Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[BryanM]

Played a little Metal Slug 3 just now. Who was the genius to make the self destruct input attack+jump? There are four buttons on a Neo-Geo game, are there not? The fourth one isn't being used for anything else, no? I'm not on crazy pills here, am I?

[mycophobia]

idk but you definitely have to be careful with autofire because of it :P

[Lander]

Four buttons is correct. MS1 even has D show up with a big X over it during the control briefing.

I maintain that A + B eject is a sneaky way for the early games to rob inexpert players of their slug. It got moved to D in MS4 - terrible shame that it took 3.5 titles' worth of player credits to realize the ergonomic faux pas and correct it

[BIL]

Some games seem to have a minimalism fetish going on; or maybe a maximum operator reach thing - trap once mentioned that to me, re: ImageFight. Jiji-san at the corner store's busted-out ol' Galaga cab can't handle the three-button JAMMA madness, but he does a roaring trade in cigs and naughty mags, and more importantly he's been a loyal customer ever since his tragedy at Iwo Jima - when he charged into that yankee tent with FIVE dud grenades taped on and they all laughed at him! Do it for Jiji-san

I find ImageFight's lack of a dedicated Pod Shoot button a bit annoying in such a surgically-precise game. By the same token, I don't really mind the AB Suicide Method of ex-IREM Nazca's Slugs. The Vulcan's tapping rate is deliberately very generous, one press gets you like three shots, so it's pretty easy to avoid crossing the input streams. Tap shoot, then tap jump to hop the badness while five guys get turned into dogfood.

Pretty sure it's same-frame, too. I've no memories of accidental suicides, but plenty of clamping down on [shot+jump] going FUCKFUCKFUCK! BLOW THE FUCK UP YOU FUCK while down to my last hitpoint and hell-bent on making it count in a br00tal, \M/ETAL AF suicide charge NIHONGO STYLIE

NAM-1975's an interesting case of this. Early Neo title, ignores the D (that's not how NAM rolls!), foregoing a [roll] button to fold the maneuver into the stick (see?). Diagonally-downward while dashing to dodge. It sounds miserly, but in practice, I wouldn't actually want separate dodge and roll buttons.

Sounds like a good way to get a D in your mouf (■｀w´■)

OTOH, ImageFight's close contemporary and M72 stablemate Saigo no Nindou would've been absolutely burdened by putting [switch] on A+B. Not that authoritative Saigo play demands rapid switching, but the game was marketed heavily on its REAL NINJA TOOLBELT; would put the punters right off, fumbling like jerkoffs for the kusarigama while a ninja dog bites their nutsack. I guess there must've been a degree of discretion here; presumably Beancounter-dono agreed. (by the same token, ala Lander's hypothesis, if a few priceless jumping tanks go AWOL - that's just the fug of war ain't it )

[BrianC]

OTOH, ImageFight's close contemporary and M72 stablemate Saigo no Nindou would've been absolutely burdened by putting [switch] on A+B. Not that authoritative Saigo play demands rapid switching, but the game was marketed heavily on its REAL NINJA TOOLBELT; would put the punters right off, fumbling like jerkoffs for the kusarigama while a ninja dog bites their nutsack. I guess there must've been a degree of discretion here; presumably Beancounter-dono agreed. (by the same token, ala Lander's hypothesis, if a few priceless jumping tanks go AWOL - that's just the fug of war ain't it )

Saigo no Nindou PCE definitely benefits from the Avenue Pad 3 with select assigned to the third button.

[BIL]

Saigo no Nindou PCE definitely benefits from the Avenue Pad 3 with select assigned to the third button.

Hell yeah.

[Lander]

Operator reach is my fallback theory MS was a regular appearance on old beater cabs outside the quaint little corner shops frequented during GCCX's TamaGe segments. Perfect for the local kids to throw a few yen at after shopping for gacha and popsicles.
On a lucky day, they'd even do an interview with Jiji-san! No, I don't know how to play Metal Slug *LAUGH TRACK* What a card!

I think the mitigation factor and non-fatality are in part why it stuck around. It'll catch me a couple of times each revisit until I rewrite the mental note, but it doesn't end the run. Not immediately, at least!

I suppose there's also an argument to encoding the feel of operating complex military hardware - making the vehicle input experience a little more deliberate, a little more levers-and-pedals.
Though I feel like I'm being wilfully disingenous by even suggesting it Marco's a trained pro, he would never accidentally elbow the EJECT AND CATCH FIRE button!

*A+B* aw shiet not again

[BryanM]

Tried Mr.Goemon briefly. Think I might love it. The jump button seems overpowered.

Can't wait to see what those crazy Konami kids will come up with next!

Pretty sure it's same-frame, too. I've no memories of accidental suicides

You're a far more disciplined man than I. The very idea of the tiniest bit of unnecessary downtime in my shooty-shooty time... it makes me want to vomit out all of my own blood.

I have to be VERY conscious that I'm playing a Metal Slug game every time I jump into one-o' those things.

The "please jump a lot in this"-hoppy slug is annoying (my brain is pretty sure its official name is "Slugoid". I was surprised I remembered Tarma's name earlier; these games really are important to me...), but nothing makes me have a rage aneurysm quite like the camel-slug. You think you've got the ultimate weapon, that you're a god, that ain't nobody gonna fuck with you... and the little shit just runs off the screen.

The feels.

[BIL]

Oho! Mi gun goes "click" / Mi gun goes YOOOOOO~



Got a Shinobi non Grata clear recorded; it's the kind of game that's relatively easy to survive, but quite fiendishly tricky to Self Cert S-Rank with Katana Finish & No Damage bonuses from end to end. Total trainwreck on that lousy fuckin crab. With good timing, you can massacre his bouncy ball pattern. I get whacked on the way in here, just the shakes bro!

tbh, I've been kinda bummed out by the PS4 version's bugs. They're relatively minor, but they really take the game's feel down a peg; the titles it's channeling are as technically rock-solid as they are aesthetically incendiary. I'll be right back to this if/when they patch it up (the "PSv1.0.0" at the config screen makes me hopeful).

Beyond basic performance, I'd love to see them add a harder difficulty with truly Saigo-calibre volatility. While its zako game captures IREM's intensity remarkably well, larger enemies are strictly set spawns. Juggling random arrays of zako and heavies is key to Saigo's effect... and it's also something that tends to intimidate and demoralise newbies, so I could believe they deliberately didn't pursue IREM's game that far. It'd totally work, though. They're great enemy designs, all a blast to deftly speedkill even when expected.

This zombie-infested barricade would be a really bad aka RLY GR8 place for an Ogre to show up!

ENDGAME SPOILER: the final run gives a tantalisingly brief glimpse of Saigo's controlled chaos

Their Iai was good! But mine is MUTEKI

As an Alien Soldier-styled boss rampage, this is superb. Of the twenty-strong lineup, I wouldn't name a single dud. Nue (st2-1's massive chimera) nonplussed, at first. "Why would I dodge all that shit when I can just bomb while shredding his face?" Happily, he's pretty much designed for that. A speedbag for your Bomb & Flawless Katana finish; deceptively easy to overshoot and lose one or both.

Agito and his reprise are the only two I don't like very much, mostly on principle; they keep you on the evasive a bit much for my liking in this style of game. In AS and Taromaru, you almost always have some means of aggressively cramming in damage. Having said that, his patterns are more than tricky enough to evade; and you actually can creatively counterattack during the majority. It's certainly not a Hard Corps Doc Mandrake arena situation.

Most bosses have a fine degree of randomness, making chasing down speedkills an appropriately nervy prospect; even the more static ones, like Sesshoseki the rolling ball of fun, keep execution tight enough to stave off routine. Genba, the barehanded specialist with an evil trick who's totally not Genma from Ninja Scroll (god I love that these dudes are into that movie... I felt that lategame twist and ensuing zako ninja massacre! ) is superb. I still get tangled up between his meteor attacks and the shadows' antics ("Die somewhere else FFS!"), but I can totally see how you're meant to handle them all. I think! I'm currently a bit too eager to get the fight over with.

They should totally copy Gigantic Army's anti-milking method. Just give each stage a timer, which = your score's multiplier. Then it's literally not worth your time to sit around milking zako. Even better, copy the excess HP bonus, too. In GA, when you're at max HP, health restores grant lucrative bonus points. In SnG, they simply don't spawn. A very good game teetering on the edge of excellence.

nothing makes me have a rage aneurysm quite like the camel-slug. You think you've got the ultimate weapon, that you're a god, that ain't nobody gonna fuck with you... and the little shit just runs off the screen.

Ahh, Camel Slug - all the unbridled mowing carnage of a Metal Slug, without losing the 1HKO. There's a funny note in the ACA manual, which I suspect was copied verbatim from the MVS/AES print. "It's a camel. It is neither to be overestimated, nor underestimated."

Can you imagine this happening to you! (◎w◎;)

The universal killing tool known as The Ground Christ I've got beast wood for Black Finger Jet.



"The trick is not minding that you can't jump" - Marcus of Arabia

Actually naw, jumping there is a snap - and also a really bad idea! Good way to go headfirst into a missile, while giving the ground forces reprieve to ram a shell up your ass! You can kill 'em all from the sands very comfily. Gallop onward giving your weapons lots of fresh bloody meat to nom on and you'll be fine. You don't have to dodge when the only shots they're getting off are destructibles ;3

I wonder what that poor camel is thinking. Probably "Jesus Christ, someone hose that fifth Nazi's asshole out of my coat." 3;

I suppose there's also an argument to encoding the feel of operating complex military hardware - making the vehicle input experience a little more deliberate, a little more levers-and-pedals.
Though I feel like I'm being wilfully disingenous by even suggesting it Marco's a trained pro, he would never accidentally elbow the EJECT AND CATCH FIRE button!

IIRC, Word of God on why Rebels can't simply use Slugs lying about their turf is, you need specialised Peregrine Falcon training to bypass the suicide device; so maybe resisting the banzai siren call is a more technical matter than it seems?

EDIT: Aha! Here we go. Madmen! They actually only mention a security device, but we all know what that's code for in Japanese arcade hardware. ;3

[Sumez]

NAM-1975's an interesting case of this. Early Neo title, ignores the D (that's not how NAM rolls!), foregoing a [roll] button to fold the maneuver into the stick (see?). Diagonally-downward while dashing to dodge. It sounds miserly, but in practice, I wouldn't actually want separate dodge and roll buttons.

Words clearly uttered by a man who has never played the game on an American big red Neo Geo cabinet with the original mushy joysticks provided on them. It's completely impossible to dictate when you'll be rolling, and it basically makes the game unplayable, compared to something reliable like a trusty old' JLF.

[BIL]

I have indeed never wrapped my fist around the famous big black dildo At least not in sober memory!

[Lander]

EDIT: Aha! Here we go. Madmen! They actually only mention a security device, but we all know what that's code for in Japanese arcade hardware. ;3

There's no better way to keep hooky arcade operators in their place than having a compromised cab pop a wheelie and burn rubber out into the street

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

Got a Shinobi non Grata clear recorded; it's the kind of game that's relatively easy to survive, but quite fiendishly tricky to Self Cert S-Rank with Katana Finish & No Damage bonuses from end to end.

Gave it a look and laughed my ass off when I saw they gave you Baiken's jump dust as a weapon. Neat game. I'm adding it to the list. ឵឵

[BrianC]

I have indeed never wrapped my fist around the famous big black dildo At least not in sober memory!

I have gotten used to the clicky stick and those things perplex me. Circle gate? I played some TMNT and Final Fight a few weeks ago on one of those things and they are too stiff for reliable diagonals.

[BIL]

EDIT: Aha! Here we go. Madmen! They actually only mention a security device, but we all know what that's code for in Japanese arcade hardware. ;3

There's no better way to keep hooky arcade operators in their place than having a compromised cab pop a wheelie and burn rubber out into the street

I like picturing that complete with "ping, ping, PINGPINGPINGPINNNG~" sfx and a line of flipped cars down the street, a total indemnity clause fluttering out of sooty op-san's kitbox.

Got a Shinobi non Grata clear recorded; it's the kind of game that's relatively easy to survive, but quite fiendishly tricky to Self Cert S-Rank with Katana Finish & No Damage bonuses from end to end.

Gave it a look and laughed my ass off when I saw they gave you Baiken's jump dust as a weapon. Neat game. I'm adding it to the list. ឵឵

More like Shinobi CON GAT-a mirite

FRONT TOWARDS ENEMY (｀w´メ)

But for now, it is Shinobi CON GANJA (■｀w´■)



"Musashi-kun I'm high af lmao, gimme a chicken sammich & some waffle fries FO FREE"

When word from across the sea reached the twenty-fifth heir of MOHAMED ALAI-RYUU that young BOOTY-HIME was missing, he knew it was his chance to sample truckloads of DEEZ HERB and bag dat ass BAALOGUE may have scurred the local noobs - but unfortunately for the evil fiend, the iron body and fathomless stamina of MOHAMED ALAI-RYUU would prove something of an ideal counter-pick...

Taito's Cadash saw an ACA release last week. I've had this on my radar since Vanguard joined us years ago; enjoyed finally making use of his excellent guidance. I highly recommend his character overview, for a concise snapshot of the wilfully stark character balance. Quickly decided on a Ninja 1CC, aiming to finish @ Level 13, sub-40mins. He's the best pick for those wanting a relatively conventional run/gun feel, being agile and with generous firepower, at the cost of magic offense or defense.

ZOMBIE ARMY MACHINE IS READY

As VAN says, while Cadash is only functional in pure action terms, it's got an intriguing long-term strategic element. You're always on the clock, and Inn prices climb steeply with every stay, making grindan innately hazardous. It's the simple pleasure of plotting an efficient journey shared by all good ARPGs, given a nice jolt of pure coinop impulse. While the world isn't especially large - its FC contemporaries Zelda II, Faxanadu, and Dragon Slayer IV all sport considerably bigger - by that same token, it's well-streamlined for relentless pressure.

As an action game, Cadash bridges traditionally icy precision and calculated tanking. The graveyard and catacombs can be no-missed with considerable precision. Conversely, the area's boss not only doesn't seem designed for dodging, it's actually highly beneficial to take a nick from his wall of flak, then mow your giant hitbox through the rest during i-frames. It's not the only place such a pawn-sacrificing tack will save your neck; a distant, more disciplined glimpse of the truly unhinged bump/grind of Namco's Dragon Buster and Genpei Toumaden.



Visibility can be rough, between the big sprites, and larger-than-shown playfield. It's an issue not uncommon in turn-of-the-decade action/platformers; Super Shinobi veterans will be right at home, gradually negotiating the fog of war. A few areas are downright mean about spawning fast, tough enemies at discomforting range; others, like the climatic flail hazards, simply don't have the intelligibility to work as anything but memoriser gags. On top of this, the HUD can be dangerously obtrusive. My dream hackz would chop the sprites by 25%, while folding the various prompts into the stat bar. The mini Herb and Antidote icons used on the inter-area popup could easily fit onscreen; the HUD prompts could be relegated to SFX (ala the distinct *clannng* of a struck secret).

For reference, the ACA version includes both the tricky Japan and easier World revs, the latter in glorious Taito Engrish. The latter's a genuinely useful training wheels rev; easing up on costs and carry limits, without defanging itself. Great for learning new characters! The latter will present a mild language barrier for non-JP readers (it's a shame the otherwise-identical English rev isn't here) - but beyond that, it should be considered the game's canonical difficulty, presenting a much trickier routing puzzle to unpick.

[Sumez]

Geeze, someone needs to teach Cadash about "show, don't tell"

[BIL]

*cue Ninja Gaiden Act IV-1 cutscene*

(or hell, Cadash's own neato Attract Modo shot! )

I found it kinda charming and wistful, especially with the BGM - although ofc, if you venture far enough to the dead end to read that, you may well have burnt up 20seconds you couldn't afford to.

[Blinge]

I beat Altered Beast on Genesis the other day. It's a 1cc because there are no continues
(finally finished what started when i watched robby + aaron's silly video over a decade ago)
Fun little game.. very memo.

Annoyingly.. I had the no-miss in the bag but decided to try and beat the final boss minotaur thing 'legit' instead of cheesing it by mashing crouch punch +trading health.

Some minor annoyances like sometimes you take damage without seeming to. Or grab a powerup only to be locked in place for the animation while an enemy closes the gap and hits you when you finish

[BIL]

Ah man, it's been a while. I seem to recall Phoenix Forcing Neff to DEFF Alien Soldier-style, but if your timing's a frame off he'll sock you. Alternatively yeah, distinct memories of using his nutsack as a speedbag.

Big fan of all the body-ramming attacks in that one, buff beast bros ramming hard like a Necro Grecian Ram Ranch BEWARE THOUGH, too much ramming can be a bad thing!

[Blinge]

hahaha wtf that's awesome

[BryanM]

I beat Altered Beast on Genesis the other day. It's a 1cc because there are no continues

*swoops in to 'well actually'*

It uses the Super Mario title screen continue, like most games back in the era. Last Battle etc. It's A+Start. Usually it's A+B+C. All there in the manual.

(... holy hell, there's an option menu? I have no memory of this. I kind of remember a five-point lifebar, but I think that's my brain remembering Golden Axe. They use the same life bar after all! (Shit, by that logic Golden Axe is the sequel to Altered Beast. So the sequel to both should be a totally original game, that uses the same life bar graphic! I've finally busted the code and solved the impossible riddle of "how to make an Altered Beast sequel that doesn't suck".))

ROM is expensive and writing a little menu function is tough ok : (

Since this was the only Genesis game I had for a long time, I got to the point where I could loop it pretty much all day with barely taking any damage. Dashing back and forth as an invincible jackass breaks the game.



(God, to think a menu actually being displayed on the screen used to be a luxury. Things sure were simple and barebones back then, eh.)

(... I always forget they wanted to use a pressure sensitive button Street Fighter 1 style, and claim the game would have been more complex... but I don't see how it could be.... the animated film project announced in 2016 is news tho. I'm sure we'll see it right after The Destroyer reboot.)

I am created Shiva, the Destroyer; death, the shatterer of worlds. The dead night tiger made whole by the Master of Sinanju. Who is this dog meat that dares challenge me?

Oh, and here's an AI collage someone made. I'm only linking to it because of the outfits, they're the best and salvage humanity.

[BIL]

(... holy hell, there's an option menu? I have no memory of this.

Ha, I somehow only found out about this late in the day too - despite AB being the very first thing that ruined my little boy mind re 16bit MEGA SHAWK! I know for sure my cousin and his COOLEGE BROS were aware of Space Harrier II's Options menu, I was goofing around in that thing all day worrying I might delete the cartridge somehow. Maybe I just forgot.

Regardless, BEAST RANDOMISER was a goddamn revelation Like a new arrange mode for the NTSCJ ver I picked up partially to complement Alien Soldier (the buff beast brosthetic bookends the machine's lifespan too perfectly!), but mostly because the spirit of buddyville cried out for justice! Golden Axe, After Burner II and Revenge Of The Super Shinobi with no Altered Beast was making me feel the grown man sad 3; Like a Beatles reunion without Ringo!

There's a dev interview somewhere - I will have to track it down - where they suggest having a friend jumble up teh beasts; you know, to surprise you! Actually, now I think about it, that may've been M2, re: those gorgeous 3DS AGES releases. At any rate, if you are flying solo, just close your eyes and mongle the controller for a bit, then hit [start] - you will see crazy shit!

I kind of remember a five-point lifebar, but I think that's my brain remembering Golden Axe. They use the same life bar after all! (Shit, by that logic Golden Axe is the sequel to Altered Beast. So the sequel to both should be a totally original game, that uses the same life bar graphic! I've finally busted the code and solved the impossible riddle of "how to make an Altered Beast sequel that doesn't suck".))

Makoto Uchida is cool! See also Dynamite Deka and AZN DYNAMITE.

...it occurs to me I actually played the goofy Asmik-published FC version more recently than any of Uchida-san's signature works. It's worth a gander (animal joke ) for fans. Some crazy-ass transformations!

It's a dangerous meeting, they're gonna get themselves killed!

^^^ can you imagine that shit happening IRL I wonder who developed it... I do know the BGM was by the late Kenji Eno, who found cult acclaim at Warp, purveying D and D2: Pregnant After The First D! His funereally smouldering take on st2's classic sepulchre is genuinely killer work; easily on par with any FC Dracula's horror aesthetic.

[Lander]

Cadash, eh. That one's been skirting my videogame awareness recently, might have to give it a spin.
I've liked the Arcade RPG idea since seeing some of the Wonder Boy games do it - on the face of it the two genres seem like chalk and cheese, but slam them together hard enough and you might just get alchemy.

"Musashi-kun I'm high af lmao, gimme a chicken sammich & some waffle fries FO FREE"

Ah! An historic tapestry depicting the distant origin of the Shinobisploitation genre
Overseas delivery is 800 mon, lord. Plus tip.

[BIL]

"Musashi-kun I'm high af lmao, gimme a chicken sammich & some waffle fries FO FREE"

Ah! An historic tapestry depicting the distant origin of the Shinobisploitation genre
Overseas delivery is 800 mon, lord. Plus tip.

Elsewhere in DEEZ TOWNE, Musashi's companions discover the folly of going hit-to-hit with a master of Mugen Chronic-Ryuu



"I'm sorry Mr. Gandalf the Cheese Shoppe is next door" "Ah yes right right!"

Cadash, eh. That one's been skirting my videogame awareness recently, might have to give it a spin.
I've liked the Arcade RPG idea since seeing some of the Wonder Boy games do it - on the face of it the two genres seem like chalk and cheese, but slam them together hard enough and you might just get alchemy.

The action-crawler seems to have been surprisingly hardy subgenre amongst major JP arcade labels; I wonder how influential Gauntlet might've been over there? M2 famously getting their foot in the door with their fan-made X68k port, which Tengen gave prestige MD release. Just offhand, there's Dragon Buster, Genpei Toumaden, Monster Land, Cadash, Legend of Valkyrie, Black Tiger, Magic Sword... I'm sure I'm forgetting or just unaware of others. Also Makai Densetsu, NMK's spectacularly unlikely reverse-import of Wizards & Warriors, published by Jaleco. Several of those were pretty big hits too, AFAIK (massive, in Genpei's case).

Warning: TRVE KVLTIC \M/ETAL

Spoiler

Not to discount the influence of Wizardry! I remember hearing that Libble Rabble's secret-finding aspect came straight from its staff's Sir-Tech fandom, haha. (rad, rad game! Toru Iwatani's personal favourite of his works, albeit he actually left the project before its completion. great as either a solo brain-bender, or 2P cooperative strategy)

[BryanM]

I've liked the Arcade RPG idea since seeing some of the Wonder Boy games do it - on the face of it the two genres seem like chalk and cheese, but slam them together hard enough and you might just get alchemy

It bums me out there's no true jRPG arcade game, to my knowledge.

There have been some experiments in short-form games, later on. Half Minute Hero being very aggressive about how little time you have for the world to live. The Ancient Cave hack of Final Fantasy 5 has a little timer clicking in the corner, limiting how much grinding you can do and how much time you can put into a run.

The modern arcade game setting is perfect for it - you could unlock new levels and characters saved on your game card, they could rot your brain and steal your wallet with flashy sensory stimulation overload... the main drawback is the same as it always was post Playstation/N64; you could play the exact kind of game anywhere else than an arcade.

There's a really really stupid, tiny part of me that wants to make an RPG for the Neo-Geo because the platform doesn't have one. Almost might as well make an FMV game for the NES, eh..

BEAST RANDOMISER

Zero recollection of this in my brain's latent space. Argh, reading the manual would have made a couple days of my callow youth a little less callow.

That was something I'd do sometimes with other games! I'm a nerd! Legend of Zelda manual was a work of art. Had a little ritual where I thought reading the Blaster Master manual before playing sometimes, thinking it'd make my run go further...

[Sumez]

Arcade RPGs is an inherent broken formula that I enjoy to some extent. Ultimately they become all about routing, and knowing the secrets etc. but it's somehow very addictive.

I'm all about Wonderboy in Monster Land, Black Tiger, Willow, etc. Wrote a bigger piece on what I find interesting about those games, I think probably in this thread, but I can't remember where I put it :3

[Steamflogger Boss]

Contra fits this thread right? Been back on that bullshit, playing the Famicom version.

Also playing Holy Diver. Cool game.

[Sima Tuna]

Arcade RPGs is an inherent broken formula that I enjoy to some extent. Ultimately they become all about routing, and knowing the secrets etc. but it's somehow very addictive.

I'm all about Wonderboy in Monster Land, Black Tiger, Willow, etc. Wrote a bigger piece on what I find interesting about those games, I think probably in this thread, but I can't remember where I put it :3

I'm in the opposite camp. I just can't enjoy arcade rpgs most of the time. They feel too punishing, memorization heavy and the loss of all progress with each credit hurts my soul. But I must admit that Black Tiger is fun.

[Lander]

Threw a couple plays worth of credits into Cadash to get my head around it - what a curious game.
The juxtaposition of a ticking clock with rambling RPG NPCs who drone on all day about the price of cheese almost seem like genre commentary Is this mundane mofo really worth ten fewer seconds of extra EXP..?
Feels really weird to stop and walk back and forth to grind under those conditions too, let alone backtrack to the last inn for a credit-saving snooze.

And gosh, I wasn't expecting it to be so attritive. Is no-hit even viable in this game? I've been picking Fighter - which seems like a terrible idea given his spartan toolset - and getting bodied quite soundly by the more tricksy foes.
Which is to say nothing of the firepit just before Ye Olde Ripoff Inn. Or that jump in the castle, followed immediately by that other bloody jump, both guarded by heavy treemachinegun dugouts on the critical path to the shop!

Elsewhere in DEEZ TOWNE, Musashi's companions discover the folly of going hit-to-hit with a master of Mugen Chronic-Ryuu

And Fighter's bedbound battling a nasty white-out, poetry

The action-crawler seems to have been surprisingly hardy subgenre amongst major JP arcade labels; I wonder how influential Gauntlet might've been over there? M2 famously getting their foot in the door with their fan-made X68k port, which Tengen gave prestige MD release. Just offhand, there's Dragon Buster, Genpei Toumaden, Monster Land, Cadash, Legend of Valkyrie, Black Tiger, Magic Sword... I'm sure I'm forgetting or just unaware of others. Also Makai Densetsu, NMK's spectacularly unlikely reverse-import of Wizards & Warriors, published by Jaleco. Several of those were pretty big hits too, AFAIK (massive, in Genpei's case).

Ah, Gauntlet, another high-profile hole in my arcade acumen. Wouldn't surprise, seeing as japan was (/ is still) really fiending for that western fantasy.
And the rest have been making the rounds in the same select D&D-Arcade intersectionist streams I caught Cadash in - Black Tiger in particular looks like some crunchy Capcom goodness.

Warning: TRVE KVLTIC \M/ETAL

Spoiler

Fvck that was well worth seeking out the source material for.

Alongside the belly laughs, it strikes me how malleable and subjective the romanticized warring states period is as material - I remember playing villainous ol' Yoshitsune as a noble hero in Genji on PS2!
Add Musou and its many offspring to the mix, and it seems anyone who isn't big bad Nobunaga can frame equally well in face and heel roles.

It bums me out there's no true jRPG arcade game, to my knowledge.

There have been some experiments in short-form games, later on. Half Minute Hero being very aggressive about how little time you have for the world to live. The Ancient Cave hack of Final Fantasy 5 has a little timer clicking in the corner, limiting how much grinding you can do and how much time you can put into a run.

A pure arcade JRPG is a charismatic thought experiment, though I'd rather cling to the good old days and envision a game that never was over a modern dopamine synthesizer
Perhaps something around the mid-00s, when games and game cards existed in relative peace.

Running FF8 with Real Time / Max Turn Speed was a lot of fun, so I'd probably couple HMH-style overworld time pressure and choice-making with turbo boosted ATB battles. Because get off me fookin' cab!
Er, I mean to introduce rapid fire input tech, eliminate downtime, and make grace under pressure a tangible element of skill Phoenix Downs for a quid, guv.

Kicked around the idea of TTYD style attack gimmicks, but I reckon there's a lot of untapped fun to be contrived out of time-pressured RPG menuing before worrying about what happens after you pick something. Give each party member a different paradigm - classic nested popups for one, ring menus for another, exotic Buriki One style inversion-of-control for a third, etc - and cram it full of tactile *ka-chik* input optimization opportunities that feel good on an arcade lever. TGM's drop-shift-lock SPD motion comes to mind as something that seems like a mundane bit of input finesse, but is oh so sweet in practice, and the sky really is the limit when it comes to input abstractions over categorized choices.

Coarse numbers, fixed encounters (the classic Man In Doorway, Pokemon OI YOU! runups, or even obfuscated 'random' encounters) for determinism, those old if-then-else enemy behaviours for exploitable tricks...
Glue it all together with an OutRun style tree structure to allow multiple endings and party compositions, and you've got a winner. Or at least, an interesting curio.

Sigh, if only throwing together a prototype was as easy as throwing together ideas

[BIL]

And gosh, I wasn't expecting it to be so attritive. Is no-hit even viable in this game? I've been picking Fighter - which seems like a terrible idea given his spartan toolset - and getting bodied quite soundly by the more tricksy foes.
Which is to say nothing of the firepit just before Ye Olde Ripoff Inn. Or that jump in the castle, followed immediately by that other bloody jump, both guarded by heavy treemachinegun dugouts on the critical path to the shop!

For Fighter and Ninja, I would describe Cadash as 90% no-hittable, with the remainder a composite of "Nope" and "Extra Nope." (grindan would likely help; I deliberately avoided it where I could, besides ensuring I was at L10 before hitting Teh Dark Continent. the graveyard plays nicely then, but feels a bit Euroshumpy if weaker, so I whacked a few of the underforest rock dudes, after circumnavigating my way back down to blow my stack on Golden Bells)

And tbh, the tight FOV, big sprites, and unforgiving hitboxes make a lot of technically-avoidable stuff seem precog-mandatory. It's a decided rope-a-dope aspect, feeling like it was inherited from Dragon Buster and Genpei (though it's a more disciplined game than those trve & honest Real Pinball Simulators). I'm sure it's possible to machine together techs that avoid all but the most egregious spam (catacombs boss, final boss), but it's probably well beyond what's needed - or likely to be contemplated - for conventional, first-run play.

Mage and Priest might fare better, with their magic spells. I'm tentatively accepting this Mage No-Damage Clear is legit - ReplayBurners are good peeps in my experience - but regardless, might be a handy blueprint!

The last boss was absolutely massacring my L13 Ninja, until I noticed you can

Spoiler

turn his contact damage against him; getting bumped does trifling damage, compared to his tail, laser, and especially the mortally dangerous flame breath. None of those will connect if you're in recovery i-frames, which is easily arranged with him sticking so close to you.

Not conventionally great action game design, but as with Cadash at large, I had a good time figuring it out. Might be another cross-genre metaphor at play there.

Warning: TRVE KVLTIC \M/ETAL

Spoiler

Fvck that was well worth seeking out the source material for.

Alongside the belly laughs, it strikes me how malleable and subjective the romanticized warring states period is as material - I remember playing villainous ol' Yoshitsune as a noble hero in Genji on PS2!
Add Musou and its many offspring to the mix, and it seems anyone who isn't big bad Nobunaga can frame equally well in face and heel roles.

Indeed! I was dimly aware of Benkei (Berserk and Baki both making reference to his famous "bridge knight" and "standing death" exploits), but not his fellow midboss Yoshitsune; was very interesting, reading up on their often Robin Hood & Little John-esque portrayals in other Japanese media. This guy posited an interesting connection to the much older Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Everbody loves the big lummox and quick-witted little dude archetype!

For anyone yet to witness this masterpiece of Bubble-era promotional largesse No mere replay - a GAME SIMULATION VIDEO

THE WHIMSICAL REVENGE TALE

"Not for nothin boss but usin the weed smoke for lift was ~preeetty smawt!~" "Stay on target."