What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Air Master Burst]

Curse of the Moon is even better than the main Bloodstained game! It also has a sequel I've yet to try but is probably also dope as hell.

Different animals. COTM is good fun, but very short and simple. 2 is longer, but they force you to replay many of the levels to reach the end which is kinda tedious.

Personally I like Bloodstained better; I found the combat to be satisfying and deep. The items and magic is a bit convoluted, but it's addictive and entertaining in it's own way.

I tend to prefer action games without leveling systems, and also pixel art, so naturally the COTM games have more to offer me.

ROTN does have a fun combat system and a good selection of weapons, but I don't think the encounter design ever really forces you to master it. Like BIL said, there's not much challenge in the back half of the game. COTM at least makes you sweat a couple times.

[BIL]

Curse of the Moon is even better than the main Bloodstained game! It also has a sequel I've yet to try but is probably also dope as hell.

ETA: Unsure if COTM in your post was referring to Circle or Curse.

Was referencing Circle - I always forget Curse of the Moon shares an acronym with the Umechan-produced 2001 GBA title I enjoyed the first Curse a lot - my enduring memory is one particularly outstanding BGM in that ruined battlements area, which I want to go look up just thinking back to it - though I only did the first playthrough; I got the impression from Sumez that Zangetsu Mode would've been just the ticket, but I drifted off around then, after a quick try of its sequel... which seemed to get a more mixed reception around here, but I really liked the first area I saw. I need to catch up with those two.

Inti Creates' Blaster Master Zero 2 totally outclasses Zero 1, so I was sorta hopeful they might've managed similar with another classic series. EDIT: although that was more to do with Zero 1 being such a tepid first attempt - Curse 1's Dracula III tribute is way, wayyy the hell superior. Still, I did find the stage art immediately more striking, so there's that!

Actually, now I think back, I actually played Curse 1 before Bloodstained. I remember replaying it after clearing the latter, and suddenly recognising all sorts of stuff that was totally alien the first time around.

EDIT: Aha, it's "Echoes of Sorrow" I was recalling. Starts off a little unfriendly, but motherfucker, what a chorus drop, after which the harsher verses (and the thumping beat that threads through both) instantly make sense. That MSX Konami SCC-esque sound is so good.

After which I instantly wanted to hear Ecclesia's "Unholy Vespers" again, another classical tension-builder. I've a fairly chequered opinion of modern CV, but pardon the launch title treading water of Circle and all-around car crash of HOD, they turned in knockout OSTs without fail.

[BrianC]

There's been a huge set of DLC characters

More recently they added that girl from Child of Light. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing.

[BIL]

Blimey, didn't know they were still going! Impressive work. Was that the Rez-styled rail shooter from a couple gens back? I've never trusted it, I got blind drunk watching friends play it on their obscenely good home entertainment rig, and the bit where the flower turns into a whale made me cry in front of a lot of people Oh, might've been Child of Eden. Ah anyway, fuck man muh feels

[BulletMagnet]

Oh, might've been Child of Eden.

Heh, yeah, Child of Light is a storybook-styled side-scrolling RPG.

[BrianC]

Oh, might've been Child of Eden.

Heh, yeah, Child of Light is a storybook-styled side-scrolling RPG.

Yup, that's the one. The character from the game is named Aurora, totally not the same name as a certain Disney princess.

[Marc]

Wreckfest, it has some small issues but I'm a sicker for the Flatout games, and this is them, but shinier.

Ion Fury. Best FPS I've played in years.

[Stevens]

Wreckfest, it has some small issues but I'm a sicker for the Flatout games, and this is them, but shinier.

Ion Fury. Best FPS I've played in years.

If you like Ion Fury you may want to check Prodeus.

[vol.2]

Ion Fury rules. Played through twice already.

[Sumez]

Curse of the Moon is even better than the main Bloodstained game! It also has a sequel I've yet to try but is probably also dope as hell.

Different animals. COTM is good fun, but very short and simple. 2 is longer, but they force you to replay many of the levels to reach the end which is kinda tedious.

COTM2 took me a while to warm up to - it's a lot more challenging than the first game, and also more slowly grooms you into approaching the individual stages in a more "character agnostic" manner.
Unlike COTM1, it really feels like each stage was so heavily designed around the strengths and weaknesses of specific characters that it never quite reaches the same level of freedom - but by the end you'll be mastering everything as a badass solo Zangetsu, just like the first game. The true ending of the game is fantastically satisfying. Both games are by far the best stuff Inti Creates have ever been involved with. So good.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I would like to sincerely apologize to the devs of Doom 64 for passing up their game in the store as a kid, thinking "ugh who wants to buy a port of a PC game" when it was actually really, really, REALLY damn good and a unique entry in the series as opposed to merely a port.

The further irony is I went and bought Quake 64, which is more or less just a port. In my defense, I did it AFTER I'd purchased Quake 2 for N64, which is not a port and has unique levels (albeit it sucks because they literally removed the final boss fights vs the Makron).

I'm sorry. ;w;

[BurlyHeart]

I finished up Disco Elysium during my COVID isolation and had a blast.

Superb dialogue throughout and interesting characters. Even failing some checks (which is done through a kinda dice roll - similar to DnD perhaps?) can lead to something unique interactions. Given the lack of action, it is certainly not for everyone, but I had a blast. Will play through again someday with a different character build.

Would love to see a sequel that retains your choices / stats and continues the story.

[vol.2]

I would like to sincerely apologize to the devs of Doom 64 for passing up their game in the store as a kid, thinking "ugh who wants to buy a port of a PC game" when it was actually really, really, REALLY damn good and a unique entry in the series as opposed to merely a port.

The further irony is I went and bought Quake 64, which is more or less just a port. In my defense, I did it AFTER I'd purchased Quake 2 for N64, which is not a port and has unique levels (albeit it sucks because they literally removed the final boss fights vs the Makron).

I'm sorry. ;w;

I have the N64 version to play, but tbh prefer now this Doom II mod that converts GZdoom into Doom 64 with more graphic options and stuff.

[drauch]

Why not just play the new PC version?

[vol.2]

Why not just play the new PC version?

Brutal Doom 64 is more full featured. AFAIK, the PC port is just a port. Brutal Doom is a full ground-up remake of 64 with lots and lots of extra crap you add to it. There's weapons and enemies that got cut from the cart version due to space, and there's a ton of new add-ons. Also got better lighting effects and eye candy stuff

[drauch]

Ah sorry, should have actually looked at the link. I was thinking of a different release. I gotcha.

[null1024]

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania [PC].
This game would be a lot more fun if the controls felt more responsive. As it stands, I'm probably going to just say to go play Super Monkey Ball 2 on GC instead.
For a while, I thought it was just me being bad, and then I opened up OG Super Monkey Ball on the GameCube and like, nope. Banana Mania's controls are just outright worse.
If this game still had lives like oldschool Monkey Ball 1, it would be entirely obnoxious just because you don't have the control to recover from anything. You're super-twitchy when slow [so navigating with precision is balls], and you're extremely unresponsive when fast. Just a really bad combination. Old Monkey Ball definitely gave you the feeling that you were actually rotating the level around you [even if AFAIK, you weren't, it was just a visual effect], while this game, there's a definite disconnect between the stage tilt and how you move.
It's also kind of painful playing old levels in Banana Mania and thinking, "man, I remember this stage being a lot less of a pain in the ass".

It's not a bad game, but man, it could be so much better. I might as well just play SMB2 instead.

I would like to sincerely apologize to the devs of Doom 64 for passing up their game in the store as a kid, thinking "ugh who wants to buy a port of a PC game" when it was actually really, really, REALLY damn good and a unique entry in the series as opposed to merely a port.

I am still kicking myself over doing that exact thing back in the day, heh. Every time I think about it, I feel like an idiot.

[XoPachi]

My friend let me mooch off his Switch family plan. I got online in Mario Kart and heard this.

https://youtu.be/1xJ3hVhsQEI

OH! Heaven is here inside my SOUL!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Wangan Midnight 5

Time attacking the longest stage in the game. It's my fave, sadly it's removed in later releases (or rather split up into smaller bite sized courses). I can't find any other videos faster than this but I'm sure it's possible to get a 14' xx" xxx time... But after a TON of practice this is the best I've been able to do. Still, it's a good minute and a half faster than my previous best on this route.

[To Far Away Times]

I just played Sonic Triple Trouble 16 Bit today.

Quite possibly the best game to come out of the entire sonic fan game community and the production value here is off the charts.

https://gamejolt.com/games/sonictriplet ... bit/322794

[null1024]

I just played Sonic Triple Trouble 16 Bit today.

Quite possibly the best game to come out of the entire sonic fan game community and the production value here is off the charts.

https://gamejolt.com/games/sonictriplet ... bit/322794

It's really, really good. I've been having a blast with it. Ridiculously polished, it's gorgeous, there are a lot of cool little details all around, and I like how it integrates the Fang stuff into the main game instead of having it be all in the special stages.

[Air Master Burst]

I just played Sonic Triple Trouble 16 Bit today.

Quite possibly the best game to come out of the entire sonic fan game community and the production value here is off the charts.

https://gamejolt.com/games/sonictriplet ... bit/322794

Thanks for the heads up, it's pretty dang good! Perhaps slightly too easy though, I'm just starting Tidal Plant 2 and I have 21 lives without even really trying. Also, I had all 6 emeralds by Sunset Park 2.

Doesn't really matter, though, because it's great and I love it! Shame that Sonic Chaos remake never got finished.

ETA: They did a great job on the Atomic Destroyer music.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Brutal Doom 64 is more full featured. AFAIK, the PC port is just a port.

I'm playing the PC port from GOG. Don't get me wrong, I love Brutal Doom's additions, but I wanted the more authentic experience, and couldn't say no when it's only 5 bucks. It's supremely good, super terrifying atmosphere. It actually reminds me of Quake more than Doom 1 or 2 in terms of the cleverness of its trap and map design, and also the music it uses for atmosphere. It's really, really damn good and arguably one of the best of the classic Doom games. Doom 64 is basically a must-play for any FPS fan.

[drauch]

^troo. As much as I love the original metal soundtracks, Doom 64 just oozes atmosphere, with a lot of that due to the ost. I've always meant to try out the originals with the PSX tracks, which is very similar and moody.

[vol.2]

You can always turn off the extra stuff. Oh, and if you want to check out the music, the ost pack works with the PC version of Doom wads using GZDoom as well.

If you want to try it, make sure you grab V2.5 from January, it has the pared down vanilla experience accessible through classic mode.

[Air Master Burst]

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.

[XoPachi]

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.

[it290]

Picked up Returnal and having a blast, getting lured in deep like I always do with these Roguelikes. The same thing happened to me earlier in the year with Hades, and although I enjoyed that game I definitely prefer the moment to moment combat here, which feels very Housemarque. On the other hand, there's a lot of downtime doing item collection and traversal in this game, and somewhat less build variety than Hades, so I'm not sure which will win out for me in the end.

[Sumez]

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 funny, I remember the game being super criticized too, by people who should otherwise really enjoy this sort of game.
It's even weirder looking back on it now, honestly, because the time it came out was like the worst possible environment you could expact a brand new classic 2D run'n'gun in. But we got one anyway, and we got an amazing one. That should be cherished like nothing else.

The most common point of criticism was how much the game relies on memorization, but I never thought it was that bad. Like a lot of other games of its ilk, memorization can completely neutralize most obstacles, but I don't see that as a problem as long as the game doesn't completely rely on it. Sure, a lot of bosses can be trivialized by knowing where to stand at which point, but that is true for honestly any Contra game I can think of - and it never gets as bad as the otherwise well loved The Hard Corps does.

[XoPachi]

It's funny, I remember the game being super criticized too, by people who should otherwise really enjoy this sort of game.
It's even weirder looking back on it now, honestly, because the time it came out was like the worst possible environment you could expact a brand new classic 2D run'n'gun in. But we got one anyway, and we got an amazing one. That should be cherished like nothing else.

The most common point of criticism was how much the game relies on memorization, but I never thought it was that bad. Like a lot of other games of its ilk, memorization can completely neutralize most obstacles, but I don't see that as a problem as long as the game doesn't completely rely on it. Sure, a lot of bosses can be trivialized by knowing where to stand at which point, but that is true for honestly any Contra game I can think of - and it never gets as bad as the otherwise well loved The Hard Corps does.

I never really quite understood the criticism because relying on memory is how you get through nearly 100% of action games. Literally every single last game that asks you to get from point A to B without dying.
How do you get better times in Sonic? You memorize the level layout and optimal button presses.
How do you get through Metal Slug without dying and losing your coins? You memorize the level and enemy patterns.
How do you get through Mirror's Edge without breaking flow? You memorize the level layouts.

I'm playing Spark 3 trying to learn the fastest route. This isn't reaction based trying to get good. I mean it is until I learn the best routes, but once I do, I'm playing off memory at that point. Honestly, how else do you learn a game or complete particularly difficult ones? I can think of few games that rely solely on reaction to get through. Maybe rogues, but even then those are just memorizing all of the possible patterns to be able to glide through the game regardless of what combinations are thrown at the player.
If "memorization" was really what made people dislike an arcade run n gun that demanded you score to proceed than what even is the point of an action game? That's crazy to me that people were that upset with such a universal aspect.

It's not some meme, kaizo torture platformer where you literally can't react before something kills you for the big funny laffs. You just need to learn the best ways to dispatch enemies.