NES Recommendations (very specific)

[BIL]

Why is there no love for Contra Force? I just started playing it but it seems to be good so far. Sure it has too much slowdown and the scrolling is kind of wonky. But Conta is too easy and Super C is way too easy. I think I like Contra Force the best out of the NES Contras.

You know I forgot that game existed. It had a killer name too before it got rebadged for maximum big bucks. ARC HOUND. Sounds like something that spends its Sundays buzzing cows with FLAME VIPER and BUSTER LIZARD. I remember disliking it for some reason but it's been years. I still remember the excellent stage 1 BGM but Konami rarely ever put a foot wrong there.

Agreed on both "real" NES Contras' lack of teeth, though I still find them fun as hell especially with company. Shame they don't loop up significantly at all - the FC version of the original even keeps track of the current loop by upping the number of flags on the ending's extraction choppahhh, but it's a waste of time if you're expecting a challenge. I looped Super C like four times and couldn't tell if it had changed at all.

Little thing that annoys the hell out of you Gaiden: so many NES exclusives unavailable on FC.

[Ed Oscuro]

I always felt there was something missing in the NES Contras. I'd rather play the arcade games, even though those aren't perfect they definitely have some good points. Super Contra arcade has got some good stuff going on that couldn't be ported to the NES, even if you cut out the animation and background details it doesn't seem likely it would handle the terror-frying Very Hard looped difficulty level.

I played Contra Farce a few years back...it's not good. It's not even like Castlevania 2, which would be perfectly acceptable and even commendable for its innovations, besides the small missteps here and there (i.e. the goddamned illusionary floors, and the generally nasty stage design in the mansions, and also the rather sloppy design in some other places, especially all those mostly empty screens off to the east near the endgame; poor pacing but I can forgive it and it even gives the game a unique feeling).

[BIL]

When their powers combine, typically after playing them back to back, Super Contras AC ("JUST FUCKEN SHOOT FFS") and FC ("Look, platforming!") make me wish the port had been an original home project. Its AC-derived levels are so pointless and weinerfied without the floor-shaking explosions, masses of onscreen enemies and hyperdetailed damage effects, but the original ones are pretty great. Occasional cargo elevator aside. *klaxon* *klaxon*

If Castlevania II had decent level designs for each mansion (nothing fancy like CVIII's towering opuses, just similar short, sweet affairs to the first game), it would be one of those annoying NES-exclusive carts that I want on FC. I could even forgive the werewolf wanking for cash. What bugs me is the feeling, reminiscent of Lament of Innocence, that the dungeons were in fact designed with an etch-a-sketch. >_<

[Ed Oscuro]

Yeah, the cargo elevator is the point where I just toss the NES game aside, usually. You have to appreciate the overtime-friendly layout of that elevator, too. It's like you need a full complement of workers just to constantly push the cargo back and forth so it doesn't get smashed by the bulkheads constantly slicing past.

I did like that jungle stage. Cover art is damn great too. Man, that's one thing Konami never did wrong. They gave us fuckin' stupid name and dumbed-down backstories, as understood by chimp on LSD scribbling on the back of a dissolving kewpie doll's head in felt marker, most of the time - but then they went through the trouble of hiring a Boris Vallejo-caliber artist (or even better; things like the Castlevania 3 and IV box arts arguably have aged better than Vallejo works might, and even Contra Force has a respectable cover which does more justice than the game is worth, even capturing that lovably fruity flavor of the game's flamboyant, and likely flatulent cast headed by "Beans") when most companies said "fuck it, it's called Vice: Project Doom, there's a chick, a dude, and some girders. It'll sell."

Super Contra AC on that hardest setting (alas, the ranked-up second play is only available in the Japanese version, as far as I can tell) is as much about jumping at the precise moment as it is about shooting. It's nuts.

What I would like to see is something with a bit of Genocide 2's design ethic, maybe a bit of its combat, in a CVII-alike with proper level sections. Add in some kind of upgrading hub and you've got the jet-fueled mech answer to the Igavanias.

[BIL]

Beans is the other thing I recall besides the stage 1 BGM and slowdown. That moniker (hard-earned, surely) and his smug portrait didn't make a good impression at all, but it was certainly a lasting one.

"Dare?"

*parp*

"Hooo... kore wa Beanzu-kun..."

[Ed Oscuro]

I think the 2007 gallery for Contra 4 also includes a shot of the first boss's terrifyingly cartoonish face looking up at the camera for a moment as he falls over. This, roughly:


Well, there's a new Contra Force in town. Biru wa kawaii desu uguuu~

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Just finished Contra Force. I think the first two stages are pretty good. Stage 3 is okish. The last stage is a total clusterfuck. They were trying to create an intense chase scene and failed miserably. The last boss was lame. Boring patter and does the old take a million hits to die trick. I think the game starts off pretty good though, it just trails off considerably from there.

[Ed Oscuro]

Which stage has the brass pulverizers factory? That doesn't leave good memories.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Those are in the first stage. They had me fooled at first. I thought they had to be dodged castlevania style, but all you have to do is shoot them at the top.

[BIL]

I think the 2007 gallery for Contra 4 also includes a shot of the first boss's terrifyingly cartoonish face looking up at the camera for a moment as he falls over.

I knew I'd seen that boss somewhere more recently.

[BrianC]

Little thing that annoys the hell out of you Gaiden: so many NES exclusives unavailable on FC.

Not to mention games that are only on FDS in Japan.

As far as NES exclusives go, I need to play Mission Impossible more, since I like what I played of it and I have the cart. I also plan to pick up Lone Ranger.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Rollergames is pretty great. Really unique game. I was trying to get past stage 3-2 for hours yesterday.

[evil_ash_xero]

Man, I am pissed.

After slaving away at Ninja Gaiden III's "Easy Hack", which is supposed to make it like the Japanese version, only in English...I realize the JP version has way more checkpoints. I worked on that last fucking stage over and over. And I could not figure out how I could possibly make it through the last stage, and then the last 3 forms of the last boss, on just 3 credits.

Well, turns out I don't have to. Whoever made this hack, needs to work on the fucking checkpoints. Epic fail, dude.

[Mortificator]

Yes, I found that out when I played through the game a few months ago. The ROM hack also fails to change the item orb contents back to those of the Japanese version, which generally gives you better goodies. Like I said in that post, though, I think the hacked version's difficulty is a fortunate accident. It took a lot of tries to make it through the last stage, but if I didn't want to strive mightily against 2D hell, I wouldn't play Ninja Gaiden.

[BIL]

Just goes to show, ain't nothin' quite as weineriffic as the genuine Ninja Ryukenden III! I hope it's worth mad ca$h someday.

Hilarious fact: the game was deliberately toned down for Japan and pumped up for the US. How about just ignoring public perception and doing whatever you want like in the first two games, you Tecmo fucks?! :[ This is why Raiden turned out to be such a blubbering pussy in MGS2! (and believe me, I don't call an orphaned former child soldier with congenital feathered look a blubbering pussy lightly!)

[Obiwanshinobi]

Having revisited MGS2 lately, I think it was like that: Snake is the same kind of video game character as Duke Nukem (someone called the latter "a bag of one-liners"). Both are patterned upon Hollywood action heroes from the eighties that makes me think both are quite satyrical.
Raiden seems meant to be a Dragon Quest-like "neuter" character given the gift of speech out of a sudden. He is not of Metal Gear world.

[BIL]

Plus he's a blubbering pussy specifically designed for maximum mannequinesque bishie appeal.

Dave: "Interesting codename."

Jack: "Better than the boring one my parents gave me!"

Maybe he is Nic Cage's character from Teh Rock.

The Guy on Hybrid Heaven's cover, now there's an angry young man I can get behind. (bahahaha!)

[Obiwanshinobi]

After Dead or Alive love dolls and their copycats, Raiden's appearance was just a thing of parity.
I have no clue what Silent Bomber dude speaks in Japanese, but he looks the type too.

[BIL]

Should he have strutted around in Kasumi's garter stockings as well? :/ There are all sorts of explanations for Raiden's poofy, whiny MGS2 incarnation, just like there are for NGIII's wildly disparate regional balancing, but they don't help the end result. You can have an attractive young male character with a tragic personal history without going to either unfortunate extreme. Here's one from the same year+company! And come to think of it, if you ladies (or gents) don't have anything against slightly more experienced chaps, here's another!

Jutah's a stock "SECRETLY EMOTIONAL ULTIME SOLDIER" in a patently ludicrous game about Bomberman VS his arch-rival Suicide Bomberman, yet he's Dirty Harry in comparison to Jakku-kun (plus, bowl cut > feathered look!). Amusingly in MGS4 & MGR Raiden pretty much is Jutah - backtrackin' at the speed of light!

edit: Of course misjudgement is something MGS2 has trouble with in general. Jack's just one casualty of several.

Dave: "What's the matter Hal?"

Hal: "Dave... this one time I was doing my MILFy stepmom while my little sister was drowning in the pool. And I finished!"

Dave: "Hal you're an animal." Hal: "I know!" Both: "Wahahaha!"

[Obiwanshinobi]

I think the real Bomberman is a robot, but stories in Bomberman games are a different topic altogether. On a side note, the Japanese voice acting in Saturn Bomberman grates more than Raiden ever did. It is wanton.

[Ed Oscuro]

Is Raiden a serial killer with problems wetting the bed, or is he the reincarnation of a Japanese God? We report, you decide!


Dagnabit, the teevee ain't workin again...get over there and fiddle with the bunny ears again.

*puke*

[BIL]

"No Kojima-san, I don't think we can approve of a nude torture minigame called 'Jack The Stripper,' no matter how clever the double entendre or use of the Dual Shock 2 may be. What? Yes, naked cartwheeling may be an acceptable compromise."

[evil_ash_xero]

Quick question.

How hard is Ninja Gaiden II compared to I? I just beat II a while back, and kept thinking back to that episode of AVGN where he looked like he was going to die from trying to beat the first one. I didn't have much trouble with II or (the Japanese version) of III. To be completely honest though, if it didn't have checkpoints after you beat a form of the last boss, I would probably still be stuck a bit.

[BIL]

The bulk of NG1 (Acts I-V of six) is probably about even with NG2. You have way less firepower (no shadows, less subweapons and less ammo for them) and limited wall movement, but enemy placements and level designs aren't as extreme, so it balances out. If you have to, you can learn to keep the jump slash subweapon and mow through just about any tight spot. Hold down while jumping to attack normally and save ammo, if you end up using this approach.

Where NG1 is more difficult than 2 is in its handling of deaths at the boss rush. NG2 and NG3 don't give you any health back upon reaching the rush, nor between rounds, but they both moderate the knockback so you only end up at the start of the last stage. NG1 refills your health upon arriving and after each boss, but dying kicks you back to the start of the act, with three stages between you and the end. Bosses you've killed do still stay dead, but it won't be as easy to brute force your way through. In fact you should consider learning Act VI part and parcel with beating the three bosses. If you're bad at Act VI, you'll have an awful time struggling through it every time you die at the rush.

There's also a certain infamous chokepoint at 6-2 whose difficulty is unparallelled by anything in NG2. Just think your way through it, twitch improv alone won't work consistently. Or make it there with the jump slash from 6-1, voila.

Getting a bit more in-depth, NG1 is a harder one credit clear since it has no score extends (NG2 does, and gives tons). NG2 is a harder one life clear since it's much more aggressive with instant pit deaths, and the boss rush doesn't hand out life refills. NG3US is harder than either, NG3JP is easier than all.

(the Japanese and US versions of both NG1 and NG2 are identical, besides textual differences)

[evil_ash_xero]

I see.

It's nice to play some games that have some difficulty. I've been frustrated lately. Other than Dark Souls and Platinum, it seems like no one wants to bring any kind of challenge anymore.

I beat Bucky O'Hare last night. What a sick little bitch! I got used to it's "each screen is a death trap", and started to have some fun with it. It's kind of funny, because I was reading a walkthrough(I got stuck on those mechanical wheel puzzles in the ship), and it was talking about how hard the "Escape!" section was. Luckily, as an avid shmupper, that was one of the easier times I had in the whole game.

Got to work on Mega Man 3 now. I'm so bad at these games, for some reason.

[evil_ash_xero]

Just started playing Metal Storm. I hate the use of color in the game(reminds me of Recca, where the there's too few colors...and why the hell is my mech ORANGE?), but the actual sprites are nice, and the game is really cool.

Anyone know how much a boxed Japanese copy tends to go for on Ebay? Is it cheaper than the U.S. version?

[BrianC]

Just started playing Metal Storm. I hate the use of color in the game(reminds me of Recca, where the there's too few colors...and why the hell is my mech ORANGE?), but the actual sprites are nice, and the game is really cool.

Anyone know how much a boxed Japanese copy tends to go for on Ebay? Is it cheaper than the U.S. version?

I'm curious too. I'm not sure if it has any differences aside from the colors of the mech being much better, but that change to the US version perplexes me.

[evil_ash_xero]

You know, I actually didn't know the JP version had different colors! I just thought it was like that.

I'm playing the JP rom now, and a good number of things are colored differently. I prefer this overall, just for the mech being white, with a orange cockpit.

[BrianC]

Last I have seen the JP Metal Storm on ebay, price seemed comparable to the current price of the US version, if not cheaper, but I don't see it often and haven't for awhile.

[evil_ash_xero]

Like around 200 or 300?