All that video proves is that 1) there is indeed a hell of a lot of stuff coming at you from both sides in Hard/III st1, and
2) vibrating like a spastic will let you shoot it. Looks fun, congratulations.
I think you've a misapprehension that because it's possible to fearfully (or dementedly, in that latest video's case) creep through that section, the sort of storming run I or any other decent player will execute is somehow diminished. If anything, I'd say that's a pretty good tactical spectrum. Rush through murdering everything with S+S and downshotting the occasional tricky spawn... or do whatever it is you guys do that makes snipers something other than roadkill, and somehow actually makes M and H seem like superior options. I'd say have fun, but you and Obscura both sound utterly miserable and thoroughly beaten.
I get it's possible to play badly and still squeak through. Or play bizarrely and squeak through. This whole time I've argued it's a game that rewards excellence, not one that bars incompetence (not totally, anyway).
They are. The screen is totally empty when you encounter the lone snipers in stage 3, and even so fighting them without either inching forward pathetically or using a memorization-based speedkill is still highly dangerous.
Please do read my
posts, Jack. :[
st3 opening snipers require specialised techniques every time, sure. st1's don't. Splatter them and enjoy the crowd mixup.
No, not instantaneously killing them is what makes them a serious hazard, momentum has nothing to do with it, and if you don't kill them instantaneously, momentum is nothing but a liability.
You can practically run past all but the one that's sat directly in your path (and thus will get instakilled by even a madly vibrating player). Stop trying to correct me and learn to play Normie, Jesus.
Now I'm wondering if you even read my commentary on the memorisation barrier inherent to Hard, my considering it a second loop, and my concession that it's still overly cruel even by that standard. I'm guessing you didn't, because immediately after:
If, for example, you aim diagonally to take out the grenade-thrower, you get clusterfucked by the sniper. If you try to run under or jump over the sniper without killing it, you get clusterfucked by the sniper. If at any point while a sniper is on-screen you are firing in any direction other than directly toward the sniper (or god forbid, not firing at all), you get clusterfucked by the sniper. If you inch forward and fight everything from full-screen distance, you are almost completely safe. Inching forward pathetically is objectively the correct tactic here barring memorization of the sniper positions. Your choices to survive the snipers are A)cowardice, B)being lucky and firing in the correct direction by chance, or C)memorization.
You make it sound like such a nightmare. You hold right, shoot and jump. If we were in some temporal anomaly that wiped each playthrough from our memories, I'd most definitely concede that creeping is the way to go. But it's not, and "hold right while shooting and jumping, like you probably did in Normal anyway" is about as benign as memorisation gets in this type of game.
I don't even mind, I just think it's outrageous to claim that this encourages aggression when it so obviously encourages cowardice.
If your reaction to III/Hard is cowardice, that's understandable. It's a hard game with a decided initial memo barrier and much risk of sudden death after that. My reaction was to attack it head-on and break it. I'm happy to report that it's a nasty fucker to keep under control no matter your experience level, unlike the other two Nakazatos.
If you somehow managed to convince me that CIII actually was chaotic, that would be enough. But outside of the phenomenal stage 4 boss, the entire game is played mechanically.
It is, really? Again, if you were to post a similar clip of yourself vibrating through the hive while frantically blanketing both sides of the screen in MG fire and killing each spawner as it appears, it would only prove 1) the game's runs indeed throw a hell of a lot of stuff out, and
2) it's possible to stagger along vibratingly madly while shooting it. You could probably play a lot of superb action games like a malfunctioning robot. Never really occurs to me.
No, because those two games are chaotic, dangerous thrillrides that require reactive improvisation and are optimally played aggressively.
My entire argument here could be summed up as "Contra III is absolutely nothing like those two games."
This doesn't mean much from someone whose apparent mental image of st1's streets isn't a rampant killing frenzy but some creeping nightmare, and who never made it past the third stage. Trust me, as a non-vibrating no-misser of III/Hard and clearer of Ninja Spirit and Daimakaimura: III/Hard is optimally played aggressively, and it remains extremely volatile despite that. You could vibrate along through Ninja Spirit or Daimakaimura's first stages too, if you like. Oh no, these games aren't dangerous anymore!
At this point I can't tell if the insults flying across are still made jokingly.
edit: the dogs' double-takes at Bill vibrating madly in the street to the raunchy three-piece boogie are the best... 
