Ninja Gaiden [NES] + R2RKMF: Scrolling Action Monogatari

[BIL]

then suddenly realised I'd nabbed the whole quartet without intending to.

Hah, there are only four? Maybe I should get Gradius and Parodius for the same reason then. I just feel very content with my "Deluxe Packs" on the satuhhn

PCE Gradius and Parodius are both really cool in my book, as is Detana - but Gradius does require a minor slowdown caveat. It's nothing intolerable, just disappointing given the game's seniority over the others. I wonder if it was a hardware teething issue on Konami's part? My favourite aspect is the much warmer soundtrack - it's rather like PCE Tatsujin, in that regard.

All three are more indulgence than essential if you've got the Deluxe Packs, certainly, but you'll know if you want 'em. They're still relatively sane to acquire IIRC, unlike say PCE Tatsujin.

PCE Salamander is of course another matter entirely, something I know you've acknowledged before. That one more than earns its place next to the Deluxe Pack... actually, I think the latter feels its absence! A bit like MD Senjou no Okami II vs Capcom Generation 4. I've a fondness for many technically outmoded 8/16bit ports, for their interesting deviations and/or sheer guts - but works like these need no such indulgence.

[Jonny2x4]

I also get the feeling that 1995's relatively rough Dracula XX was them hastily retreating to the proven ground of Nintendo consoles. No idea if there's any official commentary to back that up, though.

I always assumed that Dracula XX, like Snatcher on the Sega CD (which was released a year earlier), was only made so they could have some version of Rondo of Blood localized for the overseas market, despite the end-result being much closer to something like the NES Metal Gear than a faithful port of the original. They didn't even bother to make up new promo art for the U.S. version like they did in the other regions (the packaging and manual artwork are reused from the PC Engine version).

Konami's respective catalogs on the Mega Drive and PC Engine are pretty reflective on the popularity of those consoles in certain regions. Since the Mega Drive never quite took off in Japan, their games for that system were more catered towards western tastes: you had a couple of TMNT games, Tiny Toons and Animaniacs, a Contra, a Double Dribble, the two Lethal Enforcers games, the Sparkster series (which could be seen as a reaction to Sonic) and Sunset Riders (which never had a console port in Japan). In contrast, their PC Engine library, which was Japan-exclusive, was all about the STGs (Gradius, ect.), with a single FTG (a genre that admittedly Konami was never strong at) and Tokimemo. Both consoles had their own Castlevania game (one of Konami's few IPs that was popular in every region) and their own version of Snatcher, but the latter never really took off in the west as it did in Japan and only got some retroactive recognition later on due to MGS.

It's funny how Konami teased the idea of releasing a Mega CD version of Snatcher as soon as they announced they would be supporting the Mega Drive in Japan, but they didn't even bother giving it a JP release when they finally got around to make it. Metal Gear 2 was also teased around a bit in Beep! MD (at one point it was the most requested Konami game in their monthly column).

PCE Gradius and Parodius are both really cool in my book, as is Detana - but Gradius does require a minor slowdown caveat. It's nothing intolerable, just disappointing given the game's seniority over the others. I wonder if it was a hardware teething issue on Konami's part? My favourite aspect is the much warmer soundtrack - it's rather like PCE Tatsujin, in that regard.

PCE Gradius has an exclusive stage based on the MSX version if I'm not mistaken.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Ninja Gaiden 3 fucking rules.

[BIL]

Konami's respective catalogs on the Mega Drive and PC Engine are pretty reflective on the popularity of those consoles in certain regions. Since the Mega Drive never quite took off in Japan, their games for that system were more catered towards western tastes: you had a couple of TMNT games, Tiny Toons and Animaniacs, a Contra, a Double Dribble, the two Lethal Enforcers games, the Sparkster series (which could be seen as a reaction to Sonic) and Sunset Riders (which never had a console port in Japan). In contrast, their PC Engine library, which was Japan-exclusive, was all about the STGs (Gradius, ect.), with a single FTG (a genre that admittedly Konami was never strong at) and Tokimemo. Both consoles had their own Castlevania game (one of Konami's few IPs that was popular in every region) and their own version of Snatcher, but the latter never really took off in the west as it did in Japan and only got some retroactive recognition later on due to MGS.

Comprehensively and eloquently put, as per your usual.

PCE Gradius has an exclusive stage based on the MSX version if I'm not mistaken.

Yup! The "Bone Stage" as it seems to be popularly known.

Ninja Gaiden 3 fucking rules.

It does! On sheer intensity, it's near the top of my FC sidescrolling (and therefore everything sidescrolling) list. Although it's known as ball-breakingly brutal, I don't find it too out of NG1/2's ballpark... it just tightens the screws a bit. OTOH, the FC version feels decidedly toned down a notch, though it's still an excellent game.

[BrianC]

TMNT Tournament Fighters SNES is the exception for Konami FTGs and one of the better SNES FTGs, though.

[Jonny2x4]

I'm surprised it that has such a strong following, even to this day. I would had assumed it was because of the nostalgia for the Turtles, but nobody talks about the Genesis version all that much.

Come to think of it, the Tournament Fighter games came out at a time the Turtles were already waning in popularity, while MMPR was the next big thing among kids.

[Sumez]

All three "versions" of that are entirely different games though. Never played the MegaDrive one, but I heard it's bad.

[Jonny2x4]

I played the two Nintendo versions back in their day. The NES version is probably the only vs. fighting games officially released on the console (there's also Joy Mecha Fight, but that's on the Famicom) and they didn't even bother having the Turtles fight with the signature weapons (no doubt so they could save ROM space by simply giving all the Turtles the same basic moves). Not only that, but they also made up some bullshit excuse in the manual as to why you couldn't create a mirror match with Hot Head (even though it's actually possible by hacking the game, it's just that pitting two Hot Heads against each other causes massive flickering).

[BrianC]

Come to think of it, the Tournament Fighter games came out at a time the Turtles were already waning in popularity, while MMPR was the next big thing among kids.

I remember tuning in to the series around that time and wondering where Shredder and Krang were (though if I watched it more, I would have seen the explanation for that). I find it interesting that there are so many different versions of TMNT and the Konami games mix a few of them (though much of it is from the cartoon). They even used some things from the movies and Archie comics TMNT. A prototype suggests that Aska in Tournament Fighters SNES was originally Mitsu from the third Ninja Turtles movie.

It's funny how a show that took footage from Japanese Super Sentai shows ended up getting localized for Japan (MMPR). I also find it funny how Japanese got their own exclusive OVA episodes of TMNT that were made to sell toys.

[Jonny2x4]

The original Turtles for both, the NES and arcade, drew almost exclusively from the cartoon, although Turtles II on the NES (which was a port of the arcade game) had some original bad guys mix-in as well. Turtles in Time, the second arcade game, was when they started to mix-in elements from the distinct continuities by tying it into the second movie and having Tohka and Rahzer show up, while the console games took it even further by adding Super Shredder as the final boss in Manhattan Project on the NES and in the SNES version of Turtles in Time (not to mention Hyperstone Heist, which had Tatsu too).

It's weird how Tournament Fighters on both, the SNES and Genesis, had Karai as the final boss, but she never showed up in the cartoon at any point. Also, was there any reason why Shredder became Cyber-Shredder in the SNES version?

[Sumez]

The fact that the original cartoon show went past the first few seasons was such a weird discovery for me, as those were never shown here. It was so strange when the archie comic came out with all these outer space characters and weird stuff that I thought was just added for that, but apparently most of it is taken from later episodes that I had no idea existed.

[BrianC]

The fact that the original cartoon show went past the first few seasons was such a weird discovery for me, as those were never shown here. It was so strange when the archie comic came out with all these outer space characters and weird stuff that I thought was just added for that, but apparently most of it is taken from later episodes that I had no idea existed.

That's not the case. Archie comics started as an adaption of the cartoon for the first few issues, but became very different. AFAIK Lord Dregg, the villian from later TMNT seasons, never appeared in the comics and Cudly the Cowlick, Armaggon, and War never appeared in the cartoon.

[Jonny2x4]

Yeah, I was surprised TMNT lasted nearly lasted 200 episodes, when most successful merchandise-driven shows back then never made it pass 100. I tuned out from the series around the time they started airing the red sky seasons though and didn't watch them entirely until they came out on DVD not long ago. I think CBS was phasing out their Saturday Morning cartoon programming around that period, so they weren't promoted much. It's funny they didn't even bother to update the theme song for the final season, which still mentions Shredder and Krang.

The DVD sets for the original series are a bit of a disorganized mess by the way. It's obvious Artisan underestimated the demand for the show and didn't plan out to release the whole thing initially. The first DVD is just called "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", with nothing to indicate that it's the first season or anything, so it has the original mini-series plus four "bonus" episodes from the final season (which didn't get a full DVD release until years later). Then Seasons 2 and 3 were split across five individual volumes, with the episodes themselves being in crappy quality since each disc has like 12 episodes in them (13 for Volume 2), leading to compression issues. After that, they started putting out proper season sets, but Season 8-10 are so short (8 episodes each disc), that you have to wonder why they didn't just release them as one set. That's not even getting into the inconsistent packaging they all have. or the fact that some of the artwork has the Splinter from the 2k3 series

[BrianC]

One thing that's interesting is that the creator of Leatherhead, Ryan Brown, was involved with both the original Mirage version and the Archie TMNT Adventures version. He was also responsible for the Cowboys of Moo Mesa cartoon and I read he helped with the arcade game.

[Jonny2x4]

I always wondered how Konami's Japanese teams developed their games that were more western-oriented. I always assumed that they were simply faxed reference materials and were given notes in Japanese on what to do, but Kazuki Muraoka (the sound designer for the MGS series) said that he went to the U.S. to compose the soundtrack for Blades of Steel and I remember reading somewhere that some of the developers for The Simpsons went to Chicago to oversee the location testing.

[BrianC]

I wonder what the deal was with the JP Tiny Toons 2 using the VRC7 ship without extra sound. I'm under the impression it was also designed with a US audience in mind and that the game only uses it becuase konami made too many chips.

[Jonny2x4]

That would probably be my guess. Lagrange Point was a pretty hyped-up game that was co-developed with the staff of Famimaga magazine, two ex-members of the band REBECCA and a manga artist, but I get the impression that it didn't do all that well (the serialized manga didn't even get a collected edition). It's one of the few Famicom games I owned with its box and manual and I bought it for practically peanuts.

By the way, it seems Konami was a company that always prioritized sales and profit over creativity, even long before the whole Kojima fiasco with MGSV happened . From my understanding, NES Castlevania team were marginalized after the first NES Turtles came out, while the TMNT team were given preferential treatment within the company. Castlevania creator Hitoshi Akamatsu apparently created Akumajou Densetsu/Castlevania III with the intent of outselling the TMNT series.

[Sumez]

The Ninja Warriors Again remake(?) announced: https://gematsu.com/2018/07/ninja-warri ... YUVKjIw.99

Possibly a sequel, but then why would they use the same title?

[BIL]

Somebody pick up that phone, because I fucking called it.

Load blown for real. Assuming it's good ofc!

[Sumez]

Let's hope they add in some of the stuff you mentioned. Meanwhile I gotta get to playing that SFC game.

[Turrican]

the TMNT team were given preferential treatment within the company. Castlevania creator Hitoshi Akamatsu apparently created Akumajou Densetsu/Castlevania III with the intent of outselling the TMNT series.

Let's be realistic here, you get the chance of a lifetime to secure the TURTLES license... Not today when no one cares, but IN THOSE DAYS. You become Turtles' bitch. I'm even stunned they kept all the other projects open.

[BrianC]

The Ninja Warriors Again remake(?) announced: https://gematsu.com/2018/07/ninja-warri ... YUVKjIw.99

Possibly a sequel, but then why would they use the same title?

What's the point of saying there are screenshots if you don't show them? This site has a screenshot and it looks like it is indeed a remake of the SFC game.

[BIL]

Is it confirmed Natsume are working on this? Please be working on this. This is high-precision sidescrolling brawler technology. Even an inexpertly-done arrange will be fun, but properly honed to release the SFC's potential, it will go through bone like butter.



Looks like a blast. Tentatively excited! That sniper is already doing exactly what a sniper should.

If Kiki Kaikai: Nazo no Kuro Mantle shows up to join TNWA and Wild Guns, the trinity will truly have arrived.

[Jonny2x4]

Am I the only who thinks spelling it "Ninja Warriors" is weird? I always saw the title as one word with "the" prefixed into it (The Ninjawarriors).

[BIL]

Good point, maybe it's like Dariusburst?

tbh, as long as nobody calls TNWA's overseas release "the SNES version" or worse yet "the SNES port" I'm cool.

[Sumez]

Is it confirmed Natsume are working on this?

(...)

Looks like a blast. Tentatively excited! That sniper is already doing exactly what a sniper should.

This looks completely like the Wild Guns Reloaded treatment. I'd be really surprised if the same people weren't involved.

[BIL]

Was thinking the same - the HUD looks set up for three if not four players, wouldn't surprise me if there's at least one new killbot in there too ala WG's newcomers.

Here's hoping. Fuck! I try not to get emotionally attached to shit I can't affect but this is lookin' good!

[Sumez]

Even if the remake turns out to be a mess, it still gives me a boner that Natsume of 2018 has a department producing new pixel art in the same style as their SFC classics.

[BIL]

Yeah, that city backdrop looks ill as fuck. Like the camera pulled back and it was always there... I wonder if that's st4's high-rise carpark, haha.

edit: oh shit, the chopper attack in that aspect ratio with that many onscreen characters could be bonerizing.



It already is, pretty much!

[Sumez]

Aside from the bliss of The Ninja Warriors Again Again™ itself, the best thing I'm able to take away from this is that the team behind Wild Guns Reloaded are blazingly active and willing to continue down this road.

So with that in mind there are a few things I'd like to know:

1. Are any of the original developers involved, or is this a bunch of new kids with the right priorities?
2. Could we possibly be looking forward to new original titles by these people somewhere down the road?
3. Alternatively, or additionally, is it possible they'd consider tackling any of Natsume's 8 bit IPs?
4. Do you think there's a chance they'd sign my penis?

EDIT: Just checked with Mobygames, and seems it's pretty much Natsume's entire SFC team, still going strong. Also, they made Omega Five for some reason.