Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
User avatar
Sumez
Posts: 8012
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:11 am
Location: Denmarku
Contact:

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

Once I finally get around to playing that game, it'll be the PS1 version too. I just can't be bothered with emulation.
User avatar
Strider77
Posts: 4715
Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:01 am

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Strider77 »

I keep hearing conflicting things now... but to be honest I'm not overly concerned over what one is harder.

I'm 41 now and have this wall of games I've been building since my late teens. I want to beat the stuff that I've never gotten around to (on my shelf) while I'm still alive and able to do it. The PS1 version is one of those on the shelf that needs to be done (in OG mode). I scratched Hagane and Dracula XX of that list in the past few months also.

Ristar and Splatterhouse 2 are others I need to finish.... and the last boss of Rolling Thunder 3.
Last edited by Strider77 on Sat Nov 03, 2018 5:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Damn Tim, you know there are quite a few Americans out there who still lives in tents due to this shitty economy, and you're dropping loads on a single game which only last 20 min. Do you think it's fair? How much did you spend this time?
User avatar
FinalBaton
Posts: 4461
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:38 pm
Location: Québec City

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by FinalBaton »

Good to know that OG mode in Chronicles is close enough. I'll be burning that sucka and playing it on the good ol' Playstation
-FM Synth & Black Metal-
User avatar
BIL
Posts: 18957
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 12:39 pm
Location: COLONY

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Strider77 wrote:I keep hearing conflicting things now... but to be honest I'm not overly concerned over what one is harder.
It's been years, but I cleared them back to back to back (PS1/X68k/PS1) without issue. I don't think it's anything to lose sleep over, at least from a challenge standpoint.

From SuperDeadite's post I'm reminded of Strider MD vs AC. The former lets you take more damage, but actually ends up being more difficult for dubious reasons (bigger hitboxes, screwy Option mechanics, POW sword no longer carrying between stages... granted, it's really only in the last stage that this stuff bites down).

Castlevania III Loop 2 (NES, not FC) is where it's at for oldschool Dracula heroics, anyway. :wink:
User avatar
Blinge
Posts: 5369
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:05 pm
Location: Villa Straylight

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Blinge »

Sumez wrote:Once I finally get around to playing that game, it'll be the PS1 version too. I just can't be bothered with emulation.
8) puss
Image
1cc List - Youtube - You emptylock my heart
User avatar
__SKYe
Posts: 701
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2016 1:51 am
Location: Portugal

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by __SKYe »

Just a quick update on Mighty Final Fight.

1CCed with Haggar (the only one I hadn't cleared with yet) with an absolutely disgusting run (not even the time away from the game can excuse it :) ), after falling into a pit some 5 times (and losing 5 lives).
Actually had a bit of trouble with the bosses due to Haggar's slow speed, and had to slightly adapt one of Sodom's tactics to acommodate for this; on his later boss fights, where he'll switch to mad dashes mid-fight. You can't actually hit him on both sides of the screen after avoiding his dash due to Haggar's speed, so I had to use the same tactic but only hitting him on one of the sides. Lost a nice chunk of life on my first fight with him by trying to follow him around and failing to do so.
Abigail is still a fucking pain in the ass, and as usual, even worse due to Haggar's speed.

Also, I think I discovered another little thing: For the first time, I reached Robo-Belger with no lives in stock, and during the pre-fight dialog I was awarded one (didn't need it, though :) ). It's been a while since I've played this game, but I'm pretty sure I never got a life there.
I don't know if you just get some experience there and it resulted on an extra life, or if it was a special dialogue due to having no lives (similar to how Sodom will offer to restore your HP on one of his fights if you don't have full HP) since not only can't I read it, but I also skipped as usual. :lol:

Always a fun game to play.
User avatar
Jonny2x4
Posts: 485
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:47 pm

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Jonny2x4 »

I finally took the plunge and bought the PS4 Arcade Archives version of Contra. These ACA re-releases are a bit overpriced for what is essentially game-specific emulators without any bonus features outside online leaderboards. Would it had at least killed them to get some scans of the game's flyers and instruction card (or someone who could write better descriptions at least)? At least it's nice to have an accurate conversion of AC Contra at home (the MAME emulation is a bit off in some areas).

Something I don't see commented much about the game is how inconsistent the art style is. Take the power-up icons for example. They all use letter-based falcon icons except for the Laser and the Machine Gun. It seems like they originally planned to have a unique icon for every gun (like they later did with Super Contra), but somewhere along the lines they got lazy and only came up with three designs (the normal gun, laser and machine). If you look at the designs for the Spread Gun and the Fire Ball when your character equips them, they're the same as the Laser and Machine respectively.

Same deal with the running enemy soldiers. There's actually two types: the Greeders and the Redders (yes, that's their official names, Romanization notwithstanding). You can distinguish them by the color of their shirts. Greeders wear yelllow (and wear backpacks), while Redders wear red. But since Greeders don't have jumping animation frames, they use Redder's instead. In fact, some Redders appear as Greeders at first and only when they pull out their guns does it appear in their running animation frames. The thing the Greeders are carrying are supposed to some sort of grenades, but they barely ever throw it.

Another curiosity about this version is how the stage clear jingle is only played at the end of Stage 3 after you destroy Garuma Kiruma. You would think they would use it at the end of every stage, but it's not even played at the end of Stage 6, which is the second of the fixed screen bosses (for the record, the fixed screen boss battles are counted as their own stages in the AC version).

One big difference between the AC and NES versions is how the flying weapon capsules work. They only appear in the arcade version on certain locations when you have your normal gun equipped. Because of this the Rapid Bullets and Barrier power-ups are easy to miss out on since they never appear on the pill-box sensors nor as random drops from the red guards during the 3D stages. To get the first Rapid Bullets, you need to have the normal gun at the beginning of Stage 4 (the Waterfall stage) and jump next to the burning bridge. This will cause two flying capsules to appear (one with the Barrier and the other with Rapid Bullets) upwards. Unlike the NES version, the effect of Rapid Bullets isn't cancelled when you pick up another weapon. The Rapid Bullets and Machine Gun combo is the best weapon in this version, as it can take out most of the bosses in a matter of seconds.
Last edited by Jonny2x4 on Fri Nov 09, 2018 2:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Sumez
Posts: 8012
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:11 am
Location: Denmarku
Contact:

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

Is the ACA version actually better emulated than MAME?
User avatar
Ed Oscuro
Posts: 18654
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 4:13 pm
Location: uoıʇɐɹnƃıɟuoɔ ɯǝʇsʎs

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Ed Oscuro »

One possible difference is whether parts of the continue counter (the big number) stay onscreen after it's supposed to disappear - and I'm not sure whether that's a MAME quirk or an original bug in some versions. Does the ACA version have this?
User avatar
Vanguard
Posts: 967
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 7:32 pm

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Vanguard »

I gave Trip World a second playthrough recently. I think it's mostly a poor man's Gimmick. Trip World lacks Gimmick!'s rock solid action foundation and instead banks everything on realistic another world appeal. The problem is that Gimmick! wins there too. Trip World's structure is fairly unique: it's a five stage game where the first four stages are essentially about Yacopu traveling to the scene of the crisis, and the fifth stage is the only combat-heavy one. Each stage has a boss but aside from them the overwhelming majority of NPCs won't give you trouble if you don't start anything. The fifth stage, where Yacopu arrives at the castle, almost feels like a different game. It's almost like the conflict was just an excuse to show you the game's world, whereas in most games the world is a backdrop for the conflict. Anyway, Trip World's worth checking out if you couldn't get enough of Gimmick!'s realistic another world, but it's it's undeniably the lesser sibling.
Jonny2x4 wrote:Something I don't see commented much about the game is how inconsistent the art style is. Take the power-up icons for example. They all use letter-based falcon icons except for the Laser and the Machine Gun. It seems like they originally planned to have a unique icon for every gun (like they later did with Super Contra), but somewhere along the lines they got lazy and only came up with three designs (the normal gun, laser and machine). If you look at the designs for the Spread Gun and the Fire Ball when your character equips them, they're the same as the Laser and Machine respectively.
Always thought the powerup thing was really bizarre. It feels unfinished. It had to have been due to time constraints. Didn't know that spread and fire reused other guns' sprite models, but it makes sense.
User avatar
Jonny2x4
Posts: 485
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:47 pm

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Jonny2x4 »

Sumez wrote:Is the ACA version actually better emulated than MAME?
It's been a while since I've played Contra on MAME, so I'm not sure if they got around fixing it on a newer revision, but during the two 3D stages (Stage 2 and 5), the enemy characters will concentrate all their attacks towards the bottom right corner for some reason. It's not just MAME though. The Nintendo DS version on the Konami Arcade Hits compilation had this same problem, as did the Ore-tachi Gēsen Zoku disc for PS2 and the XBLA download for the 360 based on the videos I've seen of those versions from Youtube. The actual arcade board never had this issue.

Also, when Lance dies during one of the 3D stages, the tiles of his death sprite will be mirrored the wrong way too.
Ed Oscuro wrote:One possible difference is whether parts of the continue counter (the big number) stay onscreen after it's supposed to disappear - and I'm not sure whether that's a MAME quirk or an original bug in some versions. Does the ACA version have this?
It doesn't either.
Vanguard wrote:Always thought the powerup thing was really bizarre. It feels unfinished. It had to have been due to time constraints. Didn't know that spread and fire reused other guns' sprite models, but it makes sense.
Another sign that the game was never properly finished is the lack of a time limit outside the 3D stages, meaning that there's nothing to prevent you from hogging the machine all day if you manage to find a suitable milking spot, making the game potentially unprofitable for arcade operators. They fixed this in Super Contra with an invisible time limit (an unavoidable fireball will kill you if you stay too long in one spot).
Last edited by Jonny2x4 on Fri Nov 09, 2018 3:27 pm, edited 3 times in total.
User avatar
Sumez
Posts: 8012
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:11 am
Location: Denmarku
Contact:

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

Jonny2x4 wrote: It's been a while since I've played Contra on MAME, so I'm not sure if they got around fixing it on a newer revision, but during the two 3D stages (Stage 2 and 5), the enemy characters will concentrate all their attacks towards the bottom right corner for some reason. It's not just MAME though. The Nintendo DS version on the Konami Arcade Hits had this same problem, as did the Ore-tachi Gēsen Zoku disc for PS2 and XBLA version based on the videos I've seen from Youtube. The actual arcade board never had this issue.

Also, when Lance during one of the 3D stages, the tiles of his death sprite will be mirrored the wrong way too.
this is interesting, because it means that for ACA releases, Hamster definitely do more than just slam the ROM into a built in emulator and call it a day. Even more interesting if no one have actually been able to properly emulate this game until Hamster randomly decide to pick it up for yet another discount PSN release.

That's a big star in their book, honestly.
User avatar
Jonny2x4
Posts: 485
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:47 pm

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Jonny2x4 »

They come a long way from the Gēsen Zoku series on the PS2, since there was some minor controversy over some of those discs being MAME emulators on a disc. I heard great things about the ACA release of Gradius too as being the best port yet and they recently announced Urban Champion for Switch, which is not even supported by MAME yet.

I wish they would get the rights to some of Konami's later games, especially Gaiapolis (which never had a console port and the MAME emulation is completely off), but it seems they stopped porting Konami games after Haunted Castle.
User avatar
Sumez
Posts: 8012
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:11 am
Location: Denmarku
Contact:

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

Isn't Urban Champion an NES game? (aside from the vs release of course)

Man, I've had Gaiapolis lying around forever. Haven't had it in my cab even once, and now that cab is back to horizontal :\
User avatar
Jonny2x4
Posts: 485
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:47 pm

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Jonny2x4 »

Sumez wrote:Isn't Urban Champion an NES game? (aside from the vs release of course)
Indeed. I'm not sure if there's anything special about the arcade version over the NES one since Vs. releases tend to differ in lots of ways. Vs. Wrecking Crew in particular is practically a different game from the NES Wrecking Crew and it actually predated the console version.
Man, I've had Gaiapolis lying around forever. Haven't had it in my cab even once, and now that cab is back to horizontal :\
Which version? Do you have the whole kit or just the PCB? I'm under the impression Gaiapolis is particularly rare, especially the English boards. I can't even find a decent scan of the flyer online.
User avatar
Sumez
Posts: 8012
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:11 am
Location: Denmarku
Contact:

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

I actually have no idea which version, are there any notable differences?
PCB only, I have no interest in kits.

I don't understand how Urban Champion is not emulated, when the Vs hardware is "basically" just an NES, and NES has been emulated perfectly for quite a while now? I've even seen emulators replicating the DPCM channel's interference with controller reading, which I'm not aware of any licensed games suffering from.
User avatar
BrianC
Posts: 8856
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: MD

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BrianC »

Urban Champion was just released today in the us. The AC version has a score and different music from the nes.

It looks like Vs. Urban Champion is emulated somewhere since there are a few videos on YouTube.

edit: Doh. Video says it was ripped from the AC machine.
User avatar
Jonny2x4
Posts: 485
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:47 pm

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Jonny2x4 »

Sumez wrote:I actually have no idea which version, are there any notable differences?
PCB only, I have no interest in kits.
Really? You don't have the marquee nor the side art? Not even the operator's manual?

Anyway, there's three versions of Gaiapolis currently supported by MAME (UAF, EAF, JAF). JAF is the Japanese version and aside from the language during cutscenes and such, it uses six-character passcodes instead of nine characters (since it uses kana as variables instead of Roman characters). Otherwise, I think the three versions are pretty much identical. I doubt the game really had any more variations compared to something like the TMNT games or Sunset Riders (which were available in 2P and 4P versions in addition to the usual regional variations).
I don't understand how Urban Champion is not emulated, when the Vs hardware is "basically" just an NES, and NES has been emulated perfectly for quite a while now? I've even seen emulators replicating the DPCM channel's interference with controller reading, which I'm not aware of any licensed games suffering from.
Maybe the board is really rare. It's not like Urban Champions was one of Nintendo's most popular games. You'll be hard to press to find anyone who genuinely like that game, even among Nintendo fans.
Last edited by Jonny2x4 on Sat Nov 10, 2018 2:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
BrianC
Posts: 8856
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: MD

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BrianC »

I bought the Arcade Archives Urban Champion. AC version of Urban Champion definitely plays better, though the basic gameplay is pretty much the same. Stuff gets thrown out of windows more often and enemies seem to be a bit more challenging (key word "seem"). I also like how the game over music isn't the same jingle that plays when beating an enemy. There's also a game & watch game that plays version similar to Urban Champion, the Micro Vs. System Boxing.

Gaiapolis did have a console port of sorts for NES, but it was an unofficial bootleg conversion and had terrible music.
User avatar
Austin
Posts: 1262
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:32 pm
Location: Fairfax, VA
Contact:

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Austin »

Jonny2x4 wrote:Another sign that the game was never properly finished is the lack of a time limit outside the 3D stages, meaning that there's nothing to prevent you from hogging the machine all day if you manage to find a suitable milking spot, making the game potentially unprofitable for arcade operators. They fixed this in Super Contra with an invisible time limit (an unavoidable fireball will kill you if you stay too long in one spot).
Really? I could have sworn you die if you sit in the same spot for too long. No interesting fireball or anything like that as you see in the sequel, but I thought you did die (I recall trying to milk in the 360 version but it not letting me). I'll have to try it again and see what happens.
User avatar
BurlyHeart
Posts: 615
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 5:57 am
Location: Korea

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BurlyHeart »

Now known as old man|Burly
YouTube
Shmup Difficulty Lists:
Japan Arcade - To Far Away Times - Perikles
User avatar
WelshMegalodon
Posts: 1225
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2015 5:09 am

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by WelshMegalodon »

Either it's just me or this game's sprite artwork succeeds where countless others have failed by actually looking like low-res pixel art from the 90s. (Looking at you, Shovel Knight.)
Indie hipsters: "Arcades are so dead"
Finite Continues? Ain't that some shit.
RBelmont wrote:A little math shows that if you overclock a Pi3 to about 3.4 GHz you'll start to be competitive with PCs from 2002. And you'll also set your house on fire
User avatar
BurlyHeart
Posts: 615
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 5:57 am
Location: Korea

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BurlyHeart »

Streets of Rage 2 Mania no death run. Haven't had the pleasure to watch this yet, but looking forward to it.

(Recorded Live) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypcRg6z2S1I&t

(Post-run commentary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bHN00Izy8M
Now known as old man|Burly
YouTube
Shmup Difficulty Lists:
Japan Arcade - To Far Away Times - Perikles
User avatar
BIL
Posts: 18957
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 12:39 pm
Location: COLONY

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Having only ever dabbled with the SOR games, I didn't understand the scale of the achievement until watching. Mortal intensity in stages 7 and 8! DOIN IT LIVE :o

Will enjoy the commentated run later. :smile:
User avatar
copy-paster
Posts: 1682
Joined: Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:33 pm
Location: Indonesia

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by copy-paster »

I'm aiming to 1CC (hopefully) Shin Contra, getting the true ending. Need to getting better at take down the Mission 4's giant robo, jellyfish, and final boss.
User avatar
BrianC
Posts: 8856
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 1:33 am
Location: MD

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BrianC »

Jonny2x4 wrote: Another sign that the game was never properly finished is the lack of a time limit outside the 3D stages, meaning that there's nothing to prevent you from hogging the machine all day if you manage to find a suitable milking spot, making the game potentially unprofitable for arcade operators. They fixed this in Super Contra with an invisible time limit (an unavoidable fireball will kill you if you stay too long in one spot).
That reminds me of the AC Athena, which is especially evil with the time limit. It not only has a regular time limit, but it sends tough enemies at you for standing around too long too. Frustrating thing is that the NES version actually has a couple things I like over the arcade version (like starting with the high jump shoes), but suffers from Micronics' poor programming.
User avatar
Jonny2x4
Posts: 485
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:47 pm

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Jonny2x4 »

The arcade version of Rush 'n Attack works that way too come to think of it. It has an invisible time limit that automatically kills you if you take too long to complete a stage (happened quite a few too many times during Stage 2 in most of my playthroughs), but if you stay in one spot to milk out more points, the game will start throwing in more of those jump kicking enemy soldiers and eventually it calls an air bomber that throws a bomb that is very hard to avoid (it's possible to survive it by jumping before it hits the ground, but the timing is kinda tricky to pull off).
User avatar
BIL
Posts: 18957
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 12:39 pm
Location: COLONY

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Oh hey, perennial curio Ninja from Batman (FC) has a counter-attack specifically for the Bat-gun.

Spoiler
Image


Had never seen this before! The TLC that went into this guy. If you spam him he'll charge into the bullets and die, manfully. ;3

Although it'd have diminished the curio factor, I think it'd have been cool if they'd worked him into the regular cast. His headlong charge is a lot more aesthetically satisfying to counter/evade than that of the staple Battle Roombas. Not to diminish roombas. Their ways of foiling neutral or retreating jumps are sound, and holy fuck are they an underfoot nuisance with other enemies present! But I'd have liked to see Ninja one more time, charging down one of the game's vanishingly rare vacant flatlands.

Gravitated back to this game over the last couple weeks, the tough, compact course being ideal for a lack of time. As always, picking it back up when it's been years prompts a Image as the heavy handling and thorny stage designs persistently trainwreck momentum. But once the basic layouts and handling are back in memory, and the momentum starts kicking in, it rapidly regains to Image status. Among my very favourite short technical action/platformer courses.

This time around, I picked up an element of Prince of Persia etc's cinematic/athletic platforming, moreso than the instant twitch of Castlevania (and most definitely Ninja Gaiden). As with POP, there's reams of visually un-threatening stage/enemy design you're simply not going to handle without rehearsal - even moreso with Sunsoft's Jekyll/Hyde penchant for cheap shots redeemed by deft learned response. They were often like a microcosm of hard solo gaming in that regard. Some of the shit Raf World pulls in stage 4. Image

Not to take the comparison too far. Decidedly unlike POP, the R2RKMF component is rollicking and varied, and even compared on pure platforming athleticism, its demands and pace categorically surpass. As is to be expected, because Batman is a superhero, not some guy with a mean hanging grip! I wonder if there's a closer antecedent to the explosive wallspringing.
Yoshiaki Iwata wrote:At that time, we negotiated with Warner Bros and only made the following promise.
· Batman does not kill people.
· Batman does not drags his cloak to the ground and does not walk.
In the game, we developed Batman (FC) not to kill people, not to drag cloaks.
ta @ soprano1 for linking these, they are superb. Image I dunno Iwata-san, I came away shaken by the memory of MDBR! :shock: (that's Millions of Dead Battle Roombas)

Recorded a goofy run to cap off this revisit, particularly wanting to get a decent Fire Bug recorded. I'd come to think of him as overly exploit-dependent and was pleasantly surprised to gradually discern, over many brutal ass-maulings, WTF he was getting up to. Fire Bug's only means of attack while you're airborne is his Tiger Knee, which like any enemy contact attack is nullified while he's in damage state. That's the only principle needed for a damageless run. You can (and should!) be really aggressive with him, playing catch-up is a bad idea. You'll get Fierce Hands if you're too aggressive, but that is what zoning is for! I love Fire Bug. Not that he and Joker aren't pitifully guaranteed to murder the uninitiated. But as always, I don't mind taking an untrammelled beating as long as it can be wrangled into something interesting later on.

I like that you can instantly restart at both on death (feels necessary), and tbh even the one-time life restore for Joker feels right too, because realistically he's going to shoot you the fuck in the face for 3HP, probably after undodgeable lightning. However, if you're relying on the restore to survive, that's a WIENER CLEAR in my book! Image

Speaking of early hurdles, I still think this, Gun-Dec and Jigoku Gokurakumaru would be improved by putting subweapons on Up+B, rather than having them replace the primary attack. OTOH, though I'm not too fond of the particular learning process, deftly cueing up the right picks and nailing kill after kill is quite satisfying in itself. Batman is the least affected of these three, on account of the more methdodical pace... one tap for Batarangs, three back to fists, three to the triple shot thingy, one to fists. A niggly thing that ultimately recedes during committed play, rather like NG1-2's unmarked candles.

Friggin 8 Eyes of all things uses the subweapon select system I suggest... but then completely bungles the landing, by having them activate with [any direction besides L/R] + [Jump]. Lousy Thinking Rabbit! I still really dig that name+logo.
copy-paster wrote:I'm aiming to 1CC (hopefully) Shin Contra, getting the true ending. Need to getting better at take down the Mission 4's giant robo, jellyfish, and final boss.
Ah, Jellyfish. Or as I prefer to think of him, Law of Unintended Consequencesfish! A cut above the rest, certainly my biggest worry in the game's latter quarter. Only the dreaded Rolling Ball Lance comes close for twitch unease, but you might not encounter him at all. Probably Shin's best answers to Hard Corps' Claw Bahamut, Spheroid Joe and Motherfucking Dr. Crab.
User avatar
FinalBaton
Posts: 4461
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:38 pm
Location: Québec City

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by FinalBaton »

"Deadly roombas", hahaha

such intense and interesting platforming in Batman NES! I have the cart for this one, think I'll play it some more this week

I haven't cleared the game yet so I can't speak about it's balance... Imma try and clear it
-FM Synth & Black Metal-
User avatar
Ex_Mosquito
Posts: 587
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 11:17 pm
Location: United Kingdom, Newport S.Wales

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Ex_Mosquito »

Here is a 1-Life & no-damage replay of the NeoGeo classic, Magician Lord. I have always liked the look of Magician Lord after seeing in it the old Neo-Geo feature in the legendary UK magazine C&VG. The graphics looked so good for the time and still hold up today. Aside from the amazing music this game isn’t the best, but I still love it, mainly nostalgia I guess. My biggest gripe with the game is the awful jumping physics, it feels so odd and inconsistent. First off, the jump is fully controllable in the air but with no inertia, which always feels odd in games to me. And secondly is the weird acceleration you get when you transition from a small jump into a big jump, it almost feels like someone is swiping on a touch screen. Also the jumping while firing is weirdly restricted. For example, when jumping horizontally you can fire the instant you leave the ground, but jumping straight up with no left of right direction restricts your firing until you’re at least a character height from a jump, it’s all very odd and very inconsistent.

After a little experimentation I came to the conclusion that the Magician is the strongest character in the game by far. He has the advantage of attacking from a distance which most of the transitional forms can’t, and he also has the fastest firing-rate. The transitional characters just seem kinda pointless and restricted aside from using the dragon on the final boss.

Note: There is questionable collision detection @2:00 that looks like I am using invincibility, try it for yourselves. I’m not sure it your ducking animation has a really high hitbox or if the projectile has a tiny hitbox. It doesn’t make much sense because everything else in the game has a huge hitbox...

Image

https://youtu.be/tVjtbJOtsQs
Last edited by Ex_Mosquito on Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
My Arcade 1-Credit Replays
http://www.youtube.com/user/exmosquito
Post Reply