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Post by Ex on Oct 29, 2020 21:59:07 GMT -5
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Post by Sarge on Oct 29, 2020 22:36:00 GMT -5
Yeah, there's a surprising number of not-action games in the genre. Two that come to mind are JaJaMaru Gekimaden, a solid Zelda-style Famicom game (with fan translation) and Inindo, a straight-up RPG that I've always wanted to give a concerted effort, but end up bouncing off of.
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Post by toei on Oct 29, 2020 23:52:14 GMT -5
Don't forget Bushido Blade! Throughout the month I will try to highlight a few overlooked games I hope others will try, as this was a theme I initially suggested. To simplify, anything set in feudal Japan counts, even if it starts, say, Kabuki actors rather than samurai. I am thinking of Mystical Fighters, which I'll write a short post about later. Fo now, I will begin with Lightning Swords aka Ken-Go, an early '90s arcade game by Nanao/Irem*. Because the gameplay is not what it seems, and you will hate the game if you try to play it like a typical side-scroller or hack-n-slash, I will shamelessly link to my own HG101 article about the game rather than a video. It's a fun game with a cool dark Japanese fantasy setting, even if it's very short. *This shouldn't be confused with the later Kengo series, which also fits this theme, but which seems pretty bad. Also, Ex , imagine having nothing better to promote a game than "duel a demon!", as if this didn't feature in roughly 90% of games from era in one way or another. And don't let that ninja and his crappy game confuse you. Ninjas aren't stronger than samurai, especially when samurai go on a...
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Post by Sarge on Oct 30, 2020 0:02:13 GMT -5
Gonna have to give that a whirl; it looks cool.
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Post by Xeogred on Oct 30, 2020 17:51:21 GMT -5
This is a theme I'm always up for... don't know if I envision much more gaming for the rest of my 2020 though, but I'll see.
It is amusing how Feudal Japan stories in anime, movies, etc tend to make me almost slip into a coma. But give me a videogame as a playable ninja/samurai or character with a sword and I'm in my ultimate element.
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Post by paulofthewest on Oct 30, 2020 18:30:25 GMT -5
I never played the third Ninja Gaiden for some reason. I loved the first two and the first one for XBox (I didn't play the others.) I think it is time to give the NES some more love.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2020 18:35:51 GMT -5
What are the two biggest ninja games of all time? I'm guessing Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi make the short list.
I tend to compare all ninja games to NES's Ninja Gaiden. One thing I often see said about Ninja Gaiden is that it's unfair. But that's not true. The correct word is unforgiving. But the fast pace, the ability to hit expert timing, the twitch controls, it's all perfect. It's the like the shooter version of the action platformer. If a ninja is too slow in other games, even if everything else is well done, it does tend to bother me. For this reason, I never loved Shinobi games like other do. They're good, but as far as ninja games go, it's slower and less crazy than I like them. I also prefer the platforming element of Ninja Gaiden (or Hagane, though it's a bit slower than Ninja Gaiden) to the largely flat Shinobi (or Ninja Spirit even).
What other games are like Ninja Gaiden? Shadow of the Ninja for sure, Kabuki Quantum Fighter, Strider a bit, too, maybe Shatterhand? It's a genre I really love, with or without the explicit "ninja" theme.
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Post by toei on Oct 30, 2020 18:49:41 GMT -5
What are the two biggest ninja games of all time? I'm guessing Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi make the short list. I tend to compare all ninja games to NES's Ninja Gaiden. One thing I often see said about Ninja Gaiden is that it's unfair. But that's not true. The correct word is unforgiving. But the fast pace, the ability to hit expert timing, the twitch controls, it's all perfect. It's the like the shooter version of the action platformer. If a ninja is too slow in other games, even if everything else is well done, it does tend to bother me. For this reason, I never loved Shinobi games like other do. They're good, but as far as ninja games go, it's slower and less crazy than I like them. I also prefer the platforming element of Ninja Gaiden (or Hagane, though it's a bit slower than Ninja Gaiden) to the largely flat Shinobi (or Ninja Spirit even). What other games are like Ninja Gaiden? Shadow of the Ninja for sure, Kabuki Quantum Fighter, Strider a bit, too, maybe Shatterhand? It's a genre I really love, with or without the explicit "ninja" theme. Nope, it's definitely unfair. You'll jump and a monster will spawn out of nowhere in mid-air in a way that you can't do anything about. The way enemies spawn is entirely broken, probably more as a result of awful programming than by design. There are places where going back a couple steps will make the same enemies spawn multiple times, or other spots where you can make them de-spawn. The decision of having you replay a long ass stretch of the game when you die to the final boss - who has three goddamn forms, which means you will inevitably have to replay that bullshit a bunch of times before you can figure out all the patterns - was terrible. The only people who think Ninja Gaiden is fair are people who beat it long ago and know what to do when they replay it. When you play it for the first time, it's completely obvious that it's unfair. The sword doesn't even come out right away when you hit the button, which messes up the timing of attacks. It's a bad game. You're right that Shinobi is not really the same type of game as Ninja Gaiden, and thank God. To answer you question, Batman NES is pretty similar. You've probably played it, but if you haven't, you'll probably like it. People also compare it to Vice: Project Doom, but that game is actually really good.
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Post by Sarge on Oct 30, 2020 19:46:55 GMT -5
Haha, I knew when I read that praise of Ninja Gaiden, toei was gonna drop in. I love that we have such varied tastes. (@opwuaioc , I'm a big fan of the series.) Vice: Project Doom is definitely the closest I can think of. Here, though, is where I'm going to make an argument that if Ninja Gaiden is unfair, so is V:PD. It's just that V:PD is far, far more forgiving of mistakes or lack of foreknowledge. Ninja Gaiden requires finding the flow through the level, so to some degree, you could almost consider it a speed-runner's game before that was officially a thing. paulofthewest : Definitely give NGIII some run. In some ways, it's the best of the series, it's just that the US version is easily the hardest of the games because of the limited continues. The Japanese version, Ninja Ryukenden III, is much easier and that's really how it was intended to be.
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Post by toei on Oct 30, 2020 20:03:54 GMT -5
Sarge I'm fine with praise of games I don't like, but when someone specifically addresses "people (who) say Ninja Gaiden is unfair", well, that's me, so I wanted to respond. I don't recall Vice having a lot of unfair moments pertaining to platforming, though. In Ninja Gaiden, when you don't know the game by heart, you're constantly being knocked into holes, causing instant deaths; that type of stuff is a lot worse than some critter just getting a quick hit on you and causing a bit of damage. Also, Vice is more responsive, objectively so, by which I mean that your attacks come out noticeably faster, allowing you to react in a split-second to enemies running up from behind or whatever. There are a few tough spots, and few annoying ones, but in general it's really nowhere as bad as NG in that regard. Not even close. Even the flying enemies are much less fickle than in NG's bats. There's also nothing random and chaotic like Batman's final boss, where you literally need luck to win. Or even NG's final boss' final form, though at least that part wasn't so hard in NG.
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