Would love a write-up, I've been very slow on checking out any iteration of Horror Story. I think I subconsciously went full MD partisan with Toaplan stuff, vs PCE. Daft I know, particularly considering HS is the only one exclusive to NEC. >_> I'll get around to 'em at some point.
Now that it's on my mind again, the main character sure reminds me of Compile's MD Ghostbusters. Similar "chibi ugly" thing going on.
I always forget the Wardner MC's actual name (and find it mildly amusing when my brain grinds away in background then brings back answer to trivia, so will leave question open), but I love the one illustration in... MD Same Same's manual, I think, where various Toaplan heroes and ships are hastily departing an exploding building. The Out Zone dudes are looking as herculean as you'd expect, but Wardner kid is just as chubby as his in-game sprite and decidedly not built for speed.
edit: Dover, iirc? Ben, I'm sure.
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Saigo no Nindou: Ninja Spirit [PC Engine] (1990 IREM)
Recently put some time into the arcade version of IREM's wuxia hellscroller, via Hamster's excellent Arcade Archives emulation (PS4 version tested). Wanted to revisit the PCE's Arcade Mode, now that after three decades' faithful service, it's finally able to pass the torch. Often cited as a canonical Good Port,
HOW IT HOLD UP THO
TLDR: A generally excellent conversion, particularly on mechanics and stage layouts. Unfortunately, ignoring technical limitations, a few seemingly random changes dint its fidelity. Still, a strong rendition of the arcade game, capturing easily enough of its lunar menace to rank among the greatest ninja sidescrollers.
QUICK VIDEO REFERENCES: Arcade 1LC (via PS4) &
PC Engine 1LC (Arcade Mode)
IN DETAIL: Mechanically, this is a remarkably accurate conversion - warts and all, with even the arcade's
chain jump glitch and shuriken aiming quirks reproduced perfectly. Watch me OWNING THESE NOOBS with COUNTER-DECAPITATION STRIKE
[Arcade via PS4]
[PC Engine]
The layouts of the first five stages are similarly faithful - a particular help in stage 5's horizontally looping array of boobytrapped footholds. Stages 3 and 4, the ascent of the arcade's difficulty curve, are this conversion's finest hour. They play
beautifully. Although differences exist, they're close enough that strategies formed on PCE will often translate directly to the arcade. Always brings much joy to my lunatic obsessive heart.
The conversion seems to run a tick faster in ideal conditions, perhaps owing to the PCE's 60hz refresh rate versus the M72's 55hz. Naturally though, the M72 performs better under heavy loads, crunching numbers unattempted by the PCE.
Stage 6, the fiendishly deadly peak of the arcade curve, is fumbled on PCE. With even the M72 chugging under its screenloads of enemies and flak, a significant cull is understandable. The reconstruction is middling, unfortunately. Rather than distil the stage's key element, a lethal combo of advancing giants and leaping samurai, these foes are AWOL. Instead, the rabble is left to take up the slack - they can't hope to compare, though they certainly cause slowdown. Thus the PCE loses far more of its penultimate trial than it perhaps needed to.
In a compounding irritation, the defanged st6 gains a dubious new threat. On arcade, the rocks you traverse are subtly uneven, just like st2's bridges. It's a stylistic element - nothing more. On PCE, those dips are now
drops, and with Saigo's low gravity, they can deny jumps long enough for an inopportune spawn to take your head off. It's poor work, emblematic of this conversion's strange lapses in fidelity. When it's accurate, it's incredibly so. When it's not, it seems odd it manages the successes it does.
Stage 3's giants are a much smaller but similarly niggling flaw. Rather than lashing out at nearby players, relentlessly pursuing otherwise, they now attack on a set schedule, regularly stopping to uselessly swipe the air. Silly, tension-sapping change. I wonder if code conversion was automated in some way, given the juxtaposition of keen accuracy with hapless deviation.
Stage 7, featuring
an infamously poor lapse of quality in the arcade, differs on details but amounts to the same: a respectably deadly trap sequence, followed by a credit-eating abomination to excise with extreme prejudice. I applaud the PCE's addition of an easy route, greatly expediting the disinfection process. The last boss is authentically assholic, with his lower HP the only real concession - it's good that this small redemption made it through intact.
As a final note, the first boss's HP seems almost random - sometimes he'll explode before getting a shot off, others he'll approximate the arcade equivalent. He's not terribly important to proceedings, only noting for completism.
JUDGEMENT: Although the PCE's odd inaccuracies may vex hardcore fans, it remains a worthy representation of the arcade's lunar terror and murderous caprice - and by extension, one of the finest-ever ninja sidescrollers. A sterling addition to any PCE library. The inclusion of a PC Engine mode with hitpoints is a notable asset, given the rugged difficulty of Arcade Mode - though I cannot relate! I exist only to fight.