Picked up Arrest The Stone Buddha and the violence is almost comical but so far everything is played very straight faced. The game feels very Tim Rogers coded in a way that I enjoy but don’t necessarily feel great about enjoying, though if I got my hands on it twenty years ago I probably would have gone apeshit for it.
6 Likes
The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa is really rough in some ways but there’s something really striking about what’s basically a Kunio game playing out with that tone.
4 Likes
played through ace combat 04 on a nice 14” sony trinitron. videogames haven’t been much better than this. perfect colour gradients, brief but strong vibes story, 4hours long.
still prefer the big swings of electrosphere, but they really nailed it here.
13 Likes
i’m declaring it data east 2025… played 2 sort of like rolling thunder / shinobi like games today, sly spy / secret agent and crime city (this is a taito game tho)
i think this might be inspiired by pop culture lol
here’s what u see when u game over lmao data east rocks
another 1989 game quite similar… more “lethal weapon” than “james bond” tho… yeah i’m pretty sure player 1 is off-license mel gibson lmfao
back to data east tho: also played NIGHT SLASHERS and this joins undercover cops in being one of the actual best arcade beat em ups i’ve played
the source of our very own 
!
had no idea this got a truly dire looking street fighter 2 hd remix style remake last year lol…
actually one of the things i love about shinobi and shadow dancer is the like multi-level / multi-plane concept those both implement so well which reminds me of another game i played recently, a 90s konami sidescroller called surprise attack, which is pretty much 90s konami sci-fi shinobi
15 Likes
taito and data east are on a sliding scale of A Particular Kind Of Arcade Game, with irem squarely between them.
5 Likes
there should be a genre name for these rolling ninja games
(also see the elevator action series)
1 Like
infiltration platformer?
walk-and-spy?
discretion shooter?
1 Like
strut-and-flip? 
3 Likes
spaction?
(“spy action,” by way of “shmup”)
1 Like
I forgot to mention it, but I think the funniest thing in Saejima’s Yakuza 4 chapter is the way he captures Revelations without having a cellphone.
Maybe some of his side stories are funny…I would love to know but the game didn’t let me find 'em!
6 Likes
Deliver at All Costs is cute. It became inconceivable to make this kind of car game after GTAIII.
Wheel World also seems cool. Forza Horizon with bikes and pretty, stylized environments is a good pitch.
Nidhogg 2 was really good, Messhof underrated since forever.
5 Likes
theres a nidhogg 2 machine at jupiter in seattle and its only 25 cents. bubble bobble is 50 cents
17 Likes
Ace Combat 5 might be the peak for me, because it managed to pair the right kind of cheesiness with squad bantering and drama, and added some missions that would qualify as filler in other games, but are providing a canvas for plot development and mood here.
Also because Razgriz 
2 Likes
I keep pestering the owner to get an Fzero AX machine if he ever finds one
5 Likes
makes me think I should make a Moped game. with REALISTIC 2 Stroke simulated engines. Thats right, use the mouse to port your own cylinders
4 Likes
4 and Zero are so much better it’s not even close
3 Likes
Zero will always have a special place in my heart, because it was my first AC and the first i finished… but AC5 has edged ahead in the last decade or so … reminds me that i should finish AC7 at least once, it’s been a while by now 
2 Likes
wow they’re prolific! i’ve played a lot of these already and didn’t realize they were all from the same dev.
2 Likes