Aldynes is excellent

[SamIAm]

I've been playing it for a few of hours a day since I got my Supergrafx last week. At first, it was a love-hate thing, especially since I felt like maybe the only reason why I was giving it so much of a chance was for a hipster-playing-obscure-game factor. Now that I'm getting close to a 1CC, though, I think I've got a good handle on what it is that makes Aldynes so good. Here's my full take on it.

Let's talk about what kind of game it is. Aldynes is R-Type style shooting, and there's no beating around the bush - it's downright cruel with its difficulty. I bet that as many people give up on it out of resignation as anything else. A Japanese review I read about it aptly pointed out that if you can't enjoy strong feelings of irritation as part of your overall gaming experience, you really shouldn't bother with Aldynes. The enemies aren't designed to get in your way; they're designed to kill you. All of them are. Then it's back to a restart point without a single powerup.

I've felt like giving up more than once myself, but I've recently come to realize something important: the game is extremely fair. Once you've truly cracked a pattern, you're going to make it through as long as you can stay on top of it. After accepting this, I persevered until I learned the first four stages to the point that I (usually) don't die in them anymore. And that's when I got it. Aldynes isn't just hard-but-fair - it's actually wonderfully varied and stimulating, and the pacing is just right.

When you're not dying every 30 seconds, you're really looking forward to what's right around the corner. There are plenty of sub-sections in each stage to keep things interesting, but there's more to it than that. Each stage as a whole requires you to approach it in its own way. Without breaking down each one of them, I'll just say that you'll need to move your focus from working around the environments to working with your ship itself, then on to disciplined aggression and restraint, and eventually to precise rhythm and ship placement. The difficulty is always high, but the design of each facet is solid, and the progression through them is very sensible.

I noticed something that I think is pretty funny. Every time I've started learning a new stage, I've thought to myself "OK, this is it. The last one wasn't so bad, but here's where the game gets tough." I'd die like crazy, but then I'd learn it, and I'd say, "Actually, that was an easy one. It's this NEXT stage that's tough." This has gone on for 6 stages now. There are only 7 in the whole game.

Anyway, to wrap things up, the graphics and music are cool all around. The inorganic greens mixed with lots of black leave an impression on me. The songs were composed by the same guy who did Soldier Blade, and the quality level is the similar if not the same. I could listen to stages one and four all day.

Of course the control, the hit area, the weapon system and all that is good (par for the course, really). That they gave you unlimited continues to practice with is a nice bonus.

If you can enjoy old-school horizontal R-Type style shooters at all, even just a little, I really recommend you give Aldynes a proper shot. If you aren't having fun by stage 4, then fair enough. But if you're like me, you'll be hooked.

PS: There is a safe spot to kill the stage 2 boss. You don't have to touch the d-pad if you don't want to. You do have to have certain weapons, though.

[shubibiman]

Aldynes is one of the best shooters of all time. As it was released on a system like the Supergrafx, it didn't get the recognition it deserved.

[kamiboy]

Putting my game design hat on I have recently reached a conclusion as to why I generally dislike punishing Arcade Shooters when enjoying punishing action games like Castlevania, Ghouls 'N Ghosts, Donkey Kong Country, Demon's/Dark Souls etc. which feature a very similar design philosophy.

The design philosophy of play it, again, again and again until you've memorized every part of the level ahead so that you can run through it without making a single mistake.

The issue boils down to the whole level layout memorization. I've discovered that while I can easily memorize the level layout and enemy patters for side scrolling platformers I cannot do the same for arcade shooters.

As you may well imagine the differences in the ways each game type works changes the mental markers that your brain latches onto in order to memorize what happens or what to look out for at an exact point in a level.

Since platformers have you slowly navigating a complex landscape your brain has a easier time committing it to memory. The human mind has facilities for memorizing landscapes for the purpose of navigation.

Arcade shooters one the other hand have fast scrolling mostly repeated backgrounds monotonically going in one direction. So you have to try and memorize enemy spawning patters and other standout details which I find is not at all intuitive to how my navigation memory works.

So it takes a lot, lot, lot more tries before I can get a good grasp of a Arcade Shooting level.

What I hate most then is those that do not offer unlimited continues to try and get it right.

I can get by trying to pass level 4 after 30 tries, but lord, if you give me only 5 tries then it is back to the start of the game and 20 minutes before you can have another go at it then forget it.

I will have already forgot all the finer details by the time I make it back to that point. I honestly cannot fathom how people put up with it.

[SamIAm]

I think you're right about the brain's ability to memorize platformers vs shooters. Here's a twist for you: how easy do you find

Aldynes having unlimited continues is one of it's better design choices. I don't want a game to be too easy, but I don't want it to get in the way of my learning of it, either.

Aldynes is one of the best shooters of all time. As it was released on a system like the Supergrafx, it didn't get the recognition it deserved.

I'm honestly enjoying this more than I ever enjoyed R-Type, or anything from Irem for that matter.

[kamiboy]

That level is hard to memorize, but the way it is designed does not necessitate it. On every platform you only have two things to worry about, the jump to the next platform, which you can see in front of you, so it is a matter of skill, and the mole pipping out once you are there which it does so in a predictable pattern.

Speaking of R-type, now there is an old wound I do not want to go picking in.

[Arkhan]

Its a bonerfied shooter hit!

[soop]

I think you're right about the brain's ability to memorize platformers vs shooters. Here's a twist for you: how easy do you find this stage?

Aldynes having unlimited continues is one of it's better design choices. I don't want a game to be too easy, but I don't want it to get in the way of my learning of it, either.

Aldynes is one of the best shooters of all time. As it was released on a system like the Supergrafx, it didn't get the recognition it deserved.

I'm honestly enjoying this more than I ever enjoyed R-Type, or anything from Irem for that matter.

Well, I'm currently playing through Yoshi's Island on my Gameboy Micro, and While some of the later levels require memorisation, the selection between twitch reflexes, memorisation and puzzles is frankly incredible.  I have to say, it's probably one of the best games ever made.

I can deal with memorisation sometimes, like Mega Man games, but honestly, why should I bother?  I don't think it's necessarily a very good mechanic.

Plus, I don't think GnG is really that much about memorisation.

[kamiboy]

I have to disagree on GnG. That series is built around memorization by failure. You cannot just reflex your way out of trouble. Knowing what to do and what not to do at each section is key to survival and obtained through practice memorization. Especially since you cannot control Arthur in the air and he has a pretty wide jump curve. Recklessly leaping out of the way will get you out of the frying pan and into the fire.

In fact that whole pattern of game design was a staple of Arcade games and has all but gone away since they phased out of importance. Personally I find it to be frustrating but also addictive and satisfying at the same time. Really rare to find a modern game offering such an experience.

[Arkhan]

GnG is like Dragons Lair.

It f*ckin ate a lot of quarters, and charmed the living f*ck out of everyone that played it.

[soop]

I have to disagree on GnG. That series is built around memorization by failure. You cannot just reflex your way out of trouble. Knowing what to do and what not to do at each section is key to survival and obtained through practice memorization. Especially since you cannot control Arthur in the air and he has a pretty wide jump curve. Recklessly leaping out of the way will get you out of the frying pan and into the fire.

You can - a lot of the time you need to jump forward, then quickly face backwards to kill something behind you.

Add to the fact that enemies constantly spawn randomly (but by area) and it's far more twitch than memorisation.  Only exception is the bigger enemies and bosses.  And maybe some terrain.

[kamiboy]

I played through GnG on the Genesis about a year back after not having touched it for over a decade. I never did count the number of deaths but I am certain it was to be counted in the hundreds instead of tens.

A few years before that I tried my hand at the PlayStation port of R-Type which netted me more deaths and ended up with me giving up on it, which is a rare occurrence for me.

Playing those makes me think, imagine the people who played through these on Arcade machines, constantly feeding them tokens. You could easily burn through the price of a new console for the amount of tokens it would take to beat one devilish classic.

Where did these kids find the money? Thank god for console ports and unlimited continues is all I say.

[soop]

I played through GnG on the Genesis about a year back after not having touched it for over a decade. I never did count the number of deaths but I am certain it was to be counted in the hundreds instead of tens.

A few years before that I tried my hand at the PlayStation port of R-Type which netted me more deaths and ended up with me giving up on it, which is a rare occurrence for me.

Playing those makes me think, imagine the people who played through these on Arcade machines, constantly feeding them tokens. You could easily burn through the price of a new console for the amount of tokens it would take to beat one devilish classic.

Where did these kids find the money? Thank god for console ports and unlimited continues is all I say.

Someone posted up an article, (I think it was here) about the ethos of Japanese Arcade-going which seems to be that you only play one credit at a time, and see how far you can get with that credit.  I don't think it's just ettiquette if there's a queue, I think it's actually a belief that if you're not good enough to get past that point without dying, you should start again and figure out what you're doing wrong. Sounds kind of tortuous to me.

[spenoza]

Someone posted up an article, (I think it was here) about the ethos of Japanese Arcade-going which seems to be that you only play one credit at a time, and see how far you can get with that credit.  I don't think it's just ettiquette if there's a queue, I think it's actually a belief that if you're not good enough to get past that point without dying, you should start again and figure out what you're doing wrong. Sounds kind of tortuous to me.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the whole trend of beating an arcade game via quarters by the handfuls is a US thing. I did that a couple times. It was pricey.

[SamIAm]

Arcade games are basically meant to be 1CC'd. Aside from being a holdover from a simpler time, continues are for practice. Most games don't even let you record your score if you continue, and sometimes you can't fight the last boss or see the ending that way either.

I can certainly say that I've seen people in Japan continue, either because they seem to want to practice or because they want to see the whole game (which is often part of practicing anyway). People spend most of their time trying to beat their own personal high-scores, though, and it follows that they'll play without continuing to do so.

The "practice" mindset and the "going for a high-score/1CC" mindset are pretty different. When you screw up a score/1CC run and die, you usually want to cool off for a moment, then try again. I rarely feel like turning a real attempt into an experimental practice run even after I die, unless I did so poorly leading up to my death that I wasn't feeling much involved anyway.

Not to mention, if you always continue well beyond where you're able to play on only one credit, you'll lose focus on the specific area you should be learning first and foremost.

[kamiboy]

I was raised on consoles so the 1CC concept never held any appeal for me. I play to see the ending. If I make it that far I get closure and move on to another game.

I'd prolly die of a burst vein if I every try to actually 1CC an arcade game like GnG or R-Type.