@s it’s a party back there.
In case anyone who reads this thread somehow missed the news, the R-Type Final 2 demo is out for PS4 and Switch! I’ve only just started playing it, but so far so good! It looks and feels like R-Type!
@s The hell it was.
Sorry pal this looks like a hundred other kids I knew round the turn of the 80s/90s, to the point I was surprised it was a US ad.
Spent a few hours with the R-Type Final 2 demo and I‘m digging it! It’s kind of hard to believe I only played the first level so many times but that‘s all that I’ve been able to discover at present. A few talking points:
-The ship is big! And all of it is a hit box. Everyone used to playing Natsuki Chronicles (or any Cave game) will need to adjust to this- The demo has an unlockable upgrade to the starting three ships and one unlockable “new” ship (of 99!). The variety feels nice already and I wanted to play with each ship and liked how I had to adjust my play style. I’m getting an Advance Guardian Heroes vibe to the number of ships (FYI if you haven’t played this amazing GBA game, you can play through the game as every single enemy and character which led to a huge range in strategy and replayability)
- It wasn’t too hard even on Bydo mode
- The checkpointing is forgiving and I never found myself going into a difficult area after a death with fewer than two upgrades, but for those unfamiliar with the series, each death is a reset to base ship power level with no upgrades but linear progress through the stage is saved
- I’m excited to see what they do with the “Final” title. I loved the grime of the first and this one is very clean, almost more Gradius V rather than R-Type Final but we’ll see!
- Spoiler??? What the heck is the B-1D ship doing?! I want it!
I‘ve also been thinking about this game recently:
Honestly, I don’t see a single thing that I don‘t like about it AND it is risk bullets highlighted a whole 8 years before Natsuki Chronicles did it! (Yes, I know that’s two posts in a row, completely unintentional)
I never got around to buying it and I think now is the time.
Incredibly excited for Platinum Games' Terra Cresta
@TracyDMcGrath this is an incredibly core list, even for the shm*ps forum.
Cho Ren Sha being on there is a nice surprise, though.
Out of curiosity, are most enthusiasts playing these style games with an arcade-style stick or pads these days? I don‘t think I’ve ever really played one with a stick past the mid-90s arcade contraction, and I'm interested in how a game like say Einhänder (or R-Type Final) plays which was designed for a PlayStation pad.
Just thought how I played Ikaruga with the Gamecube controller and that was a Naomi arcade game designed for sticks.
@antillese personally I like using an arcade stick. Makes tap dodging easier and movement in general more precise. A good dpad is probably just as accurate or even an analog stick if people are more accustomed to using one. Ultimately I think it’s mostly a matter of preference.
@antillese I mostly play them with pads. I initially went with them because nicer sticks are much more expensive– plus for a while I would have had to buy multiple sticks for multiple consoles (I know neither of these are much of an issue any more). In the end I just got used to how a pad feels, to the point where the stick feels more imprecise (again, I know that’s not really the case).
Still, I think this is completely a matter of preference, just like it is for fighting games.
@s No support for Kuril islanders, literally unplayable
Wild. It’s funny to think of who is even the target audience for this (clearly not Kuril islanders, lol). But then I think the mobile game market has changed in the 10,000 years since I last released a game for mobile in 2016. I’m joking of course, I had no clear concept of the mobile market back then, either.
On the subject of shoot em ups, I’ve been putting in some quality time with R-Type Final 2’s demo, and it plays quite well and is very reminiscent of Final 1 (a good thing). I also finally pulled the trigger on buying Crimzon Clover for Switch and Blue Revolver on Mac. Blue Revolver, I have to say, is the pick of all of them! I sure do wish it would get a console release someday!
Oh, and also, I’ve noticed that Maiden & Spell has gotten a Switch release! It’s a one on one arena shooter, a little bit like Senko no Ronde. It’s got a great aesthetic! Once I don’t have a gazillion games in my queue I want to try it out!
Any frame rate concerns about R-Type Final 2 on Switch vs PS4? I'm pulling down the demo and am going to give it a shot.
@s That‘s great to hear about Maiden & Spell! I’ll definitely check it out then. Senko no Ronde is one of my low-key favourites, so I‘m sure I’ll enjoy it– honestly I probably would have grabbed it sooner, but their PC release doesn‘t have a corresponding Mac version (or didn’t, it might now).
@antillese I’m not sure I can answer your question about framerate, although I’m sure someone else here can. I’m more of a look and feel kind of person than a technical performance person >>is forced to immediately turn in my STG player credentials<<.
@Karasu >is forced to immediately turn in my STG player credentials<
That’s what I’m here to do - gatekeep the hell out of a hobby. Did you enjoy R-Type III: The Third Lightning on SNES in any capacity at all ever? Gimmie your shooty badge and your shooty gun! You’re busted back to playing Flash chat games!
I’m glad any of you even let me post in this thread as Einhänder is the only shooter I ever really got “competent” at by this thread’s standards!
@antillese Did you enjoy R-Type III: The Third Lightning on SNES in any capacity at all ever? Gimmie your shooty badge and your shooty gun! You’re busted back to playing Flash chat games!
Lol, I guess I probably shouldn’t mention my (positive) opinions on Gradius III for SNES, hey?
I don’t know, I personally think Einhander is a perfect reflection of what I enjoy about shoot em ups as a genre: it’s stylish, it tries new things, it has a unique look at feel, and it has plenty in it to appeal to all levels of player. I think in that respect it’s got plenty in common with the first R-Type Final (and hopefully the second)! Dang, even the Japanese cover art for it is excellent! I sure do wish that SquareEnix would release a polished up version for more modern consoles!
After getting turned onto the Aleste Collection recently, I actually picked up one o' them TurboGrafx Minis and have been playing Blazing Lazers and Spriggan a lot off and on. Those games are rad and I really hope they do another Aleste Collection with the rest of the series, Compile games are sooooooo gooooooooood
Also scrolling down this thread for the first time I just discovered ZeroRanger which I had unfortunately no familiarity with, immediately picked it up and will be playing as soon as I have time
R-Type Final 2‘s demo is clearly unoptimized for Switch but it is just a demo, so who knows how the final game will run (not that Granzella’s known for well-optimized games or anything).
@s It’s my understanding that despite first releasing as a novelty, Cave saw shockingly good money from their mobile ports; the later Steam ports actually only possible for it, and using mobile as a base.
Their mobile ports were relatively successful, and Gomaotsu in particular was and remains a genuine hit with millions of downloads, but it had no bearing on their short-lived run of Steam ports—those were more closely tied to the fate of the Shin Megami Tensei MMO, believe it or not.
I just beat Gate of Thunder and it blew me away. Is there anything else like this at all in the genre? The timing and the rhythm of it it felt like learning a dance rather than twitching in response to chaos. Shoot em up as roller coaster ride. The only knock I have against it, and likely why I never really played it until now is it is a bit on the plain side, but wow, in the hands.
@Karasu here to inform you the 3D Space Shooting in Kingdom Hearts 3 was done by the lead designer of Einhander.
It’s like passable.
There’s a secret Einhander boss if you do all the things which would take a lot of time.
@robinhoodie Thunder Force III is the obvious go-to: Gate of Thunder was made by a team headhunted from Technosoft and it’s essentially Thunder Force III-and-a-half. Thunder Force III is on the Genesis/Mega Drive Mini, and you can also get the remixed arcade version Thunder Force AC on Switch (as well as Thunder Force IV, which was made by a different team and is significantly tougher by no less fun).
They followed up Gate of Thunder with another horizontal STG called Lords/Winds of Thunder, which is more of a heavy-metal fantasy thing but just as well-made, and they also made a vertical STG called Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire which used the Arcade Card RAM expander and was and probably still is stupidly expensive, but both are on the PCE/TG16 Mini, should you want to play them that way. Lords of Thunder also got a Sega CD port, and while they’re not so different that I’d hard recommend one over the other, I’d say the PCE/TG version’s the one to get.