Good to see you and ADG back again, Kris 😀

As for MegaRace 2 I agree, it's not as much fun as the original was - too plain, too difficult, and Lance is just not the same (forced accent, insipid jokes, crazy hairdos, yuk 😵 ). I sincerely hope the Reboot does bring back both the old Lance Boyle and MR1 gameplay; the Youtube videos I've seen look promising, but some actual game footage would be nice as well.

EDIT - Just watched the MegaRace Intro in Spanish at Youtube. Soooo funny! 🤣 🤣

JayCeeBee64 wrote:

As for MegaRace 2 I agree, it's not as much fun as the original was - too plain, too difficult, and Lance is just not the same (forced accent, insipid jokes, crazy hairdos, yuk :dead: ). I sincerely hope the Reboot does bring back both the old Lance Boyle and MR1 gameplay; the Youtube videos I've seen look promising, but some actual game footage would be nice as well.

Well, they've been pretty tight-lipped overall of how the reboot is going to go. So far, most of the effort has been in building the Zoom Platform itself to act in much the same way pre-Galaxy GOG did.

It's a process, with a lot of companies and licenses involved. The stuff Christian Erickson's put out on YouTube lately suggests he's still getting back into the role but, as an actor, it's not entirely up to him to decide how to perfect his performance, that's largely up to the director, whomever it ends up being. With any luck it'll be someone who understands what made the character of Lance Boyle memorable and who also understands what to avoid to prevent another MR2 (and to a lesser extent, MR3) from happening. :B

When I entered YouTube and saw you upload one of my favourite racers of all time, I didn't expect you'd hate it too much 🤣.

Everyone has his own opinion, but for me this game, along with Xtreme-G 2 & P.O.D for WIN98SE were what saved the racing genre. The oldies mario-kart like were fun but too simple. The Need for Speed franchise is too realistic, latter developed into Fast & Furious game clone (people don't really know that the first movie of this thugs car racing series, actually plagiarize the awesome 1991 Point Break film).

There are few more racing games I like such as Re-Volt. I've also like FUEL from 2010, and I forgive it for being realistic because it's Open World (and yes I know the single-player sucks). For MegaRace trilogy, I've never tried the 1st one. As for the 3rd one, although I've got the GOG version, there are a lot of graphic glitches when racing (maybe problems with my rig.) And yes, I've never tried any of the Carmageddon games (don't throw tomatoes at me 😵).

Well I do understand it's hard. I myself never reached the last Bronx race (always knocked out at final round in Bayou). Had to see how the last level & the ending looked, and there wasn't even one English longplay on YouTube (the only longplay i've found is in German, but it sufficed 🤣). As for the the camera maneuvering giving head aches and nausea, can't argue with it, I know people who looks at Salvador Dali's works and get the same feeling. But I must say for the splitting roads and alternative roads, that these are what makes the game so great (and If you want to win the Moonbase 9 easily, just shoot red rockets at the highly bombed-blocked barrier at the begining, and drive through there, you'll be elevated automatically to the 1st position while there.) It adds non-linearity to a genre which is linear by its essence. And non-linearity is pretty much crucial for a game being a game (either by secret areas / room / levels, alternative endings, open-world games, walking freely from zone to zone (walking simulators). Hell, almost all Arcade games of the 70s is anything but linear, and they were the first video games). So, Kris, just play Xtreme G-2 to see alternative roads at its finest, and most imaginitive way, if you haven't already. (There is no camera maneuvering problems, and the difficulty curve is reasonable. And you'll need genuine WIN98 machine with Voodoo card to play it. It will not run on XP nor WIN7, even on virtualized WIN98SE on VMware, i've tried. If you don't have one, just grab the N64 version and play with an emulator, they're the same.)

Anyway, Glad everything is about to be fine at real life. Looking forward for next Wednesday episode.

Ancient DOS Games Episode 162 - C-Dogs is online!

Gotta make this quick as I'm not using my own computer to post this... had to prep all my files ahead of time and update stuff on the fly. The next episode will indeed go live on Saturday, although like today, it'll probably be in the afternoon instead of the evening. (At least, if you're in North America. ;)

I HAVE INTERNET ACCESS AGAIN! :D

Things should quickly return to normal... at least after I check the mass of eMails I likely have... >_>;

Ancient DOS Games Episode 163 - Mega Man III is online!

And now, to list some of the games I would rather play instead of this one:

* ET The Extraterrestrial (Atari 2600)
* KiloBlaster (DOS)
* Barbie (NES)
* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (DOS)
* Lego Racers (N64)
* 3-D Body Adventure (DOS)
* Math Rescue (DOS)
* Mega Man (DOS)

...yeah... it's THAT bad... >_>;;;

Oh, wow.... This game is so bad that it has actually broken the preview thumbnail to the main video! 😲

....Seriously, I'm quite amazed as to how a game like this was even released considering how mediocre the first PC title was. At least they decided to not butcher the second game to DOS. I'm pretty certain heads would've rolled if Mega Man fans saw the second game translated into a bloody mess on the PC.

....The 3 or 4 fans who would've waited for anticipation for a port like that, I mean. 😜

EDIT: Never mind. Preview thumbnail for the video is now fixed, apparently.

I kinda like Mega Man III. I think it's better and more polished than the first one.

I haven't played the NES Mega Man games, so I don't care there's no music, the level design is totally different and the bosses look like the bosses of the NES games.

And in 1992 there weren't that many side-scrolling platform games for DOS with EGA graphics (that were not published by Apogee).

Calvero wrote:

I kinda like Mega Man III. I think it's better and more polished than the first one.

In what qualitative way? Kris aptly pointed out all the regressions.

They may have lifted some of the sprites, but in the NES games, every boss behaves in a unique way.

And if you like 8-bit music at all, you'll love Megaman's music, it's among the best of its contemporaries, up there with Castlevania and Zelda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrMrIZRD7Xc

Calvero wrote:

I haven't played the NES Mega Man games, so I don't care there's no music, the level design is totally different and the bosses look like the bosses of the NES games.

....You poor, poor soul. 😲 You have no idea what you're missing out on when it comes to the NES originals. Just play and compare both the NES and PC versions. You'll immediately see just how bad the PC version truly is after playing the NES original.

SquallStrife wrote:

Calvero wrote:

I kinda like Mega Man III. I think it's better and more polished than the first one.

In what qualitative way? Kris aptly pointed out all the regressions.

It's been a while since I played both games. But I remember the graphics in the sequel as more detailed. And the game wasn't as hard, because the enemies were bigger so they were easier to hit.

Calvero wrote:

I haven't played the NES Mega Man games, so I don't care there's no music, the level design is totally different and the bosses look like the bosses of the NES games.

I also don't care Mega Man can swim.

Calvero wrote:

And in 1992 there weren't that many side-scrolling platform games for DOS with EGA graphics (that were not published by Apogee).

And I mean platform games for DOS that scroll both horizontally and vertically.

Calvero wrote:

It's been a while since I played both games. But I remember the graphics in the sequel as more detailed. And the game wasn't as hard, because the enemies were bigger so they were easier to hit.

There is a little bit of truth to this, but the additional problem is that some enemies take a ridiculous number of hits to destroy now, while turrets are completely immune to damage, so the cons counterbalance the pros, leaving the quality of the enemy design about on par with the first game.

Calvero wrote:

I also don't care Mega Man can swim.

Agreed, which is why I didn't make a huge deal about it, BUT, you spend about a third of the entire game swimming, which is why I made the comment about how the programmer must've really been proud of making Mega Man swim. :P

Calvero wrote:

And I mean platform games for DOS that scroll both horizontally and vertically.

Not that there weren't any. Indeed, there was actually quite a number of them by 1990, with games at the top of my mind being Thexder, TMNT (only both ways during overhead sections), Zeliard and Strider, but by 1992 there was no excuse to stick with the same outdated engine, especially in the face of the real Mega Man III which was INFINITELY better than the DOS version.

The other thing too, as I pointed out in the review, scrolling in all directions isn't necessarily a GOOD thing. For a platformer in particular, you want to break up each section to give players a chance to catch their breath, a chance to get an idea of progression through the level, and a chance to prepare themselves for something different. Fully contiguous areas are good for exploration, but the Mega Man games are not about exploration and the maze-like qualities of the DOS MM3 levels just drains your energy in the long run, making it more likely you'll be less prepared for the boss of a level.

Gemini000 wrote:

...yeah... it's THAT bad... >_>;;;

Still better than The Orion Odyssee though?

Gemini000 wrote:

Calvero wrote:

And I mean platform games for DOS that scroll both horizontally and vertically.

Not that there weren't any. Indeed, there was actually quite a number of them by 1990, with games at the top of my mind being Thexder, TMNT (only both ways during overhead sections), Zeliard and Strider, but by 1992 there was no excuse to stick with the same outdated engine, especially in the face of the real Mega Man III which was INFINITELY better than the DOS version.

There are more platform games for DOS that scroll both horizontally and vertically than I expected:
1987
Karnov
Thexder

1989
Baal
Eye of Horus
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Action Game
Livingstone II
Strider
The Untouchables
Wibarm

1990
Batman: The Movie
Captain Comic II: Fractured Reality
Commander Keen 1,2,3
CyberGenic Ranger: Secret of the Seventh Planet
Fire Hawk: Thexder - The Second Contact
Horror Zombies from the Crypt
Mega Man
Mythos
Onslaught
Rastan
Satan
Stryx
Super Contra
Xenocide
Zeliard

Calvero wrote:

There are more platform games for DOS that scroll both horizontally and vertically than I expected: 1987 Karnov Thexder […]
Show full quote

Gemini000 wrote:

Calvero wrote:

And I mean platform games for DOS that scroll both horizontally and vertically.

Not that there weren't any. Indeed, there was actually quite a number of them by 1990, with games at the top of my mind being Thexder, TMNT (only both ways during overhead sections), Zeliard and Strider, but by 1992 there was no excuse to stick with the same outdated engine, especially in the face of the real Mega Man III which was INFINITELY better than the DOS version.

There are more platform games for DOS that scroll both horizontally and vertically than I expected:
1987
Karnov
Thexder

1989
Baal
Eye of Horus
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Action Game
Livingstone II
Strider
The Untouchables
Wibarm

1990
Batman: The Movie
Captain Comic II: Fractured Reality
Commander Keen 1,2,3
CyberGenic Ranger: Secret of the Seventh Planet
Fire Hawk: Thexder - The Second Contact
Horror Zombies from the Crypt
Mega Man
Mythos
Onslaught
Rastan
Satan
Stryx
Super Contra
Xenocide
Zeliard

Absent the Sierra/Game Arts, Broderbund/Arsys and ID/Apogee titles, most of those games or ports just aren't very good.

BTW, it looks like Mega Man is the first DOS platform game that scrolls the whole screen both ways, as it doesn't have a status bar. Commander Keen also scrolls the whole screen, but it was release at the end of 1990 and I assume Mega Man was released before that.

Calvero wrote:

BTW, it looks like Mega Man is the first DOS platform game that scrolls the whole screen both ways, as it doesn't have a status bar. Commander Keen also scrolls the whole screen, but it was release at the end of 1990 and I assume Mega Man was released before that.

No offense or anything, but why are you going out of your way to defend this game/port? It wasn't any good back then, and it sure as hell only got worse as time went on. Couple with the fact that the NES originals are significantly better and have been available long before these DOS ports were released, and I find it very confusing that you would defend this mess of a game. The first Mega Man game on the NES may not have been a major classic, but at least it was a million times better that what was released on DOS.

Also, the scrolling in Mega Man DOS is not very impressive considering how poorly coded the game is. You either had slow, jerky scrolling and game play, or extremely fast scrolling and unplayable game play; like the game is being played at "Ludicrous" speed. Commander Keen's scrolling may not have been 60 fields per second, console-smooth, but it is a hell of a lot more stable and a lot less jarring than Mega Man for DOS. Apparently, being "first" in this case wasn't really a good thing in hindsight.

I just think it's fascinating that some of the graphics of Mega Man are also used in Duke Nukem 1. I've played Duke Nukem 1 a lot when I was young. Years later, when I read on the Internet that Duke Nukem 1 stole graphics from Mega Man I played the whole game to see if I could find more stolen graphics than just those crates, barrels and bricks. I couldn't. I also finished Mega Man III to see if the crates, barrels and bricks would show up again. They didn't.
But maybe I didn't look hard enough and somebody else might discover something special in these games. That's why Mega Man and Mega Man III should get all the attention they can get. 😀

Mega Man and Mega Man III might not be the best DOS games ever, there are DOS games that are worse. Like The Jetsons in By George, in Trouble Again and The Flintstones: Dino: Lost in Bedrock, which are also released by Hi-Tech Expressions.

At least Rozner learned stuff by the time they ported Megaman X.

*Looks at Kris's "beard" in his video blog*

Eh, it's not exactly creepy, but I can imagine that it wouldn't really fit with your persona, Kris. 😉