This week's Arcade Archives release is... Lead Angle (Seibu Kaihatsu, 1988)

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Both the Japanese (Lead Angle) and International (Dead Angle) ROMs are included- there's a dip-switch setting to switch between Japanese and International modes in each but this doesn't seem to change the title, and MAME also treats them as separate ROMs.

At some time in the past (accordig to the Master System version's manual, it's 1931), George Phoenix, gun-toting and law-abiding citizen (who is also made of wireframes and can levitate, don't worry about it) is having a nice holiday with his gal in Napoli when suddenly, she's kidnapped by behatted goons! Multiple crime families have decided they're gonna mess with the wrong guy today, and so George hits the ground running and starts gunning 'em down! From Italy back to America, whole gangster platoons are out to get George, but as well as a standard gun, he can lob grenades and grab machine guns and shotguns with limited ammo to help cut the gangs down to size. Can he rescue the love of his life and gun down the criminals, even at this... Dead Angle?! I might have to work on that title drop.

This is the second of three crosshair-shooter-like games by Seibu- this is a fairly obvious follow-up to Empire City: 1931 but before the currently-not-on-ACA Dynamite Duke- but is still pretty different from the likes of TAD's Cabal. The main change from Empire City is that there's no longer a 'take cover' button as you're represented on-screen by a wireframe, and can only be shot if you're in front of an enemy when they fire. Your character follows the crosshair but there's a little leeway in when you start to move, so you can try and 'lead' your shots so you can shoot the enemy without being shot yourself. It's tricky though, and this isn't a game I'm particularly good at. What I can appreciate though is the style, just like Empire City this game's presentation is amazing, with huge areas to scroll through, large enemy sprites and lots of destruction you can wreak during the shoot-out (including knocking a framed photo labelled Yukai Tsukai off the wall, a nod to a bizarre and currently-not-working platformer also known as Pop'n Run The Videogame). It sure makes an impression! Hopefully we'll get Dynamite Duke in the future to complete the sorta-trilogy~

sorry for the thumbnail. it's not my fault. before watching, tell me in the comments how many times you think i say "balls" in this video. streamed sep 6th '23

i actually can't rule out the possibility this game has drop tables. i've noticed differences between the number of "empty" vs. "full" balls that drop, and occasions where a player drops two colors instead of their mascot one. but the differences don't seem to matter? this game's core loop is not overly impacted, at least at my current level of play. so this game fulfills my dream! a puzzle game with primarily cosmetic character differences!

this game is certainly less angular, less brutal in its garbage curve and playstyle than a Puyo Puyo. since the playfield isn't that wide, balls tend to fall into predictable locations, and with a hex-grid, balls have more ways than ever to be connected to each other. it's gorgeously casual. it's for everybody, and i admire how open the play is.

the only element that's too complicated is the edge cases of the physics system. the whole thing, i believe, is handed: certain physics interactions will privilege one direction over the other consistently (see also early nintendo tetris games, which had LH and RH versions of the Nintendo Rotation System). it's hard to solve that elegantly, and it honestly might've been fun to make it random, although that's less friendly.

this leads me to an interesting, collarary research question: are easy and simple synonyms in puzzle game design? i certainly feel the crystallinity of spirit within this game, but does its relatively low default difficulty contribute? puyo is, like, hard, but the whole thing is so simple at its heart / base mechanics. gonna chew on this one, no answer.

great game so cute had a girl that made me lose it 8.5/10

truly regrettable thumbnail by @/shadelockedits on youtube. art of me by Minasheep! (https://twitter.com/lammyheaven, https://twitch.tv/minasheep) next up is № 34: Tetris Plus (1995, Jaleco). i hope you'll join us!