A new edition of Modern Gaming Reviews is available, and we check out one of the few Doom II ports on Game Boy Advance. I don’t have to tell you how the first game has been ported to death to every system that could run it. There was even plans to bring Doom to the GBC despite the possibility it would have ran terribly with crusty visuals. Duke Nukem 3D on Tiger’s Game.com with those crusty monochrome graphics and clunky gameplay is a terrible reminder. It’s a good thing Id didn’t go that far and waited until Nintendo had a stronger portable ready to do such porting. Then again, Capcom was able to put the first Resident Evil from PS1 on GBC with great effort before canceling it for odd reasons. Of course, the best example of quality porting to GBC was Alone in the Dark 2001 that somehow worked on such limited tech. The release of the first Doom was celebrated in 2001 because one, it went portable and two, laptops was quite expensive in the early 2000’s.
Now, Doom II was a whole another beast for the GBA to handle and this time Torus Games was put to the task. Torus Games is mostly known for producing license games from Marvel which are not the best quality titles. The only decent game they ever produced was the Invincible Iron Man on GBA based on the early 2000’s comics. Not a quality resume to ensure this will be a decent port of an extensive PC game. However, the previous studio of David Parmer Productions responsible for the first Doom's GBA version was in a similar situation. They too developed mostly shoddy games with the first entry being one of the only quality titles to come from them. The fact these developers took on the task of porting this beast to a limited system should be considered impossible. It’s one thing to take the Original Doom and bring this over to the Super NES or GBA but the sequel to a weaker system was an Olympian feat. Can Torus strike just as hard as David Parmer Production and produce a worthy port? Doom II (GBA) Review
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A new edition of Modern Gaming Reviews is up as we take a look at the remastered of Duke Nukem 3D on Nintendo Switch. We might be at the end of the summer, but it’s still August and there are many games based on the season to enjoy. Now, Ol’ Duke for years was an afterthought for me since the series never followed the traditional badass space mariner. It must have something to do with the usual 90s action heroes not being as interesting as their 80s counterparts. People by that time must have grown tired of the typical American fighting jacked up guy taking out hundreds of henchmen. There is so much of going to the well too many times that story writers could do in TV and film before viewers get tired of the same tropes. Did that stop many studios from producing the typical action hero? No but it did lead to better ways to introduce these action heroes as seen by Jason Bourne and John Wick. They weren’t the typical jack up guy but rather specialists and if not, assassins who could take on several people in a believable manner.
Now, DN3D was a game I will admit was never into considering Golden Eye and the Turok series became my “go to” games. As you can tell the hype of Golden Eye shielded me from actually enjoying Duke. Even though Rare’s famous Bond shooter was a hit, this also hindered me from enjoying Quake and Doom 64. It’s a good thing these classic FPSs are easy to find today when considering most older games are now digital. There have been many releases I skipped due to my casual gamer thinking unlike now. I might not be the best player when it comes to shooters but as a seasonal gamer there is much to appreciate about Ol’ Duke and Quake. Duke Nukem 3D: 20TH Anniversary World Tour (Nintendo Switch) Review A new edition of Modern Gaming Reviews is up, and we check out a Metroidvania style game on the Nintendo Switch. The game is called A Robot Named Fight! as it is Metroid inspired in many ways. If you didn’t know, the term Metroidvania was coined due to Metroid and Castlevania implementing similar ideas during the last 25 years. Even though Nintendo’s sci-fi themed game was the series that used this the most, Castlevania was no slouch either. It is true CV was mostly an action platformer, but CVII on the NES and Symphony of the Night on the PS1 also used such concepts. That is the reason for the coined term because both series popularized the genre. MV has gone through its own evolution over the years especially in these retro style releases. However, they not only keep things faithful but push the original ideas further with improvements.
A Robot Named Fight! was made by a sole developer named Matt Bitner in 2017 when it originally released. Even since it came out Matt has updated the software that greatly improved the game. The updates served to give more content and features to increase the value of ARNF. However, unlike Outbuddies and Axiom Verge that strived for an 8-bit MV experience, ARNF goes more for Super Metroid. Nintendo’s 16-bit classic is still the gold standard in the genre as many for years tried to emulate its style and level design. There is a difference as Matt made a randomizer rogue MV to the likes we haven’t seen before. The only other time I played a randomizer was both the Modern and Super Randomizers from Zelda Classic based on the first game. ARNF does this too but also with each room throughout a seed which Modern and Super Randomizer of LOZ1 did not do. A Robot Named Fight! (Nintendo Switch) Review A new edition of Modern Gaming is up, and we take a look at the impressive Game Boy Advance port of the Original Doom. As you know this is literally the fifth time, I am talking about the first Doom. The thing is I really enjoy making comparisons between many versions and ports that came out over the years. It isn’t only the graphical and presentation differences, but the overall idea such a game can work on almost any platform. The 16-bit ports ran at a handful of framerates, and it's astounding most of these were able to work on limited tech. Of course, then we have the 3D consoles’ editions that showed a vastly different take from the PS1/Saturn games. How many series can tout having different ambiences with one being action, and the other horror? The only series that can also tout that is Resident Evil which does the same thing.
That brings us to the GBA version that was released in 2001; during the year this portable launched. A studio called David Palmer Productions—literally a bland name for a company—handled the ports productions. Here’s an odd story, and it turns out the studio designed an engine from the ground up to work with the handheld. However, for some strange reason Id wanted them to use the source code from the Atari Jaguar version. I am assuming this has something to do with the maps in that source being simplified. Id was probably concerned with the performance of their games on a limited system. Yes, they could have used the Super NES source, but then they are stuck working its problems. That leaves the Atari Jaguar as the base since its simplified levels would work for a handheld FPS. So does the GBA port hold up to previous editions like on PS1? Doom (GBA) Review A new edition of Modern Gaming is up as we tackle the Quality of Life port of the original Doom for the Nintendo Switch. If you read my previous reviews on the grandfather of FPSs, you then ask why I am going over this a fourth time. That is how much of a classic the first Doom is as well as its 90s sequels. As you have noticed over the years, re-releases of retro and older, modern games have been more common. These come in the form of Quality of Life ports where extra stuff and cleaned up visuals is added. Ever since 2019, the Nintendo Switch has officially been Doomed by the series as Bethesda has made the entire catalog available. These include all the 90s titles and Doom 3 that was originally released in 2004, on PC and later on Xbox in 2005.
Doom (1993) is among these to come out and for years was always priced at five dollars. The studio behind this port was Nerve Software who also worked on bringing over Doom II and Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour. However, unlike The Ultimate Doom, this port was giving extra features such as campaign co-op in multiplayer. A new feature called the Add-On Installer was also designed into the port, and it lets you download new WADs. I am surprised something like this wasn’t considered for years when it comes to these re-releases. When looking at companies like Nintendo who constantly resells their legacy catalog many times, we can’t help but question them. Just take Super Mario 3D All Stars, I mean what was stopping them from re-skinning Mario 64 with the 1996 cover art style. Bethesda might have gone the Square Enix route but at least Nerve Software gives you a reason to rebuy an older title. Doom (1993) (Switch) Review A new edition of Modern Gaming is up, and we check out another tropical theme game called Animal Crossing: New Horizon. Originally, when Nintendo announced an Animal Crossing game on Switch, I wasn’t excited at first. For nearly two decades, I was never into the series, but it’s understandable why these games were so appealing. My original thoughts back in the 2000s was that AC was too cute for me to play any of them. It was my angst teen self-doing the talking but as we slowly grow up an understanding as an adult forms. Did I get into the series by the early 2010s? The answer is no, and most of us were too busy looking forward to the newest Zelda or the North American arrival of Xenoblade. Funny enough, this wasn’t until watching Vinny from Vinesauce do his usual play through that for once changed my mind on Animal Crossing. A month after New Horizons’ release, I bought the game and it’s my most played title next to Splatoon 2 and Mario Kart 8 in many hours.
Honestly, I think ending the summer on New Horizon is a great way to go into the Autumn. As you noticed very little got posted through the Summer season on this site. The Donkey Kong Land Review was the only one since I was prepping some of the Fall lineup. Like the previous years, I am too busy prepping for the Autumn season and Halloween in terms of content. Halloween has always been a personal favorite considering how much it revolves around candy and horror themes. With so many horror titles and gaming Creepypastas available, why would I skip out on this holiday? Besides there are more reviews coming that fit perfectly for the Fall that isn’t a spooky theme. With the Summer behind us thus ending Vacation time, New Horizon is the best way to have fun as the Fall season starts. Animal Crossing: New Horizon (Switch) Review A new edition of Thursday’s Modern Gaming Reviews is up and let’s take a break from Pokémon to focus on another familiar RPG. Happy Thanksgiving and I hope all of you are enjoying your holiday weekend. The game we will go over his the GBA port of Final Fantasy Origins titled I & II: Dawn of Souls. The port comes from the PS1 version that took the original NES titles and remade them in 16-bit graphics. The first two Final Fantasies were those types of games that sorely needed remakes. The originals are absolutely dated more than the early Dragon Quest and Zelda titles. It's too bad Nintendo still refuses to remake the NES Zelda games for whatever reason. I guess that’s why we have Zelda Classic for, and other fan made remakes like the NES Romhack with Legend of Link.
The GBA port was probably easy to bring over and uses 16-bit visuals as if it got remade on the Super NES. When a remake of an older title gets announced, we expect a better and freshened out version. Meaning, if the original had any issues the sequels fixed then it needs to have those modern features. In the last remake we went over Link’s Awakening, it managed to fix the issues involving content. Then there are those like The Wind Waker that updates the graphics but keeps everything the same. Now, aside DoS being packaged as two games with visuals updates, can it match the other remakes we see so often? With other RPGs on the system like Golden Sun that had more to its gameplay, will these remakes come off comparable? Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls (GBA) Review A new edition of Thursday’s Modern Gaming reviews is up, and we return to Koholint Island in Zelda: Link’s Awakening on Switch. I always thought one day Nintendo would remake Link’s Awakening for a couple of reasons. The original Game Boy and DX releases showed that a game like this can work on a handheld. The only game I recalled that played similar was Final Fantasy Adventure by Square Soft. Both versions of LA were still quality titles, however; they always seemed to lack in many key areas such as in content. There were also limited buttons and the players had to resort to switching out items to progress. Probably the biggest issue came from the difficulty being very easy and more so compared to A Link to the Past. The biggest idea it did was take the place outside of Hyrule where Link wasn’t saving Zelda or facing Ganon. That’s what set this game apart from the other titles at the time and this would create a great change for the theme.
Now, if we go by the same rules of producing remakes, it's expected for this new version to add extra stuff. It’s still the same game as before but what usually makes these very special is, we get to see them through a different prospective. Of course, this isn’t always the case and as good as the remake of The Wind Waker was it still isn’t needed. The Wind Waker still looks good even on the GameCube and WiiU remake didn’t provide anything different than the original release. Where is with Super Mario All Stars or REmake (Resident Evil 1) went beyond pushing graphics. So, with Link’s Awakening on Switch, how different could it be from the Original Game Boy games? The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Switch) Review A new edition of Modern Gaming is up and this time I will review Zelda: Twilight Princess. Lately, I have watched Vinesauce with Vinny on YouTube and his play through with TP. He was playing the Remastered Edition for WiiU which only saw its textures, lightning and special effects get touched up in HD. I usually watch Vinesauce not only from Vinny but Joel as well because of their hilarious commentated. As he reached the Lakebed Temple and brought up some interesting points about the E3 2004 trailer, nostalgia started kicking in by then. I remember back in 2003 when The Wind Waker released and how so many gamers complained about it being "kiddy." Of course, if some of you don't remember this was a time when gaming was coming off Sony's monster the PS1. It was also an era when Xbox came out and along with the PS2 that had plenty of mature rated games. It was the boom period for mature rated titles which is why Nintendo was often slammed for having a "kiddy" image.
Due to not wanting to spend sixty dollars on another Remastered Edition this review will go over the GameCube version. I honestly didn't want to spend money on the same game that got purchased by me years ago especially when only its textures and lighting were only touched up in HD. In 2006, since the Wii got completely sold out, buying Twilight Princess on GameCube was my only option. What I truly looked forward to was another realistic Zelda title after not liking The Wind Waker. I'm ashamed to admit that I was one of those gamers who hated TWW for being lighthearted during its release. So, of course jumping on the bandwagon by this train of thought was really easy. Twilight Princess despite its faults did go on to sell over seven million copies on GameCube and Wii combined. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GameCube) Review A new edition of Modern Gaming is up and we have a guest reviewer on this time. He goes by the name of Brave Little Engine (don't ask) and will do a review of Fable: The Lost Chapters for PC. I've been wanting to get guest reviewers on my site for a while as I'm the only one running things here. I was never a fan of this series and that's really odd for me. I mean RPGs and Adventure games are my favorite genres especially with Zelda being the Number one pick for me. It's just one of those games that you know is great but could never get into no matter what. That's why it's good to have a guest reviewer from time to time. They can cover other games that might not even interest me even when its the same genre I usual enjoy. As for the review, Brave will cover the first Fable on PC as this title has some interesting elements for its time. It originally came out in 2004 for both the Xbox and PC by the defunct Lionhead Studios. The game later got an expansion in September 2005 called The Lost Chapters that would offer additional things to the main game. I remember how much Xbox owners (the ones who were RPG fans) claimed it's among the list of great games to own on the system. Honestly, they weren't lying as it was because of games such as Elder Scrolls and Fable that made want to get an Xbox. Back then I always wanted to play these PC WRPGs after watching G4 (when it was great) and reading about them online. I didn't have a gaming PC in the mid 2000s so the Xbox and Xbox360 was the only way to enjoy these noteworthy RPGs. Fable: The Lost Chapters (PC) Review |
Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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