Guilty Pleasures

Mr Creosote · 18 June 2021, 21:12

What are the games you "know" are no good, but you nevertheless return to them regularly?

For me, some examples:

* Ivanhoe: unresponsive controls make this one quite frustrating. Yet, the levels are quite varied and well-designed.
* Gobliins 2: when I really think about it, it seems this is the worst of the series. Yet whenever I feel like starting one up, I pick this one. It just feels most instantly accessible.
* Prince: I guess this one really is simple nostalgia.

jotd · 18 June 2021, 22:56

Good question. I have more answers if you ask about movies but for games...

Full Contact. I regularly forget how bad it is, so I start it from time to time.
Killing Game Show. Maybe one day I'll complete level 1. I have no clue about what's going on.

Mr Creosote · 18 June 2021, 23:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by jotd

Full Contact. I regularly forget how bad it is, so I start it from time to time.

Haha, that's a good one

I keep thinking the fight against the dog was a novel idea, it shoud be good, right?

gimbal · 18 June 2021, 23:38

Gobliins 2? I love that game. It's difficult but not too difficult, I managed to work it out on my own. Plus it's the funniest of the trio for me. The loading times are not great though.

For me it would be:

Strider. Shit game, shit framerate, shit sound, but it has that Amiga melancholy style that I so adore. I dislike most ports of this game anyway so why not play the Amiga version every now and then

I play 9 Lives for exactly the same reason.

And also Wrath of the Demon. Some people like to return to Shadow of the Beast... I like to return to Wrath of the Demon. It mixes an oppressive atmosphere with cartoonish animations. Really weird. I love to hate this one as otherwise it is pretty much a repetitive walk in the field simulator intermixed with repetitive boss battles and don't get me started about the insane maze at the end to pad the game runtime in a really bad way. The music that plays when you're on the horse is one of my favorite tracks though.

Obitus. This game was cool to me way back when. It has that distinct Amiga look and feel and as I kid I was blown away by the fluent movement. In this game you actually did not move in cells. Buuuut... the maze design is anything but fun so I can't play this for very long.

Garfield, Big Fat Hairy Deal. It's the music man, it gets me in the groove. Plus you get to kick a dog around a lot. It shocked me to learn that you can actually complete this game, I never figured it out playing it as a kid. I managed to trigger some random events but that was about it.

Last Ninja, any of the three. I'm sorry but I can't call these good games, at least not on the Amiga. The combat is horrendous and the platforming is so imprecise. Hairpullingly frustrating is what it is. But the music... and the puzzles... it pulls me back in time and time again.

Gremlins 2. No doubt this is a bad game for three reasons for me: it has garbage weapons that basically force you to take a death when you accidentally pick them up and the enemies spawn in right when you're near the edge of the screen (I know they're on a loop so if you learn the pattern the game becomes a joke, but still) - because it's a single hit death game which are the worst games for me.

But I love the movies, always have, always will. And this game oozes the style. So I put up with it.

Crystals of Arborea (but only with the strength cheat). It'd be a fun game if the enemies wouldn't move the crystals down into those darned underground mazes when you're too slow in finding them, that is what kills it for me. But I love the style.

Dark Castle / Beyond Dark Castle. It's frustrating as all hell and the gameplay is imprecise, but it's just so hilariously cartoony, I can't stop playing it from time to time. It's also weird design to give you a health bar which basically counts as a timer instead of health, most hits kill you in one blow anyway.

And probably more but I feel kind of ashamed that every time a thread like this pops up I write up a long list

SquawkBox · 20 June 2021, 05:04

Robbeary - A not very clever collect'em all with rather limited options to overrun the baddies, yet I like the graphics and the animation too.

gimbal · 22 June 2021, 10:51

Ah but it has giant fruit pickups. No game with giant fruit pickups is bad.

Gzegzolka · 22 June 2021, 12:06

Mine are Trolls and Oscar for a long time, especially AGA version. I like how colorful those games are and how good they sound. Those were my first games on my Amiga1200 so I have nostalgic felling for them even if now I know there is more better games that plays better. I love Oscar intro that fast view on some tropical ocean and nice music, that bit more chilling music in cinema corridors. Nixon truly done great work on those two titles. Also Trolls got great intro, it starts like a fairy tale and I like too that loading screens with cycling colors.

Much later when I start using winuae I have played cd32 versions of those games too. While Trolls do not have extra stages it got nice fitting soundtrack for stages and backgrounds pictures where upgraded from random floating stuff in Zool style to nice vistas of landscape related to stage theme. Oscar got two extra worlds, one that looks like ripped from Trolls and one based on Commodore products /inside computer, it also got added soundtrack but it sounds rather weak, more like ambient sounds - nothing that will stay in my mind when I move from computer screen and nothing as good as music that was already in floppy version.
I have some ideas how those games could be upgraded to plays better

rabidgerry · 22 June 2021, 12:09

Back to the Future II - have completed it a few times actually. I enjoy it, apart from the goddam puzzle level

Terminator 2 - Also completed this before too. I dunno why, but I go back to it occasionally.

Fiery Phoenix · 22 June 2021, 12:24

Chubby Gristle - reminds me of the classic 8 bit games like Monty on the Run

acidbottle · 22 June 2021, 13:44

Chase HQ.

Was the first amiga game I bought, its really bad but I regularly load it up anyway. It ages really badly to, looks and plays worse now than ever!

Anubis · 22 June 2021, 14:04

Kick Off - than I remember I wanted to start SWOS.

Similar to jotd, I would start Full Contact just to watch intro, which I used to find fascinating back in the day. Yes, game is shitty, but intro is cool.

rabidgerry · 22 June 2021, 14:39

I dunno if it's bad cause I like it, but I think it has a bad reputation

Pitfighter

Have nearly finished it a few times too. I actually really love it, it's so easy to play with the PSX analog sticks.

PortuguesePilot · 22 June 2021, 14:43

Pharao's Curse
Although lately people's stances about these sort of 8bit-ish games have somewhat changed, I remember that back in the day most people would say that these sort of games had no place on the Amiga, a mighty 16bit machine capable of oh-so-much more. But the simple, no-fuss, 8bit-like graphics, sound and playability in this game - with some random elements thrown in - always made for a nice, easy and fun quick fix. I still boot it every now and then.

Atom Smasher
Again, the theme of simplicity recurs. Another game that people usually dismiss as being "just another uninspired, derivative and boring PD game". Single screen, straight, uncomplicated Pengo-style game play with Amiga-ish themes (Bomberman, Lemmings, etc) and nice SFX. I find it good fun.

Lost Dutchman Mine
People say this is boring, dire and uninspired. I guess I see where they're coming from and why they think that, and if I had to play it all the time, I'd agree 100% with that. But there's a bit of nostalgia for me here. This was the first 1MB game I ever played on my trusty A500 back in the day. I remember owning the game and not being able to play it because I only had the original 512kB or RAM. In a time before the Internet, I had no idea what the game was like or even about, and imagined what it would be. I thought it would be a platform romp, but was quite pleasantly surprised that it was a sort-of "miner simulator" with some interesting details, like dying of hunger, thirst, snake bytes, etc. The ability to play cards at the saloon is a nice touch, for instance. Some nice sounds but average graphics, I remember thinking "where does the extra 512kB go to?" at the time, but the game is pleasant enough to warrant a boot from time to time, even to this day.

Alien Bash II
Musicless, single-player and cow-riddled "Chaos Engine"-wannabe that plays quite well and manages to engross you throughout. Although critically panned for being a rip-off and for being basically unfinished, I find it to be a very refined piece of software (though it could have been even better) that I play with gusto. In fact, in spite of all its flaws, the game's so nice that I wonder if it counts as a "guilty pleasure"...

Brain Man
Aptly named puzzle game with so-so graphics and interesting SFX, it has a nice cadence to it, a good learning-curve and satisfying gameplay. People say it's too simplistic to count as a real game, but I enjoy it very much.

Champion Driver
Awful graphics, simplistic sounds, yet simple and balanced top-down racer that grabs me tremendously. I especially like the Kart series, since driving the faster cars is a bit too fast and too frustrating. The position of the car on the screen is just right (as opposed to "ATR" or "Trubo Trax", for instance) which makes it much easier to play by being able to both anticipate the corners and to control the rivals behind you. It was a commercial full-price game but it looks like a PD one and several people seem to be derisive of it saying it's boring, gravely repetitive and grossly one-dimensional, so I count it as a personal "guilty pleasure".

There are more, surely. Maybe I'll post some others later.

Mr Creosote · 22 June 2021, 14:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by PortuguesePilot

Alien Bash II
Musicless, single-player and cow-riddled "Chaos Engine"-wannabe that plays quite well and manages to engross you throughout. Although critically panned for being a rip-off and for being basically unfinished, I find it to be a very refined piece of software (though it could have been even better) that I play with gusto. In fact, in spite of all its flaws, the game's so nice that I wonder if it counts as a "guilty pleasure"...

Ah, I like that one as well and never felt the need to "hide" this preference

I think the different control modes are actually quite ingenious.

gimbal · 22 June 2021, 15:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by PortuguesePilot

Brain Man
Aptly named puzzle game with so-so graphics and interesting SFX, it has a nice cadence to it, a good learning-curve and satisfying gameplay. People say it's too simplistic to count as a real game, but I enjoy it very much.

In a sea of ridiculously hard games, an easier game is a blessing. I mean some of the later levels in the Power or Chip's Challenge are just so much work that I fail to even find them fun anymore. Come to think of it "the Power" I could have probably put on the list. It's so repetitive (and that looping music...) but I have really fond memories playing it with my mother who adored the game.I boot it up every now and then for the feels.

This looks like it's fun. Gems, keys, tile-based levels, it's got all those classic gamey aspects to it.

Anubis · 22 June 2021, 15:43

Another one that I tried to play (or enjoy) multiple times, but I really suck at it and never managed to play well -

Stunt Car Racer

I just can't manage to play it without falling off constantly...

PortuguesePilot · 22 June 2021, 16:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anubis

Another one that I tried to play (or enjoy) multiple times, but I really suck at it and never managed to play well -

Stunt Car Racer

I just can't manage to play it without falling off constantly...

But it doesn't count as a "bad game", now does it? Personally, I think it's awesome. Just needed to be a bit quicker (frames per second) to be perfect.

rabidgerry · 22 June 2021, 18:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by PortuguesePilot

But it doesn't count as a "bad game", now does it? Personally, I think it's awesome. Just needed to be a bit quicker (frames per second) to be perfect.

It's an amazing game. Frames per second? You've played the TNT version right F7 for turbo mode? Man it's like fast as fuck!

Ok I just had a look on youtube and from what I can see they aint getting as many FPS as I do. When I play it and get to league 3 or something the game actually runs so fast you shake your car to pieces on the track

as you are going so fast. I can't go back to the old slow speed I was used to back in the day.

PortuguesePilot · 22 June 2021, 20:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by rabidgerry

It's an amazing game. Frames per second? You've played the TNT version right F7 for turbo mode? Man it's like fast as fuck!

Ok I just had a look on youtube and from what I can see they aint getting as many FPS as I do. When I play it and get to league 3 or something the game actually runs so fast you shake your car to pieces on the track

as you are going so fast. I can't go back to the old slow speed I was used to back in the day.

Since I rarely use Amiga emulation, I only play it on my vanilla 1MB A500 and on my ACA122x-expanded A1200s. The A1200 runs it a tad faster, but still slower than it should have been (it should have ran at least 25fps, ideally 30+. Dream fps would be 60). If you get higher than 30fps, mate... enjoy! It is an excellent game.

Anubis · 22 June 2021, 21:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by PortuguesePilot

But it doesn't count as a "bad game", now does it? Personally, I think it's awesome. Just needed to be a bit quicker (frames per second) to be perfect.

Not for me, I played way too many times, and always wonder at end why people liked this game so much. It was lots of frustrations...

18 June 2021, 21:12	#1
Mr Creosote Evil Mastermind Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Home Posts: 740	Guilty Pleasures What are the games you "know" are no good, but you nevertheless return to them regularly? For me, some examples: * Ivanhoe: unresponsive controls make this one quite frustrating. Yet, the levels are quite varied and well-designed. * Gobliins 2: when I really think about it, it seems this is the worst of the series. Yet whenever I feel like starting one up, I pick this one. It just feels most instantly accessible. * Prince: I guess this one really is simple nostalgia.

18 June 2021, 23:38	#4
gimbal cheeky scoundrel Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Spijkenisse/Netherlands Age: 42 Posts: 6,905	Gobliins 2? I love that game. It's difficult but not too difficult, I managed to work it out on my own. Plus it's the funniest of the trio for me. The loading times are not great though. For me it would be: Strider. Shit game, shit framerate, shit sound, but it has that Amiga melancholy style that I so adore. I dislike most ports of this game anyway so why not play the Amiga version every now and then I play 9 Lives for exactly the same reason. And also Wrath of the Demon. Some people like to return to Shadow of the Beast... I like to return to Wrath of the Demon. It mixes an oppressive atmosphere with cartoonish animations. Really weird. I love to hate this one as otherwise it is pretty much a repetitive walk in the field simulator intermixed with repetitive boss battles and don't get me started about the insane maze at the end to pad the game runtime in a really bad way. The music that plays when you're on the horse is one of my favorite tracks though. Obitus. This game was cool to me way back when. It has that distinct Amiga look and feel and as I kid I was blown away by the fluent movement. In this game you actually did not move in cells. Buuuut... the maze design is anything but fun so I can't play this for very long. Garfield, Big Fat Hairy Deal. It's the music man, it gets me in the groove. Plus you get to kick a dog around a lot. It shocked me to learn that you can actually complete this game, I never figured it out playing it as a kid. I managed to trigger some random events but that was about it. Last Ninja, any of the three. I'm sorry but I can't call these good games, at least not on the Amiga. The combat is horrendous and the platforming is so imprecise. Hairpullingly frustrating is what it is. But the music... and the puzzles... it pulls me back in time and time again. Gremlins 2. No doubt this is a bad game for three reasons for me: it has garbage weapons that basically force you to take a death when you accidentally pick them up and the enemies spawn in right when you're near the edge of the screen (I know they're on a loop so if you learn the pattern the game becomes a joke, but still) - because it's a single hit death game which are the worst games for me. But I love the movies, always have, always will. And this game oozes the style. So I put up with it. Crystals of Arborea (but only with the strength cheat). It'd be a fun game if the enemies wouldn't move the crystals down into those darned underground mazes when you're too slow in finding them, that is what kills it for me. But I love the style. Dark Castle / Beyond Dark Castle. It's frustrating as all hell and the gameplay is imprecise, but it's just so hilariously cartoony, I can't stop playing it from time to time. It's also weird design to give you a health bar which basically counts as a timer instead of health, most hits kill you in one blow anyway. And probably more but I feel kind of ashamed that every time a thread like this pops up I write up a long list Last edited by gimbal; 18 June 2021 at 23:44.

20 June 2021, 05:04	#5
SquawkBox Speedbump gimme goosebump Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: France Age: 50 Posts: 773	Robbeary - A not very clever collect'em all with rather limited options to overrun the baddies, yet I like the graphics and the animation too. Last edited by SquawkBox; 20 June 2021 at 18:56.

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18 June 2021, 22:56	#2
jotd This cat is no more Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: FRANCE Age: 52 Posts: 8,160	Good question. I have more answers if you ask about movies but for games... Full Contact. I regularly forget how bad it is, so I start it from time to time. Killing Game Show. Maybe one day I'll complete level 1. I have no clue about what's going on.

22 June 2021, 10:51	#6
gimbal cheeky scoundrel Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Spijkenisse/Netherlands Age: 42 Posts: 6,905	Ah but it has giant fruit pickups. No game with giant fruit pickups is bad.

22 June 2021, 12:06	#7
Gzegzolka Registered User Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Warszawa / Polska Posts: 1,858	Mine are Trolls and Oscar for a long time, especially AGA version. I like how colorful those games are and how good they sound. Those were my first games on my Amiga1200 so I have nostalgic felling for them even if now I know there is more better games that plays better. I love Oscar intro that fast view on some tropical ocean and nice music, that bit more chilling music in cinema corridors. Nixon truly done great work on those two titles. Also Trolls got great intro, it starts like a fairy tale and I like too that loading screens with cycling colors. Much later when I start using winuae I have played cd32 versions of those games too. While Trolls do not have extra stages it got nice fitting soundtrack for stages and backgrounds pictures where upgraded from random floating stuff in Zool style to nice vistas of landscape related to stage theme. Oscar got two extra worlds, one that looks like ripped from Trolls and one based on Commodore products /inside computer, it also got added soundtrack but it sounds rather weak, more like ambient sounds - nothing that will stay in my mind when I move from computer screen and nothing as good as music that was already in floppy version. I have some ideas how those games could be upgraded to plays better

22 June 2021, 12:09	#8
rabidgerry Registered User Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Belfast Posts: 1,512	Back to the Future II - have completed it a few times actually. I enjoy it, apart from the goddam puzzle level Terminator 2 - Also completed this before too. I dunno why, but I go back to it occasionally.

22 June 2021, 12:24	#9
Fiery Phoenix Registered User Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Bury, Lancs Age: 47 Posts: 661	Chubby Gristle - reminds me of the classic 8 bit games like Monty on the Run

22 June 2021, 13:44	#10
acidbottle Registered User Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: Scotland Posts: 821	Chase HQ. Was the first amiga game I bought, its really bad but I regularly load it up anyway. It ages really badly to, looks and plays worse now than ever!

22 June 2021, 14:04	#11
Anubis Retro Gamer Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Underworld Age: 51 Posts: 4,058	Kick Off - than I remember I wanted to start SWOS. Similar to jotd, I would start Full Contact just to watch intro, which I used to find fascinating back in the day. Yes, game is shitty, but intro is cool.

22 June 2021, 14:39	#12
rabidgerry Registered User Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Belfast Posts: 1,512	I dunno if it's bad cause I like it, but I think it has a bad reputation Pitfighter Have nearly finished it a few times too. I actually really love it, it's so easy to play with the PSX analog sticks.

22 June 2021, 14:43	#13
PortuguesePilot Global Moderator Join Date: May 2013 Location: Setúbal, Portugal Posts: 609	Pharao's Curse Although lately people's stances about these sort of 8bit-ish games have somewhat changed, I remember that back in the day most people would say that these sort of games had no place on the Amiga, a mighty 16bit machine capable of oh-so-much more. But the simple, no-fuss, 8bit-like graphics, sound and playability in this game - with some random elements thrown in - always made for a nice, easy and fun quick fix. I still boot it every now and then. Atom Smasher Again, the theme of simplicity recurs. Another game that people usually dismiss as being "just another uninspired, derivative and boring PD game". Single screen, straight, uncomplicated Pengo-style game play with Amiga-ish themes (Bomberman, Lemmings, etc) and nice SFX. I find it good fun. Lost Dutchman Mine People say this is boring, dire and uninspired. I guess I see where they're coming from and why they think that, and if I had to play it all the time, I'd agree 100% with that. But there's a bit of nostalgia for me here. This was the first 1MB game I ever played on my trusty A500 back in the day. I remember owning the game and not being able to play it because I only had the original 512kB or RAM. In a time before the Internet, I had no idea what the game was like or even about, and imagined what it would be. I thought it would be a platform romp, but was quite pleasantly surprised that it was a sort-of "miner simulator" with some interesting details, like dying of hunger, thirst, snake bytes, etc. The ability to play cards at the saloon is a nice touch, for instance. Some nice sounds but average graphics, I remember thinking "where does the extra 512kB go to?" at the time, but the game is pleasant enough to warrant a boot from time to time, even to this day. Alien Bash II Musicless, single-player and cow-riddled "Chaos Engine"-wannabe that plays quite well and manages to engross you throughout. Although critically panned for being a rip-off and for being basically unfinished, I find it to be a very refined piece of software (though it could have been even better) that I play with gusto. In fact, in spite of all its flaws, the game's so nice that I wonder if it counts as a "guilty pleasure"... Brain Man Aptly named puzzle game with so-so graphics and interesting SFX, it has a nice cadence to it, a good learning-curve and satisfying gameplay. People say it's too simplistic to count as a real game, but I enjoy it very much. Champion Driver Awful graphics, simplistic sounds, yet simple and balanced top-down racer that grabs me tremendously. I especially like the Kart series, since driving the faster cars is a bit too fast and too frustrating. The position of the car on the screen is just right (as opposed to "ATR" or "Trubo Trax", for instance) which makes it much easier to play by being able to both anticipate the corners and to control the rivals behind you. It was a commercial full-price game but it looks like a PD one and several people seem to be derisive of it saying it's boring, gravely repetitive and grossly one-dimensional, so I count it as a personal "guilty pleasure". There are more, surely. Maybe I'll post some others later.

22 June 2021, 15:43	#16
Anubis Retro Gamer Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Underworld Age: 51 Posts: 4,058	Another one that I tried to play (or enjoy) multiple times, but I really suck at it and never managed to play well - Stunt Car Racer I just can't manage to play it without falling off constantly...

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