The level editing functions are pretty nice as well. You get a lot of leftover space for saving new levels right on the disk. I'm not sure if the new English fan translation patch will cause any issues with saving edited levels to disk, which is something I need to test.
In the meantime, I played some more Disc Station excellence in the form of Aleste Gaiden:
It's one of their most overlooked shooters, understandably so given its Disc Station Special exclusivity and low amount of content. But it has a fairly unique place in their library, taking risks you wouldn't see in their other shooters.
This reminds me a lot of psycho chaser, which just lacks jumping. I also think the character was too big. One of Sting‘s early-ish games… I haven’t heard about them for quite a while, they were everywhere during the GBA through PSP days.
Hmmmm, I guess they must have slimmed down as a company. I guess Yggdra Union must be their most popular game if they went with this? I see they added some ps2-ish effects as well…………………….
You've made a good point with the Sting shooter connection, as the founders of Sting were ex-Compile developers. I forget their names, but they likely had some involvement with shooters like Aleste Gaiden, hence the design influences.
Ah, the iOS version was the link in the chain I was missing… i knew about the PSP remaster of the GBA game, but it didn't have effects quite like this, they were much more PS1-style baked-in looking stuff.
And somehow I missed that Sting had some ex-compile folks in it. Makes sense especially when you look at games like Override on the PC Engine.
@PasokonDeacon#1504 I‘ve wanted to write up a post about the shooters Sting has made over the years, up to Star Soldier for the PS2/GameCube and PSP. I noticed Psycho Chaser’s resemblance to Aleste Gaiden, but I didn't see anybody who worked on it who also worked for Sting.
Learning more about the Compile-Sting connection should help a lot in tracking some trends, like Compile's own divergence from high-budget shooters to Puyo Puyo, Disc Station, and other non-shooter works.
Meanwhile, I found myself playing what is likely the most impressive PC-8001 game, made all the way back in 1985.
Zaxus is very fun and modern for its time, and a big achievement for a system better suited to displaying ASCII-based game graphics than complex parallax scrolling like this. The platform launched in 1979 at a time when very few Japanese could program, let alone design games beyond contemporary arcade paradigms. So when Zaxus combines Choplifter with Tower of Druaga (hidden items for upgrades/reaching new lives, plus crashing into terrain in order to gamble on potentially getting a poweer-up), it's already showing what would come.
Hmm, I think I just saw one of the devs of this posting about zaxus recently??
Looking in the Psycho Chaser credits on mobygames/in a longplay I don't see the Compile connection either - @PasokonDeacon do you have more info on this?
I've got a lot of FM Towns soundtracks left to upload. Before we get to the really huge ones where my sound test location skills will be put to the test, here's a small score for Dragon Half.
JUMP HERO got a major facelift when it came to PC-98. The MSX2 games made towards the end of that Disc Station line were fun, but a little barebones. You're still doing basic platforming and hazard avoidance here, just with a lot more character and level variety. Still, it would have been nice if Compile had made a more feature-filled standalone release for this, as the formula's very addictive.
@exodus#1502 I guess Yggdra Union must be their most popular game if they went with this?
Sorry to drag on the off-topic life and deeds of Sting but they have just announced the release of **Baroque: Original Version** on Switch for 2020. Based on the title, I guess they imply it will be based on the original Saturn version (or rather, as usual, the belated PS port) rather than the PS2/Wii remake.
Yeah, I‘m extremely curious about this, and whether it’ll be the Saturn version. I‘d say there’s a near 0% chance of that. But I would love to play this one in english, even though I already own the Saturn version. The game is so obtuse in general that English would help me out a fair bit! Fingers crossed some foolish publisher decides it‘s worth bringing out in the West. I’m looking at you, NIS!
Heart Soft was something of a minor but well-regarded developer in the late-1980s before largely making some unique erotic games in the early-1990s. But they still made the occasional game unhindered by commercial fetishistic/pornographic constraints, which describes XANTGENOS well. It's still a rather typical JRPG for the most part, but instead uses hex combat and battlefield obstacles/terrain to make combat more interesting. Check out those nice visuals, too!
Wow the Shining Force-like battle effects are really cool. I assume it had a direct influence on Xantgenos but when was Xantgenos released? Does it somehow predate Shining Force? (March 1992)
(Also why Gleamlock and not Grimrock or Grimlock?)
I went with what seemed to fit content and pronunciation best. “Gleam” fits his personality/background better (teenage swordfighter), but maybe there‘s a dark past I don’t know about which would say otherwise. There‘s no official romanization available at all, either, which wouldn’t even have forced me to make an unofficial one.
Also, this came out in November 1992, so it's very likely taking influence from Shining Force rather than the other way around. Heart Soft made a 1991 wargame for PC-98 called Venus Campaign which used a similar angled hex grid, so they likely made a JRPG based on that before adding in the cinematic animations popularized by Fire Emblem and then Shining Force.
Back in January, I started the Pasokon Sunday weekly series with this very game, now getting to shine again as one of Compile Disc Station's highlights:
I really wish there was more to it than just the two courses and marginally different characters to race as, but they certainly nailed the looks and game mechanics enough to make it replayable.