Game #1306: Cannon Dancer - Osman

 May the real Strider Hiryu 2 please stand up?

 It's no secret that I really dig these ports of classic games, even though not all of them are done with the same level of care. Well, never would I have guessed that Osman, a fantastic Arcade game I knew thanks to emulation, would get one, but boy, am I glad we this rerelease: Cannon Dancer - Osman.

 As a port, it's excellent, as it knows it's a highly unfair Arcade game, so you get all sorts of goodies. There are optional enhancements, such as a double jump, invincibility during jumps, slides and/or attacking and even autoattacking by holding down the attack button. There are also built-in cheats, such as invulnerability or infinite time. Needless to say, you can make your experience with the game as leisurely as possible, or you can opt to play in Challenge Mode which disables cheats and enhancements(Bah! It lets you pick up to two of these) and enables Achievements. There are also Rewind and Fast Forward options, as well as savestates. The game also packs in both the Japanese version, Cannon Dancer, and Osman, the localization. As far as I could tell, besides the language, the only major difference is that Cannon Dancer has blood.

 The only drawback, maybe, is that there's not much in the way of extras such as official artwork... but I'd rather get tweaks and enhancements to make the game more accessible than window-dressing. Few rereleases have had as many options as this one, which makes it one of the best classic port-jobs I've seen recently.

 Now then, a thing to keep in mind is that this game isn't cheap, but it lasts about half an hour, maybe less if you are skilled. But as brief as it is, it is oh, so sweet. You'll visit a desert, you'll surf waves while ambushed by flying machine gunners, you'll travel dystopic 80's styled cyberpunk locales, you'll fight machines, you'll fight GODS. It's an epic, bombastic game that never lets up.

 And the game plays like Strider, as Kirin can cling on to walls and ceilings, much like Hiryu, but Kirin kicks his enemies to death. Kirin can collect power up that grants him up to three after images, and they stay rooted to the last spot you attacked, for a short while, and while they are in place, you can mash attack to have them attack as well! The game's hook is learning where to place these after images so that you can safely attack bosses. Getting hit takes you back a level in power, so you also have to be careful about not getting hit in order to keep your abilities. It's really fun, and very fast-paced, exactly what I love in a videogame.

 When it comes to Cannon Dancer - Osman, I've absolutely nothing to complain about. The base game is fantastic, and the port is excellent, being packaged with all the bells and whistles to make playing this classic as comfortable as possible. The only thing that keeps it from a full recommendation is the price in relation to how short it is, but hey, being an Arcade game... it's quite replayable.

 9.0