Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[BIL]

Bil, do you consider dragon fighter, Kage and shatterhand a trilogy only cause you haven't played power blade? Or does that game not fit for some reason?

The latter. Power Blade was actually heavily modified by outside personnel for its NES release, most significantly with the introduction of nonlinear stages. Natsume's FC original Power Blazer is pretty much a Rockman clone sans the shooting and weapon collecting, instead using the unique boomerang mechanic. Neither really fits the straight-ahead Dracula/Ryukenden-style action shared by DF/Kage/Solbrain.

I do like what I've played of Blade, and Blazer seems decent, but since the former's on NES and the latter's not really my style (more platforming than combat), I've not much detailed commentary on either for now. Interestingly the FC version of PB2, Captain Saver, kept the Western character redesign. For the best, as Power Blazer has one of the least appealing player characters I've ever seen (Rockman with hockey hair and a beer gut? In a wifebeater and jogging pants? Wut?).

[Perikles]

What do you guys think of Sword Master (FC)? It showcases some gorgeous spritework on top of the partially great monster design (I especially love the axe-wielding demons and the final boss itself) and has some interesting duels against menacing enemies throughout, but it sorely lacks polish. There is the infamous "jumping while falling" mechanism, of course, that's just the most obvious oversight, though. My biggest issue with the game is that it invites you to jump around like a maniac since it is by far your strongest offensive option. Our valiant knight moves pretty slow while on the ground and most enemies outrange him by a critical margin which makes it mandatory to slash enemies during a jump instead of carefully closing the distance and waiting for the proper opportunity to strike. Consequently, it feels a little bit anticlimactic constantly hopping back and forth in order to whittle down the enemies. It doesn't seem right that a heroic cavalier has to resort to peasant trickery like this! And I never bothered with the magician form at all, that's really not what this game is (or rather: should be) about in my opinion. I still like the game for its audiovisual excellence but I'd love seeing this game in the hand of a more seasoned team of game designers to be honest.

[BIL]

I really like the first stage's parallaxed forest and driving BGM, and the focus on duels seemed intriguing... but yeah, I definitely noticed early on (st2's black knight) that the enemy AI seemed flummoxed by a persistently hopping attacker. Sword Master: Usagi no Ken

Made me back-burner it for now. I checked out a few vids and the aesthetic side definitely seems to hold up, game's beautiful. I love Famicom parallax - even though the MD's sidescrollers are justifiably more associated with the effect, I think the FC's broader shading and bright colours make stuff like Ryukenden III, Bucky O'Hare and Metal Storm look fantastic.

The jumping out of a fall is interesting - Konami's Getsu Fuuma Den has the same mechanic, only it seems more deliberate there (it's occasionally required to retrieve items from otherwise fatal pits). I wonder if it was noticed and left in place, with the pit items thrown in as justification? I've not finished GFD, so I don't know if it plays a more critical role later on. There's further oddness in the "hovering" jump you can execute by doing a small hop, then feathering the jump button. GFD's a bit weird all-around, endearingly so I think.

Have you played the FC port of Sword Master's predecessor Dragon Unit / Castle of Dragon? I'm loathe to criticise it too heavily, having only played a couple stages, but it seems eligible for "so bad it's good" status.

[trap15]

If you've only played the FC version of Dragon Unit, you've only experienced half of the kusoge terror

Athena's one of those companies that I love because their games are either super polished and great (J.J. Squawkers, Sengeki Striker, Triggerheart Excellica, Daioh), or rickety shambles that only somewhat qualify as playable (Dragon Unit, Sword Master, Strike Gunner). One thing they were consistent about was their great sense of style and design though. Hats off to the legendary Undead Tama

[dingsbums]

@ BIL
What are your thoughts on Crossfire ? I'm on the fence buying this game (and I have actually bid several times on copys of the game but I always get outbid in the last seconds / minutes but I refuse to pay more than 40 Euro for the game => one day I will get it ).

[BIL]

Previewed it briefly, a few months back - I thought exchanging fire with enemies in the backgrounds was neat, and loved the first stage's cinematic helicopter midboss battle. Lots of destruction in stage 2's docks, too. Other bits seemed less interesting though, like the tunnel areas of stage 1. Overall it seemed good but not quite something I needed to chase down - might revisit sometime. Definitely liked it more than the other Kyugo FC sidescroller I've played, the cutscene-obsessed Rolling Thunder knockoff Ninja Cop Saizou.

It does seem fairly uncommon on ebay, good luck with the search.

[Volteccer_Jack]

I was disappointed by Cross Fire after the excellent opening section. The cool background/foreground combat thing, which I initially thought was gonna be the game's premise, only really exists in your base un-powered-up state. Picking up the gun removes all the stuff that hooked me, and as a standard run'n'gun it did nothing to impress (except that helicopter boss; it is indeed awesome).

Getsu Fuuma Den's jump and attack mechanics are incredible. I'd kill to see them in a stronger game.

[dingsbums]

@ BIL / Volteccer_Jack

Thanks for your thoughts on the game.
I will go for a cheap copy of the game then . I'm not only looking at Ebay - on Yahoo you can have it (with patience ) for 3000 - 5000 yen. I want it alone for the facts that the game is a FC exclusive and the boxart looks awesome in my opinion .
Didn't know it was from the same developers as Ninja Cop Saizou (which is the JP version of Wrath of the Black Manta => as a kid I always wanted that game just because the title sounded awesome ).

[Perikles]

Have you played the FC port of Sword Master's predecessor Dragon Unit / Castle of Dragon? I'm loathe to criticise it too heavily, having only played a couple stages, but it seems eligible for "so bad it's good" status.

I just tried it out - wow, this is some glorious shlock! Mash the attack button and hope for the best, them hugging zombies don't know mercy. I made it to the third stage where you have to jump from one floating rock to another, needless to say that I promptly plummeted to my death. Very awesome indeed.

If you've only played the FC version of Dragon Unit, you've only experienced half of the kusoge terror

Athena's one of those companies that I love because their games are either super polished and great (J.J. Squawkers, Sengeki Striker, Triggerheart Excellica, Daioh) [...]

Yeah, BioMetal happens to be one of my favorite console-exclusive shmups, such a great game.

[Imhotep]

Crossfire I've only played briefly, but I really liked the overwhelming enemy fire approach of the gameplay. It's much more successful and fun to rush through levels than to tiptoe and take every enemy out. "cross fire" indeed and it feels cool to just barely make it out of enemy territory. I don't know if this is true for the whole game though, as I've only played to the second stage.

[BrianC]

Getsu Fuuma Den's jump and attack mechanics are incredible. I'd kill to see them in a stronger game.

They were reused in another game, but TMNT1/Gekikame Ninja Den is definitely not a stronger game.

[andsuchisdeath]

It's much more successful and fun to rush through levels than to tiptoe and take every enemy out. "cross fire" indeed and it feels cool to just barely make it out of enemy territory. I don't know if this is true for the whole game though, as I've only played to the second stage.

I cleared the game this December, and I remember stage 4 (the train) as the only stage where rushing through proved beneficial (well, it seemed necessary in this case). IMO, the rest of the game is best played using the tip-toe technique.

It's also cool/useless rapidly tapping down to cancel your shot with the rocket launcher. Your fire rate increases quite a bit. I don't remember any big point blanking opportunities to take advantage of this though.

PS. I like Contra Force

[BIL]

I've yet to give Contra Force a fair look, since (a bit pathologically) I tend to immerse myself in consoles I'm currently collecting for to the exclusion of others. gamer brain wants to shove collector brain off a bridge and jack it all in for some flashcarts, believe me. don't hate collectors, kids! we're not all bad! :[ just mostly bad ;3 ;3 ;3

I have always loved the character select tune! Gradius II equipment select-worthy. Also BEANZU, I'm sure there's a great story behind that codename.

Further to the subject of FC sidescrolling gun-shooting action that isn't Contra, I heartily recommend Codename Viper aka Ningen Heiki: Dead Fox. Utterly brazen Rolling Thunder ripoff that smartly steals from fellow imitator Shinobi too. Superb methodical shooting sidescroller. Surprisingly tough - like Metal Storm, it's effectively an arcade-spec challenge with passwords as a compromise.

[cicada88]

Honest Answers Only.

How much of Gimmick! is import only Sunsoft rarity hype? Is this game really great or is it just impressive for 8bit Nintendo?

How much would a good condition cart only cost in Japan at a shop outside of Akihabara / Y!Auctions (but priced knowing that it's sought after)?

[trap15]

There's a lot of factors to its high price. Rare, single-use expansion chip, well known... But it truly is a fantastic game, definitely up there as one of my favorite Famicom titles ever.

[Ed Oscuro]

Further to the subject of FC sidescrolling gun-shooting action that isn't Contra, I heartily recommend Codename Viper aka Ningen Heiki: Dead Fox. Utterly brazen Rolling Thunder ripoff that smartly steals from fellow imitator Shinobi too. Superb methodical shooting sidescroller. Surprisingly tough - like Metal Storm, it's effectively an arcade-spec challenge with passwords as a compromise.

Spoiler

That one continues Capcom's proud tradition of melty Nazis, too, doesn't it?

[BIL]

Hmm, not that I can recall (a recall compromised by time and having not seen the last few stages on account of getting my ass kicked, it must be said - scrubbed through with cheatz BITD). Definitely some pretty rad intermissions of our man DEADFOX murdering chumps, though! It's the Chuck Norris Kills Brown Drug Dealers Movie At Ten to Black Manta's after-school "Just Say No(ouuu)" special.

Hey... that's two FC Rolling Thunder-alikes aboard the War On Drugz bandwagon! Sadly for Kyugo only one developer could win the War of Famicom Rolling Thunder Ripoffs and it wasn't them. Unskippables are like the opposite of performance-enhancing action game drugs, you dummies! Ouuu!

[soprano1]

http://www.romhacking.net/translations/2319/
Gun-Dec has been translated by Stardust Crusaders. Interesting stuff from the readme:

This was one of those games I was curious about the
quality of the official translation for a long time.
I had my suspicions due to some minor graphical censorship,
but after comparing the Japanese script with the official
translation, I was not impressed. First off, the script
was censored a bit for various things like drug references,
the horrors of war etc. That's not so surprising, but what
is is that there are parts of the game where the translation
doesn't even bother to follow the original text and ventures
into made up territory. Overall, the official translation
was a product of its time.

[BIL]

Might give that a look! Mostly out of curiosity at the bullshit fanfic factor. I do like sorting through that stuff, it's surprising how needlessly hammed up our poor action games were back then. Not only is Meta Fight not about some dumbass frog, but Marion has nothing to do with Double Dragon III, Dracula IV is a remake of the original game, and Contra Spirits happens like a week after the previous two. I wonder how much was genuinely lost in translation versus outright MAKIN SHIT UP back then. Surely anything is possible in the era that gave us "LIGHTENING FORCE" in screen-tall lettering. Translators are expensive! So are long-distance phonecalls! And faxes!

VPD's translation always seemed relatively rugged to me. Like, PG-13 straight to VHS, or so. I did like the vanquished boss who laughs in an interrogating GUN-DECKARD's face while a handcannon's in his. Knowing my luck he's probably going "NAWWW PLEAZE DUN SHOOT MEH" like that Hitler no Fukkatsu weenie.

Speaking of Metroid, II is kind of pointless isn't it? None of the original's abyssal wanderings nor the later 2D games' endlessly diverting acrobatics. Not often I stave off the collector impulse with such cold clarity! I need a drink!

Well FML, I like Metroid II. 3: The heavily CTRL-V'd area designs used to turn me off with a very artifical sense of disorientation and inertia. Never liked the "kill X Metroids to proceed" system either. Got unexpectedly hooked on improving my pitiable clear time on a revisit, though. Much easier game to appreciate once you've gotten the overall picture of its map and progression in your head, and can actually feel a sense of forward momentum. Unexpectedly I now actually like the maddeningly symmetrical/repeated geometry, having learned how to cut through it. As a series of bitesized labyrinths I can dig this.

Would've distinctly benefited from at least a couple of unique boss encounters, preferably one per area. Wouldn't have to be anything fancy, just enough to give more identity and closure to each. "SPIDER METROID" (he crawlin on the roof!) "MOTH METROID" (he gon eat your hair!) "GOAT METROID" (well duh) etc etc.

[Squire Grooktook]

Picked up two indie action platformer attempts last week, Insanity's Blade and Odallus.

For IS...ever had that feeling where you know a game is a kusoge but you can't help but love it?

It really nails the barbarian feel with a nice balance of powerful long range attacks and the devastating throw ability that lets you instantly annihilate anything that makes the mistake of getting too close. It captures that sense of expressing the character through gameplay that games like Shinobi (stylish ninja action) and Valken (heavy metal mech combat) also do so well. It feels really fun and unique when everything comes together.

It's just a shame that it's dragged down by all sorts of bone head moves like otherwise fun weapons locking off your ability to use the most fun ability in the game (the throw), useless rpg elements in the main game that ruin the flow of early game by making every zako into a tank (apparently the devs are working on a true arcade mode though), and an almost hilarious lack of playtesting on some enemy types and bosses with rng monsters that can instantly teleport on top of you or bosses who don't even bother to telegraph some strikes and just assume you already memorized everything.

When you're carefully mowing down hordes of random zombies and monsters while navigating traps and tricky terrain, it really nails the barbarian feel and feels like a fantastic and original arcade style adventure, it's just a shame that everywhere else it feels so amateurish.

[BIL]

Reminds me of my experience with Dread Lock (PC), a mecha sidescroller I tried really hard to like but ultimately gave up on, precisely for its lack of the character factor you mention. The player mech has appeal, an ED209-esque monster with an interesting dash into superjump move I've not seen elsewhere. Unfortunately the level design soundly degrades things into an anonymous platform/shooter. It's most economically described as FC Rockman with a mecha sprite pasted in. Everything does contact damage, down to the tiniest popcorn. Surroundings feel consistently puny in scale. Where a storming Leynos/Valken/Ranza/GA run will have you practically swimming in burning metal and raining flak, DL wants you to pick your way around wafting bullets only dangerous on account of the mech's immense hitbox.

It's truly generic. But that boosting super jump was cool enough to keep me playing until the end, despite the game never picking up. Dunno if I'd quite call it a kusoge (not interesting enough!), but it was definitely a mechanic in need of a competent game.

[Squire Grooktook]

Yeah, always a shame to see cool mechanics go to waste.

Like, I gotta emphasize that that throw adds a lot to IS. Gives it a nice spacing game against quick foes where you're looking for a window to get close and tear them in two, and some nice crowd management challenges managing the recovery frames. It really plays into the violent theme of the game and gives it its own personality.

The devs are still patching stuff and adding new modes and whatnot, and this is supposed to be the first of a series, so hopefully it can improve over time.

[BIL]

Outside of Treasure's clear affinity for grappler mechanics (Gunstar/Silhouette Mirage/Mischief Makers... plus Gunstar copycat Gunners Heaven), I can't think of many console/AC sidescrollers with them. At least not more platformer-oriented stuff. In the sidescrolling brawler sphere, there is of course Natsume's crowd control masterclass The Ninja Warriors Again... for run and guns there's Clark in the later Metal Slugs, too. I get the ominous feeling I'm forgetting something really obvious! edit: oh yeah, Osman. Wish more sidescrollers let you bust out the Izuna Drop.

I'm also recalling the Genesis Incredible Hulk game, where Banner's monster form had a memorable throttle-> fling aside move for footsoldier smashing. Gonna look that one up now actually, not even sure if it got a JP release (or if it was any good). edit: ugh, no JP release.

Not normally one for nostalgia, but was looking at some 1991 Game Players magazine scans cos I have fond memories of the SFC/SNES launch era. Little did I know my reminiscing would also reap a Jigoku Gokurakumaru PROTIP BOMBSHELL: stage 3's wall-mounted flamejets and laserguns can be destroyed. Yeah I know "ollld" "thank u mr.obvious" "eat a dik scrub LOLOLOL" :[ But suddenly, my crummy replay has minor stuntin' cred!

Large-ish image, because I love those crappy, desaturated+distorted ol' magazine screenshots (anyone else?) :

Spoiler

The level's much stronger when they're treated as indestructible, imo. I like how you need to factor in the somersault startup animation to clear the flames, hitting "jump" while the jet is still active. Worth noting that if you screw up and fall, any destroyed object will have respawned and you'll have wasted chips. So there is at least some tangible benefit to deftly slipping through. The timing for destroying them is actually pretty tight too, since you can't attack during a flip.



NEXT ISSUE: I discover Batman's st5-1 gears can be momentarily jammed with a well-placed Batarang for safe passage! Naw I tried that when I was like seven! It don't do SHIT :[

[Mortificator]

Outside of Treasure's clear affinity for grappler mechanics (Gunstar/Silhouette Mirage/Mischief Makers... plus Gunstar copycat Gunners Heaven), I can't think of many console/AC sidescrollers with them. At least not more platformer-oriented stuff. In the sidescrolling brawler sphere, there is of course Natsume's crowd control masterclass The Ninja Warriors Again... for run and guns there's Clark in the later Metal Slugs, too. I get the ominous feeling I'm forgetting something really obvious!

[BIL]

Aww sheeeit that sounds rad. Time to address my longstanding Kirby illiteracy methinks. Regrettably the only one I've put much time on is Kirby 64. 3:

Cutesies, my blind spot. I was also thinking of Ristar's knack for headbutting small animals repeatedly, but for this tangent's purposes grappling should involve a hold and/or throw.

[Squire Grooktook]

Super star has a surprising sense of violence and impact for a ton of powers. Gotta love the bone crushing velocity on the izuna drop, which carried over as his Smash Bros throw. Even the sense of power on the sword hat rapid slash is pretty great.

[Obscura]

So, is there something I'm missing about Gunhound EX's final boss?

My last about 12 hours with the game have been the same story -- easily make it to the final boss over about 30 minutes of stuff I could do in my sleep, and then get trashed. The raw dodging in the first part isn't hard, but the issue is that thanks to the zero-G transition after you've taken enough time, you *have* to speedkill the boss (and sometimes he just doesn't fucking take damage, for some reason I can't figure out), because if it goes zero-G, it's totally hopeless... and trying to dodge his shit while re-aiming the turrets constantly to keep shooting at his tiny fucking parts is absurdly hard, and he does insane fucking damage, so if you make one mistake before the "green balls" attack, you're pretty much fucked.

I'd like to be able to beat this game, but "absurd final boss + thirty minutes of absolutely nothing before him" is about to break me.

[Squire Grooktook]

^^^ I never worked my way to the final boss. I usually go with the 1cc only methedology, and I vastly prefer Gigantic Army to the point that I only give Gunhound a shot every now and then.

There are a few 1cc videos on youtube you could check. There's a no damage clear here.

[BIL]

Super star has a surprising sense of violence and impact for a ton of powers. Gotta love the bone crushing velocity on the izuna drop, which carried over as his Smash Bros throw. Even the sense of power on the sword hat rapid slash is pretty great.

Yes - this is something I always liked in HAL's action games right back from GB, including their sadly unrevisited topdown shooter Ponkotsu Tank. As cute and rotund as they are, they've a clear appreciation of clobbering Loony Toons-esque impact, complete with smarting hit SFX and swirling outbursts of stars and dust. Raw kinetic power crosses all aesthetic boundaries... it's the universal language of contact! See also Treasure's colourful, peppy, astonishingly brutal GBA Hajime no Ippo and its explosive super attacks. Too goddamn satisfying landing destroyers like Ippo's liver shot or Volg's White Fang to finally bring down a mighty opponent.

---

RABU SABA has been pestering me lke a pesky fly lately. As Macaw said a while back:

Rubble Saver - Many technical problems such as slowdown but this is a super cool game with lots of intricate graphics using very small character sprites and tiles.

And crumbs, I GOT DRUNK AND NABBED A COPY



Naw, no booze involved. This game does indeed have charm, and some decent substance too - though a major caveat must of course be attached to its just about tolerable framerate.

A suprisingly satisfying shooting platformer. Beneath the weird chibi-apocalyptic setting, it's mechanically odd too. Big chunks of time are spent invincible, trampling and spreadshotting anything in your way while bounding over chasms. The enormous jump range feels great - bust out the jetpack for an even more abusive rampage, bizarrely recalling a miniaturised Ex-Ranza's swooping carpetbombings. At the same time, take a hit or miss a jump without a grappling hook equipped, and the fun slams to a halt until you can find a new mech.

It's a simple, rather easy yet gratifying action/platforming formula. A bit like the trademark body ramming rush of Compile STGs, keeping the fun times rolling is just tricky enough to stave off tedium. Despite the choppy movement it controls solidly, striking a necessary compromise between pixel-sharp stringency and an action game's crucial sense of accountability. Biggest design criticism is some bosses' overinflated HP. As neat as their superdeformed cyber-beast designs tend to be, st4's Darius fishy in particular overstays his one pattern's welcome by a dozen reps or so.

Soundtrack is lovely, at times plaintive. Settings are striking, channeling alien ruins and wilderness through a reserved chibi style the GB renders beautifully.



METAL BURACK?! baaahaha naww I'm sure the "boat stranded on desert that was once seabed" image is an ancient chestnut but just let me have my fun goddamnit! bawww! ;_;

Can't recommend this unreservedly; it's simply too dog-eared, demanding not only tolerance but outright indulgence of its technical imperfections. If it ran as smoothly as Contra, Bionic Commando or Ponkotsu Tank I'd heartily endorse it. But there is a cute, eccentric and energetic platforming shooter underneath the subpar performance. Just slips under the wire to become the tenth OG Game Boy title in my little collection.

Gone is the story where the girl rescues the guy (any other games than BK and Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure sharing the trait?), as is the melancholic opening; instead, Hello Kitty chases after a teddy bear.

Aww sheeit, I found another one Obi! RABU has you play as the chick rescuing the dude! Overseas version "STAR SAVER" reversed things. Hmph! Oh wellz. If you're seeing a human character you're probably playing poorly and sorely missing your mech anyways.

[Obiwanshinobi]

RABU has you play as the chick rescuing the dude! Overseas version "STAR SAVER" reversed things.

Oh well, at least the intro suggests parity between them. And I agree it's not a game where you should see a mech-less character a lot.
The GB game Max (Rubble Saver II?) is supposed to be a sequel to Rubble Saver.