Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

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

Post by Blinge »

Not MM3, surely!
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

I'm probably way too familiar with MM3 to objectively rate it's difficulty, but to me it definitely feels much easier. But MM3 also has that quirk where the difficulty level just takes a massive nosedive right after spiking with the Doc Robot stages. Meanwhile, MMX peaks at the final boss, like it should.

That said, MM3 is by far my favourite of the two. In fact, 3 and 4 are probably my favourites in the entire expanded series.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Vanguard »

Sumez wrote:Even though Ilpalazzo's description makes sense, that doesn't mean Mega Man X is a walk in the park either. It's not Magical Vacation Rockman, and at least to me it's definitely more challenging than any of the NES games.

And yeah, subtanks feel even more overpowered than E-tanks did in the original games, better not to use them.
I did a no-subtanks no-stage-revisits one life clear a few years back and found the difficulty comparable to a lower end arcade 1CC. It's extremely well-suited to challenge runs, Megaman X is as easy or as hard as you want it to be. Magical Vacation Dracula would need severe restrictions to pose a real challenge and I'm not convinced the end result would be worth it.
Sumez wrote:I'm probably way too familiar with MM3 to objectively rate it's difficulty, but to me it definitely feels much easier. But MM3 also has that quirk where the difficulty level just takes a massive nosedive right after spiking with the Doc Robot stages. Meanwhile, MMX peaks at the final boss, like it should.

That said, MM3 is by far my favourite of the two. In fact, 3 and 4 are probably my favourites in the entire expanded series.
I just can't see 3 as anywhere near as good as X. It's held back a lot by a terrible weapon set and its needlessly padded runtime. The Doc Robot levels might have worked as hard mode replacements of the normal levels, but needing to play the Doc Robot versions right after finishing the original versions is way too much repetition. It feels lazy. Doc Robot's giant hitbox makes those stages' boss fights a pain too.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

That's crazy talk. The doc robot stages are great, except from that section where you fly through all of it (mostly due to the easily exploitable nature of the Rush Jet)
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Blinge »

I really appreciate that I can come in here, piss on the floor (say i'm getting in a hissyfit about being hit in ez game)
... and it actually sparks good faith conversation about the strengths and weaknesses of MMX :lol:
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Vanguard »

Sumez wrote:That's crazy talk. The doc robot stages are great, except from that section where you fly through all of it (mostly due to the easily exploitable nature of the Rush Jet)
They'd be good if the first time you picked Shadowman's stage you went straight to the Doc Robot version of Shadowman's stage except there was no Doc Robot boss fight there, just regular old Shadowman at the end, and the whole game was just 8 robot masters -> Break Man -> Wily's Fortress.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

Disagreeing furiously
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sir Ilpalazzo »

The big thing that grates on me about Mega Man 3, even more than the excessive Doc Robot stages and completely lame Wily stages, is the weird turnaround priority games. In all of the other NES games, before and after, turning and shooting at the same time will have you turn first, then shoot, but in 3, you'll shoot first and then turn. It's an annoying consideration to have to make and makes the game feel a lot less fun.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Major ACA milestone this week: Crime Fighters 2 (aka Vendetta) finally gets a home release. :o I played the hell out of the original a few months back, looking forward to this. Roll on Mystic Warriors, Violent Storm and XEXEX pls :cool:
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by __SKYe »

Nice, didn't even know Crime Fighters had a sequel! Hope it is as good as the first game.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Udderdude »

Classic "Clean up the streets" action.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Out now on JP PS4. :cool: MY HOG IS OUT TOO Image Image Perfect timing, too bright for Bloodborne here.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Marc »

BIL wrote:Out now on JP PS4. :cool: MY HOG IS OUT TOO Image Image Perfect timing, too bright for Bloodborne here.
I went looking for a few reviews of it just to make sure I wasn't going to be bitterly disappointed, and stumbled across the HCG-101 review of Crim Fighters. My my, someone is very bitter that they suck at it :D :D
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

It's a rare website that can serve two diametrically opposing needs so consistently. :o

"HG101, what games are in this series, and when/where/on what were they released?"
>HG101 provides objective data
"Also, how do they play?"
>HG101 provides hilarity

I will always treasure my Taromaru, MD Daimakaimura and FC Ikari III pull quotes, just look at the reactions they get. :cool:
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Marc »

Oh man I must have missed that first time around. Brilliant :D
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

God damn! :shock: This is the stuff, alright. CF1's Technos-style brutality with post-FF smoothness. Minute 01, kicking thugs off a bridge, then stomping on their fingers until they fall off and drown - sounds about right. :lol: Boss comes at ya in full Hardgay leather n' studs wielding a pavement saw, all correct. :cool: Even though Crime Fighters was never a marquee Konami name, you can tell this is a direct sequel from a now vastly more experienced dev, on both mechanical and aesthetic fronts.

The shotgun is hilariously brutal - ala CF1, no gore, just punishing impact - but I was glad to see it's limited-ammo, chucked away once empty. CF1's gun feels so wrong sometimes :mrgreen: even though it's legitimately meant to be paradigm shifter, ala Ikari's tanks. (I mean a gun would rather affect the dynamics of a street brawl :o)

No idea if the AC game was three-button (no idea about this game at all prior to half an hour ago), but as expected of Hamster, you can map the P+K "POWER BLOW" to a third button. Much comfier! Especially as it seems in high demand.

Only knock I'd mention is the OST, it's nice (kinda Castlevania-ish, actually), but nowhere as arresting as CF1. To be fair, the original's OST is uncommonly killer, I'd rank it alongside the finest heavy metal-styled VGM of any era.

Good stuff, and what a wonderful surprise ACA release.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Marc »

Awesome. Glad I've not misremembered this one, I'll probably snag it from the JPN Switch shop when I get home. :D
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Ah man, I'm way too rushed to do this any justice, but I can't stop firing it up when I've got a sec. :mrgreen: Completely forgot to mention the new grappler characters. I get the feeling character design is Sunset Riders-style; that is, two types with a couple cosmetic variants apiece (in that game, pistols/focus VS shotguns/spread). It's rare to see heavyweights in Technos-styled brawlers, interested to try them out later tonight.

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^^^ Needless to say, in true Kunio style, the ground is a cruel mistress! NO REFUGE Image

Pleasantly surprised to hear all the stock screams more familiar from Metal Slug. :lol:
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by drauch »

My lordy, that character design is godly. Shame he didn't pull the devastating leg-drop!
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Hahaa, I know! :mrgreen: I guess his counterpart is meant to be Mr. T, but I'm gonna headcanon him to Tiny Lister's ZEUS :cool:

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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Rastan78 »

Needless to say, in true Kunio style, the ground is a cruel mistress! NO REFUGE
Yeah, no kidding.
Image

I'm almost surprised Konami didn't get in trouble for using Hulk's likeness and simply changing his name to "Hawk."

Capcom did change M. Bison to Balrog in the US out of fear of getting sued, but Konami seems to have just rolled the dice on that one.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by pegboy »

Finally got the S-Rank no death for Shattered Soldier. My god this took a lot longer than I was expecting. For my money this is the hardest Contra game to do a no death that I've played. I did S-Rank back in the day when it was released but never in one run without replaying any of the stages or using continues. Doing both S-Rank and no death proves to be quite a bit more aggravating.

I fucking HATE that stage 3 crawler boss fucker, and I swear he can drop 100% undodgeable attacks in his last form if you are unlucky. I would actually recommend playing this stage first as everything else in the game is more or less 100% avoidable if you have the patterns down. Well I take that back, the "fireball attack" that Lance does in stage 5 is also fucking bullshit, but thankfully that attack seems to happen less often.

Had a bunch of deaths in stage 6 on many runs as well, which is just so fucking frustrating as this is a much longer game than previous entries and it takes about 30-35 minutes to get to that point. I thought for the longest time you could just crouch in the corner and shoot at the 4th form of the cell boss and he couldn't do shit to you. Boy was I wrong as he tossed some bullshit pattern that killed me. I somewhat seriously considered giving up on the s rank no death at that point. Seriously, fuck that guy too.

Thankfully the first time I got to the final boss in a no death attempt I was able to take him down without any issues. In a few practice tries I noticed that he can do some bullshit to you when he dies, so you better try and kill him when he isn't firing those plasma balls.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Mortificator »

Congrats! Super Contra arcade has probably given me the most trouble in the series, but that's just for normal play. While I can hit the ranks and beat the TLB alright in Shattered Solder, I've never come anywhere near a no-death run.
BIL wrote:Needless to say, in true Kunio style, the ground is a cruel mistress! NO REFUGE
You're not safe from Hulks when you're on the ground, that's for sure.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by pegboy »

Mortificator wrote:Congrats! Super Contra arcade has probably given me the most trouble in the series, but that's just for normal play. While I can hit the ranks and beat the TLB alright in Shattered Solder, I've never come anywhere near a no-death run.
BIL wrote:Needless to say, in true Kunio style, the ground is a cruel mistress! NO REFUGE
You're not safe from Hulks when you're on the ground, that's for sure.
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I have yet to tackle Super Contra (I do own the English version PCB, so I'm going to get to it eventually) although I envision it being one of the harder entries in the series, especially if you set the dip switch to max difficulty, which is what I'm planning on doing.

The Japanese version of Super Contra actually has 2 loops, so it's potentially the hardest entry in the series to no-death, although I'm not sure if the second loop is equivalent to the first loop at max difficulty setting or not. I need to test some of this a bit more to figure out exactly what the differences are.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Good going PEG, that's a helluva trophy haul the last few pages!

I remember always being extra-vigilant with the st3 boss's buzzsaws, though I mostly hated him for his initial phase (when you're just hanging off the ceiling blasting missiles) being so overlong. Rolling Ball Lance is a consistent threat, I and every other player I know is always relieved when he doesn't use that one. I think my biggest single worry was the Relic's Jellyfish form, not that it's actually very difficult, but there's quite a bit going on and it's possible to trap yourself.

Egg form is kinda bullshit all-around, what with the "surprise bitch!" trap if he's hit with Charged Flamethrower. Great idea for 99% of enemies, almost certain death here. :lol:

I was going for a JP arcade Super 2ALL nomiss, earlier in the year. I would concur, that's probably the toughest 1LC of the classic Japan-made series (have barely played the others). Neo meanwhile is almost certainly the easiest, maybe a tad ahead of the two FC ports.

AC Super is kind of a handful to start with (those aim controls...), and the second loop does indeed appear to jack the difficulty/rank to max and keep it there. Director Hideyuki Tsujimoto's unofficial Contra III, Sunset Riders, does the same in its loop - though besides having excellent controls, it's also just nowhere near as punishing. I'm pretty sure his Trigon does the same too (nails-hard Toaplanesque), and I seem to recall hearing similar about Mystic Warriors. Not as great as exclusive/reworked loop content, but I'm just glad these games all have definite, final second runs ala IREM. I don't get on with the 255 loopers of Konami, Toaplan et al.

Sunset is, however, wayyy the hell longer than Super, and with a couple of likeable but distracting bonus stages per loop, too. Super's intense but brief, something I always think takes the edge off. I'd rather have a wickedly concise Ninja Spirit than a lengthy, only periodically harrowing Metal Slug 3.

I put it on the back burner when I hit Loop 2 stage 4 - there's a certain point, where the combined onslaught of runners and seeking blobs becomes near-unworkable, and I ended up devising a specific workaround exploit. I never like it when games make me do this... checked a JP 2ALL nomiss, and the guy had done the same thing, so I figured I was on the right track. :mrgreen: Left it there for now, with a distressing number of other near-completed projects. I learned long ago that I'll do this until I'm dead, so I ain't rushed. :cool:
Rastan78 wrote:
Needless to say, in true Kunio style, the ground is a cruel mistress! NO REFUGE
Yeah, no kidding.
Image
That's a shame about stage 3 being censored. :sad: Do you know if they just pasted over the US one's changes? I can live with that stuff, what I really hate is when a game flat-out deletes an "offensive" enemy type, like The Ninja Warriors Again did with its Katanas for the SNES rev (they just CTRL+Vd in tons of Claws to make up for it, throwing off the game's excellent crowd balance).
I'm almost surprised Konami didn't get in trouble for using Hulk's likeness and simply changing his name to "Hawk."

Capcom did change M. Bison to Balrog in the US out of fear of getting sued, but Konami seems to have just rolled the dice on that one.
Haha, damn! I didn't even think about the H__K thing. Not even DOA's Bass was that brazen.
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Man, the good old stuff. Image That bottom left panel is immense.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Randorama »

I always adored Vendetta because it feels like a fake far-right take on the whole "vigilante taking it to the streets" thingie.
It is true that Blood is a black (pardon, Afro-American) vigilante and ex-prize fighter mostly beating up the shit of a gang of white trash hoodlums.
However, his pals are clearly from KKK-like militias and, for Pete's sake, the "bad guys" have a hideout in a completely dilapidated building in the slums!
It's clearly an attempt to promote random violence against the ultra-poor being forced to survive on selling drugs, but also against chubby prostitutes, BDSM aficionados and other marginalised populations, dammit. Did Konami get funding from the Donald, or something?!

...hold on, you can also shoot dobermanns.

WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT PC STUFF? THREE CHEERS FOR CANINE-BIASED VIOLENCE.

...jokes aside, a classic of trash culture in terms of design (but the programmers were taking the piss on a lot of stuff, I believe), and a slow-paced but sophisticated approach to brawling.
Glad you people finally discovered it :wink:
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Ghegs »

pegboy wrote:Finally got the S-Rank no death for Shattered Soldier.
Congrats, I still consider my S-Rank 1LC of Shattered Soldier as one of my best gaming achievements. That was almost 12 years ago...
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Rastan78 »

That's a shame about stage 3 being censored. :sad: Do you know if they just pasted over the US one's changes?
Yeah the creepers seem to be replaced with the same chain wielding enemies in the ACA Japan ROM as they were in the original international revision. I can see how they had to remove this character. Besides the fact that it can dry hump and lick you, it's just an extremely homophobic kind of character. It's basically beat up the queer before he can molest you. And if he can't get to you he'll even go for a light pole.

Blood from knife attacks are still in so they didn't seem to bring over every change from the international ROM. Not sure if you can still get dry humped by a Doberman for example.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

TBH, I was surprised ACA CF1 got away with as much as it did - all sleaze present & correct, AFAIK the only thing missing is GlennHughes-kun's taunt. Gay Dog is still around and horny as ever, bless his randy soul.

As long as it plays alright and they leave the T&A alone - what's rude about a body?! - I'm cool with it. :mrgreen:

Holy cow - never seen a beater where not only can the player attack from the floor, but you can actually take enemies down in the process. Absolutely knock-down drag-out, going from knocked flat, to destroying your opponent's knees, to stomping all over his face in one seamless turn. :cool:

I also love how enemies that have been floor-thrashed will recover in dizzied state, too - so beyond the immediate damage, it's always worthwhile to hit 'em while they're down. Excellent gritty continuity - a stiff thrashing isn't likely to aid one's pavement nap! Not even Technos beaters did this, AFAIK.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by pegboy »

So now I'm on to Neo Contra, anything I should know about it? Never played it back in the day so this is all new to me and I've only played it briefly today, maybe ah hour tops. I was using the type with the charge shot and flamethrower and have yet to try the others. It's taking me a while to get used to the controls and perspective but it seems like "Good Contra" so far.
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