Started playing the Genesis version of this last night. >Soundtrack

>>3707631
>My only criticism is that it's short, is there anything similar out there?
No. And that's exactly why it's "underrated".

>underrated

It's on almost every top list of Genesis games, it's very very popular.

I like the art style and concept, but was never a big fan of the gameplay and overall game design.

>is there anything similar out there?

Comix Zone is one of a kind. Sorry anon.
If you're looking for a strange unique game though, give The Ooze a try. I've never played it longer than an hour, but its interesting.

>>3707639
>It's on almost every top list of Genesis games, it's very very popular

That's surprising to me, because nobody ever seems to discuss it. I'm genuinely shocked it's never spawned any proper sequels, spin-offs, etc. It's such a smart idea for a game.

I like how the composer used the shitty GEMS sound driver and still managed to make an incredibly good grunge soundtrack.

>>3707631
>My only criticism is that it's short,
beat it already?

>is there anything similar out there?
Viewtiful Joe perhaps

I guess it's too 90s and too American for Sega to ever bring it back

If you dehydrated America in the 90's down it's most distilled elements, you would take out a functioning Comix Zone cartridge.

The fingerless gloves, the blonde ponytail, the shorts, the fart humor, comic books, the crazy sunglasses, misspelling words with Xs, the works.

It's Double Dragon Neon for the 90s except it's actually made in the 90s.

>>3707631
>My only criticism is that it's short

This. The game needed at least one more chapter. Too bad we will never saw a sequel. Wouldn't trust current Sega to do it right but could you imagine what another Comix Zone game could of looked like on either the Saturn or DC?

>>3707646
> nobody ever seems to discuss it.
There's not much to discuss. It's too short and it's really more like an adventure game. Every part boils down to "you either pick the obvious way and have it repetitive and hard, or you pick the slightly hidden other way and breeze through it piss easy". So once you beat it, there's not that much left to explore; sure, you can speedrun it, but that's about it.

It's the kind of a game like Out of this World/Flashback. Half of it is just scripted stuff. Everything is either totally linear, or branches out just to get linear again. You beat the game once, and it feels empty; you don't want to go back to it.

If it was a true beat 'em up/action, then things could have been different. But the combat system, though seemingly cool, suffers from being just a secondary element. The scripted feel and the linearity killed it for me after the first run. It's still a hell of a game, but I feel it could have been way more than just a thinly veiled adventure game.

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This game is the most underrated:
Eurogamer 6/10
Game Informer (GC) 6.75/10
(PS2) 6.5/10
Game Revolution C+
GameSpot 6.2/10
GameSpy 2/5 stars
GameZone 6.9/10
IGN 7/10
(GC) 6/10
Nintendo Power (GC) 3.9/5
(GBA) 3.8/5[23]
OPM (US) 3/5 stars
OXM (US) 4.4/10
PC Gamer (UK) 46%
It's 9 of 10, I think. "Comix Zone" is the top-10 game for "SEGA".

lets be honest, the whole genesis library is underrated
do you know how many people i've seen who have a genesis and always just have sonic 2 stuck in there?

>>3707786

Will it fill the Ecco-shaped hole in my heart?

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>>3707796
>lets be honest, the whole genesis library is underrated

sssshhhhhhh don't broadcast that. I don't know about you but I'm still picking up gen games for cheap. So until prices get to SNES retarded levels, let's keep this "secret" to ourselves


:^)

>>3707762
wasn't there a comic book-like beat 'em all inspired from comix zone on the xbox?

oh, and was there anything worth it in the prototype (joe pencil in the comix zone or something like that)?

>>3707631
Comix Zone always was a game that I admired but really never played any far (only stage 1 part 2 max), however I actually played it last week and beated it, finally.

The game is pretty good, punching and kicking actually feels pretty good when you know the moves, some games like the first Double Dragon or Final Fight feels pretty repetitive in the last half, I didn't felt that with Comix Zone, the platforming elements and item management adds a good variety to the game, you have more stuff going on besides just kicking butts in every single single screen.

I also have some issues, though:

>It's too short
Just like you said, one extra chapter with two more acts would make the length much more acceptable.

>The final boss could be better
He's pretty straighfoward, the boss doesn't do anything really flashy like the Magician and just walks around following you, it's pretty easy to trap him in a pattern and hit the 5 rocket fires in him, easy and quick, he feels kinda underwhelming compared to the rest of the game.

>In the desert level you can skip the hard sections pretty easily using Roadkill for a secret passage
More of a personal one than really a flaw, the game is already short so being allowed to skip the exciting bits of the stage should not be allowed.

Overall a great game the first time you play, it really has a "Wow! That's neat" factor that STILL hits people when they see it for the first time, it could have been a greater and more solid title with a few tweaks, but as it's still is a legitimate gem.

>>3707667

Amusingly, the JP release of Comix Zone is one of the most expensive games for the console.

>>3707631
>Genesis version

So you previously played the PC version or a version on one of those Collections released for modern consoles? But your post makes it seem like you played the game for the first time.

It's a Genesis game not a "Genesis version", stupid.

>>3707639
Don't mind the OP. he's the Turkish idiot who said that Shining Force is an underrated series.

>>3707641
There is that Spirou title on Game Boy Color and which you traverse through a comic aswell. But it ain't a beatem up and it's doesn't look as cool.

>>3707652
This, the game has a really cool 90s feeling soundtrack.

>>3707631
Its a good game, but its overrated on the internet. If you sit down and play it, the fun level is lower than it should be and frustation is too high. Thats probably why it didn't sell as much as it could. It was just a pretty good game. I'd rather play EWJ or something.

>>3707943
I mean I played the original Genesis version, as opposed to the PC release, one of the modern remasters, bundled versions or the Steam release. What about that is so objectionable to you?

>>3707946
>Turkish

Try again, m8.

>>3707932
I actually liked the feel of the combat, especially on a six-button pad where you have to manually block. Once you learn what the different moves and combos are it adds a little more depth to the game.

The shortness is the killer though, even just casually messing around with it I beat it in less than four hours.

>>3707810
This, I've been finding so many gems for that console. I think I legitimately prefer it to the SNES, even with the Mega-CD and 32X nonsense. Shame about the shithouse sound quality in the later hardware revisions...

>>3707762
I imagine a modern update could be pretty fucking fantastic if you hired an assortment of jobbing, well-loved comic artists to draw all the assets for the game. Also if you started playing around with the third dimension, i.e. travelling through the space between pages or being trapped as a tiny 2D person on the artist's full-size 3D desk for a level.

>>3707631
>Is it just me or is this game seriously underrated?
I'm legitimately curious as to how people deduce this kind of stuff.

There are very few underrated/hidden gems out there. Said games tend to be flawed but ultimately good in the own right and usually overlooked. A hidden game would be Dungeon Explorer for Sega CD, for instance. No one talks about that game and yet it's fantastic.

Comix Zone however is often noted as one of the best (or at least one of the most important) games on the system, and has been ported as a part of collections tons of times. Hell, I played through the XBLA version some seven years ago now. Even before that, it had a semi-legendary status.

In that way, just because people don't really talk about a game doesn't mean it's underrated or a hidden gem. If it's well-regarded but not often talked about then it's usually for a good reason; either discussing the game too much will hinder the overall experience (Panzer Dragoon Saga being a prime example of that), or in Comix Zone's case it's just a bit too short and straight-forward to say anything about.

This game was truly a product of its own era. Sega's people took all the awesome stuff that kids in the 90s enjoyed and/or considered cool and smashed it all into one game. The soundtrack and the 6-track CD is a blatant ripoff of Nirvana and other grunge bands from the time, fingerless gloves and overall punk outfits with weird haircuts were becoming a bit more common back then but still frowned upon by most adults, comic book heroes like Spiderman, X-men, Batman etc. had popular cartoon shows on TV and even if you didn't read the comics, you recognized these superheroes all the same.

It may seem like a genius game but in retrospect they just produced something fitting for the era and now we can hold it up like a holy relic of not just nostalgia, but an historical landmark. Similar examples of media altogether, not just videogames, are pretty easy to pinpoint exactly. Comix Zone is to 90s gaming just as The Matrix is to early 2000s cinema; ridiculously awesome for the time they came out in and highly regarded still to this day... even if they're not as substantial as they initially seem. Just like how Comix Zone is incredibly short and the combat system is mediocre, The Matrix has one too many plot holes and elements that can be easily dismissed nowadays as outdated and that would probably never work again today in a new product.

On that note, there is a clear answer as to why there has never been a follow-up or anything remotely similar to it, the only audience that loves what Comix Zone represents (such as myself) have grown up and gotten over that distinct 90s era. It's fun to reminisce but those days are over and such concepts have no real place in today's media. Comix Zone is easily in my top 5 games on the Mega Drive and I admit this is because I actually played the game back then as a kid, despite never having been a fan of comics...

I wouldn't mind seeing an indie developer coming out with something similar but I can't imagine it gaining much attention.

>>3707631
>My only criticism is that it's short

It has branching paths and quite a lot of secrets. Bet you haven't found the shortcut to pass the lava cave.

>>3707652
>I like how the composer used the shitty GEMS sound driver and still managed to make an incredibly good grunge soundtrack.

It's not the sound driver that makes a game sound shitty, it's the composer and the sound programmer. Most composers never bothered to use anything other than the default instrument patches, that's why most games sounded crap.

The ones who DID look up their custom instruments, they all sounded incredible, no matter the driver.

>>3707943
He has a point there; Comix Zone had a PC release with cd audio music (they just used the 6 music tracks from the sega tunes cd), it had a horribly mangled godawful pathetic GBA port, and it was put in a ton of emulated packages which is noteworthy because most of them used Gens derivatives which got quite a bunch of the tracks completely wrong (the game abuses the ym2612 detune bug).

>>3707646
Some great games have nothing to discuss past the walk through of it. Here's an example: Tetris is the best destruction based real time puzzle game ever made, but there is nothing to talk about Tetris.

> My only criticism is that it's short

Thats why it's so fucking hard. I still haven't beaten it to this very day. There are some blocks and spikes and what not that are in the way and if I kick those I lose my energy and it hurts me. Annoying hell. I KNOW I can blow stuff up but I don't always have dynamite with me so I am literally fucked. Also there is one dude standing on a very short platform at the end of one last panel of a page and he is next to a cliff. If you jump to where he is standing you will fall down and die so yeh you are fucked you have to hope that he falls down or hit him but he is shooting fireballs with his crowbar thingies. Really annoying. Gets me many times as well. Sometimes it works like a charm but yeh one of the best Genesis games out there. The music is just amazing. I want to listen to it being played with real instruments now.

https://youtu.be/RWUxXX-xUhk

>>3708315
What's the game supposed to sound like? I've only ever played it in the Sonic Mega Collection and the Steam version and I still loved the soundtrack

>>3708297
>combat system is mediocre
Combat is on point, dude. It controls like a Smash Brothers, a move per each direction makes it simple as opposed to needlessly complicated street fighter motions. It's more fitting for a beat em up. There's block, there's desperation move, invincible attacks, and holds. It has everything it essentially needs, only thing it lacks is superficial stuff like dumb special moves. That's a good thing, because special moves in beatemup just turns into a spamfest as opposed to strategically using each moves for appropriate situations.

This is actually a thing- YES A COMIX ZONE 2 EXISTS!
https://youtu.be/CW7IbVNNHMk

>>3708337
Motion comic was a fucking mistake. I wish everyone just stopped with this stupid meme camera fx already. Regular comic looks better, when will they ever get it?

OKAY FUCK COMIX ZONE! I've just tried it again because this thread inspired me. You LOSE life if you tear out a part of the panel to create a PAPER PLANE. It can even come back and hit you as well WTF?! you lose energy for everything in this shitty game.

>>3708360
Learn to duck, genius.

>>3708360
Don't call it a shitty game when you don't even know how to play it.

>>3708331
emulator:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJYHY3h7axE

real console:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNv9AGTHe_0

>>3708374
That's just GENs though, it sounds properly on KEGA and Plus GX

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Take this part for example. What a load of shit. You are TRAPPED and you have to destroy this thing blocking your way which will make you lose your energy each time you hit it - probably you are dead before you managed to destroy it. What kind of awful level design and game design is this? 3/10

>>3707631
What's the best strategy to deal with combat in this game? I seem to be doing something wrong

>>3708360
>>3708384
You have to be 18+ to post on this website.

OK, all snark aside, you DO realise you can send the rat off to look for hidden items on most screens, right?

>>3708381
Yeah but you have to keep in mind that before those existed, they released the game like 4 times. It was in almost all of the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox compilations, as well as virtual console, most of which were based on Gens.

>>3708384
That's just the game punishing you for stretching out the screen in such a ridiculous way.

Also the game has a lot of "puzzle" elements. You shouldn't waste your items, because very often they can make tricky parts look ridiculously easy. On that part you can use the dynamite. Or just make a paper airplane.

You fucking kidding me? One of the best selling genesis games. Everyone knows that game. Go back to Call of Duty.

>>3708395
Learn to block/jump/duck to avoid incoming attacks, and remember your energy depletes the more you hit something. So it pays to use the environment, i.e. kick an enemy into a fan blade or off a ledge, than fight them in a prolonged manner.

>>3708395
Switch up different moves (you start a different combo if you use any of the directions during punching). Not only will you attack faster, but it may also confuse the enemies. Neutral or forward on the d-pad gets you a normal punch, DF is a low kick, UF is a head kick. Crouching is a normal crouching kick that doesn't combo, and holding up is an uppercut that also doesn't combo.

If you use the forward, UF, or DF + attack moves long enough, you'll do a combo finisher. Forward for a scissor kick, UF for a spin kick, DF for a shaolin kick, but I might got them wrong.
You can also press down, up, attack for a scissor kick and up, down attack for a shaolin kick at any time. Back, forward will do a shoulder slam, the same move you do if you press against the wall. Back+attack does a focused single kick.

Every attack has different strength, normal moves and air attacks do 1 damage, uppercut and back kick does 2, finishers do at least 3. That is, you need 3 punches to kill those flying bats, but only 1 uppercut and 1 any other move (2 +1), and a finisher kills them outright. Finishers also kill some weaker enemies instantly, like the grey critters, but they are slower.

You can also grab onto enemies if you get close enough, and either throw them behind you (you can throw them onto traps sometimes), or do a point blank scissor kick.

Some enemies can defend some moves and are more susceptible to others. Strigil is easier to grab or hit with the scissor kick, but dodges the shaolin kick. Styx always gets hit by a shaolin kick if you do it as he wakes up. Most enemies are easy to hit with finishers as they wake up.

The finishers also do more damage to you, but they are worth it. Should Slam does the most damage to enemies, and the most to you, but almost everyone can block it so it is useless.

Roadkill can damage enemies, but he too can get hit and killed, so don't use him for that. The redhead chicks are afraid of rats and will run away if R'kill bites them.

>>3708423
The green monsters are more likely to infight than others, and their charge attack can hit others too. I think you can morph them to other enemies by holding them down, but I might be wrong (I'm sure you can do it with one enemy, maybe it was Strigil). Also, you cant throw the green monsters.

You can make a paper airplane by holding down punch for a long time, it makes 1 or 2 passes, and destroys everything it touches. But drains a lot of health to make it, and the airplane can hit you too unless you duck. Sometimes there is so much stuff going on that you lose less health with the airplane than by doing something else.

I normally just mix up normal punch, high kick, and low kick (attack, up/forward attack, low/forward attack). They sort of cancel each other, so you can do them very quick, and one or two moves tend to get through.

>>3708404
>Learn to block

lol, no. First thing I do when playing the game is remapping C from block to Macho Yell.

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>>3708297
>the combat system is mediocre

u wot

It's fucking great, especially for it's era. The player has so many fucking options it's insane.

>>3708297

Matrix is 1999

>>3708463
We know, the point is it influenced 2000s cinema.

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>>3708318
>but there is nothing to talk about Tetris.

You're fucking retarded if you seriously believe that.

>>3708737
Critical theory was a mistake.

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>>3707652
>shitty GEMS sound driver
the hyperbole surrounding certain software that serves a specific purpose gets pretty annoying after a while

you can stop posting anytime

>>3707652
It's obviously not so shitty if someone made goodogf

>>3708743
Most GEMS games sound like shit, it's just a tough fact.

And yes I realize Toe Jam and Earl and Earthwom Jim are both using GEMS.

>>3708771
>it's a tough fact
>I read about GEMS or heard about it from some youtuber but I didn't understand the information that was presented before me
>i'm going to make the distinction that it's inferior to proprietary tools for made by other devs because ????????
GEMS is a sound engine that allowed Western Sega developers to quickly and efficiently make sound for games. You could be hasty with it. You could also be in depth with it and make original settings. It benefited everyone.

What purpose does it serve to comment on something was not geared towards you or your workflow? If the people who researched this stuff and took the free time out of their day to write about it didn't make the information public you wouldn't be even in a position to make lamebrained drive by remarks. You wouldn't be able to make heads of tails of any of the sound drivers. Games have bad sound designers. Games sound bad as a result. It's about as conducive as using a bad game to make a statement about Unity.

It's esoteric information and there's plenty of ways to use it wrong. You're doing it wrong and I thought I'd inform you since we're all nerds here.

>>3708876
>quickly
That's right
>efficiently
Not sure about that. By the way I've know about the gems sound engine for well over a decade.

>>3708876
No matter what you say you can't make GEMS games stop sounding like shit.
https://youtu.be/cW_aDcGqzR8

>>3708901
>Not sure about that.
efficient as in "we don't have to spend time writing a sound tool"

Whatever effects GEMS has in relation to how quickly Z80 funnels all that information isn't what I meant

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>>3708337
>those graphics
>multiple planes
>button masher

That looks fucking terrible which is probably why I have never heard of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2Bf7_usqSY

With happy end:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KRQ-UDMlyM

>>3708337
> tough guy wants doesn't want do harm and dreams to become a vet
2010s everyone. How did we go from Slayer to this

>>3708401

I am fucking 33 and I grew up with this game so I don't feel so fucking superior. Fun fact: I've made money with games so I actually know something about game design. Don't get me wrong I LOVE THIS GAME. The visuals, music and everything is amazing but in a lot of cases the game is a fucking CUNT and this is one of those examples. YES I am aware that Roadkill (your rat) can find items for you. I use it all the time but you do not seem to know this game by heart.

Here is the scenario (as if ANYONE would actually READ what I write. I only get replies like "LOL YOU SUCK" without actually replying to what I've written and thinking about the situation- why? Because 1)They don't know any better either 2) Probably aren't 18+ - at least not when judging their mentality):

Before you enter this panel there are 3 crates in the previous panel. 2 are explosive and on top there is normal crate. OF COURSE I also HURT MYSELF when punching crates- I hurt myself doing fucking everything. So I set the dynamite there in order to blow up those crates - walked to the next screen to find THIS and oops I guess I am fucked.

So you can also give me a solution for those crates if you want to but a game where I can NOT handle stuff without losing energy - even though I do it the RIGHT way is annoying as fuck.

>>3709089
Hey buddy I'm not trying to egg you on but you do realise the worst possible response to a "lol underageb&" post is an angry wall of text right?

>>3709089
You can throw an airplane to destroy the crates. I'm afraid you can't solve that room without hurting yourself.

>>3708737
Reading anything this guy writes fives me an aneurysm

>>3709089
> punch enemies
> get hurt
> punch crates
> get hurt
> blow up crates from a distance
> get hurt
What were they thinking

>>3709098
It's realistic!

>>3709089
>Before you enter this panel there are 3 crates in the previous panel. 2 are explosive and on top there is normal crate. OF COURSE I also HURT MYSELF when punching crates- I hurt myself doing fucking everything. So I set the dynamite there in order to blow up those crates - walked to the next screen to find THIS and oops I guess I am fucked.

Well blowing up explosive crates with dynamite is your first problem. iirc because it's been a few years(this thread is making me want to play again tho) you jump kick the top box (which contains a health drink) then you hop on top and push against the left panel to move the explosive crates out of the way. Like I said it's been a long time so maybe I'm thinking of a different part.

On the topic of hurting yourself while hitting objects. Walk outside, lock yourself out, and try punching/kicking your front door open. Come back post results.

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>>3709089
>>3709094

This game overuses vertical lines to create dithering on CRTs. It doesn't look right on anything other than composite cables.

>>3708297
It was made by professional painters of comics and programers, but not by gamers like now it does. That is why it was so easy to beat. GBA version was made more harder, but the train had already gone, gamers know it like an easy one. It was modern at that time and reflected popular themes of that days: kung-fu films and alien films. There are enough games more easy than "Comix Zone" nowadays, they can be beaten in half an hour, but this game established the level of popular games. It is a very popular game.

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>>3709106
Those straight lines are supposed to be blended.

>>3709098
>> punch enemies
>> get hurt
>> punch crates
>> get hurt
This adds a level of difficulty but really just makes you play smarter. The only time this was a problem for me was the first couple times I played.

>> blow up crates from a distance
>> get hurt
Stand further back? Not sure how this one is an issue.

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I've beaten it in an three or four hours.

>>3709113
I agree somewhat, but damn it's so frustrating. This restriction feels almost like something from an NES game: you can unknowingly spend your health bar and screw the rest of the level for yourself.

For once, I'd like to use some brute force in a game trying to be an epitome of a grunge era. But guess what, you gotta play it smart instead, if "always get your rat to bring you items" can be called "smart". Such a bummer really, it nearly was a cool beat 'em up.

>>3709136
>WAAAAAAAH IT'S NOT FAAAAAAIR
The post.

>>3709105
isn't this room just a trap?

>>3709136
>This restriction feels almost like something from an NES game: you can unknowingly spend your health bar and screw the rest of the level for yourself.

I feel overall it adds depth and strategy but it wouldn't surprise me if (like an nes game) the original intent was to make a short game feel longer by making everything cause damage.

>I'd like to use some brute force in a game
Lots of games let you do that. Having "different" games like Comix Zone are a breath of fresh air.

>>3709089
Life in that game is just a resource like anything else, you have to know when to expend it and when to expend dynamite etc. instead.

You're being a giant whiny baby about this. Just punch the damn pillar and stop being shit at fights.

>>3708090
>Dungeon Explorer for Sega CD

Upon briefly looking it up, isn't this just a Gauntlet clone?

Taking damage when hitting things is why it's underrated. Also the only way to refill your health is to take out the rat in every single new panel.

>>3708901
iirc with GEMS you could directly play midi stuff, so musicians could just record something on their keyboard and put it in the game. That's about as efficient you can get.

Of course to make it sound good they'd also need to tinker with the instrument patches, which is what almost nobody did.

The STI games (Spinball, Comix Zone, Oozer) pretty much confirm that it was the musicians fault for not getting kick ass audio out of GEMS.

>>3709089
>So I set the dynamite there in order to blow up those crates - walked to the next screen to find THIS and oops I guess I am fucked.

Well the next time you play, perhaps try saving the dynamite for this room, or take an alternate route.

The game doesn't hold your fucking hand, you need to FIGURE OUT the traps, and do better the next playthrough.

I bet you also complain that nothing tells you that you need to jump over the goombas on the start of Super Mario Bros.

>>3709260
>isn't this just a Gauntlet clone?
Effectively. It's much, much better than any Gauntlet game though. Much more well-rounded, and enjoyable in general.

>>3707738
>boil down the '90s and you get Comix Zone
Pretty spot on. When I think about what games(for me*) define the '90s it's Comix Zone, MK, and Sonic 2.