Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[Sengoku Strider]

Posting my 1LC here because maybe action aficionados will see the game as worth their attention.

Well, I'm sold. I already own the game, but only got like half way through before getting distracted by other stuff. I'll bump it up in the rotation.

[Randorama]

Sumez:

If I recall correctly, the MD version of Rolling Thunder has floatier controls, and worse hit detection mechanics. It does have two extra stages and cutscenes - which I remember being nice. I played a few times more than 2 decades ago, though, so maybe my memories of it are not so accurate. I generally felt that the MD simply didn't have enough power to match the mechanics/game system of the arcade version, so the porting team aimed at creating a slightly different (but not very smooth) game.

Said this, the game certainly oozes style, but a different style than the first chapter. The first Rolling Thunder had a definitely darker atmosphere that mixed The Prisoner with some of the darker aspects of early Bond movies, and "new weird" themes (e.g. the strange enemies). Rolling Thunder 2 has a Roger Moore/Pierce Brosnan Bond atmosphere and the MD version even throws some hints at the The Avengers TV series (Leila and Albatross seem like videogame counterparts of Steed and Mrs. Peel). So, style-wise they are both very charming old skoolers, indeed.

Something I noted is that Rolling Thunder 2 seems to have less animation frames than the first chapter, but runs faster. As a result, animations may appear choppier and the game feels almost running at an overclocked speed - as if the programmers originally wanted it to be 10% slower, or something. Interestingly, some of the most annoying aspects (e.g. strange hit detection problems) emerge if you play it at a very fast tempo - shoot enemies too quickly and they may not notice that you hit them 4 times rather than 1, for instance (and keep living, the bastards!).

...They're both great games, but it's just that I feel like I played them both while wearing this incredibly thick nostalgia-tinted glasses for way too long time (1990 to now, go figure). Even for their time, they had specific design issues that the programmers may have addressed, if they would have bothered. This, and they are *tough* and rather unforgiving, though certainly 1-CC'able.

Or maybe I have just become a grumpy old man, I daresay.

[Despatche]

Yeah, I don't remember anyone complaining about the gratuitous life farming spot in Revenge of Shinobi, and that one's about as fast and easy as it gets. I imagine a lot of people around here play for the 1CC/1LC anyway, so it probably doesn't change much in practical terms.

It doesn't, and it really needs to be understood that all the lives and continues in the world do not really have an impact on the actual difficulty of a (not completely fucked) game, precisely for this reason. In fact, some games outright punish you for ever dying at any point.

I used to believe all the Ellen Bee (LNB, Lunatic no bomb in Touhou games) enjoyers understood this at least, but I am no longer sure. Especially since a lot of that crowd depends on lives as a crutch... that's why they only ever dare to speak of the one N, I guess... at least they generally get that releases and hypers and such are silly...

[Randorama]

So, I decided to 1-CC (again) Bucky O'Hare (Konami, 1992). I originally 1-CC'ed the game with Jenny many moons ago (OK, 30 years ago, in the arcade), but this time I decided to use Bucky.

The game is based on a comic and related multi-media franchise from the late '80s/early '90's period. It is an interesting blend of beat'em up and action game: characters use laser guns and other attacks to kill soldiers from the evil Toad empire and free various planets from their oppression, while moving in a glorious parallax format ("on a scrolling plane, like a beat'em up" if I am using the wrong words). Characters can shoot left and right but not diagonally, and scrolling mostly is to the right, but some sections go up or down and ST 6 is shmup-like stage with our heroes riding maglev vehicles while blasting submarines and tanks.

Aside a gun that can be up-graded twice, each character has a close-range punch attack and a "gimmick" attack (in-game name for the special attack), triggered by pushing A+B (attack+jump); C is the button that triggers the screen-clearing bomb. Each character has their own gimmick attack, so by choosing one of the four characters (Jenny, Bucky, Blinky and D.E. Duck), players choose which gimmick attack to use. I believe that the "A" versions (e.g. EAA) have a different attack layout, but I only played the "B" versions, whence my comments.

There are a few other attacks at the player's disposal (e.g. a jump+down dash), but the gimmick attack is clearly the main players' resource: it lands considerable damage and, in cases like Jenny's, can be use to attack enemies outside the line of fire. Gimmick attacks differ considerably in nature: Bucky shoots a fire-ball like attack in a straight line that deals considerable damage, but Jenny shoots a boomerang-like laser homing onto enemies. Strategies for stages and stages' sections (and boss fights) thus depend on the gimmick attacks, since players will often need to use them to clear more densely packed sections, and the passages scrolling vertically (N.B. gimmick attacks do NOT consume energy, and they are designed to be used intensively).

The game is more or less easy, though difficulty hinges on board versions, settings and characters. The U.S. version (versions UAA, UAB) is the hardest one; European, Asian and Japanese versions become increasingly easier in this order (versions EAA, EAB; AAA, AAB; JAA, JAB). If the game is set for 4 players and a second loop, bosses seem to have more hit points and the first loop seems easier. I suggest that you set the game to "2 player" mode and one loop, which means that boss will not have tons of hit points (a staple of Konami games of the time) and you play one loop at a slightly harder setting. Each version gives you two extra hit points after clearing a stage, and has energy drops ("life" icons) that add 3 hit points and possibly roll over the life counter. If you have a full energy bar (5 hit points) and 2 lives, a "life" icon will roll over the count to 3 lives and 3 hits. B versions, and especially Asian and Japanese versions, seem quite more generous with these items and with gun power-ups.

Jenny seems the strongest character because of her homing gimmick attack; Blinky (the one-eyed robot) has a close-range flamethrower attack that makes most sections tricky, so he seems the weakest character. Bucky and Duck have gimmick attacks that put them between these extremes, possibly at the same level (Duck has an energy beam with a cross-like shape that sweeps the screen in a outward-bound spiral). The game has 8 stages, all rather long and with long boss battles: a 1-CC should take around 45 minutes, even if the first four stages are rather easy and slow-paced. Using Jenny to 1-CC the JAB version on "2 players mode" and 1 loop should be a relatively approachable matter, once a player has a good understanding and knowledge of the stages' layout.

The quirks of the game can sum up my opinions as well:

- The game has a lovely cartoonish style and a cutesy "orchestral SF" OST. However, hit detection is sometimes hideous. All characters and backgrounds tend to have softly shaded contours, so sometimes it is hard to understand if a bullet is on your line, if an enemy is too close and can hit you, and so on (ST 5 is a serious offender because of the floor's colour hiding the bullets' lines). I generally suggest to keep a distance from enemies and look at bullet's shadows to figure out whether they can hit you or not;

- All enemies can exploit generous i-frames, and so can you. This means that bosses may take forever to die, because they have tons of hit points (yes, even in the aforementioned "2 player mode+B versioN" combo), and hitting them consecutively means shooting, wait around one second that the i-frames animation ends, then shooting again. Most bosses will also just give aural cues about being hit: keep your ears peeled to your sound devices or you'll miss them;

- Stages are long but not too difficult, provided that players get quickly used to hit detection problems. Players can use bombs and repeated gimmick attacks to clear the screen, especially when there are a lot of bullets on screen. It is however important to kill enemies quickly, because bullets are SLOW and take forever to leave the screen. In later stages, this means that chaotic situations can quickly arise because enemies take a lot of time to die (generous i-frames' side effect), gimmick attacks require tricky strategies to be effective, and enemies' placement is at time lazy (or: programmers just filled some passages with enemies). Bombing can solve these situations, anyway;

- Boss battles can be tedious, for the reasons cited so far (again: tons of hit points, generous i-frames, etc.). I would also add that the last ST 5 - ST 8 force players to use conservative strategies, in perfect "hit'n run, Konami style" manner. For instance and simplifying a bit, with Jenny it is possible to kill the ST 7 boss by going to the lower-right corner and spamming the gimmick attack continuously....for 2-3 minutes or so. Similarly, the final form of the final boss (third form, ST can be cornered and shot to death, but the player still needs to pummel the fire button for 1 minute or so. The first and second forms are easy, but these forms spam attacks so frequently that landing hits takes forever. In short: if you don't die of boredom or frustration, boss fights are generally manageable.

- Item drops are rather random. I had a 1-LC run in which the game decided to spam me with bomb items and lives, So I finished the game at 7 lives and 5 bombs to spare (but I used 15 or so, receiving 2x5=10 bomb items per stage). On other credits, I received 2 lives and 3 or 4 bomb items in total. This is a feature that appears in earlier Konami games, e.g. Dark Adventure from 1987 (please browse a few pages back). I personally find it deeply irksome, also because in Bucky it seems related to rank. Rank seems to work in a simple way: don't get hit and the rank will slowly go up. If you do, the rank will lower to some extent. It seems that life power-ups also depend on how long the player can survive with 1-2 hit points. I had a couple of runs in which I received extra life power-ups in unsuspecting spots because I was down, a bit suddenly, to 1 hit point (once I actually "rolled over" to one extra life, but one hit point). Let's just say that the RNG's depend on lots of different parametres.

All in all, this is a nice early '90s game with a lot of interesting aspects, great visuals and OST, and a slower pace that can be fun when you're not in the mood for hectic action. I remember reading the comics because I liked the art and the cheesy but witty writing (respectively courtesy of Bill Golden and Larry Hama, if I recall correctly). So, the nostalgia effect allows me to overlook all the "peculiar" design choices that make the game a quirky experience. Honestly, once I became used to the wonky hit detection again, it became easy to re-learn the stages and beat the Toad empire the second time around. I am not sure that I will pursue other 1-CC's any time soon, but it has been nice to also clear this 30-years old grudge match.

Stay tuned for more reports!

[BIL]

You continue to do great work, Rando Sorry I've been absent, had a minor but long-delayed eye surgery last month and am just weaning myself back onto text (and The Hard Gaming). Will enjoy reading those this weekend, indexing all! I still need to reply to Ilpalazzo's superb Contra series rundown too, among others. I love this old thread, gonna spruce up the indexing method for its 10th anniversary next year. <3 Holy cow it went fast.

[Stevens]

Ps4 shit the bed. The hard drive is on strike. Said I touch him in funny places.

Tried to wipe it. Got Ketsui installed but it took a long time. Ran normal. My Ninjas though? Music was all fucked up. Thinking I'll try and replace the drive.

Any tips?

Thanks!

Going to repost in hardware.

[BIL]

Ah fuck, was literally just about to suggest the Hardware subforum. Like legal counsel, it's a place I seldom hope to rely on, yet I'm glad it's there! I've wondered about replacing my 3y/o HDD with an SSD, though it seems my #1 want - shaved-down Bloodborne respawn times - needs a PS5.

[drauch]

IIRC, you should be able to just swap it out and it will rebuild it. Super easy. Might be able to boot up the old drive in an external and get the saves and put it on there accordingly, depending on what sort of shape it's in.

[Squire Grooktook]

Been a while but I'm still working on my super robot mecha action platforming game. Still workin' with placeholders but vertical slice is slowly coming together.

setting up hitstop and some basic janky combos

setting up supers and some enemy interactions etc.

Building an in-depth fighting system from scratch is a bit slow going but a pretty fun and reward process.

Also some new concept art:

Mecha rear view and super sword

Spoiler

The design of the sword is based on the heroines horns

Spoiler

I'm kinda debating on the design of the wings/cape.

Spoiler

On one hand, capes are cool. On the other hand wonder if it would be better to be able to see more of the main body from the rear. Thinking of suggesting that maybe the wings could "fold" onto eachother when on the ground, and then maybe the two pairs fold out when its flying for the shmup sequences or whatnot.

*edit*

You continue to do great work, Rando Sorry I've been absent, had a minor but long-delayed eye surgery last month and am just weaning myself back onto text (and The Hard Gaming)

Dang, hope you're feeling better already BIL.

[Randorama]

BIRRU-dono, I hope that everything went fine and you're in top shape (of course).

I edited a few passages but, other than that, the Bucky O'Hare write-up looks nice. If anyone may care in the future, I may add a write-up of the mid-bosses and bosses. In perfect Konami style, once you know which trick(s) you should use, they are easy though long-winded.

Anyway, it's incredible what one can do with 1 hour of daily spare time plus a modicum of appropriate strategies. I even compiled a list of grudges for the 1980-2000 period, so I should be busy for a while (30 or so games, and some are not pushovers). We're not in a hurry anyway, are we?

[BIL]

All good buds! Thanks for the well-wishes; it was only a minor thing luckily, small long-standing issue. I'm pretty much recovered, just didn't want you thinking I'd abandoned the Hard Scrolling Monogatari for a life of Hollywood rock n' roll debauchery in Off Topic.

Anyway, it's incredible what one can do with 1 hour of daily spare time plus a modicum of appropriate strategies. I even compiled a list of grudges for the 1980-2000 period, so I should be busy for a while (30 or so games, and some are not pushovers). We're not in a hurry anyway, are we?

Indeed, we aren't rushing - this has always been a Slow Jamz kinda thread, and indeed hobby.



Will be handing it off to my kids in my 70s, assuming I don't get knocked into a pit before then.

[Randorama]

OK for me; I do not exaggerate by saying that I don't plan 1-CC'ing all the grudges before 2026 or so, and then moving to 2000-2020 grudges (always retro, just less zeerust on on the titles ). Eventual apocalypses might slow down the reaching of the goals a bit, but let's just pretend that everything will be fine. I should also bump up the "1-screen" thread; I have been making progress with the Namco Collection Pac-Man grudge quite a bit. In the back of my mind, all these trivial pursuits will be turned into better written memoirs at some point - but that may become a 2023 goal (which is upon us anyway, duh).

[Steven]

Shuffle to the right killing motherfuckers~

Suddenly felt like playing Dracula, so I pulled out the Nt mini Noir and my Akumajou Densetsu cart and somehow got a 1CC after having not played the game for like a year. Pretty sure I've never 1CCed this game before, but I did take the easy Grant -> Sypha path, although I ended up never using Grant except to grab that 1UP partway through the descent from the tower after getting Grant. Probably should have just skipped him completely lol

Although this is technically a better game than the original Dracula, which was already an outstanding masterpiece itself, I am not sure if I actually like Densetsu more. What I am certain of, however, is that I will never get over how incredibly derpy everyone looks on the box art.

Spoiler

[copy-paster]

GGs! How the hell did you get the 1cc in a derust session, given the waterfall stage, keep and castle stages have tons of deadly gauntlet.

I find Trevor/Ralph's controls two step back to Simon. His jump and whipping seems tankier than the latter, probably devs expecting the player to use the secondary characters.

[Steven]

GGs! How the hell did you get the 1cc in a derust session, given the waterfall stage, keep and castle stages have tons of deadly gauntlet.

I'm still trying to figure it out myself...

I did lean very heavily on Sypha's homing orb things for a while after she joined, and I no missed from the point she joined until block 9, although I kind of stopped using her in block 7 anyway, but she was very good against Death. I always wanted to try using Sypha's homing orbs on Dracula, especially against his final form, but it turns out that they are inexplicably terrible against him, so I ended up doing the regular cross spam instead, which was disappointing, but I guess that's how it is.

I find Trevor/Ralph's controls two step back to Simon. His jump and whipping seems tankier than the latter, probably devs expecting the player to use the secondary characters.

I always thought that the earlier games, or at least Dracula II, control very slightly better, but I thought it was just me. Maybe it isn't just me after all...

[Randorama]

I know that I could just look up a video, but...

Thunder Fox: good strategies for the human bosses? I want to 1-LC this title (AC version), since I never reached this coveted result as a kid.
Memory is hazy and, frankly, chit-chatting about this little gem surely is funnier than just studying the available replays online

Any tips?

[BIL]

I find Trevor/Ralph's controls two step back to Simon. His jump and whipping seems tankier than the latter, probably devs expecting the player to use the secondary characters.

I always thought that the earlier games, or at least Dracula II, control very slightly better, but I thought it was just me. Maybe it isn't just me after all...

Ralph/Trevor's handling definitely is subtly worse in some ways than Simon's from Dracula I. It's been a while, but a major setback is his inability to pivot while crouching. Always struck me as a pointlessly mean-spirited change. There are other things too - I seem to recall pressing [jump] the instant before you hit the ground causing a glitchy "OTG" effect, which kinda dints the first game's generally airtight feel.

On the other hand, demanding cardinal [up/down] for stairs was smart - this largely fixes AD1's achilles heel, Subweapons While Descending Stairs. A deadly lottery in the first game (and to be fair, there's all of one staircase where it's even a good idea; right at the end of st5-2, guarded by a red skeleton who can just as easily be left to wander off) - a relative snap here, using the diagonals. Good thing too, with the game featuring like 500% more on-stairs battling than the original!

What I am certain of, however, is that I will never get over how incredibly derpy everyone looks on the box art.

Definitely in that unfortunate bracket of late 80s/early 90s Konami titles where the overseas boxart blows away the Japanese one. See also Contra Spirits and Dracula IV. Although happily, unlike with those two, there's excellent reason to have both the NTSCJ and NTSCU revisions - VRC6 sound and an easier-going loop in Densetsu, versus a much more interesting Grant and one of the great trad CV challenges in III and its loop.

(and tbh I kinda like the NES OST's milder tone on some tracks... though when AD is on, it is motherfuckin on - cf the pummelling bassline and blazing clarions of "Vampire Killer," and the blistering technical ecstasies of "Riddle" and "Big Battle")

I know that I could just look up a video, but...

Thunder Fox: good strategies for the human bosses? I want to 1-LC this title (AC version), since I never reached this coveted result as a kid.
Memory is hazy and, frankly, chit-chatting about this little gem surely is funnier than just studying the available replays online

Any tips?

Ah jeeze, I was just thinking of TF the other day, with ACA Taito F2 releases seemingly picking up steam (Gun Frontier and Metal Black receiving pristine treatments within the last few months). It's been too long to say offhand, but I recall being compelled to crack those cases too (st3's recurring harpoon dude, st5 red beret, and the Geese Howardesque Aryan bigbad himself), and the solutions being rather baroque. It's definitely possible, sorry I can't be of more help atm.

(ala AC Double Dragon 2, watch this space for an update in a few years' time )

Got such a kick outta hearing that pricelessly thuggish "I'll KILL you!" sample on the third boss... I know it's in The Ninja Warriors too, and possibly Growl/Runark and Dead Connection? A treat of hard-boiled AC killin' aesthetics ala Zuntata.

[Squire Grooktook]

Background tile sheets SOON

Spoiler

Oh yeah what are some intense R2RKMF games with fixed jump arcs beyond the usual suspects (Ghouls/Dai, Dracula, Rastan, Strider, etc.)

[BIL]

Background tile sheets SOON

Looking good! I love the angled perspective. It brings to mind an aesthetic detail I'm very fond of in NG1 & NG2 - the visible anchoring of platforms to background support, eg signposts bolted to buildings, ridges protruding from rock faces, etc. Creates a really solid, contiguous look.

(aesthetics tangent follows ;3)

While it doesn't use angled perspective, FC Batman exemplifies this too. What would be "floating blocks" in less accomplished productions are always bolted into the shadowy BGs - and furthermore, there's a consistent synergy of stage art and design. Stage 1, for example, has no bottomless pits, or spikes, or other fiendish Straight Outta Akumajou things - it's just a street, with shops, and some buildings to scale and run along the rooftops of.

Stages 2, 3, 4 and 5? Chock-fulla hazards - as they would be! Everything is germane to their industrial settings - whizzing fan blades, grinding gears, crackling conduits, plus the odd bit of obliviously body-shredding machinery. The most avowedly fiendish locale, Stage 4, is the ruined - not merely abandoned, but ruined! - bioweapons facility the Joker has turned into his lair; a hazardous environment of sinister purpose, left to disintegrate well beneath OSHA standard by its psychotic tenant.

The game's ultimate test, Stage 5-1, is merely a clock tower full of well-maintained cogs. Yeah, it's the most calculatedly punishing layout by far. But the fuck you expect, going up there without a safety harness, never mind a hard hat? Meanwhile, the MD Bats features the movie's Flugelheim Museum, which is... full of bottomless pits (renovations?), spanned by levitating platforms (this some ghost shit) and falling/rising spiked chandeliers (on loan from Romania, presumably).

So the FC's vividly comic-coloured world of hulking mutants and Super Murder Machinery is tastefully anchored... while the MD's already less-interesting, movie-dour look is torpedoed by a potent batch of Mario Shrooms. I think it's a good illustration of how to integrate fantastical action game design into satisfyingly grounded, solid settings. That contrast of the supercar-glossy and the unvarnishedly rugged is at the heart of a lot of my favourite stuff, mechas most of all.

(*on a further tangent, consider their endings!

Leaving Here: Climactic Mortality as Portrayed by Batman, Batman On Drugs, and Silent Hill 2

In the black

Spoiler

In the ground

Spoiler

In the water

Spoiler

UP IN DA CLUB

Spoiler

Oh yeah what are some intense R2RKMF games with fixed jump arcs beyond the usual suspects (Ghouls/Dai, Dracula, Rastan, Strider, etc.)

Oh shit, interesting question. I'm racking my brain trying to think of a few beyond that iconic brace... lately I've wondered who gets to claim paternity on fast-action fixed arcs, Green Beret or Daimakaimura (or something else?). Technically, I'd put Dai in a subcategory: arcs that allow you to pivot during, at no change to your trajectory; something Vampire Killer leverages superbly, in its subtly leavened Akumajou Ryukenden model. Imma think a bit!

[Air Master Burst]

Oh yeah what are some intense R2RKMF games with fixed jump arcs beyond the usual suspects (Ghouls/Dai, Dracula, Rastan, Strider, etc.)

Most belt-scrollers have fixed jump arcs, mastering it is critical speedrun tech in Final Fight. For single-plane stuff there's always Rolling Thunder!

[BIL]

Ah jeez, how'd I forget Rolling Thunder? A veritable subgenre pioneer in its own right (the "S2RSMF" or Sneak To The Right Shooting Motherfuckers ).

[dojo_b]

Oh yeah what are some intense R2RKMF games with fixed jump arcs beyond the usual suspects (Ghouls/Dai, Dracula, Rastan, Strider, etc.)

Volgarr the Viking (2013), although it's very much drawing inspiration from these. And the action tends to want and reward careful, deliberate rehearsal, so YMMV whether the overall effect is "intense".

[Stevens]

Ah jeez, how'd I forget Rolling Thunder? A veritable subgenre pioneer in its own right (the "S2RSMF" or Sneak To The Right Shooting Motherfuckers ).

Haha. I just realized Rolling Thunder and EAR have similar game play. Can we make it even more niche and call it HIDE IN DOORS SHOOTING MOTHAFUCKERS?

[BIL]

Now I think about it, I guess technically the OG Elevator Action (1983) is the grandpappy of stealthy-yet-relentless killin', and a very foundational title in general. Green Beret, Makaimura, and EA's fellow Taito icon Legend of Kage, my usual originators, are all '85.

EAR definitely took a whole lotta notes from Rolling Thunder over the ensuing decade-plus, ofc (most importantly the cute chick ). Interesting how you can trace a line from Shinobi back to EA via RT.

...RT's "superjump between tiers" mechanic is worthy of its own dig site, isn't it? Sunset Riders is heavily built around it, and it's even further removed from EA than Shinobi, being effectively The Other Contra III.

[Stevens]

Yeah the super jump was revolutionary at the time and I don't think anyone beat them to it. If memory serves RT predates Shinobi by about a year

[Bassa-Bassa]

Not with a fixed arc, but Nichibutsu's Cosmo Police Galivan predates RT also by a year and it even got an actual super jump (as you also have the normal jump, which is not really that normal either). As a friend always reminds me, an unfairly forgotten title for not being aimed at the Western markets - it likely even pioneered the diagonal shooting as well.

For fixed arcs and intensity, Tiger Road and Xain'd Sleena are essential samples, the latter having a very mecha-esque double jump technique, even. Glad to learn a classic style mecha sidescroller is being developed currently.

Ed. - Maybe Sleena's jumps are not entirely fixed arcs, would need to check. Still, a must play.

[BIL]

If Technos ever returns to ACA, Sleena's first on my want list. Such a rad no-nonsense space action style. Reminds me of Rygar, applying those FC-compact sprite dimensions to glorious arcade horsepower.

Something about Galivan that perplexed me - are the [jump] and [aim up] commands really both bound to [up] on the joystick? I tried it briefly in MAME, and was left nonplussed by this apparent setup. It's a lesser-known title with a lot of discerning admirers (yourself included), so I almost wondered if it was just a MAME issue. Or failing that, if it's just something you get used to? It seems rad otherwise, I particularly liked the storming pace of authoritative clears.

[Sima Tuna]

Ah jeez, how'd I forget Rolling Thunder? A veritable subgenre pioneer in its own right (the "S2RSMF" or Sneak To The Right Shooting Motherfuckers ).

Haha. I just realized Rolling Thunder and EAR have similar game play. Can we make it even more niche and call it HIDE IN DOORS SHOOTING MOTHAFUCKERS?

I said something like this a while ago. I think I called it "tactical shooting action" or some shit. Huntdown, Rolling Thunder, Shinobi, EAR, etc are more methodical approaches to the run n gun formula. They usually have an ammo system as well, at least for sub or alternate weapons, as compared to Contra which has none.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Something about Galivan that perplexed me - are the [jump] and [aim up] commands really both bound to [up] on the joystick? I tried it briefly in MAME, and was left nonplussed by this apparent setup. It's a lesser-known title with a lot of discerning admirers (yourself included), so I almost wondered if it was just a MAME issue. Or failing that, if it's just something you get used to? It seems rad otherwise, I particularly liked the storming pace of authoritative clears.

Yeah, jump and aim up both share the stick's up direction sadly:



It's part of Kung-Fu Master's legacy - jump is up and nobody learning from the formula questioned that until... Shaolin's Road, I believe?

You don't need to totally get used to it though because good plays are about being powered-up at max., and diagonal shooting has no place there. I myself never really put a lot time, mind, but, as this friend of mine told me, can easily see how it was a clear influence to Contra.

[Air Master Burst]

I said something like this a while ago. I think I called it "tactical shooting action" or some shit. Huntdown, Rolling Thunder, Shinobi, EAR, etc are more methodical approaches to the run n gun formula. They usually have an ammo system as well, at least for sub or alternate weapons, as compared to Contra which has none.

Also worth noting in this sub-subgenre are Surprise Attack and maybe The Outfoxies, although Outfoxies doesn't have the superjump and is a fairly chaotic versus arena shooting affair.