Recca (NES/FC) - Zanki Attack Hard Mode Clear
22Summer Carnival '92 Recca (烈火) for the NES/Famicom, playing Zanki Mode, but this time on Hard difficulty! This was played using the legit Famicom cartridge on a real NES using a adapter.
Stage Listing:
00:00 - Start
00:04 - Area 1
05:29 - Area 2
10:18 - Area 3
13:00 - Area 4
17:24 - Area 5
23:29 - Area 6
34:42 - Area 7
43:27 - Final Boss + Ending
So Zanki Attack Mode on hard. You still get 50 lives to clear it, and you will probably need them. This is a long, intense, and unforgiving game where 1 death leads to many and it's difficult to recover.
My entire goal was just to survive to see the end, and doing that requires mastering the use of the bomb/shield, as that is your only chance in surviving the ridiculous onslaught of bullets.
You will also want to make sure you get the "S" (Search) options at all times, as that will be your main source of damage while you hold your shield up to block the incoming bullet swarms. Basically you just want to survive as long as possible and when you die, try to minimize chain deaths and make good use of your bomb/shield to get your S options back online.
Thankfully the bosses aren't really much harder (although they also release bullets on destruction), it's mainly the very long stages and endless waves of enemies that are the problem.
Honestly, I'm not really sure this mode is really THAT much harder than the standard hard mode, because 50 lives is a lot, and as long as you know what you are doing and focus on survival, you should be able to make it to the end. In fact, I cleared this mode the first time I played it.