Super Cobra is lovely imo, as is Pooyan, and King & Balloon, and many more formative early 80s STGs. Sasuke VS Commander is another goodie.
ACA covers such a wide span, at this point, you could easily have at least two shortlists for 80s and 90s picks. Probably a few genre-specific ones, as well. Anyway, not to overthink things.
OldSkoolShmuper wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2024 10:17 am
I'm hoping Taito's Thunder Fox is happening soon, and Warrior Blade Rastan Saga Episode III as well.
Ah, Thunder Fox - been wanting that one since 2019. Ninja Warriors x Rolling Thunder, marvelous military murdercore.
SAFETY FIRST KIDS 
Would be down for Rastan III, too but Hamster seem to respect the unwritten rules of series chronology; perhaps the OG has to arrive first? That said, if they're gonna break the rule, I sure as shit would prefer Warrior Blade over that shitbird Nastar.
Sumez wrote: ↑Mon Jan 15, 2024 8:19 am- Magician Lord
Magician Lord is a tough love really. On paper it's my kind of game, and I'm generally fond of it. But it also has a massive amount of memo even for a game of its type/era, which makes it really hard to approach. And I think taking a hit and getting powered down can be extremely devastating to your run/routing, with some challenges being nearly impossible to overcome at the base level.
Concurred on Magician Lord, it's one thorny sonofabitch. It's one of those straitjacket memorisers redeemed by sheer pace, or not at all. I consider Splatterhouse a far superior effort in the same ballpark; you can memo that one into a painstakingly choreographed killfest, too, but there's far more improv room, and far less knuckle-rapping for falling out of sync.
NAM-1975 is the early Neo's better ambassador, by far. Quality Cabal-esque with some impressively well-judged i-frames. Legendarily goofy cod-Kubrick style, too.
You operations have been watched!
valziman wrote: ↑Sun Jan 14, 2024 7:55 pm
- Ikari/Victory Road/Guerrilla War
Good games, and in their best home translations ever via ACA. Their spiritual forerunner TANK is great, too! That said, all are utter hardcore, especially GW. Shock Troopers is the better shortlist pick, a reliable diehard/mainstream crossover favourite.
As you suggest, it's a shame there's no annotation feature; Ikari is exactly the kind of thing I'd put in an "also try" sidebar, with glowing endorsement and stern warning alike.
Games that maybe shouldn't be on t he list after all? I think I have a couple that maybe only Bil liked and I picked up on due to his barrage of posts extolling the virtues of games:
- Pettan Pyuu
- Mutant Night
Haha, I was pleasantly surprised to see both of these on there, and a few other personal favourites.
They're a couple oddballs for sure.
That said, it can be tricky to find works that are 1) obscure, 2) weird,
and 3) quality. Especially nowadays, with it being so trivial to google entire catalogues. And I know many people enjoy a good offbeat pick; so I'll happily reaffirm. Despite its goofy style, Pettan is mechanically quite intricate. The board has a charmingly tangible hyper-articulation; its myriad hinges and panels facilitating some impressively devious chains.
Don't u know that killing is my business? 
AND BUSINESS IS GOOD 
Mutant Night is near-opposite; a distilled run/gun rampage with exhilaratingly OTT powerups, distinguished by an air-walk that's as disarmingly ethereal as it is physics-breakingly blunt. Aliens, innit? Both games topped off by world-class art design, resembling nothing before or since. Mutron-kun, in particular, is a little star; I'm surprised UPL didn't get a mini-franchise out of his lot, ala Ninja-kun. I guess the 80s were drawing to an end. Burned out bright.
I was actually as surprised to see Task Force Harrier. While TFH is a very good game - I won't vouch for anything else ;3 - it's a committed genre piece; a quietly effective performer. I think of Fighting Hawk the same way, actually; albeit Harrier is slightly further afield of Hishouzame, with its Xevious Gone MOAB ground shot, and its proto-Gunnail Option mechanics.
In that epigone spirit, I will tentatively recommend
Trigon, aka
Lightning Fighters. Konami Toaplanesque with an outstanding soundtrack (none less than Hitoshi Sakimoto counts it as an influence). "Tentatively" only because it's absolutely nails-hard; one of those Fast Aimed Shotters where you can see a bullet coming at mid-range, start moving, and die as it grazes your wingtip. Don't get caught flat-footed, sonny!
Strafe the field!
Notably, the ACA release is not only its first and only home translation; it also includes a hitbox reduce option. I've never bothered with it - I wish to know authentic pain
- but that's definitely an Arrange Mode-calibre goodie. True to Arrange form, it might make an intriguing new game altogether, now I think about it.
Anyway, it's at least as good a Toaplanesque as Raiden and Fighting Hawk - I would say the best of the three, and I'm very fond of all. Again, it's tricky... would I recommend it to general audiences, no. But diehards will find a lot to like, potentially love, or at the least discuss.
I've found these three especially nice to have around since Hishouzame and SameSame finally got definitive home translations via ShotTriggers.
I will also cite
HachaMecha Fighter, which straddles Pettan/Mutant's good weird - a truly inimitable air! - and Trigon's ultra hardcore - beneath the hallucinatory sunshine lurks a stonefaced killer! NMK stablemate
Operation Ragnarok aka
Zed Blade is a very, very distant companion piece - groovy vibes and high pace, without getting into such mad extremes. A good foot-to-the-floorboards STG in its own right. Both have very silly scoring mechanics I happily ignore.
EDIT: Oh! I keep forgetting to mention
Libble Rabble. Another for the offbeat folder, kinda. It's recognisably similar to Qix, yet totally its own thing.
OPERATION VARMINT ANCHOR (｀w´メ) (◎w◎;)[/color[
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