Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon Boss Guide

Introduction:

This is a boss guide for one of my new favorite games: Castlevania…er.. I mean Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon. It brings back the feel of my favorite kind of Castlevania game, the classic. Check out the full review of the game.

Boss 1: Engine Dude (Glutton Train)

Jump on steps/pile of coal while he is pulling it and get close to the edge of the top “step”. Hit 4 times, back up, hit 4 more times, jump off before he pulls you in.

He will then release flames into the sky. Keep your eyes at the top of the screen and carefully dodge flames from sky.

He will then repeat the attack pattern.

When he is about to die he will pull the coal stairs halfway and release a giant laser… stand BEHIND the steps and you won’t be damaged.

Nightmare: same exact strategy, but you have more options with the multitude of characters available. The fireballs now rain down and stick to the ground, but can be extinguished with an attack. He will fire off a large fire blast at you after the fireballs rain down, which can easily be avoided by being on the top step.

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TL;DR Reviews: Blazing Lazers (Turbografx-16)

My target audience for this site is those, who like me, want a review to be all-encompassing, lengthy and detailed. I often include my previous experiences with the title, significant historical context, and/or the story of my introduction to the game in order to provide the reader with context for my reaction.

While this, I hope, provides a more entertaining and engaging read, it also results in fairly lengthy articles that may alienate those that couldn’t care less about my experience and the nitty-gritty details of the gameplay; they just want a quick, succinct overview of the game and to be told whether or not it is a fit for them.

In the spirit of inclusion, I am providing shorter adaptations of previous reviews. I will always still produce the intensive reviews first to avoid straying from my original vision for the site.

Blazing Lazers

Visuals (10/10): Some of the best graphics on the TurboGrafx-16. Provided a 16-bit experience in a market largely dominated by its 8-bit contemporaries. Colorful, large boss sprites and a variety of vivid, non-open space locales are the highlight of the game.

Sound (8.5/10): A fast-paced, hypertension-inducing soundtrack that is so catchy and well-composed. The poor sound quality of TurboGrafx-16 HuCards detract from an otherwise stellar experience.

Gameplay (9.5/10): Mechanics are absolutely perfect, with adjustable ship speed, ability to hold down the fire button and incredibly responsive controls.

Four up-gradable weapon types, four sub-weapons and the ability to create alternate modes of fire by way of the “Firepower” sub-weapon result in a highly customizable experience.

Negatives include:

Needing to input a code to unlock other difficulties
the near uselessness of “Weapon I” and “Homing Missiles”

Who Should Play This:

This is the perfect entry level shmup for gamer’s who are good at video games in general, but are inexperienced with the shooter genre. It is not terribly hard, but not so easy as to be boring… JUST RIGHT.

Due to incredible design and a spectacular audio-visual experience, even grizzled veterans of the shmup genre will really enjoy this game, despite the moderate difficulty.

Link to the Original Review and Added Guide Content:

Blazing Lazers Resource (Turbografx-16/PC Engine)

AD: Buy a Turbo EverDrive on Stone Age Gamer

The Turbo EverDrive is a flash cart for the TurboGrafx-16/PC-Engine with MicroSD functionality. It allows the user to play all their TG-16 backups on one convenient cartridge. Combine modern convenience, with the feel and accuracy of the original hardware for the best of both worlds. Imagine having the entire TG-16 library on one cart… shmup city baby!

Stone Age Gamer offers this product in a variety of skins, including a bare board, a black TurboGrafx-16 themed cartridge, and a white PC-Engine themed cartridge depending on the players needs and aesthetic preferences.

An important note is that this product is only guaranteed to work on the original, unmodified consoles. So any hard mods or clone consoles are not guaranteed to be compatible.

Buying from Stone Age Gamer using this link, not only supports a stellar online marketplace for the retro-enthusiast, but also supports the Retro Game Resource community, by paying a small percentage of every sale to me. This allows reinvestment into the site, for a better and more complete user experience.

Buy Everdrive on Stone Age Gamer

Update and My Current 3DS Addiction

I have been particularly busy with my regular job lately, which has slowed my release schedule significantly. It has not however, slowed my research and consumption of games… priorities man. To update the community, I would like to say that in the past weeks, I have completed three games and am currently working on a fourth that are relevant to the subject matter of this site; retro and retro-inspired games. Some updates:

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Europe’s Chrono Trigger?: Terranigma (SNES) Resource

Introduction

Terranigma PAL release.jpg — By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41896787

One of my favorite genres is top-down action RPG’s. This love stems from a life-long obsession with 2D entries of The Legend of Zelda series. Though it is arguable whether or not Zelda belongs solely to this genre, it regardless is a genre that provides the best of both worlds: the sense of growth and exploration, prevalent in RPGs, and the fast-paced, skill-based mechanics that define the action genre. As such, I am always on the look out for quality games that fit this archetype.

In high school, I became deeply involved in the emulation scene; spending most of my gaming time both reliving my childhood favorites, and further exploring the libraries of the consoles that laid the foundation for my life-long interest in gaming. Armed with my SNES controller and a USB-adapter, my under-powered family PC in my basement became a make-shift Super Nintendo.

I absolutely attacked the Super Nintendo and SEGA Genesis library, efficiently working my way through the system-defining gems regardless of region. My exploration of region-locked games ultimately led to the discovery that Europeans flipped shit about a game called Terranigma.

Heralding it as their equivalent to Chrono Trigger, not in gameplay style, but rather in level of influence and exclusivity, my European counterparts indirectly urged me to try Terranigma. With every positive review, every emotional forum post, and every sample of the game’s music, my interest grew exponentially.

I read on to discover Terranigma was the final entry in the Quintet Trilogy for the SNES, which also included the US releases Soul Blazer, and the fairly popular Illusion of Gaia. Being in the company of such quality games solidified my confidence in the Terranigma’s rave reviews

Despite my excitement to play the game, and the apparent legitimacy of its greatness, it eventually slipped through the cracks, lost in my ever-expanding backlog. For years, Terranigma always lingered in the back of my mind, begging me to partake in the divine adventure. That is until one day, I could no longer justify the procrastination; I finally dropped everything and dove into the adventure head first.

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Secret Bosses #1: Bravely Default’s Adventurer and Comrade

Secret Bosses

In this series I will explain strategies to beat some of my favorite games’ secret bosses. You know the kind, the Final Fantasy series’ Ruby, Emerald Weapons, and Omega Weapons, Suikoden II’s Luca Blight, Red in Pokemon Gold and Silver; those optional or particularly hard bosses, that really add to the overall replay value of the game, and act as a topic of many a schoolyard discussion. Though they vary in difficulty, they always provide a challenge far beyond that of the main game, and are generally well hidden. This series will get straight to the point, no pompous language, just advanced strats, yo ;P

For the first entry in this series I will be exploring a strategy to defeat the Adventurer and his Comrade in Bravely Default for the 3DS.

* EXPECT SPOILERS*

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The Culprit: Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Genesis) Resource

Introduction

As I have mentioned in an earlier post, “My Introduction to Gaming”, my interest in the wonderful hobby of playing video games, began very early in my life. I was just two-years-old when my cousin, who was 12 years old at the time, showed me his SEGA Genesis and a rather impressive collection of games. In this collection, he had a brand new game he had just purchased, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, which absolutely blew my mind and set me up for a life long passion for gaming.

My previous article inspired me to re-visit this spectacular game for the umpteenth time. Despite, having played it so many times in my life, I had not made the pilgrimage to destroy the Death Egg in over 5 years. That is a hell of a long time for a game that I had otherwise re-played at least once per year for most of my life. This yearly ritual was interrupted both by interference from my real-life responsibilities, developing strategies to combat my backlog, and my interest in pursuing games I have never beaten before.

In starting this site however, I have learned to strike an acceptable balance between revisiting the classics that defined my youth, and creating new memories via experimentation with new games and genres. Sonic the Hedgehog 2, is probably one of the most influential of these games that defined my childhood, primarily because it is the game that started it all, the culprit responsible for initiating my life long love affair with gaming.

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Gaming Memories # 1: My Introduction to Gaming.

Being born in early 1990, I came into this world on the cusp of the 16-bit era’s explosion on to the scene. Following Nintendo’s dominance of the 80’s, other companies sought to compete by simply overpowering the aging, but ubiquitous NES. Rather than futilely compete in the 8-bit marketplace monopolized by Nintendo, other companies moved on. NEC and Hudson released their Turbografx-16, and SEGA their Genesis; both 16-bit machines that outclassed the NES’ technical specs in all categories. This critical point in gaming occurred mere months before my birth, perhaps making me one of the luckiest bastards on the planet.

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Bushido Blade (PSX) Resource

Introduction

During the 32-bit era, I fervently consumed anything that SquareSoft had to offer. I spent much of this console generation exploring some of the deepest, most visually stunning game worlds of the time; nearly all RPGs, painstakingly crafted by this legendary company.

Considering I was only allowed to play video games on the weekend during the school year, I also spent much of my time gazing longingly at my instruction manuals and Game Pro magazines. Aback one of these manuals, Bushido Blade was prominently advertised, with nothing more than the title and some minor art. I knew nothing about the game, but my imagination ran wild as I wondered what epic adventure Square had in store for me next.

To my surprise, I later saw the game featured in one of my magazines. I discovered it was actually a fighting game that stressed realism and required brutally precise execution to avoid the inevitable one-hit KOs. Gone were wild, button mashing, multi-round fights and life bars that found ubiquity in the genre. Instead, these generic mainstays were replaced with tension-filled, yet brief, fights to the death.

I was excited to get my hands on the game, but never successfully acquired it due to competing demands from other titles on my fragile 7 year old mind. Lost in the ocean that is my backlog, Light Weight’s and SquareSoft’s epic Samurai simulation faded into the void. I would wander through life for years, not knowing the way of the sword.

When I finally acquired Bushido Blade, I was able to experience the way, and my life was forever altered.

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Combating Gamer’s Choice Paralysis: A Novel Strategy to Cope with New Release + Backlog Overwhelm

What is Gamer’s Choice Paralysis? Well, it is simply a term I have invented to put into words the feeling all gamer’s experience on a near consistent basis: how in the hell am I supposed to play, and afford, all these games?!

As a married adult with a full-time job and responsibilities (kill me), it is hard to keep up with the frantic release schedule of the current-gen and the ever-expanding, all-consuming hell-spawn that is my backlog.

In the past 6 months I also started this site, which resulted in additional pressure to play and complete games. Born from this necessity, I conceived a novel strategy to slowly advance through my backlog and complete games, while still actually having fun.

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Go to Hell and Back with NAXAT: Devil’s Crush NAXAT Pinball (Turbografx-16) Resource

Introduction

A genre I often ignore, but am almost never disappointed by is video pinball. Growing up, I loved playing pinball in the arcades. Since these games were almost always cheaper than the newest arcade titles, I would end my gaming session with pinball almost every time; prolonging the inevitable dwindling of my coin stash just a bit longer.

All this time spent playing pinball resulted in my growing very fond of the genre and playing fairly often. This translated into a few home purchases, such as Kirby’s Pinball Land, Sonic Spinball and Pokemon Pinball, all of which I enjoyed to varying degrees. As time passed, I stopped dabbling with the genre mostly due to an ever-growing and all-consuming backlog of games.

As part of my mission for this site, I wanted to spend time delving into a variety of genres, so inevitably, video pinball resurfaced. I was excited to find a treasure trove of games I had missed out on, but which was the best? After extensive research I settled on a gem of a game entitled Devil’s Fury for the Turbografx-16.

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