Разработчик: Le Cortex
Описание
They are Ninjas.
Crouching Pony Hidden Dragon (CPHD) is a brand-new Action/RPG game developed for SNK’s Neo Geo console which came out in 1990.
It might look like a straight-forward arcade game, but under the surface is a persistent world with a rich and varied set of rules. In CPHD “Run’N Gun” mechanics from the likes Shock Troopers or Ninja commando are combined with playful “RPG” ones from games like Zelda or Secret of Mana.
You'll need to explore every level to find the resources necessary for your progress: coins, health bonuses, resurrection potions, special Ninja techniques, etc. Treasure chests are hidden everywhere. You’ll have to find them to afford equipment upgrades from the ninja shops. In addition Pony and Biki gain experience points by defeating enemies, becoming more powerful over time. Be careful though: you’ll have to use your resources wisely. Health is limited so if you don't equip yourself at the armory you're in for a hard time. Money is limited too however: you'll need to choose these investments carefully!
Make new friends: a local multiplayer co-op mode lets a second player drop in at any time. It’s even more fun, even more frantic and even more strategic!
Lose old friends: there are the same numbers of resources no matter how many players there are; will you share or will you hog everything?
Have a good adventure!
Why create a game for Neo Geo?
Several reasons pushed us to develop for this console. The Neo-Geo is a legend amongst consoles, and is the one we dreamed of throughout our childhood and teenage years. For this reason, when we decided to bring our main character “Ninja Pony” to life, we wanted his early adventures to take place in the Neo-Geo universe. Thus we are offering our beloved Pony this welcoming present: to be born into the world of this “Rolls Royce” of consoles. Having our character emerge on cartridge is a way of enshrining him in the Pantheon of video game heroes, alongside Sonic and Mario. It's a way of going back in time! It also made sense with regards to the character's back-story. Crouching Pony Hidden Dragon relates the teenage years of Ninja Pony. This parallels the advent of the Neo-Geo in the history of video games: this console personifies gaming's teenage years.Last but not least there were technical challenges we were eager to overcome. We realized that there were very few traces of the tools and documentation required to develop games on Neo-Geo. What's more this arcane knowledge was gradually disappearing!
We had to become archaeologists, investigating, looking for clues, piecing together how these games were developed. We created our own software and hardware pipe-lines, started working directly in pixel art again, etc. We were able to leverage our experience working on “modern” video games in returning to blow the dust off these old techniques. It was an exciting job, a true act of video game craftsmanship!
Why bring the game to PC?
When we announced the Neo Geo version many expressed regret at not being able to play the game. Since our main ambition at Le Cortex is to offer original play experiences to as many people as possible we wanted to avoid restricting the release to Neo-Geo connoisseurs and collectors. So we decided to port the game to the gamers' platform of today: the PC. And in case you were wondering this is indeed a full native port, not the Neo-Geo ROM being run via an emulator!About Le Cortex
Le Cortex is an independent French Studio located in Paris. We design, write and develop games which aim to offer brand new play experiences.Поддерживаемые языки: english
Системные требования
Windows
- OS *: Windows XP/7/8
- Processor: 2.5 GHz Intel Pentium 4 / AMD Athlon 64
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GS / ATI Radeon HD 3870 or better
- Storage: 600 MB available space
- Sound Card: OpenAL Compatible
- OS *: Windows XP/7/8
- Processor: Processor:Core i5/i7 or equivalent
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: 512 MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GS / ATI Radeon HD 3870 or better
- Storage: 600 MB available space
- Sound Card: OpenAL Compatible
Отзывы пользователей
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Great arcade feelings
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(How can people write a review when they played less than 1 hour ?)
When this game was first released onto steam I wanted to give it a shot. The art looked alright and the crude humor seemed entertaining. Sadly I haven't even been able to get past the second level. The combat is baffling. While there's nothing wrong with color coded attacks making them go at a snail's pace doesn't help. More often than not you'll try attacking a red enemy just to have a blue enemy shamble in frony of them in the ages it takes your projectile to reach them. The enemies also are damage sponges yet you die in just a few hits which is no fun, especially when it's paired with a lack of a dependable checkpoint system. Maybe they were trying to give it a classic type of difficulty but it just doesn't work with how the game plays. I wish I would've waited before buying this game.
Fantastic retro game. Gives an arcade experience while appealing to the adult side of those of us who grew up playing these games.
If you want a whimsical skip down memory lane with a fresh game, this is for you.
This game great if you want to waste both time & money. I have no idea what justifies the $10 price-tag for this game. It feels like something you'd find for free on Newgrounds.
So some people have been saying they like this game coz it's a port of the Neo Geo game and if you want old skool Neo Geo then you might like it. I don't know much about them so I'll go off their word, but here's why I don't like it.
My biggest gripe is you can't strafe, you can only shoot forward so you have to be facing the enemy. This is fine with one or two enemies, but when several attack you at once, some shooting multiple bullets/arrows, you can't run and gun. You have to run and dodge and wait wait for a brief moment to turn and get off one shot, two if you're lucky. Then repeat until each enemy is dead and hope you don't take too much damage in the meantime. So common encounters of low level enemies become frustrating, especialy as most are bullet sponges taking about 6 shots each.
The controls are slow and lumbering. It feels like even moving out of the way of an arrow is harder than it should be. The combat doesn't feel satisfying at all and I only played level 1 but it was so boring! You just shoot slow moving shurikens against slow moving enemies and the kick is mostly useless unless you can finish an enemy in one go coz any more and you -will- take damage.
The difficulty feels hard not because the game is hard but because the controls are bad. I'm a fan of bullet hell shooters and the like so I don't mind extreme difficulty etc but with this I feel my skill is restricted the slow controls so I can't enjoy the game as I do with others. Just on the first level I felt I had to put much more effort in to get through than it needed. Again this might be coz it's from the Neo Geo and you're used to that or want that and that's fine. But with some extra work it could have been a much more enjoyable game.
TL;DR - it's funny, got lots of pervy stuff, slow/dated controls make it frustrating and boring to play, is a Neo Geo port, can't srafe
Some people might have some trouble with the game's difficulty , but since it's supposed to mimic old school games, this is to be expected - I'd even say that it's a requirement for a "retro" game to be a little on the hard side ;)
If you stick with it though it's really worth the effort: the game really comes into its own after the first couple of levels which are actually some of the hardest! Even so the game's surreal sense of humour is worth playing for in itself, and the pacing is good for the mid- to late-game with some really interesting encounters to deal with as new elements are introduced.
Well worth giving a try :)
Okay, I was going to write a long review on this, but I think I can fit this in a short review:
- This game is clunky due to your firing rate being slow, the movement being slow, the lack of a strifing option and the enemies being bullet sponges
- Good luck trying to level up: It took me until mid second stage to even reach lvl 2. You'll probably be too poor to buy any upgrades by then either
- The framerate's clunky, the game's juvenile and the animations are quite cringeworthy.
- Level design: It's easy to get lost, and the indicator arrows don't help. Not to mention they're quite dull
[*]The polarity system in this game (red shots and blue shots) is unnecessary and so is the arena mechanic (which is made worse due to the clunkiness)
I tried to stomach the game and beat it, but it's just bad. Levels are tedious, gameplay's slow, and the RPG mechanics are tedious. The game looks bad as well. If there's anything good, I'd say the much is pretty decent for ambience. But that doesn't save the game. This game is about ninjas? Well leave it in the shadows and go play a good game released on the Neo Geo... like Shock Troopers, or Metal Slug.
Verdict: Do not buy. It's horrible in too many ways.
Well, the bosses were fun. And it was kind of funny.
Let me start by pointing out that the gameplay is shamefully shallow. You have pretty much one attack and will spend most of the game kiting (the melee mechanic is useless, and will get you killed). The color coded-enemies are a nice gimmick, but not enough to make you have to think about which button to mash.
You have to mash the button, by the way, you can't hold it down. It made my hand hurt.
There's also some elements that are really just lazy. Semi-random enemy spawn instead of custom-built levels. Enemies deal damage to you as soon as their animation starts, instead of having hit detection, which looks and feels really cheap.
The rpg elements are VERY poorly implemented. You get xp and level up, but that isn't meaningful because the game is linear and you can't grind. At least, I don't think you're supposed to be able to?
None of that is the real reason I couldn't bear to finish the game. Enemy spawns are based on movement, or something, which you have to do to kite your enemies. So occasionally you'll just get clusterfucked out of nowhere and wind up with a ton of enemies on the screen, and you with NO crowd control ability.
What happens next is gimmick number 2, which locks you in one screen whenever there's a bunch of enemies around, and only lets you out when you've killed them all. This will often happen when a wall or a pit or something is taking up most of the screen, making you pretty much doomed.
It's not even stable. If a bunch of enemies spawn behind a wall (trust me they will) they'll glitch into it and become unkillable. You'll have to restart the level.
Man, the bosses were GOOD. Like they came from a different, better game. But they really phoned it in for the rest of the game, and that's where you'll spend most of your time. Give this one a pass, please.
First try on Crouching Pony Hidden Dragon.
The video can be found here:
http://youtu.be/miczbksOMnA
Before making this video and writing the review I played about 2 levels in the story mode and had some tries in the survival mode as well as some battles with a friend of mine, which come to an accumulative time of about 45 minutes played.
So, what is CPHD? It's a beat-em-up in the style of a 90ies arcade game. Since Le Cortex was aiming especially for that style, the options menu is simply a display of the controls for player one and player two, as well as showing how to toggle fullscreen on or off. Concerning the controls it has to be said that when you play it with the keyboard it feels a bit like an arcady/neo-geo controller. So they nailed that really well.
The combat is fairly simple, but not that easy. As a ranged attack you have "H" with which you shoot red Ninjastars and "J" with witch you shoot blue ninja stars. In melee range both buttons can be used to take out enemies. You have to shoot the enemies with the corresponding color of the shurikens or else they will be rerflected and deal damage to you.
Throughout the levels you can gather 3 powerups for the shurikens: Power, Speed and Fire. Fire incinerates and instakills your enemies, Power increases the damage of the stars and Speed increses your firerate. Sometimes you might also stumble accross a jutsu-pickup. You can activate it by pressing "U" in order to instantly kill all enemies on the screen.
There are 3 game modes, story, survival and battle. The story mode is the straight forward gamemode in which you progress through the levels as you gain xp for killing enemies. Each level is straight forward if you want to wander towards the end of the stage, but exploring will be rewarded with easter eggs and random chests that drop coins for which you can buy powerups in the shops which are spread across the stages.
And if you think about just running past the enemies towards the end, it won't work, because as soon as you engage 7 enemies the so-called "arena mode" will be activated. In this mode you have to kill all the enemies there are, otherwise you won't be able to progress in the level. In my opinion it's a good way to prevent you from stumbling to fast through the levels. If you want to go fast, be careful or be quick at killing the enemies.
Just having played 2 stages I can say the enemy variety is great and will become even better when you go after the promotional video.
Speaking of enemy variety, we come to the second game mode which is the survival mode. In this mode you will be put into an arena with constantly respawning enemies. You will start out with the speed power-up on your ninja stars and 7 enemies running towards you. This mode is inherently more difficult than the beginning of the story mode, so I would play it after having completed the first chapter or so.
Both the story and the survival mode can be played in co-op, so if you want to have a little fun in retro style with a friend, it surely worth it.
If you want to beat the crap out your frind, though, you will have to fight him in battle mode. Having played some battles I can say this gamemode is really fun and definitely worth a try.
So, are there any complatins about this game? Yes, there are.
First we have the anime style graphics. Some might call it "anime bs" or immature, some might find the humor and the artstyle appealing. I didn't find it that appealing, but this is more a matter of personal taste rather than factually bad things.
Another thing is, as stated above, the level design. As far as I have seen there is only one way towards the goal. Even though everything in this game says "retro" and there are a lot of areas to explore, having only one way towards the end loweres the quality of level design in my opinion.
And finally the tl:dr/tl:dw... Is the game worth it's price? I'd say, it's a definite buy for fans of the genre as well as people that want a straight forward beat-em-up experience. Other than that I'd consider it buying if you have someone around to play it with.
For everyone else it might be worth grabbing at a sale.
Crouching Pony Hidden Dragon is a bare bones Neo Geo port. I didn't notice any upscaling option for the graphics, so Neo Geo quality is what you get. Keyboard controls are customizable, however, and there is an option for coop on the same keyboard.
Gameplay consists of color-coordinated top-down brawling that borders on the insanity of a bullet-hell shooter. You must chose whether to play as Pony or Biki (AKA boobs), and after the barest of tutorials (you can walk right past it) you are thrown into the game. You can throw blue shurikens and red ones, and will encounter red, blue, and purple enemies. Red shurikens kill red enemies, blue kills blue, and purple is immune. However, all enemies can be killed at close range with kicks. Any shurikens thrown at the wrong color will come flying back at you, so coordinating in the chaos is paramount. There are additional powers, coins, and watches to collect, and a constant timer at the top of the screen adds pressure that isn't really needed but dosen't really detract either.
My only gameplay issues (I actually find it fairly easy to ignore some of the worst "humor") stem from how easy it is to dodge INTO a group of enemies instead of AWAY FROM, and the extremely low frequincy of health pickups.
So far, CPHD is very intense and very fun. Recommended for classic-game nuts who don't mind odd humor (or French developers).
To the best of my knowledge, CPHD has nothing to do with My Little Pony, for those concerned.
Gameplay:
http://youtu.be/BnCdE0olwEE
- works with Xbox wireless controller
- fun beat em up
- awesome art and cutscenes
- Ninja Power
- many powerups
- self-immolation
- hypnotizing boobs
2 different standard attacks. (hit an enemy of opposing color the star is reflected back. close proxy does a kick on either button)
X = blue ninja stars
A = red ninja stars
if lost follow the arrow above your head.
Great Gameplay
Great Artstyle
Great Boobs
BUY IT
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Дополнительная информация
| Разработчик | Le Cortex |
| Платформы | Windows |
| Ограничение возраста | Нет |
| Дата релиза | 18.01.2025 |
| Отзывы пользователей | 54% положительных (13) |