/vr/ - Retro Games

>>4848463
Personally, I love the charge shot. I think it's a great idea but I don't think it was done well in 4 because of not losing the charge when you get hit. In later installments, it's the perfect match to the slide, since they work together to avoid damage and capitalize on being good enough to avoid damage. The design is good.

What isn't good is how the weapons never really kept up. The buster is an option - But it's always the best option because the weapons fell short. The weapons are all balanced around the buster for the most part, save for the crucial difference of costing a limited resource. Why do weapons still have weapon energy requirements to this day? They all change your playstyle significantly enough that they should be alternatives to the buster. Instead they're treated like a key to a lock that rarely exists. Think of the weapons in, say, 6 for example:

>shotgun
>shield
>shot that arcs up
>shot that drops off immediately but creates a wall
>shot that has a shorter range but returns to you
>screen clear
>shot that travels along the ground
>needle cannon

All of these would change the way you play entirely if you were allowed to use one without consequence, but most were too weak per shot to justify their power cost, or their other drawback was too severe. If you could use them as much as you want you'd have more of a reason to drop the mega buster.

Honestly for me at least, this was a problem in games before the charge shot too. I never used my special weapons in the stages because again, they were limited, or had a limited range, or were more tricky than 'thing in front of you takes damage'. And the time it took to switch between them was rarely worth it over just mashing the B button. In the vaunted days before charge shot there was always a weapon (shadow blade, metal blade, etc.) that replaced the buster once you got it, but outside of that using them was rare in case you needed it later. Fuck you boobeam trap.