Ey, flip yeah! Glad to see someone interested in it! The entire Act 1 of 3, including the secret boss, is available for free as a demo.

There's *so much* on offer. All enemies have at least three different attacks with even the basic purgatorial blade-footed crook-beaked storks having a long-range rollingi attack and a high anti-air to their name.I believe there's over 40 different enemy types and around 20 different bosses.

Wish you a lot of fun with Magenta Horizon whenever you may get it in full!

I would recommend Clash: Artifacts of Chaos too since you mentioned God Hand, but that's mainly for similarities in gameplay rather than difficulty. Making loadouts of two different Stances and three Special Attacks, all of which have their own unique animation movesets.

(For example, Spear Stance has the longest average range of any stance and high power, but practically no coverage in the flanks. Damage is aimed straight ahead and there's more noticable wind-up. Meanwhile Lightning Stance is Muay Thai-inspired and hits more around you, not just straight ahead.

Mechanically it's probably the fastest stance on average, short of Shadow Stance's forward-pressing double-hitting short-range energy punches, but the least strong attacks per hit)

Goes for the enemies too. All enemies are recurring individuals in the world, looking like they could fit in the Dark Crystal or something. Just like the Stances, all of them have unique movesets between each other.

At the *very* least, they all have

• An individual attack
• A side attack
• A dodge
• A block
• Some combo or other
• And a projectile (though there are exceptions: i've never seen the yellow toad in a barrel named Diogenes with a frying pan throw stuff, for example)

Even the basic wretched featherless bird man named Ekeke, with a voice like an insecure teenage Yoda, has some tricks to him. Like a BIG jump attack to home in on your position, which he can use if you've lined Ekeke up behind another foe. He can jump over while you're dealing with another dude.

His variation of a combo attack is a bit slow but is a two-hit delay combo and can cover a decent bit of ground, has a surprisingly quick shoulder bash to his name and a backstep dodge that leads into a forwards slap.

Plus he can simply throw a rock at you.

Ekeke's not formidable on his own but can provide support to more formidable foes. Like Tralkis, a big, blue, three-legged three-eyed moose man with a face like it was shoved sideways into his chest.

He hits a lot harder, has a rushing attack where he swipes his arms outwards if you come in range, has a different kick for every one of his three legs, a quicker two-hit combo with more range than Ekeke, and a forward kicking jump with his two front legs.

And again, simply throwing a rock at you, too.

Fights are of a smaller scale (ranging from 1 to 5 and anywhere in-between) and every encounter has a different team-up of enemies. Always fresh. Some areas have exclusive enemies too.

(For example, the Corwid Forest has an orange ogre named Sphaxak with what looks like half of a tree bark dog cone covering half his face.

Dude has a fetish for killing pigeons, can't say anything else than "I make the pigeon blood" in different intonations, is nearly twice your size and moves like a hopping gorilla-- but he is deceptively fast with a triple slap combo, a QUICK donkey kick, a grab, a stomp kick, and a fast lunge leading into a slap.)

This to say: The combat in Clash: Artifacts of Chaos won't challenge you as hard as God Hand, but it is very solid. Awesome world too. Recommend it as well.

Bayonetta. Mind: I haven't ever played it, so i can't comment on gameplay from direct experience. I speak more about.... the world and its protagonist.

A big part of it is that my initial impressions of Bayonetta when i was younger, were that she was a sexually charged, overpowered jerk, and that it was alright for her to be a jerk because she's sexy. That already pushed me away for years.

Part of the intro to B1 where she breaks off gravestones didn't endear her to me either.

Now i do know of more nuance with her character, that she's heroic and that her own confidence and stuff have been of big, positive effect for people.

But i feel like the world and story... bend over backwards to make her look cool. Unless the villain needs to look cool for a bit.

The sense of power, aptitude and competence feels out of its gourd (and i've heard that it's even worse in B3) -- i don't know how to express my thoughts in words in detail, so i'll keep it at this:

Bayonetta seems like she can do anything with the greatest of ease, there's nothing that can stop her, and that is boring to me.

I'm well aware that you could use this wording to *sell* people on the game and character. I know an argument can be made too that the player themselves have to earn being as skilled as Bayo.

For me it doesn't hit. Instead, i've found the Angels of Paradiso and the various references to history, mythology and culture in the weapons & accessories more interesting.

Heck, i'd be curious for a Bayonetta universe RTS like Warcraft 3, wherein the creatures of Inferno, Paradiso and the Fairies are units under command of Umbra Witches and Lumen Sages. I'd be up for seeing more about the histories of Lumen and Umbra rather than Bayo herself.

Ninja Gaiden is another one of which i know of the legendary status and have learnt of why people who stick with it, love it.

World, characters and story don't stick with me much-- fair enough, NG lives and dies on its gameplay.

Said gameplay seems like a pain to me. The speeds and weapons are insane and so are the techniques and enemies-- but my impressions are that you need to wade through long low lows to get to high highs.

And those highs may be VERY high, but i can't derive satisfaction from them.

I don't think i really stand still at "looking cool" or using the enemy as a punching bag for crazy combos. Ninja Gaiden seems to demand the player to very, very, VERY strongly focus on what you need to do at speeds i can't keep up with, or suffer the consequences and suffer hard.

I've already had such an experience with Magenta Horizon: Neverending Harvest. That one has its own share of mercilessness and had me go down to difficulty 2 of 5, a third through the game.

It has frustrated me and then some and i still haven't beaten the final boss. But there's more surrounding the gameplay that has kept me going and mechanically-- there's little i can fault it for.

Still very high speeds that i struggle to keep up with and enemies give no quarter, but said surrounding things (story, world, art direction, characters, writing) resonated more with me to want to stick with it.

Very much recommend it, especially with how badly it's going under the radar.

Within the genres of hack-and-slash and beat-em-ups, i have been finding myself more interested in the likes of Darksiders, Soulstice, Zeno Clash, The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile and Magenta Horizon: Neverending Harvest. Even in Heavenly Sword, Dante's Inferno and Knight's Contract.

Very strongly recommend you play the likes of Magenta Horizon: Neverending Harvest and God Hand then. Magenta Horizon especially because it's going horribly unnoticed.

A game where the first boss looks like a psychedelic fungus-ridden steak on four legs with a tiny transparent tapir trunk, one of the main companions is a demon train with arms and the merchant is a Scottish 1800s researcher that decided to use himself as guinea pig for eating afterlife mushrooms, needs to reach more people.

Here they are in full, wiht a link to the submission image!

Want to say ahead of time: it's the second transparent image in the submission that is of smaller size (1800 by 2200). I hope that size is alright enough. Especially because i won't have access to NG until Friday when i go to bed.

I had to book to finish this while using Yakuza & Lost Judgment music on repeat O _ O

Thank you for this collab and wish you good luck.

Character Select Collab: Nemikro & Folekroth by JurTheOrc on Newgrounds

Wanted to show that i'm *almost* done with Nemikro. I'll post her as a proper art piece in my gallery later.

If you want, i could try to balance her right arm to be angled a bit more upwards for the sake of space.

Thank you for replying! Good luck on assembling everything at the end. Hope this collab's been fun for you so far.

I should have clarified that i live in the EU, so the exact time of the deadline may be different from where you live.

If it's alright to ask: How much more time is there before the end of the collab?

Could you draw Froezie (the blue creature with the mohawk)?

She's generally not a fighter and more interested in music than interacting with... anyone, although she does work at a music/instruments store.

Froezie does train with chakrams, slicing and throwing, and she can do the same with DVDs, CDs, vinyl plates and other discs. With some throws she manages to make the discs boomerang. Generally-- she stays at a distance

Has a pretty strong neck too, can probably strike pretty hard with it. Bit squishy and resilient like a cartoon character but hardly invincible, nor used to regular fighting.

Won't fight until there's a reason. Like something trying to rip her leg off, or a very big sale on high-quality audio equipment.

Her favourite band is called Norikoth, which i envision as somewhere between Enigma and Prog Rock.

Here she is! Lox, in all her lightning-braided, eyeball-juggling glory. I hope the eyeball's alright-- otherwise, i'll try to turn the tail into something Beetlejuice-esque. Just adding as tripe pattern.

In the specification of 1000x1000 you ment pixels, right? That's the size i scaled Lox and her eye down for in the transparent picture.

Crazy Clown Collab: Lox and her magic eyeball by JurTheOrc on Newgrounds

You can't tell me what to do, MOM

*Burns myself out in immature defiance*

Joking aside-- that leaves a fair bit of time for me! Thank you very much for the reply as well as for the lenience!

Initially i wanted to draw Lox with a meteor hammer as her trick of choice but i worried that'd take up too much space from other people's characters, so i have to think of what she's holding in her hand instead.

How many hours from now until the deadline?

I'm ALMOST done with Lox, but i need a break at the moment.

WOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

Thank you super much for drawing that character! Still wish i had a proper name for her yet.

This piece is foopin' astonishing! You didn't just draw her, but an entire background, nice pose, and went above and beyond with the coloring, lighting, shading and texturing. The creases on the boots, the different kinds of reflections off the skin, stone, boots, straps and the metal of the axe, the soft warm glow of an off-screen fire or other light source... i even see details like nicks on the axe blade.

Composition's cool too with a lot of personality in the pose. The body and pose seem to say something like "Took you long enough" or "Ah, you're finally here?".

Your level of skill is one i very much respect and would like to attain for myself.

In some ways, this drawing makes me think of official DND/tabletop fantasy art, or professional fantasy book cover art from the... i'd say 80's and 90's.

Again, your art is astonishing! Your piece looks like it must've taken a week or two, perhaps more to make! I never expected someone to make a piece of her with *this* much effort, time and attention put into it. When i look at it get good kinda chills.

Thank you super much. I'm happy that you liked her enough to want to draw her, and i hope that making this piece was fun for you :)

Ha ha ha haaaaa, I dearly love this! Normally i always imagine Sammy with the more sad piano, but there's no reason why she wouldn't get goofy sometimes if the mood's there. You are adding SPOOOOOKY POLKA (Spolka? Spoolka?) joy to my day and i'm very grateful for it. Thank you very much!

Appreciate the addition of the crow and i love the kronkelly ("Kronkel" is Dutch for "squiggle") notes and pose! Ne'er before has the world been blessed with such a soothing duet of piano and talented singer.

Hope you had fun drawing this! With your permission, would love to share this around with a link to your NG profile.

*Run Rottytops Run starts playing as these two ladies are chasing a money van on foot to try and rob it, while being chased themselves by a church-powered dieselpunk mecha ostrich*

Seems like something that could happen to them.

For my more cartoonish art style... definitely No Straight Roads. In terms of body shapes and stylization.

There was the influence of artist Jumpbreak96 too and a user known as Zangtoons (at least known under that name on Twitter), and in terms of art style my love also lies with the likes of Darksiders and Rayman.

But for the biggest noticable influence on my own art it's NSR.

Love this one.

Thank you super much for drawing Sammy! I'm glad you like her design. Appreciate your time and effort!

I think it'd be this one. A drawing to say "Thank you" for user Jumpbreak96 for being a big inspiration/influence for my more cartoony art style, and most of all, my character Innittix. She wouldn't have existed without Beltz.

Jumpbreak96 gift and gratitude by JurTheOrc on Newgrounds

There's also this fan art of two games that have become two of my absolute favourites. a Crossover piece to hopefully help out both to become more known.

Due to the games in question having different art styles, i wanted to mix some techniques too. Cherry's colors are more hard and her proportions are more in line with stylized cartoons, while Pseudo and the background were made with paint brush tools and hatching techniques.

Can definitely recommend both games. (Cookie Cutter's a long-term project too, already out but the lead dev wants to add substantially more and he's already working on it)

Zeno Clash & Cookie Cutter by JurTheOrc on Newgrounds

And this short comic strip that i'm quite proud of. Been a while since i last drew Estri in her proper full jester outfit.

Green Eggs and BAM! by JurTheOrc on Newgrounds

Good to read you've found something that helps with motivation and production. Not sure if/when i'll partake in this too but i appreciate such info and food for thought being shared.

Wish you a lot of fun and good luck (almost wrote gun and food luck) in further developing yourself with this methods and others.

[DRAW ME]

Slim, Jim and Teri.

Slim Reaper is the skeleton

Jiminy Kick*ss is the cricket

Teri is the leaf person.

(the fourth character's name in the couch drawing is Innittix but i'm leaving her out of the equation for now.)

Slim & Jim are a pair of tight friends that really want to be rappers, but in their quest to become famous, they bite off more than they can chew and end up in a quest to safeguard a special power against unscrupulous forces. Including but not limited to a trio of criminal brothers, a demon named Angelo that leads a biker gang, an alien PMC and a businessman with a tennis ball for a head.

Slim tends to live in the moment and be more emotional and expressive, while Jim thinks more long-term and is relatively more level-headed. But he is also much slower to forgive or let go of a grudge.

Can be quite the goofs and distracted through amorous pursuits (gals for Slim and guys for Jim) , envious too, but have their heart in the right place. Ready to help out if needed, even if sometimes they have to weigh their wishes for a career vs. how much a friend really needs them at the moment.

They fight with a metal staff that splits in two.

Teri is a solid friend that simply tries to make their way through the world, with loving parents and a foster care younger brother named Shelby. Teri fights with a three-section staff..

Outside of the martial arts and unusual weapon, Teri isn't necessarily an outstanding individual like Slim & Jim. But you can rely on them and then some.

They're here for Slim & Jim, even though they'd love time for themselves too so that they can look at what goals *they* want to pursue, what they want out of life.

[DRAW ME]

Sammy, full name Samantha Vareena Vlegels.

She's a Dutch goth of about 1,97m tall and is rather cowardly, like Shaggy Rogers. Not fond of seeking out danger or horror. Fairly easy to scare.

That said, Sammy can have a bit of a short fuse too. When something makes her sufficiently angry, like a monster or person bullying a victim repeatedly, the anger will be stronger than the fear.

It doesn't empower Sammy in a supernatural way, but she dares to face a monster or other horrible person head-on.

She needs to learn to balance these emotions, for both have their positive effects.

Outside of that, Sammy is pretty blunt. Not in a mean, bored "Don't care, shove off" way, but just direct and straightforward. Perfectly nice decent person, even if she sometimes lets things depend on others for taking charge or making a plan of action.

Of course, her search for a way to return home motivates her *very* much, but in a more social environment, or in a direct bond with someone, she's generally not the firs to think about and bring op solutions. She'll ask others for suggestions and solutions and is alright with helping out, but can still let the brunt of the heavy work lie with others if the matter at hand is not something directly related to her.

Like with her emotions, her story is learning to recognize this aspect of herself and improve herself, become more independant. And with that comes recognizing that her feelings for a boy she claims to love... isn't real love on her side. And that he'd be better off with another girl that Sammy regularly gets into fights with.

Has an addiction to garlic bread and loves crows. Probably listens to Voltaire sometimes as well as Adrian von Ziegler. Perhaps Circus of Fools too, and the soundtrack of Hunter: The Parenting. (like "Haunting Melodies to help you HUNT THE REPUGNANT THINGS LURKING IN THE NIGHT!)

Learning how to play the piano. Is in part a way of memorizing a new friend that was in her life in a short, but significant way.

Welcome and i wish you good luck and a lot of fun on NG! Good to read you're feeling more comfortable in things. Keep it up!

Can be a little bit of everything that would make me want to decide upon a particular weapon.

For one of my characters, Fulkrost, i wanted an axe because i thought, people usually see axes as heavy dumb brute weapons while swords are the heroic fancy stuff.

Wanted to go against the grain. Looked up a lot about axes since then, to look into varieties, usage, techniques etc. to expand as much on Fulkrost's capabilities with the axe as i could.

Turns out stuff like dane axes are more nimble than most would think. Fulkrost could perform quarterstaff techniques with the axe and

Since then i added a magical gauntlet for shorter-range weaponry and defense.

But for absolute simplicity and effectiveness-- he'd never say "no" to a club or mace.

The mace/club aspect comes through in another character of mine, Sammy. Tall Dutch goth girl that is stuck in the past (like, around the 1700s) and has to survive while finding a way back to her own time.

Initially i drew her with more of a woodcutting axe as an improvised weapon. She's more of a Shaggy ROgers in terms of combat: Can't get hurt if you're not in range, so she tends to BOOK it.

But anger may overtake the fear. So, if she *does* have to fight, using a flanged mace. And later a kanabo.

Sammy doesn't want to get all fancy. Doesn't know the first thing about fencing. But any idiot can swing a thick stick and be a danger with it.

The kanabo is a gift from foreign visitors that she'd help in one adventure.

Sammy has a claw gauntlet too right from the start, but that plays more of a key role in the magical part of her adventure than the combat.

(that's not to say that she won't take advantage of an armored claw when she's angry enough)

Estri likes to play the villain and presents herself as a punk thug, therefore she wields a crowbar.

Nemikro/Noelle i decided on giving Tonfas. Likewise can serve as combat sticks, quicker than a crowbar or flanged mace because they're not top-heavy, and potential for more unusual techniques, a bit of extra reach as well as defensive potential.

Had to learn more about tonfas before settling on it.

Nowadays i'm considering on giving her a short hand axe too, which she may use in boxing motions. Hand close to the head and jabbing and hooking with the thing. It's not exclusively a weapon, can be considered a tool too.

Axes are very underrepresented where it concerns grappling and hooking techniques.

So sometimes it can come because i feel like it, like an interest or fixation in the moment on that particular weapon type. Other times it comes from seeking what fits with the character's personality and/or what they would have access to. Sometimes in the very long term.

Can happen that i pick a weapon first before trying to develop a combat style around it, or give a weapon to someone with an already established combat style as something complementary upon their established way of fighting.

OR: The weapon itself has something special, something extra to it.

Like for example Innittix's giant meat cleaver. She can make it fade into any physical mass of the same dimensions and summon it, likewise from any object/mass of the same dimensions.

And it can move about the ground like a big shark fin, which she stands on.

Tonfa love!

Oh MAN you've got your work cut out for you! I wish you a lot of good luck and fun in taking care of all these, both in the drawing and in the discovering of new music.

For a character of my own to suggest, i think i'll go for Noelle/Nemikro. The flying skull is named Folekroth and is her main friend/ally/

I originally went for the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang cover & music video by Abney Park (love their steampunk stuff), but then i realized... Nemikro's black-and-white scheme in her white suitt fits very well with this one.

SIAMÉS "The Wolf" [Official Animated Music Video]

Again, good luck, and take care!

I can imagine this one hanging out with Hellboy or The Amazing Screw-On Head! Fuppin' fantastic!

Respect to you for keeping on making art of people's OC's here. It's very sweet and awesome. Hope you're doing well.

It's sweet to see you back at it, your work's really cool and there's swell action going on. Good luck and wish you fun!

You're most welcome! That's good to read. I've seen you around here and there and your art's colorful and lovely.

I can imagine him playing one of Banjo Guy Ollie's covers.

Guile's Theme goes with BANJO (youtube.com)

Won't be participating as i have no Madness OCs (though Innittix may have a place in that world due to her brutality and a massive meat cleaver with which she can scoot along surfaces like it's a shark fin), but i want to wish you and every participant a lot of good luck and fun as well.

Have a good rest of the month and a good new month in advance as well! Take care!