Favorite backgrounds in Turbo games?

[OldTurboBastard]

So what are some of your favorite backgrounds in turbo games?

A few that stand out for me are....

1) the first level in psychosis..original and colorful, with some decent parallax
2) Aldynes - there is a coridor type level (can't remember which one and i'm at work )  with tons of hsync parallax with what looks like overlapping junk at the top and bottom of screen, only it scrolls up and down as your ship moves up and down to make a killer depth effect
3) Shapeshifter - the forest levels with the 2 additional layers of trees are quite impressive
4) Rtype 1st level - The two white giant "arms" always looked killer to me

what else?

[JoshTurboTrollX]

Beyond Shadowgate instantly comes to mind.  Later in the game when you finally find the sword in the mucky mud.  Your old pooch friend comes and saves you, while in the background a massive Dinosaur looking creature is lurking about watching you.... going from tree to tree.....

If there ever was a background image that still haunts me to this day....thats it!!  I remember getting the sword and moving out of that area as fast as I could.... And if you remember Eric at his fastest..........

Also loved the backgrounds in Air Zonk, Dracula X, and Shape Shifter too!

[OldTurboBastard]

Beyond Shadowgate instantly comes to mind.  Later in the game when you finally find the sword in the mucky mud.  Your old pooch friend comes and saves you, while in the background a massive Dinosaur looking creature is lurking about watching you.... going from tree to tree.....

If there ever was a background image that still haunts me to this day....thats it!!  I remember getting the sword and moving out of that area as fast as I could.... And if you remember Eric at his fastest..........

Also loved the backgrounds in Air Zonk, Dracula X, and Shape Shifter too!

I've actually never played Beyond Shadowgate - you've inspired me to check it out

[NecroPhile]

I agree that the backgrounds in Air Zonk (and Super Air Zonk), Beyond Shadowgate, and Shape Shifter are very well done.  I'd add Deep Blue, Godzilla, Terraforming, and Hawaiian Island Girls (ha-ha) to the list of games with over-achieving backgrounds.

[awack]

Lords of thunder


Rondo




Beyond shadowgate


There many others such as the last boss fights in legend of xanadu 2, 1st level of magical chase (US).

[Keranu]

I agree with a lot of games mentioned in here, especially Beyond Shadowgate, Shapeshifter, and Legend of Xanadu II (especially that last boss!!!). Can't forget Gate of Thunder though, that game has some of the most impressive background details in any horizontal shooter, especially level three.

[nat]

This is actually really tough. One of the reasons I love the Turbo above all other consoles is it's fantastic use of color and the background art. This list could be pages long and still not complete. So this is what springs to mind right off the bat:

Psychosis/Paranoia - Stage 3 ("Lego" level), 4 ("Tomb" level), and 5 (final level)
Gate of Thunder - Stage 5 (Crown)
Castlevania/Dracula X - All
Beyond Shadowgate - All
Terraforming - All, but Stage 3 (or was it 4?) with the "Mode 7" effects tops them all.
Rayxanber II - Stage 3 (giant mechanical spider level)
Psychic Storm - Many of the levels. Been a while since I played through this so I don't remember specifics.
Star Parodia/Fantasy Star Soldier - The ice level and underwater level are best.
Final Soldier - Stage 7
Space Harrier - All. My favorites are the "tunnel" levels as well as 3, 7, and 10.
Fantasy Zone - Many of the levels. Mainly the ones that extensively use very pastel-like colors. Stage 2 is beautiful. There's another stage later in the game that takes place exclusively in the clouds that looks great, too.
Salamander - Stage 3 (fire tunnel level)
Parodius - Pretty much the whole game, though some portions are better than others.

I could go on and on and on.

[TurboXray]

 What!? No love for Rayxanber III? Some of the BGs look great (and the last boss too).

[Joe Redifer]

I need some Game Genie codes for Rayxanber 2.

[nat]

What!? No love for Rayxanber III? Some of the BGs look great (and the last boss too).

I would have had Ray 3 on the list, but I don't own it, and have never played it so I can't really claim it's backgrounds to be my "favorites".

[_Paul]

Most of Gate and Winds are beautiful, but also the forest level on Ai Cho Aniki, not least because of the depth the scrolling gives it.

/aichoaniki041iy7.gif

[runinruder]

Some of my personal favorites...

Deep Blue - Stage 3
Final Soldier - Stage 6
The Legendary Axe - Stage 4C
Salamander - Stage 3
Sinistron/Violent Soldier - Stage 2
Soldier Blade - Stage 2
Victory Run - Stage 7
Beyond Shadowgate - hall with monster statues
Efera & Jiliora - the dark tones in general
Psychic Storm - the stage with the huge bones
Anearth Fantasy Stories - just beautiful in general
Shape Shifter - the forest
Star Parodier - Stage 4

Some other games with generally impressive backgrounds...

Aero Blasters
Air Zonk
Dead Moon
Genji Tsushin Agedama
Ai Choaniki
Blood Gear
Legend of Xanadu (sidescrolling stages)
Legend of Xanadu II
Lords of Thunder
Spriggan

[Tatsujin]

Winds and gate indeed showing up with some of the nicest and detailed BGs in the whole 16-bit console era.

Rayxanber III is very special as well, I really dunno how the designers created this unbelievable detailed and nice colored sprites and BGs. From a quality point of view, it looks like a straight port of an (inexistent) IREM arcade game.

Ai chôaniki is fabulous as well, and shows the strength of the PCE color palette.

[TurboXray]

I need some Game Genie codes for Rayxanber 2.

You want a patch instead?

[Joe Redifer]

Sure!

[rag-time4]

My favorites are from Fighting Street:
Mike's stage - mt. Rushmore coolest fighting bg evar!!
Lee's stage - great wall, goes perfectly with the music
Eagle's stage - very nice scene of English countryside
Geki's stage - mt fuji in the background makes this scene very japanese
Retsu's stage - i always loved the trees in this stage
Joe's stage - the trainyard just seemed fitting for a U.S. street fighter so I always like this one.

Ok I probably lose points since this game was an arcade port, and since the bg's were watered down for the TurboGrafx, but I still love the bg's anyway. They were all pretty original back in those days and they did a great job of making you feel like you really were traveling around the world (at least for me being so young when this game came out!)

Other than Fighting Street, my favorite bg so far was probably the spiral staircase that you have to climb before the final boss battle of Ys III. I really thought that was technically very well done and it gave me a great sense of excitement leading up to the boss!

[Keranu]

That Mt. Rushmore stage was indeed cool! I especially love how it's used for the cover . What do you think of Terry's stage in the Fatal Fury games? I believe it shows Mount Rushmore at one point as well.

The spiral staircase in Ys III is also a great background!

[nat]

Is Terry's stage the one that takes place on the moving train? That stage is awesome. So is Mai's.

[Keranu]

Yep.

[rag-time4]

That Mt. Rushmore stage was indeed cool! I especially love how it's used for the cover . What do you think of Terry's stage in the Fatal Fury games? I believe it shows Mount Rushmore at one point as well.

The spiral staircase in Ys III is also a great background!

Yes, Terry's stage features a moving train that goes past mount rushmore. You guys both win.

I love Terry's music on the Fatal Fury 2 Arcade CD. It blows away the original, to me. I should listen to that again next time I go to school... (Thursday)

I think the reason that Mount Rushmore was used again was that Fatal Fury 2 had the same two guys in major design roles as Fighting Street/Street Fighter 1: "Finish" Hiroshi Matsumoto and "Piston" Takashi Nishiyama. It's of course my favorite bg in the fatal fury games, hands down, but I like a lot of the music on the Fatal Fury 2 CD.

Being that I've long been very radical in my political views, it's almost ironic that I love the Mt. Rushmore background so much. I dunno, like I said, I think that the original Street Fighter backgrounds really gave the player a good sense of traveling the world in that they let you see some famous landmarks and destinctive settings and music. Of course I was a kid so that helps too 

[Keranu]

All of the Neo Geo games on Arcade CD had really really nice soundtracks better than the originals! I was really amazed when I first heard them.

[rag-time4]

All of the Neo Geo games on Arcade CD had really really nice soundtracks better than the originals! I was really amazed when I first heard them.

The only track that I really didn't like on the Fatal Fury 2 CD was Joe Higashi's music. I thought the original Neo Geo music was more true to the native ethnic sound. The Arcade CD seemed to add too much modern techno type stuff that took away from the feel of it.

But the rest of the music I enjoyed much more on the CD.