BryanM wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2023 10:02 am
Jeremy's up to Wai Wai World
The cutting-edge, HAWT insights just keep coming, Bryan! :O How will HG101 compete?
I've been enjoying
SHAO-LIN'S ROAD (Konami 1985) a lot, this past 48hrs! From the PS1 port, I'd recalled a model of arcade immediacy; a crisp hybrid of Mappy's scramble and Spartan's twatting snap. It is! But it has ideas of its own, too!
> ACA Caravan Mode 150,500pts
Just a sec, I'm testing this experimental
Bobs Spoofer on Imgur's
Anti-Bobs & Vegana Security Apparatus. We can't have another Dark Adventure fiasco.
^ mfw I DISS PRODUCT on DIE INTERNETZ and bystanders go "HEY STAHP HE HABE FAMRY" \(´・ω・)/
Righto! As said, SLR is a Mappyesque arena platformer that eschews plausible deniability -
"Mappy, this man was our star informant!" "He slammed the door on his own head, repeatedly!" "Oh ok LMAO" - for systematic ultraviolence. Mappy, it's over!
NOTHING IS OVER 
Five stages! Do twice! Second time, boss come out - twat them too! Get BIG BOUNS by connecting flying shoe to face, AND/OR felling multiple foes with one deadly blow - all that good IREM stuff!
Speaking of Namco, the superjump seems to presage next year's Rolling Thunder; its rocketing death from above (or below!) winningly Shinobiesque. If you can't safely approach a boss, or a tough crowd, consider getting the drop/pop on 'em. For contrast, the deadly toll of falling - or being struck - off ledges adds a dash of OG platform brutality; enforcing spatial awareness, and accenting the superhuman roof-to-ground killshots. Get ur
KILLING HAWK.mp3 on
The 4HP allowance feels almost too generous, initially; with collision and design this good, a 1HKO ala Mappy/BB would've flown easily. But, beyond scoring finesse - a tidy 1,000pts per remaining hitpoint - its scrappy fightbacks enhance the HK aesthetic. While Piston Nishiyama's landmark has the license, Konami's game is nearer the artfully careening, pratfalling, rooftop-leaping spirit of
Wheels on Meals. Which figures, as Spartan is ofc a balls-hard
Game of Death pagoda raid disguised as an affable Jackie Chan caper!
It's a certain finer detail I find most remarkable; progressive, even. While enemies do bump damage - a chilly trait, SLR ostensibly on Green Beret's side of the Slasher v Brawler line - you are
100% invincible during jumps, both regular and super; and by extension, during jump attacks. Where GB's close combat demands icy precision, here, you've considerable ease tearing straight through varmints in a single, well-timed flying riposte; even passing through with no contact at all, if desired.
Emphases on "single" and "well-timed" ripostes; it's more forgiving, but still no free lunch. Unlike GB, you're limited to one strike per jump; and while your leap is untouchable, it's every bit as unbending, its
landing richly punishable. Blithely jump-kicking a boss on ascent will risk them socking you right back at touchdown. Resist the decades-honed urge to preemptively connect! Strike during descent, punting them clear of reprisal range. This goes for zako, too; if they've got backup, it may be prudent to sail clean through the immediate target, reserving your one shot for would-be ground punishers. It's a superbly-balanced bit of generosity; this having become my fourth AC design essential, after tension, brevity, and measured volatility.
The zako are an interesting lot. They're not conventionally great single-screener varmints, lacking the bloodlust of Mappy's, or the fiendishness of Bubble Bobble's. In the first few stages, they actually have more in common with Ninja Gaiden's dozy ledge guards; similarly "blind," milling about platforms with little intent. But likewise, it's surprisingly easy to find one lurking underfoot while focused elsewhere. The ACA release's brilliant Caravan mode intensifies this to humorous effect; it can't be overstated how badly a dozy wandering zako can torpedo would-be multi-kill masterplans.
Stage 5 onward (a couple minutes in, for scale) steadily increases their repertoire, with seemingly random but dangerous flying kicks, body tackles, and throwing knives; the perfect nebulous hydra for the dominating jump frames. Predictably, they're at their best when you're duelling a boss, potential backstabs bristling at all sides.
A small handful of well-placed exceptions will foil your jump frames, further discouraging hop-spam. Namely, the latter three bosses' flame blasts and chain - horizontal menacers for deft vertical evasion - and the loop's addition of rock-dropping sparrows; these tailored conversely, to catch reckless superjumps.
Besides those strikingly liberated jumps, the powerups - uproariously destructive, calculatedly short-lived - offer further tactical wrinkles. The standout Iron Ball, punted with venom at distant foes, can be manually returned to the player, or even lashed back and forth at range; presumably, a ball-and-chain aesthetic was intended. With good technique, you can even grab it as it departs the screen, renewing the balls-out carnage! While not so sophisticated as Ninja Gaiden's Windmill Star, anyone who enjoys that weapon will be instantly reminded. The orbital shield, and especially the ki blast's two-way shot, are amusingly STGesque; departures into pure crowd-shredding. All of these options tend to decimate your score potential, a fitting tradeoff.
The aforementioned birdies are a good segue to a nigh-unimpeachable game's only major flaw: like so many contemporary highlights, SLR is an endless looper. Apparently, the WR involved some 32hrs of unbroken play, for what I assume was the counterstop. It's a mighty endeavour, certainly; but I can never help thinking of
a certain cautionary tale. 
Happily, like its stablemate Green Beret, it's easily tailored for 2ALL; either for survival or, more compellingly in the relatively easy SLR, score.
As I'd hoped, with its nonstop pace and high finesse, it's also a wonderful caravan game; recalling another ACA gem of 2023, Tecmo's proto-Cabalesque
Senjyo. I just about made #3 on the global release day leaderboards, before calling it a night. I wonder how it'll develop. The small matter of Food bonuses aside - I wonder if it's a killstreak thing? - it's almost certainly worth picking up the ACA version for this mode alone.
Strictly off the top of my head, it's striking just how many iconic, top-calibre AC titles from '86 and back do the infinite looper / try ur best not to pooper thing. Even critically important console relatives like SMB1 and Castlevania favoured it (both again fortunately 2ALL-friendly, with just the one difficulty boost). Amongst all these names, Rygar's carefully-crafted permanence seems all the more remarkable; NG1 providing an obvious counterpart in the consumer realm. Whoa, bruh, muh mind is blown - Rygar is a milestone action/platformer?! :O
A supremely likeable hybrid of single-screener and scrolling fighter; ACA's Caravan mode is especially recommended. Bonus points for an exceptionally peppy soundtrack from Miki Higashino, and
also a very cool flyer! Hey, I recognise all of those dudes, AND Bobs-chan!
WTB Stache Label, though!
That's some tactical thinking! 
I think 170k is my theoretical max, and I'll probably leave it there for now. This run fell apart hard at the end; completely buggered my attack on the final boss, ended up doing a crafty suicide to salvage things. So tired I was going cross-eyed; spot the flop freeze after giving him the wrap-around boot. (not to be confused with the reach-around 
even mean, though?!
Quite a bit more to write up.
