Mastery #21: GunForce (Super Nintendo)

 

    What the hell is GunForce and why did I pick this? I didn't know that much about this game going in and although I technically did some research on this, I'm not really going to go into detail about that. More or less this game was a okay arcade game by IREM but was ported over by "Bits game". I have yet to play the arcade one so I can't properly describe the differences but this game is so slow & clunky it's ridiculous. The game in itself is roughly about 30 minutes of gameplay & isn't that difficult in the slightest. Although it has a 'hard mode' the controls of the game is already hard enough. Looking like a Contra/Metal Slug clone it sadly doesn't control the same way. Your character moves slow & jumps like they are from Castlevania. One thing that took me awhile to realize was if you 'touch' an enemy you don't immediately die thankfully. Remembering games like Contra I thought the same thing when going into this game but it does carry on it's one shot & your dead. 

    I'm not even sure why I picked this game. It may of been one of those times where I just choose a random game one day. I didn't even get to the sub-title part. This game's full name is "GunForce: Battle Fire Engulfed Terror Island". It sounds like a title to a RiffTrax or MST3K movie but that's the full name of the game. Other than that this game has a lot of flaws to it. The screen slowly pans to the left causing all sorts of problems and very easy ways to get hit by a bullet without have the ability to dodge it. Also it's awful inability to properly jump on machines or vehicles. And considering how short the game is it really surprises me how many vehicles they have in this game that you utilize for 30 seconds. 

    The first level alone has you drive a jeep type vehicle with a turret on the back. You can also jump into big turret guns which don't do that much except shoot the enemies that literally just run from right to left on the screen occasionally stopping to take a shot at you. Than you have a helicopter you fly in the first level...the ride is roughly about 15 seconds and the helicopter takes up the entire screen. But than you never ride a helicopter again? Why? Like why have it in the game at all? The other levels you get to ride a trolley, & a mech for the last level. I say 'mech' but really I mean it's ED-209 from Robocop. This leads on to the next part of the frustrating part of the game which was the controls which jumping & landing on things. So to ride all of these vehicles you have to be able to jump onto these vehicles to ride them right? Well this game falls for the same crap lot of other games do when you're trying to jump onto something. You have to press slightly up or down & lightly hit 'A' along with it. It's hard to explain without really experiencing it. 

On the left is the Mech you ride in GunForce on the Right is ED-209 from Robocop (Specifically the Mega Drive version of Robocop Vs. The Terminator

    Man after all is said & done I'm glad I mastered it. I really want to get this game for my collection too, although for the past few paragraphs I may of made it seem like it was a bad game. And I still stand by that notion, but even bad games have a special place in my heart. Except maybe DreamTV....

Mastery #15: Mega Man Soccer (SNES)

 

    Mastery #15 what a great game to make my 15th mastery. This game was another little gem from my childhood. At the time when I bought this game my two favorite sports was hockey & soccer. And one of my favorite video game franchises/heroes was in fact Mega Man, so this game to me was peanut butter & jelly. This game overall was a pretty standard soccer game, select your roster, formation, pass. kick, slide tackle. Except it had one other feature which was super shots. Super shots were like if Mega Man were to put his powers into the shot. So like when Ice Man shoots the ball, it will turn into ice and as soon as it hits it's target it freezes them. With skill this could be the goalie you're shooting at and if so the ball will drop & roll behind them resulting it into a goal. When I was younger seeing the computer team do it to me was beyond frustrating since I didn't know how to return it back to the computer. This was the times before the internet so it wasn't like I had any easy way to figure out the button combination to do the super shot. (It's holding down R + Shoot button).

    Looking back on it now & playing it again to earn the achievements I've really come to realize just how great of a gem this game really is. It's no Mario Strikers Charged but it definitely paved the way to that point. Even many sports anime use this super shot adaptation in there show (Prince of Tennis & Eyeshield 21 & Inazuma Eleven). Even movies used a similar adaptation in Stephen Chow's Shaolin Soccer where someone could perform a super shot of some kind. Now I'm not saying all of these examples took what Mega Man Soccer did, because although I didn't perform any proper research but I am sure this "Super ability shot in a sport" doesn't all just come from this game. But to look back on it now it does seem like a relatively great idea for a Soccer video game. 

    This may be unpopular opinion but despite James Rolfe's comedic take on Mega Man Soccer (AVGN Episode 139) I think this a great game. Now I wouldn't necessarily put it on my top 10 or anything but I would love to see this game get a rerelease or a new updated version for the Switch or PC. Basically doing their own take of Mario Strikers Charged but just with Mega Man characters. The controls are good, the game has a decent good pace, it's not over challenging in any way, and it has some great SNES music to it. Like Dr. Wily's field theme just sounds so cool.

    Now let me glance over some of the frustrating flaws to this game. The two major frustrations that come to mind is the slide tackle/jump button & the control of shooting. Both make sense to me on a technical level, as in the same button functions slide tackle & a jump block or header. But when you press it if the opposing player has position of the ball your character will perform a slide tackle but if the opponent chooses to pass or shoot, your character will perform instead a jump block or header. This becomes frustrating because you will behind your opponent just about to catch up to them to perform a slide tackle but instead just jump up into the air looking like a fool. 

 

    The achievements to this game were all pretty simple and straight forward. https://retroachievements.org/game/1021 Score a goal with each character's super shot, win in the League, win the Capcom Championship & Win the tournament. There was one cheevo that I was surprised was not in the list though, which was winning in a shoot-out, my whole time while earning all the cheevos for this game not once did I enter in the shoot out screen:

    Now it's possible that was a cheevo before and it's since edited to be removed for whatever reason. Just like how by the time anyone who would be reading this, somebody may have added this cheevo in. Other than that this was a great game to master, it can be a bit time consuming and repetitive but not something too difficult where it would take up a lot of your time.

While finishing up this blog post I did come across some information that I was completely unaware of. This game released in the United States was not a fully finished game. It was missing the entire ending sequence & the ability to play as Dr. Wily. Since than someone has come along and fixed this issue (https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4215/) but it just begs the request even more, RERELEASE MEGA MAN SOCCER!

Mastery #14: Final Fantasy II (SNES - US Edition)

 

        

    Even just looking at the boxart of this game instantly gives me nostalgia. Something so incredibly simple just a red background and gold lettering and using the sword for a 'T'. This game & it's US sequel (Final Fantasy III or Final Fantasy VI) are probably my top two favorite Final Fantasys. They hold a special place in my heart. A place of child hood dreams & goals while playing these games. To be honest I would've loved to have this as my first Mastery but given time & other games that I just ended up randomly playing and mastering I guess this had to take spot 14. Now I am not about to bore you and try to explain why this game is so great, you can find a ton of articles or extremely detailed information on these games online literally almost anywhere, but what I will tell you is my history of this game & running through the Achievements. 

    

    Growing up in the early/late 90's was great. Seeing the rise of the internet, the revival of video games, weird candy, crazy colors, and the evolution of the cellphone. I was never very good at school work, most of the time when I got home from school I usually played games most of the time. Growing up with 3 older brothers & a one working Mom (Which she busted her ass for us which I love greatly to this day) this game fell on my lap when I borrowed it from one of my best friends when I was younger. His uncle would often play these type of games (RPGs) and really was my first introduction into the genre. Being a fan of fantasy type stuff when I started playing this game I instantly loved it. Just the screenshot above is like ingrain into my memory. Just the awesome color palette, the character design, the battle system, the music everything was just so incredible to me when I was younger. The only thing that really held me back when I was younger was my inability to read it. Don't get me wrong, I could read by the time when I started playing this game but it was fragmented. It wasn't until I really started playing this game until I started to really learn how to read. The love of this game made me do my homework (really just with reading) just to get farther in this game. I know inevitably I would've learn how to read but my love for this game & it's music pushed me to learn, so often I regularly recall saying, "If it wasn't for RPGs I wouldn't be able to read". Granted it's a overstatement to say the least but this game & it's sequel really helped me shape who I am today. (Final Fantasy III/VI holds a different more special place in my heart lol) 

    

    For those of you who don't know this game tells the tale of a dark knight by the name of Cecil as he is beginning to doubt the actions of the kingdom he serves. Punishment for his questioning he is sent on a quest which he assumed was delivering a package but was actually a bomb to blow up a neighboring village that housed very strong wizards/summoners. After surviving he begins his quest to save the kingdom he once loved and eventually the world. The story continues to follow Cecil where he will met friends, enemies, & faced with crazy boss fights, betrayal & even his darkest feelings. 

    

    Even writing this post I am engulfing myself listening to Nobuo Uematsu's music to this game. After borrowing this game from my friend when I was younger I remember playing his uncle's file which was at the end of the game & I remember beating it. I was so excited, even though I didn't do any of the work but it was just so cool to see the ending to a game (Before this I really only beat maybe Megaman or Kirby by this point). Even renting this game from blockbuster I often played other people's files...Yes if you can remember back when you rented a RPG from blockbuster normally your game would be erased by the person who rented it before/after you. Unless you're like me & just lied about returning it then keeping it another week, sorry Mom. I still remember at one point I gave up renting it or borrowing it from my friend it was time to buy the game. Truth be told I don't remember how I got the money I might have just asked my mom if we could buy it. I remember calling a handful of different places to see if any store had it in stock. One of the local stores I called said they didn't have it in stock but the person on the phone was willing to sell his copy. I remember being scared but excited on the phone and cautiously asked how much he wanted for it. He came back saying "$40" which at the time was a great deal in my opinion. (Even though today they still go for close to that price range lol) I was so excited to finally get my own copy of the game, I anxiously awaited my mom to come home from her long shift at work only to bother her to drive me back out to get a game. If my memory serves me right it was winter time & it was already dark out & my loving mother took me out to the store after a long day of work just to get this game. (I am really thankful for her. I often tell her this story too lol) I remember finally arriving and walking into the store, it wasn't a place I too often went too but wish I did after seeing all the games. The gentleman at the desk was a heavier set man & looked like what you would perceived to be a typical dungeon master. Not making fun of him in the least bit, looking back on it now we could have been great friends if it wasn't for the jarring age gap. And so I bought it Final Fantasy II, just the game itself, no box, insert, or manual. To this day I still hold that game in my collection....without a box, sleeve or manual.

I do have a copy, but right now my whole collection is in boxes since we lost my display shelves in the move. Didn't want to dig it out yet just for a picture. I will update when I buy a new display shelf.

    Earning the cheevos (RetroAchievements) for this game was a easy and simple task. The whole set consists of just story progression, which rightfully so should be. For those of you who don't know but the US release of this game was massively tampered with. The original Japanese game was harder, had more abilities, more side-quests and overall was a much more completed game. This game being released to the US being easier was in a attempt to make RPG's in the US more popular. Debatable if it really did or not I usually tend to lean more on the side that it didn't unfortunately. (Final Fantasy 7 on the other hand...) So the cheevos for this game was a much easier batch to mimic the US game version. I casually played through this game for the cheevos because of that reason. It was a blast to run through this game again, counting the times I beat my SNES cart & the other times this game has been released I have probably beaten it like 10 times. Ironically enough when I tried beating it again recently I had the achievements off on RetroArch so I beat the game without the cheevos on. I wasn't really mad that this happen to me, just more of a facepalm moment. But beating it a second time wasn't that much more difficult especially since my save was still at the end of the game & everyone was pretty stacked. Not to mention again this is the easier version. 

    I also took my time mastering this achievement, not intentionally but was because this was all played on my NVIDIA Shield + RetroArch. So many times when I would pick up and play this game, it was normally done on our main TV in the house. I started the achievements on this game back in April 2020, and finished it in May 2022. This also marks my first Final Fantasy game Mastery. It wasn't entirely intentional for I kind of wanted to go in order. But let's be real here, I should start my mastery the way I started the Final Fantasy series as a whole. 

P.S. My next Final Fantasy Mastery probably won't be FF III/VI. I want to sit down and play that one with Megan so she knows the story of my favorite RPG/Final Fantasy game of all time.