Shmups/STGs/Shoot 'em ups

TracyDMcGrath

tokucowboy Samurai Aces 3 is a bad videogame

Strikers 1945 3 aka Strikers 99 is amazing, but it is city connection. Assuming they haven’t changed anything, the version I got from the Japanese eShop is par for the course fine to eh…port

Karasu

TracyDMcGrath seconded, Samurai Aces III is a rare STG that I can’t really find a positive thing to say about. Avoid.

Strikers 1945 III is quite good though! If not for these being not so hot ports, I’d strongly recommend it. At this price, it still might be worth it, just to mess around with.

I think these are just the last few stragglers of the a la carte games that were already collected on the Psikyo Collections, aren’t they?

TracyDMcGrath

Karasu correct somewhat randomly showing up now. They’ve been out for years in Japan

tokucowboy

Yeah, that’s why I thought it was weird enough to mention. The other games in the series were made available individually in the US years ago (circa 2018) by City Connection, and then again a few years back in the Psikyo Shooting Stars collections (which include Samurai Aces III) by NIS. I’ll steer clear of it (these are also $2 more expensive than the other individual releases?), but I do like to imagine City Connection rolling over in bed at 3 AM yesterday saying “oh shit, we forgot those two? OK” and then pressing the eShop button and going back to sleep

gsk

Karasu I wish I liked Radirgy more, but it’s just never been very much fun in my opinion! The aesthetic is fantastic though!

FWIW the newest Radirgy game plays very little like the previous games, it’s a very unusual time-attack game without bosses or even real stages, but it’s also one of the most interesting new STG in a while IMO (and I say this as somebody who never really cared for anything Milestone).

The new Illvelo’s also quite different but a little closer to the ballpark of the original.

Karasu

Ah, that’s a relief. Now, I’ll still have to empty out my wallet, but I won’t have to go to the trouble of going through the JP eShop.

Regarding the RayStorm x RayCrisis HD Collection part of the announcement, cynical me guesses that they’re breaking the JP version into two releases for $59.99 each.

TracyDMcGrath

Karasu if my choices are getting them in one $60 package sans R-Gear on the Japanese eShop and two $60 packages here with R Gear dlc or something, definitely picking the former

gsk

Karasu Regarding the RayStorm x RayCrisis HD Collection part of the announcement, cynical me guesses that they’re breaking the JP version into two releases for $59.99 each.

I think that ININ release will simply have less content than the SLG version, and that all the other games will be exclusive to the SLG version. ININ’s pretty consistent in that regard—Space Invaders Forever, the nonsense with Turrican and Wonder Boy, etc. They did split the Darius collections but that first one sort of came pre-split and the other one was almost designed to split down the middle, whereas I think they’d struggle to sell this one as two collections if the other half is basically just RayForce.

Both the SLG and ININ versions will be getting digital releases, too, but my assumption is that R-Gear will be exclusive to the physical SLG version. Sure would be nice of ‘em to actually announce it before taking peoples’ money, huh?

Karasu

TracyDMcGrath yeah, same really. I thought that same thing after I posted. You’d be getting it earlier too, probably.

robinhoodie

As I am slowly becoming a Shmup enjoyer I bit on the SLG Ray Collection today. And yeah, its frustrating, but their releases tend to be the fullest package. I am now KICKING myself for not getting their with DLC release of Death Smiles as that was always the one modern shooter I really liked since its 360 release.

TracyDMcGrath

Looks like 10 frames of lag on Batrider 😭

Karasu

TracyDMcGrath that’s incredibly depressing 😩

Karasu

It’s not that I’m against the idea of this– it sounded really cool, but I’m really hoping this is an early version or something? Your ship just looks way too big and the movement seems… I dunno, floaty? I can’t think of how to describe it. (I also have to confess that when I see a source like Kotaku say “shooter” I immediately think of Doom-likes)

In other STG news, I did my first 1cc of Air Buster (arcade) in something like 30 years last night. It’s amazing how much I can remember patterns from it after all this time!

marurun

Karasu

I love Air Buster (Aero Blasters) so much! I can barely beat the PC Engine version. I couldn’t imagine 1ccing that game.

TracyDMcGrath

Arcade Archives Gun Frontier review: fantastic.

Hamster dialed in the autofire to the rank thresholds so you can have multiple different shot buttons one mapped to “play it safe” and another to “take a rank hit to kill a heavy” instead of their normal 15hz, 30hz settings.

Also included are two separate caravan modes, one that starts on stage 1 and one that starts on stage 5, which is honestly great for practice because stage 5 is ridiculous.

Dip switch options are lives, difficulty (one easier mode and two harder modes), extend thresholds, and turning continues on or off.

As for the game, well, it’s Gun Frontier. It rules.

Karasu

TracyDMcGrath it seems like Hamster went a little above and beyond for this one (as well they should for such an extraordinary game)! Although… kinda odd that the listing is called ‘Gun & Frontier’? I wonder if it’s a mistake or if I’ve been calling it the wrong thing all this time. Thanks as always for the thoughts! I always enjoy seeing your opinions on odd STG releases.

◉◉maru

TracyDMcGrath Thanks for the heads up on the auto fire settings. Do you know which setting hits the threshold? Do you rank up from 7.5 or is that one still safe?

TracyDMcGrath

Karasu it’s a copyright issue with the animated series. The US localization adds a hilariously small ampersand to the title screen.

US Title Screen

Japanese Title Screen

robinhoodie

It might have come up before in the thread, but I just finished and was really impressed with RIKI’s bullet hell shooter for NES Astro Ninja Man DX

Really interesting to play a Shmup where you automatically fire so your main interactions are dodging and hitting your ever recharging super weapon.

seasons

Grew up with circular moving Happ sticks in arcades, but I’ve only used square gates with Sanwa at home. The combo is my comfort zone now. Curious if anyone uses Crown or Seimitsu sticks. I imagine the higher tension could be nice for tap tap tappin.

I played Image Fight recently and immediately got caught up in it. It even got me to wake up early on a weekend after playing a bunch the night before. It surprised me how hooked into it I was because I’ve had a hard time with checkpoint based games. Loved this one tho.

robinhoodie i wanna check this out. Looks to be a physical only release?

TracyDMcGrath

◉◉maru 6.6 is the max before rank increases

◉◉maru

TracyDMcGrath Thanks for the quick reply!

Here is an interesting 1CC of the arcade version with very crafty deathloops to maximize scoring.

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