Back again for our regular Sunday roundup of quick-fire reviews and impressions of everything under the spotlight at Retro Arcadia this week, old and new and a bit of both. Wasn’t sure I’d be playing much at all after the high winds we had here on the Bedfordshire-Cambridgeshire border on Monday though – tree down onto the power lines outside our house, power off to five-hundred homes, road closed… Credit to the police and UK Power Networks for being on the case within minutes though, and I was soon back to playing stupid sexy Hollow Knight: Silksong! Don’t worry though – as I spent almost all of this whole feature talking about it last week, I won’t say any more except it’s still brilliant but I had to take a break, and as you’ll see shortly, I couldn’t have found a better way of doing so…

When the PlayStation 3 was first around, by necessity I always had to sell the games I was done with to be able to buy new ones, which I’ve been trying to buy back again over the past couple of years, as and when the urge takes me. I’m generally still well in profit on them too, but there are a couple of games that selling has retrospectively bothered me – mainly because they’re worth a bit now – and even though I wasn’t that fussed about them at the time, I just want them again now out of principle! A prime example is Lollipop Chainsaw, Suda51 and James Gunn’s politically incorrect hack ‘n slasher from 2012 about a zombie apocalypse, a zombie-hunting cheerleader, and her decapitated (so he’s not a zombie) boyfriend, whose head she hangs from her tiny miniskirt… Speaking of which, I know there was a recent remaster but I wanted this thing as nature intended, trophies for looking up said miniskirt and all, not some snowflake reimagining, which I assume it is! Anyway, as well as finally getting it for a kind of reasonable price, I also had less pervy unfinished business here because I not only never saw the credits first time around, but got so frustrated that I binned it off less than halfway through. I’m not even sure why now either, although mindlessly fun zombie massacring aside, it’s hardly aged well, and I’m not just talking sub-American Pie smutty one-liners! It’s very PS3 in every respect, from the formulaic combat mechanics to the QTEs to that almost clinical cel-shaded sheen to everything, including the protagonist’s very prominent cleavage and backside! It’s also just fine though, with loads of imagination and ludicrous spectacle, and a cool soundtrack to boot, so also being a product of my time, I’m over the moon to have been reunited with it!

I’ve never really got into Forgotten Worlds, Capcom’s surreal horizontally scrolling shoot ‘em up that was launched as a showcase for its CP System arcade hardware back in 1988. In many respects, it was a real showcase too, with its fantastical sci-fi environments hosting what’s often a jaw-dropping amount of chaos, carnage and general “stuff” everywhere you look, as well as offering a separate 360-degree directional controller for your crazy-upgradable weapons, which I think was probably unique to the genre at the time… And is precisely why I haven’t clicked with it since! I’m sure it works great on the original cabinet but from the time I first got my hands on it on PSP (I think), and probably a dozen more places since, any other control scheme plays like crap to me! By the way, I did just dig out a copy of the Capcom Classics Collection on PlayStation 2 because I suddenly thought maybe that used the right analog stick for this, but no, it’s bizarrely the square and circle buttons to rotate left and right, and not even shoulder buttons, which is how the PSP and, indeed, modern consoles are still doing it, and actually where I kind of have clicked with it this week! I was absently-mindedly jumping between the games included on my Capcom-edition Evercade EXP handheld the other day and fired it up, and while it by no means felt good, the spectacle sucked me in and I persevered, and eventually spinning my gun in all directions on the shoulder buttons felt okay, so I switched to Capcom Arcade Stadium on Switch for the big TV experience, and eventually the same on there too. And now I’ve had a really good time with it! You’re a jet-packing soldier (or two) in some oddball post-apocalyptic future, trying to take down an evil god and his minions who’ve turned up to spoil the party, but it’s still a hell of a party that gets frantic fast as a wild array of enemies and all kinds of environmental dangers appear from all directions, eventually followed by wild and intense boss fights. Great soundtrack too, tailored to the level designs but always adding an extra layer of energy, as if it was needed! I’m not sure the compromised controls on any console version will ever get you that deep into the game but give them a chance and – as I’ve finally worked out – there’s plenty of fun to be had until then!

Not quite on the insane level of fun as Shinobi: Art of Vengeance though! I’ve been sitting on the demo of this on both Xbox and Switch for weeks, but deciding I needed a break from Hollow Knight, I fired it up and it instantly did exactly what most demos can only dream of – I’d bought the full game before I’d even seen the end of the first level! By the way, that was on Xbox; I did have a quick go on the (original) Switch before I pulled the trigger but side-by-side you could see the cracks. Anyway, this is Sega’s brand-new revival of its iconic hack-and-slasher, developed by Lizardcube, the folks behind the brilliant Streets of Rage 4, which, if you’ve played that, soon becomes apparent the second you lay eyes on the similarly stunning hand-drawn visuals and get your hands around the super-fluid and effortlessly-ninja controls, reflected in some of the most outrageous character animation, over-the-top effects and uninhibited flair you’ve ever seen! It’s authentically Shinobi too, combining familiar lightning-fast, 2D side-scrolling platforming (with a bit of puzzling), swordplay, shuriken throwing and mystical special powers with exploration and skill trees that simply demand revisiting where you’ve already been but probably haven’t… Not that you need any excuse because everything about this game is a joy! You play as the legendary ninja master Joe Musashi, who’s unfortunately found his village burned to the ground and his clan turned to stone, so is out to avenge them in a world under siege by the dastardly ENE Corporation, across over a dozen strikingly vibrant and diverse stages filled with all sorts of hoodlums, high-tech military hardware, supernatural beings, martial arts types, big scary bosses and lots of very sharp objects to avoid! Absolutely packed with secrets, things to collect and side-challenges too, as well as amulets to acquire for new abilities, and tools to overcome obstacles and uncover new paths. The soundtrack is something else too, fusing traditional Japanese instruments with synth rock and electronica, all perfectly set against wherever you find yourself, whether eerie ruined village, gritty neon cityscape or scorching desert, and like the rest of the sound design, just oozes Shinobi, modern sheen or not. Actually, that goes for everything else too, and it all adds up to just the most fun I’ve had with anything for ages!

As I’m avoiding any more Hollow Knight talk for the benefit of everyone’s sanity (especially my own), that’s all I’ve got for you this week! In case you missed it last Wednesday though, do check out my new deep-dive into the undisputed masterpiece that is Another World on the Commodore Amiga… Even if it did take me a while to stop disputing it, but you can also read all about that in there too! Otherwise, I’m going to wish you a very good week ahead, and I’ll be back next Sunday for more of the same. Hopefully see you then! 

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