Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[Sumez]

Legendary Axe tho

[Squire Grooktook]

Ah, sorry if I maybe sounded pretentious rambling on there. Wanted to throw out some game info and tricks for anyone interested. I sometimes think of this as a repository of both sidescroller knowledge and opinions.

On that note, for anyone who's still interested in knowledge dumps about it, the way the game handles enemy spawning is interesting. Basically, from what I can tell (and this is all theory based on my playtime, I don't know for sure what's going on in there), where the enemies appear is set in stone, but they actually spawn a little while before you scroll the screen to that point. And since many enemies are slightly random, they'll often kind of wander around and potentially get further from their initial spawn points if you don't move fast enough. This can sometimes result in them grouping up with other enemies farther ahead and forming more dangerous mobs, or occupying perilous jump platforms.

As a result, it's one of those games where the best strategy is to keep moving and clear everything out as fast as possible, which makes things slightly more consistent. Which I like. Kind of a scripting quirk that helps keeps things fast paced.

[BIL]

Although this'll always be a casual discussion/exploration thread, I regard in-depth posts like your last few as the hard core of it. It was basically started to give such analyses a stable home, couched among more general sidescroller appreciation.

Also for blasting the odd scrub, possibly.

Basically, from what I can tell (and this is all theory based on my playtime, I don't know for sure what's going on in there), where the enemies appear is set in stone, but they actually spawn a little while before you scroll the screen to that point.

Holy Diver does this too, most noticeably in stage 4's opening with the pillars. The Hellions are actually floating about prior to you making each jump, which can give newbies a nasty surprise. Vets will learn to anticipate.

Bizarrely as ever, it's become really clear to me how generous the game is with regards to respawning. Basically, non-pest enemies don't ever respawn until you leave their room, making long-range area clearing a viable tactic - unlike in a great many similar FC sidescrollers.

Something I always liked about Ninja Gaiden - contrary to talk of "cheap birds" and whatnot, 95% of its pit-loitering pests will spawn as you approach the jump. Same goes for ledge guarders like the one at the very end of Act III. Now, if you make the jump as they spawn with stride unbroken, yeah, you're gonna get a bat or a machete up the ass. Look before you leap, basically. There are a handful where a flying pest will spawn while you're mid-leap, but these are never aimed to kill like the pre-triggerable ones are.

[Sumez]

Basically, from what I can tell (and this is all theory based on my playtime, I don't know for sure what's going on in there), where the enemies appear is set in stone, but they actually spawn a little while before you scroll the screen to that point. And since many enemies are slightly random, they'll often kind of wander around and potentially get further from their initial spawn points if you don't move fast enough. This can sometimes result in them grouping up with other enemies farther ahead and forming more dangerous mobs, or occupying perilous jump platforms.

Considering how video games are typically programmed, this sounds very plausible.

As a result, it's one of those games where the best strategy is to keep moving and clear everything out as fast as possible, which makes things slightly more consistent. Which I like. Kind of a scripting quirk that helps keeps things fast paced.

Always liked this kind of RNG control as well. It's pretty much what makes Ghosts 'n Goblins manageable.

[copy-paster]

Playing Rondo of Blood.

Had cleared both routes, I think the flexible controls in Rondo makes some of the hard sections on other CV games doable or easier. It's like I imagine the stages in XX or CVIII for example, even on most frustrating parts it's easier if using Rondo's controls.

Also I love st2's lower path, lots of RNG moments and way hellish than anything in st5'.

[BIL]

^ the st2 cellar is brilliant. I only wish it weren't possible to die by falling in from the Behemoth chase. Landing safely only to find yourself embroiled in fishman hell is far worthier than the other possibility, a short-lived pratfall into the drink.

Uh, merry Christmas everybody!

Spoiler

Sin after sin I have endured

Yet the wounds I bear are the wounds of love ♫

Holy Diver all over. Well, survived at least. Couple big screwups (pls see video description) and many smaller, but got a serviceable no-miss recorded. Game didn't even crash at the last boss! I wonder if finishing him off with Breaker instead of Thunder helps? Sorry about the graphical garbage on a few later bosses/stage transitions, this is the only emulator I can record from ATM.

Oh HD. Writes a cheque (XTREME action platformer action!) it can't cash (don't give me xtreme action and ask me to babysit your shitty code, motherfuckers ). It takes a lot to make me consider abandoning a game I'm enjoying, rather than simply putting it away for later... but over the last couple weeks I was sorely tempted to go with "they couldn't be arsed to playtest, I can't be arsed to no-miss." Unfortunately, I am a hopeless sadomaso lunatic. 3; (as well as a hopeless romantic - maybe they were just rushed?) If you are too, approach this fucker with caution. It'll suck you into a world of hurt.

Nobody should feel bad about writing HD off after a quick and dirty 1CC. As a hardcore action game, it simply doesn't honour its end of the bargain. It is wickedly easy to die in the penultimate room - indestructible homing raspberry SHOCK_DAG will end your run in the blink of an eye. Though you can learn to work with the erratic menace while smashing the machinegunning Genocides, complacency is to invite a hideous death. You need to react with absolute speed and precision, and, well, you can't. Not with these shitty controls. If Golden Babylon is the nexus of the game's legit challenge and technical bullshit, this is its nearest rival. Calculate and pray.

And still I loved getting to grips with it, and mastering the appallingly flicker-exploiting Phantom Lords, and the truly misleading Hellraisers. The latter two enemies epitomise the weird, infuriatingly broken yet addictive world of Holy Diver. Handle them like you would in a more honest sidescroller and you'll be pulverised. The way to victory in these cases ain't pretty, actually it often looks ugly as hell, but the technique involved is real. A washout as a serious action game, but an infernally lovable damage case.

[soprano1]

I'll be watching it, BIL, thanks.

[Vanguard]

Incredible run! Very tense fourth and fifth boss fights! And that terrifying knockback at 22:36!

Game didn't even crash at the last boss! I wonder if finishing him off with Breaker instead of Thunder helps?

The SDA page for Holy Diver says that killing the 5th and 6th bosses with thunder has a chance to crash the game.

[BIL]

And that terrifying knockback at 22:36!

That definitely registered in my mind as a highlight moment. Though honestly, this game's unfairness so callouses the soul, I didn't even flinch when it happened. Give me an honourable would-be death like that over some glitchy pratfall any day, like the one that can occur if you trigger the Hellraisers by getting too near that Metal Blade and kicking off a flickery bullet hell.

[soprano1]

http://www.siliconera.com/2016/12/26/do ... c-january/
Double Dragon IV!

[BIL]

Hey, grapple-appended juggles

Spoiler

I like the way these guys think

Kunio+Double Dragon creator Yoshihisa Kishimoto directing - sounds promising indeed.

[Shoryukev]

Holy Diver all over. Well, survived at least. Couple big screwups (pls see video description) and many smaller, but got a serviceable no-miss recorded. Game didn't even crash at the last boss! I wonder if finishing him off with Breaker instead of Thunder helps? Sorry about the graphical garbage on a few later bosses/stage transitions, this is the only emulator I can record from ATM.

Oh HD. Writes a cheque (XTREME action platformer action!) it can't cash (don't give me xtreme action and ask me to babysit your shitty code, motherfuckers ). It takes a lot to make me consider abandoning a game I'm enjoying, rather than simply putting it away for later... but over the last couple weeks I was sorely tempted to go with "they couldn't be arsed to playtest, I can't be arsed to no-miss." Unfortunately, I am a hopeless sadomaso lunatic. 3; (as well as a hopeless romantic - maybe they were just rushed?) If you are too, approach this fucker with caution. It'll suck you into a world of hurt.

Nobody should feel bad about writing HD off after a quick and dirty 1CC. As a hardcore action game, it simply doesn't honour its end of the bargain. It is wickedly easy to die in the penultimate room - indestructible homing raspberry SHOCK_DAG will end your run in the blink of an eye. Though you can learn to work with the erratic menace while smashing the machinegunning Genocides, complacency is to invite a hideous death. You need to react with absolute speed and precision, and, well, you can't. Not with these shitty controls. If Golden Babylon is the nexus of the game's legit challenge and technical bullshit, this is its nearest rival. Calculate and pray.

And still I loved getting to grips with it, and mastering the appallingly flicker-exploiting Phantom Lords, and the truly misleading Hellraisers. The latter two enemies epitomise the weird, infuriatingly broken yet addictive world of Holy Diver. Handle them like you would in a more honest sidescroller and you'll be pulverised. The way to victory in these cases ain't pretty, actually it often looks ugly as hell, but the technique involved is real. A washout as a serious action game, but an infernally lovable damage case.

This is a perfect synopsis for HD. It hurts to play it, but it hurts so good! Something about it lures you in and keeps you playing, though it is quite annoying at times. Glad to see that it isn't just me being a scrub...but that the game itself just isn't quite on par with it's programming. It's kind of a shame, it could have been so much more.

[Sumez]

I can't even imagine the pain that you must endure to complete a Holy Diver no-miss run. I like the game, but even beating it with abuse of unlimited continues is too much pain for me to bear at this moment.

[Shoryukev]

I can't even imagine the pain that you must endure to complete a Holy Diver no-miss run. I like the game, but even beating it with abuse of unlimited continues is too much pain for me to bear at this moment.

BIL boldly goes where we dare not!

I share your sentiment there, I play it every now and then but would probably end up in the nuthouse if I were to seriously attempt a no-miss or even a 1cc!

[BIL]

Thanks chaps!

Pain is definitely Holy Diver's defining trait, unfortunately. Excise the technical flaws that warp it into outright frustration, and though it'd remain uncommonly hard, I think it'd be more noted for its eccentricities. A while back in this thread, we discussed the notion of a "Garegga-esque" sidescroller... HD has glimpses of a decided counter-intuitiveness. Comfy play requires controlled bursts of expenditure and short-term sacrifice, to a degree that may initially seem sloppy or self-destructive. Hoarding ammo in favour of the main shot, deftly killing every enemy in your way, maintaining a nice big unscathed lifebar - strictly upholding these traditional virtues will make life harder if not impossible here.

At the same time, crucially, you've got to know where, when and how to spend those resources ; crisply damage-boosting through would-be Pyrrhic slugfests, and ensuring you don't blow your budget until the next vital refuel stop. HD is superficially haphazard, but punishes flailing just as harshly as its more austere contemporaries.

Let's not bring up the control lag and visibility issues. >_>

Spoiler

HD is incomparably worse on both counts. 3;

Leaving YGW aside, stage and general action design is also distinctly alien from the more calculated CV, NG et al. The first stage will seem familiar, as LYER makes a strong case for The Sine Wave Pest Ever:

"You FUCKING LYER!"

Spoiler

Make more than a couple mistakes there, and it's curtains for you and your puny 3HP lifebar. It's a mirage, though. Every other time you encounter them (or their st4 sprite-swap BURN), they're fodder for your new Blizzard of Ozz spell. Going without that crutch is suicide - the pests are now mere backup for unstoppable tanks and precision snipers that'll slaughter a diverted player.

With Blizzard soon becoming dirt cheap to cast, I found myself wondering why the pests are there at all. I'm not sure the designers knew quite why either; only that they really wanted the player to be a spell-wielding warrior mage, and what could be more wizardly than holding back the once-teeming swarm with an icy blast? I guess you could theoretically run out of juice at the worst possible moment, but the disarmingly generous MP refills seem calibrated to avoid just that.

Can't gaze too deeply without official commentary, I suppose. I do feel HD is more akin to the looser, yet by no means kindlier sidescrolling seen in Metroid (and Zelda II, as Perikles very accurately pointed out - that one even has pitfalls built-in!). If anything, it seems to fold their ARPG trappings into linear stage progression. Odd game - one that takes a much more interesting route to extreme difficulty than its "Castlevania on horse steroids" popular image might suggest.

[Sumez]

That's probably what I dlisliked the most about Holy Diver. You end up depending so much on blizzard that it becomes more of a guide'em up than an action game. The game would be impossible without it, but is broken with it. :\

[Austin]

Played through a couple of NES sidescrollers for the first time over these last couple of weeks.

First up was Low G Man. It's got an interesting combat system and neat mechanics overall. The gameplay can be fun when you get into the groove of things. That said, some of the bosses are a major pain in the ass and were seemingly not designed with the game's mechanics and player movement in mind (like the boss at stage 1-3). Fortunately the game implements warp zones to get around the worst parts of the game (well, almost all the worst parts). The game's biggest downfall is the choppy nature of the character movement and overall framerate, and there's some wonky hit detection too. Combine that with some nasty knock-back and you have some pretty sloppy (and thus infuriating) deaths later on in the game. The inconsistent item drop system for normal character upgrades can be a nuisance as well. It would probably be close to an upper-tier NES action game if it wasn't so damn choppy. As-is, it's still worth playing, I did enjoy my time with it. Subsequent loops are a lot harder than the first as well.

Next up is Little Samson. Figured I should give this one a try since it gets put on a pedestal by some people. I ended up finishing it on my first playthrough (two continues, I think). Overall I wasn't terribly impressed on my first go with it. Playing with Samson the majority of the way through didn't do it any favors (his backing tune is obnoxious, to say the least). I then ran through it again a second and third time and I did enjoy it more. Experimenting with the dragon and the mouse not only helped on the ears, but the flexibility in gameplay. Lots of ways to skip over groups of enemies with them or speed through certain sections faster. Still, I felt the experience to be average at best (I 1cc'd it on both these subsequent attempts). I did enjoy fighting the bosses as they typically had patterns I had to be on-point with. The stage layouts on the other hand, asides from maybe a section or two, felt supremely boring to me and this was the game's biggest downfall for me. Part of it is due to there not being much in the way of thrilling platforming, and another part is due to there being a *ton* of repetitious enemy placement and patterns (patterns you deal with in the beginning of the game carry over to nearly the end of the experience). It doesn't help that most enemies aren't much fun to fight to begin with. So yeah.. not really sure what all the hype is about with this one asides from its "rarity". Wasn't really worth the hassle to me, the entire time I felt like I could have just been playing Mega Man 2 or something.

[Ghegs]

Dang BIL, good job. Holy Diver 1CC is on my gaming bucket list

[BIL]

Thanks! I was particularly glad to bag this one, with it being among the very first FC exclusives we discussed in this thread. ^__^

[Sumez]

There's generally not a lot of Japan exclusive platformers on the FC really worth meddling with for anything more than curiosity and a general interest in the platform.
Almost all of them are awkward, somewhat broken, and stayed in Japan for a reason. While there's a ton of awesome stuff we were robbed of in Europe, that the muricuns got to see (and even the other way around in the case of a couple of SunSoft classics), Japan didn't get too many gems for themselves.


Holy Diver is the big one (AFAIK it was slated for a US release, too).
Boku Dracula Kun shares first place in my book. I was really surprised how solid this game was when I finally got around to play it.
Splatterhouse Wanpaku Graffiti is a close seond. A little on the easy side, but well crafted and entertaining.
Cattou Ninden Teyandee is surprisingly solid, but also so ridiculously easy that you need to be a speedrunner to truly get something out of it (and even then, it's all about the invincibility glitch)
Cocoron has my interest - bought it recently and gotta give it a chance some time early in the coming year.


Anything else?

[BIL]

Have you played Yume Penguin Monogatari? Overly easy Konami cutesy, but very solidly made ; might be worth a look if you like Kid Dracula and Wanpaku Graffiti (love the latter - I was disinterested for the longest time, with most praise going to its aesthetic, but I found it a surprisingly solid run n' slasher).

Bio Miracle Boku Upa is cool as hell, though unfortunately very expensive on cart. I passed up a copy years ago (it's, again, a bit cute and easy, and I was chasing my Tuff Action Man games). I kinda regret it now. The central inflate mechanic is great fun, and it does eventually get fairly demanding with it.

I like Cocoron too - picked up a cheapish copy last year, having found it more immediately interesting and of course more affordable than Lickle (same team I believe?). I like the bizarre stage flow, and the character customisation seemed cool (though I've not played it enough to really determine how relevant it is).

I've long been of the opinion that in most cases, the NTSCU NES is a marginally stronger platform than the Famicom for hardcore action gaming - certainly where sidescrollers are concerned. I consider its tougher Ninja Gaiden III and Castlevania III the definitive versions of those games, most of the other major landmarks made the journey over in good form, and there's a good clutch of exclusive Taxan/KID stuff. Plus, you also get loadtime-free carts of several excellent FDS games.

Offhand, the FC's top pure exclusive for me would be Recca, and Gimmick if you're a stickler for the full Sunsoft 5B sound. Holy Diver, though I like it, is such a damage case I'm occasionally tempted to sell my immaculate copy. I won't, though. The FC versions of Bionic Commando, Metal Storm and Double Dragon II are also significantly better than their NES equivalents (much better in DDII's case). Other than those, most of the US-released stuff I own on FC is for aesthetic reasons... I love the FC boxes' tight, minimalist dimensions, so much cuter yet artfully more compact than inflated NES stuff.

Relative ease of acquisition is another factor. I find myself wondering when I'll bite the bullet and pick up the dozen or so NES carts I want. Ironically for a kid who grew up lusting after JP imports, it's nowhere as simple to get hold of NTSCU stuff in the shape I want now.

[Sumez]

and Gimmick if you're a stickler for the full Sunsoft 5B sound

I'm a stickler for the full Konami VRC6 sound on Akumajou Densetsu. You're free to prefer the US version, but the soundtrack sounds so much better on Famicom that it's mind boggling! It's enough to make me always prefer the Japanese version.

Probably an unpopular "opinion", but I honestly can't really tell the difference between the PAL NES and Famicom versions of the Gimmick soundtrack unless I compare them right against eachother - they did a really great job converting it to stock NES audio. And definitely not something that makes me consider the game an FC "exclusive".
The real reason for me to prefer the Japanese version of Gimmick is obviously 60hz

I didn't know the FC version of Metal Storm was "better" than the US - coulda told me before I shelled out for a NES version What is the difference?

[BIL]

Haha, I'm keeping my Akumajou Densetsu whatever happens. Deja Vu/VK VRC6 ver makes my wiener spin around like a helicopter every time.

On the subject of US/JP "dual ownership" - I sometimes consider cashing in on the nutty NTSCJ prices for Vampire Killer + Hard Corps, but I can't let 'em go despite finding their US variants marginally better too. Ultimately, I guess I enjoy JP collecting too much on an aesthetic level. I want to have VK and HC on the shelf next to my NTSCJ Alien Soldier, Ex-Ranza, Super Shinobi etc.

Regarding CVIII, it's really just that ball-breakingly tough second loop I want. (I technically have carts of all these games, but they're beaten to hell and usually bare - we never took care of our stuff in NTSCUville aka Eagleland )

I actually thought you'd gotten the FC Metal Storm. NES vs FC ver is fairly nuanced, and you're by no means losing out with either - it's a phenomenal game in both formats. Basically, it comes down to the sixth stage. You can freely loop the screen on NES - a lethal electric fence runs the length of the stage on FC, mandating careful use of the gravity jump. While the NES one isn't strictly "easier" (it compensates with more enemies), the FC makes much more interesting use of the game's defining mechanic IMO.

The NES version's bullets are more visible, but TBH the game's Irem Puzzlebox nature means you won't be dealing with stray fire much. FC has a surprisingly cool intro on par with Gimmick for "I'll always let it run through when it's been a while," but of course that's strictly fluff.

[BrianC]

I can't overstate how soundly this game's walljumping impresses me, particularly when it's been a while. Still the first and last word on the mechanic, imo.

How much time have you put into arcade Ninja-kun 2 by UPL? Its walljumping is incredibly solid and is the primary game focus, requiring you to often continuously alternate wall-bouncing with wall-jumping and throwing bombs in order to clear enemies out of an area you want to go. Incredibly interesting and fun game. Don't play the NES version unless you hate yourself.

I was surprised to see that the Ninja Kid II version of Ninja Kun: Asura no Shou is one of the games in the PS4 Arcade Archives series. Sweet game so far.

I like both versions of the CVIII music, though I also like the music in Madara and Esper Dream 2, which have translated versions that can be played on the everdrive. Custom driver works great with all three games, though I still prefer the actual cart for Akumajo Densetsu (though that too has a translated version).

[GSK]

Mitsume ga Tooru gets a nod in the easy-but-slick-so-who-cares category--the trident-bouncing mechanic is fun, even if it has more utility as a boss-murdering trick than a mobility tool, and it has all the audiovisual polish you'd expect from a late-FC Natsume game.

Crazy Land Daisakusen (the game that was released in Europe as Trolls in Crazyland) is another game I have a soft spot for--it's mostly braindead easy and very simple (and your character gets stronger the closer they are to death!) but there's something I find appealing about the mix of heavy oblique-angle graphics and KID's typical weird colour choices, and it has to be one of the first games to run the staff roll before the final boss, which is something I always found neat. The music is also catchy and full of DPCM tricks that reek of Recca... none of which were retained for the PAL version, of course.

[Ed Oscuro]

Bad Games of Internet breaking news!

Balthazar's Dream is an unintentionally hilarious sidescroller about a dog who climbs ropes and has a "smarts" meter, which is mostly just another name for SAN. His owner gets hit by an ice cream van. *Simpsons Nelson laugh*

The first and probably last thing oldschool platformer fans will want to know: The game will fight you for character control regularly, and forced loss of direct input control is an intentional game mechanic. Within the game, sometimes this is useful (as when the dog is scared by a vacuum cleaner, which gives him wings to jump a large gap) and sometimes it's just...well, because it makes a certain kind of sense (when there's a ball bouncing around, the dog will rapidly lose his SAN and chase after it).

The idea is actually fairly interesting, but its execution is somewhat bungled, unfortunately. Often the slow depletion / regeneration of the SAN meter leads to unwelcome breaks in the action and it is quite aggravating to try and line up a near-pixel-perfect jump that you can only unleash at the moment a meter is full or empty (depending on the circumstances). Strangely, the platforming is otherwise often very forgiving.

The worst collection of gameplay oversights comes in at the demo's boss, a giant cat. Giant cat constantly uses a move to deplete SAN. It jumps quickly to new spots around the room, almost always jumping in from offscreen. There is a fairly obvious "boss lands here" marker appearing briefly before a jump; unfortunately the boss' jump arc can be very unpredictable even when you have a rough idea where it is at all times. On top of this, you're trying to move through the arena to the top-right corner, and you're often contending with no effective control at the same time the cat's incoming. On top of that, the giant cat floods the arena with fast-moving enemies, which can crowd onto some of the smaller platforms and make it impossible to progress. And on top of that, the boss sprite has priority over the small cats, which makes no sense. (Note that the large cat is only directly harmful when it's in the air, not when it's stationary; the patrolling cats are always dangerous.)

Balthazar tries to be a good dog, but bad implementation of the game design ideas puts him in the doghouse. On a short leash. (Insert cheap doggie pun here.)

[BIL]

Cute premise and general aesthetic, and I'd normally give the "dissociative character" concept the benefit of the doubt, maybe even my enthusiasm. For now though, after a fortnight's intensive Holy Diving, I think I'd rather grate my cockerel on the solder side of an M72 PCB than contemplate another game with actively player-sabotaging controls.

To that end I spent the last 24hrs on Akumajou Dracula and Ninja Ryukenden ^__^ WHAT DECADENCE - an unbroken chain of command between player and character! :O My two most beloved sidescrolling gems. Absolutely reaffirming to play these after dealing with lesser productions' awful tatty bollocks.

I was surprised to see that the Ninja Kid II version of Ninja Kun: Asura no Shou is one of the games in the PS4 Arcade Archives series. Sweet game so far.

Excellent news - as an incorrigible physical release junkie, I'd love for them to start putting these out on disc... I'd more than happily buy individual games ala Hamster's (sometimes dodgy) PS2 line. Regardless I need to get into this stuff.

I like both versions of the CVIII music, though I also like the music in Madara and Esper Dream 2, which have translated versions that can be played on the everdrive. Custom driver works great with all three games, though I still prefer the actual cart for Akumajo Densetsu (though that too has a translated version).

Generally, I prefer the softer/more plaintive stuff on NES, the punchier stuff on FC. I'll always go with NES for "Aquarius" and "Nightmare." "Deja Vu" and "Riddle" OTOH, goddamn, those rock hard on FC. Incredible clarity and punch in every note.

Have to say though, I never really cared about the either iteration of "Big Battle" (Dracula v2/v3) until playing the FC game, where they became some of my favourite boss BGMs in the series. What sounded a little goofy on NES is a blistering technical ecstasy on FC.

Mitsume ga Tooru gets a nod in the easy-but-slick-so-who-cares category--the trident-bouncing mechanic is fun, even if it has more utility as a boss-murdering trick than a mobility tool, and it has all the audiovisual polish you'd expect from a late-FC Natsume game.

Crazy Land Daisakusen (the game that was released in Europe as Trolls in Crazyland) is another game I have a soft stop for--it's mostly braindead easy and very simple (and your character gets stronger the closer they are to death!) but there's something I find appealing about the mix of heavy oblique-angle graphics and KID's typical weird colour choices, and it has to be one of the first games to run the staff roll before the final boss, which is something I always found neat. The music is also catchy and full of DPCM tricks that reek of Recca... none of which were retained for the PAL version, of course.

I always forget about Mitsume ga Tooru - don't think I've heard of Crazy Land Daisakusen at all, thanks for the name! And this despite my frequently wishing KID sidescrollers weren't so NES-confined. My predilection for horror/ninja/army/cyber stuff really hamstrings me sometimes.

[Sumez]

Been holding out on Mitsuma Ga Tooru because it's a fairly expensive game considering it's reportedly too easy to really make an impact. Too bad, cause it really looks like solid Natsume brilliance.

[BIL]

It's always struck me as the FC's Ghost Sweeper Mikami, tbh. Solid Natsume quality, characterful, distinctive mechanics, but not quite the hardcore I'm looking for. Or was looking for, at the time - it's been a few years. With Dragon Fighter/Kage/Solbrain/Abadox/Final Mission and Kiki1/Kiki2/TNWA/Wild Guns bagged, it's probably a good time to revisit.

I'd sooner get either than the downright pedestrian Choujin Sentai Jetman, at the very least.

[PowerofElsydeon]

Hey guys I was wondering
Wich kind of Sidescrolling Action Games would you label Arcade
I mean I'd say stuff like Alien Soldier,Metal Slut,Rolling Thunder,Green Beret,Ghosts and Goblins are Action Arcade Games while
Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania have more platforming in there but I'd still label them as Arcade Side Scrolling Games
But I dunno about Battletoads,Super Shinobi ,Rockman or the slow assed Belmont's Revenge
I guess this is a spectrum and thoose games are somewhere betwen a family freindly platformer and a Rolling Thunder!
What's your opinion on that?

I 've a recieved a thon of money this xmas but I'm so unsure on wich games I'm gonna buy
What I ve really wanted to ask was on a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate the following games and pls say why and if thoose games are ports pls make a short comparison to the original if u can
I'm aware I'm acting like an idiot but pls do me that favor if you don't mind

NBA Jam T.E for the Gameboy

Blades of Steel for the Gameboy

Rockman World IV for the Gameboy

Paperboy for the Gameboy

Paperboy for the Gameboy Color

Paperboy for the GBA

Tennis for the Gameboy

Nemesis II for the Gameboy

Wave Race for the Gameboy

Sencible Soccer for the Gameboy

Kunio Kun Soccer for the Gameboy

Darkwing Duck for the Gameboy

Tiny Tunes Adventures for the Gameboy

Hammerin Harry for the Gameboy

Parodius Da! for the Gameboy

Bionic Commando for the Gameboy

and

Dr.Mario for the Gameboy

One more thing on the Konami shooters book by Hardcore Gaming did they really copy their review from the website or is it original and exclusive to the book?