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Post by Ex on Sept 29, 2022 9:44:55 GMT -5
more style than substance And so is Space Harrier. At least the classic arcade version anyway.
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bosh
HRG Enthusiast
Posts: 207
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Post by bosh on Sept 30, 2022 11:46:41 GMT -5
Ghouls n' Ghosts incoming? Nah, legitimately beating the SEGA Genesis version of GnG (on real hardware) was enough for me. But today I finished:
Title: Space Harrier Platform: Arcade Region release played: USA Year of release: 1985 Developer: SEGA Publisher: SEGA Graphics: 5/5 Audio: 3/5 Challenge: 5/5 Fun factor: 2/5 Quick Thoughts: Space Harrier is a third-person rail shooter developed by a Yu Suzuki lead team, and released by SEGA in 1985. Originally produced for arcade, Space Harrier has since been ported to over twenty different platforms, including a polygon-based remake for a Sega Ages PS2 release. Space Harrier used SEGA's 16-bit Super Scaler tech to create pseudo-3D sprite-scaling at high frame rates coupled with an analog stick for movement, and a cockpit-style hydraulic motion simulator cabinet that tilted and rolled during play. Space Harrier was an incredible looking and feeling game for its time, it blew many minds in the arcades of its day. Nowadays the tech is not impressive and the gameplay is highly thin and repetitive, I wouldn't say it's aged well.
+The 3D effect was certainly novel for its day. +There is a palpable sense of speed.
+The color palette and gradient skies remain pleasing. +The bonus stages are kinda fun. +The cheesy voice samples are amusing.
-Extremely repetitive gameplay, every stage plays the same (takes ~20 minutes to beat feels like an hour). -No special weapons or power-ups. -No two player simultaneous play.
-The final stage is a crappy boss rush. -Good luck 1CC-ing this chaotic mess.
Ex's time to beat: 20 minutes Ex's rating: 5/10
Note: As a kid I had Space Harrier 3-D on Master System and Space Harrier II on Genesis. I never beat either of them. Now I remember why. The music and voice acting still make this game great to play a few rounds today. For the Yakuza games that have this in the Sega arcades, one of the first things I rush to complete
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Post by Ex on Sept 30, 2022 11:55:38 GMT -5
The music and voice acting still make this game great to play a few rounds today. The OST is certainly unique, if not idiosyncratic. I enjoyed these tracks: These audio clips eventually became hilarious after hearing them so many times: Shot by a giant caterpillar dragon: "Awwwww.... Ouch!"
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Post by Ex on Oct 1, 2022 0:27:17 GMT -5
Title: Double DragonPlatform: Arcade Region release played: USA Year of release: 1987 Developer: Technōs Japan Publisher: Taito Graphics: 4/5 Audio: 3/5 Challenge: 4/5 Fun factor: 4/5 Quick Thoughts: Double Dragon is a 2D beat 'em up that begin as a sequel within the Kunio-kun series. Double Dragon became its own game however, introducing concepts like continuous side-scrolling stages, two-player cooperative play, the ability to take and use weapons from enemies, cut scenes to provide a cinematic feel, and other innovations that became genre staples. Double Dragon's title is a reference to the two-player gameplay combined with Bruce Lee's film Enter the Dragon. Double Dragon was immensely popular in its day, both critically and commercially, thus was ported to, and remade for, many different platforms. In my opinion, some of the ports are funner than the arcade original, but the original DD deserves credit for starting the golden age of the beat 'em up genre. +For 1987 DD was a true evolution of the beat 'em up genre. +Strong graphic design. +Interesting and varied level designs.
+Two player mode is always fun.
+That machine gun is no match for this aluminum bat. -Serious slowdown issues. -Difficulty is statically balanced for two players. -Enemies constantly get hit preference. -Outside the iconic theme song, the other music tracks are blah. -The slippery precipices seem to have their own gravity. Ex's time to beat: 25 minutes
Ex's rating: 8/10*
*I have previously beaten the NES and SMS versions (decades ago). But I'd never played through the arcade version until now.
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Post by toei on Oct 1, 2022 9:42:56 GMT -5
I never realized the Double in the title was there to put emphasis on the game's big novelty - two-player simultaneous play. Such a staple element of beat-'em-ups, I never stopped to wonder who did it first.
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Post by Ex on Oct 1, 2022 10:04:39 GMT -5
From what I've read (and remember) the two player aspect was THE big draw. So much so, that the idea was worked into the title. Even to this day I think beat 'em ups are far funner when played with other people. So that was a major genre innovation on Technōs' behalf. (Even if some obscure beat 'em up did 2 player co-op before DD, it was DD that brought the concept mainstream.)
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Post by Ex on Oct 1, 2022 23:26:42 GMT -5
Title: Street FighterPlatform: Arcade Region release played: USA Year of release: 1987 Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Graphics: 4/5 Audio: 3/5 Challenge: 3/5 Fun factor: 3/5 Quick Thoughts: Street Fighter is a 2D 1 VS 1 fighter originally released for arcade and later ported to many platforms. This game was directed by Takashi Nishiyama, who envisioned adapting the boss battles from Kung-Fu Master (1984) as a one-on-one fighter. Takashi also drew influence from various popular shōnen manga of the era (such as Ryu's Hadouken coming from Space Battleship Yamato's Hadouho "Wave Motion Gun" attack). Street Fighter's underground tournament plot was influenced by Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon (1973), with the game's name derived from Sonny Chiba's The Street Fighter (1974). The original Street Fighter sold well (though not to the point of its phenomenal sequel) and evolved its genre considerably.
+Started the amazing SF series.
+Introduced the six button fighter scheme. +Invented the "secret special move" concept to fighters. +Detailed background art still looks good. +SF1 is where Ryu, Ken, Sagat, Gen, Adon, Birdie, and Eagle originated. -No female fighters. -Special move command input is flaky and unreliable. -AI opponents' hits can take uncanny precedence at times (to the point of being infuriating). -Hearing that same win or lose crappy voice sample gets old quick. -Geki (a tekkō kagi-wielding ninja) should have continued into sequels. Ex's time to beat: 20 minutes Ex's rating: 7/10
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Post by Xeogred on Oct 1, 2022 23:41:20 GMT -5
Have never played SF1. The humble beginnings... it always looks so alien whenever I see it. The series evolved a LOT between the first two entries.
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Post by Ex on Oct 2, 2022 0:51:49 GMT -5
The series evolved a LOT between the first two entries. Yeah there were 4 years between SF1 and SF2. Back then 4 years was an eon in this medium's advancement. I forgot to mention SF1 had a special "Deluxe" cabinet. What made it special, is instead of having 3 punch buttons (weak/med/strong) and 3 kick buttons (weak/med/strong), instead you only had one giant button for punch and one also for kick. But these giant buttons were pressure sensitive. So depending on how hard you hit either button, that would create a weak/med/strong result for punch or kick. Here's a video of the SF1 deluxe cabinet:
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Post by toei on Oct 2, 2022 6:16:33 GMT -5
The pressure-sensitive cabinet was the first version. It broke all the time and was generally unreliable, so Capcom changed to standard buttons. There used to be an in-depth interview with Nishiyama on 1up.com where they talked about that. It's surprising that they got the title from the '70s karate movie. That movie's called Gekitotsu! Satsujin-ken in Japan (basically Clash! Murder Fist or Collision! Killing Fist), so they had to know of its American title back in the '80s. Not impossible at all, mind you, just surprising to me. I agree that the game still looks good, but damn does it play awfully. The movies never come out. Supposedly that's became their technology back then didn't have the short term memory to program a proper input buffer? Something like that. They had also thought of the hadouken and so on as secret moves rather than an integral part of the gameplay, so they didn't think it mattered too much. Still, one thing about Ex - he's always generous with bad fighters (unlike every other genre!). Maybe that's because he just runs through the arcade mode and calls it a day, and hey, it can still be kind of fun even if the game is off.
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