originally had this scored as much lower because the author of the thread where you can download this recommended you try out a much rougher version first because it's more challenging, and not the rebalanced 1.31 version that's actually fun to play and teaches you its systems. imagine that!

this is an interesting one. night slashers x is a fanmade revision of data east's night slashers, replete with the usual tweaks and adjustments you'd see in a project like this such as widescreen support and a four player co-op mode. but they've also made a significant overhaul to the original game's rather simplistic suite of mechanics. the original night slashers was essentially a final fight clone (honghua's animations are without exaggeration 1:1 with guy's). so aside from the horror trappings which inform its aesthetic, the only component distinguishing it from a bevy of similarly inclined beat em ups is its treasure-lite sensibilities. mob waves are intense, difficult, and uncompromising, but boss encounters are plentiful, fair, & challenging. night slashers is very much a beat em up which reduces its capability for player expression as a result of teetering-on-unfair encounter design, but the end result is a manageable title which asks the player to strip down to only the barest necessities for each combat encounter and to carefully engage in hitbox outfighting and counterpunching. of course, this description reflects the game at its best when more careful examination reveals this may not exactly have been the intention. there's a suite of chargeable attacks which are almost completely incompatible with the title's whims; charging takes far too long and enemies are far too zealous in approach, rendering it largely superfluous as a means of offence. likewise, your two shmup bomb-eque special attacks are both conveniently introduced 'get-off-me' panic buttons which decimate the calvaries of the dead while incurring significant damage to the player, which should act as a deterrant to player abuse, but can quickly be overcome through modern emulated credit feeding. even disregarding that, it's still clearly a mechanic introduced through necessity in a game with mobs as dense as these. these mechanics both depict a game that isn't exactly designed sharply, or even with honest intentions at heart, but with the right mindset one learns to quickly ignore these infelicities. you surpass night slashers by rarely resorting to the charge attacks, having a plan for every encounter, and using foreknowledge of the stages to manage health for future encounters - you have to know ahead of time when is the best moment to strike with a special attack. the end result is a simplistic & snappy albeit broken game that nevertheless manages to thrill with its contradictory ruleset.

X, meanwhile, should be the better beat 'em up in theory. widescreen support allows for increased environmental legibility and allows for more careful circumnavigation of mobs, rebalancing some encounters means they often do not skew as much towards nickel-and-diming you, and there's an immense amount of additional content this time around. but i think it's also just this complete and total testament to fangame maximalism. every new mechanic under the sun that could have been implemented is here. wake-up attacks, recovery, blocking, dodging, counters, input commands, smash bros-esque combo strings and grabs, a meter bar separate from HP tied to your specials, risk/reward mechanics tied to regaining meter, counterhits...the list goes on. likewise, this is the most insane roster of guest characters ever conceived? ash williams from the evil dead, i understand, but what's ortega from saturday night slam masters doing here? or kurokishi from guardians: denjin makai ii? or aska from tournament fighters? it boggles the mind. total indulgence. it's technically a bit more fairly designed, but it's this immense deluge of newly introduced options and heaps of 'polish' that ironically detracts from the kinetic flair of the original night slashers, irrespective of any enjoyment to be had here. the length of the campaigns are vaguely similar despite some extended segments or newly introduced levels in X - so why does it feel like X is so, so much longer than the original?

at the very least, as a fangame, this is an impressive effort - and it's a better translation of what makes the original night slashers enjoyable than streets of rage remake is for that franchise. but sometimes less is more, and maybe sometimes cruel is more, too.

Reviewed on Sep 30, 2022


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