Good review, but I wouldn't really say it was the father of all RPG's in terms of story. The Ultima games, not to mention the Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, were around much, much earlier than Final Fantasy. FF took inspiration from Dragon Warrior, which in turn took inspiration from Ultima, and that took inspiration from D&D. But, like I said, good review anyway.

Fairly simple. Someone will post a screenshot of a game and the next poster will try to guess what game and system it is. If they are incorrect, whoever posted the screenshot will tell them so and another person will get a chance to go. Depending on the content of their answer, they'll get a certain amount of points for whatever they guessed right. Example:

[ screenshot of the genesis version of B.O.B ]

Poster 1 says: B.O.B for SNES

Poster 2 says: B.O.B for GEN.

In this situation they will both get a point, 1 point will go to Poster 1 for guessing the game right, and one point will go to Poster 2 for guessing the system right. In a different situation, however, things get a bit more complicated:

[ screenshot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist / Shredder's Revenge / Return ]

Poster 1 says: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in time for SNES.

Poster 2 says: TMNT: Hyperstone Heist (or Shredder's Revenge / return, since they're the same game, just a different localized name).

Poster 1 gets no points, while Poster 2 gets 2 points for guessing both the name of the game and the correct system.

There's one more situation, and this is usually the most difficult especially if someone knows what they're doing (it's also the biggest point earner):

[ cropped screenshot of Raiden Trad for SNES ]

Poster 1 says: Raiden for TG-16

Poster 2 says: Raiden Trad for SNES

Poster 1 gets no points, while Poster 2 gets three points for guessing the right system and game while the image was cropped.

This will be a game in four quarters. The first quarter will start today, and end on Saturday, June 1st, 2013 at 12:00 AM PST. Whoever has the most points at the end of each quarter will start off the next quarter by posting a screenshot of their chosen game. At the end of the game itself, whoever has the most points will get a special prize from me (mostly in the form of Viz, a short story, a poem, or a recognition in my signature that you are the victor of 2013's Screenshot Game). Nobody is exempt from participating in the game, and everybody has a fair chance at winning.

Seems simple enough, right? That's the premise behind the game. Now some ground rules for posting screenshots. . .

• No screenshots of hacks for any game, unless the graphics are distinguishable enough from the original game. Good examples: Super Metroid: Phazon Hack, Castlevania: Chorus of Mysteries. Bad examples: 99% of Pokemon hacks, some Sonic hacks, any hacks that are just translation hacks.
  
• No screenshots of an already posted game, makes it too easy.
  
• Speaking of easy, make the screenshots of a generally unknown game, or at least cropped enough so it isn't instantly recognizable. There'd be no point to winning the game if every screenshot was of a Mario, Zelda, Sonic, etc. game.
  
• No hints unless the screenshot has been unknown for more than a week. Hints can be given in the form of a name of a character (other than the main), another screenshot, a description of a level, etc.
  
• Any game that is on Vizzed is acceptable.
  
• You don't have to make the screenshot yourself, you can simply google the game and take one off of images, but be sure to change it enough so that someone can't use reverse image search. 
• Be sure to change the file name too! Don't want people to just look at the file name, it'd be cheating. ;]
  

That's about it for everything, really. I hope you all understand the rules of this game, and I hope everybody has fun!

To start it off, I'll add a screenshot. Good luck all!





Edit: No guesses? Here's a hint, the game name has Hero in the title.


Image upload: 343x111 totaling 8 KB's.

The last Metroid

 is in captivity.

   The galaxy is at peace. . .

So began my childhood. Or, well, the great majority of it anyways. The first game I ever played was Metroid for the NES, when I was 2. I beat it when I was 4. I know, hard to believe without proof, so you just have to take my word on this. I am a huge Metroid fan. When I first played it, I was blown away, as blown away as a 2 year could get anyways. Needless to say, it was frustrating. I had no idea where to go, it was hard, and the game was creepy. But I loved it. I still do.

But then Super Metroid came out. Super Metroid with its voice acting, which I never knew a game could do. Super Metroid with its awe inspiring music. Super Metroid with its crisp graphics. But most importantly. .

Super Metroid was Super. And it always will hold a dear, dear place in my heart. Now, for the review, and I will try to be as unbiased as popular, but some fanboyism might seep through. I apologize ahead of time.

First and foremost is the Game play:

I give the game play an 8 out of 10. And the reason it doesn't get a perfect score is because of one fatal flaw (in my opinion anyways), which I will get to in a bit. Overall, it's Metroid, enhanced and upgraded to feel more fluid and free. For those of you who aren't terribly familiar with the Metroid series, it's an 'open-world action adventure game' akin to The Legend of Zelda, if not nearly identical in terms of game play. Though, in my opinion, the Metroid series does a far better job at getting its point across which is - isolation.

No other game has made me feel as alone and as desperate as Super Metroid. Other than the scene at the beginning of the game where you hand over [SPOILER] the Infant Metroid from Metroid II to the Galactic Federation[/SPOILER], you have no contact with outside forces at all. In fact, in the opening sequence of the game, you come across researchers who perished at the hand of Ridley, leading commander of the Space Pirates. Right then and there, I felt that this was serious, that I would be all alone for the rest of the game. And I was. The only living beings you have to keep you company are the native life forms, which, excluding the Etecoons and the Dechoras, all have it out for you. Not to mention that you [SPOILER]explode the planet at the end of the game, eradicating all life on the planet. [/SPOILER].

But, despite all of this awesomeness, there is the giant flaw I mentioned earlier.

Play the game the first time, and it is mind-bendingly awesome. You have little to no clue as to where to go next, you don't know what's around the corner (or, in this case, in the next screen), you don't know what weapons work on what enemies and which don't, you just don't know. You are, pretty much, thrust into Samus' shoes. You share the same bond with her - she has no idea what awaits her.

But unlike Samus, you can play the game more than once. And therein lies one of the games very few flaws. It becomes far too easy once you beat the game once. You know where to go, what to do, how to kill this boss and how to survive this room, and the list goes on. So, ignoring first time plays, this game is rather easy, unlike the original, which is still really frustrating. Again, one of its very, very few flaws in my opinion.

Overall, the game play is excellent, superb even.

Second up, most importantly, is the Control:

I give the control a perfect 10 out of 10, as not only is it fluid and easy to grasp the concept of, the game play manages to actually give you hints and tips while you're playing in the form of subtlety. It's simple, the D-pad moves Samus left and right, allowing her to crouch, and fire in all 8-directions - completely different from the left / right and up directions she was able to fire in the first game. The shoulder buttons allow her to aim easier diagonally down / up / left / right, and also makes one of the game's many secret techniques easier to use (Shinespark, which I might describe shortly). The default setting, while confusing and I personally don't use it, is the default setting so I'll describe what that configuration is.

To fire, press X, which is at the top of the SNES controller. A bit awkward, but it works for some people. When you get the Charge Beam early in the game (and it IS recommended you get it), hold down the button to charge and release to fire. To jump, press the A button, which is the red button on the right of the SNES controller. Considering that, to dash, you have to hold B, your fingers have to do some odd twisting around to actually manage to do anything with the configuration. Pressing whatever jump button you've configured, Samus jumps. To spin jump, hold left or right while jumping, and to wall jump. . well that's a bit complicated. Jump against most wall surfaces with a spin jump, then press right if the wall is on the left side, or left if the wall is on the right side, and when Samus' frame changes to when she's pushing off the wall, immediately press the jump button. It's a tricky maneuver, but if you pull it off, you can get to a lot of different places. The remaining button, Y, allows you to cancel your item selection (done by pressing select) so you have a faster time selecting items.

When you get the Morph Ball at the beginning of the game, press down twice to morph. When you get the Bombs shortly after, morph, then press whatever button you've assigned to shoot, and you'll lay a bomb. Simple enough, right?

Overall, these are very fluid controls, and as responsive as any game can really get.

Next up is the Graphics:

The graphics get a perfect 10 out of 10. This is one of the shining aspects of the game. The graphics are colorful when they need to be (Red, Pink, Blue & Green Brinstar) and dreary, desolate when they need to be (every area other than Brinstar, pretty much.) Each enemy has nicely animated movements, and Samus is very, very well animated. The many frames of animation for her alone are something for any game designer, or simply anybody to marvel at. The areas themselves are very well designed, and the heated rooms in Norfair and Lower Norfair are simply awe-inspiring. There's a few rooms in particular that I enjoy a lot, and those are the rooms with these firefly type enemies that, when you kill them, the room gets darker. The background in those rooms have a pulsing light, and it's really awesome to see the graphics engine on the SNES pushed to its utmost extreme with Super Metroid.

The bosses are well designed as well, with some of the most imaginative designs I've ever seen in a game up to the release of SM. Kraid is probably my favorite in the game, since he's this huge, room filling creature that is certain to intimidate newcomers to the game. The scales on him stand out as they would on an actual reptilian creature of that size (as much as possible on a 2-D surface, anyways). My second favorite is the final boss, both the first form and second. For spoilers sake I won't mention the name but the second form is among the creepiest looking creatures in a game ever. It's not as big as Kraid, although it is still quite gargantuan. The mechanical parts mixed with the organic parts shine nicely against the background of the arena.

The underwater areas are something to be mentioned as well, as few as they are, they are extremely well done, with one area in particular taking place almost entirely underwater. There's the nice ambient sound of bubbles escaping from Samus' helmet (along with the nice graphic) and, although the water isn't given any sound on its own, there is the sound of Samus entering and exiting the water to appreciate.

Speaking of sound:

I give the music and sound effects in this game another perfect 10. The soundtrack in this game is something I still listen to this day, and is probably one of the most atmospheric soundtracks I've ever heard. Like the graphics, the music is relaxing when it needs to be, and creepy at the same time, and in some areas, it's threatening and suspenseful. There are plenty of music tracks, 39 in total, to keep the player entertained and creeped out while traveling through the giant maze that is Zebes.

The many sounds in this game are excellent as well, from the roars of Kraid and Ridley (not to mention the final boss), to the shot effects of your many beam upgrades.

Story. . where to begin with the story of this game? It's complicated, since many people will say it doesn't have a story, but the thing with that is that it certainly does. Only, it's not thrown in the player's face with massive amounts of text (not to say those types of games are bad, in fact I quite enjoy them), it's masterfully woven into the game play and the player's own sense of fear and loneliness.

I give the story an 8 out of 10, as, while I personally think the story is great, it can be confusing for newcomers to the series, even with the help of the background information given to them at the beginning of the game.

Here's what the story is at the time of Super Metroid:

Samus Aran is an intergalactic bounty hunter renowned for her constant defeat of the Space Pirates and eradication of the Metroid threat on SR388, their home world. By the time Super Metroid rolls around, she's lost her parents to Space Pirates, lost the Chozos who helped raise her, lost her commander during her time in the military, she has thwarted the Space Pirates a total of four times, defeated a clone of herself made entirely out of the otherworldly substance known as Phazon, defeated her closest friends who were infected with Phazon, and eradicated the threat of Metroids in the galaxy. At the end of Metroid II, she finds an unhatched Metroid egg, which she prepares to destroy, but it hatches and the infant Metroid takes to her like a mother. Hesitant to destroy the harmless infant, she takes it with her to drop it off at Ceres Station, a Galactic Research facility, so that they can study the Metroid's energy producing qualities for the benefit of mankind. As she's leaving the station to search for a new bounty, she receives a distress call from the station, and she rushes to find it empty and the scientists dead. Deep within the facility, she encounters an old nemesis, Ridley, the Space Pirate general who attacked and murdered her parents as a child. He has the infant Metroid in his grasp, and, desperate to end his life and protect the galaxy again, she fights with him. He doesn't go down, instead flying out of the station and triggering the self-destruct sequence. Samus escapes the station on her ship and tracks Ridley to the nearby planet of. . Zebes? She had fought the Pirates here once before, in her so-called Zero Mission, and it seems they made yet another base of operations. She had called this place home once, back when the Chozos were still around, so she is hell bent on taking care of the Pirate threat once and for all.

Without some of the fluff I added, most of that story is covered in the opening text, up until the point where Samus arrives at the station. The brilliance of the story is that it's revealed slowly but surely with visual cues, and relies more on the player to piece together what has happened so far rather than relying on in-your-face exposition. Overall, the story is extremely well done and is one of the best science fiction stories I've had the pleasure of experiencing, though despite all that it could be confusing for people who haven't played the previous games.

Now for the final section of this review, the amount of depth this game has is pretty staggering, and could be intimidating for new players. There's plenty to do, with the game itself taking a good while to beat if you're unsure as to what to do. Not only that, there's plenty of secret areas to find and a lot of items to collect, which is enough to keep any player busy for a good while.

A bit unconventional, but there nonetheless, are the game's challenges which were created by fans of the game. These are: Suitless Run, where you go through the game with the beginning suit, challenging as heck since you move slowly underwater, you take damage from the heated rooms which then requires you to do challenging heat runs and all manner of things. The Reverse Boss Order, which requires some fancy sequence breaking, is one of the tougher ones, making the player fight the bosses (excluding the final boss, IIRC) in reverse order. Since the later bosses are challenging on their own, doing so with limited energy and equipment makes it even harder.

There are plenty other challenges, and there's the unconventional technique of sequence breaking which allows players to go to places or do things they're not supposed to do with their current equipment, and all-in-all, it makes for the game being extremely replayable. I still play it often myself, and don't get me started on the hacks of the game, some of which are just as amazing as the original game!

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this review, found it informative, and hopefully it's gotten to make you want to play the game if you haven't already. And if you haven't, go do it! The massive maze of Zebes is waiting to draw you into it's clutches.

See you next mission!

Oh, lo!
  behold mine eyes as they bare witness to the
  startling transition of man-into-reptile, legs of scaly
  origin, and fork’d tongue likened to that of the Devil himself.
hark,!
  thine pleasantries are notwithstanding a beautiful scarlet
  path down a road seldom heard or seen since the Argonauts
  themselves traveled it; but ho! what bottom creature creeps
  the deep sleep of scaly feet?
Lo!
  the lonesome Devil bemoans the loss of his sight
  which was conceived in the deepest pits of Tartarus,
  O’ multifaceted many wing’d angel - do you not see
  mine own careful trespass of thine own land?

HP50,

   Well, regardless of the origin of your account, welcome to the site and I hope you have a lot of fun!

- - ARLD 'Richard'.

Hey, U.ish,

   Not sure about Mega Race. I've never heard of it -- although that might be because I'm only 20 years old. There's plenty of Final Fantasy games for you to play on here, from the first game on NES, to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for GBA. Some of my favorites, in order, are:

1. Final Fantasy VI / III (SNES [4 or 5 versions on here, some hacked, some improved translations], GBA)
2. Final Fantasy IV / II (SNES [about the same as VI], GBA)
3. Final Fantasy X (PS2) I mention this because you can find it for relatively cheap at any used game store. Fifteen is the most I've seen for the game. But, you might not have a PS2, so. . . then again, you can buy a PS2 for about 25 dollars nowadays, at least down here in Southern California.
   

Of course, they have Final Fantasy 1 through 6, Tactics Advance, and plenty of different hacks (or modifications if you will) for you to try out! Word of advice, each Final Fantasy game is set in a different world / universe, so don't expect the same characters in VI to be in IV, and so on.

Well, there you go! Hope you have fun on Vizzed, U.ish! If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a message! I'll try to answer back as quickly as I can. Cheers!

- - ARLD 'Richard'.

Davideo7,

Nice job! I'm sure this will be a great and welcome addition to the site!

- - ARLD 'Richard'

Crazy Li,

   "Some people forget when critiquing writing that writers have a bit of artistic liberty."

   I didn't forget, I just stated my particular experience with the poem, which is usually what a critic does. Never said that you always have to follow the rules or standards, heck, I don't even do that 99.9% of the time with my poetry. I simply mentioned that because as I was reading it, the flow was nice, but then that broken up portion took me out of the mood, and I personally felt it was odd. I suggested some changes because I didn't want to assume he did it purposely, nor did I want to just say "Hey, didn't like that change, it was stupid.".

   Either way, if I came off as too critical or too mean, I deeply apologize and did not mean to. Thanks!

- - ARLD, 'Richard'.

legacyme3,

   I see. I will definitely check out your other works. As I said before, nice job, and I hope to read more recent pieces from you.

- - ARLD 'Richard'.

P.S. Sorry for the 1 year late reply to this thread.

GuardianZack,

   This seems to have the same issue Ghost.Busters' poem has, as it definitely seems more like a song than a poem. Although, to be fair, most (if not all) early poetry was sung to the general public so I can't knock this poem / song too much. I could sit here and try to figure out a rhyme scheme for this, which from what I gathered is like:

A
A
A
B
A
C
A
D
E
F
A

It's very unorthodox to have a rhyme scheme like that in a piece like this, structured much like a song that lacks a chorus (although it does have the refrain line; "That makes me a living defect"). All in all, this is a good piece, although not as good as your other piece, Symphony of Sorrow, which had excellent visual description. It can use some work, but so can everything I write, too. Nice job, GuardianZack!

- - ARLD 'Richard'.

legacyme3,

   The poem was flowing quite nicely until the fifth 'stanza', where it abruptly breaks from the four line form you set in the other stanzas. Which is funny, because there's three lines after that, which could have been neatly combined to form an actual fifth stanza. It would have kept in line with the rest of the poem, and perhaps would have drawn in the reader much easier than this mostly neat poem.

   That being said, I do agree with megamanmaniac on the depressing comment. If that was the direction you were going with, then congratulations, in any other situation, though, this seems a bit too forced. I can't exactly comment or criticize most of the emotions contained in this piece since, after all, poetry is owned only by the poet and not the person critiquing. I will, mention, however that not all poetry has to be dark and depressing, so if you feel the need to write more poetry (unless you're feeling in that particular mood), try your hand at upbeat pieces as well. With your words, that type of poem would suit you quite well.

   Also, I do have to mention the abrupt curse word in the third line. Cursing, in and of itself, is fine in poetry, so long as it remains consistent and keeps in well with the flow of the poem. I certainly don't recommended cursing more in your poems, but if you ever come back around to edit this piece, I suggest removing it completely from the piece, as it does seem mostly out of place. Keep up the good work, though, legacyme3!

- - ARLD 'Richard'.

Ghost.Busters,

   Alright, there's a couple things I have to say about this poem.

Nice job on referencing (even if unintentionally) Age of Empires: The Conquerors.
This isn't exactly a poem, it's more like verses from a hip-hop song based on the complexities, difficulties and intricacies of living life in the various ages this world has experienced.
   Your idea is good, but try refining it into a tighter form, traditional poetry maybe, with a rhyme scheme of ABBA ABBA CDCD, or many others. If you're up for it, and you do try to refine it, please post your results here! I would enjoy seeing the improvements.

- - ARLD 'Richard'.

GuardianZack,

   It's certainly very descriptive, however. . use of punctuation, even in poetry, can improve the quality tenfold. The first line could benefit from a comma after dying, like so:

"The dying, radiating sun. . ."

As it stands at the moment, the majority of this poem seems like a run-on paragraph, excluding the periods and the rather appropriately placed comma in the third stanza, first line. I get that it's a poem, and it's not supposed to have such grammar-perfection laced in between the lines, but the way this one is structured, as I mentioned before, it could definitely benefit from a few well-placed punctuation marks. Good job, though, in the descriptive sense!

- - ARLD 'Richard'.

let us talk about the sunset,
now
and how it pertains to you,
your smile,
and your shyness.

               let us take a moment to talk about nightfall,
               and why you shy away from the light, then,
               as if to hide away from the beauty
               i see every time I look in the mirror;
               shattered or not.

                                      let us talk,
                               hand in hand about the sunrise
                          and why it pertains to your laughter,
                                      your lips,
                          and how they intertwine with mine.

©2013 Virgil Rothenbach

tRIUNE,

   Hm. Thanks, I'll probably try that sometime tonight.

- - ARLD 'Richard'.

Vizzed,

   Not -exactly- what I was looking for, but thanks anyways guys! :]

- - ARLD 'Richard'.

Hey there, folks!

   Just wondering if it was possible to resize the actual emulation screen, and -not- the window itself? Some games are plenty colorful and, though I have really good eyesight, the increased size of the view field hurts my eyes after a while. If this isn't possible, -could- it be possible? I've checked the threads located here:

Vizzed Board - Retro Game Room - Adjusting Screen

But none of them seem to answer my question, and lean more towards issue with bad cropping or horrible zooming in / out.

Thanks ahead of time!

- - ARLD 'Richard'

Vizzed,

   Thanks so much for the warm welcome guys! I'm already having lots of fun on here, and I've only tested out two games! Ha! That should tell you something about this site.

   On a side note, I'm really, really, really enjoying this post editor. I'm a formatting geek, and love formatting when possible, just because. Baha. So many options. So little time. Why, Vizzed, why do you do this to me!?

- -    ARLD

patar4097 :

   I'm a fan of pretty much every genre out there. Lately I've been in the action mood, fast-paced, nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat explosions! So, pretty much every game on here then. Some of my favorite series are (in no particular order), Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, Metroid, Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania, Zelda, and many others!