Hagane and hoarding

[Skykid]

This game is sick. I sat down with it properly last night and got to the boss of stage four. I then realised there's some additional moves you can pull off detailed in the instruction book that I didn't know I could do. One looks like a fiery cartwheel kick amongst others.
Problem is it's in Japanese so I'm not sure of the method.

As I'm at work and can't access just about anything game related except this forum, anyone want to give me some hints. I'm up for putting this one on the completed list, it's ace.

[CIT]

Yeah, great game! I should sit down and put some quality time into too. The double jump in the game is weird, cuz you gotta hit the second jump BEFORE you've reached your highest point, if that's the move you're referring to. (?)

[Skykid]

Yeah, great game! I should sit down and put some quality time into too. The double jump in the game is weird, cuz you gotta hit the second jump BEFORE you've reached your highest point, if that's the move you're referring to. (?)

Nah, I can do that one (I wouldn't have got off the first stage if I hadn't figured that out! ). In the manual there's a few pics of some 'flame' moves (where you're character is in... flame), a kind of bicycle kick and a few others. I'd already turned everything off for the night, so I might go home tonight to try to figure it out.

Seriously, the game is packed with moves already but every little helps. At first it's a bit overwhelming and a bit of a struggle, but once it clicks you really get a feel for how awesome a title it is. Well done Hudson Soft.

[evil_ash_xero]

A lot of the moves aren't really necessary. I think they're just there for show.

That backwards jump is massively helpful on one of the latter bosses.

The game is tough. The last boss is a pisser.

I wish I could help you more, but I can't remember much about the moves off hand.

EDIT:
Actually, i'll send you some moves in a PM.

[dpful]

I think shoulder buttons are involved, and maybe 2 ju
Ps in a row or something

[GaijinPunch]

After all that crying and moaning I'm glad you enjoy it.

[Skykid]

I think shoulder buttons are involved, and maybe 2 ju
Ps in a row or something

Yep, they are. Evil ash kindly PM'd me some info and I've realised you can charge tons of attacks using a combination of the shoulder buttons. Awesome.

After all that crying and moaning I'm glad you enjoy it.

Tears of joy.

[Dale]

After all that crying and moaning I'm glad you enjoy it.

Tears of joy.

I thought it wasn't a must own. Well at least your smarter then the HCG101 guys, glad to hear your enjoying it.

[Skykid]

I thought it wasn't a must own. Well at least your smarter then the HCG101 guys, glad to hear your enjoying it.

It's definitely one of the better obscure snes games, but must own is subjective - depends on your taste.

[Ed Oscuro]

Actually, i'll send you some moves in a PM.

Throw them up here, you, you move hoarders!

Also it's refreshing to see Skykid writing that must own is subjective - game hoarding (now I wouldn't be guilty of that would I??) just means that more people are buying games they don't actually play, and making it harder and more expensive to get any particular game you want. All those damned complete collection people.

Then again, what the hell am I talking about - you can emulate everything just as easily.

[Skykid]

Actually, i'll send you some moves in a PM.

Throw them up here, you, you move hoarders!

Sorry, that is kind of insensitive!

The main purpose of the somersault technique is to charge up your
Dragon Punch and Flying Kick. Usually flipping once and pressing Y
to perform a Dragon Punch or B to perform a Flying Kick is enough to
seriously damage or kill most normal enemies, and although you can
flip continuously to gain more attack power, it's generally not as
effective or safe as simply killing enemies with your sword.

Note: In order to somersault continuously without charging Hagane's
attacks, tap the L or R buttons instead of holding them down.

Below, I'll detail Hagane's Dragon Punch and Flying Kick:

1 Flip - Hagane doesn't blink. Standard attack.
2 Flips - Hagane blinks green. Semi-charged attack.
3 Flips - Hagane blinks yellow. Fully charged attack.

-Standard Dragon Punch-
Hagane lunges forward with his fist and then automatically backflips
away from his enemy. This technique does a lot of damage, but it's
not always a good idea to use this in the middle of a level where
Hagane can backflip right into danger.

-Semi-Charged Dragon Punch-
Hagane performs a spin kick in the air. The problem with this
technique is that it doesn't do a lot of damage and it's difficult to
control. Not to mention the fact that since he's using his foot, it
isn't much of a "Dragon Punch".

-Fully Charged Dragon Punch-
A fully charged Dragon Punch is an AoE (Area of Effect) attack that
damages everything on either side of Hagane. This attack isn't too
useful because you just don't ever need it.

-Standard Flying Kick-
Hagane jumps into the air and kicks his foot forward, damaging
anything he comes into contact with. This is my favorite technique
because it allows Hagane to leap through a group of enemies
unscathed. Very useful!

-Semi-Charged Flying Kick-
If you ask me, this looks more like what the Semi-Charged Dragon
Punch should've been. Oh well. Hagane spins into the air, engulfed
in orange fire. Unfortunately, it's about as useful as the
Semi-Charged Dragon Punch, because like its Y button counterpart, it
too can be difficult to control.

-Fully Charged Flying Kick-
A fully charged Flying Kick will send Hagane kicking straight up into
the air, making it one of only two attacks that can be aimed directly
upward (the other being the grappling hook). It's useful against a
number of minibosses, but it's in no way essential.

Note that Hagane is invincible during the activation of any Dragon
Punch or Flying Kick.

Also it's refreshing to see Skykid writing that must own is subjective - game hoarding (now I wouldn't be guilty of that would I??) just means that more people are buying games they don't actually play, and making it harder and more expensive to get any particular game you want. All those damned complete collection people.

Although I'll never figure out your train of thought Ed, I'm liking the thread derail, hoarding is an interesting topic

I would say anyone with an interest in a challenge and a love of the snes owes it to themselves to give Hagane a go - it's actually really great when its true colours are revealed, but the difficulty and complex controls are initially off-putting. For me, it's a keeper no doubt, but then I'm definitely in the collector category and I love Super Famicom stuff.

On the topic of hoarding, I try not to. I regularly comb through my stuff and do a trim down on games that I'll really never bother with again or offend the rest of the shelf (like PAL region ), but there are titles I'm guilty of keeping purely for rarity/novelty factors over quality.

I do make a concerted effort to try to finish as much of what I own as possible. Alas, it's almost an impossibilty to give due time, finish everything, or 1CC every shmup I own, and modern games (like Okami or Zelda) really throw a spanner in the works. I even gave up on trying for a S&P2 1cc after realising how much was waiting in the wings, and just retried my way to the end instead.

But I like to think I'm a dedicated gamer rather than an all out hoarder, although I expect it might look different from somebody else's perspective.

Interested to hear your thoughts.

[Ed Oscuro]

Ehh, my thoughts aren't that interesting. Thanks for the wealth-sharing!

Now to pull out my copy and give this a try.

[Skykid]

Ehh, my thoughts aren't that interesting. Thanks for the wealth-sharing!

Now to pull out my copy and give this a try.

Aw, there I was thinking we were going to talk up our bad habits.

At least drop back in to let me know what you thought of Hagane - and persevere with it, it may seem almost clumsy to start with but once you're in control it switches up big time.

[JoshF]

The flip by itself can be used to go through non-boss projectiles. Learn how to time the last flippidy kick and you get a free shot on bosses when they become hittable.

Amazing Stage 1 Strat: Backflip through the whole thing. Just look out for the Kabuki dude behind you at the first flying ship.

PCFX Mode: Concept art by illustrator/director Keita Amemiya. If you like how cool he is check out the movies Zeiram (better than Terminator,) Hakaider, and Mirai Ninja, and the TV shows Jetman, GARO, Mikazuki, and Metalder.

[Skykid]

The flip by itself can be used to go through non-boss projectiles. Learn how to time the last flippidy kick and you get a free shot on bosses when they become hittable.

Amazing Stage 1 Strat: Backflip through the whole thing. Just look out for the Kabuki dude behind you at the first flying ship.

Wow, that's a cool tip there Josh, many thanks.

[Ed Oscuro]

PCFX Mode: Concept art by illustrator/director Keita Amemiya. If you like how cool he is check out the movies Zeiram (better than Terminator,) Hakaider, and Mirai Ninja, and the TV shows Jetman, GARO, Mikazuki, and Metalder.

Agreed, from what little I've seen of Zeiram, better than Terminator. Mirai Ninja is also a good-looking game in parts but has some really stupid level design (aside from the credits sequence, LOLZ).

[Skykid]

Interesting, I'm gonna mame the Mirai tonight. Great art, definintely Mr Hagane:

[JoshF]

Mirai Ninja is also a good-looking game in parts but has some really stupid level design (aside from the credits sequence, LOLZ).

I was talking about the movie (also known as Cyber Ninja.) The game is kinda bad for an arcade game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUvhjoEkbQk

For those interested he's got a new movie coming out this year: http://www.garo-3dmovie.jp/index.html.

Played the game a little this morning and noticed the flip can be used on boss projectiles as well, but the backwards flip works better. You can destroy the armored Japanese dude by staying mid-range and doing a backwards flip through him when he charges at you. It's also good for going through a single barrier on the conveyor belt part in stage 3.

Now I feel like making a replay for my site. Sorry STGT teammates.

[Ed Oscuro]

Yeah...when I said Mirai Ninja kinda looks nice, I mean the sprite / background art usually looks decent. The actual level designs make even that look terrible - do you want to see the same stuff scrolling past over and over? The elevators (stage 2 I think) are a joke - you just randomly go up and down over and over. Later in the game there's an area which seems to be just box rooms and gears. :S

[Kaiser]

Yeah...when I said Mirai Ninja kinda looks nice, I mean the sprite / background art usually looks decent. The actual level designs make even that look terrible - do you want to see the same stuff scrolling past over and over? The elevators (stage 2 I think) are a joke - you just randomly go up and down over and over. Later in the game there's an area which seems to be just box rooms and gears. :S

You forgot to mention that the game is far more ruthless than Hagane is, I made to it to 7th stage on 1 coin before and gave up. It's just fucking literally unfair.

[BIL]

<3 Zeiram, at least the first movie (need to see the second). Kind of goofy, kind of creepy as hell. Some of the monster effects rival The Thing's. Iria: Zeiram the Animation is pretty neat too. Not as gory or weird as the movie, but strong characters and some good action. Only six eps too, so it's to the point.

I didn't really know who Amemiya was, let alone that Hagane and Zeiram were connected by him - thanks for the list, Josh!

[CIT]

Yeah, great game! I should sit down and put some quality time into too.

Well, now I did, and in the end I managed to clear it on one credit.

Here's my score right when the final boss died:



This game has a reputation of being super-hard, but I think it's only that tough initially, when you haven't worked out any tactics yet and don't know how to get through the platforming. Once you know what you're doing it becomes quite easy actually. If you perfect your timing, a few bosses can even be killed in one hit!



Brilliant game! In my opinion it's a must-have title for fans of Shinobi, Strider, etc.

[BIL]

Brilliant game! In my opinion it's a must-have title for fans of Shinobi, Strider, etc.

Seconded - nearest thing to the Super Shinobis on the SFC as far as I know, easily competing with them. I especially love the wallbouncing, backflipping and how Hagane doesn't need to stop walking when he attacks.

I also love the sudden change of pace at the last, last boss - wasn't expecting that at all. Always a rush to get there and try to do it right on the first go.

Intro and ending are both awesome, especially the timelapse in the latter.

It's a shame the US version is affected by "OMG r@re" pricing syndrome, owing to the Blockbuster distribution. JP version isn't, thankfully.

[Strider77]

Mirai Ninja in my house!! I got this a few years back, only a few hundred were made. Sorry for the crappy picture quality but I'm at work and this I happened to have on photobucket.



Here, there is a better picture.