In the past week, I've 1CC'd 3 NES shmups; Gradius 1, which was an interesting history lesson of a game even if not the most polished, Gradius 2 which was a huge improvement on the first game and possibly the most technically impressive on the system, and now Summer Carnival 92: Recca which... might just be the greatest and most ambitious 8-bit game I've ever played?
It's strange seeing this game have a reputation for being "too difficult" in some circles. The first thing to knock out of the park is the mention of difficulty. Recca was not made for casual audiences in the way Galaga or even Gradius was. Recca was made with world champion shmup players in mind for the sake of hosting Naxat Soft's eponymous Summer Carnival competition.
The game makes use of common shmup frameworks such as popcorn bullets, unreactable attacks, huge elaborate bosses, and so forth in the most devious ways possible. It's all as if to say if you're new to the shmup genre, this isn't for you and it makes no secret about it. Just surviving by memorizing the game to perform gradually and gradually better for a competition is the sake of this game.
And yet, the game is actually more fair than most of its contemporaries in areas. While dodging powerups is still a bitch here at points, most of the blue powers are actually still fine to have in just about every situation because the Options and bomb do most of the work for the player. I'm a huge sucker for shmups where the player can bomb constantly and has homing attacks that actually hit like a truck. In Recca, the player is given not 1 but 2 simultaneous homing attacks that cut through enemies like knives through hot butter to make up for the sheer enemy count and intimidation of the bosses. This is all packaged with bombs that make the player intangible in a certain area and can be spammed every 5 seconds.
God, let's talk about the speed, pace, and aesthetic. Right from the beginning, the game brags about its sheer status as a technical marvel. High speed flight through the stars at a solid 60 FPS is immediately proceeded by 20 enemies flooding the screen with little to no slowdown as the player is tossed out of the frying pan and into the fire.
To be blown away this is running so smoothly on an NES, this section says it all: https://youtu.be/nfY79-3AdGY?t=196
Indeed, almost all of the game is rendered at 60 FPS, but the explosions were rendered at 30 FPS instead to save on resources much like in Contra. The result is an exhilarating pace that never lets up, with bosses that take up the entire screen and require precision bombing to destroy. Not to mention the music simply makes me feel like I'm stuck in a hostile mysterious alien environment constantly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC1FK7lt6mU
They say a game for everybody is a game made for nobody. Summer Carnival 92 Recca on the other hand is a game made for just about nobody. In an ideal world, I'd hope this means it's a game which can have its existence appreciated by just about everybody. If nobody else does, however, I appreciate it very sincerely.
When I first played it 2-3 years ago, I spent roughly 15 hours practicing it but simply could not get far into stage 4 as I was still a rather fledgling shmup player. Fast forward to tonight where I was deadset on beating it after 15 hours more of practice.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1048770623805079633/1070570802531008633/image.png
In the middle of a stream with 4 friends cheerleading me I managed to beat it with 4 lives to spare, almost as if they were there with me in spirit. I will never forget this as it is probably my proudest game clear ever. Many thanks to everybody who was there to witness it :)
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1048770623805079633/1070570725963997314/image.png
It's strange seeing this game have a reputation for being "too difficult" in some circles. The first thing to knock out of the park is the mention of difficulty. Recca was not made for casual audiences in the way Galaga or even Gradius was. Recca was made with world champion shmup players in mind for the sake of hosting Naxat Soft's eponymous Summer Carnival competition.
The game makes use of common shmup frameworks such as popcorn bullets, unreactable attacks, huge elaborate bosses, and so forth in the most devious ways possible. It's all as if to say if you're new to the shmup genre, this isn't for you and it makes no secret about it. Just surviving by memorizing the game to perform gradually and gradually better for a competition is the sake of this game.
And yet, the game is actually more fair than most of its contemporaries in areas. While dodging powerups is still a bitch here at points, most of the blue powers are actually still fine to have in just about every situation because the Options and bomb do most of the work for the player. I'm a huge sucker for shmups where the player can bomb constantly and has homing attacks that actually hit like a truck. In Recca, the player is given not 1 but 2 simultaneous homing attacks that cut through enemies like knives through hot butter to make up for the sheer enemy count and intimidation of the bosses. This is all packaged with bombs that make the player intangible in a certain area and can be spammed every 5 seconds.
God, let's talk about the speed, pace, and aesthetic. Right from the beginning, the game brags about its sheer status as a technical marvel. High speed flight through the stars at a solid 60 FPS is immediately proceeded by 20 enemies flooding the screen with little to no slowdown as the player is tossed out of the frying pan and into the fire.
To be blown away this is running so smoothly on an NES, this section says it all: https://youtu.be/nfY79-3AdGY?t=196
Indeed, almost all of the game is rendered at 60 FPS, but the explosions were rendered at 30 FPS instead to save on resources much like in Contra. The result is an exhilarating pace that never lets up, with bosses that take up the entire screen and require precision bombing to destroy. Not to mention the music simply makes me feel like I'm stuck in a hostile mysterious alien environment constantly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC1FK7lt6mU
They say a game for everybody is a game made for nobody. Summer Carnival 92 Recca on the other hand is a game made for just about nobody. In an ideal world, I'd hope this means it's a game which can have its existence appreciated by just about everybody. If nobody else does, however, I appreciate it very sincerely.
When I first played it 2-3 years ago, I spent roughly 15 hours practicing it but simply could not get far into stage 4 as I was still a rather fledgling shmup player. Fast forward to tonight where I was deadset on beating it after 15 hours more of practice.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1048770623805079633/1070570802531008633/image.png
In the middle of a stream with 4 friends cheerleading me I managed to beat it with 4 lives to spare, almost as if they were there with me in spirit. I will never forget this as it is probably my proudest game clear ever. Many thanks to everybody who was there to witness it :)
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1048770623805079633/1070570725963997314/image.png