Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[BrianC]

I played an arcade game as a kid that aesthetically looked just like Act-Fancer — player character was a weird mutatey cyborg thing — but played more like a hori shmup with completely insane powerups and crazy, rainbow-colored, epilepsy-inducing screen effects. I've been looking for this game in emulation my entire adulthood and have never been able to find it but if anyone has any suggestions I'd certainly appreciate them.

Atomic Robo Kid / Robokid? Description rings a few bells. Push-scrolling jetpack hori, with UPL's customary big guns and blasts of 10million volt EPILEPTIC MEGA SHOCK Kinda cute but still plenty weird, as was UPL's wont. Superdeformed doomsday biomecha, bursting with mordant joie de vivre.

Had a couple ports for MD and PCE, relatively well-known for UPL; thought I'd mention on the off-chance. (its close sibling, the inimitable Mutant Night, would only make it home generations later via Arcade Archives for PS4/NSW, along with a raft of other goodies, like Ninja-kun II and the remarkably prescient Omega Fighter)

I was thinking Mutant Night, which has a lot of similarities to Atomic Robo-Kid.

[it290]

Unfortunately neither of the above, the game I remember has a much more hardcore/less cartoony aesthetic. If I ever stumble upon it I'll let you lads know — think it might be some weird thing that has not been emulated.

[BIL]

I had a similar experience with ADK's Gang Wars; saw it as a kid and never forgot the enemies' guffawing taunts, had a bastard of a time finding it later on because 1) small dev, and 2) nobody talks about Gang Wars. >_> No idea how it plays, did like P1 character's arm drag finisher, though.

I guess I'd give relatively small (but still Western-localised) names like them a look. Offhand my money would be on Jaleco (published lots of smaller names), Nichibutsu (huge catalogue, some biomechanisms going on, eg Armed F), or DECO themselves (biomechanistic weirdness abounds). Maybe Technos too... I'm still surprised Xain'd Sleena is theirs, but then they were founded by ex-DECO people.

Tecmo loved their visual FX almost as much as UPL (albeit in less blistering excess), but I'm pretty sure I actually browsed their whole AC catalogue, recently... not deliberately, just while checking out that huge arcade sound compilation of theirs.

[BrianC]

Unfortunately neither of the above, the game I remember has a much more hardcore/less cartoony aesthetic. If I ever stumble upon it I'll let you lads know — think it might be some weird thing that has not been emulated.

Bio Ship Paladin? Another UPL game. Less cartoony and K. Aoyama was a graphic designer for both Bio Ship Paladin and Act Fancer.

[it290]

Nope... 'twas definitely a mech game. The closest analogues I can find visually are Act-Fancer and Rohga, but it's neither of those. Have combed through most of MAME as well as the unemulated games lists and still can't find it, so possibly I'm just misremembering some other game, but it's pretty distinct in my mind, I'm guessing it would have been a circa 1989 release. Some of the other games in the corner store around the same time were Cadash, Paperboy, Toki, and Silkworm.

[BIL]

Aha, Toki - I always forget about TAD. I shouldn't, they've some rad stuff to their name. Actually, ala Technos, I seem to recall they too had DECO connections? Similar masterful at blurring the comedic and stone-faced hardcore.

EDIT: yep, there we go.

Fancer/Darwin/Oscar talk made me wanna revisit Taito's transforming mecha hori Heavy Unit, which I'd not looked at in forever. Holy balls, that is some Giger lifts! I thought only Thunder Cross II was so brazenly Space Jockey-poaching. Turns out it was actually developed by Kaneko, afaik. Another bunch of lovable goofs.

[Arino]

No Volgarr 1 & 2 under "V"?

I could think of another few "missing" games recently when I saw the list but now I can't remember

[Sima Tuna]

Volgarr 2 only just came out. Has anyone even given it a write-up yet? I think the depths of that game have not yet been plumbed by scrolling action fans. Likewise Abathor, which also came out recently. More studious r2rkmf is required before data is input.

This thread is comparable to the Smithsonian. Only after much time and scholarship may a game be permitted glorious entry into this immortal record. Is that not so?

[Arino]

Ok but I played Volgarr 1 until I got a no death/no miss "1CC" like clear of the whole game (I mean like I have explored that game quite a bit) and I'd say it's a dope game and deserves to be on the list. I even had a video of the no miss run but unfortunately I deleted it one day because I thought it was not special or difficult enough to be kept.

[BIL]

It's not about worthiness or anything like that, honestly. This is a comfy megathread on an ancient forum started in the midst of a one-sided nerdfight, in which Lord Waldorf was PWNed with harsh - yet mercifully accurate! - missiles from atop the wall, re: NG1 mechanics. No, there is no "backwards jump," you are talking utter bullshit my liege! Respectfully, ahem.

It's a lazy joint for passionate souls. ;3 We await the return of our absent liege Edmond, King Behind The Wall! (sometimes called "The King Who Was Walled," "Lord Waldorf," or simply "Edmond The Mad") In the countdown to the final confrontation, when Ed reaches NG1's staff roll, and I delete the thread as promised*... all are welcome to trawl its pages for posts they think merit indexing!

Actually, I would appreciate that. Not just to hear other regulars' perspectives, but because just like my hog, it's fuckin massive at this point! I get distracted by IRL, and even failing that, there is always a new Dick Stock edit to make. Actually, I have a particularly killer one in mind, typing this... Oh man, it's gonna be good. Grazie, Maestro Fulci!

The best thing you can do is play your game of choice authoritatively - or hell, just enthusiastically, but try to know what you're doing FFS! - then write it up well. Get some fuckin balls for fuck sake. (it sounds like you have got the first part down re: Volgarr, Arino!)

Games you don't like are welcome too ofc! I've written up some real dogs in there imo. Every dog has its day, whatever that means! I think I'll look it up. EDIT: hm, everyone gets lucky? I suppose there is some folksy truism there. But what if you get lucky with another dog >_>

*this is fuckin bullshit but I think it might get him over the wall :3 or through it, but he'll be all fucked up after >83

[Arino]

I see. It's about writing things about stuff. Huh. In Volgarr you have a sword. You swing the sword, the bad guys go bye bye. There is blood and it's not bad I guess.

[BIL]

Hmm. Well, it's good you didn't call it impossible without cheats! You have some balls, a rare quality nowadays!

However, brains are important too! Our absent liege has massive balls, but neglected to consider ways around or over the wall - only bashing his big angry head on it! Not his cockhead, but the result would be about the same - irritation and chafing, the wall imperious, a bunch of cheeky pricks raining laser-precise opprobrium from atop!

In short, we need you to be more worthy (■｀w´■)

[Lander]

Speaking of writing things about stuff!

NOBODY RUMORED
EVERYBODY BELIEVED

The much-promised Taromaru ST is, at long last...

営
業
開
始
OPEN FOR BUSINESS

[Randorama]

+1 for R2R-ST, to be honest. I think that the header is crystal clear and search-friendly, and perfectly summarises the raison d’être of the thread type.

[BIL]

NOBODY RUMORED
EVERYBODY BELIEVED

You see Arino, this is what I'm talking about. BRAINS. BALLS. This is a man the Ninja Ryukenden Task Force can use! See front page for hiring terms and conditions.

Be advised: if your application is successful, and you lack an avatar, you will be assigned one. By me! Acting chairman and #1 Cho Aniki enthusiast!

Prove your valour to honour our absent liege Edmond! (■｀w´■)

---

Shinobi puppet MURDA SIM / exorcism The Ninja Kids is so fuckin rad. ACA ver out now for PS4+NSW! Impressed at how smoothly this plays; especially its counter-offensive dash, generously i-framed. You can shred zako hordes, and absolutely demolish big bruisers with aggressive use of it. Naturally, you gotta watch your spacing and cooldowns, but that is just Good Game Design 101. You've a vertical equivalent too, which AFAIK doesn't have attack frames, but will definitely let you burst-sidestep in style.

Don't worry Burger Boy + Burger Ma'am, I'm the good guy I swear (｀w´メ) (◎w◎;) (◎w◎;)

Masterful - and thunk provokin' - use of puppet aesthetics to mask SHINOBI CARNAGE

Street Violence so RUGGED N RAW even venerable ZEN-CHAN is amazed! （＾w´ ）

Apropos the Shinobi theme, air control is particularly finessed. Not only does it have Zero Team's Z-axis movement, but also the unusual option of height select. Tap the button to close distance with a hyper-hopped poke, or hold it for a mighty vault that'll clear enemy projectiles, as you punish with skull-skewering death from above. Altogether, the emphasis on plunging strikes recalls a refined Golden Axe.

Its variable BOMBAA likewise feels GA-bred; allowing for several zako-clearing pops, a lone boss-annihilating cataclysm, or anything inbetween. Interestingly, the basic PPP string seems more valuable as a quick interceptor, warding off would-be pokes as you set up dash and leap attacks.

Delighted with this. I always expect a learning curve with earlier beltscrollers; even the best-made ones trending Technos ornery over Capcom streamlined, with Taito's own Runark no exception. (lower-third of post, click the spoiler) This one's a breezy snap to pick up, an easy recommend for fans of either school. Right at the early 90s sweet spot, it seems.

I will add a minor caveat for the double-tapped dash inputs. ala Strider 2, this is the kind of game I find comfiest on stick, where I can really put my wrist into it; the dash not just a movement tech, but an explosive sudden attack. Still, totally playable via a responsive pad; the input windows are sensibly lenient, and they even got the command mirroring correct; an initial, about-facing tap counting towards the double input.

Absolutely priceless aesthetics, too. Mr Rogers presents SHINOBI ULTRAVIOLENCIERS x SATAN WORSHIPPING CULT! DO U FEEL OUR POWER???

Spoiler

^ TFW buffest Satanist in the apartment block



TRVE (and decidedly not to fire code ) KVLTIC PUPPET METAL

[BrianC]

Ninja Kids is one I have played the actual cabinet of. Fun game!

[Lander]

It's my firm belief that - one of these days - the Kacho will turn up with an enormous tub of ice cream. And we'll book the Budokan to debut the ensuing thread!

The Ninja Kids

Lord, it's like the belt scrolling sister franchise to Don't Hug Me I'm Scared - feat. ~Sinister Undertone~

Bless Taito.

[BIL]

I can't believe I didn't see the DHMIS resemblance! It definitely edges into "Wait hang on this is actually pretty buggered..." territory in spots.

I'm seriously impressed, after a bit of early credit-feeding. The hyper-hopping, dash-happy, yet classically spacing-intense play is so addictively kineto-strategic. And the accompanying movement-as-attack system is like little I've seen from the genre, certainly for its epoch.

It really feels like the work of aficionados looking to make their own marks; particularly in the abundant ability to attack directly via Z-Axis. (I was wrong, earlier; you can most DEF take out enemies via vertical dodge )

So many cool GIFs to make, but I'm jiggered and got a plane to catch, so will leave for a bit. TLDR: it's amazin The last beltscroller I put serious time on was Wild Fang, and its close sibling Ninja Gaiden... I'm delighted to find another just as sharply idiosyncratic, and furthermore a breeze to get into.

[Randorama]

Birru-sensei, just to be a pedantic bastard: The Ninja Kids is 1990, Zero Team is 1993...of course Seibu implemented various mechanics from Taito's fine game in their title, not the other way around

I still cannot believe that this game has received several ports across different consoles, by now. In 1990, I just saw it as a weird little title that I played because:

1. It's Taito;
2. It's clearly designed to be queer & eccentric;
3. It's actually quite though and well-designed, though the shuriken ninja (Sasuke?) makes levels quite easier. The final stage is a pain in the ass.

A typical belt-scroller/run'n gun philosophy of the time was to devise characters that would determine the difficulty of the game via their move-sets (or: "try 1-CC'ing the game with this character, champ!"). The Ninja Kids is a particularly good example. Also yes, the amount of gore and blood in the game would have been ridiculous, if it would have been a "normal-looking" title. I wonder what is the design story behind the game.

Then again, we live in queer times, don't we? Another port of Warrior Blade also strikes me as a miracle (better: ports of the Rastan trilogy in this day and age, and especially considering...Nastar/Rastan 2). I still believe that Dead Connection has less chances of being ported than shmups E-sports become real, since we now know that the game tanked really badly, back in the day. Can Hamster afford to sell 10 copies of a game? Nevertheless, by this point nothing would surprise me anymore.

On a different note: do we have write-ups of Rolling Thunder and Rolling Thunder 2, by chance?

[BIL]

Birru-sensei, just to be a pedantic bastard: The Ninja Kids is 1990, Zero Team is 1993...of course Seibu implemented various mechanics from Taito's fine game in their title, not the other way around

Oh yeah, I know. ZT is very near to my heart! I was gonna remark at Taito pipping Seibu to the post, and really should've, since in Ninja Kids, the 8-way jump is tied to its furious mobile attacks. ZT ofc holds its own with 8-way throwable weapons.

I still cannot believe that this game has received several ports across different consoles, by now. In 1990, I just saw it as a weird little title that I played because:

1. It's Taito;
2. It's clearly designed to be queer & eccentric;
3. It's actually quite though and well-designed, though the shuriken ninja (Sasuke?) makes levels quite easier. The final stage is a pain in the ass.

Yeah, it'd have been perfect for consoles; has a generosity rare amongst arcade titles, particularly the rather ruthless beater genre. And it's incredibly characterful, too.

I was wondering about the character balance; Blue Katana seemed comfiest, with his wickedly fast and powerful dash, and Red Shuriken the most generous, with his sheer reach and death-from-above shotgun spray. Yellow Kusarigama and Green Staff felt like the "technical" picks, lacking such clear assets.

But as you say, not like you can't just 1CC with each of 'em. ^__^ And I'm alright with rocky character balance, when the it comes from not mere stats or cheese, but mechanical variety; something this game seems to excel at. (really liking Green's ground slam area-of-effect, and Yellow's command Dhalsim poke... I wonder if bomb strength varies too?)

Another port of Warrior Blade also strikes me as a miracle (better: ports of the Rastan trilogy). I still believe that Dead Connection has less chances of being ported than shmups E-sports become real, since we now know that the game tanked really badly, back in the day. Can Hamster afford to sell 10 copies of a game? Nevertheless, by this point nothing would surprise me anymore.

Dead Connection, Thunder Fox, and Warrior Blade (third Rastan this year!) will be here before 2024's out, I've no doubt whatsoever. The only thing better than having Hamster is having M2 as well, it's been a wonderful decade-odd for home translations.

On a different note: do we have write-ups of Rolling Thunder and Rolling Thunder 2, by chance?

I can't recall RT2 offhand, but Durandal has a great RT1 2-ALL writeup here.

[Randorama]

Oh, Durandal's write-up I forgot about (aka "let's complain a lot about designers making a lot of design choices that proved bad in hindsight, thus assuming that designers could foresee the future. Besides, it's hard, unf!"... people and their lack of the sense of time and history never surprise me because the intarwebs, but still). Rolling Thunder 2, I might write something about it. It will feature a sense of time and history, though. Professional hazard, I guess.

Re: ports. All officially announced? There must be a secret Taito appreciation society slowly infiltrating the gaming world, I guess. Or maybe a diehard Hamster clientele buying just about everything they port (fairly commendable attitude, for a lot of different reasons). If these guys are actually making a profit with certain titles, I'd be really, really impressed (I mean...Nastar?).

Re: Ninja Kids. I do remember that red shuriken can be used to get easy but a bit boring 1-CC's: just keep a distance and shoot down enemies as they appear. This anticipates Capcom'sThe King of The Dragons approach (i.e. Elf and Wizard are projectile-based characters making the game easy). I would need to play this one again and recover a 1-CC, to be honest. September is still far away (<-- Dilated sense of time).

Just to be a pedantic bastard and correct my early mistake: this mechanic follows Data East's Captain America and the Avengers (1989). Iron Man and Vision can abuse A+B projectile attacks: Hawkeye and Captain America have more limited move-sets and thus provide harder 1-CC's. All characters can jump and shoot in any direction, with mid- and high-jumps (high jumps effectively make characters glide). Taito weren't the first ones to introduce the mechanic, and probably I am forgetting some earlier title than the Marvel/Data East title.

Yes, someone could write a book on the evolution of game mechanics in R2RKMF titles and perhaps even create a Cladogram about sub-genre relations. Please insert here a joke about "sense of time and history", if you wish.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Captain America and the Avengers actually came after both, Ninja Kids and King of Dragons, though I don't think it was inspired by either (nor that Kids influenced KOD, for that matter - it was just barely 5 months between). Ninja Combat influencing a bit Kids' design or even KOD's though, that sounds more plausible?

I recall the yellow ninja being pretty much useless as nobody wanted to pick him, to the point of playing the game 3 players max despite being 4 people at disposal. It's kind of the opposite approach of Turtles. Quite surely they thought the game was a bit too violent for the console market, puppets and all.

[Air Master Burst]

Ninja Kids fucking SLAPS, one of my favorites for sure.

This anticipates Capcom'sThe King of The Dragons approach (i.e. Elf and Wizard are projectile-based characters making the game easy)

Elf and Wizard are the hard characters in KoD because they can't block and can only hit a single enemy per attack. It's just easy to forget that once you git gud because they're both the fastest 1CCs and the highest scorers when played well.

Wizard in particular has a number of enemy formations on hardest that require incredibly precise execution to clear.

[Randorama]

Bassa-Bassa:

D'oh, somehow I read 1989 when reading the year for the Data East game. I had some other page else open, never mind. Then the temporal sequence for the jump attack on the z-axis is Ninja Combat->The Ninja Kids->Captain America and the Avengers?

Not "inspiration", but I am wondering when the mechanic appears and to what extent it "spreads" across belt-scrollers et similia (i.e. various titles don't have it). I trust you on getting the facts straight since I recall little about which game has what mechanics, and when the games and mechanics appeared (and I am able to misread dates ).

AMB:

i am always good, so Elf and Wizard are the easy characters. I'd add "for me", but it would be too sober to state that it's a personal view. So I will write For everyone who does not suck hard and is not a casual. Let's not too be too rational on videogames matters, since it might be inappropriate to outsiders and casual readers of the forum I am actually trying out Wizard on Hardest because I don't remember much of it. To later

[BIL]

Sounds like I finally gotta check out Ninja Combat. Cheers for the lead, Bassa!

@Rando, you will be happy to hear of the coming index's special NERDFIGHT category, where fighting men of R2RKMF throw down for their titles of choice! I have the current lone entry, re: Alien Soldier - but perhaps it is time to raise the banners for RT1!

...I was much nicer back then. Or at least more indulging. Nowadays, if some big dafty compared Alien Soldier to Punch Out!! in my presence, they'd feel their feet leave the floor before waking up handcuffed to a lamppost with a wine bottle lodged up their clammy arse. Compassionately lubricated, mind - I'm a war criminal, not a monster! The aim is public humiliation, and more importantly correction - not lasting rectal trauma! But there would be no such slapfighting indulgence of arrant foolishness.

Sorry what were we talking about? >_> Ah, yes:

Re: ports. All officially announced? There must be a secret Taito appreciation society slowly infiltrating the gaming world, I guess.

Hell yeah. Confirmed for physical if you have a Switch, even. I'm not bothered though, I've had many a physical release in my day. Games are for the children! In their nightmare future, space may become scarce. 3;

Or maybe a diehard Hamster clientele buying just about everything they port (fairly commendable attitude, for a lot of different reasons).

I know some do, in a cataloguing fashion... was never for me, though. Even as someone with a literal fortified nerdbunker heaving with gear, I'll leave gaps when the product lets its stablemates down. Saturn Gekirindan? Can't do it m8. 3; Saturn Gun Frontier? Now that's inaccuracy I can use.

Also, I learned the hard way, via ACA Athena: buying bad games, even digital and cheap, still stings like bacon grease on a bare ballbag. 3;

TEH SHAME >w<; Their part in this shall not be forgiven!

Less "collector" than selector, naw mean. I still return to Datsugoku and Ikari III on occasion, to see if I might wanna pick 'em up - only for my razor-keen appraising faculties to be vindicated once again. Ah jeeze, there's a few others too. Formation Z? More like Formation NOT FOR ME! Exerion? More like Exeri MY DONG! Actually no, I came around to Exerion eventually. Neat hybrid of flight sim and gallery STG - just gotta surf the inertia, rather than wrestle with it. That machinegun subweapon fuckin rips.

Still, I'm glad even weaker titles enjoy the same reference-standard treatment as the goodies. Even Athena has some really cool fans, who I enjoy watching demolish it - Janet does so via his own PCB, even! But I just can't tolerate its fundamental jank. Maybe if the camera wasn't busted to hell and back.

If these guys are actually making a profit with certain titles, I'd be really, really impressed (I mean...Nastar?).

Hamster have, over the past decade, mastered a unique niche that shouldn't be unique at all: low frills, high quality. There's this silly mindset that the goals are in opposition... when they're obviously natural complements. Just gimme the basics - button remap, custom autofire, a savestate - at imperceptibly low latency, maybe with a neat optional tweak here or there (ACA Master of Weapon lets you disable the awful bullet strobe ), and BOOM! Job done, orphaned arcade masterpiece safely home and dry!

I'd say I wish more publishers would get a clue, but frankly, between Hamster and M2, my plate's stacked as it is. So I'm just happy for 'em.

[Randorama]

Random stuff:

I had a credit on The King of Dragons at the hardest difficulty with Wizard. Too lazy to fight the knights properly (stage 9, stage 12 bosses), but otherwise I still think that the game is easy: a 1-CC was never in doubt. I should try out the Fighter and/or the Cleric, though: I haven't used them at harder difficulties. Wizard can hit multiple enemies with the level 8 weapon and possibly the level 5-7 weapons, though I am not quite sure on how hits are assigned.

I would be tempted to actually propose the compilation of a "R2RKMF difficulty wiki" (or maybe a "belt-scroller difficulty wiki"), but I think it would be a daunting task. Anyway, I would be inclined to place this title in the 10/50 range (1-CC's are easy, just learn & practice unless you're DTP, King Edmondo The Complainer, or other similar riff-raff), if we treat it as a belt-scroller. I suspect that the key problem with such a project is that organisation by sub-genre would perhaps become necessary or at least useful. I mean: I agree that both Magic Sword and Final Fight are hard, but how do we evaluate them? Do we list them together?

The Ninja Kids: I would need to re-learn the stage 4 boss and The Satan (not "just" Satan, tsk!). The 1-CC with the red shuriken guy (Akane?) is not so difficult. Bosses 1-3 have more obvious exploits, but these two guys require precise methods and have tons of hit points, eh.

Still, I am in disbelief that Taito was able to release a game this eccentric-looking, back in the day. Please feel free to point me out weirder games I am obviously and blissfully forgetting about, e.g. Mutant Night and [i[Trio the Punch[/i]. By the way, stages have a covert time limit: once time is over, some red crow-looking entities will dash onto your character and kill him quickly. Be sure to zap through stages at a steady pace.

...I was much nicer back then. Or at least more indulging. Nowadays, if some big dafty compared Alien Soldier to Punch Out!! in my presence, they'd feel their feet leave the floor before waking up handcuffed to a lamppost with a wine bottled lodged up their clammy arse. Properly lubricated and compassionately inserted, mind - I'm not a monster! The aim is public humiliation, and more importantly correction - not lasting rectal trauma! But there would be no such slapfighting indulgence of arrant foolishness!

Sorry what were we talking about? >_> Ah, yes:

These days, you could charge for the educational experience. It seems that casual aficionados of pervy fetishes can enjoy way more hardcore practices just as a way to express their identities, or something to that effect. Imagine receiving pouty expressions and passive-aggressive stares once you prepare the lubricant ("oh sorry, are you mistaking me for a n00b of the field? I am disappointed!").

Yes, I spent too much time (i.e. more than zero minutes) around "normal" people these past few weeks. I miss the days in which everybody vehemently denied their secret perversions and went to Church on Sunday (I didn't deny and I didn't go, though: not religious, after all. Oh well...). So yes:

[...]Hell yeah. Confirmed for physical if you have a Switch, even. I'm not bothered though, I've had many a physical release in my day. Games are for the children! In their nightmare future, space may become scarce. 3; [...]

Ah yes, my father and younger members of the family finally learnt that physical releases are not fundamental to the enjoyment and legal ownership of the games, so PS4 is good enough. It's just that I keep being in disbelief that they are re-releasing some titles (e.g. again Dead Connection, Warrior Blade). Oh well, somebody may even like them, I guess. I would like to see more Data East (e.g. Super Burger Time, Nitro Ball) and perhaps Jaleco, to be honest, but all in due time I guess.

[...]
Less "collector" than selector, naw mean. I still return to Datsugoku and Ikari III on occasion, trying to see if I might want to pick 'em up - only for my razor-keen appraising faculties to be vindicated once again. Ah jeeze, there's a few others too. Formation Z? More like Formation NOT FOR ME! Exerion? More like Exeri MY DONG! Actually no, I came around to Exerion eventually. Neat hybrid of flight sim and gallery STG. That machinegun subweapon fuckin rips.

Exerion has this "early '80s" charm for me that is difficult to explain. It goes back to really early memories of neighbourhood cafes and random cabs in the wild, and the aforementioned flight sim approach. Datsugoku and Ikari III...Pre- Neo Geo SNK games were strangely mesmerizing. I liked them both, but I'd chop my hands off rather than playing them again, now. I was tempted to grab the machete after playing again Rolling Thunder again, out of (stupid) curiosity.

Hamster have, over the past decade, mastered a unique niche that shouldn't be unique at all: low frills, high quality. There's this silly mindset that the goals are in opposition... when they're obviously natural complements. Just gimme the basics - button remap, custom autofire, a savestate - at imperceptibly low latency, maybe with a neat optional tweak here or there (ACA Master of Weapon lets you disable the awful bullet strobe ), and BOOM! Job done, orphaned arcade masterpiece safely home and dry!

I'd say I wish more publishers would get a clue, but frankly, between Hamster and M2, my plate's stacked as it is. So I'm just happy for 'em.

Oh yes. I have time for a game every quarter of a year, so to speak, and no more than 6-7 games per year. Simply playing old titles "properly" is enough, since anyway there are dozens of games that I have played a few times and left aside for decades. I will catch up with the 21st century, sooner or later, but maybe after 2030 so I can keep a "30-years retro buffer" as my "videogame selection" compass.

Alternatively, I may start exploring 1980-1985 games, which often fall in the category of "this one, I remember that my late parents played it once, when I was in first grade. How does it actually play?". In the back of my mind, I still wish to use the "single screen" thread to explore these pioneering titles

[BIL]

Having put scandalous hours on Elden Ring lately, I was getting the coolest anachronistic deja vu at Ninja Kids' KKK cultists, and their burning candelabras-turned-tridents. I wonder how far back that concept goes? I'm sure the D&D/Wizardry lads might've seen similar. Thought the weapon was kinda goofy in ER, tbh; but in peerlessly lethal R2R context, suddenly I weren't larfin m8!

Not to knock ER, which is plenty lethal! Those games' querulous mainstream rep makes me laugh. They're just oldschool-treacherous Japanese ARPGs with a bit of OOT+DMC accoutrement. "Prepare to die?" Son this is videogames, you best be fighting like you're already dead. Been nice seeing them gain purchase in the friction-proofed mainstream, where players bitch like they're being jabbed with Satan Fire IRL!

Totally forgot to mention - best thing about ACA Rastan II, by far, was OGR himself appearing on their weekly show. ^__^ The great man's mastery of pop oneirics is 95% why I'm still considering the ACA release.

The other 5% being some neat mechanical quirks, well-detailed by Ilpalazzo-san! A hard game to like, never mind love, but good lord is that OST bravura.

I seem to recall some nice coverage - via Taito's account - of the original Rastan's OST, by Masahiko Takaki. A soundscape I rate just as highly, though to starkly differing effect. Where the sequel is a bloodening ethereal clarion, the original conjures grittier, pulpier trespass. As goes for the games' wider aesthetics! Contrast of the original's grimly economic action VS the sequel's decided lack of withheld, for charity's sake.

I remember finding out that SNK's Ikari was, indeed, a Rambo II license denied, and wondering if Rastan might've had similar roots in Conan. The Ahnuld film (underratedly contemplative) would be the obvious commercial incentive... but while Ikari's rolling mayhem could never evoke the OG First Blood novel, I could see Taito's game being inspired by Howard's amorally swashbuckling pulp just as happily.

Also on the Zuntata tip, because I never tire of pointing out Dead Connection's opening BGM syncs perfectly with Metal Black's' intro:

[Bassa-Bassa]

Bassa-Bassa:

D'oh, somehow I read 1989 when reading the year for the Data East game. I had some other page else open, never mind. Then the temporal sequence for the jump attack on the z-axis is Ninja Combat->The Ninja Kids->Captain America and the Avengers?

Not "inspiration", but I am wondering when the mechanic appears and to what extent it "spreads" across belt-scrollers et similia (i.e. various titles don't have it). I trust you on getting the facts straight since I recall little about which game has what mechanics, and when the games and mechanics appeared (and I am able to misread dates ).

Don't trust me on Ninja Combat having mid-air Z-axis movement as I may be misremembering the game, or confusing it with Kozure Ookami. Would need to check!

[Randorama]

Bassa-Bassa:

fair enough, tracing the birth of a game mechanic sounds like a serious research project. Maybe we could focus on it when the new semester starts

Birrufordu:

The Rastan trilogy pilfers extensively from various sources, though the attract screen of the first game firmly establishes that the game aims to mostly pilfer from Howard's Conan (via Ahnold movies, I guess). What I remember about the barbarian's stories is that they are all flashbacks about his adventure days, before he became the king of Aquilonia.

The Taito games more or less aimed to re-create that mystique, and also the general mystique of him bashing various types of heads for profit, but also of freeing populations and righting wrongs as a side-effect. I write "more or less", because in Nastar/Rastan II he should fight against the monstahs invading his land (Duh? Conan is a wanderer for most of his life, guys). The OST remains this game's selling point, for sure: I remember preparing VGM mix-tapes for people on the sly, and always having to insert this one due to popular demand ("Can you add the beautiful fantasy one with the piano bits?").

...On the sly, because "eughh VGM is for kids!" was the standard response, 20 years ago. We didn't have a retro-gaming movement and documentaries like Digging in the carts, after all: these days, the music school of the Uni where I work at, the one in my hometown and several other institutions offer BA and MA degrees on "VGM composition". Oh my, times have changed.

General fantasy tid-bits:

If I recall correctly, Western-style fantasy arrived around the late 1960s in Japan (translations of old pulp stories, classics, etc.) and gained momentum during the mid 1980s (translations of D&D, I think Lord of The Rings). Warrior Blade closes with an old Rastan on a throne, mentioning that if there will be a chance, he will tell us of more adventures (=if this game sells, then we will keep making sequels. Alas...).

More in general, western-style fantasy games from the 1980s/1990s can be traced back to these core influences, and were probably riding this trend to sell. 1990s Science Fantasy games like the Mahou shmups were already more original, but a case can be made that they were offering Japanese-style renditions of Science Fantasy, another genre with a relatively robust history behind it. I would add some of my usual rants on Michael Moorcock, but I will spare you for once

Tangent: Conan may be a "barbarian", but he can read and write in dozens of languages, has an impressive knowledge of the history and geography of several lands, and in general displays remarkably high levels of "natural" education. If I recall correctly, the first story opens with him checking a ledger book reporting the budget for a military expedition and being unhappy with the mission command's budget choices.

If I also recall correctly, he tends to brood a lot and to be quite the reflective guy, even if he may not find all the answers he seeks when contemplating (too busy beheading enemies?). 20th century movies and comics offered completely mangled renditions, even though I do not know if the situation has changed in modern (21st century) comics adaptations.

Conan is first and foremost an avid seeker of knowledge, even though his goal is to "find a country where I would be king", if I remember the quote correctly (it's in Warrior Blade's ending, by the way). He is also built like a N.8/lock in rugby, judging from the descriptions (around 2 metres/6'7", 110kgs/230 or 240 lbs?) and a master of several forms of combat, which helps surviving in an rather "aggressive world" (MAR's title for Rastan's first theme). It's just that "Conan the wandering and brooding scholar who can also win any fight, when bare-handed and with his back against the wall" is a mouthful, I guess.

[Sima Tuna]

@rando

I've been reading all the Conan stories recently. Robert E. Howard deliberately wrote the Conan stories out of sequence. He felt that if you asked a person to describe their past adventures, they'd naturally tell you stories in the sequence they could remember and as the mood struck them. You would not hear a chronological series of travels. Conan's first story, in order of writing, is one where he's already King. The Conan stories vary wildly in time period. Most fall somewhere in the middle/young period, where Conan is either a thief, pirate or mercenary. But before he's become a King. After he becomes King Conan, there is no later period I'm aware of where he reverts to any lower status. One assumes Conan lived as King of Aquilonia until his death.

Some editors have butchered Howard's work and, among other hackeries, tried to force the Conan stories into chronological order. This is against the spirit of what Howard was trying to achieve with these adventures. The stories are out of sequence by deliberate choice and it is not a mistake to be corrected.

Conan's character undergoes chronological (but not in order of writing) character growth. King Conan is a more subtle man than Thief Conan. You can compare the stories directly to see this. He remains "The Barbarian" because Howard had an obsession with the conflict between untamed wilds and decadent civilizations. That Conan is a "barbarian" says nothing about his ability to comprehend multiple languages or to be intelligent. Only that he's a product of the harsh wilds and not the corrupted cities.

Rastan (we finally return to vidya gaem talk) seems to me clearly inspired by Robert E. Howard's Conan, more than the Arnold Conan. The adventure contains out-of-sequence segments and spoils the ending before we even start playing. The bizarre fantasy creatures in Rastan were probably cribbed from whatever fantasy sources were translated into japanese. But it is worth mentioning that another Robert E. Howard creation: Kull the Conqueror (a proto-Conan) had as one of his major enemies a race of evil snakemen. The most common enemy in Rastan are evil lizardmen. I'm not sure if there's a relationship, or if the people at Taito had some other inspiration in mind. Perhaps all of the enemies in Rastan were wholly original.

Re: Michael Cockmore, I can only say that I enjoy a few of his Elric stories and much of his work on Corum, but the multiverse focus is rather tiresome.

Visually Rastan 1 and 3 are very strongly in the style of Frazetta's famous conan (and other fantasy) art. Rastan 3 in particular beefs the characters up to levels where you could only compare them to a Frazetta painting. Given the penchant of certain japanese arcade games ('Nam 1975) to outright trace over still photographs from famous movies, I wouldn't be surprised if one might locate similar paintings or book covers that Taito traced over for the Rastan games. A couple of the stills in Rastan 1 look very suspicious.