Alleyway is the better introduction to the Breakout-style of games. Slower paced, easy to pick up and play, etc. If you don't have the Vaus controller for Arkanoid, don't even bother.
As for you enjoying Athena as a child but not as an adult, yeah, that's always fascinating when that happens. I had a similar thing happen with AAH! Real Monsters on SNES. Loved that game as a kid. Played it a few years ago, and it's... not good. It's still probably better than Athena, but yeah, lousy hit detection, super cheap enemies, etc.
Not sure if Athena was better playing in the arcade. Micronics did the home port and they're notorious for making lousy home ports of arcade games (see also: Ghosts n Goblins), although I don't hate their 1942 NES port.
As for SNK not making a good platformer... do they have any other platformers besides this one? Seems like they found their hyper-specfic niches early on (fighting, sports, shooting) and just ran with those.
Ah yes, Magician Lord! Never played it, know nothing about it, but the name rings a bell.
The Neo Geo is an anomaly to me. I’d love to explore that library some day.
Forgot about Crystalis too. For some reason, that game has never resonated with me, despite several attempts. I guess I’ll get another chance when I get to it for the Substack, but man… people love that game, I just don’t get the appeal.
Some video game characters fight to save a princess, or a kingdom, or the world. Athena fights because she's bored.
First-world problems!
Alleyway is the better introduction to the Breakout-style of games. Slower paced, easy to pick up and play, etc. If you don't have the Vaus controller for Arkanoid, don't even bother.
As for you enjoying Athena as a child but not as an adult, yeah, that's always fascinating when that happens. I had a similar thing happen with AAH! Real Monsters on SNES. Loved that game as a kid. Played it a few years ago, and it's... not good. It's still probably better than Athena, but yeah, lousy hit detection, super cheap enemies, etc.
Not sure if Athena was better playing in the arcade. Micronics did the home port and they're notorious for making lousy home ports of arcade games (see also: Ghosts n Goblins), although I don't hate their 1942 NES port.
As for SNK not making a good platformer... do they have any other platformers besides this one? Seems like they found their hyper-specfic niches early on (fighting, sports, shooting) and just ran with those.
Ah yes, Magician Lord! Never played it, know nothing about it, but the name rings a bell.
The Neo Geo is an anomaly to me. I’d love to explore that library some day.
Forgot about Crystalis too. For some reason, that game has never resonated with me, despite several attempts. I guess I’ll get another chance when I get to it for the Substack, but man… people love that game, I just don’t get the appeal.