2019 Review

It's almost new year, reader! And it's perfect time for 2019 review article. But don't expect something very spectacular for this special article. It only consists 12 MVPs (Most valuable pictures) and top/most-viewed 12 articles like last year edition because i'm lazy git. 

I) MVP (Most Valuable Pictures)

1. Mutant Penguin (DOS)

This game is all about killing penguins with mostly gruesome yet comical method. Not all penguins are evil and deserve to die but good penguins (which are hatless) are very few that you can almost ignore their existence. The game makes me like to kill penguins. It can't be helped. Either you kill all (evil) penguins or the world is doomed, you choice. Anyway, i'm not the only one who like to murder penguin. There's this standing dragon-crocodile that like to bite a whole penguin and shred it to pieces. He doesn't move from where he stands so he simply stretches his neck to prey on any penguin that happens to walk in front of him. He's initially sleeps (while standing, of course) and you can "gently" wake him by using my pan. But he doesn't have grudge on me and start to do his job on those penguins as if i just wake him up from slacking off and he feels grateful for that. He's my best reptilian friend besides flying lizardman in Magic Sword. 

2. Mug Smasher (Arcade)

 

Imagine if some subdued criminal big boss keep saying "Stupid!" repeatedly like some child that doesn't accept that he's lost to some sport match. Hilarious, isn't? ;D

3. Eragon (PSP)

This intermission screen is simply gorgeous yet informing that the dragon named Saphira, destroyed siege engines in the middle of a castle. Also i like the detail of men being blasted along with their machine proofing that the siege engines are manned. But in the game, there's no one beside them much like siege engine in Warcraft 2 or 3.   

4. Eragon (GBA)

What you always do in JRPGS besides talking with NPC? Checking every chest, right? Brom here doesn't let you do that. Yes, it's very rare occasion that a NPC doesn't let you take their belonging on their chest although it's very reasonable in real life. But Brom later become party member and i'm quite sure he now permit me to take whatever inside of his chest here. I hope.

5. Ghost Pilots (Arcade)

Ghost Pilots is rather generic vertical shmup made by SNK. But you can see a grim reaper on title screen or maybe he's Death from Castlevania that somehow got lost here. Poor bastard.  

6 & 7. Jurassic World (Movie)

I really envy to those kids who can ride on young triceratops even it only happens in the movie. Therefore this picture is simply the best in the movie.

Or maybe this moment where a giant Mosasaurus eat a shark like a dolphin eat fish at aquarium only much much bigger in size of the eater, of course. With such huge size, you expect it to be star of this movie beside T-Rex and you're right! It will devour the main antagonist later on.

8. Cooking Collab 3 (Video)

In Codepurple's entry, the jury heavy's head turns into President Vladimir Putin's after he ate the bad sandwich (it's made from various ingredient including bear's *ehm* sperms). It's simply remarkable reaction.

9. Kantai Collection The Movie (Movie)

After dealing with her abyssal/demonic self, Destroyer Fubuki takes a breath-taking sunrise watching with Carrier Akagi and Carrier Kaga. The scenery is very beautiful, don't you think? 

10 & 11. Area 51 (PS2)

I played Area 51 farther and i found BGG. Not BFG from Classic Doom, mind you! It's BGG that probably stands for "Boom Glow Gun". It fires 3 orbs per shoot like semi-automatic burst of real Sub machinegun  or assault rifle. They will bounce on walls and floor. If they hit an enemy, they will latch into him and later explode for further damage. It takes exact 3 orbs to kill an Illuminati soldier. This gun is definitely for more tactical method than frontal ones. If you press "aim down the sight" button, it will emit laser pointer that let you know where the orbs will go and/or deflect but in activating said laser will drain the ammo periodically. No reload is necessary instead you have to let the gun "idle" to recharge its ammo. That means you don't need to pick any ammo to fill this gun but you can't holster it to let it recharge by itself, leaving you vulnerable while concentrating on charging it. 50 is the maximum ammo of this alien gun.

 The moon landing is made up all along! Those crazed conspiracy theorists are correct! At the behest of Illuminati, they create moon landing scene at the heart of Area 51. There's looping record of dialogue between Neil Armstrong and Houston. Hilarity ensues when Neil forgot his line which ruining the atmosphere really bad.

12. Contra Hard Corp (Genesis) as Fang

Hilarity also happens here where a robot with roller skates, carries a giant bomb and tries to hit me with it. The robot is step up from that suicide bomber from Gunforce but easy to dispatch. I was thinking about putting the gif of the dynamic entrance but we're too good for that, right?  

II) The Top 12 Articles

12. Dimahoo (Arcade)

Dimahoo is arcade shmup that features dragons, fortress turtle, and RPG items including champion beef. People love cartoon meat from the best cow, afterall. 

11. Kuon - part 1 (PS2) / XQuest (DOS)

One of the goal of writing in this blog is: to let anyone know about obscured gems or at least less known and Kuon is one them. Anything FromSofware release that isn't Soulsborne, Metal Wolf Chaos or Tenchu, tend to be not famous. RIght? Even though i'm proud what i did here, i admit that i don't have fun on playing this Survival Horror Game. What did you expect from me who's the reincarnation of Joseph Frost (the lamest S.T.A.R.S. member), anyway?

Here's another example of obscured gems that need more acknowledgment because  XQuest is really damn good. Your ship moves fast yet slippery and there's lots of thing here that will lethal to touch such as enemy's bullets, mines, and walls. The game not only demands you to move carefully but also fast. Finishing a stage (by collecting all blue gems and passing the exit gate) within short time, will nets you bonus score that's essential for extra life. This well-designed game is made by one man: Atomjack. I salute you, sir!  

10. Angry Video Game (PC)

This isn't unsurprising as the game starring 8-bit version of James Rolfe or better known as Angry Video Game Nerd, the famous youtuber. The game consists of 8 stages with 2 kind of game type: 1) Platformer in which Nerd throws bottles at enemies and jumps around 2) Horizontal shooter in which Nerd wears a jetpack and shoulder-mounted bottle launcher. The bottle is Rolling Rock beer bottle, of course. Even though it's quite well designed, i feel that the game has so little replayability value. But still worth to give it a shot, mind you. Wait! Did i just say shot as in drinking liquor? Nevermind.

9. Jurassic World (Movie)

This is also reasonable. As we know that this Jurassic Park Movie is home to the quite famous "Prattkeeping" meme although the story premise is not far from Dinosaurs go wild and kill people, which is dull and not satisfying. Also Dr. Hammond is nowhere to be seen there. Spy_jeers02.wav 

8. Medal of Honor - Infiltrator (GBA)       

Well, this game is unlike other Medal of Honor that is First Person Shooter. Although it's top-down shooter, it's still fun to play as i tend to love the genre. Besides it's pretty well designed too. You can strafe, use mounted machine gun, drive a tank, and select arsenal that fits to your liking. Besides top-down shooter mode, there's also crosshair shooter mode to mix things up.    

7. Inindo - Part 1 (SNES) / Kuon - Part 2 (PS2)

Inindo is about an Iga ninja that seeks revenge on the infamous Nobunaga Oda. But before he confront the demonic warlord, the ninja must kills Giant Rats and leveling up. Because it's JRPG, y'know? The first dungeon feels short but from 3rd dungeon and beyond are long making the game quite tedious.

 

The 2nd part of the review surpass the 1st ones on viewer count by not significant margin but i'm fine with that. Even with horror effect (including jumpscare) here and there, the game is actually pretty easy what's with relatively easy enemies and strong magic weapons at your disposal like summoning these demonic hands a la Jedah Dohma from Vampire Savior. As i watched someone else playing this game to completion, i know that there's no real threatening enemy in this game unlike Nemesis or Lickers in Resident Evil. Even the bosses are not as dangerous as the famous S.T.A.R.S hunter. I feel ashamed that i give up too early but i don't see the reason to play the game again now that i know the premise of the game. Sorry.

6. Airwolf (Arcade)

 

Airwolf marks the first horizontal shooter that i review. Even it's made in 1987, it really stands out among its peer by having this dodge maneuver that makes the helicopter invincible for awhile. The popularity of this review also thanks to the fame of movie series that the game based on. Maybe.   

5. Wrestle War (Arcade)

Speaking of late 80's arcade game, Wrestle War also one of top 12 review on reader count. I'm very happy and proud of this fact because that mean i save lots of people from mangling their own hand. If they heed my warning about how hand-wrecking the game is, that is.   

4. Resident Evil 3 Nemesis - Part 1 (PSX)

 

This is quite expected as Resident Evil 3 is very famous and everyone has played it. Well, except me. That's why they're curious how sucks i do at this game. Because i'm bad at making conclusion as usual, not many people read the 2nd part of this review. It's not even in the top list here, like not at all. But strangely, this the one where i don't fight Nemesis more than once. Nonetheless many people love to read this article. 

   

3. Eragon (PSP)

This is quite surprising because this game is based on movie that's kind of box office bomb. But the game itself is fantastic. It's arcade-y combat flight simulator kind of like Ace Combat but you control a dragon instead of modern aircraft. The dragon can breaths fire or picks rock and later drops it like a bomb. She (yes, it's she) can also eats sheep to restore her health. There's also energy (or mana if you like to call it) that you can use for speed boost (or nitro boost if you will) and various spell casting. Besides casting magic, the dragonrider can shoot variety of arrow. There's also sub-mission besides main mission, to get equipment for multiplayer game. This game simply remarkable and you should try this. Medic_laughhappy02.wav   

2. Tales of Phantasia (GBA)

The 2nd place goes to Tales of Phantasia! Is it because the first "Tales of..." game (it's the remake of the same game in SNES)? All i know is: it's the only "Tales of..." RPG that released in GBA. Instead of using screenshot that i took before, i use the quite recent ones where we're in full party! Turns out, the key to defeat Dhaos is magic. Not clergy magic that Mint posses that allow her to heal and cast de-buff on enemies. No! We need elemental magic that deal damage. Therefore we recruited Claus the summoner and Arche the witch. Claus is the one with cone hat can summon elemental deity to deal huge damage in large area with massive TP cost so he's basically heavy mage. His weapon is book including "Adult" magazine but it's weak and rather useless. Arche flies with her broom and attack enemy with it like someone ride the Chicken Legs in Golden Axe but -you know- flying. She's definitely another magic user with light to heavy magic. That all sounds great but there's one problem: our party still only have 1 tank and that is Cress the swordsman! I hope there's favorable change on our party in the future.    

1. Fighting Stage Edition #3

What a shock! The 1st place of top article this year belong to Fighting Stage Edition #3! It also the most read Fighting Stage review of all time. Will there be another edition that can surpass the reader count of this one in the future? Who know. This article marks the return of Fighting Stage review after ±2 years hiatus and i'm not sure the reason behind the long absence. I blame my ignorance or laziness for that. I can gather the material for this kind of article in short time but picking for the appropriate pictures can be finicky but i can promise that i will make another edition with less than 2 year absence. Anyway, the reason behind the popularity of this edition most likely because i pick some screenshot from the famous and the pioneer of fighting game made by Capcom. It's none other than: Street Fighter 2. Anyone who expected screenshot from SF 2, will likely disappointed as i decide to use screenshot of Asura Blade instead. Because i reckon both the game and that dead dork behind the tall rock, need more recognition. He truly deserves it, really.

As per usual, i thank to you, dear reader. I hope you enjoy my writings so far. Special thanks to:

• Bbcpersian7.com for the clipart of Indonesian flag that i keep using in 17th August articles.
• Those who are my inspiration to write this kind of non-sense articles: VGJunk (that no longer active writing) and Ray Hardgrit.
• Twitch streamers that i followed. They provide me with more gaming insight in some occasion while entertaining me.

To quote Soldier's cheer from Team Fortress 2: Everyone of you deserve a medal!

Also i wish you good luck on year 2020!

Asura Buster (Arcade)

It's almost the end of year 2019. Before i make review of this year, i take a quick course on Fuuki's Asura Buster - Eternal Warrior (2000). 

For once, i like to make the title screen in .gif rather than the usual single picture. Pretty neat, huh? Although this is abridged version from the original, skipping the mini demonstrations and vague words to spice the things up such as: battle, mortality, and destroy. Asura Buster is 3 years later (as the screen suggests) after the event of Asura Blade that i reviewed long time ago making it the sequel and sadly the final Asura Blade/Buster game. Personally, i like this than any Guilty Gear because it's simpler therefore more into my taste. Anyway let's get to it, shall we?

Most of the previous casts are here and some cast are quite new. There's scrolling text on this character selection screen. One on top says "You can choice (typo of 'choose') freely from these character" while on bottom says "Which one do you prefer?". Beware of the top text as it may trap you to choose bad/ low-tier characters and you most likely don't like how it end up in future! By them, i mean Zam-B (right column and 2nd row from bottom) and Leon (right column and 1st row from top). Zam-B who's like western medieval version of Samurai Spirits/Samurai Shodown's Gen-an, still sucks like in previous game. While Leon who's the blonde lad with two sword, is watered-down version of Lightning in previous game. On Asura Blade i played as Goat, i play as Taros this time. Because i favor powerhouse and robot.

First stage takes place in place called Lux, means either Luxembourg city or some Luxury place. I notice that the map take place in "Real" World and its flat! Spy_sf12_badmagic08.wav

My first opponent: Leon the pretty lad. As i mentioned before that he's weaker version of Lightning, therefore he's easy to deal with. Speaking of comparison, Taros' charging move is changed from charging blender arm to this knee grinder move. It hits lower and has smaller hitting spot than the move in previous game but it still serves its purpose pretty well. Maybe i speak too fast. Much like the predecessor, Asura Buster is 1-on-1 fighting game with weapon and capability to chain your normal move or special move swiftly  like Guilty Gear. Asura Buster applies 3 attack buttons (light, medium, and heavy) and you can string basic attacks from weak to heavy (this is known as Hunter Chain Combo). Also you block attack by holding joystick backward, jump by holding joystick up or any diagonal up, crouch by holding joystick downward, run toward the enemy by wriggling the joystick forward twice (then hold the joystick) and back step by wriggling the joystick backward twice. The basic control is quite friendly.

Take this my super move: Invincible Sword with input of 2 X quarter-circle-forward + attack button! This is the same super move as in the previous game but its execution is faster. Sadly this is the only super move that Taros has. But Invincible Sword is considered nigh unavoidable as he start to swing the sword from above and swing across the screen. Not only it deals hefty damage when connects but also looks awesome. I mean look at that huge sword and fiery meteors that come along with! That's really remarkable, right? If you don't feel using super move, you can use the super gauge for enhanced special (ES) move instead. Special moves can be enhanced by using special move input with 2 attack buttons press instead only 1 button. ES cost 1 segment of super gauge while super move cost a whole super gauge. 

Next opponent is Yashaou the main protagonist although i can't get my head on main cast not some shoto-clone. Maybe he's like Sol Badguy from Guilty Gear who's Swordsman that adept at fire element and melee combo. That must be it. But Yashaou wields arced light sword as opposed to Sol's buster blade-like sword. Also he's more fast/agile type character while Sol is more power type character.      

Taros can also change his leg into blender in mid-air. This move actually does more damage against enemy in mid-air instead using it to dive on enemy in the ground like this. But it's fun to do it this way. C:    

I encounter the sub-boss, already? That was fast! Apparently this huge blob can speak. But unfortunately i can't read Japanese so i don't know what are they talking about. I have a hunch that they're not talking about recent big movie otherwise i will bite my office table.

As you expected from blob creature, Vebel can changes its body for attacking method. But -you know- biologically not mechanically like Taros. As it turns 80% lower part of its body into huge maw, i immediately remember of early form of Vertex monsters in Nogi Wakaba wa Yuusha De Aru. That could mean that this bastard is ultimate threat to humanity!

If you look carefully, Vebel doesn't have super bar but it can unleashes this large laser beam that i can consider super move as it deals multiple hits and potentially great damage if not blocked. Also Vebel can do this move while jumping too! But compare to Curfue or S. Geist from Asura Blade, Vebel is significantly easier. But keep in mind that even Vebel is large target, it can block your attack almost immediately. Even i predict that i can hit it while it recovers from its previous move, it manages to block my attack somehow! My only advice is: attack Vebel relentlessly but carefully.

Next i fight Sittara, Yashaou's rival. He has straight projectile move and uppercut move. Yep, he's legit Shoto-clone. To be more precise, he looks like K' from King of Fighter because Sittara shoots purple flame by swiping with his leg much like the K'.

But his legwork is nothing compared to the mechanical might that i have. FALCON TAROS PAWNCH! XP

After that, it's bonus stage! Beating a horde of wolf in Angry Canyon. As the place's name suggests, there's a good chance that the wolves as vicious as hell and the right thing to do is punch them as many as you can within allotted time. The blue wolves will charge at you straight while the red ones will try to jump or lunge at you but my solution is simple: stay in left corner and jab (light attack) continuously. This bonus stage reminds me of barrel-smashing bonus stage in Street Fighter 2 as you are unable to block this wolves' attack.    

There, i knocked 75 of them. New record! According to some review, the wolf's sprite exists in Asura Blade but Fuuki didn't applies it perhaps the game is incomplete due to constrained time. The more you know.

Next match is mirror match! I don't know whether the No 22 is the enemy's Taros or my Taros. Thing for sure is, the enemy is in darker tone that means he's the bad guy.

But i'm the one who do the low blow! Spy_specialcompleted12.wav

With input of dragon punch move, Taros can unleash a laser that shoot along the ground and creates explosions. The laser itself doesn't hurt, it's the explosion that do the hurting. Kind of like giant Cyclops robot in Contra: Hard Corps.  

 

After the bonus stage, the final boss appears! I say that Asura Buster's single player mode is much shorter than Asura Blade's. Anyway, what this old man king can do against me who's powerful robot, huh?

So you turn into giant two sided giant, huh? I'm not impressed. I forget to tell you about the remarkable announcement to begin a round: "To Arms!". It's at the same level of coolness as "En Garde!" in Samurai Spirit/Samurai Shodown.

King here is kind of mixture of Gill (from Street Fighter 3) and Apocalypse (from X-Men vs Street Fighter) or Onslaught (from Marvel vs Capcom). King who's also his own Queen apparently, like to swing their hand around and summon meteors.

Do you know why Onslaught or Apocalypse face the player and not just stand still at the center like this? Because they're designed to be able to press you without giving you much safe spot. The King don't know about that therefore you can stay at the left corner with minimum threat from them. Then you can clobber their right hand there easily and safely. As for me, i just boot it over and over again until they're dead. The boss fight only last 1 round, by the way.  

Then they turn into hollowed corpse and fade into nothingness. Sniper_revenge21.wav

Oh, wait! There's more. As i haven't used any continue, i have to fight once more! The King presumably transform into Rose Mary and demand rematch. Demoman_battlecry05.wav

I forgot to tell in Asura Blade review that Rose Mary is another Shoto-clone. Combine that with the fact that she's sexy character, she's basically Morrigan from Darkstalker. Therefore you can see this match as Asura Buster version of Huitzil versus Morrigan.  

And I'm still sucker for anti-air move. What should i need to do is: less trust on my instinct to jump toward her. But besides that, she is quite easy to defeat much like other opponents excluding Vebel. Maybe because they only spend the super gauge by using ES moves and they don't use super move at all.    

Unlike in Asura Blade, Asura Buster has proper ending for each character but the texts are in Japanese and i can' read them. So i can decipher the ending by the pictures only. Taros here emits memory images when he was still cheerful young boy, keep sitting under moonlight, and can't feel glory over defeating The King at all. To quote Exdeath in Dissidia Final Fantasy" "Empty Victory". I'm not sure whether i get another ending if i finish the game not within 1 credit because -you know- the game is pretty easy. [Fairly High Arrogance Intention]

You can also get the artwork of your character in credit roll unlike in previous game where the credit roll is just boring and without anything special on it. I forgot to mention that you can't change character if you use continue. So choose your character wisely. By that i mean "Definitely don't pick Leon or Zam-B!" unless you want to challenge yourself that hard. I saw a streamer had hard time to finish the game by playing as Leon as his damaging capability is very underpowered and his agility don't cover that lackness well.

Before i put the summary, i like to show you a bit about Goat and by sheer coincidence my first opponent is Taros. Compare to Taros, Goat changes drastically. He becomes more cocky than before as his neutral stance is he puts his greatsword over his shoulder while grinning. He throws his spiked iron ball straight forward, diagonal down, or diagonal up. While the ES version of the move is the original ones where he slam it overhead. His uppercut slash is one of his super move and no longer the standard special move. By inputting reverse fireball move, he no longer lunge and slash more with extra input. Instead he charge forward with his sword on front at stomach height. Some says his moveset become worse but in my opinion his moveset become safer and less reckless. His ending is: he kills many warriors and later stands on top of their corpses. That's what i expected from such Badblood as him.

 

Fuuki's Asura Buster - Eternal Warrior (2000) is another fast-paced fighting game that has bigger roster (including the secret characters such as Asura Blade's Alice) and friendlier than its predecessor. The gameplay is fast and engaging. The super gauge can fill on its own even if you do nothing. You can chain your basic attack, special move, and super moves. Some of the casts have bigger super gauge, allowing them to use ES moves more frequently. While others have smaller super gauge, allowing them to use super moves faster. Some of the cast remains the same with the precursor while other change. For example: Yashaou's moveset remain the same while Alice become weaker but she's accompanied by a tall skeleton on the background. As far as i know, there's no complex input for special move or super move. The command input is not far from fireball motion or dragon punch motion. The hit detection is pretty reasonable. There's parry feature which is your wide slash can negate enemy's attack and vice versa, depends on situation thus creating more complex maneuver clash within battle. The music feels more muffled and the visual color looks paler, if compared with the previous game. While he sound effect feel as sharp and/or contrast as the one in predecessor. 

I can say that Asura Buster - Eternal Warrior (2000) is simpler version of Guilty Gear. It may be more well-designed than previous game but it also feels rushed especially with less A.I match but the roster is bigger which feels odd. As the result, i can finish the game within less than 30 minutes. However there's proper ending for each character, but i doubt every secret character has it. Overall, i can recommend you to play Asura Buster over Asura Blade the prequel. It get high recommendation, even. If you fancy fighting game with neck-breaking speed and ability to chain your attack such as Guilty Gear or Vampire Savior, you most likely will love this game. For finishing touch on this review, i will do something that i haven't done it for months: Character stat's analysis.   

There's good chance that Taros' design is based on Huitzil from Darkstalker, their main color is the same (Yellow) for starter. As you expected from bulky robot, Taros's punch is strong. He has not only big attack power but also elevated defense capability. Therefore his main stats is Strength (4.5/5). He has ability to utilize various weapons within himself and most of them are transformation from his part. Thus i conclude that he has Dexterity and Intelligence of 3/5. It requires cunning mind and fine skill to manage those weapon, you see. He's quite slow but he has jet thruster to provide sudden boost on his movement and like every other character he has decent capability to link his attacks to another. He has powerful fighting ability but at the cost of his humanity and/or normal life. Or that's my speculation.