Awesome IREM PCB!!....

[dave4shmups]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRu0gvXphPA Another IREM game that I had never heard of before, and it looks sweet!! However, PCB's look waay to delicate for me to get into, I mean, I take good care of my stuff but good grief! It was my understanding that the PCB's fit inside the Super Gun, like they do an arcade cab, which this guy has.

[CIT]

Older PCBs can get pretty big, especially Irem boards, which are usually two-layered.

I've never seen a supergun that you actually put the game inside of. That's what cabs are for.

[emphatic]

You do know this is in MAME, right?

Looks like an OK game, lots of IREM traits, hold fire to fire bigger shot (R-Type), beware of dangerous surroundings (I guess all IREM games) and so on. It feels like a sequel to Ninja Spirit, but not as good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H17vkHzp-k4

[Domino]

The game is weak sauce.

[Skykid]

"This game is really, like really, really... really... really, like really, really..."

Game looks interesting, I'll give it a go.

[Acid King]

I played this for a bit in MAME and it doesn't seem too bad. Pressing up to jump is kinda lame though.

[robivy64]

I do enjoy the hardware reviews. I think I may start doing the same thing on my channel.

[Ed Oscuro]

I bought Ken-Go, played through it once on my Supergun, then did nothing with it. It's okay, but seems a lot of memorization and not a lot of freeform. Some bosses very nitpicky, like the mechanical one. Lotsa dying. Overall I think Domino is probably right; it'll be fun for diehards but it doesn't really feel like a hidden gem. And yes, it doesn't feel as good as Ninja Spirit, which is sad because if anything I feel Ninja Spirit could use a bit *more* structure. But losing the ranged attacks isn't great.

[emphatic]

Pressing up to jump is kinda lame though.

Just remap "Joystick up" to "Player 1 button 2" for this game. Or are you able to fire upwards in this game?

[gameoverDude]

I've gotten up to stage 5 on 1 credit so far, with 343900 pts. Ken-Go is decent, even if it may not be Irem's best. There are fewer respawning enemies than in Ninja Spirit (I bet the NS WR score is probably off the charts with all the leeching you can do).

There's no upward firing, but you don't really need it here. Like Emph said, at least MAME has a fix to make it a 2 button game if pushing up to jump really bugs you. I have no problem with that, however. You can come down sooner from a jump by pressing Down- so you can go Up~Down for short hops. Blocking is important- it's not just the charge shot you hold the button down for.

Even in MAMEUIFX32, the control is responsive (no lag noticeable). MAWS says that Ken-Go's 5 stages must be finished twice. I'd guess you go to the 2nd loop if you 1CC the first, otherwise you get "Thank You - The End" and "Game Over".

[Ed Oscuro]

Pressing up to jump is kinda lame though.

Just remap "Joystick up" to "Player 1 button 2" for this game. Or are you able to fire upwards in this game?

Ken-Go is to Castlevania as Ninja Spirit is to Contra, except where Ninja Spirit is widely considered a classic, Ken-Go is forgotten. Also more simple than Castlevania by a long shot.

Anyway, to explain:
Attacking is done by sword, and you can charge the sword by holding down attack. It still attacks in front of you, but is more powerful and you get some waves and stuff (iirc), maybe some vertical splash.

Just like almost any other platformer from the time, you aim your attack by jumping. My favorite.

I've gotten up to stage 5 on 1 credit so far, with 343900 pts. Ken-Go is decent, even if it may not be Irem's best. There are fewer respawning enemies than in Ninja Spirit (I bet the NS WR score is probably off the charts with all the leeching you can do).

See, that's why a planned scoring system is good. In this game, once you've figured out the enemy placement and timing attacks, you're done. In Ninja Spirit, the downside of the freeform scroll anywhere play is that you have to spend the extra time getting the over 120K points or whatever it is (working just from memory there) from the first stage, and do that from every other stage too. Egh.

This game doesn't have that little spark that Shinobi does. Ditto Rolling Thunder and Surprise Attack (Surprise Attack is probably one of the best of all these because movement and bonuses are less annoying than Shinobi, and the stage timer bonus means there's no excuse for dillydallying).

[system11]

I used to have that one - it's just awful. What's even more depressing is that it looks so primitive compared to Ninja Spirit (and is about 200x less fun), but it's actually on newer hardware.

[emphatic]

I used to have that one - it's just awful. What's even more depressing is that it looks so primitive compared to Ninja Spirit (and is about 200x less fun), but it's actually on newer hardware.

It's like DeathSmiles vs DeathSmiles 2.

[dave4shmups]

Older PCBs can get pretty big, especially Irem boards, which are usually two-layered.

I've never seen a supergun that you actually put the game inside of. That's what cabs are for.

True! Now this hardware is really interesting to me: http://www.youtube.com/user/lukemorse1# ... Fgq-bGrVOM BTW, the game was on the PS1, is it a good port??

[Strider77]

no, the game is horrible in all forms... the PS1 version is worse.

[gameoverDude]

no, the game is horrible in all forms... the PS1 version is worse.

I used to have Fatal Fury Wild Ambition on PS1. TBH I'd rather play RB2 "GET in the RING!" or Garou. Shame there's no Garou 2 or Art of Fighting 4, but it seems SNK has decided to replace these two series with KOF- fine, if KOF XIII is what we get of it (though KOF XII will probably be long forgotten now).

[dave4shmups]

Speaking of things Neo-Geo, there are so many SNK collections and games on the PS2, would it still be worth getting a Neo-Geo console? (CD or AES??)

[Mortificator]

I didn't dislike Wild Ambition, but it's pretty rare I feel like going back and playing again... even Fatal Fatal 3 is more likely to see some action. I'm talking about the PS1 port, though. I've never seen a HNG64, which is too bad, because I'd like to at least try Buriki.

Anyway, if you want to try a 3D SNK game, I had a surprising amount of fun with Maximum Impact 2 (released as King of Fighters 2006 in the US).

[Despatche]

Bump.

Ken-Go is pretty cool and fun. I don't know how you can say it looks technically worse than Ninja Spirit; this is one of the few games where big sprites really means something. I can't really compare this to either Ninja Spirit or Rolling Thunder+etc; it's just too different from either of those. I'd say it's like trying to compare Mustang to P-47 or something. Fun fact: apparently this isn't technically an Irem game and was actually developed by Nanao, the company that eventually bought them out in the late '90s. Wonder what all was developed by that game division, and whether folks like Takushi Hiyamuta were originally Nanao employees...

Wild Ambition isn't bad at all. It's a nice twist on RB2, just like RB2 was to RBS. All three of these games are pretty equal, I'd think... then Garou is its own thing. Apparently the PS version isn't quite as good as the arcade version... even so, the idea that anyone would ever want to play FF3 over WA (at least for multiplayer) makes me feel really uncomfortable. Art of Fighting isn't very good for multiplayer either, not even 2; that series really needs to be played singleplayer. I mean, I guess you can kinda play AoF3 like it's Kizuna, but at some point even Kizuna aka marvel-vs-capcom-micro.zip seems more appealing.

[trap15]

Nanao has actually owned Irem for longer than the late 90s, they've owned them since at least R-Type, if the interviews are to be believed.

[Marc]

Pressing up to jump is kinda lame though.

Just remap "Joystick up" to "Player 1 button 2" for this game. Or are you able to fire upwards in this game?

Ken-Go is to Castlevania as Ninja Spirit is to Contra, except where Ninja Spirit is widely considered a classic, Ken-Go is forgotten. Also more simple than Castlevania by a long shot.

Anyway, to explain:
Attacking is done by sword, and you can charge the sword by holding down attack. It still attacks in front of you, but is more powerful and you get some waves and stuff (iirc), maybe some vertical splash.

Just like almost any other platformer from the time, you aim your attack by jumping. My favorite.

I've gotten up to stage 5 on 1 credit so far, with 343900 pts. Ken-Go is decent, even if it may not be Irem's best. There are fewer respawning enemies than in Ninja Spirit (I bet the NS WR score is probably off the charts with all the leeching you can do).

See, that's why a planned scoring system is good. In this game, once you've figured out the enemy placement and timing attacks, you're done. In Ninja Spirit, the downside of the freeform scroll anywhere play is that you have to spend the extra time getting the over 120K points or whatever it is (working just from memory there) from the first stage, and do that from every other stage too. Egh.

This game doesn't have that little spark that Shinobi does. Ditto Rolling Thunder and Surprise Attack (Surprise Attack is probably one of the best of all these because movement and bonuses are less annoying than Shinobi, and the stage timer bonus means there's no excuse for dillydallying).

Dude you just hurt me deeply. Rolling Thunder is a fucking classic, I'd take it over Shinobi any day of the week. But this... remember finally playing it in the mid '00s (and for some reason, at the time I thought it was Ninja Spirit 2) and it sucks. But then I am an absolute NS fanboy.

[andsuchisdeath]

Where is the evidence that Ken-Go received a playstation port?

[Ed Oscuro]

Dude you just hurt me deeply. Rolling Thunder is a fucking classic,

I meant to say that RT and SA "have that spark," sorry for the bad writing.

Still like this game though.