Key-Glyph wrote:@prfsnl_gmr:
That is so cool about the Famicom version of Contra. I had no idea. Is there extra music, too? Maybe map music, or a short cutscene jingle? I also wonder why we didn't get this fuller version. Do you think it was due to something like coming too close to replicating the likeness of known actors/movie characters? Or is like, Bill Rizer smoking a cigarette butt somewhere?
I don’t think that there are extra tracks, even between stages, but much of the music is enhanced with additional effects. The reason for the differences, I think, is that Japanese developers had more leeway with regard to cartridge chip sets. Nintendo tightly controlled cartridge production in NA, but to get Japanese developers on board with their new system, they let them take chip production into their own hands. The limitations of NA chip sets means that a few NA games, such as Castlevania III and Contra, have slightly downgraded graphics and music.
prfsnl_gmr wrote:Bionic Commando (Arcade)
Contra (Famicom)
King’s Field a/k/a King’s Field II (PS1)
Metal Gear (NES)
Mysterious Murasame Castle (Famicom)
Shinobi (Arcade)
Summer Carnival ‘92 Recca (Famicom)
Super Baseball 2020 (Neo Geo)
Super Meat Boy (XBLA)
Vampire Killer (MSX)
Two more down, putting me halfway through my challenge!
Shinobi is a classic Sega arcade game, and the first game in the long-running Shinobi series. In it, you play as Joe Musashi, who must rescue his little ninja trainees from an evil criminal organization. He accomplishes this by throwing stars at various thugs and, later, ninjas and, even later still, magical creatures. If they get too close, Joe Musashi might slice them with his sword or kick them. He can also clear the screen with his ninja magic. Finally, Joe can jump between different planes or levels in the playing field, a gameplay mechanic very similar to the one found in Namco’s Rolling Thunder series. Each level ends with a distinct boss fight, and there’s a really cool, much-beloved throwing star gallery between stages,
Despite its status as a stone-cold classic, though, Shinobi hasn’t aged particularly well. The difficulty is very, very uneven, and you have to memorize some levels through trial and error to get through them. Some of the bosses can really only be defeated through trial and error too, and their hit boxes are sometimes insanely small (and not readily apparent for many of the later bosses). This makes the game feel very unfair, and as many credits as I fed into it, I can’t imagine anyone actually beating this game when it was in the arcade. Joe is also an incredibly slow, fragile ninja. He lumbers through each stage, and just brushing a bullet or a sword is enough to topple him. (This is particularly galling since many of the later, common ninja enemies can block you shurikens and take at least two hits to defeat.) In light of these flaws, Shinobi is an interesting historical artifact and undoubtedly influential game. It’s hard to recommend it today, however.
I also beat Super Meat Boy, an incredibly influential game just old enough now to be considered a classic. Super Meat Boy was one of the games that kickstarted the indie gaming revolution, and it is also one of the first examples of the die-and-retry platforming genre, a genre that eventually influenced even esteemed platforming series like Super Mario and Donkey Kong Country. (Anyone who’s played the bonus levels in the most recent iterations of those series knows what I’m talking about…) Super Meat Boy, along with Dark Souls, is also one of the games that made it OK for video games to be hard again. While many other games were opting for a softer touch and trying to make videogames more like movies, Super Meat Boy was unapologetically hard and unapologetically a video game. The game is full of bottomless pits, spinning blades, lasers, lava, and countless other traps that will kill you instantly. (It is also replete with coy references to other difficult platformers, like Castlevania, Ghosts ‘n Goblins, and Ninja Gaiden.) Nonetheless, and like later games in the die-and-retry platforming genre, Super Meat Boy controls wonderfully, and it is rarely frustrating. There’s no loading screen to sit through after you die, and each level can be completed in just a few seconds. Moreover, the game has a staggering amount of content. There are light and dark versions of each level, par times, hidden collectibles, unlockable characters, warp zones that take you to old levels inspired by classic video games, and an insanely challenging bonus level that unlocks after the main campaign. (I beat every level in the main campaign with an A+ rating, and a few dark world levels, to roll the credits, but I suspect I’ve seen only about half of what the game has to offer.). Although the game was released over ten years ago, it still impresses, and it’s easy to recommend to anyone looking for a challenge.
…..
I have a few longer games up next; so, I suspect my place will slow a bit. Still, I think I’m on track to meet my goal for the summer!
