Crossed Swords | Swords & Sorcery Deluxe

[00:00:00] Alright Aaron, we've known each other for a while now, okay? And I have a really, really important question to ask you. Will you cross swords with me? Only if you're my dick twin, which you are. Let's cross them. Let's cross them baby on Neo Geo Go!

[00:00:26] Yeah buddy, we are here to talk about Crossed Swords. Release date July 25th, 1991, developed and published by AlphaDenshi. And Crossed Swords is a medieval fantasy first person action adventure game. I'm sorry that's a lot of words, but that's exactly what it is. And it has very strong RPG elements as well.

[00:00:52] If that sounds unique, that's because it is. Because, Aaron, I legitimately think I have never played a game like this before. Yeah. This has to be one of the most unique things I've ever played. It's the only thing that like, kind of even comes close around this time is maybe like the Super Spy. That still feels very different from this. Yeah, that's first person.

[00:01:17] I mean, it's kind of like, this one's kind of third person. Like you said, the wireframe kind of like Super Punch-Out, but yeah.

[00:01:25] Yeah, you do. I mean, but it doesn't feel like Punch-Out either, right? Like the combat is so wholly unique. Yeah. It's just such an incredible concept. You know? First person action RPG at the arcade. Fuck! Like I was immediately drawn to this game, man. As soon again, as soon as I saw it in the four cabinet, you know, in the four spaces and I saw the attraction, I'm like, yep, I'm playing this one.

[00:01:55] Definitely was very appealing. And there's another reason why I was drawn to it besides that. And I'm not sure if I've talked about this on the show yet. Maybe I have, but it bears repeating.

[00:02:05] One thing I've always loved in video games, Aaron, before I even had the words to describe it. One thing I've always loved is Japanese takes on Western fantasy tropes. You know what I mean? Like you can see this in many Capcom games, Magic Sword, Black Tiger, tons of JRPGs, of course, over the years. Like that's kind of what a lot of them are.

[00:02:30] And I've always loved the way those two ideas meet and create art, I guess, together. And like Cross Swords is one of the ultimates in that regard, if you ask me. Like the goblins have that like very cool shade of green, that like perfect shade of like sickly green and cold loads have that like, you know, have they have that like pointy anime fur.

[00:02:56] Like I am a fuzzy creature of unknown origin kind of fur. Yeah. Like that type of shit. The skeletons have that like proper, like they look kind of menacing, but not like super scary. Right. Like it's just everything in Cross Swords is beautiful. Even the fucking, um, the jester guy that you fight in the castle. I think like a little bit toward the end, even he looks kind of, uh, oh, I mean, how do I explain it?

[00:03:23] Like he looks, it resembles a jester, but it looks kind of like, like otherworldly. I guess is the best way to explain it. Yeah. He looks supernatural somehow. Yeah. Even the fucking giant crab monster. Like it looks obviously like a giant crab, but it looks like disgusting. Like, uh, yeah, something you would see in, I guess like an anime. I don't know how to explain it, man. Otherworldly is the best way to explain it. Not at this. Anime.

[00:03:50] Anime is, anime is apt, I think, because honestly, I think every human character in this game looks like every fantasy OVA I've ever watched on VHS back in the day. Like, it looked like every NPC, like the gruff guy on like the how to, how to play screen, like kind of barking at you. Press the A button. You know what I mean? His animations looks like he's like barking orders at you and like all the townspeople you meet and stuff.

[00:04:19] Those are like straight out of every great anime I've ever watched. So I think you're apt to say that. Okay, good. Okay, good. Dude, I love out of all the mechanics in this game. I love the spells are so fun because like the first one, you just launch a magic basketball at the enemy and it's just fucking just clocks them. That's the best. You're shooting a free throw on their head. Yeah. Other than that, man, the combat feels so fucking good in this game.

[00:04:47] Like, uh, uh, we, we played this one also for high score heroes back in the day. And I don't remember what the fuck I said at all about the game other than being frustrated about it being difficult. But like that just comes with it being an arcade game. Like, that's just probably hard. Yeah. But the combat feels real fucking good, man. Like the way that you can kind of like if you're watching, if you keep an eye on the enemy, you can kind of tell like.

[00:05:12] Like, because in this game, you can block high, you can block middle, you can dodge like side to side. There's all sorts of shit you can do. There's all there's so much depth to the combat and you can kind of like watch and anticipate your enemy and like a block high and then slash slash slash basketball and then kind of repeat. Dude, it feels good. It's so good. I love the way. And look, this is the 90s. So, of course, they would. I love the way they just explode into gold.

[00:05:41] Yeah, gold when you get. Yeah. Items like fly from the background and they're spinning like here's a goblet of wine. Yeah, dude. That's like the same. It's the same thing I said when we did our Grandia 2 episode on fine time. It's the same thing I said. Like when you beat the enemies and they kind of disappear and they turn to like a bag of gold or something or like an item. You know, I love that. You know, it's so good. And by the year 2000, we were starting to lose that. Right.

[00:06:10] So that's something I really appreciated in Grandia 2. Thank you, Grandia 2. Thank you, Grandia 2, for bringing that back. But yeah, my love for that stuff comes from games like Cross Swords growing up. That's why I really appreciate that very extremely video game touch to it. Cross Swords. I'm not going to mince words here. Cross Swords has some of the best sound design in Neo Geo history. No doubt in my mind. You agree?

[00:06:38] Because like, okay, thank you. Because like every single sound in this game is so on point. Every sword slash, every weapon clash or like the shield blocking steel like it bouncing off it. Even like the points counter at the end of the scene, that satisfying double trade countdown. That double chirp of it. Even that, man, like all of it is so top notch.

[00:07:08] I am doing like the chef's kiss symbol with my hand right now. It is so I'm feeling it. Well, I guess the one thing I don't care for is the sound your dude makes when he gets hit. He's like, like, see, I like that one, too. I think that's great. I like them all. It's so guttural, man. Like, I mean, I guess, yeah, he's getting his ass beat. Like, it is very like kind of. Yeah, yeah. It's very like, I don't know, man. To me, that's iconic. It gives you that sort of panic. Like, oh, I'm getting fucked up.

[00:07:38] I need to, you know, I need to block. Well, especially the assholes who like will keep hitting you if you don't block their shit, because like they'll hit you high. You're blocking low. They'll hit you high and they'll keep doing it to your block or something. It's like, oh, fuck. I really need to, you know, it sets in that panic in you. So I think it's good in that regard that it doesn't feel, you know, weak. I don't think I really fucking like about this game is that they could have just kept it to where you just use the same shield and sword or whatever throughout the whole game.

[00:08:07] But they were like, fuck you. We're put in a shop. Like you can buy fucking like an axe or a shield staff thing. I forget what the fuck it was. You can buy this lightning sword that has a fucking lightning bolt attack. It's so good. You can buy just a straight up axe, dude. You can buy all sorts of cool shit like that. That's so good. Thank you. Oh, my God. In game shops, baby. We need more of them. I'm telling you. You know what?

[00:08:35] I feel like I would give Souls games more of a chance if like every, I don't know, few encounters. I got to go to a shop, not just the guy selling me stuff. I got to go in a shop and it has a display and they're displaying things to me. Do you want to buy this lightning sword for 5000 gold? Why? Yes, I do. Now I'm having fun with the video game. Yeah, I'd appreciate that shit, especially in an arcade game.

[00:09:05] And like, I think it was Blue's Journey. That shit was like, they were like, come on, bitch. You've got fucking five seconds left. Better pick something. But like this game, I feel like you get a very generous amount of time to pick whatever the fuck you want. Yeah. Yeah. Blue's Journey does not give a fuck about you. It's like you better. You better know what you want before you step in that store. Even if you've never played the game before, you better get in there and get out. That's it. Do you get what you want? No. Fine.

[00:09:35] Fuck off. You're just going to throw leaves at enemies anyway. Yeah. You got to leaf dump them. Leaf dump. Yeah. Leaf dump. Well, Fantasy Zone gives you a decent amount of time in the shop, I think. Oh, I forgot about that. They have that classical song. Yeah. I feel – Yeah. And you get to go shopping. I love it. Anyway, yeah. Games – shopping makes games better. Okay? It does. That's all I got to say. Oh, are you old enough to remember when Wheel of Fortune had shopping? No. Okay.

[00:10:05] So you had – there was a shopping portion of the show. So like whatever – they play a few puzzles, right? And then whatever money you have with your puzzles, there's like a shopping portion where you can buy other prizes with your so far winnings. I don't – In the middle of the fucking show. But they stopped doing that sometime in the 90s. Yeah. That might have been before my time. Yeah. You may have never seen a – yeah. You may have never seen a – oh, are you old enough to have seen Wheel of Fortune?

[00:10:34] To have seen Vanna White turn the letters herself? Like physically turn the letters? Okay. Okay. Yeah. Before she had like the touchscreen. Yeah. Yeah, dude. I love Cross Swords. It's always been one of my absolute favorite Neo Geo games. As you said, the gameplay is so on point here. It's so simple. It's so fucking simple. And it's so good. Oh, you have UFO 50, right? Oh, yeah.

[00:11:04] Valbrace. Valbrace is this battle system. Oh. But a dungeon crawler with like a first person dungeon crawler. But when you get into the random battle, you fight like fucking Cross Swords, dude. Oh, fuck. Yeah. So play Valbrace on UFO 50, everybody. Including you, Aaron. So, yeah. I'm going to give Cross Swords an A. Deserves it. I'm also giving it an A, man. It comes really close.

[00:11:31] And I'm kind of excited to see what Cross Swords 2 does. Is that, uh. Yeah. The Neo Geo CD sequel, which I have never played. And quite frankly, Aaron, I didn't even know existed before we started doing research for this entire podcast. So at some point in the future, we will play Cross Swords 2 on Neo Geo CD once I figure out how to emulate it. So if you figure that out, let me know.

[00:12:00] Until then, what are we playing next time, Aaron? Next time, Super Baseball 2020. Love it. See you then. I'm about to Neo Geo go number two in my pants.