Good post, indexed! I wasn't sure whether to put it under "XZR" or "Exile" - went with the former, for now. At a glance, it seems like the series started on MSX, then concluded on PCE? Always fascinating, these games/series that made the jump from Japanese PC to console. Granada, Snatcher, Undeadline, etc.
Ys III and Castlevania II are charity cases, but I'm always down for more (JP) Zelda II! Hence much OLYMPUS NO TATAKAI in my house
(not quite as good, lacks knightly duels
good world design though!)
Always thought Sadler had a pretty cool antiheroic design, with his sandy hair, billowing red cloak and tactical head towel - sunburn is no joke! - though I've never played any of the games (Exile or XZR). They got pretty consistent coverage in US mags back in the day, I'd have been down! Vivid memories of the Working Designs ad for
Wicked Phenomenon, in which a grade-schooler cosplaying Sadler, armed with a stale taco, faces down a California Raisin Gone Wrong.
Seems it was the Western cover too? Blimey.
Turbo stuff never fails to amaze. On the JP side, Telenet-related games, regardless of quality, always had such sharp boxarts.
TREASURE OF THE ARABIA starring WILLIAM SADLER
THE KING OF IRON CHIN
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RE Crime Fighters: figured out this evening that you can Touch Of Death both Greasers and Switchblades. While PPP/KKK will kill Mohawks dead, it leaves the others floored and able to recover, if you're not right on top and free to shoe 'em. If you hit them with PP-KKK/KK-PPP, they'll eat five hard hits and die outright. It's slightly riskier on Switchblades, with their nastier reach, but very safe as long as you invade their space and attack promptly.
"K" referring to Back Kick, here - the regular kick, from what I can tell, isn't really a combo option. it can poke to some extent, and it technically will lead to a combo ender, but I'm wary of relying on it. (I wish the ender wasn't random - while the high kick to the head is cool, it's pretty much the same as BK's... however, the low kick to the knee, causing the enemy to collapse in a heap, is
KINEMA. brawling needs more career-ending low kicks. we're not making fuckin cupcakes here
) Interestingly, it can function as a quasi-grapple button at pointblank, though you'll need to have the target on the ropes to prevent them hitting you out of it.
You can also ToD Green Junkyards this way, provided you really go ham.
*ahem* STOMP EM IN THE NUTS (■`W´■)
I wonder if Dolphs and Dominatrices can be, too. Technically, you can interrupt the two-strings as long as desired, eg: PP-KK-PPP. Konami modeled CF after Technos, where you can tap an enemy until the heat death of the universe - it's the coup de grace that puts 'em out. However, each hit
does deplete the target's HP down to zero, at which point they can no longer fight, and will be KOd at the next knockdown. So it's never a wasted effort to tag on an extra hit.
This game loses
so much flexibility and subtlety without the Back Kick button - its range and speed play superbly off PPP's face crusher, as well as weapons, while enabling a range of counter-offensive tactics. A precision iframe poke is exactly the leavening a nails-hard brawler needs for compelling solo combat. The 4P revs are a different matter - it's kind of hilarious how viciously overmatched the enemies are, and yo, 4x the earning$!
- but I wouldn't like the 1/2p combat nearly as much without it.
Marc wrote:Only managed one credit last night. Still got my ass kicked at ST3's gunman / charging red pants. Charge dude seems to break every attack I use?
EZ st3 Gunman/Red breakdown The trick is to scroll the screen back at the Gunman, then take him out. Also featured: Visiting prostitutes for fun and profit, and GUNS
Straight into the broken glass, that's why you wear a shirt homie
I've been experimenting with fighting Reds unarmed, and with knife/pipe. It's not worth it here, but the st4 Red/Hardgay duo is probably the most dangerous thing in the game's first half. Had some success whacking him out of his charge with the pipe, once I'd gotten to grips with its startup animation, but not only is the timing intense - this game's Z-axis is wickedly strict, and his charge can hit you from outside it, while you whiff.
Aligning with the screen top/bottom seems to help, but it seems the simplest option is to just get in close, and infight with Back Kicks. At pointblank, he won't charge, and BKs speed and i-frames tend to stuff his attacks. It's possible to get thrown, but rare from what I've seen. He also doesn't have all that much HP - just one knockdown and a brisk followup kicking will put him well on the way to 0HP state. WIP.