|
Post by Xeogred on Nov 7, 2018 10:50:11 GMT -5
91. Power Blade (NES) 92. Dragon Fighter (NES) 93. Shadow of the Ninja (NES) 94. S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team (NES) 95. Shatterhand (NES) 96. Power Blade 2 (NES)
1:03 Loved this one, definitely a big improvement over the first game. Graphics and music leveled up but they also ditched the weird keycard non-linear levels of the first game for pure linearity and it works better. In every level you fight some mini Godzilla midboss to get a suit power up, didn't know how to transform until the second level and then it was awesome. The game seems to favor the water suit with a bit more areas utilizing that one, though the rocket suit was cool too after I got the hang of it. All the bosses were pretty cool and better than some of the other Natsume bosses for sure. The ninja who crawled up the wall and ceilings gave me the most trouble until I was patient with him. The Patriot Suit (lol) was pretty overpowered and made the last boss a joke, plus the game was pretty generous with the Energy tanks (being in your robot suits drains Energy, enemies drop small refills and then in some levels are full refills you can stuck up on. Same with health). What I really loved were some of the weirder platforming areas later on and actually liked the scrolling sections a lot, well except that boring one where you had to slide around a lot to get through as the floor went up and down. Everything about this game was top notch production wise and it still had some strange personality to it, the graphics, some platforming, some of the music, etc, were all kind of weird compared to the norm, but totally in a good way. Definitely has its own charm.
I wonder what made them do a 2 here but no sequels for their other titles. Maybe Power Blade was their most successful release? Or they just had a little time for this one, most of their releases were late in the NES's lifetime. Definitely would have played more of these and other Natsume NES sequels for sure.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Nov 7, 2018 13:03:51 GMT -5
I really, really wish I'd found that cart back in the day. It's really expensive now.
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Nov 7, 2018 13:15:47 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Ex on Nov 7, 2018 13:50:10 GMT -5
The one thing I hold against Shatterhand is that its level designs weren't very inspired. I don't mean they weren't graphically inspired, they looked great. But they certainly didn't have the level of creativity that Power Blade 2's levels harbor.
I will likely hit up SCAT next.
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Nov 7, 2018 14:02:08 GMT -5
It's weird but awesome how all the levels in Power Blade 2 are interiors. Giant Die Hard towers, blowing them up one after another haha. Loved the vibes.
Get ready for the best Natsume OST and quite possibly one of the best shmups on the NES, I don't know if I can think of one I'd put above it. And the more I think about it like that, yeah I think I'd easily put it above Forgotten Worlds too. Was never a huge fan of that one but it's solid fun. SCAT was amazing from start to finish. I bet co-op is awesome too.
Maybe playing Dragon Fighter will make you appreciate Shatterhand more.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Nov 7, 2018 16:47:10 GMT -5
That track has a sort of Konami feel to it. I could almost see this track slotting in with the original TMNT or something.
|
|
|
Post by toei on Nov 7, 2018 22:44:30 GMT -5
So, most Natsume games subscribe to a particular design philosophy. They give you infinite credits, but feature overlong levels with few or no checkpoints, and send you back to the beginning of the level when you die. This isn't true of all their games, but of enough of them, especially on the NES and SNES, that you might call it their signature. I detest it. In the more common progression models, you have finite lives and continues, and you either get to: A) continue from the same spot when you die/use a credit B) restart from a nearby checkpoint, or from the beginning of a short level. Model A has the most forward momentum. You advance steadily until you run out of lives, seeing a good stretch of the game at a time, and gradually improve at all of it in order to make it further and further with each game. Model B forces you to master each part of the game, which can feel more rewarding, but still favors steady progression as the length of the game you have to beat at one time is short. Harder levels or bosses can block your progress for a while, but because they're so short, you can die and try again many times before it gets tedious or frustrating. Instead, Natsume forces you to master large chunks of game at a time. Every credit used means immediately replaying through a long stretch you've just played just to make it back to the part that gave you trouble. It's instantaneously tedious and demotivating. It's the worst possible model. In Wild Guns, each "level" actually consists of two levels with their own boss, plus a third, longer boss battle. Dying to that 3rd boss means replaying two levels before you even get the chance to fight it again. Even if the game is pretty cool otherwise, dying twice is all it takes to completely kill any desire I might have to play it. Likewise, I made it to S.C.A.T.*'s 3rd level pretty easily, but it absolutely refuses to end, and I usually die after such a long stretch of it that it's super tedious to try again. I don't do save states, so while I'd play Wild Guns with a second player, solo, I'm no longer interested. Also, Power Blazer and Mitsume take too heavily after Mega Man - can't crouch, can't shoot up, enemies take too many hits -, the bosses in Mitsume drag on and on and on, and the enemies in Shadow of the Ninja are extremely annoying - and football players, seriously? *Speaking of SCAT, if you like the game that much, Xeogred , you have to play Battle Mania 2. I don't want to overhype it, but it's just better.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Nov 7, 2018 23:32:44 GMT -5
Knocked out Power Blade 2. Good game, although I'm not entirely sure if I actually like it more or less than the first game. It's a little tougher, but as long as you take advantage of the energy tanks strewn about the levels, you'll be fine. And mid-bosses (and the boss gauntlet refights) refill your life after each bout, so you don't end up burning through your stock before the final boss... which probably doesn't matter, if you just unload on him with the Patriot Suit and have some modicum of dodging skills. I think I'll give it a 7.5 as well. It's not necessarily better, just different. It definitely sticks closer to the traditional NES formula as far as actioners go. EDIT: Forgot to mention, I think the auto-scroll bits are not terribly fun. Auto-scrollers are hard to do effectively, and it's kinda boring here. Especially the bit mentioned with the sliding that Xeogred brought up in his review. toei : Wild Guns, I think, is a good game, but you're right that the checkpointing is rather brutal. I played some of the remastered game, as well as the SNES game, and you really have to practice up to get good at it. It's not a game that can be knocked out with little resistance. Sorry you didn't like Mitsume Ga Tooru. I happen to love it, but maybe I'm going to be the only one. Not liking Power Blazer I can completely understand.
|
|
|
Post by Xeogred on Nov 8, 2018 0:18:13 GMT -5
Well toei has the no-save-states rundown for us.
I mean, you're definitely not wrong. Most of these NES games they did have some brutal checkpointing... or complete lack thereof. Normally I wouldn't use save states as much as I did here and there (mostly in Shatterhand and SCAT, then the fifth level in Dragon Fighter since it was annoying), but yeah since I wanted to tackle most of their NES library right away I guess that's my excuse. Now that I've played all these, I can see myself playing a few of them again and will put more time into them. I certainly would have loved and ate these up as a kid. But yeah, even Batman NES respawns you at bosses if you reach them, even Ninja Gaiden had more frequent checkpoints... sometimes, etc.
|
|
|
Post by Sarge on Nov 8, 2018 0:53:51 GMT -5
Aaaand speaking of Mitsume Ga Tooru, there's a run done. I did use some save-stating, although honestly I had enough lives at the end that it wouldn't have mattered. One of the tricks I didn't realize the first time I played through the game is that you can shoot the coins that enemies drop, upgrading their worth up to two times. It's not really worth the effort for the really small coins, but anything that gives 100 or above, do it! A 100 gives 500 upgraded, and anything above that will cap out at 1000. With weapon powerups costing only 1000, and extra lives 5000, you can add to your total pretty quickly. The bouncing spear attack is a bit tough to get the hang of, but is necessary in a few spots. An expert-level player (i.e. not me) can use it quite effectively for other strategies; I recommend checking out one of the GDQ speed runs to see what's possible. Graphically, it's really nice for a licensed property; Natsume put some effort into this one. As toei mentioned, you don't get multi-directional firing, much like Mega Man. This isn't something that bothered me, particularly as a big fan of the NES Mega Man games (and some after as well). My only real gripe is a few of the insta-death spots can be a bit cheap. Still, this is one of the stronger Natsume games on the system. I don't think it's quite up to Shatterhand's level, which I think of as a 9/10, but it's at least an 8, probably an 8.5.
|
|