Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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BIL
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

pegboy wrote:So now I'm on to Neo Contra, anything I should know about it? Never played it back in the day so this is all new to me and I've only played it briefly today, maybe ah hour tops. I was using the type with the charge shot and flamethrower and have yet to try the others. It's taking me a while to get used to the controls and perspective but it seems like "Good Contra" so far.
After nomissing Spirits, Hardcorps and Shin, you're basically overqualified for Neo. :lol: You should have very little to worry about, it's distinctly the easiest of Nakazato's quartet. Could've really used more shooting enemies, as well as some tightening-up of the playfield in spots. Mission 4's aircraft carrier raid would be a killer turret-lined run, but you can just scroll them offscreen so they won't fire. They sure do blow up good, at least, as does everything/everyone else.

Typing this reminds me of how I'd always wish some of the stuff in the extravagant CG intro was in-game >_< Man, I want that rad jeep VS armoured train battle! Fuck! Ah well, can always fire up Shock Troopers.

Still a great time - has pace and kick, with quite a few clever, original setpieces and boss designs. Super-sharp controls and hit detection too. Highlight for me is the last few stage-end bosses, which while still not outright harrowing, involve some nice multitasking.

I always used the railgun/flamethrower combo, too, its bullet cancelling can come in handy at the endgame, and the former's combo of pinpoint laser-sight accuracy and monstrous impact is too goddamn satisfying. The unlockable weapon sets supposedly break the game outright, I never really bothered with 'em. Drill Gun is hilarious though, will always remember getting ID carded buying my copy because of the batshit, very un-Contra gore. :mrgreen:

Love that daft intro vocal theme. :cool: AGGRESSION AND COMBAT RELEASES THE ANGER Image No lie, some of those lyrics are on point. :o

Mephistopheles
Induces you into Hell
Join the death pilgrimage
Destroy / Dispel


I guess my advice would be to stick to the default weapon sets, as it'll be a relatively easy nomiss to begin with.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Mortificator »

The Neo Contra theme's on my driving playlist. :lol: It's kind of interesting how Shin's intro consisted of dramatizations of things you actually do in the game, while Neo's is all this crazy shit Rizer & Jaguar get up to between the playable missions.

I was going to say the weapon types are practically difficulty settings - Type B and E are hard-ish, A and C are normal, F is easy, and D is supereasy - but maybe there are subtleties to using some that I missed. In any event, if you just want a 1LC, unlock D and obliterate bosses before they finish their first pattern. The S-rank threshold is relaxed so you can miss and still reach it, while other grades are stricter.
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Post by NYN »

Did some of you hear about Sturmfront - The Mutant War: Übel Edition ?

A rather pastiche Contra top-down stages inspired game. Or so it seems. It's new on Switch, PS4, and -surprise- WiiU.
No idea how it handles. I'm a bit burned about literary thousands of indies who maybe look the part but have no feel to call its own.
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Re: übelmensch

Post by Ghegs »

Neo Contra was alright and after Shattered Soldier it's certainly an easy S-rank. I didn't bother with a no-miss/no-damage run on that because some of the later stages have some annoying parts where it's easy to get just because of the camera angle. I'm guessing this is the reason for the more relaxed grading and the "dodge everything" -button.
Ronyn wrote:Did some of you hear about Sturmfront - The Mutant War: Übel Edition ?

A rather pastiche Contra top-down stages inspired game. Or so it seems. It's new on Switch, PS4, and -surprise- WiiU.
No idea how it handles. I'm a bit burned about literary thousands of indies who maybe look the part but have no feel to call its own.
I was initially curious about it but dismissed it after watching a few videos. It just failed to grab me, felt like a "euro run 'n gun" if such a thing exists. And it's apparently possible to beat the whole thing in under 10 minutes by just running towards the exit in the stages.

That said, I haven't actually played the game.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by copy-paster »

Congrats for Shattered Soldier 1LC, PEG! This game is my favorite entry of the series and I always coming back from time to time, I have yet to 1LC this yet too.

As for run and gun goodness I've been doing MS3 for now and tried out different routes (Yeti and Man-Eater), anyone here have consistent strat for japanese samurai route? That one is real hell and you don't get much resources for Sol either. Also TIL pressing jump on Rocket Slug, your ship will move faster hahah I didn't realize this till today.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Holy shit, I'd no idea about Rocket Slug's speedup! :shock: I'll have to give that a go. Though to be honest, the thing that bothers me most about that thing is its god-awful default shot. :lol:

The Japanese Army sequence, I wish I'd recorded the route I nailed down when I was casually going for an alt. routes 1LC a year ago. Suffice to say, it was consistent, but also very strict - moreso than any other area of the game. I'll give it another look when I'm home tomorrow and will see if it comes back to me.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by copy-paster »

Yeah you need to hold down jump button for that though, pretty helpful for dodging silver asteroids if you ran out of laser gun.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by pegboy »

You guys acting like Neo Contra is a total joke for a 1LC but I don't see it. Maybe if you use type D, which appears to be ridiculously overpowered, but for the 3 defaults types I must be missing something.

Yes, I will agree that S-Rank is not that challenging since you can basically die twice in each level, which is VERY lenient compared to Shattered Solder but a no miss 100% for the full game doesn't seem that easy to me.

Areas of contention off the top of my head:
Stage 4 helicopter mini boss, kind of a bastard with all those mines and ramming attack
Master contra spinning sword attack, pretty random and can corner you if you are unlucky
Master contra big face - I just must be doing something completely wrong here as when I practice it using type B I probably get killed 3 out of 4 times for the game over, those orbs take a lot of damage to bring down and you only get 30 seconds with all sorts of shit going on.
Final boss - drops those blue bullet spreads which seem nearly impossible to dodge unless you have the flamethrower that can cancel them. Other 2 attacks are fairly trivial to dodge as the fire has safe spots and that other attack you just move around in a square motion.

Maybe it's because I'm playing on an emulator and there is input delay (I don't have the disc yet so I'm still just practicing things on the PC for now).
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

It's been a while, but I recall the st4 heli being a priority speedkill - as mentioned, I only ever used flamethrower/railgun, but if you're aggressively landing fuly-charged shots, he won't survive nearly as long. I distinctly recall trying out machinegun/grenades, and finding him a much longer-lived hazard. (MG/G also seem to cause more slowdown on hardware, between the former's blood spatter and the latter's explosions... I thought that was odd, given Shin's silky-smooth 60fps at all times)

Master Contra's swords, I could see input lag tripping you up there - that and the previous stage's Neo Gyaba are exactly the sort of organic, multi-tasking patterns I mentioned enjoying. Big Head can be kinda bullshit WRT destroying the nodes, I've distinct memories of playing with a couple friends watching, and all of us cracking up as my last lock-on shot merrily orbited around the final target for like five of my remaining six seconds before finally making contact. That aside, there's nothing for it but aggression.

TLB, yeah, I always thought I'd have had a lot more work to do if not for the flamethrower. To be honest his danmaku seemed kinda bullshit combined with the camera perspective, but as I say it's been a while. It's a milder Contra but by no means an insubstantial one, I bet it'll come together if you keep at it. :smile:
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by pegboy »

Thanks for the reply BIL.

That last pattern is for sure bullshit. The body of your entire hero must dodge the bullets, not just based on where your shadow is or whatever it "should be" based on the perspective of the camera. It seems to treat the entire thing as if your hero is a 2D sprite and you are playing a standard 2D shump for that particular attack, which is very strange since nothing else in the game is like that from what I remember.

Probably going to stick with type B and the flamethrower since I would really want to snap the disc in half if I get to the TLB and die from that bullshit.

Also, unrelated to the above but they should have stuck with the Shin Contra name for the US release. Shattered Soldier isn't a bad name per se, but Shin Contra just screams badass to me.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by copy-paster »

Pretty sure you could abuse brief invincibility by pressing X as explained in tutorial section (also X+directions it could do roll+iframes as well?), tapping X would make it longer.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by pegboy »

Roll will get you killed. Doing the evade usually gets you killed too since the bullets are so damn slow and for some reason your hit box seems to be enormous for this attack. Only reliable way is the flamethrower imo.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Ghegs »

pegboy wrote:Also, unrelated to the above but they should have stuck with the Shin Contra name for the US release. Shattered Soldier isn't a bad name per se, but Shin Contra just screams badass to me.
People would've just gotten confused as to what the front part of your lower leg has to do with the game.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Marc »

Bit puzzled by Vendetta - seems even the most basic mook can interrupt your basic combo? Lack of a back poke (unless I'm missing something) is really annoying as well - was really useful in the first game.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Basic PPPs seemed pretty straightforward to me, compared to the stricter first game or its Technos inspirations. I'll have to give it another go tonight. Remember to launch combos from off-axis, a beltscroller essential.

I notice the new P+K attacks really tear through enemies (again, launched off-axis) - was surprised at the generosity, even VS bosses.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Marc »

BIL wrote:Basic PPPs seemed pretty straightforward to me, compared to the stricter first game or its Technos inspirations. I'll have to give it another go tonight. Remember to launch combos from off-axis, a beltscroller essential.

I notice the new P+K attacks really tear through enemies (again, launched off-axis) - was surprised at the generosity, even VS bosses.
Seems to be that individual hits push enemies back a few pixels, so if you start a combo at distance you're not always guaranteed to get the final hit in, I think.

Using Sledge, the P-P-P-K combo is nice, but seems a bit arbitrary in use - the forward lunge seems one of the more useful combo enders but distancing is really strict. There seems to be anexact distance it'll work, otherwise you'll throw out a normal kick, usually costing you a good half an energy bar. I'm going to have to watch a vid of the ST2 boss because I'm buggered if I know what to do there. Only thing I could really see is letting him come to me, you can move off-axis if he jumps within range and have a poke. A lot of the time though, he'll go straight down if you interrupt him during a move, so this takes ages.

Much harder the Crime Fighters IMO. CF was quite methodical, this is quite a bit more frantic, with a little bit of the jank/randomness of Konami's licenced stuff.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Randorama »

Marc: Boss 2 (aka The Missing Link, aka *insert very cheap punch-line here*) is a "poke-dodge-poke-dodge" boss, which is a standard staple of Konami's beltscrollers.

Hit once starting from off-axis (of course), dodge by going up or down, hit again, repeat 3-4 times to floor him. 2-3 hits on the floor are fine, but he can hit you back when he gets up.

The jumping attack is simple.
First jump, stay on the opposite side of the screen and he won't hit; second jump is a dummy, but start moving (up, down: an open space) so that the third jump will not reach you.
Generally speaking: poke, keep distance, go slowly and yes, this works on all bosses: combos are hard to pull off against them.

Last boss requires more than this, but one step at a time.

Also, I am somehow convinced that it would be a rational idea to recover a 1-CC on Metamorphic Force, the European version.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Jeneki »

Wizard Fire / Dark Seal 2 (Data East 1992) got released on psn and switch yesterday. Not an Arcade Archives release, this one is by G-mode / 612.

Fun little isometric dungeon romp, with a cool charge-up attack that covers a good portion of the screen.

I had to disable two different video filters, to turn off the dumb "look at the cab around the play screen" and crt filters. I can definitely feel lag in the controls, but this game is rather slow paced so your mileage may vary.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Marc »

Jeneki wrote:Wizard Fire / Dark Seal 2 (Data East 1992) got released on psn and switch yesterday. Not an Arcade Archives release, this one is by G-mode / 612.

Fun little isometric dungeon romp, with a cool charge-up attack that covers a good portion of the screen.

I had to disable two different video filters, to turn off the dumb "look at the cab around the play screen" and crt filters. I can definitely feel lag in the controls, but this game is rather slow paced so your mileage may vary.
I'm sure I've already got this?
Ah, it's already been released under the Johnny Turbo banner. Never really put much time in though, feels a bit clunky,
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by copy-paster »

More MS3 session as for now. St3's oil rig route is blast, about as awesome as St4 opening. You can ram the rebels to death by Ostrich Slug but the slug also have animation delay when turning, this means dealing the last part kinda tricky.

As for Man-Eater route it's unfortunate that Flame shot somehow weak against Sol unlike laser and shotgun, makes the chance of AGNs spawn more (and somehow this route also have higher chance of them appearing too!). Farming bombs in final mission also helps taking out Rootmars really quick coupled with fully armed Flame shot.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Ostrich Slug's turning animation is definitely something to beware - it's possibly safer just to Exit Exploit off him, then get back on once you've dealt with whatever's behind you. Amazing sequence once you get the layout down. Image

Yeah, arriving at RootMars with the Flame Shot from the Escape sequence (dropped by a Zombie after the first airlock) is a critical part of my route. Relying on the Slugnoid's cannons and mines will get you past the final airlock in good shape for the boss.

Stocking up on bombs is critical too, of course. I noticed you can get an extra ten by suiciding your aircraft immediately, at the very start - but the risk of getting killed in the dogfight made me decide not to. Instead, I suicide when the sequence ends. Killing the R-Shobu chopper while you're jetpack-only (it's easy, just overlap him so his missiles can't hit you) will force him to give you bombs, instead of ammo. I suicide the replacement Heli Slug that comes along a bit later, for the same reason, before keeping the next one for Allen. This bit's really generous with vehicles... I guess it is a convoy, after all.

In my practice runs, I'd always farm up a bunch of HMG ammo in the Cocoon battle - it's surprisingly safe, given the clones' lengthy attack delay. This way, I wouldn't need to expend grenades on the Escape sequence's locks. In my current 1LC, I leave the fight with less HMG than planned, due to nerves - I'd already had a near-death experience VS the crawler bugs, and would've died to a clone's flamethrower if not for sheer blind luck (wrote a lot about this at the time), so my hands were shaking a bit. :lol:

Blind luck survival, let a ceiling clone escape my notice:
Spoiler
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How 2 Ceiling Clones: Let 'em lock onto you, then hop the blast and downshot 'em.
Spoiler
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(Clones sometimes go idle, which is great if you're fighting Fios. Sammiches harmlessly waste spawn slots. Image)

RootMars has such an obscene amount of HP, the most important aspect of surviving him is really endurance. His RNG drops can be ridiculously unhelpful, best not to rely on them. The entry/exit groove is pretty comfy once mastered, imo. Most harrowing part of the stage for me is the crawler bugs - specifically timing the destruction of the first couple giants, so they don't take you down with them, and the runner types that can catch you (the hoppers can be safely outran).

What a comeback for one of MS1/X's few AWOL enemies, the sewer zombies. :shock:

Apparently there's a safespot somewhere on RootMars' face, along the stitches... I remember an MS3 master using it, and commenters whining. :mrgreen: Never actually saw it, but if it weren't for the Slug Exit Exploit, I'd definitely use it. The game's innately floaty 30fps handling makes those angry bubble updrafts farcically difficult to evade... and it seems Nazca designed the fight as a wink/nod to the exploit, given they provide a whole extra Slug for 2P games. (I was happy to see that - I guess you could devise some kinda "human shield" routine, where the exiting player cancels bubbles for the other, but it'd be ridiculously unfair on whoever was left outside the Slug)
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Jeneki »

Marc wrote:Ah, it's already been released under the Johnny Turbo banner. Never really put much time in though, feels a bit clunky,
Yes it definitely has that Data East "charm". :lol:

The Dwarf can keep moving during an attack, which feels a bit nicer than the rest. Not sure if he's the best choice, but he's more fun to play so far.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by copy-paster »

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1104516915

Failed no-miss of MS3, got 2 credit clear instead. Could be a good watch, some panicks here and there. Sorry for bad sounding commentary though :oops:
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Blinge »

Eri looks better in the sprite.
Sadly not in the official art rofl

Fio's not moving anywhere fast with that chest

Nice zombie clutch-play at the beginning of stage 2 on the failed run

man fuck MS3!!!
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by copy-paster »

I agree, but Fio still best girl anyway. :wink:

Did another run but failed because I got a bug during Rootmars where I can't move my characters at all. But at least this one is clip/GIF worthy.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

copy-paster wrote:But at least this one is clip/GIF worthy.
Good data, never seen that before!

That particular truck has ridiculous HP, I always dump my entire Rocket Lawnchair into it. Gets ugly fast, if it's still disgorging grenadiers while the helis show up. Best thing about hitting it with pointblanked rockets is, you'll take out the Rebels climbing up and over it, too.

Oh hey, Blaster Master Zero 3 is out. :o Art's looking sharp, as ever.

Image

That's my next week sorted, assuming I can tear myself away from Bloodborne's NG+. Zero 2 was a quantum leap beyond the lukewarm Z1, and a great search action game in its own right. Exactly the sort of 16/32bit sequel I'd imagine Sunsoft doing, had their action division not seemingly vanished overnight. Really curious to see if they can keep that momentum, though even something on par with Z2 will be a good time.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Blinge »

What's interesting mr Copypasta is your route choices are so different from mine!
I pick the path of least resistance every time, the routes I feel are easier.

Not you sir. :lol:

Also ffs i didn't know there was an ostrich, that thing is fucking cute.

AHEM. excuse me Copypast. I see you survived. You're fine, what about all your comrades who fell to the yellow needles of death?
Why do you get to live without facing this trial? What right do you have
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Blaster Master Zero 3's looking good so far! Just did the first area, which in good Search Action form leaves behind much alluring ground. Pulled myself away before getting too far into the next stage, a ruined city teeming with markedly vicious enemies. That key gain of Zero 2's - aggression - seems very much in place, sidescrolling and topdown alike.

Took a few decades, but bees got their shit together Image
Spoiler
Image


Enemies were mostly familiar, other than some badass topdown nemeses the game warns aren't to be engaged lightly. I hope it continues this trajectory, felt great zipping around the kind of firepower associated with Z2's midbosses. The topdown countershot mechanic remains in place, but now you've also got a quickstep on tap (metered, to prevent spamming, much like the countershot will whiff if mashed without enemy attacks active). Works great with the strafe and counters.

Owch!
Spoiler
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Image

^^^ FC Batman Vibe (`w´メ)

Sidescrolling likewise keeps its Z2 accoutrements - wallgrind/wallspring are default and cost no meter, while the "shock absorber" recharge remains a kinetic marvel. No surprises here, really - even the forgettable Z1 handled beautifully.

The first sidescroller boss - minor spoiler - is a nice homage to the Famicom original. Zero 2's affection for golden age Sunsoft was unmistakable, similar good vibes here. You're not expected to win, but fans of Metafight's classical heavy machine sidescrolling will want to get to grips.

EDIT: Haha. Spoke too soon... you can take the edge off a tricky early fight with a little search chicanery. Leave the Tank Armour found early on, and clear out the area, getting the Tank gauge upgrades while you're at it. Then, use the teleporter right before the boss to zip back to the Tank Armour's room, nab it, and with some minor pattern recognition, it'll go far easier. Cheesier, even! Z2 had some intense tank duels over its course, ones involving far more mobile and dangerous players and bosses alike - so I hope this is a harbinger of similar goodness.

Using that extra Famicom sound channel, mirite? >;3
Spoiler
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My only complaint here is aesthetic - the starter techbase is a little mundane, compared to the vividly alien floating islands of Zero 2's opening. Then again, Zero 2 has a very similar techbase later on, and I only saw a bit of Z3's. So I'm sure impressions might change. I'm curious to see how Z3's apparent one planet compares with the teeming variety of Z2's galactic safari.

Up way too goddamn late between this and BBNG+. Nice problem to have. Image
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Blinge »

Birru what's search action? :shock:
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

It's apparently what the kids call Metroid et al these days - not a bad moniker imo. Better than dumb-as-rocks "Metroidvania," I tells ya. Image

Aykshually, the OG Blaster Master, or as the box on my shelf says METAFIGHT (`w´メ) is only kinda Metroidesque. You can't choose your own path forward at all - stages are sequential, but interconnected by doors (Up To Enter), and it's your job to find your way to each. That sheer cliff face at the start? Might have something to do with that Hover module the third boss carked up! Etc etc.

The "search" part comes in the form of the game's Achilles heel, its myriad pointless topdown dungeons. Once you know the one the stage boss is hiding in, the rest become not only boring, but also complete and utter wastes of time (speaking of time, it's not a short game, nor does it have any password/save feature to speak of - you have to gradually learn to shave the pointless dungeoneering off your route, a not unsatisfying process admittedly).

Zero 2's correcting of this - not only is the topdown action entertaining, it's also productive - was a milestone thirty years in the making. :shock: Zero 1 almost got there, but it just made it so you can't reach the real ending without doing all the shitty dungeons. :lol:
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