Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[Steven]

Hi. I'm sort of new to this thread, so there is something I have to ask.
Sorry if this question is already discussed to [s]death[/s] game over, but still.

In you opinion, what are arcade (as in, initially released in arcade cabinets) games that feel closest to console trilogy (fan favorite Famicom saga) of Ninja Gaiden/Ninja Ryuukenden?
Now, to be more specific: I'm asking for games that feel the most similar in gameplay, stage design, game design, moveset, difficulty etc. etc.
So it does not have to be similar in aesthetics/setting.

Thanks in advance.

I forgot to mention it earlier because I forgot about the game itself, but definitely play Saigo no Nindou. I haven't played Ninja Ryuukenden (yeah, I know, one more famous game/series that I've never played due to not having Nintendo as a kid), but check it out because it's really good. It has that same Irem game design philosophy as their best STGs, too.

[Sumez]

Honestly there are very few games in general that really scratch that itch.
I can't really think of any good suggestions on arcade either.

I do love arcade platformers however, it might in fact be my favourite genre altogether, and I could namedrop tons of great games. But nothing truly feels like Ninja Gaiden 1 or 2. Or even 3.

[qmish]

I'm not exactly the biggest Ninja Ryuukenden fan so take this with a grain of salt but I believe you're out of luck there. The closest thing in feel and physics I can think of is Kaiketsu Yanchamaru, but don't expect too similar level structures, moveset and focus on enemies placed on fixed locations. So don't expect much, that is.

So... consoles win, huh? Joking!
I'll check that, thank you, don't think I ever heard of it before. I'm all for finding out new stuff, so it's cool regardless.

I forgot to mention it earlier because I forgot about the game itself, but definitely play Saigo no Nindou. I haven't played Ninja Ryuukenden (yeah, I know, one more famous game/series that I've never played due to not having Nintendo as a kid), but check it out because it's really good. It has that same Irem game design philosophy as their best STGs, too.

Oh, it's actually that I recently played Ninja Spirit was the first time. It is gorgeous, but it also feels pretty different (imho) even though there are obvious similarities like with "shadow clones" in NG2.
But overall, in my impression so far, the "taste" it provides is pretty different (well, Irem is Irem!), with the way how you move through levels and how encounters with enemies feel. I'd agree Saigo has R-Type/methodical play DNA in its blood. I joked that it's a game where you escape quicksand...

I do love arcade platformers however, it might in fact be my favourite genre altogether, and I could namedrop tons of great games.

What are your favs? I'm open to those suggestions too, of course.

[Sima Tuna]

Rygar and Rastan, maybe?

[Sumez]

What are your favs? I'm open to those suggestions too, of course.

Based just on my own collection, and roughly ranked from high-quality all-timers in the top to "they are jank but I love them" in the bottom:

Rainbow Islands
Ghouls n Ghosts (Daimakaimura)
Horror Story
Rygar
Liquid Kids
Bonze Adventure
Black Tiger
Ghosts n Goblins
M.I.A.
Toki
Blue's Journey
Three Wonders
Karnov
Hero Tonma
Crude Buster
Spin Master
Wardner
Magician Lord

These are more run'n'gun, so they probably don't count, but to me they get grouped kinda alongside the others:
Sunset Riders
C.O.W-Boys of Moo Mesa
Chelnov
Mystic Warriors

And then there's the spy action kinda stuff like Elevator Action Returns and Rolling Thunder, but you know, you gotta draw a line somewhere.

[Bassa-Bassa]

With stuff like Spin Master (and Hero Tonma?) considered charming jank I'm starting to understand why the "kusoge" label here for Castle of Dragon.

I'd check Psychic 5, Nemo, Daiku no Gen-san/Hammerin' Harry and Tora he no Michi/Tiger Road, to name a few with short/mid-range attacks and non-momentum-based movement, a la Ninja Ryuukenden.

[Sumez]

With stuff like Spin Master (and Hero Tonma?) considered charming jank I'm starting to understand why the "kusoge" label here for Castle of Dragon.

The charming jank label was reserved for the likes of Karnov, Magician Lord, and Crude Buster!

[BryanM]

Feel a little bad for many of these failed Steam Platformer guys.

This one guy's game, Summit, earned him around $0.13 an hour. On one hand I'm envious of his ability to lock his life down to one single task for 4,000 hours. On the other, maybe he could have used a little ADHD during pre-production to make a game with a more competitive memespace. White snow is the worst solitary biome to use. Maybe throw some lesbian vampires or gruff army dudes in there. Certainly don't give it a name that doesn't stand out or explain what the game is.

Not everyone can have as much built-in mindspace as Dunkey's Animal Well game, but they can still try a little to have their game market itself a little...

"Lesbian Vampire Climbers" feels like something with a bigger audience than "Summit" does, right?

Isn't there a Castlevania 2 hack that makes the game good? Some kind of hack or remake, I forget what.

Redaction? It speeds up text and time transitions. Changes dialogue to actually give information. Was featured in an AVGN episode.

It has two negative reviews on ROMHacking.net, which I find funny because their only complaint was "This romhack accomplishes what it set out to do! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Slow text crawls are a real throwback to old localizations. They should have doubled the display speed if they doubled the text!

Karnov

Karnov definitely is in that charming bucket. That kuso energy of openly hating my guts is really refreshing to all those games trying to ingratiate themselves into our hearts.

[BrianC]

Yeah, that would be the FDS version lol

I was under the impression that the FDS version has the same flaws as the NES version and still has purposely vague or misleading text in parts. There is a comprehensive hack of Simon's Quest that changes the mapper and text, and even a page that lets you choose which features you want.

It's the same game but with (mostly) better music, a save system, and no bad translation to worry about because it's in Japanese, so it's definitely the best way to play it.

TCRF has an article on Simon's Quest. JP version still mixed up the endings, which are in Engrish. The save system actually saves less than the passwords.

[BIL]

The raft autoscroller is actually my biggest issue with the game. It's cool and all, but I can't survive it consistently. Obviously a skill issue, but something about it just keeps catching me off guard, mostly enemy projectiles just showing up where I don't have the time to dodge them, because I can't kill stuff fast enough - and it goes on for a really long while.
I love the last few stages however, and although they are also challenging, I feel like I have the tools to deal analytically with everything they throw at me.

Sumez-dono u are right, it's a whole raft of dicks when it's been a while! I was revisiting MW last night, and said "Wait, how did I get 100% kills + NoMiss here, again?" Trickier than many later-game scenes, with its Gun Shooting "speedkill or die" ethos. Well, not quite "die" - but the devious waves will hem you in fast, if not aggressively patrolled! Good pre-emptive positioning vastly cuts this down. It's nothing too complex, happily!

Nailed my old Spyros route back down, and my alts darling YURI-chan and Brad Of House Redbrief, plus AZN Steve n' Cormano, for future reference. Japan ver, no autofire. Not sure if it even matters in this game. (guessing it does, at some point, with Hamster including a range of frequencies, vs Jump's ON/OFF)

MYSTIC FRENS vs RADICAL RIVER.FLAC (｀w´メ)

>Spyros That Gradius Double be comfy! Crumpet Shogun's only handicap is his goofball DEAD pose, and you won't be seeing it with these HAWT TIPS!

>Yuri Yuri makes it harder! Her single shot loses out on bike speedkills. However, her big ass *coof* I mean big-ass melee earns her a freebie at one point, vs the vertical Bike pincer. You can do the same left-side speedkill as the other characters, but I genuinely found letting them come to me on the right easier. Couldn't get shot while hacking them down and cancelling their bullets, no matter how I tried.

>Brad No pants Burger-san REPRESENNIN. I wonder if there's a typo in Hamster's manual. He has the lowest-rated melee damage, but he absolutely demolishes the bikes. Maybe they get an eyeful of his impeccably shaved balls and commit envied sudoku!

>Keima I expected him to SUFFAH with his low shot rate, but despite cocking up my positioning, his massive pointblank damage made this a breeze.

>COÑOOO That popular Spanish expletive is what his name sounds like, when his frens yell it in the cutscenes! It's what I was expecting to yell, too, with his alarmingly slow-yet-sparse spread! But again, pointblank shotgunners win this GUN SHOOTING day at the rapids!

It's a good game and I don't know why people hate it other than because AVGN incorrectly said it's bad.

Nostalgia merchants ala AVGN, Retronauts, Channel Awesome etc are a bit low-rent for this thread. It actually started when an avid fan of such gifted us his received wisdom, was laughed at, and got so buttmad, he jumped ship to HG101. Then they laughed at him, too! Now he claims we're all in bed together, like some big hardgay elitist conspiracy.

The weak should get buttmad at the strong. Shumps x HG101 Frens 4 LIFE

I don't know if Jimmy was being serious, or working a bit, when he said CV1's fifth stage melted his neurons. More like Early Onset ALS Nerd mirite! But enough casuals parrot him unironically, it makes no difference. Some assclown once posted this at me to "prove" CV1 was impossible (green mine).

A ghost musta jacked off on these drapes! (■｀w´■)

^ A lone sinewave, and a single-file tank column, on flat ground with unlimited space. Classically clean, sharp action game design? No! IMPOSSIBRU.

Anyhoo! I don't hate II, actually I like it. It's just at the lower end of my Draculas worth playing list, which is still pretty good company. Its tameness holds it back. Mansion / dungeon design is weak, with no sense of escalation, and no bosses worth mentioning. The enemies are nerfed, both individually and in aggregate. No flatland highlights like Death's hallway. Overworld is mild too.

All that said, I'm very fond of the mood. It's obvious Akamatsu and co. had a vision here, if not as authoritatively-done as the original. The towns and countryside give a nice sense of place, as does the day/night cycle, complementing both the tightly-contained OG, and III's roving trek. For series fans, I'd say it's worth re/playing at least once, just to spot all the trilogy callbacks in later games; particularly Rondo & Nocturne. It plays just fine, too, being merely a CV1 copy/paste sans tight-fought action.

As weak as its handful of bosses are, I always found Carmilla a creepy enigmatic design, with a great literary hook, and some quality riffs via Rondo and CotM. Dracula's deathly form, and the long, uneasy descent to his tomb, is one of my all-series favourite vibes, too. Eerie pall with little-celebrated BGM. Bloody Tears is ofc the lead single, but it's good stuff all the way through.

THE MASTERS OF HORROR/ACTION BGM

>MESSAGE OF DARKNESS
>THE SILENCE OF THE DAYLIGHT
>MONSTER DANCE
>DWELLING OF DOOM
>WITHIN THESE CASTLE WALLS
>A REQUIEM

This is making me want to bust out my Dracula New Classic! Actually, outside of iconic Vampire Killer / Bloody Tears / Beginning, the 8/16-bit era OSTs are stacked with lesser-feted gems. I damn near blew my load when I reached Ecclesia's endgame, and heard its storming arrangement of III's penultimate neo-classical barnburner, "Riddle."

In you opinion, what are arcade (as in, initially released in arcade cabinets) games that feel closest to console trilogy (fan favorite Famicom saga) of Ninja Gaiden/Ninja Ryuukenden?

Vs. Castlevania >:3 Just kidding! Arcade originals, I know.

The games that immediately come to mind are Konami's Green Beret aka Rush n' Attack, and Tecmo's Argus no Senshi aka Rygar. Now, there is an immediate caveat here: both are 1HKO. I consider Ryu's iron durability a critical part of NG1's feel; the game using pitfalls to create mortal intensity, instead.

However, with all three's crisp collision, balance of technique to twitch intensity, and most of all, that compact sprite/screen ratio, I have a similarly good time. That ratio is hugely important to NG, and by extension, the vast majority of the FC's other first-rate sidescrollers. I always enjoy seeing it in arcade titles, with so many tending towards bigger, more attention-grabbing sprites, not always properly balanced-for.

I can't think of anything for arcade that combines NGII's blunderbuss generosity with that particularly compact action/platformer ethos. Saigo no Nindou has a similar setup - three onscreen avatars, with monstrously screen-shredding firepower - but the games are otherwise categorically different, as much so as their fellow iconic Kage no Bunshin wielder, Strider Hiryu.

NGIII (NES ver) is probably the "arcadiest" of the trilogy, with its harsher damage scale and less-generous weaponry. The endgame is as wickedly tight-run as anything in a cab. Again though, outside of GB and Rygar, it's a style of scrolling melee action/platformer I associate infinitely more with the FC than arcades.

Tangentially, NMK's Ryuuga: Ninja Crusaders is a 1HKO take on NG, which totally feels like it could've been an AC title.

Ryuuga, And Other Compact Gems

I'm not exactly the biggest Ninja Ryuukenden fan so take this with a grain of salt but I believe you're out of luck there. The closest thing in feel and physics I can think of is Kaiketsu Yanchamaru, but don't expect too similar level structures, moveset and focus on enemies placed on fixed locations. So don't expect much, that is.

Yanchamaru definitely has one strong resemblance: those pitch-perfect running OTG kills. NG2 and NG3 never quite got back to NG1's perfection, so it was a pleasant surprise, when I finally got to play IREM's earlier game! Very fond of it, the usual caveat of that punishing last boss phase aside.

One of a few would-be NoMisses I've left hanging, actually. I recall figuring something out for those damn bubbles, will have to see if my notes are still around. Ohooo! That's an EXPERT CALLBACK to the top of this lengthy post

[Sima Tuna]

If you want running OHKO kills, Strider's right there. Tiger Road, Daimakaimura, Black Tiger and Trojan remind me of NG as well. They have a tightness of control, combined with that snappy feeling when you obliterate a mofo using your weapon.

[Lander]

Ah, nothing like popping open shmupsfarm to a fresh broadsheet (tallsheet?) of R2RKMF - like a whiff of that New Game Mag smell that's long since lost to time

I always assume AVGN's rage is a work. Much like real life (or anon forum life, for those of us absent a steady supply of ego-boosting cocaine and slim jims), it all comes down to wrestling.

Backtracking cleared areas are a drag, whether it's in a Diablo game or Zelda 2. There's this one perverted succubus franchise inspired by Zelda 2 and Castlevania... I'ma look it up... Midnight Castle Succubus. I came across a youtube of gameplay, and there was a section of backtracking through an empty hall.

A considerably better game than you'd expect from a hentai vehicle, if it's the one I'm thinking of - 8-bit style, masturbation as a status ailment cure, SFW version available so it can inexplicably pop up in Conservative Academic Man streams for analysis as a legit example of the Warrior Woman trope...?

Genre pitfalls aside, I got the sense that the people working on it actually gave a shit about making a game, which is kind of surprising given the naturally-low standards of porn media. Could've just done Saucy Qix and called it a day like everyone else, but they went the extra mile. I'd say that's worth a slightly sticky gold star for effort.

[BryanM]

Bames did double loop Ghost n' Gobbos and I think he can 1cc Double Dragon (as well as Contra, as he won't ever let us forget), so he's not an absolute chump. But I do think he had trouble figuring out that spot.

Like with The Immortal - he didn't calm down, maybe read the text the game felt necessary to put in the game, and try to figure shit out. Not everyone loves homework like us dweebs!

The only thing I think I'm honestly still buttmad about being too hard were those water sections of Earthworm Jim. You manage to crawl through something like that, and then the final boss is this massive ridiculous anti-climax............ argh, they trolled me here and here, officer....

Genre pitfalls aside, I got the sense that the people working on it actually gave a shit about making a game, which is kind of surprising given the naturally-low standards of porn media

It's a different time than the distant past. The market is brutal and one of the best ways to stand out is to... make a solid game. The production values put into Magicami were always impressive, for the time it came out.

It's kind of funny.... nobody has the guts to talk about playing such things openly, and yet there's an absolutely massive demand for them. Now tell me, does that sound fair to you?



(It does get weird seeing one of these things goes viral in the popular normie media. Like that one, you know. And they take it way too seriously.

Like, if they saw Contra they'd be shocked, shocked I tell you, that you can shoot a guy... God help them if they ever saw a let's play Demonomophobia or whatever, they'd be traumatized for life...)

[velo]

Was Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword any good?

As I recall, you can merrily prance through practically the whole game with nothing but Ultimate Technique spam. Ignoring that, the gimmick of playing NG3D with a stylus is cute and I thought it worked surprisingly well. I might have preferred a more traditional semi-demake of the xbox game, though. Looks like they could've pulled it off.

[Lander]

I've been playing some El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron this last couple of days; a stonking arthouse PS360 DMC-alike in the JPGnostic pattern.
It's not without its weak sections (mission 4, psh) but is a different kind of gorgeous in each area, and engages in a KojiPro degree of fucking with player expectations from moment 0, while also being a strong melee action game.



Will probably give it a proper write-up at some point; it definitely deserves one, but I have to finish my fresh save to unlock the HUD and ranking system first

I hear Crim also made a DRPG called The Lost Child at some point - would be interested to hear whether it's a similar kind of weird and wonderful, if anyone's tried it.

(Not entirely sure why I posted this in R2R instead of Non-Shmup. Though it does have a lot of 2D bits, they're more Run 2 Right Admiring The Exhibit in between actual fights...)

Like with The Immortal - he didn't calm down, maybe read the text the game felt necessary to put in the game, and try to figure shit out. Not everyone loves homework like us dweebs!

The only thing I think I'm honestly still buttmad about being too hard were those water sections of Earthworm Jim. You manage to crawl through something like that, and then the final boss is this massive ridiculous anti-climax............ argh, they trolled me here and here, officer....

Hah, The Immortal. That feels like pretty low-hanging fruit as rage goes; no doubt a source of genuine frustration and puzzlement in the course of working out its (not that cryptic, though sufficiently wizardly) challenges, but easy to blow out of proportion if not approached on its own terms.

If we're talking lasting buttmad, Silent Bomber's chess fight has to be mine. A fine and balanced game up to that point, then it slaps you with a brutal memo / execution test right outside the final boss arena, right as the narrative is reaching peak panic.
Let's play a game... It's called Rent this shit from Blockbuster again!
One of those moments that makes you question just how much time and grit your younger self had, when you reach it on a revisit - full of older-and-wiser energy - and slam face first into the brick wall.

It's a different time than the distant past. The market is brutal and one of the best ways to stand out is to... make a solid game. The production values put into Magicami were always impressive, for the time it came out.

It's kind of funny.... nobody has the guts to talk about playing such things openly, and yet there's an absolutely massive demand for them. Now tell me, does that sound fair to you?

Not as such, though that's a reflection of our general fucked-upness about sex - makes it something of an occupational hazard.

Which is I suppose where wildly poppy cheesecake stuff like Nikke enters the picture; safe enough to be marketable, but clearly trying to get close to the edge.
Though being horrible F2P gacha highlights the just make a good game problem. Funny how things kind of swing back around once the easy options run dry, though I wonder if that'll ever roll over into affecting the big boys as well as smaller devs.

Was Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword any good?

As I recall, you can merrily prance through practically the whole game with nothing but Ultimate Technique spam. Ignoring that, the gimmick of playing NG3D with a stylus is cute and I thought it worked surprisingly well. I might have preferred a more traditional semi-demake of the xbox game, though. Looks like they could've pulled it off.

Definitely Ninja Gaiden then

I recall it feeling shockingly faithful to the Xbox game, mechanics-wise. Likely simplified down a bit for the touch controls, but far beyond my expectations for what would otherwise be a gimmicky handheld spinoff.
The same goes for the pre-rendered backgrounds; a smart choice for the hardware, and not jarring as you'd expect - I guess thanks to sharing some genre ancestry with early DMC.

[XoPachi]

I remember playing El Shaddai's surprisingly lengthy demo waaay back when it was new and thought it was really cool. But I never got a chance to play it in full. It seemed hard as shit, but I wasn't really acclimated to the genre at that time. I think I had only finished DMC 1 and Okami at that point.

[Lander]

I remember playing El Shaddai's surprisingly lengthy demo waaay back when it was new and thought it was really cool. But I never got a chance to play it in full. It seemed hard as shit, but I wasn't really acclimated to the genre at that time. I think I had only finished DMC 1 and Okami at that point.

Sounds similar to my first encounter - played it around the same time as DMC4, but well before I had a real grasp on the genre.

It certainly feels lengthy; it's about as long as a DMC, but with half as many missions, and each one doubled in size. Enemy and boss health is chunky too - you really have to beat the pants off some of the baddies in Normal mode, and climactic battles go for roughly the length of a latter-day Souls fight.

Thankfully, the combat holds up to its peers. Lands somewhere between DMC 1 and 3 for complexity; proper aerial raves, pause combos, angel trigger w/supers, royalguard button, pseudo style switching via the weapon steal system. It's smooth and challenging, but a bit less free-form on account of prominent guard break / armor moves and the weapon triangle system.

Though the balancing on Hard seems a bit unrefined - a nice step up until Ch03, then the gloves come off and you're eating 80% lifebar wombo in every fight. Feels like it wants me to go back and rank Normal now the scoring stuff has unlocked.

So I'm not sure about replay stuff yet, but it's definitely worth a run for the artsy first-play setup. Shit's a ride.

There's a Steam (and Switch) release now too, though it's very much a japanese PC port; default keymap's a war crime, and loading times still aren't great, but it'll run at high res and is very pretty.

[BryanM]

Played some Monster Bash. Somewhere along the line realized I had played Monster Bash sometime over 20 years ago, and had no recollection of it.

It's not Pooyan.

Dunno, kind of feel in the mood to try something with a horror theme, after those PC-88/98 gorn games got mentioned. There's gotta be more than Splatterhouse out there... you'd think?

Nikke

The Goddess of Victory is a poster child for that jincan effect I keep talking about. It's like their scientists looked at the market, estimating where weaknesses might lie, theorized about potential combinations of elements that might prove effective, and developed this equation:

Grown Women + Guns + Recoil = MONEY

Like so many laws of nature, it seems so very simple, elegant, and obvious with hindsight. ("Pokemon with guns" being another. Shotgun Mario is a funny watch for a few minutes, there's something so cathartic and simple about solving all of life's platforming problems with a shotgun.)

I'm having a hard time thinking of a franchise where thirst isn't a part of its appeal. Nintendo gets away without it with Mario and Animal Crossing. But it feels like the market's so saturated with everything now, someone trying to break in wouldn't be able to penetrate with a Spyro kind of thing. You have to aim your product at teenagers and up now.

... Fall Guys, maybe? It's an extreme minority of games if anything, is all I'm saying.

[XoPachi]

So I'm not sure about replay stuff yet, but it's definitely worth a run for the artsy first-play setup. Shit's a ride.

There's a Steam (and Switch) release now too, though it's very much a japanese PC port; default keymap's a war crime, and loading times still aren't great, but it'll run at high res and is very pretty.

I'm looking at this game again and I forgot how outrageously beautiful it was. This easily tops similar styled games for me like Okami and the more recent Bayonetta Origins. Some of this imagery is unreal.

[Air Master Burst]

Played some Monster Bash. Somewhere along the line realized I had played Monster Bash sometime over 20 years ago, and had no recollection of it.

It's not Pooyan.

Monster Bash is the best of the classic Apogee platformers (trust me I'm an expert on these lol), which puts it at solidly average. It's no Commander Keen or Jazz Jackrabbit, but there are some fun secrets.

ETA: I take that back, Duke Nukem 2 is actually pretty good.

I remember playing El Shaddai's surprisingly lengthy demo waaay back when it was new and thought it was really cool. But I never got a chance to play it in full. It seemed hard as shit, but I wasn't really acclimated to the genre at that time. I think I had only finished DMC 1 and Okami at that point.

So I'm not sure about replay stuff yet, but it's definitely worth a run for the artsy first-play setup. Shit's a ride.

If you think this one's a wild ride you should definitely play Asura's Wrath. There's actually a dedicated character action thread around here somewhere if you want a million more obscure cool suggestions.

[XoPachi]

I tried Asura's Wrath when it was new and kind of immediately didn't like it. It wanted to talk, do QTE's, and cutscenes more than I'm willing to tolerate.

[Air Master Burst]

I tried Asura's Wrath when it was new and kind of immediately didn't like it. It wanted to talk, do QTE's, and cutscenes more than I'm willing to tolerate.

Aw dang, my next recommendation would've been MOTHERFUCKING NINJA BLADE, but QTEs might kill that for you too.

Instead you should take a look at Bujingai for PS2. It stars Gackt and is pretty wild!

[BIL]

There's actually a dedicated character action thread around here somewhere if you want a million more obscure cool suggestions.

Good thread Still have to give it a proper OP! I go big or not at all, that is my curse

[Lander]

Monster Bash
...
Dunno, kind of feel in the mood to try something with a horror theme, after those PC-88/98 gorn games got mentioned. There's gotta be more than Splatterhouse out there... you'd think?

It's not at all gorny, but there's always Ghost House on Master System for horror theme, best described as Alex Kidd Visits The Count.

I understand it's loosely descended from Monster Bash, with more focus on interesting environmental gimmickry as a resource; snatching flying knives out of the air, stopping time with light fixtures, warp mirrors, that sort of thing.

Like so many laws of nature, it seems so very simple, elegant, and obvious with hindsight. ("Pokemon with guns" being another. Shotgun Mario is a funny watch for a few minutes, there's something so cathartic and simple about solving all of life's platforming problems with a shotgun.)

I'm having a hard time thinking of a franchise where thirst isn't a part of its appeal. Nintendo gets away without it with Mario and Animal Crossing. But it feels like the market's so saturated with everything now, someone trying to break in wouldn't be able to penetrate with a Spyro kind of thing. You have to aim your product at teenagers and up now.

... Fall Guys, maybe? It's an extreme minority of games if anything, is all I'm saying.

Pantyshots as an ADS mechanic; QED

As far as cute mascot-y stuff goes, you occasionally get indies like A Hat In Time or... That Zelda thing with the cute fox, getting known by achieving 'darling' status, though they're still a lot less prominent than a surprise hit like Fall Guys.
Remember that AA open-world action game with the gene-splicing samurai raccoon cat and cartoony BIFF KAPOW effects? Yeah, me neither.

I'm looking at this game again and I forgot how outrageously beautiful it was. This easily tops similar styled games for me like Okami and the more recent Bayonetta Origins. Some of this imagery is unreal.

Right? Goes to show what an artistic mind can do with limited tech too, since the tricks underpinning most of it are fairly rudimentary non-photorealistic fare; screen-space texturing, pearlescent light modeling, doing arbitrary things with surface normals, etc. But it's all composed so well as to look amazing.

At first I assumed all the run-between-fights bits - particularly the 2D ones - would be the main showpiece, since it's easier to present art when the player isn't fighting for their life, but some of the 'fight these dudes in an abstract void' interstitials are really impressive too.

If you think this one's a wild ride you should definitely play Asura's Wrath. There's actually a dedicated character action thread around here somewhere if you want a million more obscure cool suggestions.

Asura's is awesome plays simple, but it commits to the spectacle so hard that it doesn't matter. Wyzen in particular is a favourite; Brian Blessed-esque shakespearean roar is an underserved archetype.
Up there with Nier (Gestalt) on the 'World's #1 Dad game' ranking board - shame we never got that sequel.

Speaking of unmade sequels, El Shaddai 2: Lucifer's Fall would probably have been wild; The HD version unlocks a tidy-up PDF novella after you finish, which fills out some story / ending stuff that got cut due to time... And then follows it with a full dramatized Bayo 2 sequel design document, feat. weapon switching and orbital defense platform summon mechanic.

Instead you should take a look at Bujingai for PS2. It stars Gackt and is pretty wild!

I played that the other week! It's definitely full of charm, from the wilfully ridiculous Wuxia setting, through recording the player's first baby-deer button test and playing it back to cool J-Rock, to the cheesy Pai Mei Analogue Stick is most important technique! tutorial.

Impressive movement, even if the wire glid is a tad stiff, and the parry system is nifty; it makes sense that Gackt would be a cool enough dude to just do that shit by himself, and let the player worry about higher-level strategy.

Though I found it petered out after a point; above-average for PS2 Hack'n'Slash, but I don't think it knows its own strengths well enough to fully capitalize on being a stylin' martial arts god.

[Air Master Burst]

Though I found it petered out after a point; above-average for PS2 Hack'n'Slash, but I don't think it knows its own strengths well enough to fully capitalize on being a stylin' martial arts god.

This describes an unfortunate number of obscure ps2 character action games, I'm afraid. 3d character action doesn't have nearly as deep of a bench as most other genres we discuss around here.

[XoPachi]

As far as cute mascot-y stuff goes, you occasionally get indies like A Hat In Time or... That Zelda thing with the cute fox, getting known by achieving 'darling' status, though they're still a lot less prominent than a surprise hit like Fall Guys.
Remember that AA open-world action game with the gene-splicing samurai raccoon cat and cartoony BIFF KAPOW effects? Yeah, me neither.

I'm always down from my Scrimblo Bimblos and Scrungus Crungos if they're designed well enough and the gameplay looks enticing for me. The Big Catch is at the top of my list right now for that. I can't WAIT to play that.

[copy-paster]

Might be just a bad luck last month but I didn't get the nomiss run with John until May's over. Majority of the runs died over this inconsistent gliding and his special subweapon sucks too the homing capabilities is very bad, especially when you get through the notorious 4-9 sometimes it won't aim for the turbo bats and just disappear when the homing feel like it. But that's okay because I'll get my revenge in another vania month in October.

Now that MAME 0.226 is out and EAR is properly emulated as it should, now I have excuse to play and learn the game. PB'ed at stage 4 for the first time and most of my deaths were falling over the elevator stories.

[BIL]

Might be just a bad luck last month but I didn't get the nomiss run with John until May's over. Majority of the runs died over this inconsistent gliding

Ruthless ceiling clip-through

I used to wish they'd included at least one crazy multi-swing shortcut, ala Stage 4's John-only 1UP. Preferably with sine wave pests to i-frame through! Was before I played Bionic Commando GB, which is about all you need for that kind of thing.

[Air Master Burst]

Now that MAME 0.226 is out and EAR is properly emulated as it should, now I have excuse to play and learn the game. PB'ed at stage 4 for the first time and most of my deaths were falling over the elevator stories.

The trick to getting really good at EAR is learning the timing for falling into descending elevators without dying. I-frames from exiting doors helps a lot with this (also the i-frames at the start of stage 5 will let you catch the elevator the first time).

Also make sure you can reliably hit grenades on the blue door roulette, because running out of grenades will get you killed.

Edie is easy mode because her napalm bombs are fairly OP, especially for the stage 2 and 3 jetpack mook rushes.

ETA: you can save special ammo on the stupid wall-climbing robots by just jumping them to death, especially when they drop straight down on you.

[BulletMagnet]

I imagine a fair amount of this thread's denizens have already heard, but just in case...