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Post by Ex on Dec 4, 2018 11:09:40 GMT -5
anayo My sympathies on the hard drive failure, that sucks man. I do hope you check out Vapor Trail as well. I also really enjoyed Data East's Two Crude Dudes on the ol' Genny as well. I will be putting some love into this thread myself at some point this week. I hope to beat Heavy Barrel.
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Post by Xeogred on Dec 4, 2018 20:43:20 GMT -5
I think others mentioned it around the board about this month... but I'm wondering if we should maybe double up on December and January for this theme? I've got a nephews birthday this month, ex roommate's party, usual family stuff, another friends Christmas party, New Years party, schedule is looking stacked this entire month for me. I'm at 99 games beaten though so I need to knock something else out for that big 100 again!
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Post by Sarge on Dec 4, 2018 22:42:42 GMT -5
Just played through Desert Assault, also known as Thunder Zone. Remember I said I was looking for overhead shooters? Well, this is one of 'em! I really was missing a strafe button badly at many points here. Still, a fun game that might not deviate too much from games like Mercs, but there are several points of sheer spectacle for a 1991 release. You might start by mowing down what looks to be stock terrorists, but it graduates from there. You get four different characters to choose from, all of which have their own default weapon. You can grab other weapons, though. Once again, the flamethrower was a favorite when I could keep it, and in places where mooks were copious, the shotgun was useful. You also get a screen-clearing nuke which you'll absolutely have to use. I don't know how one could go about 1CC'ing this game, but I'm guessing it's possible. It munches quarters, but it feels more fair than some games of its ilk I've played, thanks to the fairly generous life bar. There were also some cool guitar-laden tracks, so I was fairly impressed by the sound design at points. I'd say this one is probably a 6.5 or 7. Definitely check it out; it's pretty short overall.
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Post by Ex on Dec 5, 2018 22:13:55 GMT -5
I'm wondering if we should maybe double up on December and January for this theme? I'd rather see January be 1st & 2nd Generation Gaming month personally; just start the new year out fresh. Edit: Besides, if you miss a theme month during its prime, you can always play something for it later anyway. For example, I finished a Sacnoth September game this month ( Shadow Hearts: Covenant).
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Post by Sarge on Dec 5, 2018 22:43:38 GMT -5
Yep, and I think I finished Thief late as well for October Horror. We're all good with it. I think the themes are just to get us to occasionally venture outside of our comfort zones. It's definitely been useful to discover games I'd never have seen otherwise, and even if I don't play them, I like how I can experience them vicariously.
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Post by Xeogred on Dec 6, 2018 20:06:57 GMT -5
Yeah, also Ex/Sarge, I was thinking maybe a bit into 2019 a forum dedicated to the monthly themes might be a good idea? Basically like how RB has the TR forum. Might be a nice way to keep it organized and make them easy to reference in the future. Other than that though I like the simplicity here... unlike RB which has a good dozen or so dead sections.
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Post by Ex on Dec 6, 2018 20:30:04 GMT -5
I was thinking maybe a bit into 2019 a forum dedicated to the monthly themes might be a good idea? I'm leaning towards this is a good idea right now. Might just happen. I'll talk to Sarge about it.
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Post by Sarge on Dec 6, 2018 20:43:57 GMT -5
I have no issues with it. I definitely don't want to subdivide so much like RB, but something that is ongoing like this makes sense.
EDIT:
I had to give Rohga: Armor Force a shot. It's a mech game, but it ends up being a sort of platformer/shmup hybrid. The graphics are top-notch the entire way, and despite feeding a crapton of quarters in (pretty sure it was around 40), the game doesn't feel blatantly unfair. I could actually see someone that has practiced potentially 1CC'ing this game.
You can choose different mechs that give you varying power and mobility. I tended to like the "aerial" mech loadout, with the short-range sword that will often block projectiles. There are four weapons to choose from, the default Vulcan gun, a Cluster shot that's pretty powerful, a Grenade launcher that actually seems not terribly powerful, but whose blast absorbs projectiles, and the Laser. Oh, the Laser. I love that thing. It tends to rip enemies to shreds, and was easily my favorite weapon.
There are also little jetpack dudes you can grab to augment your firepower, and if your mech is blown up, you become one of those jetpack dudes, at which point one hit will kill you. You can get a mech back, but I think it requires grabbing three powerups. Survival for that long rarely happens.
Anyway, the game might be a touch too long for my tastes. It took me 1:12 of realtime to finish. Still, I'd say give it a shot. I think the game plays swimmingly, and it might be one of Data East's most polished titles I've played yet. I'll give it a... hmm, I was going to say 8, but I'm going to go with 7.5. Either are valid. I might not be a massive shmup fan, but this is easily one of the better ones I've played, and I figure genre fans will enjoy it even more.
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Post by toei on Dec 7, 2018 12:12:22 GMT -5
Rohga is actually a series, but this is the only that plays like it. The other two are vertical shmups; the first was released as Vapor Trail in arcades and on the Genesis. As it turns out, Data East made quite a few vertical shmups. The Darwin series is another. I plan to be checking out a bunch of forgotten arcade-exclusive Data East games later (there's a ton of them), but the coolest-looking I've found is this:
It's a platformer with shmup tendencies, and you technically play as a robot, but the levels and enemies have a very organic look. Some of the bosses look great.
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Post by Sarge on Dec 7, 2018 13:18:30 GMT -5
I tend to prefer vertical shmups, honestly. I don't know what it is. Technically, the screen scrolling shouldn't make that big a difference, but it does for me. Kinda why I love Radiant Silvergun, for one. Or DoDonPachi. I might not be a huge genre fan, but there are definitely a few that are top-tier for me.
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