/vr/ - Retro Games

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What, in your opinion, is your favorite PC Engine platformer? Whether it be your bonks or paclands or what have you.

On HuCard from what I've played it might be Adventure Island / Dragon's Curse (aka Wonder Boy in Dragon's Trap). On CD it might be Valis 1, Shubibinman 3, or Rainbow Islands.

Adventure Island is a neat game with a lot going for it - one of the coolest being it's a HuCard that actually can save onto your internal RAM. It's not quite as refined as Wonder Boy in Monster World, or MW4, but it packs in a lot of fun exploration into its design, and is very playable in Japanese (really just need to look up an item FAQ to understand how equipment works). It's short and sweet, with a few really tough moments sprinkled in.

Valis I like perhaps more for the aesthetics than the execution. That being said it is easily the most playable and enjoyable Valis game, having the least amount of cheap deaths, enemies guarding ledges, and other such "quality" Telenet design. The biggest problem is tht if you die, bosses are not balanced for you being at not-full-power, making for some practically unwinnable encounters.

Shubi3 is fun, if not tragically easy. So much Masaya creativity in its long 4 levels with all sorts of cool bosses; it's fun to play through but such a shame that everything dies with little effort. Still, I enjoyed it.

Rainbow Islands is classic Taito fun, though maybe the Genesis port is superior. There is something appealing about using rainbows to kill swarms of increasingly assholish aggressive enemies.