What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[null1024]

Metroid II: Return of Samus [GB/3DS].
Just picked this up with an extra $4 that I had left in my eShop funds, it's really fun.

Just destroyed 2 of the Metroids [well, the enemies that have how many are left to destroy on the status bar] and got the Spider Ball [which controls weirdly, but the odd control is convenient].

[Jason X]

Also thanking my sweet good judgement I didn't buy the Silent Hill HD Collection. Instead I get to laugh at acquaintances who did, then leave the building and drive miles away. I thought people were kidding when they likened dear innocent Mary's new voice to that of an aged, strung-out hooker. They weren't! "James... you made me happy." /HUSKY SEXY VOICE I feel bad for anyone who actually trusted Konami circa 2012 to not utterly screw this up by proxy. The sheer work that went into the aesthetic of those games on the PS2 never stood a chance of surviving a slapdash hackjob to current gen consoles, but I'm still a little surprised it turned out this bad. (link to piling trainwreck)



LMAO

I'm gonna GOOD END+/Hard SH1 right now to kick off another round of cleansing mental antiseptic over everything SH-related past 2004.

The new voices are definitely atrocious. I guess this is the logical outcome of all the SH fanboy babbies who cream over Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. Don't get me wrong, she's done some good stuff for the series, but...MARY????

As far as the technical issues go, I didn't really run into anything on the 360, but I've heard lots and lots of complaints about the PS3 release. Damn shame for those who wanted to stay purists there.

Konami is kind of funny in the way that it feels like an uncle who rapes you. But rather than molesting you as a kid, they actually gave you a great childhood, and instead decided to rape you when you were a grown adult.

[shmuppyLove]

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Holy fuck this game is good.



Mmmm, yeah.

[BIL]

The new voices are definitely atrocious. I guess this is the logical outcome of all the SH fanboy babbies who cream over Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. Don't get me wrong, she's done some good stuff for the series, but...MARY????

I actually like Angela's new VA, but only because the original is the game's sole performance I dislike. Donna Burke's bizarre intonations and shrieks can be grating, a bit beyond what was needed for the character. All the others redos are disastrous, James ("Maybe if I eat this bunch of morphine I'll sound totally widower-y") and Mary/Maria (*breathy moan* *deep sigh* *groannnn*) especially. I like how Eddie just spews vomit like a firehose during his intro now, instead of pausing for breaths like he's supposed to be a human being or something.

Anyway, Masahiro Ito called it years ago - the series is long over. 1999-2004 is a great body of work. The brand name is now a reliable source of hilarity. I'd mention Tomm Hulett's IQ-sapping "improvements" to SH3's script, or his embarassing public slapfights with fans over interpretations of games he didn't work on (vomit emoticon.gif), or Konami farming the HDC out to a mobile developer with zero experience of developing on PS3 or 360, but why bother? It's a trainwreck baby, it's all good. Thanks for some great games, original Silent Hill team. Eat my ass, Konami.



YOU WILL NEVER DIE IN THIS HEART <333

Oh shit, that's a killer guide. That will be useful, thanks.

Yeah, I love it - one of those rare FAQs that's both packed with detailed info and actually entertaining to read. Appreciation for FF's economical fighting engine and murderous AI x1000 after I read it.

"This is the ground. It defines a surface for skull crushing."

BTW, if you're using Haggar, I can't remember if the FAQ mentions this - holding either towards or away while performing his three-hit punch combo will turn the final hit into an instant suplex, regardless of distance. I know the FAQ mentions pressing away while the last hit lands, at least.

[Dragoforce]

Resident Evil Zero. Me like.

[mrsmiley381]

I've been on the Phantasy Star Online 2 beta.

It's been giving me a boner. A little tedious, but some extra quests with different maps will fix that right up.

[Ed Oscuro]

I have been playing the Game Training (Kugure Girijan MAX!) from Game Center CX: Arino no Chousenjou 2. When I wake up and can barely keep my eyes open, I play it some more. The funny thing is that it's working for rolling in the highscores - I recently still had a 37K run (not very long) on the highscore list but soon swept it until I had a 57K run. Now I've got 78,810 as a highscore, at about area 123 - not too many Happyman opportunity misses there. Maybe the game's just taking pity on me by not throwing up too many uncollectable coins. I did notice this very last time playing that getting a coin suspended just below the top of a spike ball's path is more reliably and safely done if you start your short jump further away from the ball. I might pass 100K yet.

Konami is kind of funny in the way that it feels like an uncle who rapes you. But rather than molesting you as a kid, they actually gave you a great childhood, and instead decided to rape you when you were a grown adult.

So wait...classic Konami could SEE THE FUTURE?

Anyway, re: Tom Hulett -

Dude worked on Contra 4, what's surprising about this?

[BIL]

Konami farming out the HD update of two meticulously-crafted PS2 titles with notoriously bloodthirsty fans to rank nobodies who proceed to make an utter hash of things isn't surprising in the least - but it's rather like witnessing a man attempting to grill weenies on a petrol station forecourt. You're not *surprised* by the result, but it's hard to not be at least a little impressed by the scale of the carnage.

Tom(m) then coming along and explaining how games he had no insight or involvement in the creation of actually needed his later alterations to work properly is like weenie man suing the petrol station for gross negligence from the burn unit. Again, surprising no, impressive yes.

[Vyxx]

Replaying FFTA for the GBA.

I guess I'm still one of the only people that prefer it to the PlayStation original?

[Ed Oscuro]

Tom(m)

I knew I shoulda double-checked that.

But yeah - you see my problem with the same doofuses who reinvented the Contra timeline (instead of focusing on making the game good) getting a second shot. Ah well. I'm not buying the games, so they already have my vote.

[BIL]

Actually, what'd they (WayForward I guess?) do with Contra anyway? I thought they just set Contra 4 between Contra Spirits and Hard Corps and tried to canon-ify MAD DOG N' SCORPION (or was it JIMBO N' SULLY... oh, Konami USA).

I actually find even Nobuya Nakazato's own Shin Contra's revisionism kind of annoying these days, when playing the older games. I liked the aliens better when they were just a murderous extraterrestrial invading force. Now when I blow Mr. Battlantis Guy's face off at the end of Super Contra I feel kind of bad for him. Shoulda just handed over the stolen property, those gubbernment assholes! :/

And then they set Neo Contra 8 trillion years or whatever in the future. Bleh. Less plot exposition, more precision alien cranial incision. With a giant fuckoff laser cannon.

[mrsmiley381]

And then they set Neo Contra 8 trillion years or whatever in the future. Bleh. Less plot exposition, more precision alien cranial incision. With a giant fuckoff laser cannon.

I really liked Neo Contra. Even with Animal Contra and Nazi Contra. Hell, when I first played it I even thought Bill calling the final boss a joke was pretty awesome.

[Ed Oscuro]

I actually find even Nobuya Nakazato's own Shin Contra's revisionism kind of annoying these days

I found it annoying at the time.

But hey, this is Konami - land of Ships Lookin Like Manbow and Eeguhmania.

[Illyrian]

Doing a second play through of Assassin's Creed 2, too bad it's the only good game in the whole series

Also playing fantastic SNES side scroller "Legend," and discovering I must have been much better at games when I was 12-13 as I used to be able to do the game on one life and now I can't get past the second level

[Ruldra]

Happy to say I'm doing progress in Final Fight. That guide showed me a few things I didn't know before: like how you should approach enemies at an angle, how easy it is to grab Sodom when he has both swords, and how good Cody is with the knife. Managed to reach Rolento for the first time ever.

At first I would die and not know what I did wrong and what I could've done better. Now things are starting to clear up for me, I can manage enemies better and spot my mistakes.

Thanks for the help BIL

[BIL]

Glad I could assist! A great game, that.

[Moniker]

Scored Ico and Silent Hill 2 at a secondhand store. But instead of these masterpieces, for some reason I'm playing Mass Effect 3 multiplayer....

I MUST HAVE A LVL 30 DRELL!!

[null1024]

The King of Fighters EX2 [GBA].

Surprisingly competent, and the GBA pad doesn't feel godawful for this. Still, I wish K' was in it...
Note that I said GBA pad -- the SP/DS/DSLite pads all suck.

[iconoclast]

Just finished my Ultimate Ninja playthrough in Ninja Gaiden 3. I could go on a huge rant right now, but I'll just say that game is one of the most poorly designed pieces of garbage I've ever played, and everybody should avoid it like it's the plague. Actually, it might be worse than the plague.

[Neith]

I'm playing The Last Blade: Beyond the Destiny on NGPC. This little system is actually keeping me away from current gen gaming. I will not relent until I have earned every single scroll. Time to grind some points in survival mode.

[GateofThunderforceIII]

Just finished my Ultimate Ninja playthrough in Ninja Gaiden 3. I could go on a huge rant right now, but I'll just say that game is one of the most poorly designed pieces of garbage I've ever played, and everybody should avoid it like it's the plague. Actually, it might be worse than the plague.

I'm in the minority here, but I loved Ninja Gaiden 3. Then again, I don't get too deep into games to where I expose their faults and quirkiness. I appreciated NG3's simplicity and admitted mindlessness.

I'm still playing El Shaddai. First on the 360 then swicthed to the PS3 version after hearing of its better frame rate.

[null1024]

Gunstar Super Heroes [GBA].

Why the fuck didn't this sell better?
It's really effing pretty, and it's pretty damn fun.

[also, the sexy reflection mapped title screen made my mouth gape a little]

[Moniker]

Gunstar Super Heroes [GBA].

Why the fuck didn't this sell better?
It's really effing pretty, and it's pretty damn fun.

[also, the sexy reflection mapped title screen made my mouth gape a little]

Probably not too many folks even heard of Gunstar Heroes. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the 'sequel' - the mode7 minigames at the beginning of each stage rub me the wrong way. Sorta like the weird intermediary stages that plague every Contra title.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Skullgirls, Castle Crashers (block button set to the left trigger and none configurable buttons is fucking retarded) Crimson Skies and Jet Set Radio Future on my 360. I started off loving JSRF but some the the stages on the PAL 360 emulation have slowdown which is very bad on 99th street and made even worse with the maze of telephone wire and the camera shaking while riding it making it hard to make out where im going. I think some of the stages are too big and maze like for their own good. (ive just rescued Yoyo so hopefully im finished with 99th street)

[powersoul]

At this moment, im on silent hill 2. Its kinda late at night here, and I'm enjoying everytime my girlfriend starts whimpering everytime an unseen zombie makes some noise.

[Zaarock]

I'm back to playing Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram pretty intensely. The game has been out for three years on XBLA now which is how long I've played it. Getting better and better with Cypher.. one of the best western players of game at least. Still my favorite pvp/fighting game and it works perfectly fine with 360 pad or twin sticks contrary to what some people say about VO. Half of the top japanese players play with pad pretty much.

Too bad the western playerbase is so small + european almost nonexistant and over 80% of american players seem to use the same VR (Temjin) even after all these years which I've never understood because it's not overpowered or anything and has a boring moveset

[Jason X]

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Holy fuck this game is good.



Mmmm, yeah.

Did you actually buy that statue? It's great. I really loved Muramasa. It felt like Vanillaware had finally come into its own with that release. Whereas Odin Sphere had moments of inspiration and genuine heart, it was still too bloated and clumsy for its own good. Muramasa figured out the right balance, and delivered some interesting characters on top of it.

She might be a pure anime trope, but I really liked Momohime.

[shmuppyLove]

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Holy fuck this game is good.

http://figuresquereviews.files.wordpres ... mefull.png

Mmmm, yeah.

Did you actually buy that statue? It's great. I really loved Muramasa. It felt like Vanillaware had finally come into its own with that release. Whereas Odin Sphere had moments of inspiration and genuine heart, it was still too bloated and clumsy for its own good. Muramasa figured out the right balance, and delivered some interesting characters on top of it.

She might be a pure anime trope, but I really liked Momohime.

Nah I just found the pic on the interwebs. I'm sure it's super expensive.

But that's something that I actually wouldn't be embarassed to have on display. Unlike most figures I've seen.

[null1024]

Just got a new phone [the Xperia Play, for $0.99 as an upgrade ], and because of physical buttons, I dumped a ton of emulation stuff on it.

So I'm playing Sonic Pocket Adventure [NGPC].
Pretty fun, it's almost entirely a remake of Sonic 2, the level design is just below the quality of Sonic Advance 1 [which probably had the best designed levels in the Advance series], just reached the last zone, Gigantic Angel [Metropolis Zone level design, Scrap Brain Zone art].

Also, Biomotor Unitron [NGPC].
Silly little RPG. Plot seems pretty thin ["become the UNITRON MASTER"], but it's a nice timesink. It reminds me of Pokemon in a ton of ways, but with a customizable robot.

And lastly, all those great fighting games for the NGPC. Gals Fighters is particularly good -- 60fps, lots of animation frames, fun roster.
Shame the Play's d-pad sucks so much for fighters -- all separate buttons, instead of one unified block. Still, billions of times better than using the touch screen [which is depressingly bad as control, I hope this phone's design catches on].

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Playing Mother 2/Earthbound while visiting friends. My Boyfriend and 'em love reality TV, so bringing a Gameboy along with M1+2 gives me something to prevent my brain from leaking out. I finished Mother 1 without using PSI recently (aside from the couple spots that require Telepathy), working on Mother 2/Earthbound on a No PSI challenge now. A bit tougher to grind as you have to physically chase down enemies, and the really good healing items in Twoson are pizzas (which take forever to acquire since you need to keep ordering them by phone).