Looks like Super Ghouls is going to win. Just how hard is it? I remember renting it in 5th grade and liking it, but its been a long time. I haven't actually played any of the games in prep for the show, and I may play this one if it wins. Has anyone beat it recently?
I never played it back in the day and played and beat it for the first time on the VC. It's not THAT hard, it has a very addictive style I think. I'm not quite sure what to compare it with difficulty wise, but for me it's comparable to R-Type 3 in the way your goal is simply to get to the next checkpoint and it is essentially never conceivable of getting through multiple levels on your first go. Ever. Tougher than Megaman I and II if that helps. The spacing between checkpoints are just right so that they're practically all a big challenge but not too repetitive or slow moving (this is something Cho Aniki is guilty of). Every minute of this game is packed with enemies and events that necessitate a lot of skill to overcome. There are practically unlimited continues which is handy, and the game is fun enough that repeating it the second time round doing a more difficult version is still entertaining. The biggest problem for me was the last but one boss, I don't know why I had so much trouble with it but regardless I don't ever remember feeling that the game's difficulty was cheap. It's doable.
Seriously though, playing through this in just 1 week? It must've taken me about 2 months to fully complete (to be fair most of it was that bloody boss - the final boss was peanuts compared to him) and I was on the lowest difficulty!
Great game. Still think Cho Aniki should be given a chance, it is definitely not a mediocre shooter as someone else called it.