Favorite looking Arcade games?

[KimagureMachibuse]

Whether for how impressive they look the use of colors or other things which arcade games do you like the look of.
here are some of my favorites

Nemo Arcade
Phelios
Sexy Parodius
Cyberbots
Space Harrier
Cotton 2
Charlie Ninja
Sunset Riders
Pu Li Ru La
Midnight Wanderers
Chariot
In The Hunt
Salamander 2
Bubble Symphony
Liquid Kids
Darius Gaiden
Parodius Da
Gradius III
Sega Sonic The Hedgehog
Dragon Saber
Pac-Man Arrangment
Night Striker
X Multiply

[sunnshine]

I really like the Marvel vs Capcom games from X-Men:COTA to Marvel vs Capcom 2, everything from the in-game presentation to the cabs (I remember sit-down COTA and XMvSF cabs at one of the local arcades BITD) is just spot on although MvC2 isn't quite as polished as MvC1. Virtua Racing is up there too, those early 90s polygons are so nice to look at.

[To Far Away Times]

Time Crisis 1. I love the art style so much and how it uses the sunset colors.

Outrun's got some of the best aesthetics out there. That Sega blue skies look is what I think of when I think of arcade gaming.

And Last Blade 1 & 2. Those games are effortlessly cool.

As mentioned above, Marvel Vs. Capcom 1 and before have really great presentation values.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Outrun's got some of the best aesthetics out there. That Sega blue skies look is what I think of when I think of arcade gaming.

Same goes for Outrunners. Some of the best sprite scaling graphics out there, it's really impressive what they did with it. They also did a fantastic job in the transition to 3D with Outrun 2/2SP.

Aqua Rush also has some of the best graphics and music in a puzzle game. It's criminal that it hasn't seen a port yet.

[BIL]

Last Blade 2... I would do harakiri IRL for a Samurai Fighter Shingen-styled touch-of-death weapons beltscroller with them mahfuckin GRAFXXXXX (I didn't say I'd do it on myself ;3)



Man is born to carnage.
This world itself is Hell.





Minimal goofy shit, just badass Bakumatsu with Shingen-style "swords fuckin cut people down like screaming beefy barley" damage scaling. (never could quite enjoy Soul Calibur's nerf swords, y'know? Not a gorehound, just an AESFETICS sort)

(Shingen is an excellent game, particularly by the patchy standards of pre-Final Fight, non-Technos beltscrolling, and it even has some credibly stoic naturalistic mood, but it's tragically fugly)

[XoPachi]

Cave.

Their early Toaplan work was...a little new wave for my tastes.
But when DoDonPachi came out in '97, I think they really came into their own. Commercially and artistically.

[Ed Oscuro]

Big fan of much early Nichibutsu and Data East stuff here, also early Neo Geo (ADK/SNK). Capcom's CPS 2-3 era stuff is great too (Red Earth/Warzard, Darkstalkers, cool beans)

But especially the weird chunky idiosyncratic stuff in Data East games like Chelnov, Robocop, Trio, etc. I just played through it...heh, I forgot about that ending! Of course a lot of their later stuff is great (Dark Seal, Edward Randy, Gunball).

[Marc]

Personally, I don't think Sega's Sprite Scalers have ever dated. Absolutely beautiful looking games. Still waiting for my OutRunners port......

[BareKnuckleRoo]

If we can get an Outrunners port with splitscreeb that'd be fabulous. The closest there is currently is the game Slipstream which supports up to 4 players and has mechanics reminiscient of Outrun 2 SP.

[BrianC]

If we can get an Outrunners port with splitscreeb that'd be fabulous.

Outrunners port with fabulous splitscreeb™!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Oh no, it's the Gearshiters thread all over again. ;w;

As much as it gets made fun of for being a bad port I rather had fun with it as a kid. It does have some serious issues though and there's no question the arcade version is vastly superior. Being forced to race the CPU AI rival can really get in your way since it loves to crash into you, and the draw distance is minuscule.

Still, it's a bit of a technical marvel considering it's a splitscreen racing game for the Genesis which was a bit of a rarity. Or at least felt like a rarity at the time; apparently there was a SNES Top Gear game that supported 4 player multiplayer!

[BrianC]

I actually like the port, though it isn't a patch on the arcade version. JP version is slightly better thanks to the virtua racing car.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

The JP version? Why, is it unlocked by default?

Did you know it's in the English version too? You have to beat the challenge mode to unlock it (or there's also a code you can enter) but it's definitely in the English version.

[BrianC]

The JP version? Why, is it unlocked by default?

Did you know it's in the English version too? You have to beat the challenge mode to unlock it (or there's also a code you can enter) but it's definitely in the English version.

oh cool. I didn't realize there was another way to unlock it, just assumed it wasn't in the US version because a website said the code only worked with the JP version.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Nah, the code definitely works with the US release.

[Rastan78]

Still, it's a bit of a technical marvel considering it's a splitscreen racing game for the Genesis which was a bit of a rarity. Or at least felt like a rarity at the time; apparently there was a SNES Top Gear game that supported 4 player multiplayer!

Top Gear 3000 was a really fun game that didn't get a lot of credit. A buddy of mine in high school had it along with 4 player tap, so we had some good times with it. He was very into so he would kind of push the game on everyone. At first I was like eeeh whatever, but it grew on me quite a bit. Instead of using mode 7 they used sprite scaling and there are hills and long branching paths. Although the game didn't look super impressive at the time I think it certain ways it aged better than the mode 7 based racing games on SNES.

So yeah some great memories with 4P Top Gear. Even better I talked the same friend into picking up Actraiser 2, another game that was highly underrated at the time, from a bargain bin at 19.99. Once he beat that (no mean feat BTW) I traded him my copy of Saturday Night Slam Masters for Actraiser 2. That led to some fun total mayhem sessions as Slam Masters also supported 4P and was an excellent game.

And surely in those days as kids we were all high AF any time we were playing games which may have added to the appeal of Top Gear somewhat lol.

[BIL]

Even better I talked the same friend into picking up Actraiser 2, another game that was highly underrated at the time, from a bargain bin at 19.99. Once he beat that (no mean feat BTW) I traded him my copy of Saturday Night Slam Masters for Actraiser 2.

Greater love hath no man than this, to steer friends clear of whiny casuals who get bodied by first-rate action games like AR2 ;-;7

[Rastan78]

Lol He was definitely appreciative of the recommend. AR2 was pretty unknown in the day. When it was mentioned it got a lot of flak either for the axing of the strategy elements from AR1 or the controls. The controls including soaring and diving attacks are super tight you just have to get used to how they work and be deliberate and premeditated in your movements. The Koshiro OST is among his best IMO. Have to admit as a teenager the final boss rush had me sweating big time. You want me to do what now?

Funny story about the same guy. As a kid he had this rule about not looking at any guides etc. Even down to not reading the fucking instruction manual that came in the box! It's like if you want to get the most out of the game you do it by trial and error only.

So he beat one of the early NES Mega Man games buster only bc he didn't realize you could equip boss weapons in the start menu until after he cleared it. Knew he would be ok with AR2 if he could do that.

Back to favorite looking arcade games. To me the first Double Dragon AC game will always be special. They accomplished a lot with a little like great games of that era had to do. Sprites and animations have oomph, loads of character and remain distinctive and memorable after only a short time spent with the game. The seemless stage transitions were unique and, along with the background variety, created a nice sense of place if your imagination could meet the game halfway.

Unfortunately the jank is also real in original DD. The slowdown, the OP elbow, the fact that scoring can be reduced to glitchy exploits that will counterstop the game early, it's extremely short. But hey it is still fun to play.

I know you could just do no elbow runs, but I'm no good at self imposed limitations. I somehow find myself farming for the Crissaegrim every time I revisit Symphony.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Saturday Night Slam Masters

Great game. I remember playing tons of 2 player co-op with it. The arcade version actually had two versions with 4 player battles and I think the SNES mechanics are based on the earlier version that didn't have blocking or a separate grab button. Now that I've tried the arcade version with blocking I'm not sure if I like it or not, the CPU seems to react very quickly and deny hits easily. There's several new moves in the moveset but the inputs also tend to be more complex.

So he beat one of the early NES Mega Man games buster only bc he didn't realize you could equip boss weapons in the start menu until after he cleared it.

I wonder which one? My guess is the first one, if only because I don't think it actually has a "YOU GOT WEAPON" screen. He would've gotten stuck at the first Wily castle stage and had to figure out how to change weapons to proceed because all the Wily castle levels in the first 6 games have sections that require Rush at some point from what I remember. Beating all the bosses before you discover you have their weapons is certainly a feat, though I weep for the player who doesn't bother to try all the buttons on their controller.

[Rastan78]

4P Slam Masters could get very sadistic. The strategy would be quickly try to eliminate one player on the other tag team. Then you can basically just torture the weakened solo opponent and delay pinning him as long as you want. Of course playing with your food too long and relishing in his inability to fight back could ever so slightly leave the door open to a miracle 1 v 2 comeback.

I've always wanted to check out the sequel that was a straight 2D fighter with some wrestling mechanics and never got around to it.

As to the Megaman all buster play I always wondered that myself. I can't remember the series well enough to know which ones if any would be playable all the way through buster only. IIRC it took him an entire summer and he said running back through with boss weapons made the game very very easy for him after all that practice.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Hah, yeah, all it took was for both of you to get knocked down while at 0 health left and the CPU could pin you and manage a comeback. I remember being stocked as a kid to discover there were special pins if you pressed attack AND jump at the same time, golly!

I never could reliably do some of the special inputs. Apparently there is a typo in the SNES manual for how Scorpion's are done so that explains why I never managed with him.

I never really enjoyed Mode 7 racers all that much. And there were a ton on the SNES, as well as several on MS-DOS that did the same thing like Wacky Wheels. F-Zero was the only one I really played much of and it's pretty good, but I always preferred the aesthetic look of sprite scaling 2D racers like Outrun, Power Drift, Super Hang-On, Rad Racer, Lotus II RECS (same devs as Top Gear 3000)... I think in general the look of sprite scaling racers has aged a lot better.

[XoPachi]

Top Gear 3000 was a really fun game that didn't get a lot of credit. A buddy of mine in high school had it along with 4 player tap, so we had some good times with it. He was very into so he would kind of push the game on everyone. At first I was like eeeh whatever, but it grew on me quite a bit. Instead of using mode 7 they used sprite scaling and there are hills and long branching paths. Although the game didn't look super impressive at the time I think it certain ways it aged better than the mode 7 based racing games on SNES.

So yeah some great memories with 4P Top Gear. Even better I talked the same friend into picking up Actraiser 2, another game that was highly underrated at the time, from a bargain bin at 19.99. Once he beat that (no mean feat BTW) I traded him my copy of Saturday Night Slam Masters for Actraiser 2. That led to some fun total mayhem sessions as Slam Masters also supported 4P and was an excellent game.

And surely in those days as kids we were all high AF any time we were playing games which may have added to the appeal of Top Gear somewhat lol.

Back when I was a kid and was getting into emulation on ZSNES, Top Gear 3000 was a favorite of mine. Absolutely adore that game. FIENDISHLY fast with a lot of customization for the time. I really loved the music. That whole SNES trilogy was really great. 3000 is my favorite of that series though.

[chum]

Counting shooters it's Raizing games like Batrider, Mahou Daisakusen, Garegga and Taito games like Darius Gaiden, Rayforce, Metal Black.
If we remove shooters, then visually my favorite arcade game is Pulirula. But I also want to mention The Last Blade 2 & J J Squawkers as particularly striking to me.
I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting and could mention many other gorgeous games, but my all-time favourite arcade game on pure style is definitely Batrider.