SHOW NO MER- WTF?
Lethe wrote: ↑Thu Jan 30, 2025 7:39 pmSomething I really like about the game is that it has great sound feedback; almost every pattern has an audio profile. If you could hear the gifs, you'd immediately be able to tell that the bullets are coming out at the same rate.
Patrician audio sensibility.
Quality posting as always Lethe.
Can't mark for index but I will endeavour to see it's not left stranded! Bryan what's up, have the spergs driven you away from shumps chat? Or do you just like it better out here? (*'ω' *) Don't worry, I'll accompany you back to town and you guys can sort out this troublesome boss.
BEHOLD: The OFFICIAL ESPRade st4 Boss GD Thread 
SHOW NO MERCY.
Bent on reviving captive DEGROMES in a night of ritual slaughter, the remnant BEAST DEMON ARMY sacks Castle Bardik. Seeing their piteously slain men, returning champions DUKE and FLEET's votive fury moves the very heavens. Rent by divine fist and fang, the long war of men and beasts ends this frenzied night.
"SMASH THE BEASTMEN!!"
Wild Fang / ワイルドファング [1989 STRONG TEAM]
Wild Fang is the second of Tecmo's two beltscrollers, hot on the heels of 1988's Ninja Ryukenden. Like its iconic predecessor, it's a distinguished member of brawling's earlier years. Tecmo's duo forged boldly into still-cooling ground, with formal excellence arguably surpassing their inspirations.
Compared to Technos Japan's defining duo, Ninja Ryukenden is more "boxer" than "brawler." Where occasional trading is harmless in good Kunio/DD play, attrition the big concern, here it'll kill you fast. Jabs are bi-laterally lethal, with heavy damage, lasting hitstun, and crushing combos. Wild Fang keeps the pugilist ethos, while tweaking the means. Although your PPP remains unstoppable, each hit is strictly limited to one target. Even one interferer will test your attack to its limits; two or more will trample you. Tecmo rebalance with customary nous: both player speed and enemy telegraphs are synergistically boosted. Z-Axis juking is thus extremely powerful, key to systematically dismantling crowds.
Building on this solid base are three lethal assets. Most vivid is the signature tag system. Button C swaps your Guardian Deity in a hearty i-frame burst, for tide-turning barrages and reversals. Very much a Final Fight-prefiguring MegaCrash, albeit consuming traditional bomb stock instead of HP. Interestingly, lifebar is nevertheless a factor - you will lose the option if your HP drops too low. Particularly with the high occurrence and max stock of bombs, it's a pointed incentive to strike early and often, rather than horde for last resorts.
With the impact of tag-as-bomb, it's easy to forget the swap itself. Your two Guardian Deities - TIGER and pricelessly named SMOKEMAN - strike a subtle yet credible balance of power VS reach. Smokeman kills targets faster, while Tiger's endless pokestring is better at warding. I think their fundamental similarity was the right call. There's never a sense of loss for switching ad-hoc; and yet, there are several spots where I've a distinct preference. (as seen directly above: baiting st5's horde with Tony, before punching a nice hole in 'em via Smokey). Third member, the imperious DORAGON, is an occasional lucky break. I noticed I could spawn him reliably at a few spots, but never felt compelled to rely on him. Awesome firepower, total invulnerability, nice if you can get him! But don't think about it too much.
A second boon riffs swaggeringly on Ryukenden's pioneering Flying Guillotine: the endearingly/menacingly-named
ACCESS ATTACK / アクセスアタック. Access to what? That would be the foe's exposed neck.
Jumping on an enemy will execute not a throw, but a mounted grapple. Feather [attack] to savage the target, maiming fresh meat and dispatching the wounded. With Tecmo's usual attention to detail, it's as finessed as it is violent; cancellable at any time, and in the direction of your choice. Most enemies can and will rescue their comrades;
nobody rides for free motherfucker!
In a winning nod to
Rygar, it's entirely possible to brutalise multiple enemies without touching ground; indeed, the game's consistent use of twin bosses encourages it. Another great touch is your jab auto-shunting the receiver into perfect rodeo range; counter-socking a chump in the teeth a reliable preamble for fatal thrashing. (was already my headcanon that SMOKEMAN is the guardian deity seen in Rygar's temples
)
Your final trump card is the most fundamental: the jump. More specifically, its i-frames. Yet again, we pick up where Ryukenden let off. Where its superjump is a last escape for the cornered, Wild Fang's is a near unstoppable counter-advance. Only a small minority of attacks - typically boss projectiles - will defeat your i-frames. In another distinct nod to aggression, ala Ryukenden, there is no neutral jump; only forward, into the enemy. Rushing down a lethal attacker for the kill recalls the advancing rolls of FTGs many years hence; or even the Souls games, generations on.
It's an unorthodox yet remarkably well-balanced system. A movement-imperative model, rewarding agile footwork and decisive leaps with devastating, spectacularly brutal rallies.
Enemy design and mixups are strong; a varied selection of melee sluggers, bull-rushers, and projectile users. I particularly enjoy the all-in approach of the support classes. Turtles, Flamethrowers, and Bombers all lack direct attacks, having little answer to an advancing player; but all are wickedly dangerous at their respective ranges, vividly colouring the battlefield. In classic Tecmo fashion, close examination of enemy behaviours and attributes is richly rewarded. Stage 4's DRUNKERS may seem maddeningly hard to evade on the narrow playfield, until you notice their short stature leaves them powerless to break your grapples. Minotaurs' Dhalism-esque whip strikes share the weakness; and while their charge might seem to eat up screen space, it's the perfect target for a gutsy rodeo tackle.
Stage design is pleasingly simple, ditching Ryukenden's gymnastic maneuvers and cinematic slow pan for a much speedier credit. The occasional exploding barrel / collapsing bridge setup aside, you won't see much in the way of environmental hazards. (sensibly, these are more about enjoying the rockin' pyro and blasting a few enemies, than demands for serious platforming) In this regard, it's more Kunio than DD; a brawler defined by its battles, rather than its battlefields. Still, stages are hardly lacking identity; st3's steep climbs, st4's challengingly gap-riven battlements, and st5's tight-fought dungeon onslaughts instantly spring to mind.
Atop all this quality sits raucously bloody
BEASTWAR ala Nagai. A beater this visually arresting, released in the genre's prime, might've easily coasted along. STRONG TEAM simply don't roll like that! Just as vital is its keeping the good humour of Tecmo's arcade canon. Simultaneously funnier yet more wickedly grim and incandescently furied than your average edgefest. Special mention to DRUNKER - surely the lowliest and longest-suffering of the flagging BEAST DEMON ARMY, forced to booze on the job just to keep going! The world-accurate map is a superb touch, emblematic of Strong Team's unfailingly fiery joie de vivre; its oil-soaked parchment crumbling to ash as your revenging crusaders systematically purge their defiled city of unsightly beasts.
Matching the mighty visuals, perennial Tecmo/Konami star Mikioh Saitoh aka
METAL YUHKI outdoes himself; turning in thumpingly atmospheric and catchy themes for each stage, boss, and even clear screen alike. As seems to be the great man's habit, his spectacular final boss BGM isn't one you're likely to hear in its full glory, in-game;
most definitely worth checking out via OST!
My only complaints are a couple of easily-avoidable bugs. The first is stage 3's invisible pit, which you can see harshing my groove
here. It doesn't always strike, but you'll know to avoid the lower-right screen there. The second is an unfortunate instance of my old nemesis, the
frame-precise input drop. Basically, releasing [forward] and hitting [attack] on the same frame will cancel your attack. It's vanishingly tricky to pull off, and with the game's deliberately low attack rate, it's fortunately trivial to buffer over with security taps. Alternatively, enabling low-frequency autofire can accomplish much the same, auto-buffering without conferring any meaningful advantage.
An outstanding showcase for STRONG TEAM, with precision and innovation taking years off its age. Despite its close kinship with their more famous Ninja Ryukenden, it's absolutely anything but a retread. Easily recommended to adventurous fans of late 80s / early 90s beltscrolling, doubly so if they've a fodness for DEBIRUMAN and BAIORENCE JYAKKU et al.
