Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

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

Post by BrianC »

Durandal wrote:Is it even possible to clear Rolling Thunder 1's third stage on the second loop without hitting the time limit once? At first you think you made it, only to find that they just tacked an entire stage at the end which just keeps going while the time keeps ticking.
Old or New version? I read that the new version has a shorter time limit.
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Durandal
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Durandal »

BrianC wrote:
Durandal wrote:Is it even possible to clear Rolling Thunder 1's third stage on the second loop without hitting the time limit once? At first you think you made it, only to find that they just tacked an entire stage at the end which just keeps going while the time keeps ticking.
Old or New version? I read that the new version has a shorter time limit.
New version. I don't see how you can beat 2-3 under 150 seconds without ignoring every enemy in your path, which in itself is already impossible.
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BIL
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Randorama would probably be the guy to ask, I'll see if he's mentioned anything over the years. I could've sworn he mentioned a brutal time limit in either RT1 or RT2, assuming I'm not mixing it up with his comment on Double Dragon II AC's fairly stingy ones. :smile:

EDIT: I think this is the post I was recalling.
Randorama wrote:I am not dead (yet), but I discovered that there is a Rolling Thunder hack emulated in MAME that gives you 120 seconds per stage.
I cannot see how I can clear stage 8 without losing one life, but using this ultra-tight time limit has regenerated the game for me.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BrianC »

I know there are doors on the FC RT that refill time, but I'm not sure if that is the case with the AC version.
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BIL
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Was also gonna say... that's a shame if it literally cannot be done on a single life - especially with Rolling Thunder's super spy aesthetic. Even Battle Garegga, The Real Samsara Simulator, can be finished without the avatar dying if you really want to. You'll be miserable, and your score will blow, but it's possible! Image I think contiguous cinema should always be feasible, however remote from the game design.

If it's in the second loop only, that's at least not quite so anti-aesthetic.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Jonny2x4 »

BrianC wrote:I know there are doors on the FC RT that refill time, but I'm not sure if that is the case with the AC version.
There aren't. Power-ups in unmarked doors is something only the console Rolling Thunder games had. However, the final stage has a bug that allows you to walk through the end of the level while being invulnerable to the enemy. I don't remember the exact steps to trigger it though.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

So, Super Castlevania IV gets a bit of dislike around here due to it being vastly easier than the other platforming games in the series in large part due to how you can attack in 8 directions, and jumping is far more forgiving to control and feels way different from earlier installments. But the game looks and sounds gorgeous, and it's definitely fun to play, even if it is on the easier side for the series. It's the Castlevania game to play when you want to relax and play a platformer with the atmosphere of Castlevania without the fangs bared, game's out to kill you mercilessly feel of the harder installments that have more rigid jumping and limited aiming.

I'm really curious on other people's take on something; what's the general consensus on how subweapons work in the games? Specifically, how you collect them immediately on touch. I've never liked how in most of the CV games weapon candles are not differentiated from other candles, except in Bloodlines. It means that if you don't have the candles memorized, you're constantly being timid about the candles you hit, and waiting to confirm what drops (and perhaps waiting for the weapon to disappear if one drops) instead of risking losing a precious Cross + III to an accidental weapon switch caused by whipping a candle at close range. It was a massively appreciated change in Bloodlines to have subweapon candles be visibly different from heart/money candles (one candlestick vs two).

They could have just designed it so you swap weapons by ducking over the weapon or something, so if a weapon drops you have to actively pick it up to switch instead of constantly being at risk of accidentally grabbing a new subweapon and being immediately swapped if you touch it. Losing an Axe with III to a Holy Water or Dagger at the worst time sucks. It's always been a design flaw in my opinion, especially with the games encouraging you to hold onto one specific weapon for an extended period of time with the II and III multipliers (and you can lose those plenty easily enough as it is with a death).
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

Yeah the candles and weapon switching was never really well handled. I agree that some sort of simple indication is always objectively better, and I don't think anyone would really contest that. It's one thing that could definitely be improved in Ninja Gaiden 1, also.
BareKnuckleRoo wrote:due to it being vastly easier than the other platforming games in the series in large part due to how you can attack in 8 directions, and jumping is far more forgiving to control and feels way different from earlier installments
This was never a factor for me.
And I do think the game makes up for the easier moment-to-moment gameplay by being quite a lot longer and giving less leeway for failures. I think actually making it through the game without a game over isn't any easier than in CV1 or 3. I personally had an easier time getting a 1CC on those, anyway.

The "hate" on CV4 I think is mostly just based on it being an oddball game that feels very different from what a lot of people like about the more traditional Castlevanias. It's still a really good game.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Immryr »

it's probably also a reaction to the amount of love the game gets from more casual circles, to some degree.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by mycophobia »

castlevania iv looks and sounds amazing, and i don't really have any problem with the mechanics, it just long as hell and doesn't get remotely hard until the second half
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

Immryr wrote:it's probably also a reaction to the amount of love the game gets from more casual circles, to some degree.
No doubt about that.
I still stand my by ranking though.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

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BIL
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Already in, see Roo's post on page 300 - OG shortlist pick. :smile: Got a big update coming tonight/tomorrow. Was supposed to be done by now, but IRL Bullshit™ conspires against me Image
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

Ahh lol. I checked under M and C, but not W.
Confusing title of that game :P
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

Aand here we go. Largely thanks to Roo's guidance - but I tried learning my own approaches to each stage, and the final boss definitely requires a fully hands-on approach to get a good feeling for.

C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa 2-ALL 1cc

A surprisingly easy game once you get into it. Took me just a few days, and due to the long running length of the game, as well as huuuge stretches of nothing much happening (especially the flying stages), I didn't really feel like attempting more than one or two runs per day. At the end of the day, it really comes down to being able to handle the final boss, which is honestly a really cool fight once it clicks.

In general, I wish the entire game could have been like the last stage. It's a fun game, but it could have been so much better.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Congratulations! I'm glad you persevered and were able to get into the game. Hopefully it feels like a better PCB investment now than it did before? And yeah, the shmup stages are decidedly bad, in large part because the controls suck (you're forced to fire in the direction you're moving at all times), and because the minibosses are extremely dull to fight safely. Thankfully both the shmup stages are trivial to clear once you know what you're doing, although if you don't the airplane miniboss will mess you up good in the second loop.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Jonny2x4 »

mycophobia wrote:castlevania iv looks and sounds amazing, and i don't really have any problem with the mechanics, it just long as hell and doesn't get remotely hard until the second half
It became popular to hate on CV4 for a while after one of the Game Grumps did a shitty video on it.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sir Ilpalazzo »

Got a 1CC of Ninja Spirit / Saigo no Nindo. (The video is an archive from a stream I did, so there's a lot of really inane commentary, regrettably. Almost makes me want to get a cleaner recording honestly.) The last time I sat down to play before this attempt, I had multiple credits that saw me killing the final boss moments after dying to his projectiles, and one credit that made it to the final stage without any deaths - unfortunately this run wasn't quite that smooth, but it still worked out.

My thoughts on the game:

-I ended up running with rank control strategies; only powering up the bombs and kusarigama in order to keep enemy HP down. The difference in stage 6 is really major, and most powerups aren't too difficult to avoid. It doesn't matter as much in this run (since I died before stage 6) but I think I'd probably recommend learning the game with specifically those two weapons - the lowered rank really helps if you get to stage 6 without dying, and the segments the sword and shuriken are best in aren't really too dangerous anyway.

-Realizing that you don't really need the sword and shuriken did disappoint me, though. On the surface, the weapon balance seems like it's very good, like all the weapons fill a particular niche, but the sword really is useless outside of some edge cases once you have a good handle on how to aim the kusarigama and misdirect enemy attacks, and the shuriken's higher damage against single strong targets hardly ever matters. On the other hand, maybe it's for the best that you don't have to fiddle with the weapon select button during high-intensity situations, and the kusarigama is still fun to tear enemies up with, so the current weapon balance isn't the worst thing.

-My big, initial complaint about the game back when I started playing in 2014 or so didn't change: stage 2 is a little too sleepy. I don't mind that stage 1 is easy; it's fine given that it's an introductory level (and to be honest I was still occasionally losing runs to the last stretch of the stage with monks even just before clearing the game, I never really found a shuriken-less strategy for that bit I was happy with), but stage 2 really needed something to spice it up. Outside of the monk segment in stage 1, both stages crumple too easily to mindless kusarigama-whipping, and feel a bit less engaging than the intro stages to easier action games like Castlevania and Contra. At least stage 2 has great music, and at least stage 3 gets going fast.

-Stages 3 and especially 4 are both masterful. Stage 4 in particular might really be one of the coolest levels in a sidescrolling action game, and its boss is the best in the game (though honestly I'll take Ninja Spirit's boss lineup over NES Ninja Gaiden's minus Jaquio, most of them at least do enough to keep the player active even if they're easy). I think stage 5 kind of sucks, though. The gas traps just aren't fun to deal with, and having to awkwardly hunt down powerup ninjas if you happen to die is a big pain. I guess you could memorize the level and find a fast route, but somehow, despite working out the ninja pit on my own, stage 5's terrain just doesn't stick in my head at all. Having played a chunk of the PC Engine version between arcade attempts, I think that version's changes to stage 5 are seriously problematic; having to play it with a shrunken playing field is miserable and makes the stage feel more like a particularly obnoxious memorizer.

-Stage 6 is very good, but I'm still not totally sure how to feel on it. I think the back half is unequivocally excellent (save the boss), and agree with BIL's earlier point that the first half is the really dangerous one - ironically, the regular samurai are a way more threatening enemy than their upgraded, jumping variation - but even up to the end I never really felt confident in the first half of the stage. It feels like unlucky enemy placement can screw you over far more easily than in the second half of the level, where enemies are more easily misdirected, and I wonder if the stage might just be a little too luck-dependent. Still, it's a really fun level overall, and is learnable enough.

-Stage 7 is very unfortunate. There is a certain fun to be had in picking off samurai as you crawl through the cave, and the extremely slow pace of the level (if you haven't memorized a route) does a good job of building tension for the final battle, but I think the gas trap hazards were just a bad idea to begin with and aren't ever enjoyable to deal with. (The monk miniboss is pretty fun to annihilate while dodging samurai once you know the correct pattern for dealing with him, but the fact that he is basically totally unworkable unless you know that very specific strategy gives me pause.) There's nothing to say about the ninja pit that hasn't been said already, it's a genuinely fucked-up quarter-muncher that absolutely doesn't belong in the game, but I don't know if the final boss is really much better, if he's better at all. His shots just have too much going on for a game with Ninja Spirit's air control - their varying speed and subtle random movements make them virtually unreadable, and I really don't feel like there was much (at all) difference in my quality of play between my successful fights against him and the attempts doomed by slightly wiggling lightning or screen-filling volleys. The concept of the final boss is good - there is fun to be had in misdirecting his shots and learning how to best maneuver around the room, and with fine-tuning I think he could have really been a CV1 Dracula / Jaquio / Joker-tier endboss, but as he is I think he's just a little bit too random.

-The weird bug that causes you to jump backwards sometimes when swinging the kusarigama is a little unforgivable given how easily it can screw you over and how often you need to use the kusarigama. I think there's a way to tell when it's going to happen but I never figured it out.

The game is definitely excellent overall though. Once it gets going, it really never lets up, and stays consistently exciting up to the end. It has some flawed elements that I wish could have been patched up (given the excellence of the rest of the game, there's no way the developers wanted to ship stage 7 in the state it's in; it's a shame), but when it's firing on all cylinders, it's a real masterpiece. I can really see why the game has endured as a discussion point in this thread for so long despite its issues - there really aren't games that do quite what it does. I'm glad all the discussion over it here (especially BIL's recent writeups on it from a few months ago, which were really helpful) drew my attention to it!

On an unrelated note, I feel this post of dojo_b's on Super Mario Bros. 2 should be added to the index. Saw it when trawling through the thread a minute ago; it's a good writeup.
Last edited by Sir Ilpalazzo on Fri Feb 28, 2020 7:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

I enjoy CV1's traditional sequels feeling less like a "series" (especially in comparison to the more iterative nonlinear games), more a collection of stand-alone followups to the original. Regardless of how successful they're judged to be, each goes for something distinct. CVIII is "Super Castlevania 1," more and bigger everything. X68k attempts to meld classically focused, punishing Dracula with its arch-enemy, agility. Rondo seeks a similar bridge to non-linear adventuring. Vampire Killer's POW mechanic puts a Super Shinobi/Alien Soldier emphasis on not merely surviving but outright dominating its long, combat-heavy stages.

IV is something of a no man's land WRT action. It doesn't expand on CV1's mechanics as judiciously as X68k, nor does it consistently undergird itself with classical stricture like Rondo and VK. It's also much longer than all of the above, and doesn't start gaining tension until halfway through. It's my least favourite of the bunch on a technical level.

That said: I don't consider its strengths to be in the technical sphere at all, and what it does offer is similarly distinct. A uniquely moody, eccentric horror sidescroller, with the series' most maturely mellow, brooding OST, and a palpably herculean sense of journey - ending in a final gauntlet of stages as lethal as any of the other traditionals'. It's the most downbeat, filmic, funereal CV, and as such, I enjoy replaying it every few winters, much like my beloved KCET Silent Hills.

It's also one of those action games I would heartily recommend experiencing just for its OST, Raf World being another.

Theme of Simon Starting as it means to go on, subtly dynamic yet decisively driven. Image
Chandeliers Kubrickian Shining vibes of gleeful malevolence.
Treasury Elegantly turbulent, a sense of fatigue shoved away as the final trial nears.
Room of Close Associates EVIL POWER STEALS ON. Mad and megalomaniacal, pitch-perfect for a final phalanx of super-fiends.
Dracula's Theme A sublime climactic darkness. Image

If there's something I'd change on a technical level, it's the floppy whip's "hold input." I actually really like the eight-way attack, once it's given worthy targets - that hallway full of divebombing ghosts and ectoplasms offers some fine anti-airing, and the diagonal downstrike feels just as finessed as X68k's. But I have to mentally adjust to tapping [attack] for a swift crack, lest I hold the button too long and go limp at the worst moment. I prefer Kenseiden's approach, later used in Circle of the Moon, where holding [attack] sees the character enter a guard stance that'll skewer zako and snuff projectiles.

EDIT: HOREH SHIET :shock:
Sir Ilpalazzo wrote:Got a 1CC of Ninja Spirit / Saigo no Nindo.
Nice. Image I was warbling away of my love for traditional CV while you posted this - gotta run, will watch and give a worthy response later!
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

Jonny2x4 wrote: It became popular to hate on CV4 for a while after one of the Game Grumps did a shitty video on it.
Maaah I hated on CV4 before it was cool.

No, seriously, CV4 is actually the sole reason that I thought I hated the Castlevania series for years. I just couldn't click with the game. It wasn't until after I played SOTN that I went back to the older games and discovered how cool they were.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Stevens »

Still in a From Soft coma but I got my Madden/Pub G playing friend into TNWOA:D

Cause Ninjas are fucking cool.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by kitten »

Sumez wrote:
Jonny2x4 wrote: It became popular to hate on CV4 for a while after one of the Game Grumps did a shitty video on it.
Maaah I hated on CV4 before it was cool.

No, seriously, CV4 is actually the sole reason that I thought I hated the Castlevania series for years. I just couldn't click with the game. It wasn't until after I played SOTN that I went back to the older games and discovered how cool they were.
my first castlevania was CV64 and it made me avoid the series for several more years lol
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Randorama »

BIL wrote:Randorama would probably be the guy to ask, I'll see if he's mentioned anything over the years.
Lies! JAPJAC is the go-to man for this gem (ahem!).
I could've sworn he mentioned a brutal time limit in either RT1 or RT2, assuming I'm not mixing it up with his comment on Double Dragon II AC's fairly stingy ones. :smile:
The 150 seconds limiter forces players to skip ammo rooms on stages 8 and 10. This is not an issue if the player has stocked up ammo until those points. Both stages can be completed with a few seconds remaining insofar as the player also does not get stuck in dealing with some key enemies (bats, guys throwing grenades). In other words: in some spots, the player must stop 1-2 seconds and dispatch certain enemies. For the rest of the stage, stopping means running out of time, period.

The 120 seconds limiter simply forces players to respawn and deal with stages that can be tricky on a low ammo count. I do not honestly see how these stages could be completed on 120 secs. The hack behind the version seems to follow the principle of "let's see how you deal with dreadful restarting points" (well, not dreadful but certainly unpleasant).

DD II AC is a bit different. The time limits are prohibitive if a player abuses roundhouse kick combos (backward kick -> roundhouse kick). Other combos ("backward kick->turn->uppercut" or even "backward kick->turn->punch->uppercut") or a wise use of brutal violence in the guise of the "knee in the face combo" make stage 3 a non-issue (30 secs left become an easy target), and stage 4 a bit tight but doable (10-15 seconds left).

Basically, the game designers tried to make amends for the first title by virtually forcing players not to abuse the safest move/combo in the players' moveset. We could discuss other (de)merits, but the Kunio-esque type of fighting is at least more variegated, at least until Stage 4. By stage 4, the combo ending with an uppercut becomes necessary for survival and expedite revenge.

Now, Shinobi and Surprise Attack are interesting in this regard. I feel that the first game should be played with a mental time limiter of 90 seconds, Since stages simply do not require much time to be clear (they are all quite short). No-bombing is also a nice imposed handicap, I dare say.

The Konami title gives the player nice titles ("High-speed operator"? I cannot recall) for very fast stage clearances (40 seconds or less out of 2 minutes?). Emphasis is so much on speed that it puts all other similar titles to shame, or so I recall.

I remember that I disliked Shadow Dancer because it had a slow, plodding pace. Is my memory off? (Likely so, but let me ask anyway).

EDIT:

I also adore Sly Spy (Data East! I loved each and every of their AC titles!), but the time and ammo "limits" are by far the most forgiving in this type/genre of game. Still, playing it at speed makes the game relatively engaging.

EDIT x2:

Fixed typos and added some more comments; also, the Pang write-up now looks better (fixed stuff, duh).
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Randorama »

Double Post, for good measure.

I am half tempted to prepare some write-ups of the old titles I still cherish and enjoy, as I believe that it would be a good alternative to becoming a serial killer (real life has been mopping the floor with me for a while, now).

The template would be the Pang's write-ups.

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Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by mycophobia »

AC Shadow Dancer doesn't really feel appreciably slower than Shinobi I don't think, having played them both a ton. MD Shadow Dancer with its super floaty jumps and excrutiatingly boring bonus stages is another story however
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

Although I'm relieved to not sit through any more of Moo Mesa's flying stages, I was a little disappointed by how soon it was over. Hungry for something else that's a little run'n'gun-ish, sadly my Sunset Riders PCB still isn't functional. So I decided to pick up another board that's been sitting on my shelf for way too many years.

BLACK TIGER

Image Image
(never mind the obviously credit feeding scrub shots, I just stole them from HG101)

Unfortunately it turned out this game is also a bit on the easy end. Hacked and slashed my way to a 1CC the day after picking it up. I guess this might be the reason why people don't talk about it more?
Sumez 1CC run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXm6mWjl5fY

It's too bad, because the game is otherwise a lot of fun to play. It's basically a fast paced Ghosts n Goblins. It shares the same dedicated jump arc, and though it does have a little bit of the same platforming (and enemy spawning) jank, it does feel a lot smoother than that game. It's at its best when you're frantically jumping back and forth to avoid enemy attacks, while fighting larger enemies at the same time as you're keeping the constantly spawning skeletons at bay.
I think this came out the same year as Wonder Boy in Monster Land, making it one of the first games that tries to add the superficial RPG'ish element of collecting money to buy upgrades. It's not as strict with routing as that game however, and the gist of it is simply that you should try to explore the full stages (at a brisk pace to keep up with the stage timer) to be able to afford weapon upgrades as soon as possible.
By the final two stages however, you get so much money constantly, that you'll immediately have way more than you know what to do with - even if you're playing on the highest difficulty (as far as I can tell, difficulty doesn't affect anything aside from shop prices). At this point you can just keep buying the biggest armor over and over, leaving very little threat in the game. The armors are basically added hit points on top of your vitality, so it has the same effect as frequently healing, every time you find a shop.

Essentially, the key to beating the game is knowing the stages well enough to get through them without running out of time, and being prepared for all the traps and treacherous jumps that can kill you in one hit. As long as you play your cards right, and keep advancing safely there's very little else that can realistically kill you.

Hopefully the next game I'll pick will be a little more challenging. I'm thinking of Alien vs. Predator but I'm worried that my inexperience with the genre could get me stuck there for weeks :P
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by mycophobia »

ever play Mystic Warriors, sumez?
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Sumez »

No, I've been in the market for a pcb for ages, but they rarely show up. :(
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Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by BIL »

Mystic Warriors is my #1 hope for a future Konami ACA release. Detana Twinbee and IREM's Kaitei Daisensou are a promising start on the 90s, suggesting they're averse to neither big names nor relative obscurities... we'll see I guess.
Sir Ilpalazzo wrote:On an unrelated note, I feel this post of dojo_b's on Super Mario Bros. 2 should be added to the index. Saw it when trawling through the thread a minute ago; it's a good writeup.
Another OG shortlist pick - I will forever treasure the phrase "weaponized left screen edge." :mrgreen:
Randorama wrote:
BIL wrote:Randorama would probably be the guy to ask, I'll see if he's mentioned anything over the years.
Lies! JAPJAC is the go-to man for this gem (ahem!).
Sacre bleu! (;`ω´;) I have impugned our gallant, Gallic CAPCOM CPS CHANGER authorite! Forgive me, Monsieur JAPJAQUES. :oops:

All, PLS stand for the French National Anthem ;-;7
DD II AC is a bit different. The time limits are prohibitive if a player abuses roundhouse kick combos (backward kick -> roundhouse kick). Other combos ("backward kick->turn->uppercut" or even "backward kick->turn->punch->uppercut") or a wise use of brutal violence in the guise of the "knee in the face combo" make stage 3 a non-issue (30 secs left become an easy target), and stage 4 a bit tight but doable (10-15 seconds left).

Basically, the game designers tried to make amends for the first title by virtually forcing players not to abuse the safest move/combo in the players' moveset. We could discuss other (de)merits, but the Kunio-esque type of fighting is at least more variegated, at least until Stage 4. By stage 4, the combo ending with an uppercut becomes necessary for survival and expedite revenge.
What do you think of the Tatsumaki / Whirlwind Kick / Dragon Leg Thingy? I decided pretty quickly that mastering the [back kick -> tatsumaki] combo was my BNB. I didn't really notice the stage 3 time limit, though that may have been due to all the practice it took to finally one-life it. Stage 4 is tight... my approach is mostly [back kick -> tatsumaki] all the way through. Managed to finish with 30 (in-game) seconds in my 1LC, about a minute real-time.

I was a little bummed at the lack of cinematic variety in my stage 4, but that BNB combo is a much subtler technique at the controls. VS Burnovs and Abores, if the kick isn't launched optimally - a little early from off-axis, so the enemy "walks into" its last frames - they'll escape the stun and you'll lose ~50% health. Chins will counter-combo sloppy kickers for 75% health. Doppelganger escapes stuns faster as his life depletes, and every whiffed tatsumaki is another chance for his bullshit Raging Demon to chop your HP in half. It helps that ala Saigo no Nindou, it's a short (>15min) and nails-hard single loop.

Also helps that like all Technos brawlers, it's got them BEEFY HITZ

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^ damn that sound good Image
I am half tempted to prepare some write-ups of the old titles I still cherish and enjoy, as I believe that it would be a good alternative to becoming a serial killer (real life has been mopping the floor with me for a while, now).

The template would be the Pang's write-ups.

Three aye's and I promise deliverance on a fortnight basis, I swear (nay's will be ignored, of course).
Please do, strictly at your leisure - this thread has always been a lazy one, it takes after its starter. Image (related, I finally managed a response on Double Dragon I vs II, only two years late! Image)

DD1AC continues to vex me. I figured out the 1LC pretty quickly (ELBOW CHEESE), but you can actually do some pretty entertaining things with the other moves. Currently just using the BOWS for disarming, or keeping backstabbers at bay (which was, I guess, its intended purpose). Kick -> double knee smash -> release into killing elbow is a nice vicious Williams/Roper-stomper. Outboxing Jeffs and Bobos with staple off-axis tactics is most satisfactory artful violence. Image

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^ Right leg hospital. Left leg cemetery. Image

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^ Noob fucks don't know about my footwork!

Notably, the elbow is just as AI-confounding in not only the Famicom interpretation (but unlike AC, your other moves are easily powerful enough to ignore it), but also DDII AC and even DD Advance... the difference in those being it does such piddling damage, you'll want to use better options unless you're in need of a quick escape (again, presumably its "proper" use). I like using it as a precision poke in DDII AC's st3 Double Burnov fight, since getting trapped is so fiendishly easy there, and it'll let you floor the would-be cornerer while landing a BNB on his pal.
Randorama
Posts: 3503
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:25 pm

Re: Ninja Gaiden [NES] + Scrolling Action Monogatari

Post by Randorama »

Myco: OK, I remembered the MD version indeed. I tried the arcade one and the pace is just the same (as in: most stages can be cleared within 1 minute/90 secs, like in Shinobi's case).

Sumez: I believe that the enemies in Black Tiger become faster and more aggressive, once you rank up difficulty. I also think that the game was released in late 1987, and WBML early in the same year. I agree that Capcom's game is quite easy, in a manner similar to Tiger Road (same year) and probably many other titles from the '80s. Once you max-out your power level, stages become simply easier to deal with, because the programmers did not bother to re-balance the stage design.

Tiger Road is a particularly poignant example, because st4 and the final stage are more or less push-overs, if you can successfully upgrade four times. I never developed a strategy for its final boss: at full power, just spam with the special attack from a distance until the "black dragon" boss dies.

Any, BT is a game that I will never get tired of, also because it was possibly the first arcade platform I ever played and 1-CC'ed. It falls squarely in the category of everlasting childhood memories that allow me to travel back in time and space with each play.

Still, if a 9-year old on a stool can 1-CC the title in 5-6 weeks of practice or so, the game must be easy. On WBML, I had to wait...three decades? To find the right time and mind to actually 1-CC it (I remember posting a comment about this in this very thread).

Freebie: I only discovered the extra life on BT's Stage 4 in 2014 or so, when I decided to check if I knew all the secret bonuses in the game.

Birru-sama: Decades may pass but my ability to use the tatsumaki consistently never amounted to anything, in DD2. Still, its move set allows players a good degree of choices on how to deliver swift and brutal vengeance. I forgot to mention that the cheesy combo should be the best way to play for score, as it should give 100+600 points for each one-two chain (and delivers low damage, so eneies can be "milked" a bit).

I am also somewhat convinced that the doppelganger fight can be handled with a strategy involving pixel-perfect alignment along the screen's centre. From time to time I can find a distance at which the useless bastard will not be able to teleport within the right range of your own (possibly) sorry ass. I recall a yout00b video showing this tecnique, but as always my memory may be off (I swear, it is a miracle that I can remember my name, these days...).
Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
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