I felt like being unexpectedly punctual this week and have posted the second chunk of Issue Six a day early. Of course, this is only the second week for our bite-sized postings, so who is to say that Sunday postings aren’t really the norm, eh? I guess you’ll just have to wait and wonder. In the meantime, please enjoy the following:
Contra Hard Corps
Kishi takes us into a world of madness. A world of Contra… on a system that wasn’t Nintendo’s. A world where robots fought alien incursions, and not because it was a censored humanoid modified to avoid offending delicate European sensibilities. A world with intricate, spinny explosions. A world called Contra Hard Corps.
Cybernator
The theme of this week’s update is frickin’ action, man. And the bridge between the two bookend articles is this piece on Cybernator — somewhere between footsoldiers blowing up everything in sight and a jumping tank blowing up everything in sight is a tank in the shape of a man blowing up everything in sight. See? Harmonious unity.
Metroidvania: Blaster Master
It’s been nearly a year and a half since I penned the last entry in the Metroidvania Chronicles. And pilgrim, that’s too long. I think I’ve finally recovered from my Portrait of Ruin burnout, so let us delve once again into this sometimes-exciting sub-genre. Niche obsessions, ho!
Whoo, early content goodness! Side effect: I really want to play Blaster Master now.
Awesome. I’ve been looking forward to this all week and am getting it a day early. Also, this reminds me that I want to play Blaster Master. I hope Virtual Console oblidges soon.
MCBanjoMike captures what makes playing Cybernator so fun – it really feels like you are controlling a giant robot.
What we need more of is Rocket Knight Adventures.
Yeeeessss…Rocket Knight and Sparkster are amazing.
Also: Castlevania Bloodlines.
I really like getting these a little at a time. Also, Cybernator looks SO MUCH like Gun Hazard it’s ridiculous. I love it!
I had always thought that Cybernator was a prequel to Metal Warriors. They are quite similar and both published by Konami. Metal Warriors however was developed by LucasArts.
Interested parties may note that the Japanese version of Cybernator, Assault Suits Valken, was translated by the indefatigable agtp. Just in case the official localization/gutting doesn’t do it for you.
This is probably a question that’s been addressed previously on Gamespite.net, but would Wizards and Warriors qualify as a (somewhat half-assed) Metroidvania? Because as stupid as some of the power-ups are *cough*bootsoflavawalk*cough*, there are some you need to reach certain areas of the game. But then there are also run of the mill keys, and while you can backtrack within a level you can’t backtrack to one you’ve beaten… Does that disqualify it?
W&W is broken into discrete, linear levels and the few items needed for progress are located very close to where you need them. It never felt exploration-based, and the only time I ever backtracked was when I accidentally ended up back at the beginning of the castle stage.
Now, the second and third W&W… those you can make a case for.
Fuck yeah, Cybernator.
I don’t know what was wrong with the reviewer’s sound system though. Cybernator has great music. The theme on the last level is epic beyond words and I used to stop and listen to it for minutes on end before actually playing the stage.
I believe Assault Suit Valkens, which became Cybernator when it jumped the pacific, was developed by the team who would go on to do Front Mission: Gun Hazard.
Yep, same team.
Blaster Master was hot stuff in the day. Killer soundtrack. The top-view segments aren’t any more out of place than Actraiser’s side-scrolling bits were IMO.
Oh, cartman.
As much as I love the simulation, Actraiser would be pretty anemic without the action bits. They’re more integral to the game than the top-down bits are to Blaster Master.
Yeah, ain’t I ridiculous sometimes?
What I mean is that I felt there was more connection between the top-down and side-view bits of Blaster Master than there was between the sim and action bits of Actraiser. Now granted, the top-down bits of the former had their issues, but it’s not like Actraiser’s action bits were paragons of action gameplay either, even though they were more enjoyable.
Besides, the top-down bits were ultimately a minor component of the entire experience.
But the action bits in Actraiser aren’t only less fun, they’re a completely different game than the sim bits. It’s like they were working on a fantasy action game, but it was too short, so they just stuck it in Actraiser. I personally hated having to take breaks from satisfying my people’s every whim and dogfighting with invading demons just to wander through a bland dungeon as an animated stone avatar.
They may have been enjoyable, but only if you were looking for a completely different kind of enjoyment than Actraiser purported to be offering.
Yeah, but Blaster Master’s top-down bits are complete crap.
Aside from the weapon downgrading, I think it had a lot to do with the general abundance of spikes.
The sim part of Actraiser is great, but let’s face it, it ain’t exactly deep. You wouldn’t have had much of a game with ONLY that. And the action bits are actually FUN.
(and as Acraiser 2 shows, you didn’t have much of a game with just the action, either. It’s a balance.)
I know my mention of Blaster Master on a comments page and your review are complete coincidence, but…can I has Tomba! review?
I had a friend who liked to play ActRaiser in “co-op” mode. That is he would play the sim parts and I would play the action parts.