I'm thinking of getting either Pinball Fantasies or Pinball Dreams. Do you recommend one over the other?
I'm not familiar with Blazing Lazers. But, I'll tell you this: we are very unlikely to see either of the Galaxy Fräulein Yuna PC Engine games in the US PS Store. On a more serious note, I suspect we won't get Star Parodier, either.
Freelance
Member
Blazing Lazers. It's a 1989 SHMUP that's very similar to the Star Soldier series. Very good game and I already have it on the Wii but I wish I could play it on the go. You can get Star Parodier in the Soldier Collection so it's possible to play it.
Both pinball games are good so it doesn't really matter what you pick. Pinball Fantasies is the sequel in case you weren't aware. I really hate Boom Beats in Dreams though so Fantasies gets a nudge up because of it. That said, I really wish they had put out Pinball Illusions too on the Mini platform. I have it on PC.
I actually made reference to Star Parodier precisely because it's in Soldier Collection; of the four games on the UMD, that's the only one that would be unlikely to see release in North America, due to the Japanese dialogue (starring well known seiyuu Hisakawa Aya! I recognized her voice right away). By the way, I have the UMD, if you forgot.
Yes, I had read Fantasies was the second in the series and was going to go with Dreams since it's the first, but I thought I ought to see if there might be good reason to reverse that. I think you meant "Beat Box."
Off topic: Sony sure is doing a crappy job with the TG16 releases in the Store. They don't get their own category, and there is nothing you can search to get them all in one result. Right now, the only way to get all of them together is to look under New Releases--which, of course, won't work as more Store updates go up.
The TG16 stuff made me think to pull out my Galaxy Fräulein Yuna Collection UMD and play the Galaxy Police Legend Sapphire (Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire) vertically scrolling shooter. I set the difficulty to Easy, maxed out the credits to 9, and set bonus lives to appear at the lowest score thresholds, and I was actually able to beat the game (had never thought to alter the settings before; best I can do on Normal difficulty seems to be 2 credits used just to beat Stage 1 of 5). The game is extremely rare as a PC Engine (Arcade CD) title, and even better, it's also very good. The main unique gameplay aspect is the fact that your wingmen orbs become temporary homing weapons with incrementing score bonuses if you don't fire your guns for a couple of seconds and then start firing. Other than that, it also has numerous bosses (at least 2 per stage) with a wide variety of attack behaviors, multiple time period settings, and the CD-quality music is intense (80s metal style, maybe?). It has some Japanese dialogue (monologues, really), though, so it will probably never see release on the PS Store. Nonetheless, if you can get the UMD, it's quite good; the soundtrack, which is available in a sound test mode, almost makes it worth the price alone. Of course, the fact that you also get the first two Yuna visual novels is another plus--if you can understand all the Japanese. . . .
Alternatively, Play-Asia.com currently has a used copy of the PC Engine Arcade CD original, asking $400.
Here's some footage from the game's first two stages. Check out that stage-end boss music!
Thanks, volcane. Might you be able to elaborate on what you like more about Apache, and also how much more? Something about the presentation, the difficulty curve, the gameplay?
By the way, I've currently got 65% of the unlockable images in the NeoGeo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting image gallery unlocked. Probably won't be unlocking much more, given that the rest likely depend on playing and beating Subject and Survival Modes multiple more times (not that I can beat Survival). I also encountered something odd in Subject Mode scoring: for two runs through, the final score was much higher than the actual total score of the individual stages. No idea where these huge bonus points came from.
volcane
Member
@onmode-ky
I think both games are fairly close in terms of enjoyability, but there is a very different feel for each game. Whereas MOZOX feels like an average space shooter, Apache certainly looks more terrestial (which you would expect, given that it is set on Earth and not in space). Apache reminds me of the kind of scrolling shooting games back in the Amiga & Spectrum days. Apache is faster and busier and has more energy in it, as opposed to MOZOX. I also quite like the radio voice feedback that you get telling how well/badly you are doing.
Having said that, unfortunately I do start to lose my interest a little after a while in both games. Neither title seems to keep me engaged for too long. But I've not yet deleted either from my PSP because they both do seem to pull me back periodically! :-)
Is it usual for Japanese shooters to make you work really really hard to get the gallery and media unlocks? :-)
Hmm, I would think the Genesis, Amiga, and Spectrum all have scrolling shooters with much more "design" going on in them than Apache Overkill. Certainly more so than M.O.Z.O.X. (it only has, I think, 3 bosses, which rotate through the levels, and the game's only real difference between levels is enemies becoming more resistant to your fire). Does Apache have actual enemy patterns, or is it what it looks like to me from the trailer: random enemies just appearing onscreen at random? Or is it dynamic like Xevious, where the enemies you face depend on how well you have been performing?
volcane, it probably is pretty standard, yes. :) However, NeoGeo Heroes' unlock method being so obscure is probably not standard. In Castle of Shikigami III, you unlock story sequences and images by simply seeing them in gameplay. In DariusBurst, you unlock its gallery items by beating missions in Mission Mode. Then again, Gradius V didn't have anything to unlock other than free play and weapon edit, as far as I can recall.
Thanks for the input. I think I will continue to avoid Apache. Had my fill of disappointment already with M.O.Z.O.X. On the pinball side of things, I'm thinking Fantasies rather than Dreams. "Beat Box" does seem to have a not-very-fun layout, indeed.
Yesterday, I went into PS Home to pick up some of the free Welcome Back items (there's quite a bit, including entire personal spaces), and while I was there, I poked around to see some of the changes since the last time I was there. Aside from the E3 bit, I hadn't been in Home in over a year. In my explorations, I discovered something awful: I swore never to spend actual money in Home, but KONAMI IS SELLING GRADIUS V ANIMATED CAPS AND SHIRTS! What do I do now?! I was able to resist Irem's scale-model R-Type Home merchandise, since they had smaller-scale free versions, but Gradius V! GRADIUS V! Konami even had models of the Vic Viper T-301 on display (three of them, all small ones, not like Irem's R9 Arrowhead sand sculpture) in their space. I snagged screen caps of them, but that may not slake my Gradius V thirst!
Incidentally, if you go into Sony's E3 booth space and do all the stuff, you unlock the booth's upper level. On that level, there is a decent little doodle-graphics vertically scrolling shooter, Scribble Shooter. It's a demo, just the first level, of a game set to be released later this summer in Home. Rather easy, even for just a first stage, but it has good weapon variety (clear Gradius V influence in the option control arrangements: orbit, freeze, and the traditional follow!) and a lot of charm.
Going back to TG16/PCE, I played a bit of the first Yuna game (on the same UMD as the above-noted Sapphire) recently. It's the first visual novel I've ever encountered with RPG-like, turn-based battles; I fought 3 attackers (in separate battles) as the story progressed. There is an abundance of voiced Japanese dialogue, some of it even without accompanying text, but I was fortunately able to understand the majority of it. Very silly stuff.
Yuna: "Is that a robot? I don't really like robots."
Her companion, Elner: "Um, you know, I'm a robot."
Elner: "This is acid rain! We have to find cover!"
Yuna: "Oh, no! My hair is going to get bleached!"
Elner: "That really isn't what you should be worrying about!"
Freelance, is Devil's Crush a lot like Alien Crush? I was a little disappointed that my aim in Alien Crush turned out to be much less accurate than in, say, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection. At times, I can have pinpoint accuracy in Williams, but I have less than 50% success getting the ball where I want it to go in Alien Crush.
Now that TurboGrafx-16 games are in the North American PS Store . . . maybe we'll get the PC Engine port of Flying Hamster!
Freelance
Member
I actually can't remember how Devil's Crush is played so I'm probably not the best person to answer. I didn't even remember, until I played it, how hard it is to hit the ball in Alien Crush, especially the top field. Being unable to change the controls is another hit. Devil's Crush generally considered to be better though, but I've no clue if the controls are better though.
Now I'd like to ask you a question. Let's assume that I am willing to buy one of the two R-Types on the PSN store. If you've played them, which one is better? I would assume the one with both R-Type and R-Type 2 would be the better value, but I've barely played the series and don't know what to expect.
P.S. I wasn't aware that Flying Hamster was available elsewhere.
Yeah, it's a good thing that the playfield doesn't seem too drain-happy in Alien Crush, or else all those mis-aimed shots would be a major problem.
I think your R-Type decision (and I do have both) is dependent on what you're interested in. R-Types is just a straight anthology-style pairing of R-Type and R-Type II (the arcade games), while R-Type Delta is a deeper affair, with multiple playable fighters, more to the weapon system, a credit-earning system, and 3D graphics. So, if you're mostly interested in seeing R-Type roots, go for R-Types, and if you're more looking for more depth, go for Delta. In terms of difficulty and level/boss design, I can't say I really noticed much difference; all three games are hard and require memorization and deliberate attack planning, and none of them resemble R-Type Leo. Of course, I've never gotten very far in any of them, so my evaluation is only based on the first stages of the games.
I kind of liken Ace Armstrong to R-Type in its reliance on practice and memorization, while Flying Hamster has more of a Gradius feel. Not sure what you meant by "available elsewhere," but Flying Hamster is so far only available on Minis and iOS; the PC Engine port I mentioned was Game Atelier's April Fools' Day joke. Would be kind of cool if they made a homebrew version, though (since they obviously wouldn't be able to actually make a licensed TG16/PC-E game).
I got Pinball Fantasies, by the way, and have played a bit of Party Land and Speed Devils. Fun stuff!
Freelance
Member
Oh, I wasn't aware of the joke so oops. I as wondering 'cause I definitely haven't heard of any other games with the same name hehe.
Ugh, memorization. No wonder I never played R-Type much back in the day.
Sweet. Speed Devils is my fave table, followed by Party Land. Glad you like it! Might as well get Dreams too! Now if only they released Pinball Illusions to Mini format. I have it on PC and it's awesome.
I discovered yesterday that in the Asia-region PS Home, Irem has a space dedicated to R-Type Tactics II: Operation Bitter Chocolate. Not only does the space contain full-scale models of two R-series fighters (because the space is the bridge and hangar deck of a battleship in an orbital battle over the Earth), but it includes a space battle mini-game! You pilot an R9 fighter (camera follows it) in a free-roaming 3D space environment, allotted 2 minutes to take down as many enemy fighters and capital ships as you can. For playing the game, you get costume pieces, for a yukata, adorned with large R-Type art. For beating the 10,000-point objective, you get an R9 hat--which is pretty big, so it looks hilariously insane on your head!
All in all, a space with many photo opportunities, both in the space itself and in the clothing items it gives you. I wish it were in the North American Home, too. It must be in Japan's Home; does anyone know if it's in Europe's Home?
Incidentally, among the 100 Welcome Back items in the Asia-region Home, one was an anime-themed personal space--by "anime-themed," they seemed to really mean urban futuristic, like a Neo-Tokyo. The North American Home gave you 2 free personal spaces, but this one is much cooler than a luxury garage and Dragon's Lair.
Freelance, I've found that my performance in Pinball Fantasies seems notably poorer than my performance in other pinball games. I can only reach the second or third high score position on most of the tables, and in the supposed highest-scoring table, "Billion Dollar Gameshow" (Wikipedia said something like many trillion points had been accomplished), I've only managed fourth place at best, a mere 22 million points or so. I abort any session on it where I don't have 5 million at least by the third ball, and I've found I'm aborting more than half the time. Am I just playing it wrong somehow? I was doing very poorly at "Speed Devils" for a while, too.
Freelance, you can ignore my previous post. I discovered that playing "Billion Dollar Gameshow" with the table displayed vertically on the PSP seemed to improve my performance. Also, it's a table where the large point values come from only a few things, things that are rather difficult for me to pull off consistently. A glance at a YouTube video also confirmed what I suspected for a while: the table's "missions," which are key to getting the absurdly high scores, are very poorly explained during gameplay. While most tables I've played have lights or DMD messages directing you which way to go to activate things, this table has none of that. It wasn't until my most recent game that I realized you could actually get the prizes on that wheel (I got 2 of the first trio).
Also, what I said in my previous post about the trillions of points was actually for "Stones 'N Bones," not "Billion Dollar Gameshow." Oops.
Anyway, back to the scrolling shooter topic! Something (expansion? sequel?) called "DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX" has been announced by Taito. This comes at around the same time that the Western version of (non-EX) Another Chronicle made its first appearance at a coin-op trade show in the UK; this international edition of the game differs only in the absence of the awning over the players' bench. If I ever find this game locally, I hope it's not outside on a rainy day.
The previously mentioned Scribble Shooter will be releasing in PS Home in a couple of weeks. It seems it is going to be an arcade cabinet for personal spaces (i.e., won't be free to play). I've never spent any money in Home before, but this and those Gradius V shirts. . . .
I ordered the Shooting Gameside Vol. 2 book yesterday--and from the look of it, I got the last one. Either that, or it was already out of stock when I placed my order, and they just updated it. Anyway, extensive Gradius coverage + interview with Zuntata = must-buy.
Scribble Shooter is now available both in PS Home and from the PS Store's new Home section (but it's a Home personal arcade cabinet in either case). I think it was $7. Not sure if I'll get it yet.
A few nights ago, I beat Castle [of] Shikigami 2 for the PS2 for the first time. It was a remarkable game ending; I was down to my final hit before death on my final (seventh at the time) credit, with no bombs left, and I was about to get hit in the next second or two by bullets from which there was no escape, when all of a sudden, the final boss died. Honestly, it was sooooo close that I thought at first I had died, but no, it was the boss! Beating the game unlocked extra options like altering enemy bullet speed and bullet size, so for the sake of making it easier to beat the game for the remaining 7 characters (to see everyone's endings), I made the game a little easier. Heck, it was already at "Very Easy" difficulty mode and the most generous earned-bonuses setup, yet the game was still seriously hard bullet hell. While collecting the single-player character endings (obtuse though the game's laughably poor script translation and voice acting may be--seriously, their translator seems to have been someone who couldn't speak English very well), I also unlocked free play (6 hours of game time, same as R-Type Delta, apparently), which also unlocked the final images in the image gallery. Unlike in Shikigami III, none of the gallery images depend on 2-player play in this game.
Overall, Shikigami II is pretty good, though I think I like III more (I have the North American Wii version of that). Not only is the localization significantly better, though the dialogue can still be incomprehensibly bizarre, but I like the changes to the mechanics, as well as the climactic final boss fight. Oh, and Yukari Horiguchi Ver. 2 and Reika Kirishima are a riot. :)
I was very, very disappointed today to discover that a movie theater less than an hour away from me, which I have visited in years past, was host to a location test for DariusBurst Another Chronicle . . . up until a few weeks ago. D:
NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
That cabinet has since moved to a new location test site in Utah; the guy who runs ArcadeHeroes.com has it in his arcade. Pictures and lots of text here (including an "unboxing" of a 1010-lb. machine :) ). I want to play it, damn it!
In other news, because Irem is pulling out of PlayStation Home, along with nearly every other video game service they're on (but that's another story, a rather sad one), I took the plunge yesterday and bought my first virtual items in Home: some R-Type virtual fighter models. Still haven't decided to buy Scribble Shooter.
A new side-scrolling shooter is coming soon for the Dreamcast, and this one even has a pricey limited edition.
DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX was an expansion to the non-EX version, but I didn\'t read about the content; EX2 is coming, and I\'ve read that the content this time includes a new player ship, new bosses, and the addition of wingmen (a la 1942 or the options in Gradius).
Well over a year after Gundemonium Collection debuted in the PS Store, I\'m finally ordering the PC CD-ROM release of it (with art book and soundtrack CD), which is on sale through Saturday for 50% off its standard price--making its with-shipping price equal to that of its standard non-sale price in the PS Store.
Everything I bought on Black Friday was for me. . . .
I just discovered today that G.Rev\'s vertically scrolling helicopter shooter Under Defeat, formerly of the NAOMI arcade/Dreamcast family, is coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360 (in Japan, anyway) remade as Under Defeat HD. It includes a new widescreen mode as well (the original game uses a vertically oriented screen), by which I mean an actual widescreen mode, not just the Tate (rotated) mode.
Freelance
Member
I really don\'t know how to respond to these posts but it doesn\'t mean I do not read them.
At any rate, an Indie vertical SHMUP named Jamestown on PC is a daily deal today on Steam for $2.49. It looks like a bullet hell game which I do not like. Just passing this info in case someone wants to snag it.
Additions (and edits) to my shooting game library since the list on the first page:
- Plug-n-Play
Space Invaders
- PC
Gundemonium Recollection
GundeadliGne
Hitogata Happa
- PlayStation Portable
The King of Fighters Sky Stage (included in the previously mentioned NEOGEO HEROES ~Ultimate Shooting~)
Sky Force
Duæl Invaders
Who's That Flying?!
Vanguard
HAL 21
Ozma Wars
Sasuke vs. Commander
Alpha Mission
Vanguard II
Prehistoric Isle in 1930
Bermuda Triangle
- PlayStation 3
Alien Syndrome (part of the previously mentioned Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
PixelJunk Shooter 2
Galaga Legions DX
PixelJunk SideScroller
- PlayStation (from PSN)
Kyuiin
The plug-n-play Space Invaders is part of the 10-game Taito TV Game system (AKA "Retro Arcade featuring Space Invaders"), while the 3 PC titles make up Gundemonium Collection. Everything else minus KoF Sky Stage and Alien Syndrome was a standalone download purchase.
Additions to my pinball library since that earlier list:
- PlayStation Portable
Party Land
Speed Devils
Billion Dollar Gameshow
Stones 'N Bones
- TurboGrafx-16 (from PSN)
Alien Crush
The PSP titles make up the Pinball Fantasies Mini.
By the way, Freelance, that Japanese Game Boy pinball game you have, does it have the number 66 in its title? Edit: Oh, wait, never mind. The title I was thinking of was localized as Revenge of the Gator, which you have. I tried searching "pinball" in Japanese (ピンボール) to see if I could ID that game of yours.
Freelance
Member
Oh hey, I dug up that Japanese GB game I had and found out it's from Jaleco so I did some searching on GameFAQs and discovered what this mystery game is!
It's called Hero Shuugou!! Pinball Party, and judging from the cover and in game screen shots (only saw 2 online, one of which is the title screen), it looks to be based on a manga and/or anime that I've never heard of before. The game itself is pretty dull. That's what I recalled when I played it many years ago.
Oh, I just discovered this Japan-only pinball game. Have you ever played it? Looks like it has 2 tables:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PSP-Pinball-Japanese-Import-Factory-Sealed-brand-new-MINT-/220969385847?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item3372cd3f77
It looks like it can only be played in Tate mode too.
This page has more clearer pics of the 2 tables:
http://www.gameforfun.com/en/product.asp?product_id=6050#
P.S. Wow, the Japanese cover for Revenge of the Gator is darn cute:
http://image4.play-asia.com/640/6l/pa.118726.1.jpg
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