Post by Gecko1993 on Aug 22, 2024 1:51:49 GMT
I’m not sure if anyone has ever asked this before, but is there a game on the NeoGeo that you don’t like, but everybody else does?
I guess I’ll start. Feel free to exile, persecute me, leave me alone with no defense after posting my reply…
I’ll give a little context behind this game: I discovered it back in my Senior Year of High School. I was curious behind what the game was… and here’s the biggest kick in the teeth for me. It also came out on the Wii Virtual Console for 900 Wii Points ($9.00 back in that time); a MUCH cheaper alternative to the AES and MVS originals (excluding the Brazilian Zeebo release).
The game is moreso akin to the likes of a Super Nintendo rental-type release than it would the NeoGeo (even considering it’s original asking price of $200.00–$50.00 less than the Atari Jaguar console, which came out earlier that SAME year).
Is there something that I’m missing here? I WANT to like this game—I REALLY do; but it’s SUPER-short length, and lacking of anything past basic platforming & samey music make it REALLY hard for me to come back to for the sake of replayability. Honestly, I’d rather more people remember Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy with it’s hidden bonus stages, alternate routes you can take, and secret techniques to defeating the bosses in the boss rush toward the end (even altering the ending in the process) than Spinmaster with its lacking length, samey yet forgetable soundtrack, inconsistent world length and mixed bosses.
I say the bosses are mixed is because the Dragon in China is the best-designed boss in the game. The animations of the boss I think looks really help it to stand out from the rest. DePlayne/Dokked/Ande or whatever name the endboss goes by that day, how big of a crap you took that morning, etc. was an easy hitsponge of an enemy. The Big Bad Snake Bros. are just a series of recolorable sprites to help save on resources, Jelimorph (which the manual calls a “beautiful creature”… why?) only has two attacks—splitting into multiples of itself, and turning into a weight.
The best part of Spinmaster for me, is the final world of the game. It’s pretty good, truth be told... talk about too-little-too-late, the entire game should have been like this. It has better music, more charming enemies, and alternate paths for more treasure moreso akin to the likes of Sonic 2! The final level itself even looks like it had the most effort put into it… althought the elevator platform Johnny & Tom are standing on is mirrored; not exactly the most best-optimized usage of sprites, but how it functions—akin to the likes of Donkey-Kong Country 2’s Toxic Tower makes up for it.
I understand the reasoning as to why this game didn’t make it to the NeoGeo CD. The adventure is just… over before it gets interesting. And once it got interesting, it… stops. I feel like a little longer length, and alternate routes (akin to the game it boasts to be a successor to: Joe & Mac Caveman Ninja) would have made the experience more worthwhile. Some snow and underwater worlds would have made the game more complete to me. Like exploring an undersea kingdom of either Mu or Atlantis, and maybe exploring the frozen tundras of Siberia, Russia?
Dare I say, even the Final Boss had SOME ideas that should have been implemented for more levels—like maybe test the skills you learnt???
When this game got released to the Zeebo in Brazil, this was the only new featurette available. If anything, this is the ONLY version, I think that is worth tracking down. Looking back, I can’t help but feel like I got ripped off with Spinmaster. For YEARS, I TRIED to like; let alone figure out what made this game so great. With other great games like the aforementioned Top Hunter, and Magician Lord… this falls somewhere toward the bottom of the Action Category totem pole.
Again, this is my opinion. If anyone wants to retort, please enlighten me on what I am sorely missing while I play this game? I know it has co-op, but as my girlfriend & I streamed this for Neo-Year 2023, she was actually annoyed by the game itself.
I guess I’ll start. Feel free to exile, persecute me, leave me alone with no defense after posting my reply…
I’ll give a little context behind this game: I discovered it back in my Senior Year of High School. I was curious behind what the game was… and here’s the biggest kick in the teeth for me. It also came out on the Wii Virtual Console for 900 Wii Points ($9.00 back in that time); a MUCH cheaper alternative to the AES and MVS originals (excluding the Brazilian Zeebo release).
The game is moreso akin to the likes of a Super Nintendo rental-type release than it would the NeoGeo (even considering it’s original asking price of $200.00–$50.00 less than the Atari Jaguar console, which came out earlier that SAME year).
Is there something that I’m missing here? I WANT to like this game—I REALLY do; but it’s SUPER-short length, and lacking of anything past basic platforming & samey music make it REALLY hard for me to come back to for the sake of replayability. Honestly, I’d rather more people remember Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy with it’s hidden bonus stages, alternate routes you can take, and secret techniques to defeating the bosses in the boss rush toward the end (even altering the ending in the process) than Spinmaster with its lacking length, samey yet forgetable soundtrack, inconsistent world length and mixed bosses.
I say the bosses are mixed is because the Dragon in China is the best-designed boss in the game. The animations of the boss I think looks really help it to stand out from the rest. DePlayne/Dokked/Ande or whatever name the endboss goes by that day, how big of a crap you took that morning, etc. was an easy hitsponge of an enemy. The Big Bad Snake Bros. are just a series of recolorable sprites to help save on resources, Jelimorph (which the manual calls a “beautiful creature”… why?) only has two attacks—splitting into multiples of itself, and turning into a weight.
The best part of Spinmaster for me, is the final world of the game. It’s pretty good, truth be told... talk about too-little-too-late, the entire game should have been like this. It has better music, more charming enemies, and alternate paths for more treasure moreso akin to the likes of Sonic 2! The final level itself even looks like it had the most effort put into it… althought the elevator platform Johnny & Tom are standing on is mirrored; not exactly the most best-optimized usage of sprites, but how it functions—akin to the likes of Donkey-Kong Country 2’s Toxic Tower makes up for it.
I understand the reasoning as to why this game didn’t make it to the NeoGeo CD. The adventure is just… over before it gets interesting. And once it got interesting, it… stops. I feel like a little longer length, and alternate routes (akin to the game it boasts to be a successor to: Joe & Mac Caveman Ninja) would have made the experience more worthwhile. Some snow and underwater worlds would have made the game more complete to me. Like exploring an undersea kingdom of either Mu or Atlantis, and maybe exploring the frozen tundras of Siberia, Russia?
Dare I say, even the Final Boss had SOME ideas that should have been implemented for more levels—like maybe test the skills you learnt???
When this game got released to the Zeebo in Brazil, this was the only new featurette available. If anything, this is the ONLY version, I think that is worth tracking down. Looking back, I can’t help but feel like I got ripped off with Spinmaster. For YEARS, I TRIED to like; let alone figure out what made this game so great. With other great games like the aforementioned Top Hunter, and Magician Lord… this falls somewhere toward the bottom of the Action Category totem pole.
Again, this is my opinion. If anyone wants to retort, please enlighten me on what I am sorely missing while I play this game? I know it has co-op, but as my girlfriend & I streamed this for Neo-Year 2023, she was actually annoyed by the game itself.