Gaming Rehab after 5 years of MMOs, need games to reignite skills

AquaTiger

Edit history:

AquaTiger: 2013-05-04 11:19:35 am

AquaTiger: 2013-04-27 12:39:29 am

AquaTiger: 2013-04-27 12:38:47 am

2013-04-24 05:49:35 pm

Never give up!

Alright, I've already brought up my return to this forum, but my rush to get back into speedrunning is complicated by a couple of issues. First, school. I basically can't do any speedrun practice until I get finished with this semester, which happens around mid-May. Second, LPing. I'd gone from straight-up speedrunning to primarily Let's Plays and now want to move into a mix of the two, so I may not be nearly as active a speedrunner/speedplanner as I was before (especially since I plan to have my Let's Plays evaluated by a separate forum before I dive too far in). On that subject, I also may not be able to dedicate the same time depending on what job I wind up having once I'm done with this semester....

....however, those reasons are not the focus of this thread. I want to instead hit the main complication for my return to speedrunning. Something I'd like to call...

MMO poisoning.

Basically, in the interim between my last run and now, most of the time not spent on either work, school, or LPs was spent playing MMOs or catching up on pop culture that I actually missed in its prime, rather than playing games that didn't require a community presence to be engaging. As a result, I'm concerned that my gaming skills have withered horribly. If I'm going to be getting into modern speedrunning, I will need a crash course in difficult gaming.

This is where you come in.

I'm trying to put together a list of about a dozen difficult games to retrain my skills, but I'm having issues coming up with a good, wide range of proficiencies here. So far all I've come up with is three sidescroller options. What I'm trying to pursue is a variety covering most of the genres (sports and racing can probably be left out, but those are all) and most of the gamer proficiencies (still working on a full list of what these are). I'm mainly focused on the PC for the time being, though, even if that means re-releases from old systems that made it to PC via a compilation (like the SEGA collections on Steam). I do have the Wii, PS2, Gamecube (with Game Boy Player), and a 3DS, though, so those present viable options as well (as do re-releases played on those systems...).

So, what are some good solidly-difficult games I could use to reignite my gaming skills?

Current List:
1. Alien Soldier (sidescroller/boss rush)
2. Golden Axe 3 (beat-em-up - Panther is NOT ALLOWED)
3. Black Tiger (arcade 2D platformer)
4. Streets of Rage 2 (must do this on Mania)
5. Gunstar Heroes
6. Spelunky

Pursue:
-Dustforce
-Castlevania Bloodlines
-Contra Hard Corps (US version)
-Smash TV

P.S. Oh, almost forgot - I'm trying to stay away from obvious examples like Super Meat Boy and I Wanna Be The Guy here.

Thread title:

Alright, I've already brought up my return to this forum, but my rush to get back into speedrunning is complicated by a couple of issues.  First, school.  I basically can't do any speedrun practice until I get finished with this semester, which happens around mid-May.  Second, LPing.  I'd gone from straight-up speedrunning to primarily Let's Plays and now want to move into a mix of the two, so I may not be nearly as active a speedrunner/speedplanner as I was before (especially since I plan to have my Let's Plays evaluated by a separate forum before I dive too far in).  On that subject, I also may not be able to dedicate the same time depending on what job I wind up having once I'm done with this semester....

....however, those reasons are not the focus of this thread.  I want to instead hit the main complication for my return to speedrunning.  Something I'd like to call...

[b][i]MMO poisoning.[/i][/b]

Basically, in the interim between my last run and now, most of the time not spent on either work, school, or LPs was spent playing MMOs or catching up on pop culture that I actually missed in its prime, rather than playing games that didn't require a community presence to be engaging.  As a result, I'm concerned that my gaming skills have withered horribly.  If I'm going to be getting into modern speedrunning, I will need a crash course in difficult gaming.

This is where you come in.

I'm trying to put together a list of about a dozen difficult games to retrain my skills, but I'm having issues coming up with a good, wide range of proficiencies here.  So far all I've come up with is three sidescroller options.  What I'm trying to pursue is a variety covering most of the genres (sports and racing can probably be left out, but those are all) and most of the gamer proficiencies (still working on a full list of what these are).    I'm mainly focused on the PC for the time being, though, even if that means re-releases from old systems that made it to PC via a compilation (like the SEGA collections on Steam).  I do have the Wii, PS2, Gamecube (with Game Boy Player), and a 3DS, though, so those present viable options as well (as do re-releases played on those systems...).

So, what are some good solidly-difficult games I could use to reignite my gaming skills?

Current List:
1. [b]Alien Soldier[/b] (sidescroller/boss rush)
2. [b]Golden Axe 3[/b] (beat-em-up - Panther is NOT ALLOWED)
3. [b]Black Tiger[/b] (arcade 2D platformer)
4. [b]Streets of Rage 2[/b] (must do this on Mania)
5. [b]Gunstar Heroes[/b]
6. [b]Spelunky[/b]

Pursue:
-[b]Dustforce[/b]
-[b]Castlevania Bloodlines[/b]
-[b]Contra Hard Corps[/b] (US version)
-[b]Smash TV[/b]

P.S. Oh, almost forgot - I'm trying to stay away from obvious examples like Super Meat Boy and I Wanna Be The Guy here.

Sir VG

2013-04-24 05:53:39 pm

Fucking Weeaboo

Since you're listing Genesis games, might as well tack in Gunstar Heroes, Castlevania Bloodlines, and Contra: Hard Corps in there too.

mikwuyma

Edit history:

mikwuyma: 2013-04-24 05:59:13 pm

2013-04-24 05:58:59 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

If you want a hard game, don't play Golden Axe 3. The panther is way overpowered in GA3, and his forward back forward+B+C attack just kills any challenge.

If you want a challenging beat 'em up, then play arcade Final Fight, or Streets of Rage 2 on Mania.

If you want a less obvious example than Super Meat Boy (which I would recommend, btw), then you could always try out Dustforce.

AquaTiger

2013-04-24 06:20:03 pm

Never give up!

Quote from mikwuyma:

If you want a hard game, don't play Golden Axe 3. The panther is way overpowered in GA3, and his forward back forward+B+C attack just kills any challenge.

If you want a challenging beat 'em up, then play arcade Final Fight, or Streets of Rage 2 on Mania.

If you want a less obvious example than Super Meat Boy (which I would recommend, btw), then you could always try out Dustforce.

Ironically, I think I have the Streets of Rage series on a SEGA collection on my Steam account (the same collection that Alien Soldier is on).

As for the Panther in Golden Axe 3.... I know I made the text for it minuscule, but I did specifically address the Panther (or at least his special) in a footnote. I don't remember if any of the other characters had similarly-broken specials, though...

Quote from Sir VG:

Since you're listing Genesis games, might as well tack in Gunstar Heroes, Castlevania Bloodlines, and Contra: Hard Corps in there too.

Gunstar Heroes I have (again, as part of that SEGA Collection), but I'll have to see what I can do about getting my hands on Castlevania Bloodlines or Contra Hard Corps. (If I did get my hands on Contra Hard Corps, I remember one version actually having a life bar, so I need to be careful to get the version that does NOT.)

[quote="mikwuyma"]If you want a hard game, don't play Golden Axe 3. The panther is way overpowered in GA3, and his forward back forward+B+C attack just kills any challenge.

If you want a challenging beat 'em up, then play arcade Final Fight, or Streets of Rage 2 on Mania.

If you want a less obvious example than Super Meat Boy (which I would recommend, btw), then you could always try out [url=http://dustforce.com/]Dustforce[/url].[/quote]

Ironically, I think I have the Streets of Rage series on a SEGA collection on my Steam account (the same collection that Alien Soldier is on).

As for the Panther in Golden Axe 3.... I know I made the text for it minuscule, but I did specifically address the Panther (or at least his special) in a footnote.  I don't remember if any of the other characters had similarly-broken specials, though...

[quote="Sir VG"]Since you're listing Genesis games, might as well tack in Gunstar Heroes, Castlevania Bloodlines, and Contra: Hard Corps in there too.[/quote]

Gunstar Heroes I have (again, as part of that SEGA Collection), but I'll have to see what I can do about getting my hands on Castlevania Bloodlines or Contra Hard Corps.  (If I did get my hands on Contra Hard Corps, I remember one version actually having a life bar, so I need to be careful to get the version that does NOT.)

Sir VG

2013-04-24 06:25:57 pm

Fucking Weeaboo

The Japanese version of Hard Corps is the one that has the life bar. The US version doesn't have it.

Working DK

2013-04-25 11:17:25 am

Quote from mikwuyma:

If you want a challenging beat 'em up, then play arcade Final Fight.

QFT

AquaTiger

2013-04-27 12:45:01 am

Never give up!

I've chosen to add a 'pursue' list for games that I don't think I have. I MAY have to resort to emulators in a few cases, but I want to minimize that if I can help it.

Also, after the gaming competition portion of a 3-day event on campus, I've decided to add Smash TV (the arcade version if possible) to my list here. My 413k showing somehow WON that round of the competition (I didn't make it to the finals on account of poor performances in Crazy Taxi and both fighting games), but let's face it - 413k is a pathetic score for that game. No one even made it to Mutoid Man!

moooh

2013-04-27 04:20:44 am

Exoray

If you're looking for a challenging and very fun game for PC I can recommend Spelunky, a platformer with randomly generated levels. You'll die over and over again until you slowly start to get the hang of things. And even then, you'll still die plenty and it will pretty much always be your own fault too.
This game is completely free and I've sunk plenty of hours into it past month.

AquaTiger

Edit history:

AquaTiger: 2013-05-04 10:59:50 am

2013-05-04 10:58:42 am

Never give up!

So I decided I'd get started on this list of games (will add Spelunky to it later).

Alien Soldier I know I've been able to get to level 10 in, but Streets of Rage 2... well, if it's worth anything, I was actually able to make it to the Stage 2 boss on one continue in Mania... on my second try. About 50% of my strategy so far has been resorting to the move where you tap twice in one direction (there seems to be no dash, otherwise I'd call it a dash attack) and attack (in Blaze's case, I describe it as a "flying axehandle"). Can't do that on Electras (the whip girls) because their reach is beyond the range of the move, so I zigzag into a grab and body slam them instead (which I hesitated to do because of my experience with the Signals, who seem to be able to win grab initiative even if I stun them first - luckily they seem to be the only common grabber). I may also need to replace my controller soon, because the other issue with the "flying axehandle" is that I sometimes wind up having to tap more than twice to make the move work - which in Mania, means I get into a situation where Soul Fire (direction + special button) winds up saving me faster.

And while on the subject of health-draining moves, I have been getting into WAY too many situations in Mania where using the special actually saves me lots of health.

So I decided I'd get started on this list of games (will add Spelunky to it later).

Alien Soldier I know I've been able to get to level 10 in, but Streets of Rage 2... well, if it's worth anything, I was actually able to make it to the Stage 2 boss on one continue in Mania... on my second try.  About 50% of my strategy so far has been resorting to the move where you tap twice in one direction (there seems to be no dash, otherwise I'd call it a dash attack) and attack (in Blaze's case, I describe it as a "flying axehandle").  Can't do that on Electras (the whip girls) because their reach is beyond the range of the move, so I zigzag into a grab and body slam them instead (which I hesitated to do because of my experience with the Signals, who seem to be able to win grab initiative even if I stun them first - luckily they seem to be the only common grabber).  I may also need to replace my controller soon, because the other issue with the "flying axehandle" is that I sometimes wind up having to tap more than twice to make the move work - which in Mania, means I get into a situation where Soul Fire (direction + special button) winds up saving me faster.

And while on the subject of health-draining moves, I have been getting into WAY too many situations in Mania where using the special actually saves me lots of health.

X

2013-05-11 06:19:31 pm

destroy them with lazers

Streets of Rage Remake

http://www.bombergames.net/sorr_project/

AquaTiger

2013-05-23 06:52:58 pm

Never give up!

So after about a week of intense gaming while I pack to move across the country, I ran into a setback with completing games. As a sidetrack from the dedicated list I have been building here, I decided to bring out Serious Sam: The Second Encounter and see if I could beat it on the third difficulty. (I was not going any higher.)

By about level 3, I already admitted defeat and 'skipped' an area (to put it delicately). By about level 6, I fully snapped. Serious Sam has seriously ruined my FPS groove, maybe not as bad as Red Faction II (for the PS2 no less) did, but still pretty badly.

Not sure how this will affect my 'rehab' though - I get the impression that FPSes are not my thing, barring something like Trespasser (which hardly counts).

FlamingMage

2013-05-24 03:19:04 pm

Dark Souls has a PC version and is notorious for difficulty. Mastering it has made me a far better general gamer and really helped my reaction times and analytical thinking, especially the PvP.