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Thread: Rough Ranger from SunA

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    Default Rough Ranger from SunA

    Just got in a new pcb I'd been curious about. Rough Ranger, also called Super Ranger in some regions, is a Rolling Thunder clone by SunA and distributed by Capcom. It's the most thorough Rolling Thunder knock-off I've ever seen, but with a shittier soundtrack. So why play it?

    Two player co-op, of course! One thing sorely missing from Namco's classic is two player cooperative play, and Rough Ranger has it.

    Initial thoughts... the between stages map is cool, like in Ghosts 'n Goblins. However, in single player, you return to it after each life, and at first, death comes quickly and relentlessly... at least you start where you were and not at the beginning! Thankfully, in two player mode, as long as one player lives, you continue in stride with no break in the action. The goofy helmet-wearing enemies are funny to look at, but they tend to shoot quickly as they pop on screen, so be wary.

    Overall, pretty fun stuff so far. Even the animations are directly copied, to the point that it almost feels like a sprite hack of Rolling Thunder instead of a ripoff. If Atari was gonna sue Jeff Mintner for T2K and Capcom sue Data East over Fighter's History, Namco likely would have obliterated SunA in court. The two player mode is where the reason to own this one lies. I mean, what Rolling Thunder fan wouldn't enjoy playing with a buddy?

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    So, played through this, and it took about a billion credits. I decided to play Rolling Thunder immediately after for comparison, and it was so much easier. So, I pulled the board, and sure enough, the dip switches were set to hard. Put it on normal, and now the difficulty is about on par with Rolling Thunder.

    Rolling Thunder's '70s spy theme has a bit more personality than Rough Ranger's military theme, but they're all but identical in overall feel, quality of graphics, etc., though Rolling Thunder's soundtrack is way better. Still, for co-op play, I'm quite happy with this one, especially given how little I paid. Cool stuff.

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    Had a chance to play a few credits this morning, as I couldn't sleep. Getting about half-way through on one credit. The third stage really ramps up the difficulty, though I did it without dying this morning. The more vertical a stage is, the tougher it is. It's worst in stage 8, where you must go up flights of stairs. Still, after about six plays, I'm getting way deeper into the game on one credit, so it's pretty doable by mastering controls and timing, and not by rote memorization. Some bosses would've been nice, but in a game as tough as this or Rolling Thunder, it's well enough.

    Weirdly, what looks exactly like gremlins from the movie Gremlins start showing up at the end of stage 2. Odd.

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    So, over Memorial weekend I finally got a chance to play a full playthrough in co-op with my brother. It is buggy as all hell in two player, mainly in its vertically scrolling stages. Both players have to be within about half of the sprite's height of one another for it to scroll upward properly. Otherwise, glitches like falling through floors occur. Scrolling horizontally also requires players to be within about half of a screen or less for any progression at all. Finally, when a player dies, they re-spawn directly on top of the other player regardless of where they died on screen.

    Altogether, it definitely feels buggier and somewhat unfinished in this mode, and while it can more easily be credit fed, it's far more difficult to do on limited credits.

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