Shadow of the Beast 2 is a great game.. the design was somewhat unfair which led many to discount the game right away before really giving it a chance. It's true that there are a lot of dead ends if you don't do things in the correct order and if you fail to solve a puzzle within a few seconds of encountering it (the drawbridge one), but other than that it's a really cool and atmospheric game.
Shadow of the Beast 1 on the other hand is overrated.. it's ok but nothing special other than the graphics and sound.
Another game I enjoyed a lot was Colorado.. it's a lengthy longplay as it was pretty long by the standards for such games back then. The controls are rather sluggish and the very small inventory space is annoying but for some reason I really like it. The graphics are very nice and even without music there is a lot of atmosphere in that one too.
Oh and of course there are the Last Ninja games.. I don't even have to comment on those, everyone who was a gamer back then knows everything there is to know about those
The Amiga versions might be interesting to have a look at though as not by far as many people have bothered to finish those.
Last Ninja 2 for the Amiga was a real pain to finish.. that's the longplay I've had the least fun making. It was such a sluggish and terrible port, I just finished it as I felt I had to since I was going to make longplays of the two other and much better Last Ninja games for the Amiga.
Last Ninja 1 for the Amiga (called Last Ninja Remix) was a pretty decent effort. The graphics are nice enough and the remixes of the C64 tunes are pretty nice. It has one major flaw however - the enemies are FAR too easy to defeat. They were easy enough in the C64 version but in the Amiga version they have removed all challenge from them. Once you get one hit in, you can just keep hitting and they won't attack back.
Last Ninja 3 for the Amiga is my favourite port. It's the only one done internally by System 3 and it shows. It has new puzzles, two additional stages, new music (which is pretty good) and the graphics are very nice.
However, one design aspect is very flawed - there is no way to really become good at fighting. In order to deal damage, you have to take damage as well. There is no way of blocking or anything like that so you end up avoiding all the enemies you can except when you want to work on your Bushido.
Another annoying thing about this game is how they changed the controls.. took some time getting used to.
But other than that, I think it's a solid port.. very cool game, only takes a little patience to begin with.
Oh yeah, this version also has different bosses for each stage whereas the C64 version used the same guy every time (except for the final boss of course). And the bosses in the Amiga version requires a specific weapon to be killed.. only one weapon will work on each of them so you have to figure out which one to use.
Whoah.. didn't plan to write that much but when I get started on old games I like, there's really no stopping me. Sorry everyone
