Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[FinalBaton]

Faxanadu is cool.I grew up playing it so maybe I'm biased, but I know the game really well, so here's all about it:
The controls are a bit stiff but that's nothing we haven't seen in action games before .
No crouching, but the devs obviously wanted you to use magic spells on those little spikey monsters
You can't rush onto enemies, or they'll jump and land on your head. You gotta be patient, but that's fine with me. Having to display some patience has never taken the fun out of action games for me.

Some stuff I like :
-The color palette conveys the sense of a decayed world really, really well, all the while having a decent amount of saturated tones in there. This is a tour de force I feel like, as many games would just use a shit ton of grey instead (and I hate grey in NES games). The mist realm is a highlight for me in that regard
-Having the weapons and armor show on your sprite is super cool, and a big incentive to grind (who else grinds to get the shield and Death spell near the begining of the game? put your hands up! lol. I definitely do). Not to mention your avatar looks badass with a helm, trident-sword thingy, etc. Always liked that
-The game is a good length. To me it hits a sweet spot of I-wanna-play-an-adventure-game-but-don't-wanna-pour-30-hours-into-it. It's maybe 10 hours? If that. which is perfect for me nowadays.
-I feel like the level design and the difficulty are good. Finding the fountains is fun, and the mist realm is just open enough, with it's branching paths, to make way for exploration without being too daunting.

For me the game is a minor classic. But yeah as I've said, I had it as a kid, so I may be a little biased

[Vanguard]

Nice!
Just subbed to your channel Vanguard.
You crazy

That was absolutely fantastic, really great job, man.

Thanks! Glad y'all liked it.

It was great seeing you use that "unopened chest tactic" you mentioned a few post back (around 10:20), to regain both the silver and gold armous.

Learning how the chests work made a huge difference, it's what made made a one life clear seem realistic. Too bad I lost my armor right away to that bone dragon. Those things are the worst. I find that the backtracking strategy works well on the first checkpoint of stage 4 and both checkpoints in stage 5. In 1-4 in the video I start to backtrack for gold armor, but then decide not to bother because gold armor doesn't make much difference in stage 4 without the psycho cannon.

Also, the part around 10:53 where you go back a little bit, was that to make the bats spawn away from the stairs? If so, that is an awesome tactic, and I'll be sure to use it. I've lost a few times precisely because either the bats themselves, or shooting the item-carrying bats at the wrong time (and place).

Yes, that tactic has saved me a lot of grief. If I remember correctly, my other no miss run had a bunch of wacky weapon mishaps and one of them was that a bat dropped the torch right in the way of the last jump to Beelzebub. So that's what I used against him. I spent much of 2-1 wielding the sword too.

I learned a few things by watching your run, like how you can shoot the 4th boss' two outer hearts from the edge, or how to properly handle Beel.
I also learned that you can shoot the last pig (at 11:15) from above using the knife, without having to descend to where he's at.

One thing to be aware of is that the right edge of the boss is completely safe as long as you shoot the little worms. The left edge is not. The psycho cannon can only hit the second heart from the right from the safe spot if you have gold armor, so I like to take care of that one early.

If you're shooting down on the pig with the psycho cannon, have Arthur face away from him because its down shot reaches further behind him than in front of him. Not that you really need to resort to that with the psycho cannon.

The last bit on the boss of 2-4, where you lose the armour, must have been pretty tense, no?
Other than that, the 2nd loop especially, was pretty much spotless.

Extremely tense, but Dai gets tense every time I take damage. That's one of my favorite things about it. Arthur is pretty fragile but armor pickups are also pretty common. The combined feelings of hope and terror as I run around in my underwear are really nice.

Oh, by the way, you asked about how to damage Beelzebub earlier. I'm not 100% certain but my understanding is that he doesn't take any damage until he has fully reformed. Like when the swarm of flies starts to gather together but he's still grey, he appears to take damage but doesn't.

Question: You finish off that Arremer at 9:35 with one knive. Did you know it would need only one more hit or did you fire just one to duck the sweep? Either way looks badass. *I see now it's part of your tech for the reds. I would not know if it's art, yet I like it.

Yeah, it's just a reasonably safe way to damage them. I still don't really know what I'm doing against Arremers tbh. I rely as much as I can on items that beat them for free like the lightning magic and the psycho cannon.

[FinalBaton]

Ah! looks like I have somehow managed to hold onto the booklet for the Faxanadu copy I had as a kid.

It's pretty beat up, looks like it was falling apart due to heavy use, as made apparent by the staples


There are some really cool illustrations in this one



And all items/armors/weapons/spells have a little drawing of 'em in addition to a (pretty poor but fun)CRT screenshot.

Lol, look at my 8 year old self's writing there. I'm happy that I noted the year back then

[BIL]

Brings back memories, that. As a kid I messed about with my cousin's copy briefly - I seem to recall giving up at the Mattock-guarding boss, having tried the damage race method Strategywiki mentions (bad idea!).

I remember the seemingly nonsensical name ("Famicom Xanadu") really leaping out at me... I wonder if that's why Nintendo left it unaltered for their NA/EU version. Funny to think Faxanadu and Legacy of the Wizard are technically part of the same series, not that Dragon Slayer was ever a particularly close-knit franchise even in Japan. Faxanadu's FC box still sports the "New Type Action Role Playing Game" tagline from the MSX DSII boxart on its top flap, haha.

[FinalBaton]

I've always loved the game. Completed it back then, as made evident by my password. I don't remember how much time it took me to complete exactly.

After a bit I knew that I just HAD to stock up on keys. Like, always carry two (3 is best)of the latest available to you, and amongst that you gotta make sure you always carry 1 Jack key. (except maybe for the very end of the game, when Jack keys aren't needed anymore IIRC)

I personnally had no idea the name meant Famicom Xanadu back in '92! In fact I didn't know what a Famicom was back then. But the name definitely has a cool ring to it, yeah!

Also, looking at the art, I have a feeling that the person who did it is the same one who did the Zelda 1 manual

[BrianC]

Update for Blaster Master Zero is out. New destroyer mode has suicide bullets. Not sure what to think of it yet. It's more challenging, but I'm not sure if it's in a good way. In overhead stages, enemies can only be destroyed with specific weapons.

[BIL]

Also, looking at the art, I have a feeling that the person who did it is the same one who did the Zelda 1 manual

There's a definite resemblance... I wonder. I love the NES Zelda manual illustrations, they always looked like theatrical animation cels to me. I took a quick look around but couldn't find a credit for them. I know Katsuya Terada did a ton of (killer) art for the earlier Zeldas' guidebooks, but I can't quite believe the instruction manual stuff is his. It's got a Disney-esque warmth, where his art has an awesome implied savagery forever encroaching on Link himself. I always traverse Zelda II's cruel world with his illustrations in mind!

Spoiler

^ I really dig the odd expression on the shadow - I love the concept of subtly "wrong" dopplegangers in horror/dark fantasy. His Thunderbird is intense too - having grown up with the mute NES version, I always interpreted that entity as having a certain morbid eminence ala CV's Death, so the Japanese one's screeching surprised me. Terada's version goes a step further, looking like a bestial ambush predator. Even his Cuccos look kinda discomforting tbh!

Speaking of fine sidescroller art I played Lickle and Ninja Gaiden II all evening.



Climbin' walls and bustin' heads.

I like to return to NGII periodically, not for a "back to first principles" refresh ala NG1, but the unique combination of high-velocity treachery platformer and monstrous firepower. The micro swordbox is very annoying and demands inordinate concentration to connect with, but if you're willing to route out stages a bit, you don't need to rely on it much. I've said a few times that I'm not into speedrunning, but do enjoy playing games speedily - this has a lot to offer in that niche. Shame they paywalled the brisk speed, pinpoint-precise movement and screen-raking destruction behind a toothpick primary attack. Better game than I tend to give it credit for in this thread.

[Blinge]

Unff that zeldo art

Faxanadu is definitely on my radar.. somewhere. beep beep.

[dingsbums]

If you guys like Faxanadu you should give Olympus no Tatakai (Battle of Olympus) a look too . A friend of mine had both & I always wanted Olympus no Tatakai (Battle of Olympus) but I never got it .

[FinalBaton]

Yes Dings that's a very cool one

I'm forever grateful that our friends at Brøderbund localized this one over here!

[Sumez]

Battle of Olympus feels like a pretty solid Zelda 2 clone hampered by some really obscure puzzles, awkward controls and cheap boss fights. But I didn't spend enough time with it to be an authority on the subject.

[Stevens]

Speaking of fine sidescroller art I played Lickle and Ninja Gaiden II all evening.

Haven't played NG II since childhood, but that sounds like a fine way to spend the evening.

Still splitting time between Shock Troopers (stage 5 boss), Metal Slug, and Metal Slug X.

[FinalBaton]

It's dead in here(the off-topic forum I mean)
Has been like this for the whole week

[BIL]

I've been busy getting a reasonably watchable NGII no-miss down. Was going to just reupload my EDMANS LABEL run but I've lost the input file, also I wanna chop the cutscenes. Also I want to experiment with frame blending after Dynamite Batman came out looking ridiculous and NGII's a good candidate.

Also also, I have a confession to make. This thread has run for long enough that I feel comfortable discussing it with you guys, but please don't spread it around the forum.

Spoiler

To me, the NG moneybag item has always looked like a potbellied, stick-limbed little ET dude in classic "chillin' on the beach" pose. "lounging on a deck chair and airing out he balls" style.

Glad I finally said that.

Unlike Zelda II, Faxanadu or Legacy of the Wizard, I actually finished Battle of Olympus as a kid. Wayyy too long ago to comment in detail, but I have very fond memories of its overworld and climactic trip to Tartarus, and slight misgivings about a bit of grinding 4 cash. The former outweighing the latter - I must revisit. One of those Famicom games that goes for cheap but doesn't appear often in good nick, at least in the usual places I look. I waited years for a nice CIB Highway Star, goddamn it felt good to finally nab that one.

[Blinge]

Glad I finally said that.

This was the true purpose of the thread wasn't it.

[Stevens]

144 pages of build up lead to E.T. balls out on a beach. Where do we go from here?

[Obiwanshinobi]

In the NES port of Rush'n Attack, it's embarassingly easy to defeat the first stage's final wave of foes by knifing away at them (even without using auto-fire), absent-mindedly as you stand still. This eradicates the one and only incentive to even use its abundant rocket launcher item from the whole opening stage.
Not possible in coin-op Green Beret, nor even the Arcade Advanced version - with its laid-back A.I. - lets you get away with it (so, at the very least - there's that one reason to conserve the flamethrower fuel 'till the stage's end). Poor show on ye poor olde NES, especially considering how adventurous its all-new stage 2 is on the thing.

All the more reason not to badmouth Green Beret's name before you play arcade one, be it emulated (and I'll say it again - a decent keyboard works wonders around the up-for-jump issue; this comes from someone who vastly prefers joypad in about every post-1987-style 2D action/platform game).

[__SKYe]

I've been busy getting a reasonably watchable NGII no-miss down. Image Was going to just reupload my EDMANS LABEL run but I've lost the input file, also I wanna chop the cutscenes. Also I want to experiment with frame blending after Dynamite Batman came out looking ridiculous and NGII's a good candidate.

And I've been mainly playing something that is as far away from this thread's context as possible (apart from the mandatory DaiMakaimura credit, every once in a while): namely Dragon Quest III.
I started this quite a while ago, and only now remembered to continue playing it, and finaly reached Baramos. Was obviously crushed like a bug, though.

To me, the NG moneybag item has always looked like a potbellied, stick-limbed little ET dude in classic "chillin' on the beach" pose. "lounging on a deck chair and airing out he balls" style.

Haha, it really does look like that.
I wonder why they put the little lines at the bottom (the ET legs) on the bag (which I assume are the ends of the white thread), or why didn't they just put a $ sign on the damn thing (since it is the ubiquitous symbol for money), and instead went with something that looks like a weird-ass jar.

In the NES port of Rush'n Attack, it's embarassingly easy to defeat the first stage's final wave of foes by knifing away at them (even without using auto-fire), absent-mindedly as you stand still. This eradicates the one and only incentive to even use its abundant rocket launcher item from the whole opening stage.
Not possible in coin-op Green Beret, nor even the Arcade Advanced version - with its laid-back A.I. - lets you get away with it (so, at the very least - there's that one reason to conserve the flamethrower fuel 'till the stage's end). Poor show on ye poor olde NES, especially considering how adventurous its all-new stage 2 is on the thing.

All the more reason not to badmouth Green Beret's name before you play arcade one, be it emulated (and I'll say it again - a decent keyboard works wonders around the up-for-jump issue; this comes from someone who vastly prefers joypad in about every post-1987-style 2D action/platform game).

I played very little of this game (around the first two levels), and mostly played the GBA port (in Konami Arcade Game Collection), and what I really like about it, is the fact that you can jump with the A button. Makes a damn difference, as jumping with the Up button on a gamepad, like you said, is ridiculous.

With that said, you can also easily take out the 1st stage's final wave with the rocket launcher by letting the enemies get as close to you as possible, and just fire a rocket to take 4~5 enemies at once.

I'm not too familiar with the differences between versions, and haven't really played this game as much as I should have, but I enjoy it. It's like a step up from Kung-Fu Master, with its emphasis in keeping moving forward, and the constant onslaught of enemies from both sides.

[NYN]

Vanguard's 1LC of Mega Man X

Dunno if you posted this yourself, I just picked it from your channel.

It's fun to watch.
The movement is fluent and you're quick on the draw with the buster, while being collected. How you switch 'tween shot, charge and sub (for mid-bosses) is varied. It's like you actually think about the audience, while demonstrating how apt you can play. Some may think doing an all-buster is more impressive, I tend to lean to that it's at some point tedious to watch. Same goes for the pacing.
With your style of play, there're some cool moments in boss-fights. Like dashing between Boomer's teleports or the released dashing charge-shot that finishes off Mandrill, freeze-framed like a picture (Wish you were here).

Thanks for your effort in recording. Certainly enjoyable.

HOW LONG WILL HE KEEP ON FIGHTING? HOW LONG WILL HIS PAIN LAST? MAYBE ONLY THE X-BUSTER ON HIS HAND KNOWS FOR SURE.....

[Squire Grooktook]

It's dead in here(the off-topic forum I mean)
Has been like this for the whole week

I'd post more, but been hella busy for the past few weeks!

Nice!
Just subbed to your channel Vanguard.
You crazy

Make sure you watch my 1lc too!

Some may think doing an all-buster is more impressive, I tend to lean to that it's at some point tedious to watch. Same goes for the pacing.

Yeah, I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, sub-weapons are fun to help blaze through and devestate stages with, but I hate some of the more egregious stunlocks on bosses possible with them (freezing Mandrill over and over again being one of the worst).

One reason why I like X2 the most: there are much less tanky "road block" enemies, and those that are there are positioned in a way that some risky jumps or precise shots can nullify them without having to slow down.

[Vanguard]

I've only played through Faxanadu once and I didn't care for it. The main problem was that I found navigating the game to be obnoxious. I remember there being lots of paths that lead nowhere in particular just to waste your time, and the key system is absolutely terrible. I imagine it'd be much better if I played through with a memorized route. Might have to give it another shot one of these days.

One thing I didn't see mentioned here is how bizarre Faxanadu's leveling system is. Leveling up does three things: it increases your acceleration while moving, it increases the gold you spawn with, and it decreases how long powerups last for. So your character controls like shit until you gain a few levels, but don't go too high or your items will lose much of their usefulness. Warrior and Myrmidon are good stopping points. At high levels you can also spend all your money and then kill yourself to do more shopping, but I don't mind that part.

I like Battle of Olympus. Its combat isn't as good as Zelda 2, but I feel that it's world is generally more fun to explore. Lots of varied environments and cool treasures, like the boots that let you reverse gravity. You can easily travel down the wrong path and find yourself overwhelmed with no warning, but that's all part of the fun. One of my favorite things in RPGs is to get wasted by something totally out of my depth and then plan out my eventual revenge. I think it's one of the less bastardized versions of Greek myths I've seen in modern times, the most egregious change I remember is that Gaea is a mid-level golem monster. Hades actually uses his invisibility helmet! They always forget that!

The olive grinding is stupid and pointless, thankfully it only has to be done, I believe, twice in the entire game. Probably you wouldn't have to grind much at all if you don't die but I wouldn't know because I died all the time in both of my playthroughs.

Some may think doing an all-buster is more impressive, I tend to lean to that it's at some point tedious to watch. Same goes for the pacing.

Yeah, for me low% stuff usually means removing features that make a game fun in exchange for higher difficulty. Which is fine, but I'd rather just play a harder game and make use of all of its features. Some games are exceptions and are clearly better under house-ruled restrictions, like you don't really want to go around farming crystals and crafting recipes in Megaman Zero.

As far as my video goes, I thought a nice compromise was to go buster-only for the first maverick fights, and to freely use special weapons elsewhere. That way I'd have a little more variety in how I could approach the stages and the rematch fights would play out differently than the first matches did. I thought it'd also add a nice cinematic element to the video, where X honorably duels the enemy reploids at first, but after's Zero's death he becomes more pragmatic and brutal.

Make sure you watch my 1lc too!

Just looked this up. That was very nearly a no damage run! I didn't know jumping made Arthur faster, that's good to know.

One reason why I like X2 the most: there are much less tanky "road block" enemies, and those that are there are positioned in a way that some risky jumps or precise shots can nullify them without having to slow down.

I think my favorite thing in X2 is that the arm upgrade's second shot goes through mercy invincibility. I don't know if its that much faster than doing regular charge shots and it's probably a lot slower than using weaknesses, but it feels really good to use. Much better than X1's negligible upgrade, or X3's which is a damn downgrade.

[BIL]

Busy crew checking in! Quick dispatches from the sidescroller bunker

-Ninja Gaiden II's level designers were admirably crazy WRT subweapon switching. It's like they wanted Ninja Spirit's multiweapon system, but had to settle for just the shadows. Tangent! I wonder which game got the idea to blag Gradius's Option shadow mechanic first? Was there an earlier sidescrolling action/platformer with it? I bet Drum (PBUH) would know. 3; Other tangent! I also wonder if this lead to Gun-Dec's Batman-style switching. Yeah I know, Batman would've been a more sensical NGII influence than Ninja Spirit, but shadows!

Regardless, once you know where subweapons are and can effectively switch on the fly, NGII's stages take on an intricate second life; lots of sections where topography and subweapon allowance are clearly operating in sync. With the game's relatively low survival pressure, this can be largely ignored, and indeed that's what I've done up to now. This would've worked a lot better with marked candles ala NGIII, needless to say... as it is you're initially flying blind. As a hardcore fan of the trilogy I've no regrets finally getting to grips with it, though. The more readable NGIII also nerfed the gravity, and never quite manages the rocketing velocity of properly routed NGII. Not that it's meant to anyway, with its leaning towards NG1's harder, relatively conservative action.

One reason why I like X2 the most: there are much less tanky "road block" enemies, and those that are there are positioned in a way that some risky jumps or precise shots can nullify them without having to slow down.

Out of curiosity, on another tangent - have you played Serei Densetsu Lickle/Little Samson (FC/NES; not sure of regional variations, but I'm on the former) ? I've been trying to get into the FC Rockmen again, but as usual, I'm left with the feeling Lickle (from ex-Rockman staff) is the closest I'll get to loving them. It keeps their crisply precise platform/shooting, but otherwise ditches a lot of pace-sapping things that put me off. Roadblock enemies/setpieces for certain - there's an almost total absence of hard stops. It also gives the full set of weapons and mobility boosts from the outset, with unlimited ammo so you're free to experiment. I wish it'd included a bit of the pure lethality seen in the Rockmens' nastiest platforming, and it chickens out by cutscening what would've been a fine Contra III-esque TLB, but these are more tuning issues. Still worth a look for FC Rockman almost-fans, I'd say.

I've only played through Faxanadu once and I didn't care for it. The main problem was that I found navigating the game to be obnoxious. I remember there being lots of paths that lead nowhere in particular just to waste your time, and the key system is absolutely terrible. I imagine it'd be much better if I played through with a memorized route. Might have to give it another shot one of these days.

The key thing straight-up made me drop the game from my want list for a few months. 3; I love unpicking initially convoluted ARPGs into streamlined single-session runs, but yeah, Faxanadu is especially prickish about expensive key items (including Wingboots) being good for one use only. The annoyances definitely smooth out with a little routing, but with the action being so basic that might only go so far.

Incidentally I was trying to recall how this contingent of Zelda II-style ARPGs snuck into my library over the years, and where I picked up this predilection for single-sessioning them. Not that I don't enjoy having them around - I love the change of pace, going from intense "always on" credits to more rambling worlds that don't *entirely* forsake 2D immediacy and peril. Then I remembered, it was consummate flawed gem Metafight with its enormous red herring world and total lack of passwords. So now I play all my longer FC games like that.

[Zaxdar]

Hello all! I am relatively new here and was redirected to this thread upon mentioning my love for games such as Gunstar Heroes, Gunstar Super Heroes, and Hard Corps Uprising.

I recieved one reccomendation for a modern side scroller similar to those, and that was Bleed 2. Does anybody have any other reccomendations for games similar to those 3 in particular?

I have tried some of the more cult classic Contras, but i did not enjoy them as much as i did Hard Corps Uprising. It might have been the artstyle or music, or maybe the fact that Uprising is an Arc system game, but the others didnt seem to click with me

[BIL]

Bit of a long shot (it's hardly obscure, even outside Treasure canon) - have you played Alien Soldier? It doesn't play much like either Gunstar, or any other sidescroller really. But on the off chance you haven't, I notice you named Sin & Punishment a favourite game in the main forum. S&P's a beloved game of mine too, and despite its completely different "Wild Guns meets Panzer Dragoon" genre, I consider it the spiritual sequel Alien Soldier never got. Few action games give me the nonstop sugar rush they do. It definitely has a steeper entry hurdle (the controls, base mechanics and ammo systems all take time, even before getting to the stages and bosses), and it's a deliberately extreme love/hate game by nature, but I'll always vouch for its quality from a technique-obsessive destruction junkie standpoint.

If it's any help, here's a quick AS system primer I wrote up some time back (edit: no game spoilers, just the basics re weapon selection & ammo). If you do give it a go and have any questions not covered there, just ask!

Uprising seems to sharply divide players - unfortunately I'm yet to try it (I pile all my available time & resources into 8-32bit stuff at the moment 3; ), but I've enjoyed watching the debate. Sounds like something I could enjoy at the least, I like sidescrollers with lots of movement options ala Hagane (SFC).

[Zaxdar]

Damn, i very much appreciate that response!

Sin & Punishment is for sure an all time favorite of mine, and i wasnt aware there were any games remotely similar to it other than its sequel. I dont think the entry hurdles/learning curve is going to throw me off, as when i first played S&P i absolutely sucked at it until i got the mechanics, so i at least have a good idea of what to expect.

Looking at screenshots of AS, visually this game seems to remind me a lot of gunstar heroes. The fact that it is developed by treasure is a big plus for me, every game ive played from them has become a favorite, bar maybe the Bangai-O games (good, just not great imo). Im adding that game to the top of my shmup backlog for sure.

I wouldnt ever agrue that Uprising is better than some of the classic contra titles, as I havent played them enough to judge, however I am a big fan of the anime makeover that Arc systems gave the game :p.

Its a shame it might be lost to time in a couple years if it never gets a pc port, along with dozens of other 360 exclusive shumps/side scrollers

[FinalBaton]

I guess knowing the path helps a ton in Faxanadu. I personnally know the game pretty well so I know where to use the wing boots, and when I should stock up on keys X and Y. As well as where to go.
But for someone who plays the game for the first time.... I understand how that can be frustrating.

[BIL]

Knowing how to "game the system" (ie exploit the handful of randomly item-generating rooms) for extra Wingboots really helps too, I think. I actually kinda like stocking up on a second pair in the Joker Key chapel's room before leaving the Root dungeon, so I don't need to bother buying a second pair for the Mist area. Then nabbing that pair just outside the Black Onyx dungeon, so I can quickly nip back to town and restock before heading into Branch.

Gawd I'm glad I actually picked this game up before it sold out, this time around. Ain't for everyone but it was fo me

Meant to post this fanart earlier btw, I think it captures the KIIILL FRENZEH of a well-timed Ointment spawn well ;3 (click for full res)

[Vanguard]

The dialogue box is what sells it.

[FinalBaton]

Holy shit! that fan art is amazeballs

[dunpeal2064]

Finally buckled down and finished Contra 3 on Normal. Feels great, as this was the first arcade-like game I ever played, and my RPG-laden eyes thought this game was near impossible.

Insanely good game, easily the best run 'n gun I've played so far. The very small amount of downtime (Namely Stage 1, and Stage 3's wall climb) don't grate much, since the set pieces they take place in are still bitchin. The rest of Stage 3, as well as Stages 4 and 6, are just balls out. Some of the best video gaming action I've had.

I feel like I have the game almost down enough to go for a no-miss. There are two trouble points for me. The Stage 5 boss feels easy, but sometimes I just can't stop myself from spinning like an idiot. Every now and then the trigger will lock me in place and its cake, but most of the time it just changes my spin speed (or direction) slightly. The 2nd-to-last boss always gets a hit in on me too, can't seem to figure out how to lead those heads into a spot where they don't smack me.

Iirc, this game's Hard difficulty is supposed to actually be solid, and not just a "Boost enemy HP/Fire Rate" affair? If so I might move my efforts there, rather than try a no-miss on Normal.