Capcom Arcade Stadium: 1944 - The Loop Master
released on Feb 17, 2021
DLC for Capcom Arcade Stadium
Add 1944 - The Loop Master - to your Capcom Arcade Stadium game line-up! The year is 1944, and the whole world is embroiled in a massive battle. Take to the skies in a P-38 Lightning or an A6M Zero and bring this long war to an end!
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Played as part of my backlog-trimming project.
I'm absolutely awful at these kinds of games, but kind of enjoyed brute forcing my way through all the bosses. I so strongly remember the feeling as a kid of looking across the rows and rows of machines, each coyly blinking and bleeping its promises and temptations. I remember how meager my little stack quarters felt and the Sophie's Choice of having to decide which was worthy of my time. I was almost always wrong; the stack would dry up with alarming speed, and I would spend the rest of the visit gazing with remorseful longing at the missed connections, promising myself next time I'd do better.
I feel as though Baby Josh's feelings are being redeemed every time I click the "add credit" button in one of these emulated arcade games. I don't even really like shmups all that much, but just imagining feeding my younger self quarter after quarter brings me right back to those transactional days when a video game meant "give me 25 cents worth of distraction." It puts me in the moment in a way modern games don't; I'm not worrying about the plot or the pacing or min/maxing or my giant backlog, I'm focused entirely on what's happening right now and in the next five seconds. It crowds out all other concerns, such as my dwindling stack of quarters or the shitty kids at school.
So that's how I beat it: a short burst of zen-like concentration (sometimes very short) followed by a moment of cackling glee at being a grown-up in the 21st century, rinse and repeat. I really liked how when you run out of health, your little pilot ejects and when you respawn your new plane flies over and you can catch them out of midair for points and items. I got to do that a lot haha and it was always fun.
I also thought the art all looked really good, and I like all the wild giant ships and tanks that were the bosses. They even got cool title card intros. It did have dimming sprites when things were busy which exacerbated my natural inability to follow complex bullet hell type action.
No idea really how this matches up against similar games, but I got quite a bit of satisfaction out of it and maybe just a little bit of catharsis.
I'm absolutely awful at these kinds of games, but kind of enjoyed brute forcing my way through all the bosses. I so strongly remember the feeling as a kid of looking across the rows and rows of machines, each coyly blinking and bleeping its promises and temptations. I remember how meager my little stack quarters felt and the Sophie's Choice of having to decide which was worthy of my time. I was almost always wrong; the stack would dry up with alarming speed, and I would spend the rest of the visit gazing with remorseful longing at the missed connections, promising myself next time I'd do better.
I feel as though Baby Josh's feelings are being redeemed every time I click the "add credit" button in one of these emulated arcade games. I don't even really like shmups all that much, but just imagining feeding my younger self quarter after quarter brings me right back to those transactional days when a video game meant "give me 25 cents worth of distraction." It puts me in the moment in a way modern games don't; I'm not worrying about the plot or the pacing or min/maxing or my giant backlog, I'm focused entirely on what's happening right now and in the next five seconds. It crowds out all other concerns, such as my dwindling stack of quarters or the shitty kids at school.
So that's how I beat it: a short burst of zen-like concentration (sometimes very short) followed by a moment of cackling glee at being a grown-up in the 21st century, rinse and repeat. I really liked how when you run out of health, your little pilot ejects and when you respawn your new plane flies over and you can catch them out of midair for points and items. I got to do that a lot haha and it was always fun.
I also thought the art all looked really good, and I like all the wild giant ships and tanks that were the bosses. They even got cool title card intros. It did have dimming sprites when things were busy which exacerbated my natural inability to follow complex bullet hell type action.
No idea really how this matches up against similar games, but I got quite a bit of satisfaction out of it and maybe just a little bit of catharsis.