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2018/1/14: Genesis: Aero the Acro-Bat, Aero the Acro-Bat 2

Posted: January 14th, 2018, 10:24 am
by VideoGameCritic
I upgraded my 10+ year old Aero review from D+ to B-.
Aero 2 is a new review.
Comments please!

Re: 2018/1/14: Genesis: Aero the Acro-Bat, Aero the Acro-Bat 2

Posted: January 14th, 2018, 1:08 pm
by pacman000
Nice to hear you enjoyed it more the 2nd time. Out of curiosity, why the re-review? Did you find yourself returning to the game over time? Was it to compliment the sequel's review?

Re: 2018/1/14: Genesis: Aero the Acro-Bat, Aero the Acro-Bat 2

Posted: January 14th, 2018, 5:57 pm
by Retro STrife
Your reviews have me intrigued, especially for Aero the Acrobat 2... I own the first one on SNES and Gen, and remember playing it on SNES as a kid. Never tried Aero 2. I notice that Aero 2 is a little easier to find on the SNES, where it sells for about $30. Anyone tried Aero 2 on the Gen and SNES, and know if they're comparable? Or if one is better?

Re: 2018/1/14: Genesis: Aero the Acro-Bat, Aero the Acro-Bat 2

Posted: January 14th, 2018, 6:33 pm
by VideoGameCritic
pacman000 wrote:Nice to hear you enjoyed it more the 2nd time. Out of curiosity, why the re-review? Did you find yourself returning to the game over time? Was it to compliment the sequel's review?


I felt it was necessary to re-review the first one as a basis of comparison. Glad I did!

Re: 2018/1/14: Genesis: Aero the Acro-Bat, Aero the Acro-Bat 2

Posted: January 15th, 2018, 3:54 am
by Paul Campbell
I have to say that I am really surprised by the review. About a week ago I noticed the SNES Aero on my emulator ROM list and decided to give it a try, mostly because it was one of those games I remember seeing on store and rental shelves alot as a kid, which is about all I need for the game to have a sliver of nostalgic value to me. After finally wandering my way through the first three levels, I realized the game looked OK but was zero fun to play, and I immediately pulled out my phone and read your review and you shared my sentiments. The game reminds me alot of Bubsy Fractured Furry Tales. It's hard to control, hard to know where to go, hard to know what to do, hard to know what you can and cannot touch, hard to attack enemies, all KINDS of fun-barriers! I feel like it would make a night-and-day difference if they would just back the camera out a bit so you could see what was going on a bit more. Knowing what you usually look for in a game, and the kinds of things that turn you off, I'm wondering if maybe you are becoming less jaded and more forgiving these days. :)

Re: 2018/1/14: Genesis: Aero the Acro-Bat, Aero the Acro-Bat 2

Posted: January 15th, 2018, 6:48 am
by Atarifever
Paul Campbell wrote:I have to say that I am really surprised by the review. About a week ago I noticed the SNES Aero on my emulator ROM list and decided to give it a try, mostly because it was one of those games I remember seeing on store and rental shelves alot as a kid, which is about all I need for the game to have a sliver of nostalgic value to me. After finally wandering my way through the first three levels, I realized the game looked OK but was zero fun to play, and I immediately pulled out my phone and read your review and you shared my sentiments. The game reminds me alot of Bubsy Fractured Furry Tales. It's hard to control, hard to know where to go, hard to know what to do, hard to know what you can and cannot touch, hard to attack enemies, all KINDS of fun-barriers! I feel like it would make a night-and-day difference if they would just back the camera out a bit so you could see what was going on a bit more. Knowing what you usually look for in a game, and the kinds of things that turn you off, I'm wondering if maybe you are becoming less jaded and more forgiving these days. :)

These days, when I see Genesis, NES, DOS, etc. game that interests me, I try to save myself the time and money and just watch someone else longplay it on Youtube (I have enough stuff for the Gamecube and later to get to by playing). I watched the first five stages of Aero 1 last night and it looked like a very pretty mess. Bubsy was immediately what I thought of too, with the weird level layouts and goals. It was a lot like a lot of those popular old 8-but computer games. I can never understand the fun of these "the whole level looks the same, but you have to go all around it doing seemingly unrelated things" games.

Re: 2018/1/14: Genesis: Aero the Acro-Bat, Aero the Acro-Bat 2

Posted: January 15th, 2018, 8:30 am
by VideoGameCritic
Paul Campbell wrote:I have to say that I am really surprised by the review. About a week ago I noticed the SNES Aero on my emulator ROM list and decided to give it a try, mostly because it was one of those games I remember seeing on store and rental shelves alot as a kid, which is about all I need for the game to have a sliver of nostalgic value to me. After finally wandering my way through the first three levels, I realized the game looked OK but was zero fun to play, and I immediately pulled out my phone and read your review and you shared my sentiments. The game reminds me alot of Bubsy Fractured Furry Tales. It's hard to control, hard to know where to go, hard to know what to do, hard to know what you can and cannot touch, hard to attack enemies, all KINDS of fun-barriers! I feel like it would make a night-and-day difference if they would just back the camera out a bit so you could see what was going on a bit more. Knowing what you usually look for in a game, and the kinds of things that turn you off, I'm wondering if maybe you are becoming less jaded and more forgiving these days. :)


I plan on reviewing the SNES versions of these games too, although I don't have them yet. From your remarks about the control and camera, it sounds like it might be different than the Genesis.

Re: 2018/1/14: Genesis: Aero the Acro-Bat, Aero the Acro-Bat 2

Posted: January 18th, 2018, 1:04 pm
by Paul Campbell
Good point. I always forget that games on both of those systems aren't necessarily identical.

Re: 2018/1/14: Genesis: Aero the Acro-Bat, Aero the Acro-Bat 2

Posted: January 18th, 2018, 4:57 pm
by goldenband
It's not uncommon for platformers that are on both the Genesis and SNES to be more zoomed-in on the SNES. The resolution commonly used on the SNES has somewhat wider pixels than on the Genesis -- I think it's 256x224 vs. 320x224, if memory serves.

If the designers didn't compensate for that difference, you get situations where you simply can't see as much onscreen in the SNES version. One example is the Itchy & Scratchy Game, which is more playable on the Genesis (even though it's a prototype) because you can actually see Itchy coming (what a thought!) instead of always getting blindsided by him like in the SNES version.

This is one of the unsung narratives of the 16-bit console wars: there are a bunch of cross-platform games that might look better in still shots thanks to the SNES's higher color count, but actually play better on the Genesis thanks to the higher horizontal resolution and faster processor.

Re: 2018/1/14: Genesis: Aero the Acro-Bat, Aero the Acro-Bat 2

Posted: January 19th, 2018, 12:07 am
by Cafeman
Interesting reviews. I own many Genesis carts but neither Aero game. I never see them is retro game stores! I rented Aero 1 BITD... all I can remember is back then I didnt find it very fun.