Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[Bloodreign]

Glad to see you enjoying some Marvel Land Bil, it's one of those games you sink your teeth in, then clench them till they shatter as you go careening off a cliff due to the momentum jumping that can occur when you go running down a hill, and try to nail the next jump onto a small platform perfectly.

The MD/Genesis version, which I have a copy of (Genesis), is actually quite nice, Namco said fuck it, let's add more shit to it, and did just that, extending the games length a bit. That MD/Gen version is also quite evil, with a hidden warp near the end, that will warp you back to the beginning of the game, though if you are playing for score, can possibly let you play the game for as long as you want, milking points by the barrel.

Not sure if MAME is bonkers on the revisions though, the Japanese version has a nice rich soundtrack, while the US revision, on the rollercoaster levels, the music sounds absolutely awful (yet that same level in the Japanese version sounds great).

[Udderdude]

The US Marvel Land in MAME is a prototype. There's tons of evidence it's unfinished. https://tcrf.net/Marvel_Land_(Arcade)#V ... ifferences

[BIL]

Glad to see you enjoying some Marvel Land Bil, it's one of those games you sink your teeth in, then clench them till they shatter as you go careening off a cliff due to the momentum jumping that can occur when you go running down a hill, and try to nail the next jump onto a small platform perfectly.

Yeah it's been a real treat! Nearest thing to an arcade-tough SMB3 I've seen.

The MD/Genesis version, which I have a copy of (Genesis), is actually quite nice, Namco said fuck it, let's add more shit to it, and did just that, extending the games length a bit. That MD/Gen version is also quite evil, with a hidden warp near the end, that will warp you back to the beginning of the game, though if you are playing for score, can possibly let you play the game for as long as you want, milking points by the barrel.

Aha, I'd wondered about that - I'd heard from ING about some fiendish warps in the MD version, but the ACA manual made no mention; just four worlds. Sounds like a good argument for having both.

The US Marvel Land in MAME is a prototype. There's tons of evidence it's unfinished. https://tcrf.net/Marvel_Land_(Arcade)#V ... ifferences

Interesting... strange that they wouldn't give it a release, with SMB3 blowing up at the time. Maybe that jankenpon action was too hawt for Western children.

[Udderdude]

The US Marvel Land in MAME is a prototype. There's tons of evidence it's unfinished. https://tcrf.net/Marvel_Land_(Arcade)#V ... ifferences

Interesting... strange that they wouldn't give it a release, with SMB3 blowing up at the time. Maybe that jankenpon action was too hawt for Western children. :lol:

What's interesting is the Genesis version retains the rock paper scissors game, while the US arcade proto has something completely different.

[BIL]

I think this game is giving me Stockholm syndrome, I feel as if I'd actually miss the RPS battles now.

Ohshi, totally forgot! A little over three months since ACA: Assault...



ACA Metal Hawk drops tomorrow! (Weds in EU/NA, Thurs in Japan) A landmark occasion, Assault's spiritual sibling having gone far too long without a home release! Prepare for another slab of vehicular topdown seek/destroy at its most floor-shakingly immense.

[copy-paster]

Got Bloodlines US expert 1-death clear this morning with John. Would've been a nomiss had I didn't too hurry at the pistons, and there's that weird safespot I accidentally found on it. This run also shows how to safely kill the pillar men, works for both chars.

Expert mode is fun I'd say. 2-2 ghosts and 4-9 turbo bats adds the dead air problem in normal mode, and no health restore in final stage is so punishing. Not fan of how gliding works because sometimes things like this happens. JP might be better way for nomiss attempt but that's for another day.

[BIL]

Congrats! JP Expert isn't a very significant nerf, tbh. The differences are subtle enough that if you can ace that, you'll knock over US Expert without much issue. Biggest changes, by far, are in the first and final stages; the former lacks Turbo Bats in the dungeon area, while there's a single HP restore in the latter, at Death. All Turbo Bats and Xtra Ghosts accounted for, otherwise.

There are smaller, subtler differences, like the platform-orbiting Fuzzies being a tick faster in US, and the Pillar Men firing triple shots in US, rather than doubles, but if you've got solid methods it's overall a trivial step up.

[velo]

Got Bloodlines US expert 1-death clear this morning with John. Would've been a nomiss had I didn't too hurry at the pistons, and there's that weird safespot I accidentally found on it. This run also shows how to safely kill the pillar men, works for both chars.

Expert mode is fun I'd say. 2-2 ghosts and 4-9 turbo bats adds the dead air problem in normal mode, and no health restore in final stage is so punishing. Not fan of how gliding works because sometimes things like this happens. JP might be better way for nomiss attempt but that's for another day.

Congrats, a couple years ago I blew a John expert run with one hit left to go on Dracula's final form, and haven't touched it since.

The US Marvel Land in MAME is a prototype. There's tons of evidence it's unfinished. https://tcrf.net/Marvel_Land_(Arcade)#V ... ifferences

Interesting... strange that they wouldn't give it a release, with SMB3 blowing up at the time. Maybe that jankenpon action was too hawt for Western children.

What's interesting is the Genesis version retains the rock paper scissors game, while the US arcade proto has something completely different.

How annoying is the RPS compared to say Alex Kidd?

[BrianC]

Probably not as annoying since Marvel Land gives you a chance to defend yourself if you lose the janken match. That proto definitely looks unfinished. Some of the text in the mini game is still in hiragana. Makes me wonder if the JP version was going to be more simplistic at one point. I'm glad the MD version added more. King Mole especially got a more fitting mini game.

[BIL]

It's been forever since I played an Alex Kidd game, can't quite recall their RPS matches... I seem to remember at least one where it's flat-out random? I could easily be wrong, but the sense of turnoff feels familiar.

But yeah, Marvel Land's are surprisingly tolerable. As Brian says, even if you lose the round, you can parry away the boss's attack, and they'll lose a point in the process. Conventional bosses would've surely been preferable, but I was pleasantly surprised.

ACA Metal Hawk is out now in JP, and it is amazing. State-of-the-art topdown seek/destroy; it's like Assault meets Soukyugurentai. Hamster outdid themselves with the control options, too. Copying my somewhat scatterbrained first impressions in from the main chat forum's ACA thread:

---

Metal Hawk first impressions while keeping an eye on marinating din-dins: Control Options Out The Ass M8 It's beautiful! Tons of Preference tweaks too... more than I can really appreciate being a bit drowsy atm.

As to the game itself, ho ho hooooly fuck this is like Desert Strike pour homme. No just kidding I like Desert Strike, don't have a cry FFS, love me goofy little "NTSCJ" version! But this is the real mahfuckin AC deal Genuinely impressive sense of open warfare and raging chaos, contrasted sharply against a super-lean, time-pressured SEEK AND DESTROY ethos - and Hosoe+Noguchi's OST is pure dick-swingin' MURRRRICAAA, FAWK YEAAAAA, as only late 80s Japanese videogames can do.

Yall KNOW what I'm sayin rite

Spoiler

EDIT: Man. Super-early days, but I have to say, spotting a zako heli trying to bum me while I'm distracted finishing off a straggler boat, vaulting a hundred feet up into the clouds, then plunging down just as fast to bum him instead is some moving sprite scaler madness. Must've blown minds BITD - and just like Assault's rotate-o-rama, it was no mere gimmick, but an integral and carefully-honed mechanic, and has thus aged sublimely well. Simply vaulting skyward for a better view of your surroundings (ala Assault's launchpads) before diving down for the kill feels super-fresh.

EDIT2: Hoooly fuck CANAL ZONE is some Soukyugurentai Descent Into The Sea Of Clouds treetop-skimming death-from-abovin' Say goodbye to your supply lines, boyos! Crikey, sucks to be on the road that day

EDIT3: Ahh, I'm starting to get a decent control groove. Currently going with [shot / bomb] on [L1/R1] and autofire on [L1/L2] - using the dpad for movement, and the right stick for Lift. In the heat of battle, it's currently a lot simpler to jus wang the right stick for those rapid vaults and dives, with everything else on digital. As with the similarly flexible ACA Ikari & co, there's a ton of scope for tailoring, here; smart approach on Hamster's part, given the innate differences between pad, joystick, and flightstick.

EDIT4: TFW you're scrambling to hit the score quota as time ticks down, and you realise the entire industrial zone you're flying over consists of individually-destructible buildings and equipment, each worth points, so you turn loose the autofire scuds and reduce the whole thing to burning ruins

Blimey, beween the vaulting highs and highway-chasing lows, this is legit one of the most vibrantly destructive STGs I can recall. The classic dances with zako dovetail perfectly into the added vertical dimension, some delightful skirmishes! Just like Assault, they're very much geared to prey on an unguarded six; a snap to outfox when caught, but deceptively fiendish while you're busy with other, bigger targets.

This is a state-of-the-art helicoper STG

It's so good to have this historically estranged heli/tank duo reunited at home, in first-rate form. ;-;7 Badass chunky tanks and helis are like 50% of my aesthetic gaymer genome, mayne.

---

Metal Hawk is so nuts. It's easy to think of scaling/rotation as the preserve of tech demos, but here, it's strictly in thrall to the utter hardcore. When you're raking your guns over a flying fortress cruising miles above the ground, which is launching hordes of hyperaggressive support craft along with scads of flak, which you dive past to evade, which puts you in range of potshotting tanks and turrets below, forcing you to juke along the main target as your missiles blast its turbines to scrap - it's a genuinely seamless 3D world, operating at 2D-tight precision and intensity. Marvelous work.

The integral role of pesky, fiendishly persistent zako gives me Gun.Smoke vibes; had some thrilling extended duels. An important starter tip: enemy helis will always seek out your elevation; there's no need to chase them. This makes fadeaway "let 'em come to you" tactics useful. Also, the bastards are good at crashing into you from below, beware that when approaching from superior altitude. Conversely, your machinegun's hitbox seems really generous, when it comes to the inverse scenario of a heli attempted to pancake you. Smartly-done.

Also, diving is an excellent means of evading ground targets' fire while keeping your missiles trained on them. This is pretty different from the typical STG or even topdown seek/destroy, but it's a snap once you absorb the mechanic. Gotta think with that Z-axis! This is no tech demo, this REAL WAR SONNEH

ACTUAL GROUND FOOTAGE recovered from ASPLODED ZAKO TANK in OPERATION METAL HAWK (■｀w´■)

Spoiler

[Bloodreign]

What I love about the late 80's/early 90's Namco arcade games, the beautiful sprite and background scaling that they implemented in their games, whether it's Legend of Valkyrie's cliffsides, you climb up the mountains, the ground below gets smaller, or the catapults that are in the castle that transport you around the castle, letting you see the level layout in full. Marvel Land has some nice scaling and rotation (the Rollercoaster levels come to mind), and stuff like Phelios has some of it as well, one of the reasons I love the SNES so much (besides the library of course). Was disappointed it couldn't carry over to the home ports of Valkyrie, Marvel Land, or Phelios, or even Burning Force (a recent pickup of mine), they are still excellent games on the consoles they landed on, they just feel a little less satisfying without the eye popping effects the arcade versions had but with the PCE, scaling could not be expected, and on the Genesis, software scaling could be done, but Namco didn't bother. Would love to see homebrews on the SNES of these Namco games, but since no team is around to do them, a man can only dream.

[Herr Schatten]

It's been forever since I played an Alex Kidd game, can't quite recall their RPS matches... I seem to remember at least one where it's flat-out random? I could easily be wrong, but the sense of turnoff feels familiar.

In Miracle World, the matches are all predetermined, and they are identical in every playthrough, so if you note down the sequence once, you’ll never lose any of the matches again. I think M2 even put the correct sequence in the screen border of their Sega Ages port.

In Enchanted Castle, the matches are completely random.

[Udderdude]

Final Fight MD has a playable demo now. https://www.indieretronews.com/2022/12/ ... rcade.html

It's built from the ground up using SGDK, not a hack of the Sega CD version as I previously thought. I gave it a shot and it's pretty good.

[Vanguard]

I picked up Kero Blaster while it was on discount at gog. I came in expecting that Studio Pixel wouldn't be able to equal Cave Story and, well, they didn't. It's nice enough, it's just not really anything special either. The look, feel, and gameplay are a lot like Cave Story, the biggest difference is that it's a mostly linear arcade style game rather than a search action platformer. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, Kero Blaster is the weaker game because it's smaller, less inventive, and doesn't have its predecessor's overflowing charm. One point in Kero Blaster's favor is its excellent "zangyou" hard mode which comes with a new story, redone level designs, and a completely new final level. I'm given that to understand that zangyou mode wasn't in the original release, but was patched in later, so if you got the game on release and haven't played it since, that might be worth checking out.

[Ebbo]

Incidentally I fired up Kero Blaster again a few days ago. I remember having similar feelings upon its release, lamenting its short length and how barebones it felt as an experience when compared to Cave Story but nowadays I've come to revalue it. Not sure if the two really are even that comparable, but ultimately I'll be returning to KB much more frequently. CS takes awhile to get going and there are some plodding segments I'm not looking towards on subsequent playthroughs. KB introduces all its challenges at a snappy pace and the shop adds some simple replay value.

I'm especially fond of the more cheekier parts of the level design, such as handing out the jacket at the tail end of the Normal mode's final stage, only for a light fixture to instantly fall on you if you aren't careful. Really shows how well Pixel understands the player's mindset and how to use it against you. Going for all the achievements can also be quite enjoyable, I'd recommend giving those a try if you were left craving for more. And then there's the hidden Omake mode which rounds out the package quite nicely as a final new game plus-ish gauntlet with its own secrets... Kero Blaster is a small action platformer that could and I've grown to really enjoy it.

[Randorama]

Sumez, query: (OK, anyone who knows...)

Which one is the easiest version of Rainbow Islands, arcade-wise? I am having this desire to get back to the game and 1-CC it at least once, but I would like to find the "path of least effort", since the game is loooong, and I am an old guy with not so much spare time in my hands

EDIT:

Thunder Fox: first and second human bosses (St 3, 5) have a tricky exploit. If you reach them with the handgun, it is possible to do the following:

1. Move away from them, so that they will be almost off-screen except for their nose and eyes;
2. Shoot one bullet at this distance, so that the bosses will not shield themselves from the bullet with their weapon (!), and hit them;
3. Repeat for a total of 16 hits (if I counted correctly).

This exploit is rather tricky: players must get the right distance and the range is very small, and baiting the bosses into position is not easy. For the final boss battle (St 6)...I am working on it. Great game, though these guys are fairly annoying.

[BIL]

Ah man, I could tear into Thunder Fox right now. I hope it benefits from the recent surge of ACA F1 titles (Gun Frontier and Metal Black got definitive treatments in the last few months). New Zealand Story on the 26th isn't to be sniffed at, but I wanna stab n' stomp.

Why do I get the feeling they'll do Crime City first...

Currently enjoying Metal Hawk's superbly open-ended Time Attack Seek/Destroy, #6 on the PS4 boards though I've no doubt that could change very quickly in Japan's favour. I have to write a proper review next week. A model of arcade intensity and efficiency, and a bullseye crossover of trad STG, topdown seek/destroy, and heavy metal arcade-sim, just like its spiritual sibling Assault (both sporting Hosoe & Noguchi's unmistakable funk-tribal war drums)

It's been forever since I played an Alex Kidd game, can't quite recall their RPS matches... I seem to remember at least one where it's flat-out random? I could easily be wrong, but the sense of turnoff feels familiar.

In Miracle World, the matches are all predetermined, and they are identical in every playthrough, so if you note down the sequence once, you’ll never lose any of the matches again. I think M2 even put the correct sequence in the screen border of their Sega Ages port.

In Enchanted Castle, the matches are completely random.

Aha, those are definitely the two I was recalling. That's so M2, including the solutions on-screen. Always kinda turned me off, though it's been long enough I can't recall how harsh the penalties (if any) were. Marvel Land gets around it by letting you parry out of a loss (or indeed get hit after a win, if you don't seize the opening) - feels nice and reactive in spite of RPS's innate limitations. (limitations magnified by playing against an AI, I suppose)

Final Fight MD has a playable demo now. https://www.indieretronews.com/2022/12/ ... rcade.html

It's built from the ground up using SGDK, not a hack of the Sega CD version as I previously thought. I gave it a shot and it's pretty good.

I was gonna say it's always little bittersweet, seeing third parties treat Capcom's games so much better than they themselves ever did, BITD... then I remembered it was exactly like that in the glory days of MD Dai, Strider and Senjou, anyway.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Just got the no-miss clear of Micro Mages on its much harder HELL MODE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aTnZOiXlEI

What a charming indie NES game! It's a great showcase of what can be done with the system and has some of the best controls I've ever seen (though I'm not 100% sold on the Kirby style bouncing that happens when you land from a tall height). It's also a great 4 player co-op game and also super fun in single player, which are things that rarely seem to go together as finding a good balance between single and multiplayer is really tough.

In addition to the slick wall jumping and 4 way aiming, the clever use of the downward charge shot as a second jump as advanced tech is super cool. No jumps ever require it, but there's tons of shortcuts to take with it.

[copy-paster]

R2RKMF 2022 edition recap:

Personal Favourite Achievements of 2022: Cleared MS3 livestream in front of 200+ audiences and Shin Contra S-RANK NO RESTART RUN ON STREAM baybeee!

Personal Biggest Screw-ups of 2022: Failed to get a nomiss clear of X68K Dracula, and didn't play MS4 and X for clear.

Goals for 2023: Clear the remaining Neo Slugs (X, 4, maybe 2 too) to get the ALL Neo MS cleared achievement badge, Ninja Gaiden NES nomiss, NGIII US clear, also clear Neo Contra.

[BIL]

Shin Contra S-RANK NO RESTART RUN ON STREAM baybeee!

Evilly tricky run, that - on top of doin it live!

[pja]

I somehow managed to overlook this interesting thread I did beat Ninja Gaiden on a Famicom, some time in 2020. Played NG2 afterwards too, but I gave up at some point near the end (at least I presume it was close to the end), and didn't try NG3 yet because I kinda hate going out of order (I feel sometimes to my detriment)

Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if this was already mentioned in the 400 pages of this thread by now, but something that caught my eye in NG2 is that the level I quit on was changing the soundtrack at each death, presumably to stop it from being too monotonous (it's like they knew you'd constantly die there). I thought this was pretty cool, can't think off the top of my head of any game that did it before it or even since (closest I can think of in a modern game is that Rayman Legends did something similar, it sometimes started from a different point in the song on the restart, which is also nice attention to detail).

[BIL]

Welcome aboard soldier. Snazzy avatar btw!

Yes, that is indeed the rather tough final stage of Ninja Ryukenden II. I always loved the jukebox effect - adds to the climactic effect, all previous battles leading to this - though I find myself pining for a second hearing of The Parasprinter and its characteristically plaintive drive (otherwise heard only once, in st3.2's tower climb). I think I got the train/arctic BGM on both my currently-uploaded NoMisses; nice enough (all of the FC trilogy's BGM is, at minimum), but I want more drama!

[Randorama]

I 1-LC'ed Thunder Fox, a 33-years old (1990-2023?) grudge.

I believe that we discussed the game a few million times over the decades, but I refined the tricks I mentioned a few posts ago, and pierced through ST 3 and ST 5's bosses.

The final overlord (ST 6) is tricky: the first form (throne of power!) can/must be destroyed with somersaults. Just be sure to dodge the bullets.

In the second form, the player can crouch, stay at minimal knifing distance and hit the boss as soon as he comes down from the exploding chair. The boss will make a short jump away after getting hit; move forward to knife him again, at the aforementioned minimal distance. This loop can be repeated 5-6 times, and the boss will not hit the player if the the timing is right (basically, the hits act as juggling attacks).

In the third form, the best strategy is to stay as far away as possible: the boss will cycle through a series of attacks anyway (rising kick->high hook/kusarigama->low hook/kusarigama->parry). If the distance is at least 3/4ths of the screen, he will high jump and possibly go over and to the back of the player. Knife him when he's landing, then move away and let him the spam attack plus jump cycle (8-9 hits).

I killed the ST 3 boss within second by using the gun (he didn't even appear on screen!), then did the same with ST 5, and went down to 1 energy bar after the final boss' second form. Tense fight when dealing with the third form, but it all went well.

I will write a proper write-up later on, so we can index something that is clear, useful and interesting to read.

[BIL]

Congrats! Those three dudes are quite the collective pain in the ass, good to get some proven recon on the buggers.

The MD port, while a dispiriting, de-fanged drudge overall - the AC one feels like it's running in fast-forward, after - has the interesting wrinkle of an exclusive pre-final boss: a rather rad leonine mecha.



Rowrrr! What a cool design! Shoulda had his own game. It doesn't do much, IIRC - another "bop it with grenades while superjumping its attacks" affair, much like the st1 heli - but I was still surprised to find it absent from the otherwise categorically better-produced AC ver. Guess they had to make up for those missing STG segments somehow.

I'm currently getting my ass manhandled by Assault's seventh stage, Jeeesus. X_X Difficulty spikes up quite a bit, with all zako gaining 3HP hyper armour (sounds trivial, but the fuckers are legion), and big bois taking obscene damage - and worse, sniping you from across the map with terrain-piercing rockets. I have a few decently sneaky speedkills in R&D (going for a 1LC, and you're under time pressure as always), but none are consistent enough for my liking just yet.

Hell of a game - a consummate partner to fellow 1988 topdown heavy machine seek/destroy Metal Hawk.

Also on the Namco tip :



^ Randomly spotted while grabbing that Thunder Fox screencap. I always get a kick out that boxart... fond memories of 6y/o me innocently bringing it up to the counter for rental, at our old Tape Club, and my dad and the cashier doing a simultaneous double-take and cracking up at the unbridled B00BAGE. I was like "What? Oh yeah, boobies lmao!" Little did anyone know, it's pretty tame compared to poor LAYLA-CHAN's travails in THA REAL AC DEAL!

[Randorama]

Thanks, Birru-dono! Also, the leonine mecha looks...OK. Let's say I am fine with the AC version, then

I will probably write a proper write-up next weekend, but for now I am thinking that this game could be played for score to seek the ultimate R2RKMF experience: the EOS (End Of Stage) bonus is based on time plus weapons. Ideally, a player should clear a stage ASAP (seconds x 1.5k points), and with as many bazooka bullets as possible (bullets x 100k points!).

The game suddenly becomes *rather* difficult if you keep moving to the right without a break while killing mofos with the bazooka (don't do that, it's slow; jump-kick through enemy lines instead!). Every second counts, but you want to avoid damage as well, and so on...I want to try a TAS and see what kind of results I get, and how enjoyable a score-driven play would be

EDIT: Hot stuff! 4,27 M points, though I TAS'ed like there were no Plasmos and Gemants to patrol the cyberspace of gaming purity. A "normal" 1-CC for me is 2,3 M or so, so it's a steep change.

[BrianC]

I wonder if certain stone age sitcom (which is no stranger to Bond parodies) helped influence Rolling Thunder. Geldra does bear a resemblance to Dr. Sinister.

[Lander]

Picked up Alien Soldier again today after a long absence - now in full low-lag CRT-emulated arcade stick glory rather than as a wakey-wakey morning commute game.
Cor, nothing quite like it to get the blood up - quintessential R2RKMF that never fails to elicit a string of "oh yeah THIS guy" and "i remember the strat!" with its parade of colourful bosses and non-stop action
And boy did Treasure ever know it, signing the title screen with FOR MEGADRIVERS CUSTOM to make it clear that you've wisely invested in peak technical swagger.

I've a question for our resident action connoisseurs: Are there any other notable latter-day action titles that reach a similar degree of mechanical breadth / depth?
I'm thinking of things like the generous moveset, ceiling walk, max-health burning dash, ammo regen for inactive weapons, fire / laser damage types for biological / mechanical enemies, wealth of hidden parry-able attacks, and so on.

I've played a good bit of 16-bit action in my time, but in that sense AS is the only one to brush up against my perception of the prestigious and vaguely-defined 'character action' subgenre that sprung up around series like Devil May Cry, Itagaki's Ninja Gaiden, Bayo, etc.
Not necessarily melee action, but rather games that put major focus on moveset (nee, the actions performed by your character) and back it up with plenty of depth - Resident Evil 6 Mercenaries would be an example in the shooter genre, since it has enough hidden depth to have spawned a fan-made advanced controls manual.

[BIL]

And boy did Treasure ever know it, signing the title screen with FOR MEGADRIVERS CUSTOM to make it clear that you've wisely invested in peak technical swagger.

Suginami aka CHOCO MONKEY DX indeed went absolutely balls to the wall (with judicious oversight from Maegawa, after the former had finally crashed on the office floor ). A short but appropriately incendiary read courtesy of blackoak!

I can't recall another sidescroller with Alien Soldier's triptych of mechanical articulation, towering performance ceiling, and relentlessly unruly boss rush carnival. However, despite the genre gap, I consider Sin & Punishment its consummate successor. Formally distinct - a seamless Wild Guns x Panzer Dragoon Zwei, fusing doublejumping, dive-rolling, melee-slashing Cabalesque with sprinting, soaring railshooter - but AS lovers will instantly clock the vintage: an exhortation to not merely survive bosses, but tear into and through them at progressively greater intensity, your time-honed, artfully daredeviling aggression dictating the pace; the backbone of your moveset, the blade parry and dodge roll, stand in for Counter & Phoenix Force with equally furied precision. And though the willfully pared-down straight/homing arsenal lacks AS's variety, it demands (and rewards) similarly tenacious accuracy.

I knew I was in love when the st2 mecha miniboss was no longer taking me to near-timeout, haggardly fending off his rockets while returning fire, but instead falling to my blade so quickly, his cyber-dragon comrade came screaming in straight through his still-exploding remains.

Pacing and direction are 110% the ram-packed yet sleekly-relentless, inexhaustibly creative, expertly good-humoured onslaught one would demand of AS2. System-wise, although going un-scathed isn't tied to your damage output, you'll still want to; this keeps your YGWesque medal chain up. IIRC (it's been a while), between that and the tightly time-pressured bosses, it's a legit scoring game; never an urgent concern for me, frankly, when it comes to all-out arcade action - skilled demolitions at high speed are their own reward! - but most definitely always a welcome bonus.



Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru, though genuinely unlike AS's brand of high-intensity run/gun (despite its ranged attacks, it's very much a melee-first affair), has a similarly fine sense of nonstop boss/setpiece carnival, and is a genuinely superb game besides; definitely give that one a go too, if you've not.

(apologies if you're already acquainted; I find it best to fire and forget, with such passionate favourites )

I've quite the blind spot when it comes to modern scrolling action games (meaning within the last decade or so); I did like what I saw from Luminous Avenger XI; its body-shredding airdash instantly recalling Epsilon's imperious physicality, with a similarly robust-yet-compact suite of attack modes and movement options; Jack gave its newer sibling Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 his emphatic blessing, immediately putting it on my radar. Still haven't gotten around to it, only due to a long succession of decades-overdue grudge matches via ACA. We'll get there, and/or fall off the chair!

[Squire Grooktook]

Just got a 1cc of Castlevania 3. Sypha route, though I also did the Clocktower just because "fuck it might as well go for the 100% route". I've had this game (physically) since childhood, so it was nice to finally go back and get the "full" experience, learning it inside and out and getting a good run.

I've tried dipping into a 1cc of this one several times over the years, but always kind of bounced off of it because the game honestly felt kinda bland to me. The first 3 stages (4 if you do the Clocktower, and 5 if you're counting the pirate ship as two separate stages) all feel very tepid, drawn out. The length of the game is too long as well, bordering on the exhausting length of CV4. And finally it just felt too static and rote compared to other installments, with very little rng or footsies to speak of, lame bosses in the first half, etc.

Revisiting it now I definitely warmed up to it a bit. One thing I appreciate is it sort of has a decent "adventure" feel to it, with the long length, secondary character comings and goings, optional areas (well just the Clocktower), and the early branching paths. While I would have preferred it to be tighter, it really does feel like the developers wanted to give the impression that your path through the game is part of a larger world, and I like that. Thinking of it this way, it's easy to see how it succeeds Castlevania 2, reeling things back to the arcade format while trying to create a more immersive journey and world.

The game did start to grind on me a bit after the honeymoon period though. Once you fully learn the second half, the entire game mostly just becomes an exercise in totally rote execution up until the last two bosses. Gotta give credit though that going into this I underestimated just how fantastic a final boss Dracula is here. He may not be able to telefrag you but there's just enough dynamic and random elements in that fight to keep you on your toes for a marathon boss rush of 3 forms (admittedly the second one feels kinda cheap with its random wandering...unless there's some tell to its movement pattern I'm not aware of).

Anyway good game. Not sure if I'll revisit it for the other routes right away or give it a rest and return later. I think my placement of CV games hasn't changed, but I definitely have more appreciation for this title now overall.

X68 Dracula > Bloodlines > CV1 > Rondo > CV3 > CV4 > Dracula XX

///

Also while I'm here, some more mecha game concept art

Spoiler

Final drawn concept art to be used as the basis for creating pixel art tile sheet. Note ALL colors are placeholders.



Draft of promo character art. Mech design almost finished refinement and tinkering.

[Lander]

Suginami aka CHOCO MONKEY DX indeed went absolutely balls to the wall (with judicious oversight from Maegawa, after the former had finally crashed on the office floor ). A short but appropriately incendiary read courtesy of blackoak!

A cracking article, that - Suginami's creative passion is inspiring and relatable, especially the lone wolf style and endless explosions of probably-too-ambitious ideas. Alas, to have been born a decade or so earlier and found employment under a similarly risk-happy boss...

I'm reminded that I have a functional reverse-engineering of the AS gameplay model knocking around somewhere - originally intended for a spiritual successor project called Dragonfly, but unfortunately stalled by being built in an engine that I've long since come to hate. Perhaps someday, if I can achieve acceptable tech and drag the design document back down from the upper atmosphere

I can't recall another sidescroller with Alien Soldier's triptych of mechanical articulation, towering performance ceiling, and relentlessly unruly boss rush carnival. However, despite the genre gap, I consider Sin & Punishment its consummate successor.

Ah, Sin & Punishment - Glass Soldier to close friends my history with that reaches back to the days when N64 emulation was a laughingstock; deliciously dark for a Ninty exclusive, and it held up well on a recentish chaining-aware replay. Chasing down the giant cannon shell and defending the ending with the power of strict memo are both particularly rememberable, echoes of classic run and gun cheekily preceding the latter.

Star Successor's mechanical double-down lands yet deeper into character action land, though a bit of a shame to trade off most of the biohorror edge for rounded genki futurism in the wake of its time jump to a Combine-esque cosmic nemesis. Still, getting two distinct and flavourful classics is nothing to sniff at.

Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru, though genuinely unlike AS's brand of high-intensity run/gun (despite its ranged attacks, it's very much a melee-first affair), has a similarly fine sense of nonstop boss/setpiece carnival, and is a genuinely superb game besides; definitely give that one a go too, if you've not.

I gave it a shot and - outside of OW ME SHOOTING FINGER FOOK - a fascinating recommendation, almost an inversion of AS' speed-first principles between the beltscroller strut, chunky time-to-kill and long enemy windups. And it certainly hits the spot for depth, first play bringing to mind the old scholarly idiom "the only thing I know is that I know nothing".

Next objective: Breach the options menu language barrier.

(apologies if you're already acquainted; I find it best to fire and forget, with such passionate favourites )

I've quite the blind spot when it comes to modern scrolling action games (meaning within the last decade or so); I did like what I saw from Luminous Avenger XI; its body-shredding airdash instantly recalling Epsilon's imperious physicality, with a similarly robust-yet-compact suite of attack modes and movement options; Jack gave its newer sibling Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 his emphatic blessing, immediately putting it on my radar. Still haven't gotten around to it, only due to a long succession of decades-overdue grudge matches via ACA. We'll get there, and/or fall off the chair!

Not at all! I'm well prepared for shotgun blasts of high-tier gaming lore

I have to admit, I'm a right neophyte when it comes to Gunvolt. In theory I should be all about it, since Mega Man Zero was highly formative and S-ing my way through 2 for the special moves (what an incentive!) was some of my earliest wilful gitguddening, but I think the staccato tag-and-kill of the first game put me off after the smoove cuts of Inti's breakout series. That said, Jack's appraisal of 3 and inarguable gif are a hard sell worthy of a reconsideration.

Oh, and I note with no small mirth that your recursively-relevant counter review of HG101's Taromaru article has actually gone up in search rank with time