Game Club 2017 (April) - Pit Pot

[barney]

Game Club 2017 (April) - Pit Pot

Well this was a tough choice - I wanted to pick a childhood favourite, but also wanted to give the Game Club a slight change of pace - and so in the end I went for:



I have to apologise to our American friends who were deprived of this awesome little puzzle game - it was released as a standalone title in Japan, and on a combo cart (with Astro Warrior) in Europe, but never made it across the pond to the US.

The aim of the game is to rescue the princess by collecting three treasures in each level. Sounds easy (there's only four levels) - but it quickly gets pretty tricky, and I don't think I've ever completed the game (I refuse to cheat, no matter how frustrating the game gets). That should change this month though, I'm determined to put the effort in and finally beat it!

For those who don't have it, there is a scan of the manual here.

It's a really quirky, fun, underrated game with an irritatingly-catchy soundtrack - I hope you guys enjoy it.

[Kaunisto]

I'm in with emulator as usual.

First try - without reading the manual/instructions, as is my habit - on Practice: "not enough treasure to save the princess"

[barney]

Apr 2, 2017 11:31:15 GMT Kaunisto said:

I'm in with emulator as usual.

First try - without reading the manual/instructions, as is my habit - on Practice: "not enough treasure to save the princess"

You need three treasures before you can rescue the princess, and you probably haven't found the ring yet. The manual kind of explains it, but sometimes items are hidden and you have to break blocks to reveal them. Try breaking a couple of blocks which will make a whole platform collapse...

[ian]

Excellent choice again. This is one of those early games I've never really given a chance because I've taken one look at it and considered it to be a bit primitive. Graphically it definitely has the look of an 8-bit computer title.

But thanks to game club, I've put some time into the game and have quite enjoyed it. The gameplay is simple but the puzzle/strategy elements make it interesting. It can get quite addictive and the scoring system gives it some replayability.

I also love the map layouts and references. Everyone should give this a go.

[Deleted]

First time I have played it and probably not something I would not of picked because the box looks boring, but actually my sort of game it's weirdly addictive and I love puzzle games. The music I like, so when you take the wrong door and end up somewhere you have already been, it's not as annoying.
The princess is abit of a b*tch though, killing me for not getting the right amount of treasure...... someone's a little power hungry;)
Good pick

[nearbythiscafe]

We played this last night and I was presently surprised. This game has sat on my shelf for well over a year and if it wasn't for the game club it probably would of remained there.

First impressions when I switched it on were the music, very catchy (reminds me of another game but I cant remember which one?). The graphics are basic but colourful and along with the music it makes for a very playable game.

I will certainly be giving this a good go over the next month. If I had owned this back in the day I would definitely have been addicted, a great choice for the game club!

[Kaunisto]

I do like having different kinds of game overs, "not enough treasure", "missing one treasure", "lost the princess" (of course I had to try that).

Finished Practice, moving on...

[ShadowAngel]

Apr 2, 2017 22:02:53 GMT ian said:

Graphically it definitely has the look of an 8-bit computer title.

So it should feel right at home on an 8-bit computer which the Master System/Mark III is

Having the first level spell out "GO" is kind of fun touch.

I'm not that much into puzzle games (i like some and some can be addictive) and this one is horribly outdated and just slow, boring, old...i don't want to be a party pooper though

[barney]

Apr 2, 2017 22:02:53 GMT ian said:

This is one of those early games I've never really given a chance because I've taken one look at it and considered it to be a bit primitive.

Apr 3, 2017 6:45:03 GMT mrsmith89 said:

First time I have played it and probably not something I would not of picked because the box looks boring

Apr 3, 2017 7:51:36 GMT nearbythiscafe said:

This game has sat on my shelf for well over a year and if it wasn't for the game club it probably would of remained there.

Apr 4, 2017 17:30:05 GMT ShadowAngel said:

this one is horribly outdated and just slow, boring, old...i don't want to be a party pooper though

This is exactly what the game club is about - trying something you maybe wouldn't otherwise play. Not everyone will like every game, but it's a good reason to give them all a shot. I'm glad to see people playing (and in some cases enjoying) this great little title.

[Kaunisto]

Man, the Beginner is a whole lot longer, harder and more complicated than Practice.

The SE and GA rooms are a nice detail.

[playgeneration]

I've given this a bit of a play this morning, I have played it before but it didn't leave much of an impression. I quite like the game, but its early 32kb card origins definitely stick out, and you can see why it wasn't released as a stand alone cartridge. I think if Sega had put a bit more work into it then it could have been released without Astro Warrior. With a bit of extra space there could have been some more tile graphics to help differentiate between the rooms, perhaps then the games manual wouldn't have had to recommend drawing a map.

I think the collision detection could be better too, you really have to hit early with the hammer. I find it a bit too frustrating as it is, although I very much appreciate that the game doesn't punish you too much as you can't walk off the paths and die. It feels a bit like an expanded Pac Man at times, when you avoid enemies that have a movement pattern. It also reminds me a bit of Zelda too, however Pit Pot came out a year earlier, if the game had been expanded a bit with an inventory and such, it may well be more fondly remembered.

[Transatlantic Foe]

Gave this a go without first reading the manual... so literally no idea about the hidden items or the fact that you can walk through dragons.

Collision detection is a huge weakness, I've had enemies sneak in during a hammer swing and kill me without touching me. But often I just mash the button and anything a block away is killed. Also you need to face the direction you want to swing in, which is tricky in a tight spot as you can't really turn - so if you're facing a wall and want to turn to hammer an enemy, chances are you'll tap a direction but lurch right into it. All this really shows the game's age and while the turning issue you can get around, the dodgy collision detection can get pretty unfun. Definitely needs a map too, very confusing without one! The enemy respawn rate is pretty fast too, which dials a lot of the strategy down to luck - cutting off enemy paths and making your own routes was what I thought the block-breaking was all about when I first started, so it was a bit disappointing to see this often undone by semi-random spawn points. It made a few screens little more than a mad dash behind monsters.

Needing hidden things to progress is pretty cheap (though not as painful as it must've been trying to get through The Ninja when it was first out, with its hidden scroll) and I can imagine is going to be frustrating on higher difficulties/larger maps. I'll give it another go at some point with a pencil and paper on hand, because its issues are basically down to it being an early game. It is disappointing that there's not more scope for strategic block-breaking, but on the whole it's quite good fun.

[Kaunisto]

(I ended up trading away my The Ninja after going past level 12 enough times.)

I gave up already on the Beginner and looked a walkthrough to see where the damn ring is. I don't think I would've ever figured that out...

I didn't realize (still not having thoroughly read manual) that you get different ending depending which treasures you have; I though it was just about how many of them you had. Guess I'll have to check out all the endings with Practice.
(Based on the walkthrough/FAQ I think I've seen all but one.)


Excuse the minor spoiler, but you might want to know (and would figure out soon enough if trying to seriously play them): apparently the map sizes for the four difficulties are 2X2 rooms, 4X4, 6X6 and 8X8.



Edit: while in Beginner I needed help for one detail, with Average I just gave up and went full cheats and walkthrough to check how it is. And I don't think I'll even try expert...

25 years ago - when I had thousand times less games available - I can imagine fighting this game much more seriously, but nowadays I no longer have sportsmanship for that.

[Centrale]

I fired up Pit-Pot a couple of weeks ago and fumbled around in it a bit, without having read the manual. My takeaway impression was that it reminded me a little bit of Adventure on the Atari 2600... like an evolved version as one would expect after several years of progress in game design. I like the funky, cartoony illustrations on the walls. And like many of the earliest games for the SMS, it seems very simple at first but has some depth that isn't immediately apparent.

After playing I read through the manual and gained a much better understanding. I was also impressed that the PAL manual seems to be written in a more playful, almost conversational tone than most of the NTSC manuals. Actually I wonder if it might be a fairly direct translation from the Japanese manual.

[Rastanfarian]

May 1, 2017 12:08:41 GMT retrokevretro said:

Game Club 2017 (May) - Sonic Chaos

The original Sonic the Hedgehog is my all time favourite sms game but having played it to death, I wanted to explore another Sonic game that I never played back in the day as like many others, I had moved on to the megadrive before it's release. From what I have heard, this is quite a simple and easy game to complete but if it's anything like the original Sonic, it should have plenty of replay value. Unfortunately this game didn't see a release in the US but hopefully you guys have emulators or everdrives.

Hey buddy, sorry I didn't get a chance to message you prior to the new month... Anyways, start a new thread here in the Game Club Section with your game title and the month/year, then the discussion can begin
Btw Nice choice of game, I like to see the variety we have been getting since the game club relaunch.