Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[FinalBaton]

MD Rolling Thunder 2 is cool with me. Diverges significantly from the arcade (IIRC it actually adds a few things?), but in its own right it has the immediacy, ruthlessness and tactical intensity you'd expect of the series. I got it with MD Phelios in a nice package deal, but where I quickly grew disappointed in the latter's slack pace, the former is lethal from the word go. Superb 2P co-op experience too, fits the series' methodical style like a glove.

Also, in-house sound test band.



("Across The Tube" is coool - AC ver has suave keys and a murderfaced bassline, MD ver goes for a spacier effect... actually, pardon the godawful pun, it reminds me of Space Harrier II's trippy yet gallant space-pop. Early excellence from Ayako Saso)

That band on the sound test screen is badass! Gotta love Namcot

Looks like RT2 is very much worth playing, thanks Sumez and BIL

[Sumez]

I had no idea that was Ayako Saso. Man, that remix she did for Futari was the real stuff...

[FinalBaton]

Dayyyym... the YM2612 version kills.

EDIT : the track right after is incredible


EDIT 2 : had Dustin's Battle Mania Daiginjō rip cued right after RT2. Hot dayyyym

[BrianC]

I wonder what game started that sound test band thing. I have seen it in various other games, as well. A couple of the Game and Watch Gallery games have a similar sound test, if I remember correctly.

[BIL]

Gotta love Namcot (I know they had dropped that name by then, but I'll always credit Namco home console ports to "Namcot" )

Japan MD ver is still Namcot - even has their usual "Namcot for Sega Mega Drive" intro. Always thought that was really classy - see also Soul Calibur DC's "Namco for Sega Dreamcast" intro screen. Like they're politely reminding everyone that Namco is an arcade legend, but for this special occasion they'll grace your console with their presence.

I think they kept the "Namco Home EntertainmenT" thing pretty far into the 16bit era, at least in Japan. Got a fair number of later MD and SFC games bearing the logo. Splatterhouse Part 3 spruces it up with its signature eerie ethereal glow effect:



With their FC stuff, I still get a kick out of seeing the name in my library. I don't think they used it at all in NTSCU territories, so growing up I'd assumed Namcot were a strictly European branch, like Konami's PALcom - only ever saw either on visits to family in Europe. Had no idea until relatively recently that the name was in fact straight from Japan itself, and extremely prolific there too.

Tangentially, anyone else like Konami's "ULTRA" label? It's so X-TREEEM and 80s, and I felt kinda proud of myself for twigging as a little kid that they were Konami games in disguise.

EDIT 2 : had Dustin's Battle Mania Daiginjō rip cued right after RT2. Hot dayyyym

Coincidentally another great MD soundtrack with its own on-screen band.

[FinalBaton]

Yeah I edited my post after seeing that it was actually branded Namcot! I had assumed it was a Namco one Splatterhouse 2 is branded Namco so I thought Megadrive games around that year dropped the label. But it looks like they never even adopted that name here in the first place, eh? So I can't rely on NA carts to determine this, it looks like

Like they're politely reminding everyone that Namco is an arcade legend, but for this special occasion they'll grace your console with their presence.

That's too funny

With their FC stuff, I still get a kick out of seeing the name in my library. I don't think they used it at all in NTSCU territories, so growing up I'd assumed Namcot were a strictly European branch, like Konami's PALcom - only ever saw either on visits to family in Europe. Had no idea until relatively recently that the name was in fact straight from Japan itself, and extremely prolific there too.

Same, I love seeing "NAMCOT" enbossed in Famicom carts! always thought that was so cool. Namcot sounds so damn cute for some reason!

And I had never thought about it, but "Ultra" indeed sounds like Konami went all Edge Lord on our asses

[BIL]

Yeah I edited my post after seeing that it was actually branded Namcot! I had assumed it was a Namco one

I think that counts as a two-way ninja edit, like Yoshimitsu taking down the enemy by running himself through.

EDIT: Now I'm wondering where I got the notion that Namcot was also their European label - from a quick search, it doesn't seem to have been used outside of Japan at all. I suspect I saw a few import games on the racks at my cousins' local gamestore... the PAL regions were always cool like that BITD, they got screwed left and right by shitty/non-existent localisation and just went "FUCK EM" like Rambo at the end of Rambo III! Recently got a kick out of an ancient Mean Machines reviewing the then-new and never-to-leave Japan Twinkle Tale and Eliminate Down, haha.

Come to think of it, Splatterhouse Part 3 was one of those imports that'd never see official European release but got a massive spread in MegaTech anyway. I always liked that guerilla approach.

[FinalBaton]

Come to think of it, Splatterhouse Part 3 was one of those imports that'd never see official European release but got a massive spread in MegaTech anyway. I always liked that guerilla approach.

That's cool, I don't think I've ever seen japanese carts here growing up. Peeps in Vancouver seemed to had access to quite a decent amount of jp imports though. At least that's what I heard.

[Skykid]

I recently put in an offer on RT2 which was refused in eBay. But then I probably shouldn't attempt to buy anything there anyway. My collecting days are better off remaining dead though, or else I end up like a crack addict for gamez and live month by month on no actual saveable/investible income, and that's not a way to live. I've hoarded enough.

So I think flash cart investment is the way to go, and that's probably how I'll sample RT2. In answer to the question I rarely invest time into emulated stuff that I don't own, with the odd exception, because I'm weird like that. But on a flashcart I think I could find a halfway house. I've sampled RT2 and it seems as snazzy as the original (although I prefer the 60s stylings of RT) and it's probably a solid game. Not sure if it's a 2 looper or as punishing as the OG tho.

[drauch]

RT2 rules. I've always loved the American cover: "A day out of the office and straight into Egypt"

Spoiler

[kitten]

Interesting coincidence! I was revisiting the FC version not long ago myself, along with that of another infamous licensed NES sidescroller, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Both have subtle differences (primarily to do with level order) which made me wanna investigate, despite having few positive memories of them from childhood rentals.

Suffice to say Predator fared MUCH better than the genuinely busted-to-fuck Hyde. Nothing I'd rave over, but I liked the knowing meanness of its platforming - that scorpion in the first stage ain't no Gimmick zako, but the way he'll slowly but surely find his way down the footholds to you via gravity and homing AI alone is just precious. The physics are undeniably slippery, but they felt appropriately matched to the action for the most part. Unfortunately the copy I was looking at was pretty pricey for what it was, so I left it after five (small mode) stages in. I'm a fan of KLON's Devil Hunter Yoko MD sidescroller, could definitely sense a bit of the same edgy talent here.

i didn't know they did yohko until looking at that list i linked, a couple days ago (i think i'd read it long ago, but not made the mental connection). i've been trying to pick that up since you recommended it earlier in the year (i've also been looking to pick up dahna, which i'm fully prepared to be disappointed by and know what i'm getting myself into), but an opportune auction never matches up with when i've got a proxy shipment going. it's a pretty contested and rarely listed little game that keeps having little flares in price, but i'm confident i'll get it for under 6k if i play the waiting game.

i've played the nes jekyll & hyde up to its good ending, but never given the fc version a shot to see the differences. i found the game, as a whole, was... surprisingly playable? i think the AVGN episode from ages ago cemented its view in the eyes of popular gaming as one of the worst games of all time, but it's quite frankly probably not even in the bottom one hundred on the famicom. that's not to mention that it's better than most western games released for the console and not even that weird or difficult once you understand the basic rules & mechanics. still utter kusoge and nothing i'd recommend, but it's so easy to do so much worse.

edit: and oh god, the stat bar calling the grenade "PINE" Technically not Engrish, or even inaccurate assuming Ahnuld is indeed rocking vintage frags, but marvelously offbeat regardless.

you've also got the "Mc.Gun," which is funny in its own right. given the oddly proper grammar, "pine," and tone-deaf usage of dutch saying "whomever," i have to seriously wonder if it was localized by a native japanese who was in his final year of an english writing class or something. it feels ever so subtly off in the way a native english speaker would not screw up.

i feel like if predator had been a bit more polished that it could have been something genuinely decent, but there's some basic stuff that kinds sucks the wind out. i mean, why do you need to fight that predator sub-boss who just jumps in place while you shoot him a dozen times so many times over the course of the game? why is your punch unable to be performed while crouched, even though most enemies are beneath its hitbox (this could have been interesting, tbh, but definitely just felt like a weird & arbitrary restriction)?

still an interesting little title, regardless, though! i doubt we're the only two people here invested in the famicom enough to get something out of it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

in other news! i've got another recording up:

teenage mutant ninja turtles II: the arcade game (nes) - solo 1cc

this has basically been the year of me starting to grasp and understand belt scrollers a lot better with getting multiple 1cc's under my belt, and TMNT II had long remained one that i'd considered in the mess of brain dead button mashers that people enjoyed purely because of the novelty of the license. i'd played the actual arcade game in multiplayer with friends a few years before, and it only felt enjoyable on those merits. a few stabs at trying to beat the nes game felt like it was impossible to understand how to tackle some of the situations, and i'd be prompted to continue within the first two or three stages and then put off from ever finishing it. my presumption was that understanding required too much nuance specific to the game, and that this was how beat 'em ups chose to be difficult - by obnoxiously idiosyncratic boss patterns that required study and hordes of goons that would just wear you down by getting unavoidable, cheap hits in.

having gotten a bunch of 1cc's under my belt in the genre, now, however, i decided to give this one another spin the night before last and found myself grasping it well enough to get all the way to the final boss on one credit - which was kind of a feat considering i'd lost a life in both of the two starting stages. suddenly, a large portion of the game clicked. i understood why enemies moved certain ways, i understood the basics of zoning and manipulating their AI, and i understood the most effective ways to dispatch the majority of them. bosses still felt a little incomprehensible as to when they'd counter attack and slightly unfair as a result, but as long as i could mitigate the stage, i could get to them with enough health for my mistakes not to completely bite me in the ass.

then, upon defeating krang and facing shredder, himself, i promptly lost both of my remaining lives by being killed with his instant kill attack, one death right after another. awesome. i then also burned all my continues (which start you with only 2 extra lives) trying to beat him and failing. i felt pretty damn aggravated. i looked a little bit up of another player giving it a go, figured i could get this shit done, and then booted the game back up last night and recorded the above run - a pretty darn clean 1CC, and on my 2nd serious attempt, too. feel like i've finally gotten somewhere with this genre in being able to bang a quick one out on a game i've only got loose familiarity with!

i still think that this isn't a particularly good game and tends to get talked up way over what it is, but i can respect it as decent and definitely had some fun with it. much different from my previous take, where i was a lot harsher! although overcoming my ignorance only turned what i viewed as a bad game into a decent one in this particular instance, i feel it's more representative on the whole of my ability to finally enjoy and discuss the merits of this genre on the level of an actual enthusiast, versus someone who just really liked bare knuckle II. i'm very pleased about that! i've always been a bit frustrated that i could not relate to why people liked many of the games in this genre to the extent that they do, with the rare exception or two that i got a quick grasp on.

as mentioned in the video description, if you end up playing this yourself, realize that there are some kind of significant version differences in how extends are awarded. the NES version awards one for every 200 points and awards a single point for every enemy, meaning you're extremely unlikely (without milking those little gobbly robots in the fight with the baxter) to see a 4th extend during the game and have only 6 total lives to work with. the famicom version, on the other hand, gives enemies a variety of point values and offers an extend for every 20k points. watching a competent play by a japanese player reveals their score to be above 13.5k by the end of the shredder fight, giving you nine total lives to work with over the course of the game, possibly even ten (killing fake shredders awards a whopping 1k points and can be milked, though is a bit risky). also keep note that enemies killed by level hazards (exploding barrel, fire hydrant) don't count toward your point value, which is a little bit lame - it's fun to use them.

i feel i could get a nomiss on this game down if i just understood how in the bleeding heck to fight krang without getting my shit stomped. he seems to randomly decide to do his attack that can interrupt your jump kicking, and whether or not there is a safe interval feels incomprehensible. i'd love to be told it's decipherable, but i'm not seeing it. when flailing around on him on my previous attempt at the game (i had to fight him 4 total times before exhausting the credit reserve), i'd have some stabs at him where i'd barely die once, and then ones in the video where he flat-out sucks up two of my lives, and i have no idea what made the difference in terms of my input. i don't really have a desire to go back to this one for anything other than a casual two player romp in the future, but i would like to know if he can be reliably manipulated or if you're just at the mercy of his routine deciding to spontaneously punish you. to be fair, quite a few of the bosses felt like this, but you could always do well enough in the stage to be able to get through what hits they'd get off, anyway.

[FinalBaton]

I recently put in an offer on RT2 which was refused in eBay. But then I probably shouldn't attempt to buy anything there anyway. My collecting days are better off remaining dead though, or else I end up like a crack addict for gamez and live month by month on no actual saveable/investible income, and that's not a way to live. I've hoarded enough.

So I think flash cart investment is the way to go, and that's probably how I'll sample RT2. In answer to the question I rarely invest time into emulated stuff that I don't own, with the odd exception, because I'm weird like that. But on a flashcart I think I could find a halfway house. I've sampled RT2 and it seems as snazzy as the original (although I prefer the 60s stylings of RT) and it's probably a solid game. Not sure if it's a 2 looper or as punishing as the OG tho.

I hear ya. I also don't buy much retro games right now, for the same reasons as you(put that money in savings instead). And just like you I don't play on emulators(I'm just not feeling it) but I might get a flashcart sooner than later. I think that's a compromise I'll have to make if I want to experience more games

[kitten]

https://tcrf.net/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_T ... me#General

okay, i was just checking tcrf for version differences and they're actually significantly more in-depth than i'd previously thought. the jump kick being changed from 3HP damage to 4HP (same as your special) is extremely significant because it's your primary method of reliable attack on most bosses and will now kill basic mooks in a single hit.

there's also "significantly" less enemies in the jp version, a more lenient window for when you can jump kick, and the ability to change direction after firing your special & your jump kick off. wild! i wonder if that lets you have hitbox out in both directions, as that would be extremely nasty in making the special more effective at hitting both directions. even the cheat codes can give you more lives!
tcrf is suuuuuch a valuable resource

[FinalBaton]

Looks like the western version is the one for me, always loved the level of challenge the game had and feel it's just right (although the ability to change the direction you face during your super is sweet. I use that in SOR2 all the time).

Most probably another casuality of the western market bumping the difficulty to make rentals more profitable kinda-thing.

[kitten]

it seems as if the western version came out first, so it's possible that they found the game a little too unforgiving and modified it for the jp release. it's been so long since i played the arcade game that i wonder how it stacks up!

i also want to play manhattan project - only ever gave it a brief whirl, before.

[BIL]

i didn't know they did yohko until looking at that list i linked, a couple days ago (i think i'd read it long ago, but not made the mental connection). i've been trying to pick that up since you recommended it earlier in the year (i've also been looking to pick up dahna, which i'm fully prepared to be disappointed by and know what i'm getting myself into)

Ah, Dahna. Tragic case! Almost wish I'd not sold that one off some years ago. Totally unique in all regards, down to the one-and-gone IP. Mentally I still associate it with Yoko, El Viento and Alisia Dragoon - both the MD action heroine element, and the sense of trading away AAA smoothness for edgy but sincere, highly inventive sidescrolling.

Dahna's a critical rung below the other three, unfortunately, and for the most avoidable of reasons - the arrangement is off. The first four stages are excellent - especially st2's barreling mounted pursuit. The sword action is muddy - like a failed Prince of Persia/Rastan hybrid - but crucially, it's not relied on. Most enemies fall to a single well-placed flying slash, with booming setpieces and deft platforming the emphasis (the excellent jump mechanics genuinely do bridge cinematic deliberation and arcade response).

Sadly the game's remainder is almost entirely flatland combat, and I got really annoyed at having to engineer bizarre work-arounds to avoid being slowly bled of HP. You would be right to expect an amazing sendoff to compensate (why would they loose all that cinematic firepower earlier on, only to limp offstage at the climax?) but nope. I actually went searching after my first clear, sure I'd missed out on something.

Bizarre example of an action game let down almost entirely by bad direction. Or rather, absent direction! It performs admirably for two-thirds of its runtime, then seemingly nips out for a pack of cigarettes and is never heard from again, leaving the production scrambling in disarray. In total sincerity, I bet there are some interesting stories behind its development.

I'd probably keep it around these days just for how singular it all is. But yeah, I'd suggest not going too far out of your way for it. Ultimately it's one of those obscurities that earns its low profile.

[FinalBaton]

it seems as if the western version came out first, so it's possible that they found the game a little too unforgiving and modified it for the jp release. it's been so long since i played the arcade game that i wonder how it stacks up!

i also want to play manhattan project - only ever gave it a brief whirl, before.

Ah! didn't know it was released in the west first. Although that makes sense.
Played both "arcade" and "MP" on NES a fair bit when I was a kid (as far as bosses goes, Super Shredder is badass af IMO). Never played the arcade game in the actual arcades, sadly. Only on MAME. I did however play the shit out of Turtles in Time on SNES back then. Before we had our own console, we rented one quite often my brother and I and Turtles in Time got rented a ton. Along with Street Fighter 2. (we got our SNES pretty late. Christmas '93 I think?) Ahhh Konami. How I miss ya. What a sick beat 'em up AND co-op game. Watching a longplay now and I've got goosebumps. lol. Pick up and play greatness.


Ahhh, the nostalgia is flowing like a motherfucker now I was YUGE into TMNT, that was my big obssession as a kid. I was absolutely caught up in the TurtleMania (Mikey 4 lyfe!). had tons of toys and various trinkets. Really a happy time

And no, they're not HEROES, they're NINJAS, you european execs faggits

[Vanguard]

https://tcrf.net/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_T ... me#General

okay, i was just checking tcrf for version differences and they're actually significantly more in-depth than i'd previously thought. the jump kick being changed from 3HP damage to 4HP (same as your special) is extremely significant because it's your primary method of reliable attack on most bosses and will now kill basic mooks in a single hit.

Whoah, that's a huge change. Sounds like there's not much point in using anything else. Interesting that they do 3 and 4 damage too, I always assumed it was 1 and 2. TMNT2 was one of my favorites as a child, but it's really a very mindless and repetitive game.

[kitten]

I'd probably keep it around these days just for how singular it all is. But yeah, I'd suggest not going too far out of your way for it. Ultimately it's one of those obscurities that earns its low profile.

it gets listed with incredibly low frequency (much less than yohko), but i've had it on the radar for most of the year. it's definitely an "eventually." i've already spoiled most of the game with watching a longplay and feel like even if i wind up horribly disappointed by it, i'll at least still considerably enjoy the presentation and boxart.

Whoah, that's a huge change. Sounds like there's not much point in using anything else. Interesting that they do 3 and 4 damage too, I always assumed it was 1 and 2. TMNT2 was one of my favorites as a child, but it's really a very mindless and repetitive game.

in the US version, the damage goes as such: normal attack 2hp, jumping kick 3hp, special attack 4hp. most basic enemies have 4hp, so it makes the fact the jumping attack does more only noticeable on some specific enemies with beefy health. i thought something was weird about how many hits the jumping snowbots would take when i mixed up specials, normals, and jump kicks on them, so it led me to looking it up and noticing the weird numbers.

some of the (even the most common) iterations of the basic enemy will occasionally punch you out of the air when you go at them with a jump kick (they'll be ready for it if you've been in their lane too long), so i'd say the special attack, especially with its added mid-air reverse of direction, would still remain pretty useful in the fc version for the majority of stages. a lot of the bosses quite frankly have too much HP and the kick being upgraded would go really far in making them feel less tedious.

the fc version is very obviously the easier 1cc, but even with the lowered difficulty, it might be the more enjoyable of the two versions. that is, if you don't miss the pizza hut shilling. i don't know if i'd still call the game mindless, there's some strategy to zoning and prioritizing you don't see in beat 'em ups i'd give that label, but it's definitely really repetitive. fc version might mitigate that a bit with fewer enemies in the long hordes & the kick's upgrade.

[Durandal]

i am free

Christ, what a tough bitch. Ninja Gaiden (NES) made me realize how much I really love any game involving ninjas. It's amazing how the entire human race knows ninjas are about speed, as is reflected in the video game tributes to these mystical warriors. People ridicule Sonic for being a simple matter of holding down forwards to win, but that's only the case if you have honed your reflexes to ninja-like levels, as it is with Ninja Gaiden. And it really makes you feel like a ninja... but only if you learn how to become a master ninja first.

It's like someone played Castlevania, looked back on how much he enjoyed hitting candles while mid-air without killing momentum, and made a game entirely around that feeling. Standard standing slashes are quick and briefly freeze you in place, but you can also immediately slash after jumping to kill the poor bastard in front of you without missing a beat. Relentless push-forward aggression guarantees a higher chance of survival here than tip-toeing forwards like some kind of ninny stealth game character. Enemies will always spawn if you move the screen edge over a certain point, because you have no business walking backwards, nor can you always take out an enemy and be done with it forever. Sometimes an enemy will spawn from a certain point over and over if you keep killing it and the screen is at the right position, forcing you avoid it entirely or take it out while moving. There are even special spawn points which are only triggered if you move backwards to rub it in even more.

The game is lethally high-precision, if you stray too far from your personal route you'll land in Trouble Land as you're trying to prevent some tricky spawns from overwhelming you, though that's what makes improvisation all the more exciting. It's incredibly challenging for newcomers, but once you figure out some strategies you can pull through. Each enemy type is anal in its own way, especially the RNG-reliant hammer brothers and the fucking birds. That said, I'd be lying if I said the game was completely fair, which is not the case with some of the bats whose spawn point is placed right in the middle of the jumping trajectory between platforms of the average unaware player. Certain spawn points feel like they're just rubbing it in if you even dare to take a single step backwards.

There's the 'infamous' third screen of 6-2, but I figured out a surefire path which involves slashing the incoming bat from the first platform, jumping to the second one, jumping again over the incoming bird and football player, slowly inching to the right to get the hammer bro to despawn, jump forwards and then immediately duck on the end of the second platform to get the next bird to fly over my head, and then jump to the third and fourth while slashing the football player in mid-air. You could also use spinblade, though I find this way safer.
Sometimes it feels like the game expects you to exploit spawn points which feels rather meta and out of place, yet at the same time inevitable given that you're at a massive disadvantage if you don't. It rubs me the wrong way because you don't get the feeling the game is designed around exploiting spawns to begin with, but everyone who keeps playing the game does once they stop letting the spawns exploit them.

All of the subweapons manage to be useful in some way. The baby shuriken can hit targets from long distances with a cheaper ninpou cost, the boomerang shuriken can be used to dice everything in front and from your back if you know how to use it, the flame jutsu is excellent for turning birds and the ST3 boss into cooked meat, and the spinblade makes jumping to platforms with enemies on them much easier at the cost of sucking up your ninpou like mad.

The spinblade also practically insta-kills bosses since it deals damage every frame, which is why they're intentionally never placed near boss rooms. Even so, maintaining enough ninpou and not accidentally picking up other weapons is enough of a challenge to balance out the spinblade's ridiculous damage output, as most of the bosses aren't that hard to begin with if you know the right strategy. If you want to use the regular slash while in mid-air with the spinblade equipped, you need to press Down+B in order to slash cancel, though doing so cancels out horizontal momentum and is rather tricky to input.

Most of the bosses here aren't really worth talking about aside from Jaquio, who I brutally loathe but also appreciate at the same time as one of the best bosses on the platform. It's just a flying dorito throwing two fireballs at you, but these fireballs are semi-tracking curveballs which require some good foresight to anticipate and avoid, as you need to jump on top of the platforms to get a stab at its eye, though it hurts harder if you get rammed by him than if you get burned. Sometimes you can stand in-between them, sometimes you can sidestep them entirely. Newcomers will get brutally decimated here, but after enough tries, you develop a seventh sense just for this guy to get a feeling for his attacks in a way which can not be put into words.

You can't really cheese Jaquio in any way unless you're going for some speedrun strat, since your spinblade will be taken away from you in this fight. It's purely about anticipation and improvisation, which is what makes it so good. Though the rebounding flames can piss the fuck right off. If they rebound once to get me from beneath because I stood at a pillar at the time, sure, but if they keep persisting afterwards while I have to deal with the other incoming fireballs it's just trolling on the developer's part.

The fight against your dad at least has some kind of emotional value to it where you're trying to stay away from him as much as possible while one of the best tracks in the game plays in the background. It's barely challenging at all once you realize the trick involved. The demon fight is alright I suppose, though the sequence for the spark trajectories seems to be fixed and is otherwise more about paying attention for any sparks which might be heading your way while you're slashing the boss without really looking at him. The detached demon's head doing inevitable damage is just stupid.

Frustratingly, dying at any of the three final bosses throws you back to 6-1 instead of at the previous scene, probably to prevent people playing with continues to have an easy win. Otherwise it's pure sadism at display because you don't even get a health refill once you do make it all the way back to the final boss. For some reason you only get one after each cutscene, regardless of whether it makes sense. I get a full health refill at the start 4-2, just because? Thanks, I guess.

Ninja Gaiden is also one of the first games to feature cutscenes which are very well done, especially for a NES game... because you can skip them with no fuss. Just press START and you're off. A fucking NES game manages to do what many modern games can't -- skipping the fat. I'm truly amazed.

Ninja Gaiden is the kind of game which feels like total anal annihilation at first, but then you figure out some routes and solutions to some of the tricky situations you are faced with, after which it becomes a challenge of maintaining a level head and not panicking once you deviate from your route. The challenge is largely real, and I'll be damned if you don't walk away feeling like a ninja after having cleared the game.

[__SKYe]

Stellar job, welcome to the Task Force™. Great timing as well.

That said, I'd be lying if I said the game was completely fair, which is not the case with some of the bats whose spawn point is placed right in the middle of the jumping trajectory between platforms of the average unaware player. Certain spawn points feel like they're just rubbing it in if you even dare to take a single step backwards.

I've grown to enjoy those mid-jump spawning bats/birds. I like to think of them as little (and deadly) traps for the unprepared, speedy players, so as to show them that you can't just jump over every gap without worry, lest you get bumped into a hole.
It's important to note that no spawn actually happens mid-jump, though -- you can always stand at a ledge to make such enemies spawn before you jump.
Definitely a killer if the player is unaware, or even just forgets about them, and you do need to memorize their locations, but it's not too bad either way.

Frustratingly, dying at any of the three final bosses throws you back to 6-1 instead of at the previous scene, probably to prevent people playing with continues to have an easy win. Otherwise it's pure sadism at display because you don't even get a health refill once you do make it all the way back to the final boss. For some reason you only get one after each cutscene, regardless of whether it makes sense. I get a full health refill at the start 4-2, just because? Thanks, I guess.

You can suicide at the last area (before the bosses) to spawn with a fresh life bar (if you have a life in stock, of course), assuming you can get through that same area without taking much damage (how much life you have remaining, is how much you'll have against the boss).
The throwback to 6-1 is definitely hard to stomach at first, but I think, in a way, it's free practice for the entirety of Act 6, if you're going for the 1CC/1LC.

[BIL]

Welcome aboard Durandal! Quite the GIF, that's my RDA of fat old man ass sorted.

Regarding spawn points, I suggest ripping them out at the fucking roots. Nothing here can survive being outright steamrolled by a solid inch of new screen. If doing so nets you a fresh problem, figure out how to crush that one and any others behind it too. This is how you assemble a solid performance in NG1's unique twitch/method format.

Frustratingly, dying at any of the three final bosses throws you back to 6-1 instead of at the previous scene, probably to prevent people playing with continues to have an easy win. Otherwise it's pure sadism at display because you don't even get a health refill once you do make it all the way back to the final boss.

It's true you lose the free HP refill, but I think it's notable that the game will no longer confiscate your subweapon. If someone's truly stumped (at Jaquio, I'd assume), they have the alternative of getting that Jumplash from 6-3's first floor, and mastering the stage with it (note that you can continue freely on 6-3, just like any other stage). Do that and you'll get an instant win. Even the lesser subweapons (upshot in particular) will take a large chunk out of him.

The boss rush knockback is undeniably mean, but I do think it's nobler than idle sadism. The game forces you to consider really learning Act VI, and molding a panicky blur into a stable performance. Reasonably hardcore, imo.

If the response to this demand is one of despair, I can assure there is a way through. If it is one of blind rage, I would offer that whatever agonising result you may eventually secure, it won't have been worth it.

Stellar job, welcome to the Task Force™. Great timing as well.

That said, I'd be lying if I said the game was completely fair, which is not the case with some of the bats whose spawn point is placed right in the middle of the jumping trajectory between platforms of the average unaware player. Certain spawn points feel like they're just rubbing it in if you even dare to take a single step backwards.

I've grown to enjoy those mid-jump spawning bats/birds. I like to think of them as little (and deadly) traps for the unprepared, speedy players, so as to show them that you can't just jump over every gap without worry, lest you get bumped into a hole.
It's important to note that no spawn actually happens mid-jump, though -- you can always stand at a ledge to make such enemies spawn before you jump.
Definitely a killer if the player is unaware, or even just forgets about them, and you do need to memorize their locations, but it's not too bad either way.

Yeah, this is very important to note. Suss out a pit before jumping. If something's lurking on the other side it'll spawn before you jump. Contrary to the game's public image, the designers were very careful about this.

[FinalBaton]

Welcome to the Task Force™ Durandal

That's a very good Ninja Gaiden write-up.

You are indeed rewarded for reaching enemies full speed as soon as you see them on the screen. They generally won't have time to hit you(or throw any kinda hit at all for that matter) before you hit them. There are also quite a few "set pieces" (I break the whole game down in small areas and that's what I call them) where going full throttle opens a safe route, providing that you display extreme accuracy. So the "keep moving" option should always be considered first.

Having said that : there are many times when I stand completely still in my run(and most people find that weird, and understandably so). But that's because I know the game inside and out, including all enemies spawn point. So the game can definitely be played by taking pauses here and there. by observing and then striking one precise, fatal blow But that just goes to show how there are still many ways to play the game, which is to the game's credit! Great level design, and pair that with responsive controls, intoxicating fast action and satisfying gameplay and you've got yourself a gourmet action game



EDIT : just read BIL's post, and yep, that right there shows you just how incredibly different two people can approach that game His and my style are almost polar opposites, like the North Star art and the South Star art. Hokuto Shinken and Nanto Seiken

[BIL]

To edit my last post slightly, rage is one thing. Blind rage is another! One will get the result eventually - the other will get only a stingy ring, from the repeated brutal reamings! (EDIT: though as consolation, you may find yourself a place in forum infamy )



Beware a sword blinded by hatred.

[FinalBaton]

Yeah, this is very important to note. Suss out a pit before jumping. If something's lurking on the other side it'll spawn before you jump. Contrary to the game's public image, the designers were very careful about this.

EXTREMELY important indeed! it is a vital tool to use in following the first rule to become a Ninja Grandmaster

[drauch]

Congrats!

Yeah, what really helped me when I jumped back in to take it DEAD SERIOUS was to take my time. I used to just try and speed through every jump, only to get birded or batted in mid-air. Instead I just paused before major jumps, because you really don't need to inch your way to the edge or anything before they start coming; it's pretty fair, really. No one said ya had to go fast!

[BrianC]

https://tcrf.net/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_T ... me#General

okay, i was just checking tcrf for version differences and they're actually significantly more in-depth than i'd previously thought. the jump kick being changed from 3HP damage to 4HP (same as your special) is extremely significant because it's your primary method of reliable attack on most bosses and will now kill basic mooks in a single hit.

there's also "significantly" less enemies in the jp version, a more lenient window for when you can jump kick, and the ability to change direction after firing your special & your jump kick off. wild! i wonder if that lets you have hitbox out in both directions, as that would be extremely nasty in making the special more effective at hitting both directions. even the cheat codes can give you more lives!
tcrf is suuuuuch a valuable resource

The motion for doing the special was also simplified for the JP version. A+B and the same time rather than pressing one butting and then quickly pressing the other one. Oddly enough, TMNT MP goes back to the motion for the US TMNT Arcade NES for both the JP and US versions.

[Durandal]

I forgot to mention (as everyone has already said) that you could force a spawn by peeking the edge of the platform. Which cost me a lot of dum deaths out of forgetfulness in my need for speed until I learned to suppress the habit. I think there's one or two jumps which do involve forcing spawns by jumping slightly over the edge of a platform and then back again (6-2, after the AVGN rq room I think?)

I remember a particular sequence of Jaquio attempts after getting sent back a few times where I manage to survive the stages just fine but I somehow accidentally ended up changing my spinblade for a flame, so I couldn't even get that speedkill. I got to Jaquio at low health, since the only strategy for the area right before the final boss entrance was to just press on forward and rely on the cutscene health refill since the enemy spawns there are nuts, but the refill didn't apply anymore. Then I snuff it and try again, only to somehow end up making the same mistake by picking up the same flame again. And to die to Jackie-Oh again. *cue sensei bemoaning pupil's overzealousness*

I know that most of the candles contain worthless score items, but I just couldn't help myself. Zifting shit mid-air is too fun.

(I never even read the first page of this thread, that's neat I guess)

[BIL]

I think there's one or two jumps which do involve forcing spawns by jumping slightly over the edge of a platform and then back again (6-2, after the AVGN rq room I think?)

The closest the game comes to doing this is in 6-2, shortly before the infamous chokepoint.

Spoiler

You need to over-shoot the ledge slightly to bait out the bat spawn - but as shown, even if you make the jump blind, you'll still clear the pit with enough time to whack him as you land. My first kill there is an EZ jumpslash, but the second is a vanilla sword slash with enough time and room to back up slightly.

If you want a bit of fun at the cost of some HP, just

Spoiler

walk straight off the edge - as long as you're holding [left], the eagle will whack you out of the pit onto the safe floor every time.

I always do this now, feels too good not to.

That said - even though the bat's technically not aimed to intercept your jump, it's still a bit close for comfort imo. I'd have bumped him back a few pixels. Although... the heart of 6-2 is the heart of hell itself, so I don't mind too much. :3 I'd guess the designer meant for the player to jump and have a "holy fuck!" scare before pulling back onto the platform.

The rest of the game's pit-guarding spawns are either 1) set to attack the player after they've safely landed, or 2) triggerable from the edge of the platform, like this one:

Spoiler

[kitten]

played some of the stuff i recently picked up a decent chunk -

gs mikami: joreishi wa nice body

- surprisingly good licensed action game that is perhaps not particularly so surprising when given the natsume pedigree. i liked this game a a lot. incredibly over-the-top presentation with tons of unique enemies, good pacing, a gimmick stage where you get shrunken and surfboard a cat! and, of course, it's got the really satisfying basics that natsume are so damn good at getting down. latching platforms and then doing your kickflip up to them feels incredibly satisfying despite being such a relatively basic movement!

my only big complaint is that the game is without a doubt far too breezy and i pulled off a 1cc on my first attempt. giving you five hits before death is way too generous and most of the enemies are a little too passive to make this much of a challenge. definitely feasible to do a completely hitless run of this game (having an alternate basic attack while holding up cover a greater vertical distance nearly assures you'll never take a cheap hit because of an enemy's tricky positioning), but i'll probably just replay and record a nomiss, sometime soon. the source material seems to be some eyerollingly bad "male lead falls into titties every episode" ecchi, but the game itself is adorable and i admittedly like the character designs.

there are some boss fights in here that could be genuinely excellent if they were ratcheted up a bit in intensity. there's this fight with a ghost dog about midway through the game that will occasionally clone itself that feels really, really well executed. it's an intensely readable but very spontaneous fight that can get a bit hairy when he starts to clone himself. ultimately a bit too easy like the rest of the game, but man, natsume easily had the chops to have pushed this further and as much as it delights, it makes you wish they had been a little more gutsy and at least included a hard mode. i found a hidden letter panel in the forest while playing this game that implies there might be some sort of secret i've not unraveled, but i didn't find anything about it with a cursory search.

mickey's magical quest

after playing through capcom's aladdin game for the snes and being surprisingly pleased at how well it holds together as a mechanical platformer, i figured i'd go and give this game a spin to see if it would please in the same way. i find most snes platformers to be really obsessed with their sprite art and then letting that get heavily in the way of both hitbox readability and the ability to discern what attack an enemy is about to perform, and aladdin having subverted that by being a bit of both worlds (highly animated AND readable) had me thinking that perhaps other licensed capcom games on the sfc could, as well.

i was wrong, and sorely disappointed! this game is pretty much awful aside from its gorgeous sprite art. i found myself taking constant hits because of misjudging hitboxes or what on earth a boss was doing - the very first sub-boss in the game does this big, long wind-up swoop where halfway through, he just stops and starts to ascend again without warning. i cannot count how many times i took hits from this attack and even died on account of it b/c i was playing on hard mode, which kills you in two hits. i felt incredibly embarrassed at how many times i fell for this sucker punch. i'd break out of a jump preparing to hit him mid-swoop, pause for a second, totally baffled as i watched him stop and start to ascend, and then try to get a hit in, only for my feet to apparently be too low to hit his head, causing me damage.

the game only got worse as it continued on, though i did at least start being able to mitigate it. check this fight out and watch as pete will sometimes just spontaneously decide to do a kickflip in the air, instead of going over to the other side of the platform as he'd previously been consistently doing. if you prepare to jump on him (as you'd have no reason not to), you hit his skates and take a hit. the game is filled with poorly portrayed hitboxing & badly telegraphed tells on top of tedious platforming and poor stage design. also, nearly every enemy & boss in the game is pete. it's... really bizarre and frankly unsettling. the amount of reverence the game is showing for him is leagues beyond how the legend of zelda deifies ganon. i am concerned if the sprite artist for this game had nightmares about that character after this game.

hagane

this is one i'd given a very quick shot at on emulators a few times and always found to be immensely confusing. why can i do kickflips and end it in a special attack that leaves me wide open? why are there four basic weapons to attack with? why does everything drop items and ammo? why do the weapons even have ammo? how the hell does this weird double jump work? why is my basic jump so poor & slow? how do i approach the situations in this game given the utterly messy series of options?

the game doesn't really help in clearing up any of these questions very quickly, and it takes a decent little bit of investment to get into before everything starts coming together. given how overactive the camera is in a left-to-right pan and how everything in the game drops random items and how you're overwhelmed with choice, i was really gauging this one as a sloppily made mess for a decent bit of time, but i am glad to say that my initial estimation of where this game lied in sfc pantheon of action titles was way, way off. it's actually great! maybe even bordering on excellent, at times.

the most basic thing to understand is exactly how the spin-jump works in this game, and that your basic jump is more or less meant to be a set-up for it rather than its own thing (hence how slow & awkward it is). you cannot perform the spin-jump on a descent, so it makes you be surprisingly calculated and deliberate in each jump, which can lead to some really rip-roaringly satisfying play through its platforming segments. the L/R flip special attack seems mostly like a totally optional flourish, and the alternate weapons all have their time & place while you're largely meant to be favoring the sword. it's much simpler than it appears at first glance, and i'm in the middle of fooling around with it again (haven't finished yet due to christmas times leaving me unable to sit down and even get through the credit reserve).

this game feels very built around becoming proficient and doing a nomiss, and i almost undoubtedly see myself going for that within the next month. extremely pleased that this game's play does actually step up to meet its presentation, as holy hell was getting a complete copy anything but cheap.