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Post by Ex on May 6, 2021 20:59:46 GMT -5
Don't remember if I gave it a score but I feel mine appraisal was somewhat higher, maybe 8/10 or even 9/10. seems to receive universal praise on the internet, most folks tend to rate it really highly. Probably gets bolstered a bit due to "hidden gem" status, but I thought the game was decent. Yeah it didn't blow me away, but keep in mind, a 7/10 from me actually means "above average", as I use the true scale where 5/10 means "an average game - nothing awful, nothing special". I can think of two reasons why it may not have. One, the Japanese publisher, Wonder Amusement Studio, apparently only published this one particular game, so they didn't have an overseas presence (or connections). And two, this game has a fair bit of what could be considered Satanic or "demonic" imagery in its latter half. One example is this boss: I mean, that's straight up Baphomet with dead dudes hanging on the wall. Back in the '90s stuff like this did not fly over well with western console games. There's a surprising amount of run 'n' guns and shmups with that theme. We all should do a thread on it sometime. |
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Post by toei on May 6, 2021 21:46:35 GMT -5
^Nah, it really is that good. I'd wager that not many people would rate it behind a run-of-the-mill game like Gun Nac. You seemed to have issues with the difficulty, when in reality it's very well balanced. Wonder Amusement Studio was the developer, though, and it's probably an offshoot of Zap, as that's where the team came from (that same team worked on a couple of PC Engine shmups prior to this). The publisher was Toyo Recording, which seems to be a company that manufactures records, blu-rays, etc. ( they're still around today), as the name implies. I guess they made a short-lived go at publishing video games. This isn't as weird as it sounds; lots of Japanese companies in unrelated businesses established video game branches in the '80s and '90s. Hot B started out from an ad agency, for example. But yeah, this was probably a pretty underground release. The demonic stuff could have been modified, had the game been picked up by Sega or somebody. Now I'm imagining a super Americanized port with a muscle dude and machine guns instead. |
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Post by Ex on May 6, 2021 22:20:19 GMT -5
Nah, it really is that good. I'd wager that not many people would rate it behind a run-of-the-mill game like Gun Nac. Meanwhile you consider Super Metroid to be trash and Valkyrie Profile to be nothing special, which is in stark contrast to popular view of those games. We all have our precious little opinions. In your reality the difficulty is very well balanced. In my reality the difficulty became unbalanced in the last third. Primarily because the developers continued to increase the player's life bar size, so they overcompensated via enemy spawning and projectile density to counter the player's increased survivability. It didn't keep me from beating the game. It's just that when I'm getting hit by enemies that spawn on top of me, or drop on top of me, without any warning, that's not cool. Or if I'm getting showered with waves of shot particles with no open avoidance path, that's unpolished challenge in my book. I agree. Whoever the publisher actually was, likely didn't have connections for publishing in the west. So Mercs basically. |
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Post by Sarge on May 6, 2021 22:23:33 GMT -5
Hey, I'd play that.  Actually, I think a non-cutesy version of the game would be pretty cool. Something closer to the aesthetics of Wizard Fire. Anyway, yeah, we've all got some interesting opinions that don't align with the typical reactions, and I think that's part of what makes this group special.  |
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Post by Ex on May 7, 2021 0:14:11 GMT -5
 Title: Girly BlockPlatform: MSX Region release played: Japan Year of release: 1988 (or maybe 1987?) Developer: Compile (according to GameFAQs) Publisher: Nippon Telenet Graphics: 2/5 Audio: 2/5 Challenge: 3/5 Fun factor: 2/5 Quick Thoughts: You might think that a game named Girly Block on a Japanese console, would be an ecchi-laden puzzler, but no this is a mecha combat jam. Girly Block reminds me of a very primitive Armored Core actually. The player controls a big robot, which they slowly level up through repeated plays (using passwords), until they become powerful enough to finally beat the game. The player can change the design of the mech using a limited garage system, and they'll need to continuously change that design to handle certain battle scenarios. Although Girly Block actively encourages (requires) grinding via death and restart, I have to give it credit for being innovative in its day.   +Simple jump and shoot mecha action. +Customizable player mech. +Campaign has alternate routes through series of arena battles. +Supports 2 player versus. +Entertaining engrish. -Grinding your levels and dying back to the beginning, over and over again. -If you go down a bad route, you can't reverse to a different route. -No idea what the story is?! -Waiting for the dang power-ups to appear... -OST is very limited. Ex's time to beat: 2 hours 45 minutes (multiple replays until winning mech was built) Ex's rating: 5/10
Gotta love the engrish: So I guess the story is basically, "Rescue the princess." As was so vogue back in the '80s.
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Post by toei on May 7, 2021 1:20:41 GMT -5
"YOU RESCUED THE GIRL'S LIFE. SHE SAYS "WONDERFUL! I LOVE YOU."
This game really gets relationships. Also, "Girly Block" cracks me up. I just picture a pink block that gets made fun of by the blue blocks.
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Post by Ex on May 7, 2021 9:37:59 GMT -5
When I first heard of "Girly Block", I was hoping it'd be an all-female fighter. But considering what it actually is, I still don't get the name. I'm guessing the "block" part has to do with the bulky mechs, and the "girly" has to do with rescuing a female hostage. That's all I got.
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Post by anayo on May 8, 2021 13:25:25 GMT -5
When I first heard of "Girly Block", I was hoping it'd be an all-female fighter. But considering what it actually is, I still don't get the name. I'm guessing the "block" part has to do with the bulky mechs, and the "girly" has to do with rescuing a female hostage. That's all I got.  |
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Post by Ex on May 8, 2021 19:01:24 GMT -5
Dude's passionate about eggs.
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Post by toei on May 8, 2021 19:34:59 GMT -5
Maybe it's a fertility symbol?
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