I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

[Skyknight]

Side note on Trio the Punch: People were trying to make sense of the nature of the very last round, right? I think I figured out what it’s playing with: The end of the original The Ninja Warriors (capitol backdrop + defenseless target = …).

[Bloodreign]

If you are used to the Genesis Phelios and like it, the arcade version will melt your eyes out of their sockets, all the cool shit graphically that game can do. That was the era of Assault, Marvel Land, and Valkyrie no Densetsu (My favorite Namco game period), all 3 of those, along with Phelios IMO was the pinnacle of Namco's badassery. All 4 simply like the supermodel pinups, just in video game form, all 4 beautiful as can be. I love me some sprite scaling in games, the one effect I can see over and over, and never get tired of.

Edit: Ordyne was also from around that time, it too is quite a flashy game.

Edit 2: Damn it, how could I forget Rolling Thunder 2, Kyoukai Douchuuki, Cosmo Gang the Video, and Burning Force, my mind must be slipping.

[EmperorIng]

Yeah, it definitely was namco at the peak of their (2D) prowess. All the pacman money in the world to do whatever they wanted.

Below is an old post by someone some of you may know who 1CC'd the game last year. Found his run and thoughts entertaining then, definitely worth looking at again now. Hope I'm not stealing his thunder, it's good shit

I was just revisiting the video because of the buzz and even though I worked on the 1cc I felt "nostalgic" enough for the game to dip for the ACA port! The charge shot options for Phelios on the ACA port are really nice! I had forgotten just how huge Apollon's hitbox is...

[BIL]

Fuck me this is good. Just hitting st4; the synergy of machinegunning autofire and turret-crushing charge shots is seamless, with the Salamanderesque Options a killer tactical riff (big difference between horizontal alignment's coverage, and vertical's concentrated tank-buster!) - and where the MD version was given to amiable rambling, here the pace is foot-through-the-floorboards and aimed to kill. Helluva mood, too, best SUPERHAWT lava BG this side of Musha.

FRYING OVER A JUNGLE.mp4

Spoiler

I'm liking this even more than Spirit/Saber, currently. Feels like it gets going quicker than they do; while both end wickedly hard (Saber especially, with its IREMesque Straight Outta Loop 2 endgame), there's a sense of preamble dispensed with here. st2's artillery lines and various wall-crawlies are a pleasure to demolish, and deceptively dangerous if not. Dismember/Decapitate-o-Rama boss is a riot too, yeah bitch you don't need those hands, or them heads! st3's HIGH SPEED DEMENSION is suitably ephemeral - slamming those Black Knight backstabbers into the canyon walls be HAWT - and Harpy's a mean bitch with those spicy slow-decaying lasers, too. Love how SKELEBRO will try to interfere, if she lasts longer than a couple barrages, only to get CUCKED BADLY by the boss KO

Those custom autofire buttons are friggin amazing. Genuinely transformative, as with Pistol Daimyou.

Why yes, those are indeed charge shots

Spoiler

Pleased there's a DIP setting not only to skip the difficulty select - "Easy?" Get that shit outta my face (■｀w´■) - but also enable cutscene-skipping. "Please wait" my ass, toots! I must kill the demons!

Oh ok. I'll wait. Hey what the f- "APHORON its me, TYPHON, ancient wizard w/BBC! Watch this!" "IYAAAAA" Rolling Thunder people did this (■｀w´■)
"APHORON, do u remember staring at teh sea w/me 3; 3; 3;" No but I DO remember XEXEX stealing this bit (■｀w´■)

[OldSkoolShmuper]

I am sure that I am not the only one who has noticed over the years that MD/Gen Phelios makes really good use of the limited color capability and manages to look really colorful, especially the second level, combined with parallax scrolling clouds. Rather than try to mimic (choppily) the arcades scaling and rotation.

[jehu]

I'll definitely +1 the feeling that Phelios has been a more enjoyable ride than Dragon Spirit/Saber.

The pacing is really well done - the rare thrill-ride feeling manages to hold up through the majority of the game. (Good tip about skipping cutscenes, I missed that.) Not having to worry about air-to-ground shots is a real boon to the design, too. Unless it is implemented with the deliberate care not seen since Xevious, I do not really want to mess with it.

An early high watermark for 2023 ACA releases. Now bring on Night Striker.

[BIL]

WTF

So I was trying out various things on the fourth boss. I worked out early that he spawns fire droplets in response to any and all hits - from peashots to fully-charged blasts. Letting rip with autofire causes slowdown, and cockblocks his hands via sprite limit, but also brings brickwalling death. Then I noticed you could dampen a fully-Optioned charge shot by deliberately firing through his hands. And also, that "reloading" a charge shot the same way would avoid deadly extra drops. Alternatively, shooting from either screen edge can do the same. Was able to put up a decent fight this way in practice, but still couldn't kill the fucker, and it didn't feel run-safe at all. Tried timing him out, eventually got too hairy with the increasing drop speed. Dropping to two Options didn't seem significant, though it definitely cut down on bullets elsewhere (st2-2's caterpillars lose their brutal spreads).

So I consulted Teh Toob, and ReplayBurners guy ate it. Oof. Then I saw a successful dude demonstrate a lot of what I'd noticed - "Ho ho, I'm on the right track!" - before doing something powerful strange.

And this was literally my first attempt, hence the startled response up top. I don't know how it works exactly - safespot? sprite overload? autofire? - but it does.

This boss is a bit of a cockup IMO, after an absolutely killer stage. What would be thrilling action with a micro hitbox is just a bitchy nightmare with a Dragon Spirit-sized one. I'm glad there's a workaround, rather than a mandatory suicide. Those suck, outside of games where death does something interesting! I am a forgiving sort when first-rate material pulls the odd boner - you are reading the same hopeless romantic who wrote this.

EDIT:

Spoiler

With a bit more testing, autofire's not needed - even manual tapping works fine, though you do have to keep a decent rate up, or he'll get a smack in.

While the safespot is easily-reached after taking a smack (align your raised sword with the "ten thousands" digit), I can't figure out how I did it without getting hit, outside of blind luck. Seems like that may take a bit more precision. I'd like to nail that down to avoid a -1HP tax.

EDIT2: Oh, got it. Just make sure you're already firing as he rises up, you'll avoid the tax. If you're too high up, you'll be instakilled, but that's easily avoided. ;3

EDIT3: Phew! Crisis averted. I can confirm, you can kill the last boss without suiciding, at least provided you've kept to two Options. Actually, this makes me wonder if you can kill him at three, with especially canny sacrifice of your one extra hitpoint. This was my first attempt with two Options; basically, I ate a bullet once I thought the instakill was coming on, then went full Hulkamania / Batman On Drugs driving him back to the top of the screen for a second and final rally. Felt kinda rad tbh.

Naturally, this means you have to reach him at 2HP, but when was this genre not a ballbreaker?

I love this game, overall. It unquestionably needs revision on the fourth and final bosses, and the fifth stage's closing memo sequence leans a bit too much on the horsebox for my liking (though the solution is pleasingly elegant, logical, and easily-executable). Pardon those dings though, it's a rollicking topdown charge-shotter ala Salamander. Just as ING says, the fourth and sixth stages are absolutely superb - and the second, third, fifth and sixth bosses are all excellent duels (the first boss having the decency to look cool and die fast). TBH I like the final boss too, besides his daft Ranked-up HP. Cock-slapping him with the GODLAZOR feels great! An appropriately manful revengeance, after all that ryona! A pleasure getting acquainted with the AC ver after all these years.

EDIT4: 2xOptions Typhon kill with no HP loss safely in the bag. I dunno if 3x is possible, but it wouldn't surprise me if there's some way to wrangle him, given how player-malleable his movement seems, in spite of the rather scary instakill.

[Steven]

Finally picked up ACA Raiden and Zero Team! I have only ever played the original Raiden on the Astro City Mini V, and we all know how that turned out. I really like this game! The sound seems very quiet, however. Now where the hell is Raiden DX?!

What missile should I be using? I'm going with homing for now. I'm also guessing spread shot is better than the laser, as well. I have not tried the US version yet, just the Japanese version with the checkpoints. Player ship is highly responsive. I played DX on PCB last night for the first time in a while at Taito Hey and I can't believe how ridiculously smooth the controls are in that game! Original Raiden has nice control, too, but Raiden DX is top-tier in terms of control, I think.

Have not played Zero Team yet, but I'll try it soon enough; I'm going to Sato-san's Raiden III live on Sunday and I definitely want to play it in case he asks me if I did yet. He's a really nice dude and very easy to talk to, so if you ever get the chance to meet him, do it!

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Allumer's Magical Speed is this week's release.
https://www.famitsu.com/news/202302/08291994.html

[BIL]

Ohohohohoho shit, Allumer?! War of Aero and Rezon pls Not sure if this one's my jam, but I'm happy to see these guys added to the fold.

[Marc]

Oh well, I needed a week off.
Weird addition though. Rezon was one if the first games I ever tried on MAME, way back when. It's a good bad game. I remember it having atrocious music though?

[BIL]

Anytime a game has bad music (and often even if it doesn't!) I just blast this on loop

It's really Aero I want. The world needs more ImageFight-alikes! (as opposed to games that channel ImageFight when they want to break your balls eg Dragon Saber 3;)

EDIT: Ahahahaha! I forgot these fuckers did Mad Shark too. Always loved the sheer fuckin brass neck on that one. I like having cheeky dudes like this repped. SETA and Athena next? (not to besmirch the latter! Athena put out some kusoge, but they also landed the odd earth-shattering hit ala BioMetal and DAI-YOOOOOH)

[Skyknight]

Still, Allumer access means Gladiator is a possibility, yes?

[BIL]

I'm gonna die if that's the Taito (-published) game Hamster were teasing.

[Rastan78]

Am I the only one who wants the jankness that is Hippodrome on ACA?

Also I really want China Gate. That's a game I loved as a kid and only recently identified through pure luck. The final boss fight was too epic in the day.

[BIL]

M2 Presents DECO Arcade Pizzeria: Hippodrome x Karnov

muh dream: DECO ARMY MAN FILES (Heavy Barrel/Bloody Wolf/Midnight Resistance/Thunder Zone), plus Hori release that LS-30 replica they teased a while back.



FUCKIN GIMME TWO OF BOTH

Might as well dream big mirite

Some comfort knowing M2 PREZ has beast wood for Ed Randy and Boogie Wings (if I recall right, GSK said they'd bought the rights? from G-Mode, I guess)

[Ghegs]

I would totally go for both War of Aero and Rezon. The Image Fight -like is a woefully underutilized type of STG. And although I've already 1CCed Rezon on a real PCB, I wouldn't mind having it for the occasional casual play.

[BrianC]

A couple Taito published Allumer games (Gladiator and Great Swordsman) were recently released in the Egret II Mini expansion licensed by Seta.

[BIL]

A couple Taito published Allumer games (Gladiator and Great Swordsman) were recently released in the Egret II Mini expansion licensed by Seta.

Yeah, I think Rastan/RI might be out of the picture for now I hope not though. No opinion on either of those games really.

[EmperorIng]

Gotta give a big thanks to BIL for uploading that video of the safespot for Phelios' fire giant boss. I never knew that existed; I could have sworn that was a forced death at high enough rank. Crazy that the sprite limit might potentially block his arms too!

[CRP]

Hamster have bought all of Allumer's back catalogue so expect Rezon, Blandia & Zing Zing Zip one day too

https://twitter.com/ohfivepro/status/16 ... 9164340226

zing zing zip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw7Cq8CHBM8

[Udderdude]

Ohohohohoho shit, Allumer?! :shock: War of Aero and Rezon pls :o Not sure if this one's my jam, but I'm happy to see these guys added to the fold. :cool:

How about .. Mad Shark?

[Jeneki]

When even your logo goes in the Dick Stock topic.

[BIL]

^^^

How about .. Mad Shark?

Reference-standard ports of Kyuukyoku Tiger, Raiden, and Mad Shark, all on the same platform?! It's enough to make a man MAD SHART

Gotta give a big thanks to BIL for uploading that video of the safespot for Phelios' fire giant boss. I never knew that existed; I could have sworn that was a forced death at high enough rank. Crazy that the sprite limit might potentially block his arms too!

You are most welcome! Indeed, that trick will nullify his arms - you don't even need autofire, just tapping will do. I'm guessing the fire drops' hitboxes don't activate until a few frames after launching, hence the safespot working.

I must give all credit to the OG replay dude, I would've probably given up the 1LC attempt otherwise. I don't know if a clean kill is truly impossible, but it was getting into MAME invincibility cheat testing territory and I can't be arsed atm. Unfortunately apropos for a Salamanderesque to have a bullshit st4 boss. As with FORTRESS VALIS and NINJA PIT, I am happy we can enjoy the other 99% of the games.

[hamfighterx]

Didn't expect Allumer to be a hot topic in 2023, but two games on the Egret Mini expansion and now Arcade Archives? I wasn't familiar with Zing Zing Zip, but after watching some videos I'd like to see that one (along with MAD SHARK!). ZZZ's stage win screen and characters have some real Doronjo and her lackeys (from Yatterman) vibes too - can almost have a little subgenre going with this, Gunbird 2, and the actual Banpresto Time Bokan games!

And so it seems Grobda is confirmed for next week Feb. 16?

[BIL]

And so it seems Grobda is confirmed for next week Feb. 16?

Yep! Looking forward to Grobda, as an aficionado of topdown tanking. Seems its difficulty has quite the fearsome rep in Japan, at least from a quick glance at Hamster's timeline. I played it briefly on Namco Museum Vol.3, but as with Baraduke and Toy Pop (two more killer quasi-STGs), it's been long enough that it's practically new to me.

Biggest thing I picked up between then and now is Toshio Toyota (Granada+Ex-Ranza director) citing it as a direct inspiration - enough to make any game blazing-hot on my radar.

Spoiler

Of new licensees, besides Arika, it's Banpresto I'm really hyped about - opens up the remote possibility of an ACA Macross 2.

EDIT: Jesus, the brass necks on Allumer... at a glance, Magical Speed's BG graphics could pass for LTTP spriterips. Imagine fucking with Nintendo's IP on their home turf.

Don Doko Don for Feb 24th. Not bad at all! I always enjoy a Taito single-screener. Been a bit like waiting on Thunder Dragon 2, re: Rainbow Islands. Took forever but some great picks came out of it.

[Udderdude]

Don Doko Don is that single screen Taito platformer that nobody seems to bring up .. maybe because it never got a localized release outside of the arcade original. Would've been nice to see the Famicom version on the NES.

[BIL]

Yeah, ala Fairyland Story, it's always had a slight mystique to me, being a somewhat less famous Taito work in the subgenre they arguably dominated.

I semi-seriously wonder if the garden gnome characters' lack of kawaii dinted its appeal. Even Ptolemy aka Tha Puff Pastry Killa is adorable in her homicidal baking antics. DDD's just these two rugged old dudes rolling up to the jobsite and putting hammers to faces, sounds more like a DECO joint tbh. I always liked 'em, especially in the charming photography the FC and PCE covers share:

David The Gnome Hammer Time Daisakusen

Spoiler

As much as I want Rainbow Islands, I love seeing these less marquee picks from acclaimed genre devs; like finally getting Trigon, A-JAX, the Thunder Crosses, and XEXEX alongside Gradius I, II & III. It can feel pretty special / neu-2-u, seeing works with an iota of the name recognition - yet as much or more of the quality - finally given equal pride of place on home console.

[jehu]

Very cool all around. Allumer's catalogue is a huge blank spot in my mind, so curious to see how that all looks when it comes. Deep cuts on deep cuts.

I'll also pass on this week's release. Another week to work on homework from past weeks' picks. Analogue Pocket landed PC-Engine CD support, so playing through Sylphia was a nice compliment to the Phelios I've been (still) trying to clear. Definitely need to get back to the Pegasus grind before I forget the strats, but having Rayxamber II/III and Super Darius II on 'Gameboy' has been too tempting to pass on.

Don Doko Don is a definite pickup for me. I've been interested in the game since my Famicom collection days. Taito has a beautiful Famicom release with fantastic art, and - more importantly - Natsume made the tragically underplayed followup, Don Doko Don 2. A charming platformer, and it's Famicom-era Natsume - so it's kind of irresistible.

[EmperorIng]

Allumer's catalogue is a huge blank spot in my mind, so curious to see how that all looks when it comes.

Oh boy, are you in for a surprise