Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[Kaiser]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvnVAg9rR-s

There I finally beat Jet Gunner, the before-last stage was on par with NG1's stage 5/6 with the difficulty, I WASTED SO MANY NERVES, luckily the final stage is easy.

[BIL]

Whoa, first I've seen of that one. Floating destroyable Option immediately makes me think of Shatterhand... the jetpack mechanic looks interesting. I can't think of many sidescrolling action games in my library with limited flight mechanics besides the Red Arremers and Actraiser 2.

[trap15]

Been idly rooting about the GB/C library in search of general action goodies, sidescrollers in particular... Bionic Commando is a hard act to follow it seems.

I'll get Macaw to post in here about his diggings, he did find some good ones.

Ninja Five-O is quite good, but I'm not quite sure it's $80 good.

[BIL]

Ta, it'd be good to get some archaeological expertise in here. There's a handful of other GB games I really like (Contra, Ryukenden, Nemesis II, Arremer, Ponkotsu Tank) but they're hardly the most adventurous picks.

[Kaiser]

Whoa, first I've seen of that one. Floating destroyable Option immediately makes me think of Shatterhand... the jetpack mechanic looks interesting. I can't think of many sidescrolling action games in my library with limited flight mechanics besides the Red Arremers and Actraiser 2.

I actually could try to record a 1cc of Jet Gunner, the only serious issue I would have is Stage 5, it's PURE LUCK for me, I would need about 7 lives to get through it's second half which I could get via no-missing the game and collecting 1ups till that point. Could be worth a try.

[BrianC]

Ta, it'd be good to get some archaeological expertise in here. There's a handful of other GB games I really like (Contra, Ryukenden, Nemesis II, Arremer, Ponkotsu Tank) but they're hardly the most adventurous picks.

As far as action games go I like the first two TMNT games (haven't played the third one), Batman, Batman TAS, Gremlins 2, Mega Man 1, 3, 4, and 5, and Darkwing Duck. I like the hop 'n bop stuff like Balloon Kid, the Mario/Wario games, and Ducktales 1 and 2, though. Not to mention that some games I like are a bit easy (I prefer a challenge, but easy is not equal to bad for me).

[BIL]

I've been a bit remiss about Capcom's Disney sidescrollers since getting back into FC/GB/SFC. Partially because they're so numerous - as usual with major Capcom properties, they put out a ton of artistically appealing, broadly quality material it'd be all too easy to just hoover up. I've played FC Ducktales 2 long enough to know I prefer the simpler, less gadget-centric original, but that's as far as I've gone.

There's also the aesthetic side of things. :3 I'm drawn to BLOOD + METAL ala Strider/Shinobi more than bunneh + cupcaeks though ultimately, quality is quality. Who could ever dislike the pogo cane? A big asshole, that's who! (・｀ω´・) I was digging SFC Aladdin's charming G-rated acrobatics way more than the MD's awkward swordplay.

I should give the GB Rockmen a fair shake too. I respect the original FC series but it's not my cup of tea (X + Zero on the other hand, hellll yeah lets do sum walljumps).

Difficulty's never the ultimate factor for me either; I like a challenge but I'm just as happy with an easier game as long as the pace is good and the fundamentals are sound (Karuraoh's a good example of a milder game with tons of energy). The real death knell is mediocrity. Choujin Sentai Jetman (FC)'s technically better than a lot of other sidescrollers but unfortunately it's also boring as hell. If it wasn't, it'd be Dragon Fighter. Oh for those airtight controls and Holy Diver's towering hellscapes in one game!

[BrianC]

Choujin Sentai Jetman (FC)'s technically better than a lot of other sidescrollers but unfortunately it's also boring as hell.

Those types of games frustrate me. Zaxxon on SG-1000 is another along those lines. It's technically better than other ports, but has the most boring level design and barely ramps up. I actually prefer the 2600 and Intellivision versions over it.

[Kaiser]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99SjnzA ... e=youtu.be

OK take back what I said about 1cc being hard (of Jet Gunner), did it on first attempt (with game still being fresh in mind), I even nailed Stage 5 properly (which is the hardest stage in the game). Enjoy! Note: 720p60 will come later when it's done processing

[Squire Grooktook]

I should give Jet Gunner another shot. I didn't like it at first due to the recharging jetpack (I felt there were too many times in platforming where you basically had to sit and wait for it to recharge) and the enemy designs didn't particularly impress me. Boss patterns were pretty cool though.

[BIL]

Holy crap how'd I forget about E-SWAT and its jetpack.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I'd like someone who played the GB Elevator Action and Elevator Action EX (or at least Dexter's Laboratory: Robot Rampage) to make some comparison, like, which one of them is any good and/or preferable to another.

Ninja Cop is good, but I wouldn't know how much of the slowdown is due to me using flashcart.

I played too little Bruce Lee: Return of the Legend to recommend it, but it sure is mad stylish, '70s cinema way.

[BrianC]

I'd like someone who played the GB Elevator Action and Elevator Action EX (or at least Dexter's Laboratory: Robot Rampage) to make some comparison, like, which one of them is any good and/or preferable to another.

EX seems to be the more polished of the two, though the former has better music. I haven't played the Dexter one, but I'm not fond of the altered graphics (though I like the earlier seasons of the series). Both games are updated versions of the arcade game rather than a straight port. EX seems to be based of the same engine as the GB b/w Elevator Action and has the same weapons. In the b/w game, enemies tend to shoot while riding in the elevator, resulting in shots that can't be ducked or jumped. This doesn't happen as often (or at all?) in EX.

[GSK]

I've been playing Zen: Intergalactic Ninja lately; it's another late-era Konami NES game with a bizarre license a la Bucky O'Hare, and I'm not really sure what to make of it just yet. The ever-changing objectives and abundance of gimmicks kinda remind me of SF2010, and it looks/sounds as good as most other Konami games of that ere, but I'm already starting to get the impression that it'll wear thin after a few plays, as there just isn't enough straightforward sidescrolling action among all the other crap.

Since we're back onto GB games, I'll mention that Konami also released a Zen game for GB, but you needn't bother with it.

[BrianC]

Since we're back onto GB games, I'll mention that Konami also released a Zen game for GB, but you needn't bother with it.

Why? From what I played and seen if it, it seems to be very solid.

doh. I forgot about the Daiku no Gensan b/w GB games. I liked what I tried of them and heard good things. However, the GBC one is different. It's a puzzle platformer rather than a straight up action game. There's also a GB port of Ninja Spirit, but it was programmed by BITS (despite being Japan only), so it probably isn't anywhere near as good as the TG-16 version.

Edit: Watching the video of it again, the port of Ninja Spirit looks solid for GB, but I'm a bit skeptical of the developer. The R-Type ports were flawed, but good, but some of their games based on popular licenses are terrible.

[Macaw]

Gameboy eh, heres some stuff:


Vanishing Racer - Pretty much the best thing on gameboy. Sidescroller with the funnest dash mechanic of all time and great stage designs.

Battle Unit Zeoth - Multi directional shmoop with good graphics

Kaijuu Oh Godzilla - Very slow, but if your into Godzilla its the most epic game out there in the license. 10+ minute long stages each featuring about 10 bosses or more that include literally every single form of every single creature from a lot of the movies + city smashing action and fighting all forms of the Super-X.

Motorcross Maniacs - Pretty much Trials but on gameboy from like 1989. Super fun.

Blade (GBC) - Movie licensed game that is awesome. Japanese developed.

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.

Sumo Fighter - EVERYONE PLAY THIS GAME ITS AMAZING AND EVEN WHEN YOU FINISH IT THE HARDER MODES SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGE THE GAME

Velious 2 / Rolans Curse 2 - not a sidescroller but this is the best action RPG on any handheld system.

[Ed Oscuro]

You had me up to Blade. Boring and repetitive but I guess that's a stripped-down brawler at its core.

[BIL]

Oh hell yeah, Motocross Maniacs is hawt. I knew I was forgetting something. And Vanishing Racer >_< good time to write this stuff down. I like the sidescrolling racing, though currently I just have Excitebike (FC).

Rubble Saver really is quite loveable. Dunno if I'd pick it up but it's at least worth previewing. Such strange bittersweet nostalgic vibez from its low-fi little mecha sidescrolling world.

BITS

Their SFC Gunforce port made me consider suicide :[ It's not like the AC verson was a masterpiece to begin with, but good grief! I had some fun times with R-Type DX back in the day though. Invisible bullets on II's wall core boss aside.

[Obiwanshinobi]

In the b/w game, enemies tend to shoot while riding in the elevator, resulting in shots that can't be ducked or jumped. This doesn't happen as often (or at all?) in EX.

Thank you.

[GSK]

Sumo Fighter - EVERYONE PLAY THIS GAME ITS AMAZING AND EVEN WHEN YOU FINISH IT THE HARDER MODES SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGE THE GAME

I tried this game and y'know what? It's nothing mindblowing but it's absolutely the sort of unsung Famicom-style action game people have been asking for and I'd definitely recommend people give it a shot.

A little background: this game was developed by KID (Recca, Kick Master, etc) and it looks like it may have been directed by the same guy that did River City Ransom.

[BIL]

I went casually browsing for a copy just on Macaw's writeup, haha. Didn't find anything but it'll be on my radar, particularly knowing KID were involved. FC sidescrollers and shooters are dear to my heart and they had Natsume's superb talent for both.

Thought Zeoth was pretty neat. Kind of a mini Wolf Fang. Not being able to fire diagonally is a bit awkward but I always dig fast-fall/fast-rise mechanics; it's fun zipping up and down the screen keeping stuff at bay. Killer boss machine sprites remind me of Konami's monochrome iron behemoths from Nemesis I & II. Fun to fight too, macrododging around their bullet and missile barrages. Didn't blow me away but it's more than solid. The story of Jaleco!

Metalgun Slinger recently caught my eye in the trading station when it was listed alongside Ninja Five-O. Generic name and bland anime boxart didn't bode particularly well, but it stuck in my mind as a GBA game I'd never heard of. Wondered if it too was in crazy rarity town along with Ninja. Also wondered if it was some random JRPG.

Luckily it's neither, and it's also quite a decent sidescroller. Not a knockout, but it has excellent controls going for it, and it demonstrates a range of quality influences. From a glance, descriptions online liken it to stuff as disparate as Gunstar/Contra blasting (hell naw), Shinobi (kinda! but wrong ninja) and Super Metroid (sorta! but wrong series). To further piledrive this post straight into self-referential sidescroller geek hell, it's more like Elevator Action Returns' cinematically weighty platform/shooting, given a jolt of Hagane's acrobatic fury and placed in Ecclesia's self-contained roaming stages.

The Metroidvania aspect disappoints me - I would've preferred to see an engine of this quality deployed into a tight, EAR-style arcade run. The controls and overall handling are excellent. Both moving and attacking efficiently requires constant double tapping of directions, something I'm never overly fond of (particularly when there's a perfectly good L button going unused...), but the easy input windows and smooth animations make things quite painless. Besides the Hagane-style flips, there are retreating and advancing tumbles executed with Up and Down; all three varieties segue into their own special attacks, and all are chainable into the excellent somersault and its Devil May Cry-recalling floating bullet barrage.

The "Art" augments equippable to R button recall DMC3's style selection years before that game's release. Of the two I've gotten so far, Wildcat allows a stationary projectile-dodging sway as well as mobile variants; Bear enables a power tackle that gets stuffed by projectiles but will floor multiple targets with good placement. Each also gives the gun a pair of super attacks; former is a long-lasting but weak machinegun with focus and spray modes, latter is a single devastating rocket that doubles as an aura bomb. You can also match Arts to various ammo types, say for a homing shotgun. Pretty fun if obvious lift of the GBA CVs' "NEW XTREEM MIX/MATCH" systems, lolol. The Arts' altering of offensive/evasive properties feels a bit CVS2 Groove Select, actually. I wonder if there's anything to that? The devs certainly knew how to do command moves (f,f, u/f + shot = hose 'em down).

There's also yet another DMC likeness in its scoring system + end of level ratings - no idea if there's any quality to be had from either. Action games in general were going nuts for aww ye dats SSSEXEH ;3 / naww u DDDUMB BRO :[ blurbs around then, after all. Still, always a promising touch to see.



But yeah, the roaming flatlines the excitement considerably. Still great fun moving about, but stages haven't quite wowed me so far. However, the mine I'm currently in introduced some welcome pit hazards (Natsume-style, they do damage and spit you back out). Just for that I'm enjoying this much more than Aria of Sorrow, which isn't saying much as AOS makes me drowsy... but hey, it's an improvement! No grinding whatsoever either, you have to find new gear or kill whatever's guarding it. It's definitely more Metroid than IGAvania in that regard.

Been a pleasant surprise so far - certainly not a headliner I'd have gotten into the GBA for (that would be Double Dragon Advance <333), but it's exactly the sort of neat one-off I like to round out a library.

[trap15]

Started working on 2010SF speedruns some more, pulled my time down to a cool 23m29s, down over 2 minutes from my previous best run, probably because this run was deathless (most of the saved time was on Planet 5). Took a look at the TAS (17m39s) and I see there's a long ways for me to go still

Definitely confirmed for my favorite FC game I've played. Could play this forever.

[BIL]

Whoa, I'd forgotten my own runs were a lot closer to 30 minutes. A long way from survival to dominance... Good going! Game does seem to consistently grow on people. I didn't know if it'd ever click with me when I picked it up, but with a concept like that I knew I'd regret not giving it a go.

I'm surprised SDA still doesn't have a run up, just checked for the first time in a while. Always thought of 2010 as the archetypal balls-hard NES game you'd find getting demolished there. I gathered from a brief look around the forum that its number of autoscrollers is a concern, but then Shinobi III's had a run for years. And most of 2010's autoscrollers are still loaded with sweet sweet / god damn dirty RNG funnin'!

[trap15]

Just looked through the stages, there's only about 5 or 6 of them in the whole game of 31 stages (though that includes the around 8 or 9 super-tiny stages). While they make up a good chunk of the time, there's lot of execution in the rest of the run that can really make or break the time, and the boss RNG keeps stuff interesting. The autoscrollers even have tech to them, though it's mostly slowdown reduction.

Just finished doing some routing in Planet 1, some very fun strats, especially on the boss (I got the kill down to 10 seconds with 0 powerups ). The rest of the game may be a bit annoying to work on, I need to get a Famicom-USB adapter or something, I can't play this game even half-competently with anything else

I've got a goal of having this run shaved down and presentable in a few months, I'd like to try to get it into a marathon eventually.

EDIT: MLG PRO 360 NO-SCOPE TAS STRATS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ageKbVjr4k

[Mortificator]

There's probably more to the system than can be gleamed from a gif, but I laughed when I saw your sexiness-quantifying arts chain can be increased by JUMPING.

[BIL]

EDIT: MLG PRO 360 NO-SCOPE TAS STRATS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ageKbVjr4k

YEEE. Now there's an underrated asset (as if the backflip + flashkicks weren't already overlooked!). Talk to the BACK the face aint listenin.



Flashkick + Option = TARGET aint shit but a bunch of dicks

There's probably more to the system than can be gleamed from a gif, but I laughed when I saw your sexiness-quantifying arts chain can be increased by JUMPING.

Not just any jump! 1337 DOUBLE TAP + JUMP SOMERSAULT

Yeah it's dumb as hell. (like a lot of the "SSSMOKIN" post-DMC score blurbs that popped up in Japanese action games). Although maybe that's a weakness inherent in move-chaining systems. Instead of bustin' a sweet nutsack mcwally or whatever it is to bridge a combo in THPS2, you can just do a smoove dodge (of nothing in particular, actual danger strictly optional).

Game's honestly quite fun though, in its Elevator Action Returns + SOTN Alucard way. I'm more surprised I'd never come across any mention of it until now, given how popular the two GBA IGAvanias were.

[Pretas]

Yeah it's dumb as hell. (like a lot of the "SSSMOKIN" post-DMC score blurbs that popped up in Japanese action games).

DMC2's "Don't Worry" is my personal favorite of these.

[BIL]

I knew something was terribly wrong the instant I noticed that in magazine previews. :[

It all worked out for the best though, because "DMC2 Combo Video" brings hilarity.

I'm not really into the X-TREEM COM-BOOO thing, myself. If it involves killing a group of deadly enemies rapidly and efficiently, cool. But the DMC3/4 vids where a single monster gets shot, stabbed, set on fire and rode around the room for an hour look daft (with all respect to the player's skill, of course). I'd rather chop a lizardman's goddamn head off and kick his buddy into a meat grinder than tickle monster balls for five minutes. If I wanted to put on a show, I'd swap Draygonpoon The Dew-Kiss'd Dawnblade for some duck tape and a ballpeen. And a sturdy chair. I'd show those motherless fucks Stylish Hard Action™... CHARLES BRONSON STYLE (・｀W´・)

This is something I love about DD Advance - its combos are the logical extension of ruthlessly destructive Technos Beater Violence™. That is, you chain attacks not to show off but to inflict fatal trauma at a significantly greater than normal rate.

[nosorrow]

I've been playing Zen: Intergalactic Ninja lately; it's another late-era Konami NES game with a bizarre license a la Bucky O'Hare, and I'm not really sure what to make of it just yet. The ever-changing objectives and abundance of gimmicks kinda remind me of SF2010, and it looks/sounds as good as most other Konami games of that ere, but I'm already starting to get the impression that it'll wear thin after a few plays, as there just isn't enough straightforward sidescrolling action among all the other crap.

Zen on the NES is mediocre at best.

Street Fighter 2010 is one of the best NES games out there. It's a top contender for most underrated game ever. Most people have only played it for a few minutes before giving their biased assessment - somehow, a bunch of people seem to hate it simply based on its title. (Oh, it is also much more playable using the NES Advantage stick with turbo turned on.)

[SriK]

Hey, I'm Sri, the programmer and composer for Steel Assault! I got linked to this thread where you guys were talking about our game a few pages ago. I just wanted to let you all know that if anyone's interested, we just launched campaigns on Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/43113410/steel-assault

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377961407

Sad to see you guys aren't huge fans of the soundtrack, though. I put a lot of work into tracks like "Temple" and "Regret". The Kanye sampling in the boss theme seems to be a love it or hate it thing across the Internet (no one has ever just been like "it's alright" so far), and I'm honestly not completely happy with that song anyway (the main melody before the sample is pretty bland IMO). We'll see what happens there.



P.S.

If it was actually being made to run on a NES, fine, but I'm incredibly tired of these faux-8-bit hipster pet projects that awkwardly wedge themselves in between Famicom-style graphics and modern hardware performance. It might have been cute at first, but now it's an obvious method of compensating for a limited skillset.

Note that I am more forgiving of faux-8-bit games that strive to remain as authentic as possible to the constraints of the original hardware, such as Life Fortress Volcabamba and the original version of La-Mulana.

It's worth noting that even despite all of this detail and justification, I'd still love to make a 2D game that looks like the latest Guilty Gear with the soundtrack of Armed Police Batrider as much as anyone else. In the real world, though, I'm a broke 20-year-old college student, and no one knows who I am or has any reason to trust me with that kind of project lol. So this is the graphic style and budget level we're going for, and I think personally that Daniel's doing a really great job with it. At the very least, it looks better than Super Meat Boy!

Why is the game running on an actual NES an excuse, BTW? This seems even more hipster to me, if you look at it like "hey let's limit our game's level design and scope and make life 8 times harder for ourselves just so we can say our game runs on TRU 8-BIT H4RDW4RE, which no one actually cares about because they'll all end up playing it on PC with completely cycle-accurate emulators like Nestopia anyway." I will admit to loving Arcade Fire, though.