Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[soprano1]

A bit less intense, though the Mega Drive Sailor Moon beat em up is fast, but not as many enemies per screen. The music on the home games sound richer than the arcade music IMO.

I see, thanks for the info.

[Bloodreign]

No problem, I'm sure someone here has a bit more info on short notice though. The arcade one has such beautiful artwork, especially the full screen shots of the girls during special attacks.

[Sumez]

Are there any relevant differences between the Japanese Leynos and the US Target Earth?

[soprano1]

The arcade one has such beautiful artwork, especially the full screen shots of the girls during special attacks.

Indeed.

[Obscura]

I figured that could be part of the pacing, where scrubs can first mess around with the starter bosses without getting kicked out of the game immediately, only to get their teeth smashed in by the next boss as they figure out how to deal with the earlier bosses faster so they can waste less time getting to the harder ones. At which point it becomes a contest of speed and long-term ammo management instead of just survival, kind of like how scoring systems make even the comparatively easy first stages of a shmup worth mastering and paying attention to. Having a difficulty curve is always nice, Dariusburst would be rather painful to beginners if Great Thing was the first boss instead of Iron Fossil. I dunno to what extent the later bosses can be cheesed (or not) since I never got that far into AS myself, though.

You can make a player learn their tools at the start without wrecking the difficulty curve. Look at DMC 3 (original US version, not easier JP/re-release versions). The first level after the intro cutscene (I believe it's actually labelled mission 2, although it's been a couple years admittedly -- I generally reach for DMC 4 these days) starts with a crowd-control fight where tracking individual attacks is impractical. Then, it adds enemies that have to be killed with targeted ranged attacks. After a bit of this, you finally get to that first Hell Vanguard, which forces you to get the hang of your dodges and jumps. since you do need to track his individual attacks. You're not getting out of that first alleyway until you learn most of the game's concepts, but the game still has a pretty solid difficulty curve (that first Hell Vanguard sure is a lot easier than the final fight with Vergil!)

Also, it takes less time to get to Violent Ruler (the point where most players will have to learn to use the fixed burst in Dariusburst AC) than it does to get through Act 1 in AS with dash-heavy tactics.

[BIL]

I had a hard time finding the JP ROM (NOT asking for it) because no intro lists it under a weird name. I renamed it to Assault Suits Leynos (I know it's supposed to be "suit", but the title screen has "suits"). Love that Engrish.

Are there any relevant differences between the Japanese Leynos and the US Target Earth?

Dunno about mechanics, but aesthetically, JP Leynos is the only way to get authentic "fatal atmospheric re-entry" action! US version censors a certain fiery scene. :O

Along with Ex-Ranza, Leynos is the other game that compelled me to start an MD collection. Although it's archaic and clunky as all hell compared to Valken, Ranza, Gigantic Army and just about any other great mecha sidescroller since, I absolutely adore the one thing it has that they don't - the hellish battlefield. Truly feels like you're out there all alone, with god knows what lurking on all sides. No two credits go quite the same. Hell, no two kills go quite the same (shrapnel hurts, and it's random whether a slain enemy will go *pop* or *BLAOOOW* ).

[kitten]

I did post about Leynos in an attempt to change the subject. I had a hard time finding the JP ROM (NOT asking for it) because no intro lists it under Juusou Kihei Leynos. I renamed it to Assault Suits Leynos (I know it's supposed to be "suit", but the title screen has "suits"). Love that Engrish.

I should give the Sailor Moon games a try on SD2SNES.

it was appreciated i think i mentioned somewhere in the last few pages i was mildly surprised to see the new one called "assault suit leynos" when i believe both valken and leynos back in their heydey used "suits." own a copy, but still haven't gotten around to playing it!

Dunno about mechanics, but aesthetically, JP Leynos is the only way to get authentic "fatal atmospheric re-entry" action! US version censors a certain fiery scene. :O

what's this about? :O

Along with Ex-Ranza, Leynos is the other game that compelled me to start an MD collection. Although it's archaic and clunky as all hell compared to Valken, Ranza, Gigantic Army and just about any other great mecha sidescroller since, I absolutely adore the one thing it has that they don't - the hellish battlefield. Truly feels like you're out there all alone, with god knows what lurking on all sides. No two credits go quite the same. Hell, no two kills go quite the same (shrapnel hurts, and it's random whether a slain enemy will go *pop* or *BLAOOOW* ).

the original leynos seems like a decent game, but its high level of punishment for failure has led me to be drawn away from ever properly learning it. i eventually want to devote some better time to it.

[BIL]

I recommend enabling the unlimited continues cheat, for easier learning. Only because I totally, honestly, no-lie triggered it by accident. I was clacking the buttons on the options menu when suddenly - whoaaa! WTF is this blue-haired anime girl thingy, looming from the bottom the screen? It's pretty startling, haha.

For real, it makes the game's obtuseness less of an issue. Stage 3's open space battle is a good example... the enemy flagship was ripping me apart until I figured out its critical weakness. Felt great, but getting booted back to the title screen several times beforehand didn't.

Regarding the censorship, you know at the end of Mission 3, when you have to make it back to your mothership before the timer runs out? In the JP version,

Spoiler

one of your guys is too late, and radios you with a terrified expression on his face just before he's incinerated on re-entry.

Pretty gritty, US ver nixed it.

[Obscura]

Wait, I thought you could save the guy on re-entry by armoring your own suit to the max and staying in front of him to protect him from the heat, instead of high-tailing it back to the ship? If the re-entry is edited out of the U.S. version, how does it handle that possibility?

[BIL]

Are you talking about the remake, or the original MD game? I'm referring to the latter. AFAIK it's strictly an end-of-stage cutscene, you're only a spectator there. In the US version ("Target Earth"), it simply doesn't happen.

[Obscura]

Ah, I thought it was an option in both games. I'm only familiar with the remake, but the rumblings I'd heard were that it was a 1-to-1 port of the original. I guess that's not the case?

[FinalBaton]

Practising stages that give you a hard time over and over and over using a cheat code to go straight to that level is a great way of ironing out your technique and strategy for traversing said level.
If it's say stage 5, then it can be tiresome to play stage 1 through 4 just for a chance to play stage 5 and get demolished. But if you go straight to that stage and practice, than you won't feel like you're "losing your time".

[BIL]

Ah, I thought it was an option in both games. I'm only familiar with the remake, but the rumblings I'd heard were that it was a 1-to-1 port of the original. I guess that's not the case?

AFAIK you can strafe in the remake Valken-style, right? That's definitely not in the original. Sadly. If the MD controls were just a bit better, I'd unreservedly love it. It's still an idiosyncratic oddball favourite of mine, just for the sheer chaos surrounding the player on every credit.

[Obscura]

Yeah, you can hold your firing angle in the remake. Didn't know that wasn't the case in the original.

[kitten]

Practising stages that give you a hard time over and over and over using a cheat code to go straight to that level is a great way of ironing out your technique and strategy for traversing said level.
If it's say stage 5, then it can be tiresome to play stage 1 through 4 just for a chance to play stage 5 and get demolished. But if you go straight to that stage and practice, than you won't feel like you're "losing your time".

this helped me a lot when re-learning r-type, recently. i had forgotten the vast majority of the games' nuance from having not touched it in years, and the r-types port on the ps1 allows you to select stages and learn them more quickly. i didn't use this as an opportunity to skimp entirely on recovery points, though, as i still wanted to get most of those under my belt, but imho if you die ANYWHERE after stage 4, you're likely going to the (garbage-ass) final boss with less than 2 bits, which is near-suicide. this is an especially good way to devise a way through stage 7, which is a piss-mean stage to get to without practice.

pretty sure leynos is not as nuanced and deserving of my time as r-type, but i'll consider this in the future. i'm usually a curmudgeonly fuck about using things like this, because they feel like cheating (even just for for learning and not for a legitimate play, sometimes!), but i have my exceptions when a game is otherwise deeply brutal to learn.

BTW, BIL, looks like TWNA will be getting here thursday, a day early - or so it seems. i said i would maybe not get around to this immediately, but unless it completely destroys my ass and intimidates me into waiting for a day i'm feeling more capable of dedicated intensity, i think i might actually tear into it the second i yank it out of my mailbox. playing that natsume power rangers game got me hyped up for this kind of action! i'm badly wanting to play its snes sequel, too.

edit: minor correction about final boss commentary

[__SKYe]

F*** yeah, finally got the damn 1CC for Final Fight (SFC).
It is much easier than the arcade game, but I've previously gotten to Belger many times before, but always ended up losing.
Today, managed to finish with 2 lives in stock.
Play was under default settings, of course, with the only difference being that I enabled the option to perform the health draining attack using the A button (I find pressing both B+Y buttons on a gamepad at the same time consistently, to be somewhat hard).

Of course, a nice screenshot (of the score) accompanies this post:


This is one such game where you don't wanna mess around against bosses. Their 1/2 HP per hit (sans the first boss) isn't a joke.
Abigail is a majestic pain in the ass (as always), and quite honestly, the easiest/safest way to beat him, is to use the health draining special until he dies.
With Belger, I just wanted the damn clear, and since I had enough spare lives (around 3~4 I think), I also mostly used specials.
He's harder, mostly because you can't really grab him (to perform knee hits & throws), so you're somewhat reduced to single hit attacks. And his arrows will f*** you up, even between strikes of your combo.

Anyway, I'm happy to finally beat this one, but there's still Guy and Haggar to play as.

By the way Kitten, if you ever decide to pick Final Fight, after playing it through today, I'd definitely advise to pick another port that isn't the SFC/SNES one.
Not that it isn't a decent game, and besides considering the removed content (which more than makes picking up another port worth it), it suffers from a pretty serious slowdown case, when there are many enemies and items on screen.
This may not look too important, but it can really f*** up your run, and you'll probably finding yourself picking up the items just to avoid the damn slowdown.

A bit less intense, though the Mega Drive Sailor Moon beat em up is fast, but not as many enemies per screen. The music on the home games sound richer than the arcade music IMO.

The arcade game is more similar to SFC Sailor Moon R, rather than the previous SFC game (and the MD port).
It is also harder, of course.

BrianC, you should, and give the MD one a run too. Be warned, the fist SFC Sailor Moon is slower in pacing, but R is quite a bit faster, but shorter. I bought both of the SFC offerings months ago because I enjoy the games. The MD one is too rich for my blood though.

Yeah, the MD game is much faster, and is quite a shock if you happen to play the SFC game, and then try it. As I said before, is like going from Street Fighter: World Warrior to SF: Hyper Fighting.

The arcade game, besides the beautiful graphics, has these little details, that really make it shine. Your character struggling when throwing an enemy, is one such detail.

[BrianC]

Ah, I thought it was an option in both games. I'm only familiar with the remake, but the rumblings I'd heard were that it was a 1-to-1 port of the original. I guess that's not the case?

I mentioned earlier the remake felt more like a Tempest Plus style thing (which was something in between a conversion of the AC and the full blown 2000 remake). It's more like something in between the MD game and PS4 arcade mode rather than a 1:1 port.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Semi-related to these mentions of Leynos... has anyone had experience with the PS2 version of Valken? I've mostly heard bitching about firing lock not working properly and wahhh it's too hard.

I love Valken/Cybernator but damn is it so easy once you learn to block. So a hard version is kinda interesting if it's not total bollocks.

Also 50 Hz PAL borders 4 lyfe!

[BIL]

i just briefly fired the game back up - what ARE the differences between supereasy and superhard? i didn't even notice when fumbling around.

Other than a pause menu letting you chop the speed by 25% increments, and the typical "enemies do less damage, you do more" (which frees up ammo), it seems fairly subtle. I gave SE my first playthrough in living memory, and all that really stood out were:

i) helpful platforms in Act II's watery areas
ii) er... that's about it rofl

Aha, something else I'd forgotten. The platforming section of Act III (right before Melon Bread) has a lot more hovering platforms on SuperEasy. There's a conspicuous lack of footing on SuperHard.

As with Catman Bikers, who I've now decided to just summarily strafe to death with Buster (getting 100% shootdown with no damage regularly, woohoo) this bit was always a minor snag in my runs. Bugged the hell out of me, because (bahaha) bugs. Specifically the goddamn snowflies guarding the entrance to Melon Bread's lair, which make reaching him with Phoenix considerably tricky. I'm only just now getting the hang of entering striking distance and shooting all the bastards with Buster, without getting overrun and subsequently dunked or forced to waste the Phoenix. As always when being fired at on precarious footing, Counterforce helps a lot.

Not that MB doesn't die really goddamn quick to a healthy, aggressively deployed Burner anyway - but I insist on the Extreme Baking Satisfaction of luring him into the corner and unleashing atomic rooster hellfire on his dumb fucking face. I love Melon Bread. ;-;

Semi-related to these mentions of Leynos... has anyone had experience with the PS2 version of Valken? I've mostly heard bitching about firing lock not working properly and wahhh it's too hard.

I love Valken/Cybernator but damn is it so easy once you learn to block. So a hard version is kinda interesting if it's not total bollocks.

Also 50 Hz PAL borders 4 lyfe!

I've always heard, from multiple people I trust, that the PS2 version removed the aim lock. I still can't quite believe it, but nor can I believe said folks were mistaken. That alone really turned me off tbh, the mechanic is so central to the original's inimitably satisfying handling... upped difficulty sounded good to me too, though, assuming it's not mostly down to the lack of lock.

It's still pretty cheap, might pick it up myself sometime. Would love to see some decent footage of it, I seem to recall it being hard to come by (at least on Youtube).

[mamboFoxtrot]

Holy shit so many pages since last night DO YOU PEOPLE EVER SLEEP?!?!?!

*shrug*

I play action games for the pleasure of action gaming. If you're happy playing slowly and awkwardly, so be it. None of Act I's bosses live more than 10 seconds or so when I'm at the controls, but that requires more sophisticated play than "zip to win." I can explain, if you like. Maybe you'll actually take heed

Oi, no need for shrugs, man, I understand the idea of making a "performance" out of a game. I enjoy trying to speed through Sonic games, including the horrendously flawed Sonic Adventure, and enjoyed figuring out how to give the bosses in the first few stages of Sin & Punishment 2 a proper smashing. Hell, the SFC Shibibbuman game that I'm playing right now is easier than piss but dammit I'm loving trying to destroy everything with extreme prejudice using the Hadouken and the Shoryuken attacks. I'm just not one to take it to the extent that most folks in this thread do.

However, as someone with some interest in hobbyist game development (or GAM MAK as the cool-kids call it these days, I guess), I'm still going to make note of whatever gripes, even minor ones, I might have with a game when first trying it out, so as to hopefully sort out how to not make my own work too impenetrable or tedious. So, my complaint about Alien Soldier taking a touch too long to really start forcing you to not rely on the zip too much is an extremely minor one. It's also not one I hold against AS too specifically, since from my experience it's pretty normal for games with a strong defensive mechanic to be designed in a way that the early game can be heavily dominated by it. I mean, S&P2 certainly takes a lot longer to get to the point where spamming dodge isn't helpful!
This whole shitfest reminds me of when I saw a review somewhere, maybe on Amazon, where someone was complaining that S&P2 is just dodge-to-win

One other thing I want to say on this is that I kinda don't like it when people use the experience of a challenge run to defend a game from criticism coming from someone playing the game normally. Thing is, when you're using some self-imposed restrictions or alternative goals, you're in a sense changing the rules, and thus technically playing a different game altogether. So, while I feel "but you can speedrun it" or "play it Buster-only" can be valid suggestions to someone who's feels the game they're playing is a bit lacking, I don't think it's a valid retort against a stated deficiency in game's "default" design. Sorry if that's not what you were doing, or if someone else has already talked about that, but this conversation moved at a million miles an hour and I just don't care to catch up on it all anymore.

Anyways, at this point I think I'm just going to move AS up to the top of the chopping block, after I've had my fill of Shabibleman. I'll probably save trying to figure out #ProStrats on the early bosses for sometime after checking out the later bosses, though.

[BIL]

Holy shit so many pages since last night DO YOU PEOPLE EVER SLEEP?!?!?!

Sadly, yes. I thought things were settling down when I turned in last night, only to awaken to a nightmare. 3: Our being in various timezones might contribute, I guess!

Oi, no need for shrugs, man

Sorry. That reply was very uncalled for of me.

One other thing I want to say on this is that I kinda don't like it when people use the experience of a challenge run to defend a game from criticism coming from someone playing the game normally. Thing is, when you're using some self-imposed restrictions or alternative goals, you're in a sense changing the rules, and thus technically playing a different game altogether. So, while I feel "but you can speedrun it" or "play it Buster-only" can be valid suggestions to someone who's feels the game they're playing is a bit lacking, I don't think it's a valid retort against a stated deficiency in game's "default" design. Sorry if that's not what you were doing, or if someone else has already talked about that, but this conversation moved at a million miles an hour and I just don't care to catch up on it all anymore.

Honestly, no, self-imposed challenge is absolutely not the perspective I was arguing from. Quite the opposite, actually. Alien Soldier's the sort of demolition course that's at its best when you're taking every advantage given and thrashing it as hard as your skills allow. That's what it's calibrated for, tearing it apart in a technical ecstasy of atomic rooster fury and blazing 68000shock. Personally I find the idea of playing it with, I dunno, Homing-only or some other hobbling kinda gross. 3:

As for speedrunning... not only am I not into those in general, but speedrunning this particular game involves relentless zipping past enemies. As always, all my respect to the runners, but fuuuck that. I want to tear these ugly motherfuckers apart! I might hustle where I can, but regardless, they all must die. >:3

Spoiler

It's just that, with ammo (and at novice level, time) being at a premium, efficiently taking down stages and bosses is more of an ideal than in your typical "infinite ammo" run/gun affair.

The reason I brought up Act I and more advanced play was to point out: if you're finding its content dull, you have the tools to get it over and done with in no time flat. You don't need to play call-and-response, and you likely won't be if you start tangling with the later Acts, whose bosses tend to go after the player more aggressively and whose moves/arenas tend to punish the teleport.

Admittedly I really like Act I - unlike, say, Contra Hard Corps' earlier stages, there are no roadblocks or tedious patterns to sit through. You can pretty much floor the gas and artfully brutalise everyone and everything in your path. I wasn't kidding with that post last weekend, I'd totally have been happy with the game's first stage alone, in the nightmare otherworld where Treasure blew all their cash on hookers and donburi ramen!

[mamboFoxtrot]

Sorry. That reply was very uncalled for of me.

No problem. I'm sure engagin in such... high quality conversation would make anyone a bit testy.

As for speedrunning... not only am I not into those in general, but speedrunning this particular game involves relentless zipping past enemies. As always, all my respect to the runners, but fuuuck that. I want to tear these ugly motherfuckers apart! I might hustle where I can, but regardless, they all must must die. >:3

Pretty much how I feel atm about playing Shibibbuman vs what the actual speed run is!

Homing-only

lmao
"hello, and welcome to my three hour let's play of Alien Soldier. much speed, very shock, wow"
e: so what would be worse: that, or The Legend of Alien Soldier: Four Sword-Force Adventure?

[Squire Grooktook]

One of these days, I'm going to make a grappling hook sidescroller in which moving forward quickly and murdering things are one and the same.

Played a bit of Mutant Apocalypse (with the sound off, sadly) last night. So far Wolvie is my favorite character to play (as is tradition in a Capcom game). Love the dive > lunge aerial.

[wiNteR]

It's also not one I hold against AS too specifically, since from my experience it's pretty normal for games with a strong defensive mechanic to be designed in a way that the early game can be heavily dominated by it. I mean, S&P2 certainly takes a lot longer to get to the point where spamming dodge isn't helpful!

I think it also depends on the difficulty chosen. For S&P2, perhaps it might work on "Normal" for earlier stages? But even then, if you intend to get a 1-life clear on each stage individually (which I did for Normal difficulty), I don't think careless/spam play works well.

Also, I don't really remember this working remotely well on "Hard" difficulty (even just for mere completion). I never attempted 1-life clears (for individual stages) on Hard difficulty, though I completed the game. But I do remember spending about say 40 minutes or so on the very first boss (and that was after clearing Normal). Eventually I am fairly certain that the game "rank" went down a bit, and only then I was able to complete it.

It has been few years though, so I don't remember specifics very well. But my personal opinion, as I remember, was that the slide/dodge shouldn't have invincibility frames but instead the attacks should be as such that one can get around without invincibility frames -- and the main purpose of slide/dodge should be quick movement bursts. Still an excellent game though.

[kitten]

F*** yeah, finally got the damn 1CC for Final Fight (SFC).
It is much easier than the arcade game, but I've previously gotten to Belger many times before, but always ended up losing.
Today, managed to finish with 2 lives in stock.
Play was under default settings, of course, with the only difference being that I enabled the option to perform the health draining attack using the A button (I find pressing both B+Y buttons on a gamepad at the same time consistently, to be somewhat hard).

have you 1cc'd the arcade game before, and this was your first time on the sfc version?

By the way Kitten, if you ever decide to pick Final Fight, after playing it through today, I'd definitely advise to pick another port that isn't the SFC/SNES one.

don't worry, i've heard a looooot of shit about that version

Aha, something else I'd forgotten. The platforming section of Act III (right before Melon Bread) has a lot more hovering platforms on SuperEasy. There's a conspicuous lack of footing on SuperHard.

is this anything to make it noticeably harder or is it just a minor change to make things slightly more interesting?

Holy shit so many pages since last night DO YOU PEOPLE EVER SLEEP?!?!?!

yes, but i've been staying up too late and posting on here pretty rapidly, lately ;O

One of these days, I'm going to make a grappling hook sidescroller in which moving forward quickly and murdering things are one and the same.

Played a bit of Mutant Apocalypse (with the sound off, sadly) last night. So far Wolvie is my favorite character to play (as is tradition in a Capcom game). Love the dive > lunge aerial.

isn't mutant apocalypse anything like war of the gems? because i have never been able to get into war of the gems at all.

[Squire Grooktook]

Apparently it's the superior predecessor.

[kitten]

it had better be pretty goddamn superior, imho >:O

i think i've tried going back to war of the gems on like 5 different occasions in my life, and there was not an instance where i didn't hate it. i've had that cart forever and can't remember how i got it, still. i remember when i was particularly young, my brother and i were both sent a snes game from a relative. one of us got super adventure island (which i disliked but totally turned around on a few years ago and consider possibly the only good game in the series - love that yuzo koshiro soundtrack and the delightful visual work - not to mention it actually has fucking pacing), and the other got... i don't even remember. it may have been war of the gems.

i remember my dislike for war of the gems always biting at me particularly hard, because it was a CAPCOM GAME with MARVEL HEROES, which seemed like a perfect recipe for me to fall in love with as a 9 or so year old.

[Vanguard]

i hate debating semantics, but "objectively good" is not something that exists without altering accepted definition.

Things can be good or bad according to standards, and if the standard itself is objective then things can be objectively good or bad according to that standard. If a standard judges runners by their speed alone, and that standard dictates that faster is better, then runners who are faster are objectively better (according to the standard) than runners who are slower. This standard favors short distance runners over long distance runners and is not very useful, but it is 100% objective. Under this standard, a runner who runs 100 meters in 12 seconds is objectively better than a runner who runs 1000 meters in 130 seconds, even if no observer ever compares the two of them. This standard is not inherently more correct than a standard that says slower runners are better or runners who wear green are better, and this does not prevent any of them from being objective standards.

[Sumez]

Been looking for Mutant Apocalypse for a while. It's not particularly expensive in NTSC, but for some reason the only US sellers require super expensive (and customs guaranteed) courier shipping. Meaning I would probably end up paying $50-$60 for an $18 game.

Might have to get a Nippon copy instead.

[BIL]

"hello, and welcome to my three hour let's play of Alien Soldier. much speed, very shock, wow"
e: so what would be worse: that, or The Legend of Alien Soldier: Four Sword-Force Adventure?

Definitely Homing. Sword's not too bad a multipurpose tool, basically a slightly stronger but much thirstier and slower-recharging Buster. Homing's got pitiful damage output, a tendency to go for ammo boxes over enemies, it can't hurt machines and it doesn't work underwater. So all of Flame's weaknesses with none of its strengths - I could see Seven Force going very interestingly, gahaha. At that point, you'd be forced into the series' GBA spinoff, BIRDMAN ZERO(force).

I used to think it was just weak weapon balancing, but I've come around to liking how the weapons which automate manual aiming and positioning (Homing and Ranger) are the least useful for an experienced player. No substitute for skillfully getting all up in their face for the kill. Though I'm not totally ready to write Ranger off, it seems kinda fun. The Achilles heel of many advanced players are those goddamn frisky snowflies on Act III's inverted bridge, who are generally taken down with careful blue-armour Flame. Would probably make them a bit easier. I wonder if it makes sense to switch to Ranger with the box immediately beforehand, then back to your favoured weapon with the one immediately following. Lots to tinker with here, as always.

is this anything to make it noticeably harder or is it just a minor change to make things slightly more interesting?

The latter, tbh. The birdies and snowflies get a bit more time to shine with the lack of footing, as does the game's cool doublejump mechanic. You have to make a couple of really long, hover-assisted jumps, which is neat.

isn't mutant apocalypse anything like war of the gems? because i have never been able to get into war of the gems at all.

I tried Gems briefly, and the level design seemed really flat and uninspired in comparison to MA. UNDERWATER FIGHT SCENE was quickly deployed. 3; (check my PRO REVIEW) I have to revisit at some point, but at the time I concluded I was good with just MA.