and then smaller beefs like no real practice mode and no saving to the cart have just about ruined Famista 64 for me. The best thing I can say about it is that its a real pretty game--nice, fluid 2D animation when fielding and cool 3D players at the bat, and 3D stadiums. Cutesy presentation, too. But the controls are a nightmare. Maybe I'll start World Stadium EX over again, or instead try WS 4. 5.0 for Famista 64.

[Kaneda]

Ketsui DS

Having been playing much at home but this has been keeping me busy at work. Doom mode is great.

[Shou]

LOST PLANET (360)
cleared mission 6 on normal over the weekend, level 15 in online play, can be challenging in parts, if anyone wants to play online, give me a PM


Virtua Fighter 5R Revision 1 (AC)
been up to the named rank Bujin but am currently Tatsujin due to the way the ranking system is screwed up in R, AM2 needs to release a new version but heard that most of the VF staff quit recently...


recently cleared:
Assassin's Creed (360) - all achievements outside of flags
BulletWitch (360) - on easy, working on normal now

[dcharlie]

playing @ home :

Motorstorm Pacific Rift (PS3)
Gears of War 2 (X360)
Fallout 3 (X360)
Resistance 2 (PS3)
LBP (PS3)

playing on the go :
Ketsui (DS)
Rhythm Tengoku DS (DS)
Dodonpachi (PSP)
Wipeout Pulse (PSP)

started a second round of Dead Space, but will probably leave it so i can get through the back log.

[shinjojin]

Denjin Makai 1 & 2 (both on MamePLUS), one of the most underrated 2D beat em up series around!

A great series to try out!

[Mappy]

Super Robot Taisen Z (ps2)
on Extra-Hard is a REAL test of SRW skill

Ketui DS

Akumajo Dracula Gallery of Labyrinth (ds)
waiting to play the latest...

SF Zero 2 alpha (ps2)

[Kaneda]

Ketsui DS

Play it on the shinkansen and at work, truly a blessing.

K-1 GP DS

What a disaster. Zero in the way of extras or unlockables, bullshit edit mode, and a broken fighting system. The large roster is nice and the graphics are serviceable but a mess through and through. Final score: 2.5.

[RadiantSvgun]

Played some DBZ Burst Limit since it finally hit the dump bin.

[Technosphile]

Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff (DS)
I play the three good games in the series enough that this is seeing a fair amount of play, though its no NES TSB. A curious mix of US production with Japanese programming, its pretty clear there was a lack of direction in its development. No NFL license really hurts. I usually Edit the hell out of games that have the option, but Editing a few hundred names, numbers, and stats is wearing a bit thin. I do appreciate that there seems to be no downloading of rosters, forcing each copy owned to be unique. The Edit mode itself sort of sucks, with no team logo Edit and limited points that can be assigned to players. The cheerleaders are pretty hot; the special halftime show of the Tecmo Bowl might even be stroke-worthy if it lasted more than a few seconds. Its flawed, its not what it could have been, but its a "new" Tecmo--review score: 6.0.

World Stadium EX (PSone)
After being dissapointed by both Famista 64 and World Stadium 3, I started a new EX season with the goal of going undefeated. That's 130 games, plus the Japan Series. So far I'm 19-0 and crushing in just about every game. This seriously is the best baseball game of all time.

Shin Contra (PS2)
Finally scored a cheap copy after having it on my want list for a long time. Pretty good, though I haven't played it too much yet.

Super Mario 64 (N64)
This honestly got put on the back burner after Tecmo DS came out and I started EX again, but I was happy to find its as good, or better, than I remembered. Great graphics and sound, and just wonderful presentation and "feel".

[RadiantSvgun]

Played some B. Rap. Boys. Im still looking for a US version since the Japan one is edited.

[Gaijin Punch]

Today I actually got to chill out and play a bit. I spent most of that time playing SNK's Battlefield (aka Time Soldiers). Fun, but frustrating. Very nostalgic.

[Gaijin Punch]

-Lumines Supernova
-Tumble Pop -- this thing has 10 worlds? Fun, but seems a bit long.