Osman

released on Jun 01, 1996

It is the late 21st century, and the world has come under the control of a single federal government. One day a new threat known as Abdullah the Slaver appears, causing widespread terror and panic. The fear in men's hearts incites the abandonment of all economic activity. The federal government, which is the foundation of capitalism and modern civilization, has become nothing less than an insidious idea that corrupts the foundations of society itself. It destroys the idiosyncrasies and variations among national viewpoints, stifling them in the name of "freedom" and its own internal ideals. Judicial Affairs Director Jack Layzon alone grasps the situation, fearing the worst. He summons the lone assassin who had mastered the 'secret style'...


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Few games are confident enough to barrage you with new challenges at Osman's pace, but it gives you enough awesome firepower to make up for it. Its story seems to operate on a mythical level where events are factual and metaphorical at the same time. Heady stuff!

The angriest game I have ever seen in my life. This is a spiritual successor to Strider released by the creator of Strider after getting fired from Capcom, and it is entirely about corporate greed trying to kill your soul and being empowered by a hateful god to ruin everything. The vibe is just as toxic as could be, and it is truly something to behold.

[me, Strider climbing over Persian Gulf trash mountains and fighting Castlevaniaesque mechanical monster bosses designed by bitter chainsmoking ex-Capcom salary men to kill you every ten seconds] “why’d they stop making these”

easy to love with infinite credits... elicited several all caps WHATs

shit goes crazy why nobody said nothin? important reclamation fiction of what shoulda happened after the #8 seed franks upset the #1 seed umayyads at the battle of tours: the legacy of the caliphates, mythologized into a assassin quasi-prophet who kicks really hard and fast, spinnin back to hit a vicious stain on the now globalized "West" and "Neoliberalism" across 5 side-scroller stages. look i know "the west & neoliberalism" mean absolutely nothing beyond "uh america & profits" in the current critical landscape but the opps here are the Federal Government (proper noun) and an Attorney General who double crosses you after using you to put down a religious cult in the Persian Gulf. shits like a silver bullet made for the Bush family's headtop and a very personal short call of the Dollar System as far as political specificity in video games go. contra strider, osman asks you to put the weapon down and beat ass with two hands and feet--you'll be sliding n gliding n crouching through the mud like any side scroller but the greatest mechanic here is the afterimage system. each powerup you get gives you an brief stationary clone that'll stay in your last attack spot and synchronize with your attack inputs for the next few seconds. seems strong enough right, but the real trick is to plant like 8 of these clones right in somebody's hurtbox, run away, then start whiffing like a ken player to trigger all 8 of those attack clones at once and deal unconscious amounts of damage in quick succession. nomiss runs of this are like 15 minutes because of how much burst damage you can put out in addition to the bombs--bosses here can go out sad in like 20 seconds if you've been on it in keeping your powerups & bombs available. was this intended? maybe, but it made avoiding any death to keep my resources really critical, and some sense of tension along with unhinged ingenuity is all i ask from the MAME experience these days n i got it in spades. there's also some metatext here but honestly just taking this shit at face value was a joy. prescient in recognizing the global south is where the revolution at and we're just kinda pussy.