Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[Marc]

Fuck GnG Resurrection. Sorry, this is a cheap piece of shit.

[Sima Tuna]

I've heard very mixed opinions about Resurrection.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I've been meaning to sit down and do this and I haven't because TOO MANY GAMES means TOO MUCH DISTRACTION or something.

It's time to talk about what is very obviously Toaplan's greatest game ever:



1CC vidya here

Get Star (or is it GetStar?) allows you to enjoy the thrilling excitement of hopping into a giant mech and visiting strange new worlds, and then punching everything that moves to smithereens! What kind of vacation isn't complete without murdering the native inhabitants? Yes, you too can make Christopher Columbus proud by killing everything in sight, and as a bonus you even get to make George Lucas and animal activists cry by visiting senseless violence upon some blue ewoks and endangered (firebreathing) white rhinos at the same time! It's basically Fightin' Around the World except in a giant mech.



(okay so the one on the right is actually a Fencer from EDF with Jackhammers punching the crap out of things but basically it's the same thing)

I actually got to experience this game for the first time at an arcade meet around the same time I was trying to counterstop Halley's Comet, another Taito published release from the same year! Funny coincidence having two games side by side at the same time from that era (and I even managed the counterstop live that night, woot).


Game has two buttons (which also oddly respond to player 2 side buttons apparently):

Button 1: SENSELESS MURDER
Button 2: MORE SENSELESS MURDER

Button 2's the one that does the punching so it's the one you'll want 99% of the time actually. The other button does kicking, but kicking with this mech is lame and dumb because your kicks never get powered up from collecting the various red balloons that float up from enemies as you kill them and fuel this meter:



As you grab red balloons, you improve your punching, with each new power taking progressively more balloons to get::

[Speed Punch]: Without this, you only have an ineffectual jab. With it, you have a mean one-two punch combo and you can mash the punch button faster to enact your senseless robotic Hokuto-no-Ken style fury on enemies. You'll have this by the end of the first stage unless you miss balloons. Kicks are slow, and therefore mostly worthless, as ever.

[Fire Punch]: As if getting hit by a punch from a mech that's the size of a building doesn't hurt enough for you, now the mech's fists are on fire! You'll get this right before the stage 2 boss, at which point normal enemies die consistently in 1 hit and bosses die very quickly. Your kicks are still mostly useless.

[Super Punch]: Why bother mashing the punch button when you can now hold it and instantly vaporize everything? It's basically this but as a videogame. Bosses literally die before they can attack if you have this:



The trick to Super Punch is that normal enemies still will generally be able to try attacking you before you can hit them, so you still need to cleverly jump and punch your way to the bosses. Kicks, as usual, are basically worthless.

BUT WAIT, KICKS ARE AMAZING! While normally the lack of powerups make kicks underwhelming, if you die and lose all your power, you're gonna have a real hard time with bosses trying to walk up and punch them. This is where kicks come in handy; jump kicking has slightly more horizontal range and damage than unpowered punches do, so if you die right before a boss, jumping kicks are actually a pretty effective way to whittle down a boss. Here's a fight vs the final boss where I can't get through the last stage without dying, so I had to work out a way to beat the boss without powerups. (This was before I realized P2 buttons also control the game and had overlapping mappings, I couldn't figure out why I had to hold the button to punch then kick, oops.)


You can hold down to crouch and stop the automatic forward movement. Don't do it too long though, or one of those mechs from the final level will show up to attack!



Crouching dodges high attacks and is also handy to hit the occasional low enemy (punches are usually high enough to hit everything, but kicks while crouching are even lower and can be handy for some things like the enemies that pop out of the water).

There's also other bonus powerups in the form of boxes that flash between red, yellow, and blue. Red adds another Energy segment, handy if you've taken a hit. Yellow is full invulnerability for a few seconds, the best powerup if you're at full Energy. Blue gives you a laser gun that replaces the punch button. Generally it's actually a hindrance as the laser's kinda weak compared to punches, so hold the punch button to get rid of it if you grab one.


The game's forgiving enough with lives and short enough that it's honestly a pretty easy 1cc. There's also the fact that as long as you're no-missing the game basically all the bosses will die instantly to your punches which makes it rather easy, but considerably more difficult if you die and get depowered. The 5th boss, a wall that only periodically opens to expose its weak spot can easily be killed by ONE PUNCH with Super Punch active... but is a pain in the ass to even hit without it. Fortunately, it loses health every time it shoots, so you can basically just survive the boss by dodging everything like a badass if need be.


Here's GET STAR's vacation itinerary:




NIGHT-SPIDER: is a thrilling planet of active volcanoes where we get to punch snakes that want to lick you, four-eyed lizards, and invade some spider thing's home to punch it right in the face. While it's normally a trivial boss, be warned that this attack it uses with no warning that just pushes you away actually deals damage to you if you're playing the MUCH HARDER non-Japanese release, titled "Guardian".




ICE-ANCIENT is a planet full of OFFENSIVE CULTURAL APPROPRIATION and SEXUAL HARASSMENT just waiting to be punched. Stonehenge-like pillars, and igloos together?! And a poor dinosaur trapped in ice being shown off like a monument? And a boss that tries to swat you in the crotch?! THAT CALLS FOR SOME PUNCHIN'.




GREEN-FOREST is basically an Endor ripoff with blue ewoks everywhere and firebreathing rhinos that all GET REKT once you pick up Super Punch here.

SAND-SCORPION has a bunch of suspicious decorations in the sand like derelict tanks, the top half of a submarine and battleship, and a sphinx with horns. It's also got a rather nasty boss, unless you have Super Punch and demolish it before it even does anything. :3

NEXT-FUTURE Is perhaps the most interesting level visually. There's some neat spaceships in the background, a Toaplan logo on a building (they're the devs after all, Taito's just the publisher ;3 ), videogame advertisements... all thrilling sights to see while your punches are pinging as they connect with enemy mechs' fists when you're not fighting caped men with yo-yos. The yo-yo dudes are legitimately nasty, but if you make it to the boss with Super-Punch just jump up and kill it in one hit.

ENEMY BASE seems like an odd one out here given it's just two metal pancakes sandwiched together and isn't even a planet, but there's plenty of mechs to take your frustrations on. It's actually really, really tough honestly, and then the final boss is this big walker mech thing that fires unpredictably and requires you to punch away its segments so the head, its actual weakspot, is low enough to damage.


The game loops, but like the much later Batsugun Special, it looks like the loop starts a level ahead at ICE-ANCIENT. Does it continue indefinitely? Is there an ending after you beat the game enough times? Who knows? I sure don't, because the loop is WAY too hard for me. Looping the game basically ups the difficulty by a dip switch setting. Namely, it causes all enemies to deal 2 segments of damage each hit, then 3 in the following loop, and so on until the game becomes a one hit kill game. The non Japanese release, Guardian, keeps everything at 1 hit of energy damage, but instead it reduces your max health in each loop. It might actually be easier in the loop, not sure.

It's a cute game and at about 10 minutes for a 1CC there's really no reason not to give this one a try. I found it pretty easy to pick up and learn, with only the last couple of levels requiring any real degree of learning. Pure reflexes get you through everything else. Hilarious meme game, and legitimately pretty damn fun.

[BIL]

Superb postage, marked for index.

God damn, that ShotTriggers artwork really is a new classic... impossible not to stop and stare at its radiating cool.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Yeah, that poster is drop dead gorgeous. I'd love to get my hands on one but apparently they were only made as limited giveaway prizes or something, there's nowhere to buy them.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Get Star is a nice little game. It was going to get a spiritual sequel by Locomalito but a publisher found the guy and got him porting everything to everywhere as usual, so unfortunately this seems to be stalled as of now.

[Jeneki]

Getting punched by a mech: cool.

Getting punched by a mech wearing brass knuckles: OOOooooOOOH!

[Sumez]

Fuck GnG Resurrection. Sorry, this is a cheap piece of shit.

I've heard very mixed opinions about Resurrection.

Anyone who considers themself a fan of action games but doesn't enjoy GnG Resurrection must be certified insane.

It's absolutely the best hardcore arcade-style action game to come out in... at least a decade probably? The game is a legit masterpiece.

[Randorama]

I know that it may sound like a remarkably lame post but...

Could any kind soul help me out in doing a debug/reverse engineering/whatever-is-called analysis of Taito's Dead Connection's levels?

I spent the last 2-3 months playing this in the little free time I had, so I was wondering if I have all the secret items down, and if I figured out the rules for RNG's correctly.

You will have my eternal gratitude, of course.

[BIL]

Rando I wish I could help, but with Gun Frontier getting its ACA release in just a couple weeks, I can promise that should its Taito F2 stablemate Dead Connection follow suit, you will see my usual Super Deluxe BIRUPOST review. (may take a while, a bit like my AC Double Dragon II one )

The RNG and hidden mechanics in some of those Taito games has always seemed pretty nuts, looking from the outside in as a casual fan. Every time I fire up Bubble Bobble and Fairyland Story I feel like I'm trampling on all sorts of hidden rules. Part of their charm imo, they were clearly designed for communal Game Center audiences (and for selling dem CERTAIN VICTORY mooks ).

[Randorama]

Dead Connection has a few mechanics that fall in the classic "Taito liked weird ideas", namely:

- RNG's should depend on "chaining" enemies and/or furniture; kill 2-3 enemies in a short interval, destroy furniture, get 1k items instead of 500 points items/nothing;
- Kill all enemies with the default gun and/or automatic gun. Any other weapon/attack (i.e. close range attacks, dodge/dive rolls) will give you a fraction of the default score (but let you kill people more easily);
- Kick certain spots of each stage to reveal hidden bonuses, including the 5k ledger book (one per stage).

I am 99% sure that I know all the hidden bonuses, but I might be missing 1-2 that might really be obscure (though I spent a few credits just kicking every spot in each stage...). The RNG part may work in a completely different manner, and I would gladly accept to stand corrected if someone could give me the precise rule(s). That, and an explanation on how to get full points from the stage 3/4 boss.

Also, the Japanese version is less buggy/unoptimised, so you get less slowdown, enemies doing infuriating things, bollock hit detection and so on.

I'd be surprised to see this as an ACA release. It should have tanked really hard, back in 1992

(Just to be sure: I am consistently hitting 320k+ scores once out of every 5 credits or so, and getting infuriating deaths due to bugs/lazy programming/etc. on the other credits. The game does require the patience of a saint...but my ruminations say that 340k is more or less the maximum score, so I *might* insist a bit more).

[trap15]

This guy with a score of 339k says you get more items if you defeat them with shotgun, and it sounds like he's implying you want to always be using the shotgun and dodge other weapon items. https://www.inu-inu-yeti.com/entry/2017/03/20/172835

I'm surprised that I can barely find anything about this game's scoring history. No Gamest/Arcadia/JHA scores, no entry in Gemant's doc, just entries in micom basic https://www.aabmg.com/challehigh/db/tb/662/ which pegs the top score as the same as the above guy's score, so I think his post can be considered some amount of authoritative

[BIL]

Excellent find, indexed.

God damn, I guess I see why there's (seemingly) just Dead Connection and their earlier (sadly visibility-spoiled) The Tin Star in this little beltview arena STG microgenre... I'd wondered if it might've been the Costner/Brando/Garcia lookalikes keeping it off the old Taito Memories, but maybe it's just an exceptionally disliked game? Day 1 for sure on ACA.

[Randorama]

Thanks a lot Trap, I admit that I never thought of simply sending you a PM.
My apologies for forgetting about your vast videogame wisdom

I would also say that the blog author's comments are absolutely spot-on.
The shotgun makes you score less points when killing enemies, but there must be a trade-off with getting more RNG's.
I would say that his guide is 100% accurate, though there are no screenshots for the secret item spots (OK, just nitpicking).

...and I believe that the MAME history file might have some information about its lack of success in Japan.
Again, my experience with the game is that it can be quite buggy/janky/chaotic at times.
It anticipates danmaku shmups to a certain extent, since the presence of several enemies with shotguns on screen means that you may suddenly have dozens of bullets flying from various directions and the game grinding to a halt, due to sprites' congestion.
I love it, but it has a "Taito early '90s unoptimised vibe" that simply never goes away, no matter how acquainted I can get with the game.

Oh well, time to check out the shotgun theory with the cheat options *ahem*.

EDIT:

Trap15, query: could you be so kind to find the conditions to activate the special stages in Warrior Blade: Rastan Saga III? I am wondering if I have the right list, after all. TA in advance, of course.

[Sima Tuna]

Does this board have a Designated 3d HARD ACTION thread?



You know, a place to discuss Ninja Gaiden Black, Devil May Cry 3, Bayonetta, God Hand, Shinobi ps2 etc? Seems like there should be a thread for that. Even fromsoft games could probably go in such a thread.

[copy-paster]

Sidescrolling. Beltscrolling. Topdown. The three pillars of Hard Scrolling Action.

[copy-paster]

Don't think there's any, maybe you could check the thread lists here.

[BIL]

Does this board have a Designated 3d HARD ACTION thread?

I've mulled over creating one, but tbh, I'm not very experienced in the genre outside of the usual staples. Why not start one? I'd call it Hard 3D Action Daishingeki TBH I'd appreciate the guidance!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I don't think there's a thread dedicated to that style of game. I don't really feel well versed in character action games to speak about them aside from Bayonetta. I'm fairly knowledgeable about God Hand, but I don't consider myself terribly good at it, and have limited DMC experience.

Speaking of which, there's one on Steam called Assault Spy that's pretty neat, I recommend checking it out.

[Air Master Burst]

Just call it the NINJA BLADE APPRECIATION THREAD because Ninja Blade fucking rules.

That said, I even enjoyed Heavenly Sword, so it's possible I'm just a sucker for these types of games.

ETA: ok, I talked myself into it!

[BIL]

Ninja'd This thread may have begun under inauspicious circumstances... AMB-kun, should you wish to settle this with a duel, my servant will arrange your passage to Tinkletowne Crescent at the corner of RumpyPumpy Avenue - bring your sword, and a loaf of bread with a gallon jug of water for the seagulls as is local custom. Regs Dr Biruford

[Air Master Burst]

Nah, you do images and clever titles better so you can totally have this one. I'm lazy.

[BIL]

Sorry, jumped in with mine without checking back here Your OP is exactly what I had in mind RE: on-foot and mecha stuff (ZOE et al are most definitely on-topic), will format it up tonight with some pics and keep your descriptions (credited OFC) if that's ok It's good to see someone else write with passion about Otogi's Real Wuxia Combat! Still incredibly fresh to this day, batting fuckers clean through walls and courtyards in hails of chunky debris.

[Air Master Burst]

No worries! All I ask is that whenever you refer to the almighty NINJA BLADE to always use all caps, because it's basically the BRIAN BLESSED of the 3D hardcore action world. There is no bigger louder stupider game than NINJA BLADE and it's GLORIOUS!

ok, maybe Asura's Wrath, but that experience is basically a medium unto itself.

[BIL]

Will do, NINJA BLADE it is.

[BrianC]

Gunvolt 3 went into an interesting direction. Set far into the future where Gunvolt is now Kirin's pet dog. Joking aside, I'm liking it so far and Kirin feels like a ninja with her gigantic sword. From what I can tell, pervasion now works more like cyber-elves in the Mega Man Zero series, where the abilities can be leveled up and have to be equipped.

[Volteccer_Jack]

Been playing Smelter. A bit rough around the edges, but there's plenty of fun to be had if you can endure mashing through the endless dialogue.

If you stumbled upon Smelter in the wild, among your first thoughts would be the Actraiser connection. You pilot a biblical character--in this case, Eve searching for her lost Adam--and conquer a hostile world through alternating side-view action stages and overhead-view city building stages. Like Actraiser, the action stages are the real meat of the game, and like Actraiser, you can choose to play 'Action Mode' which will remove all overhead-view gameplay and only use the world map for stage selection. Unlike Actraiser, Action Mode won't remove the story, and so it won't save you from the walls of text you will unfortunately be subjected to. The action stages themselves are also quite unlike anything you'll see in Actraiser. What you can expect instead is the Capcom school of game design. Smelter plays like Megaman ZX, but with the design ethos of the three Playstation-era X games.

Eve's basic movement consists of a jump, a dash, and wallslide/jump. Attacks and other abilities are tied to one of 3 elemental forms obtained early on, which you can switch between on the fly. A hard-hitting rock form, a faster more technical lightning form, and a gun-toting water form. Each form has a powerful defensive ability, rock can destroy incoming projectiles, lightning has a short-range teleport, and water can become fully invulnerable for a brief time. These each have about a 2 second cooldown before they can be used again, although lightning's teleport cooldown will reset under certain conditions, and rock's cooldown resets on any successfully blocked projectile with the trade-off of requiring parry timing.

Initially the moveset for each form is small, only a basic attack, the defense ability, and a single movement ability. However each form can be upgraded up to 9 times to expand their options. These upgrades are similar in power to armor parts in MMX. When fully maxed out, you're a little bit OP, and when going total minimalist, you face a stiff challenge. The upgrades are earned by completing special trials, short challenge rooms that lock you into one particular form and are usually focused around a specific game mechanic. The trials are some of the most fun parts of the game because of their laser-focused design.

Level design starts out tame but ramps up steadily and lategame stages are fairly intense. If you're the type seen in comment sections begging for MMX9 you'll have a good time with Smelter. But I do have two big gripes. First, the aforementioned walls of text, which are even worse than the ones in X5/X6 and can't be skipped, only mashed through impatiently. The story's not even any good, they completely waste the cool premise. And second, you're given infinite lives and fairly regular checkpoints. Fortunately every checkpoint is optional except the ones at the start of boss fights, so you can skip them to give yourself a bit more of a challenge.

Gunvolt 3 went into an interesting direction. Set far into the future where Gunvolt is now Kirin's pet dog. Joking aside, I'm liking it so far and Kirin feels like a ninja with her gigantic sword. From what I can tell, pervasion now works more like cyber-elves in the Mega Man Zero series, where the abilities can be leveled up and have to be equipped.

First impression of Gunvolt 3 is that they took big steps to address each and every complaint and annoyance I had about previous games. VERY pleased with what I've seen and very optimistic for the rest of the game. The teleport attack is super cool both for killing dudes and for avoiding damage. Feels like there's a lot of room to be creative in combat.

They even made me enjoy playing as Gunvolt himself. It only took 3 games but better late than never

[Sima Tuna]

Kirin seems like the most blatant attempt to pander to Zero fanboys and I'm all for it.

[Air Master Burst]

DAWN OF THE MONSTERS (STEAM) is the most heartbreaking refund I've ever had to request.

I LOVE belt-scrollers, I LOVE mechs and kaiju, and I love WayForward. 30 bucks is reasonable for me.

Or it would be if this wasn't the most ineptly-made piece of commercial software I've encountered in ages.

THERE'S NO MAIN MENU. THERE'S NO WAY TO EXIT THE FUCKING GAME WITHOUT ALT-F4. THERE'S A CONTROL REMAP SCREEN THAT WORKS FINE FOR THE KEYBOARD SIDE BUT CHANGES NOTHING ON THE CONTROLLER SIDE.

JUMPING JESUS ON A POGO STICK, IT TOOK ME 4 TRIES JUST TO GET PAST THE FUCKING STARTUP OPTIONS SCREEN BECAUSE APPARENTLY HAVING MULTIPLE CONTROL DEVICES PLUGGED IN CAN RANDOMLY CAUSE ALL OF THEM TO STOP WORKING, EVEN THE MOTHERFUCKING KEYBOARD.

If they ever unfuck their shit I will gladly throw 30 bucks at them again, but this... this is just... ugh.

Maybe it's just the worst console port I've seen in a decade and it runs fine there. I don't even want to know right now. This ruined my whole morning and I have a grump.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

THERE'S A CONTROL REMAP SCREEN THAT WORKS FINE FOR THE KEYBOARD SIDE BUT CHANGES NOTHING ON THE CONTROLLER SIDE.

I've encountered Steam releases of console games that let you remap the keyboard if you're playing with keyboard and mouse, but doesn't allow you to remap the controller if it detects you playing with a controller, and I always find it bafflingly lazy.