Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[Marc]

Nice!
I'm still failing miserably in the second world, but I'm playing in fits and starts, because this one riles me up waaaay more than the first one ever did.

What's killing you?

EVERYTHING! Those bloody moles in the first world are causing me untold misery, and in one spectacularly unfair incident last night, I'd tunnelled to the very bottom of 2-2 when some lave from the other side of the level appears to have made it all the way down and toasted me without warning.

I'm going to have to take your advice about the shopkeepers I think - the Shotgun and Jetpack combo was pretty much the only combo that really mattered in the original, but with the extra enemies, traps and items available here, plus the ghost pot, it's not as OP as it was. Think I've approached it expecting more of the same, but it's different enough to have rendered my previous approach pretty useless.

Although I've realised that half my games haven't been deaths as such, just rage-quitting due to the instant-restart feature.

[Sumez]

PSA: The post above me is about Spelunky 2

Took me a while to dig back through a short train of quotes.

[Blinge]

That's it! I never buffered up on my Richter dash/slam before!

[Jeneki]

Spent more time with Ben Bero Beh. I'm liking it quite a bit more now. Some observations:

This game has a metric fuckload of sprite flicker. Between that and the jumps, I got a bad first impression but I'm glad I gave it more time. About the jumps, I originally found the jumping to be a bit janky, but it's also a speed boost. You can use it to move out of the way of things faster than walking.

The Hamster manual mentions that you can turn off gas valves, but doesn't say how. Jumping straight up under one appears to do it, and cancels out a small cloud (one without a skull yet).

You can use the extinguisher to put out small clouds. Bigger clouds (with a skull) will start floating around and turn into a stun cloud instead of a lethal explosion. Interesting detail in how you can handle them in a pinch.

Swinging lights can be manipulated by spraying them as well. In sections with lots of them overlapping, you can use the extinguisher to change the tempo of the first few to set up a run. Also, if a door opens the light will not swing through it. Interesting detail there, however I should expect nothing less from Taito after Elevator Action using open doors to block bullets.

One other funny use of the extinguisher: levitating the falling girl. This seems a bit glitchy as she can get stuck floating there.

This game has a few "surprise!" moments where things rush out of doors. I appreciate that these are non-lethal and only stun or move you back a bit, so they don't feel overly cheap. Not sure about the Elevator Action cameo as I haven't hit him yet, but I laugh every time I see it.

Scoring seems a bit busted when it comes to jumping pits. You can jump back and forth quickly over a hole to generate tons of points. You don't even need to jump over it: stand on the right side of the pit facing it with your foot slightly off the edge, then mash jump straight up to generate points. Try this on the first stage, at the bottom where you can keep it going until just before Evil Otto -- err whatever that thing is supposed to be -- catches you, and you can beat the default high score before completing the first stage.

Finally, I have to give a shout out to the headbanging file cabinets / safes / drawers / etc. There must be a metal concert on the roof, causing the fire and building to fall apart.

*edit* Just got the #1 leaderboard spot . So forget everything I wrote above about scoring. As you clear more and more loops, the bonus for clearing each stage gets bigger and bigger. Playing safe for survival eventually becomes the best scoring technique, making other sources of points obsolete.

[Vanguard]

EVERYTHING! Those bloody moles in the first world are causing me untold misery, and in one spectacularly unfair incident last night, I'd tunnelled to the very bottom of 2-2 when some lave from the other side of the level appears to have made it all the way down and toasted me without warning.

I'm going to have to take your advice about the shopkeepers I think - the Shotgun and Jetpack combo was pretty much the only combo that really mattered in the original, but with the extra enemies, traps and items available here, plus the ghost pot, it's not as OP as it was. Think I've approached it expecting more of the same, but it's different enough to have rendered my previous approach pretty useless.

Although I've realised that half my games haven't been deaths as such, just rage-quitting due to the instant-restart feature.

I recommend running through dwelling quickly. It's not very rewarding and it's the least fun area in both this game and the original. Moles are nasty if you hold your ground and try to fight, but as long as you keep moving they generally won't give you too much trouble. At most land one hit to stun them and leave before they wake up. The lava physics are genuinely unfair in a few places, particularly when you're trying to get into Vlad's castle. It needs to be patched. It's part of the reason why I go to the jungle. It seems harder at first, but once you get used to it I think it's more fun, more rewarding, and more fair.

It's best to use instant restarts only rarely. Every run where you restart in the dwelling is a run where you got no practice in the jungle or volcana. Even if those games wouldn't have been winners, the experience would have been valuable. This game is best played with the roguelike mindset, where you fight and nail to stay alive no matter what. Giving up and killing yourself the instant something goes wrong puts you in the exact opposite mindset.

[BIL]

Spent more time with Ben Bero Beh. I'm liking it quite a bit more now. Some observations:

Great post. I've only seen the first three stages, but I was picking up on lots of mechanical and technical subtleties elucidated here. Seems like a pretty substantial entry in the venerable Firefighting Action subgenre.

[Vanguard]

Rockman No Constancy

Spoiler

Another Rockman hack. This one's for Rockman 2. Mechanically, nothing has changed from the original game. No super speed, no air dashes, no double jumps. Just a new set of levels with redesigned weapons and enemies.

Spoiler

The best thing about this is its graphics and music. The stage tilesets and backgrounds been redrawn and most of it looks really nice. Rockman has also been redrawn to animate like Rockman X. The soundtrack is an outstanding selection of Famicom versions of music from other games.

Spoiler

The eight robot master stages are mostly good. There's more of an emphasis on platorming than combat, which isn't my preference. Thematically they're similar to the originals. Quick Man's stage involves racing against instant death lasers, Heat Man still has a long yoku block section, you get it. Some enemies have been redesigned to trip up people who are used to Rockman 2. For example, spring heads are slow when you're near them and fast when you move away, the reverse of their original behavior. I'd say the robot master fights are around the same level of quality as in Rockman 2. They're generally a bit harder, but once you know how they behave, it's easy to trap most of them in a safe behavior loop.

Spoiler

The Wily stages are a big step down. They're all about spikes, pits, and yoku blocks. You constantly need to switch to items items 1, 2, and 3, far more than you ever had to in Rockman 2. There's no thinking involved, you see a jump that's too high to make, you need 1 or 3. You see a jump that's too wide, pause the game and switch to 1 or 2. It's made all the more irritating by Rockman 2's garbage weapon selection UI. Mobility items were a mistake. A lot of the fortress bosses are only vulnerable to a single special weapon. Pretty frustrating to run out of ammo and have no choice but to suicide all of your lives away.

Spoiler

This is so much cooler than Alien Wily

The special weapons have been redone and they're pretty bland. They're energy hungry and, while most are usable, none compare to the original game's metal blade. Probably the overall best is Heat Man's weapon, which is just a better version of its Rockman 2 incarnation. It charges faster, it's fairly energy efficient, you can treat it like a poor man's version of the charge shot you get by default from Rockman 4 onwards. The best weapon being a worse version of most Rockman games' default weapon is pretty unsatisfying. The only official game with a worse arsenal than this is Rockman 3.

Spoiler

Much like with Rockman 5: Air Sliding, the first 8 stages are enjoyable, but the fortress stages are aggravating enough that I can't recommend this.

C

You can download the patch for Rockman no Constancy here: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/321/

[copy-paster]

Had no idea there is new update with X's sprite design. I still have older version nad new change looks interesting.

I don't remember all of Wily stages outside of final confrontation, played it like half a decade ago with save state abuse. But from what I recall in older version special weapon energy didn't drop as much. And I agree with the OST though, loved it back in the day I even idle the game for a bit just to listen it.

[Vanguard]

Made it to the super duper secret post-postgame area in Spelunky 2. The first level seemed to basically be a more spacious version of dwelling. The same enemies and traps were there. There was a giant jellyfish near the exit and it wouldn't move and it didn't respond to attacks, so I tried to just walk past it and I died instantly. There were some bubbles floating around that I could pop. Maybe you have to pop all the bubbles to make it move. Might come back to try and get the final ending later, but for now I'm done with this game.

Spoiler

[BrianC]

Rockman No Constancy

Spoiler

Another Rockman hack. This one's for Rockman 2. Mechanically, nothing has changed from the original game. No super speed, no air dashes, no double jumps. Just a new set of levels with redesigned weapons and enemies.

Spoiler

The best thing about this is its graphics and music. The stage tilesets and backgrounds been redrawn and most of it looks really nice. Rockman has also been redrawn to animate like Rockman X. The soundtrack is an outstanding selection of Famicom versions of music from other games.

Spoiler

The eight robot master stages are mostly good. There's more of an emphasis on platorming than combat, which isn't my preference. Thematically they're similar to the originals. Quick Man's stage involves racing against instant death lasers, Heat Man still has a long yoku block section, you get it. Some enemies have been redesigned to trip up people who are used to Rockman 2. For example, spring heads are slow when you're near them and fast when you move away, the reverse of their original behavior. I'd say the robot master fights are around the same level of quality as in Rockman 2. They're generally a bit harder, but once you know how they behave, it's easy to trap most of them in a safe behavior loop.

Spoiler

The Wily stages are a big step down. They're all about spikes, pits, and yoku blocks. You constantly need to switch to items items 1, 2, and 3, far more than you ever had to in Rockman 2. There's no thinking involved, you see a jump that's too high to make, you need 1 or 3. You see a jump that's too wide, pause the game and switch to 1 or 2. It's made all the more irritating by Rockman 2's garbage weapon selection UI. Mobility items were a mistake. A lot of the fortress bosses are only vulnerable to a single special weapon. Pretty frustrating to run out of ammo and have no choice but to suicide all of your lives away.

Spoiler

This is so much cooler than Alien Wily

The special weapons have been redone and they're pretty bland. They're energy hungry and, while most are usable, none compare to the original game's metal blade. Probably the overall best is Heat Man's weapon, which is just a better version of its Rockman 2 incarnation. It charges faster, it's fairly energy efficient, you can treat it like a poor man's version of the charge shot you get by default from Rockman 4 onwards. The best weapon being a worse version of most Rockman games' default weapon is pretty unsatisfying. The only official game with a worse arsenal than this is Rockman 3.

Spoiler

Much like with Rockman 5: Air Sliding, the first 8 stages are enjoyable, but the fortress stages are aggravating enough that I can't recommend this.

C

You can download the patch for Rockman no Constancy here: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/321/

Apparently, there's a new version with normal and hard modes? The read me gives me the impression that parts of the Wily stages were adjusted in Normal mode. Does normal mode fix some of the hack's flaws?

edit: I was confused by the wording on the game page. "Hard mode addition" meant that adjustments were made to hard mode.

[Vanguard]

I only played through normal mode. Briefly tried out hard, but they buffed enemy health so that's a no from me.

[Mischief Maker]

Spelunky 2. [...] for now I'm done with this game.

Give Noita a look. It's like a much more granular Spelunky where you start with the jetpack and shotgun. Much more action-packed than I expected.

Alternately it's the game Cortex Command tried to be but failed.

[BrianC]

I only played through normal mode. Briefly tried out hard, but they buffed enemy health so that's a no from me.

Yeah, when the description says only normal is beatable without save states, avoiding the hard patch is a safe bet. The 1.3 patch is fairly recent, though. Interesting how the download includes all versions of the patch.

[Vanguard]

Yet another romhack, this one's pretty good. There are two major additions. First, you can double jump, of course, and second, there are dash tank items that massively increase your speed placed in most of the levels. The boost seems to be about as fast as in Burst Chaser X Air Sliding. The mobility you get from combining the double jump with the dash tank lets you show serious disrespect to the level designs and boss patterns alike.

Spoiler

As usual, being able to double jump makes character handling feel really good in exchange for the game demanding less responsible play. Even yoku blocks are fun when you can double jump. Instead of memorizing your way through, you can use your first jump to stall and see what's about to happen, and your second to get into the right position. Dying or finishing a level will remove your speed boost, and dash tanks don't respawn. Mess up and you have to do the rest of the stage as regular old slowpoke Rockman. Losing your blazing speed after dying feels like a cruel punishment, but conversely, it makes keeping it feel like a reward. There's an alternate game mode called dash mode where you have permanent super speed. This hack autosaves after every stage so if you pick one mode and regret it, all you have to do is reset the game, select the other mode, and you're right back where you were. Also, if you want to delete your save and start a new game, you need to hold B and press A on the title screen.

Spoiler

Rock makes the soy face over his new dash tank

The level design is good. It's fast-paced and you're always running into new ideas. The only outstanding weak point is that the enemy formations are about as threatening as the ones in the official games, but with double jumping and dash tanks you're a lot stronger than you were in the official games. There are a few hidden areas and branching paths, and sometimes you'll an upgrade item in one of them. They tend to give you useful features like removing knockback when you get hit, or convenience features like adding energy pickups to your other weapons if your current weapon is full. The latter really ought to be a available from the start, but better to have it hidden than to not have it at all.

Spoiler

There's a huge gap between how dangerous different bosses are. Star Man and Gravity Man are nasty without their weaknesses. Most of the Dark Man fights are a joke even with just the buster. The special weapon set is pretty nice this time around. For a few examples, napalm bomb gives bosses only a brief instant of mercy invincibility, meaning it has very high potential dps, but its short range makes that risky. Star crash seems able to block just about any projectile in exchange for quickly burning through your energy. The problem with these weapons is that they're largely unnecessary. The buster is plenty strong on its own, and double jumping removes its weakness against attacks from above. Bosses tend to be weak against weapons that are easy to use against them, like what Capcom did in Rockman 2. Star Man has a force field that makes him hard to attack, but gravity hold, which is his weakness, goes right through it. Dark Man 4 likes to jump up high on the walls where most weapons have a harder time hitting him, but crystal eye can do it easily, and it's also his weakness.

Spoiler

Setting aside the dash and double jump mechanics, this doesn't feel too far off from something Capcom could have made. I don't recognize the music from anywhere. It seems to be original, but it sounds distinctly like Rockman music. Double Jumper's one major flaw is that it's too easy. Might be even easier than the original Rockman 5. There are a few rough bosses to watch out for, but aside from them it's smooth sailing. One could draw a comparison between this and Rondo's Maria. Most of the game's enemies can't deal with your overwhelming mobility, but it's still a great hack for some low pressure, feel good gaming.

B+

You can download Rockman 5: Double Jumper here. https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2620/

[Mischief Maker]

Oh man, ScourgeBringer is the shit! A ninja-platformer that's like Monolith meets Noitu Love 2.

And it has autofire for melee attacks!!!

[Marc]

Made it to the super duper secret post-postgame area in Spelunky 2. The first level seemed to basically be a more spacious version of dwelling. The same enemies and traps were there. There was a giant jellyfish near the exit and it wouldn't move and it didn't respond to attacks, so I tried to just walk past it and I died instantly. There were some bubbles floating around that I could pop. Maybe you have to pop all the bubbles to make it move. Might come back to try and get the final ending later, but for now I'm done with this game.

Spoiler

Bloody hell, it's still kicking my ass hard.
Had a most amusing death yesterday though.

Spoiler

Made it to Olmec, and muscle memory made me jump on his head ready for hell. Took me a second to realise he wasn't sinking into lava, then he went all Robocop and bombed the shit out of me.

Then I found

Spoiler

Vlad's castle type area. Got the sweet red cape realised I didn't know where the hell the exit was, died.

Also just realised I've yet to get into the Black Market, I presume it's no longer located in the second world any more?

[Vanguard]

Give Noita a look. It's like a much more granular Spelunky where you start with the jetpack and shotgun. Much more action-packed than I expected.

Alternately it's the game Cortex Command tried to be but failed.

I've heard of that. Sounds like it's Liero: The Sandbox Roguelite which is something I'd have been real excited about 15 years ago. I hear it's pretty chaotic and random, but, taking a quick look at a longplay, it doesn't appear any worse in that regard than Spelunky 2 is. Looks like it doesn't have any unlocks, which is nice if true. Is it single-player only? How playable is it on a controller?

Olmec has

Spoiler

three forms now. You only have to get past his first form. After that you can escape to the right. On his second form, you can safely ride on his head or hide up on the ladder on the right and let him bomb out the level for you. You had the right idea with waiting for him to sink into the lava. Doing so will get you a very nice item.

The exit is to Vlad's level is

Spoiler

at the absolute bottom of the map. It's outside of Vlad's castle. You need to leave the way you came in after claiming his crown and cape.

The black market is

Spoiler

exactly where it was in Spelunky 1.

[Mischief Maker]

Give Noita a look. It's like a much more granular Spelunky where you start with the jetpack and shotgun. Much more action-packed than I expected.

Alternately it's the game Cortex Command tried to be but failed.

I've heard of that. Sounds like it's Liero: The Sandbox Roguelite which is something I'd have been real excited about 15 years ago. I hear it's pretty chaotic and random, but, taking a quick look at a longplay, it doesn't appear any worse in that regard than Spelunky 2 is. Looks like it doesn't have any unlocks, which is nice if true. Is it single-player only? How playable is it on a controller?

Haven't played on controller, I was suggesting it because I figured hilarious chain deaths were the spelunky trademark (see also: Streets of Rogue).

But holy crap has this been a week for R2RKMF indie releases! First ScourgeBringer, now Gonner 2!

Gonner 2 most definitely has co-op, and it looks like they now have freeaiming with mouseaim. Also I think the unlimited dash move might be new.

I'm having fun with Gonner2, but I was shit at the first game, in part because of the psychadelic visuals, and in part because it's a Raw Fury game and the publisher seems to insist on games that don't include anything resembling instructions or a tutorial. Do all bosses haunt you as a giant malevolent eyeball for the remainder of the run?

Graphics are about the same, albeit zoomed out to accomodate your improved movement abilities, music is much better.

[Vanguard]

Haven't played on controller, I was suggesting it because I figured hilarious chain deaths were the spelunky trademark (see also: Streets of Rogue).

It happened in Spelunky 1, but it wasn't super common and 99% of the time it was the player's fault. Spelunky 2 added a lot of wacky random ways to destroy your run and the only way to prevent them is to play defensively to an obnoxious degree. Sometimes even that isn't enough. You need to scan every tile you'll step on for the three grey pixels denoting a bear trap, and whenver you fire a shotgun you risk it hitting something reflective or a ghost jar offscreen, which respectively will directly and indirectly kill you. Spelunky 1 also rewarded caution, but with experience you could still get away with rushing through. I can't say I approve of the change.

[Marc]

Another patch up, and this one specifically address the bear traps - they now all have a gold bar on top of them so they're easier to spot.
Reading the notes, it's going to iron out a lot of the stuff that's bugging me so fair play.
Hell, even the re-balanced World 1 has aided my enjoyment no end, though they should have kept the original setting as Expert mode or something.

[Vanguard]

Another patch up, and this one specifically address the bear traps - they now all have a gold bar on top of them so they're easier to spot.

Thank god. Would really like to see this reach the same level of quality as Spelunky 1 and that's a big step in the right direction.

[copy-paster]

Any write-up for Rockman 4: Minus Infinity someday?

It seems like the author of MI hinted a "sequel" for it but no news these days.

[Vanguard]

Any write-up for Rockman 4: Minus Infinity someday?

It seems like the author of MI hinted a "sequel" for it but no news these days.

Yeah, I'm doing that one last. I started playing these hacks to see if I could find something on R4:MI's level of quality, and despite finding some good stuff, I failed utterly. It's even better than I remembered. It's the best Rockman game. Not the best fangame, or the best game associated with the classic series. It's better than every other video game with "Rockman" or "Megaman" in its title, whether made by Capcom or anyone else. Everyone who likes platformers even a little bit should play it. Even if you specifically hate Rockman games, make an exception and give R4:MI a shot.

A sequel, or even a completely different game by Puresabe would be amazing. All I can find from him since Minus Infinity is a bunch of standalone Rockman boss fights, which I'd still like to try out.

[Sumez]

Been dabbling in Metal Slug X on/off the past few days. Haven't trained intensely yet, but once I find some more time for it, I'd like to go for a 1CC.

However, playing it reminded me heavily of the things that frustrate me with the series in general. The chaotic nature of what's going on makes me constantly find myself in situations where I feel like I shouldn't get killed, but do so anyway. I'm man enough to realise it's still my own fault, but something about the game just clutters my cognitive abilities as I play.
I feel like I have the skills to reliably no-miss all the way till the final stage, but so far I've been unable to even reach it on a credit yet, which officially makes it harder for me than any Cave shmoopers I've played. I checked out BIL's 1 life clear, and I'm impressed you can pull that off so well, nevermind one for MS3 as well.

Decided to spend a little time using the debug mode to practice stage 3 yesterday as I'd had quite a few unfortunate deaths on it. One thing that continues to puzzle me is the armored tank that lands on the locomotive - some times I'm able to take it out with only two grenades/stones, and some times it takes a ton of them while barely budging. Is there a trick to damaging it properly?

edit: Plz to be adding your own 1LC writeup to the index of cool posts

[Stevens]

How playable is it on a controller?

I00+ hours in Noita. Love that stupid game.

Plays well with a controller. Also worth mentioning that mods are really easy to use via Steam workshop and an in game menu. There are two or three that really add to it.

I beat it once. There are still a bunch of places I haven't been too. Game is fucking huge.

[copy-paster]

One thing that continues to puzzle me is the armored tank that lands on the locomotive - some times I'm able to take it out with only two grenades/stones, and some times it takes a ton of them while barely budging. Is there a trick to damaging it properly?

Throw your 2-3 grenades outside of tank's shield, it does have tons of damage.

Stage 5/City's opening is one of my favorites, just as intense as MS3 Stage 4 opener too.

[BIL]

Decided to spend a little time using the debug mode to practice stage 3 yesterday as I'd had quite a few unfortunate deaths on it. One thing that continues to puzzle me is the armored tank that lands on the locomotive - some times I'm able to take it out with only two grenades/stones, and some times it takes a ton of them while barely budging. Is there a trick to damaging it properly?

As copy-paster says, nail the tank itself for a quick kill. The shield/shovel is a separate target that'll soak up tons of damage. This is good to know in a few other places, as well as in MS3.

Riot shield zako work similarly - it takes forever to blow away the shield, but chuck a grenade onto a pack of 'em, and they'll die en masse. Or if you're near enough, just knife the fuckers (get in deep, their slash range beats yours):

Spoiler

Good to know when you're trying to conserve HMG ammo, the shield will soak it all up.

edit: Plz to be adding your own 1LC writeup to the index of cool posts

Haha, this officially clinches it - will get started on the big update this weekend. (currently absorbed in my first Bloodstained: ROTN playthrough, quite enjoying it)

Besides the bread and butter learning of stages and enemies, I think the chief curve in Nazca Slug is grenade budgeting: knowing how to build stock, and where to spend it. With experience, you'll know which targets/crowds deserve speedkilling. It's also much easier to burn a couple on emergency escapes, or squashing minor roadblocks, when you know you've got a surplus.

To a lesser extent, this applies to the special weapons, too. Learning how to wring every last kill out of them will help a lot. This anti-spray n' pray element is one of Slug's starkest distinctions from Contra, along with its Saigo-style free zako contact, and Ikari-esque vehicular combat.

Of course, this also makes survival a priority, since no matter how many bombs/guns you've hoarded, dying wiil wipe 'em all.

All three games have steep difficulty spikes in their Final Missions, so it's probably best to think of 1CCing the previous stages as an initial phase. This said, MSX's early game is probably the best-balanced of the series - tougher than MS1's, and less dwarfed by its finale than MS3's.

[Sumez]

As copy-paster says, nail the tank itself for a quick kill. The shield/shovel is a separate target that'll soak up tons of damage. This is good to know in a few other places, as well as in MS3.

I found a better approach. Just rush past the soldiers and stand under the tank, allowing you to attack it from behind the shield - it doesn't damage you as it lands, kinda similar to the two dropped tanks on ST5.

[BIL]

IIRC, you need to keep the tank alive to get the hidden POW in the driver's compartment. If you kill the tank, then try to get the POW, the game will give you a literal piece of shit instead. It's been a while, can't recall if he gives you anything good... I don't play Slugs for score, but when they set up hoops to jump through I'll usually give it a go. ;3

[Sumez]

Oh, all POWs is a must, man! I didn't know about that one (but always pick up the poo, because it's my destiny)

I don't play for score either, but all POWs need to be rescued, and all food must be eaten. And coins must be picked up in a quickly chained succession. That's just how it is, there's no debating it.