What are you currently playing?

[Dalisclock]

Mafia is growing on me. One particularly interesting bit is that missions generally begin and end at the Bar that your gang uses as an HQ, so when you start a mission, you get briefed by the Don, go grab some weapons and a car and then drive wherever the mission is, do a 30 plus minute mission, then drive back to the Bar to finish up, which is both good because it allows some dead time after a mission(and there's no free driving time between missions, but there's a separate "Free drive" mode from the menu), but there's the downside I just went through 30+ of cover shooting(because not using cover gets you killed real quick) and maybe once the mission is over I just want to be done with it and skip the drive where nothing is happening. There's a reason in a lot of games that transit time is often skipped or a mission ends once the objective is completed.

I am enjoying the mission flow. There's one mission where you go out to beat the shit out of some punks who were harassing Tommy's girlfriend, which turns into a gunfight and eventually a car chase that leaves several people dead. Unfortunately, this causes further complications. One of the punks Tommy killed was a city politicians son, so dude is pissed. The other problem is one of the guys survived because Tommy didn't put a bullet in his head(he looked pretty dead) so he has to be dealt with because, you know, potential witness who can ID Tommy. Which leads into a whole mission that ends with a shootout in a Cathedral during the funeral, because who doesn't love shooting up a church and leaving more dead bodies lying around then they started with. I'm no theologian but pretty sure that's a sin of some kind. Possibly several.

 

[BrawlMan]

What kind of game is Panzer Bandit, it kinda looks like a brawler.

PB is basically the first Guardian Heroes clone, but without the RPG elements and you can only shift two planes instead of three. Though each character plays completely differently, and all have their own move sets, directional inputs, a light and heavy attack, a surrounding attack, and two different super attacks with a super gauge. It's a brawler with fighting game style mechanics, but the moves aren't hard to pull off. PB encourages juggling and high combos. The higher your combos, the faster your super gauge fills. The game does support co-op, and you can unlock boss characters to play in the main campaign, though I have gotten there yet.

The game has 8 stages, but the first 4 can be selected in any order. The game is no cakewalk and you only get 3-5 continues with 1 life per continue. The game does not allow you to get more lives at all. They clearly did this, because the game can be beaten an hour.

I consider Panzer Bandit the best of the Guardian Heroes clones. Don't expect a sequel as Fill in Café went out of business in 1998.

​

After completing Rushing Beat on Hard, I am never going back to that again. Had to play Streets of Rage 1 & 2 again to get the taste out of my mouth. Both are way more polished and better games.

 

[Worgen]

PB is basically the first Guardian Heroes clone, but without the RPG elements and you can only shift two planes instead of three. Though each character plays completely differently, and all have their own move sets, directional inputs, a light and heavy attack, a surrounding attack, and two different super attacks with a super gauge. It's a brawler with fighting game style mechanics, but the moves aren't hard to pull off. PB encourages juggling and high combos. The higher your combos, the faster your super gauge fills. The game does support co-op, and you can unlock boss characters to play in the main campaign, though I have gotten there yet.

Ahh, looks interesting but I haven't been able to really get into brawlers like that, granded I only played Code of Princess and that didn't really do it for me. But I do quite like Ninja Saviors, despite it being only on one plane.

 

[BrawlMan]

Ahh, looks interesting but I haven't been able to really get into brawlers like that, granded I only played Code of Princess and that didn't really do it for me. But I do quite like Ninja Saviors, despite it being only on one plane.

As much as I like Code of Princess, it doesn't compare to the gameplay and high quality that is Panzer Bandit. PB is a much better game and I highly recommend it. Code of Princess is a good game, but it is obvious the game moves at a much more slower pace compared to it's spiritual predecessor, Guardian Heroes. It's still a better GH sequel than Advanced Guardian Heroes, I'll tell you that.

I'm glad you like Ninja Saviors (The Ninja Warrior Once Again). Natsume remembered to give our robot ninjas expanded moves to already large move set that, but they had on in the Super Nintendo game. Adding two new playable characters really helped.

 

[Worgen]

I'm glad you like Ninja Saviors (The Ninja Warrior Once Again). Natsume remembered to give our robot ninjas expanded moves to already large move set that, but they had on in the Super Nintendo game. Adding into new playable characters really helped.

At some point I'll get back to trying to 1cc it. But, its also competing with my love of shootemups for going back to and beating.

 

[BrawlMan]

At some point I'll get back to trying to 1cc it. But, its also competing with my love of shootemups for going back to and beating.

I was able to 1 cc Ninja Saviors with only Ninja.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Mafia is growing on me. One particularly interesting bit is that missions generally begin and end at the Bar that your gang uses as an HQ, so when you start a mission, you get briefed by the Don, go grab some weapons and a car and then drive wherever the mission is, do a 30 plus minute mission, then drive back to the Bar to finish up, which is both good because it allows some dead time after a mission(and there's no free driving time between missions, but there's a separate "Free drive" mode from the menu), but there's the downside I just went through 30+ of cover shooting(because not using cover gets you killed real quick) and maybe once the mission is over I just want to be done with it and skip the drive where nothing is happening. There's a reason in a lot of games that transit time is often skipped or a mission ends once the objective is completed.

I am enjoying the mission flow. There's one mission where you go out to beat the shit out of some punks who were harassing Tommy's girlfriend, which turns into a gunfight and eventually a car chase that leaves several people dead. Unfortunately, this causes further complications. One of the punks Tommy killed was a city politicians son, so dude is pissed. The other problem is one of the guys survived because Tommy didn't put a bullet in his head(he looked pretty dead) so he has to be dealt with because, you know, potential witness who can ID Tommy. Which leads into a whole mission that ends with a shootout in a Cathedral during the funeral, because who doesn't love shooting up a church and leaving more dead bodies lying around then they started with. I'm no theologian but pretty sure that's a sin of some kind. Possibly several.

There’s another cool shootout in a more desolate location that’s always stuck with me too. I only played the original like a dozen years ago but the sense of atmosphere and tension was palpable even then. Would imagine it’s only that much better in the remake. I should really check it out, because it probably improved on the driving too, which IMO was the worst part originally.

 

[Worgen]

I was able to 1 cc Ninja Saviors with only Ninja.

Seems like Ninja would be the one to do it with, but the last boss is tricky with him.

 

[BrawlMan]

Seems like Ninja would be the one to do it with, but the last boss is tricky with him.

Actually he's the easiest one with the final boss. Once you know all his different grabs and how they function he makes the boss almost an easy mode. The grabs you want to use are the one where he either spins around or where he does a regular toss with one arm. Just position yourself halfway from the boss's glass or almost always the other side of the screen, and you got them. Obviously you're going to have to be moving more when the traps and lasers get deadlier. Do know that whenever you're in the middle of the grab, you have a ton of iframes. The hardest person to use for the final boss is Raiden, because he's such a large target. I still have yet to do a playthrough of him, nor do I intend to do so.

 

[Dalisclock]

There’s another cool shootout in a more desolate location that’s always stuck with me too. I only played the original like a dozen years ago but the sense of atmosphere and tension was palpable even then. Would imagine it’s only that much better in the remake. I should really check it out, because it probably improved on the driving too, which IMO was the worst part originally.

Do you mean the Rainy farm shootout? Or is it later on?

 

[Worgen]

Actually he's the easiest one with the final boss. Once you know all his different grabs and how they function he makes the boss almost an easy mode. The grabs you want to use are the one where he either spins around or where he does a regular toss with one arm. Just position yourself halfway from the boss's glass or almost always the other side of the screen, and you got them. Obviously you're going to have to be moving more when the traps and lasers get deadlier. Do know that whenever you're in the middle of the grab, you have a ton of iframes. The hardest person to use for the final boss is Raiden, because he's such a large target. I still have yet to do a playthrough of him, nor do I intend to do so.

I had an easier time against the final boss as Kunoichi since she has that toss up throw that hits it really easily.

 

[BrawlMan]

I had an easier time against the final boss as Kunoichi since she has that toss up throw that hits it really easily.

It varies on which one is easier for people. She does have an easier throw, but Ninja's spinning throw does twice the damage and can hit twice on the final boss, if you position yourself correctly. If you're doing co-op with these two, then you'll have the easiest time with the final boss.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Do you mean the Rainy farm shootout? Or is it later on?

That’s sounds familiar but there wasn’t much for rain going on in the original version.

 

[BrawlMan]

I'm playing Panzer Bandit again. Ein, the cool robot guy, awesome! He's thr long range fighter and gunslinger of the game! He's got plenty of good melee options too though.

 

[Dalisclock]

That’s sounds familiar but there wasn’t much for rain going on in the original version.

I get the impression there is was a number of changes between the remake I'm playing and the original. I recently watched the video Noah made 7 years ago talking about the series. He played the original edition, City of Lost Heaven, and yeah, the remake changed a number of things. Aside from the graphics being a lot sharper and some QoL additions(Like a speed limiter while driving), there's also a cover based system in place for the shooting segments in the remake, and it feels like you're meant to use it as much as possible.

The mission in question is going to pick up a bunch of Canadian whiskey at a farm in the country and the whole thing takes place at night in the middle of a dumping rainstorm, which makes it feel very tense at times, especially showing up to pick up the whiskey and nobody is there...before you start finding blood and bodies in some of the farm buildings. You know something is wrong and the fact it feels very remote and desolate helps drive the feeling home before shit gets real. It only gets worse when you get ambushed by some dudes with guns, kill them and find a badge on one of them that says "Border Patrol". It's not a rival gang you're dealing with, these are heavily armed government agents backed by local police...and they knew you were coming. They were ready for you. It's great.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Started Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth. No, I don't know anything about the anime or the manga. I'm just here for the Metroidvania party. The game really is "just" a Castlevania clone, which might be a disappointment to some, although I posit there are much worse things for a game to be.

The game has nice pixel art and controls well and frontloads you with a surprising amount of mechanics. Almost immediately you can switch between wind and fire abilities, where wind lets you hover over platforms while fire adds damage to your attacks and can clear obstacles. You can level these up with kills but will level down when you get hit; the weird thing is that when either is maxed out and active you will regain health fast and constantly. So the dominant strategy here is to always have both maxed out (easy enough) and then when you get hit stay on that but keep switching over to the other one whenever you're in need of healing and in a safe spot. This becomes a bit of a boss breaker.

You also have a bow which can be be a bit of a pain to aim while moving but will decimate anything on screen and each arrow doesn't cost more MP than what you naturally recharge every couple of seconds. So again, another game breaker. You can bounce arrows off certain surfaces which makes for simple but fun puzzles where you need to cut a rope to open a gate.

The bad... I guess the story is kind of a nothingburger. I don't know anything about the IP but the plot so far requires that Deedlit not know where she is, not understand what's going on and to constantly be baffled by everyone she meets. Doesn't really go to make anything very interesting.

 

[Worgen]

Started Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth. No, I don't know anything about the anime or the manga. I'm just here for the Metroidvania party. The game really is "just" a Castlevania clone, which might be a disappointment to some, although I posit there are much worse things for a game to be.

I liked 'Deedlit in wonder labryinth' but not enough to beat it. I feel like its team ladybugs weakest game. Maybe if I remembered something about 'Record of the Lodoss War' I would have felt more need to beat it, but I don't. Play 'Touhou Luna Nights' instead, if you want a metroidvania style or Drainus if you want a shootemup.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I liked 'Deedlit in wonder labryinth' but not enough to beat it. I feel like its team ladybugs weakest game. Maybe if I remembered something about 'Record of the Lodoss War' I would have felt more need to beat it, but I don't. Play 'Touhou Luna Nights' instead, if you want a metroidvania style or Drainus if you want a shootemup.

I bought Touhou earlier this year, I'm looking forward to it. Only a couple of hours into Deedlit and I can tell already it's not gonna be amazing or very memorable but eh it's good enough. It's like a good enough tribute game to Castlevania and feels very cozy as such.

To be honest I'm still coming off my Tunic/Prince of Persia high and want to pace myself with smaller B+ games.

 

[Worgen]

I bought Touhou earlier this year, I'm looking forward to it. Only a couple of hours into Deedlit and I can tell already it's not gonna be amazing or very memorable but eh it's good enough. It's like a good enough tribute game to Castlevania and feels very cozy as such.

To be honest I'm still coming off my Tunic/Prince of Persia high and want to pace myself with smaller B+ games.

The best thing about Deedlit is the graphics, Team Ladybug do really really nice pixel work, but otherwise I found it rather forgettable.

 

[BrawlMan]

I finished Final Fight 3/Tough. While better than FFi2, the game still feels underwhelming in certain ways. You still can only fight three enemies on screen at once, aside from the elevator section in the last stage, where it's all the same guy anyway. I appreciate the added mechanics, back dashing, multiple paths, environmental destruction, and super moves, but I hate the fact that for all of the male character, their supers have to be activated when you grab. With Lucia, this is not the case. Haggar's should have been the only super that activates when grabbing.

FFi3 is better than most of the SNES exclusive brawlers, but can't hold a candle to Ninja Warriors [Again] (1994), Streets of Rage 2 & 3/Bare Knuckle III, or Turtles in Time. I will give the game credit for having a faster pacing compared to all the SNES brawlers that tend to drag levels out. This is a god send especially to games like Final Fight 2 or Sonic Blastman I. I know people like to re-evaluate games, but I can see why critics were lukewarm about this game back in the day. So many brawlers already innovated and went beyond Final Fight.