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kirkjerk .
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227
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Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 3:53 pm Post subject: Taito as seen in "Taito Legends 2" |
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At my family's place on the Jersey shore.
We decided we needed a PS2 to replace the PSone that had been stolen from the place. So I went on my usual quest for head to head "action puzzle" games ala Tetris for my Aunt and Mom. This is a seriously under-represented genre. And unfortunately, Tetris Worlds is so much fail in head to head mode (hint: multiplayer tetris is about forcing your opponent(s) to an untimely doom, not timed play for score) that it makes my teeth hurt. So my only option was "Lumines" which is quite ok. Other suggestions welcome; I need to hunt up some spare copies of The Next Tetris.
But I picked up Taito Legends 2 because it had Puzzle Bobble 2 on it, which is OK, but seems to be sparse in the Bub and Bob cameo category. But it also has a big representation of Taito's second line.
(Fun wikipedia fact... Taito might be a kanji anagram of "Pacific Ocean" and "Jew")
It was fun sampling each game and seeing some patterns.
First and foremost, Taito was often willing to sacrifice animation and a sense of kinetics for great graphics. "Legend of Kage" seemed to be an early example of digitized graphic, Nastar Warrior (sequel of Rastan) had it in spades....
It was funny noting what I assumed was some bandwagon hopping, like Arabian Magic, a kind of TMNT/Simpsons clone.
There was some innovation there... Raimais was an interesting sci-fi themed Pac-Man meets Targ. The mechanical dragon in Syvalion was pretty cool too, but again hampered by clumsy graphics.
A fair supply of Space Invaders derivatives, including some waves I see made it into that PSX/N64 remake.
Other Observations:
*1979's lunar rescue is pretty darn good
*Chack n' Pop is a kind of proto-Bubble Bobble, some of the same enemies
*Ki Ki Kai Kai, has elements of what I think of as traditional Japanese culture
*Liquid Kids (with what I think is a platypus named "hippo") is the cutest thing ever. Someone should make a bestiary of Taito cute.
* Elevator Action 2 is to the original what the GBC remake of Bionic Commando was to its original.
Another common theme was they weren't shy about giving the player a very decent weapon with unlimited ammo. A few weapons were special-collect bombs, but compared to some other games, they were pretty generous (I'm not sure if its this collection or the originals, but most have builtin rapidfire, which I appreciated)
The first boss of Darius Gaiden reminded me of what I now, for right or wrong, think of as "Shoop Da Whoop". Does anyone know A. where that idea of a mighty energy beam gets its origin in Japanese popculture, and B. where it started to get revived (with its unfortunate minstrel overtones) in 4chan-ish culture?
So, this collection (which was technically well done... aside from odd button layouts, some care went into the menu and settings options) was a trove of Engrish. My favorite was "Violence Fight":
Quote: | In the early part of 1950's in the USA, a game called 'Violence Fight'
was in vogue among Mafia, reckless drivers and general businessmen.
The "Violence Fight" was the game to struggle for "No.1 Quarreler"
with fighters who were gathered from all parts of the USA speaking
boastingly of their strength.
And of course a lot of winning the money as well as the honor were
given to the "winner".
Here in a downtown in L.A., a young fighter "Bat" and his manager
"Blinks" seek for the winning money eagerly.
As a matter of fact; can Bad take the No1 place of the USA? |
I guess I'm amused by the retooling of USA history, but I suppose it's not much worse than what we've done to them... _________________ =/ \(<D)_/
==/\/ >_ kirkjerk.com |
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Winged Assassins (1984) .
Joined: 28 Nov 2006 Posts: 996 Location: Super Magic Drive
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Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 4:43 pm Post subject: I am the "No. 1 Quarreler" |
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DOGON _________________
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Shapermc Hot Sake!
Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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Elevator Action Returns is amazing. Possibly the best game on that disc. Other amazing games:
Metal Black
Don Doko Don
...
others too. I don't have it in front of me. But seriously for those three games it's more than worth the entry price. _________________ “The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932
"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!" |
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dessgeega loves your favorite videogame
Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 6563 Location: bohan
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 1:30 pm Post subject: |
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i'm hesitant to approach this thread because i love taito's library so much and have talked about many of their games at length in other threads. here are some counter-observations:
raimais is the same approach to pac-man that arkanoid takes to breakout.
if you really want to see proto-bubble bobble, you should play the fairyland story.
hippopo and pals are super cute. you should play the new zealand story.
elevator action returns is maybe the best game ever. that and rayforce.
i have always liked the distinctive, almost collage-like visuals of taito games. they straddle a line between photorealism and abstraction that borders surreal. the japlish is good too. _________________
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extrabastardformula .
Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 295
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 4:06 pm Post subject: |
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I was really upset by the lack of Bubble Bobble iconography in the version of Puzzle Bobble on my PS2 disc. Bub and Bob are awesome and the cute baddies in the bubbles made the different bubbles easy to distinguish. Being colorblind, the version on Legends 2 renders one of my favorite games almost completely unplayable. Boo!
But I have to agree with everyone that Elevator Action Returns was worth the price of admission. Haven't gotten into Legend of Kage yet for fear of my nostalgia being brutally shattered. |
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dessgeega loves your favorite videogame
Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 6563 Location: bohan
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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i can assure you that legend of kage is still the most gloriously fast arcade game ever made. _________________
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extrabastardformula .
Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 295
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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But my memories are of the NES port. |
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Winged Assassins (1984) .
Joined: 28 Nov 2006 Posts: 996 Location: Super Magic Drive
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 5:13 pm Post subject: |
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dessgeega wrote: | if you really want to see proto-bubble bobble, you should play the fairyland story. |
Nearly every Taito platformer seems to have some variation on Bubble Bobble mechanics. I'm quite partial to Liquid Kids myself as it's really nice looking and all that water makes it refreshing to watch during the summer months. _________________
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dessgeega loves your favorite videogame
Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 6563 Location: bohan
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 5:18 pm Post subject: |
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i think chack'n pop is actually a lot farther from bubble bobble than don doko don, fairyland story, rainbow islands, mizubaku adventure, and the new zealand story. though the aesthetics made it into bubble bobble, i think chack'n is very much doing its own thing. _________________
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dessgeega loves your favorite videogame
Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 6563 Location: bohan
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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also extrabastard i see where your fears lie but the real test of maturity in the digital age is the willingness to set nostalgia aside and embrace experience. and the arcade version of kage just plays so fucking well. _________________
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JasonMoses .
Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 407
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 5:52 pm Post subject: |
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extrabastardformula wrote: | I was really upset by the lack of Bubble Bobble iconography in the version of Puzzle Bobble on my PS2 disc. |
Yeah, the version of Bust-A-Move Again on there (the F3 version, I believe) is totally devoid of any character for some reason. That, along with the input issues in Metal Black, are the only really major issues with Taito Legends 2. There's probably some other minor shit wrong with a game but I can't remember, so. |
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simplicio .
Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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dessgeega wrote: | also extrabastard i see where your fears lie but the real test of maturity in the digital age is the willingness to set nostalgia aside and embrace experience. and the arcade version of kage just plays so fucking well. |
I do not agree with this statement!
There was a freeware PC remake at some point (might have been a gamemaker game?); I found it to be a much better interpretation of the setting and play mechanics. _________________ "Worlds turn the new machine to thee. To thee. Though, thine the new machine space."
-Kurt Schwitters, 1919 |
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Cycle Mac daddy
Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:17 pm Post subject: |
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oh man i remember that remake, it was friggin' sweet _________________
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dessgeega loves your favorite videogame
Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 6563 Location: bohan
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:30 pm Post subject: |
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legend of shadow, right? i like the shuriken-reflecting and the expanded view of the ninja's surroundings, but some of the level design (and the bosses) wasn't that hot. _________________
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extrabastardformula .
Joined: 08 Feb 2007 Posts: 295
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:50 pm Post subject: |
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I looked at a description of Legend of Shadow and kinda got put off when I saw the words "health bar" which kind of blows the one moment, one opprotunity, one movement, one kill thing the original had going on.
Look at what it did for Demon Sword on the NES. True the game was flawed in some other ways (bottomless death pits in a game where you jump like in Kage is unthinkable) but I place most of the blame for Demon Sword's failure on the unneeded addition of power ups and a life meter. |
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