Think there is a megadrive core on it.
Real answer there is not a fpga intepretation of any of that late 80s Taito stuff yet.
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Glue three of them side by side. : D
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Is that Akai Katana port coming worldwide Dec 15th? (too lazy to look this up)
“Full metal HuCards”
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i was honestly more excited before i saw that it was going to cost 89 euros for a copy
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the ROM will be available for free
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The Switch Cave ports are on sale.
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I played a bunch of shmups in the last few weeks!
Here are my impressions:
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Guwange was really beautiful. Lovely characters and setting. I am still not completely sold on the gameplay and remote controlling the spirit together with the human character, but probably I simply need to get a bit better at moving the two together. Anyway, using the ghost to slow down the bullets gives some strategic depth,
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Truxton is a nightmare. I think it would be impossible to finish this game. I abused save states to see through all of it. The game is unfair (enemies coming out from the bottom of the screen without the possibility of knowing it). Dying pushes you back. The hitbox is horrible and not very defined. It really is hell.
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Truxton 2, in comparison, is much more interesting. First of all, it is gorgeous. It’s 30 years old and it is beautiful and stylish. The hitbox is much smaller, and the game is much more refined than the first one. It’s crazy difficult, no less than the former, but it feels fair at least. Bullet patterns to evade are much more interesting.
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Espgaluda: I think it’s a nice game. In this game the player will rely upon the kakusei to go through the maze of bullets: the kakusei let’s the player enter a bullet-time mode, where bullets are easier to dodge for a certain amount of time. This time amount is regulated by the amount of gems collected (and resets when losing a life). The selected character has two fire modes, regular shooting and laser, one being more powerful depending on the character. In kakusei, the destructive power of the two is inverted. Not a mind blowing game but really nice to play and nice setting as well. I hate the last boss anyway, I think it’s a monotonous bullet sponge.
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Espgaluda 2: this one is much more gorgeous; playstile is more varied, because there is an additional level of depth in the kakusei (“kakusei zetsushikai”) which will give much higher scores at the cost of additional danger. In general, the game is a bit harder, faster, deeper and has more gimmicks. I prefer it over the first Espgaluda, because of higher variety (even if the core gameplay is still quite similar, and the game could be played ignoring the zetsushikai) and because it’s gorgeous.
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Esprade: Espgaluda’s progenitor, plays in a slightly more standard way (there is no kakusei gimmick) but is very fast and very cool regardless. Not sure if I prefer this vs the first Espgaluda.
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Raystorm: Graphically gorgeous, especially the remasters; gameplay wise, I think it’s pretty average and not very interesting.
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I never have ESPGaluda II at the height of my CAVE rankings but every time I play it I’m like “why aren’t all games this fun?”
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I’m pretty sure this boss and the final boss of ESP 2 actually get healed by your bomb/forcefield thing. You have to be careful in Kakusei there
Yes, that’s why I hate them: it is still a bullet sponge and, removing the possibility of using kakusei, it becomes a matter of inserting new credits to brute force them
steam port to follow sometime later
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I didn’t see steam mentioned at all, but that’s cool!
been playing lots of bullet garden recentlly and after talking to dylan about it i sorta came to the conclusion that, while i respect the purity of shooters, i find stage memorisation and the “there is a correct way to play” level design kinda frustrating; i don’t feel like i’m getting better, i just feel like i’m remembering the answers to specific encounters and executing them either well or poorly. and if i can’t work out the answer quickly enough i’m just dead and have to start again. even with stage/boss select options it still might turn out that the answer to a particular pattern is something that i’m simply not physically capable of.*
bullet garden’s randomised enemy patterns and behaviour cultivates a much more reactive playstyle, and there’s no danmaku bullshit because it’s the wrong context for it. this, coupled with the planning/dress-up phase of choosing your loadouts for custom games, really makes me feel like i either succeed or fail because of my own choices, whether they be moment-to-moment actions or equipment decisions, rather than because i remembered the correct answer to a quiz.
so i was wondering if there are other shooters that have a more rpg-like structure, rather than the (very respectable, don’t get me wrong) arcade linearity.
*i actually don’t have a problem with the inclusion of opportunities for this kind of super-precise and impressive play, i just find the narrow solution space uninspiring and disheartening. and the way that difficulty selection is handled by a lot of shooters is also pretty toxic, like come on man, don’t call your low difficulty “monkey mode” like jesus christ dude.
stuff i've already played and liked
- warning forever: one of the most perfect pieces of game design ever conceived. the nuance of the shooting alone makes me yearn for a monhun shmup with a bunch of ships that all have a radically different approach to the core verbs (like r-type but like, with a little more thought put into each ship rather than a focus on volume).
- thunder dragon 2: i like how it’s balls hard but also very simple and restrained. there’s no danmaku it’s just cool tough enemies with interesting arrangements and bullet patterns. it feels like a game that respects you and itself.
- razion ex: basically the only shmup i’ve ever bothered to attempt a 1cc on. the way all the systems line up (destroying enemy bullets and charging up collectibles for score and extra lives) makes it feel much more expressive and less about perfect memorisation than other shooters.
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ketsui: i actually specifically really love the DX mobile edition lmao. i think it’s the slowness and smallness that i find so endearing. i like regular ketsui too but i feel like i actually stand a chance when playing the mobile one.
- princess remedy: slightly tangential; not exactly a “classic shooter” but i think it’s worth including because it uses similar verbs inside of a much more engaging structure/world. it gets really hard at times but because there’s no punishment for failure i feel way more inclined to keep on trying.
anyway, basically: is there a more monster-hunter-like shmup for dickheads like me who love both thoughtful preparation and hectic reactive action? or do i have to make it myself?
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I don’t think this meets what you’re looking for but Sanvein is a really good time and very…unreliant on memorization. Stages are broken up into a grid of selectable little arenas fighting a few enemies or a mini boss (after typing that out it really feels structured like bullet garden’s mission mode) and your weapon power is tied to how many adjacent arenas you cleared so there’s a bit of planning involved in carving out a path to position yourself well for the next room (and manage the warning forever style timer)
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I don’t know. I think I’m just going to play Asteroids.
Maybe Sky Force Reloaded? It’s one stage per session, and you slowly build up your skill each attempt while also upgrading your plane. It’s a grind for sure, but a pretty mechanically satisfying one. Might be my favourite shooter.
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