Beating it weakly: Contra DS

(tags game, Dual Screen, Contra)

Before I move on to Bangai-O Spirits, which I already bought and played for about 30 minutes, I just wanna say I beat the Contra DS on Normal. I said, to myself, beat Contra today then you can go out to buy Bangai-O tomorrow. Unfortunately it was after a couple of continues. Never leave home without Homing. And my alternate gun was Homing, of course. I think the best score I ever got was 260_000 which was on the last stage. If I 1CC'd the game obviously it would be more.

And to tell you the truth, I beat the game on Easy a couple of days ago, which unlocked the Challenge Mode. The latter is 40 stages of incremental pain and punishment. Currently I can only unlock 23 of them. I think I spent about 30 minutes on the last couple, o_O. If I could get them all I bet Hard difficulty would be a piece of cake. Every 4 stages completed gives me a bonus. The last one I got was one of the women characters, big woop. :-/ There's no gameplay difference in control though, except that her busom is animated. Wut. Are we 99 years old now?

Contra DS was fun. Maybe I'll try Hard now, right after Bangai-O. Ha.

Bile is rising: Contra Dual Spirits

(tags game, Dual Screen, Contra)

Whoa, I made it to level 9 on one credit. Always remember to bring yer Homing. Unfortunately I don't know this latest level so I died at the part where the bile was rising. Um. I sunk about four hours on it today, so that's enough.

There was a funny part where I was being chased by all sorts of Alien-like creatures and I just kept on running. Usually my gaming is poke and prod, instead of gungho. Aiiieeee! I escaped the one-hit death by jumping to the flesh vine.

And still those slimy fish are ugly and stupid and I fart in their general direction. >:-[

Acutally I forgot to mention that the game froze on me when I was in the ocean level. It's the part where the boat comes around and the rocketmen taunt you with their missiles. I jumped from my ski and pressed the grappling hook button, which did the animation, but after that, I couldn't proceed. I waited five minutes but nothing happened. I then exited the game through the menu. I was able to resume the level but my high score stopped there. But that's alright because my high score now is a multiple of that. :-)

I keep checking the bonus content menu for something new but nothing's unlocked. Argh.

Slimy fish: Contra Dual Spirits

(tags game, Dual Screen, Contra)

Continuing on with my Contra Dual Spirits progress, it seems that Normal really is a normal difficulty. I am able to get to level 7 now on a credit. Hm. Except that I hate that "mode-7 graphics" part and the slimy fish. Stupid unpredictable slimy alien fish.

I better keep working on this. Echochrome will be out this Friday. Euhyah!

Choose your weapon: Contra Dual Spirits

(tags game, Dual Screen, Contra)

:) No I haven't beaten Contra Dual Spirits, but it feels pretty good to get to level 4 on one credit. Then I get owned by "mode-7 graphics". Ha haha.

I'm not a Contra follower, so I probably missed whatever innovative graphics and gameplay was stuffed into the series in the 1990s and 2000s. This DS version feels like a SNES era game. At least there's no dumb 3 bullets per screen limitation. I am though playing with the creeping scrolling edge of death, hitting enemies just barely off the screen. That's a nostalgic gimmick.

I am approaching this game as a shmup, but my "ship" just doesn't move the way I like. Crouching is too slow. Jumping is nerve-wracking, uncontrollable. But hit the dirt, I've got Homing. :-]

Okay, back to the level memorization.

Gritty portable action: Contra DS

(tags Dual Screen, Contra, action, game)

I can't recall what blog I read that makes Contra Dual Spirits (魂斗羅 Dual Spirits) Easy mode out to be the approachable difficulty level for normal DS gamers. Maybe it was DS Fanboy. Paraphrasing: "Passing the first stage on Easy is something to boast about."

Well I passed it on Normal, where is my fricken' "Godlike"? :-)

Seriously though this game is pretty hard, but I'm not yet frustrated with it. I was surprised that I could level up the weapons. The controls require more dexterity than my current squeeze, the menu-fighter. Alas, if I want to get the hidden characters its not going to be a cakewalk, huh.

I used my old DS because it's too heavy to use as a DS TV One-Seg. It feels "phat". The Select and Start buttons are in the "wrong" places, sheesh! And I warmed up with Mario Kart DS. I haven't even unlocked all of the courses on it. I haven't done the same with the GC version, either. I feel guilty.

This makes me feel good about DS gaming again, so I think this month's Bangai-O Spirits is a GO.

MOAR WANTZ: hardware version

(tags game, hardware, GameCube, Xbox 360, Dual Screen, television, science fiction, Contra)

Sorry for the title, but I just gotta get rid of my continuing irrational consumerist bent. At least for tonight.

I am searching for that GameBoy Player for the GC, but for the GC and DVD-playing combo unit Panasonic Q. I could level up my FFTA on the GameCube! But I keep losing the bidding on the auctions. I suppose I won't win unless I bid 1_0500 yen or more. Grr.

And yes, those Xbox 360 arcade sticks by Hori are still untouchable. The domestic Dead or Alive 4 or Virtua Fighter-themed Hori Fighting Stick EX2s seem to averaging 1_3000 yen at the bidding close. One recent auction was for the US version of the stick, and gone with the quickness for 1_0500 yen, whoa. The picture on the auction showed a Play Asia shipping box. Hm, duh, check there. I see it for a no-hassle 8250 yen, with free shipping to (within?) Japan. :-/ But no DoA polygon chick to soothe my fancy, har har.

I was contemplating getting one or two more Nintendo DS TV One-Seg adapters directly. I am using it at my rack daily, not even turning it off. I wonder if the screen will burn in? Since I have a couple of DS and DS Lites laying around, I should emulate the losers in the Max Headroom TV series. Whoa, nostalgia.

Episode 1 "Blipverts": Investigative TV news reporter Edison Carter uncovers the disturbing secret of a new TV technology called "Blipverts,” high-intensity commercials with the ability to overload people's neural network causing them to explode.

Imagine Japanese Blipverts. >:-]

Damn I wanna watch this series again. Reading the Predictions sections on the Wikipedia page makes me think it parallels the author Jules Verne's often accurate technological predictions.

I can't think of any other (specific) hardware that I want, save for the Asus EeePC, so this blog post is finished. Time to get whipped by Contra Dual Spirits (魂斗羅 Dual Spirits). I guess I'm looking forward to the hidden characters, fap fap.