Messages

[General Gaming / Shadow Break]

http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA049213/

Thought this game was cool. Came across it somehow from this French site: http://www.gamopat.com/article-l-improbable-shadow-break-106781903.html

It's like Ninja Spirit crossed with Breakout. I guess it could be compared to Wizorb or Devilish.

[General Gaming / Re: Rundown on MD shooters]

I know! I'm such an idiot! I type way too fast!


/darius2stupidpity.png

[General Gaming / Re: Rundown on MD shooters]

INSECTOR X
I want to like it. It's by Taito. I have a thing for Taito. But it's kind of dull. Needs more animation and cool music. The graphics themselves are sometimes drawn well, but overall the game has little charm, no excitement, has frustrating deaths.

ROAD BLASTER
A driving shooter. Very good. By Tengen, I think, or Atari or somebody like that. Midway? It's very fast and a good bit like the arcade.

Hold on, I think my cat just shit in the bathroom. I smell something. brb

No, it wasn't him. I don't know what it is. I put on deodorant just to make sure. I also checked the closet, but nothing was there.

LETHAL ENFORCERS
Who cares? Would rather play that Russian game Death Caliber that that one dude "corpse" keeps trying to hawk on eBay.

LHX ATTACK HELICOPTER
I dunno. Not much into helicopters or realism. (Why can't there be a game like this made by Toaplan, like set in a Hellfire/Out Zone type world?) I did like that helicopter game on the Sega CD pretty good. I forget who made it or what it was called.

Something I always wondered: do people, kids I mean, just know what stuff like "LHX" is? Or how about "F-117," for that fighter plane? I never knew this stuff as a kid and never understood how like other 10 year olds just knew this stuff, or pretended to. I guess you just have to gravitate toward military stuff and like GI Joe a lot as a kid and have a dad that was a marine or something like that.

MERCS
Great game. It went by me as uninteresting at first because it seemed like Commando by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and it is, but it's pretty fun with some good Japanese-y hysteric music at times (level 2's theme). It could definitely use better explosions and graphics, but the thing is the arcade wasn't much better and this one offers an Original Mode with new levels.
But it's boring to look at.
I guess it's like the 8 bit version of Far Cry or Just Cause.

MAGIC GIRL
Apparently some kind of cute-em-up. Korean? Taiwanese? I forget. Haven't played it.

PANORAMA COTTON
Very, very good well-made shooter, very easy, but also a lot like the original Cotton. Which is to say it's a cute-em-up but not always overdosing on the pastels and sugary graphics. More dark at times, really. It's just amazing how well some parts scale, with multiple levels you go up and down in, cool tunnels. Wish Night Striker had received this treatment. Would have been cool to hear that Zuntata score on the Yahama chip inside the Sega.

MEGA SWIV
Haven't played, seemed bad.

MEGA TURRICAN
Run-n-gun, ugly character design and fairly unappealing graphic style, but maybe it's an acquired taste. Really good music. It's a solid game and said to be one of the best in the Turrican line-up.

GLOBAL GLADIATORS
Run-n-gun/platformer. A lot of fun. Repetitive levels, jerky camera, jammin' music. This one's got charm thru the roof. Just very fun to control. Doesn't really seem like a licensed McDonalds game or some environmental manifesto type thing, if it was.

VECTORMAN 2
Amazing lighting effects.

MIDNIGHT RESISTENCE
Choppy scrolling (low frame rate?), poor animation, Data East Contra clone. Otherwise very good mostly. Great music, which as many has said is even better than the arcade's. Wish somebody who was into rom-hacking would fix this one up and improve the scrolling and other technical issues that hamper it. It really feels low budget and "an early Genesis title," which it was. But instead all Sega hackers do is make new levels for Sonic.

BLOODSHOT (BATTLE FRENZY)
Pretty cool FPS, probably the best technically on the system. I haven't gotten that far into. Low frame rate of course, but it has decent sci-fi indoor environments (a careful attempt at keeping the pixellation from looking too bad by making the wall textures Tron-like, the enemies simple-coloured robots). Could have had better music and gameplay in general. Interesting idea of having to backtrack through a level against a timer once reaching the end, but the shooting mechanics are just too stiff and it feels too much like you take a hit then they take a hit, then you take a hit and so on, without much strategy.

MYSTIC DEFENDER (KUJAKU OH 2)
Not really a shooter of course, a sidescrolling action game, but one of the best of its kind in the early days of the system and still stands up well with nice atmosphere, levels and monsters and excellent music. Really like this one. You do "shoot" magic across the screen, making it, in the abstract, vaguely Contra-like. Okay, I'm reaching...

I mean, at this rate, I might as well describe Paperboy as being a shooter. Like Mercs!

PHELIOS
Greek-themed vertical by Namco. You are flying on a pegasus. Stages change rapidly as you go. You charge up your shot (off your sword) to unleash a powerful attack. Pretty easy game, I think, could have had better graphics, but good idea. The arcade version features more impressive zooming and color shading, I think running off the same hardware as Dangerous Seed did. But they opted to release this one out west instead of that one, which is fine because they're pretty equal in terms of quality.

RAMBO III
Seems very good, and another one I overlooked because I simply didn't like macho 80s type stuff for the longest time. This one requires a little more strategy or level-learning than Mercs. For instance you choose to use a knife or place a bomb, when to run and move along, etc., whereas Mercs is more like shoot, shoot, shoot!

JUNGLE STRIKE
Great game, probably best in series.

DESERT STRIKE
Great game, the first one in the series, a bit dry, but it does fit the setting. Sometimes I think that works out for the best, because these games lack music and color, and you spend most of the time hearing your bullets and missiles fire. I said I didn't like helicopter/military stuff, but this series always grabbed me and I must have rented it a dozen times. It's just a lot of fun to go anywhere you want, with controls that feel instantly right (unlike the SNES version), blowing up whatever you choose, but I must say I never found their map screens that easy to understand. Was always a problem flipping through them.

URBAN STRIKE
Seems good. Not sure why it has terrible reputation, but haven't played it much. Has more cinematics and Hollywood movie style now. Was surprised to see modern-like widescreen LCDs on the walls in one part of them, at the beginning. It takes place in the future, but...

ROBOCOP vs TERMINATOR
Pretty all right. Instantly appealing to many because of its blood and guts. The enemies erupt like a fountain and their blood is ketchupy. It looks stupid. Very hard to take seriously. Also has dumb grenade bullets that you can control the movement of.

Admittedly this sort of thing had more appeal to me as a kid. I would rent something just because it was violent. It's hard to remember what I was thinking.

ROLLING THUNDER 2
Very good, but stupid Miami Vice style is unappealing. The girl wears spandex and high heels. I liked the first one more, especially on the NES. That had a good James Bond '60s feel to it. This does not. But most of the gameplay is similar. I just don't think it's as good overall. It seems sloppy. The music is pretty enthused, though. It even has a sound test that shows a band playing.

Probably it's a really good game I should spend more time with.

ROLLING THUNDER 3
Somehow seemed better to me. A U.S. Genesis exclusive despite being designed in Japan. I still smell cat shit in here, in this room. This is awful. Hard to type. Must be under the bed.

Anyway, liked the Vegas level in this one. Nice detail in the backgrounds there, the reflections and lights. Kind of reminds me of E-Swat for some reason.

E-SWAT
Good game, early one. Representative of Sega's style at the time, before they stopped making many arcade games. It's just nice that it's usually set at night, in a city. You know what I mean? I like those kind of settings for games and movies. They really came off well then. This is a 4 megabit cartridge, I think, so it doesn't really impress in its graphics. Even the sound could have been a little better because the Master System's music had better, more interesting compositions by "Tarnya," who did Mystic Defender. But this one's still pretty interesting to hear at times.

Plays kind of like Rolling Thunder in the way you shoot and jump up a next level (like holding up and jumping at the same time). Similar to...

SUNSET RIDERS

...in that way. A botched port, apparently, for the Genesis. What happened? Did Konami hate Sega at the time, as some have accussed? Who knows. More likely they decided to go multiplat halfway through porting it to the SNES and figured Genesis fans would lap it up anyway even if it was shorter and cut down in parts. Well, it does still have a lot of good things to it. It plays really well -- the slide is more like the arcade's (some hate that), the music comes off strong all the time, and it has less "censorship" (the whores are there, the Indians are there). It's a cool game, sure to please many. Just kind of short. And easy.

SKELETON KREW
Cool game, mediocre (bad?) gameplay. The gameplay is too sloppy. A port of an Amiga game. There were a lot of ports back then because the hardware was a bit similar. I don't like it as much as Escape From the Planet of the Robot Monsters by Atari, another isometric run-n-gun, but the dark, grimy graphic novel-like art work and cool level design is definitely appealing.

One to look out for if you're merely attracted to stuff with titles like "skeleton krew," if the very sight of the word "skeleton" is appealing.

I meant to mention above that I really like that Slap Fight MD has level design that is one long stretching level separated by "areas" noted off to the side. There is no real breaks in the areas and the boss fights are short. Daisenpu and some others are like that.

SMASH TV
Apparently a lackluster port, despite having the control scheme option to use two controllers -- if you have two Sega Arcade Sticks (or similar, perhaps Atari joysticks) you might can play it in the "dual analog" arcade way it's meant to be played as.

ROBOTRON (WILLIAM'S ARCADE CLASSICS)
Very good port despite, as others have said, the controls being adjusted for Genesis. You can easier shoot in the direction you're moving or you can hit A or C to cycle the direction he's shooting in. Probably doesn't work that well... but try it sometime. It seemed pretty good to me. Graphically and soundwise it's quite close to the arcade, which was really cool and intense and never really gets old for some reason.

DEFENDER (WILLIAMS ARCADE CLASSICS)
Good port of arcade, like above, and controls are perfect, probably better (simpler) than the arcade's.

SPACE INVADERS '91 ('90)
Actually might be a very addictive and decent game. Originally I thought it might be some like giveaway that was passed out by Taito for magazines to distribute or something because it seemed so skimpy in terms of a game. But, I dunno, each wave is different and if you like Space Invaders -- classic Space Invaders -- than this was one of the last ones, and according to some the first true sequel to the original. I find the very original so frustrating because I have yet to understand the basic strategy of how you're supposed to clear each line. Maybe games like this are just no fun if you don't have any friends or people at arcades to compete with for high scores.

STAR CRUISER
A shooter? Has shooting parts. May be mainly an RPG.

SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE
Seems good. An Amiga port, again, I think. Overhead run-n-gun, similar to Shock Troopers, Mercs, Dead Nation, with background graphics that look like they come from Beyond Oasis.

Seemed a bit sloppy overall in terms of gameplay.

SUB-TERRANIA
Very impressive underground shooter with controls like Lunar Lander or The Magic School Bus or that one hard level in Earthworm Jim where you're racing in the pod trying not to touch the walls too much or you'll implode. I remember the level maps being spread out in various magazines like Gamefan. It made it seem even more impressive then when you saw it that way. But somehow not that fun to play, at least not to me. I think you have to be pretty into it late at night and drunk.

EX-RANZA (RANGER X)
I don't know which is the worse title, but sucky game that is utterly frustrating and overrated. Has impressive graphics with nice Japanese sprite animations, a lot of small details in backgrounds, but hard to control. Some people appeal to have mastered the controls and love it. I would rather play Target Earth.

(Also had cool wireframe cinematics at the beginning, like something from Delphine).

ASSAULT SUIT LEYNOS (TARGET EARTH)
Really good game apparently that got a bit of censorship in the west with a dying scene taken out. Don't know why they changed the name. I overlooked it because of its bland name but then became interested when I learned of the Japanese version (yes, I'm that silly, but it's true!) Anyway, it's a sidescrolling mech game with small sprites that don't seem to care that they're small (not trying to impress the graphics-hungry audience that's never satisfied). Easy to control mostly. Had a sequel that was much more impressive on Super NES and Saturn, but what started here is quality.

Actually I haven't even played this game really. I'm not sure I even beat the first level. I get a lot of my knowledge from YouTube videos.

SUPER FANTASY ZONE
Great game. Made by Sunsoft rather than Sega. Sunsoft must have had a thing for this series because they had ported it on the Famicom and I guess just liked it a lot and made their own sequel. The graphics aren't quiet as happy and bright as the original. It has a more "Mega Drive" look to it (for instance, the dark oranges of the pumpkin boss on the first stage). But boy is that music jammin'! Love it! "Mango!" from the sound test you just can't get enough of. Yeah! Love that song!!! Want to dance to it right now if it wasn't 6 AM and the smell of cat shit everywhere.

Super Fantazy Zone is probably too short and easy given it's fairly expensive price. It's on Virtual Console though for cheap.

SUPER AIRWOLF
Haven't played.

TASK FORCE HARRIER
I dunno. I used to own it because this guy I talked to some in IMs, who used to write for shmups.com, said it was his favorite Genesis shooter, and he was into the military a lot and talked about guns a lot and how he was planning on stockpiling them and hiding away somewhere. I wasn't sure if he was serious, but he eventually stopped coming onto AIM. I guess the Men in Black got him or he's hiding with guys like Sarah Hamilton's friends in Terminator 2. And playing Task Force Harrier on a Nomad underground. You have to have a lot of batteries to fend off the New World Order. Plenty of batteries to go around. Plenty of batteries to last a long, long time.


OK that's it folks. I just wanted to give a run down on most of the shooters out there. Probably missed a couple or a lot, but who knows. Gotta find the location of that cat shit smell and get some more coffee. Tired of hearing Master of Weapon on pause in the background here too. That shit's put me in a trance.

- Stale

[General Gaming / Re: Rundown on MD shooters]

SPACE TURTLESHIP
Haven't played enough of. Wasn't as bad as expected.

X-DAZEDLY RAY
I guess this one is terrible, but honestly at least it has an interesting graphic style going for it. Not a very good one -- I hate being honest as I worry about hurting feelings -- but it looks unusual nonetheless and stands out. I actually didn't find it as unenjoyable as expected (it has a poor reputation). Some of the bosses look kind of cool.

GAIARES
An early great one that I knew about. Actually not so early since Whip Rush and Arrow Flash were released by Renovation before it, but wasn't it still like '91 when it was released? Well, they practically stopped making shoot-em-ups after '93 or so. Anyway, if anyone's actually still reading this, or reading this at all and haven't completely fallen asleep at my meanderings, this one is a very fine game that's quite hard, very punishing, somewhat generic overall, yet with unique ideas (pretty unique anyway), such as stealing an enemy's ship to use its weapon, kind of like the way it's done in G-Darius, and some other game that escapes my mind at the moment (forgive me! It's 4:16 AM!) I like very much the music and the anime cut scenes and the general spacey/operatic quality its got. Very late 80s anime. The ship designs can be pretty dull (such as yours), but the bosses are pretty cool and fill the screen. Checkpoints -- seems like there should be 3 per level rather than 2, as the levels are pretty long. Maybe a check point right before boss would have made it better. But I wish I could describe the music better as I think it was some of the best on the system at the time. It really felt "FM" in its purest -- not trying to be in some other style that came before or was better suited for other instruments, like the way Toaplan frequently has a rock-guitar-synth sound, or how Thunder Force IV is all metal and shit. This one's just good, farty FM-style tunes, very science fictiony, which Genesis and the Japanese did best. I wish there had been more releases by this company.

ARROW FLASH
Seems quite strong and I love the Japanese box art for some reason. I haven't gotten far into it, but it appears to be easy. Graphics seemed boring at first, but when I played it on my CRT television I noticed they were quite vibrant with color. It looks best in movement, as so many shooters do.

GRANADA
Not really a shoot-em-up per se as it's go-anywhere overhead tank game, but it's futuristic and more action-packed than a lot of similar types, even moreso than Mercs or Iron Tank... I love the style in this one. Good graphics that excel over Final Zone's -- but FZ has better music. They're both done by that Motoi guy that's famous. Nonetheless I thought Granada's soundtrack was a bit muddled and forgettable in comparison to FZ's and Sol Deace's. Still pumps you right along, though. And through some fantastic stages, such as riding on the back of a giant aircraft carrier which ought to explode at the end and come crashing down into the city space below, but they neglected to include that set piece and instead went for a more conventional boss that shows up at the end.

I really love the sprite interaction in Wolf Team's games. It's so chaotic and feels very "tangible." The explosions shake the screen and push your tank back when you shoot the strong shot. It just has a good tactile feel to it that way. Destroying the enemy-generating bases reminds me of destroying the similar generators in Gauntlet.
WINGS OF WOR (GYNOUG)
Gynoug is probably a better name. Nonetheless God bless Dreamworks for bringing over so many good games back then at a budget, with their black-and-white text-only labels. I guess we have Spielberg to thank for that. He always had a keen interest in video games, long before Dig or Boom Blox.
This game is pretty great, at least graphically I mean, and seems like it was drawn by the Cho Aniki guy. I don't know if it was. The music driver was done by that Lunar guy. What's his face. I forget his name, but since he worked with a team, you never know who did what anyway, and in my experience they frequently don't answer their emails about such matters.
So this game moves along quite fast and sprite-wise, because of what's all is going on on screen at once, it is among the most impressive in the library (in the Sega Genesis library, not your local book library which heaven forbid would never, ever lend games to poor children). The bosses go down too fast, like they forgot about animating them and making them multi-part fests that never end, Treasure-style. Actually I like that because it doesn't break up the pace, but it does seem like the bosses look unusually "cool" and complex yet do so little and after a few short hits they are gone and it's on to the next.
This one has good dark graphics that probably suck on even LED-backlit LCDs. I find I have to adjust the brightness a bit and no matter how I set it it looks better to leave some of the background details in the dark so that the overall picture isn't too bright.

VOLFIED
Not a shooter, but might appeal to fans of them. It is Qix, but with bosses and graphics and sounds that seem like a late 80s shooter. It's by Taito, of course, by the designer of Rainbow Islands (Fukio Mitsuji). Just thought I'd mention it.

VIEWPOINT
Too little color and animation makes it less enjoyable than the Neo Geo game. Not sure that game was that great to begin with, but one wants to like it because of the interesting art style. The dance music didn't come through as well either.

Makes you wish there had been a version of Zaxxon on this system though. Haven't played the 32X game.

VAPOR TRAIL
Don't like this one. I just don't get the appeal.

TWINKLE TALE
Haven't played, too expensive.

GLEYLANCER
Played illegally -- should get the Wii ROM even though I don't have a Wii. I originally thought this was one of the best unsung Genesis shooters or games in general. Now I find it too unoriginal. It is good all-around technically. If you had never played a shooter before it'd be great. :/

(Also worth noting, I suppose, that it's by NCS, their second shooter after Gynoug. I still prefer Gynoug because it's trying for more originality). Gley does have some decent original parts. The best thing is the music, imo, or the weapon selection system at the beginning.

It just has good presentation overall, like with those swirling stars and stuff in the opening and option screen. But if you are a shooter fanatic, a hardcore fan, you'll probably be more satisfied with Toaplan's stuff or Compile's, TecnoSoft's, etc., the usual favorites.

TROUBLE SHOOTER (BATTLE MANIA)
Another "easy-going" shooter, comical graphics, two girls who shoot in opposite directions. Fairly easy overall unless you come into contact with certain environment obstacles which rid you off your lives all in one swoop! Has good graphics (sprite destruction/animation) and might appeal to people who like Gunstar Heroes or Contra.

BATTLE MANIA: DAIGINJO
The sequel to Battle Mania. Not released here; it costs a lot. And it's a lot better graphically than the first apparently. Has a really cool starter level with amazing city graphics and stuff. I highly recommend it.

But I haven't really played it.

BIO HAZARD BATTLE (CRYING)
Which is the better name? I guess they were trying to be all artistic and stuff and then Sega of America was like "no way, lol" and changed the name and then later Capcom was like "Shit! But we were going to call our new franchise something like that!" and then were forced to come up with the much cooler title Resident Evil. Or maybe not. But whatever the case only madmen like myself are probably still reading this ridiculous rundown of games here and if that is you then you should know this game may also be for you! Because it's CRAAAZZYY!! Actually maybe not. Maybe not so crazy. It tries to be though, but it's kind of just another side-scrolling shooter that lacks subtlely. Remember how earlier I said Darius II (Sagaia) had subtlety in its enemy patterns and design? I feel this game just throws its enemies at you and you get a blaze of firepower to take them out and it just doesn't jive well in that regard. A lot of games are like that. Figuring (perhaps rightly) that you'll be enjoying the advanced graphics enough that you don't care about "higher" things like enemy patterns, stage design, and what have you. Who knows. Maybe I'm wrong. I actually haven't gotten that far into this one and am kind of just talking out of my ass here in an attempt to cover every game. I just don't like how dark and overbearing the theme is. It seems crude and ugly, like various American or European games of the time.

I dunno.

BIOSHIP PALADIN
An unusual shooter that I haven't gotten into yet. Saw somebody say it was just as good on MD than in the arcade, but from what I tried in MAME it's definitely better in the arcade, at least in looks. It has unusual gameplay in that you control the crosshairs for aiming on screen and I think it's even 2-player this way (one controlling the ship). Might be worth checking out. Has rocking first level soundtrack.

BEYOND ZERO TOLERANCE
Interesting beta.

ZERO TOLERANCE
Great game "for its time" (don't you hate that phrase? As though anything more than 3 years old is instantly no good and replaced by whatever's on store shelves NOW?) Well it does sort of seem to need that phrase. Even at the time surely the developers wanted smoother framerates, more buttons, and a larger screen to display the game, as this one is quite small on screen... Bloodshot (Battle Frenzy), another MD FPS, is practically full screen. But I remember this game being pretty atmospheric and moody. I did get into it over a rental or two back in the day. It had that good grimy feel to it that became addicting once you began to learn the maps and picture them full-out in your head (as whatever you're seeing in the moment on your screen isn't that exciting).

I remember thinking the elevator system it had was impressive for the Genesis. The levels seemed longer at times than Doom and other PC games.

CRACK DOWN
Is this a shooter? You run about placing bombs. It's more like Metal Gear. I remember finding it a lot of fun one rental years ago and almost beat it first try. Must not have been hard. I've been meaning to play it again ever since.

(okay, was that a totally wasted entry? I should probably quit or edit this later).

DAISENPU (TWIN HAWK)
Apparently the same game -- I will find out when I plug in the European Twin Hawk cart into my American Genesis and see it it plays smoothly -- hope so -- but this one's a lot like Fire Shark at first glance, in that it's a Toaplan airplane shooter, I think ported by Sega, but it has the unique gimmick of not really having bombs (it does, but...) but instead a fleet of fighter pilots who shoot along side of you and die for you because they love you so much. You can send them to crash all at once into enemies or you can let them die one by one, or you can quickly tab B or whatever it is to make them explode, giving you a bomb attack. It's neat those progressing through the levels with a squadron like that. They should make a new type game with this feature that fully fills the 16:9 wide 1080p screens of today and allows drop-in and drop-out co-op of 16 people at once.

DARWIN 4081
Weird, weird, weird-ass game that hides in the corner and makes weird noises while sucking its thumb and playing with itself and has bulging eyeballs and gross vericose veins. OK, not that weird, but it's still really unusual because the gameplay is about evolving your craft on the fly (literally) as you pick up DNA from defeated creatures on the floor, though the flying ships you attack don't give you any DNA (a concept I found confusing at first). I still don't really understand how the transformation process works. I wish the music or graphics had more appeal -- though they are okay and don't really aggravate. Just seems like such a cool concept could have had more extravagant art design or something.

It's a subtle game, maybe a bit high level thinking in the world of space shoot-em-ups. I think there was an arcade precursor. This is by Data East but doesn't feel like it. Their other stuff of the time like Crude Dudes or Vapor Trail are a lot different.

DEATH DUEL
First-person shooter where you can only strafe. You shoot enemies that constantly hide behind destructable walls in some kind of Mad Max / Arena (1989) or some silly z-grade shit like that. Could have been great if it had better programming and gameplay because it just isn't that fun to shoot and kill the enemies. It's a good idea though. The monsters are kind of fascinating. I remember Gamepro getting me all hyped up for this.

FORGOTTEN WORLDS
Best forgotten. There's better ports. The Turbografx one looked better. This one always seemed shoddy to me. The box art of the Japanese version -- whenever I see it on ebay, I always want to buy it. It just looks cool, like so many MD covers. But them I'm like "but this game sucks. It has crappy sound effects. Why do I want it?" so then I put it in my Watch List and move on.

FIRE MUSTANG
I don't know. Would have rather had Syvalion by Taito. They put that on the Super Famicom.

GADGET TWINS
Seems decent. Is it made by the James Pond people?

Kiddie..

GALAXY FORCE II
This one wants to be great. It's held back by a poor framerate. The arcade had at least twice the processing power. The music sounds good, with glum jazzy Japanese stuff that was popular in the day, especially from Sega. It has cool design -- sstarry-eyed, dreamy visual design was at a peak then, I always thought, especially from Japan, and this was another game that was deep in that trend. But technically it just doesn't pull through in the MD port.

Has good box art though.

HEAVY UNIT
Initially this one seemed quite promising to me. I really liked the look of the sprites and stages. Then I realized they were animated poorly, and it was frustrating with terrible checkpoints.

GUNSHIP
Haven't played. Some kind of helicopter thing, military theme.

HELLFIRE
Seems pretty good -- nice colors with that characteristic green/purple look also seen in Out Zone, Tatsujin and Zero Wing. I don't like the powerup system from what I've played. Especially hate shooting off in four diagonal directions (my brain just doesn't work that way). Maybe I'll adjust to it. Plan to beat it after beating Zero Wing.

[General Gaming / Rundown on MD shooters]

I have been playing a fair amount of shooters lately, particularly on the Genesis (Mega Drive), and wanted to share a few thoughts...

A lot of my earlier opinions about which were best were I feel too shallow. I often wanted the sort of game that came off best in a screenshot or quick clip like as seen in a commercial. I'd prefer games that had the "coolest-looking" ship for instance (triangular usually, like Silpheed's, or sexy like R-Type's). These I still like, but I've grown to appreciate some of the lesser titles that don't get as much attention. And I hope it isn't because they're lesser titles. I hope it's not rooting for the underdog type thinking. But here goes:

MASTER OF WEAPON
Admittedly I have not played much of this one, but immediately the second level with its view over the highway cutting left and right and revealing skyscrapers below is quite fascinating. It has very fast gameplay. The arcade version seems easier with at least an easier 1st level boss.

SAGAIA (GRADIUS II)
Completely overlooked this one. I had heard people praise it, but I was under the impression they came from the early days of the system or were fans of the game in the arcades, and were hungry for whatever they could get their hands on, as I didn't see much in this port. The music and graphics seemed weak, the sound effects were annoying. The gameplay in general seemed very left-to-right boring. But while some of that is still true, and Taito's games of that time often had a lo-fi, kind of low budget quality (strange, considering their popularity with Space Invaders), this one does entertain when played all the way through. If only for the different bosses, all of which are fish, the music which grows on you, and more importantly the enemy patterns which are never too frustrating but are still fun to shoot through. There is definitely a feeling that you can conquer this one, that all enemies and powerups can be acquired -- the gameplay is not too hectic. It's also fun to choose your course and see what's different along the way.

MUSHA
A great game of course. A lot has been said about it -- I don't think I can add anything, but sometimes it may be worth comparing one Compile shooter to the next, as they all seem quite similar in the way the items drop, in the types of weapons you get and the general patterns in the games.

SLAP FIGHT MD
I think I praised this one before, because of the special mode available in the options which appears to be a whole new game. I do still like the new game better, because I like those background graphics (the space station environments with blinking lights), but the old game seems to have a good deal of charm too and appears to be a favorite among arcade fans of the day for achieving high scores. I think because it loops pretty fast (~15 minutes). Many Toaplan games seemed to involve looping and I'm not sure that was really THAT common of a feature with shooters, but maybe I'm mistaken.

GRIND STORMER
A late Toaplan game, although graphically and sonically it seems more like an earlier work in many ways, if only because stuff they did around the same time (Batsugun) are more impressive. But it was using old MD-like hardware in the arcade -- the Genesis version is pretty close, and includes the V-Five version in the options (the Japanese ROM has it switched, with Grind Stormer being the optional game). I think this game is pretty underrated. The gameplay sure is good at times, with a lot of intensity. I have beaten it (I am not very good at video games). Only six levels, I think. But like I said above, it's about looping and achieving high scores. Actually I can't remember if the MD allows looping, but I think it does, like Fire Shark. Anyway, GS has fairly ugly, trashy-looking graphic, though they grew on me. The choices are odd and stand out in the history of shooters, with peach and orange-colored ships, for instance. The sound I originally hated but grew to like all right. Has kind of a typical Toaplan sound really. It grows on you.

FIRE SHARK
Overlooked this one for many years, but then read a rave review somewhere. Funny how once you read people's appreciations you can't help but notice the name in articles and websites wherever you go -- it pops out at you due to familiarity and then you realize how omnipresent it always was. Well, I guess this game was famous, but I never desired it because it was airplane shooting and looked boring. Nonetheless it has very good gameplay and I actually like the graphics a good deal. Especially the explosions and sprite interaction when firing (the changing of colors of enemies when you are hitting them -- it is not a standard flash-to-white as many games do, especially more recently when 2D is done, such as in Odin Sphere). The powerups are a bit ridiculous. Everyone chooses the fire one and with good reason because it's about 2x as good as everything else. This means you spend half the time trying to dodge your powerups bouncing around, making it feel kind of like Breakout or Arkanoid at times (as the powerups take a long time to leave the screen). Raiden had a similar problem (or "feature"). Intentional or not I don't see it as a feature and wish there was a way to just choose which upgrade path you like and then pick up whatever powerup comes along and not care how it changes you. The Hudson Soft shooters on the PC Engine had this  problem as well, and Compile games. I know it was just how it was at the time.

SOL-DEACE
I knew it first as Sol-Feace with its amazing soundtrack. I've always liked this one although my opinion's never really changed too much. Well, it's grown more positive over the years simply because I memorized the patterns and got past some cheap parts, such as all the flicker in stage 3. Nonetheless, it has art design to die for. I even recently sent the art director, who was also the main director of the game, a fan letter, although he hasn't gotten back to me. He seems to do creepy manga art now. Maybe he doesn't even remember making it.

ELIMINATE DOWN
Did not know about this one until I saw some "top 40" or "100" type list of Mega Drive games which fascinatingly concentrated on shooters and ended up putting this one first. To my eyes it looks a bit ugly, with bad (amateurish) color choices at times, some poorly drawn art, and a "me-too" choice of settings and enemies throughout, but it appears to be a very solid title. I am just reluctant to play games by ROM alone anymore, and wish to own them first (ethical concerns), and this one sells for one pretty penny! Sometimes over $700! Yikes! Just out of my league, sorry. Anyway, it seems to have been done by a very small team, like four people, and their company quickly folded afterwards, after this one and only game.

UNDEAD LINE
Still not sure about this one. It seems it may be better (fairer) in the original versions on Sharp X68000. Sol Feace also originated there. I just haven't played it enough but it seemed cheap, or too frustrating. The graphics didn't really hook me (despite the subject metter -- usually I'm a sucker for dark and dank and horror type environments).

ELEMENTAL MASTER
A decent one by TecnoSoft, though at first glance you might not know it. It just doesn't shine visually half the time like their mainline titles do. Well, then again it does. Certainly it has strong bosses and detail in the enemies, but the sprites are small and it is imitating the Tate Mode of other vertical shooters by cutting off some of the screen space on the right for stats. This one is very good, however, with some strong music (perticularly in the opening) and I love the ability to fire backgrounds (down) whenever you want. That's something Undeadline needed.

The option to choose which of the first four stages you play is off-putting to me though. I never know which is really the best and it's a half-assed attempt at making it like Mega Man in giving you a special ability after beating a certain boss (or any of them)? I found it too ambiguous and would rather have linearity because you probably end up choosing a certain order every time since a certain boss drops a powerup that makes the others easier.

THUNDER FORCE IV (LIGHTENING FORCE)
Still haven't gotten into this one. I know it's technically impressive -- amazing -- but it just barely appeals to me. Maybe too hard. Or maybe I just don't like rock.

TRUXTON (TATSUJIN)
Supposedly this one is harder in the Japanese version. I have the Japanese version. I have gotten pretty far into it. In my opinion, one of the best shooters out there. I now know what people mean when they say that. Initially I thought it just seemed weird, with odd bug-like aliens you're fighting and weird space station environments, an annoying checkpoint system, music that grated a bit, and other frustrations, but now I totally dig it. It just has a nice mood to it. Some people prefer the PC Engine version, but I think I like this Sega-ported one best. Well, arcade one seems good too -- the best -- but the Sega one is good and they adjusted the gameplay right considering they still had to chop off some of the vertical space despite the way they present it (in semi-tate mode).

This one just has a GOOD space atmosphere, with wonderful use of color. Best seen on a CRT. Bright strong blue lazers that fill the screen, a cool skull effect for a crash/bomb, and each level is different and requires learning. I wish I had known about this one earlier and don't understand why it slipped by my radar for so long. Really lame of me!

CONTRA HARD CORPS
Of course not a "shmup" (spaceship shooter) but a run-n-gun, nonetheless it has such impressive spectacle to it that I wish horizontal and vertical shooters had had this kind of budget and programming team. They rarely did. Just from the first level alone you see how awesome the explosions and crashes are. Unfortunately it is much more fun in the expensive Japanese version with its lifebar. Some people say the game is "quite easy" in the American release, but they're probably just fronting.

European release was even harder, I heard.

RAIDEN TRAD
A decent port. It was ported by Micronet, which had already done their own original shooter on the MD called Curse. This one at least scrolls well, but it has poor taste in sound effects, with a constant "BOOM" sound for anything you blow up. You get used to it. You stop hearing it after a time. Actually, as far as gameplay goes, it is pretty close to the arcade. I didn't think so at first, but even opened up multiple windows of emulators on my screen to compare. The PC Engine and SNES versions were drastically different from the arcade despite offering prettier appearances in terms of color. So the Mega Drive version is all right. It also has an extra-special level at the end which I haven't obtained because it is so hard. It just gets quite challenging around level 5's boss. I'll master it eventually, but I suck. I think the graphics look a bit drab in this one. Not sure why. The arcade didn't exactly look beautiful, but it had a little better animation too. For instance, the exhaust from the jets doesn't animate in the Genesis version, making your ship look flat. It's a small detail you wouldn't think would count. Nonetheless this version plays well if you can get over its drabness. I prefer it to the other 16-bit ports of the time, I think. The music sounds good as well. A lot better than the Jaguar's mod.

DANGEROUS SEED
(See, there was a lot of shooters on this system). A good game, actually. It hardly gets any mention. The arcade version is a little better, of course. Better animation and color. I think they could have at least left in (included) the boss dying sounds or have better explosions for them because they almost just disappear off the screen when you beat them and they go away fast. But it's a fun game that moves along smoothly and has a cool bug/insect theme running throughout. There's nothing really wrong with this one, except it must be easy because I almost beat it my first try. I think the MD version has a few extra (new) levels in it. Worth checking out because it's kind of cheap for an import shooter.

BURNING FORCE
Another one by Namco(t), this time the 3D/forward-shooting type, like Space Harrier. Pretty good all around, although the levels are too long in my opinion and one feels daunted by how long it surely is. I have never made it even half way through, I think. It scrolls well -- better than Space Harrier II and Thunder Blade, but not as impressively as Panorama Cotton. The graphics sure looked better in the arcade with the higher color count. I like that it involves riding on bikes and jumping things. I think it could have done a better job at creating a sense of place. It just doesn't look like a "desert" level at the beginning, or water, even though those obviously are the locations. Maybe I just wanted better sound and graphics to keep me hooked.

SPACE HARRIER II
Probably one of my favorite shooters and favorites for the system. A bit strange that opinion, I know, but I really like the unique and odd (VERY odd!) environment this game has, with made-up fantasy words, totally original enemies, unique bosses (none recycled from the previous game, that I know), and bizarre music from Tokuhiko Uwabo, who also scored Phantasy Star. I do wish it scrolled better and had more on screen at once, but it was actually one of the first, if not the first, game released for the system (little known fact). If you check the dates for the early MD releases in Japan I think this one of five games that came out that Fall, with only perhaps Super Thunder Blade beating it by a couple of days.

SUPER THUNDER BLADE
I want to appreciate this one but I can't really. Seems like an OK attempt, but rushed and apparently too short.

TWIN COBRA
Want to really like this game and I have played it a lot. The original by Toaplan is quite fun, I guess, if you like wasting quarters. If you like pressing "5" and "1" a lot in MAME. But this version in particular sucks because it's SO cut off vertically from what you should be seeing. The developers (porters) chose to use the whole screen, instead of a semi-Tate (3:4) mode, but they apparently made little-to-no adjustments in gameplay, so enemies swarm in fast but you can't shoot them from as far away as you normally could. The code must have been ported over easily since they're both 68000s, the hardware of the arcade and Genesis. And yet the NES version, because of its smaller sprites, and the necessity of recoding everything, you are left with a better, fairer, less frustrating game as you see more of the game-space and can attack from far away, as feels right. Another thing I noticed is that they seemed to have cut out a bit of code that keeps enemies from attacking when you are close-by. I tried it in MAME just to see and the enemies there hold back fire when you are close to them.

(They also do that in the NES version).

BARI ARM (ANDROID ASSAULT)
Don't really like the title "Android Assault" (sounds generic or nonsensical) and somehow Bari Arm seems to fit it better. Whatever the case I can't really give an opinion on this game. It really is hard for me to care about. I don't know why it doesn't interest me. It seems too easy, but boring somehow, despite being technically very proficient with a lot of detailed backgrounds and stage designs. <shrug>? Some games just don't grab, you know? This is one of them.

VERYTEX
And this is another. I wanted to like this one, perhaps because I want to be nice to ever MD game. But I can't. The music is good. The game engine is good (well-programmed, it seems). It just has little-to-know artistic interest otherwise. The enemies are dull to nonexistence in their appeal (I ended up liking the red-biscuit/donut-like ones the most, I think)... some of the bosses are sort of cool, like the enemy designer was BEGINNING to come up with a cool concept and needed some pushing. I dunno. I want to like this one but just can't. Could have been a lot better.

It does however play a lot like a Hudson Soft shooter, I think, at least in comparison to the other shooters on the Genny. So if you like games like Super Star Soldier this one may be worth checking out.

ROBO ALESTE
Haven't played enough of yet. I like the idea of close-combat in a shooter, though -- interesting idea. Music is good - listenable outside of game. Same guy that did Super Aleste (Space Megaforce) on the SNES, I think.

ZERO WING
Overlooked this one, as did many, because of the Internet meme thing in the early 2000s about "All Your Base." But now after reading various Toaplan worship sites and articles I've come to really appreciate their style a lot more and this one is a prime example of it. I still wish they had decided to port Out Zone to this system or SNES or something back then. That one is maybe my favorite of Toaplan's, along with Truxton.

Zero Wing gets frustrating at times with some poorly-chosen checkpoints. I think this version is better than the PC Engine one, though. That one has a little more color, but so what? This one has better sound and sprites.

[Fighting Street / Raidenrolled!]

[Off-Topic / Video Game Obsession box art scans]

I found this site tonight -- perhaps it's well known -- which has excellent scans of many different games' box arts:

http://www.videogameobsession.com/videogame/index.htm

I point it out because I've been to a lot of sites over the years that have *decent* scans and photos, but not great ones. These really capture the colors well, get deep blacks, look sharp and are large size to boot. He doesn't do all games, just some of the ones he likes (I think).

[Off-Topic / Re: Barm's Shooter Shrine]

I emailed him and he said he took it down because he hadn't updated it for years and didn't feel it was worth paying for anymore.

[Off-Topic / Barm's Shooter Shrine]

Did this site go down? I seem to recall looking at it recently but now can only find it on the WayBack Machine (http://web.archive.org/web/20091129051243/http://www.shootershrine.co.uk/)

I remember finding it a handy resource for which shooter to play next...

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: PSN emulation up to snuff?]

Hi Esteban,

Sorry about not getting back to you sooner. I took that video down, but I believe the music was "Cyberpunkers - Cabala (Original Mix) -HD" from YouTube mixed with something by Suicidal Angels at the same time. (Amazon link).

I found the latter to be a good choice for playing Blazing Lazers, although I still failed to beat it that night despite is being an easy game people say. Maybe I got too caught up in the music.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: PSN emulation up to snuff?]

The sound seems off in Blazing Lazers. Not sure

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / PSN emulation up to snuff?]

Hi, I know this is the Virtual Console section, but I didn't see one dedicated to the PSN versions. I figured they might be the same or similar, anyway. I was wondering if anyone had tried them and if they felt they were very close to the originals? The reason I ask is because I got several off of there (including the Japanese PSN) and I thought they sounded a bit bad -- like, the sound is muffled. But I wasn't sure if it was just me or my TV, or if it was originally that way. I never had a TG16. And I've only known it from emulation, like Magic Engine, or YouTube, which is usually emulation.

Thanks