sdelfin

@Satans_Therapist You have to keep in mind that a digital controller's directional input, such as a D-pad or an arcade stick, is nothing more than four switches or electrical contacts to the CPU. So a joystick is just four switches representing up, down, left, and right. To the system, it's no different from the other buttons. They just represent directional movements instead of other actions. So diagonals are already just a combination of up or down combined with left or right. To go back to my explanation of how a fireball would work on this, you hold down first. While holding down, you press and hold right. That's what the game sees as diagonal. Then you let go of down which leaves you with right and press an attack button. That sequence of actuation is exactly the same as a joystick(or D-pad), except the joystick makes more sense to most people, including myself. I hope that helps to clear it up further.

@Satans_Therapist some competitive fighting game players find the leverless controllers to be slightly quicker. In competition, even small differences matter. Also, some find these more precise. Others, like myself, don't find it appealing. Sounds like you don't either. That's fine. I think the difference between this and the joycon is the playing position. For the joycon, you'd activate the buttons with your thumb. This is used with the hand over the buttons, which means you could use multiple fingers, which is part of the speed of these.

To do a Street Fighter-style fireball, you'd hold down, press and hold right, then release down. That would be the same input sequence the game sees from the traditional joystick motion, which the game just sees as button presses(or switch activations) anyway.

@mr_benn From what I've heard, those that like leverless say they allow for quicker inputs and are more precise. That sounds plausible since you're basically activating the switches by hand as opposed to moving a joystick. There's probably slightly less room for error than with a stick too, assuming you could get used to playing that way. Personally, even if a leverless controller offers those benefits, it doesn't appeal to me. It doesn't look as fun playing the games that way.

I finally bought Hollow Knight a few weeks back, so I'm going to assume I'm the one who put them over 15 million and pat myself on the back. You're welcome!!!!!!

I wonder if the reason they've finally finished Silksong is because the quality of the food at the office was starting to dip.

But seriously, congrats to them. They sound like nice people. People seem to really love the game and it's nice seeing such a game be such a big hit. It was the word of mouth, along with the developers being responsive to the player base, which is why I decided o finally give it a go. I also appreciated that they put it on GOG.

Well that escalated quickly, in a good way. We went from having no info after a long wait to having a release date out of nowhere. Good for the people who have been patiently waiting. I'm going to miss the jokes about Silksong never releasing. Half Life 3 will have to fill that void.

Me? I've never played Hollow Knight, so I was never bothered one way or the other by the Silksong situation. I took a different approach by waiting a ridiculous amount of time to try Hollow Knight which I bought a few weeks ago. I haven't played it yet as I've had a few other games take priority, but I look forward to checking it out fairly soon.

So this is one of the projects Bitmap Bureau alluded to that was going to be announced soon. While a revival of this property wasn't at the top of my list — though I did love MOTU for a few yeears as a kid — the visuals look excellent and Bitmap Bureau being the developer sounds good to me.

Ha ha! Lots of harsh comments about the NA one. That surprises me because it's not anywhere near as ugly as some other covers we have seen to get this kind of backlash. Last week's Japan Wario cover was pretty awful, especially with his partial face in the middle. And I remember when the vastly superior Japanese F-Zero cover lost to the static and boring NA cover due to nostalgia. But perhaps none of the people trashing the NA cover today voted for the NA cover of F-Zero. Or maybe some did and they too have no taste.

I voted for the NA cover today. It's not because it's good, but because I don't like any of these. I don't usually prefer the NA-ified covers of the era. The art style is typically off. Here, it's okay. It captures the vibe of the game well and the composition is competent. I'm not as quick to say art is cluttered as some are, but today I join that team. Both the Euro and Japan covers are super cluttered, especially Japan's. It's a mess. But I probably still would have picked Japan except I also don't like the art style used here. In particular, the human characters look bizarre in this style. So thanks to the extreme clutter and weak composition, I'm left with NA as the least bad of the three in my opinion. I'm not usually in the contrarian camp when the vote is a blowout, but that's where I'm at today.

Being there to play Metroid 2 when it was new was a very special experience for me, and I imagine it was likely the same for many others. A friend of mine got the game first. I was not planning to get that game, but he gave it his highest recommendation so I decided to get it. The exploration, such as it was, took some getting used to as I'm not big on that sort of thing, but I loved how that game looked and felt. Eventually, thanks to the spider ball, the exploration became a lot of fun. I played through it multiple times and it has always been one of my favorite Game Boy Games. I revisited it a couple of years ago to see if it holds up, and I thought it did. Some have issues with the gameplay, but I think it still plays very well. A map would be nice, but I learned my way around very quickly as a kid and found a map was not necessary a couple of years ago either. The world is simpler than it seems at first. The game does a good job steering you in the right direction as mentioned in a previous comment. Some may not like how the sections are gated, but I didn't have any issues with it. I also liked how Metroid 2 was more combat-focused than Super Metroid. I'm not saying it's a better game, just an aspect I liked about it. Super is of course an excellent game with a different approach.

The writer could have left out the word "different" from the first sentence of the description for the Japanese box and it might have actually been better. It certainly is trying to do something. The character art for the western cover is pleasant enough. And that's all I have to say really. I voted for the NA/Euro cover.

Yeah, Yacht Club made such a great impression on me with the entirety of Shovel Knight. Fantastic package. Incidentally, the final campaign was my least favorite, but I love the whole thing. So of course I'll give extra consideration to whatever they release. They didn't develop Cyber Shadow, but that was quite good. Mina looks very good so far. I don't go out of my way to play Zelda-like games, but I do like them. I thoroughly enjoyed Minish Cap on the GBA when it was new. I should play that again. Starting these games is often the sticking point. I am looking forward to this and it's good to hear some solid news about it as I recently had been wondering what was going on with it.

A shame to see the replaceable battery gone. I really liked that element. I assume they got a lot of feedback to the contrary on that, as I've seen with other things in the past. I have the original Pro+ and I loved that thing. The D-pad was fantastic, giving me Saturn levels of accuracy. I've since found the Ultimate 2C Wired to have a similarly high-quality D-pad. The unfortunate thing is that the membranes in the Pro+ are weak and tear after heavy use. I am not sure if that is a problem for subsequent controllers. I should order some replacements. I also recall that the Pro+ and Pro 2 had higher measured Bluetooth latency than most of the other 8bitdo pads, for some reason. I use things wired a lot, though. I still love all my 8bitdo stuff.

And since nobody asked, I prefer the Sony layout with the D-pad higher than the analog sticks, but I can easily switch back and forth, which is why I have no issues with their Ultimate controllers.

Thursday was exciting with the relese of Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, and a surprise release of the demo for Shinobi Art of Vengeance, as well as Earthion. I had previously played the PC demo for Ninja Gaiden and liked it a lot, so I knew I was on board for this. On the first day, I ended up only playing Shinobi. I got Ninja Gaiden(and Earthion) over the weekend. I haven't been able to play much of Ninja Gaiden yet, but it feels good and the sprite work is really nice. But that's something The Game Kitchen seems to be quite good at. That's what got me to take notice of Blasphemous, which I also purchased and haven't played extensively. Anyway, glad to hear the game is well received, leaving aside the issues specific to the Switch. I'm PC all the way on this.

I was quite surprised to see this got a day-one GOG release. With no DRM at all, that means I actually own the game. I'm very happy about that.

@Truegamer79 I'm also on a ninja kick because of these two revivals, and a friend of mine is doing the same. I had actually missed the Messenger, so I decided now was the right time and picked it up on sale. I actually was just playing it about ten minutes ago before commenting. And I also decided I should play through Cyber Shadow another time, so we're on the same wavelength there.

@EarthboundBenjy I've been keeping up with these. Back in the day, us kids would argue over which ninja series was better, Shinobi or Ninja Gaiden. Most us us liked them both, though. So it's funny and fitting that they're coming out a month apart. Also fun how they released a demo for Shinobi on the same day as Ninja Gaiden. Along with Earthion, it made it a great release day for people like me.

The interesting thing about this one is that, despite the different styles, the character placement is very close between them. The Japanese one has the addition of Gollum. Bilbo is facing the opposite direction, but they're in similar poses. Gandalf and Smaug are also similarly placed. I suspect the similarities were not by accident. But there are also drastic differences. The NA one is too dark, from what I see here. It seems to affect visibility. I also prefer the more stylized visuals of the Japanese cover.

Considering some of Nintendo's other business practices at the time with regard to third parties, it's not a big surprise that they would also have some aggressive terms for their third-party developers. It did create openings for competitors to take advantage if they could get a foothold in the market. I think both Sega, with the Genesis and Saturn, and Sony offered better terms for third parties. And Nintendo's reluctance to go to discs in the mid 1990s made it a bit easier for Sony. I'm glad that shift happened and I'd say it ended up being beneficial to both game companies and consumers.

@Eel I appreciate hearing where you're coming from at least. That's all we can do, share our thoughts and experiences. At the end of the day, the options exist now and they're not going away. The only (small) issue I have is when people talk about what was intended and speak of degrading the image. It is the raw pixel output that is artificial. The games simply never looked that way when they were current. The poster above referred to film grain as being inherent, but scanlines are just as inherent to old 240p pixel graphics because the systems such as the SNES were designed specifically based on how CRTs functioned and displayed images. I assume some prefer raw pixels because the scanlines darken and soften the image and some people either don't like it or aren't used to it. Though some seem to prefer it because they've been led to believe that it's correct, which it is not. Again, I'm not arguing that people shouldn't play the games the way they like. The options are here to stay. Same thing with resolution. Some people prefer SNES "pixel perfect"(though I wonder if calling it that has some influence), when that was never the actual aspect ratio on a TV. It was stretched to 4:3 with graphics designed that way.

@SillyG I didn't understand the point of scanlines at first, but once I finally saw it, I could never again unsee it. The idea that it's a degradation in quality is a misconception in the first place. SNES games and other systems of the time were designed with scanlines in mind. The raw pixels were never the intended output. Raw pixels are way too blocky, ruin shading effects, and have colors that are off. With scanlines applied, the color is darkened and results in a more natural look, and it also acts as a primitive form of anti aliasing as it smooths edges and provides some blending. It is raw pixels that degrade the displayed image because it never looked that way on CRTs of the time and was never meant to be displayed that way. The scanlines were factored into the graphics when they were designed. I looked at the images in the Polygon article linked in the piece. If you look at Donkey Kong Country, the shading of the characters is not very effective in the raw pixels. The beaver enemy in particular is a mess. The CRT filter rounds the eyes and makes the shading look convincing rather than a mess of pixels. Same goes for Kong's arm and his lower jaw. The image softening, light anti aliasing, and blending provided by scanlines are more natural and were how the games were designed.

I had a very novel method to avoid getting sucked into the Silksong hype and the disappointment that has come with it. I never played Hollow Knight. For a while, it just didn't seem that appealing to me, and there were some technical elements to it that have since been addressed. I've heard enough good things about it over the years that I decided to give it a shot and just bought it on sale via GOG a few weeks ago. I still have to play it, but I do look forward to it. Crazy how long Silksong has been in development, though it does remind me of some other situations. Hopefully it will satisfy those who are eager for it, whenever that may be.

@Teksette I'll give 1993 Capcom a pass for not having Daredevil in the Punisher arcade game. I may be off in my recollection, but I think that wouldn't have felt right at the time. Plus, they had both characters use guns in that game. One game in which he should have been included was Sega's 1991 Spider-Man arcade game. Hawkeye and Sub Mariner seem so random in that game.

But that Punisher arcade game is fantastic, you are right about that. I'm a big fan of arcade beat-em-ups and have played a ton of them. Punisher is definitely among the best and I've played a lot of it over the years. Glad to see they figured out how to release it on modern platforms. It's a game that deserves to be played by those who enjoy that genre.

They're both not very good, but I always vote. The Japanese cover is a mess, but at least the framing is competent. The composition of the western cover is awful. My eye is drawn to the humanoid-robot thingie, but it's in the upper right of the frame for some reason. The rest of the frame is largely wasted space as the building and trucks don't really add to the frame. The lower left of the cover is especially empty. And then another 600 demerits for the red strip and corner peel which are always ugly. Japan isn't good by any means, but it's better.

@Teksette I appreciate you letting me know. I didn't take a close look at that game before, so I'll have to look into it and see if it appeals to me. It looks cool enough at a glance. So good to know Daredevil is in there. Still, I would love to see Daredevil in one of these old school 2D beat-em-up games. They're a perfect fit for him. He punches people and uses a club. How can he not be in these games? Thanks again.

This particular game might not be the best fit, but I would like to see Daredevil in a Marvel beat-em-up. The scope of this one may be wrong, plus they already have an attorney in the game. But a game like this with the scope of the Punisher arcade game(no cosmic stuff) could feature the likes of Punisher, Nick Fury, Daredevil, Black Cat, Black Widow.....and maybe Dazzler.

But this one does have a handful of characters that I'm happy to see in the game, so I'll be fine. Iron Man seems like a good fit for this game too.

Nice that they can still be friends. Things changed for them once Rosalina entered the picture.

There's not much to Europe's cover and I can't say I find it to be particularly good. The NA cover is also not that good. I'm not sure that image makes the best cover image, but at least it's something interesting. My main gripe with the NA cover is the game title covers up the second character and that hurts the overall presentation. But at least I can play it on XBAND with an upside down red A for some reason. Ah, the '90s.

NA is my pick.

"So we built something borderline insane. We implemented a system that had been used in countless games going back to the 8-bit NES, if not even further back."(statement modified for effect)

There, I fixed that for him. I don't know what he's going on about. That was a pretty standard thing in video games that needed variable heights for jumps. To frame it as an insane solution is puzzling. In this context, it doesn't really matter that it's 2D vs. 3D. The concept is the same and just makes sense. What would be different between 2D and 3D would be implementation, things like timing, distance, gravity, etc. But the concept of reading the duration of a button press for that purpose was extremely common. It's insane to think it was novel in 1996.

With that said, a jumping mechanic like that would be a big deal if it's quite different in the remake. Some people say the jump is not fixed, though it clearly sounds different. A change like that will change the way a game feels overall and that could be a big problem for those who are familiar with the original. It would be interesting to hear what those in charge of the remake have to say about it.

Since it came up in a few posts above, I'll share my experiences about the D-pads. I have the original Pro+ controller which is the first of this line and layout. It's the same shape and configuration, but doesn't have the back paddles which is the main difference. The D-pad on that one is one of the best I have ever used in terms of function. I say this as someone who had a Saturn when it was current and consider the Saturn D-pad the best first-party D-pad of all time. In fact, when I started using the 8bitdo Pro+, which I got mostly for the analog and to have a full-featured controller, I was using Saturn pads regularly. The Pro+ D-pad was its equal, and that's despite it being a cross pad, but the D-pad shape isn't as important as the implementation. There is a big downside to the 8bitdo. The button membranes are weak and tear after a while. They are not hard to replace and the replacements are not expensive from what I have seen. I do not have the Pro 2, but it used a different membrane. I don't know how the D-pad compares to the Pro + in function or durability.

I also tried their Ultimate C wired controllers, which have always been a crazy value. I assume the rest of the Ultimate controllers are similar, if not better. The C1 has a stiffer D-pad than the Pro +. It wasn't bad, but required a very different touch. I had to slide my thumb to the edges more than I typically would. So I would consider it a step down. When I finally tried the C2, I immediately noticed the D-pad had a different feel, and was an improvement. In game, it feels just like the Pro +, so I consider the C2 equal with the Pro + and Saturn controller in overall usage(accuracy, responsiveness, feel). I can't vouch for the durability of those as I haven't used them as heavily.

@RupeeClock While I agree with you about the magnetic button tops and the charging dock, I've seen enough people make a fuss about face button layouts and liking changeable labels(like some arcade sticks), so I'm not surprised people like this. Also, I've seen the charging dock for their Ultimate controllers be well received, so I'm not surprised about that either. 8bitdo probably got a lot of feedback on those two things. I've basically gotten used to all the layouts and can adjust on the fly. I think it's better that way.

I also think Mickey looks off on the NA box. Perhaps it's an imposter or impersonator, maybe Morty Mouse or something like that. Mackie Mouse? Anyway, as someone said above, I do like how NA shows Pete and the nephews in the background, but that's not enough to put NA in the lead.

Europe's is way too cramped by all the logos. They just destroy all the space and leave no breathing room at all. The Japanese version is much more pleasant because it's not cropped or crushed by logos. Japan wins.

I hate voting for US N64 covers because the red strip and corner peel just annoy me to no end. It's such bad design. However, the box art here is so strong that it's still superior. This duel is a great demonstration of composition. For the western cover, the X-wing is prominent as it is supposed to be and draws the eye to it. Then you have all the other ships and plenty of other detail behind it and filling in the space around the X-wing. The impressive part is that with all those elements, it still feels like there's lots of breathing room in the frame. The Japanese cover has strange composition. The most prominent element and where my eye is drawn every time I look at it is the TIE Fighter's side panel/wing. The TIE being on the edge of the frame so that it is cropped detracts from the image. The X-wing is partially obscured and positioned so high in the corner that it seems like an afterthought. The NA cover just works so much better.

I will echo what has already been said, whoever made the decision to put Japan and Europe together dropped the ball. They're not vastly different, but they are way more than slightly different. Aside from the different title, the female character is cropped a bit at the bottom for Japan; the character underneath her is totally different; Leon looks to have slightly different coloring, and his position is also different relative to the bullet hole by his gun; Above Leon they have entirely different characters for both remaining slots above Leon(specifically, the zombie directly above Leon for Europe is two slots above him on Japan, but still a major difference), so that's two more differences; There's a zombie that's prominent and colored like the foreground characters right above Leon's gun in the Japanese cover; and in the center, the Euro cover has a plain white background, while Japan has more zombies in monochrome. The two covers are definitely different enough for separate entries and I seem to recall brawls where more similar covers were separate.

With that said, this is all for fun. The NA version feels lazy and overly formulaic to me. Europe is better, but a distant second. Japan's cover has better composition, better use of space including the middle blank space, and much better character choices for the cover, both in terms of composition and aesthetics. My vote is for Japan, and Japan only.

@eaglebob345 Not true. Real people pointed this out on launch day or the day after. It had nothing to do then with DF. It was casual users. With that said, I've heard enough people praise the screen that it doesn't sound widespread enough to even be a real screen lottery. I wonder if those people just got screens or hardware with some kind of defect.

I said previously that there likely is some kind of screen lottery going on. I believe there are two screen manufacturers. And there might be multiple factories per manufacturer, so that could lead to further variation. It's just bizarre to hear from people, even just casual end users, how blurry their screens are that they can't not see it, while others find their Switch 2 screens to be fantastic. That kind of reported blur sounds prominent enough that the crew here at NL would notice, yet it sounds like they're quite happy with their displays.

I believe there are two screen suppliers. I wonder if there's variation between the supplied screens, and perhaps even differences from the same manufacturer if they're using different factories. Someone else mentioned it, but there may be a screen lottery in play. Some people report extreme blur that even casual types can see. Others say their screens have no blur and look amazing. It sounds like not all Switch 2 screens are created equal. Perhaps we'll find out more about that going forward.

The Euro cover is an example of bad composition due to all the wasted space. It's funny how small DK and Diddy are on there. The framing is just not good. The NA cover isn't bad. DK is dynamic and well framed. The background is there, I guess. I like the cel shading. But the cover doesn't grab me. It doesn't at least make me want to know more about it. The Japanese cover is actually interesting to me. The composition of it is excellent. It's very festive in a pleasant way. I like the way DK and Diddy are drawn and colored. Japan's cover is the best one here and is just very nicely done.

My favorite time period of Nintendo is the Gamecube + GBA era. I loved both systems. There were a lot of quality games that I appreciated. Plus, at least on the console side, Nintendo was in the role of underdog, which I thought led to some good things compared to times they were on top.

Nostalgia is a funny thing. Some people are chasing a feeling with the determination of seemingly wanting to return to a previous time. That can sometimes go too far and lead to some odd rituals and such. That isn't to say it has to be extreme. And then we have unintended nostalgia, which is my favorite kind. And I think so many of us move past certain things or experience times in our lives when fun diversions can take a back seat. Then, some time down the line we come across such things again and the interest returns, but that interest also brings us long dormant reminders of the past, with important memories. I've had that experience with gaming and with old TV shows. In some cases, I can vividly remember experiences I had. And it's even better if this kind of nostalgia can reconnect people the way it has here for the author of the piece.

I remember first seeing this done with Game Boy games. It made a lot of sense for those since their boxes were not proper display boxes, in my opinion, and were often discarded. I thought they looked good and people do a nice job with them, so more power to those that want to do tht for Switch stuff, even if those do have proper game cases.

This one was very easy for me. I chose North America with no hesitation. I just don't like the Euro cover much. The Japanese cover does nothing at all for me. NA has great composition to start. The purple background is nice and helps the colorful characters stand out. The overall design is superior in my opinion.

That's about what I expected to happen. It would have been amusing if the blue shell did a lap around the track before hitting him, though, and that seemed plausible enough.

The western cover has very good composition. It has the typical "let's squeeze a ton of characters in the background" approach, and I'm not as fond of how it's done here. I think less would be more here. I also don't really like Ryu's pose and don't think he looks all that great here. I think Ryu was drawn way better on the Japanese cover and I like the action pose. I also like the composition with Akuma and Chun Li. Chun Li is my favorite element of the cover, in fact. Overall, like the Japanese cover a lot more.

It's nice to see Cyberpunk get a second chance at having a product launch and it not being a disaster this time.

It's so funny how we kids back in the day debated which 2D ninja series was better, and now they're being revived at the same time and by European developers with great track records, and apparently with games coming out a month apart. Ryu Hayabusa and Joe Musashi can't seem to get away from each other. That makes me think that there should be a classic-style anime with them teaming up, maybe with Strider Hiryu joining them. I think both games are looking fantastic in their own ways and I'm excited for both of them.

Regarding the art style of Shinobi, I didn't like the Lizardcube style for Streets of Rage 4. It didn't feel right to me and I had some technical issues with it. But I have to give the developers credit because they did include an unusual, but in a good way in my opinion, CRT filter. I liked the way that looked and I appreciate they included that to let me play the game in a way that looked appealing to me. It's funny that they didn't reveal that prior to release. But the visual style feels like a better fit for Shinobi because it does kind of resemble the same visual style from Okami, like a painting. Plus, they made some adjustments to the art for Shinobi, such as the game not having such thick black outlines like in Streets of Rage 4, and that makes a big difference. I'm not against 2D games trying a more modern, drawn 2D aesthetic over pixel art, and I think Shinobi is coming along very nicely in that style, though I wouldn't be against them continuing to include their CRT filter.

I understand the issue with the art. I think it's just the nature of a lot of digital art where you have a lot of crisp lines and large areas of uniform color without any apparent texture. To be clear, I did not like the Streets of Rage 4 art style(more on that in a moment). But, first, I think the art is a better fit in Shinobi, especially with it being a flat, 2D action game, but also because they made adjustments to the SOR4 art, specifically the black outlines are much thinner than in that game. To give credit to Lizardcube, they included an interesting CRT filter in SOR4. It was a bit unusual in its execution, but I liked it a lot and I was able to enjoy the game with the visuals more to my taste. They didn't even publicize that feature ahead of release. It's quite possible Shinobi will get the same treatment. But I like the general look of this one so far as it reminds me of the vibe Okami had with the visuals.

As for the combo gameplay, as beat-em-ups are my favorite kind of game, I welcome combos into Shinobi. There were additions and changes to the Shinobi games as they went. I think adding combos was a logical next thing to try. It's possible it doesn't work, but I think it will.

@Krull That was quite amusing and I think it needed to be said, so I'm the one saying it. It's also reasonably plausible.

No hesitation from me. I voted for the NA cover straight away. To be clear, I found all three of these disappointing. The art itself is fine, but nothing is as dynamic as I'd expect from Marvel stuff of the time. None of these are particularly exciting. While the Japan/Euro art isn't badly executed for what it is, it's not good for a cover. Everything just blends together and nothing particularly stands out. To lump all the characters into one giant mass like that leaves a bunch of characters and important elements obscured. The NA cover is somewhat boring, but it's much more visually coherent and, to me, far more appealing.

Thjey're both good if a bit simple and generic in terms of the key art. I like the background in both as it's unusual in a good way. The border on the Japanese one doesn't really enhance things. I think the logo style and placement works better for the western cover, and that's my preference this week.

@WhiteUmbrella No worries. As I was not talking about this game and was referring to the concept in general, I was intentionally unspecific and didn't think it would draw much attention. I can see how there can be misunderstanding, especially in text form. I think it's much like other concepts in game development in that the implementation is the key. It could be done well or not so much. But I have no problem with fixed camera as a concept when done well.

Just last week I was playing Prince of Persia - Warrior Within which is full 3D, but has fixed-camera sections. There was one part that sticks out in which you're being chased and the camera angle suddenly changes the very moment the character must change directions. It's not the worst thing ever and not super difficult, but it is annoying having the time constraint of the chase and ending up running the wrong way because of the camera change every single time.

@WhiteUmbrella I was talking about other games of that era which used fixed cameras in whole or in part. I have played some recently and they do screw up your ability to control things in the moment. And they weren't using tank controls. I was talking about the concept in general. Some developers may have done it well, but others could have done it better.

@-wc- The only explanation I've seen is that some people get hung up on having a portion of the screen not used. They feel short changed somehow. I've seen people say they prefer 4:3 sources cropped to 16:9 for this reason. Same with stretching the image. It also makes things bigger, but at the huge loss of actually losing parts of the picture. It's very strange.

The only time I can think of when it's not so clear is for open matte films. These are things originally shot in 4:3 but were meant to be cropped to 16:9 for theatrical release. A case could be made that either way is fine, and chances are such things are framed more for one than for the other.

There were some that weren't very fond of the visual style of Streets of Rage 4. I was among them, though I do give the developer credit for including the CRT-ish filters which I thought were good and I preferred the game that way. It was weird that those filters were not known until release day. But I like the visual style here for Shinobi. The style is adjusted a bit from SOR4, specifically the dark outlines aren't so prominent. But I also think this style fits better for Shinobi and I like what I have seen so far. While I love pixel art, not everything is going to be pixel art and other things can also look good and this does look that way to me. I also think the addition of combos could be good. As I'm a big fan of beat-em-up games, I like that, but we'll have to see how the execution is and how well it works with 2D Shonibi.