the two nemesis games are also great. it’s weird how good-looking these relatively early gb stg ports are
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The paradox is how functional and impressive these ports are despite being miserable to play on an authentic DMG-01. I’ve never tried personally, but I can imagine.
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Ninja Gaiden Shadow and Operation C are some tasty candy bars, a Milky Way and Twix respectively. This is a time in game design history where developers are fine with letting players win, to a point. That means these two are generous with lives and continues, attacks and waves are usually telegraphed, and the whole experience is much easier to sight read. I particularly liked the look of Ninja Gaiden Shadow.
When you cut up bosses, there’s a great freeze frame.
I didn’t take many screenshots of Operation C because it’s not as pretty. I thought the game was a little boring and maybe too easy. That is, except for the final stretch with the obligatory Trial of the Elevator and Boss You Just Have to Memorize After Dying.
My favorite part of the game was after I beat the boss. I had to walk down a hallway. There were lethal electric barriers that strobed on a timer. They were easy to get past, but I can imagine being a child, defeating the boss, and losing my last life to one of these. At the end of the hallway, I encountered a big tank with some evil lifeform in it. There weren’t any defenses so I just stood there and shot it for ten seconds and that was it. Good ending.
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i love operation c! i probably wouldn’t have bought the ps4 contra collection if it wasn’t on there.
i haven’t seen this ninja gaiden game before, i’ll have to give it a try later
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It’s really an adaptation of Shadow of the Ninja and just rebranded. I was surprised that the rebranding wasn’t only for the US. The Japanese title is 忍者龍剣伝GB 摩天楼決戦, which is rad.
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Trax is delightful. There are two halves to it. One is the single player adventure. It’s a tiny, maybe 15 minute, explodathon through farms, factories, and cities. What impresses me about HAL is their cartooning work. The design of the tank and the enemies are simple but emotive and there’s character to their movements. One of the bosses is a giant, bipedal robot. He chases after me but slips every two steps. It’s obvious why everything else in the game rolls around on balls. There’s a running gag where I encounter versions of me, but bigger. There are so many bullets, cannons, and bombs flying that the game can’t handle it and slows down to bullet-time. It rules.
The other half of the game is basically a version of Combat that I could and would play with three other people if I had the gear. Only thing is, I really wish I could turn the turret counterclockwise.
Oh, I guess I got tired of the shader I was using. I switched it to something muddier.
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Fortified Zone is more Jaleco. Fortified Zone is more Jaleco. Fortified Zone is more Jaleco! Its design superficially resembles Metal Gear, but stages are broken up and the focus is on action. The puzzles never move beyond problems such as a maze in a dark room or a machine that reverses the controls. it’s nice to have something else to run through in under an hour.
Some notes:
- The music in the Cave is chill.
- When I use the flamethrower, the note that’s playing is sustained. It’s kind of hilarious.
- There is not one, but two visualizers for the Sound Boy.
- In the Japanese version, I’m able to type in a code for Chibi Mizuki but not Chibi Masato. When she’s chibi, all the bullets are replaced with hearts.
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Final Fantasy Adventure has so much that I want. I had started it a couple of times in the past, but never got over the first 10 minutes. This was because I had gotten it into my head that the bar on the bottom of the screen was like an Elder Scrolls stamina bar. I thought I had to wait until it filled up in order to do any real damage. That’s a shame because it gets really breezy and fun. But as with everything else in my life, it is better late than never.
This period of Square’s history is a nice sweet spot for me. There’s a roughness around the edges, but experiments in narrative and mechanics, as well as one-off jokes and tricks are everywhere. It comes off like a really innovative riff on Legend of Zelda but I’m not sure how many Japan-only antecedents I’m overlooking. One hook is that there are multiple weapons, each with their own movement and range. There’s a whip that feels just like Simon Belmont’s and I picked it up right before fighting Dracula.
If I cast sleep when monsters are throwing spears, then they just continue throwing spears indefinitely. That’s pretty cool. I can buy a potion to cure a Moogle condition, but when I’m a Moogle, I can’t use items. I named my characters with jokes, but now I’m starting to get confused.
I love this Mandrake enemy.
When the villain calls me, “my dear,” it feels like the deepest insult.
This is my favorite screen. So peaceful…
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i finally got round to playing ninja gaiden shadow, and it’s really good!
i got as far as the second boss on my first go, and that’s a prety cool fight. it’s a giant with a little sidekick. you and the sidekick can’t hurt each other, but he can grab you to slow you down for the big guy to hit you.
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The bosses are the best part of the game! These two especially!!
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I meant to get in on this but… well I’m not sure that The Last of Us 2 ever ends, still I’m gonna try to dig out some free time to at least make a few attempts at playing Mega Man: Dr. Wiley’s Revenge. It should be interesting in that in the few attempts I’ve made over the decades to try the original Mega Man or this gameboy offshoot I’ve never managed to beat a single stage, I don’t know if it is just a markedly more difficult game or if I’ve just got some sort of mental block. Hopefully I manage to take out at least a single robot master this go around.
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Some more Ninja Gaiden Shadow love
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Ooh that’s a good shader, perfect for this one.
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I love the way Ninja Gaiden Shadow looks in it.
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I got on a good run with Mega Man: Dr Wily’s Revenge (have a cart but playing via a DS emulator so no pics) and took down all 4 robot masters, knowing the proper order helps a lot and I’ve had enough trouble in the past that I had no qualms about looking it up. Game ti this point has been harsh but fair enough, although there are certain situations I still don’t have a good grasp as to how to tackle.
That said I took a quick shot at Wily’s castle and it seems rather high on BS. A good chunk of it feels very “you will almost certainly die instantly due to unavoidable instant-kill spikes, memorize the layout for next time” which is a bummer. Hope the rest of the game isn’t heavy on that but I must admit I am a bit worried.
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pro-tip: always have carry equipped when falling down to into an unknown screen
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Super Game Boy 2: Vaporwave Edition, Palette 4C
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Gave the Game Boy Punisher game a try.
I like it.
It’s similar in feel to the NES game.
This one is first person instead of third person.
You team up with Spider-Man.
Some of the baddies take hostages.
You shoot the baddie and Spidey swings in to save the hostage.
It is pretty simple: You have a shoot button and a grenade button.
Like the NES game, the environments are destructible, and randomly shooting up stuff uncovers secret items.
There are baddies to shoot and civilians to not shoot.
During the hostage section Spider-Man says different things depending on how well you do.
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This is fantastic. I love the fishing man in the background.
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