GladMort (Neo Geo MVS) Hard mode 1CC

Описание: Arcade cartridge version, played on a Sega Astro City, and recorded from my own Neo Geo

GladMort is a brand new arcade action game, very overtly inspired by the Ghosts n Goblins series, albeit not really copying it in any way. It's its own game, and honestly fits very well into the style of early 90s action platformers in the arcade.

This was actually a bit of a surprise to me, given everything I'd seen previously hinted at it being a very euro-jank style experience. The game definitely isn't without its jank, but honestly it's no different from actual arcade games of the time. If you can put up with Magician Lord, this game will feel just fine to you.

There are a few dumb oversigts in the game, and several very blatant bugs that I'm honestly puzzled no one found during testing, since I encounter them all the time. The game manages rely on enough randomness that it fortunately avoids rote memorizable predictability - which is one of the worst things that could happen to a game of this type, and frankly surprisingly common among many classic Japanese arcade games. Similarly to Daimakaimura (Ghouls n Ghosts), enemies will keep spawning in somewhat unpredictable patterns, and even all the enemies that are programmed into specific locations on the stages have random movement patterns that make sure you'll always have to be prepared for the worst case scenario.

It's a very easy game on Normal, but in my opinion Hard mode amps up all the things a game of this style should. Enemies are much more aggressive, and even the boss fights are a little nastier.
It's still an extremely easy clear for the type of game it is, but that mostly comes down to the insane amount of score extends the game keeps giving you.

I honestly have no clue what the devs were thinking here. If it had only a couple of score extends, or at least kept them really rare, the game would have had all the building blocks for some really exhilerating edge-of-your-seat moments as you're on your last life while fighting the final boss rush.
Instead, I managed to embarassingly goof up multiple times throughout this run, and still cleared the game with the maximum amount of 9 lives in the bank.

00:00 Intro
00:22 Stage 1-1
00:28 Stage 1-2 (including secret area)
02:30 Stage 1 boss
03:00 Stage 2-1
04:02 Stage 2-2
05:05 Stage 2 boss
06:26 Stage 3-1
08:03 Stage 3-2
09:35 Stage 3 boss
10:32 Stage 4-1
12:45 Stage 4-2
14:05 Stage 4 boss
15:00 Stage 5-1
17:27 Stage 5-2 (only on Hard mode)
18:01 Death (survival gauntlet)
20:44 Final boss
22:14 Ending and credits