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Post by Xeogred on Nov 4, 2018 8:02:48 GMT -5
Well I think that's the best cover ever.
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Post by toei on Nov 4, 2018 19:12:44 GMT -5
Started playing Gear Senshi, I think I'm 4 levels in. One thing I love about it being a PSX game: you can save. I expect it to be twice as long as Ninjawarriors, but since I can play 2-3 levels in a row and take a break I don't have to get bored by it when the repetitiveness settles in.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 4, 2018 20:38:04 GMT -5
Power Blade down, 52 minutes for me. I'm kind of crying at how painfully... EASY the final boss fight was. Coming off of you know Ninja Gaiden 1-3, Castlevania Bloodlines, etc... haha wow.
Ex has his own thoughts and review on the first page, I'd agree on the 7/10 or so. This is basically Air Man's Fortress throughout all stages with a dash of some Batman/Metroid sewers or a few green plant like things here and there. You get to play as Arnold Schwarzenegger powered up by hamburgers and can transform into Robocop. Funny enough the power up wasn't really that worthwhile usually, though being able to pierce through walls with your weapon was fun. Your normal weapon is a boomerang and I generally love those in action platformers, it definitely rocks here too. Overall solid graphics, music, etc, the whole package plays it a little safe but there is some fun to be had in its simplicity. Looking forward to 2 since it sounds like an improvement.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 5, 2018 0:01:36 GMT -5
91. Power Blade (NES) 92. Dragon Fighter (NES)
40 minutes, save states used because you only get 3 continues (no lives) and no checkpoints.
Nobody really talks about this one. Maybe because it's a 6/10 or so? Hardly bad but definitely not great either, I got amped for this one months back because the music is pretty awesome and I love a good icey looking NES environment, with those cool crystals and dark backdrops... which makes up the first level. But all around the graphics range from passable to bad. This is even more bare bones than Power Blade. An issue with the lack of checkpoints and limited continues is that unlike Power Blade where it was easy to run around back and forth grinding for some hamburgers to quickly refill health, in Dragon Fighter these levels have no verticality and the screen does not pan backwards, so it's completely forced linear. You better hope you've got lucky RNG for some health drops from time to time. Some enemies do keep respawning on the fly, like skeletons (ripping off Castlevania's red skeletons?), but the drops were barely popping up.
This is an extremely basic sidescroller with one little gimmick, killing enemies fills up one bar and once that bar hits halfway, you can jump up and transform into a dragon, which quickly drains this meter. Doing this will weirdly start making the level auto-scroll, but with the dragon form you can easily fly around and get by some enemies and obstacles. There are some rare drops and items that change your dragon form and weapon, be wary of the red form because it's basically Castlevania's Holy Water... not very useful in most cases. I liked the default triple shot dragon form you start with. One was Homing shot but didn't seem to work very well. On foot you can hold down the attack button to do a short charge shot but I barely used it. Your health does not refill in between levels, but beating each boss extends your life bar and refills some of it at least. So, all the more reason why I didn't want to grind in some rare spots for health and used save states. In level 6, the final stage... your dragon powers have maxed out apparently and the level is a full on shmup, fairly competent and fun too. Makes you wonder if the game would have been better off like this from the start. The main characters sprite looked female to me, but I guess both the Japanese/English cover art says otherwise.
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Post by Ex on Nov 5, 2018 1:34:47 GMT -5
74. Shatterhand | NES | 1991"Shatterhand" is an action-platformer developed by Natsume, and published by Jaleco in the USA (1991) and Europe (1992). "Shatterhand" was originally a Famicom game based on the "Super Rescue Solbrain" franchise, but was altered to become "Shatterhand" in the west. Steve Hermann a cop from the Bronx circa 2030, lost his arms fighting the cyborg soldier army Metal Command. The the Law and Order Regulatory Division (L.O.R.D. lol) replaced his arms with cybernetic ones, so that he could one man army defeat all of Metal Command. Steve is code named "Shatterhand". By that name he will destroy Metal Command and its leader General Gus Grover. He will do this by punching everything into tiny broken bits. That is to say SHATTERING them with his HANDS. Now you understand the subtle and clever title.
The gameplay in "Shatterhand" follows the traditional run, jump, and shoot punch format of its genre. The innovations here are in-level stores, and the satellite robot system. As Steve moves through levels, some enemies and treasure boxes will leave coins. These coins can be spent to refill Steve's life bar, power up Steve's attack, and buy extra lives. Said treasure chests will occasionally drop satellite robot cards. When the player collects three of these cards, a satellite robot joins Steve to help him fight. The satellite robot's type is determined by the sequence of alpha/beta cards order of collection. There are many different satellite robots, but they eventually get destroyed by enemy attacks. There is also a sequence of cards that will give Steve an invincibility suit that lasts 15 seconds, and actually lets Steve shoot projectile fire. Once in a while treasure chests will drop a self detonating grenade because screw you I guess.
+Innovative satellite robot system.
+Impressively detailed graphics with a gritty tone.
+Some levels feature anti-gravity (walk on the ceiling).
+Take on the core levels in whatever order you want.
+Challenging boss fights (that remind me of "Mega Man X").
-The OST is only so-so.
-Enemies are too hit spongey.
-Slowdown happens often.
-No password system (unlimited continues though).
-Last stage is too long, and recycles some earlier bosses. I almost got the top score. Damn you ISK!
"Shatterhand"'s release falls between Natsume's action-platformers "Power Blade" and "Power Blade 2". Compared to those two games, "Shatterhand" is far more challenging, and more serious in tone and direction. A big portion of the challenge is that Steve can only punch his enemies, but most of his enemies have range attacks. Also bosses take a lot of hits, and checkpoints are sparse. "Shatterhand" is a tightly made game (there's some very impressive memory management under the hood), the controls are solid and responsive, and cheap deaths are fairly rare. There's plenty of impressive moments to be found in this experience. It's almost a beat 'em up/platformer hybrid, but not quite. That said, there's not much variety to the level designs, and the plot is barely even there. If you are a fan of oldschool 8-bit action-platformers, "Shatterhand" is absolutely worth playing. Even if it does shatter one's patience occasionally. Ex's time to beat: 55 minutes Ex's rating: 8/10 --- Well that's three down for this theme so far. I'm going to take a break from Natsume games for just a little bit. I will return later on in the month and attempt to finish a few more. In the meantime I hope more of our esteemed members join in on this theme. This company made very good games.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 5, 2018 11:30:25 GMT -5
That's a fair review of Shatterhand, although I like it even more. It's more of a 9/10 for me, although the big flaw is definitely that last stage. It will really try your patience, and the checkpointing isn't all that great, either. The only place I disagree is the OST, which I absolutely love.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 5, 2018 18:00:56 GMT -5
91. Power Blade (NES) 92. Dragon Fighter (NES) 93. Shadow of the Ninja (NES)
43min
Probably my favorite of the bunch so far. Still pretty simplistic but a bit more polished than Power Blade or Dragon Fighter and more challenging in spots. The final boss was pretty tough until I got the first phase down and just brute forced the second phase. I favored the chain/hook weapon the most for the reach, the base sword with no upgrades was pretty dinky haha. Some cool secondary usable weapons like shurikens or bombs pop up sometimes. Solid platforming with the ability to hang on some ledges, good graphics, great music, etc, can't go wrong with this one.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 5, 2018 18:16:21 GMT -5
One of the things I like about Shadow of the Ninja/Shatterhand/Mitsume Ga Tooru is the sort of weighty physics. It's just enough to give a nice feeling of momentum without feeling sluggish. To be honest, both Shadow and Shatterhand remind me a bit of Batman: The Video Game on NES, which is also a top-tier NES title.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 5, 2018 19:06:53 GMT -5
I can easily see that. Green sewers too! And yeah the punching in Shatterhand is similar to Batman's attack, minus the batarangs. So I was going to sample S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team... and couldn't put it down. 91. Power Blade (NES) 92. Dragon Fighter (NES) 93. Shadow of the Ninja (NES) 94. S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team (NES)
45min, used save states for the tour but I'd love to put more time into this one and knock it out legit. This is one of the best shmups I've played on the NES by far. It's similar to Forgotton Worlds but I might even like this more, there's no shop so it's just straight to the point. Amazing graphics and some of the best Natsume NES music in my book by far. Arnold returns with a jetpack teaming up with Sigourney to take on some aliens and robots (I kid you not, this is their names in the intro haha, how did this slip?), all the levels were top notch. There was one giant ship level that pans around, similar to the ones frequently in R-Type or whatnot. The bosses were all fairly easy for the most part but I think the real difficulty here is how long the levels can be with no checkpoints. There was always a health drop near the boss but that's it for the whole level! It was cool how you can control the two Options that fire a few shots around you, they rotate back and forth and hitting B will "stop" them in that position, hit B to make them move again. It was a pretty neat element here and let you manage things behind you, above or below, or full force in front. W was my favorite of the gun power ups, a wide shot. There's also a Laser and Bombs. Your classic weapon types. This was freaking good and my favorite so far.
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Post by Ex on Nov 5, 2018 21:16:15 GMT -5
To be honest, both Shadow and Shatterhand remind me a bit of Batman: The Video Game on NES, which is also a top-tier NES title. I could see a lot of inspiration (especially art direction-wise) from Batman in Shatterhand and Power Blade 2. Who knows maybe some personnel were shared.
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