Hmm... I play the Armored Core games a lot. Can't wait for 4A. I play the megaten games pretty much all the time... and the Tales games (because a new one is almost always coming out, lol). I could never get into the Dynasty Warrior games... they all seemed the same. Dig the chicks, though.

The thing about the AC games is that you always need to change your AC depending on the mission. Lighter, more mobile AC's are better in big, wide areas, while quads, tanks, and heavyweights are better for smalls areas, for example. AC games are hella hard to learn, but when you get the hang of switching up your mech when needed, you can really be a badass. 4 is the exception, you can make a fucking godbot and tear through every mission with A-S ranks, no prob. AC2 is kinda meh though, it'd be better to start with the PS1 games (my favorites) then move on to 3 and Silent Line (all the PS2 AC games after SL suck). They're hella cheap, too, and pretty abundant. One thing about the AC games that's really underappreciated is the osts. I can't post links on my Wii, but just look up some of the music from AC3 or SL. Try "Silent Line 3" or "Lapse of Time". Epic shit. I've never tryed SW, but from what you said it sounds like I may actually like it, if it's more tactical. How so? I actually don't import much (except PAL PSP games that I can play due to PSP's region-freeness). But even America/Europe get at least two a year nowadays. My favorite is a tie between Abyss and Symphonia, Symphonia I just have some nostalgiac feelings for, but Abyss was better made in most ways. Especially the battle and skill system, crazy fun. Legendia gets a mention just for the music (fuck Motoi Sakuraba his music sucks nowadays). And of course, I just have make my obligatory "Megaten is now gay" statement of the day.

Well Gaia Crusaders combos are like watered down versions of combos in Sengoku3, basically the only way to make the combo bigger is to juggle the enemies with a ram after the combo, but thats pretty much the only extra thing you can do, aside from the obvious escape move and block. The sword is the only weapon you find trough all the game, you can throw boxes too but you gotta kick them. There are all those orb, depending on the character some act as fullscreen magic or a special move; sadly the only way to perform a special move is with that certain sphere and you can only use it once. I must admit the characters are cool and stage 3 has those awesome dog like robots, not to mention the big ass blue robot you get to play as halfway trough the game. Until today im trying to find if the game has some secrets moves or something im not aware of. Closest thing to a dynasty warrior game I played was the old arcade one made by capcom and Warriors of Fate, really cool games. I dont know but I see some unknown magic in Warriors of Fate which I cant resist, maybe the gory anime feeling, most enemies are small to contrast with the hugeness of the heroes or the art style. Even when you lose, the continue screen shows your hero with many piercing his body, yet hes still standing up, willing to battle. (this pics are actually from dynasty warriors) Maybe you should check the MAWS website, thats how I got to know most arcade game avaliable for emulation, even those somewhat obscure ones. I also found a game called Knights of Valour 1&2; pretty cool games, graphics are bland but has lots of special moves, level up system and tons of items.

I remember Knight of valour, mostly because you fight break dancing boss with a manriki http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw2g1-1GjyQ&feature=related Suck ass that the guy in that video didn't leave him live enough. Also, violent storm looks badass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaV02-srP4k I wish there were games like this still around

Crime Fighters 2 is not that good but very wacky, you even get to fight some homos in leather suits who try to fuck you. Ninja Warriors for SNES was pretty good despite having 2D movement. I do really need to get this goddamn PS2 and play Tales of the Abyss or any other Tales game, Symphonia was awesome fun for me and I just want to play something similar. Tried to play the GBA port od Phantasya but I had some slowdown and the battle controls were a bit odd.

Warriors of Fate, & Knights of Valor both revolve around the 5 tiger Shu generals. I never got to play KOV much though, because I never found a rom that actually worked. (Nor a real arcade cabinet, because the game was made in taiwan.) Topdrunkee can you post games released in america :P Every single game that I posted is an actual game that I own, and scanned myself. I don't see why I should bother posting American games, when I don't have any rare American made games at all. (Save for maybe Summoner 2.) Most of my Western titles consist of rockstar games, ubisoft, electronic arts & eidos published titles. AC2 is kinda meh though, it'd be better to start with the PS1 games (my favorites) AC2 is meh. I looked through my old save file, and I realized that I actually spent more time working on my emblem rather than the actual game. I've never tryed SW, but from what you said it sounds like I may actually like it, if it's more tactical. How so? You get randomly generated sub missions that occur during levels, and you have to decide which tasks you want to prioritize on. That and there's many different troop types in SW. IMO, it's that semi strategical aspect of the Samurai Warriors games that make them not as addicting as the DW games. Plus the original SW game is possibly the worst warriors game out of the entire franchise. (SW has a better fighting engine. DW has catchier music, and is easier to pick up & play.) If you're looking for a more strategic game than I suggest the Empires series. They're like half assed conversions of the Romance of the three kingdoms games, but with less emphasis on diplomacy, resource managing & politics.The empires games are a lot like Dragon Force, except you actually control a warrior during battles. The empires series consist of: Samurai Warriors 2 Empires, Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires, Dynasty Warriors 4 Empires. DW4 E is the most strategic of the lot, but I found SW 2E to be the funnest. DW 5E has the best CAW mode. (DW5E, & SW2E are a bit easier, because you can actually yell out commands to your troops.) In my current SW 2 E game. I'm playing as Musashi to the far east, and I have to constantly ally myself with Nobunaga Oda, because Tadakatsu Honda's forces are so strong that they kill our officers with only two or three hits. Basically I'm biding time in my game, and using Nobunaga as a shield, until Nobunaga & Honda both wear their selves down so I can jump in with my army & kick both of their asses. The layout of the map in my current game is some random loser at shikoku island. Ginchiyo with two fiefs to the west. Honda controls most of the West. Oda controls the mid section of Japan, and my character (Musashi) controls the East. Honda, Oda, and I each control 7 fiefs. (Honda is bound to usurp four more once he completely conquers the West.) ________________ All in all at least each warrior game is light years better than Devil Summoner 3. (I couldn't wait to get my hands on DS3, because I thought it was going to be like a Rpgfied DW. Instead DS3 happens to be even more repetitive than the warriors games.) I actually don't import much (except PAL PSP games that I can play due to PSP's region-freeness). But even America/Europe get at least two a year nowadays. Too bad it's usually the 3d tales... games that make it over. I prefer the hand drawn Tales games because they have animation on par with capcom 2d fighters. "Tales of...." games are some of the gayest looking shit I've ever seen, but I can't hate, because they're fun. (Similar to how I like Mana Khemia regardless of its gayness.) EDIT: Holy shit Tales of Vesperia looks good. It looks like a full blown cartoon. http://namco-ch.net/talesofvesperia/index.php For once, male characters who don't dress like Britney spears. (fuck Motoi Sakuraba his music sucks nowadays). His last great ost was the original Valkyrie Profile.

I never got to play KOV much though, because I never found a rom that actually worked. You could check romhustler, emucation or gametronik. Gametronik had the best amount of working roms but now is down. Also you could ask for the missing files of certain roms on romshare forums (whose rom downloads went down too, and it always had up to date roms) EDIT: :? well I checked and both Gaia Crusaders and Sengoku3 were produced by Noise Factory (Gaia in 1999, Sengoku3 in 2001) which explains why Gaia play like some unfinished prototype. I didnt even notice they reused lots of sounds and a resprite of an enemy

Beated Denjin Makai 1 while on a coin credit orgy. It lack the sheer amount of special moves of its sequel ("maybe" its actually the game not being fully emulated, I remember this used to happen with Knight of Valour 2) but the game is really varied. Seems harder that DM2; enemies are still as varied, maybe more (theres are even some Metal gear like ninja robots that even pop out of common soldiers) and enemies can pick up weapons just like you. The game has way more story that DM2, and probably individual endings, not to mention the ending of the white monsters really was somewhat of a surprise, even the last boss ends being a playable character in DM2. Sadly the game still has no sound.

today I decided to give a try to an arcade game called Osman (Cannon Dancer in Japan), which I heard it was created by the same guy behind strider. The game is quite awesome, action packed in every stage I played (even to the point you dont know what to do) Every now and then I used to play Asura Blade, but now it works so low, it was like darkstalkers with longer health bars. Also found retroroms site, not only has up-to-date roms but BIOS files, and only needs free registration

Oh yeah, OSMAN is awesome, it has some pretty sprites and the difficulty is kinda hard too, although is you start to spam with the special attack the game is easy. Too bad I've never go through the last level, because everytime you get killed, you revive from the start.

Koreans sure make some really obscure games, I foun one called "Vamp 1/2" and was the strangest beat-em up ever (along with strikers 1945kIII as the strangest shmup) Gunforce 2 is somewhat funny, tough it looks like it borrows lots of stuff from metal slug (and Super Turrican)

The metal slug team was behind those games when they used to develop at IREM, like gunforce 2, in the hunt and undercover cops. Therefore the Metal Slug games borrow a lot of similarity with their early titles. I recommend reading this: http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/irem/irem.htm

Wow I didnt know the guys behind Metal Slug worked on Gunforce I still have to try Blade Master and another medieval beat-em up made by Atari which I cant remember the name right now. EDIT: we should make some beat-em up sessions on kaillera every now and then; i'll probably lag but it could be fun if we gather 3/4 players.

So what Warrior game would be good to start with?