What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Marc]

In between lengthy bouts of Final Fight handing me my ass, I have been doing runs of this delightful Outrun tribute called Slipstream. I'm sure it cheats the sprite scaling some with modern tech, but it's still absolutely gorgeous. Handles really well with a Saturn pad, too. The sense of speed is nice, and there's a large variety of quirky AI opponents with unique taunts and quotes (that you can disable if you prefer to avoid the distraction). It's got a pleasing synthwave soundtrack that, while not as catchy as original Outrun music, definitely gets me in the proper mood for the game.

Not sure if it's got wheel support, but if it does, I would love to see someone mod an Outrun cab with this.

Are there any other modern sprite scaling racers or shooters I should know about? This one is pretty great!

ETA: It's on Switch and PS, too.

I've tried, but I find manual drifting sluggish as hell, while auto just makes the game feel really uninvolving. It's the way the car has to steer completely out 9f the previous drift before starting another, rather than just snapping like Outrun 2 - makes S bends a nightmare.

I'm trying to play Rainbow Islands Extra in my Egret Mini, but it just feels all wrong. I didn't even know it was a coin-op, I'd always assumed it was purely a MD remix. The gameplay is still there, but it's just incredibly weird.

[Sumez]

Rainbow Island Extra is weird as hell. I know a bunch of people with the PCB so some time I'll give it a legit chance. But it's such a confusing remix. Darius enemies showing up on the first island, but none of them are able to shoot? The entire gimmick of the Darius island in the original game is that every enemy shoots at you

[Air Master Burst]

I've tried, but I find manual drifting sluggish as hell, while auto just makes the game feel really uninvolving. It's the way the car has to steer completely out 9f the previous drift before starting another, rather than just snapping like Outrun 2 - makes S bends a nightmare.

I actually find the manual drifting to be more engaging than Outrun for this exact reason, although after half a dozen runs it's just as easy to get in the zone as Outrun. The greater draw distance lets them telegraph the turns earlier, so you have to get used to looking much farther ahead than Outrun.

Also I'm a sucker for sprite scalers and am desperate for more modern ones. Rumor has it the Slipstream dev is considering an After Burner homage with the same engine, that'd be an instabuy for me for sure.

ETA: new phone make wrong quote

[Sumez]

I'm pretty sure I didn't write any of that. I have no idea what all that technical jargon means

[To Far Away Times]

I popped in my copy of Shattered Soldier for the first time in 15 years. I never disliked this game at all but I remember it being strongly criticized back in the day. Personally I love the fuck out of it.
It's not a preferred style, but I like it's grungy, gritty aesthetic. The badass music rivals Doom Eternal and the approach to scoring versus surviving is interesting. Maybe tying the rest of the game to the Hit Rate was a bit much, but getting good enough to see that through is really satisfying and fun.
And it controls very well with the generous decision to just give you all the weapons and let you always keep them. Shame some classics aren't available like the spreader but the charge shot variants was incredibly smart.

Also some of these bosses are delightfully horrifying.

I bought this game when it came out and I wasn't even into Shmups or Run 'N Guns back then and I fucking loved it. The gritty visuals and music were so totally my jam (and still are!). It was instantly one of my favorite games on the PS2. I thought it was beloved? Neo Contra I have a few bones to pick with, although mainly because I don't think it stands up much to it's predecessor's lofty standards.

[Sumez]

I'd say it's a beloved game in general, especially now. But yeah there really were a surprising amount of critical voices when it came out.
Neo Contra is great. It just feels "less special" in comparison.

[Obiwanshinobi]

If there is an up-to-date thread about it already, then never mind, but I wonder what could possibly get me gaming on smartphone. So far I've been using mine almost exclusively as a portable radio/MP3-player, but it interests me as a toy. I'm impressed by its camera's and microphone's qualities; these are undeniably a cut above earlier generation of mobile phones. I don't do "social media", video conversations, or indeed much talking on the phone outside of my workplace, though. There are many hearing-impared workers there, however, and I'm happy to see them conversating via video at work, mind. I've been just wondering what's in it for ME.
Does anybody find smartphones particularly good for anything else than killing time? I mean entertainment that isn't done on auto-pilot. For instance, if motion controls are about as good as they are on the Wii, I can see a portable ball-rolling game, like Kororinpa, working a treat on smartphones.
So, is there at least one game you think any videogaming person by all means HAS TO experience on the phone? (I'm aware of quick chess online playing scene lively these days, it's just I'm not into playing online against strangers. Might be for the same reason why I'm not into voice-only conversations.)

[guigui]

^ Hmm, Puzzle & Dragons is that match3 puzzle game that actually requires skill and strategy to progress through.
F2P game, with everything that goes with it. Though you can play for quite a while without getting stuck by stamina, can definitely do non IAP, and has the best loading-screen-hint ever : "limit your playtime to one hour a day"

[Obiwanshinobi]

^ Hmm, Puzzle & Dragons is that match3 puzzle game that actually requires skill and strategy to progress through.
F2P game, with everything that goes with it. Though you can play for quite a while without getting stuck by stamina, can definitely do non IAP, and has the best loading-screen-hint ever : "limit your playtime to one hour a day"

I ought to try one of these days, thanks.

[Air Master Burst]

If you have Netflix you can get Into The Breach for free on your phone, that should be good for a few hundred hours. They got other games too, totally ad-free, but Into The Breach is really all I personally need.

[To Far Away Times]

Pokemon Go at its height was a magical gaming experience.

I remember going to the park after work because you could catch a Squirtle there, and there being 100+ people walking around with their phones out, all playing. And there were people selling pokemon hats and playing pokemon music on boomboxes.

It was such a fun, impromptu experience.

Pokemon Go wasn't good despite being a mobile game, it was good because it was a mobile game.

[drauch]

Speaking of Doom 64 a page or so back, it's free today on Epic Games.

[vol.2]

Speaking of Doom 64 a page or so back, it's free today on Epic Games.

Also all the doom games and fallout games and a bunch of other stuff is heavily discounted rn on GOG. Not sure if it's true for DOOM 64, but the last time I downloaded a free Epic game, I had to play it with some kind of always online client. DOOM 64 is $1.24 on GOG and it's a stand-alone DL.

[drauch]

Yeah, some of that shit depending on what it is will need whatever client it's owned by, which isn't advertised. Shit happens with Steam games as well occasionally, like Ubisoft crap. I try and stick with GOG as much as possible, but to Epic's credit they give free games out every Thursday, and not always cheap titles like Doom.

[XoPachi]

I've been playing Spark 3 consistently since it dropped Sunday. The games are very flawed, but very fun to play. And they're not flawed in "oh this is annoying". They're just missing something in their design and you wanna see them be better because there's such an incredible amount to like about them. But considering it's a one man team tackling probably the hardest possible platformer style, I give heavy lenience.
But the music in these games leaves absolutely nothing to be desired. I don't know where the developer is finding these musicians for his games, but they perfectly capture 2000's Sonic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsXU3yiyJuQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDmwdCt2o_Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDpln0qvVAE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vRvNJNa-Bc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkAaWCse9no
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp9ZlGoOrSo

Even the few vocal themes

https://youtu.be/QljM_iVddG8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDF6U5xxpp0

[BurlyHeart]

I can no miss until the last stage of Metal Slug now. Getting better with the Allen O'Neil fight. Learned all three strategies against him [knife fight (so cool,) shoot from below, shoot from above], though he can still tag me at times. Feels like there are 3 troublesome spots - the aforementioned O'Neil; the Bridge on the last stage; and the final boss. Everything else is gravy. Will keep at it. Having a lot of fun and been humming the theme tune quite a lot.

Still playing Shock Troopers casually, and have settled on trying to learn the Jungle route with Jackal, Rio, and Big Mama. Similar to Metal Slug, this game feels impossible at first. But slowly learning its intricacies enables you to perform better. A big reason why I love Arcade style games.

Experimenting with Raiden in TNWOA and very much enjoying learning him. His moveset is so interesting and he has some awesome grapples, and is even able to pick up Gigant! Stomping on enemies is a hoot too. In some ways, it feels as if the game was balanced with him in mind. Interestingly, I had a look at the online leaderboards and seems only 25 people have 1cc'd the game on hard with Raiden. Some of the other characters don't reach the 100 entry limit either. Ninja seems to be by far the most popular.

Had a quick play of Wulverblade after someone mentioned it as decent in a beat em up conversation. I like the presentation but unsure of the gameplay. Grappling seems inconsistent unfortunately. Will give it another whirl someday, but there are bigger priorities for now.

Also playing Big Tournament Golf aka Neo Turf Masters when I want to relax. Fun but man it can be brutal. First 9 holes I'm flying and then struggle with the back 9. The gameplay is so simple yet engaging. I'm sure there are lots of guides out there, but for the moment I'm content to play it casually and learn as I go.

[FunktionJCB]

I'm currently playing NINJA SLAYER: AREA 4643, a Japanese indie game available on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/9481 ... AREA_4643/

The game is a fast paced top-down twin stick shooter, with some melee elements, and depending on the character/stage, it even has some elements that resemble a shmup (the final boss is straight out of a bullet hell shmup).
Another point of reference would be, say, something like Hotline Miami (but more forgiving, since you have a health bar in this one), but with more classic, score-based, arcade gameplay.

The game was released back in 2018, but many people (myself included) were completed unaware of it, until it was recently featured in a speedrun event in Japan, and those watching realized it was officially based on the anime Ninja Slayer, causing the name change I mentioned above, plus a 4800%+ increase in sales, and increased press coverage in Japan.

The game is a blast, and well worth checking out.
Fun gameplay, a kick ass soundtrack, 4 characters (that play quite differently), 5 stages featuring various time periods/settings/enemies, and a rather bizarre storyline (made probably even more batshit crazy due to the English translation).

Here's a couple of random videos, showcasing different characters (that play rather differently):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-cEWEuGYMg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ1l14lX-28

[it290]

Also playing Big Tournament Golf aka Neo Turf Masters when I want to relax. Fun but man it can be brutal. First 9 holes I'm flying and then struggle with the back 9. The gameplay is so simple yet engaging. I'm sure there are lots of guides out there, but for the moment I'm content to play it casually and learn as I go.

I definitely respect that, but understanding the tools you have at your disposal for aiming and distance is so critical for success in this game, and a lot of the math is pretty opaque unless you spend a whole lot of time just testing shots. At the very least, I think it's worth knowing the aim mechanics and how distance works with your golfer of choice with respect to their power meter and types of terrain. If you do want a resource, this wiki is a good one. The score thread over at neo-geo.com also has some useful nuggets buried in there (that's how I learned to play the game), but I think the wiki is more concise and probably an easier resource overall.

[BurlyHeart]

Also playing Big Tournament Golf aka Neo Turf Masters when I want to relax. Fun but man it can be brutal. First 9 holes I'm flying and then struggle with the back 9. The gameplay is so simple yet engaging. I'm sure there are lots of guides out there, but for the moment I'm content to play it casually and learn as I go.

I definitely respect that, but understanding the tools you have at your disposal for aiming and distance is so critical for success in this game, and a lot of the math is pretty opaque unless you spend a whole lot of time just testing shots. At the very least, I think it's worth knowing the aim mechanics and how distance works with your golfer of choice with respect to their power meter and types of terrain. If you do want a resource, this wiki is a good one. The score thread over at neo-geo.com also has some useful nuggets buried in there (that's how I learned to play the game), but I think the wiki is more concise and probably an easier resource overall.

Quality, thank you for that. To be honest, it seemed pretty intuitive with regards power for distance and accuracy. Something goes wrong in the back 9 tho and I often over hit my shots. Will definitely check out those links, much appreciated.

EDIT: Just read Bode's Guide. Holy crap, the game is much deeper than I imagined

[To Far Away Times]

I can no miss until the last stage of Metal Slug now. Getting better with the Allen O'Neil fight. Learned all three strategies against him [knife fight (so cool,) shoot from below, shoot from above], though he can still tag me at times. Feels like there are 3 troublesome spots - the aforementioned O'Neil; the Bridge on the last stage; and the final boss. Everything else is gravy. Will keep at it. Having a lot of fun and been humming the theme tune quite a lot.

Those were my three trouble spots as well.

Once you have a tank you should be golden. You have a long invincibility window when jumping out of the tank. Get of the far left side of the screen for the final boss fight and just jump out of the tank when he shoots at you. The invincibility window is longer than it looks and its not that hard to cheese it with a little practice. If you lose the tank the fight can go downhill real fast though.

The O'Neil fight is super fun, just keep at it.

The bridge section is bullshit though, and a precursor to how some of the later Metal Slug games would be designed.

[BIL]

Once critical thing to know about the bridge is that your vertical position determines what enemies will spawn. Not just the choice of upper or lower level, at the start; even jumping while on the lower tier can cause a plane to spawn.

So when learning it, it's best to pick a route and stick to it. I just go in low and stay there until all the Rebels are wiped out, while drawing the lone Girida tank's fire. It's hectic, but keeps things simple (taking out the girder truck using the exploding barrels helps a lot). The bridge's second half has more tanks, but is a lot less frenetic with enemy spawning.

Another thing is, the bazooka Rebels spawned here aren't like earlier ones; they can Korean-wavedash along at obscene speed to corner you. It sounds obvious, but when at the controls in such a hectic sequence, it's quite missable. (check out this dude getting himself ran over while hyper-wiggling after me, haha)

There's ways to heavily break the sequence down by tap-scrolling into the fight, but I hate doing that with my Slugs.

I used to assume the Allen knife takedowns seen in 1CCs were showboating, but if you can get his timing down, it's actually the safer tack imo.

Spoiler

^ Metal Slug X, pretty much the same fight with added zako (and therefore added speed incentive). Sometimes, in both games, he'll slip away at the start. In MSX I won't chase, since it's easy to eat a zako grenade, but in MS1's head-to-head it's doable:

Spoiler

Get really cocky and you can even slap it on 'im mid-fight. I sure as shit wouldn't try if this was the last stage like in MSX, though.

Spoiler

^ goddamn, look at the snow falling off the ledge onto Allen's raging dome, as if it distracted him for a fatal instant - looks like some ninja assassin shit MS1 is such a treasure.

Metal Slug 4 actually fixed this exploit; if you try locking him down there, he'll backhand the shit outta you. Only stuns, but will cost you any special weapon you're carrying. A good little mission pack, MS4.

[BurlyHeart]

Yeah I noticed jumping causes the planes to come in. That part was devilishly done I think. The game wants you to jump and bring you into a world of shit.

I can occasionally, tho nowhere near reliably yet, no miss to near the end of the bridge. But that moment were the tank comes from the left and with one already above coupled with the bombs chucked by enemies fecks me right up. It's pretty chaotic!

Another thing is, the bazooka Rebels spawned here aren't like earlier ones; they can Korean-wavedash along at obscene speed to corner you. It sounds obvious, but when at the controls in such a hectic sequence, it's quite missable. (check out this dude getting himself ran over while hyper-wiggling after me, haha)

Haha I totally missed that but it is a perfect description of what they're doing.

The bridge section is bullshit though, and a precursor to how some of the later Metal Slug games would be designed.

I have read this several times and not sure what to make of it to be honest. I'm hoping I will have leveled up by then I'm super looking forward to going through the series properly, and especially intrigued by Metal Slug XX and it's different characters. The game seems very divisive tho - researching XX on these forums is awash with BIL complaining about input lag on PS4 I'm sure I will be disappointed but the thoughts of using an Argentine Backbreaker on enemies is so enticing [EDIT: I was hoping to avoid spoilers, but curiosity got the better of me and checked out a video of Clark's backbreaker. Man that is so disappointing....looks like he's just chucking them into the air ]

[EDIT: I meant to ask - what's a reasonable auto-fire rate for the ACA port? I'm using Normal, should I switch to fast? I'm not sure it makes a huge difference, but would help for spongey enemies like O'Neil and tanks.]

[To Far Away Times]

2 and X are pretty decent. More of the same but more difficult. I'd have to knock them a few points for the train mashing sequence though. That part is straight up kusoge. Auto fire is an absolute must to get those games up to arcade-spec. And once a game has a big weakness like that, a bit of the sheen wears off and you become critical of other areas. But they are still solid games.

I've not really invested enough time in the others to really say. MS3 is too long and difficult for me to really want to invest the time to learn it properly and the games after 3 are noticeably not as well made with lots of reused and lower quality assets. I've never played any of the games past three beyond a casual credit feeding tour.

[BIL]

Autofire really only affects the handgun, which has a much higher tapping ceiling than the heavy guns (but nonetheless is far weaker). Anything stronger will max out with just leisurely tapping. I'd just max it out tbh, the pistol is punishment enough as it is.

A huge part of every Neo Slug's learning curve is learning where to spend your heavy weapons and grenades - with a little routing and practice (to cut down on deaths), you shouldn't be seeing the pistol very often outside of a few exceptions. X's trains, for example - you want to save a good stock of heavy ammo and grenades for those, then they're a breeze. (even if, like me in that replay, you accidentally ran over a bomb crate like a dumbass earlier on, squandering it into shells for the Slug you're forced to abandon right afterwards, rather than banking it as grenades for later!)

Metal Slug 3's second stage (zombies) is probably the most infamous, you're stuck with the pistol for a long early stretch. Frankly though, they're better ran past, or knifed if anything. Also host to (the strictly optional, in fact hidden) Demon's Snow Cave, which is flat-out nuts and basically a death sentence if you've not banked up tons of artillery. MS3 is all about excess, it's the big sendoff for the series, Nazca and the Neo all at once.

Yeah, sadly, PS4 MSXX handles poorly... as you've probably seen me say, it feels like ditching a weighted training vest when going back to the ACA Slugs. It's not unplayable, just noticeable if you've put a ton of hours on the earlier games. I'm just glad the ACA versions are so good, there's a ton of hardcore run/gun in those.

[bottino]

MS3 is all about excess, it's the big sendoff for the series, Nazca and the Neo all at once.

Their last hurrah...The only crime that Metal Slug 3 is guilty of is loving the side-scrolling action genre too much

[Air Master Burst]

Metal Slug 3 is a fucking masterpiece, and still my proudest non-belt-scroller 1CC. The final level is absolutely brutal, but so very worth it.

X is probably the best of the series, although if a cleaned-up version of 2 exists it would take that crown.

Really, the first three (four if 2 and X count as different games) are all great and worthy of going for the 1CC, although I understand not having the patience for the MS3 1CC.

ETA: Also I found certain chunks of MS3's zombie stage are much easier in zombie form.

[XoPachi]

.....Are there two Picorinne Softs?

Infinos Gaiden and Andro Dunos 2 were by Picorinne Soft.
But Disc Creatures is also by Picorinne Soft but their store pages are different on steam.

[FunktionJCB]

.....Are there two Picorinne Softs?

Infinos Gaiden and Andro Dunos 2 were by Picorinne Soft.
But Disc Creatures is also by Picorinne Soft but their store pages are different on steam.

Same Picorinne Soft

Disc Creatures even has a page on their website:
http://picorinnesoft.web.fc2.com/disc.html

The thing is, certain developers have games published by different companies on Steam (which is their case; they have self-published games, and games published by two other publishers), and some are a bit careless when creating new Developer entries, which results in what you are experiencing: when one clicks on the name of the developer, some titles don't appear (due to their name being written differently on the Developer entries).
It's the case here.

[Air Master Burst]

Just took a spin through Sonic 1 Forever and it's the best version of it I've played yet. The only options I used were the 7th chaos emerald and super cancel.

Every Sega kid should play it once just for the amazing catharsis that is turning Super Sonic for the fucking Labyrinth Zone boss chase.

Sonic 2 Absolute is next up, and then Sonic 3 Complete (or AIR if I can muster up the effort to add mods for all the stuff from Complete in there).

[BrianC]

The thing is, certain developers have games published by different companies on Steam (which is their case; they have self-published games, and games published by two other publishers), and some are a bit careless when creating new Developer entries, which results in what you are experiencing: when one clicks on the name of the developer, some titles don't appear (due to their name being written differently on the Developer entries).
It's the case here.

Sometimes the Steam entry shows the name of the developer but goes to the publisher page when I click on it. It's annoying.