Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[Sumez]

The Famicom sequel by Vic Tokai was unfortunately kinda crap

It's really a cool one, albeit a bit oldish for 1986. Authorship is attributed to Vic Tokai with help indeed from Tecmo, as Able was a publisher/distributor with no actual development resources.

I'd be interested in knowing where you picked up that information/theory? I haven't seen anything pointing at Vic Tokai being involved with the original game, or of Able Corp being anything separate from Tehkan? I'd really love to hear from some of the people involved at the time.

[BrianC]

The Famicom sequel by Vic Tokai was unfortunately kinda crap

Odd that it was ported to C64.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Yeah, seems it's not widely known as per google search. I'm afraid I haven't read anything coming directly from the devs themselves, I used a non-public DB by a friend I trust the most for this stuff. I messaged him to ask about his source for this particular bit so I'll likely have more on this later, but seems he's not the only one with the theory, anyway:

https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%83%93%E3%83 ... B5%B7#h3_8

As for Able, I'm not sure about your question. Able was an independent company dedicated to publishing and, specially, distribution duties in the arcade industry. Just by checking their game list you can see they didn't actually develop a single videogame in their whole history.

[Rastan78]

Gameplay footage of Black Finger Jet:

https://twitter.com/famitsu/status/1705 ... RRIlQ&s=19

[BrianC]

Wowzers! The MC strangly reminds me of Inspector Gadget. Only with a red hat and coat instead of a gray one.

[Sima Tuna]

I like what I'm seeing. Reminds me of Metal Slug, and we haven't had a new Metal Slug in ages.

[kid aphex]

Man, Black Finger Jet looks awesome… all the footage coming out of TGS is amazing.

[Ghegs]

Finally got around to playing Mechstermination Force (Switch version), which I bought like two or three years ago, and I even double-dipped on for a physical copy because A) it's got cool mechs, B) it's a run 'n gun and C) it's a boss battle game. All things I like. And I ended up finishing it on the same day, it took less than two and a half hours with 52 deaths to beat it.

And the game's...good, it's okay and then some, but it's not quite great.

The bosses are absolutely fantastic. Really cool designs both visually and their attacks, and everything's well-animated. And they're pretty unique and different from each other too, it's not just one or two basic templates that are then used with some variations. Some of them are very Shadow of the Colossus with the way you have to climb on and inside them to take them down. They are, for the most part, a joy to both look at and fight against.

I have one large issue and one small issue with the game that keep it from reaching the status of greatness.

First, the large issue. The controls. Well, I'm not sure if's actually the controls, but the player character has...weight to him, physics, inertia, something like that. It doesn't have the immediate sharpness to the controls like Contra has. This is mostly noticeable when you're climbing on a boss, you jump, and at the same moment the boss moves and the jump kind of turns into a flop, because of the physics. It felt very frustrating. On a minor note, you can have multiple weapon available at the same time, but you can switch between with only a single button, which is a bit dumb when you have 5 or 6 weapon available. But mostly you just use one weapon anyway, so it's not really an issue.

The second issue is the progression. There's a hub area, in which there's a shop, from where you can buy more permanent health and new weapons. You get money from defeating bosses, but destroying parts of them also gives you coins to collect, and you keep the money acquired even if you die and restart on a boss. And you can always exit out of a boss battle into the hub. You can also fight already defeated bosses again. So it's pretty easy to grind for money just to get more health and a new weapon to make the next boss that much easier. And the weapons do make a large difference. There are many other ways I'd have preferred this was handled.

The last boss also changes the gameplay quite a lot, in that it's no longer a run 'n gun, but a shmup. This is also the only part of the game where there is a direction lock available. In all the battles before, it's only movement lock. And you have to deal with inertia here, and with the health system, it's basically a euroshmup finish to the game.

A few times during my playthrough I also completely lost track of where my character was, since some of the boss attacks are very colorful and occasionally the screen zooms out a lot to show you the huge boss.

So a pretty good game with some of the best boss designs in any run 'n gun, but for me the controls/physics -thing brings it down a few notches.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Yeah, seems it's not widely known as per google search. I'm afraid I haven't read anything coming directly from the devs themselves, I used a non-public DB by a friend I trust the most for this stuff. I messaged him to ask about his source for this particular bit so I'll likely have more on this later, but seems he's not the only one with the theory, anyway:

https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%83%93%E3%83 ... B5%B7#h3_8

As for Able, I'm not sure about your question. Able was an independent company dedicated to publishing and, specially, distribution duties in the arcade industry. Just by checking their game list you can see they didn't actually develop a single videogame in their whole history.

So updating this - his source for Vic Tokai as Baluba-Louk's developer is one of the books by the editor of Game Machine magazine, which covered exclusively arcade games ever since the 70's. He says anyway that having a sequel or home episode developed and published by Vic Tokai with no other company involved or mentioned is revealing enough -as I thought-, but that the original game seems to be the only one ever produced by Able themselves -as in, they were basically distributors for everything else but funded ths one)-, so the IP likely belongs to them at least partially, which adds to the game's low success to make of it a very unlikely nominee for Arcade Archives or any other modern collection.

[Sumez]

I don't think Vic Tokai making the Famicom sequel is in any way an indication of them having made the arcade game. Even looking at how the game "feels", it's definitely more adjacent to Bomb Jack than to its own sequel.
A recurring composer for Tehkan put their signature in the game, and I think it's reasonable to expect that the artist signature in the game data is also as speculated in this article:
https://tcrf.net/Baluba-Louk_no_Densetsu

It's not impossible that it was Vic Tokai (or even actually Able), but I think those options are clearly a lot less likely than it being just another Tehkan game. If Able Corp were a distribution company used by Tehkan at the time(?) I think it even makes sense to use their label while Tehkan was being restructured into Tecmo.

[Bassa-Bassa]

I don't think Vic Tokai making the Famicom sequel is in any way an indication of them having made the arcade game. Even looking at how the game "feels", it's definitely more adjacent to Bomb Jack than to its own sequel.

Do you have any other example where a sequel or home version is made with no mention whatsoever of the original IP holder/publisher unless they share development company? The only vaguely similar cases I can think of are the PCE versions by Aicom of Jaleco arcade games, where Jaleco is totally omitted (according to this friend of mine, seems to be a trade-off for the former making some original arcade games for the latter as a ghost developer, but that'd make for another topic). In other words, how do you think Vic Tokai could get away with using the Baluba-Louk no Densetsu naming for their home game without aknowledging Able (or Tehkan) somewhere in the copyright line unless they indeed kept the rights for the home market when making the deal? Or just why would they even be interested in a home sequel of a quite unknown, unsuccessful arcade game?

A recurring composer for Tehkan put their signature in the game, and I think it's reasonable to expect that the artist signature in the game data is also as speculated in this article:
https://tcrf.net/Baluba-Louk_no_Densetsu

Yeah, the most plausible theory is that Tehkan helped/co-developed, as I mentioned. Until Sega reached them, Vic Tokai's arcade games were always like this for whatever reason. And they (Vic and Able) needed a hardware to work with, as well.

It's not impossible that it was Vic Tokai (or even actually Able), but I think those options are clearly a lot less likely than it being just another Tehkan game. If Able Corp were a distribution company used by Tehkan at the time(?) I think it even makes sense to use their label while Tehkan was being restructured into Tecmo.

Baluba-Louk was released in April, 1986. According to Wikipedia (a-hem), the actual restructuring thing didn't happen until 1987, yet Tehkan started using the Tecmo name a good few months before. But anyway, the fact that Tecmo was always a major PCB publisher/distributor which was even used by many other companies for the labor is what places that theory way below the other in my eyes, specially now we know Game Machine's editor attributes the game's development to Vic. That has to be for a reason.

[BrianC]

The composer for Aigina no Yogen, Michiharu Hasuya, also composed for some Tecmo games including Solomon's Key (AC and NES).

[BIL]

Finally got around to playing Mechstermination Force (Switch version), which I bought like two or three years ago, and I even double-dipped on for a physical copy because A) it's got cool mechs, B) it's a run 'n gun and C) it's a boss battle game. All things I like. And I ended up finishing it on the same day, it took less than two and a half hours with 52 deaths to beat it.

Great review, marked for index! This is another that sounds familiar to me, though I can't quite recall from where.

So there I was, choppin' and croppin' my old postage stamp-sized TATE captures for somewhat better 3:4 viewing, when:



DEMON BACK confirmed! Obviously, Ralf and Clark use guns and grenades because, well, imagine the gorefest that'd ensue if they turned their fists n' feet on those lousy NeoNazi pricks!

Also, this caught my eye - what could it be? Set to "NO" by default:

Spoiler

When I picked this version up a few years back, I'd assumed SIMULTANEOUS STRIKES meant "shoot and bomb simultaneously;" but as a returning veteran of BEACONMANIA, I wonder if it relates to Ikari's singularly quirky handling of REDSPLOSIONS. As any capable hand will know, in Ikari, your red grenades+shells' detonations pre-empt those of enemies'. The latter will explode, once yours are done - even if you've long since passed the original point of impact. A potentially fatal surprise for the uninitiated, as the coast is cleared, only for a massive shrap-splosion to erupt from seemingly nowhere. But in learned hands, it's far more asset than liability.

This chump had me dead to rights! OR SO HE ASSUMED (■｀w´■)

Spoiler

I wonder if the toggle corrects this quirk. That sounds scary! There are many spots where it's handy to hog the splosion-queue. But it might also be the definitive take on Obada-san's hellish battlefield! Well, a definitive take would make the final quarter less Beacon-infested, but then we're getting into full armchair arrange mode territory.

I like how they got around this in the same year's Dogosoken by simply having enemies not use Redsplosions. Instead there's just a million times more of the buggers! And of course in Guevara, everyone's grenades suck - oof!

Besides sporting more refined English text, newer ACA releases will typically file elective fixes under "Preference Options." I wondered if "Simultaneous Strikes" might be something found on the original PCB, ala Double Dragon II's Tatsumaki Assist (faithfully reproduced in the ACA version). But it seems not. I also get the impression the "kill ur friend Y/N?" toggle was something added to the American Ikari Warriors PCB; it doesn't seem to appear in the Japanese operator's manual.

[Lander]

Considering bearers of the Demon Back can tell the earth itself to shut up and have it listen, making a grenade pause in awe doesn't seem so much of a stretch

Fascinating bit of tech, that - presumably arising from stringent performance requirements. And pleasantly on-theme for a designed limitation, grenade fuses being what they are - it's not a bug, it's advanced Cold Sweats Simulation causing enemies to bungle their cook

[BIL]

Considering bearers of the Demon Back can tell the earth itself to shut up and have it listen, making a grenade pause in awe doesn't seem so much of a stretch

This handily explains the Earthquake powerup in Dogosoken, which is more accurately called a temporary license for the lads to break kayfabe and put fist to floor

Fascinating bit of tech, that - presumably arising from stringent performance requirements. And pleasantly on-theme for a designed limitation, grenade fuses being what they are - it's not a bug, it's advanced Cold Sweats Simulation causing enemies to bungle their cook

Obada has this great story about going to the arcade post-Ikari, spotting Heavy Barrel and, well... "Bitches stole my board!" But not, he notes, his code Very sanguine about it - a real snapshot of the Wild West (East?) era. (see also less arcane practices, like cranking the PCB's decibels to drown out the competition )

[BryanM]

Saw this game called "Mercs" on GameSack, wondered why I had never heard of it before since it looked cool, thought it'd be some light fun.

... I can see why I've never heard of it before. No directional lock, you move as slow as a slug, so there's a lot of tickling enemies for half a second before dodging or facing the wrong way for six seconds. The flame thrower does some work to alleviate some of the flawed design; smoothing out your brief firing arcs instead of being locked to cardinal directions (that are more often than not the wrong cardinal direction). That it autofires is gravy, as this is one of those games that requires a mashing tempo of faster than 1/sec.

... there's no directional lock right? It's a two button game, and I tried pressing them all!

It's pretty dismal compared to something like Gun.Smoke or Shock Troopers. I searched for it here, and it seems some people like it. But also it kind of felt like a lot of people were trying to offload it. Might just be a coincidence from the first page of posts.

Anyway, good art, bad design. A 2/5 from me.

I was amused that all three characters were buff blonde dudes in the intro, though. The typical thing to do with the roster back then was the white guy/black guy/karate guy/the chick thing, you know? So they're easier to tell apart at a glance. Like in that sensitive war documentary, Total Carnage.

... fuck I could have been playing Total Carnage today. Look, we all make mistakes alright? Some times you get a Mr.Goemon/Elevator Action 2, most of the time you don't.

[mycophobia]

hey now. mercs is cool

[Sima Tuna]

I hope people who dislike mercs because of the lack of direction lock are internally-consistent and also dislike the Pocky and Rocky games.

[BryanM]

Murasame Castle doesn't have a lock, and it's a great game. Even if Mercs had a lock, it would still be pretty lousy. The lock is insubstantial to decisions made in its game mechanics and content.

But I do need to play Pocky and Rocky, thanks for reminding me. I always feel like a fraud whenever they come up, but two seconds later I promptly forget that they exist. Until they get mentioned in passing years later.

[Steven]

Senjou no Ookami II is a way cooler and less generic name. They should've translated it instead of renaming it.

[Sumez]

Not having an aim lock is pretty much what defines Commando.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Murasame Castle doesn't have a lock, and it's a great game. Even if Mercs had a lock, it would still be pretty lousy. The lock is insubstantial to decisions made in its game mechanics and content.

But you haven't really explained which are those, yet you complained twice about the lack of a lock button in your non-rant.

Senjou no Ookami 2/Mercs is a game which just wants you to keep moving. Much like its predecessor, but stressed. In this sense, it's quite the perfect sequel. It controls pretty much like it, mind - this type of games are made for sticks with octo gates where intercardinal directions get the same priority as cardinal directions - no wrong presses with these, no issues with the shotgun or the rifle there. So if you haven't tried it like this, do it!

The game's design is not free of flaws indeed, though. When the game scrolls horizontally (think stage 3) you're often surprised by enemy fire you hardly can evade due to the shortened viewport. Its demanding metric ruins the multiplayer mode unless all the players know the game equally well. Jeep drives are little else than a gorgeous gimmick, though it's always fun trying to optimize them a bit more every time. It's a bit too brutal for its own good, but the game presents the player with some unusual features like bomb stock refills after stage completion or perma power- and vitality gauge-ups.

[BryanM]

But you haven't really explained which are those

Because I didn't want to dump an essay - people who like the game will feel bad, and some will want to quibble and cherrypick. And there'd be a ton of redundant very basic knowledge almost everyone already knows. (Being grognards and all.)

Take OG Contra and its use of threat lines. The threat lines are largely static and avoiding them is simple - don't stand inside of them. Stand literally anywhere else on the screen, and you're 100% safe. The core game mechanic is therefore just playing chicken with the threat lines, as most bosses require you to stand inside of them to land hits. Use tighter safety margins and you deal more DPS, but you might actually die if you get too greedy. Use looser safety margins and the fight drags on longer, but dying is nearly impossible. You're effectively running a very simple mindless macro to win, which quickly becomes boring, repetitive and rote. It's not nearly as stimulating as a Rygar or Metal Slug.

But Contra is still a lot of fun for people who haven't solved the game yet. Yet if you get to a point where there's no risk of failing technical execution, and nothing left to learn, it doesn't have anything else to offer. The game's done. A steak with no meat left.

Commando is a much much much better game. Not a better looking game. Not a better vibes game. But for a tag-style top-down shooter, it's completely superior. I can hardly believe they're considered to be in the same franchise.



(The optimal strategy for the first Mercs boss when it comes to speed is just running face-first upward and mashing. Eat the hits it gives you - your life is fully restored afterward. I don't think things like mazing, footsies, ranging, herding, or dodging is in its wheelhouse, exactly. Quite a few bunkered-off sections of levels with waves of bullets that are tedious to take apart, where tossing a bomb is supposed to the be the way to get through without dying of old age.

The TLDR: it doesn't have very much depth.)

(The wikipedia page seems to suggest what the problem here was: Tokuro Fujiwara wasn't in charge here? Was that what happened?)

[BIL]

You're effectively running a very simple mindless macro to win, which quickly becomes boring, repetitive and rote. It's not nearly as stimulating as a Rygar or Metal Slug.

But Contra is still a lot of fun for people who haven't solved the game yet. Yet if you get to a point where there's no risk of failing technical execution, and nothing left to learn, it doesn't have anything else to offer. The game's done. A steak with no meat left.

Being good at Metal Slugs and Rygar, I wouldn't describe either the arcade or FC versions of Contra as mindless, or rote. Either quality turns me off hard, never mind both at once; while I find both Contras enduringly good for unwinding with (he said unironically about videogames - it's all leisure, ofc). They offset still-cathartic firepower with a small but persistent risk of being shot back at, at an abruptness actually not seen in either of those two aforementioned, considerably more finessed titles.

Even knowing zako potshots are toggled by sector, it's a nice RNG monkeywrench to contend with. One bullet forcing a jump or duck can spiral into some interesting on-the-fly complications. This is typically where newbies will yelp "I couldn't do anything!" as a conga line tramples their prone avatar, or they somersault headfirst into a grenade, and I sometimes pipe up with helpful tips on how to avoid these things using a combination of calculated proaction and the nice air handling+downshot mechanics - also handy in Metal Slugs and Rygar, incidentally

It's sudden death as the garnish on generous power fantasy. Minimal risk given outsized presence opposite the steamrolling domination a competent player will marshal. Nothing on the roiling chaos of Daimakaimura or Saigo no Nindou, immortal killers where parrying away formless death at lethal proximity is the entire point, but - being good at those too - I think it's possible to enjoy both.

[Bassa-Bassa]

(The optimal strategy for the first Mercs boss when it comes to speed is just running face-first upward and mashing. Eat the hits it gives you - your life is fully restored afterward. I don't think things like mazing, footsies, ranging, herding, or dodging is in its wheelhouse, exactly. Quite a few bunkered-off sections of levels with waves of bullets that are tedious to take apart, where tossing a bomb is supposed to the be the way to get through without dying of old age.

The TLDR: it doesn't have very much depth.)

(The wikipedia page seems to suggest what the problem here was: Tokuro Fujiwara wasn't in charge here? Was that what happened?)

Being not really good at Senjou no Ookami 2 as I've always wanted to spend more good time with it, I certanly can destroy with confidence the first boss with no damage taken and no bombs (so that you begin stage 2 with 4 instead of 3). It's true that knowing that your vitality gauge refills afterwards (though not entirely) allows for a more mindless fight, but you can't just place yourself in front of it and mash the fire button for the whole encounter.

I certainly also could find a route to get rid of stage 2's tanks without letting them turning into an actual threat.

So I still fail to understand your point. It's not the deepest shooter out there for sure, but how's its predecessor much deeper?


As for Fujiwara, he was moved from the arcade department to the consumer one right after Daimakaimura.

[BIL]

Have you chaps played the MD version's Original Mode? I like it better than the arcade game tbh. Tastefully-done ARPG mode where you ferret out speedups and bombas while building ur hardgay killa squad.

It's very unbalanced in Rifle's favour, but it works out fine imo. Fun character, lightning-quick with a nice fat shotbox, and if he gets taken down you're kinda boned until you reach the next medic. LASER and LAUNCHER have their uses, BURNER and HOMING maybe less so, but they too carry bombs, so everybody's got something to do. Hard difficulty is pretty intense, and it has a hidden Extreme difficulty (inspect the default HS table, it's tryna tell u somethin ;3) that's genuinely pretty balls-out. Great OST, too!

>XTRA-chunky 240p Hard Nomiss

EDIT: oof me plums, I'd forgotten how unwatchable st3's blizzard effect got in that shitty encode That was a while ago, it was only the Metal Storm 2ALL Nomiss that forced me to upgrade to stunning 480p. Fortunately kitten has an XTREEM difficulty Nomiss up

[wiNteR]

Being good at Metal Slugs and Rygar, I wouldn't describe either the arcade or FC versions of Contra as mindless, or rote.

I think it sort of depends on what way one phrases it. I think that FC contra is certainly on the easier end, even for a no-miss. You just need to know what to expect in the levels. However, it is quite good in just about every aspect. Good presentation, music, variety in levels etc. It is quite enjoyable as long as one doesn't come in expecting very high replayability. Interestingly, Metal Slug-1 is has some similarity to FC contra in this regard (sure it does require significantly more memorization but, apart two or three spots, the execution is not that difficult).

It seems that FC contra is mostly easy because of the firing rate and smooth movement/jump. Might be a good idea to try to do it without any of the weapons(power-ups) though.

=====

On the other hand, the arcade contra is harder I think? It is as easy 1CC (probably partly because of generous extends) but I don't know how hard is it for a no-miss etc. If I am not mistaken, something similar goes for comparison between FC superC and arcade superC (that is, the arcade version is more difficult).

I also suspect that autofire might give advantage on arcade version of contra. However, in case it does, I have the feeling that the game might still be more suitable without autofire perhaps?

======

Between I can't re-call correctly whether both games loop or not and whether there is any significant difficulty change on looping. As I re-call very vaguely, probably the FC game does loop but the difficulty doesn't change much?

[BIL]

Ah, I'm reminded of the greatest running animation ever, from ever-reliable Trio Teh Punch!

Spoiler

Being good at Metal Slugs and Rygar, I wouldn't describe either the arcade or FC versions of Contra as mindless, or rote.

I think it sort of depends on what way one phrases it. I think that FC contra is certainly on the easier end, even for a no-miss. You just need to know what to expect in the levels. However, it is quite good in just about every aspect. Good presentation, music, variety in levels etc. It is quite enjoyable as long as one doesn't come in expecting very high replayability.

I'd concur with all that, though given its RNG elements, I wouldn't say you've described a mindless or rote game, just an easier one.

Interestingly, Metal Slug-1 is has some similarity to FC contra in this regard (sure it does require significantly more memorization but, apart two or three spots, the execution is not that difficult).

Indeed, MS1 is a mild and generous game by arcade standards, with a mean difficulty spike at The Bridge. As with Contra and its spreadshot, though, the sheer gratification is the stuff of legend.

There's a lot to be said for simple pleasure.

It seems that FC contra is mostly easy because of the firing rate and smooth movement/jump. Might be a good idea to try to do it without any of the weapons(power-ups) though.

FC Contra was the game that made me realise I don't care for no-powerups runs, haha. It's possible to play Contra impressively well without them, and certainly harder, but it doesn't actually change the tenor of the game much. You're still blanketing incoming zako with bullets while looking out for surprise potshots - just weaker bullets that take longer to crack hard targets. I've got a crummy peashooter (plus R, I liek 2 mash) Nomiss on my channel that I never bothered to improve, probably never will.

Also, FC Contra has Rank just like its AC parent; I couldn't say for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if going peashooter-only actually dials it down a bit. At any rate, the game's enduring strength is that screen-raking overkill, the booming din of glorious Maezawasplosions. Anyone approaching it for the first time, who's worried about it being too easy, I'd urge them to jump straight in all guns blazing; that's the game's real value.

On the other hand, the arcade contra is harder I think? It is as easy 1CC (probably partly because of generous extends) but I don't know how hard is it for a no-miss etc. If I am not mistaken, something similar goes for comparison between FC superC and arcade superC (that is, the arcade version is more difficult).

AC Contra is a harder nomiss than FC, but sadly (as always when discussing the arcade duo), the aim lag is a big part of that. There's nothing that would particularly alarm with FC controls. Big legit threats are the Japanese version's second frisbee giant, whose projectiles can bend dangerously, one of the game's few pure tests of reflex (US ver adds an easy safespot), and if you're playing on Very Hard, the second Base boss, who puts out a ton of dangerous homing projectiles and takes forever to die. I think the game's genuinely at its best on Very Hard, given it's so short and quickly-memorised.

AC Super is way the hell harder than its FC interpretation; again, the aim lag plays a sad part in that, but the stage design is genuinely tough and demands careful routing. It also loves spawning gunmen at the worst times, and each and every topdown stage zako is fully capable of shooting at you; great sources of RNG pressure and ranged threats, and a sharp correction of the FC version's biggest flaw, useless flatland-stranded zako.

The AC game is a minor highlight of what Perikles very usefully termed the "living memoriser;" you have to know the basic layouts, and know exactly what you're going to do, but the actual execution of those plans is technically demanding, and you'll be chewed up by the clockwork gears if at all sloppy. It's a gametype I rank beneath stuff like Dai and Saigo, where you're constantly innovating solutions on the fly, but I can dig 'em if the catharsis is good.

AC Super with FC controls would be my favourite of series tbh. Short and packed end-to-end with floor-shaking ultraviolence. The bodycount on US VHARD/JP Loop 2 is biblical.

I also suspect that autofire might give advantage on arcade version of contra. However, in case it does, I have the feeling that the game might still be more suitable without autofire perhaps?

Nah, autofire is actually of very little use in either arcade Contra. The first game's shot limit can be trivially maxed out by mild tapping, you'll hear the SFX but reap no further shots. Super Contra's best weapon has 30hz autofire by default, and again, the others have harsh shot limits.

Between I can't re-call correctly whether both games loop or not and whether there is any significant difficulty change on looping. As I re-call very vaguely, probably the FC game does loop but the difficulty doesn't change much?

AC Contra = no loops whatosever, either region. Best played on VHARD imo; still an easier game even then.

FC Contra = loops forever, has a fun optional challenge where you collect six flags for your choppa. It doesn't change too much, but between the hard targets getting more HP, and zako gunmen shooting more frequently, it's a nice leisurely romp that can throw out some novel chokepoints. NES Contra is the same, but starts one loop down.

AC Super = JP ver has a second loop, wickedly tough. US ver doesn't loop, but you can get the exact same experience (plus a slightly tougher opening stage) by setting it to VHARD. The latter is my favourite way to play, nowadays. JP 2ALL Nomiss is pulse-poundingly intense, but the first loop isn't very tough at all, just ups the pressure of the second. Give it to me straight you motherfucker!

FC Super = loops forever, but unlike FC Contra, I don't think it changes at all. I seem to recall FC Gradius II being the same way vs FC Salamander. 3; Still, fun while it lasts. NES Super seems identical.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Never tried MD Senjou no Ookami 2 myself, but the original mode is always well regarded indeed. If it has original content (aside of new weapons) I'll check it out eventually, but the arcade game's best part is the astounding CPS visuals and I'm sure I'll miss them.

[BIL]

Yeah, they really made an effort - the lack of co-op must've motivated Sega to head off a potential NEC counterattack. Stage design is impressively well-balanced; a tight AC focus with a healthy stash of secret routes and caches.

It reminds me of what I wished NES Jackal might've done as a kid; a hardcore topdown run/gun with a sense of leaving the beaten path now and then. EDIT: now I think back, IIRC, you actually can choose your own paths at a few points in some NES Jackal stages. I've conflicted feelings, I love the aesthetic of a larger world beyond the screen borders, but the character centering is poor and can cause some deadly surprises. Love the game overall, the sense of a larger battle raging as your support helis motor back and forth over the fray still impresses me even now.

Typing that, I'm also reminded of SNK's wonderful FC Guevara, which despite being totally linear, often feels like a self-contained little world full of side-streets and backwoods. I was getting that vibe from Natsume's new Kiki Kaikai, now I think about it. Still barely played that one, so many great new R2Rs this last gen-and-a-bit.