How to play a whole game franchise on your Pandora

[gruso]

Platforms: Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Sega Master System, Game Boy, Game Gear, 3DO, Sega Mega-CD, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, PC, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance


So many platforms! Some of them with up to three releases. Thankfully this is a game without a story, so we don't need to concern ourselves with every entry in the series. Truth be told, most are fairly vanilla ports or otherwise pointless outings, so I'll focus on the few that matter. It began on the Megadrive...

Road Rash I & II


Platform: Mega Drive/Genesis


Road Rash I was the legendary title that brought motorcycles and combat together on the Megadrive. It was also the first racer (or one of the first) to include vertical motion - rises and dips in the road, airtime, and flying crashes. I recommend that you jump straight into Road Rash II though. There's nothing wrong with RR I, no sir, but if you're getting into the series for the first time, it's just not necessary to play all three Megadrive versions. The gameplay doesn't change. RR II is the polised RR I, and it's all about that Rob Hubbard soundtrack. So jump straight into II.

Road Rash III


Platform: Mega Drive/Genesis


RR III maintained the same gameplay, while adding some new elements into the mix. Bike upgrades were added, for minor performance tweaks between bike purchases. The design moved from regular pixel art to digitised graphics, and the music followed a similar path, going from clean, punchy MIDI in RR II to scratchy, distorted 16bit guitars in RR III. Despite the upgrade options and nice new levels, I always pick up RR II for a quick play instead, for the cleaner art and better tunes.

Road Rash 3D


Platform: PSX


The obligatory 32bit upgrade, cause for much merriment when it landed. The problem was, it wasn't that much of an upgrade. The graphics were there, the full motion video and actual rock soundtrack were there, but the gameplay was no different. The 16bit entries tended to get a little sparse now and then, seeing you out on the road alone with too few people too fight with. You would forgive that on the Megadrive, but things seemed to get sparser in RR 3D, to the point where it often felt more like a regular racing game than a combat one.


Road Rash Jailbreak can probably be mentioned under this heading too. More of the same, with a thin story added. (Let me tell you something EA. I don't need a backstory to club people. I am armed and ready now.) Jailbreak went to both PSX and GBA, the latter being one of the poorer entries in the franchise.

Road Rash 64


Platform: N64


Honey, I'm home. Despite the N64's rudimentary poyygons and half-baked sound, the brutal, hilarious violence of Road Rash comes to life in this version like no other. The combat is tightened up, the roads are narrowed and the traffic is relentless. You feel it in your chest when you're kicked into a power pole, or sledgehammered off your bike into an oncoming ambulance. The only thing more amusing than wiping out with five other riders under the front of a truck, is hearing it happen behind you as you shimmy through a gap in the traffic. For all-in, bone breaking, biker brawls at high speed, this is the Road Rash you're looking for. And it runs quite nicely on the Pandora. (I will add some keymapping suggestions later).


[edit] Road Rash keymap added! For the best experience, allow your Pandora to overclock to OPP5/990mhz.

Spoiler

ROAD RASH 64 KEYMAP


To apply this keymap, open Mupen64, check that you are using the default PPSP input plugin, then select 'Configure Input' from menu and replace all text with this.

#PPSP Input Plugin for N64

#by JayFoxRox and Adventus.

#These values specify the analog mapping:

N64 ANALOG=ANALOG LEFT

#These values specify the button mapping:

N64 DPAD UP=BUTTON DPAD UP

N64 DPAD DOWN=BUTTON DPAD DOWN

N64 DPAD LEFT=BUTTON DPAD LEFT

N64 DPAD RIGHT=BUTTON DPAD RIGHT

N64 A=BUTTON R

N64 B=ANALOG RIGHT DOWN : 64

N64 L=KBOARD 9

N64 R=KBOARD 0

N64 Z=BUTTON L

N64 C UP=BUTTON UP

N64 C DOWN=BUTTON DOWN

N64 C LEFT=BUTTON LEFT

N64 C RIGHT=BUTTON RIGHT

N64 START=BUTTON START

EXIT EMULATOR=KBOARD X

#These values specify the analog calibration function

#in = [0,255], out = [0, 255]

#out = in*v[0] + in^2 * v[1] + in^3 * v[2] ....

CALIB LEFT[0]=0.500000

CALIB LEFT[1]=0.500000

CALIB LEFT[2]=0.200000

CALIB LEFT[3]=0.200000

CALIB RIGHT[0]=0.500000

CALIB RIGHT[1]=0.500000

CALIB RIGHT[2]=0.200000

CALIB RIGHT[3]=0.200000

Overview:

• Left nub is N64 stick (as per default).
  
• Left shoulder is Z (trigger). This means your left index finger is on the throttle.
  
• Right shoulder is A. This means your right index finger does wheelies.
  
• Right nub down is B, aka the brake. Sounds like a strange mapping, but really works in game. No other nub directions are mapped.
  
• ABXY are the C buttons, used for weapon selection & combat.
  
• The N64's L and R buttons aren't really needed, so are mapped to 9 and 0 (within reach of right thumb).
  
• Start is still start.
  
• The emulator exit button is now X, instead of the Pandora button which annoyingly launched the XFCE menu too.
  

 

[ZXDunny]

Back in the mists of time, before RARE got into producing shovelware for Nintendo and Microsoft, they were a bunch of very talented young coders who called themselves "Ultimate", with the tagline "Play the game". And what games they were! Colourful, loud, with fast action and addictive gameplay they took the 8bit world by storm.

Donkey Kong Country, Goldeneye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day - I highly object to the term "shovelware", good sir (well, those are all less-innovative jump'n'runs, but great games nonetheless).

I will agree that a couple of those are playable - I do enjoy Donkey Kong Country II on the SNES, for instance. I'd disagree with GoldenEye - but then, I'd played that after I'd been playing Quake so it didn't really compare well in the control stakes.


RARE's glory days were almost certainly during their 8bit phase - they innovated in spectacular fashion. As an example, it took me more than 20 years to complete the Speccy version of Sabre Wulf. You don't get that kind of longevity these days


D.

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

Im working my way through the streets of rage series on pico drive.

 

[second exodous]

@ Prometheus: Have you ever read the Bob and George comics? You are the ultra Mega Man fan and so I'm sure you've heard of it. I was wondering if a Mega Man fan could like it. It was made back in the day when every one was making webcomics and the author was using MM sprites as a place holder until he could put up some comics he drew himself but turns out he just wasn't funny with his own art so he went back to sprites. I think there are a few that are really funny, some I laughed so hard I cried back in the day.

 

[Cameleon]

Dibs on Street Fighter series...(I'm actually playing a hell of a lot of them)


(I wish I could play 3rd Strike on my Pandora...)

 

[Prometheus]

@second.exodus - Yes, and for want of not going off-topic, I'd have to say I'm not a fan. I don't think he was funny with the sprites, either.


More on-topic, I guess my post about the Bucky O'Hare games will have to wait until next week. My PCB did not arrive today.

 

[gruso]

Bumping to say that I've added a keymap for Road Rash 64. Mupen64 has just had a refresh and with HF5 it's dead easy to hit 1ghz, so it's a great time to try it.


Back on the broader topic, has anyone taken up a franchise challenge from this thread, or is anyone working through a different one all together?

 

[Godmil]

And so it goes. It is indeed part of the series, Craig!


D.

OMG! there was another title in the Manic Miner series? How did I miss this!

 

[Prometheus]

Back on the broader topic, has anyone taken up a franchise challenge from this thread, or is anyone working through a different one all together?

I'm still playing through the Mega Man games (albeit not in any particular order), if that counts.


I'll be back with my Bucky O'Hare write-up after (the PCB did arrive, I just forgot to come back to this thread) - need to get some screenshots done.

 

[Coldbird]

Chrono Series - absolute must play.


Chrono Trigger (SNES or PSX, both versions run fine, I prefer the PSX one.)

Radical Dreamers (SNES, Sequel of Chrono Trigger)

Chrono Cross (PSX, Same Timeperiod as Radical Dreamers, but a different Dimension.)

Should be played in the order I posted em.

 

[ZXDunny]

And so it goes. It is indeed part of the series, Craig!


D.

OMG! there was another title in the Manic Miner series? How did I miss this!

You're not missing much


D.

 

[WizardStan]

Radical Dreamers (SNES, Sequel of Chrono Trigger)

Radical Dreamers was only released on Satelliview. I had long ago accepted that I would never be able to play it. It never occurred to me that someone would still have the cartridge on which it was saved! $700 plus the cost of flight to Japan is a little pricey but one day it will be mine!!!!

 

[Prometheus]

In the 1980s there was a short-lived comic book series by the name of Bucky O'Hare, which, in the early 1990s spawned a television series of the same name (there was also a toy line that went with the TV series). Those responsible for it describe it, basically, as being a bit like "Star Wars with funny-animals", which is a pretty accurate description (basically, the evil Toad Empire, led by a computer called KOMPLEX, seeks to enslave all of the mammals, and rule the entire Aniverse - an alternate universe populated by animals, with no humans to be seen; At the same time, a boy-genius from Earth manages to find his way into this alternate universe, and joins up with the resistance force, S.P.A.C.E. - Sentient Protoplasm Against Colonial Encroachment). After the first series of the television show ended, they were unable to continue it, and the second arc of the comic series was also never published, which left the story unfinished. Konami licensed the series, and made two video games which picked up where the comic and TV series left off. Whilst they both have the same name, and were produced at around the same time, they are unrelated games, and do go in a particular order, which I've preserved here.


Bucky O'Hare (NES)

Captain Bucky O'Hare's loyal crew - pilot Jenny the Aldebaran Cat, gunner Dead-Eye Duck, "Android First Class" Blinky, and Earth-boy Willy DuWitt - are kidnapped after the Toad Air Marshall attacks Bucky's spaceship, the Righteous Indignation (known as "the Righteous", for short). Bucky narrowly manages to escape, and sets out to rescue his friends from their imprisonment on four planets - the Green Planet, the Red Planet, the Blue Planet, and the Yellow Planet. Rescuing a crew member allows you to switch to controlling them during play, and grants you the use of their abilities, which are essential for getting through the levels. It plays very much like a Mega Man game, albeit one with a green rabbit and some truly gigantic bosses. If you like the Mega Man series, and very, very challenging games, you'll definitely like this.


GPFCE-GP2X is the best way to play this game on the Pandora.


Bucky O'Hare (Arcade)

As the introduction to this game tells us, KOMPLEX and the Toad Empire are attempting to enslave the entire Aniverse by using the dastardly Climate Converter to decimate planets, starting with Bucky O'Hare's home-world, the planet Warren. Bucky and his crew, of course, set out to put an end to this evil scheme. The game supports up to four players simultaneously, and it plays a bit like Final Fight, but with added laser guns and grenades. It's very challenging, meaning that it will take some practice to get far on one credit. It also happens to feature the TV show's voice actors for the short cutscenes during the game. This title acts as the conclusion to the series (and contains elements that were originally slated to be used in the second television series run, and the second comic book arc), with the crew putting an end to KOMPLEX's plans for good at the end of the game.


This game can be played on the Pandora using MAME 0.106, and a bit of overclocking.

 

[SNESFAN]

First thing I'm gonna do when I get my pandora is play though the entire Lufia series (well almost the entire series) as it was my first real taste of an rpg game, all games untill that point were all action and puzzle games.


Lufia: Fortress of Doom; Super Nintendo

Lufia: Rise of the Sinistrals; Super Nintendo

Lufia: the legend returns; Gameboy Color

Lufia: The Ruins of Lore; Gameboy Advanced

I hope to someday play the DS version on the pandora 2 (hopefully)


Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals; Nintendo DS

 

[DavidBowman]

Prometheus - No love for the Mega Man X series?

 

[Prometheus]

Prometheus - No love for the Mega Man X series?

If I did that, we'd be here all month. And, well, I just plain like it less than the original series. I might do a write-up on the Mega Man Zero series, though.

 

[DavidBowman]

Hmm. Interesting. Okay then. What I always really liked about Mega Man X was the concept that Dr. Light had created his magnum opus in X, but was unsure of his trustworthiness. Knowing that he wouldn't live to see his tests completed, he left X for some future discoverer.


I just always liked the legacy that Dr. Light left behind. Even though he was gone, we still have his champion to protect us.

 

[Prometheus]

^ For want of not going too far off-topic, that's one of the things I like about the main timeline (Classic -> X -> Zero -> ZX -> Legends) as a whole. You get to see what happened way beyond that time.

 

[Unfathomable Depths]

Williams Defender


The Greatest Game Ever Written

You probably didn't know this but almost every game written post-Defender owes its creator, Eugene Jarvis, a huge debt. Mr Jarvis created the first virtual world that spanned more than a single screen. Something that seems so obvious now but was groundbreaking in its day. He invented the 'mini map' which introduced both strategy and multi-tasking to the player. He also, uniquely at the time, understood the value of sound to gameplay.


The basic premise of Defender is to protect 10 'Humanoids' who are under attack from an outside force1 made up of several unique types. The player was armed with a limited number of aircraft equipped with a front firing laser beam, some 'smart bombs' that once activated kill everything on screen for a short period of time, and the ability to instantaneously warp using 'hyperspace' to a random position in the world.


Controls


The original arcade cabinet has a bewildering set of controls compared it peers. Most games of it's time have a joystick and one or two buttons along with the usual 1 or 2 player start buttons. Defender has 5.

The ergonomics were brilliant. Notice the joystick has the reverse button where your left thumb rests. The thrust and fire buttons are parallel, with the smart bomb under the right thumb. Hyperspace is placed so you have to take one hand off the controls to use it.


On every other system the controls are D-Pad for direction, so if you are going left to right, right acts as thrust and left is reverse and vice versa. This sounds more complicated but actually works well.


Gameplay


The game is a horizontally scrolling shmup. Think of it as you're flying around the outside edge of a 2D circle and you're there. You control an aircraft that has the ability to hover, instantaneously change direction and transport itself to a random position. As mentioned, the idea of the game is to protect the Humanoids who move along the bottom of the playing field. All enemies appear from 'hyperspace' and follow pretty predictable paths with a little randomness thrown in.


The game has levels. Once you destroy all the enemies on a level you proceed to the next with the predictable effect of more enemies to defeat. The levels are, as far as I can tell, infinite. But in reality level 10 is as hard as it gets.


Enemies


There are eight distinct types of enemy in the game. The six enemy craft, bullets that are fired from Landers, Mutants and Baiters, and mines layed by Bombers.

Versions


The Mame Red version, to my mind, is definitive. Play this.


Hourable Mentions


Amstrad CPC: Defend Or Die by Alligata is a decent cover version, but misses the mark by some way by being too easy. Very playable though.


ZX Spectrum: Defenda by Interstella Software is OK but is only of interest to Speccy fans


Atari ST & Amiga : Defender II by Jeff Minter is excellent. Only let down, in my opinion, by Jeff trying too hard...


1 Everyone who I have ever talked to about this assumes the attacking force is alien and you are protecting a human population. I personally believe the opposite. The attacking force is humanity and the Humanoids are peaceful alien hunter-gatherers going about their normal business unaware of the threat from the stars. But that's a deeply philosophical discussion and has no place here.

 

[Norl]

Revelations: Persona


Platform: PSX


Works great on the pandora at 700mhz. I'm about halfway through it now.


- some maps translated from japanese.


- a map of the school.

Persona 2: Tsumi (Innocent Sin)


Platform: PSX


Japan only, never played this one. Is that... Hitler? :blink:

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment


Platform: PSX


Looking forward to playing it, the intro looks great and runs smooth.


These were followed by 6 sequels/remakes for PS2 and PSP. Thanks for the template Gruso!