The Coop

Since it's getting close to that two week mark, I give a bump for the newbies out there.

Sorry for not being there this past weekend. I was in the middle of trying to get a serious amount of work done and there was no way for me to hop into the AIM chatroom and get work done... because, well, productivity and AIM don't go together However, thanks for giving my mix a little airtime lovin'

I'm not the best gamer when it comes to actions titles. I admit it. Most of my gaming prowess comes with shmups. But, I'm not a newbie at the genre either. I've beaten some tough games. But there's one old school game that just bugs me to this day. While I enjoy the Shinobi series, and can readily whoop the asses of Revenge of Shinobi, Shadow Dancer and Shinobi III, the original Shinobi on the Sega Master System has a final boss that I've only ever beaten once. First, he has a barrier around him. You can only hurt him at certain times (I believe when he lands on the ground). He jumps around, trying to hit you, all the while being impervious to your attacks. Should you manage to hit him a few times, then he changes his attack. During this phase, you can only hit him up close. Not too bad. But his third phase is mean. Here, he starts hopping around again, except when he hits the ground, he make a clone of himself... and that clone starts attacking you as well. And unless you can time it so you hit him before he hits the ground again, you're going to have clones all over the place attacking you. But, if you should get through all that, then he goes apeshit. His attacks are hard to dodge, and the only way you can hurt him is by hitting him in the back. While this boss doesn't do really any more damage than other bosses, he does the damage a lot faster. It's just frustrating as hell, as his attacks come so fast and frequently, it becomes... maddening. All I gotta say is I'm glad the bosses in the rest of the Shinobi series aren't like that final one, in that being skilled is somehow replaced by just being lucky.

So... Who do I have to bribe to get my remix "Descent to the End" a little airtime?

Nah. + + = Triplets? For those just joining us, that's Larry, Paul Goodloe of the Weather Channel, and "The Coach" from WWE, in that order.

Whoa. Just saw that the second "How To" thread here just got axed. Giving this a bump... just because.

Don't suppose... um... that uh... "Descent to the End" falls in that area

Way back when, back in the days of the Amiga, a friend of mine had a game called Shadow of the Beast. Very pretty game, great music, and hard a hell. Having never owned an Amiga, I was happy the day the Genesis version of SotB came out. It looked just as good, was just as hard, but the sound suffered. Still, I enjoyed it. A couple years later, Shadow of the Beast II arrived on the Genesis. With better sound quality (though worse tunes) and nice graphics, it was the challenge of this game that was killer. SotB II was twice as hard as the first game. Everything had to be done in a precise order throughout the game (like the first one), but now the enemies were tougher, there were more traps to kill you, and dead ends that couldn't be gotten out of until you died. It was a mean spirited game... and I loved it. But while the boss at the end of SotB was a wuss, the boss at the end of SotB II, Zelek, was anything but. He had few attacks... namely, a fireball shot if you were further away from him, and a downward flame stream if you were below him. He bobs around in the air, floating back and forth in the area where you fight him. If a fireball hits you, it does a nasty amount of damage. If the flame stream hits you, your health vanishes steadily at a quick pace (and in this game, you don't have much in the way of health). If you come in contact with the boss, it drains your health just as quickly as the flame stream. To hit him, you need to make sure you grabbed a special weapon in one of the areas earlier in the game. If you missed it, you can't win. If you did get it, you still have to jump up in the air and fire it to hurt him... as he follows you back and forth. You have to be far enough away to jump so he can't touch you, and time it between fireball shots so you don't get hit. It seems simple, and at heart it is... but with how fast you lose your health on this final boss, the fact that at most you get a couple life replenishers (and that's assuming you didn't use them up just getting to the final boss), and no continues too boot, this makes this "simple" patterned boss a real pain.

Getting close to that infamous two week mark, so I'm giving another nudge to this thread. And Lavos, I can see where you're coming from, but most threads about a favorite console are made on purpose by someone being a smart ass because it's a topic that they know will degenerate quickly. Favorite remix and remixer threads on the otherhand, usually get made by newbies that don't know the tiresome aspect of the topic on OCR, and wander into the fire unaware that they're about to get burned.

Join ussssssssss.... Jooooiiiinnnnnn uuuuuuuuuussssssssssssssss.........

Now, I'm still pretty new to the world of MegaMan and it's bosses, but there's a boss in MegaMan Zero that's been a pain in the ass for a little while now, and nothing I do seems to get me past the thing. Named Harpuia, this boss is just owning my ass regularly. Between his being airborne most of the time, his downward slash attack, his triple wave combo (which I've gotten pretty good at avoiding most of the time), and the attack where he dives down and grabs you, lifts you way up and then slams your butt to the ground, I just can't beat the guy. The best I've done against him is getting rid of 1.5 bars of life. Eventually, he wears my character down and then it's over everytime. I know there's way to beat him, but I refuse to look up a game faq. I've beaten the first six MegaMan games from the NES days (thanks to the "Anniversary Collection" that came out), and I've beaten MegaMan X as well. All bosses have a weakness, and they all have a way to work around the attacks they use. I just have yet to find the right system (or get enough luck) to beat Harpuia.

Just giving this thread a nudge to potentially prevent deletion.

HELLO NEWBIES!!! Welcome to OCR. The bathrooms are on the left, the kitchen is around the corner, and the exits... ... well, there are no exits. So if there's a fire, you go down with the rest us. HAVE FUN!!!

This may have been brought up before and I just couldn't find it, but I feel the need to ask this... What's the current status of VGF? I know Larry's laptop took a nose dive on him a while back, but was it ever fixed? Is the show back up and running normally? Are the only VGF shows on at the moment the reruns that've been happening lately? I ask this in part because I was doing a bumper for the show, but if it's still not back up yet, then finishing it in time for a Halloween show seems pointless. And since the last thing I recall reading was that VGF was on indefinite hold, I figured this'd be a good spot to ask.

I wish I knew. Even [-Smoke-] doesn't know what happened to the first thread, and I'm sure the second ones disappearance is just as mysterious. I'm wondering if it has something to do with it not being posted in for 3-4 weeks, since that seems to be how long threads last in this forum. Maybe despite being a stickied thread, it still gets deleted due to inactivity. The second one vanished in less than 2 weeks. And Stickies aren't affected by the age of the most recent post, they stick forever until unstickied when too old. And the mystery continues to unfold... **plays "Unsolved Mysteries" theme**

Having finally beaten Alien Soldier last night, I found a new boss to loathe. Now, while the game is filled with bosses (it's on the verge of being nothing but boss fights the entire time), there's one boss on level 20 (yes, level 20) that proved to be a real bitch... in several senses. See, the boss is a female character that morphs into a big beast that you have to fight called the Valkyrie Force. Here, she throws a huge boomerang shot as well as shooting one of her arms at wherever you happen to be standing. Now, should you beat that form, she morphs again into Medusa Force. This is just a big "buzzsaw"-like form that you have to avoid being hit by as it moves forward and backward along the ground. Of course, there are periodic min fields to dodge and the only weapon that does any good in the homing shot. Beat that form? No problem, as she now morphs into Sylpheed Force. Here, you're constantly plummeting and drifting towards her... and literally the only weapon you can use in the homing weapon. Sadly, this runs out pretty quick again this form and you spend a lot of time dodging her dash attacks as you let the weapon refill. You have to get close to hit her, and one slight slip and you loose a big chunk of health should you bump into her. Bested that form? Now try Artemis Force. It's a cat-like form that's not too bad to beat. Should you get by that one... ... then you reach Sirene Force. Here, you're underwater and the super shot you can acquire to help with boss fights is useless. The boss swims around in a circle while it shoots out little energy balls that circle it. The only thing that'll help you here is the quick "block" attack that destroys bullets, and you'll need it here as getting hit regularly happens. Hitting the boss is a pain in the ass and sometimes the only way to hurt the thing to any great degree is to sacrifice your health and charge in. Five forms for one boss. No weapon rechargings with the exception of a couple power ups that go by pretty quickly during the second form... which you best make sure you get. Five different environment to battle in. I could beat all the bosses up to this one, and after this one, without much trouble. But the five form level 20 boss just gave me a fight that I just couldn't get past for what seemed like dozens upon dozens of tries.

I wish I knew. Even [-Smoke-] doesn't know what happened to the first thread, and I'm sure the second ones disappearance is just as mysterious. I'm wondering if it has something to do with it not being posted in for 3-4 weeks, since that seems to be how long threads last in this forum. Maybe despite being a stickied thread, it still gets deleted due to inactivity.

Well, since it has vanished yet again, here's the third version of this thread. For those of you coming here for the first time, this is just a friendly request to avoid making a "favorite remix/remixer" thread on this site. I'm sure you're wondering "Why?". Well, the answer is pretty simple. Those threads almost always degenerate into flame wars, as they have been done literally hundreds upon hundreds of times (and thusly, everyone is sick of them). Also, those threads usually get the same answers each time, and this can lead to hurt feelings... and yet more flames. If you feel the urge to divide your OCR collection up into the "WOW!" and "HOW'D THIS GET ON THE SITE?!" categories, please do so on your hard drive, and not on the site itself. Moderator edit: We're broadening this to favorite/worst stuff threads in general. They have the nasty habit of causing flamewars very fast (along the lines of "U IDIOT TAHT GAEM/SYSTEM SUX BALLZ/IZ GRATE") Same goes for those silly "Who would win?" threads actually. There's no winners in those, only losers. Not to mention that in most cases it's impossible to determine who'd win, since it's all based on opinion anyways . The Coop edit: I noticed a recent comment by Hausdog, and felt the need to update this post. It's been a while since the first version of this thread was made, and I figured it's time to give a more in-depth answer as to why these threads are still frowned upon. The reason OCR has a "No favorites" policy is two fold... 1- To avoid having the remixes be "ranked". The point of OCR is that all the songs posted here passed the judging process, and thus, are worth at least giving a listen. The site doesn't divide the remixes up by most downloads, most positive/negative reviews, or what have you, and by extension, it doesn't allow user made threads that do the same basic thing. Doing so results in remixes being ignored that might have otherwise at least been given a chance, simply because some people didn't like it, or because the remixer wasn't on someone's "OMG BESTEST" list. The goal is to have listeners... well, listen. And threads that name the same few remixers and tunes over and over as people's favorites pretty much fubars that concept, and results in mixes being passed over because no one mentioned them in "favorite remix/remixer thread #17597". OCR wants you to decide what you'll keep by hearing the songs. Not by going with popular vote. 2- Favorite game threads, like the remix/remixer ones, have been done to death. Franchises like Final Fantasy have had so many threads asking which one was your favorite, it was getting to the point of being like the movie Groundhog Day. You'd see them and think to yourself, Didn't we just do this? Such threads are also prime targets for flame-fests, as the moment someone disses the franchise (which always happens), the people who like it come to their beloved series' rescue and go after the supposed heretic that besmirched their game's good name (which also always happens). Bickering starts, and the cycle is complete. While the site supports people being able to discuss the games (and game music) they enjoy, the generalized threads dedicated to things like "Favorite Final Fantasy game", "Best Sonic game", "Favorite shmup", "Favorite Chrono Trigger song", "Favorite video game babe", "Favorite RPG weapon", "Favorite video game series", and so forth, will get the boot. Keep in mind, if you're new to a franchise that has a lot of installments, it's okay to ask people which one(s) would be a good starting point. If you're new to a particular genre, it's fine to ask for advice on which ones are worth getting. If you just picked up a system, you're free to ask for recommendations... especially if it's an older system that has a huge library of games. But if all you're wanting to do as ask people "what's you're favorite _______?", no matter how you try and word it, it will most likely be locked rather quickly. So there are the essentials behind why "favorite" threads are frowned upon. If you want to talk about a particular game, you can. If you want to compare and contrast the traits of a couple different series, you can. If you want to know what game holds a special place in the hearts of posters everywhere (and why it does), you can ask. But if you're just interested in knowing things like what everyones favorite healing spell is, your thread'll get shut down. Not because the mods don't like you, but because you stumbled upon an OCR "no-no".

The Politically Correct term for us is "Psychologically Challenged" thank you very much...

Wow. Just, wow. I finally beat a game I've had for a while now. It's only six levels, but it's a challenging six levels. But of all the challenges (including going backwards in one level), the final boss of R-Type III: The Third Lightning was a nasty little buttwad. You start off fighting a four armed "Brundle Fly" looking mutoid, that throws slow moving, but tracking, energy balls at you... usually three in succession. After that, one of the arms fires a good sized beam of energy. After You've been shooting the head for a while, the head opens up and about ten little nasty robotic bug like things come out. These things are tough, and take a good amount of shooting to kill off as they make their way towards you. Should you do enough damage to the head, it gets blown off, and now you can attack the body, which is the main area to damage so you can kill it. Well, you only get a short time to attack before a new head grows in, and you have to repeat the process. Eventually, you beat the body... and the arms then fly off. Now the arms are darting and spinning randomly around the screen. You have to shoot them a certain amount to trigger the next event. You can't destroy them, just shoot them. Should you survive long enough, the next phase kicks in. The postal that you had been sucked into just prior to the final boss, begins to shrink. The arms go out and grab the edge of the portal, slowing it's closing down. Once it's small enough, the thing's head appears in the opening, and it begin firing one homing (and fast) energy ball every few seconds. How you gotta shoot behind you. If you manage to beat that form, the head flattens out... and your ass gets kicked. It starts firing the speedy homing energy balls like there's no tomorrow. You gotta dodge, duck, weave, and pray like hell that you can last long enough, cuz this part in just nasty. I don't know what I did, where I hit it, or if I just outlasted it's bombardment, but I beat it. But I gotta say... that was a boss that did not go down easily. Hell... I was starting to wonder if the boss COULD be killed, having fought the thing so many times Edit: Major typos fixed... minor ones likely still present.

Anyone ever played a game called Fighting Masters on the Genesis? No? Well, then here's a little taste of what awaits you. The game is simple. The Galaxy is about to be destroyed, and you gotta fight through everyone for the right to be chosen as the single race that will be saved from destruction. But no matter who you pick, or how well you do, an ass beating awaits you when you reach the final boss. I can even remember the guys name. All I know is that he's bigger than you, just as fast, and has a single move that is the move cheap and damaging move in the entire game. Now, he can do some good damage with just a simple kick or punch, but God help you if he grabs you, and does his 3-hit "throw". He grabs you, hits you once with his fist, then kicks you twice. This simple move does almost half a bar of damage. But the fun doesn't end there. When he releases you, you fall to the ground... right at his feet. This of course, make it easy for him to grab you and do the 3-hitter again... and again. I've lost to this guy with him just doing the same move three times back to back to back... and I never even got a chance to attack. It's a simple fighting game, with painfully basic controls... and one of the cheapest final battles out there. Makes me appreciate Rugal of the KoF series' "easiness" more.

No, the chatroom was in fire... flames to be exact... for about two hours.

Fun show Larry. I killed the feed about 2PM so I could upload my remix to VGMix before I went to bed. Regardless, fun show. See ya next week... ... assuming you show up on time

Showing up late for your first night back. Not good form there Larry

So many newbies. It's like a swarm. ... Where's my "New-Begone" spray? Anyway, welcome to those who have come along since I was in here last. Be sure to read through all the pages here and in the "OCR Quirks" thread (which is also in this forum). They'll give tips and answer questions that'll likely come up later.