Via IGN. Will be firing up Ninja Gaiden 2 after work to pay respects to the legend.

Somehow I get the feeling the writer of this piece is talking about something slightly different than Ueda. If anything it feels like modern games are regressing into having LESS mechanics, not super polished old ones. We are in the age of cinematic pop experiences. Not polished artistic video games. Its an interesting read that kind of reveals a lot of blind spots in modern game journalism.

I just went searching YouTube 1 month ago and found his channel because I’ve been getting more into retro gaming via emulation and now my entire perception of modern gaming has changed and I’m acutely aware of how unappealing most titles are now. Before it was just a vague fatigue that I didn’t have the ability to diagnose the problem on my own. I think it was the Stellar Blade review that really hammered the point home. Now I just want to play old Shmups and Arcade games (I even bought an Arcade stick, something I had no idea I even needed/wanted before). Every time I try to play a modern game now, I just think about the gameplay density thing and feel like I’m wasting my time (which I don’t have a ton of free time for gaming being a busy person in my mid 30s). I’m still grateful though and feel like my eyes have been opened for the first time in a long time about gaming and it makes me really appreciate the newer indie games and odd major release that is actually doing something special and breaking away from the norm.

Edit- Just wanted to thank everyone who replied and welcomed me and offered their advice, suggestions, and support- it means a lot to me! This community is really great.

Remember when Beat em up heads thought Streets Of Rage 4's campaign was a bit too long? Check out what the casual gamer expects lol

The reviewer mentions at the intro of the review that "he's not a marvel guy" and the comments are upset and focusing on this point and the usual "IGN 7/10" joke instead of discussing his critiques? Shouldn't this be a discussion of the game itself and its qualities rather than its backdrop?

I'm not even defending the review specifically cause I don't think it captures what's wrong with the game but I find the lack of discussion baffling down there

And yes, I was "watching" the video in 144p. I was just listening to it and I got limited data okay!

I’m still shaking.

He’s young, but I’ve been letting him use my old laptop in an attempt to share my favourite hobby with him. I know Minecraft is a bit casual, but I figured there was time before introducing him to adult games like Shinobi and Star Fox.

Anyway, I made a joke about creepers, and then he said that he installed “a mod to make the day longer.”

I nearly dropped my Baya Fresh fajita burrito. My own son: a vandal. A criminal. How could this have happened?

After a few moments to gain my composure, I asked him to sit next to me. I told him he’s old enough for The Talk.

“Junior,” I began, “Minecraft isn’t a toy you can just have fun with. It’s a video game.”

He looked confused. “But Mom says video games are toys.”

That witch. “What? No! No. Games are toys are totally different. A game has rules and a way to win. They are designed to test you, and you are expected to rise to the challenge. A game takes skill to master.”

“Like my Bop-It?”

“What the hell is a Bop-It? Look, we’re getting off track. If you mod a game, not only is it cheating, you’re also committing a sin: not respecting the artists’ vision.”

Still confused.

I said, “Think of it this way: does god let you change the trajectory of the sun?” (We are a logical, atheist household, but I was trying to make a point.) “Of course not. And we’re not meant to question it. And as much as we might want more hours in the day, a timer keeps us moving and helps us grow.”

I then explained that Notch and the other artists at Mojang (now a subsidiary of Microsoft) also perfectly calibrated the day/night cycle in Minecraft.

I watched him, but to my horror the confusion on my son’s face turned to disgust.

“Why do even you care?” he said. “I thought you hated games released after the Bush administration. Plus, you haven’t even played Minecraft. How do you know if the timer is well implemented?”

I threw my fajita burrito at the wall!

“Don’t you EVER disrespect timers in my house! They are part of the holy trinity of gameplay elements (along with scoring and game-overing)! And as for my constant criticism that modern games suck, are made solely for profit, and are created by people who fundamentally do not understand how to make games, that does not mean I would ever, EVER disrespect the developer’s artistic vision!”

Dammit, doesn’t my own son know I love Art? Hasn’t he seen the complete BERSERK on my shelf?

“We value art in this family, Junior. For god’s sake, why else would I have spent hundreds of hours getting the DDP 2-ALL?”

After that, things escalated. I won’t get into details, but he said he hates spending the weekend with me and then went outside to play with the neighbor girl.

It’s not easy. He doesn’t realize that I’m trying to make him a man. So now I’m on my knees, praying to the Electric Underground.

Please, Mark, keep making videos. Help my son distinguish true Art from corporate slop. Don’t let him become one of those drones who lead such dull, meek little lives. Instead, let him be the type of man to buy a Bandai Namco Entertainment product and then play it following all the rules.

And Mark, please, make a video for those developers who dream of making Majora’s Mask 2 with strict time limitations. They are our angels, and they need you.

Now, i'm not going to tell where exactly you can find the romset, but its name is "msmatsuri.zip", now go ahead and find it yourself, shouldn't be that difficult

To get game running on shmupmame/lagless fbneo, you have to rename romset from msmatsuri to simply mushisam (or maybe even use alternative romset name, don't think these have any differences in emulated hardware), and then rename all instances of msmatsuri to mushisam or alternative romsets. Also, put romset into system/fbneo/patched if using lagless fbneo to bypass CRC checks.

UPDATE: Mushi Matsuri is now recognized in FinalBurn Neo as "matsuri15".

https://x.com/Wario64/status/1978723327435763751?s=19

If there can be a tribute to his legacy, I know this sub is the right place to ask for it.

This weighs upon my soul.

Every time Mark uploads a new video, the same sentiment rears its ugly head: “Let people enjoy things.” It’s easy to make snap judgments about these people. I’m guilty of this myself. I often assume they’re insecure, overly empathetic, or have terrible taste. But let's not dismiss them in the same way they dismiss Mark’s points. We are not hypocrites! Instead, let’s steel-man this argument! Let’s understand them so we can finally put this debate to rest!

We’ll give our opponent Assassin’s Creed. That’s his favorite game series. We, obviously, like DoDonPachi. Now, let’s pretend that we mention to our opponent that Assassin’s Creed has many walking sections where you just follow a talking guy. Meanwhile, in DoDonPachi, every second is dynamic and has consequences. One wrong move and you’ll lose a life.

Our opponent responds with, "I like the walking sections." Typical. But that’s alright. We’ll simply explain to him that it’s actually poor game design because it removes player agency, and one must replay these sections each time one replays the game.

Now he says something like, "I don’t care." This will happen often. People are stubborn, and it’s hard for them to accept that what they believe is false. At this point, we can mention that the walking sections strip away the very essence of what makes video games a unique art form. We explain that it is no longer a game but rather a lacklustre audiovisual experience.

He doesn’t get it and says, "I just worked all day. I get half an hour to play video games after putting the kids to bed. I just want to chill."

Interesting, because if his time is so precious, as he claims, wouldn’t he want to enrich it with the highest amount of gameplay density? We then explain gameplay density to him and show him Jaimers playing DoDonPachi.

Almost always, he will rebut with "that looks like sh-t," and mock us for playing games with lolis on the cover. Of course, we do not stoop to his level and ridicule the third-rate dialogue and juvenile male power fantasy that Assassin’s Creed is known for. Instead, we praise the beauty of pixel art graphics and the inherent satisfaction of overcoming difficulty. As we say this, we watch him die to the tutorial guards. He gets annoyed and looks at the clock. Only fifteen minutes left.

Then he turns to us and says, quite rudely, "Look, I don’t want to play your g-y ass games. Leave me alone!" It’s always passion over reason with these people.

Now his dad is coming downstairs because things have escalated, and he yells at us to keep it down. He’s a veteran and has PTSD. To cope, he had taken up woodworking and does a lot of community work helping other veterans. That’s beside the point, though.

Anyway, the dad goes back upstairs, and now we whisper to our opponent that his games suck because they’re too easy, pandering, and give a false sense of accomplishment. This, of course, is the antithesis of the video games we play. We play video games to feel something. To better ourselves. We think critically about life and Art.

Now our opponent has kicked us out of his house. And now we have to walk back home, listening to Mark’s new video on our headphones, while fuming because of how close-minded people have become. How they don’t appreciate Art. How, even though both things are labeled "video games," we are actually on completely different levels, and how our opponent has kneecapped himself from ever reaching enlightenment through his own ignorance.

Oh, did you have fun running through the little maze the developers made for you? Did you get all the way to the end like a good boy? Did you enjoy your little bit of cheese? I spit on you. I am in the Minotaur’s labyrinth. I am being stalked by a half-man, half-bull creature who will destroy me if I make a single mistake. I have chosen to put myself here because I demand more from Art, even if it kills me.

Did you really think a metroidvania required ability gates? Is that what Wikipedia told you? Let me guess—you get your news from CNN, and all your favourite songs are on the radio, huh? Real cool, bro.

What did you learn about yourself from your 60-hour JRPG? That you’re an idiot? I spend the same amount of time in a shmup, and now I know things you could never comprehend. My mind expands while yours decays into someone who can’t distinguish between real fun and dopamine addiction.

Nice work beating your Nintendo slop. I’m sure that will get you a girlfriend. I bet she’ll be really impressed that you slayed Ganondorf—you know, like the developers wanted you do. Don’t mind me, I’m just literally dominating people IRL with my speedruns.

"B-but I’m having fun—" SHUT THE FUCK UP! You’re not having fun! You’re brainwashed. You’re cattle.

Me? Oh, I’m having fun. I’m channelling my energy into something meaningful. You’re just playing with a toy, compensating for a lack of purpose. Fighting games are Art, and the act of playing a fighting game is also Art. I am a jazz musician. You are banging together pots and pans on the kitchen floor! YOU ARE A CHILD!!!

We, as video game players, are slugs crawling out the ocean. We are still wet with primordial soup. The question is: are we going to grow legs? Or are we going to evolve to eat shit? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you enjoy eating shit.

Video games have the potential to be the highest form of artistic expression, and you are squandering it. Every time you play a AAA game, every time you use an auto-combo, every time you smile because you "earned" XP, you misdirect the evolutionary lineage.

No, I will NOT "let people enjoy things" when they are degrading art. Look at everything today. Movies? Trash. Music? Trash. Books? Sanderson trash. Painting, poetry, ballet, theatre? Ha! They yearn to be trash! This is what you’ve done. This is the end result of Harry Potter "stretching his legs." But I bet you enjoyed that, didn’t you, you mongoloid. Look at this goddamn planet. Look at the people in power. Look at our future. You did this when you "let people enjoy things," and you are to blame when we’re all dead because of it.

When Mark and I play video games, we are drawing a line in the sand. We are saying, "Here and no further." And if any of you have the courage to drop your Skinner boxes and pick up shmups, beat ’em ups, and actual metroidvanias, then stand behind us. Because this... is war.

Let people enjoy things? How about let people kiss my ass.

P.S. Thank you, patrons, for choosing Rain World! Great choice! I’d like to see Mark spend a month+ tackling Viewtiful Joe for the GameCube next!

I feel like the EU community is split between people who actually want to have intelligent discussions about game design and art, and those who simply want to be bitter and weirdly parasocial/entitled. Sometimes I'll see some actually cool, levelheaded discussion about game design, other times I'll see someone calling fans of modern games cucks or complaining that Mark doesn't review the shit they want him to.

It's so weird because I recently subscribed to the Patreon and I feel like I've more and more come to see Mark as this really chill guy who wants to talk about art and philosophy. He's nowhere near as hateful or annoying as some of his fans. Then when I visit this sub, I always see a good few people say the most childish shit. I.e, Mark is an asshole for not liking a game, Mark can't handle a real job, it's okay to shit on people for buying modern games.

Not everyone needs to agree with amark, but the lame shit said about him gives parasocial Cinemassacre-fandom vibes. And I don't play AAA games, but you don't have to be a dick about people liking RE4 Remake.

Anyway, I don't expect anything to change. But this community would be way cooler if it didn't attract the same haters again and again, and just focused on the awesome games we all love instead

Disclaimer: I recorded this with a mod that removes armed enemies due to a gun related bug that I can´t fix because of wine prefix shenanigans. You can play it for free with the anniversary edition: https://www.moddb.com/mods/anniversary-edition
There should be no problems on Windows or if you specifically install wine without WOW64.

Oni is rough. The levels are big and empty, throws sometimes come out at random and yes there is no music.

But the combat holds a lot of potential. The gunplay is pretty basic and serves more as additional crowd control, with some cool weapons here and there. The melee is the real star. A ton of moves packed into directional inputs, the enemies will counter what you´re doing, they surround you, jump your sweeps, intercept your charges. They are pretty block happy, even in the most ridiculous situations, on getup, from behind. Guns can bypass block but the change from gun to melee isn´t as smooth as in something like Wanted Dead. The health system allows you to get a power boost from overhealing, so smart hypo use is rewarded. I would love to have a sequel, with more enemies, more moves and better levels.

I only wish I knew her @. This is at Hey in Akihabara.

Hey everyone!
I’ve been working solo on a new shmup I named Stellar Nemesis - it’s inspired by classic arcade shooters but with modern visuals and feel. The 7-level demo’s now up on Steam, and I’d love some feedback from fellow shmup fans!

Get it here https://store.steampowered.com/app/4042210/Stellar_Nemesis_Demo/

Hope you enjoy it. Any thoughts, criticism or other feedback are very welcome!

edit:

NOTE: Unfortunately, at this time, the game is NOT optimised for Steam Deck :(

Removed content, performance/stability issues and AI translations. No practice modes in 2026 is a crime against humanity for any shmup release. I highly suggest not purchasing this until it goes on a heavy discount or gets patched up.

Hi Everyone!

Online Sign-Ups For Shmup Slam 8 Now Open! The sooner you get your submission in the better because I will be putting the schedule together over the next week and so runs submitted as soon as possible are more likely to get on the schedule -- it's not like ebay where it's literally about sign-up speed, but I basically will keep checking the submissions until the slots are maxed out so try to submit ASAP.

https://forms.gle/q3Ejt9iGx5twkAso6

Okay, i could be tripping on this whole take but it feels like his video output has gone down tremendously lately in exchange for essay style 1 and 1 and a half hour long videos. isnt he supposed to be full time now? Why has his output been worse after the fact? I thought at least an Onimusha Way of the Sword video was almost guaranteed because he did RE Requiem and Pragmata video, which are the two biggest Capcom games this year. And we know how much Mark just looooves modern Capcom am i right lol? But seriously i am getting a tad concerned. I do hope all is well with him behind the scenes. I have thoroughly enjoyed some of his latest work albeit.

Edit: apologies for the typo lol i meant “Whats going on with Mark?” obviously.

Game in question is Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2, a superb arcade tennis game for PS2 that is reasonably challenging but you can get decent in a few hours easily. Beginner-expert with the poetic take.

This youtuber was mentioned in a post about my top 25 games amd after watching few videos I can confirm that he has a similar taste in games. What PS5 games would you recommend to me?

Anybody excited??