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Scram Kitty $5 sale in the Americas; OST giveaway inside!

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maxcriden

Member
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SKAHBOR is on sale for 50% off for one week. Time to jump in, Wii U owners!

Time to get in on this awesome literally on-rails platform shmup madness:

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To celebrate, the folks at dakko dakko have kindly given me four copies of the OST to give away. The techno beats are addictively charming and will get you through workout or workday!

To win a free copy of the OST, simply talk about a recent OST you've really enjoyed this year. Please post a link to the the track you're talking about so we can all enjoy it!

When you do pick up the game, please join us over in the OT:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=819433
 
It's a good game with a lot of challenge. The mechanics are tough at first but make sense and feel great as you play more and develop your skills .
 
Probably will buy this later today due to all the positive response here.

& been enjoying Shovel Knight's music lately while playing through it, mainly The Rival.
 
Highlight a soundtrack that's left me in awe? How could I talk about any game, but Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. Dixie Kong returns to the scene, and so does musical mastermind David Wise, who regaled us with many a classic tune in the original trilogy. Even if I believed DKC Returns on Wii to have enjoyable tunes, it takes but a few moments playing TF to realize the amount of personality and ingenuity that Wise brings to the series. Treat after treat to the senses, in so many shapes and forms. Traveling through a lovely savanna? Pure musical cheer will be there with you. Are you one to stay up for the Credits? You'll be rewarded with a jazz to melt your senses. Caused a polar bear to drop his popsicle? Welcome to the hardcore side of Nintendo's music!. So many melodies, so much to gush about all day long. I'll just say this. The game is a fantastic entry in the series, but is a must buy for the music alone. The music alone. David Wise has poured his soul here. Don't miss the chance to let it brighten your day.
 
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I want to talk about the OST for Lovely Planet for a second. The game is charming enough (and insanely difficult) but the soundtrack really adds a lot to experience.

The soundtrack is by the oh so talented Calum Bowen. I was already familiar with him from a sort of prototype for the lovely Cloudface (seriously, check it out!). He did the only song for it and it is catchy as heck. He also did the soundtrack for Super Ubie Land which features tons of great compositions. The game itself is out for PC already with a WiiU version in the works.

But anyway, back to Lovely Planet. The soundtrack starts out with a peaceful, calm, but also jaunty, asian-y tune that immediately gets you into a fuzzy mood. Well, the first thing you do, obviously, is jump into the first world, the City. Welp, the the first two things you will notice: The insanely cute, colourful artstyle - and, of course, the high energy soundtrack. Every world in this game has its own theme. I want to focus on this first one: Lovely City.

Hearing it for the first time (and after the transition from the still "restrained" menu sounds), it resembles an explosion that packs an outright punch of joy and excitement. It manages to be instantly recognisable and catchy despite being a fair complex composition as far as I can tell in my layman mind. It combines elements of chiptune, high tempo beat reminiscent of drum & bass, katamari-esque chants and sounds, instruments like piano, glockenspiel, and a whole lot of other stuff. A rich sound but, at the same time, very accessible. And boy, does it get you going. You will need to get every ounce of energy out of the music since the game quickly ramps up in difficulty, requiring instant and sharp reflexes.

I will leave the rest of the soundtrack for you to discover (link is below). It is amazing how coherent the different songs are while maintaining an easily distinguishable identity of their own. There is also an element of cohesiveness, the soundtrack evolves, takes on one form, flows into another but never loses its spark. Every track goes for it, and succeeds in spectacular fashion.

You can get the soundtrack for Lovely Planet right here.

Edit: Oh, also buy Scram Kitty, you hear me?
 
I've really enjoyed the soundtrack to Mario Kart 8. The big band feel of the soundtrack really does Mario Kart justice. Every track is lively and just wants to make one race. And I've just realized that the title screen theme contains the original theme from Super Mario Kart.
 
nckillthegrimace said:
Same. It controls like shit.
Click to expand...

Not to get all defense force on this game, but, as I mentioned above, hopefully the controls will work better for you when the update hits soon. As well, I want to ask if you're using the analog stick or the d-pad. There's a definite acclimation period with the controls but I did find the d-pad works much better for me than the analog stick.
 
I had been waiting for a patch to address some of the issues but this seems like a perfect time to jump in. Hopefully that patch doesn't take too long to roll out.
 
I adore Scram Kitty and the OST is brilliant. (Of course I want to win a copy!) To anyone struggling with the controls: Stick it out. They will click and you will understand how brilliant they are. There is a learning curve. It will make you feel bad. But you will wrap your head around it soon.

Best OST I've heard this year: easily Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. The highlight of the soundtrack for me was Frozen Frenzy (level 6-7). It's a brilliant, rich track that works as its own and is also a very smart, very modern and equally atmospheric update on Fear Factory from the original DKC. It's a great aural representation of the game -- deep, well polished, seemingly very new but also incredibly faithful to the originals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o_B_qGoZ8A
 
Thanks for the thumbs up! This was already on my to-buy list, but when I finally decided to get a new eShop game I ended up going for Shovel Knight. Now the sale makes it much more tempting, so I'll definitely look into buying it once I get home.
 
maxcriden said:
Not to get all defense force on this game, but, as I mentioned above, hopefully the controls will work better for you when the update hits soon. As well, I want to ask if you're using the analog stick or the d-pad. There's a definite acclimation period with the controls but I did find the d-pad works much better for me than the analog stick.
Click to expand...

I tried both. Didn't make a difference. Maybe the patch will help. I don't know. Playing the game is very frustrating because it seems arbitrary and unfairly limited.
 
I bought this from the UK eShop for a fiver last week. From what I've played of it, it really seems like I got a bargain at that price, never mind $3=5. Go for it, guys.
 
Oh dang, guess I'll pick this up. Passed on it at launch, but $5 why not. Still burning off cash from that "add $100 get $10 back" promo
 
Not to be a killjoy, but I bought this for full price and really disliked it. Having to fully replay levels upon death was fine for the shorter levels, but having to redo a 30 min level when you've gotten all the cats for the level and then died is not fun in any way, shape or form.
 
Outtrigger888 said:
hmm...just got a $5 voucher from ddp today...been interested in this game.

Can anyone comment on game length and replayability?
Click to expand...

It probably took me somewhere between five to eight hours to 100% it. There's a mode where you try to do the entire game in one big blast with each level on a time limit to battle for top scores, so if you're the leaderboard-chasing type, it's endlessly replayable.
 
nckillthegrimace said:
I tried both. Didn't make a difference. Maybe the patch will help. I don't know. Playing the game is very frustrating because it seems arbitrary and unfairly limited.
Click to expand...

We usually have overlapping tastes so I'm genuinely interested what you found arbitrary and/or unfairly limited. I understand I probably won't change your mind about the game or anything, I'm just curious what specifically struck you in that way.
 
Might get this. Is there a way to buy stuff on the eShop without having to use funds in your account already? I'm saving funds I get from the DDP for Smash 3DS, but need to keep building up points.

As for OSTs I've been enjoying recently, definitely Transistor. It's really calm, atmospheric, great eletronic music. Not to mention, the vocal tracks (Paper Boats and The Spine in particular) are fantastic. By far one of my favorite OSTs of the year, thus far.
 
maxcriden said:
Sorry to hear it. There's a patch coming so if you had an issue with balancing or controls maybe this would be an opportunity for you to try it again.
Click to expand...

maxcriden said:
Not to get all defense force on this game, but, as I mentioned above, hopefully the controls will work better for you when the update hits soon. As well, I want to ask if you're using the analog stick or the d-pad. There's a definite acclimation period with the controls but I did find the d-pad works much better for me than the analog stick.
Click to expand...

Thanks, i'll give it another shot then. Haven't tried the D-pad either.
 
ozfunghi said:
Thanks, i'll give it another shot then. Haven't tried the D-pad either.
Click to expand...

D-pad made a world of difference for me. I would also mention that increased health gives you a significantly increased double-jump. That's an invaluable tip for certain levels. Hope you find it more to your liking this go 'round!
 
maxcriden said:
We usually have overlapping tastes so I'm genuinely interested what you found arbitrary and/or unfairly limited. I understand I probably won't change your mind about the game or anything, I'm just curious what specifically struck you in that way.
Click to expand...

Sure.

I thought the double jump was arbitrary since I was unaware that the height of the double jump was tied to your health. Instead of being arbitrary, it's stupid. I say this because the game needs to guarantee that there's a way for you to be at full health to get maximum height. It does this by flooding the screen with continuously respawning hordes of flying enemies who can go anywhere while you're limited to the rails. Your ability to fight back is also limited to the direction you're facing on the rail. There's no good way to deal with enemies other than to flee and reposition, which is frequently impossible because of the level layout. Also, the boss mouse fights take forever because they take a ton of hits to kill, can teleport away, and you can't just aim at them.

I don't like how the double jump works, either. Bouncing off the stage to gain height is a good idea, but it's incredibly limited. Once I figured out how it works, I wanted to use my momentum to swing way across the level. That does not work. If you swing too far, the game just kills you and respawns you from where you took off. The game punishes you if you get too clever. Any attempt to get around its dumb restrictions is met with death.
 
nckillthegrimace said:
I thought the double jump was arbitrary since I was unaware that the height of the double jump was tied to your health. Instead of being arbitrary, it's stupid. I say this because the game needs to guarantee that there's a way for you to be at full health to get maximum height. It does this by flooding the screen with continuously respawning hordes of flying enemies who can go anywhere while you're limited to the rails. Your ability to fight back is also limited to the direction you're facing on the rail.
Click to expand...

I would argue there are very few, and possibly no, jumps that can't be made with low health. Obviously it's easier with higher health, but why should the game reward you for losing health?
 
jholmes said:
I would argue there are very few, and possibly no, jumps that can't be made with low health. Obviously it's easier with higher health, but why should the game reward you for losing health?
Click to expand...

If you don't need full health for the jumps, then why is it spawning endless hordes of life-dropping enemies? Is it just to annoy me? Because it's working.

Also, why tie jumping to health anyway?
 
If its 50% off in the mexican eshop im going to buy it, checking it atm.

Its off indeed, sadly i need one more dollar to buy it lol, idk if but an eshop card to buy this and then steamworld dig.

edit: got a 5 dollars code on the ddp, downloading!
 
Damn, I'm gonna miss this sale because I'm out of town and didn't bring my Wii U with :(.

One of my favorite OST's from all of last gen is Remember Me's. It's catchy and brilliant and the part techno part Orchestra tone fits the game perfectly. It was certainly the most memorable
:-P
element of the game. I listen to it a lot.
 
One OST I have been enjoying lately is the Dariusburst Another Chronicle soundtrack, which is 2011 but it is still a great OST which matches perfectly with the game. Being produced by the legendary ZUNTATA helps :D

This particular song defines that - if you play a Dariusburst Another Chronicle arcade machine in Original mode through Levels ADH, they really mixed the track to fit in with the action. This song plays at the beginning of level H and blends into the boss battle (Violent Ruler). The game version doesn't go on for 30 min but in the game itself it is truly one of the more amazing audio experiences to find in gaming from the past few years (helped by a sound system that is a bit more complex than your sound bars or TV speakers ;) )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEXOpxrUwRc

Edit: Here's another portion of the OST featuring different songs from the game. Last edit, I swear

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsORzQRrCLU
 
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