Sunday, July 16, 2023

What Am I Playing Next? #06 | Secret of Mana, DOOM + more

 Hello readers,

1992 came and went, which means we say hello to 1993... which we actually have already done with Star Fox and Kirby's Adventure. So instead, we say 'hello again' with the next 5 games on the play-list, which range from all-time classics to all-time stinkers. Let's take a look at what I am playing next.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 3: INVASION OF THE SPIDER-SLAYERS

BASIC INFO
  • Initial Release Date: June 6, 1993
  • Platforms: Game Boy, Game Boy Color
  • Genre: Action-adventure
  • Developer / Publisher: Bits Studios / Acclaim Entertainment
  • Series/Franchise: Spider-Man
  • HowLongToBeat: n.a.
  • MOBY RATING: 6.1
Spider-Man games simply terrify me at this point. 6 games I've played from the franchise now as part of this challenge, and they all qualify as some, if not the worst games I've played. None I would consider good, nor even below average. Acclaim Entertainment and others, though mostly Acclaim, took a big dump on the franchise for years, and I don't know when it stopped. The Amazing Spider-Man 3 is by the same people that brought you the two worst rated games of the entire (!) challenge, Bits Studios. It's the sequel to Amazing Spider-Man 2, another Game Boy game that was the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man, a Game Boy game made by Rare and one of the more competent Spider-Man games made in the early 90s, even though it too is awful.

MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES

26 Spider-Man games are on my play-list. 7 of those I have played. 1 is Marvel's Spider-Man from 2018, which is one of the better games I have ever played, a massive contrast to the other 6 I have played as part of this challenge, of which I gave Rare's Game Boy game the best score with a 37, and Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six the worst with 21. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for The Game Boy also got just a 25.

MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME

This is going to be horrible. I know it already. It means even more trouble if the Moby Rating also indicates as much, because game reviewers were much more lenient towards poor games back in the day I learned, so if they say something is crap, it is. Bits Studios were just a terrible development studio at the time, and possibly ever, which is why it was closed down years ago, and Acclaim Entertainment is the same thing from a publishing standpoint. This literally cannot be good. And I'm looking forward to it to continue on my quest of beating all Spider-Man games.

REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
SECRET OF MANA

BASIC INFO
  • Initial Release Date: August 6, 1993
  • Platforms: SNES
  • Genre: Action RPG
  • Developer / Publisher: Square / Square
  • Series/Franchise: Mana
  • HowLongToBeat: 28.5 hours
  • MOBY RATING: 8.3
Secret of Mana is the first game marketed as part of the "Mana" series but was actually called "Seiken Densetsu 2" in Japan, as it is a sequel to 1991's Seiken Densetsu, which was called "Final Fantasy Adventure" in North America at a time when Square would just seemingly call all of their non-Final Fantasy RPGs "Final Fantasy" in NA to increase sales. With Secret of Mana, this is not the case, which might mean they had more trust in it's quality and/or it's marketability outside of Japan. The game features real-time combat and can be played in 2 or 3 player coop and it released a full 3D remake in 2018.

MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES

No history.

MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME

If you're around gaming forums, you will have heard of the Mana series and of Secret of Mana in particular from time to time. I certainly did over the years, so I'm looking forward to see what this is all about. I'm completely fine with the switch to real-time combat, as 1) I enjoy both real-time and turn-based combat in JRPGs and 2) real-time combat was a rarity for JRPGs at the time. Off the top of my head, I can only remember Crystalis featuring this out of all the games I have played from 1990 to early 1993, though I imagine an SNES game doing so might give Secret of Mana the potential to have fun and more diverse combat. I'm definitely excited for this game.

REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
  • None
GUNSTAR HEROES

BASIC INFO
  • Initial Release Date: September 10, 1993
  • Platforms: Sega Genesis, Game Gear
  • Genre: Run and gun
  • Developer / Publisher: Treasure / Sega
  • Series/Franchise: /
  • HowLongToBeat: 2 hours
  • MOBY RATING: 8.1
Gunstar Heroes is a run and gun game similar to games from the Contra series. The game was developed by Treasure, which was formed by a group of former Konami employees who's idea for a game like this got rejected by Konami, and the guys, led by producer Masato Maegawa, grew frustrated with Konami due to their disinterest to be more creative and create more original games. Treasure is still going today, and as recently as in 2022 announced that they are working on a "highly requested game". As someone who is unfamiliar with Treasure, I have no idea what that could be. After playing Gunstar Heroes, I am going to assume it will be Gunstar Heroes 2.

MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES

No history. The Gunstar Heroes only saw two games in it ever released. This one in 1993 and Gunstar Super Heroes in 2005.

MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME

Someone actually advised me to play Gunstar Heroes after I praised Contra III: The Alien Wars on Reddit. The game was on the play-list before this suggestion already, but I've been more excited to play this since the other person praised it than I was beforehand. Contra III was a great run and gun game, and Gunstar Heroes received a lot of praise at the time as well, so I'm hoping this will be a similarly enjoyable experience.

REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
  • None
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG CD

BASIC INFO
  • Initial Release Date: September 23, 1993
  • Platforms: Sega CD, Windows
  • Genre: Platformer
  • Developer / Publisher: Sega / Sega
  • Series/Franchise: Sonic the Hedgehog
  • HowLongToBeat: 3.5 hours
  • MOBY RATING: 8.0
With the mega-success of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sega was ready to turn on the jets as far as milking the franchise goes. Sonic the Hedgehog CD is the only Sonic game to grace the Sega CD and was the best-selling game on the platform, selling over 1.5 million units. It is also considered one of the better Sonic games ever made, so my playful dig towards Sega should not be misconstrued as calling the games to come of poor quality. 

MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES

I've played Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2, which are two of the only Sonic games I ever played. They were both enjoyable games, though I preferred 2 more due to the clearly higher production values across the board and gameplay improvements. I like Sonic games but so far, I can't say I'm the best audience for them, as the "speed" gimmick of his doesn't align with my gaming tastes as well as I would have liked, and the speed contrasted with all those obstacles that you won't see unless you know of them beforehand through trial and error, which leads you to crash into them the first few times, makes for an odd mix I don't quite enjoy as much as Sonic's bigger fans. That said, they are still fun to play for a couple hours each, so I'm willing to give the Sonic series the chance to keep improving over the years and hopefully for one of the games to really connect with me.

MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME

I'm expecting this game to play like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 but to simply look visually more impressive and perhaps have a slightly better framerate. I have no idea, so I am simply guessing and predicting, but I assume true innovation to the Sonic franchise will be at least a few more years away.

REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
DOOM

BASIC INFO
  • Initial Release Date: December 10, 1993
  • Platforms: MS-DOS, Atari Jaguar, PC-98, SNES, PlayStation, Sega Saturn
  • Genre: FPS
  • Developer / Publisher: id Software / id Software
  • Series/Franchise: Doom
  • HowLongToBeat: 7 hours
  • MOBY RATING: 7.5
Oh yes, here we go. One of the more influential games in video gaming history: Doom! It follows id Software's other 3D endeavours, namely Hovertank 3D, Catacomb 3-D and Wolfenstein 3D. It's been coined the "father" of the FPS genre (Wolfenstein 3D would be the "grandfather" and I don't know what this makes the other two 3D games before it). It sold over 3.5 million copies by 1999 and apparently was installed more often on computers in late 1995 than Windows 95 itself. Yeah, it was and, as you all know, still is a big deal.

MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES

I've played and beaten 2016's Doom years ago and loved it, though the expectations will of course be pretty different for the 1993 rendition of Doom. 

MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME

I thought Catacomb 3D showed potential but was obviously nothing more than a prototype. I thought Wolfenstein 3D was a solid but repetitive game, and lacked oomph visually and through its soundtrack. I am hoping Doom takes the next step and has aged better than those two. Mainly, what I am most excited for is just hearing the sounds of the weapons and listening to the soundtrack, as I think those parts will have aged best here.

REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
  • None
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