Benito Carbone.

Can we pick something else while I wait for my Super Console X3 to arrive pls? Reasonably confident 1 of the 114,000 games on that will be Shock Troopers 2.

Wonderful stuff

Yes that's there too. Disappointed that there is no Rapid Reload on the PS1 unless it's under a jpn pseudonym.

Gokujō Parodius! (SNES)

The third entry in Konami's side-scrolling cute 'em up shooter series.

An absolute visual and audio treat. One of the most colourful games I've played in along time, and hearing bonkers renditions of tracks such as Ride of the Valkyries and London Bridge is Falling Down alongside some remixes from Konami's other games is just a delight.

The selectable characters are varied to, you're not just restricted to Vic Viper and Lord British here. Twinbee, Goemon and Kid Dracula are included amongst 11 pairs, each of which have their own weapon selections that adds a nice bit of replay value.

Only negative is the lack of co-op in the SNES port.

4/5

My reviews

retroking1981 wrote:

Gokujō Parodius! (SNES) The third entry in Konami's side-scrolling cute 'em up shooter series. An absolute visual and audio treat. One of the most colourful games I've played in along time, and hearing bonkers renditions of tracks such as Ride of the Valkyries and London Bridge is Falling Down alongside some remixes from Konami's other games is just a delight. The selectable characters are varied to, you're not just restricted to Vic Viper and Lord British here. Twinbee, Goemon and Kid Dracula are included amongst 11 pairs, each of which have their own weapon selections that adds a nice bit of replay value. Only negative is the lack of co-op in the SNES port. 4/5

I'm led to believe that game was actually a console game - the SNES being the target platform. When you play the Saturn version its menus etc have that chunky SNES look. I think the in-game graphics were upgraded for Saturn (and PS1) though, and it also got the co-op mode. The Saturn port even has a "dual" or "duet" setting that lets you set which player gets more bullets aimed at them - set to 50/50 by default.

EDIT: I'm wrong....Gokujo is aka Fantastic Journey. It's a cracker all right. That game gave me one of those "OMG this is next gen" moments - it's when that fast mazey level starts and the William Tell Overture kicks in.

davyK wrote:

That game gave me one of those "OMG this is next gen" moments - it's when that fast mazey level starts and the William Tell Overture kicks in.

It's brilliant isn't it. Proper sensory overload, glorious series.

Cross-posting from the 52 games thread...

Shock Troopers 2nd Squad - Neo Geo (50mins)

Well regarded and initially promising top down/isometric style run & gun with a graphical style that adds some unnecessary wobble to the gameplay.  Opting for the very of-its-time silicon graphics look of DKC/Killer Instinct and the like backfires a little as the slowdown is quite prominent throughout, which is unforgivable for sprite based games in 1998 imo.  I've been an advocate of 'never push the visuals past the point where it impacts on the gameplay' since the 16-bit era, and I refuse to give this a pass because it clearly over-reaches (it's not the fault of emulation either - the video review I watched before playing mentioned the near ever-present slowdown).  It's a shame, because its a fine game otherwise.

Holding the fire button locks your direction, which works well, and the dodge move here is a jump, which again works well but often seems to kick off the slowdown for some reason.  It's a slow paced shooter but it's plenty of fun to plod through, especially with two players I expect.  Selectable paths between  stages adds replay value too, plus the music is neat, the bosses are huge etc.  I can't abide that slowdown though.  Ergo: 3 out of 6.  Pretty good and worth playing, but it's no Ninja Commando.



Dolphin Blue - Atomiswave (45mins)

The answer to the question 'what if Metal Slug was reskinned as a very Sega-ish Sammy arcade game from 2003?'.  Fundamentally this is Metal Slug, even down to the close range stabbings and the way switching between vertical/horizontal aiming spreads your bullet spray, so fans of the SNK series will either scoff at the bare faced cheek of it all, or gleefully lap it up.  This couples pixel art with early noughties polygons and comes up trumps - I wouldn't say it matches the sheer beauty of Metal Slug on the whole, but it's a different kettle of fish [eating mammals] and ends up being a stunner in its own right.  It's a strong marriage of traditionally separate visual styles, and not one that many games pulled off successfully in side scrollers at the time.  Plus it plays wonderfully and has more than its fair share of cracking multiphase bosses. 

I credit spammed it, much like I did Metal Slug 3 when I finally got round to giving it a go last year, and this felt far more forgiving, so the TLDR is: if you fancy a stylish, comparatively breezy run & gun Slugalike with big Sega hat tipping arcade energy, do yourself a favour and emulate this ASAP.  5 out of 6.  Definitely a hidden gem, and playable with two too - if it had a couple more stages it could've been a forgotten worldie. 

Thanks for recommending Shock troopers - it had flown under my radar. I tried 1 and 2, the controls take a bit of getting used to - definitely feels like a twin stick shooter locked into one stick. The whole 'hold fire to fix your direction ' isn't my favourite.

Super Bomberman 3 (SNES) 

Good old Bomberman, there's not much between any of the SNES/PC Engine games for me. They're all amazing multiplayer games and have solid story modes/campaigns that can be played in co-op.

The main addition to this version was the inclusion of eggs that when collected hatch into kangaroo-like creatures called Louie. There are five variants of Louie, with each one having a specific special ability, and they also allow you an extra hit.

There are six worlds, the first five of which are very generous with checkpoints and passwords. The sixth world is only revealed after completing the first five, and consists of seven stages and the final boss. These all have to be completed without continuing. I think about a quarter of my playtime was spent here, it was a bastard.

Classic stuff.

4/5  

My reviews

Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius (SNES)  

The fourth Parodius game overall and the third and final release on the SNES, or Super Famicom technically as this never left Japan. It is also the only game in the series built from the ground up for the hardware, as oppose the the other two being ports of the arcade games.

It's more of the same, but sometimes that's all you need. Everything here is dialled up from the first two SNES games thanks largely to the inclusion of the SA-1 chip. The title roughly translates to Chatting Parodius Live! which is fitting as there are a large amount of voice samples in the game. I obviously have no idea what he is saying, but there is a Japanese guy shouting quite frequently throughout the game, seemingly commentating on what's happening onscreen. 

There is an option to turn this off so you can appreciate the music, which is very wecome as just like the previous games the music is fantastic, with a remix of That's the Way by K.C. and the Sunshine Band being a highlight.

I'm gonna have to pinch moots gif idea here, just to show off this boss:


Bloody marvellous.

4/5   

My reviews

Da! on SNES was my first Parodius game and it blew me away. Such a great port.

But aye - old school hard with the restart points.  Big game too - a goodly pile of levels.

Sold it CIB and in great condition when I went to the Saturn version and it's a soft regret with that one. Was just such a nice piece to have.  What makes the series collectable is that ports usually have something exclusive about them - sometimes there's an exclusive level or the bonus omake/lollipop levels are often different across platforms.

I know that the PS1/Saturn ports of Da! differ slightly.

Love me some side scrolling shooters, and Parodius was always one of my favourite series

Soul Blazer (SNES) 

Top down Action RPG in which you take the role of an angel called upon by The Master (God?), to destroy monsters and release the captured souls of the world's inhabitants.

There are seven towns/areas in the game that are in ruin, each consisting of multiple lairs. For every monster you kill in the lairs, a soul of the corrosponding town is released and returned. They are mostly humans, but it could be anything from a talking dog or plant. As souls are released, the town is reconstructed around the people, and the new NPC's give you advice and items, to complete the area.

The plot is decent enough, instead of the typical damsel in distress it involves a King called Magridd who forces an inventor Dr. Leo to create a machine to contact the evil spirit, Deathtoll. Deathtoll offered the king one gold piece for each soul from his kingdom. This is where The Master calls upon you.

The way the areas unfold is brilliant and the combat whilst quite simple works really well, especially as the games various magic spells are unlocked. There is also a lock button which keeps you facing in any given direction, making fighting enemies with your sword much easier and fun than most other top down action games. It feels like Ocarina of Times lock on was an evolution of this.

The graphics are great, it's early SNES so things hadn't quite hit the heights of Chrono Trigger etc but the areas are varied with some great effects that made use of the SNES hardware. Music is also top notch, there's a few tracks that have definitely stuck with me.

Overall there is little to fault for me. I'm a huge Zelda fan, and this is definitely the best action/adventure game I've played in this ilk that doesn't bare the Zelda name.

5/5

My reviews

Aero Fighters 2 (Neo-Geo) 

Played the SNES port of the first game back in 2021 and gotta say I'm a little dissapointed with this. Like the two Shock Troooer games there is significant slow down, its something I just don't expect from Neo-Geo games considering it's reputation.

Outside of that it's your usual top down shoot 'em up in the vein of the 194X games, which is to say good fun, and it has co-op so by default it's a decent enough game in my book.

3/5

My reviews