Sengoku 2 (Neo Geo)

It's ancient tradition: An overlord with his demonic army threaten the world, then a king/princess summon heroic champions to vanquish the evils for good. What if said heroes are just particular-culture-crazed men without any proper talent or skill for said divine task? Can they're really make it? We shall see in SNK's "Sengoku 2" (1993).  

 Brief translation by Google Translate provide me with definition of Sengoku: warring states. It's not only a state that's at war. But many of it. Oh, noes! Again, i pick a 2nd series of the game because the prequel is too tedious for my gaming or not worthy to know. You can tell that lord who owns that Japanese castle, is evil. The good ones keeps many kitten or puppies as his pet instead dreadful 4-headed dragon like that, you know. Said evil lord seeks for world's domination/destruction and a princess with mystical power can't stand idly knowing that. So she travel to modern age and calls aid from...      

 

...these 2 westerners that hang around outside of a bar. If you think they kind look like rock musician instead of, say fully armed soldiers that are certainly more fit into evil army busting. And you're correct. So why the princess asks their help? For starter they understand Japanese. You see. The texts are in English but the digitized speeches are Japanese. So, these men are weeaboos. And who else more enthusiast to help Japanese princess from the past than weeaboo? I imagine that they develop friendship when they coincidently meet at a Comiket. Later they form indie rock band for bar to another bar. They secretly compose J-Rock song on their free time and such.

 

"Whoa, dude! Look at them! They bow at us. Awesome!". They carry katana that means they're samurai weeaboo. Waving Japanese sword around is easier to imitate than riding mecha or ninja magic. Is that princess is on her right mind? Seriously. They may be more than happy to save the day. But certainly, their capability aren't qualified to do so.

See! He immediately meet the dragon from the starting screen. He can't do nothing except wet his trouser rapidly. Farewell, clueless imbecile!

 

Not really. After that big encounter, our hero falls safely to the ground and begin to slay these evil footmen. You can tell that they're demonic by the looks of their blood's color. Also one of them chasing hapless civilians on the background. Such dishonored action!

 

I may judged the hero quite harsh. According to the instruction, the samurai wannabe has lots of capability on combatfare. 1st button for overhead slash, 2nd button for lower slash, 3rd button to jump, and 4th button to transform. I explain the transform later. Pressing both 1st button and 2nd button for blocking forward. Pressing 1st button, 2nd button, and 3rd button at the same time for special attack that cost some of player's life. He's quite reliable then, huh?!

 

Suddenly the samurai weeaboo get sucked into another dimension. Stage boss time? Already?!

 

Not yet. It's just for scenery change at SNK's Evil Lord's whim. Now, the hero has to fight ninjas with semi-spherical 'tudung saji' as hat. Where's the hero, you say? He's in the middle of the screen. As famous long nose demon: Tengu. It's one of transformation that i haven't explained to you. The princess gave the heroes, 3 kind of transform magic to the hero: 1) armored wolf who has lowest height (in body shape) and shortest attack range  2) Ninja who's unarmed and bit faster than original form 3) Tengu who's slow but has decent attack damage and range. By default, Tengu is armed with iron pole. But if the hero has collected an orb of specific color (i don't remember whether it's blue or red), the Tengu will be armed with Hauchiwa fan (that can shoot smaller version of himself), like the one that Aya Shameimaru has.  

 

Here, our hero become ninja weeaboo, making the game from side-scrolling slash 'em up to be side-scrolling beat 'em up. Become ninja has significant drawback from the samurai wannabe's self: shorter attack range. So basically transforming into ninja while haven't pick an orb recently, will make hard for yourself. But it's temporary bliss for side-scrolling beat 'em up game fans like me. So there's that.

 

Spy_no03.wav. After few more pocket-dimension travel. Mickey Jagger (let's call him that from this point) meets the first boss in the back of dragon's neck. But Mickey can avoid his one-time-slash-at-long-time pretty easy because he's slow. I suspect the reason behind his slowness: his long baggy kimono robe. He has to walk carefully lest it get stepped on by himself then he fall over. Now, that's really blessing for me. Comedic blessing. Hah! 

 

After lots of slashes on his body. The boss turns into this war god. I didn't know any game that features boss aside from the final boss, has 2nd form. To dispatch him easily: wait for that little red head shoot those firecracker orbs and deflect them to the boss by slashing. Now this is really comedic blessing!

 

You're the idiot here, pal. You should fire that small head so you can be harder stage boss, you dolt.

 

Do you notice remember about what princess said "Taking history and time back from the evil lord" or sort like that? It means that the hero will be do some time traveling while fighting the evil army. 194X?! We're not gonna be in World War 2 setting, right?

Silly me. Of course, most video game has to include battle against Nazi army. So Mickey Jagger is fighting Hitler's army. Yes, including that bulky guy with axe. You don't happen to know that there's regiment of muscular axemen as part of blitzkrieg strategy? It's called 'Sturmaxttruppe. They're intimidating and making enemy's regular troops confused with their brawn and strength. Also their axe able to chop tank's cannon to disable it. It's well-known historical fact. Look it up!

 

Suddenly, Mickey got transported to this boat and battle this monster. That water dipper. I reckon this monster is incarnation of 'sea phantom/ghost' lore. Like what Minamitsu Murasa is. On the story: vengeful spirits of those who are drown in open sea, take form on hand and ask water dipper to their victim. When their demand's fulfilled. They proceed to sink the boat by filling it with water via that water dipper. Solution to this: give them bottomless or holed water dipper. This sub-boss is certainly lamer than that lore. It tries to wash Mickey. Of course, the water within the dipper is foul demonic and harmful to him also he hates to take bath too often in single day. But he can avoid that sudden wash and swiftly slash at the water dipper (that somehow considered to be feasible extension of its arm) in retaliation. Repeat that procedure. Soon it sink (again) into dark deep sea.

 

I forget to mention that you still have to fight the demonic medieval-Japanese army along Nazi army. Now that Mickey pick an orb, he (in ninja form) can throw shurikens at enemies. Now that's what legit ninja doing.

Again, Mickey got teleported into another pocket dimension. This time he's riding on horse fighting the evil samurais who are also riding on horse. 1st button become slash forward attack button while 2nd button become slash backward attack button. Pressing both button will make Mickey hides beside the horse to avoid attack. LOL.

 

If you're still doubting that Mickey fight the Nazi army instead of Italian, Japanese, or Allied ones. Check this plane's tail fin. It has this symbol that means "This aircraft are made for you by Red Skull's command. Hail Hydra!".

 

Fighting the big samurai can be fun as you can trigger special CQC against him like fighting against big mouth alien in Alien Storm. For instance: if Mickey performs 2nd attack while the samurai slash at him, this happen. Mickey keep pushing the samurai than give him swift side kick on his abdomen.

 

Erm. I'm Groot?!

 

But, i recognize you. You're Ran Yakumo! Dyeing your hair can't fool me, Ran. Soon i will chop you to pieces once i have taken care of your pet Yatsufusa here.

 

Goodness! Your real form looks horrid, Ran. I have to tell Chen about this. Luckily, Ran here are using his claw and long kick to fight me instead of danmaku. But she's still formidable boss stage thanks to her big (yet invisible) hitpoints and her capability to block attack.

After that Ran turns into 4 running little foxes. They're so adorable. :3   

 

Because Mickey has defeated 2 of his high-rank officer, the evil lord begin to lose his patience and his charisma, mostly his patience. So what's your plan? Or rather what time do you want to invade next?

Modern age?! Mickey is at home then?

 

Oh, right. The evil lord's minions. Got to get rid of them. The guys on the background seem unfazed with what happen in front of them: a samurai weeaboo slices lots of ninja while group of tourist run in fear. The one on the left just folding his arms, thinking it is just part of entertainment show. The arrogant idiot. 

 

Then Mickey is teleported to World of Noh Mask. Freak you,

Hata no Kokoro! No. I'm just kidding. You're my favorite character #9 in Touhou Project series.

 

I'm getting focused understand on orb business. Blue orb will grant the ninja with 'shuriken throwing' ability. While red orb will grant him with ability to conjure mystic sphere around him then launch magic orb outward him.

 

If Mickey gets the blue orb, his Tengu form can shoot smaller version of himself. While getting red orb, make the Tengu can blow his mouth so hard that will create powerful gust. Just like wolf in fairytale Superman. Medic_goodjob02.wav.

Yoshitsune Minamoto?! Oh no! You're my favorite character in Warriors Orochi 2. Just like first stage boss, he's not so tough to beat only little harder.

 

So you will change into 2nd form? What the hell! You committed seppuku.

Then a water dragon indeed appears before Mickey. Somehow the dragon can spews fire circle instead of *you know* water jet or anything harmful with water element. He's not so difficult because Mickey keep slashing his muzzle, stunlock him from doing further harm. Just mind that flying fishes that periodically launch themselves at the player.

Scout_domination19.wav. You should ask dragon pet of yours to devour Mickey much earlier, my evil chum.

 

With the evil mambo-jambo from the overlord, Mickey flies to his castle. The evil lord either: 1) Is an idiot that's full of anger so he can't think smartly; or 2) Still holds firmly Overlord Code of fairness. I go with #2. Let's be positive thinker for once in awhile, readers!

Yes. The 4th stage is last stage. How short of your invasion plan (also your temper), demonic lord! Whatever. Let's end this once and for all!  

 

Of course, there still be interdimension travel along the way on Overlord's castle venturing. Mickey fight red Japanese mermen and their boss, this armored blue Japanese merman. To make the battle more animal-y, i told Mickey to be the armored dog/wolf while fighting them. Once he gets red orb, the armored dog/wolf can punch the ground and create explosions. What a blast!

 

There's also yellow orb that can make Mickey conjures screen-clearing thunderstorm. Feels like Gilius Thunderhead in Golden Axe.

 

Here's another 1st boss clone. Unlike the previous ones who is no more stronger than the origin, this one can shoot sonic wave very quickly. Other than that, he's nothing too special.

 

Another horse-riding section, but this time there is demonic Taiko drummer as background. He keep drumming in 3 pose while Mickey slays his fellow demon. Does he wears Fundoshi (Japanese loincloth/thong)? Yes, he is.

 

There's short lift section, like very short. Where instead falling enemies greet you, there's these fiery skull-spirits appear out of thin air. That's nice touché feature, SNK.

 

Inside the castle, Mickey encounters this Nazi general. Strangely, he speak in Japanese instead of German. His weeaboo level is definitely higher than Mickey Jagger and Brad Michaels. Just wow!

The Nazi General is no much tougher than Yoshitsune. Now's your turn, overlord!

 

In quite shocking twist, the final boss is this big head devil instead of the overlord. By the way, he's not more difficult than Nazi General. But this devil turns them into these killer tentacle-doll and at this point they become very hard to deal with. 

After they're dispatched, the devil ditches them and start using either satellite that can shoot electric wall or small dragon (also act as his tongue) that shoot fire orb that explode into multiple ones airborne. Battling the devil become much easier than when he uses those tentacle-doll, block the falling fire orb (even though they come from above, they are blockable. Trust me!) and keep hacking his nose/mouth/chin (wherever you prefer) until he's exploding.

 

The castle (along with the 4-headed dragon) also explode into oblivion. While The weeaboo Rock artists are save. Such typical ending.

..., you Gaijin with gloomy career!". There's no meaningful reward from the mystic yet cheapskate princess. At least, Mickey Jagger and Brad Michaels can go to their home and sleep for few days with tons of Dakimakura of their favorite Anime/game character. Happy ending.

Onto the conclusion: Sengoku 2 is quite wonderful slash 'em up. Even though there's flawed mechanic like special attacks that i can seems to execute.....Wait a moment!

 

I misread the instruction! It's not pressing the three buttons. It's holding them for few seconds then release them! My very bad. Also it doesn't cost your health at all, just keep in mind that you'll be vulnerable when charging the special attack. Also, longer charging doesn't result in greater special attack.

 

Another special attack is executed by pressing forward and the three buttons (or holding them, i'm not sure). That way, the armored wolf/dog can performs jet-thruster dash or the ninja can perform acrobatic kick like in the screenshot.

Onto the conclusion [for real, this time]: Sengoku 2 is SNK's wonderful slash 'em up game. For starter, there is various way to deal with the enemies: you can use normal form, ninja form, armored dog/wolf form, or Tengu form. Though sticking with normal or abandon the transformation, doesn't matter much on game experience beside to makes the battle not monotone. That's what i always do. I'm more concern to the transform ability only recently. By the way, the transformation has duration of 60 (in-game) seconds and while you're transforming (or browsing for right form), you left defenseless. I think it will be better if you're transformed at the moment you get an orb. Besides the 3 orbs, there's no other pick-up. Not even health restoring item. Even though you get 2 lives per continue, Sengoku 2 still feels cruel. Luckily, it consist of 4 stages so it can be finished relatively short (less than or an hour). But it can be considered the bad thing. I mean, as if the overlord's influence or invasion plan only toward WW II era and Modern era. It can be extended to Prehistoric era, Renaissance era or Pirate era. Adding 1 or 2 more stages and ditching the interdimensional warps, will be great improvement to Sengoku 2 IMO. By the way, the warps are small alteration of the basic "walk from left to right" formula. What makes Sengoku 2 fast-paced or interesting: lesser enemies can be defeated by 1-3 attacks, lots of sub-bosses, neat auto-targeting, and there's the aforementioned special CQC against big samurais. Music are kind of weak especially on latter parts. On the other hand, the presentation and graphic are fantastic for 90's video game. Same goes to the cutscene. Sengoku 2 is certainly a big step-up than predecessor. In Sengoku you're unarmed (unless you pick the orb) so enemies can easily outrange you. Imagine how atrocious is that!

Overall, i can recommend you play Sengoku 2 until finish at least once. Here's few tips: 1) The orb pickup works much better if you're in other form 2) Blocking will makes you flinch for awhile but nullifies incoming damage and somehow makes the enemy open to attack 3) Enemies (especially on latter stages) often raise their block. So block first! 4) Jumping attack isn't mandatory in combatfare. And here's my advice: You can't become world-saving hero only because you really fancy Japanese games or Anime. Mind that!

Fighter & Attacker (Arcade)

Made to soar the sky with shrilling sounds (that make you wish you're deaf), and decimate enemies on both air and ground, that's military jet airplane. Today's review is about another vertical shooter game. It's Namco's "Fighter & Attacker" (1992). 

It's released at the same year with Air Combat (NA/Europe version) or you probably know it as Ace Combat (Japanese version). Both game features realistic military aircrafts but on different genre. Ace Combat is aircraft pilot simulator, while Fighter & Attacker is your average vertical shooter. Namco is quite experienced with some vertical shooter also it release Ace Combat. Sound promising, right? But it has a phoenix as mascot which reminds me of Fujiwara no Mokou, the character on Touhou Project series that i very dislike beside Yukari Yakumo. That one is just my personal thinking. So don't heed it, please!  

Well, we get lots of selection of the aircraft here. Usually, i won't hesitate to pick the stealth bomber, F-117A. Because it's my most favorite aircraft beside A-10 Thunderbolt. Because legends says that: It can't be detected by radar. Also i like its aerodynamic design on its head. But this time, i will give everycraft (hopefully) fair share of action. To make things easier, i start to pick the most top: F-15J. I didn't know that Japan has designed jet airplanes before.

There's no briefing about the enemies or their motivation. Thing's for sure is: they have destroyed oil pipeline facility here that cause sea pollution nearby. So you can tell that they're freaking evil. I will get them for this!

Unlike other generic vertical shooter where you can engage the enemies on both surface and air with standard weapon. Fighter & Attacker has 2 attack button. One to fire your air-to-air weapon and the another to fire your air-to-surface weapon. The range of air-to-surface weapon is indicated by the fixed crosshair in front of the plane. F-15J has bombs that excellent against these 2 tanks and 6-way bullets to clear the sky from small fries. Also there's P.O.W (asking for player's help) that can be pickup for scoring. By P.O.W, i mean surrendered enemy crews that soon to be our P.O.W. I hope i can torture them by tickling their feet or nose with feather duster. I'm gonna so enjoy doing that.

Hey, ADATS my favorite anti-air tank! My adoration towards it, rewards me with damage on my armor. Yes, there's no one-hit kill here. You get 3 armor and it will be depleted by 1 whenever you get hit. But there's neither armor replenishment item nor live reserve. So Fighter & Attacker feels not much different than its peer that has one-hit kill system with lives.  

Sometimes bombing the background will uncovers secret hostage that you can save for scoring. Choosing between the executive staff hostages (that are probably crucial on our mission) or P.O.W (that i can torture later) is tough decision.

Damn you, Ooi! I will kill you for this.

Pre-warning about upcoming Boss is confirmed. But, Namco does it half-heartily. I mean it's just blinking red-white words. No further visual effect. Lame

Demoman_specialcompleted11.wav. Did i forget to mention about another button to unleash screen-clearing bomb? No. There's no such thing. This bomb occurs whenever the player use a continue. "What about the boss stage?". It's just Akagi, i mean large carrier that has turrets and destroyable spawning-hatch. Except its main bridge, all of its part can only be damaged with air-to-surface arsenal.

Sniper_negativevocalization03.wav. No torture object P.O.W secured in this stage.

Next stage takes place entirely in the sky. So the air-to-surface firing button become 2nd air-to-air firing button. It's mundane feature, in my opinion. Unless you think it's nice to be able to shoot the weapon at (probably) twice rate.   

"Help!" he said. I want to shoot him instead. Yes, i violate Geneva Covenant. Of course, my bullets pass through him harmlessly. So i capture him instead.

I change the aircraft, again. My initial plan was: whenever i use continue i choose the next plane by pressing directional button down hoping to choose the below of the first ones and so forth. But it didn't go well. Because, it seems Namco puts the order of the plane selection different than the one in starting screen. So i previously take F/A-18E that shoots 4-way bullets. Fortunately, now i control YF-23A that shoots 6-way bullets the same with F-15J. Oh, yeah. The stage boss is this big plane that shoots 5-way bullet pattern that alternate its aim by clockwise. Nothing too special.  

This time i have secured 3 P.O.Ws. Prepare for intense tickling, bastards! (:

Superb! I'm piloting F-117A, The Legendary Bomber. You'll meet Ooi soon, Kitakami. In the afterlife!

But that great moment didn't last for long. I switch to Harrier GR. 5. But it's okay. I quite fancy Harrier for its VTOL capability. Ah, shoot! If i still keep piloting F-117A until here. I can recreate 'Urban Strike' cover.

Like this. Though i'm not sure what aircraft is this. It have the same shape with F-117A but it has top propeller like helicopter. Futuristic chopper, perhaps?!  

This time, the stage boss is this harmless giant airplane that about to take off. It doesn't have any weaponry because it's presumably cargo plane. Sometimes it dispatches tanks to ward off the player. So, it's pretty much harmless to you. Until the camera pan forward so you are forced to fly besides it otherwise you get rammed by its huge body and wings.

Although it's moderately damaged, it manage to escape in front of me. Maybe A-10 Thunderbolt and MRCA IDS didn't fit to wreck this giant. Disappointing.

Next stage is opportunity for JA-37 the only Sweden aircraft in this game. I think this is the time for me to tell you about the differences on each aircraft. Besides flying speed and sprites, the significant differences are obviously the arsenal. On the aircraft selection, Namco shows you the type of the aircrafts by air-to-air weapon: 1) 6-way bullets 2) 4-way bullets with wide pattern (5-way) 3) 4-way bullets with focused pattern (straight) 4) 4-way bullets with side bullets that travel wider (Semi-Auto) 5) 2 bullets straight forward (Auto) 6) 1-2 bullets straight forward (Full-Auto). Also there's quite handful of variety on air-to-surface weapon: 1) Gatling gun that's the weakest weapon but it has maximum range instead of fixed crosshair 2) Air-to-surface missile, Maverick that deals decent damage, homing to targets, and has the longest targeting spot but can't targets enemy at near the plane and slowest attack rate 3) Bombs that's the strongest weapon but can only be dropped at fixed crosshair though they have splash/explosion area on impact. The combination of sprite, speed, and arsenal is what makes every aircraft feels quite different with each other. 

This stage boss is this stronghold with horde of tank reinforcement and turrets. It looks tough but it's obliterated with only 1 use-a-continue bomb. Engineer_autocappedintelligence01.wav

Oh, yawn! Another desert stage. This could be worse Desert Strike than EA's.

At least the boss stage is quite interesting: it's giant military base that's guarded by turrets and...Metal Gears! Although they can only spew bullet barrages, they can take vast amounts of damage before exploding. Pretty much what i expect from famous bipedal nuclear-warhead-launching robot. Notice that in the previous screenshot, the battle is at noon (judging from the color of lighting). When i fly closer to the end of the stage, the atmosphere gradually changes to evening like this. Nice visual feature there, Namco.    

A-10 Thunderbolt only equipped with Gatling gun to deal with surface enemies, which is quite unreliable air-to-surface weapon. Consider yourself lucky, Sendai. -_-

The stage boss is Ise. As she it is still in docking. The battle is over in a flash (of screen-clearing bomb).

Next stage takes place in snowy mountain. I meet the Metal Gears again. Hello again, there. Here i detect the combat handicap. On every generic vertical shooter, i get easily overwhelmed with enemy's barrage because 1) Enemies clearly outnumber me 2) Many of them have capability of shooting omni-directionally, while i can only shoot roughly in front of me. It goes quite the same in Fighter & Attacker's case, especially there's neither power-up to upgrade aircraft's arsenal nor normal screen-clearing bomb. If that problem come from air enemies, i can mitigate it by choosing aircraft that has 6-way shooting. If that problem come from surface enemies, tough luck, man! Because every air-to-surface arsenal doesn't have wide pattern, meaning only targets in front of the aircraft. In this stage there's a lot of bombardment from ground cannon, so it's "Welcome to the credit-feeding section, pal!"

The boss stage: this red chopper that soon accompanied by 2 smaller choppers. It's pretty nice until they fly deeper into this base where many turrets are lock-on my plane. The insolent gits.

Next stage is another up-in-the-sky stage. Here we witness the wretched way to hinder our hero. They form maze of large plane (that can take huge damage) and some of them will shoot at the player. What a despicable strategy. -_-#

Beyond that plane maze is this another big plane that serves as stage boss. It has 2 bodyguards too like the previous boss. Albeit its personal cohorts only show their tail, they still provide fire support, mind you. Presumably this entire screen isn't big enough for 3 of them.

Well here goes the last boss. I forgot that common vertical shooter only last 8 stages. With the final boss explodes merrily, the game evaluates player's performance on boss stage elimination. Yes, boss stage in Fighter & Attacker can escape or get flied through. I already mention before about the giant plane that escape because i didn't damage it enough, that's boss stage 3. While boss stage 5 is the base that guarded by metal gears. I forget to mention that meeting them is quite bliss but they really know how to hinder me from destroying the target. I got siege heavily back there, please understand.  

You're velcome! Fighter & Bomber & Support & Attacker is definitely big step up  from Namco's classic vertical shooter: Xevious, what with more variety in enemies, arsenals, aircraft, and better graphic. The good aspect stops there. The game is mostly boring because it really lacks on advanced feature such as: pick-ups. I quite understand that F&A features lots of aircraft to choose that adding arsenal power-up seems game-breaking or make the selection feels indistinctive. But at least, Namco could tries to put other kind of pick-ups like: sub-standard weapons (rocket or missile), automatic screen-clearing bomb, armor repair, temporary invincibility. Instead of just P.O.Ws and hostages all over again. It seems Namco stops its own fun imagination on making this game because it more focuses developing Ace Combat. Which is quite shame. If it put more pick-ups like i mentioned before, F&A will have high recommendation from me. At least the musics are great. They have up-beat funky sense, which are certainly unique for average vertical shooter. Also some of the boss stage aren't big damage soaker and the graphics are neat.

My suggestion: play this for few stages or finish it once. Also play it by 2 players, so one player has 'crowd control' role (like: 6-way shooters) and the other is focused damager (like: auto shooters). That should amplify the fun you get playing F&A. Or each of you can choose the favorite aircraft. Anything but don't play it alone (like me). It get boring pretty fast but also you can change your aircraft pretty fast too. Oh, almost forgot! If you're curious with battling metal gears using military aircraft. You can experience it here.