What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[StoofooEsq]

Currently headed towards the Neutral end of Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey with a time of 100:59:57 (seriously) logged on my save file. There's some minor tasks I want to complete before I tear through Horologium to the final boss. Trying to encounter Pale Rider, getting the right Forma for certain weapons/armor/items, finishing the remaining EX Missions, gathering demons to fuse defeated bosses, all while grinding all the way. When I do finally take on Horologium, I'm sure I'll be using a GameFAQs map for that before I get lost in another warp maze. But I have loved playing through up to this point. I wouldn't have spent almost 101 hours on the game otherwise.

On the PS3 side, I recently got a Vizio 42" HDTV! So I unplugged it from my SD set, hooked it up to that, and came to the stunning realization that I should've been playing my PS3 on an HDTV in the first damn place. I sat there and gawked for hours at how incredible WipEout HD looked on that set. Only issue is that the sound has been glitching with some games. This may be related to my using Component Cables instead of an HDMI Cable, but I've ordered one from Amazon to see if that fixes the problem. So I'll playing/replaying everything I've got for the PS3.

Actually, I should try out some PS2 titles on the Vizio with those Component Cables while I'm at it. I recall a number of titles having Progressive Scan; Gran Turismo 4, for one.

Other than that, I might have another run at Castlevania Chronicles. Finished it on an emulator once and enjoyed it enough to buy it on PSN and finished it two more times there (once again on Arrange and then Original). This remake is a solid entry in the Castlevania series. Snappiest level design I've played in a while. The soundtrack that is excellent in both modes, each with their own high points. Even then, I find myself choosing the one of the three X68k sound modules whenever I play Arrange Mode (L1+R1 while selecting it on the title screen). It's worth your $5.99 on the PlayStation Store.

[Acid King]

Shinboi is more fun than I remember it being. I guess I was doing it wrong before.

[Alec]

Hooked up the NES specifically to play shmups thanks to Battlesmurf's incredible RECCA run. Along side the shooting classics I've been playing

Legend of Zelda
Adventure of Link
Megaman II

all classic NES standbys, tons of nostalgia!

[Ed Oscuro]

Shinboi is more fun than I remember it being. I guess I was doing it wrong before.

Hilariously, I have had Shinobi for PS2 for years, bought new, and always refused to open it up. Not because I thought I'd hate the game or anything (I bought it for a reason). KEEP YOUR GAMES SEALED!

It would help if I had a PS2, admittedly, but I'd just get a copy secondhand or something.

So how is it? I've heard that it has odd level designs but is still fun.

For me, lately:

Mario vs. Donkey Kong - finally beat the last level of the first mission / quest / loop as the DS Lite's battery went to red. A bit better than half of those being gold-starred; doing that set gold is a lot easier than I originally thought. That was maybe four days ago (at least it felt like it). Haven't played anything since, besides a bit of E-SWAT: City Under Siege, suffering along on my greens-for-blacks laptop (started misbehaving again when I started using it).

Splatterhouse 2 - played this the days before my recent vacation, back in July. I'm back now so I'll look at it again. Beautiful copy of the game, bought here!

So the next thing to do is E-SWAT on emulator (hoping to track down a copy though I really don't dig a couple levels - what the hell were they thinking on the second one?), then Splatterhouse 2, then hopefully some PCBs, maybe some other Mega Drive / Famicom games, think about getting out some Super Famicom games like the Kiki Kaikai games, and so on. Obviously, there's STGT right around the corner as well.

[Acid King]

Hilariously, I have had Shinobi for PS2 for years, bought new, and always refused to open it up. Not because I thought I'd hate the game or anything (I bought it for a reason). KEEP YOUR GAMES SEALED!

It would help if I had a PS2, admittedly, but I'd just get a copy secondhand or something.

So how is it? I've heard that it has odd level designs but is still fun.

I got Shinobi and Kunoichi for cheap during a play asia sale probably 5+ years ago and never really sat and played either of them. I played a few stages of Shinobi before I stopped and the first stage of Kunoichi. At the time I fathomed I would finish Shinobi and move on to the sequel and just never did.

I just now realized that you could break enemy blocks instead of having to circle around them and it made the game a lot more enjoyable than before. The levels are purely perfunctory and just give them an excuse to use a particular patterns and sets of enemies and a little bit of platforming. Chaining enemies is a lot of fun and despite the level restarts when you die, isn't too too punishing. It actually reminds me a bit of Ninja Gaiden for Xbox and 360... not that it plays similarly, but that the dash in Shinobi functions the same way the wind jump does in Ninja Gaiden and helps compensate for a less than stellar camera. I'm halfway through it now so we'll see how the last half goes .

[BIL]

I like Shinobi a lot. It has a more stripped-down "arcade" feel compared to Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, etc. Static moveset, freeform burst chaining with both survival and scoring incentive, and straightforward levels with some tricky platforming. No grinding or fetch quests. Gets absolutely ruthless on the last difficulty tier, as well.

[Obiwanshinobi]

To me Shinobi felt like anything but DMC. It doesn't even belong to that subgenre DMC has spawned if you ask me. I don't hold it in as high regard as Blood Will Tell, but I'm going to give it another go at some point.

[BIL]

Make sure to play either the US or original JP versions if you do. The PAL one chops out the "Super" difficulty level, and the JP "Best" reprint censors the tate dismemberings. Both utterly stupid moves - it's just not as satisfying without either.

Also, despite what Hardcore Gaming 101 says, the JP version's difficulty isn't downgraded. US Normal -> Hard -> Super = JP Easy -> Normal -> Hard.

[Ghegs]

US Normal -> Hard -> Super = JP Easy -> Normal -> Hard.

Haha, really? I got the US version of Shinobi a while back (PAL version also lacks 60hz, no reason to get it) but haven't started on it properly yet. Gotta keep that in mind when I do.

[BIL]

Yeah, there used to be an *excellent* FAQ over at GameFAQs, by a neox. Explained the scoring system in detail, as well as the US/PAL/JP version differences - I didn't realise until reading it, time isn't a factor. It's all about getting the big chains, rather than chipping away at enemies individually. But it was removed, sadly. Closest I've found to the info is this thread at the Speed Demos Archive, which mentions the US/JP difficulty labels.

KEEP YOUR GAMES SEALED!

Please never change your avatar, Ed.

[Lordstar]

castlevania HD , I am trying to stay away from buying too many games just before 3rd quater ive got about 3 or 4 which i have on preorder.

[Acid King]

Make sure to play either the US or original JP versions if you do. The PAL one chops out the "Super" difficulty level, and the JP "Best" reprint censors the tate dismemberings. Both utterly stupid moves - it's just not as satisfying without either.

Also, despite what Hardcore Gaming 101 says, the JP version's difficulty isn't downgraded. US Normal -> Hard -> Super = JP Easy -> Normal -> Hard.

Do the human enemies actually fall to pieces in the American one? I've been playing the Japanese one and only the animals and spirits split apart.

[BIL]

Yep, in the US version every enemy without exception gets diced by tates just like this. Most bosses too.

Are you playing an original or re-released JP version, though? I had the impression the original print (which I assumed the player in the above vid used) has the US violence, but the reprint doesn't. Annoying, since I'm more than happy to snap up budget reprints.

edit: I guess there's the Korean / Asian version to consider too... maybe that's the NTSCJ one with US death scenes I'm thinking of.

[Acid King]

Yep, in the US version every enemy without exception gets diced by tates just like this. Most bosses too.

Are you playing an original or re-released JP version, though? I had the impression the original print (which I assumed the player in the above vid used) has the US violence, but the reprint doesn't. Annoying, since I'm more than happy to snap up budget reprints.

edit: I guess there's the Korean / Asian version to consider too... maybe that's the NTSCJ one with US death scenes I'm thinking of.

That's what I thought. Mine is an original print copy and I thought I remembered the US version having full dismemberments. Isn't that censored from most all japanese games though? I remember reading that the Japense versions of Ninja Gaiden had the decapitations and stuff cut out as well.

[BIL]

True, they seem a bit touchy about heads / limbs going flying these days. God Hand doesn't have the US decapitating move in the JP version either, come to think of it.

I wonder if the JP reprint removes all dismemberment whatsoever, similar to all versions of Kunoichi / Nightshade.

Bah. I was playing Warriors of Fate just the other day, booted the first boss' head right off his shoulders. More innocent times.

[Ed Oscuro]

ESWAT HAS COMPLETED
ITS MISSION AND
DISCOVERED TWO
SHOCKING FACTS.

[louisg]

ESWAT HAS COMPLETED
ITS MISSION AND
DISCOVERED TWO
SHOCKING FACTS.

Good choice!

[drunken starsailor]

Beat that years ago. Getting past the gay brothers is really tough, since you have so little health, but once you beat that part the rest of the game is easy. The only enemy that gave me trouble later on was the samurai boss, but you're good as long as you stay close and don't let him copy himself.

Nice! I'm actually trying to 1CC Godhand in Hard mode right now, along with Fear Effect (PSX) and Ninja Gaiden.

The last time I spent playing Godhand was incredibly fun. I made it past the gay dudes, and far into the next level. I died in the room with all of those bombing things. Were there vases, too? I don't quite remember...

You can defeat them super cheap: ram into one, uppercut the other one, stomp onto one of them, repeat (or something like that).

The ramming attack does indeed help a lot. Sometimes when I'm stomping on an enemy, I'll notice surrounding enemies are hesitant to attack me. Doesn't always work like that, though. xD

In Fear Effect today, I didn't quite make it past the furthest point I've ever gotten to, but none the less reached the train. Absolutely brutal game, this is. I've never played a game so immersive. Even Shenmue doesn't give that "dude-you-are-going-to-fucking-die-if-you-don't-use-all-of-the-tools-you-have-at-your-disposal" (Quick wit being one of them.) feeling like FE does. Think Crank in videogame form.

There are times like the second disc, when you have no other choice but to conserve ammunition and save it for crucial parts. (Ex. killing enemies that drop quest items such as keys, only.) Ignoring this plan will leave you for the dogs. The controversy surrounding this lies in the ability to roll past enemies without getting hit--which can get annoying; not to mention it's cheap. But there is no other way at times. On the other hand, it is near impossible-- in certain situations--, to "roll" your way to victory. In the second disc when you're leaving the shed with the old woman inside, it's impossible to exit the ramp down rolling; because one guard is blocking your path. If you attempt to roll past him, he and the guard next to him will be alerted. This means the second you stand up, you'll be taking bullets to the face. I've tried to look for ways to get out of this, like counting their shots before they reload. Unfortunately, both guards seldom reload at once, since they start shooting at different times. Even when they do, there is no guarantee that you'll survive long enough to kill them. (It's even worse with five enemies at once.)

To stop that shitty mess from happening, it's better to sneak up behind one with dual pistols--one aimed at him for a one shot sneak kill, and the other on the enemy beside him. I hope this demonstrates how the rolling does not always give you a free ticket out. Admittedly, it's the weirdest way I've ever played a third person action game.

And then there's Ninja Gaiden. I can regularly make it to the city after that blimp. However, stress gets a hold of me and I am unable to get very far.

[Acid King]

Stage 6A in Shinobi was a total whore.

And then there's Ninja Gaiden. I can regularly make it to the city after that blimp. However, stress gets a hold of me and I am unable to get very far.

Are you restarting the whole game each time?

[BrianC]

I have been playing Failsafe (homebrew) 7800, Mario Golf GBA, Turtles VFD tabletop, and some other games here and there.

[professor ganson]

After finishing Drone Tactics on hard and Sengoku Ace on normal, it took a while for anything to hook me. Now I'm settled on playing through Fire Emblem 7 in order to unlock the hard modes. Can't wait to get to Hector Hard Mode. Should be good prep for the new Fire Emblem for DS, which is getting localized. Supposedly has one of the most brutal difficulty options in any srpg.

[drunken starsailor]

Are you restarting the whole game each time?

Yes sir. The habit started with Shoot-em-ups and eventually I started to play almost all of my games like this.

I enjoy Ninja Gaiden a lot more now, especially since I can concentrate on mastering the earlier stages before making it to the later levels.

However, there are some games which I simply cannot ignore saving my progress in. Viewtiful Joe for Gamecube is a prime example. After a while the game gets so boring that you wish you could just save and play again some other time. Unlike an arcade game, there is quite a bit of backtracking in the two underwater stages. Even if I'm playing quite well, it's still no fun for me.

The furthest I've gotten in VJ without continuing was at the timed train stage.

[ExitPlanetDust]

Nice on Shinobi for PS2. I haven't gotten around to finishing it. I actually found it a lot easier than people described. Maybe that's because I played Nightshade/Kunoichi first. Shinobi is a technically harder game, IMO. But Nightshade/Kunoichi is full of cheap deaths, making it more of a chore to finish.

When you finish Shinobi, definitely check out Kunoichi. You can actually use Hotsuma if you have a completed Shinobi save on your memory card.

Back on topic:

Playing - Contra: Shattered Soldier [PS2], Guardian Heroes [Saturn] (finally got a complete copy of it) and Fighters Megamix [Saturn]

[BIL]

I thought Normal's difficulty was definitely overrated (I remember the EGM review... they were practically sobbing). But there's a really, really nasty spike towards the end of the third and final difficulty. It becomes much harder to stave off the sword's life-draining, and the enemies become infuriatingly meddlesome when you're trying to build chains (the last boss' minions in particular). If you couldn't instantly continue at the last boss, it'd easily be arcade-standard difficulty at that point. Attacking head-on like you can in Normal is suicide.

[Acid King]

I'm on 8A right now and I think the hardest section has been 6A and the only reason that was as tough as it was was because of how the level was designed. The shafts you had to fall down at the end of each corridor were horrible because you couldn't see where enemies or platforms were. It took a bit of trial and error to memorize where the enemies were placed before I could make it through there. Even then, it took me only about an hour or so of total playtime over the course of two days so really, not too bad at all.

It make sense that people would cry over the difficulty though because it doesn't hold your hand. I honestly doubt that the reviewers at EGM are all that good at any of the games they review and until you really get a grip on the controls and the moves you will die over and over and over again. Factor in the forced restarts and the bottomless pits and you have a perfect storm for people to complain about the difficulty.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Make sure to play either the US or original JP versions if you do. The PAL one chops out the "Super" difficulty level, and the JP "Best" reprint censors the tate dismemberings. Both utterly stupid moves - it's just not as satisfying without either.

Also, despite what Hardcore Gaming 101 says, the JP version's difficulty isn't downgraded. US Normal -> Hard -> Super = JP Easy -> Normal -> Hard.

Ouch, thanks for the warning.

I got the US version of Shinobi a while back (PAL version also lacks 60hz, no reason to get it) but haven't started on it properly yet.

I'm pretty sure both Shinobi and Nightshade do 60 Hz. This guide seems to be wrong in places, but right with regard to Shinobi at least.

KEEP YOUR GAMES SEALED!

Get yourself a PS2 and unseal them aggressively.

[AraraSPAMWitch]

dragon quest III on the snes, that game is the hottness

fuck you nobuo, "the beethoven of game music" my ass

Also the newish BlazBlue, game is mad nice, except for the horrible evil story mode which I am forced to play to unlock a character (or else pay 160 xbox monopoly points). I got pissed off wading through pages of dialogue in pornographic visual novels just get to a a sex scene, but at least then the wait was (sometimes?) worth it. In this, I wade through pages of FUCKING AWFUL dialogue (this shit makes Bible Black or Tsukihime or whatever trash you bought off J-list seem sensible) to get to a one-round battle so easy that you can win by mashing crouching A. Once in a while the game tries to do something interesting, like disabling the use of your sword if you're playing as Jin, but since this limits the moves you can do to down to mashing A like a five-year old it's just as boring as the rest of story mode. FUCK

But yeah everything else is fantastic!

[Ghegs]

I got the US version of Shinobi a while back (PAL version also lacks 60hz, no reason to get it) but haven't started on it properly yet.

I'm pretty sure both Shinobi and Nightshade do 60 Hz. This guide seems to be wrong in places, but right with regard to Shinobi at least.

Huh, whaddya know. Wonder where I read it, then. Oh well. I also recall hearing the PAL version only has english voices while the US version has both english and japanese - and clearly I need to hear my ninjas lamenting about the nature of their shadowy existance in the original japanese dialogue in order to fully appreciate the subtle nuances of the touching story.

[BIL]

Just brought down the Harrier in MGS2, then made my way across the mangled remains of the bridge. Got the optional leap of death for a silenced AK right the first time after years away. Nothing sends me from such gaming nirvana to a disgusted grimace like saving after a tricky spot in MGS2. The Jack-Rose codec talks are bad enough if you listen to them, but the fact they're even there leaves a bad taste in my mind a good few minutes after.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Just owned Krauser's last form in RE4 on Professional with a knife alone, which is, in fact, the easiest way of making him suck it down. Man, am I glad I discovered that trick during my playthrough on Normal. I'm also glad I started Pro with a cleared Assignment Ada save, as the Ashley's armour works a treat. Normal's first half was a missed opportunity in my book (too easy, thus making me feel sorry for all those possessed people), but on Pro the game makes more sense (except for some quick time events).