(plays through the game) woah (looks up the plot summary on wikipedia) damn
There’s still plenty of games by Treasure that I still haven’t played and hope to play, but I think I’m starting to get a good idea of what makes their best games so captivating, not incidentally because it’s showcased so strongly here. Treasure have this sort of repertoire of mechanics which serve as a constellation around a central idea - encouraging the player to view and approach encounters in different ways - which is always surprising the player with the extent of the interactivity of the experience, and I’ve noticed that how much I like each game can be strongly correlated to how frequently and strongly this central idea is expressed. I understand that this is very abstract, so let’s try and make it more concrete:
Treasure loves parries; the idea of taking a projectile being fired at you and turning it back around. The frequency with which this mechanic occurs in their games really just makes it seem like somebody at the studio thought it was cool as shit (which it is), but it also serves a wider purpose: Projectiles are rarely just obstacles to be avoided, they’re just as equally potential tools. The best iteration I’ve seen of the idea is Mischief Maker’s Cerberus Alpha but Sin and Punishment makes major use of this idea too to provide moments of realisation for the player in a variety of ways. Enemies which initially seem to be threats because they fill the screen with more projectiles are recontextualised as things which help you through your own skill to deal with them, and this is integrated with decision-making; it’s not just “Oh, I can parry this projectile” but also “Oh, I should kill this guy with the rocket launcher last, because he is just giving me rockets to parry.” It's a really great complication to the simple loop of shooting everything that appears on the screen which can make a lot of shmups feel homogenous sometimes.
The second expression is the use of alternate modes, an idea which has gone through several evolutions in Treasure’s history. In the transition from Gunstar Heroes to Alien Soldier, it was decided that allowing the player to switch aiming modes mid-level was superior to a one-time choice, not only because it was more flexible, but because choosing the best mode for the situation in real-time is a deeper expression of skill and knowledge. The next evolution, occurring in Sin and Punishment, was that this choice can be integrated with the skill curve of the game. The lock-on mode of Sin and Punishment drastically helps the player reduce their mental stack, but it makes you do less damage than the manual aiming, so while it’s always ideal to manual aim, every section is essentially asking the player “do you think you have the skill to dodge all this shit and aim simultaneously?”, which rarely has a static answer. Sections where you relied on the lock-on in one playthrough you might “graduate” to manually aiming in the next, and this is such a dynamic, player-driven approach to difficulty.
I would say almost objectively that Ikaruga is the highest expression of this connection between mode-switching and a skill curve (for reasons that I probably don’t need to explain but could probably spend way too long doing anyway), but I really like this incarnation of it simply because of its connection with the early 3D era of the N64. This was Treasure’s first foray into true 3D and their use of it in this game is so joyous and imaginative. Part of why the use of lock-on as a tool for dealing with the mental stack is so effective is because it tasks you with aiming at enemies in the background, enemies above and below you, enemies next to you and even enemies in the foreground in front of you, all of whom can be sending projectiles your way in different 3D planes, it’s a lot to deal with, but that only enhances the foundational shmup satisfaction of feeling like a god because you just dodged a seemingly undodgeable pattern of bullets - which would not be as effective if you were only fired upon from one dimension. The way the game uses shifts in perspective is incredible: traditional rail shooting and run-n-gun blends together in subtle combinations, but then you’ll suddenly fight a boss in an arena where you can rotate 360 degrees around a central point, other parts, like the railcar section evoke a shooting gallery, and there’s a full Gunstar Heroes-esque run-n-gun section in the final level, and the pace of these shifts is so fast that it feels apt to call it a tour-de-force of various 3D shooting-game concepts.
The third expression is the interplay between close and long-range combat. Treasure shooting games very often break up purely ranged combat with degrees of close-quarters combat, an idea which bookends Treasure’s major works, beginning with the claustrophobic fight against Orange on top of a plane in Gunstar Heroes and ending with the fistfight against Deko Gekisho in Star Successor, Radiant Silvergun found a way to sneak in a sword into a genre traditionally dealing only in bullets, and Sin and Punishment’s moments of melee combat are some of the best in the game - flinging Radahn off a cliff and Brad through a window just doesn’t get old. It works, again, because you have to think about the situation and choose which type of attack is best, further fostering this interactivity that purely moving a reticle over an enemy and holding down the shoot button doesn’t.
I wouldn’t say having these elements alone constitutes a good game, but harmonising them to create a complex experience is why I think this and Treasure’s other games are so great. That isn’t to say that Sin and Punishment doesn’t have its own unique things going on though: I think the approach to story here is quite interesting and complements the short yet highly-replayable structure really well. On the first go, story beats like the dream sequence or characters like Achi or even allegiances and motivations of certain characters are incredibly hard to parse, but the fact that they’re so confusing gives the story relevance beyond the first playthrough, since it makes progressively more sense each time. It’s something that I’m surprised more developers don’t take advantage of, kind of like how the way Hades’ story is structured complements its repetitious roguelite structure, this complements the replayable arcade structure.
The music is also really great. Toshiya Yamanaka has remarked that this was thanks to some programmer at Treasure who was capable of programming the N64’s pulse-code modulation, which results in higher sound quality. I don’t really understand that myself, but the music here goes hard, even if it does have some questionable repetitions.
The difficulty modes are also incredibly well done. Easy, medium and hard aren’t just differentiated by damage sliders, sections can be quite radically different on each difficulty as there are added enemies and new attacks, which is basically a perfect execution of difficulty selection in a game like this.
I would be remiss to not mention some of the flaws as I don’t think this is a perfect game. The voice acting is terrible. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some campy, trashy voice acting, but this game is clearly going for a more serious tone and that really clashes with the bad line deliveries. While I prefer the conciseness of this game in general, Star Successor has a better version of melee options, as it’s too easy in this game to spam the attack button to parry anything you want, whereas the sequel demands timing. The first level is also such a snoozefest, even on hard, that it sometimes feels like a chore to go through on a fresh run. Having such an easy first level isn’t even necessary for new players since this game already has quite a good tutorial.
On the whole though this is probably my favourite Treasure game I’ve played so far and the flaws are really not that big of a deal. Really looking forward to playing the Treasure games I haven't played yet (Dynamite Headdy, Gradius V, Bangai-O, Silhouette Mirage, possibly more)
Treasure loves parries; the idea of taking a projectile being fired at you and turning it back around. The frequency with which this mechanic occurs in their games really just makes it seem like somebody at the studio thought it was cool as shit (which it is), but it also serves a wider purpose: Projectiles are rarely just obstacles to be avoided, they’re just as equally potential tools. The best iteration I’ve seen of the idea is Mischief Maker’s Cerberus Alpha but Sin and Punishment makes major use of this idea too to provide moments of realisation for the player in a variety of ways. Enemies which initially seem to be threats because they fill the screen with more projectiles are recontextualised as things which help you through your own skill to deal with them, and this is integrated with decision-making; it’s not just “Oh, I can parry this projectile” but also “Oh, I should kill this guy with the rocket launcher last, because he is just giving me rockets to parry.” It's a really great complication to the simple loop of shooting everything that appears on the screen which can make a lot of shmups feel homogenous sometimes.
The second expression is the use of alternate modes, an idea which has gone through several evolutions in Treasure’s history. In the transition from Gunstar Heroes to Alien Soldier, it was decided that allowing the player to switch aiming modes mid-level was superior to a one-time choice, not only because it was more flexible, but because choosing the best mode for the situation in real-time is a deeper expression of skill and knowledge. The next evolution, occurring in Sin and Punishment, was that this choice can be integrated with the skill curve of the game. The lock-on mode of Sin and Punishment drastically helps the player reduce their mental stack, but it makes you do less damage than the manual aiming, so while it’s always ideal to manual aim, every section is essentially asking the player “do you think you have the skill to dodge all this shit and aim simultaneously?”, which rarely has a static answer. Sections where you relied on the lock-on in one playthrough you might “graduate” to manually aiming in the next, and this is such a dynamic, player-driven approach to difficulty.
I would say almost objectively that Ikaruga is the highest expression of this connection between mode-switching and a skill curve (for reasons that I probably don’t need to explain but could probably spend way too long doing anyway), but I really like this incarnation of it simply because of its connection with the early 3D era of the N64. This was Treasure’s first foray into true 3D and their use of it in this game is so joyous and imaginative. Part of why the use of lock-on as a tool for dealing with the mental stack is so effective is because it tasks you with aiming at enemies in the background, enemies above and below you, enemies next to you and even enemies in the foreground in front of you, all of whom can be sending projectiles your way in different 3D planes, it’s a lot to deal with, but that only enhances the foundational shmup satisfaction of feeling like a god because you just dodged a seemingly undodgeable pattern of bullets - which would not be as effective if you were only fired upon from one dimension. The way the game uses shifts in perspective is incredible: traditional rail shooting and run-n-gun blends together in subtle combinations, but then you’ll suddenly fight a boss in an arena where you can rotate 360 degrees around a central point, other parts, like the railcar section evoke a shooting gallery, and there’s a full Gunstar Heroes-esque run-n-gun section in the final level, and the pace of these shifts is so fast that it feels apt to call it a tour-de-force of various 3D shooting-game concepts.
The third expression is the interplay between close and long-range combat. Treasure shooting games very often break up purely ranged combat with degrees of close-quarters combat, an idea which bookends Treasure’s major works, beginning with the claustrophobic fight against Orange on top of a plane in Gunstar Heroes and ending with the fistfight against Deko Gekisho in Star Successor, Radiant Silvergun found a way to sneak in a sword into a genre traditionally dealing only in bullets, and Sin and Punishment’s moments of melee combat are some of the best in the game - flinging Radahn off a cliff and Brad through a window just doesn’t get old. It works, again, because you have to think about the situation and choose which type of attack is best, further fostering this interactivity that purely moving a reticle over an enemy and holding down the shoot button doesn’t.
I wouldn’t say having these elements alone constitutes a good game, but harmonising them to create a complex experience is why I think this and Treasure’s other games are so great. That isn’t to say that Sin and Punishment doesn’t have its own unique things going on though: I think the approach to story here is quite interesting and complements the short yet highly-replayable structure really well. On the first go, story beats like the dream sequence or characters like Achi or even allegiances and motivations of certain characters are incredibly hard to parse, but the fact that they’re so confusing gives the story relevance beyond the first playthrough, since it makes progressively more sense each time. It’s something that I’m surprised more developers don’t take advantage of, kind of like how the way Hades’ story is structured complements its repetitious roguelite structure, this complements the replayable arcade structure.
The music is also really great. Toshiya Yamanaka has remarked that this was thanks to some programmer at Treasure who was capable of programming the N64’s pulse-code modulation, which results in higher sound quality. I don’t really understand that myself, but the music here goes hard, even if it does have some questionable repetitions.
The difficulty modes are also incredibly well done. Easy, medium and hard aren’t just differentiated by damage sliders, sections can be quite radically different on each difficulty as there are added enemies and new attacks, which is basically a perfect execution of difficulty selection in a game like this.
I would be remiss to not mention some of the flaws as I don’t think this is a perfect game. The voice acting is terrible. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some campy, trashy voice acting, but this game is clearly going for a more serious tone and that really clashes with the bad line deliveries. While I prefer the conciseness of this game in general, Star Successor has a better version of melee options, as it’s too easy in this game to spam the attack button to parry anything you want, whereas the sequel demands timing. The first level is also such a snoozefest, even on hard, that it sometimes feels like a chore to go through on a fresh run. Having such an easy first level isn’t even necessary for new players since this game already has quite a good tutorial.
On the whole though this is probably my favourite Treasure game I’ve played so far and the flaws are really not that big of a deal. Really looking forward to playing the Treasure games I haven't played yet (Dynamite Headdy, Gradius V, Bangai-O, Silhouette Mirage, possibly more)
Genuinely what is your excuse for not playing/beating this yet. I want to hear the people speak.
I assume it doesn't get better than here when it comes to n64's pure action games
As a person that tried to get into the starfox and find myself not engaged with it's energy then shelving it 15 minute later, this game did what I expected from starfox singlehandedly.
Nonstop action, relentless explosions, new enemies stages levels challenges in every 5 seconds back to back to make the game pacing Godddaaaamnnnnn awesome and of course it does have a fun gameplay to back it up with shooting enemies and parrying with a sword.
Oh also it does have a story too that is probably got inspired from eva. But I think compared to eva, it's only purpose is just to give you shocking imagery and nothing more. It's not a negative for me tho, I wasn't expecting a groundbreaking story mod for an arcadey game to begin with so I can even say this part can be a plus
My only problem with it, is an outside factor that is the piece of shit wii u's input delay for n64 games that makes aiming 2 times harder.
Other than that this game is fire and it's short runtime (2 hours) is enough to make your life more positive for a while.
As a person that tried to get into the starfox and find myself not engaged with it's energy then shelving it 15 minute later, this game did what I expected from starfox singlehandedly.
Nonstop action, relentless explosions, new enemies stages levels challenges in every 5 seconds back to back to make the game pacing Godddaaaamnnnnn awesome and of course it does have a fun gameplay to back it up with shooting enemies and parrying with a sword.
Oh also it does have a story too that is probably got inspired from eva. But I think compared to eva, it's only purpose is just to give you shocking imagery and nothing more. It's not a negative for me tho, I wasn't expecting a groundbreaking story mod for an arcadey game to begin with so I can even say this part can be a plus
My only problem with it, is an outside factor that is the piece of shit wii u's input delay for n64 games that makes aiming 2 times harder.
Other than that this game is fire and it's short runtime (2 hours) is enough to make your life more positive for a while.
My first exposure to Sin and Punishment came through the appearance of Saki Amamiya as an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (although I'd forget about the game's actual title until years later), and while I was interested in checking the game out, I wasn't truly excited to play it until just a few weeks ago. After having an absolute blast with Gunstar Heroes earlier this month, I took a peek at the rest of the games made by Treasure, as the only other game of theirs that I was aware of at the time was Ikaruga, and when I noticed that Sin and Punishment was a part of their catalogue, I knew that I had to play it soon. After failing to find a working English translation of the game, I decided to go ahead and play the original Japanese release instead, as it still had English dialogue, and this was honestly such a great decision, because while Sin and Punishment only took about an hour or two for me to actually beat, I can't wait to get back and play it again.
Sin and Punishment is a game where practically every one of its elements is fine tuned to perfection, as it kept me totally hooked and engaged without overstaying its welcome. The on-rails gameplay here is sublime, as it blends a tight and precise control scheme with never-ending cavalcades of enemies to shoot, attacks to avoid, and projectiles to deflect to create a consistently frantic experience where you're constantly on your toes. Despite how simple the controls actually are, there's a surprising amount of depth to your in-game moves, as even choosing between lock-on and free shooting can be the deciding factor between beating a particular enemy or boss or dying and having to start over. Speaking of which, Sin and Punishment also features some amazing and chaotic boss fights, with the final boss being intense, exciting, and visually stunning to the point where I genuinely could not believe what I was seeing. In terms of difficulty, Sin and Punishment was honestly pretty tough, but getting a full grasp of your whole arsenal of attacks and abilities made everything feel fair while still putting up a good challenge.
On top of having some superb gameplay, Sin and Punishment is also one of the best looking games on the Nintendo 64. The pre-apocalypse artstyle is oozing with style and grit, and I was very impressed by the amount of detail that all of the backgrounds and enemies had, especially with how fast-paced the game is. In terms of story, Sin and Punishment was admittedly difficult to fully take in and comprehend, but even then, I still thought that it was really cool. What starts out as a game about simply fighting off an army of Ruffians ends up involving time travel, visions, and the cosmos, and the over-the-top storytelling felt like a perfect fit for the high-octane insanity and constant setpieces of the moment-to-moment gameplay, with the delightfully campy voice acting being the cherry on top. Although there are a ton of games from the Nintendo 64 that I still haven't played yet, I have no problem with saying that Sin and Punishment is my favorite one so far, and not only am I excited to replay it over and over again, but I also want to eventually play its sequel on the Wii, Sin & Punishment: Star Successor.
Sin and Punishment is a game where practically every one of its elements is fine tuned to perfection, as it kept me totally hooked and engaged without overstaying its welcome. The on-rails gameplay here is sublime, as it blends a tight and precise control scheme with never-ending cavalcades of enemies to shoot, attacks to avoid, and projectiles to deflect to create a consistently frantic experience where you're constantly on your toes. Despite how simple the controls actually are, there's a surprising amount of depth to your in-game moves, as even choosing between lock-on and free shooting can be the deciding factor between beating a particular enemy or boss or dying and having to start over. Speaking of which, Sin and Punishment also features some amazing and chaotic boss fights, with the final boss being intense, exciting, and visually stunning to the point where I genuinely could not believe what I was seeing. In terms of difficulty, Sin and Punishment was honestly pretty tough, but getting a full grasp of your whole arsenal of attacks and abilities made everything feel fair while still putting up a good challenge.
On top of having some superb gameplay, Sin and Punishment is also one of the best looking games on the Nintendo 64. The pre-apocalypse artstyle is oozing with style and grit, and I was very impressed by the amount of detail that all of the backgrounds and enemies had, especially with how fast-paced the game is. In terms of story, Sin and Punishment was admittedly difficult to fully take in and comprehend, but even then, I still thought that it was really cool. What starts out as a game about simply fighting off an army of Ruffians ends up involving time travel, visions, and the cosmos, and the over-the-top storytelling felt like a perfect fit for the high-octane insanity and constant setpieces of the moment-to-moment gameplay, with the delightfully campy voice acting being the cherry on top. Although there are a ton of games from the Nintendo 64 that I still haven't played yet, I have no problem with saying that Sin and Punishment is my favorite one so far, and not only am I excited to replay it over and over again, but I also want to eventually play its sequel on the Wii, Sin & Punishment: Star Successor.
Super short, but also sweet and very replayable for upping up the ranking scores. A good arcade rush bullethell for the n64 along with its highly entertaining nonsensical cutscenes, cheese dialogues and headbopping stage tracks.
Controllers may take some time getting used to, but the training mode tells you all you need to know and gives you the leisure you need to ease into the mechanics.
Easy is a nice breeze with a generous handout for CREDITS to try again if you fudge it, while normal and hard are there for you to cry with stronger goons and bosses boasting more menacing attacks.
Controllers may take some time getting used to, but the training mode tells you all you need to know and gives you the leisure you need to ease into the mechanics.
Easy is a nice breeze with a generous handout for CREDITS to try again if you fudge it, while normal and hard are there for you to cry with stronger goons and bosses boasting more menacing attacks.
Absolutely baffled by this
Aesthetically Amazing, strongly inspired by late 90s Seinen Anime like Lain and Evangelion, but also by some classics like Gundam, Akira and Macross. The diegesis is convoluted and abstract, but i enjoy the frantic pace and the way they built the scenes. This game is a great example of usage of cinematics in favour of a videogame, with the cinematic frames actually being a gameplay part itself, and is so carefully built. I like the open nature of the narrative too.
Ludic-wise, the gameplay is very in depth, with both a varied number of options and also differing patterns of enemies and levels. What amazes me is how many different activities the game require you to do, you are never doing the same thing twice.
The game can be REALLY challenging, and its arcade nature allows a lot of skill-based replayability.
OST and scenarios are both killers too.
The control scheme can be a little bit counter-intuitive at times though.
Aesthetically Amazing, strongly inspired by late 90s Seinen Anime like Lain and Evangelion, but also by some classics like Gundam, Akira and Macross. The diegesis is convoluted and abstract, but i enjoy the frantic pace and the way they built the scenes. This game is a great example of usage of cinematics in favour of a videogame, with the cinematic frames actually being a gameplay part itself, and is so carefully built. I like the open nature of the narrative too.
Ludic-wise, the gameplay is very in depth, with both a varied number of options and also differing patterns of enemies and levels. What amazes me is how many different activities the game require you to do, you are never doing the same thing twice.
The game can be REALLY challenging, and its arcade nature allows a lot of skill-based replayability.
OST and scenarios are both killers too.
The control scheme can be a little bit counter-intuitive at times though.
My sin is being a gamer and my punishment is being a gamer
This game is good as fuck
Treasure at their peak, in my opinion. Taking a lot of their best mechanics and ideas and just going all in on this game in particular.
Everything in this is so ridiculously well-done and over the top it honestly shocks me this was on the N64 of all thing. Exceptional controls, hardcore scoring tactics, a ludicrous (but engaging) plot, and a gritty-ass pre-apocalypse aesthetic. Game's harder than hell and is absolutely worth your time and a half to play.
Highest marks.
Everything in this is so ridiculously well-done and over the top it honestly shocks me this was on the N64 of all thing. Exceptional controls, hardcore scoring tactics, a ludicrous (but engaging) plot, and a gritty-ass pre-apocalypse aesthetic. Game's harder than hell and is absolutely worth your time and a half to play.
Highest marks.
I just want everyone to know this game wins the award for worst looking humans in any game, book, movie, etc. the worst looking humans I ever have seen and I ever will see. The humans look very bad. Like they had to be trying to make them look that bad. I think about the humans more than I think about the game. They scare me. And they scare you, don’t lie.
It's very difficult to break down exactly why a game is compelling through just text. Video Games as a medium are essentially every other medium at the same time. This is a big problem. Because where we might have some success in mediums like music in delineating the fundamental elements that can be used to create any music: Providing a great framework for understanding the thought process behind a work; Such a thing doesn't really happen in games. I guess Video Games tend to lean in most on the visual art side of things, but generally speaking it's even more severe with visual concepts. Visual things are best expressed through just, other visuals. Writing down what something looks like discretely simply isn't worth doing because it's divorced from the actual feeling of it. You'd think it's adding context, but the context required would be seeing the game, and sometimes playing it. Video Games are simply just too involved for mere words to accomplish such a feat, especially arcadey titles for a reason I'll get into later. This is why it can be hard to talk about a game like Sin & Punishment.
Sin & Punishment is one of 3 games Hideyuki Suganami explicitly directed. Treasure's games didn't really have directors-- As such so any one's contribution was seen as equal to others. One of the other games he directed was Alien Soldier, which was mostly his entire project. I think stating this in advance is important to know because this colors the kind of perception you get from what S&P actually is. Suganami and the rest of Treasure were mostly focused on games that let you do what you want; But had very clear constraints and a high pressure environment that forced players to go about it with gusto. I think the opening line for Suganami's column on Grobda in the August 1993 edition of Beep! Mega Drive magazine kinda best sums out their thought process on games: "This is only for those of you who know. Gameplay is all about tactics. The person in charge is the player, and the game is where they test their decision-making abilities for attack and defense."
Like I said earlier, visual concepts are best explained visually. It's kind of a nothing assertion; But what happens with games? You'd need an entire system, a very wordy explanation for us to be operating on even a baseline level for my writing to make sense. Well, it's not all for naught. There's more to games than just gameplay, but I'm musing over this to get to my point of how value is distilled from video games. Treasure comes at it from the angle of player decision making first and foremost, and the interplay between the game's design and the tactics they naturally come to. Sin & Punishment as a game is generally focused on 3D Shooting.
It's more complicated than you initially suspect. In a 1995 interview, Masato Maegawa, president of Treasure went on record stating some of their core design considerations. The one important here is the fact that, the way he saw it, a game's concept shouldn't inherently start with it "being 3D." Unless it's 3Dness is conducive to the scope and key premise of the game, there's no reason it should be 3D. In Sin & Punishment, the main problem that arises is the relation of the reticle and your character's position at the bottom of the screen. Such a thing is possible within 2D constraints, but the added dimension is clearly a main idea here. As bullets fire off in the distance, they aren't 'hitscan.' These bullets physically travel, and objects and enemies often intersect their vectors. Some people think this game's controls are awkward. That's not really true, but I think I understand what they mean. The disjointed aspect of aiming in this way is actually one of the game's main challenges. You aim at a particularly nasty enemy that's far in back, or the boss. But things get in the way, or your attention is drawn elsewhere for a split second which clouds your judgement. There's various subtleties in aiming at a specific inclination, not particularly aiming at anything, to create a wall; Or using the weaker alternative fire, which tracks onto a particular enemy, as a moving anchor for dividing space with constant fire. Even this isn't giving you the full picture though. It's really genius because of how many unique enemy patterns the game throws at you. An insanely dense hour of gameplay that's very introspective about its own 3D nature.
Sin & Punishment is one of 3 games Hideyuki Suganami explicitly directed. Treasure's games didn't really have directors-- As such so any one's contribution was seen as equal to others. One of the other games he directed was Alien Soldier, which was mostly his entire project. I think stating this in advance is important to know because this colors the kind of perception you get from what S&P actually is. Suganami and the rest of Treasure were mostly focused on games that let you do what you want; But had very clear constraints and a high pressure environment that forced players to go about it with gusto. I think the opening line for Suganami's column on Grobda in the August 1993 edition of Beep! Mega Drive magazine kinda best sums out their thought process on games: "This is only for those of you who know. Gameplay is all about tactics. The person in charge is the player, and the game is where they test their decision-making abilities for attack and defense."
Like I said earlier, visual concepts are best explained visually. It's kind of a nothing assertion; But what happens with games? You'd need an entire system, a very wordy explanation for us to be operating on even a baseline level for my writing to make sense. Well, it's not all for naught. There's more to games than just gameplay, but I'm musing over this to get to my point of how value is distilled from video games. Treasure comes at it from the angle of player decision making first and foremost, and the interplay between the game's design and the tactics they naturally come to. Sin & Punishment as a game is generally focused on 3D Shooting.
It's more complicated than you initially suspect. In a 1995 interview, Masato Maegawa, president of Treasure went on record stating some of their core design considerations. The one important here is the fact that, the way he saw it, a game's concept shouldn't inherently start with it "being 3D." Unless it's 3Dness is conducive to the scope and key premise of the game, there's no reason it should be 3D. In Sin & Punishment, the main problem that arises is the relation of the reticle and your character's position at the bottom of the screen. Such a thing is possible within 2D constraints, but the added dimension is clearly a main idea here. As bullets fire off in the distance, they aren't 'hitscan.' These bullets physically travel, and objects and enemies often intersect their vectors. Some people think this game's controls are awkward. That's not really true, but I think I understand what they mean. The disjointed aspect of aiming in this way is actually one of the game's main challenges. You aim at a particularly nasty enemy that's far in back, or the boss. But things get in the way, or your attention is drawn elsewhere for a split second which clouds your judgement. There's various subtleties in aiming at a specific inclination, not particularly aiming at anything, to create a wall; Or using the weaker alternative fire, which tracks onto a particular enemy, as a moving anchor for dividing space with constant fire. Even this isn't giving you the full picture though. It's really genius because of how many unique enemy patterns the game throws at you. An insanely dense hour of gameplay that's very introspective about its own 3D nature.
Ok, I think I’m starting to like the way the humans look in this game. This game actually kinda looks awesome!!
suco de videogame com polpa e tudo - todas as ideias que alguém que não precisaria se preocupar com a logística de fazer um jogo teria e escreveria num caderno de rascunhos ou na aula de desenho da escola. coloca aí a arma e a espada e os robôs gigantes e os mutantes e você pode rebater os tiros dos outros e tem pontuação e tempo que você pode aumentar cumprindo objetivos opcionais e você pula e tem pulo duplo e o chefe final é literalmente um planeta!!! e não apenas qualquer planeta - um clone da terra, com japão, estados unidos e todos os outros países menores que não importam pra história que ele está contando. é uma caixa de bombons em que todos os bombons são deliciosos mas estão derretidos e misturados entre si. é por isso que só dura uma horinha também, no máximo duas, pois se você já tem idade pra sofrer de ressaca também não aguentaria a dor de cabeça que decorreria de uma noite de sin & punishment - mas se você ainda não tem idade pra sofrer de ressaca, nem teria motivo pra beber (ou jogar) em primeiro lugar.
The first time I beat this my emulator froze after a fade to black in the ending cutscene right before the game’s credits rolled in, and and I sat there for a few minutes thinking it was an incredibly inspired decision to have an arcade game end like that without any kind of entry for a high score or something. The second time I beat it I saw the actual credits and realized that this game is a masterpiece (not because the credits were an incredible scene, just cause the game is very fun and immaculately designed)
There is a scene in this game where a character is put into a dream, and then informed that they are in the future. The character sees footage that includes the Twin Towers and says "this isn't the future". Four and a half stars.
evangelion if it was good
S&P's conveyor belts of scenery and obstacles are so well-considered. You start off running on tall grass against a screaming sunset and it's striking, but so is everything that comes after. You drown in a sea of blood and return as a demon! The best rail shooter ever.
just had to make sure it's still good (it is)
I’ll never forget when this all literally happened in 2007.
There's probably no other game with as huge a divide of how fun it is with how atrocious the story and voice acting is... Or I dunno, MAYBE Symphony of the Night? What do you think?
There's probably no other game with as huge a divide of how fun it is with how atrocious the story and voice acting is... Or I dunno, MAYBE Symphony of the Night? What do you think?
The kind of video game that reminds me why I love the medium. Non stop action with a 90s dystopia anime inspired setting and immaculate vibes. Easily one of the best most technically impressive N64 titles and everyone should give it a try.
Waited until I could get my hands on a Switch N64 controller before playing this on NSO. Good god this game rules. So good that you can completely overlook not having a clue what’s going on, and not being able to hear a word anyone is saying. I’ve played it through twice more since finishing it. I want to go again.
Sin and Punishment!
Sin and Punishment!
Thank you for making the N64 controller for the Switch worth buying, Sin and Punishment.
As soon as I was finished I desperately wanted to pull out the Wii and play the sequel that I've owned without playing for over a decade.
As soon as I was finished I desperately wanted to pull out the Wii and play the sequel that I've owned without playing for over a decade.
pew pew pew pepepew
If this game had a cabinet at the pizza places and movie theaters when I was a kid, I'd be a completely different brand of gamer.
I couldn’t help but laugh every time the fact one of the main antagonists name is Brad comes up.
Sin and Punishment is one of those fun action games that's kinda wacky yet very fun, kind of "aesthetic" and very "vibey". It's hard to put into words for me, but to go into detail:
The game's a very fun arcade-like rail shooter, involving both targeting and shooting as well as movement of your character to dodge attacks (and a cool sword slash to something that's close enough). The control scheme can initially feel weird or difficult, but it shouldn't take too long to easily and effectively use it. It helps there's a tutorial mode anyways, which I recommend doing first. Game isn't tooooo difficult anyways, it's generous with life and score points, major concern tends to be the timer when fighting bosses.
The levels are all pretty distinct from each other and make progress all the more entertaining. They try to employ some kind of gimmick as well such as a perspective change or bosses having to be dealt in unique ways, or even different ways to handle regular enemies quick and easily. It's a pretty flashy game overall, and its great.
The story is
Something
I assume a lot of detail is in a manual or reserved for a sequel, but you don't get quite the full picture of what's going on, who these characters are, what's the deal with "Ruffians". But the game doesn't really care that much, which is fine: it's very much focused on being cool and entertaining for the most part, ending up as a mess but a mess you're pleased with. At the least, it certainly leaves a memorable impression and you get a general idea of what the main characters are like. The dialogue and dub make it all the more charming; they're not the best for sure, but it oddly fits well with the game's vibes. Does that make sense? Probably not, idc.
Don't have much else to add other than the game looks nice (idk man those models are pretty cool) and the music is so soooo good, fits so well with the game's aesthetic and themes.
Game is rather short, probably taking like 2 hours at most, but I don't really mind it. Certain parts definitely do feel like they go by too fast or take too long, and kinda messes with the balance of the playtime taken by each protag. I
Overall, yeah if you wanna play an N64 game you should definitely play this one lol, its great.
The game's a very fun arcade-like rail shooter, involving both targeting and shooting as well as movement of your character to dodge attacks (and a cool sword slash to something that's close enough). The control scheme can initially feel weird or difficult, but it shouldn't take too long to easily and effectively use it. It helps there's a tutorial mode anyways, which I recommend doing first. Game isn't tooooo difficult anyways, it's generous with life and score points, major concern tends to be the timer when fighting bosses.
The levels are all pretty distinct from each other and make progress all the more entertaining. They try to employ some kind of gimmick as well such as a perspective change or bosses having to be dealt in unique ways, or even different ways to handle regular enemies quick and easily. It's a pretty flashy game overall, and its great.
The story is
Something
I assume a lot of detail is in a manual or reserved for a sequel, but you don't get quite the full picture of what's going on, who these characters are, what's the deal with "Ruffians". But the game doesn't really care that much, which is fine: it's very much focused on being cool and entertaining for the most part, ending up as a mess but a mess you're pleased with. At the least, it certainly leaves a memorable impression and you get a general idea of what the main characters are like. The dialogue and dub make it all the more charming; they're not the best for sure, but it oddly fits well with the game's vibes. Does that make sense? Probably not, idc.
Don't have much else to add other than the game looks nice (idk man those models are pretty cool) and the music is so soooo good, fits so well with the game's aesthetic and themes.
Game is rather short, probably taking like 2 hours at most, but I don't really mind it. Certain parts definitely do feel like they go by too fast or take too long, and kinda messes with the balance of the playtime taken by each protag. I
Overall, yeah if you wanna play an N64 game you should definitely play this one lol, its great.
Caraca, que jogaço. Muito intenso, muito estilo, muita ação de primeira qualidade. Ele é curto e possui controles esquisitos, mas depois que se acostuma vc tem um dos melhores jogos de ação.
Sin and Punishment surprised me more than probably any other game this year so far. I expected to enjoy Bloodborne, I knew I'd love Persona 3 Reload, but not only did I NEVER hear about this game, but I grew to love it. What a classic.
Story: 6
Sound: 8
Graphics (of its time): 8
Gameplay: 9
Characters: 7
Overall Enjoyment: 9
I give Sin and Punishment an 8!
Sin and Punishment was one of the most unexpected, thrilling rides for me. Like many others, it looked interesting on the NSO page, so I figured I'd try it out. What the hell. This game was a blast. The run and gun shooting is amazing, and feels great to blow shit up left and right. It's like a cool and easy action game that makes you feel cool. I love it. The story, well...kind of just there, and the graphics by modern standards are shit. I don't know. I used to hate it, but I've grown to LOVE the N64/PSX graphics. Like, it's one of my favorite eras of visuals, just behind the SNES and Genesis. So for me, the graphics and controls are not a problem at all. Actually, for an N64 title, the controls are super smooth in this game, unlike Mario 64, OOT, and others for me.
There is always stuff flying at you left and right, but at the same time there's a pattern to it that gets a rhythm going. The arcade style of these levels are great, and I can probably see myself going back to this game every now and then.
Sin and Punishment surprised me more than probably any other game this year so far. I expected to enjoy Bloodborne, I knew I'd love Persona 3 Reload, but not only did I NEVER hear about this game, but I grew to love it. What a classic.
Story: 6
Sound: 8
Graphics (of its time): 8
Gameplay: 9
Characters: 7
Overall Enjoyment: 9
I give Sin and Punishment an 8!
Sin and Punishment was one of the most unexpected, thrilling rides for me. Like many others, it looked interesting on the NSO page, so I figured I'd try it out. What the hell. This game was a blast. The run and gun shooting is amazing, and feels great to blow shit up left and right. It's like a cool and easy action game that makes you feel cool. I love it. The story, well...kind of just there, and the graphics by modern standards are shit. I don't know. I used to hate it, but I've grown to LOVE the N64/PSX graphics. Like, it's one of my favorite eras of visuals, just behind the SNES and Genesis. So for me, the graphics and controls are not a problem at all. Actually, for an N64 title, the controls are super smooth in this game, unlike Mario 64, OOT, and others for me.
There is always stuff flying at you left and right, but at the same time there's a pattern to it that gets a rhythm going. The arcade style of these levels are great, and I can probably see myself going back to this game every now and then.
Sin and Punishment surprised me more than probably any other game this year so far. I expected to enjoy Bloodborne, I knew I'd love Persona 3 Reload, but not only did I NEVER hear about this game, but I grew to love it. What a classic.
Fun