Retro Games Beaten

I got the sense that Falcom realized the market (in Japan) had shifted from PC gaming to console gaming irrevocably, and thus they felt the need for their next (as in Falcom internally developed) Ys to debut on a console. Given its popularity, and the prolific amount of action-JRPGs on it at the time, SFC was the logical choice. But I also got the sense Ys5 was developed by people use to developing PC games, and they kinda struggled with the console mindset design ethos. I also thought Ys5 was originally meant to be longer and more in-depth than it ended up being, and that's why the pacing is weird and parts of the game feel gutted. Regardless, I think Ys5 on SFC is a decent action-JRPG (it's better than a few of the other more popular action-JRPGs) even if it's not a top tier one. I'm glad you took the time to finish it.

Falcom did release a more difficult version of Ys5:



Unfortunately, there's no English patch for it. I wish AGTP had translated that version instead of the original one (not that I don't appreciate they did so).

And Ys5 also got a PS2 remake by Arc System Works, with a similar aesthetic to the style of Napishtim/Felghana/Origin:





But that remake remains untranslated into English to this day. A travesty that needs redemption.*

*

I "mostly" beat GL Quake on a 3DFX Voodoo 1 card.



I say "mostly" because while I beat every stage and collected every rune, I must have forgotten to do so on the same save file. So when I beat the last episode, the final boss was still closed off. But it doesn't burden my conscience to stop here because I've already beaten Quake in software mode before, and the final boss for basic retail Quake sucks. This was less about experiencing Quake and more about experiencing the Voodoo 1 anyway, which I'll post more about shortly.

Quake runs very well in software mode, so Voodoo graphics just makes the game look prettier. But by 1997 standards this would have been VERY pretty. Like "how is this even running on a consumer grade PC" pretty. I think owning a Voodoo 1 in 1997 would have been like owning a Neo Geo in 1991.

I beat Battle Circuit, Capcom's last 2D beat-'em-up (1997!). This game gets overlooked, maybe because of its late release date. This is probably also why it was never ported. It's great, though.

As usual with Capcom, the feel is right. You can change directions several times during a dash, which is incredibly useful as the powered-up dash attack is very effective (I was playing as the goofy default guy). The main twist here is money; enemies drop it, you find it in crates, and it lets you buy stuff between levels; extra moves, a permanent health bar increase, etc. The game progresses in the standard way, but there are moves that result in enemies dropping more coins then others, so you can integrate that in your playstyle and get upgrades faster. I had every upgrade except the most expensive by the end. Some of the extra moves are just better versions of the standard ones, but some are uncommon for beat-'em-ups; the cheapest you can buy with the default guy is a sort of a launching attack (Up, Down+Attack) that does a ton of hits and gets you a lot of coins, and it can be comboed from the regular attack chain. It also gets past certain enemies' defense. Very useful. In general you can combo a few different moves on one enemy even after they fall, but I think you can't do the same move twice during that string. This is very effective against bosses. 

There are also these temporary power-up things you stockpile and can use quite often by jumping and pressing A+B for a short power increase. The game is almost a spiritual sequel to Captain Commando; the character designs are goofier and wilder than usual (you're sci-fi bounty hunters) and there are some short levels, especially early on, with lots of bosses and mid-bosses. But because the battle mechanics are a little more elaborate and the characters more mobile, these are actually fair and fun. In fact the game does not feel cheap at all, and you get the feeling right away that you could learn to get really good at it and take little damage. I really liked the pacing; it keeps it moving, and the bosses don't have exaggerated amounts of health. It's the opposite of Cadillacs 'n Dinosaurs in that way. There's a couple of cool bonus levels too, including a mini shmup level (though you're also trying to grab a ton of coins and foods, similar to Sunset Riders Genesis' bonus levels). And there's actually a storyline this time, but it's not too wordy and things happen really quickly, like a comic book on steroids.

I'm going to be playing it again some time, trying to do better than this time. But even now it doesn't feel like I used that many credits. This is easily one of Capcom's best, along with The Punisher for me, which means it's one of the best 2D beat-'em-ups overall, purely on account of how well it plays, and how quick the pacing is. I could have used one or two fewer recurring boss fights, but it's not nearly as bad as Konami's usual boss runs, where you have to fight 5 of them in a row at the end. I can see how some wouldn't like the theme as much visually. I don't mind it personally, and the fact that it plays so well is what matters. ****.