Commander Keen
I love this game but wasn’t planning to review it. However, after seeing the E3 Trailer it inspired me to sit down and write a review about what makes the series great. Now other reviewers have pointed out that this is missing two games from the series; namely Keen Dreams and Aliens Ate my Babysitter. These are missing because the rights to these two games are owned by other companies not interested in selling them; but the games you do get are amazing.
Keen 1; Marooned on Mars was my first platformer. It starts off simple but gradually ramps up the difficulty. My four year old son loves this game; and he can complete most parts (still needs dad’s help for the big jumps and for killing the Vorticons (Kangaroos he calls them). As far as level design it has the most thought put into it and has many little tips and tricks.
– Real player with 152.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Platformer 1990's Games.
NOTE: This is not the “complete” CK collection. It’s missing CK 6, and from what I understand, it’s because ID software lost the rights to publish it. Also the games run very slow on full screen and while they run fine when windowed, it’s far to small then. This seems to be the case since steam uses an out dated dosbox(0.70 I think). You can update the dosbox but you need to go to the community guides. I didn’t like the hassle, so I played these games outside of steam. All these things are a very resonable deal breaker. However, my review will be on the games themselves.
– Real player with 24.9 hrs in game
Sonic CD
It all started when I was 7 years old. My parents gave me a Sega Genesis and a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog for christmas. I fell in love with it the moment I booted up the game. The graphics, the music, the speed! It overwhelmed my young mind. I played it for hours on end, memorizing each level, the location of every powerup, every enemy, every single ring. It was the only thing I did, I stopped going outside and playing with my friends, for Sonic was the only friend I needed. Eventually I became unsatisfied, I needed a new Sonic the Hedgehog game to fuel my addiction. My prayers were answered with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. My parents refused to buy it for me. They believed I was too obsessed with the first one and knew that buying the second one would only make my obsession worse. This devestated me. I NEEDED that game, I felt like an alcoholic going through withdrawl. I lost all of my spirit, I had trouble sleeping at night, and sometimes I would experience hallucinations where Sonic was in the room with me. I begged my parents every day, but they wouldn’t budge. I felt I had lost the will to live. Thankfully, I got the game. I aquired it the same way every kid got something that they wanted but their parents wouldn’t buy for them, Grandma. I was overjoyed, finally I could experience the masterpiece that is known as Sonic The Hedgehog 2. This time he was accompanied by Tails! I was delighted. I played this game, and mastered it like I had the original. By now I had lost contact with society, I didn’t talk to anybody at school, I had no friends, and I never left the house. This didn’t bother me though, in fact I preferred it that way. Just as I started to get bored of that game, Sonic 3 came out. My obsession had hit an all-time high, I was amazed at the quality of that game. We now had Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. They were my friends, or “The Gang” as I called them. My parents were scared of me now. If they tried to take the game away from me, I would throw a tantrum and break things until they gave it back. No amount of reasoning, counseling, or Native American rituals could change me, because by now Sonic had was not just an obsession, but a lifestyle. I lived and breathed Sonic. But then came the dark days, no sonic games were coming out. Sega had stopped supporting the Genesis, and had launched the Saturn. I didn’t have one, but that didn’t matter. No new Sonic games were coming out. There were rumors, but the only one that ever turned out to be true was Sonic R. I saw it as an abomination, how could Sega do that to Sonic? After several years I had just about given up. I would often times cry myself to sleep, believing that Sega had given up on the blue hedgehog that I had come to adore. I wrote my own stories about Sonic, but they weren’t enough. But then it happened. I was at the grocery store with my mother, when I saw it: A magazine with a picture of the Sega Dreamcast plastered right on the cover. I begged my mom to buy it for me, and she did, relieved that I wanted something that wasn’t Sonic related, or so she thought. I read the articles about the upcoming system, and then I saw what I have been wanting to see for years, a new Sonic game was in the works, and it was 3D too! My life had a purpose again. When the day finally came, I was there. I was the first in line, I had convinced poor old Grandma to buy it for me, and I made sure I got a copy of Sonic Adventure. If the games on the Genesis amazed me, Sonic Adventure left me speechless. The worlds were so detailed, the graphics so realistic, the music blew me away. This was the way Sonic was meant to be. It rekindled the fire that had laid dormant in me that is Sonic. I wrote more fanfiction, I made my own fancharacters and I even shipped them. Then I realized something, Sonic wasn’t just a blue hedgehog on TV, He was a part of me. I became one with Sonic. If you want to be like me and know what truly matters in life, I fully recommend this game to you. Sonic is more than just a game, Sonic is a way of life.Go see the sonic movie, speeding to a theater near you February 14th, 2020.
– Real player with 42.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Platformer Great Soundtrack Games.
Sonic CD is a pretty good game that took advantage of some great ideas, but after multiple playthroughs, I felt that it was marred by noticeable flaws which dragged down what would otherwise have been a solid game.
Time travel enhances the exploration factor to Sonic’s already multi-tiered level design by creating secondary objectives that require seeking out specific objects, in addition to changing the terrain for each time zone. This gameplay element is reinforced thematically; if you don’t find the badnik spawners, the zone enters a Bad Future where Eggman has soiled the landscape… but if you do destroy them, things look even better than in the Present, and as a bonus all of the enemies are destroyed. I always feel a certain sense of satisfaction from going to the Past, destroying the spawner, and then going into the Future of that same level to enjoy the scenery and rack up rings and 1ups (“I did this, and now I’m reaping the rewards”). You can also create a good future by collecting all of the time stones (which also gives you the “good” ending, as miniscule a difference as it is).
– Real player with 28.1 hrs in game
Pandemonium
My review is likely going to be biased - I was too fond of this game fifteen years ago and really too glad to find it here.
That being said, it would still be a very positive review with quite a positive score even if I were stumbling on Pandemonium for the first time.
I’d like to add that I started playing after being scared by other very negative reviews and, as a consequence, I was positively delighted to discover them to be wrong on more than a few points.
Let’s start with the PROs:
- The music. It was the original soundtrack - and you’d better believe I still was able to recognize and hum along more than a piece. I loved it the first time I heard it and I loved it now replaying it on my PC. I’ve had levels playing in the background just to listen to the track.
– Real player with 18.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Platformer Singleplayer Games.
Another platforming gem from the PS1 era is Pandemonium! (1996 and brought to you by Crystal Dynamics)
We embark on an adventure caused by the mishaps of Fargus the Joker and Nikki, a young sorceress. She singlehandedly caused the destruction of their local town by casting a spell from a tome. They quest to reach something known as the Wishing Engine to restore the town to its previous condition.
We have ourselves a “not quite 3D” deal, here. The gameplay itself is 2D, but you can expect the “typical for its time” 3D rendering. There’s a wide variety of stages to challenge, here. Fortresses, forests, deserts, mystical temples… (Even sawmills?!?!) and each house their own cast of troublesome foes, acrobatics and platforming scenarios. The music has a very unique fusion going on, as composed by Burke Trieschmann, instilling feelings of adventure and mysticism along the way. (Dungeon Tower… great example.). The controls are simple, but don’t harbour forgiveness for you - precision is the name of the game. Fargus and Nikki each have their own special ability for you to use at your leisure throughout the adventure. Fargus provides an offensive spin, whilst Nikki has the perks of double jumping. You also have the joy of selecting whoever you wish for every level.
– Real player with 2.2 hrs in game
Ristar™
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
I’m an older gamer going back to Atari 2600 and C-64, but I have never really played a lot of Sega games back in the day. My first Sega console in fact was the Dreamcast, and only one of my friends at the time even had a Genesis (Megadrive).
It was an end of life release for the console, so I guess not many have played it until the re-releases. So, this release of Ristar is my first experience with the game. So far I have only played the first few levels (playtime is incorrect) and would recommend this game today if you like platformers. I suggest watching the following video, it has a lot of info on the background of the game as well as a gameplay commentary and demo.
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlJwEF7hsbU
Enter The Echinada
One of the better Sonic games out there, as many would consider perhaps the best (of the retro era). Compared to previous two sonic games on steam this one has much more playability since it has more stages than first two games that can be completed in 3-5h easily, this one has pretty good stage design while maybe not best OST out of the three first sonic games.
– Real player with 1.5 hrs in game
According to the official story, Sonic 3 was meant to include the “& Knuckles” content from the beginning, but it was cut due to time constraints. Sonic 3 was pushed out as the “vanilla” package, with the “& Knuckles” expansion pack (lock-on cartridge) coming out eight months later. I personally think the “& Knuckles” content ends up detracting from the core Sonic 3 experience, and would have been fine if it never saw the light of day. “& Knuckles” added the Mushroom Hill zones onwards, this is where the game starts to drag the most and see quality loss in level design in my opinion. If they really needed to have the “& Knuckles” content added to complete the package, it would have been a better experience start-to-finish if they had removed the Sandolopis zone, which is the lowest quality zone of the “& Knuckles” campaign.
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Great game.
Gameplay it’s expected from a classic Sonic game, fast speeds, great level design again. Way better than Sonic 1 and a bunch of steps back from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Sonic this time has the spindash, a pretty useful ability that can help you to get in higher grounds if used correctly. I love the difficulty of this game, starts easy, and gets more harder and difficult in terms of levels. Be careful, maybe you’ll find a level that was made by Satan himself cof Metropolis cof and some really hard bosses if this is your first time cof Death Egg Robot cof.
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
Sonic Returns, this time with a Friend
For those who are looking to buy some of the older Sonic games, i suggest checking Sonic 2 out, its rather a huge improvement than its predecessor “Sonic 1” for example you can play split screen co-op in Sonic 2 with your friend and also they have added spinball technique among cool 2.5D Stages
The Level design and soundtrack in general are very strong compared to sonic 1 and thats something i want to give kudos to sega for. While the game isn’t super long (Probably 1.5 - 4.0h depending how good you are) it still offers replay ability via Co-op or just speed-running the stages or trying to get higher scores.
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
Sonic The Hedgehog
I had a good time, received this from Sega as it’s Sonic Mania delay apology.
-It’s a good game, it’s not the best, it’s far too easy for experienced players, i mean, i took me a few hours max to finish this with all the 6 Chaos Emeralds.
-The soundtrack still one of my favourites, being Marble Zone, Labyrinth, Scrap Brain and Final Zone the ones that i enjoy the most.
-Gameplay it’s okay, you can do things the fast way or the “i’m afraid to lose a life so i will run slowly”.
Level desing is amazing for the time when this was released.
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
Old Classic From The Past
Majority of the people are probably going to buy this game only for sake of nostalgia purposes. Its rather cheap game so why not really, while i do not think its best of the old sonic games its still decent title and rather revolutionary when it comes to whole gaming industry.
Positives
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Iconic Soundtrack
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Great choice for speedrunners
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Controller & Keyboard support and works well with both choices
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
Mega Man Legacy Collection
If you enjoyed this review, please consider following my Curator Page [url]Nep's Gaming Paradise (Nepiki Gaming)[/url] for more reviews! I'm also the owner of a friendly social community with the same name, which you can check out by joining the [url]Steam Group[/url], or checking out our [url]Discord![/url]
Nepiki’s Stats
| Overall length |
– Real player with 34.1 hrs in game
|
What is this?
A collection of the first 6 Mega Man platformers immaculately emulated with loads of extra content. |
The Best:
First timers: Challenging, fine-tuned gameplay from Mega Man 2 trough 6.
Longtime fans: Museum filled to the brim with behind the scenes content such as concept arts and unused Robot Masters' designs. |
|
Make Capcom great again:
1: Mega Man properly ported and available on Steam. |
– Real player with 33.2 hrs in game
Alien Carnage / Halloween Harry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BS7LJ8GHCI
This is a fantastic MS-DOS Classic from my Childhood days!
If Duke Nukem has a twin separated at birth, it’s got to be Halloween Harry! But don’t let his name fool you, he’s no Pumpkin Head. In Fact, the Earth is in Big Trouble & on the verge of a hostile takeover by aliens intent on turning humans into mindless slave zombies, who can be used in their conquest of the universe.
Harry’s called into action to Space Station Liberty, Standing Tall and given orders by Diane to penetrate the alien ship which has burrowed itself underneath New York City (Halloween Harry 1.1 Version) or Attaching itself to a Skyscraper Antenna (Alien Carnage Version).
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
A childhood classic of mine as well as an Apogee classic: Halloween Harry a.k.a. Alien Carnage.
Don’t ask me what this has to do with Halloween. Err…zombies?
Anyway: You are Harry, a “red blooded American with balls of steel” (quoting Harry himself) who has to save other people captured by aliens so they don’t have to be turned into mindless zombies and thus saves the Earth by doing this. A typical damsel-in-distress story in outer space - and with a flamethrower.
It’s a 2D platformer: you run from left to right and from right to left, explore the level in order to find the kidnapped people. What makes the game a bit more challenging - and fun - is that the levels also contain doors for which you have to find levers in order to open them and you have to memorize the environment a bit so you find everything again, including the exit door. And you can’t leave a level unless you’ve freed every single victim.
– Real player with 6.5 hrs in game
Crystal Caves
Crystal Caves is a 1991 DOS platformer made by Apogee. It features EGA graphics and only PC Speaker sounds.
The game is divided in 3 episodes, the first one being shareware. There’s not a huge difference between the episodes. They feature pretty much the same gameplay and graphics with slight differences. The difficulty increases with every episode.
In every level you have to collect every crystal in order to leave. This forces you to explore the entire level and overcome most of the challenges in it. It never feels tedious because the levels are fun and not too long. The challenges are fair and the controls are tight (for the time at least).
– Real player with 68.2 hrs in game
General:
Crystal Caves is a puzzle platformer game about Mylo Steamwitz trying out various getting-rich schemes for which he needs crystals. The game is split between 3 episodes, each having 16 levels to finish. In order to finish the level you need to collect all the crystals first.
Gameplay consists of various enemies you can blast off with your rocket pistol and some traps and puzzles. Even though the goal of the game is quite simple you may find the game quite difficult for you can run out of ammo, destroy wrong glass block which you needed to jump on, shoot at the air pump, let monsters overrun you… yes, the caves are a dangerous place!
– Real player with 37.4 hrs in game