Talking 'bout Shmups

[Peklo]

In other miraculous SaiDaiOuJou news, the impossible has occurred: Inbachi, the superboss of superbosses, the undefeated of nearly a decade, has finally been legitimately overcome. Spread the holiday cheer!

 

[Regulus]

The next two R-Type Final 2 DLC stages were announced the other day.

• "Corrosion" (stage 4) from R-Type Delta
• Assault on Geirrod Fortress from R-Type Tactics 2.

I'm excited for Corrosion in particular, because it's my favorite stage in Delta. I hope that the music is synced properly this time, because it's like 80% of what makes the stage so awesome.

Geirrod should also be interesting. It's effectively a new stage, because the the original stage is, well, a map in a hexgrid strategy game. I wonder how closely the layout will match...

 

[Yimothy]

The 1999 MSX2 hori shmup Pleasure Hearts has jut had an English patch released. It’s the third game by M-Kai, after the RPG Izumic Ballade and the vertical shmup Kyokugen. M-Kai would go on to greater fame with his fourth game, Judgement Silversword, but the MSX shmups are pretty good too.

Pleasure Hearts features smooth horizontal scrolling (rare on MSX and admittedly achieved here by having the edges of the screen move with the scrolling), three weapon types, an amazing pixelated bomb attack, seven stages, and 256 items to be collected, many of which make no apparent sense and none of which are essential so far as I can tell. It’s full of secrets: there are hidden items, a hidden boss, two endings, and little variations in boss fights and dialogue based on your actions. And the shooting is pretty good too. It’s got an unusual HP system, where grazing bullets or making contact with enemies will cost you HP but direct hits will kill you outright. It’s pretty generous with lives and I believe gives you an increasing credit supply as you keep playing it.

The patch is by some guy named Yim. Getting MSX emulation working is a bit of a fiddle - I use a vhd with SofaRun on my MiSTer or openMSX on my PC - but I think it’s worth the effort.

Sorry for the self-promotion, but I worked hard on this, it’s my first time making a ROMhack, and I’m excited to have it out in the wild and interested in any feedback.

 

[Yimothy]

Further to the above post, I’ve been playing another M-Kai game (or rather, a Qute game that M-Kai worked on), Eschatos. I got the recent Switch release, which also includes the Wonderswan games Judgement Silversword and Cardinal Sins, neither of which I’ve really touched. The port seems pretty good, and it has that all-important screen rotate meaning it’s compatible with the flip grip.

I don’t know if I’ve really played any polygonal shooters before. Surely I must have, but the way this one rotates the playing field and zooms around is really impressing me. Welcome to ten years ago, Yimothy. It is also sometimes making it a bit hard for me to predict where I need to be - at the moment I’m fairly regularly losing a life or two to the boss with the three rotating sphere things because I can’t readily judge when it’s in the background versus when it’ll hit me. I am getting further with each play, though, so I’m sure I’ll get it eventually. I think the green boxes around enemies indicate when they’re going to enter the gameplay area, but I’m not sure yet.

I’ve been alternating between the original, advanced, and time attack modes. In theory I think I prefer to just have one way that the game is played that I can get used to, but I am enjoying these different styles. Have not at all got a grip on the shield, though, beyond using it as an alternative to dodging. I feel like there’s some way to use it for scoring or something, but I don’t know what it is.

 

[Peklo]

It is the law that wherever you can buy Eschatos, you should--whatever platform in question will be blessed by Yousuke Yasui's landmark soundtrack.

 

[Yimothy]

I got a clear on Eschatos, playing on original easy, using two continues, and just having a really nice time. Now, will I try for a 1CC, or to clear it on a higher difficulty? Dunno. I like how the game starts you off with no continues, but gives you more as you keep playing it - it meant I didn’t just credit feed through it on my first play and move on, and now that I have made it through I’m somewhat invested in the game.

I’ve also had a go playing this with my daughter. We played with separated joycons, so I had either the movement or the firing, and she had the other (mostly I did the moving and she the firing). It’s a bit limiting, in that mostly she’d just hold one of the two fire buttons down and switch to the other if I asked her to (we didn’t try for the shield), but I actually got my best run prior to tonight playing that way. Maybe just focusing on movement is good for me?

 

[ShakeWell]

I was just looking at STG-related preorders on Amazon.jp and BOY HOWDY, this is some bullshit. Shipping on the Astro City STG Edition is cheaper than for the next M2 Toaplan Garage release on Switch (Fire Shark). And Amazon.jp won't let you preorder multiple things in one order to try to reduce shipping costs.

Anyone got any options BESIDES PlayAsia? Aside from their culture war nonsense, they once took literally over six months to ship me something they claimed was "in stock." (Long before the pandemic.) But Fire Shark is $60 from them, and from Amazon, including shipping, it's about $100. NCS doesn't do preorders, Pink Gorilla doesn't seem to do new import stuff (or list games at all on their site). Is there... I don't know, a reputable eBay seller? Or maybe a proxy buyer who will charge less than $30 for shipping?

 

[Klatrymadon]

One more week until this mark gets to buy some version of G-Darius for the 15th time.

(I commented under the vid that they've really undersold Ver. 2, lol.)

BTW, I love and am extremely thankful for the work you've done on Pleasure Hearts, Yimothy! It's a really singular experience and I hope your translation helps more people get into it. I'm hoping to pop this on my Mister SD card soon and have a blast with it.

 

[Yimothy]

Thanks! It's really nice to hear that.

When you do try it on the mister, there's something I'm curious about: when I play on Mister, my bombs drop spontaneously. Doesn't happen in openMSX. Let me know if it happens for you or not - maybe there's something in my setup that's off.

 

[Klatrymadon]

Ah, sorry to hear that - will do! You've probably already thought of this, but is it worth checking if you have any alternate buttons set up for it?

Andro Dunos II is out today. I'm taking a punt on it. The original is a fairly plodding okay-'em-up, but this one's by Picorinne Soft, who have a back-catalogue comprising banger after banger, so I think we're in safe hands.

Andro Dunos II on Steam

The sequel of the famous Shoot'em up from the Visco studio is back, 30 years after the first opus, released exclusively on Neo-Geo MVS and Neo-Geo AES in 1992 . It's time to bring out your good old battle ship in ANDRO DUNOS 2!

store.steampowered.com

 

[Klatrymadon]

The Deathsmiles I & II pack is coming to PC, and will be followed by Akai Katana, it seems!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1510114067998208000

 

[Regulus]

I've been holding out for an Akai Katana port for ages. Hooray!

In other shmup related news, Granzella unveiled a bunch of new (real) R-Type Final 2 information yesterday. On April Fools Day, as they are wont to do.

There's a little bit of detail on their upcoming plans for the game. They've mentioned this before, but their next big thing is a free update to the game, which they're calling R-Type Final 3. It's supposedly going to include new stages and ships and a bunch of customization options.

On the subject of ships: There's a brand new DLC ship, available now - the OFX-X "Mariko", which is basically an "ultimate fighter" version of the Image Fight line. It's configurable with all of the OF series weapons and features a new variable behavior Purple Bit. They also teased a couple of the other upcoming ships... including what appears to be the Granvia sub from In the Hunt! This one is about 19 years overdue -- I'm surprised it wasn't in the first Final.

I'm glad to see they're giving this game a lot of support.

 

[Peklo]

I picked up G-Darius HD now that it's on Steam. I'm very happy and impressed with it, so I'll just paste some of the initial gawking observations below.

g-darius hd's store page opens with "you will see the creation of new lives" and that's all it took for me to mark out and buy it on the spot
i wish they were promoted more about what they work on because you boot it up and m2 made this? m2 made this
it's a really astonishing package, with the arcade release in there as well as its .2 revision, both playable in original fidelity or as hd upres jobs
also a perfectly adapted version of the game's very good ps1 port
and then, as just a "we were messing around" bonus, you get to fight three of the game's bosses in the classic darius widescreen format, as just as a theoretical what-if they put together for this release
beautiful game map on the pause screen to plan routes with
the borders are also filled up with useful game information like iron galaxy's old ports might have done, like boss hp, what enemy you have captured, and notating how to do their special moves, because 1997 was the year of doing fighting game inputs in non-fighting games
can't think of many more ways to do g justice
and as far as complaining about the slowdown that's authentic to the game anyway: there's an option to disable such instances of slowdown and it's properly communicated as making the game run faster than it would on an arcade board
it also tracks all the enemies you've captured in a bestiary to fill out. nothing like that was in any prior version
there's also subwoofer support to emulate the arcade cabinet's in-seat speakers for some real m2-brand excess
everyone talks up m2's shottriggers line which includes stuff like battle garegga and esp ra.de. and i would love to have those but i can't imagine them being that much above what's done here in the way the material is treated

One of the best games ever receives one of the best ports/collections ever, so all's well as far as I'm concerned.

 

[ShakeWell]

So. Apparently, the G-Darius HD update may NOT be coming to the US console releases. Which is absolutely fucking horseshit. A big part of why I ponied up for the physical version of the Switch Darius Cozmic Revelation was the impending V2 release of G-Darius. Unreal.

 

[WildcatJF]

So. Apparently, the G-Darius HD update may NOT be coming to the US console releases. Which is absolutely fucking horseshit. A big part of why I ponied up for the physical version of the Switch Darius Cozmic Revelation was the impending V2 release of G-Darius. Unreal.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1511318047805562888

 

[ShakeWell]

Praise be!

 

[Peklo]

Phantasmagoria of Flower View arrives on Steam on the 25th. It will be the oldest Touhou release on the platform, continuing the years-long streak of them working their way backwards through the annals of the series. Of course, this is the (second) Twinkle Star Sprites-esque versus shooter out of the bunch, so comparatively even more niche than the "regular" shooters in the lineage--but it possesses material that's some I hold the dearest, like the impossibly rich musical atmosphere even by the standards of the series. Shoot the Bullet already pointed to the possibilities going by its comparable vintage, but this stretches far enough back in the Windows release history and coding base of the series that it seems ever more likely that eventually the entire modern run will be made officially accessible--Embodiment of Scarlet Devil enjoys its 20th anniversary this year, so it's just as well.

 

[Klatrymadon]

Scraping off some rust before tackling the nasty routes!

 

[demi]

Klatrymadon, that was awesome! I really liked that safe spot against Fire Fossil's lasers. Also, that beam finish aganst the route G boss was so clutch, just barely making it. I also learned that captured enemies have special move inputs?!? Thank you for sharing your amazing run!

 

[Klatrymadon]

Thank you very much! I never used to be able to take Dual Horn down on the first pass (you can get a double counter later in the fight, which I shoulda waited for), but having visible health bars for the bosses makes it a lot easier to judge whether or not a beam will finish them off, so you always know whether to be aggressive with your normal shots or to hold off. It changes everything - the first Alpha Beam and the safe spot against Fire Fossil are used purely to ensure I do enough damage to it to get the x4 counter finish. The new gadgets let me figure this out, where in previous versions I'd have had to rely on 'feel'.

Yeah, the Captains all have SF- and KOF-style inputs for special attacks. Some are more useful than others (some do lots of damage, or spread out to catch more zako) but they're all fun to do!

Glad you enjoyed the vid, and I hope you get a chance to play it soon!

(Edit: Just broke 20m on the PS4 version, too. Noticed two things: it seems faster than the PC version in a lot of places, despite my PC showing no signs of running the game poorly, and my score on the leaderboard is still a much earlier 7m one. Perhaps these are both pre-update issues? I should have spent more time with this last year, so I'd be able to tell.)

 

[ArugulaZ]

I'm going to have to see Klaty's playthrough, because I just went through G-Darius myself and needed an armada of ships to get through the latter half of the game. The Embryon, man. Ridiculous. It took so long I thought for sure the designers were forcing the player to use the Alpha Beam (wasn't that a Sesame Street game for the Atari 2600?), but the damn thing finally died, revealing that really weird ending which is probably what people best remember about G-Darius. I said multiple times through the fight, "Just dieee already," because it didn't seem like it was ever going to happen.

 

[Klatrymadon]

Ah, other than GT, The Embryon is the hardest final boss. Go up to to Lambda and take down Lightning Coronatus first! It has a couple of tricky mix-up attacks but nothing that you won't figure out with 10 mins of savestate practice. (It moves around the screen in the same pattern every time, too, so you shouldn't get hit when it changes positions like I did here.)

Just remember to go down at the branch in zone Beta for a gentler version of Tripod Sardine, and then you can just keep going up for pretty much the easiest possible route. Clearing that will set you up nicely to start tackling the other routes.

Edit: also, use your capture balls liberally! Captured enemies are multi-purpose tools - they're helpful as attackers, shields and smart bombs as well as alpha beams. They're there to be used and you get plenty of top-ups throughout any route.

 

[ArugulaZ]

See, I didn't know this until I watched your video. I was trying to play this like an ordinary Darius game, saving cap balls for the mid boss of each stage and holding onto them as long as possible to take full advantage of their considerable powers. You, on the other hand, grab enemies and light 'em up pretty frequently, and it does wonders for your score and long term survival. The Alpha Beam cuts through popcorn enemies, taking out two or three screens' of them without much effort. Yet I've been watching reviews on YouTube, and some reviewers don't even seem to realize that the beam exists!

I'm hoping that the patch with the kids' mode comes out fairly soon. I think it would help ease me into the gameplay, because as it is, the game inundates you with bullets and beams, way more than any of the other games in the Darius series.

(Also, I posit that the G in G-Darius stands for "Gaiares," the Sega Genesis shooter that lets you steal enemy powers. It's a play mechanic that very few shooters use, but it obviously works for that genre, and it's bewildering that more shmups don't use it.)

 

[Klatrymadon]

Yeah, so many shmup reviews only deal in broad strokes and brief series overviews that anyone could have pulled off wikipedia*, and I even find a lot of players who post otherwise strong survival clears still massively under-utilise their resources. The game is really excited to advertise its new mechanics but I guess that tendency a lot of players have to save items for a rainy day wins out...

Hopefully people who pick up the port will fire off an Alpha by accident, notice the x4 multiplier and get hooked.

*I seem to recall the Shmup Junkie guy essentially stating this as the reason he started his channel - that there were lots of reverent videos about the PC Engine Mini but no sense that anybody was really playing the games they were talking about. It's a curse.

 

[ArugulaZ]

Shmup Junkie is a little silly (isn't he the one who wears the tin foil hat?), but Bullet Heaven really gets down to business and covers games thoroughly. No stone gets unturned with him.

 

[Peklo]

Longtime doujin freeware shmup dev circle Outside have a new game coming out in the near future, so I thought to check out their previous and first paid project. Cosmo Dreamer turned out to be such an excellently crafted fusion of Cave and Touhou influences that I feel foolish in not having followed the developer closer previously, and can now say that I am most definitely a fan. Aesthetically one might call it Kirby-esque, in marrying the candy-cute to the cosmically urgent, with all manner of whimsical dream critters serving up as the opposition--unlike Touhou which has never particularly emphasized the popcorn enemy fodder, the ones here are memorable on their own and not just for their patterns. The bosses are then in accordance to that other side of the inspirational divide, as humanoids featuring multi-stage setpiece patterns with bonuses to reap if you can navigate their hail without bombing or missing. It's this selective pruning that allows the game to become a syncretic work in focusing only on the strengths of its role models, with nary a weakness in sight, and feels so obvious of a formula to land on considering the level of influence it's working from.

It's also to the game's credit that it does not boast of itself as for lifestyle shmuppers only, as the lowest difficulty (of four) at Casual manages to balance a feeling of frenetic action that does not come off as simplified but which always feels like the "real game" even as you're being taken care of by the relative lenience. The game allows for customization of shot, focus shot, bomb and a passive ability from three options each in whatever combination one wishes, and the default game mode (which must be overcome before the traditional arcade mode unlocks) follows a piecemeal structure with an adorable world map presentation where stages can be retried and returned to as many times as needed, fostering a better environment for learning and practicing the game than is sometimes offered. All the surrounding systems from scoring mechanics to the relationship between the player's shield and bombs speak to a design language that recognizes how overwhelming the genre can be, takes measures to make it more legible and never once sacrifices authenticity or depth while it does so. It's a really remarkably deft touch that can only come from learned insight, and awareness of perspectives from outside the enthusiast center. While ideal for newcomers, the game at its peak performance on Nightmare difficulty and true last boss shenanigans reassure that while the barrier of entry has been lowered, the skill ceiling is as high as ever, and worth reaching for.

The game's music is sourced from the website DOVA-SYNDROME that provides free music for creators to use, though you might not be able to tell in how aptly it's selected and curated for the game's atmosphere. Stage 8 in particular is such an adrenaline-fueled highlight both for its BGM and the culmination of the game's level design sensibilities that it might be the best I've seen in the genre in terms of level-related climaxes, and at other times the mood takes a hard left from genre convention thanks to the diversity of the composers utilized. There's very little to dislike about any part of the production--even the few huge-chested character designs (and more so in Like Dreamer) have a hard time reading as sexualized within the context of this art style and tone that leans toward comical cartoonishness over prurient exploitation. The clumsily translated text also only manages to further the game's dreamy and abstract stylings for the complementary textual narrative that exists in the provided summary, character profiles and internal achievement system. There's extra oomph and effort paid to the game in a total package kind of way that's out of sorts relative to the minimal price point that it commands, which supports the excellence of the core fundamentals and casts all of it as an overachiever in its genre. A hearty recommendation for anyone interested in pastel bullets and curtains thereof.

 

[WildcatJF]

Finally

Free G-Darius HD Update Adds Three New Versions And Lots Of Improvements

Crikey

www.nintendolife.com

 

[ArugulaZ]

What the hell is a YAZUKA? I kept misreading that as "Yakuza" and thought maybe a frizzy haired guy with a heart of gold and a head full of air was going to come out and beat the boss for you.

 

[Peklo]

Yazuka are the cubes holding orbs that appear in spiraling formations during boss battles if you take your time fighting them/milking for score. They've pretty much always been there, across the series. I tend to view them as a comparable looming threat to Gradius's recurring Option Hunter.

 

[ArugulaZ]

Thanks for the explanation. I think I've seen these before, but I don't know if I've seen them in every Darius game. Were they in Sagaia? Now I want to boot up the Genesis version to find out.