One of Capcom's weirdest arcade oddities: A three-game compilation, including Midnight Wanderers (action platformer), Chariot (hori shmup) and Don't Pull (top down puzzle game i guess like bomberman/pengo?)
Midnight Wanderers is the foundational game of the set and the one with the most budget by far. Remember Lou the assist from MvC1? He's from this game. It's like Ghouls n Ghosts with more of a bombastic arcade fantasy feel. It's still hard but way more forgiving thanks to air control on movement, tamer level design and more robust attack options. If anything, the pacing of the game makes it feel more akin to a beat-em-up with how you crowd-control stuff around you while slowly progressing ahead. Art style is also just phenomenal, it's that dreamy vibrant 90's look that evokes the best kind of wistfulness. Midnight Wanderers is bar none the pack's best game, but also disappointing if just because it makes you wish it was its own fully-developed thing. It definitely has that 'only 80% finished' feel, if that makes sense.
Chariot is a shmup set directly after Midnight Wanderers's plot, within the same universe. It has some neat ideas for gameplay mechanics and a nice zodiac theme for the bossfights and backgrounds, but isn't as 'meaty' as it could be. Half the stages have terrain gimmicks ala R-Type and the other half are just set in the night sky. It's not a very hard shooter, and you could probably 1CC it with a little under a dozen attempts, but it's not short or dense enough to really invite that style of play. If MW is 80% finished, Chariot feels only 60% done.
Don't Pull is shit. It's the only game of the pack not set in Lou's universe for some reason, even though the gameplay style could've definitely fit with its universe's paint job. The grid movement is sticky and unresponsive, you don't move fast enough and the gameplay gets old after 5 levels.
Overall this pack's kinda funky. It really comes across like Capcom wanted Midnight Wanderers and Chariot to be standalone games, but for artistic or financial reasons, were unable to make either game 'big' enough to warrant that. So they slapped together a third game and put them all on one rom so arcade owners would be suckered into ordering it under the pretense 'holy shit! three cakes!' As with a lot of capcom's 90's IPs, it's a shame this 'series' didn't get a second chance. But it IS four bucks on Capcom stadium 2, so, jump on it fam
Midnight Wanderers is the foundational game of the set and the one with the most budget by far. Remember Lou the assist from MvC1? He's from this game. It's like Ghouls n Ghosts with more of a bombastic arcade fantasy feel. It's still hard but way more forgiving thanks to air control on movement, tamer level design and more robust attack options. If anything, the pacing of the game makes it feel more akin to a beat-em-up with how you crowd-control stuff around you while slowly progressing ahead. Art style is also just phenomenal, it's that dreamy vibrant 90's look that evokes the best kind of wistfulness. Midnight Wanderers is bar none the pack's best game, but also disappointing if just because it makes you wish it was its own fully-developed thing. It definitely has that 'only 80% finished' feel, if that makes sense.
Chariot is a shmup set directly after Midnight Wanderers's plot, within the same universe. It has some neat ideas for gameplay mechanics and a nice zodiac theme for the bossfights and backgrounds, but isn't as 'meaty' as it could be. Half the stages have terrain gimmicks ala R-Type and the other half are just set in the night sky. It's not a very hard shooter, and you could probably 1CC it with a little under a dozen attempts, but it's not short or dense enough to really invite that style of play. If MW is 80% finished, Chariot feels only 60% done.
Don't Pull is shit. It's the only game of the pack not set in Lou's universe for some reason, even though the gameplay style could've definitely fit with its universe's paint job. The grid movement is sticky and unresponsive, you don't move fast enough and the gameplay gets old after 5 levels.
Overall this pack's kinda funky. It really comes across like Capcom wanted Midnight Wanderers and Chariot to be standalone games, but for artistic or financial reasons, were unable to make either game 'big' enough to warrant that. So they slapped together a third game and put them all on one rom so arcade owners would be suckered into ordering it under the pretense 'holy shit! three cakes!' As with a lot of capcom's 90's IPs, it's a shame this 'series' didn't get a second chance. But it IS four bucks on Capcom stadium 2, so, jump on it fam
2 Comments
chariot is cool, i do really like how options are quick rechargeable bombs and i like the ways you can use your tail to defend from the back.
i always glossed over nightmare busters cause 'new' games for old consoles can be extremely hit or miss but looking it up it looks really cool. i do really like the trope of unfinished games being preserved, fixed and released for their og platforms. mad stalker on genesis is hella good
i always glossed over nightmare busters cause 'new' games for old consoles can be extremely hit or miss but looking it up it looks really cool. i do really like the trope of unfinished games being preserved, fixed and released for their og platforms. mad stalker on genesis is hella good
C_F
2 years ago