[PSP] Goku Makaimura

[icycalm]

And to balance the torrent of negativity that I will soon be unleashing on the frontpage (against StarCraft and Counter-Strike, to start with, among others), I'd like to say a few good things about this awesome game. Ideally I would have loved to review it, but that's not going to be happening until I either get the clear (still a few weeks away at best), or I give up momentarily and move on to another game, at which point, if I have got far enough, I might consider writing a review.

Goku Makaimura is, first of all, by far the best game on the PSP. I say this having played a shitload of them, and watched videos of all the rest that seem to matter. It's like, I wouldn't even know which one to place second -- that's how far from everything else on the system this game is -- and the PSP has several dozen solid good games.

With that out of the way, I'll also add that for a while I had it on my Videogame Art list, then removed it, then added it again, and recently removed it once more. No idea where this will lead and what my final verdict will be, but right now I'd give the game a solid five stars and leave it at that.

Another note: the best version of the game to have is the Japan-only Kai, because it includes both Kai and the original game on the disc -- and the original is superior. The best mode, on the other hand, is the original's Arcade mode (called "Extreme" or something silly like that in the English versions). Kai is essentially a modified version of the original's Arcade mode, which is superior in one or perhaps two respects but inferior in MANY, MANY others, which is why, overall, I still prefer the Arcade mode. Not that I've played more than a couple of credits of Kai so far, but what I have played was extremely disappointing (stages have been nerfed to be much easier, mid-way checkpoints have been reintroduced, etc.)

So that's it for now. The review will come eventually, but until then you have my view on the game, that it is on the one hand the best PSP game by far, and on the other, and more importantly, probably the best 2D action game to be released in the past 10 or so years (if we count out shooters and fighters), with the only competition I can see being Hard Corps: Uprising, which I haven't quite looked into yet, hence why I won't be saying more on that score for quite some time.

[icycalm]

Played about an hour yesterday, after several weeks of not touching the game, and I didn't even get past the first stage lol. I love this game. And I had to stop playing because my fingers got cramped. Used to be able to play 2-3 hours straight, but now I'll have to train myself up to that again. Will be posting comments in lieu of a review soon.

[icycalm]

Finally got to the third stage. It's a goddamn work of art. Every single screen of the entire game up to that point (well, with a SINGLE exception) is a goddamn masterpiece. I've got so much to say I don't know where to start. When I break the fourth stage I am going to have to celebrate in some way. One thing I've determined though is that the Makaimura series is the best 2D action series ever. Well, if you don't count shooters and fighters. So, the best 2D side-view action series ever. I mean, The Super Shinobi is on the same level, but the Shinobi series as a whole has some mediocre games too, and quite a few turds, whereas the WORST Makaimura game is still GREAT. It's not just that the series' fundamentals are awesome, it's that every single goddamn game in the series is at the very least great. Not even merely "good".

I wonder if we'll ever get another episode. It's been six years already!

Oh well, back to trying to break the fourth stage.

[icycalm]

I am still stuck about a quarter or one-third of the way into the third stage. There's basically rain, the wind from the first stage of Dai, tornadoes and lightning bolts, a fire-spewing monster that bursts up from the ground, a Temple of Doom-style giant boulder, earthquakes and ground-splitting, and infinitely respawning enemies with blocking and weird attack patterns, ALL WITHIN THE SPACE OF A SCREEN AND A HALF for christsake. That must be the most action-packed screen-and-a-half in the history of 2D action gaming. I've passed it once, only to die a few pixels later by some sophomoric mistake.

And then I load up Prinny, lol, which has a ratio of about one enemy every three screens or so. Talk about degeneration lol.

[icycalm]

Speaking of that game--anyone that is on the lookout for a serious challenge, I'd suggest playing that game. As crazy as it sounds, it makes the older Makaimura/GnG games look like child's play. I can complete Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and the arcade Ghosts 'n Goblins without much trouble, but the PSP Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins destroys me. I've still yet to complete it. :shock:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 62#p850962

Though I wouldn't go as far as calling the previous games child's play compared to this, it has been my sentiment too so far that this one is at least somewhat harder than Dai, which is the hardest of the three previous games. Note that I am talking about first loops -- second loops I don't play so I don't know about those (or even if Goku actually has one -- and I'd prefer not to know until I've cleared it).

Note also, if you end up reading that thread, that a lot of the stuff posted in it is bullshit. Most of these people creditfeed on top of being aspies, hence their opinions on difficulty issues (or anything else for that matter) are largely bull. The dude I quoted also seems a bit autistic ("anyone that is", "I've still yet to", etc.), but he says he doesn't creditfeed and he's cleared all the others, so his opinion holds a little more water.