shmups.system11.org

The issues with Frogger's slowdown and input drops were in mame and the XB360 version, not on Switch.

Oh right, I see what you meant! Yeah, definitely no speed or input issues on the PS4 ACA one, that I can notice anyway. Seems impeccably tight and responsive. Fortunately, having never played the game before, I don't notice the missing BGM. Kinda game that works great with SFX only, imo.

What a great game, the model of oldschool arcade compulsion. I particularly like the generosity of the turtles... it would be pretty annoying if you died the instant they began their submerging animation, but instead you get a nice window to play around with.

Gave Kangaroo a quick spin - very likeable, but not quite as immediately do/die as I like my AC action of this vintage. Burgertime most definitely scratches that itch.

EDIT: I also gave Ikki a revisit, and while I was aghast once more at the edge riding, I was also reacquainted with its radar display. Giving it a chance, I have to say it almost seems deliberate, and playable. Enemies seem to consistently avoid entering from nearby edges, and with the radar pointing out your pickups' general location, and the auto-target letting you focus on taking cover and evading attacks, it plays surprisingly well.

I'd rather they'd just centered the goddamn camera, ofc. -_- The auto-targeting sickle is really cool - extremely smooth, and something I wish later topdown action had explored. Scrambling around icily striking down targets gives a perfect balance of deadly power and mortal threat. There's stuff like Thexder and Alisia Dragoon, but they went for more of a blunderbuss / bug-zapper approach - this is more of a one shot / one kill vibe.

Gonna keep at it a bit more. Now I'm wondering if I wrote off the FC version a bit too soon.

I did a 2 credit clear of Ninja Gaiden III US with this restored hack which includes JP damage scale, password, and unlimited continues, but the enemy placement and items still intact. This is a godsend and more fair challenge imo, I like it.

I might prefer this one over NGII, idk but NGII somehow doesn't click on me. Great subweapon use and Ryu clone but the sword hitbox are tiny and requires pixel perfect hit, harsher knockback and more cheap pitfalls. No idea how to consistenly beat the final bosses.

That sounds like an excellent hack, pretty much SFC NGIII without the godawful audiovisual downgrade.

For NGII's final boss rush... they get progressively easier, IMO. Jaquio's a groove thing. You want to mirror his orbiting movement, while trailing your shadows so they overlap him. Don't try hitting him with Ryu's sword - keep on the other side of the orbit, where you can deal shadow damage, while leading him and his projectiles. It's easier to demonstrate than describe, here's a no-damage kill - not the best footage with the 30fps shadow dropout, but should illustrate.

Jashin mk1's fast-paced but relatively simple, again it's best to deal damage with the shadows rather than directly. His mouth blast is deadlier than the rainfall, prioritise avoiding the former. If you land a hit with Ryu, then back out of blast range, you'll automatically line the shadows up to land further hits.

Jashin mk2's the easiest by far: simple static positioning until the decap, followed by a milder version of his NG1 mortars. It's still random, but besides doing only 1HP, there's also a much bigger central deadzone to exploit while striking the heart. Unless you're at death's door, it's more of a victory lap than a final hurdle.

As for subweapon choice... the windmill star, updraft and downshot are good crutches for Jaquio, since they let you keep distance and wipe out his flames. With the shadow trail approach above, though, I prefer to kill him with the swords these days. (one-hit fight) Invincible Firewheel lets me do a bit of shadow damage, and more importantly, annihilate Jashin mk1. Jashin mk2's easily neutralised with sword and basic shadow tactics.

All of the above assumes you're keeping two shadows, OFC. You can probably get by with one, but mastering the considerably intense st7-2 and arriving in peak condition will obviously help a lot.

NGIII's got the nastiest rush of the trilogy imo, some of Clancy mk1 and mk2's projectiles still creep me out a bit. However I'm nowhere as experienced with that game as the first two, to my shame.

Blazing Chrome added to Steam library.

Last time I got into a Contra style Run n' Gun was Hard Corps: Uprising. I know that it is a divisive title around these parts, but I played the fuck out of it. Got ever so close to a 1 CC but fell a bit short.

Anyways BC is dope. It has a lot going for it - basically checks all the right boxes. More lead justice to be served later.

EDIT - Sunday 8/2

BC has that wonderful old school feel of once you know what to do you know what to do. Making it through the first three stages with minor casualties - current best is stage 4 in the 3d tubes.

Played through the first world of Tiny Barbarian, which I picked up in the last Steam sale. Love the style, now I wish I hadn't waited so long to try it. Always a fan of games where melee attacks do not stop your movement.

So funny thing about that Burgertime release last week, for whatever reason this didn't make it to the North America PS4 store yet. I shouldn't have to use my Japanese account to buy freakin' Burgertime lol.

Got a kuso (3 or 4 credit) clear of Blazing Chrome last night. Made it back to the final stage on a credit today, but fell to the boss.

Messed around with hardcore, made it to the 3rd boss. Not too bad for my first credit, knowing the game helps though.

Got tired of waiting on ACA Guevara and picked up SNK 40th (PS4) - wish I'd done so earlier, it's a lovely bit of work. As always with modern releases of vintage 2D action, my primary concern was input lag. Everything seems more than sufficiently tight, with the stuff I already have on ACA (Ikari, Dogosoken, TANK, Psycho Soldier and Alpha Mission) handling just like I'm used to.

Wanna take a crack at the TRUE AND HONEST Ikari III before my Ikari and Dogo no-misses fade too far into the rear-view. Jesus Balls it's tough, yet keenly tactical, just like its predecessors. Had to laugh at the utterly alien courtesy of tank exit i-frames, an absolute luxury coming in from Ikari's unflinching meanness. Arigato, Obada-san! :3

Search And Rescue, the other game I bought this for, is beautiful Zombies with guns, that ain't good. Zombies in Power Loaders, oh hell naw. Hey WTF, stop all the mutating! The way Totally Not Xenomorphs' iconic black silhouettes rise from ruined hosts is so badass.



JUST A MAN / AND HE WILL 2 SURWIWE ♫



Don't touch me you SPACE FUCKS



How could this happen to me?!

At a glance it seems a bit easier than the Ikaris, with quick movement, a long and lightning-quick dodge roll, and surprisingly generous charge shots. OTOH, the enemies don't play around, and like any good dodge roll, this one's generosity is double-edged. Looking forward to seeing this through. Ultra-cool take on the Aliens aesthetic, in any case... seamlessly translates an atmosphere of corruption and doom to one man army R2RKMF context. I love all the BR00TAL corrupted machines, too! ROBO-DREAMS CAN COME TRUE / THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU ♫



^^^ WORD

I really like ADK's Battle Field/Time Soldiers, too. It plays like an Ikari minus that trilogy's trademark death-march plod. Much twitch-friendlier, on first impressions. Best death scream ever, holy shit it's ridiculous. The 16way aim is an interesting choice... felt a little distracting at first, but I'm finding its subtlety a godsend in tight spots where 8way would require a strafe to connect.

Unfortunately I think SAR might be bugged - it seems to use "single stick" (look where you're moving) controls at all times, despite my setting it to dual. Frank Cifaldi mentioned Ikari III doing this for usability reasons, but I can't see any reason for it here - if anything it cramps the cool dive n' shoot mechanic. It's not the end of the world - you can still strafe by keeping the right stick trained on the desired direction - but it'd be nice to have it play as solidly as Guevara. Have reached out to see what's up.

I have to say, head-to-head, I slightly prefer Hamster's LS-30 setup. Besides the right stick's snap aim, they also let you set any button as [turn left] or [turn right], with optional variable-speed autofire. This is a godsend when you need deadly-precise adjustments - I always set Square/X to [Left/Right], with Triangle/Circle the same plus autofire. The latter's very handy in Dogo, when you wanna lash the sword back and forth while advancing, for maximum GAMUSHARA



40th lets you set the buttons to turn, specifically one per cardinal direction, but it's an either/or choice - doing so will disable the right stick's equivalent. Again, as with SAR's possible bug, it's nothing major, but I do appreciate ACA's extra precision (especially given the PS4's innately floppy sticks).

Regardless, even if Guevara, SAR and Time Soldiers (plus the excellently batshit rotary STG Bermuda Triangle, and its friendlier sequel World Wars, and the classy Force Pod hori GENSHITOU) never show up on ACA, this collection has 'em in fine form. Unreservedly recommended. EDIT: Or not. This comp unfortunately has some nasty bugs in Search And Rescue, at the least. Caveat emptor.

Ahh Blazing Chrome..so close. Final form of the last boss.

I suppose I've been playing games long enough to know that is usually how it goes.

Soon..

WRT my previous post, seems SAR's dual stick controls are indeed mildly bugged (at least the PS4 ver), but a patch isn't in the cards. Ah well, it's easily worked around. Rad game. I'm a little surprised at the flyer/instructions exhorting the player to GTFO out of rooms ASAP... felt like a cowardly exploit at first, I'd assumed it was kill 'em all or else. Assuming the scoring's not broken (never a safe bet with this genre or vintage), maybe there's a point/item incentive to fight it out. Certainly a style one, either way. That early room with the three big eyeball-spewing fuckers, brr!

I am looovin' GUEVARA. First boss is so satisfying to break the fuck in half, once you suss out a plan. Already a big jump in quality from Ikari II's imposing but mostly trivial bosses, that absolute twat of a three-headed flying turtle aside. Second stage feels surprisingly similar to the Famicom's, despite the two versions' stark mechanical divergences (you're a lot nimbler on FC, at the cost of strafing). As there, deadly gridlocks that are made for icily-controlled dismantling. Enemies yoinking ur tanks is such a fun mechanic, and ALSO exploitable, cuz if you get out with the fuel on empty, then let 'em TWOC it, then take the fucker back, it'll be filled up again. Advanced guerrilla tactics.

Boom got it. Blazing Chrome default 1 CC.

I have to hand it to the team with how they approached this game. They're really generous with score extends and there are a handful of 1 UPs scattered here and there. Two things stood out:

A - All these lives allow you to see more of the game faster, hence learn enemy placement, hence get better faster.

B - By the time I got the 1 CC I didn't need most of them, but it was nice to know they were there.

Going to keep playing for the time being. May try to get better at hardcore, but not if it drives me insane.

This one is a lot of fun, even if I was a little late to the party.

Good to see yet another of my trusted fellows digging BC! Now I've got EXTRA no excuse. At this rate, I may even try out Hard Corps Uprising before the year is out!

Kinda liking SNK40 SAR's Robotron-style control. It's a mite confusingly labeled "auto-fire" at the foot of the config screen, despite the "auto-fire" button just above it being the rapid shot you'd expect. That established, it plays smooth with [dive] on L1 and [charge shot] on R1. Speaking of diving, combine it with Flame Shot's charger for PSYCHO CRUSHAAA



^ I swear I did NAHT CHEAT HIM might be good to finally invest in a 60fps capture solution for this one.

Might this predate SHIN CONTRA in the charged flamethrower = GAWD stakes? The Missile's black hole bomb (recalling not only Darius Gaiden, but Dogosoken's bonus round vortexes) seems pretty good too... I'm mostly curious about the Machinegun's charge shot, doesn't seem to have the other two's utility but maybe it's a steamroller.

Yeah Uprising was definitely a divisive one around here. I turned on auto fire for the default gun and had no problems with it, even if some of the bosses could be spongy. Others could be annihilated on the quick once you knew what weapons to bring into the fight. Stage....six I want to say comes to mind.

I played the fuck out of it and enjoyed it even if I could never quite 1 CC it. Also one loop was lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng as fuck.

I had it on the 360...not sure if it is still there or if I can even play it if it is.

As far as BC goes I've decided to go for hardcore and use what the game gives me. So I'll use those continues to learn it and see what happens. It really is a lot of fun.

With arcade-styled stuff, these days I like to use a combination of stage-by-stage practice and credit feeding. EG, practice a stage until I can no-miss it, then the next, and so on, while regularly credit feeding so I can gauge the game's curve. That really helps with early-spike stuff like Final Fight, whose st2+boss are nastier than a big chunk of the remainder. At the same time, its last stage really is brutal. Either way, it's good to know what lies ahead. Once I know where the endpoint of something (anything) is, I find it a lot easier to knuckle down.

If it's a relatively easy game that I feel like I'm knocking over in short order, I'll limit myself to three or so credits - did this recently with Vigilante, which is mean but short, and Sunset Riders, which is downright friendly by AC standards. Conversely, if a game's absolutely taking the piss (Ikari and its closing invisible maze of rote memo death, Saigo's infamous ninja pit), I'll specifically drill those trouble spots in state practice.

Case-by-case basis, pretty much. This stuff is all leisure, of course. And 1CCs aren't any less nervy or authoritative when you cut down on drudge.

This is basically what I used to do with Gradius V and Metal Slug 4's practice modes on PS2 - you unlocked each stage as you cleared them, which gave both a really fair sense of progress. No coincidence they were my earliest 1CCs.

God I love this game. Assault Suits Valken-esque artistic synergy. "DON'T TOUCH ME, MAAAAN!" /Robocop



Might play this one first, it's so, so, sooo much friendlier than Ikari/Dogo/Guevara I will have the Obada-san TACTICAL ROTARY DEATHGRIND triple crown, regardless

EDIT: Gaaad damn, corpses and gore patches ain't just decorative. Walking over them will slow you down. Also, mechanical boss lifebars have a revving motor, organic ones a pulsating heart. Art designers SICK.OF, TULIP.NAO and co must've loved their mechanised xenoterrors, and composer NINJA-KUN (classy moniker!)'s guttural, anxious BGM is the perfect accompaniment to the increasingly gruesome ordeal!

Macaw once said this was his favourite LS-30 game, I might be tempted to agree. Lovable hardcore.

Got me doing the PSYCHO TACKLE on reflex now. Great for obliterating Xenos, but obviously, watch the fuck out for the landing zone. Very cool how the bosses roll up... a short autoscrolling gauntlet, followed by (usually) an endless wrap-around horizontal plane for maximum dive-rolling intensity. Plus post-battle zako trying to bite your ankles as you haul ass to the exit, haha.

Blazing Chrome. Hardcore difficulty.

1st credit ended on the 4th stage boss. I used all three continues (which is my standard to learn games sometimes, I pretend I have 4 quarters) and got the the final stage of the final boss. Was even more enthused cause when you continue you lose all your weapons except default (which is actually pretty good), so I was able to get through the last boss with the default gun.

This might actually be do able for me with some practice.

Ah, jeeze. Spoke way too soon re SNK 40th (PS4)'s Search And Rescue. Besides the "Dual Stick" option not working - as noted, the character will always face the direction he's moving, unless you're manually keeping the right stick in place - there's also an irritating bug associated with the Robotron-style controls. If you enable them, then press or hold [jump/shot] while moving, the music will stutter. This is a problem, as you need to hold [shot] for charge attacks. Switch directions rapidly enough while holding a button, and the game itself will start to bog down.

Here's a video demonstrating it. Note that as soon as I disable the Robotron controls ("Auto-Fire OFF"), the problem vanishes. Amusingly, this bug also stops you from skipping the game's intro (normally you can press [shot+jump] to do so)

It's technically not game-breaking, I guess, but it's exactly the nasty, tatty stuff I expect official emulations to stamp out. Particularly in a game as gorgeously presented as this one. I'm not up for the audio sputtering from start to finish, and I'm not up for anyone watching footage of it either, so adios Robocontrols. I really liked them, too.

Now, you could say Robotron controls are a luxury unheard of in the original LS-30 experience, and you'd be right. Unfortunately, going without them runs smack into the Dual Stick bug. No strafing without babysitting the right stick. It's doable, but again, sloppy. I'd MUCH rather have this fixed - I wouldn't have considered Robotron if the default LS-30 controls weren't broken.

Oh well. Will email NIS America to see if there's a snowball's chance in hell of a patch, but ain't expecting much. WTB ACA Search And Rescue.

Love the aesthetic, music, and most of the game. That said something feels off about the collision on the bosses. The hits lack impact (1st boss not withstanding) I guess is what I'm trying to say?

1st boss is fun if for no other reason you can quick KO him with a kick to the nutz. Fucking brilliant.

Bosses 2 is fun, they don't over stay their welcome and while easy are still cool.

3 and 4 honestly suck. Low kick, walk away. Repeat. And they take forever.

And the last boss? I love Irem but what the fuck were they thinking? Lets put a giant on a tiny fucking play field, with wonky hit detection, and have him hit like a train. Mr. X he isn't. I've run Spartan X to 3-2 and when I lose I know it's cause I wasn't good enough. In Vigilante I feel like the design fucks you.

Shame too, cause the stages are pretty solid overall.

That said I guess you could say one of my dream hackz would be a re tooled version of Vigilante with bosses 3-5 that don't suck.

They're not the best, I'd agree - the tougher ones always felt overly exploit-reliant. Stage action's the game's strong suit, and even then, I'd swap it for an ACA Spartan X in a heartbeat (I'd still pick it up later on, though - love the odd chibi-fugly style and coarse M72 soundtrack).

Incidentally, on both the SNK and brawling tips, I've been trying to warm up to Datsugoku (AC) lately, having discovered the punch and kick aren't entirely worthless (just much less safe than the jumpkick). I've a soft spot for that couple years between Double Dragon popularising the genre, and Final Fight codifying it... there's some decent, albeit heavily optional range-finding combat in Datsu. The kick's got some nice range and priority - can nastily stunlock the enemy with good timing - and the way jabs send them tottering back, head lolling and eyes bugging out, is glorious 80s commando schlock.

I particularly like the way its finishers work - very unlike Double Dragon and Final Fight's combo enders. Instead, once an enemy's taken critical damage, they're "marked for death." The next punch/kick will autoconvert to the unstoppable uppercut/big boot, obliterating them with that immortally satisfying KO (the game's true lasting appeal - *WHAM*). Since it shares its Famicom version's odd "decay time" on attacks, with good timing you can execute quasi-ground attacks on flagging foes, kicking their sorry asses clean offscreen.

...and then I remember how goddamn boneheaded some of the game's design decisions were. You can't drop the gun. Sweet Jesus. That's the last two paragraphs down the toilet, cos punch turns into the shitty rifle-butt, and kick vanishes entirely. -_- Guess I'll go without, but mowing down scads of enemies is good fun too... so unbelievably dumb, enough to turn me off the rest of the already-compromised game.

I'm also regularly startled by how much more content the Famicom version packed in. I killed the AC's last boss blind, last night, assuming I'd get to enjoy the FC's rollicking APC battle and badass Raoh-styled enemy commander. Turns out neither's in the arcade version. Snake crawls out of a fucking AC vent (was that a Metal Gear reference? fuck it, I'm gonna headcanon it to "no," much funnier that way ), fights some zako, the end. This after missing st3's strongman, st2's shotgunner and st1's heli. None are especially great shakes, to be sure, and in fact the AC's larger crowds and much fiercer AI is the better game overall, but from stage 1 onward you've pretty much seen all it has to offer.

Weirdly under-achieving game, that I still kinda like on account of those glorious enemy sendoffs. I've not seen anything else like it in scrolling action, pure visceral payoff to a ridiculous extreme. Grown-ass men flying off like toe-punted beachballs on a windy day.

Ninja Gaiden (AC) seems to be the reigning champ of aforementioned Double Dragon/Final Fight interval, packing both innovation and solid fundamentals. And TONS OF STYLE, both 80s ninja schlock and true classics like hockey masks and assless chaps!

Speaking of Spartan X and Vigilante.
I played through Spartan X 2 the other day, and... I heard this is an easy game, but that's just ridiculous.

It's too bad really, it's a stylish game and I feel like it could have been a really solid sequel, moreso than Vigilante, but it has pretty much nothing to its name. At least loop on a higher difficulty? Nope. Imagine buying this as an expensive new cartridge game back in the day and being done with it after 10 minutes. Must have been a pretty crazy let down.

I've never found it in me to pick up that one. Jumpkick feels great, as does the walloping charge uppercut... and its counterpart, the charge throw, is not only ingenious (pincered? turn Buddy A into a lethal missile hurtling at Buddy B!), but flat-out one of the most brutal attacks across the entire arcade/console genre. RIP roof of skull.

But there's no resistance. And just when it's showing some spark (final stage's cable car battle), it ends in a literal Underwater Fight Scene.

The lack of teeth is especially perplexing, given TAMTEX's name on the title screen... their Metal Storm being an exemplar of consolised arcade hardcore. Oh wells. Nobody bats a thousand mirite. Currently scratching my head at SNK producing sterling works like Guevara, SAR and Genshitou at the same time as the dud going by the name Ikari III.

I actually like the GB Spartan X a bit more. It's very easy, too, but I've a soft spot for GB arcade hardcore, and it gets the crowd-walloping feel right.

Best outing for the series post OG Spartan X is probably Nintendo's Famicom conversion. Game B gets mean fast, furthest I've made it is Loop 4, where the spawn rate gets pretty nuts. An essential.



---

Found a comfy control setup for SNK40th Search And Rescue (PS4), which doesn't bug the audio. Rapid fire on R1 (great for hosing down crowds), Charge on L1 (charge attacks are critical), Dash on R2 (double-edged lifesaver, use cautiously). My PS4 profile swaps L2 and L3, so I can stow ACA/ShotTriggers' [add credits] to the latter, or in this comp's case, the rewind feature (gross shit, I don't use it nah it's cool, handy for hypotheticals, but I sure as shit don't want to accidentally trigger it while recording a run).

Fingers crossed. -_- If there was any money in it I'd have been a playtester, bugs stick to me like velcro.

SNK40 issues aside, this really is superb topdown shooting. Plays hard, handles easy - very unlike Ikari/Dogo/Guevara's strife, halfway to Shock Troopers' generosity. Anyone who found Obada's FURY trilogy a bit too obstinate should play it pronto. Marc, I think you'd dig this - while pressure is relentless, weapons and mobility are keen enough to ensure a healthy degree of improv. This totally ignoring the aesthetics, concentrated 80s action/horror catnip. I'm gonna clear this before tackling Guevara, it's just too damn good to put down.


NOBODY KNOWS THE FACTS

---

ACA Circus Charlie's out this week - never actually played this one, but 80-85 Konami means automatic interest for me. I was hoping it'd be Guevara tbh.

SAR is great stuff! Incredibly tense and visceral. In terms of hardware basically a Neo Geo game, although it's not. Aesthetic gives me a lot of Nam 75 feels.

On the topic of SNK: It just occured to me I'd never really spent much time with Metal Slug 5, so I gave it a spin on the Metal Slug Anthology for PS2, but... could it be that those ports suffer from noticeable input lag?

That opening text would definitely hit Nam calibre with a similarly muffly, deadpan voiceover



Sadly, yes - the PS2 Anthology has infamously bad input lag on the MVS games. And since the PS4 re-release emulates it, it's even more outrageous there! IIRC, its Metal Slug 6 is a proper conversion, not emulated, so it may be spared... but it's not a disc I'd put much faith in.

The Wii's "Metal Slug Complete" is supposed to be a bit better, but I've never had any reason to investigate it. I do recall that only the Japanese disc supports the Classic Controller, a big point of contention when it was released.

It must be stressed that the stand-alone PS2 versions of Metal Slugs 3, 4 and 5 play absolutely fine - I've put lots of time on all three. IIRC they're interlaced, but otherwise stick close to the AES versions of each game (meaning you'll want to bump the default difficulty up by one, for "MVS" standard).

They also lack slowdown, which of course can make some things a lot tougher. I was shocked at how much easier MS3 stage 4's opening desert battle was on Neo hardware. How I wish MS2 and MSX had received similarly speedy PS2 ports... >_>

I was planning to write a bit about MS5 in the near future. Been revisiting it on ACA, and while I still have some problems with it (I put the lion's share of my time on MS4, when they were released as an NTSCU double pack BITD), when it's good it's hard to put down.

It's mostly the opening autoscroller and followup Rockman tunnels that bug me - once the Black Hound arrives I perk up hard. Superb fight with or without the Slugnoid, which is also a rad piece of equipment.

With MS4 and MS5, I feel kinda like I do with Castlevania: HOD and AOS. I wish they were one killer game combining each's strengths, rather than a pair of good ones released back-to-back.

Forgot to mention in my Vigilante post - the jump kick on mooks is satisfying as you bounce back off their face. I

Also love how heads snap back and forth as punches connect.

Thanks for the roundup! Looks like I'll have to try and track down the standalone releases of 4&6 (and possibly 6 — I'll have to investigate) after all. I'd love MS5 for MVS, but it's not gonna happen. :/
Of course it would be awesome if we got something like the new Samsho Neo Geo Collection for MS, KOF and FF as well.

Blazing Chrome, got the hard 1 CC.

It's an odd beast. I can't quite figure out how many times I died. I'm not exactly sure what point threshold activates the score extends. There is one 1 UP item in each level. I got all six of those, but I'm not sure how many extra score lives I got.

I had four lives left at the end. A 1 CC is a 1 CC:D

Would like to clean up parts of it though. On the 5th stage there is a section with platforms moving vertically that I could stand to get better at.

Overall I would say there are definitely parts where having a certain weapon helps, but the standard gun will see you through.

Blazing Chrome is currently available for free on Twitch Prime if you have Amazon Prime. However, the version seems to be a slight bit behind in updates compared to steam (no Halloween skin). The game also uses Amazon's own launcher. Not sure if the launcher has DRM, but SNK 40th doesn't need the launcher to play (haven't tried the others I downloaded yet. I uninstalled Blazing Chrome since it's behind in updates from the Steam version).

edit: I re-installed the Amazon version to check the version number. It's actually the same version number. The Halloween skin seems to be something exclusive to steam. Everything else is intact, including the extra i-frames on the roll. It also launches without the Amazon launcher.

Liking the look of SAR BiL, been close to taking the plunge on SNK 40th a few times, but I've picked up so many of the individuals it's going to have to be at a decent price.

Playing some Vigilante earlier. Not too bad, but a big disappointment after Kung-Fu Master. It's a bit slow and lumpy in comparison, and play seems to mostly revolve around exploiting the bounce-back on the jump kick. I know technically it's doing exactly the same things as KFM, but it feels less... refined somehow. Entertaining enough in its own way.

Also span a bit of Ninja Gaiden AA. It's brutal, until you learn that like Double Dragon 2, enemies are easily confused when you use scenery to divert them where you want them to be, then they line up almost politely for a good smacking. It's an advance on the DD series, and I enjoy the mild platform aspects (which were a nightmare on DD), but Capcom would go on to do this stuff so much better.

Got another BC 1 CC on hard. I learned how to deal with those platforms, and by learned I mean I watched Iconoclast's no death run:D

Thank you sir.

This game is dope.

On another topic - has anyone played Noita?

If you're not jonesing to give it a go (like I was with Guevara, and would've been with SAR, had I known how good it was ), you might wanna wait a few months and see if ACA announces it. I know I'll be double-dipping on ACA Guevara and a hypothetical ACA SAR.

SNK40th is just about acceptable, but it illustrates why I Sensibly Chuckle™ at ACA price point kvetching. Yeah, ACA is "just the game." Games I get dozens of hours out of, thoroughly playtested for bugs, and swiftly patched if any are missed.

Meanwhile I happily picked up SNK40th specifically for SAR and Guevara. The former's LS-30 controls are broken. Salvageable, but broken. The latter... I would normally blame the occasional right stick freeze on my heavily-abused DS4, but I've only seen it happen in SNK40th. In a game this bitterly hard, it's not a great feeling. As for patches, I'm shit outta luck, apparently.

M2, Gotch and Hamster have my implicit trust - they clearly endeavour to get their stuff right, and most importantly, if something's wrong they fix it. A rare standard, but thafuckyougondoboutit? Start collecting PCBs? Yeah I guess. 3;<

Another BC hard clear. I'm getting o.k. at this.

Now while I don't know how many times I died I cleared the game with a full stock of lives (9). This is at least five lives better than my previous best.

For sure I no missed stages 1, 5, and 6. I am 99% certain I also no missed stage 2. I def died once or twice on 3, and once at the end of stage 4.

I need to actually keep track of this now. I'm not going to actively try and no miss the entire game, but if I am still enjoying the game and it happens it happens.