Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[Sumez]

I could go on at length on how Samurai Shodown is so brilliantly conceived as a weapon-based alternative to the contemporary fighters of the day.

RAGE <3

Samurai Shodown (3/4) is really my favourite fighting game of all time. It has everything I'm looking for as a casual approach to the genre.

[soprano1]

Thanks for the input, guys.

[BIL]

I think the password for hard mode may work for the JP and EU Konami GB Collection versions of Dracula Densetsu II/Belmont's Revenge, but in the version with the axe, it often locks up during gameplay. I thought it was my cart at first, but it's the same behavior in emulators. [blank], Orb, [blank], Orb is the password for all versions. Main difference is that getting hit by some enemies powers the whip down. Not sure if there are any other differences.

Interesting, had no idea about a hard mode (let alone a glitched one) until your posts here. Gave the PW a go via the original JP cart (Dracula Densetsu II) - to be honest, I couldn't tell if anything was different... maybe that's the glitch? >_> Made it to Dracula with a couple misses and, as always when it's been a while, burnt my entire life stock remembering how to kill him. I got 'im though!



^ xmfd

Was blasting some new-to-me albums while playing. Now that's a Hard mode, divorcing the game from its alchemically superb OST. The trudging walk will forever bug me, especially as ala Dracula XX, it seems to have been an entirely deliberate choice (there's a ROMHacking.net patch that'll speed it right up, and its contemporaries Contra and Nemesis II maintain sprinting pace without a hitch).

Oh well. Still lots to enjoy here - stages are full of neat little ideas not seen elsewhere in the traditional games. Rock's blackout-triggered enemies, Cloud's gear hazards, Plant's bridge-destroying eyeballs... the enemy roster likewise sports some unique standouts. Big fan of the meddling climber skeletons, the mini-reapers' nastily quick return attack, and especially the very un-Castlevania bats. Beautifully irritating RNG-crazed pests. Majou Densetsu II FC's behave exactly the same, incidentally.

Always dug the game's suavely imperious depiction of Dracula himself, too. Smoove! Barely deigns to lift a finger to smite interloping chumps.



DRACULA IV ver:

Spoiler

[PowerofElsydeon]

Thanks a thon BIL and skye
Now I feel like giving my Shinobi Games another go and I will keep Samurai Showdown and the Ghouls and Ghosts franchise in mind
Btw is Samurai Showdown a real figther? like serious competition or...
even tough no one managed to helped me out with my confusion

But you guys get about 4 times more money than the guys from my crappy nation yet I managed to spend my savings on Games like in a flash!
So I feel like limiting myself and purging my wish to know everything and get every great arcade game out there
So now that I know about Batman Return of the Joker from that youtube video I quit it
Cuz I have a thon of hardcore Games on my Gameboy Trilogy,PS2 Saturn and PS1
So I really should get good at them instead of always buying new ones
Like flock Samurai Showdown and Ghouls and Ghosts
I'm still average on Crazy Taxi and Rayforce
I swear after one more I will stop doin' it

By the way now I know why that underated pinball game is called Revenge of the Gator
Cuz I can see a sligth connection with Tail Gator
Thinking about it
How bout some classic scoreboard competition

[PowerofElsydeon]

One more thing they say that the Saturn version of Nba Jam is totally rad
However it's the same problem as with Blades of Steel GB
Hardest settings do not change shit the game is still wimpy shitty
What's the solution for a good 1player Nba Jam?

[soprano1]

http://www.capcom-unity.com/official_ca ... n-april-18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4sSjd9UYpM
I guess this might interest a few people here.

[PowerofElsydeon]

nah I'm trough with family freindly platformers

[BIL]

As a middle ground between emulation and real hardware, I highly recommend a flashcart. Only the most profoundly obsessed will find collecting worthwhile these days. ;3

You also sound like you're still figuring out what you like, so even if you do get into collecting later, flashcarts will help you out in the present. Collecting is painful enough without buying stuff you later regret.

nah I'm trough with family freindly platformers

Don't write off cute stuff wholesale. :O Gimmick, Little Nemo (FC), Hero Tonma (PCE), Rainbow Islands (AC/PCE) and Kirby (GB, Hard Mode) are just some of the cutesy yet 100% hardcore action platformers I can think of, offhand. I prefer harder-edged aesthetics too (ninja/army/horror/cyber, or any mix thereof, dominates my favourite games), but I totally cheated myself ignoring stuff like Gimmick and RI for so long.

Regarding Capcom's Disney licensed-stuff, I'll always love Ducktales (FC). Far from the hardest or most action-packed sidescroller, but the level design is superbly roving and the pogo mechanic is simply classic.

By the way now I know why that underated pinball game is called Revenge of the Gator
Cuz I can see a sligth connection with Tail Gator
Thinking about it
How bout some classic scoreboard competition

One more thing they say that the Saturn version of Nba Jam is totally rad
However it's the same problem as with Blades of Steel GB
Hardest settings do not change shit the game is still wimpy shitty
What's the solution for a good 1player Nba Jam?

Please rein in the off topic posts, bub. 3; This thread has a deliberately relaxed definition of sidescrolling action, and relevant discussion of other game types is more than welcome - but like any thread it needs some boundaries, or it'll disintegrate into random chatter. Try the Pinball Thread for Gator score competition; likewise, there's a well-established Fighting Game Thread for your competitive Sam Sho questions, and here's a sports thread for NBA Jam version comparisons (I totally forgot you started that one ).

I suggest starting your own gaming philosophy thread for the 1P vs Multiplayer question, too. There's probably an interesting discussion to be had there.

[__SKYe]

http://www.capcom-unity.com/official_ca ... n-april-18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4sSjd9UYpM
I guess this might interest a few people here.

That is cool. I consider the Ducktales and Chip 'n' Dale series on the NES to be on par with the classic MegaMan series (all great Capcom action games).
They already released the 6 classic MegaMan games as MegaMan Legacy Collection on Steam, so I guess they're expanding on re-releasing classic 8-bit games on PC/etc.

nah I'm trough with family freindly platformers

Yeah, i'm with BIL here. Even though they have kiddy visuals (and aren't hardcore action games), their difficulty is more than enough to put up a challenge.
This is Capcom we're talking about, after all.

As a middle ground between emulation and real hardware, I highly recommend a flashcart. Only the most profoundly obsessed will find collecting worthwhile these days. ;3

This is always preferable (if you're emulating, that is), since there is nothing like playing a game in it's intended hardware. There is always something special about playing a game the way it was meant to be played.

One more thing they say that the Saturn version of Nba Jam is totally rad
However it's the same problem as with Blades of Steel GB
Hardest settings do not change shit the game is still wimpy shitty
What's the solution for a good 1player Nba Jam?

Not trying to derail the thread further (sorry BIL ), but I'll just re-iterate it.
If a 1-on-1 game does not offer a satisfying vs CPU single player mode, then there's not much you can do but to move on.
Remember, no matter how good the gameplay is, or how good the game is overall, if it is not fun (or even mildly fun/challenging) to play, then it's probably not worth playing.
Again, only you can decide on which games are worth playing (for you). If you don't find it fun, try to play something else.
After all there's no shortage of good games out there.

[BrianC]

I think the password for hard mode may work for the JP and EU Konami GB Collection versions of Dracula Densetsu II/Belmont's Revenge, but in the version with the axe, it often locks up during gameplay. I thought it was my cart at first, but it's the same behavior in emulators. [blank], Orb, [blank], Orb is the password for all versions. Main difference is that getting hit by some enemies powers the whip down. Not sure if there are any other differences.

Interesting, had no idea about a hard mode (let alone a glitched one) until your posts here. Gave the PW a go via the original JP cart (Dracula Densetsu II) - to be honest, I couldn't tell if anything was different... maybe that's the glitch? >_> Made it to Dracula with a couple misses and, as always when it's been a while, burnt my entire life stock remembering how to kill him. I got 'im though!

I mentioned that the difference in the hard mode is that the whip powers down when hit by certain enemies ala the first Dracula Densetsu/Castlevania the Adventure, just that I wasn't sure if anything else was different. Sorry if I was misleading, but the "glitch" I was referring to are the random lockups that happen on hard mode in the US/EU stand alone cart Belmont's Revenge (which I thought was my game at first, but found out otherwise when I had the same lockups when using the code via emulator). They don't seem to happen in the JP or EU Konami GB Collection versions. I have a feeling Konami accidentally broke the hard mode for the western versions when they changed the cross to the axe.

I recently bought the PS4 ACA Neogeo Samurai Shodown. Good stuff.

[reckon luck]

The Capcom collection was teased a week or two ago... I was hoping it would be Mega Man X1-8.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

In case anyone missed this: Mega Man 2.5D It's really good.

It even has a co-op mode with the maps altered so you have to work together!

[BIL]

I mentioned that the difference in the hard mode is that the whip powers down when hit by certain enemies ala the first Dracula Densetsu/Castlevania the Adventure, just that I wasn't sure if anything else was different.

I was looking out for that - I think the very first Raven in Crystal Castle nicked a level, didn't recall that happening before. OTOH, the bouncing spheres fired by the bone pillar-alikes definitely levelled you down already, and the jellyfish always stole your hearts... either way, these and other attribute tweaks aside, I couldn't notice much else.

TBH, the game handles so stodgily, I couldn't see it upping its difficulty much without getting annoying. Lots of stuff that's a snap with the "normal walking speed" hack is already very tight on defaults - could imagine a lot more cases of Dracula's "memorise or die" popping up. Ultimately just not a game to play for intense difficulty.

[BrianC]

OTOH, the bouncing spheres fired by the bone pillar-alikes definitely levelled you down already.

I thought that was only the first game, but I'll check to be sure.

Edit: Nope, they power you down in the second one too. But the "hard mode" does make it so some (not all) enemies like bats that didn't power you down before, now power you down.

[BIL]

Yeah, they definitely de-power you in DDII (the original cart anyway). The first Dracula's castle stage has that room with a bonepillar/reaper tag team - always gets me hype, cos both of their attack trajectories are completely random and getting powered down feels so chumpy. Tricky to get up the rope to kill the former without getting blasted, too (the US/EU's Axe would definitely come in handy).

One of many situations where the game uses that leaden movement to its advantage - tbh if the whole thing was a series of such "trial rooms" I wouldn't mind as much. It very nearly is, on balance. It's the occasional long walking segments (like the start of that stage) that irk me a bit. Those, and harder boss patterns like Dracula's that become effectively impossible to evade on reaction.

[BrianC]

For some odd reason, the walking speed in Belmont's Revenge doesn't bother me as much as it does in Castlevania Adventure and Castlevania Legends. Actually, most of KCE Nagoya's GB games felt like downgrades compared to Konami's older GB games, and Castlevania Legends is no exception. Both of the previous GB CV games have better production values than Legends.

To be clear, the EU standlone cart Belmont's Revenge is identical to the US version, but the Konami GB Collection games are all based of the Japanese versions, even "Probotector", which, ironically, only changes the title and doesn't change the characters to robots like the stand alone GB Probotector.

[Sumez]

That is cool. I consider the Ducktales and Chip 'n' Dale series on the NES to be on par with the classic MegaMan series (all great Capcom action games).

(..snip..)

Yeah, i'm with BIL here. Even though they have kiddy visuals (and aren't hardcore action games), their difficulty is more than enough to put up a challenge.
This is Capcom we're talking about, after all.

To be honest, no. While Darkwing Duck does put up a fight, the Ducktales games are complete walkovers, and the Rescue Rangers even more so, to the point where you're gonna have to try hard to lose a life to anything other than the occasional bottomless pit.

Don't get me wrong, they are very good games, but I would have loved to play a version of each with at least a Mega Man level of challenge, for a much higher level of satisfacion. Their gameplay mechanics are thoroughly solid, and could easily carry that.

This is an unpopular opinion, but in general, while they are all good games, I think all of Capcom's Disney licensed games (including Aladding and the Mickey Mouse games on SNES) are a tad... lazy? In fact, if you compare each of them with their contemporary Mega Man or Mega Man X titles, you can easily see how the latter had so much more love poured into them. Not only does your typical Mega Man title have around twice as many stages, everything is just a lot more tightly designed in these.

While you can hardly go wrong with ANY 8 or 16 bit Capcom title, I can't shake the feeling that they were just running the treadmill while making these games. So quality is to be assumed, but it is sad to think of what they could have been if they had put the same effort into them as they did with everything Mega Man at the time.

The big outlier here, btw, is Goof Troop. An amazing and very unique game, only drawing vaguely on the old Higemaru titles. It does have its flaws of course - it's very easy (but that's mostly due to the absurdly flawed lives system I think?) and very short as well, and like the other Disney titles, I would have loved to see where they could have taken this concept if they had made a sequel.

[Sumez]

Btw, all the Game Boy Castlevanias suck Even the decent second installment isn't particularly memorable. If they weren't branded Castlevania you probably wouldn't have played them.

[soprano1]

The big outlier here, btw, is Goof Troop.

Designed by Shinji Mikami of all people, who also designed the SNES version of Aladdin.

[Sumez]

Don't understate the role of Tokuro Fujiwara in all of the discussed titles (including every Mega Man title, obviously the entire Makaimura series, and so much more). Even in Aladdin he was merely credited as supervisor, but I feel like he had a hand to play in every great action title coming out of Capcom in the 80s and early 90s.

[BIL]

Btw, all the Game Boy Castlevanias suck Even the decent second installment isn't particularly memorable. If they weren't branded Castlevania you probably wouldn't have played them.

The first and third games I can buy that about (DD1 for its crushing slowness, GBCV3 for... just boring the shit out of me tbh), but I'd still make time for DDII if the cartridge label peeled off and revealed it to be Captain BDSM Must Whip Vampire: Die Screaming Undead Cunt. With the stupidly heavy trudge it's definitely not as loved as Contra, Ninja Gaiden and especially not Bionic Commando, but I appreciate the novel combo of classic CV action and more sequential, almost Rockmanesque stage design. Admittedly it's the superb OST that really puts it over the top, and provides the primary motivation for my occasional revisits. I always stick around until I can 1LC it again though!

With the walk speed correction hack I'd have absolutely no reservations. I don't do hacks though. Original code or bust. I wouldn't even accept hacks for Holy Diver. It's pathological, like so much of my approach to this hobby. 3;

[Shoryukev]

I'd play CBDSMMWV:DSUC in a heartbeat if such a game existed, just throwing that out there....lol

I need to better organise my gameboy stuff, I think I have the second CV GB title but I'm not sure. Need to go out and get a binder and some baseball card sleeves at least.

[Ghegs]

http://www.capcom-unity.com/official_ca ... n-april-18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4sSjd9UYpM
I guess this might interest a few people here.

That is cool. I consider the Ducktales and Chip 'n' Dale series on the NES to be on par with the classic MegaMan series (all great Capcom action games).
They already released the 6 classic MegaMan games as MegaMan Legacy Collection on Steam, so I guess they're expanding on re-releasing classic 8-bit games on PC/etc.

Funny timing, I've been using my Analogue NT Mini to finally play and beat Darkwing Duck. Which was done in short order, I'm still going for a no-death run with all bonus rooms abused for ~30 extra lives.

Like it was said, those Disney games are really easy, but still excellent. The fact that they're putting in a rewind function for these is kind of mind-boggling. They're already entry-level games for 2D action-platformers, difficulty-wise.

[Shoryukev]

I really could have used that rewind function when I played Rescue Rangers a month ago and almost 1LC'd it after not touching it for ten years. Same with Little Mermaid on the NES, tough as nails!!

[__SKYe]

To be honest, no. While Darkwing Duck does put up a fight, the Ducktales games are complete walkovers, and the Rescue Rangers even more so, to the point where you're gonna have to try hard to lose a life to anything other than the occasional bottomless pit.

Don't get me wrong, they are very good games, but I would have loved to play a version of each with at least a Mega Man level of challenge, for a much higher level of satisfacion. Their gameplay mechanics are thoroughly solid, and could easily carry that.

Funny timing, I've been using my Analogue NT Mini to finally play and beat Darkwing Duck. Which was done in short order, I'm still going for a no-death run with all bonus rooms abused for ~30 extra lives.

Like it was said, those Disney games are really easy, but still excellent. The fact that they're putting in a rewind function for these is kind of mind-boggling. They're already entry-level games for 2D action-platformers, difficulty-wise.

Sorry, when I said they were on par with MegaMan, I didn't mean they are as difficult as the MegaMan games, just of similar quality. My bad.

On the other hand, and it's been quite a while, but I remember them (particularly Duck Tales) not being that easy.
I guess it was due to my inexperience with the genre at the time, but I really thought they were, at least, a decent challenge.
Well, it just means that now, I got a reason to revisit them.

[BrianC]

Btw, all the Game Boy Castlevanias suck Even the decent second installment isn't particularly memorable. If they weren't branded Castlevania you probably wouldn't have played them.

I disagree. The first is decent and I found the second to be extremely good (though not hard). Both feel more Castlevania than similar games like Vampire: Master of Darkness. Not to mention that a non-branded title, Motocross Maniacs, is one of Konami's better Gameboy games. I was disappointed that the comment about a list GB games being "versions" of popular arcade games was brought up again when I pointed out that a few of those games listed are very different from their NES counterparts and stand on their own (Both Hammerin' Harry games are arguably better than the NES games, for example).

[EmperorIng]

The big outlier here, btw, is Goof Troop.

Designed by Shinji Mikami of all people, who also designed the SNES version of Aladdin.

Man, my older brother and I played the hell out of Goof Troop on the SNES as wee lads. Strangely addicting using grapple hooks and other weapons to attack grab items and clutter up the screen. Very satisfying.

[BIL]

I'd play CBDSMMWV:DSUC in a heartbeat if such a game existed, just throwing that out there....lol

Also note the double meaning in the title! Read it as the imperative "Die screaming, undead cunt!" or the more \m/etal, teutonic interpretation "The Screaming Undead Cunt."

Just learned (or maybe just rediscovered) Holy Water can illuminate Rock Castle's dark rooms in DDII, handy if you accidentally destroy too many candles (easily done with the positioning of enemies, particularly with a maxed-out whip). Cute! A fair bit of design TLC apparent in that segment, among others. I did know HW melts eyeballs that'll otherwise explode and destroy the bridges in Plant Castle.

Besides restoring the walk to the series' normal speed, I'd have liked it if the game just went full-on puzzlebox "get from point A to B with unique stage mechanic C." All the dull bits involve traversing open ground, areas the contemporary console games fill with tricky enemies and deadly combat. Like this:

Spoiler

I always wondered how the notion of "slow walk speed = CLASSIC CV FEEL" got into Konami's heads. The evil phenomenon of scrub lore I well understand, but the devs themselves? It's total fiction. The first game's scrolling is brisk, on par with FC Contra... and if CV1's Simon trudged like DDII's Christopher or XX's Richter, Dracula mk1 would eat your ass FO FREE. No, for real, you would not be able to dodge a worst-case teleport! Suck on that, whiny scrubs! Get plenty of sleep and eat right to improve reaction time! And uh... think on that, 1990s CV teams!

edit: OMG it's so much better playing this with its own sound. I'd forgotten all about the Castle Dracula map BGM, "Castle #2." Feels! It's a hard thing, a man setting out to potentially kill his own son. Almost reminds me of the intro to Iron Maiden's "Fear of the Dark," but three years earlier and on GameBoy.

edit 2:

The first Dracula's castle stage has that room with a bonepillar/reaper tag team - always gets me hype, cos both of their attack trajectories are completely random and getting powered down feels so chumpy.

Woop woop! Hard mode doubles the fun by making the similar room with bat/reaper duo another RNG powerdown hazard. I love this game's bats, although I suspect the axe would obviate the hair-eating menace. Glorious nippon ver or bust.

I like the earlier room with the reaper poised to bulldoze you into a spike pit if not taken down promptly, as well. Cool heavy enemy type. The delay between their telegraphs and strikes is just right (punishes for leaping a low shot too early, the high ones' return likewise), and the menacing look helps too.

[__SKYe]

Alright, in the past week I managed to finish a couple games.

The first is Wendy: Every witch way (GBC). It was developed by WayForward Technologies, and was released in 2001, just a year before they released Shantae. The overall look and feel of the game is indeed very similar to Shantae, which in my book is quite a good thing. From I gather, it is a licensed game based on Casper the friendly ghost.
Now, the game is far from a hardcore action game.
It is a mix of standard action platformer, with a gravity flip mechanic (similar to what you find in VVVVVV). You can gather stars that are plentiful across the levels, and besides increasing your score, they double as both weapon powerup and health.
Getting hit by an enemy decreased your star meter by 1 (you have a maximum of 5 stars) which also powers your attack down (since health and attack power are tied together). Should you lose all stars in your star meter, you lose a life.
The game as 4 "worlds" and 4 levels in each world, the 4th level being a bonus round that plays like an STG. On the last level you fight a boss (the only one in the game).
There are 2 difficulty modes (Normal and Hard), and from what I can tell, the differences are that in Hard mode, spikes are 1-hit KO (whereas in Normal you simply lose one star) and that there are more enemies on each level.
If you play the game in a GBA (or set the emulator to run in GBA mode), you get access to 3 extra, lightly harder, levels.

Again, it's quite an easy game, even on hard, the main difficulty arising from trying to get all the stars in each level, as some are in somewhat precarious places (since touching spikes leads to an instant death).
It is quite a fun game though, and since you can beat it in under an hour, it quite worth it, even if just for the experience.

The other game, was The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (GBC).
Now this one was long overdue, but I finally decided to beat it. It's the second Zelda game I've beaten, the other being TLOZ:Minish Cap (GBA).
I think this one doesn't need introductions, so I'll skip them.
On this one, I died twice during the course of the game.
On the first death, I went exploring and stumbled upon the Face Shrine a bit too soon, and died against the guardian there (quite a stupid death really). The other one was on the last phase of the last boss, because I ran out of arrows, and eventually died trying to use everything I had against the guy (to no avail, of course). I easily won on the next try, though.

Overall a very good game, with it's only major fault being the goddamn annoying messages like "Wow! This looks really heavy! You won't be able to lift it with just your bare hands..." if you happen to brush a rock (or crystal, or ice block).

[BIL]

ping ping! Dracula Densetsu II be over, again, until next time. Ta for hard mode tip Brian, it does make things a bit more interesting later on with all the bats.



"NOT MUH BEAUTIFUL FACE"



Haha no, thank you Konami! Rest in peace. ;w;7

---

Oh lawd, it's Alien 3! (Mega Drive/Genesis, Probe Software, 1992)



Bald patch represent!

No Japan release for this one, which automatically bumps it down my interest list. I still wanted to revisit though, because while as a kid it annoyed me, I recalled it having some neat ideas! And that it does. In the marrying of tight POV to lurking monsters, limited mobility and perilously sparse ammo, there is the kernel of a unique survival horror sidescroller. Action is simple, yet visceral and rewarding - blasting incoming aliens may demand little more than reaction speed, but in this very specific context, a clean kill with no injury sustained, minimal ammo expended and one less hostile to worry about is satisfaction itself.

The vast majority of the game is spent in nonlinear, time-limited prisoner rescues amid increasingly complex terrain - ideal venues for uneasy, impelled exploration. Time limits are decidedly merciless, from a first-run perspective - a time bonus pickup wouldn't have gone amiss. I detect a nice bit of black humour in the grim reward for mission failure: a pan-around of the stage helpfully revealing the location of missed prisoners, each giving a convincing scream of agony as chestbursters erupt on cue. Audio is outstanding - the brutal explosions, crisp pulse rifle fire and dead-on facehugger SFX rival Splatterhouse Part 3 for ghoulish YM2612 horror fun. Music enjoys beefy tone and generally excellent compositions, albeit most too peppy for the license (dig the New Beat sound, boyeee - acid for blood, more like acid for brunch mirite). Certainly one of the stronger-sounding Western MD games I've played in recent memory.

Looks pretty good too. Efficiently characterful animations on Ripley, prisoners and the aliens alike - the eggs and facehuggers are, again, perfectly translated - and bar some silly levitating platforms and spike pits, the setting is quite convincing. Standouts are Area 2's hellish abattoir (I love the ambiguous brutality... some carcasses skinned for human consumption, others chestburst for alien ends) and Area 4's credibly Gigeresque hive. The latter goes for an almost ethereal effect - works better than it might sound, given the intense enemy presence.



BUT UNFORTUNATELY: Sadly, at both fundamental and finer levels, the game is simply too unpolished for more than a glimpse of its potential. Endemic cheap shots and frequent, tedious recoveries create a needless layer of irritation, one that soundly knocks this down to curio tier.

From the foundations up... camera tracking is broken, offsetting Ripley toward the scrolling screen edge at all times. This is annoying in the most forgiving of circumstances - in a game where reaction speed is paramount, POV is already tight, and whose enemies' sole trick is "pop in suddenly and knock player down," it's exasperating. You might assume the motion tracker is there to compensate - I did, hence my wanting to revisit. Nope. The tracker is handy for detecting nearby captives, coming into its own in the excellently disorienting Hive stages. It is useless for spotting enemies in your general vicinity. The trick to avoiding constant muggings is to inch ahead until Ripley starts leaving screen center, halting as the camera floats forward, repeating ad infinitum. As fucking ever: in a multidirectionally-scrolling 2D game, scroll locked to player position. Player position locked to screen center. Anything else invites trouble.

Finer balancing issues compound this. Aliens start off with enough HP to tank through your pulse rifle at the slightest delay - it's not a bad effect, initially. By Area 3, they're tough enough to shrug off once-devastating grenades, slashing the already slim odds of intercepting their attack. Sustaining damage of any sort sends Ripley flying, followed by several seconds' immobility. Getting clobbered by surprise xenotanks, waiting to regain control, then dispatching the now aimlessly-pacing foe from within the invincibility window gets old quickly. This isn't even considering some blatantly cheap enemy positioning. At its best, the game punishes you for hastily approaching points of interest - conjuring fond thoughts of the films' vicious ambush predators. Unfortunately, the designers have no qualms about occasionally dumping aliens directly onto the player from above, most noticeably in Area 2's first stage. In the worst betrayal of its potential, memorisation of static stage layouts becomes the only reliable solution.



Er - you avin' a larf m8? Got that by accident on one of the first stages and had to laugh. SHINOBI for the SEGA SYSTEM 16 this ain't. (・｀ω´・)

JUDGMENT: Alien 3's not without some merit, sporting a unique concept and at times engrossing execution. To Probe's credit, they went far beyond pasting Ripley into a random Contra knockoff and calling it quits. However, it is critically flawed and recommendable to only the most patient and curious of sidescroller fans. Survival horror appreciators will likely regard it more charitably than others.

Personally, it's interesting how closely its successes and failings mirror that of prototypical survival horror. The individual components of gunplay and timed exploration are functional at best, but properly arranged they could amount to a solid chassis for a more "experience-oriented" game. As with certain classics like Resident Evil (2002) and Silent Hill 2, this is also a game with credible enough tension that at times, the conspicuous absence of monsters can perturb.

DREAM HACKZ:

1) center camera. how the fuck did so many devs get this wrong BITD? I swear I'm gonna build a Terminator and have him force you to recode this shit at gunpoint.
2) lock alien HP at Area 1 levels - weapons already feel authentically stressed from the outset. Later areas develop Euroshump Peashooter Syndrome.
3) refine away the unreactable "gotcha" spawns. These suck at the best of times - unfathomably moreso in a game reliant on the tension of intercepting lurking fiends.
4) fix motion tracker to detect approaching, running aliens (leave floor-hiders invisible, they're cool).

I also think it'd be good to 5) shorten the tedious damage cycle, putting Ripley back on her feet immediately, and 6) (with the above improvements in place) impose a Rolling Thunder-style "three hits and you're dead" system. Decrease annoyance, increase tension.