Together Retro August 2020 - Birds are Jerks

[MrPopo]

This month we're going to play platformers. But not any platformers; we're looking for the hard ones with the nasty enemy placement that likes to kick you into pits. And you know who are the worst at that? The birds (or other flying objects). Birds are jerks. This is a month for your Castlevanias, your Ninja Gaidens, your TMNT 1s, or any other platformer (2D or 3D) where you'll get knocked into a pit for the fifth time this level and it was another goddamn flying enemy who did it to you. Because birds are jerks.

[Gunstar Green]

Brief story time:

Storm Eagle was the first Maverick I ever beat in Mega Man X. It was back in the early days of SNES emulation (nobody had managed to emulate Capcom's CX4 chip yet so this was at the time the only Mega Man X game to be emulated). Though I was a huge fan of the classic series already I knew next to nothing about Mega Man X outside of the fact that when I was younger I thought it was Mega Man 10 and he had white armor on the cover of the box but Mega Man box art was traditionally deceptive so I didn't think much of it.

I must have tried a few levels before this and kept failing, yet I clearly didn't try Chill Penguin for reasons that are obvious to anyone who has played through Mega Man X. For whatever reason, maybe it was the music, I decided Storm Eagle's stage was the one I would hunker down and beat. Without the dash boots his stage is crazy with lots of difficult jumps and his boss fight is very challenging since it's much easier to be pushed off the side if your timing and positioning is off. I had the base health, no weapons, no armor parts and I was shocked at how much harder this game was than the originals. I died a lot.

Little did I know that with the dash boots he's one of the easiest bosses in the game.

[marurun]

BIRDS!

[Nemoide]

Does Marvel Land for Genesis count? It's in my backlog but I haven't really played it. What about the original Mega Man? I haven't played in years but recently got a copy and would like to revisit it.

Or I could just attempt Ninja Gaiden and suffer.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I need a recommendation here...I LOVE platformers; so, I’ve beaten most of the more popular old ones. I’m looking for something a bit off the beaten path, that’s pretty tough, from the 8- or 16- bit era, AND features birds that will knock me into pits. Any suggestions? Actraiser 2? Skyblazer? Plok? Do any of those fit the bill?

[Ziggy]

I need a recommendation here...I LOVE platformers; so, I’ve beaten most of the more popular old ones. I’m looking for something a bit off the beaten path, that’s pretty tough, from the 8- or 16- bit era, AND features birds that will knock me into pits. Any suggestions? Actraiser 2? Skyblazer? Plok? Do any of those fit the bill?

Aladdin on the SNES doesn't get enough love because Disney didn't help with the sprites like they did with the Genesis version, but the SNES version is arguably a better platformer. It even has some flying enemies to annoy you!

I don't know about Skyblazer, but Hook for the SNES (also Genesis and Sega CD) has a few flying enemies that have the potential to piss you off, including bats and birds.

E.V.O. on the SNES, as the Amphibian (the second world) you do battle with the insects and they can be quite annoying. EDIT: During the Ice Age, you have to face off against the Bird-Men and they are total jerks! They even made their fort a maze just to annoy you further.

Taz-Mania on the SNES is a sort of on-rails... thing... where you (Taz) have to eat a certain amount of Kiwi birds to end each stage and before the time runs out. Of course, they don't just let you eat them, so you could call them jerks I suppose. There's also these red birds that you can eat to extend your time. The game starts off easy, but you'll get frustrated in later levels when you can't seem to eat enough Kiwis before the timer runs out. You can look at this as either just another game where birds piss you off, or as a game where you get to take revenge on the birds since you get to EAT them!

[Markies]

Aladdin on the SNES doesn't get enough love because Disney didn't help with the sprites like they did with the Genesis version, but the SNES version is arguably a better platformer. It even has some flying enemies to annoy you!

Oh Yeah!

That's a game I haven't beaten and one that I have wanted to play.

That makes it easy enough as I'll play it this month!

Thank You!!

[BoneSnapDeez]

I dunno if Skyblazer has literal birds, as I recall the enemies are all fantasy monsters, but there are winged flying enemies and there is indeed knock-back damage.

[MrPopo]

E.V.O. on the SNES, as the Amphibian (the second world) you do battle with the insects and they can be quite annoying.

Those bosses were probably the worst of the game's bosses, just due to their mobility vs. your jack of good attack options.

I've been trying to get through Ninja Gaiden 1. Jaquio is a total dick. Eventually I'll get him down and the final Demon is MUCH easier.

[Sload Soap]

As I recall, Crash Bandicoot has a double whammy of annoying bats and birds in its later levels. The bats can knock you into pits and the birds are placed on levels with few Aku Aku masks and come right at you. Oddworld: Abe's Odyssey has those really annoying bats that kill you in one hit. I think Croc had some birds in it.