I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

[Bloodreign]

While the Taito Memories version doesn't have "the human giblets delight" on the menu, I was always about the whip anyway. Since the whip gives free lashings to the enemies (and the bad girls too in the game), and it hits both in front and behind, I like it more than any other weapon in the game. Nothing says back off like whipping enemies in front, and the bastards who think they can sneak in from the rear, taste the sweet savory flavor of the whip as well.

[BIL]

ACA Runark not only includes Growl (no idea what region differences, if any) - it is also indeed uncensored! Boy howdy is it ever, gibs flyin all over the place like a beltscrolling Quake.

So you've been bayonetted? DEAD IS NO ESCAPE (｀w´メ)

Spoiler

Good gravy, I'd forgotten what a riot this is. Last time I played it was forever ago, on Taito Memories; a short 2P credit-feed without any real frame of reference, vaguely recalling the floor-shaking overkill. That Technos-gone-Rambo swagger really leaps out at me, now! Massive explosions tearing through friend and foe alike... deadly environments, devouring punted souls by the truckload... and raucously cathartic ground-pounds, all judiciously punctuated with overkiller setpieces. Altogether an air of rollicking mayhem. Kicked one poor prick into an arriving train, merciless wheels spitting him and his two homies out in counter-ready cuts.

Hey wait toots WTF NAWWWWWW (◎w◎;)

Spoiler

Solid combat engine, too. The raucous shoot/slash/bomb does outshine the mano-a-mano, slightly; the sword and whip are both devastating, particularly as their combos will auto-finish grounded foes. And even out of ammo, the machinegun's bayonet rips through enemies. The unarmed combat is totally solid, though, and would easily support a game with less massive ordnance. It reminds me a little of the brilliant Crime Fighters 2, bridging Final Fight's dominating PPPs and command knockdowns with Technos's visceral "hit 'em til they heave, then do 'em a favour" finishing strikes and stomp-outs.

Particularly well-judged, how you're free to swat or even chest-bump incoming grenades away from your side of the screen; legit lifesaving tech on this merciless battlefield. The physics on fallen bodies are especially satisfying, haymakers sending targets haplessly sprawling through splintering furniture, Raiders barfight-style.

I like the no-frills, stat-based character selection; seems like a basic ATK v DEF choice, but that's all I really need from an arcade game, if the chassis is solid. Having a good time with KING N' YELLA, the glass cannon of the bunch, whose BOMB KICK is certain doom to even the mightiest foes, like GREEN SKIRT and BLUE TURBAN. Even his basic strikes do stinging damage to bosses, but his low HP makes for a deadly-intense, knife-edge run - no bad thing. INDY JONEZ and his counterpart BLUE INDY JONEZ seem like solid middle-of-the-roaders. ACA manual says RALF JONEZ has 1337 special attacks like MACH FIST and UPPERCUTS, but more research needed.

The KEMONOTOMODACHI are wonderful. They're not dedicated Animal Helpers in the sense of, say, Shadow Dancer's Yamato; more like violent uproars of nature, all God's creatures enjoying their own pulpily vengeful, tide-turning setpieces. Functionally, I like the birdies best, with their air support; almost making me feel sorry for the POACHER SCUM, when one's brought to his knees near an asplosionbarrel by deviously-timed BIRBSTRIKE. Love how Mr. Lion just flat-out erases chumps from this mortal coil while escaping to the freedom, scattering gibs left in his bounding wake! Star turn goes to Mr. Elephant, aided by YACK's bloodeningly Morriconesque leitmotif ;-;7

THE RUTHLESS OPPORTUNIST MR. BIRB (｀w´メ)

Spoiler

As in many ACA releases (ImageFight, Crime Fighters, its vastly superior sequel), Hamster astutely give the P+J command its own button, making special attacks far smoother to execute. They're still proximity-triggered, rather strictly, too; mashing outside of range will leave you cold. They're also wickedly punishable, by design (as are the enemies' equivalents). However, leading in with a couple stunning jabs to close distance, then feathering the third button, will reliably unleash Tatsumaki hell; very smooth, on single targets and crowds alike. Versus the vicious bosses, combining [P+J] with good sidestep technique lets you land counter-specials with pinpoint accuracy.

GET SHBROOMED TOOTS (｀w´メ)

Spoiler

Invaluably, the extra button also guarantees the crowd-controlling ragdoll finisher... a move with both walloping viscerality, and riotous chaining potential. As ruthlessly cool as those strikes to the grill are, there's nothing like slamming goons face-first into the ground repeatedly, comrades brought low by their associate's flailing body, soon to find the ground hurtling up at their own reeling mugs!

Enemies are a little mild, individually, but it's clearly a deliberate balance; they're alarmingly legion, and making each as ornery as the typical Technos thug would get miserable. It's no cakewalk, either; Stage 3 (riverboat) onwards sees a distinct tune-up, feels like they lose the early game's generous windup delay. The remainder is bracingly intense, those shredding armaments far less of a luxury.

A solidly-built brawler, tuned for blazing-guns blockbusting. Works great with the Indy aesthetic; a B-film run amok, and like any good pulp, sporting a formidable action/runtime ratio; short, tough, packed with black-humoured carnage. Note the hat-tip from the designers for 1CCing each stage, much appreciated gents

EAT LEAD MOTHERFU- Hey come back Mr. Lion! I'm one of the GOOD guys! I think! (;｀w´;)

Spoiler

While the Taito Memories version doesn't have "the human giblets delight" on the menu, I was always about the whip anyway. Since the whip gives free lashings to the enemies (and the bad girls too in the game), and it hits both in front and behind, I like it more than any other weapon in the game. Nothing says back off like whipping enemies in front, and the bastards who think they can sneak in from the rear, taste the sweet savory flavor of the whip as well.

You're not kidding, that thing is devastating in front and back I'm used to games with backlash hitboxes too finicky to rely on; more of a showoff/lucky break. Here it's a legit asset; you can thrash enemies in front, while luring backstabbers into a vicious rebuke, then pivot and demolish them too. The manual points this out, with Hamster's usual attention to detail.

Even better with deadly footing nearby!

Spoiler

[Bloodreign]

Great write up Bil, I remember finding out about this game around the early 2000's, in MAME of all things. I didn't even a Genesis version existed till after (I have it, got it before it's price assploded, it lacks the spicy flavor of the arcade game), but after playing it in MAME long enough, I was glad Taito had put it on Taito Legends 2, and once I got all 4 Taito Memories collections, I gravitated away from the Legends version, to the Memories version. I loved the chaos of it, you really couldn't let your guard down at all, unless you wanted to be gangbanged by multiple enemies at the same time.

Many people consider it one of Taito's B list games, but I find it top quality. It was a beat em up that wasn't afraid of it's subject matter, even tying it to the Darius series supposedly with it's last boss (The Genesis version changed the final boss's second form). Nowhere could I beat the lowly shit out of animal poachers, even curbstomping them with kicks to the back of the head when they are on their knees, plus Taito wasn't afraid of adding female enemies (hey they can do evil equally as well as the guys), and they could get the same treatment.

Plus the hilarity ensues when you throw a grenade, and it lands by your feet, shredding the enemy, while not even harming you, these 4 dudes are some badasses for not being hurt from the own grenades they throw. And who can forget a game that starts with you in what looks to be a bar with your buddies, and the bad guys just walk in and tell you "Drop dead, you scum". And once they blow up the table you sit at, those grenade launchers are there from the start, and the first wave of enemies get grenades ala carte from you to snack on.

Yeah, thanks to MAME for introducing me to this game decades ago, I love Taito, and though I didn't think too highly of this game at first, once the action started, I was hooked, Taito got me again.

[BIL]

Plus the hilarity ensues when you throw a grenade, and it lands by your feet, shredding the enemy, while not even harming you, these 4 dudes are some badasses for not being hurt from the own grenades they throw.

In such a strict game, is pretty remarkable how the grenade is a kind of stealth BOMBA, ala Golden Axe/Bare Knuckle. Best is when your dude jumps directly onto the rebound - the ultimate BROS 4 LIFE sacrifice! - only for the admiring crowd to get obliterated into dogfood

I always find the Kunio-through-Final Fight era interesting, being so Wild West; the four years before Capcom effectively codified the genre. While I consider FF the overall best of these games, its streamlined polish traded away Technos's gritty, grueling cinema... the literal beating down of enemies to land haymakers, grapples, and ground-pounds. So even some of the really flawed ones, like Crime Fighters and Datsugoku, will get my affection on sheer panache. (Datsugoku's KO animation+SFX is something all beater fans should see, and hear! the combat may be one-note, and the AI piteously gullible, but what wildly OTT sendoffs! )

Tecmo's games - Ninja Gaiden and Wild Fang - are my favourites of this era, sporting their trademark balance of innovative joie de vivre and razor-sharp fundamentals; and although Crime Fighters 2 is two years out, I consider that the epoch's revisionist masterpiece, streamlining away jank, while not merely preserving, but outright intensifying the stomping savagery. Others, like Runark, actually hold surprises. Even though armaments can be dropped or lost, and you've a solid unarmed moveset, I'd call it an early weapons-based brawler; it definitely feels more natural scything through its massive crowds with a sword, or whip, or bayonet, periodically dropping your primary to chuck a grenade, or launch a rocket, or dump a clip into the horde (who love chucking explosives too, collateral be damned!).

Very STGesque; not only the enemies being popcorn-poppable, yet vicious and legion, but also the juxtaposition of your dominating attack with a deadly emphasis on movement and spacing. As you say, a tiny lapse can see a storming run plunged into beatdown hell; superb tension. Importantly, weapons don't vanish when dropped, or when moving to new areas, ala FF; nor do they break, ala Crime Fighters 2. You can always regain a lost asset with enough calculated effort, though the horde will do its best to stop you.

Like most beaters from the mid/late 80s through 1990, it has its jank - the A+B supers' range could've been less stringent, and the platforming sequence is ill-advised, certain to enrage many (I'm inoculated from a lifetime of Famicom Double Dragons... I find FF's Industrial Area more offensive tbh ) - but it nails more than enough of its fundamentals, and packs easily enough inspired brutality to earn a spot in my good books. All this ignoring Taito's usual stylistic mastery; Senba and YACK were a great team, although I half-wonder if this was yet another stealth operation by maestro Fukumori? Watanabe is no slouch, but those Morricone lifts are Gun Frontier-perfect.

[SavagePencil]

Is there any difference between the EN and JP vers of Growl? I was playing the EN version to enjoy the localization (you wisp!) and noticed it didn’t allow the score to be uploaded.

[OldSkoolShmuper]

I did not know about GROWL until 1991. First I'd heard of it was in EGM, a small preview of the MD / Genesis port.

[Marc]

This is actually becoming my favorite time of the week.
Though I've put bugger all time into Raiga or Growl yet!

[Skyknight]

Now taking bets for next week. Nichibutsu? UPL/NMK? Seibu Kaihatsu (I think at least Dynamite Duke is still off among non-shmups)? Jaleco? Tecmo? Konami? Other?

[BIL]

Honestly, better just to wait, but then I'm not a gambling man. It's a funny situation... rock-steady Namco/Taito on one hand, violently ricocheting [Other] on the next.

MUH DREAM remains Silkworm though, and/or Final Star Force. I was already ride-or-die Tecmo based on Sakurazaki and co's Famicom Ninja Gaiden exploits, but frankly, I struggled to find similar world-beating excellence elsewhere on the platform (FATAL FARM, now that's great, but an epoch and genre removed...) However, their 80s arcade division? Beast Kings of Hardcore. I am very fond of Namco and Taito, and I hope Hamster are getting a good payout from the former's late arrival (had a fuckin dream of a PS1 Metal Hawk the other night ), but Tecmo's my real draw atm. Men of war revealed

Of the stuff they've rights to; Nichibutsu, Ninja Emaki... Video System, Sonic Wings... I think if either Macross ever becomes a reality, we'll know well in advance (similar to Mazinger Z), but Macross 2 would be my be-all end-all NMK pick. Magnificent game. Not sure what UPL has left, but they're always dependable for batshit quality. As for Allumer, Mad Shark and WAR OF AERO are my wants. I think we'll see both within this calendar year, joining Rezon. Those cheeky fuckers, they must've had necks of utter brass, but I love their riffs on IREM/Toaplan (I guess Seibu).

I've not had the time to check out Baraduke 2, gonna give it a look in MAME tonight. Normally I'd just hop in, but ACA Athena taught me that buying shite games STILL HURTS even if they're cheap and space-irrelevant. 3; I have to say I perked up at the sight of orange FRIENDO from the first game, despite the dispiriting genre shift! At the end of the day I'm team R2RKMF, so the first game's Armed Astronaut entry is especially precious to me.

[hamfighterx]

Now taking bets for next week. Nichibutsu? UPL/NMK? Seibu Kaihatsu (I think at least Dynamite Duke is still off among non-shmups)? Jaleco? Tecmo? Konami? Other?

More Allumer weirdness (Rezon or Mad Shark)?

[BIL]

Now taking bets for next week. Nichibutsu? UPL/NMK? Seibu Kaihatsu (I think at least Dynamite Duke is still off among non-shmups)? Jaleco? Tecmo? Konami? Other?

More Allumer weirdness (Rezon or Mad Shark)?

Rezon's in the bag, it's the other astonishingly brazen IREM ripoff (War of Aero) waiting for its moment in the sun I love these guys, I wonder if they had Yakuza ties keeping other publishers from going after them? Magical Speed even rips off Nintendo's LTTP

Those ~5sec BGM loops suck hard, admittedly, but that's what blasting X-Multiply and IMAGEFIGHT soundtracks is for

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

Rezon

[BIL]

^ word 3; Blast R-Type II's OST so hard your floor shakes to kill the pain (especially SLIP SLIDIN' AWAY, which Masahiko Ishida fuckin forgot to finish Authentic rockstar! He loved ROCKIN so much he quit IREM after nailing down a slate of classic OSTs! Also duelled IMAGEFIGHT's devs for directorial privileges, lost but gave the fuckers a hard fight into the loop I'm sorry Fraudy-kun I know you know all this shit already, it's for the children )

[hamfighterx]

Rezon's in the bag, it's the other astonishingly brazen IREM ripoff (War of Aero) waiting for its moment in the sun I love these guys, I wonder if they had Yakuza ties keeping other publishers from going after them? Magical Speed even rips off Nintendo's LTTP

Ahhhh yeah, Rezon was the first AA Allumer game. It somehow vanished from my memory, unlike MAGICAL SPEED, BABY! (I now take pride in being that game's biggest defender, I find it really fun!)

Is Mad Shark as blatant a Raiden ripoff as Allumer's IREM "inspired" titles? I do not understand this weird company!

[BIL]

Is Mad Shark as blatant a Raiden ripoff as Allumer's IREM "inspired" titles? I do not understand this weird company!

From what I understand yeah, it's appallingly brazen I've never played or even seen it myself, I enjoy the mystery

To be honest, Raiden itself is such a brass-necked (though excellent) Kyuukyoku Tiger clone, the whole concept becomes hilarious... especially with Toaplan and Seibu's games having reference-quality console translations, and Allumer's potentially joining them

Your Magical Speed writeups are bangin', I've still got that one on my rainy day list

[Bassa-Bassa]

Mad Shark is actually a Moss game. Their first at that. And Moss was founded by former Seibu staffers.

[BIL]

That explains EVERYTHING Cheers bud, had no idea. Bumped way up my WTB list, in that case.

Moreover, WTB ACA Gundhara! Will happily pay that Mazinger tax. THEY FOUGHT WELL

[Lander]

especially SLIP SLIDIN' AWAY, which Masahiko Ishida fuckin forgot to finish

Well shucks, that explains a lot

Fantastic track regardless. It was my coding anthem for a time - slap it on infinite loop, settle in for the driving rhythm, and get excited every time that explosive keytar shred of an intro rolls back around
I'm fond of the sparkly Dimensions rendition too. Until 0:28 at least, when the cheapo Apple GarageBand guitar synth kicks in and topples the whole production

Interesting tidbit about the piii sound from the ending - the YM line of chips start doing some weird and rad things if you keep 'em ticking without supplying any new commands or zeroing out their memory after a song ends.

I fiddled around porting a YM2612 reproduction at one point (for funsies I suppose, shit's GPL and therefore radioactive for most practical use) and discovered some intriguing sounds at the end of the various TFIV tunes I was using as test data - not hidden in the music, but in the final state of the chip itself, since it'll happily oscillate and reverberate away until you terminate the program.

Outside of the notably clean silence at the end of Lightning Strikes Again, much of it ends in ear-splitting feedback or annoying buzzing, but Attack Sharply - that's the highlight, sustaining a small slice of final guitar note out into a metallic thrum that quietens but never completely dies - reminiscent of the PS1 boot sound if you turn your speakers up enough to find it after a minute or so.

[BIL]

Ishida was a real mad wizard on that M72 hardware; a gift for combining gleaming polish with bleak sci-fi/horror motifs. Carpenteresque, I'm sure he'd be called by the kool kidz, nowadays Even chirpy Mr. Heli has some unmistakable \M/etal edge, but the ImageFight/Saigo/X-Multiply/R-Type II quartet are a whole cutlery drawer of killing technology. Besides the gleaming-sharp yet Murakumo-heavy tone, in addition to R-Type II's SSA, I always come back to X-M's Illegal Illusion, and Saigo's Moon; all three exemplifying the primal percussive element he mentions in that interview.

Speaking of cockups, and RIDDIM, there's Saigo's final boss BGM... dunno if he just forgot, or if there was some technical issue, but it's meant to segue from the "every windchime on the block jangling in unholy unison" into a death drumming murderbarrage complete with an arpeggio to heaven; doesn't happen, for whatever reason! A shame, but as they say, In rock n' roll there's no safety net!

[hamfighterx]

Mad Shark is actually a Moss game. Their first at that. And Moss was founded by former Seibu staffers.

MOSS was originally formed in March 1993, and I understand they're listed in the credits of Mad Shark that same year (also the same year Raiden II released lol). Also looks like the remaining Seibu development staff moved over to MOSS much later, in 2005 around the time MOSS obtained developments rights to the Raiden franchise from the then defunct Seibu (who ceased their arcade business in 1999 but seem to have continued to exist in some form for several years after).

So what else did MOSS do in the long period from 1993 to the mid-2000s? Their "modern" history seems to start with Raiden III's release in 2005 for PS2, but surely they must have been doing something to keep the lights on before that - anyone familiar? If I had to guess, I'd say maybe it's possible they did some contract work/support for Taito?

MOSS's own website doesn't list anything older than Raiden III. I see very little on English websites, all I've found is that Giant Bomb lists a small number of titles:
Flip Maze (1999, published by Taito)
Quiz de Idol! Hot Debut (2000, published by Psikyo )
Azumanga Daioh Puzzle Bobble (2002, published by Taito)

[MJR]

Ishida was a real mad wizard on that M72 hardware; a gift for combining gleaming polish with bleak sci-fi/horror motifs. Carpenteresque, I'm sure he'd be called by the kool kidz, nowadays Even chirpy Mr. Heli has some unmistakable \M/etal edge, but the ImageFight/Saigo/X-Multiply/R-Type II quartet are a whole cutlery drawer of killing technology. Besides the gleaming-sharp yet Murakumo-heavy tone, in addition to R-Type II's SSA, I always come back to X-M's Illegal Illusion, and Saigo's Moon; all three exemplifying the primal percussive element he mentions in that interview.

You forgot to mention Dragon Breed; which is, in my humble opinion, his best work!

[Bassa-Bassa]

Mad Shark is actually a Moss game. Their first at that. And Moss was founded by former Seibu staffers.

MOSS was originally formed in March 1993, and I understand they're listed in the credits of Mad Shark that same year (also the same year Raiden II released lol). Also looks like the remaining Seibu development staff moved over to MOSS much later, in 2005 around the time MOSS obtained developments rights to the Raiden franchise from the then defunct Seibu (who ceased their arcade business in 1999 but seem to have continued to exist in some form for several years after).

So what else did MOSS do in the long period from 1993 to the mid-2000s? Their "modern" history seems to start with Raiden III's release in 2005 for PS2, but surely they must have been doing something to keep the lights on before that - anyone familiar? If I had to guess, I'd say maybe it's possible they did some contract work/support for Taito?

Mad Shark was released in November 1993. This is not my own research, but a friend gives me this list in chronological order up until Raiden IV (after that, most games were self-published or easy enough to check today). Namco and Banpresto were their main hirers in that period:

MAD SHARK
GUNDHARA
KOSODATE QUIZ MY ANGEL
MACROSS PLUS
DERBY QUIZ - MY DREAM HORSE
PUZZLE DE BOWLING
FLIP MAZE
KAIUN QUIZ -KOUFUKU NO TABIBITO-
QUIZ DE IDOL! - HOT DEBUT
AZUMANGA DAIOH - PUZZLE BOBBLE
RAIDEN III
RAIDEN IV

[BIL]

You forgot to mention Dragon Breed; which is, in my humble opinion, his best work!

Always slips my mind, I've never played it beyond a quick MAME roadtest Looks amazing - I like leaving such things be, it's like getting a brand-new arcade game when a port/board finally shows up.

That and Mr. Heli are the two I miss most from Hamster's brief M72 run; would kick out Vigilante in a heartbeat for either, but especially DB, because tbh I'm quite happy with the latter's PCE version.

[Klatrymadon]

Just logged into the PS app to see that this week's is BARADUKE 2! Despite being in love with the first game I've never played this one. It always looked delightfully bonkers, though, so I'm excited!

[Udderdude]

Cadash confirmed. https://twitter.com/TAITO_Apps/status/1 ... 8689095680

I always preferred the console versions myself ..

[Steven]

Oh cool, Cadash. They put this in at Mikado recently and I was thinking of giving it a try, but I ran out of money lol.

[BIL]

Oho, nice - longtime favourite of my scrolling action homie Vanguard, always wanted to give it a go. Great Engrish!

[Steven]

It has great Engrish? That means I absolutely need to play it for great justice.

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

It's a pretty fun game. Though wizard absolutely obliterates it compared to the other characters. Keep that in mind.

[Skyknight]

If you can make sure you cast the spell you want, anyway, let alone in the correct direction when we're talking the two fire spells (like managing to cast right after you jumped away from one of the Kraken's attacks).

I'm surprised this is being released before Rastan, though.