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Lord have mercy. Huntdown is a diamond. To be more precise, it's mahfuckin EAR2.



1] GOD POV + GOD VIOLENCE
2] CURIOSITY KILLED EVERYONE
3] PUMPING CHOONZ

Why do I do this to myself, waiting so long? 3; I suppose it's partially a lack of faith. Mostly being relatively young for the epoch I favour (85-95). Always got tons to catch up on, so it never feels like wasted time.

Also, from Stevens and Tuna's endorsements, I knew it was in the bag, quality-wise. The airtight control reponse was no surprise. But having deliberately skim-read, while avoiding footage beyond the glorious trailer, the genuine article still caught me off-guard; specifically, its sheer gleeful physicality. This is a tactical stompfest. They totally grabbed the Running Tackle baton from EAR and ran with it. Enemy dug into cover? That's not a problem friendo! Wavedash in and kick the living shit out of them. Snapkick a motherfucker into concrete, put both barrels through 'em on rebound, stomp on 'em for good measure. Advancing, aggressively distance-closing attacks are hugely rewarded; armoured enemies can power through your gunfire to launch vicious reprisals, but not after you've just divekicked them headfirst into a pillar, or clear down a stairwell.

You think I came eya ta play faaackin CHISS?

Spoiler: show

The balancing with disciplined cover tactics feels bang-on. Exhilarating and gainful as it may be, open warfare is appropriately dangerous, with massive, multi-pronged crowds able to whittle and crush even the most frenzied of blind attackers. Just like EAR, it's about using the God POV to blaze terse trails of carnage, from one strongpoint to another; lots of calculatedly vicious, Shinobi-styled death-from-above interspersed. Cover itself is likewise finely balanced; bullets and other projectiles, you're all good. Explosions, incendiaries, dogs? You're screwed, boyo! It's a use, not an abuse!

The recharging subweapons are perfect complements to this methodical careening - letting you precision-assassinate chunks of would-be chokepoints and roadblocks. I find myself, at this early stage, chucking grenades more or less as I get 'em; they're great fun, and devastatingly powerful, but the risk of demolishing my own face on ricochet is grim, and I prefer the cold certainty of ME BLADEZ. Fling a nice pointy bushel, and you know that would-be interceptor is FUCC; use 'em as garnish for gunfire, and that would-be berserker will eat the floor, not your face. Not that rapid dispersal and shaweet bank shots are at all mutually exclusive:

DEYRE AFTA ME STASH, FAAAACK

Spoiler: show

^^^ Homie no-look sprinting face-first into that grenade

A strikingly visceral, tactile, tactical affair. Where a merely competent EAR covers act would've more than sufficed, Huntdown plays like that most wildly unexpected of treats: a genuine sequel, in a preciously rare subgenre. Get it right the fuck now if you haven't, it's amazing.

It is also a killer unofficial 2000AD game! My jaw was hurting from laughing so hard at the droll commentaries of MOW MAN, who I had to choose first, after being so charmed by the trailer's debonair emcee. "When you look at Mow Man, you look at your grave!" MM is a true old-school gentleman killbot. Five-Star Roger Moore impression! "Sorry about the door!~" "That was a most aggressive canine!" "Let the reaper i~iin!" As supremely PUMPIN as the sugary-sweet, blacklit n' blue synthdarkCarpenterwave BGM is, blast-reinforcing the air of bygone dystopia, I found myself ratioing it down to 80%, giving the even more powerful SFX and that riotous VA a bit more prominence. The detonating *CRUNCH* of a well-worn baseball bat shattering on goon skull is *~magical~* ^O^

The surrounding world is magically VHS-sleazy, too... the checkpoint conceit is outright genius. I wonder if they nicked it from somewhere? Classic either way. Not that I have been using checkpoints so far - missions are models of concision, the kind I find myself compelled to replay right from the outset.

TLDR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Nx7jNqHqI

Oh shit it me

Fucking SOLD.

Finally, Huntdown gets some motherfuckin' love!

Huntdown is a complete improvement on the EAR formula in every way. I don't challenge-chase clears as a general rule. But I do have all the clears for Huntdown except the final one. I'll get it eventually, I just took a break.

Huntdown is a flawless game imo. Visuals, sound and gameplay all come together to form a perfect package. When I play Huntdown, I always set the audio blastin'. I don't do that for most other games. Playing in handheld, my default state is to mute the audio. Not with Huntdown. I never get tired of those jams or the booming voice of the announcer.

BLAZING! BLAZING! BLAZING! TRIPLE KILL! WEAPONS COMBO!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzQ7lOn ... 1s3hRNjI2w

^tell me this loading screen song doesn't get you FUCKING PUMPED for a clear!

Grenades are great. All the weird arc weapons are, if you know how to use them. The reason grenades are great is the same reason Ana Conda's axe is great. You can get grenades in spots that you won't be able to fit ANY other weapon. It just takes the know-how. You can delete enemies who are technically offscreen and above you by scrolling while jumping and throwing at just the right angle. Certain boss phases can be skipped/dramatically shortened if you have a weapon that hits above you, even if only at a slight angle (such as the grenade launcher.)

FYI everyone in this thread should play on Arcade Mode. I assume you already are. Arcade mode is MUCH better than Story. Story is good for your first play or if you want to practice boss patterns. For everything else, Arcade. Arcade isn't just harder.

Arcade Mode:

-gives you better weapons earlier
-has more fun spawns of enemies
-is harder in a way that makes you strategize
-can't be cheesed by walking and firing AS hard (it trivializes Story)
-features more exciting bosses by virtue of better minion phases
-best announcer since Unreal Championship 2
-score chasing is a thing
-combo chaining is a thing
-lives actually matter, although the game is still rather generous with them

Story mode has no combo system, no lives, no announcer and is piss easy with boring weapon spawns. Story Mode would still be "a fun game," but Arcade is where the fun game becomes perfection imo.

Glad you're enjoying Mow Man. As mentioned, I think he's the weakest of the three. Although, if you employ external autofire, he could be quite powerful. Most players will probably prefer John Sawyer. But of course, what matters is the character that speaks to your SOUL. A real man doesn't need words!

I'll post a quick rundown of the 3 and what's different about them:

John Sawyer

Primary: A powerful revolver that fires high-damage slugs. Kills most fodder enemies in 1-2 hits. Strips armor quickly off of reinforced enemies. He has the highest spike damage primary weapon, which is useful for bosses who are difficult to sustain damage on. AKA highly mobile or aggressive bosses. You can jump, down-dash, spin around and blast a couple shots, then get back to dodgin'. Mow Man doesn't have the damage and Ana is fixed in place for a half-second while firing her burst shot.

Throwable: Boomerang that SHREDS crowds. If you hold up or down, you can guide it up or down on the return. If you catch the boomerang, you get your cooldown refilled instantly. It's harder to do than you'd think, especially when you're facing hordes from all directions and need to move. Again, pressing up or down is going to change its arc. You might do that unintentionally while dodging fire. But it's still a ridiculous weapon for groups. Damage against bosses is "mid" as the kids would say.

Ana Conda

Primary: Beretta burst-fire conversion that fires 3 shots at a time. Fixes you in place while firing, even if you just tap. So you better get used to that rhythm of movement. Don't mash! Getting an extra burst you didn't want will fuck you over. Ana deals the most damage when she has a stable position from which to lay down sustained fire. Her sustained fire damage is very high. Unfortunately for her, this is Huntdown and enemies/bosses won't let you sit there and shoot them. So her primary is not as good as Sawyer's. With some bosses, it's hard to even get all 3 bullets on the target because of how fast they move. But when she has a good position, her Beretta can absolutely demolish crowds. Keep firing and duck or jump as needed-watch even the largest groups fall. When running/scrolling the screen and firing into the distance with her, it's not uncommon for her to delete every single enemy before they have a chance to do anything. Her weapon is good but it's not the best. Which is fine. I'd say her Beretta is about on par with the Uzi weapon pickup. Grabbing an Uzi with her is kind of downgrade/sidegrade. I should mention that the Uzi is a downgrade for Sawyer too. I still pick up all the weapons and use all of them because they're FUN. But the Uzi is the weakest weapon grab imo (weak sustained damage) and I use it to measure the base forms of characters.

Throwable: A fucking SICK AXE that has an amazing arc. The arc is so fucking cool. With the axe's arc, you can pull all kinds of tricks just like with grenades. You can hit bosses as they fly directly above you. You can delete enemies at the top right edge of the screen, just as they scroll onscreen. You can hit almost any part of the screen from any position if you know how to angle your shot. Running, jumping, etc all influence how it moves. Holding right vs left changes the arc, etc. The spike damage of the weapon is very high, just like Sawyer's pistol. Ana's Beretta is not so great for certain bosses, right? Well, the axe is good against the bosses that the pistol is not good against. You see? Very nice balancing. If you need burst damage, use the axe. Need sustained damage? Use the pistol. Weapon pickups made Huntdown easier, but I never feel outgunned when I'm down to Ana's base tools.

Mow Man

I'm the least qualified to talk about him. I do have couple 1ccs with him, but I don't enjoy his play style and he feels underpowered. BIL can get some practice in and correct me later.

Primary:

A sweet Deagle. Mow Man is a mash character. If you want the best DPS from his deagle then you either set up external autofire or mash like a motherfucker. I've explained in other places on this forum that I can't mash well for medical reasons. No surprise I dislike this character. IF you can mash, then you can get his deagle damage and fire rate up to par with the Uzi. I still don't think his gun is BETTER than the Uzi, which is a problem. The Uzi is the basic unit of weapon pickup in Huntdown. It's not amazing. You deal low sustained damage with autofire and that's about all. Knockback might be better with the deagle than the Uzi, but I don't know. You're not locked into place when firing like Ana is (although it's for only a split-second,) but your per-shot on the Deagle is pretty low. Yeah, I don't like this gun. With 30hz autofire, it could be the best gun in the game. But you're going to have to set that up externally and I question whether or not you're cheating at that point. Whether or not a gun has autofire in Huntdown is a deliberate design decision by the devs to balance the various weapons with the availability and ammo count. For what it's worth, I think the deagle has an uncapped fire rate.

Throwable:

Kunai. It's literally the Kunai subweapon pickup you get later in the game, except this one is weaker than the ammo version. The ammo version penetrates and this does not. You do throw three, so you will typically always kill at least one fodder every time you throw this. However. IF all the kunai doesn't land on the same target, there's a chance you won't kill anyone. That is brutal. When that shit happens, it's like losing the lottery. You are gonna get fucking wrecked if it happens when you weren't expecting. Enemies in Huntdown tend to move in packs and overlap their hitboxes. This isn't a problem with a powerful sustained fire weapon OR a strong burst-damage weapon, but the Kunai is neither. An Axe will kill almost anything in one hit. The Boomerang penetrates and comes back. Not so with Kunai. Kunai will get eaten by crowds. When you consider that your main weapon deals pretty low damage per shot, you can get in some rough situations. My Mow Man clears were largely obtained by managing special weapons efficiently. Especially since I don't like to mash, I would pick up every weapon and use them all. The Kunai are good to spam out there when you have them off cooldown, however. If you throw enough of them, they are helpful. They deal high damage to bosses if all the knives hit. Which they probably will, as the Kunai travel fast and bosses don't have a protective wall of minions (most of the time) to block you.

My personal ranking of the three characters in terms of power goes Sawyer, Ana and then Mow Man. My preference is Ana and I almost always play her unless I'm challenging myself.

It's one of the best games on the GBA, and it's also like the #3 best Medal of Honor game, with only Allied Assault and Airborne being better. Awesome game, and definitely one to play the shit out of. Pacific Assault is also pretty good if you can tolerate how glitchy and janky it is, but this is super off-topic, so I will stop here.


Holy shit that sounds horrible. That's even worse than the MD Mini, and that thing was not very good! I'm still so surprised that they got the MD Mini 2 to have lag on par with a real Mega Drive. Too bad about the game selection of the second one, but at least it finally fixed the music in Tatsujin after over 30 years of it being fucked up. It's hard to believe that nobody made a ROM hack to fix that during all of this time.

Cheers for the extensive guidance, Tuna-san! Marked for index - only skim-read, but I've been doing that for a while with this game, haha. Much rambling follows, holy cow, this was meant to be a short post but HD puts so much on the table

Apologies if you cover it above, but if you don't mind, what do you think of the Automatic Cover option? I wondered if it might free up some hand/braintime, but haven't bothered as yet. It's a comfy enough game that such an assist sounds like it might be more complication than asset, at this early stage. For now, I've put [attack/jump] on [square/X] as usual, with [throwing weapon], [dash], and [action/switch] on [L/R/Triangle], since all can be hit without letting off the trigger; handy for busting out a quick knife, or stowing a valuable weapon, or aggressively Dashing/Stomping without missing a single shot.

Concurring hard re: audio - it's one of those games that legit gains from rumbling volume, and likewise, loses some of its intended effect without; see also Night Striker's blistering synthpop, and Hard Corps's inimitably guttural Godsplosions and photocopier-fucking-faxmachine YM2612 metal. HD's audio design itself is fuckin amazeballs, between the expansive synthwaves and impeccably crunchy/crisp BAP BAP BAP / AIEEE reports.

"DOWWS WIV BOWWS!" *whoomph* "GAAAAAAA" "Time of death? NOW~"

I think I'm cursed to ride or die with Mow Man, at least for this first Story Mode playthrough. Can't get enough of that classily brutal Muay doorkicker-meets-gentleman operator aesthetic. Appropriately for a game that busts out posters for Akira, The Thing, and Aliens early on, hackysacking and magdumping motherfuckers across the room feels like a playable GitS water fight, via Walter The Wobot from 2000AD. Taking down heavily-armed, ultra-dangerous killers as an even badder motherfucker with a top drawer full of zing-a-ling-lings straight outta Wodehouse. Cannot overstate my fondness for landing KILLING HAWKS and HOUOU-KYAKUS on motherfuckers like a dapperly trench-coated RoboBaek or CyberKaphwan.

I'm afraid AKU WA YURUSAN, miss!

Spoiler: show

Not to mention THA PIPE HITTENINGS At first I was a bit "Damn! Why do they break so fast?!" Then I realised this is very much a Weapons Of Mass Cranial Reconstruction scenario - bust them melons like RoboGallagher and move on son, no time to grieve Mr. Pipe Wrench, he done good turning that helmet punk's dome into a gaping second arsehole

Le Samourai or Crash course in brain surgery + dentistry (combined hons)

Spoiler: show

I'd love to know if any FTG influence went into Huntdown, specifically the advancing counter-offense; the risk and thrill of calling an enemy's attack with a perfect sneak, then punishing the sweet Jebus balls off 'em recalls both KOF and Tekken, and FTG rushdown aesthetics in general. I also looove how even man-sized enemies are very much able to smack the shit out of you, as well, attaching an the intense gravity to each and every showdown. Beating a motherfucker like a rug is not only powerful, it's also highly advisable to ensure your own jaw remains properly un-jacked! Never mind versus the outright titans.

Speaking of, I like how that early fight vs BAD BOI BOB felt like a CQC tutorial, of sorts... outright retreat will be punished with a flying barrel to the back, while staying in what looks to be a terrifyingly cramped ring, keeping just outside his reach with judicious dashes, leaves him floundering. Also, that first big boi's debut... "Analysing target." *puttputtputtputt... honk honk* "That is a BIG specimen!"

As with the game at large, MM's also just a legit funny motherfucker. Was nodding off at the controller last night only to hear an impeccably chummy "Your first day playing video games, eh~?" and instantly regain TEH MINERALS to finish the stage. ("MOW MAN is once again at your service~") Particularly with what happened next, god damn!

In the best tradition of EAR, a perpetual advent calendar of calculatedly slapstick-yet-savage retributions. The element of enemy collateral is astoundingly well done, too, the GOD POV ensuring no setup nor pratfall goes unnoticed. Wait, knife zako charging across the rooftop! Your buddies up top are throwing molotovs! Ah fuck! (well done, geddit?! )

The game being simultaneously so expansive, fast-paced, yet finely-detailed, I find myself picking up new things on replays... I just noticed with that last batch, it seems molotov punks drop their firebombs on death? Effectively making them mobile Fire Barrels... prime targets for a deft KNOIFFE EDIT: And ahh shit, looks like blown-away enemies will set off red barrels on impact? I thought it'd been three KNOIFFEs apiece in that clip, but the two zako bros clearly ate 'em all, ahead of the barrel. HD plays as fine-brush detailed as it looks.

That's... a lot more buttons than I was expecting to need. This thing doesn't require the fucking right stick, does it?

I mean I'm still buying it this weekend but I'm trying to temper my expectations here.

Nope, no sticks or analogue inputs whatsoever. It's basically your typical JAMMA setup, ala EAR, but with a couple dedicated buttons for things that would otherwise be command inputs (double-tap [forward] to dash, etc). You know how in Metal Slug 1-3, the kamikaze attack is A+B, and in MS4 it's just D? That sort of thing. It's really smooth; took all of five minutes to get the hand/eye memory down, and I'm not the fastest at picking up new games. (probably a third spoke in my endemic tardiness at checking out new stuff, now I say that!)

Actually, damn, it really does map to Metal Slug. Which figures, as Slug controls like a faster-paced, more open-plan EAR - which is what Huntdown is.

A: BUST A FUCKIN CAP (primary has infinite ammo, sidearm has finite) / Kick when up-close, ala EAR/Slug.
B: Jump. (tap to hop! hold for height! combine with down to ledge drop! daamn, the gang's all here!)
C: Throwing Weapon. (DEADLY AF Y'ALL - recharges by default. grenades, molotovs, etc replace it while stocks last)

Onto this, add a couple shortcut buttons:

L: Dash (no messy double-taps! use during jump / while falling for br00tal KILLING HAWK axekicks n' helm-splitters 2 knock a muhfucka out)
R: Pickup new sidearm / Switch between Primary and Secondary (no GNG-styled revenge weapon drops to tiptoe around! also save the best ammo for big targets!)

As mentioned, I put [Throwing Weapons] on [L] because that's what I do with Slug too (on gamepad), and [Dash] on [R] because I'm used to the movement modifier being there in stuff like ASSAULT SUIT WALKENS and CONTRA SPIRITZ and TEH FIREMANS on me SFC. All in all, whatever your preferred config, it is EZ OPERATIONS

Other than the above, you have a couple dpad commands. Take cover by tapping [up] in front of any alleyway, doorway, etc; exactly like Rolling Thunder and EAR. You can also hit [down] while near a crate, etc, for the same result. Hit [down] while running to Vanquish your way into low cover. Everyone loves rock n' roll knee slides! Also good when you just need 2 get your fookin head down m8!

Too proud to show your true face, eh...

Spoiler: show

You see them tight mechanix+collision? (MOLOTOV + FACE = BAD) Once you're behind cover, you can popout n' shoot by holding [up/down] ; no need to re-enter the command, your HOONTER will nip back behind cover automatically. Super comfy! Has that by gamers/for gamers feel. As noted, though, cover ain't a cure-all. Explosions, incendiaries, puppers, and plain ol' bitch-slaps will knock you right out of it, plus motherfuckers are popping out of the woodwork all the time.

MR PWESIDENT GET DOWN (｀w´メ)

Spoiler: show

As I was saying to Tuna, there's an Automatic Cover option, [OFF] by default, which will put you in cover state whenever in range of nooks/crates. Sounds like it could be more distraction than help, though, given how aggressively this plays. Then again, I got a hell of a lot to learn, so who knows. Excitements! I suspect there's a fair bit of leeway for bespoke tactics, here... I'm a Rip N Tear Without Getting Bummed-ryuu disciple at heart, so we'll see. I just liek 2 jump around naw mean.

Man I gotta write up Grim Guardians before long. I liked it, a whole lot, but there are certain fundamentals I respectfully disagree with. HD is just nonstop beast wood so far.

Cor, that looks incredible. Big boot, powerslide, and HUGE SPINNING POWERUPS

I've long believed that the angular velocity of a given title's collectible items correlates directly with its confidence as a capital V video game - especially if said title is 2D and had to put in actual art effort to make it happen. Bravo.

So, my control setup for Huntdown is switch joycons with the default mappings. I use Y for fire (square on ps4), X for throwable (triangle for ps4), B to jump (cross on ps4), A for swap (circle on ps4) and R1 for dodge. I find this control scheme is perfect for me.

I do NOT use auto cover and I do not recommend that. I value being able to quickly move in and out of cover manually. With a separated dpad (like ps4, joycon or hitbox,) you won't ever get accidental diagonals when pressing up for the cover function. Cover is powerful (especially with Ana's sustained fire) but don't get too comfy with it. The Heatseekers will show you why with their namesake. The Misconducts start teaching you the basics, but the Heatseekers are the real shit test on if you've been learning the mechanics. Hoodlum Dolls are fun, but their Story version is strictly tutorial. Every boss will teach you something different.

FYI the movie references are more than just references. You can gain some gameplay benefits from finding certain cameos. I regularly employ these in Arcade Mode clears. Although again, what I said about the Uzi being a sidegrade for Ana and a downgrade for Sawyer applies here. One of the cameos hands you a 200 ammo uzi. It's not really any better than what those characters already have. But hey, it's fun and you have a free weapon slot.

The audio lines in this game are eminently quotable. DOLLS WITH BAWLS is one I can't help but smile whenever I hear. There are variants on it, too. "We're the Dolls with Balls." Every playable hero has an impressive array of lines. Sawyer is more of an Arnold type. He goes for the easy puns and a reference or two to Arnie movies. Mow Man is the dapper chap. Ana is hilarious. She hates everything and her quotes always get me. I guess that's what attracted me to her. That and the axe shenanigans.

I don't know about fighting games, but there is definitely a rhythm of movement and attacking you have to get into. Sonny Rooster is the most extreme example in the first 3 worlds. He's easiest with Sawyer (because burst damage,) but he will punish any character whose timing is off. You have to learn how to use the dash, especially in the air. The dash doesn't provide i-frames exactly, but it will allow you to alter your landing arc and timing in a way to improve your movement speed. Thus preventing damage. It's hard to explain with words but would be easy to demonstrate in a video.

Melee weapons break quickly because you can absolutely shred crowds from certain angles with them. A single swing can cover multiple baddies IIRC. There is one infinite durability melee weapon in the game you can obtain later. Up to you if you think its merits are superior to a limited-ammo weapon like the LMG. Where I come from, the LMG is the Boss Bitch of Huntdown.

Ahhhhh I have been waiting for this. BIL is finally a contractor for Shimamoto Corporation.

Glad you are enjoying it. It came out of left field for me three years ago, but I ultimately wound up buying it twice cause it's just so damn good.

SF6 doesn't drop for another ten days, plenty of time to kill.

Sorry I took so long - I try to make up for a lack of promptness with a surfeit of passion.

TY once again, Agent Tuna! I did wonder about that AutoCover. Well imma finish off the Dolls tonight. Beset by distractions - not the least ACA Rolling Thunder 2!

Man I gotta say, I forgot how good RT2's opening stage looks, to the point I almost wonder if Ridge Racer was influenced at all. Uncannily similar tropical opulence, down to those unmistakably sunny shades of platinum white and pale emerald.



Also must say, the stalwart ol' MD port of Rolling Thunder 2 did daaamn well for its time. I actually kinda prefer the AC version's tighter stage layouts, at least early on. Where MD expands st2's mansion with a courtyard full of panthers, and a frickin mecha boss battle, AC has an elegant transition from Opulent Baddie Mansion to RetroFuturistic Baddie Seabase. Love how they swap out the BG layer while you're busy battling your way up the railings, only to have you drop down and BOOM! The MANSION was actually UNDERWATER BASE!

So cute how they crammed that trademark hardware scaling in from bootup, with the satellite getting taken out. Again, the MD fills out nicely with some first-rate character art of Alabtross and Leila, plus the greatest password menu known to man, and lots more anime-quality interstage cutscenes. Here it's almost eerily terse, with a fleeting glimpse of a tastefully appointed study, before busting out the flyer's piece de resistance: HELL WORLD 199X



AIEEE! That's right, agent BigDick McKillaMahfucka! Iron them slacks, comb in some Dapper Man and get the fuck strap, or dis whole place gon be FUCC! Wait. What you say! The broad is P1 now? Excuse me, miss! Look, a big box of shoes! Why yes, I do believe they are in your size, ha ha! *slam* This is a fucking disaster. Get BigDick on the telex. No I don't care how many broads he's currently fucking at the same time. Pretty sure he just makes that shit up, the cheeky prick. Probably not even his real name now I think about it. (■｀w´■)



AHA! Player side switch option! TY Ham-chan, I am far too chauvinist to be shooting motherfuckers in the head neck and chest as toots over there. Gonna give me a goddamn complex ffs.

Biggest gain feels like Ayako Saso's BGM. MD one did great, as always - but the added richness and clarity on each and every note really puts these absurdly jazzy tunes over the top, from "catchy" to "preposterously jaunty for shooting chumps in the face to"



Wonderful to see this on ACA for we non-Switch plebes who've made do with the MD cart for so long. ;3 I remember Randorama mentioning a later checkpoint getting insanely, improbably difficult to one-life, something I can rather readily believe after dallying with ACA Phelios earlier this year. Times like this I'm more... not forgiving, but at least more apathetic towards the antics of Dicksuckin Lips and Shitty Connection et al. With just two star performers in Hamster and M2, this is already an era of Too Many Games.



^ As always with ACA manuals, you can tell they're written from enthusiast standpoint; love all the nods to RT1, which RT2 is not so much softer than, as it is a knowing leavening of. I'd not even thought of RT1 being a four-way game until now, I always thought it was just riding the player's ass for the hell of it. Like FC Dracula III!

I'm on board with RT2 until the final level. I studied some videos but I dunno, it just broke me, even after clearing RT1. The gimmick is severe ammo starvation, so you have to work out a semi-pacifist route through the level, with rote memorization and trial-and-error, and even with examples to work from I found it a bit of a headache. Ammo doesn't carry between levels as in RT1 so you can't even stock up and make it easy on yourself. Still on the bucket list, but it's probably going to sit there for a minute.

Right now struggling with Daimakaimura rage. On the inclined statue tongue where you have to duck the spikes, you can hit the jump button while mid-forward-stride and still get a neutral jump (into the abyss) because of whatever sorcery is going on with the hitboxes. I don't get the logic of it but I've been able to get it to not happen with some practice.


I hear ya, I just think it's weird it's not something I can easily look up at a moment's notice. I've been consulting this video, which is supposed to have them all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS5E3bm60-k

I know most of them, but I need all the help I can get. Speed runners know how to get whatever weapon they want from chests. Anybody happen to know the logic behind that? There's a big gulf between my runs where I get a dagger or frisbee on stage 1 vs the ones where I drop an axe right on a guillotine.

Well I was planning on playing Huntdown, but Shinobi Non Grata has dropped and been purchased.

BIL - I ain't played it yet, but don't wait three years for this one.

God damn. Like my old man always says, things really do work out eventually. Didn't even know it was on PS4, getting that one for the weekend right now.

I dunno. I found it to be better than first US Genesis Mini selection and the new games are also quite fun, though them being DRMed to not work on a real Genesis sucks.

Hey all. I've played SNG for about 20 minutes, and it is fucking dope.

One small warning though - you're probably going to want an auto fire program (I use reWASD) cause my thumb started to feel it pretty quick. 100ms matches how quick I was swinging it without being thumb or game altering.

I played a chunk of this late last year while on a search action kick (need to refresh my memory about some of the other games I played at the time to post about them, really), but I found myself struggling with it. I really loved the feel of its core action, its huge world, and its aesthetic - but those block puzzles, and their frequency and severity, kicked me right off. One wrong move with those puzzles immediately forces you to have to shut the game off and re-enter your entire password - and there are so many of them, with increasingly esoteric solutions and with no room for error or experimentation at all.

I was loving the game outside of that, so I do want to return to it someday and knock it out, but I wasn't expecting the game to be so strict in such an unpleasant way.

Huntdown also rules. Played a ton of it earlier last year alongside Steel Assault, Fight'n Rage, and Elliot Quest, all classics in their own right.

It's been a few years, but were you playing as Xemn/Dad/Green Axe Dude? I seem to recall his area of the dungeon being decidedly block-obsessed, but the mechanic abruptly going AWOL after that (IIRC, nobody else can equip the Power Glove required to move them).

He was the first character whose area I cleared out, and while I was already hooked by the inimitably chibi-stygian atmosphere, and determined to see an iconic childhood menacer through, I definitely recall thinking "This is gonna turn a lot of people off." But I also remember being glad to see the other characters have their own things going on.

The game never outgrows its easy-going, goofy combat (not outside of the somewhat trickier Crown guardians), and it definitely takes several other liberties with the player's patience later on, but it might be worth revisiting with this in mind. Apologies in advance if I'm suppressing the memory of further block puzzles here.

If anyone is inspired to buy Huntdown by the posts on this page, it's part of the new PSN sale.

US, $3.99, 80% off:
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/pro ... WN00000001

UK, £3.19, 80% off:
https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/pro ... WN00000001

Jesus, that's a steal! I ain't even mad either, I'll just consider it a late tax. Will make up the difference between now and launch MSRP with Shinobi non Grata.

I'm kinda tempted to give Deathwish Enforcers a go now, too. Looks like its heart and brain are in the right places. I'm always wary of input lag with Western titles. Yeah I know, blatant Niho-chauvinism. I paid for these scars Bite me buddy* Buuut what's my tally at now...

Bare Knuckle IV
Blazing Chrome
Fight n' Rage
Huntdown
Steel Assault (PC)
Super Cyborg
Xeno Crisis

...all Western-devved, and as tight as the classic JP stuff they're inspired by (or classic Western stuff, in Xeno Crisis's case). So maybe it's time to be a bit less paranoid. Just a bit, naw mean. 3;

Will have to see the buzz around Deathwish, though. If the right peeps say "NAWWW ITS TO HARD" and even better "TO HARD + SHORT" then that's a promising start. "Too hard and short" means "substantial and concise."

*buddy is slang for dick, hard and short or otherwise ;3

EDIT: Ah fuck, seems Shinobi non Grata's not out on PS4 just yet. Oh well, here when it's here.

Noice.

Almost a shame, really, because the game and the amount of content is actually worth every bit of $20, in my opinion. But if you're on the fence, this is a good option.

Man I wish I could get in on the hype for Huntdown, but it just really did nothing for me.



If there's a way to manipulate weapon drop RNG it probably requires some near-frame perfect pace from the start of the game or something to that extent.
I don't think you really need to do something like that. The starting lance is perfectly fine for most of the game. Of course you want the dagger eventually, but it always drops somewhere. If you accidentally pick up another weapon, the frisbee and lance are both sufficient replacements until a dagger occurs.



Tanuki Justice is suspiciously missing from this list

Sorry I forgot I've no doubt it's good stuff based on your reports, in fact, I might go ahead and nab it for the weekend now that SnG's gonna be a bit later. You know me, I must have a bit of the ol' ultraviolence

True ultra-violence!

tbh I was sold at the Ninja-kun styled player dimensions, they know what they doing ^O^

Some of those devs have other fantastic titles, too (The Xeno Crisis folks also made Final Vendetta and the Blazing Chrome folks made Odallus and Oniken).

Dead Cells is one of the most responsive games I've ever played, it handles soooooo smooth. The weapon and ability combinations are truly dizzying; I've logged like 250 hours and still haven't run out of creative new loadouts to try.

I think ZeroRanger was made in Finland?

Are the Zenohell/Super XYX devs western? They make really nice, responsive Toaplan tributes.

Someone around here who knows their hard action swears by Okinawa Rush, too, but I can't remember who.

Xeno Crisis is fucking rad and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. For some reason I never get any better at it no matter how much I play it, but that doesn't stop it from being amazing. I don't really like the controls on the Neo Geo version, but if you have a Mega Drive and/or Dreamcast, you need the Mega Drive and/or Dreamcast version.

It's brilliant, but it occasionally doesn't telegraph attacks/spawns very well IMO.

By our forums own Ebbo!

So some quick thoughts on SNG:

- You get one life. You have can take five hits. Health is plentiful, but not too plentiful. Difficulty feels good.
- Sword is great.
- Seven sub weapons powered by souls. Stars = spread, Rifle = shotgun (they toned the damage down from the demo it was OP), sticky bombs, a lightning chain attack, and a flash that damages everything. Lastly, my favorite, the kurisagama. You know what it does. Weapons are balanced nicely between cost to use and damage.
- Levels are quick, and to steal Bil's word, concise. Nothing is wasted.
- Each level has a legit boss encounter. When coupled with the short levels it makes the game feel a bit like Alien Soldier
- Bosses are ramped up nicely, each asking you to learn and/or add another mechanic to the fight.

That is all for now.

Yeah, the MD version is particularly bad about spawning enemies right above/below/next to you. I think they specifically advertised improved enemy spawning in one of the other versions, probably for PC or Dreamcast, but I don't remember. You have to no miss/1CC the game in order to get the true ending and the real final boss, which I have never done. I got close once, though.