I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

[BIL]

Yeah, in Kunio/DD et al, you grapple by stunning an enemy (typically PPP or K), then walking into them. Meanwhile FF et al tend to use autograpple; just walk into 'em and they're locked down.

CF2 is an odd hybrid. From the front, you can throw a healthy enemy right out of their startup frames, FF-style; but there's no grapple. Instead, just get into overlap, and hit [P]:

Now you're thinking with axes!

Spoiler

Front grapple strikes work similarly, on [K] (used in the below GIF to snuff out Gaijin Thunder's startup frames):

Riot Town Daisakusen: Plum Hazard

Spoiler

There's also the rear grapple, which is preceded by the classic Technos restraining hold, seen above. Works only on "regular" enemies, eg not giants or dominatrices. Very handy for executing staggered enemies; remember, they're not to be taken lightly!

I'm cashing you out homie!

Spoiler

There are a few edge cases, like Joe Ohsugi, who can be rear-grappled despite being technically impossible to get behind, as used by Murphagator-sensei in his speedruns (covered in this post.). As in IRL, the distinction between "front" and "rear" appears rather thin! But that's basically how it works. In the heat of battle, proximity-throwing zako at bosses becomes second-nature.

^ It's been a while, but I suspect on that timestamp that you can chuck enemies out of a grapple with [direction + P].

EDIT: revisiting that post, I recall that you can actually headlock several larger/boss-sized enemies, like Buzzsaw. The timing and spacing's tricky, as with Ohsugi, but also consistent once mastered. CF2 is such a great beater.

[DenimDemon]

Total mayhem Shotguns, molotovs, Ball Shots... but at the same time, super-finessed, as well. You gotta fight dirty to survive, but you need the fundamentals, too!

Learn to fight, then learn 2 cheese ;3

Spoiler

To me nothing beats the sheer violence of throwing a brick to someones face, and instantly killing him.
Tremendous game.

[BIL]

Every time I return to MegaBlast, I find myself regretting calling it a "b" tier hori. It's actually really goddamn good imo. Lightning-fast ship with generously abusive firepower, versus some chunkily dense terrain and aggressively-pelting formations; all done at pleasingly brisk pace. Where IREM aim for claustrophobia, and the relentless fear of outflanking, it's a joy to take on these stages with your big honkin' 4way shot. The associated 4way shield mechanic is intriguing too, inviting a measured degree of pawn sacrifice as you muscle through often highly-aggressive enemy fire.

It plays almost like a friendlier Metal Black testbed; versus that game's slower, ostensibly less-powerful, yet similarly omnidirectional-firing ship. Hellfire comparisons are fun too! I could believe it was regarded as a bit over-generous, same for Konami's Thunder Cross duo. I'm down with a comfy ship as long as it's got some interesting stage/enemy opposition.

And as mentioned, wonderful OST from Hidetoshi Fukumori, who was never credited in-game either here, or in his truly masterful Gun Frontier.

B profile, A quality. Also, the plot is astonishingly rapey 70s sexploitation guff, the sort it's good to be able to ignore. I don't wanna think Mr. and Mrs. Chack'n were involved in this appalling tale. Headcanon... alright, the alien ship's mimetic poly-alloy just took the form of the day's HAWT TAITO HITZ, that's better!

To me nothing beats the sheer violence of throwing a brick to someones face, and instantly killing him.
Tremendous game.

PREACH

I was gonna say, the brick is the coldest one-shotter in the entire goddamn genre. Brick flies, man dies! This is the truth. This is what's real.

Was particularly welcome after growing up with Splatterhouse Part 3's joke of a cinderblock. It's this big, grainy, monstrously chunky thing that hits like styrofoam. Doesn't even make any noise as it bounces harmlessly off enemy domes. CF2 brick is The End, Game Over, call a hearse that mahfucka ain't gettin back up!

[hamfighterx]

Crime Fighters is something of a damage case, Konami's characteristically shredding late 80s OST aside. First thing to know is that anything but the three-button rev is trash. That dedicated [back kick] button makes a world of difference

Ahhh... I was playing the two-button versions, whoops! Gonna have to fire it up again and experience some proper back kicking action.

That said, you will still get eaten alive if you're not conversant with off-axis attacking.

just unforgiving - even zako grunts can decimate your lifebar in a couple stray jabs. That's more of a plus than a minus imo.

OK, you're convincing me. THANKS NICE BIL! for the helpful tips. But yeah, you nailed it with the above comments. With my lack of experience with the game, I was just surprised that the default difficulty settings give you two lives, and a mere slip-up to a common punk can easily cost you one of them. I will admit to poor vertical fighting technique though, guess I need some more practice. Maybe not necessarily hard, but a different feel than my more Capcom/SNK-focused beat-em-up instincts that did throw me for a bit of a loop.

There's also the rear grapple, which is preceded by the classic Technos restraining hold, seen above. Works only on "regular" enemies, eg not giants or dominatrices. Very handy for executing staggered enemies; remember, they're not to be taken lightly!

This is pretty good practical real world advice too! Always in for a disappointing result when you try to grab a giant OR a dominatrix from behind and slap on a headlock.

[Sima Tuna]

Standard enemies in Vendetta are some of the most dangerous threats in the game. I have no problem arguing that the first boss is less deadly than a standard grunt. So is Big Rude. And Cruel Kurt. Joe is mildly annoying but he still deals less damage to you when you fuck up than normal enemies do. About the only harmless zako are the gay dogs and biker guys who were censored in the US versions. I believe the US version replaced them with knife guys who-surprise surprise-are super deadly.

Vendetta is very much an old-school "jousting" beat em up. If you don't manage the screen very carefully and space out dangerous foes (aka all of them,) you will get obliterated. But it's never unfair. You can delete enemies as fast as they can delete you. I believe BIL has pointed out in the past that the kick you perform while you are on the ground is the closest the game gets to a superjoy or comeback mechanic.

[BIL]

Yeah, I've had times where I get punted into a crowd, and the crowd gets shredded by Yellowman's furied reprisal like he's a human claymore mine. Of course, to get knocked down, you've gotta take a nasty combo or hard hit... as always with CF2, a rare balance of empowering generosity and knife-edge danger.

You can see the rubric in action here, actually. I'm doing pretty well (near-max HP, both bosses under control, lots of resources stowed)... then I completely shit the bed, approaching that Red Knife head-on. After being floored, I get further savaged by Kurt's overhead, and yet another nasty slash. Woulda died right then if not for prior good play. But in the same exchange, Faust damn near gets killed by my desperation attack, and hightails it outta there, while Red is promptly chucked like a sack of spuds into Kurt, who's still in recovery frames. In the aftermath I get all my HP back, and a knife, with which Faust and Red are promptly murdered. Kurt ain't shit 1v1 and follows 'em promptly. EDIT: well no, Red endures a comedy of errors, including a garbage can to the face, and the dreaded Brick Whiff - man is visibly suffering twitching on the ground with each cruelly ineffectual battering.

In most other brawlers, even other masterpieces, they'd have just hovered goofily about after the knifedown, until I got back up and superjoyed or something. Totally different flow, it's fuckin wild!

Also legit super friggin hardcore how you can fight from the ground like that... behold the utter destruction awaiting those who approach a down-but-not opponent who possesses the power - or will - to survive. /bloodborne And of course, it goes both ways... woe to anyone looking to steal Hobo With Shotgun's firearm before he's suitably vanquished!

CF2's standing/grounded continuity is one of my favourite things about it. In most brawlers, once an enemy's back on their feet, they're given a clean slate. Here, if they've sustained a vicious barrage, it's all they can do to stagger back up in dizzy state, and they'd better pray someone pulls you away from them. Super gritty. Meanwhile, both the player and several enemy types have vicious cornered-animal attacks from the ground, like Hobo's devious retreating blast, and Buzzsaw's murderous lunge (which you can learn to outspace, unloading even more demolition on the fucker). Underlines the aesthetic and pace of a knock-down drag-out brawl. It's something shared by my beloved AKI N64 wrasslers (best-repped by Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 and No Mercy, for 4P framerate and hardcore/backstage content, respectively).

You can tell the devs were very conscious of it, the way certain enemies have big ground-targeted attacks you can deftly reverse with a well-timed shoe. Like Karnov's frog splash; reversing that is big PURORESU energy! Killing Lil' Rude outta his claw dive is the best.

Yo I wonder if SNK nicked Lil Rude for Choi Bounge. Seems a bit coinkydinky. Unless, as so often happens, there was some common manga/anime antecedent.

I've only ever played the ACA version, so I've never actually seen CF2's HardGay aka Glenn From The Village People, or even Gay Dog! But those Red Knifers are possibly the best zako in a game already loaded with killers, so no complaints here. Wicked hop-in slash, deadly suspense every time.

Amusingly, GD actually is in the ACA version, exclusive to Loop 2. He's just forbidden from using his Bad Touch Larry-ryuu, behaving exactly like Straight Dog once battle is begun. 3;



Sup lil homie ;3 He's unfettered in CF1, happily!

Hard at work.

Spoiler

So is HardGay, albeit they took away his rude taunt! Now instead of hip-thrusting, he just kinda puffs his chest out like "Bring it on!" And believe me, you do NOT want to grapple with this dude! He clearly trained at the same dojo as GD.

Played a few stages of CF1 this morning, forgot how much I looove this game's mood. Brutal-yet-t00nful metal, filthy urban decay, and the MC's moveset exudes grim practicality; lots of chopping, crushing elbows and stiff low kicks. Many men's careers ended on these streets!

Smartest man in genre takes fatal uppercut in front of porno mag store 3;

Spoiler

[Steven]

So what exactly is going on with Image Fight's autofire? How should I set this up? I read the manual, but it didn't really help. Same with X Multiply and its 3 separate shot buttons.

[BIL]

From what I understand, you can set Shot to [#A], and Speed to [#B] (or vice-versa) to fire and BOOSTER BURN simultaneously (shot+speed on same frame = Pod Shoot, which now has its own button). Which is probably very useful at some point, knowing this game's fiendish puzzleboxes. :O Booster Burn is where you use your ship's thrusters to set enemies' hair on fire, a trend which I think started here, and is seen in an amusing handful of further titles. Like Override aka Last Battalion! (PCE/X68k)

As for X-Multiply, it's basically a way to fire on every frame (60hz), by pressing [A] and autofire simultaeneously. If you do it right, you'll get an unbroken line of shots, basically a solid lance (certain shot types excepted). Rastan mentioned the PCB allowing similar results, though not via the same method (M72 refresh rate is ~55hz, IIRC)... again, I suspect it's some esoteric detail that the otaku would riot if left out, knowing Hamster's wont.

[Steven]

Pod Shoot having its own button is very much in line with what you'd see at a modern arcade. Mikado's Elevator Action Returns has an A+B button for your grenade and every Garegga cabinet I have seen has an A+B+C button for selecting those ship types. That X multiply thing sounds kind of broken, honestly. I'll mess around with it and see what I can do. Good that Hamster put that in, though. Humanity probably does not deserve Hamster, but we have them anyway.

[Marc]

Growl confirmed July 27th says Time Extension.

Basically, I can't see the entire Egret Mini lineup not appearing. Which also makes me worried we might not get OG Rainbow Islamds. Extra is a fucking aesthetic abomination.

[Rastan78]

From what I've been able to learn X Multiply autofire is a weird one. Normally you can't use fast autofire bc of the way the game reads inputs. It wants to see you release the shot button for a couple frames before pressing it again so 30hz auto won't work normally.

The other oddity of the game is that besides the regular A button you can wire shot to any of the other empty buttons on the JAMMA harness and it will work giving you four individual shots that can all produce 15 hz max. As long as the autofire is synchronized and staggered in sequence you can hold down 2 buttons for proper 30hz or even 4 buttons for 60hz.

As far as the ACA version you can actually do the 30hz via the double button technique by having 15 A on one shot and 15 B on another. Hold them both and it does work properly to get 30hz. You can't do the 4 button method to get 60. But!, they let you bypass all this tomfoolery by simply giving you the option to assign a perfectly functional 30hz or 60hz to an individual button.

So TL;DR ignore the fancy setup and just assign whatever speed you want to a shot button like any other game. And it's still cool to understand why 60hz is available in this game and hardly any other.

From what I've heard the mythical broken ass 60hz fire should also be possible on Cosmo Gang the Video bc it has a second shot on button 4 of the harness for some reason. Don't have the ACA version so not sure if they implemented that or not?

[BIL]

^^^ Excellent summary! Yeah, I get the feeling it's mostly a nod to the hardcore M72 samurai, on Hamster's part, even if the implementation is different.

Just gave ACA Cosmo a look, doesn't seem so; just the standard 15/20/30hz, and a single Shot button. EDIT: Ain't it grand, being able to comfily refer to multiple autofire frequencies as standard

Growl confirmed July 27th says Time Extension.

Cool game. I'm mostly in it for YACK's gorgeous OST, but the onscreen bodycount is pretty amazing in its own right.

WELCOME TO HEAVEN.MP3, OR HELL, NOT MY DEPARTMENT TBH (■｀w´■)

Spoiler

Actually I'm a little hesitant to call it YACK's OST, because good gravy does it sound like Fukumori's Gun Frontier... very Morricone, with those poignant quasi-vocals! actually imma go check.



EDIT: Nope, seems it's officially YACK's... although Fukumori was hiding in a goddamn elevator while sneaking peaks at GF (), while Senba-san was coding the st2 waterfall alone, on a Saturday, in his friggin drawers in sweltering no-AC Tokyo summer heat, so who knows what really went on under those corporate shitbirds. 3;

Gun Frontier and Runark BGM make me think of Morricone's Vamos a Matar, Companeros score, which is no bad thing. Unmistakable tempering of the balls-hard revengeful with the bittersweetly irretrievable. If ever a movie's title summed up arcade gaming's ethos! Pretty decent flick too. Trailer is a friggin Ikari Warriors game.

Speaking of YACK, ZTT, and similar sounds, noticed that Dead Connection's intro BGM syncs up freakishly well to Metal Black's - particularly the famous "The Earth Died" passage. I wonder if they had the ol' Curiously Cinematic Attract Modo thing down to a science by then.

THEY FIGHT ON, KEEPING NEWALONE IN THEIR HEARTS

[Samildanach]

Oh my goodness Megablast ticks all my boxes. Fast gameplay, overpowered ship, great music, respawn rather than checkpoints, big and varied bosses...sure it pales in the long shadow of Taito's true greats, but dang isn't it so much FUN!!

BIL, I tip my hat, good recommendation!

[BIL]

My pleasure as always! Enjoying rediscovering it myself - especially welcome after recently getting reacquainted with Fukumori's Gun Frontier OST! Unmistakable wistful air despite the formally differing styles. Guy's a total unsung hero of Taito STG canon.

[Dale]

Is Growl the 4 player version?

[Jeneki]

Megablast is surprisingly more fun than it looks. The ship speed is fast and the base firepower feels strong enough to not stress over a death. Also the midbosses have some cool cameos from other Taito games.

I wonder how much staff overlap this had with Superman arcade, as the flying rocks/explosions remind me a lot of that game.

[jehu]

Megablast is alright... I'm glad to have it, but it's puddle deep.

The 1CC is in reach of anyone so long as they can get over the difficulty spike of the Stage 6 boss and the final boss. Everything melts with autofire.

It's like a weird pastiche of shmup design - from Thunder Cross to Hellfire. Music is kind of nice.

It was originally designed as a four-button game. It also looks like it was supposed to have a multiplayer focus. Doesn't seem like the design came together as planned - it doesn't take advantage of any of its systems and isn't interesting mechanically.

Sick grab that clear and prepare for Splatterhouse.

Edit: After further review, the stage 6 boss and final boss have very easy solutions.

For posterity. Do not shoot the stage 6 boss until he breaks apart on his own. Shooting at him won't speed up the fight and will make the boss far more aggressive.

To kill the final boss, line yourself up on the left edge of the screen just below the boss's hatch. If you're in the right place, your shot will be hitting the hatch, and the barrage of bullshit he fires will just magically miss you. Move forward to avoid the homing missiles after that barrage, rinse, repeat, you've got your clear.

[Azathoth_0]

Ahhh... I was playing the two-button versions, whoops! Gonna have to fire it up again and experience some proper back kicking action.

Do you remember off the top of your head which versions use the 3 button setup? I've played Crime Fighters a bit over the years but don't recall ever trying that setup.

[BIL]

^ It's Japan 2P you want. Japan 4P, US 2P, and US 4P all use two buttons, and the 4P (edit: not US) ones replace your lifebar with a Gauntlet-style ticking countdown, as was the case in a few other brawler revisions from Konami, and others (Combatribes US does this too, IIRC).

The 4P revs actually aren't too bad, from party-game standpoint, provided you have four players. That many hands on deck can equalise the limited moveset. Actually I wonder if that idiotic Boss Revenge stage was balanced with four players in mind...

Keep in mind the Back Kick literally is that, a backwards-aimed kick. But it combos just like PPP and KKK, and it's also massively faster, rangier, and higher-priority than them. Invaluable for pokes. PPP's good for demolishing zako and combo-starting, K frankly isn't much good for anything on standing enemies (it's essential for ground attacks, ofc).

[Sengoku Strider]

Growl confirmed July 27th says Time Extension.

That's awesome news. I loved this game back in the arcade, what human being with a soul doesn't want to free poor tortured cool animals? I'd seriously been looking at the Mega Drive version of Runark, but it's not cheap and kinda mediocre I hear.

[Sima Tuna]

Growl is great. The best part is that after you free the animals, they come back to help you FUCK SHIT UP.

Spoiler

[Azathoth_0]

Growl confirmed July 27th says Time Extension.

Was the version used on the Egret Mini the original ROM, or the crappy censored one used in Taito Legends?

I'm assuming if it uses the censored one then that may be what Taito provided to Hamster for the ACA release as well.

[OldSkoolShmuper]

Growl is a good one, good to hear it's coming to ACA


I few from my wish list.

Twin Eagle: Revenge Joe's Brother
Caliber 50
Vapor Trail
Jackal
Heavy Barrel
F/A Fighter & Attacker
Bloody Wolf
Midnight Resistance
Thunder Fox
Bottom Of The Ninth / Main Stadium

Konami's Bottom of The Ninth was the most realistic baseball game I'd ever seen in 1989.
I saw it in GamePro and played it in a local arcade around the same.



Baseball Stars Professional on the Neo Geo was out a year later
and didn't have animation nearly as good.

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

Bloody Wolf is based.

That is all. More people should play it.

[OldSkoolShmuper]

Bloody Wolf is based.

That is all. More people should play it.

It was only well after I had Bloody Wolf on the TurboGrafx-16 that I found it it was also an arcade game.

[Atariboy]

I'd love to see some racing games. Hopefully Pole Position appears here someday soon and gets their feet wet in that genre.

[jehu]

Anyone have much experience with Master of Weapon Arcade? I'm just seeing how bastardized the Mega Drive port is and it has long colored my perception of the game. Is Arcade a solid experience? Looks kind of cool with the aliens skittering across the scrolling highways, and the music is much less terrible.

Also, the teaser for Egret Mini expansion #2 suggests that Night Striker is going to be a highlight. Think that precludes an ACA version for at least a little while. Sad.

[EmperorIng]

I got the Megablast 1cc the other night and my opinion after practice is that it isn't a b-grade hori, more like a d-grade. Hilariously unfinished and cobbled together (just use sprites from other taito games, like the fucking speed bike thing from Raimais!). The service menu lists button A as Shoot, and B as Warp - maybe there was another angle this game was going to take before it was rushed out the door.

It's good for a laugh, and good for the typical old taito game scoring of "milk this boss forever" (in this case, milk bub's bubbles for 100pts each... Twice!).

Clearly the best thing about it is the Gun Frontier-esque music and the amazing intro (where they didn't even turn off invincibility in the demo mode, lol).

I recorded a replay of the game. I thought I might try to compete with third_strike's amazing 800k score, but the bubble bobble milk is really quite difficult and takes forever so I left it at this. I will have to settle for having a pretty good title/thumbnail though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=benjR326mOo

[BIL]

Bub from Bubble Bobble Wants Our Women. And What he Wants, he Takes.

At least we can all enjoy the whimsical combo of four-way shot, interspecies rape, and Mozart - it's the CLOCKWORK ORANGE OF STG

[EmperorIng]

Whoa, wait a minute, it plays ol' Ludwig Van's Ode to Joy in the credits... it really is Clockwork Orange!