No gaming for me this weekend. I'm on day 6 of a 7 day work week at my new job. Only an afternoon and morning shift left to go till I get a day off! At least it pays better than my old job!

I think when I get my day off, I'll pay Startopia. I started it last week. It feels like dungeon keeper in space, which is a good thing.

Congrats on the new place, btw. Hopefully the rest of the unpacking goes smoothly!!

Last edited by denyasis on 1 October 2022 at 2:48 pm UTC

It's October, so for each weekend this month I'll be pairing a spooky-themed game with a non-spooky one! In a minor shake-up, I don't have a Bomberman game amongst my picks this weekend, though he does still put in an appearance.



My first Halloweeny pick for the month is Pocky & Rocky - a shooter for the SNES that's themed around youkai and other beasties from Japanese folklore. Don't let its cute appearance fool you, however - it is BRUTALLY DIFFICULT! This one offers optional co-op play, but I'll be tackling this one solo as the adorable tanuki, Rocky, who attacks using magic leaves and can wipe out enemy projectiles with a wag of his tail.



This weekend's other pick is also a shooter from the same era: Star Parodier, for the PC Engine CD-ROM2 System. Just as Konami created Parodius as a cute-'em-up parody of their Gradius series, so too did Hudson Soft create Star Parodier as a cute-'em-up parody of their Star Soldier series.

As Hudson's mascots, Bomberman and some of his family are present for this one, building/maintaining, and in some cases piloting, the game's ships. Their main role here is as the pilots of a giant Bomberman-shaped mech (which can be accompanied by a few tiny Bomberman-shaped backup drones that are available as a power-up - "Options", in shooter parlance), which is one of the three ships that the player can choose from, the others being the ship from the Star Soldier series, and a giant mech resembling a PC Engine console - complete with Super Star Soldier cartridge installed! No prizes for guessing which ship I'm picking.

According to the PC Engine Software Bible, this one was almost localised as "Fantasy Star Soldier", but presumably this ultimately didn't pan out due to the poor performance of the TurboGrafx-16 in the US - which ironically happened as people in the UK and Europe were clamouring for the console and its games, only for them to never be released here.



Meanwhile, after a brief detour for a stealth cookie-heist, my playthrough of Metal Gear Solid continues in the background.


Last but not least, prior to this weekend I've also been playing a bit of the Spaghetti Western-themed Bomberman-inspired roguelite, Bombslinger, via Proton. The main gameplay difference is that, unlike its inspiration, you take your pick of power-ups when levelling up during a run, instead of finding them in soft-blocks. I found that on a gamepad, the controls feel a little stiff compared to the series that inspired it, but I also discovered that it's much better with a keyboard, and it's turned out to play nicely on my palmtop, too. There's certainly a lot to like about a game where the first boss is a ridiculous demon goat!

Last edited by Pengling on 1 October 2022 at 3:43 pm UTC

G'Day everyone..... Its a really nice Sunday here........ Spring has finally turned up........ The birds are out......... The brees are trying to have sex with them......... And I just gave Maggie a bath and a blow dry......

This past week has been an interesting week....... Very frustratig at times.......... And its been pissing down rain most of the week........

I went and made Microwave Popcorn the other night.......... And since ive been working out ive now got super strength and I broke the door on the microwave.......... The next day I had a look at it and the hinges on the door had broken..... So I pulled it all apart........ And got the broken hinge out....... To see they are shaped and designed in a way to create a weak point that will 100% break much quicker than if they left it straight....... Since i couldnt pull the other halg of the hinge off the door cauuse of the method they used to attach the hinges (they really dont want you to fix them......) I had to think about the best way to fix it....... I couldnt use the Oxyset cause the heat from the flame would melt the door......... So I had to break out the MIG welder......... I welded the hinges back 2other and put the whole microwave back together........ Where I found I fucked up one of the welds and it broke...... So back apart it went and I rewelded that 1 hinge......... And back togther it went....... And this time I did a proper job of it......... And its working all ok now....... Tho i have many small cuts on my fingers trying to work on it........ Thye REALLY dont want you fixing them......

I went down to the opshop later that day...... And found the exact same make and model Microwave there for 10 Dollarydoos........ So I bought it as a spare........

Moral of the story is always check the opshop before breaking out the MIG welder........

And no..... no one around here knows I have an oxyset or MIG welder or ill get lumbered into doing any jobs for everyone around here.....

My Parramatta Eels will play the Penrith Panthers tonight in the NRL Grand Final....... I dont hold much hope for the Eels........ The Panthers have been the clear best team all year...... But you never know what will happen in these big games......... This is why the games are played after all.....

The Denver Broncos got a very very very ugly win against the San Francisco 49ers last Sunday........ Even tho my team won it was not enjoyable viewing......... Division rivals the 0-3 Las Vegas Raiders could get their first win of the season tomorrow against the Broncos......

Aldo went and did some shopping at Aldi...... And with the tempreture rising I had to buy some ice creams


I was able to walk Maggie two days this week....... Here is a pic of her in the barbers awaiting her haircut........


Now onto the gaming this past week......... I played what is quite possibly the most 90's game ever made...... Just look at the screenshot below....

The ONLY way that can be anymore 90's is if one of them was wearing a backwards baseball cap....... That is a screenshot from Contra: Hard Corps (1994 Konami) - Sega Mega Drive

Onto what I have been playing this past week.......

Arcade

Metal Slug 3 (2000 SNK) - Run and gun
Haunted Castle (1988 Konami) - Platformer
Battle Circuit (1997 Capcom) - Beat 'em up


Console

Contra: Hard Corps (1994 Konami) - Sega Mega Drive - Run and Gun
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996 Nintendo) - Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Role Playing Game
Lords of Thunder (1993 Hudson Soft) - NEC PC Engine Super CD-ROM² - Shoot 'em up
Tecmo Super Bowl 2023 (2022 TecmoBowl.org) - Nintendo Entertainment System - Sports (Football)
NBA Jam Tournament Edition (1995 Acclaim) - Sega Mega Drive - Sports (Basketball)


PC

Terraria (2011 Re-Logic) - Survival

Yes I played an actual PC game this week!!!

The best two games I played this past week were........ Contra: Hard Corps (1994 Konami)..... This is easily the best Contra game I have played........ It is really damn good....... Its totally 2D Run and Gun action...... No top down bullshit that killed Contra III for me....... The alternating paths make this a really good game to replay....... The run and gun action is great and the animations are really nice and smooth....... I have been quite disappointed with the Contra series not living up to the hype in my opnion....... But this game is really damn good.......

The other one was................ Battle Circuit (1997 Capcom)........ Capcoms last Arcade 2D Beat 'em Up........ and boy did they go out with a bang....... This game is amazing the whole way through....... Really fun and interesting character designs......... Interesting enemy designs......... Bizzar bosses....... Its got it all....... Its even got a money system to buy upgrades between stages....... And if you score enough points you can have a special Final Boss battle...... This is just a really good all round fun beat 'em up....... Highly recommended........

The two worst games I played this past week were............ Haunted Castle (1988 Konami)........ A Castlevania game in the wrost played........ Hell really has frozen over........ Yeah this Arcade version of Castlevania is not very good at all...... Brutal difficulty (which was the style at the time)....... Really stiff controls and unforgiving jumping physics make this a swing and a miss for Konami...... Only saving grace is that its really short........ If you know what your doing you can beat it in around 20 minutes or less.......

The other one was.............................. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996 Nintendo)........ Yeah I really didnt like this at all........ I did learn one thing while playing it........ I dont like Squaresoft RPGs......... Which is a shame cause I realllllly wanted to like this game........ But I just couldnt........ Its just so slow...... If you get stuck it means you have to grind to get your numbers higher........ Yeah sure killing these basically harmless Goombas is really going to help me default this massive boss....... Somehow......... Doing anything takes an age........ Play for hours and feel like you have done nothing at all....... Im sure if you like these Squaresoft RPG games you would love this but I clearly dont......... I was so happy to see the ending of this game..... Cause it meant I didnt have to play it anymore........

Special shotout to Metal Slug 3 (2000 SNK)...... Just missing out of the one of the top two spots by virtual of that really long final level where you play as another character and the length of the final mission just kills the flow of the game........ With really nice alternate paths to take that bring up the replay level of this game quite a bit....... But that final mission just took to many points of it to get one of the top 2 spots this week....... I still highly recommend this game to anyone who likes Run and Guns........

Also the return of Terraria (2011 Re-Logic)........ The new update is great and im having a fantastic time getting all the new stuff in the game...... The devs have done an amazing job contantly updating and adding new items to the game over the years for free........ The new Spiffo pet is amazing and was worth the hours of farming to get it

This week and in fact the whole month will be Spooky Halloween games....... Not that we celebrate Halloween here in Aus...... But it feels appropriate to play these games during Halloween...... I have a lost of 36 Games to play........ Lets see how many I can get through...... I have already played one but I will include that in this weeks play list.......

Also I have a new hobby....... Adding games to my "Games To Play" list...... If I keep adding to it I will have to list to 150 to complete the list.......

As for non gaming im hoping to get out walking the dog a lot more this week......... Theres always work....... Which sucks but bills need to paid and I gotta eat........ Tho with my workout going the way it is..... I might not be to ugly for OnlyFans much longer........

Quoting: PenglingI don't have a Bomberman game amongst my picks this weekend, though he does still put in an appearance.

Im shocked! Totally shocked that Bomberman makes an appearance!!!! Im so shocked that I dropped my monocal in my drink from shock!!!
IM SHOCKED I TELLS YA!!!!...... SHOCKED!!!!!

Quoting: PenglingI'll be tackling this one solo as the adorable tanuki, Rocky, who attacks using magic leaves and can wipe out enemy projectiles with a wag of his tail.

So ummmm....... Whos gonna tell Pengling that Mario killed Rocky and is wearing his skin in Super Mario Bros 3????

Quoting: Pengling

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A well deserved cookie after his highly dangerous Crab Battle.........

That is all from me this week..... Until next time...... Australia is a really big country.......

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderNow onto the gaming this past week......... I played what is quite possibly the most 90's game ever made...... Just look at the screenshot below....

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The ONLY way that can be anymore 90's is if one of them was wearing a backwards baseball cap....... That is a screenshot from Contra: Hard Corps (1994 Konami) - Sega Mega Drive

I unironically love this.

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderIm shocked! Totally shocked that Bomberman makes an appearance!!!! Im so shocked that I dropped my monocal in my drink from shock!!!
IM SHOCKED I TELLS YA!!!!...... SHOCKED!!!!!

Hehehehehehehehehe.

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderA well deserved cookie after his highly dangerous Crab Battle.........

It sounds like you had your own Crab Battle with that microwave - "IT BROKE MY MIG WELDER!".

END OF THE WEEKEND UPDATE:

I have obtained internet access and have been burning through the rest of Bioshock 2. I am looking forward to the DLC. The final level being a hidden prison is a little out-in-left-field as far as the plot goes, but still a really enjoyable game, even if the story beats are a little too similar to Bioshock sometimes. The sequel manages to at least make it a fresh variant of the beat. I may dip into Bioshock: Infinite again just for funsies after this.

All of it makes me wonder what an open world Rapture Bioshock would be like or a Bioshock that required you to pop around the locations instead of each level as a set piece.

I also stumbled upon a game called Spiderheck that is proving to be a lot of fun especially with friends with local/online coop and vs.

Quoting: denyasisCongrats on the new place, btw. Hopefully the rest of the unpacking goes smoothly!!

And I hope the onboarding experience at the new job goes well.

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderAnd with the tempreture rising I had to buy some ice creams

Might go well with Spiderheck.

Last edited by itscalledreality on 2 October 2022 at 7:44 pm UTC

Quoting: Pengling

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderA well deserved cookie after his highly dangerous Crab Battle.........

It sounds like you had your own Crab Battle with that microwave - "IT BROKE MY MIG WELDER!".

I....... I dont think ill be leaving this garage alive......

Quoting: itscalledrealityAnd I hope the onboarding experience at the new job goes well

Thanks! Just finished my 7th shift. It's really different. This shop is about a tenth of the size of my old shop and has an even smaller fraction of the general workload. As a consequence (and also being a much wealthier area), they do a lot of extra things my old shop would have long abandoned as being inefficient or impractical. I ended up getting an hour of overtime on a job that would have taken 15 min in old workplace!

That said, I'm looking forward to getting a nicer (even if late) weekend.