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Post by Fickle81 on May 14, 2006 23:13:06 GMT -5
Heres the rundown. I'll be listing off what I think are the most underrated and underapreciated games. It will be updated on an "if I feel like it" basis...and right now I feel like kicking the thread off,so here we go: Wrath of the Black MantaPublisher:Taito Platform:NES Release Date:April 1990 (US)Wrath of the Black Manta,in my supreme opinion,is one of the most unintentionally funny games ever made. Its about a ninja that calls himself The Black Manta,eventhough his suit is purple. He recieves a call in the middle of the night,and answers it as if he were asleep...with his ninja attire very much in tact I might add. Its his master,calling him to go on a quest to find out whats going on behind a recent string of child kidnappings and stop whoever is involved. So after you pick what special ability you'd like to equip in the level,you begin your quest. One of the first things you find is a note saying "The man in red knows something." Along with killing guys dressed in green with mohawks,you occationally run into a guy dressed in red that making physical contact with (running your character into his) inacts some interrogation cut scenes. You keep running into this guy over and over throughout the level,and each time he doesn't tell you anything...even when it looks like he finally will... Along with killing goons and capturing the guy in red,you also have to save some of the kidnapped children. There are some you can't get to without finding the secret rooms. Each time you save a kid,they tell you about other secret rooms and other important information...except for this one kid that you rescue... I don't know why I find a ninja advising against drug use funny,I just do. Its almost as if I can picture the discussions about the young target demographic among the developers when they decided to write that into the game. Of course,I HAVE to make mention of the first level boss...the giant hairy beer gut bald headed brute,complete with a red wife beater no less,that goes by the not so sterotypical name of "Tiny" Just look at how much bigger he is than our somewhat clumsy hero...I dunno about you,but if I had that gigantic of a fat spouse abusing slob coming after me,I'd be running for my life...that is until I found out all his fighting strategy involved was constintly stomping to make a single brick fall on you. You're probably asking "Thats all fine and great,but how well does it play"? right about now...and the answer is surprisingly well. Its not groundbreaking in anyway,but it's far from sloppy. Competent is the word I'm really going for here. I would compare its gameplay to the original Shinobi. The music of the game is pure Velveta cheese,which sometimes helps the game out with its already silly nature,but does eventually get irritating. All in all,if you're looking for a time waster thats fun to play while providing a few chuckles,give this game a whirl...or you could just go to hell.
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Post by Fickle81 on Jun 4, 2006 21:34:24 GMT -5
I've wanted to move away from the NES games and write about this for quite awhile...theres only one problem. This game is so unknown that theres barely any material on it online to use as research or to make this a more fun read. No noteworthy pictures,no list of great quotes from the game...pretty much ziltch. All that could be found are 2 reviews from major game sites (IGM and Gamespot),and a couple of gameplay videos without dialogue. So,this means I'm gonna have to do it all from memory. Broken HelixPublisher:Konami Platform:PlayStation Release Date:May 31, 1997Broken Helix is about a bomb defusing expert named Jake Burton,who's called in by the military to defuse 2 bombs in 20 minutes inside Area 51,only to have the plot thicken when the bombs are defused. Sounds like pretty basic stuff,except for a couple minor details...First,Jake Burton is voiced by none other than Bruce Campbell (AKA Greatness Extraordinaire AKA The One Liner Spewing Ass Kicking Machine). This can only mean one thing...Ash like wise cracking manly dialogue. Now I know what you're thinking. He voiced The Evil Dead games,which we all know most of them are steaming bags of assnuggets. It should be said that while the gameplay in this game isn't mindblowing,its definatly more serviceable than The Evil Dead games. Which leads me to the other minor detail of the game. The game has 4 different storyline directions that you can take. With the time I had with the game (rented it twice),I experienced 2. One is you defuse the bombs,but then get wind that the military plans to kill you because you know about Area 51's existence,so you go from floor to floor outrunning their sweep of the large complex while conversing and planning with scientists to not only stop them but also to stop a master alien from escaping along with all the other creatures running around in the complex (or something like that,like I said its been awhile). The other was leaving 1 bomb undefused,but being so far away from the blast that it doesn't effect the game ending (IE killing your character),so when the military guys find you in their sweep,you could pretend to be one of them and actually join in on the sweep of mass killing. Thats just half of the possibilities this game has to offer. It should also be noted that the game plays in real time...in other words,if you're not fast and effective enough at outrunning the soldiers,they'll be so unforgiving that they'll effect parts of the game. They don't suddenly slow down just because you've reached a specific part of the game. They move at a regular pace. Again,the gameplay/controls AND the graphics are definatly nothing to write home about...but the depth in storyline and Bruce Campbell's fine voice acting are definatly enough to make up for it and turn it into at least a fun time waster. Such a shame that its this unknown.
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Post by Fickle81 on Jun 9, 2006 0:51:16 GMT -5
Power Move Pro WrestlingPublisher:Activision Platform:Playstation Release Date:January 1, 1997Wow...no seriously,wow...I didn't think Power Move was THAT unknown. Not as unknown as Broken Helix,but still nowhere NEAR as much online content as there should have been (there should have AT LEAST been pictures of the characters for fucks sakes),and all the reviews I've seen are actually split right down the middle of those that love it and those who hate it. But of course,Power Move didn't have all those great user abilities such as match type selection,create a wrestler,and storymode for example...but I have to ask,what the fuck did you expect for 1997? See,there are basically 2 types of wrestling game styles that made wrestling games popular,at least in the U.S. The Yukes style and the WCW/N64 style (most people would probably refer to this as the AKI style when AKI didn't even start developing these types of games till WWF Wrestlemania 2000,when that style of wrestling gameplay was born with WCW vs. The World on the PS)...fuck the Acclaim style,thats only known for its create a wrestler contribution,with its shitty fighting game gameplay mechanics (just because wrestling games are considered fighting games doesn't mean they should play like fighting games assholes...you deserved your bankruptcy). Anyways,Power Move is one of if not THE prototype for the Yukes style,which is the style that ended up coming out on top and is the popular style today. Why? Because it's definatly the most fun to play,which every time I decide to revisit it,still ends up being fun for its blatent datedness...oh yea,and it should also be said that Power Move even predates WCW vs. The World by close to 2 months. The gameplay of Power Move does take a little getting used to even on a revisit,but I ask again...what did you expect in 1997? Think of this game as Nintendo Pro Wrestling,which I also think can still be fun today,taken to the enth degree. Like Nintendo Pro Wrestling,Power Move has it's own set of fictional wrestlers. These,however,are much more discernable than Nintendo Pro Wrestling's characters were,whose only real seperation of personality they had was their different moves and costumes. Power Move was like that except they had definate gimmicks and even a little backstory. Guys like Da Judge,a black judge character (even has a bailiff as a manager who you unfortunatly don't see),a Jamaican under the control of a witch doctor named Zombie,a disclipinarian drill sergeant character named The Commandant...hell,the game even has its own "Starman" type of character (again,Nintendo Pro Wrestling) with a masked man named Area 51. Like Nintendo Pro Wrestling,these characters had their own signature moves,although Power Move does this with a ton more variety than NPW. There are a total of 12 characters to choose from,with 3 additional hidden characters. Seriously,a game like this being this unknown is absolutly shocking,and trying to do research on it was like untangling several annoying and stubborn knots. Sure it lacks shit that ultimatly made wrestling games really fun like match selection options,weapons,free roaming,storymode,blood,and create options...but,for the third time,what did you expect in 1997,when the whole wrestling videogame wave was just getting started? It all had to begin somewhere. Yes its way dated...but I would actually much rather take this than even some of the wrestling games that came out years after it...I'm looking at you,WWE RAW for X Box...with your RoboCop uber constipation character walking animation,your complete unfriendlyness to outside the ring combat,and your terrible AI.
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Post by Fickle81 on Jun 12, 2006 1:45:13 GMT -5
For those wondering what the hell my new avatar is from,wonder no more. Eternal Champions:Challenge From The DarksidePublisher:Sega Platform:Sega CD Release Date:September 30, 1994After seeing how the lists for BD's Videogame draft came about,I decided to delve deep into my memory banks to form a list of my own...and yes,I'm planning on making some kind of graphic for it again,just to watch you have that same hilariously stupid reaction,like saying I'm partisapating in a draft I'm not even entered in...it'll be even more amusing now that the statistics show you actually talk more about me than I do of you. Anyways,I gotta say the ball was really dropped in terms of some of the lists...so many great games that were even missed when others started listing their POTENTIAL picks and others that nobody drafted (so far,only evolved evil has been able to name one of my draft picks). UNLIKE the list of my own that I made for the movie draft,I'm listing my videogame picks to actually show off my videogame knowledge. So in remembering and researching all the great games I played in my yesteryear,I came across so many more games that have pretty much been forgotten about (enough to write at least 5 more of these posts,not including the 1 I've been sitting on). However,the one that has been the greatest nostalgia trip of all has been this awsome fighting game that pretty much nobody even played to begin with. Essentially the sequel to the probably more well known Eternal Champions for Sega Genesis,the overall storyline is that a being known as The Eternal Champion,that represents all the good in the universal existence,rescues 9 unique people from different periods of time just moments before their demise. Each individual were killed before they could have a specific impact upon the world. The Eternal Champion organises a tournament where the winner would be sent back just moments from their death,with said knowledge of their exact death in tact when they're sent back,to stop their demise and achieve their destiny. In this sequel,there is a twist added. When The Eternal Champion gathered the 9 people from different times,his power significantly weakened. This allows ample opportunity for the all encompassing evil being of existence,known as The Dark Champion,to appear and bring 4 people of his own that HE gathered seconds before their demise into the tournament...the challenge from the darkside is thrown down,and the stakes for the tournament reaches epic proportions. Gameplay? Think Street Fighter with a pinch of Killer Instinct (at least with how some of the mechanics of the combos and fatalities work). The Genesis prequel was a good start,but the gameplay felt a little too muddy. Thankfully the added boost of power from the Sega CD is just what the doctor ordered for this sequel. But heres the best part...each of the intially selectable characters (because there are 4 additional hidden characters) has 4...count em...4 different fatalities ranging from the simple run of the mill,to the hilariously ridiculous,to the insanely awsome,with most of them being a giddy bloodbath of a viewing experience. The unique thing here is that 2 of them are stage fatalities...thats right,each character has their own dedicated game stage that has 2 unique to the level stage fatalities,called Overkills and Sudden Deaths...An Overkill is your "stage hotspot" fatality where you have to do a move that both completely empties your opponet's energy bar AND knocks them into an exact spot of the level,where as a Sudden Death is essentially the same thing done a little differently...at least one Sudden Death doesn't involve "landing" in a hotspot at all,but rather harshly knocking your opponet in the air near a stage landmark or piece of architecture. Then you have your Vendettas,which are your run of the mill input command character fatalities...but in this game,the mechanics of it work a little differently. Unlike Mortal Kombat,fighters don't get dizzy when they get beaten in the final round...but like Street Fighter 2,they get dizzy when you unload a bunch of dominating calculated blows on them (or combos). In order to execute a Vendetta in this game,you have to do that to your opponet and they must have AT THE MOST 33% of their health left. And finally,the Cinekills...let me ask you this. Can you name any other fighting game that has FMV fatalities? If not,then this game is still ahead of its time. Here's just a little taste of what to expect from this game... Credit for the gifs: www.whipassgaming.com/genesisreviews/eternalchamp_demo.htm(Go there if you want to see the rest of the game's fatalities in gif form,INCLUDING Cinekills) It should be said that there are others that appreciate this game,as it currently has an average rating of 9/10 on Gamefaqs (there are currently 11 reader reviews). www.gamefaqs.com/console/segacd/review/587945.htmlFor those that have the ability,heres the ROM for it: www.romnation.net/srv/roms/44432/segacd/Eternal-Champions-Challenge-From-the-Dark-Side-U.html(it'd be who of you to play this with a game controller that has at least 6 buttons) Unfortunatly,the fighting game genre isn't nearly as popular as it used to be,and with how much of a cult series Eternal Champions is,it's pretty doubtful that we'll ever see a resurrection of this great fighting franchise. Oh well...hopefully we'll always have this game. This should give you some idea as to the variety and deep rooted style I used to not only come up with my list,but also the potential games I could have listed...
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Post by Fickle81 on Jun 16, 2006 22:36:51 GMT -5
Skitchin'Publisher:Electronic Arts Platform:Genesis Release Date:1993The #4 pick on my faux videogame draft list. Woe be it to anybody that has never even played Skitchin',let alone heard of it. Back in the day,Road Rash was the rage as far as this subgenre of sports games go...well you wanna know what I say? Fuck that shit,son! Because: Skitchin > Road Rash...any and all of themLike Road Rash,Skitchin' is a hardcore take on its sport (Road Rash being motorcycle racing and Skitchin' being roller blade racing)...also like Road Rash,it was made by Electronic Arts. The thing that seperates them is that Skitchin' allows you to do more than any of the Road Rash games because in the Road Rash games,you seemed to be confined on your motorcycle. Well,you're not really confined to anything when roller blading,at least not to the degree that you're confined to being on a motorcycle. It's still very much the same scenario...competitive illegal racing for money...but with roller blading,a new element is added...the ability and need to hold onto fast moving cars in order to win races. This,of course,creates some problems...such as having to fight off other racers that are hanging onto the same car as you (with many great weapons such as cattle prods and nunchucks to name a few) and making sure to keep low so the driver doesn't see you (because they'll stop if they do...cop cars will not only stop,but arrest you). Oh,and did I mention there are also ramps throughout each course for you to do tricks off of and earn more money? To me,this game was way more fun than any of the Road Rash games. Matter of fact,myself and my best friend all throughout middle and high school,played this game for hours...it provided that much enjoyment. One great memory I have of this game was one race that he would of won had I NOT got smacked from behind by an extremely fast moving car and went flying forward about twice as fast as he was going past the finish line. It utterly sickens me that all of the Road Rash games have complete FAQs,while Skitchin' only has 1 that isn't even anywhere near completed. This game deserved much better than to have faded into obscurity. Resurrect this great underrated gem... www.romnation.net/srv/roms/20330/genesis/Skitchin-UEJ.html
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Post by Fickle81 on Jun 22, 2006 23:26:49 GMT -5
Tecmo's DeceptionPublisher:Tecmo Platform:Playstation Release Date:Jul 25, 1996Here we have #8 on the faux game draft list... While they have their own popular signature franchises,like Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive to name a few,I reguard Tecmo as the "sleeper hit" company. For all you nobs out there,a sleeper hit is basically a product that earns most if not all of its publicity by word of mouth alone...a cult hit is another way to describe it,and I can't think of any other company with more of these cult hits than Tecmo. Along with Fatal Frame,which is the best horror game ever made to this day (and #2 on my faux game draft list),Tecmo also produced THIS sleeper hit,which like Fatal Frame,became a big enough cult hit to warrant its own franchise (it has 2,technically 3 sequels if you count Trapt for PS2). Deception is a unique first person action strategy RPG where you take control of a former prince who was to inherit the crown when his father died. However his treacherous brother,Yurias,kills his and the player's father to take the crown AND the player's fiance for himself and frames the player for it,leading to his public execution. Moments before his death,he cries out and begs for his life to be spared. Next thing he knows,he finds himself at the foot of a huge mansion structure known as the House of the Damned...it seems that his wish was granted by none other than Satan. In exchange for the player's rescue,the player is to become the new castle master,whose job is to kill anybody that trespasses on the property...but before becoming the new master,you're put to the test by having to kill the current castle master. What makes this game unique is how you dispose of these trespassers...you do so by relying on all sorts of deadly traps all throughout the mansion (or castle,whichever you prefer). Of course,the trap thing has been done before this game (Night Trap anyone?),but it's HOW this game does it that seperates it out. For one thing,it's your responsibility to set the traps at the beginning of each chapter (and sometimes during if your previous strategy didn't work) wherever you think would be tactical in location,and lead any and all unsuspecting victims to said traps (while making sure you NEVER spring a trap on yourself). Most traps fall into 2 catagories...those designed to capture and those designed to drain HP/flat out kill. Using traps designed to capture (such as cages,cranes,bear traps,and magnets to name a few) will allow you to capture the soul of the traped tresspasser by rapidly pressing a certain button to run their meter out before they escape...capturing their souls will get you more MP to play with. Using traps meant to drain HP and kill (such as weights,spikes, and pits to name a few) will still get you an MP bonus when you use them to kill,but not as much as the bonus you get from collecting souls. Of course,theres also a couple of traps that are used to "confuse" your enemies (such as buckets and gases). Traps range from the viceral to the humorous. Not only do you get MP to use to set up your traps,you also get gold to use to buy items AND upgrade your traps. Each trap has 2 levels of upgrades avalible. Take the weight trap for example...you start out with the typical ton weight,then you can upgrade to the metal bomb,and from there upgrade to the fire bomb. Traps aren't the only things you can use on trespassers however. Later in the game you get the ability to create your own monsters (such as zombies,werewolfs,and golems to name a few),each with their own stats and abilities,to use to do your bidding. You can also build rooms and expand the House of the Damned. Before you go thinking that it's all mindless killing with no storyline other than its prelude,you're dead wrong. The game has 26 chapters,which will later involve your evil brother (and your former fiance) finding out about your existence in the House of the Damned and your opportunity to extract your revenge for what he did. The game has different endings and different storyline branchings depending on the actions you take,particularly whether you always kill and/or steal the souls of every trespasser,or whether you allow some to escape and spread the word of what you and the mansion are all about,which will cause more invaders to come and attempt to retrieve your head. Part of the appeal of the game's story is some of the mean spirited scenarios it offers...Chapter 3 being the big one. In said chapter,a married couple come to the mansion in search of a rumoured treasure that they plan to use to pay for an opperation their daughter is in desperate need of or else she'll die. You,of course,have different plans for them. Once you dispose of one,the other tries to escape...of course,being the sadistic son of a bitch I was when I played this game,I didn't let that happen as I also disposed of them...which of course,spelled doomed for their ailing daughter as not only did she not get the surgery she needed to continue living,but both her parents were killed. Gotta commend a game with bulldog balls like that. I could go into even more detail about the game,like how there are different classes of enemies with specific weaknesses,but I think I've made the point of the game being fairly detailed and engrossing enough. It should be said that I've also played its first sequel,titled Kagero:Deception 2. While I liked that game as well,I like the first one a lot more because the sequel takes away some of the grounded RPG elements in favour of more action arcade elements (it adds combos and juggling with its traps and environments),and the storyline compared to the first is rather weak. Back in the day,this game actually got some pretty decent coverage from critics and regular gamers alike...now you'd be lucky to find any decent screenshots of the game (most of them are tiny thumbnails). If you never experienced this fun and at times sadistic game,track it down or go fuck yourself.
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Post by Fickle81 on Mar 9, 2007 23:08:22 GMT -5
Haven't done one of these in quite awhile...hope I won't show signs of rustiness... Super Dodge BallPublisher:Sony Imagesoft Platform:NES Release Date:June 1989Ok so,story time...I was sitting in class a few days ago (monday to be exact),reading over the 3 nursery rhymes we are supposed to record for our final project in my head before going into the foley lab to record them (yea I know,pretty dumb final...but hey,they didn't ask me). At the same time,I'm listening to the teacher and 3 other students talk about Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Seeing as how I haven't played a single new game since RE 4 for PS 2 last winter not only because my love of videogames has sharply declined over the past couple of years,but because I have financial obligations that takes away my ability to use my money for videogames (hopefully that will change when I'll FINALLY be done with college possibly next quarter...it's a coin flip at the moment),I decided I was gonna be a comedian and show just how out of touch I am as far as videogames are concerned (although not THAT far out of touch,because I at least know about the game and what it's like). When a brief moment of silence in the conversation arrived,I took it upon myself to injerject by saying "You know what game is really hard? Little Nemo The Dream Master." Now,I knew the response could have gone 1 of 2 ways...either it would induce laughter because the guys would get the joke,or it would induce one big collective "...huh?" because it's such an old and semi obscure game. I figured it would have ended up being the latter,but I was pleasently surprised that it was the former not only because they got the joke,but because they knew of the game. So that lead the conversation down memory lane,induced by discussions of the videogames of yore. Eventually,we came to one Super Dodge Ball for NES (it started out as an arcade game,but I never played that,which is why I'm focusing on the NES port). We all were bragging to each other about how unstoppable we all were at the game,and an interesting point was brought up when one of the guys mentioned an instance where he came across recent use of the game for videogame tournaments. We all came to the unanimous consensus that eventhough the game tends to slow down some and the players tend to blink too much,Super Dodge Ball is a criminally underrated game. Hence,why I've decided to give this thread a long needed bump. For those not in the know,Super Dodge Ball was developed by a little known now defunct Japanese company by the name of Technos,who brought you such other games as River City Ransom and the Double Dragon series. It was also recently ported to the Game Boy Advance. In the game,you control a team of 6 players...3 inner court players and 3 outer court players. Your inner court players act as your main offensive team,whose objective is to eliminate the opponet's inner court players via depleting their energy bars by pegging them with the ball...then you have your outer court players,positioned on your opponet's side of the court (yes,your opponet's outer court players are positioned on your side of the court),who act as a wild card to the game as both a source of defense and another element of offense...they can be used either as a means of securing the ball from the opposing team and passing it over to your inner court players to use against them OR as a way to confuse your opponets by making them think you're gonna throw the ball at them,causing them to retreat to the back of their side of the court,but then you make a quick pass to an outer court player who is really close to them so that player can slug them with the ball before they have time to react. Unlike the inner court players,outer court players don't have energy bars so they can't be eliminated from the game. Then you have other elements of the game,like the different kind of throws you can pull off (Super Shot,Power Shot,and the jumping variations of both),different stats for each player on the team (that can be edited,but I typically don't bother with that because even with a shitty team/player,I can pull off an "art in motion" performance),intercepting opposing teams throws,and other aspects that I don't have the time or feel like getting into... Now for shits and giggles,I'm gonna walk you through a game using my last screen capture use for my trial version of Quick Screen Recorder to make the AVIs (since the movie recording feature with the Console Classix application I'm using to play the games is a pile of shit),Windows Movie Maker to edit and export the clips (I'd rather use Avid,but you work with what ya got),and ImageReady to edit and convert the clips to animated gifs,but first heres some regular screen captures. Here we have the main title screen: Um...ok hi...I guess...Next,the main menu screen. For this particular demonstration,I'm gonna pick World Cup Play which only lets you play as Team USa,but if you were to pick Versus play,you can pick one of the following teams: All Star Team USA England India Iceland China Kenya Japan USSR I'll save the Bean Ball mode till the end of this article,because it's pretty much a different game entirely. Before I go on,I have to comment on how sterotypical some of the stages are...heres Iceland for example: Now,correct me if I'm wrong,but I'm pretty sure that Iceland being an island of nothing but icy wintery weather is a sterotypical misnomer...but if you think thats bad,take a look at Kenya: Thankfully this game was never brought to the attention of Jesse Jackson,cause I'm sure he'd have something to say about that...oh and in case you're wondering,the turf you play on in Kenya actually slows your player down. Finally,lets look at China: Holy shit,is it just me or are there asscheeks where the eyes should be in that portrait? Anyway,now with the hilarity of certain levels out of the way,lets get to the 1 player game itself,and as you saw in the menu screen picture,I had it set on the highest difficulty level,which those with experience know that in NES land,the hardest difficulty level can be ball busting: This is the first thing you see...the teams standing still for a moment. I am the team on the left in green...yes the mouse pointer is in the middle and I didn't even notice it was there till after I recorded...and in case you wanna know why some of these look a little blury and/or pixelated,it's because you can't compress a 30 plus MEG AVI file (the highest was 37 MB) to a several hundred K GIF file (although 2 of them are slightly over a MEG) without there being some noticeable quality alterations. Now,the game begins: Oh YEA,suck on that BITCH! You got no game! I'm already introducing this team to the business end of my ass kickery with the very first move. I believe this particular jumping power shot is called The Accelerator. Oh snaps,thought you were gonna peg me didn't ya? Then all the sudden I turned around at the last second,and with precise precision,caught that motherfucker...and that was a power shot known as The Blaster too. A minor exchange that leads to the first casualty of the game...if you notice,although it's hard to see in this particular image,the defeated player turns into an angel and floats away. I like that...I like the message it sends. If you get your ass kicked in dodge ball,you don't go and sit out the rest of the game on the bench or head back to the locker room...you fucking DIE! Beautiful... Oh man,and ANOTHER quick as lightning catch of a power shot...these guys ain't got shit on me... ...Which in turn causes ANOTHER player on that team their life...how do you like that shit? Yea,ain't that a bitch? Look at how he's huffing and puffing after that last jumping power shot...it's cause he can't handle the flavour...of my ass stomping ownage. And after that,he tries another throw which is caught by me,which leads to this: See ya bitch! That particular jumping power shot is known as The Psycho...it's really not that powerful,but it was enough to seal their fate...look how their outer court guys cry like bitches as my team flaunts and taunts in victory. You fucking lost,take it like men you pussies! Anyways,thats the main game in the nutshell...finally,there is the bean ball mode I mentioned earlier,and as I said before,it's pretty much a different game: You pick 1 guy from the team to play as and go against all the other members of your team in an all out every man for himself dodgeball rumble: Don't be fooled by the placement. It's a free roaming game. Well,thats Super Dodgeball in a nutshell and why it's grossly underrated and underapreciated...if you don't agree,well...eat a cock...
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Post by Fickle81 on Mar 19, 2007 0:03:02 GMT -5
General ChaosPublisher:Electronic Arts Platform:Genesis Release Date:Jan 13, 1994This game holds the honor of being rented by me the most times out of any other game (5 times) and one that I regret not owning to this day. The very notion that this game is as obscure as it is today,let alone being obscure back then,is absolutly puke inducing...because this game is a prime example of a diamond in the ruff. Those looking for the ever elusive game thats addictive in both single AND multiplayer modes (up to 4 players can play co-op or against each other with a multi controller adapter) should look no further than General Chaos. Think of this game as the cornier step brother of Cannon Fodder. In the game,you control the army of General Chaos (the blue team) who is engaged in a war with General Havoc (the red team). You start off with 3 options in the middle neutral area between your territory on the left (your capital is Moronica obviously) and General Havoc's territory on the right (his capital city being Viceria obviously). Depending on the outcome of the battle,your army will either press forward into General Havoc's side of the map or you'll be pushed back into your own side of the map. The side that takes over the opponet's capital city wins. I'll go ahead and pick the Checkpoint Chaos stage: Because I'm not gonna show you every single stage there is in the game (due to there being too many),keep in mind that all stages have their own unique surroundings,which requires new strategic methods and planning for all of them (especially ones with large bodies of water,as it's possible for soldiers to drown when wading through them). Now we find ourselves at the squad select screen. In the game,there are 5 different types of soldiers and 4 different types of squads. First,the types of soldiers: Gunners:These are your machine gun soldiers. Their maximum hit range is 40m. Lanchers:These are your bazooka soldiers. Their maximum hit range is 150m. Chuckers:These are your grenade soldiers. Their maximum hit range is 50m. Scorchers:These are your flame thrower soldiers. Their maximum hit range is .5m. Blasters:These are your dynamite soldiers. Their maximum hit range is 10m. Here is a shot from the using weapons portion of bootcamp mode (also known as the tutorial/practice mode) that will give you a better visual understanding of each soldiers type and hit range: Now for the 4 different squad types: Assault Team:A well rounded team,consisting of 1 of each type of soldier. Brute Force:A team consisting of 2 scorchers,2 chuckers,and a lancher. Great for powerful close range combat. Demolition Squad:A team consisting of 2 gunners,2 lanchers,and a chucker. Great for long range combat. Commandos:This is the wild card of the 4 squads for 2 reasons. First,you only get 2 soldiers instead of 5,whos types are determined by what stage you choose to fight on. Second,this squad uses a completely different control scheme than the other 3 squads (which I'll cover in a brief moment) which allows more of a sense of freedom. Instead of the positioning control scheme the other 3 squads use,each of the 2 commandos movement can be controlled with the D pad and you can switch which commando you're controlling with the soldier switch button. This option is for the bold,daring,and skilled. For this particular demonstration,I'll choose the demolition squad: Here we now have the gameplay screen. You have 3 different actions during gameplay. First there is the fire button,which causes every soldier in your squad to fire their weapons and not just the one you have selected (they automatically aim for the enemy soldier(s) closest to their hit range). Next is the soldier select button,which puts a halo underneath your selected soldier so you know which one you've selected,similar to that of a sports game player selection. The third and final command you have is the move to position button,which moves your selected solder to a spot designated by that blue C labeled arrow icon on the screen that you move around with the D pad. Heres an example of how it works: As you can see,after the selected soldier was finished firing his weapon,he moved to the blue X marked spot designated by tht blue arrow. Now,if you command a soldier to move to a position which caused him to come in direct contact with an enemy soldier,this happens: Now during this situation,one of 2 things will happen. Either a winner will automatically be chosen at random (I don't know how the winner is determined) and the game will return to normal with the loser being on the ground as if they took a hit from a weapon or the game will go into hand to hand combat mode. During this mode,all the action around the 2 combatants freezes as they duke it out. You can use punches and kicks to drain your opponet's health bar...these punches and kicks can be directed either low (pressing down and whichever hit button of your choosing),mid (just pushing whatever hit button of your choosing),or upper (guess...). Now sometimes if you win,again at random,your downed opponet will be a cheap sore losing son of a bitch,pull out a pistol,and plug you right in the gut (I don't remember if you can actually do this or not if you lose a fight). Now you may be wondering if theres any way to heal downed soldiers to prolong the battle. Yes there is. Each sqaud starts out with 5 medics (you can get more by destroying barrels or safes found in certain levels if they contain the medic powerup). When a soldier is downed,you can call the medic onto the screen by placing the blue arrow over the downed soldier until a first aid icon appears and then pressing a certain button,which causes a medic to come and carry the downed soldier away before another of the same type runs onscreen to join the battle...but be careful cause I'm pretty sure the medic can get hit and die just like any of the other soldiers on the battlefield. Well,thats basically the game in a nutshell. Seriously,you need to resurrect this criminally underrated game by downloading the rom. Here is the rom I used to get all the GIFs: www.coolrom.com/roms/genesis/5636/General_Chaos.phpYou can also get an emulator from the same site (I use Fusion,because it reads all Sega formats...Genesis,Sega CD,32X,Game Gear,and even the Master System). As far as I know,you CAN play the multiplayer mode with the rom if you change the controller preferences on the emulator itself to recognise 4 seperate controllers. Enjoy and you're welcome... (I don't think I'm gonna be doing anymore GIF visual aids on anymore of these for awhile unless somebody recommends a different screen recording application. I can no longer use Quick Screen Recorder without entering a registration key,and the new screen recording trial software I'm using,Hero Screen Recorder,won't make any video files playable through any media player or recogniseable on any program no matter what codec I use...so I'm left with capturing sequences as raw GIFs,which isn't pretty in the slightest as it produces some ginormous file sizes...one of which was a 124 MEG GIF which was unusable.) Update (12/4/07):Seems somebody wants to still keep this game underapreciated cause as you can clearly see,every single damn one of the images I had up are no longer avalible. Since I don't have any of the backups because that would require that I really care all that much,I will instead point you in the direction of ScrewAttack's Video Game Vault video featuring this game where they give it the praise it deserves.
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Post by Fickle81 on Sept 8, 2007 1:50:15 GMT -5
Beauty and the BeastPublisher:Imagic and/or Mattel Platform:Intellivision Release Date:1982When you think of the Intellivision,what games come to your mind that stand out as true universally reguarded classics? Pretty much none,right? Lets face it,the Intellivision AT BEST was only a minor blip on the radar during its 3-4 year run as a home console during the early 80s...but that doesn't mean that there aren't any good or even great games for it,as this just happens to be one of them. Now before I get into describing this game and how it works,I need to ask you to try to remove the images of Disney's movie of the same name and the TV series of the same name,no matter how difficult that endevour might be,cause this game really doesn't have anything to do with those other than having the same title. If you can make out the box art,you can see that theres this giant caveman who has a hold of a helpless damsel in distress while this guy is climbing a hotel building to get to her...now,knowing that this is an Intellivision game,just like with the old Atari 2600 games,you should know that the models in the game itself will most likely resemble nothing like the ones on the box art...and sure enough... The beast doesn't look so much like a giant caveman...he more resembles a Donkey Kong sized version of General Zod from Superman 2 with a bowl haircut...in fact,seeing him hold the beauty (who simply looks like an ambiguous blue figure) in one hand while using his other arm to strike a sort of flex pose,I'm almost tempted to kneel before him...but then I realise who I am,the greatness I exude,and that I kneel before nobody. Now the character you control...he looks like a hybrid of these 3 gentlemen: Anyways,The object of the game is to climb up and reach the beast,and when you do,the beast climbs higher up the building. As you can probably tell from the picture above,each tier/row/rung of the building represents a different level (ones highlighted red,like the one in the picture,represents climbed completed levels),which totals out to 11 levels (almost triple the amount of levels in Donkey Kong)...and as you can tell by the structure of the building,the higher up the go,the smaller amount of space you have to manuever in. The gameplay is extremely similar to Donkey Kong (afterall,just like DK,you have to avoid barrels tossed down by the beat,among other obsticles)...in fact,it's so similar that some people have called it a ripoff. However,there are some minor noticeable differences. For one,instead of ladders,you climb the building via open windows,that only stay open for a limited amount of time before a different window on the same ledge opens up (and then closes if you're not fast enough). As far as I can tell,there is no noticeable pattern reguarding which exact windows open and close after the other...it seems to be completely random. Also,if you're still trying to climb to the next rung when the window you're using closes all the way,you lose a life. Another difference is that while both DK and BATB share a similar stage progression element in their gameplay,BATB throws in another element of challenge by making it possible to progress BACKWARDS. Now THATS epic right there...if you aren't careful and fall off the ledge like in the picture above (which is easier to do than you think,especially if you try to be a slick fancy pants by thinking you can climb an open window by pressing up while still holding the directional button used to walk to it),not only do you lose a life,but you have to start all over again from the bottom. Now,this would probably annoy a lot of people (and probably DID annoy the few that played it),however the game counter balances this frustrating element by being generous with the extra lives...in fact,theres even a little glitch in the game where if you climb to the top of the first building and intentionally fall off the ledge,you'll cancel out the life you lose with an extra life AND more points towards yet another extra life...I'm not sure of the EXACT number of points you need to get to recieve an extra life,but I know it isn't much at all. One more difference is that the damsel you're trying to save sends down hearts,kinda like Olive Oyl does in the Popeye arcade/nes game. Getting these hearts grants your character a very brief moment of invincability,which allows you to destroy the barrels and the other obsticles that come at you. Getting the hearts and destroying the obsticles also gets you points that go towards getting an extra life. Overall,while it's obviously a very dated game and may not provide all that much of a challenge (unless you're prone to falling off the edge of the building),it's still a very fun time waster and holds quite a bit of a nostalgia factor...the ending of the game is also pretty cool for an Intellivision game. Now,when it comes to playing the game on your computer,you run into a bit of a problem. The only reliable Intellivision emulator I've found is called Nostalgia v3.6,which has roms already bundled in...problem is,Beauty and the Beast isn't one of them,and so far my attempts to download a rom copy of it and have the program read said copy by placing it in the specified roms folder have turned out fruitless as the program won't read the rom formats I've been able to find of it (.bin and .int...the program will only read the .rom format). As far as other emulators,I've tried out about 4 different ones and not only do they also not read either of the 2 rom formats I've found of the game,but they are just overall very finicky. Your best bet is to download the Intellipack 3 executable. www.intellivisionlives.com/downw3.shtmlNot only does this program work,not only is it pretty small in file size,and not only only is it unintrusive (it doesn't take up the entire screen like an old dos program,unlike the Nostalgia emulator,but rather plays in a window),but it also includes 3 other Intellivision games (I haven't played any of them yet,but I've actually read positive things about Shark! Shark!). Enjoy and you're welcome. Tune in next time for the first double feature entry to Kefka's Underapreciated Video Games List!
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Post by Fickle81 on Nov 12, 2007 23:13:07 GMT -5
Mutant League FootballPublisher:Electronic Arts Platform:Sega Genesis Release Date:1993Mutant League HockeyPublisher:Electronic Arts Platform:Sega Genesis Release Date:1994Ahhhhhh,the Mutant League...THESE sure take me back. I personally don't give a rats ass about sports games seeing as how I don't give a rats ass about sports in general...but man oh man did these games rule. Lets begins our nostalgia trip with Mutant League Football. Like any other sports game,you start by selecting your team and your opposing team along with game specifications such as quarter lengh,field location,reserves,and game speed: Also,as you can see,there is an option called "Death Index". Here are the degrees of death indexs,with descriptions taken from a Gamefaqs FAQ of the game: 1-Rough:Players will take very little damage with any given hit. If you do play with reserves on in playoff mode, this is a suggested starting point. 2-Bloody:Player will take more damage than they will on rough, but will beable to take several good hits. 3-Bone Breaking:Players will take a moderate amount of damage. After a few plays with reserves on you may need to substitute them. 4-Slaughter:Weaker players will be killed in one or two solid hits. Tough players will still be able to go a few plays safely. 5-Annihilation:Players will lose lots of life from almost any hit. Even tough players will be killed in a single hit from a strong defenseman. And therein lies the first major difference between other sports games and the Mutant League games...the ability to KILL MEMBERS OF THE OPPOSING TEAM! Not only is the concept itself fucking awsome,but it opens up a whole new way to win the game. Score the most points or kill enough members of your opposing team to where they can't adequitly play anymore? Personally I prefer the latter,which is why I usually set the death index to 5. Players usually die if you hit them hard enough/enough times or if they stumble into certain field hazards (which I'll talk about a sec) Another difference between these games and regular sports games...if you're expecting to play as regular normal human sports jocks in a game called MUTANT League,you're dead motherfucking wrong motherfucker,and you should surrender your man card for even making such an assumption. Sure theres humans...if you add the word SUPER before it. Other types of players include Trolls,Robots,Skeletons,and razor back Aliens (only the first 3 are present in Mutant League Hockey). So for the sake of expedientcy,I'm gonna go ahead and pick the strongest team (the one shown in the image above on the right,which has the most skulls...the more skulls,the better the team) and place them up against the weakest team (same picture on the left,having absolutly no skulls). In the game I played,they punted to me and I'm on the offensive So this is your play selection screen. Depending on your performance on the field,your coach,prominently displayed in the upper right,will make a comment accompanied by an appropriate reaction (he'll get ballistic if you're sucking). In this particular shot,I had to select my reserves before I select what play I wanna run,seeing as how I turned reserves on for the game. This is also where you can call time outs and look at the instant replay of the last play you executed,which is great for the sake of this article so I don't have to bust my ass and the machine's trying to time everything right to record footage (no luck involved either). Now for the game itself,and this is where you'll find another major difference between Mutant League sports and regular sports...because not only do you have your opposing team to deal with,you have to watch for obsticles in the field. These can take 2 forms. The first is the surface of the field itself...while these are technically 5 catagories,they basically come in 4 variaties...space rock,space ice,sand,and rubber. Some space rock stadiums have low gravity,which adds an extra layer in the challenge of the game because it allows for your opponets to make some long ass field goals,but other than that,it pretty much works like desert,the 5th catagory I didn't mention. Ice allows for sliding,while rubber allows for balls to bounce high and in awkward directions and sometimes allowing the players to bounce as well. The second field obsticle is the hazards. I won't spoil all of them,but I feel I need to make one known seeing as how the particular one is not only my favorite,but plays a real interesting role in the game. I'm talking about the abyss hazard,and even more specifically,the abyss hazard thats in the out of bounds area. Basically,if you step out of bounds here,you won't just stop the play at that spot...your ass is taking a ride through deep space! Talk about extra ensentive to not step out of bounds,even if it's to avoid getting tackled...but then,theres those great moments where certain players will accidentally throw themselves out of bounds...like this one right here... So as far as the core gameplay,it's just like regular football...you either pass or run. One thing I kinda don't like about this game is that the passing mechanics seem kinda funky. It's a combination of the players you can pass to having eratic movements and not always getting to their spot,the balls passes being a bit too fast,and the ball looking big...I think,it usually just doesn't work for me very well...it could just be that my passing skill sucks,I dunno...in most other football games I played at that time I could complete passes at the drop of a dime,but here I can't...so I usually just execute running plays,which usually work very well for me. In addition to your regular offensive (pass or run) and defensive audibles,each team has a limited amount of "nasty audibles". Offensive nasty audibles can range from super speed to bombs (which requires pinpoint timing and luck to work,because it's designed to be caught by a defender only to then immediatly explode,which will kill said player and count as an incomplete rather than interception) to pass and run blasts (certain players getting 5 sticks of dynamite to throw at opposing team players) and more. Defensive nasty audibles range from ghost (invisability for the entire defensive team) to electrocute (shocks offensive players that come into contact with charged player,and results in a fumble if that player is the ball carrier) and more. For penalties,you've got all the regular ones such as offsides,delay of game,pass interference,etc...but then theres also one called QB bashing,which happens when the defensive team executes the nasty audible called QB smash,in which they charge at and kill the QB of the offensive team before he hikes the ball. Also,this would be a good time to point out that you or your opponet can bribe the referee,which causes the ref to penalyze the team that didn't pay him with absurd fake penalties for 5 yards (my favorite being the 5 yard penalty for "crying"). Of course,if you find yourself on the recieving end of this bullshit,you can either bribe him yourself and turn the tables OR you can send a message with one of your nasty audibles that you always automatically have no matter what team you're playing (offense or defense) called "Kill Ref",which causes all of your players to immediatly charge at the ref before the snap and murder that corrupt son of a bitch. Yea,that ref is dead as shit! And just like what happens when you kill a member of the opposing team,the one who committed the act will come on and say something badass just to further mock the dead individual... However,when you kill the ref,another one immdeiatly takes his place AND gives the team who called the play a 5 yard penalty for "ref bashing". Refs can also be cornered to the point where they accidentally get forced into a field hazard,which will cause them to die as well. However,nobody gets penalysed for it seeing as how it's an accident and nobody tried to deliberatly kill the ref. Well,thats pretty much it for Mutant League Football,or at least thats all I wanna get into about it so I don't totally ruin the all the stuff you'll see during the experience...so lets move onto Mutant League Hockey. So just like with Football,Mutant League Hockey starts out with your team/opponet and match stipulations menu...the only difference is that this game doesn't have a speed setting like MLF does,and instead replaces it with an option to turn off penalties. Just like regular hockey,the game begins with a face off...however here,the face off is a PUNCHING match to see who can get control of the puck...and if the particular opponet player you're punching low on health,they'll die during the last moments of the face off...and thats right kids,just like with Football,you can win the game by either scoring the most points or slaughtering your opponets. So the game plays like regular Hockey,only with some Mutant League alterations. Just like in Football,you have to also deal with the rink hazards (which,like in Football,I won't tell you...there are some that are from Football along with new ones) as well as other players...and in this,AS WELL AS the audience,who throw in molotov cocktails AND weapons. Thats right,you can get weapons to use on your opponets instead of just using your fists or checking...I won't spoil them all,but I'll say the weapons range from mallets to chainsaws. Not only will the audience throw out these weapons and explosives,they'll also throw out bones and coins. Lets talk about the bones first. There are 3 different colors of bones that the audience throws out...red,black,and white. Red bones replenish the health of the player that gets it,while the white bone will increase the player's punching and checking power...however,what you don't want to get is the black bone,cause that will cut down your skating speed in half. With all this chaos and mutiny going on in the game already,as it's done in regular hockey,it's bound to lead to one of these... Yea yea,FIGHT,FIGHT,FIGHT! You seriously didn't expect regular hockey to have fighting and not the Mutant League,did you? Here,like with other good hockey titles,it turns into a delightful little mini game...only Mutant League style. I'm the troll/ogre on the left. BAM! Knocked that fucker out. I let him get a few hits on me,but then I dropped the hammer on em. Now,if you have penalties on,the player who LOST the fight gets put in the penalty box for much longer than the winner...seriously,how awsome is that? The Mutant League sure as shit don't tolerate weakness. So after fights,this is 1 of 2 chances where you'll get to the option screen where you get to pick "nasty plays" (the other is after you or your opponet score). A lot of these nasty plays are basically the hockey form of the nasty audibles from Mutant League Football,which includes bribing the ref (which is what the coins also do for your team if a member of your team gets one...so thats what those do),wasting the ref,and the ones like exploding puck and all that junk...then theres some other ones added because it's hockey like wasting the goalie and jail break (freeing all those from your team who are in the penalty box). This is also the menu that allows you to view game stats and look at instant replays (the game also allows you to do the latter by pausing it while in play). Thats pretty much all I wanna get into about the game in a nutshell...most of the experience you should have on your own without me telling you. Now with that in mind,allow me to show you a nice little goal I was able to showcase thanks to instant replay just to give you a taste of the action...it also showcases me being able to cleverly force an opposing team member into a rink hazard. Yes,SCORE,SCORE,SCORE! Now depending on what kind of player type scores,you'll get a special celebration dance from that player type...my personal favorite is this... Is that not one of the most hilariously cool celebration dances you've ever seen? Seriously,it's so cool I think I'M gonna try it... Yea I know,I went ahead and nixed out the last part of it...it's not that I can't actually do that,it's just that it's kinda tough captuing that footage with the camera seeing as how I did it in snapshots...and in reality,I actually can't do that flip either... Anyways,so which game do I prefer? Hockey easily...for 3 major reasons #1:I generally like Hockey as a sport more so than Football,especially in game form...much faster paced and exciting game and I'm better at it. #2:The MLH game plays a little bit more smoothly than the MLF game does. #3:MLH has weapons. Some of you well informed gamers or those who grew up during the same time period I did might be thinking "These games rule! However,can they REALLY be considered 'underapreciated'? Afterall,the games were pretty popular at the time and even spawned an animated series that lasted for 2 years." Thats all fine and dandy,but where are they now? Why haven't any next gen Mutant League games been made after Genesis (no,the 2006 PSP port of MLF with wireless multiplayer and slightly updated graphics doesn't count)? What happened to the Mutant League Basketball game that was in development,but never saw the light of day? For the most part,the Mutant League has been left in semi obscurity,which for the caliber of fun these games bring,is truly unacceptable. MotherFUCK Madden! BRING BACK THE MUTANT LEAGUE!!Apparently, I'm not the only one that agrees with this assesment...Hell,if Capcom can bring back Bionic Commando (which is a pretty overrated game in the first place...I may expound on that in the future...) after all these years,then SURELY the Mutant League games can be brought back as well.
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Post by Fickle81 on Dec 3, 2007 8:24:07 GMT -5
This is a sidescroller (a subgenre of the platformer). This particular game is most likely what the average gamer immediatly thinks of when hearing either term. Super Mario Brothers for the NES pretty much set the standard in which all sidescrollers are based on and instantly made the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) a true classic of home video game consoles. While the bar has been raised away from it by many of the other games it inspired on the same system and even on other systems (specifically its own sequels),there is no simply denying its influence. Since the first Super Mario Brothers,millions of gamers all over the world experienced the gameplay joy that sidescrollers can bring. Many of these sidescrollers on the NES (along with pretty much all SMB games) have gone down as pure video game classics. Games such as these: And as much as I dislike to admit it,this one as well: However,there are plenty of other games of this ilk that haven't gotten the attention they deserve (some of these games are innovative themselves in their own little way)...and part of my thing is bringing attention to these sort of underapreciated video games...so in the spirit of the holidays,I have decided to cover one of these types of underapreciated NES sidescrollers for each Monday week in December (yes,including the final day of the month/year),in order of worst to best...which in total is 5 for the month...a 5 part series is known as a quintilogy. It must be said though that there are so many obscure sidescrollers on the NES,that I could very well have at least done a sexilogy (which I definatly admit,sounds much sexier than a quintilogy),but I decided against it for a plethora of reasons . Now then,without further teasing of the cock: Kabuki Quantum FighterPublisher:HAL America Inc. Platform:NES Release Date:1990As I said in the intro,this could have been a sexilogy...and technically the game I left out IS better than this one...but then,one of the aforementioned myriad of reasons that I picked this instead is that this game just so happens to be the only sidescroller being covered thats been on this show... Yes I used to watch this gameshow when I was a kid,so go piss yourself. Now then,what do you get when you essencially mix this: With this: Answer? Well,you get this: Kabuki Quantum Fighter plays out like a hybrid mix of the old Ninja Gaiden and the original Batman for NES (which is a pretty underapreciated sidescroller in itself...no this is not the game I left out). The climbing and some of the enemies look like they are from Ninja Gaiden,while the jumping sequences and the rest of the enemy designs take influence from Batman...matter of fact,I'd say the level designs themselves are similar to Batman,making that the predominant influence. The plot involves you playing as a military colonel in the year 2056,who has entered the Main Defense Computer system as pure binary code through an experimental image transfering device in order to stop a malicious rougue program that has infiltrated said computer and is attempting to gain control of the nation's nuclear weapons system. Not only is he in a race against time to prevent the total destruction of the planet,he's also racing to save his own life as his existence in the computer circuits has stopped his brain waves,leaving his body at the mercy of the life support machine. Much of the story plays out in still cut scenes,taking more inspiration from Ninja Gaiden. They aren't as exciting or as detailed as NG's cutscenes,but they still do a good enough job (I personally didn't pay much attention to the story development for the review of this game). Now what does any of that have to do with Kabuki actors and why the character uses his Kabuki hair as his primary weapon for killing enemies (it's corn filled,I know)? Well,apparently the ansestors of the colonel you're playing as were Kabuki actors,hence why his binary code consciousness takes the form of a Kabuki actor. However,your hair isn't your only weapon...not only do you start out wih a basic projectile energy spark weapon (in which the chips act as the ammo),you also get a new weapon each time you complete a level (each more powerful than the last and each taking up more and more chips),and you get your chip and health levels replenished (though not all the way) when you complete any stage in the game (regular or boss fight). There are a total of 6 levels in the game (although levels 2 and 5 have 2 stages). Typically,you won't have to worry too much about the enemies (although there are some instances where they can be a hinderance,an engaging them can often become a priority to build up on life and chips)...in fact,sometimes if you let them walk backwards and off the screen,they disappear completely in a sort of reverse spawn rate. No,this game is about the intricate and loopty loop level design. It's done in a way that makes the game harder than it appears to be. Lot of jumping going on and hazards to avoid. You'll often find yourself swinging from pole to pole suspended in mid air. Of course,at the end of each level you'll fight a boss. They range from ridiculously simple: To annoyingly challenging: Now an interesting mechanic in this game is that during boss battles,you can transfer chips to life or life to chips (pause the game...press up to turn life into chips or down to turn chips into life). This can become important in how you go about the strategy of killing a boss. Some bosses are better fought with projectiles,which take chips...while some are better fought close up with the hair,which may put you in harms way. My personal advice would be that unless you absolutly have to,don't use any projectile weapons during the regular stages and conserve those chips for boss battles. Success or failure often depends on how many chips you have. Although it appears not many people have played this game,the overall concensus is that it's a mixed bag,and it does have some flaws. For one,the music is pretty terrible...especially the first 2 levels. If you decide to find and play this,do yourself an enormous favour and mute the volume...listen to something else while playing it,cause some of the music will drive you bonkers. Another thing I dislike is your ducking attack. Rather than simply whipping your hair while ducking,you punch instead,which pratically cuts your attack range in half. Why they couldn't have just had him do his normal hairwhip attack while ducking,I'll never know. Also,the game can get a bit frustrating with how calculated and precise your jumping has to be. Like in Batman,it will become about how high you jump and quickly taping the jump button to just do a small jump in order to avoid getting hurt...like this part here: If you monumentally fuck up,especially during the top/bottom scrolling stages,this game will not take any pity on you whatsoever. If you don't got your shit down air tight during those stages,you find yourself having to go through jumping sequences that were already challenging themselves all over again just to get back to the intricate jump you messed up on...and this may very well happen anyway as you'll most likely have a momentary lapse that will cost you. And not only that,but you have a timer to worry about. Now most people would probably conclude that in most other sidescrollers,the timer usually isn't any big deal,but it's a different story here. If you fuck up too many times,you'll find yourself struggling to make it through the level/stage before the timer runs out. In fact,in the second stage of level 2,the game only gives you 50 seconds to make it through the whole stage. And the icing on the cake is that there are no checkpoints in any levels/stages,so if you lose a life,you start back at the beginning of the stage...and if you lose ALL your lives and have to continue (which you only have 2 of),you start all the way back at the beginning of the level,even if you lost your last life during a boss fight. The challenges of this game described above seems to turn some gamers off and will cause them to confuse game difficulty with bad gameplay and/or bad design,but that couldn't be any further from the truth. The game plays and controls rather smoothly. I admit that often having to backtrack through the up and down scrolling levels gets frustrating to the point of me yelling obsenities out loud much like the great AVGN,but that doesn't mean it's a bad game. In fact,just like other games of its ilk,once you get accustomped to how to go about playing the game,getting through each level/stage,and beating each boss,the difficulty level decreases some and you'll probably be able to beat the game. If you think you'll be able to cheat your way to beating it (via level select/level skip),you might as well forget it because this game is one of the few games that I'm aware of that has absolutly no cheat codes in it whatsoever...you're gonna have to beat this game the hard way,from start to finish,with good old fashion finger and palm grease. Unfortunatly however,once you beat the game,theres really not much left to do except maybe trying to beat it without continuing or dying. One interesting thing that deserves mention however is that when you complete the game,you'll unlock a soundtest menu much like what you find in other NES titles...the thing that makes this particular one interesting is the onscreen message... It's been close to 18 years later and this new adventure still hasn't come,so I think it would be a good guess to say it was cancelled...tis a shame,but thats what happens when good games go so under the radar that they get little attention. If you want a challenging sidescroller thats fun while it lasts,track this down and give it a whirl. Having said that,this is without question the worst out of all the games in the quintilogy,which is why I started with it...tune in next week to see where we go from here...
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Post by Fickle81 on Dec 10, 2007 0:07:07 GMT -5
Shadow of the NinjaPublisher:Natsume Platform:NES Release Date:1991Here we have a game that has taken a little bit from many of the most prominent sidescrollers mentioned in the intro. Right off the bat you'll notice a Ninja theme similar to Ninja Gaiden,a Mega Man life bar,and level designs that feel like a hybrid of Castlevania and Contra just to name a few. However,this game still manages to do something entirly its own. The plot involves America in the year 2029 being ruled by a cruel dictator named Emperor Garuda. One day,while enjoying his reign of terror as usual,2 ninjas have appeared on his turf on a mission to snuff him out for his corruption and cruelty. Garuda gathers up and sends out his forces to try and stop the Ninjas,while he waits in his complex prepared for the ninja's arrival. While most of this I just made up,the most basic parts of the story are covered in a short little intro before the title screen menu (Garuda rules,ninjas have arrived to kill him)...and thats the interesting thing about this one....theres only a very basic bare bones story to it. No cut scenes,no real development. Just enough of a story to tie the game itself together. The intro and the ending will be the only cut scenes you see in the game. So first,you have to choose which ninja you're going to pick... This kinda looks familiar... You've got 2 to choose from obviously...Hayate or Kaede...male or female. To be perfectly honest,I spotted very little if any difference between the 2. It's pretty much just a palette swap. So I'm gonna pick Hayate cause to my knowledge,the only female ninjas that have ever been worth a shit were the ones from Mortal Kombat (ATTENTION UPTIGHT FEMINISTS AND FEMINIST SYMPATHIZERS:That was a joke...you can take the tampons out now). Alright,so after you choose your character,you immediatly start in the game. There are a total of only 5 levels in the game...now,that sure doesn't sound like much,until you find out that most of the levels have multiple stages (these all include boss fights). Level 1 has 4,Level 2 has 3,Level 4 has 3,and Level 5 has 2 (obviously Level 3 only has 1). So in total,we're talking 13 stages. So heres what the first stage of level 1 looks like...you're on a boat in the rain. You find those shiny silverish blue canisters in every level that you'll find powerups in if you destroy them. I don't show it in that particular image,but your character can grab onto and shimmy across,acsend up,or descend down on those long silver poles,among other things... Those rotating gears and platforms kinda reminds me of Castlevanias 3 and 4...and yes that is in fact a monkey as one of the enemies in both screen shots. The enemies for the most part are all pretty run of the mill,with very distinguishable patterns (most of them seem to have been inspired by Batman,like Kabuki Quantum Fighter). However,I feel that one in particular needs addressing... These annoying little fucks who look like some hybrid of Juggernaut and the football player enemies from Ninja Gaiden. The interesting thing about these fuckfaces is that they don't actually do any damage to you...but that doesn't make them any less annoying,cause their sole purpose is to push you into stuff...and once they are all up ons in your grill (IE too close,right up against you,ect.),you can't hurt them. You can tap that attack button all you want and as fast as you want,but it ain't gonna do jack shit. You have to wait until they are within just the right amount of striking distance away from you to be able. However,I sometimes prefer to deal with them in a more creative fashion... Now,for the weapons. You've got your sword,which is your basic default attack. Obviously,it has the last amount of reach... However,you if you pick up the sword weapon powerup in one of those canisters while you still have the sword weapon,you'll upgrade the sword to be able shoot out this blue energy wave at your enemies... In addition to the sword,you can also pick up a chain and spear,which is greatly increased in attack lengh when compared to the regular sword... And finally,you can pick up projectile weapons that you only have a limited amount of. They range from throwing stars,throwing daggars,and later even grenades. Oh,and theres also this lightning attack your character can do if you hold down the attack button that will kill all the regular enemies on the screen,but I don't recommend it unless you're desperate because it takes away AT LEAST half of your life bar. All thats really left to talk about is the bosses. The end of the first stage of the first level is a special one,as it's the only stage in the game that has a sub boss. Is it just me or does this guy look like the love child of Mario and Guile from Street Fighter 2? Anyways,you'll see this exact type of enemy again afterwards in the game,except without a powerbar and much easier to kill. As for the main bosses them selves,they can range from this... to this... The thing is though,60% of the bosses in this game are piss easy. Unless you're a complete retard,you should be able to figure out and adapt to their patterns and be able to beat them on your first try. The level 3 boss might give you a little bit of trouble,but even he is pretty damn easy if you react quickly. However the final boss,Garuda,can be a motherfucker...especially when he's close to death,because he gets ridiculously quick. So overall,the game plays very fluidly and solid...however,there are some problems. Along with the aforementioned easy as crap boss fights,your character doesn't die if you fall into a pit. They just magically appear on the platform they were trying to jump onto with a little bit of their life taken away. Most of the levels themselves seem to be really easy as well once you've got every hazard and enemy in it scoped out (although one of the stages in level 4 might give you some problems),but the game compensates for this easy level design by only giving you 1 life. These problems however mean little in the big scheme and as the game overall is better than the sum of its parts. Track it down and give it some love,cause it deserves it. Thats all for now...join me next time (in a week) as we continue to climb the ladder of the sidescroller quintilogy.
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Post by Fickle81 on Dec 17, 2007 20:05:41 GMT -5
Vice:Project DoomPublisher:(American) Sammy Platform:NES Release Date:November 30,1991Don't let the really cheesy and rather sterotypical box art fool you. This is actually a rather good and pretty much completely forgotten game. It's also probably the most interesting of the quintilogy list as it isn't just a mere sidescroller,as it also becomes a driving game and a first person shooter at certain points. Lets cover these portions in the game before we get to the sidescrolling,shall we? Since it's the first level in the game,we'll start with the driving stages,which there are only 2 of. It's basically a much better looking and slightly faster paced Spy Hunter. You can also do some cool shit,like running through barricades and cones without recieving any damage. You basically either just blast away at enemy cars on the road (or just random cars,it don't matter) or avoid them. Some of the enemy vehicles that appear on the road move in choreographed sync kinda like Galaga. The first driving stage is just basic run of the mill with a sub boss at the end,while the second driving stage is basically like Z-Kart on many of the Texas Instruments graphing calculators,where the road gets smaller and smaller and you have to try to stay on it. The only thing I don't like about these stages is that even at normal speed,you move so fast that the screen kinda does this strobing effect to where it can mess with your eyes,but thats just a personal flaw. Now onto the first person shooting stages,which there are also only 2 of. They're done kind of in a similar fashion to The Punisher for the same system,only better. The controls are better,and you don't have to actually shoot items to get them,as all you have to do is tough them with your cursor. Theres also destructable scenery,primarally windows. Sometimes the enemies tend to fly right up on you if you don't kill them quickly enough,not to mention they hurl projectiles at you,primarally bombs. Although it plays better than most first person shooters of this nature,this is still my least favorite part of the game. Ok,now that we've covered those,lets get to the meaty majority of the game...the sidescrolling. You have 3 weapons at your disposal...your laser whip,your gun,and bombs. You can collect extra ammo for your gun as well as extra bombs by killing enemies,not to menion coins in which you get an extra life if you get 100 of them. Many of the enemies in this game are usually quite weird,like this mohawk punk crawling around on his knees in the pic above,as well as Chinamen to name a few... Kinda reminds me of this game,which I'll cover eventually in this thread/segment...until then,see if you can guess what it is... Anyways,are you noticing something about the overall design of the game? What your power bar (and the boss' bar) looks like? The timer? The level/stage layout? The labeling of how many lives you have with the letter p? Kinda reminds you of Ninja Gaiden (2 in particular),doesn't it? As you've seen so far,Ninja Gaiden has had a profound influence on NES sidescrollers/platformers (ridiculously annoying and tedious respawn rate and all),however out of all the games in the quintilogy,this seems to emulate it the most. At times it even pratically rips off certain Ninja Gaiden levels and gameplay mechanics. I present to you Exhibits Alpha and Bravo: Exhibit Alpha:Exhibit Bravo:And yes,as you can see in the second pic above,this game even has its own rendition of the bird enemies from Ninja Gaiden,and yes they are just as annoying here. Later on,you even encounter the pair of ninjas that jump out of the ground (or pit) positioned at both sides of you to throw ninja stars at you. And if you think the similarities end there,you're wrong as we'll touch upon yet another in just a moment. One thing though is this game is NOWHERE NEAR as challenging as Ninja Gaiden,which pratically makes this game Ninja Gaiden lite. Don't get me wrong,it can be challenging,but that doesn't really start until the second stage of the 5th level where one of the most annoying enemies in the game is introduced... Yep...bass fish...that shoot 3 way projectile energy balls at you. Not only are the energy balls annoying and sometimes hard to avoid,but these fuckers tend to jump out right in front of you while you're on a very narrow platform and knock your ass into the water pit (I qualified that because as you can clearly see in the pic above,there are platforms in the water that you can stand on). I noticed a pattern with this game...all the human enemies are relatively easy,but don't fuck with the birds or the bass fish. I really didn't pay much attention to the story of this game when playing it for this post about it,but it has something to do with a nefarious corporation manufacturing an alien nourishment gel thats harmful to humans as well as human/alien clones. The story develops and is told through cut scenes between each stages in,once again,a very Ninja Gaidenesqe fashion... And of course at the end of each level,theres a boss at the end... Honestly,most of the bosses in the game are pretty piss easy (even the final boss once you figure out the pattern),as they all have extremely easily decernable patterns. The only one that will give you any kind of problems is the level 8 boss,because standing in his strike zone will put you in his direct line of fire for his 3 way energy blast. Now does the game have any flaws? Yep. Aside from the easy boss fights and at times easy levels (particularly the first 5 out of 11 levels...and each level has multiple states),I could have used more driving and first person shooting stages. The 2 of each that are in the game adds a nice little bit of variety to the game,but because roughly 85% of the game is sidescrolling,theres a definate imbalance there. Also,eventhough I didn't really pay much attention to the story,I can tell you the ending is very anticlimactic and leaves the door wide open for the sequel that never happened. All the games in the quintilogy,even Kabuki Quantum Fighter dispite the fact that it to implies that a sequel will be made,at least have a sense of closure. In spite of these flaws however,this game will still provide you with a good time...so much of a good time that IGN Wii editor Mark Bozon has been campaigning for Nintendo to put the game on the Virtual Console...however until that day comes,I suggest getting the rom and experience this overlooked relic for yourself. Come back next week as we enter the second half of the Sidescroller Quintilogy...
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Post by Fickle81 on Dec 24, 2007 8:19:36 GMT -5
ShatterhandPublisher:Natsume/Jaleco Platform:NES Release Date:1991What I said about Vice Project Doom also applies here...don't let the very cheesy nature of the box cover art fool you...cause this,as they say,is the part of the quintilogy where business picks up. As we've seen so far up until this point,pretty much all the sidescrollers covered so far take influence or even design cues from other more notable games of its ilk. This game for the most part,however,is its own beast entirly. This game barrows from one other game at only one specific time (I'll get into detail about that later),but the rest of the time it does its own thing. This is the storyline of the game according to Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShatterhandNow,you'd think that the game itself would give you some sort of indication of this story or just flat out tell you,right? Nope. Not a single bit of any of that is found in the game. Matter of fact,there doesn't seem to be any semblance of storyline in the game at all. The only thing that comes close to any semblance of storyline establishing is the very vague asskicking prologue cutscene before the main menu. Note:Above picture isn't entirly authentic due to file size constraints.Personally,I think the lack of any real storyline in the game makes it better. Without any real story going on,it decreases the chances of being disappointed with how it ends considerably (not that the ending of this game is bad or anything,I simply mean hypothetically). Now then,onto the game itself. Ok so,you're probably wondering about a couple of things...like what are those 3 squares on the top of the screen and whats that white box to the right. I'll go ahead and answer the second question first as the answer leads to the answer to the first...the white boxes are what house powerups in the game. You punch them (your main attack in the game) to reveal said powerups...these powerups are usually coins (which we'll cover their purpose in a moment) and a bag which if you hit repeatedly,you get more coins (you only have a limited amount of time though)...however,you should be careful cauevery once in awhile,the game will try to fuck you by having live grenades in the boxes which damage you. However,what you'll most often find in the white boxes are 2 types of powerups that coincide with the white squares on top...the first is an alpha powerup... Now this is where the game really gets interesting. If you collect one of these,it goes in one of the white squares on the top of the screen. If you collect 3 in a row,you get a helper "bot" to help you go through enemies faster and more effectivly,thus assisting you in getting through the level. However,thats not where it ends. If you punch an alpha powerup,it turns into a beta powerup (and vice versa) Getting 3 of these beta powerups in a row will give you another different type of bot. This mechanic is what really seperates this game from other sidescrollers. The game has 8 different combinations which leads to 8 different bots,each with their own different attacks as well as strenghs and weaknesses reguarding the level you're playing in and the enemies you encounter in it (I personally have the most success with boomerang bot,which you can acquire with a beta alpha beta combination). Also,if you collect the same exact combination of alphas and beta that got you your current bot while still playing the level,you'll turn into a powerful robot for a limited amount of time as seen below. So now that we've got that covered,lets talk about the coins. As I said before,you find these coins in the white boxes,as well as getting them from enemies you've killed. There are 2 types of coins...the small size and the large size. The small ones are worth 50 points while the large ones are worth 200. Now what are they used for,you ask. Well,you find these platforms while going through the levels. One of them if for increasing your punch strengh (which also turns your jacket red) And another is for replenishing health... As you can plainly see from the pictures above,the platforms tell you exactly how many points you need in order to use them...and you can only use a specific platform once. Theres also platforms for extra lives that you'll come across once in awhile,which I think cost somewhere in a vicinity of 2000 points (don't quote me on that though). Anyways,another thing you can do in this game is hang off of wire fences,which you'll eventually have to do in order to clear certain levels. You'll also sometimes have to bypass large barriers like the white silo thing in the picture above...and to do that,you introduce them to the business end of your fist... Now of course,at the end of each stage you'll have to fight a boss. Since almost every screenshot I've been showing so far has been of the first level (exception being the shot of your character in robot form),I'm of course gonna keep it uniform and show the image of the first boss... ...Hold up,where have I seen that guy before? Oh wait,I know! Yea I know...don't worry,thats the last time I'm gonna make that joke,I swear. Believe it or not,he's not the only boss in the game that resembles M. Bison. The final boss in his intial form before you actually fight him looks like a bigger version of this first level boss...almost like this first boss is the dimwitted little brother of the big boss that the big boss hired as a lackey. So after you clear the first level of the game,this where you get to the only and only part of that game that takes influence from another more popular platformer... Here we have a sort of Mega Manesque stage select screen, suddenly taking the game into a non linear direction...except here it shows abstract images of what the levels are as opposed to the faces of the bosses that inhabit said levels. Now,I was originally planning to show bits and pieces of the bottom 2 and middle levels,cause the top 2 are really uninteresting in comparison (the factory is conveyor belt city,while the submarine features many mutant enemies including giant sea horse fetuses),but I decided not to at the last minute...however,I do want to show one little snipet of one level in particular... It's aptly named the gravity level (bottom right on the stage select screen). It's a neat little gameplay design mechanic that certainly makes things interesting...and its even integrated 2 different ways. One way being like the image you see above where you stay on the ceiling the entire time even when you jump...however,the other way is you switching from the ground to the ceiling and vice versa by hard jumping (holding down the jump button...tapping it lightly just does a regular jump),and let me tell ya,the latter integration of this mechanic makes things trickier cause if you're not careful and accurate enough with your jumping,you'll jump right on top of an enemy or a flaming pit. However,I must note that this isn't the only game that makes use of this unique gameplay mechanic (the sidescroller I left out when this event was a sexilogy allows you to change gravity on a whim and even makes you use it to progress further in said game). Now for the bosses. Challenge wise they run the gammut from ridiculously easy (first level,factory level,submarine level) to surprisingly challenging (water level,gravity level,final boss)...however,theres one boss I must make mention of...ths boss of the fire level... This dickface is argubly the hardest boss in the entire game (except for maybe the final boss himself). He shoots these long ass energy bursts from his sword that are hard to jump over,not to mention bursts of fire from both sides that are EVEN HARDER to jump over...he also fucking leaps to wherever you are on the ascending platform,sometimes to the point where he corners you and you can't get away from him. And on top of all this,you have to avoid the spinning gears that inch closer as you ascend that will damage you as well. The only real strategy I can offer is just to go right up on him immediatly,keep pressing that attack button and pray he dies before you. This fight a pain in the fucking ass WITH a bot helping you,but if you don't have one it pratically becomes impossible. The only real easy way to beat him it to face him while you're in your robot mode,but good fucking luck being able to turn into a robot before getting to him or lasting long enough as a robot to do any real significant damage to him. It's actually quite appropriate that he's the hardest boss in the game seeing as how the fire level is definatly the hardest level in the game second to the final level (and thats only because the final level is long and you have to fight 3 of the 5 bosses over again,one of which is in fact this asshole). This is argubly the most underapreciated game of the quintilogy,as well as argubly the most challenging...it's not so much challenging in the bosses themselves (although as I said,some of them are tough as nails),but rather in level design and how many different enemies you encounter in them. This is the point in the quintilogy where I had to start using emulator save states in order to complete the game,as you only get 1 continue I believe. Challenge aside though,it's still a fun and very overlooked game...however,is it the best of the quintilogy? No...because the next game,while challenging,isn't as hard as this one. This 5th and final game will be revealed next week as I wrap up the sidescroller quintilogy.
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Post by Fickle81 on Dec 31, 2007 0:00:47 GMT -5
Whomp EmPublisher:Jaleco Platform:NES Release Date:March 1991Now we have reached the pinnicle of the quintilogy...saving the best for last if you will. Besides being the most technically solid game of the quintilogy,I also decided to save this game for last because it is argubly the most well known and least underapreciated of the quintilogy,as it is the only one that has gotten coverage via ScrewAttack's Video Game Vault segment,in which they go into detail about how underapreciated it is. Couple of interesting things to note is that not only is this one of the only games in existence that features a native american as the main character,but the game is also based on the book Journey to the West (in what way,I have no idea). Ok,so onto the game itself. First thing I noticed is that the game itself doesn't give you any real indication of a story. You apparently play as an indian named "Soaring Eagle" who is out on a quest to retrieve all of the magic totems so he can prove himself as a warrior to his tribe...but is any of this really indicated in the game itself? Nope. All it gives you is a very brief and vague cutscene leading into the main menu... Now for what the game entails...take 90% of this game (in how it looks,controls,in level selecting,in the weapon upgrades you get,and even some level design)... Then take 5% of this game (in what kind of weapon you have and how you can use it)... Then finally,add another 5% of this game (in game progression and there being very little if any story,as already shown)... Combine all that,and you get this... So basically you're an indian going around impaling shit to death with your spear. The interesting thing is that when you jump,you can do an upward and downward (like Scrooge can do with his cane in Ducktales,hence the comparison) thrust on enemies (and yes,that is a living mushroom as an enemy,as the game is filled with many weird enemies). Now you may be wondering what those 3 lantern things are in the upper left hand corner. They're magic potions that refill your health when all of it is depleted (they only refill it to a certain point if you have too many multiple hearts though...more on the multiple hearts in just a moment). Now,I should point out that when you normally start the game,you only have one of them in your inventory...so how exactly do I have 3 at the very start of the first level? Well,theres this little trick in the game where if you get killed as quickly as possible when you first start the game,then choose to continue,you restart the game with 2 magic potions instead of 1...then if you do the same thing again,you start over for a third time with the maximum amount of 3 in your inventory. When you kill enemies,they usually (though not always) leave behind items. They fall into the catagory of either health/vitality or offense/defense. There are 2 items in particular in the latter catagory that will appear in the lower left hand corner of the screen when you get them. The left one is the sharpened spear head,which greatly increases your weapon's strengh for a limited amount of hits (4)...the right is the horned helmut which protects your character for 4 hits without doing any damage (this usually just involved projectile hits though). In addition to these items,you can pick up some kind of shirt that will make you invincible for 5 seconds,as well as a spear pickup which will increase the lengh of your weapon for the duration of the level. The latter 2 items,unlike the former 2,don't appear on the lower left side of the screen. Now lets talk about the health items. Of course I already mentioned the magic potions,so you know what those for,but I should point out that if you pick one up when you already have 3 stashed in your possession,all it does is automatically refill lost health if there is any. Then you have the small heart pickup,which replenishes 1 heart,and the large heart pickup which completely heals you. And then you have the little tan colored potions...this is the part of the game thats all its own. Basically,theres an RPG levelup style mechanic of the game in which you have to collect a certain amount of these little potions in order to increase the maximum number of hearts you have. The absolute maximum number of hearts you can have is 12,and if you collect these potions when you already have all 12 hearts,the item simply has the same effect as getting a small heart health item. If you pause the game (by hitting select rather than start...it's weird,but it's done for a reason because the start button is used for changing weapons,which I'll talk about a little later),you'll see the number of potions you have left to collect to get the next heart. At first you'll get lots of new hearts really quick (more on that in a sec),but for the final 3 or so,you gotta get a shitload of potions (the 12th and final heart requires 99 of em). I personally recommend you obtain all 12 hearts after you complete the first level near immediatly and don't just collect the potions as you progress through the level. It can be a tad boring doing nothing other than going back and forth through a certain segment of a level and just killing enemies constintly in order to get these potions (especially when they tend to also drop other items),but trust me it's worth it. I suggest that you start off at the water level and kill tons of octopus' over and over (don't worry,they respawn) in order to do this because it's probably the fastest way of getting this done. So anyway,after you beat the first level,you get a Mega Man like stage select screen,just like in the previous game mentioned,Shatterhand (unlike Shatterhand however,there is no boss at the end of the first level). Note:The above image is 100% NOT authentic in the game. It's something I customly created.It's your typical Mega Man style of level where you progress to the end of the level,fight a boss,then recieve one of the magic totems that goes along with the theme of the boss/level. These magic totems essentially give you new weapons and special abilities much like in Mega Man where you get new attacks based on the bosses you beat. I should point out though that you really don't use most of these new attacks/abilities often,except for in the final level where you actually need you use a lot of them in order to actually progress through said level. I'm gonna go ahead and show you bits and pieces of 2 levels...I can pretty readilly assume that you know what the Water Test,Fire Test,and Ice Ritual all incompass,so I won't bother showing those...nor will I bother to show the Sacred Woods level due to it being the most bland level in the game (the only interesting part is where you upwardly progress through a giant tree) not to mention containing probably the biggest joke of a boss in the game. So,I'm gonna go with Magic Forest and Secret Cliff...first,Magic Forest. This level DOES have some similarities to the Sacred Woods level,obviously in terms of landscape (although the Sacred Woods is in the daytime while this is at night),however as I said it's actually far more interesting. For one thing,it has a hazard section,unlike the Sacred Woods. You have to bounce from giant leaf to giant leaf and avoid dropping into the lava (it doesn't kill you instantly,thankfully. If you stand on a giant leaf for too long,say,about a second and a half,you'll be taking a nice hot magma bath. In addition to this,it also has its own upward progression section thats done in a more interesting way to boot. Once again,you have to bounce off of the giant leaves...but also,at about the halfway point up the section,you'll also be jumping on these jellyfish umbrella things that follow a pre determined pattern as well as using the leaves. proper timing is critical here,cause if you fuck up,you're gonna progress backwards and have to possibly progress all the way back up from the start. Then when you get to the end,you fight the boss,which actually has 3 seperate forms... The first form is a giant cocoon hanging by a single strand of giant web,which will drop down in a random place in the section,spray some chemical in a 4 way direction,go back up,and repeat the process. Pretty simple stuff actually. Then when you take enough health from it,it changes to its second form... It becomes a giant feminine looking moth. This form basically does the same thing as its first form,except it stays on the screen and moves a little faster. Then when you get it to the point of it being on its last legs,it changes to its third and final form... Now you're probably like "ok,all it is is its second form only red colored,so whats so different about it?" Nothing really,except when it touches you (not with the chemicals,it has to litterally run into you),the fucking thing will steal one of your magic potions that are used for your backup health supply,and heal itself with it! I should point out that there is another boss in the game that has this ability,and thats the Ice Ritual boss... Anyways,after you beat the boss it leaves behind one of the magical totems that you're after... This particular totem is the web totem. It's used to trap enemies in a giant web in which you can then shoot the trapped enemy at other enemies. In all honesty,this is probably the most worthless ability in the game because it only works on a small amount of enemies. Now then,onto the Secret Cliff. I would have to say that this is probably the most interesting level in the entire game (except perhaps for the final level,of course). One thing you'll notice right off the bat is that in many parts of the level,your character will slide on what appears to be ice (something that actually doesn't happen in the Ice Ritual level,interestingly enough). Once you progress past the very first part of the level,you have to contend with this... Obviously,because they say TNT on them,they are rigged to explode if you come into contact with them. Personally,I actually recommend that you step on one,and then blaze right through the rest of em during the limited amount of time in which your character is invulnerable. So after that,an upward progression section involving ladders and falling boulders,a small section where you fight a very mini boss with a sheild (just bounce on him with your spear),you come to the most interesting section in the level and one of the most interesting section in the game... Yes,you have to jump from one to the other constintly to make them go up. The probability for backwards progression is very high,because just like with the giant leaves in the Magic Forest,if you stand on one of those platforms for too long,it will collapse under you and you'll have to do it all over again. In this section,you have to do this twice. Then right after this is a hazard section... This is similar to the spike/moving platform section in the first level of the game,except here the platforms move in a circular motion,and if you stay on one for too long and it moves its way to the bottom with you on it,you'll take damage from the spikes. Also,the tumbling giant eyes in the first level have been replaced with diagonal falling rocks. Then right after this,you come across the boss...and let me tell ya,this guy can be annoying even if you know what you're doin... He basically bounces really fast and erratically all throughout this small section...if you think theres a pattern involved,think again. The one saving grace is that he can be damaged while in this form. I do NOT recommend bouncing on him with your spear over and over all at once,cause thats a good way to fuck yourself up. If you're gonna bounce on him at all,do it one time when he comes down briefly to attack you with his detachable fist... Otherwise,keep moving and try to pick spots where you can get close enough to him in his bouncing ball form to attack him without actually getting hit (if he touches you in his ball form,it takes a nice big chunk of your health). Just like with the other bosses,when he dies,he leaves behind one of the totems. Yes,he really did take away all of my lanterns (I got all those screen caps while fighting him in real time). Anyways,this particular totem is called the dart totem,which allows you to shoot projectile versions of your spear in order to use them as custom platforms. It's not very useful in the normal levels,but it becomes a VERY important asset in the final level. Speaking of said final level,once you beat all 6 of the selectable levels,a beam comes from the sky and engulfs that giant cliff in the middle of the stage select screen,revealing the final totem called the death branch totem (you do NOT want to use this on anything other than the final boss,trust me). You then ascend into the sky and into the final level of the game. One thing interesting about it is that all the enemies in this level are miniture versions of the 6 bosses you fought previously...thankfully they only take 2 or 3 hits to kill like normal enemies and thankfully you don't actually have to fight the full sized versions again. The level is long and has several sections,2 of which are fucking annoying as hell...one takes you all the way back to the beginning of the final level if you fall into the pit,while the other has really fucked up gravity and a lot of the times bounces you all over the place,making you powerless to move. Eventually though,you'll make it to the final boss of the game. He's really not that difficult,but you WILL a significant amount of damage...it's unavoidable. It's a case where if you're not adequately prepared (like not having enough hearts or backup magic potions),you're not gonna beat him...but if you are,you'll breeze right through him without too much trouble. This game seems to have a great balance between challenge and ease (it was still challenging enough to the point where I had to use save states). Some of the bosses are easy,while others can be challenging and even downright annoying. The game isn't too easy (Shadow of the Ninja,Vice Project Doom) and not too hard (Kabuki Quantum Fighter,Shatterhand). Combine that with the interesting RPG element and you've got a pure diamond in the ruff. Sure it may come off as one great big Mega Man ripoff,but it does enough of its own thing to warrant not dismissing it as just another clone. The only real problem I have with it is that some of the powerups are completely useless,even in the final level,other than that,it's a solid game. You would be wise to check this game out and give it the attention it deserves.
And with that,we have reached the end of the Sidescroller Quintilogy. I hope the one person that read this (who also happens to be the writter) enjoyed this month long Underapreciated Video Games event,because I don't forsee another one like it being done anytime in the near future. I really don't have a jazzy snazzy way to end things,so I'll just leave it here...
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