What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Marc]

I was just browsing XBL and saw a new game called Wrecked Revenge, with a logo bearing a striking similarity to PS2's Mashed. It turns out to be a proper sequel and I am now DLing and hoping that it's anything like as good as the original.

[iconoclast]

Picked up the Devil May Cry HD collection, because Gamestop is selling it early. I'm starting with DMC1, since I haven't touched that game in ages. It's still fun, though I'll always hate key-fetching/backtracking/puzzles in my action games. Those sections just get in the way of the fun part (the combat). It looks really nice too, seems like they did a good job with the ports.

So many action to play lately.

[BIL]

I never understood just how euphoric this game was among run-and-guns until I became a grown-ass man. All the enemies just seem so happy to be there, and even happier to explode in glorious tongues of flame. I'm in love again.

[JBC]

I never understood just how euphoric this game was among run-and-guns until I became a grown-ass man. All the enemies just seem so happy to be there, and even happier to explode in glorious tongues of flame. I'm in love again.

I gained a higher appreciation for it recently too. Seriously one of the best Contras.

[Ruldra]

King of Dragons 1cc get!



I'm really surprised at how powerful the wizard is. His attacks are absurdly strong at pointblank range, he can down bosses in no time. Then you get the multi-hit staves and you can just kill enemies from afar. His defense starts really weak at first, but later it gets as strong as the cleric.

After you get familiar with the game, there's no reason to play as anyone but the wizard. He's just too good.

[BIL]

Congrats on the 1CC! I love Capcom belt scrollers even though I can't play any to save my life. Clearing most of the ones I've tried seems pretty out of the question for now.

[BIL]

No-missed the "Alien-infested base full of giant cocks" route in Hard Corps. Two down, three to go! (if you count the deranged secret stage) Man, that was surprisingly intense. Shadow Beast Kimkou did its bullet rain attack, which like every one in the game is random as hell, and the alien heart's "9000MPH skipping rope of brutal death" pattern never feels safe.



The art design in this stage is some of my favourite on the Mega Drive. It's so colourful yet horrific. Aliens eating each other! And Michiru Yamane is in full wicked force.

edit: oh wow, no-missed the "Bahamut tries alien dick steroids" route too! This is turning into one super-productive evening!



How did I never get the DRACULA REFERENCE (I always thought watching a castle collapse into a forest was jarringly un-Contra). Simonbot and his pumpin' BGM Simon 1994RD aren't the only nods!

[null1024]

Garou garou garou garou garooooouuuuu!
Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

Getting way too good at doing supers during startup animations and right before they land. My opponents are like, "la-dee-da, gonna hit you-OHSHITGETTINGASSAULTED".
It feels sooooo gooooood.
Yay for Hotaru and her sexual abuse super, where she mounts you and breaks your neck. Doubly good if done at P level.

[Marc]

Holy shit, Ridge Racer Unbounded is HARD.

[Ghegs]

Holy shit, Ridge Racer Unbounded is HARD.

I've been curious, does Unbounded have a good ol'-fashioned time attack mode? For practicing and improving your time on a single track just for the fun of it?

[Marc]

I've only fired it up once as of yet, but not that I'm aware of, though it's not really that type of game tbh.

[Ruldra]

This is a really old game that's sitting in my computer for ages:



Freeware strategy RPG by Falcom. Great game but very, very hard - the AI here is pretty much flawless. Battles toward the end can last for hours. During my previous playthrough with the Thief 5-6 years ago, I had a fight last for 2 hours and I still lost. Got so pissed off I deleted my savegame and never touched it again since.

Despite its rage-inducing moments, it's a very good game. Let's see how far I can get with the Ranger.

If you're interested, check it out: http://www.falcom.co.jp/vantage/index_e.html

[iconoclast]

Going back to Ninja Gaiden II now. The survival missions really show why the combat in this game is absolutely peerless. You have to deal with wave after wave of aggressive enemies, a battle with Fiend Genshin at the end of each loop, no healing items, one weapon, Final Destination. And it even has a good scoring system! One of the best god damn games ever created.

Now that I'm done gushing, I'm going to try and improve some of my scores. I've fallen pretty far down the leaderboard since I last played (I'm now in the 30-40s, for the most part), so I've got some work to do. The highest legit scores in this game are absolutely incredible as well. Just as impressive as any WR score in a shooter to me.

[null1024]

Pushmo [3DS] and Mighty Switch Force[3DS].

Mighty fine games. Although, Pushmo's tutorial is way too effing long -- an 18 stage tutorial for such a simple game? What the fuck.
Mighty Switch Force has some pretty pixel art, and it's pretty fun.

[JBC]

Strider and Osman, back to back.

[drauch]

Strider and Osman, back to back.

Nnnnnnnnice!

[NTSC-J]

I just beat Dead of the Brain on PCE. It's the first adventure/point-and-click-style game I've played all the way through and I enjoyed it for the most part, but man there is some heinous stuff in this game. I expected gory zombies, but wasn't prepared for women getting raped and butchered and strung up from the ceiling.

[drauch]

Dead of the Brain is probably the game I want to play most but can't. There have been a few sub groups in the works for years, but at this point it's probably never going to happen. I'm trying to learn the language, but it'll certainly be awhile.

[NTSC-J]

The Japanese is fortunately pretty easy, with the only tricky parts being some text that scrolls too fast that you can't go back to. It also helps that the story is one cliche after another and seems to have been conceived by a couple of stoned teenaged virgin boys, so even a rudimentary understanding of the language should be sufficient.

Seriously, in the middle of plotting how to survive the zombie apocalypse with the other survivors, one of the female characters asks if you would grant her the pleasure of sharing her bed while your girlfriend is off trying to get supplies. Classy!

[Illyrian]

After watching both seasons of The Walking Dead I picked up Dead Island on Steam.

It's actually rather good.

[BIL]

Woopwoopwoop, got the "NEVAR 4GET / THE HARD CORPS BLUES" route no-miss. Probably the shortest and easiest route in Hard Corps, although the nutty professor's extend-o-rods pattern can cause some worries if you don't have a plan worked out.



Something that bugs me a little is, in the JP version all player characters have their own lines. In the US one they just take turns reading off the same script. In the PAL one there are all sorts of retarded changes to scrub out naughty, naughty things like TERARISM and DEAD PEOPLE, so no luck there. I wish there was a fan translation ala Assault Suits Valken's.

[Marc]

Watching the other half play Silent Hill Downpour. It's bland, by-the-numbers and soulless it's painful. I'm gonna 2 for the Xbox and play that through again.

[JBC]

Watching the other half play Silent Hill Downpour. It's bland, by-the-numbers and soulless it's painful. I'm gonna 2 for the Xbox and play that through again.

No one will ever do a Silent Hill like Team Silent. It's best to look away before you ruin your memory of the original 4. When they announced that Korn would be on the ST of Downpour I knew it was time to give up on it.

Anyway, I started on Capcom's unofficial Jet Pack Hero trilogy. I finished Section Z and did okay but will have to credit feed on SideArms: Hyperdyne. The game is insanely hard for me. I like how it's Capcom's answer to Gradius, visually. Some stages are borderline ripoffs in level design but I think it's kind of cool.

I really only wanted to go through these two so I'd know what led to Forgotten Worlds, which is freakin' awesome. I couldn't even begin to describe all the things that I think make it so great. It's another one of those properties it's a shame Capcom has all but forgotten about, right next to Varth, Chariot, and Legendary Wings.

Strider and Osman, back to back.

Nnnnnnnnice!

I like to make a day of it with soda and chips sometimes After another few playthroughs I'm planning on creating a comprehensive comparison thread. There don't seem to be any websites out there that focus on just these two entries, but they go together so well.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I was watching a Youtube walkthrough of Downpour, it seems there's rather a lot of "run down the corridor from thing trying to kill you" segments, I imagine that gets old in a hurry. There was one in SH2 but it was only a pain on higher difficulties because you actually had to hit Pyramid Head a few times to get Maria to the end, or the one in SH3 where you had to avoid smacking into walls (most annoying part of the game easily) and the damage corridor in the tunnels after the subway that shows up in Extra which is actually less annoying.

Edit: oh god I have lost track of all the running from scary thing sequences, there are so many

What the fuck, does Murphy have narcolepsy or something? What is up with him falling unconscious all the goddamn time? I mean seriously, you can direct a person from place to place in survival horror games than constantly contriving thinly-veiled excuses to knock the protagonist unconscious just to move him elsewhere.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Panzer Dragoon Zwei with a 3D Pad. It's no Omega Boost, but after S&P2 it feels good to revisit that cul-de-sac of a genre.

[ratikal]

Ah man, Hard Corps is so rad. I played that over winter break. I like the JP version because of the health. I think it was a dumb idea to remove it in the US version. The memorization nature of the game really allows for some cheap deaths and quick game overs without a chance to experiment.

But lately, I've been playing League of Legends. My buddies got me really into it and I main Taric and Shen. I'm trying to get better with an attacker, but offensive roles don't come as naturally to me...

[Ghegs]

I've only fired it up once as of yet, but not that I'm aware of, though it's not really that type of game tbh.

That's a bummer, time attacks are the main reason attracting me to arcade racers. Any campaign mode is just there to open up the tracks and cars to use in time attack.

[jepjepjep]

Strider and Osman, back to back.

Nnnnnnnnice!

Awesome. Strider and the real Strider 2. My two favorite action platforming games.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

That's a bummer, time attacks are the main reason attracting me to arcade racers. Any campaign mode is just there to open up the tracks and cars to use in time attack.

It sounds like you'd like Outrun 2006; the time attack mode in that actually loops the track at the end of each checkpoint if you turn left when you're time attacking a single segment so you can keep racing it without having to reset the track or anything (no interruption in racing due to a menu). Also gives you tons of options like racing tracks reversed/backwards, not to mention all the tracks from both Outrun 2 and Outrun 2 SP are in it.

I'm not fond of the XBLA Outrun Online Arcade though, since it cut out 15 tracks (Outrun 2 course is missing). Not even sure if it's still up for download.

edit: and I see from your youtube channel you've obviously played it, derp

[Ed Oscuro]

Played some Blood Bros. in MAME, looking for the board actually.

Seems odd to be spending so much hate on that little tin can with all those bad guys around. 450K and 2-4, though I didn't make it to the boss this time.