Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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BIL
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BIL »

nosorrow wrote:BIL, thanks to you, I just bought the game this minute.

I've been a major NES Bionic Commando fan since I purchased the game brand new with my own money back in April 1989 (I was 12!). Hopefully this plays as well as you say. ;-)
Guarandamnteed or your money back. Image Naw for real, it's one of those portable sequels whose biggest shortcoming is being on a portable (see also Double Dragon Advance). Could easily pass for a "Bionic Commando 20XX" on FC. Interested to hear what you think of it, I'm a huge fan of the NES game from way back too. Have you tried the FC version? The increased bodycount and relentless Nazi imagery makes it feel bizarrely transgressive compared to the relatively innocent overseas version, haha... hell of a good time.

I've not put enough time on any of Konami's parodic FC sidescrollers (Dracula-kun or the two Wai Wai Worlds) to really comment. The first Wai Wai has a horrendous case of my arch-peeve SCREEN EDGE RIDIN' which immediately turned me off, unfortunately... I do like how both games feature poor neglected ol' Getsu Fuuma, though, putting him shoulder to shoulder with his far more successful colleagues BERUMONDO, BIRU RIZER and that Goemon freak.

For cuter Konami stuff I do recommend Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa, it's pretty excellent. Makes me think of a sidescrolling Bubble Bobble, the inflate enemies->hitch a ride mechanic is wonderful. Even has a Metal Storm-esque inverse gravity stage. Very pricey on FC cart vs FDS unfortunately, just like Dracula.

At some point I'll be asking chaps for help on the cutesier FC action sidescrollers, there's a good few dozen I'm not as familiar with as my beloved harder-edged stuff.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by Ghegs »

Speaking of cutesier FC action sidescrollers and Disney games...I just received Mickey Mouse III: Yume Fuusen. And then proceeded to 1CC it on my first try. So, yeah, easy peasy. There was one slightly trickier boss fight and the final stage has a maze part (where picking a wrong door at the end sends you back to the very beginning of the stage, I was not-so-glad to discover), but overall I had no difficulties at all. The game does give out extra lives at a fairly rapid pace, so that plays a part too.

The game does have an interesting, though underused main mechanic. Mickey's weapon of choice are red balloons, which can be thrown at enemies, and at different directions like straight up or diagonally. They bounce around a bit, too. But they can also be laid down as mines, for enemies to walk on them. And if Mickey jumps on a balloon-mine himself, it propels him up into a superjump. And when airborn, holding on to a balloon slows down his descent. It's all pretty cool, but the stages don't require mastering balloon-fu. I remember only one occasion where the superjump was required to proceed. But there are hidden items and areas of which I only found one, so maybe reaching those requires using it more. And one of the last boss fights actually uses it against you, which was nifty.

But all is not lost! After the end credits roll, a familiar code is displayed. Do the Konami code at the title screen (the game's actually by Kemco) and you start Hard Mode that gives out less extra lives, enemies have more HP and are more aggressive, bosses are faster and I don't know what else because I had difficulties getting past the first stage. There are bees that rush you and they take two hits now instead of just one, and I almost always took damage from them. I game overed without seeing the second boss.

The game was released in the west as Kid Klown in Night Mayor World. From what I understand the changes are mostly if not all graphical. Mickey's adventure has bosses familiar from Disney movies, and the final boss is actually the main antagonist from The Black Cauldron. I thought that was pretty cool as I liked the character.

The game does suffer from slowdown quite a bit. It's very noticeable that the game runs faster when Mickey is alone on the screen, but just one or two enemies is enough to bring the slowdown.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by Squire Grooktook »

Ghegs wrote:The game was released in the west as Kid Klown in Night Mayor World. From what I understand the changes are mostly if not all graphical. Mickey's adventure has bosses familiar from Disney movies, and the final boss is actually the main antagonist from The Black Cauldron. I thought that was pretty cool as I liked the character.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BrianC »

What's interesting is that the MM version almost made it here and a translated version exists in prototype form. I noticed a lot of Kemco's games seem to be designed with inserting different properties in mind. "Real" Ghostbusters GB is Garfield Labyrinth in Europe, Mickey Mouse IV in Japan, and has unused graphics for a Kid Kool version in the rom.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BIL »

There's also the bizarre case of Gremlin Software's Alternative World Games (Spectrum) becoming Kemco's Donald Duck (FC), then Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular (NES). I was all hype thinking it might be another ace Capcom Disney duck sidescroller I'd yet to discover, but nope, it's that weird Snoopy game I never rented back in middle school. OH WELLZ. (I rented Platoon instead, if memory serves. such improvement!)

One of those slightly off-brand feeling yet still compelling Japanese companies, haha. Their international connections are interesting. I grew up thinking the Macventure games they ported to NES (Deja Vu, Shadowgate, Uninvited) were theirs. Loved Top Gear Overdrive on the N64.

I am frickin loving Ducktales. I don't have the ravenous appetite for hoppier boppier stuff that I do for Dracula and its stabbing, blasting, bludgeoning ilk... DT's wonderfully base concept (GET MONEY), classic mechanical hook and taut stage design give it an arcadey immediacy, and a spot on my shelf with the similarly effective Castle of Illusion. Tried out a few of Capcom and Sega's later Disney sidescrollers this evening and although they're undeniably fine work, there isn't the same compulsion.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BrianC »

BIL wrote:There's also the bizarre case of Gremlin Software's Alternative World Games (Spectrum) becoming Kemco's Donald Duck (FC), then Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular (NES). I was all hype thinking it might be another ace Capcom Disney duck sidescroller I'd yet to discover, but nope, it's that weird Snoopy game I never rented back in middle school. OH WELLZ. (I rented Platoon instead, if memory serves. such improvement!)
That reminds me that Mickey Mouse/Garfield/"Real" Ghostbusters game is also based on an obscure computer game, P.P. Hammer.

It's worth mentioning that the JP Duck Tales is mostly in Japanese and "Dream and Friends" is one of the few uses of English in the dialog. I'm guessing the proto used a more literal translation from the Japanese and it was changed to be more like the show (as much as I like Engrish, I found this to be a good thing since I like the show quite a bit).

According to this page, Disney was responsible for some of the changes to DuckTales NES, including the "RIP" on the coffins.

I like how the outfit for Scrooge is closer to the Carl Barks comics. To bad there isn't a game where you play as Carl Barks version of Scrooge (who is much more of a tightwad than the Duck Tales version and would probably say "dream and money" instead of "dream and friends").

Edit: I was curious about whether or not the JP GB version also has "dream and friends". I found a video and it looks like "Dream and Friends" is intact.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by Ed Oscuro »

Still not finding a game I want to play seriously. Little Samson / Lickle has a lot of good points to it, and I'm quite interested by the bravura performance of the 360 character portraits. Lots of animation in this game and it doesn't interfere with play, unlike Moon Crystal. According to the NES cart DB this didn't require any extra RAM.

Disknee's Little Mermaid turned out to be another Capcom game, and looks quite good for what it is too. Unfortunately this comes at the expense of literally floaty water physics, shell tossing, and very simple stage design (so far). It's no Ecco, at least.

The big one is Castlevania II. This guy gets some of the right points. There are some neat points to the game (rush against time if you're playing for the best ending could be neat for extending play time) but mainly it's a sloppy game with mostly horrible map design and even worse enemy placement: Enemies patrolling two-block wide ledges immediately under you, or at the top of stairs, or very nearly at the screen edge as you cross over, or crowding all the space underneath a leap of faith in a mansion where you're already at a disadvantage due to having to recover from the drop and change direction - wat, and additionally riddled with slowdown and other technical flaws. Unfortunately, the badness seems to extend to the community, which on the whole seems more welcoming of CV2 "because it's eerie and diff'rnt" (I.E. GOTH) than Bloodlines! Bad advice can be found on your favorite game data dump sites, like this walkthrough's gem instruction to jump in order to send tarantula webs off in the wrong direction. Wrong way 'round, chief; doing that as a rule sacrifices Simon's mobility! Thankfully, Konami seems to have worked out most of the finer points in time for CV3...or maybe they didn't invite the core staff back.

Some notes on Cool Stuff (in addition to these and this):

- Wouldn't be terribly surprising if this is essentially the CV1 engine. Most everything was there already - instead of crouching in a particular point to spawn a treasure, here you crouch longer to play a little cutscene and trigger a map change. There are some definite mechanical changes, like Simon getting bounced when getting hit while on stairs (Dracula's Curse in action?), instead of just getting stunned in place as in CV1. I'm not going to look at that in detail yet.
- First appearance of the standing "hit enemies behind you" whip (though it's possible to do this in Castlevania 1 via exploiting the turn-to-face on taking damage, see below).
- When you trigger a flickscreen boundary on the right screen edge (to cross over into the next section), it seems you can immediately hold Left to cancel the map change before rendering starts; the screen remains black. Load times seem roughly the same in either direction. When you move through a screen boundary on the left, the screen will draw. The reason for this is apparently that when Simon is put into the map from the right edge, he is a full block width from the edge; when he comes in from the left, he's only half a block away. If there are any screen boundaries that don't work this way, I'd expect they can be cancelled from drawing only if he only comes in half a block from the edge.
- Indoors, slimes aren't very dangerous because they constantly jump up and down from the ceiling. Outdoors slimes are basically fleamen. I wouldn't be surprised if all that has changed is new sprites are drawn in place of the old ones; both enemies seem to animate at the same frenetic pace.
- Cycling from day to night shows some slightly amusing behavior: Surviving enemies take the same number of hits as they did at the previous time of day, but switch over to the new heart reward values (i.e., a Vrad Graveyard ghost surviving from day to night can drop a Big Heart after being one-shotted), while the screen itself can get cluttered up with different types of hearts that normally can't be seen together. Most fun, if you kill an enemy just as the time of day shifts, you can watch Castlevania II's tiny, pathetic burning enemy sprite dance in place for a while.
- For all the careless placement of enemies in places that make you throw holy water for hours (especially fun when it's a Kagidume which soaks up tons of hits and keeps doubling back to you), it looks like they were very careful not to put any water pits in the towns directly under ledges. You should always be able to safely drop from a ledge in town by walking. Moving jumps are another matter, though; there's a nice spot in one of the towns where a missed jump up to another level will dunk Simon right into the drink.
- You can run straight "through" werewolves; they hop when Simon gets close, and you can pass safely under. Can the jumping Mermen at the ferry ride ever hit Simon?
- If mirrored, the crumbling plaster design on the brick gates outside each Mansion would look a lot like a skull, Punisher-style (but the eye socket is repeated at the top, making the pattern harder to spot).
- In the first mansion to the right, the two illusionary floors have two-block-wide column designs immediately behind them.
- Horizontal walls of spikes can be jumped on and used as ladders to get higher, so long as Simon doesn't go far into them. For some reason, getting hit by these juggles Simon to death almost instantly with multiple hits, instead of leaving him hurting over time like floor-bound ones. Do spikes on the ceiling hurt Simon in CV2?
- What the hell does the "Yoke" in "Yoke Roll" mean?

Incidentally, I've discovered two ways of hurting an enemy behind you in Castlevania PRG1 (beyond luring enemies into hazards, of course):
- Throwing a weapon - holy water and knife can both achieve this. As best as I can guess, the critical point is to have the enemy reach you just as the frame of Simon's throwing hand forward is displayed. Stopwatch can't achieve this - throwing one causes Simon to execute a whip as normal, and the best you can do is stop an enemy from triggering damage at the limit, which seems to be six pixels into his idle standing sprite (i.e., only touching a line drawn just behind Simon's head; spare the face!).
- Timing the whip strike just so when / before (?) you get bumped - maybe there's a point where an attack is locked-in and getting hit doesn't cancel it.
-> Some enemies cause the vision of strange. A low bat attack can cancel the attack animation and sound, apparently vaporizing the enemy without cause and leaving a burning Holy Water pickup in its wake... (The window for the item drop - rng selection I guess - seems to be more than one frame, though you do need to kill the enemy at the right time.) Sometimes the cancelled attack actually extends further behind Simon than the enemy, i.e., it can sometimes hit a candle behind Simon, and sometimes just the enemy. Depending on exactly how close the enemy is, the effect looks rather different!

The standing whip destroying both high and low axes from the axe armor is interesting, since ducking makes Simon unable to hit a merman's fireball. Normally they pass harmlessly by overhead, but if you try to whack them out of the air while crouched, Simon will get hit instead! Apparently a crouched whip actually makes Simon taller than just being in a crouch. On the plus side, hitting a merman's fireball gives you a chance of scoring the heart jackpot - 5 from the merman and an additional one from the fireball.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BrianC »

I was wondering if D-1000 in Duck Tales 2 was a localization thing or something that is also in the JP version. In a video of the JP version, I say "D-1000" in the middle of the text in English letters and numbers. I don't notice any Engrish along the lines of "Dream and Friends", though.

I also started playing Boku Dracula Kun. Not the hardest game, but it is a ton of fun with a similar quirky sense of humor to Parodius and "Fat Penguin Story" (forgot the actual name). I also noticed that the copyright protection where no enemies or platforms appear in stage 2 can kick in on a real cart if the cart decides to be stubborn (JP carts are less finicky than US carts in a model 1 NES, but garbage can still occur), but it's a rare occurrence. I managed to get all the way to the space section with the platforms, though I used a faq to get past the statue of liberty since that part is a quiz in Japanese.

Here's a pic of my game and I'm 100% sure it's not a bootleg.

edit: The title of that one game is Yume Penguin Monogatari and it translates to something like "Dream Penguin Legend". Unfortunately, it got chipped in the mail, but it still works. It's also one of those Konami games that is (and is supposed to be) in a standard Nintendo cart. Quarth is also in a Nintendo cart instead of Konami's custom cart.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BIL »

Ed Oscuro wrote:Outdoors slimes are basically fleamen. I wouldn't be surprised if all that has changed is new sprites are drawn in place of the old ones; both enemies seem to animate at the same frenetic pace.
Wouldn't be the FC games' first fleaman reskin! Or, uh, it technically would be. But it wouldn't be the first I've seen! How to detect fleaman in CV3 (using the original principle from CV1).

Lately I've been browsing Konami's late-80s MSX and Famicom originals. I hadn't appreciated how into nonlinear sidescrolling action/adventure they were around then, just from stuff I know of. Maze of Galious, its Famicom counterpart, Getsu Fuuma Den, Goonies, Goonies 2, Wai Wai World, MSX2 Dracula and Dracula II were all released within a year or two of each other. Makes Dracula II's weakness seem less sophomoric than I'd thought. Hell, makes the FC original's excellent linear action design seem almost flukey.

It's the horribly tedious, vacant mansions that really sink II. The town and country wandering, eh... as filler goes it's inoffensive enough.

Priest: "Go in peace and serve the LORD. lolololololol"

Can't say I'm thrilled by the RPG trappings (talk to morons! buy stuff to proceed! JUST LIKE IRL). But had it all been punctuated by memorable dungeons, I wouldn't complain about it! If not action-packed romps ala the original's stages, then at least the lateral thought-engaging puzzleboxes of Galious, each capped with a memorable boss encounter. But NAW. Oh wellz.

About CV1 engine weirdness persisting in PRG1, do you know about the critical hit? Not sure how viable it is outside of TAS; the current SDA run uses it on the ST1 boss and Dracula's first form only.

My favourite oddity is the crouching subweapon throw, normally only executable after being knocked back or falling from a high ledge. It's a shame so many of the classic games (I, III, X68k, Rondo) had the consistent bane of two action buttons. I've toyed with the idea of hacking together some godawful device for chucking axes from a crouch in Dracula 1, ala Vampire Killer.
BrianC wrote:Unfortunately, it got chipped in the mail, but it still works. It's also one of those Konami games that is (and is supposed to be) in a standard Nintendo cart. Quarth is also in a Nintendo cart instead of Konami's custom cart.
Yeowch! Good to hear it survived the blow. Interesting, about the standard Nintendo cart shell. I was four or five Konami carts in when I finally noticed that odd screwhole on Dracula 1, and briefly thought I'd bought a boot.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by Obscura »

BIL wrote:Can't say I'm thrilled by the RPG trappings (talk to morons! buy stuff to proceed! JUST LIKE IRL). But had it all been punctuated by memorable dungeons, I wouldn't complain about it! If not action-packed romps ala the original's stages, then at least the lateral thought-engaging puzzleboxes of Galious, each capped with a memorable boss encounter. But NAW. Oh wellz.
Come on, you can't tell me that the dungeon where 90% of it is a giant red herring that leads to a dead end and you're really supposed to just use Holy Water on the wall just right of the start wasn't memorable and used lateral thought!

And hey, the bosses are totally memorable! Just... for entirely the wrong reasons :lol:
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BrianC »

The one time I know for sure I got the copy protection for Kid Dracula was when I started the game using the password screen. It was still more likely due to starting the game after garbage cleared up instead of a clean restart, though. TCRF details how the scheme works and it sounds like if the Konami logo and copyright get corrupted, the anti piracy scheme kicks in.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by Ed Oscuro »

@ BIL: I wouldn't be surprised if that's the critical hit. Testing it out against one-hit enemies (bats, mambo zambozos, etc.) didn't show me much about damage. I thought of trying it against something else (like axe knights) but didn't want to take the time... :lol: . Your other notes are interesting to follow up on. Castlevania II players have discovered that it is possible to two-shot Dracura with just holy water, and apparently what facilitates this is the vial hitting tiles at the same moment as Dracula. Somehow, I imagine there's a fun gameplay mechanic waiting to be born out of the game's corpse, like something out of Pete Jackson's Braindead.

Aesthetically, Castlevania II is generally far superior to Castlevania 1, and reading about Galious / Knightmare (which I've never tried, still) has me wondering about how those and CV2 fit into a new scheme. I think it would be excellent if some kind soul gathered together all the interesting information about the game to put those useless and basically unreadable GameFAQs submissions in the shade. It might help lure people away from endlessly debating the merits of Vampire Killer vs. Bloody Tears, but now I'm wondering if CV2 is a good representative of a new stage for the company - at least in its NES releases. A lot of Konami's NES titles have a look vaguely familiar from CV2 in them, and a lot of them seem to share its relatively weak commitment to gameplay - not horrible, but not really the outstanding new directions the company still was going to take on many of its releases for new platforms, including in the same series. I'll have to look into this some more - MSX2 King Kong vs. NES Mission Impossible.

I guess there's no surprise. Graphics, novelty, and an illustrious forebear sold Castlevania II, and a bet to rush it out the door didn't hurt sales (or the franchise as a whole, though I think CV3 sold less than CV2, which in turn sold less than CV1 - see, ROM size is inversely related with salez!). In many respects it was obviously unfinished, with sloppy map truncation to (mostly) remove cut areas. Without dramatically improved gameplay or at least map design, there probably wasn't much they really would have done to help the game; the bugs and Spurdo Sparde-level messages are sometimes quite enjoyable. Much of the rest can almost be mitigated; only one of the dungeons forces you to visit every room, I think. Dedicated players should get a kick out of speedrunning the game for its best ending. I don't count myself a dedicated player, though. At the very least I'm happy they didn't go the Zelda II route and turn every single combat into a frenzy of button mashing.

For a laugh I might go ahead and load up my old CVD acquaintances' ROMz; I think Morgoth Galaxius and redrum pushed out the CV2 hack I've toyed with recently. I've no idea what all the changes are; the first villager says "HOLY SHIT! REDRUM HAS MADE ANOTHER CV HACK" and the first priest's text is a nice Braindead/Dead Alive reference...I think. ("I kick ass in the name of the Lord!") Other changes are just as loony, like making some of the room interiors perilous pits interspersed by mildly hellish patterns of tiles, just like the classic CV hacks. Still, something must be done! - pretty soon we'll all be scooting about in Mr. Fusion powered hoverchairs, rapping "it's been / one hun-dredd years since dorak-ura made a game"

Two button limitations have been bothering me a lot recently. I wonder if the NES, during its early years with games on primitive mappers, would have been better served by more complex movesets with more corresponding unique frames of action to stretch its meager hardware. On the other hand, a lot more JAMMA to NES transitions could have been smoothly handled with an extra button (Gun.Smoke should be one). Likewise the Castlevania concept was served pretty well through its first decade by a mostly two-button mentality. Many games that could have gone considerably further, like Rocket Knight Adventures, still seem to have kept that two button mentality. Another hidebound pattern from the past - cluttered face surfaces of controllers like the Genesis 6 button with no shoulders. Seems great in theory but you can't alternate between buttons or react with a particular button press as quickly as possible. Sony made a good stab at the problem, but since 1994 understanding of this problem has apparently stagnated (and in any case, "modern controllers have two many buttons").

3 buttons is pretty sensible for many games, and 6 is very good for convenience mappings and enabling slightly different playstyles (like the Super Shinobi 6 button style), even in the Sega layout.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by dojo_b »

Pulled off a 1LC of Castlevania I. 8) It's been about a week of vigorous evening training since I first 1CC’d it, and while this last stretch got dreary at times, the late refinements made a big difference in my overall confidence.

During my one-life clear I ended up triggering the headless skele-dragon again, confirming that this bug persists in PRG1. And then afterward, my OCD brain goes: Was that cheating? Did the run count? (shut the fuck up, Donny.) Well, I repeated the feat sans bug this morning.

Some basic guidance (no real spoilers):

-The biggest key to 1CC’ing this game is understanding the double/triple weapon powerups and how these can be reliably obtained. If you’re averse to spoilers like me, take a real basic hint and *read the fuckin’ manual*, it’s more or less spelled out there.

-Creature and Death (4th and 5th bosses) are great fun to fight—some basic patterns combined with a shit-fest of dangerous random elements. My major Aha! was simply realizing I’m not good enough to reliably kill them without major ordnance. I still prefer a lower-powered fight, but for run purposes I bring a triple weapon. This trivializes Creature, sadly; Death still gives me a good fight, although I’m sure I could iron that out.

-The last level leading up to Dracula looks quite punishing, especially as there’s no health bonus immediately before the boss. Practice will make it much easier. E.g., drill on the bats: they are randomized, but in a limited way, and they broadcast their next moves. I follow a simple decision tree based on their actions and there is just one infrequent outcome that I don’t know how to handle.

-Dracula’s first form is, I find, a killer test of nerves, even after drilling exhaustively on the dodging and counter-attack. The reaction-time needed to defend against his aggro-teleport is a bit stunning and I have to wonder if input latency becomes an issue. I find that two things help: (i) assess your mental and eye fatigue, and if there’s any doubt, take a 10-minute nap before trying to clinch the run. I have reached Dracula several times in seemingly great form, with a strong sense of focus, but simply hit a wall after failing to take this advice. (ii) Visually focus intensely on Simon’s location while you wait for the Count, to minimize your delay.


I’d say that picking up 1CC/1LCs in this game is less tough than Ninja Gaiden 1. However, there are pleasantly tricky parts here even as early as level 2 (out of 6—not using the silly stage divisions), and dispersed throughout for a slow burn that contrasts well with the ridiculous ramping-up in NG1.
But I couldn’t choose between the two games, they really complement each other. Nimble lightness and speed on the one hand, weighty solidity on the other. Simon’s heavy whip-crack has got to be one of the most satisfying of all basic attacks (I always slash more candles than I need) and the limitations of his slow wind-up and recovery, along with the fixed jump-arc, impose a discipline one comes to accept fondly.

I’m thinking of Contra for my next 1CC push, as these three series always seemed to define the central canon of righteous 8-bit violence. Although I’m open to suggestions for other games. (CV3 is of course on the bucket list, but I’m a bit nervous of its length and want to diversify first.)
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by cicada88 »

dojo_b wrote: I’m thinking of Contra for my next 1CC push, as these three series always seemed to define the central canon of righteous 8-bit violence. Although I’m open to suggestions for other games. (CV3 is of course on the bucket list, but I’m a bit nervous of its length and want to diversify first.)
Is it really a 1CC if you take a nap before the final boss? (Shut the fuck up Donny)

If you can 1 life CV then Contra is going to be a walk in the park for you. Extra lives are given way too frequently to make it any challenge, but you should definitely go for it.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BIL »

Dracula's RNG teleporting and the associated brutal body check is my favourite thing ever. Image Juggling evasion with actually getting in hits is always gripping.

I could certainly see significant input lag being a problem there. You only have a split-second to identify the right direction and get clear of his sprite, and getting clocked will lose you 25% lifebar. Having said that I find most popular NES emulators and a wired USB pad totally fine. That boss really underlines how responsive the game's controls are (the traditional series' archnemesis of subweapons+stairs aside). It'd be a total lottery if Simon didn't handle so sharply.

Even with its instant deaths, I imagine Contra would be an easier 1LC than NG1 or CV1. Air control is much more forgiving and it gives you far more dominant firepower (as you'd expect). Once you know the basic stage layouts and can keep hold of S+R it should crumble pretty easily. Definitely another of the big NES sidescroller bogeymen despite that, haha.

edit: whoa, misread that! Yeah, a Contra 1CC would almost certainly be easier. Frequent extends and no checkpoints are two big advantages off the bat, in addition to flexible jumps and big guns. It's an absolutely excellent game, having said all this. All but immortally replayable with its furious bodycount, romping stage design and interwoven RNG elements. Unsurprising recommend. ^_~

Anecdotally, I commute with NG1 and CV1 on my 2DS, and playing them on a small screen in a moving vehicle really underlines how much more punishing of minor mistakes the latter is. Provided you don't get dunked into a pit, you can take tons of hits in NG1 and still sail through. Only Eagles do significant damage (-3HP, the vast majority of other stuff does just -1). From CV1's fifth stage a couple mistakes will wipe half your lifebar.

...I never thought about it until now, but stage 5 is the only one without instant death hazards, isn't it. >_> Still comes across as one of the thornier ones. Good game design.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BrianC »

BIL wrote: Lately I've been browsing Konami's late-80s MSX and Famicom originals. I hadn't appreciated how into nonlinear sidescrolling action/adventure they were around then, just from stuff I know of. Maze of Galious, its Famicom counterpart, Getsu Fuuma Den, Goonies, Goonies 2, Wai Wai World, MSX2 Dracula and Dracula II were all released within a year or two of each other. Makes Dracula II's weakness seem less sophomoric than I'd thought. Hell, makes the FC original's excellent linear action design seem almost flukey.
Goonies 1 FC is the odd man out of those games. It's much more arcade like, despite still being a maze like game. While I like the sequel quite a bit, I prefer the original for it's more arcade like feel and less wandering around.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BIL »

Ta, gonna have to give that one a closer look! I'm kinda bummed I blindly passed up both of the FC games a few months back.

Dunno if I'd like them, but I'm trying to sample some of the less aesthetically shootier/stabbier/demonier stuff. Occasionally I'll find something cute that gets to the point quickly enough, like Ducktales. I'm an inveterate violent gamer. :[ (pogo bounce = quality gaming violence btw, so kinetic). I'd find it hard to give a cutesier game the time I do Getsu Fuuma Den and its strange/wonderful 8-bit hell.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by dojo_b »

cicada88 wrote: Is it really a 1CC if you take a nap before the final boss? (Shut the fuck up Donny)
Damn, you're right :x

Still, that mofo slept for, what, 100 years? Only sporting to allow a 10-minute doze.
BIL wrote: Even with its instant deaths, I imagine Contra would be an easier 1LC than NG1 or CV1.
[...]
edit: whoa, misread that - a Contra 1CC would definitely be easier!
Thanks. Feeling optimistic, although I still suck at reading the bullet action in the pseudo-3D shooting gallery stages.

I try to wait on the decision to go for 1LC until a 1CC seems within reach, but hopefully yes. I was irritated in CV1 to find that, as in so many games, it's quite possible to milk endless lives from the system via scoring, e.g. with the red skeletons on level 5. An argument for insisting on 1LCs. Thankfully NG1 didn't suffer from this flaw IIRC.

Query, anyone: best NES/FC action game that's *harder* than NG1 or CV1 (and not in their series)?
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by cicada88 »

dojo_b wrote: Thanks. Feeling optimistic, although I still suck at reading the bullet action in the pseudo-3D shooting gallery stages.
Depends if you are ok with playing super safe. If you don't go for knocking out the non essential door targets, you pretty much just stay planted to the ground with the down key.

There is no time limit, so they only thing really stopping you are the occasional firecracker tossers. Just pop up when you absolutely know there are no bullets, fire a quick round or 2 then duck again.

Obviously not the most stylish way to win, but it's really not that hard if you are patient and play it safe.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BrianC »

BIL wrote:I'd find it hard to give a cutesier game the time I do Getsu Fuuma Den and its strange/wonderful 8-bit hell.
Speaking of that, I need to get back to that one too. Notice a certain game in that pic I posted? ;)
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BIL »

dojo_b wrote:Thanks. Feeling optimistic, although I still suck at reading the bullet action in the pseudo-3D shooting gallery stages.
Note you can duck by hitting [down] - It might sound painfully obvious, but when I returned to Contra after several years I'd forgotten, and had a hell of a time in base 2. :lol:
dojo_b wrote:I try to wait on the decision to go for 1LC until a 1CC seems within reach
Same, particularly as I'm kind of in half gamer/half collector mode ATM. If I 1CC something it has to be both doable and instantly appealing, otherwise I just try to make sure it's a solid pick then move onto the next on my shortlist. I love Holy Diver (see below) but lord I'm not gonna try 1CCing it for a while, let alone 1LCing.
dojo_b wrote:Query, anyone: best NES/FC action game that's *harder* than NG1 or CV1 (and not in their series)?
Irem's Metal Storm immediately comes to mind. One of the most essential FC sidescrollers, and in its second loop, one of the hardest. R-Type's calculated stage and weapon design in an ultra-responsive platform shooter, with a deftly implemented gravity inversion mechanic. I recommend the FC version for a tougher, more interesting final stage, cooler mech palette and legitimately rad opening cinema. The beautifully detailed techno aesthetic with its chunky sprites, vivid colours and super-smooth parallax doesn't hurt, either.

The first loop's difficulty is roughly in line with NG1/CV1, tough but not punishingly so. The second is arcade brutal with some hellish memoriser puzzleboxes - the good sort, where mastering execution doesn't defuse tension. Should satisfy even the most hardcore, assuming of course they're not totally against Irem's trademark die -> evaluate -> repeat design ethos. ;3

Also Irem, wizard sidescroller Holy Diver (FC only) is hard as nails but unfortunately flawed by input glitches and some aggravating bullet flicker. Neither's a killer, and you'll know if you're prepared to work around them, but they stop me recommending it unreservedly. Caveats aside it's a memorable descent into FC sidescrolling hell. Stage 1 is tricky - everything from the fourth onward is a towering ordeal. This is what people's memories exaggerate NG1 and CV1 into. THIS IS THE REAL FC HELL (・`W´・)

Image

One of my most beloved carts, but be prepared for mild annoyance sprinkled onto burning pain. ;3

Capcom's Ningen Heiki: Dead Fox aka Codename Viper is very tough and thoroughly excellent as well. Brazen Rolling Thunder ripoff that's as superb as it is shameless. Amusingly, it steals from fellow RT-alike Shinobi too, combining the discipline of the former (limited ammo, no bomb, contact damage on enemies) with the razor-sharp air control of the latter. Wickedly intense cover-emphasising shooting, with death never more than a single mistake away.
BrianC wrote:Speaking of that. I need to get back to that one too, notice a certain game in that pic I posted? ;)
Indeed. Image Nice clutch of Konami goodies there, Gradius II as well!

---

Oh hay. I had no idea about 2010 Street Fighter's flying kick! Hold down or down/forward in the air and instead of the heavy punch executed in neutral, Kevin will give a meaty soccer kick right in they fuckin mout. Seems mechanically identical to the punch, unfortunately, and marginally trickier to do. Of course one might argue that kicking baddies square in the face is its own reward. Image
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2010SF is another of my recs for NG/CV-quality sidescrolling of higher difficulty, though like Holy Diver it requires qualification. This is very much the FC's Alien Soldier: an ambitious, boss-centric concept with a rough entry barrier in its idiosyncratic handling and merciless difficulty. Approached as a freeform twitch game ala NG1 or even CV1 it might seem unplayable.

I swear by it being worth getting to grips with, though. Once you're figuring out how Kevin's attacks slot into particular situations, and recognising when you need to i-frame backflip out of incipient pincer traps, you'll start to feel like god damn Space Kenshiro. Sat down for Just One Credit this evening, got the disintegrating remnants of my carbonised ass hurled back at me, then spent Many More Credits Than Planned getting back up to speed. That is ADDICTIONS. :3 Strategic action forcing you to constantly think beyond your next move and highly unpredictable, aggressive enemies are a bracing combination.

Has its flaws for sure, sometimes overstepping idiosyncrasy into rank awkwardness - Kevin's startup lag on running and attacking doesn't endear. Nevertheless, enthusiasts of a certain persistent bent should give it time. On balance, a technical, tough, stylish and very unique sidescroller.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by trap15 »

This GIF just showed up on my Twitter. Probably my favorite clip of video game footage now. footsies.gif
Image
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by Squire Grooktook »

The skeleton rng dance/footsies meta game is indeed amazing.

20 year old ai still god tier
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by Ed Oscuro »

Castlevania: Who's Playing?
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BIL »

Whoa its beautiful Image

That's also right around the point you see Dracula's pad way off in the distance... my favourite cutscene ever. Next to SILENT HILL 2 and ELEMENTAL MASTER.

The skeleton tagteam that greet the player at the clock tower's summit are real stars too. Taking down the uppermost one without sacrificing precious ammo or precious-er health, or pratfalling to your doom, is always riveting.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by Ed Oscuro »

I enjoy how (at least in Firefox) GIF rendering that image is slowly building a burning mesa in the background...The Crumbling Old Castle?

Hmm, sidescrolling action miscs:
Some random YouTube guy said "Terminator 2 NES is one of the most underrated games ever." Spent some minutes with it, Bu-HAW.

Target: Renegade: Ehmmns. Nope. It is really great when you can pebble skip a fire extinguisher over multiple noggins, though!
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BIL »

Ed Oscuro wrote:Some random YouTube guy said "Terminator 2 NES is one of the most underrated games ever."
oh god. Prime Directive JUMP ON BIKERS REPEATEDLY. When you reach T1000 you should also JUMP ON HIM REPEATEDLY. I beat that shit on rental BITD 8)

I suppose "mind-erasingly forgettable, the unintentional comedy excepted" is still a cut above the worst licensed NES fare. >_>

The Ninja Warriors Again's big blue meanie is the melon-smashing cure for all those godawful Terminator sidescrollers. The ones where you play as Ahnuld I mean. Raf World's a pretty decent Kyle Reese simulator, pardon some very occasional lifebar slumming.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by Ed Oscuro »

Cool World.
Hng:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XysybtnTzU
(yet another The Training Wheels Have Fallen Off play, ending right at the discovery of a new item and the timely death of hapless player)

Annoying "play" with adventure elements and multi-screen searchathoning. Pointless weapons and items. The bar scene is just atrocious - and that's before the unannounced appearance of select Mario-style head-activated hidden platform blocks in the sewers. In the bar, you must jump onto the bar (even though it looks like a boss fight), avoid the bartend and the bottles, and jump across three small ledges while lightning is NOT flashing in the wall backdrop (?!), otherwise the lightning will dump you back to the floor. I guess they decided that they had some electricity damage frames that needed to be put to use. That tiny feckin' middle platform...argh.

Fightin' play is completely pointless; just evade the endless waves of enemies and look for healing (candycanes, naturally?), important items, or an exit. You seem to have limited ammunition and enemies are endless so you'll have to do this. (I have no idea why the player above goes on a fountain pen rampage given this is immediately obvious). Unfortunately, when you drop down from an object (even the lowest rung of a floor-mounted ladder!), Harris goes momentarily into a vulnerable crouch. Of course, falling from the top of a jump doesn't trigger this, even if the top of the jump is higher than the object. Quality work there Bakshi & OYEAN. Razzies all around!
I'm not even going to try to play this further.
01:04 bluerum wow this game looks hottt
01:05 bluerum what even is your attack
01:05 bluerum busted up ghostdusters pack
Absolutely right: The fountain pen doesn't write over enemies, like Sketch Turner would do, it apparently sucks them up, and the empty inkwells are for draining it. This had me totally flummoxed when I first tried it out (of course, passing by the ink pen didn't help). It's a neat reverse-ammo idea, sort of, and in the right context it would make sense. But in 1990 kids didn't know about fountain pens, let alone unloading them into inkwells; the clues are subtle enough that this failure of skeuomorphism matters. Then again, what da hell do you expect out of a property based around the idea of people and cartoons having sex? Hungh. Hurrgh.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by BIL »

REACTIONS ON THE RADER. got a few new FC softs. Just when I taut I was out! :o
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I blame you for this, trap-kun... Image :lol:

God calibre.
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To chip in my own 2c, FWIW:
cicada88 wrote:How much of Gimmick! is import only Sunsoft rarity hype? Is this game really great or is it just impressive for 8bit Nintendo?
It's absolutely superb, and you know I'm not one for cutesier stuff nor an indiscriminate collector. ;3 Would easily rank it up with Metal Storm and Solbrain among the finest of the FC's latter-day sidescrollers. Yumetaro and his projectiles are a joy to handle, enemies are smartly responsive, and the treacherous level design will test you even if you're not seeking out the hidden treasures (which you'll need to for the best ending, and want to anyway - think Rondo's fusion of linearity and addictive detour-finding). That steeply diving and twisting logo ain't just for show, you really get put through your paces here!

Having said this, it's not an action extravaganza like any of the the aforementioned... reminds me of something more genial like SMB3, if its difficulty curve, exploration and sublime handling were channeled and refined into arcade tightness. And if it dropped the hop/bop for ingeniously satisfying hop/ride, while keeping the emphasis on do or die platforming.

Transcendently good cutesy sidescroller crafted to enthusiast standards, much like SFC Kiki Kaikai or MD Twinkle Tale's presence in the topdown shooting arena.
Ed Oscuro wrote:It's a neat reverse-ammo idea, sort of, and in the right context it would make sense. But in 1990 kids didn't know about fountain pens, let alone unloading them into inkwells; the clues are subtle enough that this failure of skeuomorphism matters.
I rove you Ed. Image That be a Cool Word.
Then again, what da hell do you expect out of a property based around the idea of people and cartoons having sex?
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Sidescrolling Action Miscs

Post by Ghegs »

BIL wrote:REACTIONS ON THE RADER. got a few new FC softs. Just when I taut I was out! :o
You're never out, man.

Welcome to the CIB Gimmick! owners club. *fistbump*
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