Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[Blinge]

I don't like it.

[BIL]

I can take or leave it tbh, but then I can take or leave the whole subgenre. I liked SriK's commentary.

It all gets a bit up its own ass, eventually. I make a stylistic distinction for stuff like Zelda II, Dracula II, Battle of Olympus, Ys III, Faxanadu, and FC Rygar... those are just sidescrolling action RPGs, in my book. The hori counterparts to the original Zelda.

I distinguish Dragon Slayer IV from the above, for the same reasons I do Galious, SOTN, Metafight, and Metroid: the game-length dungeon setting. This is shameless style choice, on my part - all of these labyrinthine sidescrollers could be redrawn in the overworld/town/dungeon format of the preceding games, with nil mechanical impact. Still, they "feel" different to me - in a less substantive way than breezy, screen-raking Contra feels different from punishingly spartan CV1, but it's there.

I will use the term "Metroidesque" only on condition of 1) uberdungeon setting and 2) reasonable degree of nonlinearity. Metafight clears the first, but not the second. However, I'll give it "Search Action." You definitely do a lot of searching, even if the revealed path is set in stone.

Holy Diver is always a useful yardstick here, I think. You can go off the path and find useful upgrades, but you can't ever leave the stage, or avoid fighting its boss - and you certainly can't backtrack to earlier stages. Rondo of Blood kinda evolved this - there are two tracks leading to Dracula. Each track's stages have a "normal" boss+exit, and a "secret" one. You can use the latter to hop between tracks as you please, though you'll always end up in Dracula's keep, regardless. You can't backtrack in-game, but you're free to reset, and replay a cleared stage going for a different exit than the one you took originally. This is integral to the game's clear ratio, in fact. Metal Slug 3 is a similar case... you always fight the same stage boss, but its first four Missions' various routes add up to at least twice that number, in terms of authoritative 1LC mastery.

None of these games even approach "Search Action" in my book - they're just linear sidescrollers with a bit of lateral freedom and wonder, as opposed to the iron rails of CV1, Ninja Gaiden, Contra etc.

Jesus, where was I. Oh yeah I have to return some videotapes.

[Blinge]

oh shit if it's an already in-use term or a direct translation / synonym.. I'm cool with it. (shut up blinge you fucking weeb)

.. but even typing that I can see it's not a direct fit. I could happily call megaman X a search action.. not so much an mmmvania
I think somebody made a similar point a couple weeks back

[BIL]

Rewrote slightly, as I was thinking about this while in line at the DMV. TLDR: Zelda II's one thing, Metroid's another.

[BrianC]

Not to mention non-linear platformers predated Metroid, though these were mostly strict platformers. Games like Montezuma's Revenge, Pitfall II, and Impossible Mission. Impossible Mission was a definite influence on Zillion for SMS.

[BIL]

Oh wow, Montezuma's Revenge looks interesting... 1984, too. I've such a blind spot with Western stuff from the first half of the 80s.

Was so enthralled by the concept, I ran smack into the title's diarrhoea joke while googling. (I know I'm well-rested when I nail that hideously guttural UK spelling of the unfortunate complaint on my first go )

[WelshMegalodon]

If you're interested, there's a really nice-looking version of Montezuma's Revenge on the Master System.

[BIL]

Very much so, many thanks! SMS is my retirement platform, well that and the MSX. I've a lot of ground to cover on both.

Blaster Master Zero 3 strong recommend. Only on Area 2, but it's busting out ideas and dangers at exponential rate. Was lukewarm on ye olde parallel world mechanic, but here it's surprisingly fresh. It's no easygoing lateral-thought puzzlebox - quite the contrary, it's been used so far as a desperate last resort where the trail goes cold. On foot, it's a place of seething decay and merciless danger - you'll die to either the vile air or the creatures from the gap, if you stick around, forcing a harrowing rush. Mounted, your tank will shield your mortal flesh, but the slightest contact with long stretches of exposed rift will blow your ride to atoms, and there are plenty of enemies to shunt you into them. The "otherside" as a place you don't want to go, nice.

TBH, between the cosmic nightmares and deftly-timed ripostes on hulking brutes, this is a nice Bloodborne chaser. Better than that shitty comicbook, where a random butt-naked dude goes to Yargy and spies Parl and 1re:born scrapping like Godzilla v Jet Jaguar, then suffers a pants-shitting meltdown (Burinju have you read those? If not - don't

Well, maybe do, you know I am inordinately fond of the big annoying furry twat)

NOM~ >:3

Spoiler

Forgot to mention a sea change in the on-foot dept. Jason will still die to anything greater than a couple character heights' fall, just like Kane on the FC before him. (Metafight is now canonically Blaster Master Zero Minus One, it seems - a development I heartily approve of, not just because Zero has grown into a surprisingly lovable little story, but mostly because it means the shitty NES localisation can finally be banished from contention*). HOWEVER,

This changes EVERYTHING

Spoiler

*no offense meant to appreciators of the goofy NES story. but looking back, it's like some frustrated comicbook scribe (or Worlds of Power novelist, har har) jacking off all over my hobby. like NES Double Dragon III ending the trilogy with LeeBros & co not besting an ancient demigod... but beating the stuffing out of poor Marion. WOW GREAT TWIST! sorry Marion, I didn't want to destroy your face with my Seimei Style Iron Claw, but spectacle sells!

[Blinge]

Yikes lol
I hear they're gonna make a bloodborne TV show

I also look forward to that being fucking dogshit

[BIL]

Aw mayne I didn't get what the second Counter module I've found was for. Mentions activating "after physical contact." "WTF" I thought, "I'm not bumping SHIT if I can help it." (as per MetaTradition, damage saps not only HP, but GUNFORCE, too - Zero introduces disposable body armours that'll spare both, but they're uncommon, and not very long-lived).

Turns out this thing is a LICENSE 2 BUMP, Ys-style. Run into an enemy, and you get a split-second window to go full Cyborg Ninja on they ass, *SHING* You're in iframes with full mobility, post-attack, making quick assassinations of pesky chasers and snipers a snap. You can even use it to hack down heavies, or take a chunk out of them.

CHOP U.MP3

Spoiler

And here I thought Z2's quickdraw and tele-stab (the former once again your starter Counter here) were neat.

Z2 Quickdraw, or Eldritch Horror Eye Specialist Jutsu

Spoiler

Z2 Telestab, or MUNEN STRIKE (the munen is all theirs )

Spoiler

It's not a license to slop, as the vast majority of enemies shoot at you - get blasted while moving in, and you're shit out of luck. You might still get the counter, but that HP/SP is gone. You'll wish you'd Quickdraw countered instead (you can equip both modules simultaneously, the chop will only trigger with a preceding bump). Also, big enemies can survive the gashing. Still, even VS bruisers, it opens up a quick escape window, where you might otherwise be trapped. Very cool Tactical Body Ram subversion, exactly the stuff I dig.

Also crablegs for tank, we Rohga Armour Force now. Crab mutants are overjoyed to see you, turn that sniper nest into a lovefest, that's what I'm sayin ALSO Soukyugurentai Rayzors, a godsend in the hectic Othersides where shit is coming at you from all angles and gravity is unpredictable.

While I think it'd be cool if this really is the finale - it's hit a nice escalating scale, with well-earned camaraderie (what a cute subversion of the waifu copilot tradition... snark and spite abound ) - I hope Inti don't give up on this style of heavy machine action, nor the topdown micro-dungeoning. They've clearly got a talent for both, on fundamentals and new toys alike. Had my first real "Oh FML" topdown moment in all of the series' history, popping into Otherside to find a goddamn zoo of fiends big and small trundling downscreen at me - countergashed the biggest one and GTFoutta there. Pick yer fights! Particularly as when that alarm goes off and the screen starts corrupting, SHTF at light speed.

Topdown-wise, this is very nearly my long awaited Metafight x Gremlins 2.

As with Z2, the best complement I can give is that this is the kind of joie de vivre I'd expect of the Sunsoft 16/32bit canon that never was. (an aside, I've loved seeing them around in... some capacity, even if it's just licensing out old IPs and tweeting about Hamster's customarily lovely ACA releases)

[Marc]

Fired up Crime Fighters for a while last night. First four levels are a 1-life job now, but the ST4 boss wrecks my shit. ST2 & 3 are just about gun management - once you've got that you can sleepwalk to the end. Without a gun, the back kick seems OP - once I've got a bat I that only time I'll use a front combo rather than back kick is on the green dudes that bring the bats in because they get a swing in before the kick comes out. Good stuff, if a little slow.

[BIL]

I don't think I'd have taken to CF1 nearly as much without the Back Kick button. The other revs lose so much flexibility and finesse. PPP is inconsistent on heavy enemies, KKK seems outright unsafe, JK is only conditionally useful, and grapples just can't be depended on. BK gives you a reliable, versatile poke, with i-frames balanced by low base damage.

It smartly expands the otherwise patchy combo engine, too. The canned PPP crushes Mohawks, but leaves Greasers and Switchblades able to recover. Hit 'em with PPKKK, or KKPPP, and you'll do 'em in one. Very important, with even CF1's smaller enemies liable to drag you down.

PPP/KKK vs Junkyard Dog = Russian Roulette. PPKKK, followed by a vicious kicking = Touch Of Death

Spoiler

(KKK's combos are admittedly great from aesthetic standpoint - I looove CF1's Muay influence. Fear the eight limbs, you punk motherfuckers! lots of pragmatically brutal elbows, knees, and best of all, career-ending low kicks )



Keeping Violent City's physios in business, that's the Technos way

st4 boss/chainsaw was an enigma to me for a while. Like a lot of CF1's bosses, there's a slightly obscure but very repeatable strategy: basically, you need to bait out his attack, then circle behind him.

Stabbing Selection:

https://youtu.be/N7MEmbTNlyU <- Early days
https://youtu.be/vcWdIvxwAGI
https://youtu.be/vwo7EOiXtQU
https://youtu.be/5HX5oA_x15U <- SUPER STAB

There's a Switchblade enemy in the arena, who you should immediately disarm - the knife will speed things up dramatically, as always. It may not be as unstoppable as the gun, which is basically this game's Ikari tank / Metal Slug, but the knife is very nearly as valuable. Real pain in the ass if you lose it VS the seventh boss, for my money the game's evillest.

Wrote quite a bit about my st4 & st7 boss strats here. When I back-burnered it, a first-loop 1LC was looking very doable, with the caveat that stage 7/Waterfront demands careful partitioning. Rather like Double Dragon II's final stage, if you just scroll along merrily, it'll descend into utter, near-unplayable hell. (and without the slowdown assistance - CF1 doesn't slow down )

Other than that, my big point of concern is that (frankly stupid) Boss Revenge stage, connecting the two loops. It's... kind of a bonus/gag stage, except it can kill you and outright end your credit, the only way out is through. Japanese players have devised many amusing stratagems, this one's excellent. (ta trap)

I wish they'd gone without it, the game's plenty hard enough. Then again, 1989 was the year of Gradius III, so restraint clearly wasn't on the agenda.

[Rastan78]

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.

There is a back kick done by pressing back + K.

http://www.punchpedia.com/games/arc/ven ... ndetta.php

This site has a nice little move list. The moves in Vendetta are pretty straightforward, but I just dig these old school kind of game sites that have lots of screens, flyers etc.

[Randorama]

I wish they'd gone without it, the game's plenty hard enough. Then again, 1989 was the year of Gradius III, so restraint clearly wasn't on the agenda.

Would it be morally reprehensible to cite Calvin Harris' timeless classic Acceptable in the 80's? Especially when Konami was involved, deeply perplexing design choices and the '80s were ultimately synonymous. Well, deeply perplexing choices in general (say, Maggie, Ronnie, Def Leppard, Lucas' trilogy...) and the '80s were synonymous, but I definitely do not blame Konami for that! (Unless they were/are the ones secretly pulling the strings behind it all and we never figure it out).

I forgot to add:

Spoiler

Vendetta also has an extra stage, but it is a bit more rational. You fight one boss pair at a time, and clear the stage once you beat the whole gang a second time

Still, the Konami belt-scrollers people were zany people, I suspect.

[Rastan78]

Clearly whoever decided to add in that 2x boss rush was a psychopathic '80s villain ala Patrick Bateman. No remorse, no empathy, no fucks given. Is it fair to consider beating the main game without it a 1cc?

[BIL]

I could totally understand leaving the game at one loop, that boss revenge stage is hot garbage. I could get fighting two, maybe three at a time, depending on the pairings (or a straight gauntlet, as Rando mentions CF2 having). It's total overkill as-is... a single player's just not equipped for that sort of crowd, hence the wacky-yet-effective "chip 'em all" strat.

[Marc]

Had to check out a vid to see what you guys were talking about - man that is some coin-guzzling bullshit right there.

[BIL]

Yeah. Even more annoyingly, the loop itself doesn't seem very different at all. Unless it ranks down on Game Overs (not impossible, IIRC Super Contra does this), it seemed like the typical Konami 2-looper, where it pretty much jacks the difficulty up to max (again, Super Contra's loop does this, as does Sunset Riders', and I'm pretty sure Mystic Warriors' - all directed by the criminally unsung Hideyuki Tsujimoto, who also figured heavily in their first-class Toaplanesque two-looper, Trigon).

So it seems CF1's curve is 1) master the first loop 2) pull off a ridiculously tight, bizarre strat on the Boss Revenge 3) do a final, marginally tougher loop.

Without the middle step, I'd call CF (the three-button rev) an unfettered success of the pre-Final Fight beater years, a rare thing outside of Technos. Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden (fundamentally tight, wildly creative) and Jaleco's Takeda Shingen (middling graphics, but in motion it's got a powerfully stoic sengoku air, and more importantly a first-class Touch of Death zone/strike game) are two more I'd mention. SNK's Datsugoku has killer style - still one of the entire genre's best KO animations+SFX, utter catharsis - but between the awful undroppable empty gun, and a farcical-yet-devastating AI exploit (try bunnyhopping - watch the whole room pause and unpause as you leave/return to ground), it can't compare to the preceding three, or Technos's essentials - even the also hugely flawed, yet immensely charismatic and very salvageable DD1.

CF1's still damn good, just got silly at the end, not unlike a lot of great AC games do (Ikari leaps to mind, having mentioned Datsu).

[Randorama]

I cannot open the yout00b video (China, etc. etc.), but can someone give me a rundown of the ninja CF1 technique, if it is not too much of a hassle?

Please!!1!

[BIL]

Do you mean the Stage 4 boss videos I posted? Basically, you need to let Chainsaw Leatherface approach and attack - then hit [down] or [up] to sidestep him. CF1's on-axis hit detection is fiendishly strict, noticeable when exhausted enemies begin to "jiggle" on and off your lane - but it cuts both ways, and here as elsewhere (st7 KNIFE ARMY aka Not Sgt Elias), it works in your favour. It's actually much easier and safer than it sounds to let a boss take a swing at you, though it's only in these desperate straits that I currently employ the technique.

Once you've slipped him, zip around to his back and deal a punishing stab - if he's hoisted the saw to mid/high level, you can get in two. Hang on a sec, I'll GIF the final take

EDIT: here we go! hope it works, apologies if I'm barking entirely up the wrong tree

Definitely agreed on the Konami beltscroller dudes' wacky side - despite often very raw content, both the Crime Fighters never come off as mean-spirited or willfully harrowing. Just badass 80s dudes handing out hardass 70s street justice (CF1 reminds me of Dirty Harry moreso than Final Fight's Streets of Fire or DD's odd "Hokuto no Ken minus nukes" setting)

I get the same vibe from a few of Konami's other genre efforts, like Sunset Riders/Mystic Warriors (as cheerful and chipper as unbridled cowboy/ninja massacre ever could be), and XEXEX (that ending sequence, the bathos to IREM body-weapon-horror ).

Even the relatively stone-faced Trigon cuts loose with Pentarou cameos, doing belly-slides across the raging tundra warzone (I suspect a shout to SameSame's recurring dolphins and marching troops). The hardest of the hardcore is possibly Super Contra, but even there, check out the wicked grin on the third boss, he's fookin LOVIN IT up there.

[Randorama]

Cheers Bill, I also forgot to ask...the extra stage technique you were mentioning a few posts ago, in a nutshell.
I remember using a technique in which the bosses would literally stop attacking after a set amount of time, and even so it was a long, tortuous, mistifying attack-dodging marathon.
Am I on the right track?

...but yeah, as I grew up, Konami really meant "lots of badassery and over-the-top humour".
I mean, they created Parodius, after all

I am half-tempted to recover a 1-CC on their Surprise Attack, and possibly on Rolling Thunder 2, as a "summer nostalgia & city pop exercise".

[Rastan78]

Man Rolling Thunder 2 is great. Love the methodical and tactical pace. Creates quite a bit of tension. It's by Namco, but easily confused as no doubt Konami took a lot of cues from Rolling Thunder when they created Sunset Riders. Just as Sega did with the first Shinobi.

Without the middle step, I'd call CF (the three-button rev) an unfettered success of the pre-Final Fight beater years, a rare thing outside of Technos.

I almost consider Taito's 90s belt scrollers to be part of this lineage. Oddly enough it's like they chose to live in a world where Final Fight never existed with games like Runark/Growl, Rastan Saga Episode III, and Arabian Magic all hewing closer to a Technos or Sega Golden Axe 80s style of action in spite of the fact that they released years after FF.

Oh and BTW Growl has the best voice samples in all of gaming.

[BIL]

Cheers Bill, I also forgot to ask...the extra stage technique you were mentioning a few posts ago, in a nutshell.
I remember using a technique in which the bosses would literally stop attacking after a set amount of time, and even so it was a long, tortuous, mistifying attack-dodging marathon.
Am I on the right track?

Pretty much - only distinction is, it's actually damage dealt that stops them from attacking. Basically, every enemy (except maybe 1-hitters, like dogs and possibly the indomitable Gay Dog, though it wouldn't surprise me if GD goes down humping ) has a "0HP" state. They'll stop attacking you, but will otherwise keep following you about, getting in your face, etc. At this point, any further damage, no matter how slight, and they're done (it's not like Technos, where enemies on their last legs still need to be beaten into knockdown for the kill).

Weird as hell, never seen anything like it in another brawler. So basically, in the Boss Revenge, you need to lead the mob on a merry chase, landing hits where you can. The goal is to exhaust the whole crowd, then mow through them in short order. I've seen really good players do it in 6m30s, but yeah, it's quite the haul.

The 0HP state also has another use - you can turn weapon-carrying enemies into "POW containers," letting them follow you into further scenes and even boss battles. It can be tricky to keep them alive though, since they'll still be getting up in your face while you're battling their comrades. And since CF1's weapons vanish rather quickly, you might find yourself needing to grab a weapon well ahead of whatever contingency you'd planned it for. Still, great to know - Korean badass Janet uses this to good effect versus the st7 boss, who's a real evil SOB (you need to nail him with hits as he descends to your axis - nothing unusual, but the timing's very tight, and his knife does hellacious damage).

I almost consider Taito's 90s belt scrollers to be part of this lineage. Oddly enough it's like they chose to live in a world where Final Fight never existed with games like Runark/Growl, Rastan Saga Episode III, and Arabian Magic all hewing closer to a Technos or Sega Golden Axe 80s style of action in spite of the fact that they released years after FF.

I've such a blind spot there, I think the only Taito beltscroller I've played much is PuLiRuLa, and even then just for a few credits. I've always loved Growl/Runark's wistful-yet-driven OST and cod-Edgar Rice Burroughs vibe though. YACK firing on all cylinders as usual.

Oh and BTW Growl has the best voice samples in all of gaming.

Yeah exactly That solemn vow of revenge after the baddies blow up your local is up there with KEEP YER EYES PEELED for digitised statements of R2RKMF intent. "Whaddayou jerks think you're doing..." "GET LOST WIMP! *OOOOOF!*"

[Rastan78]

I love the fact that Growl starts you off with 4 rocket launchers off the bat so even in 4P mode everyone gets a piece of the action right away. Also love that when you throw a grenade there's a cover animation where the player hits the deck. One of those little details that just feel perfect.

Speaking of Taito blind spots anyone ever play Dead Connection? It's an odd sort of game that's an isometric arena shooter with 8 way aiming. Even though it's a shooter the viewpoint, emphasis on spacing and crowd control almost makes it feel like a cousin to brawlers. Also there's much more environmental interaction than you might get in a straight up top down arena shooter. The zoomed out perspective and small but detailed art work lends the impression that the whole battle is taking place in a tiny gangster diorama in a shoe box. A funny one for sure.

[BIL]

Dead Connection's one of my most wanted for ACA release - plays like very little else, besides Taito's own earlier The Tin Star, a killer arena shooter/beltscroll hybrid tragically ruined by its awful bullet visibility. I'll tough it out through some flickery and/or camouflaged nightmares, but this one's tiny grey puffs against screaming day-glo take the cake.

DC feels like a precious second chance for the concept, I liked the few credits I played so much I've left it as a treat for later, pending ACA or PCB pickup (I do this sometimes - it's not like I don't have enough AC action to get to grips with at any given second, never mind console stuff; and the satisfaction of getting "new" classics is exceptional )

That attract sequence too, god damn As ever, when it comes to the weirdpop panache, TAITO IS KINGS



EVIL POWER STEALS ON
MEN MAKING A STAND AGAINST A GIGANTIC CRIME
"Christine... CHRISTINE!"
SADNESS... AND REVENGE

HOLY FUCK IMMA KILL U MARLON BRANDO - as Andy Garcia, even!

Reminds me I gotta bump up me Attract Modo thread, seen some choice works lately

[Udderdude]

New Genesis sidescroller Demons of Asteborg just released. Looks pretty good. You can order an original cart or buy it on Steam/Switch. https://twitter.com/DAsteborg/status/14 ... 7074164738 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJCeoz4_9Vg (warning - volume)

[Rastan78]

That attract sequence too, god damn As ever, when it comes to the weirdpop panache, TAITO IS KINGS

TAITO FILM
PRESENTS

They should've gotten an Oscar for that one. I love that games borrowed from movies so heavily in the 80s and 90s yet the tech limited designers from actually trying to ape cinema directly. So we were spared from truly "cinematic" gaming experiences. At least for a while.

[Randorama]

Birru-sensei:

Ah, OK, then I remember discovering it by sheer chance.
If you try to poke enemies and play very defensively, the extra stage takes forever.
So, I guess that the programmers hid this option as a way to reward players for surviving that long, or something.
I do remember that quite a few people hated the whole concept, when I was playing this...at the local arcade, in 1990. Eh, time flies.

Rastan78:

Rastan Saga III is not a perfect game, but I played it on the multi-screen cab, and it was magnificent.
It has a complicated system of "bad luck" stages which, upon completion, bestow the characters with extra power-ups.

Arabian Magic...one of those games that I never learnt to play, though I always thought that it is great. Sega created a similar game, right?

And then Growl...perhaps a pinnacle of a "style over substance" Taito game that I adore to bits, to this day and probably for the rest of my life.
OST and setting are, for me, timeless, and I always felt that Studio Ghibli could have created a masterpiece out of the story (the "peace between man and nature" theme, early 20th century/diesel-punkish style...).
I think that I was kept humming the stage 1's song for days on end, when the game came out.

The game system is however quite a predicament: even with the most resilient character, you basically need to avoid getting hit at all, or it is over within seconds.
I remember friends 1-CC'ing this on the premise that they would get the whip and then carefully manage crowds without fail (and ace the penultimate cave stage, of course).

General: PuLiRuLa is another pinnacle of "style over substance".

The scoring system works as follows: hit any enemy with the special attack (forward+P).
The released animal will fly to the opposing edge of the screen.
Scroll back so that the animal will run for the whole length of the screen and a bit more, collect the animal at x5 the basic points.
Shorter distances will net you smaller multipliers (x4, x3, x2, x1).

Not the most thrilling system around, for me, but the design, OST, general "Miyazaki meets Alice in Wonderland and Alphonse Mocha" style is...see above.
I remember playing this in the arcade, too, and on Saturn with the waifu.
We had a period in which we were ass-poor and were living in the basement of my grandparents' villa, before we were moving to Hungary for my first job after the Ph.D. (a Post-doc).
My wife absolutely adored the game (we 1-CC'ed in co-op, and the final boss is a pain in the ass), and we would always dance to the first stage's music.
The OST CD, which I own, has an absolutely glorious cover.

Dead Connection is the third of the series, I guess.
I have a file with the "character select" song, and I may loop it a few million times if I play it.

I have spammed a long, TL;DR post, so I will wait for you guys' responses

[WelshMegalodon]

I finally tackled Shadow Dancer MD's "Level 2" difficulty (or, as the title screen calls it, Shadow Dancer II) and worked my way up to a 2CC, though it should become a 1CC with some practice. Barring a handful of spots in Round 4 and the last room before the final boss, I think the difficulty is just right at this level. Level 1 is just a bit too breezy, and Level 3 is far too strict.

It's probably been mentioned here before, but I found it amusing that even missing every single ninja in the bonus stages gets you one extra life per bonus stage, which is more than you get for hitting 47 ninjas.

EDIT 08-07-2021: 1CC GET!

[Marc]

Arabian Magic...one of those games that I never learnt to play, though I always thought that it is great. Sega created a similar game, right?

Arabian Fight. Seems fun enough, if a little lightweight. I've not put enough time in to make a proper call as of yet though.