12 Months, 14 Shmups, £1200 – Game #5

To understand what I’m attempting to achieve with this project do please see the previous blog entry here:

http://gmintyfresh.blogspot.com/2010/07/12-months-14-shmups-1200.html

December Part 1



Another month another game, this month is going to be a two parter for December. Now this project is not just about getting those expensive games it's also about getting the games I want for my collection. Zero Gunner 2 represents finishing my complete DC Shmup collection, before starting this project I was 3 games away from achieveing this. I've partially completed a youtube vid showing the game and what I think about it but my first impressions are very, very, good. It might not have the kudos of Ikaruga or Border Down but it's every much their equal!! Just to note I got stung with import duty on this bugger - a first for an import game damn it! Would have been an amazing bargain otherwise, still it is mint condition. See you soon in Part 2.

Geoff

Current status

Blast Wind - Sega Saturn
Harmful Park - Playstation 1
Radiant Silvergun - Sega Saturn (Bought)
Ibara - Playstation 2
Mushihimesama Futari Ltd Edition - Xbox 360
GlayLancer - Megadrive
Gigawing 2 - Dreamcast
Zero Gunner 2 - Dreamcast (Bought)
Twinkle Star Sprites - Dreamcast
Last Resort - NEO GEO AES (Bought)
Cotton 2 - With Tea Cup - Saturn
Soldier Blade - PC Engine
Hyper Duel Sega - Saturn (Bought)
Deathsmiles 2 Limited Edition - Xbox 360 (Bought)

12 Months, 14 Shmups, £1200 – Game #4

To understand what I’m attempting to achieve with this project do please see the previous blog entry here:

http://gmintyfresh.blogspot.com/2010/07/12-months-14-shmups-1200.html


Phew it's catch up time! It's been ages since I posted, but in the meantime I've bought so many great shmups. I'm covered on this project with games till February, there have been some ups and some downs but as always it's been interesting! So I picked the mighty Radiant Silvergun at the beginning of November for £90.50 including P+P which was about a tenner cheaper than I expected and it's in great nick. The game looks amazing with one of the best anime intros I've seen in a shooter, the weapons system seems very complex, and I can tell it's going to to take soem time to get a grips with. It's a great day for my shmup collection!

Current status

Blast Wind - Sega Saturn
Harmful Park - Playstation 1
Radiant Silvergun - Sega Saturn (Bought)
Ibara - Playstation 2
Mushihimesama Futari Ltd Edition - Xbox 360
GlayLancer - Megadrive
Gigawing 2 - Dreamcast
Zero Gunner 2 - Dreamcast
Twinkle Star Sprites - Dreamcast
Last Resort - NEO GEO AES (Bought)
Cotton 2 - With Tea Cup - Saturn
Soldier Blade - PC Engine
Hyper Duel Sega - Saturn (Bought)
Deathsmiles 2 Limited Edition - Xbox 360 (Bought)

12 Months, 14 Shmups, £1200 – Game #3

To understand what I’m attempting to achieve with this project do please see the previous blog entry here:

http://gmintyfresh.blogspot.com/2010/07/12-months-14-shmups-1200.html

The 3rd game in the project was secured today, missed out on a few nicely priced copies of Radiant Silvergun and was going to settle on a copy of Soldier Blade for the PC Engine. I'd put a £100 offer in on a copy of Last Duel last month and had it turned down, I had a last ditch £115 offer on the same game and to my surprise it was accepted!! It's a complete copy and looks like it's in tip top condition, it was bloody expensive (over my estimate) but still the cheapest copy for the condition.

I could have the game by the weekend and I can't wait play it.

Current status

Blast Wind - Sega Saturn
Harmful Park - Playstation 1
Radiant Silvergun - Sega Saturn
Ibara - Playstation 2
Mushihimesama Futari Ltd Edition - Xbox 360
GlayLancer - Megadrive
Gigawing 2 - Dreamcast
Zero Gunner 2 - Dreamcast
Twinkle Star Sprites - Dreamcast
Last Resort - NEO GEO AES (Bought)
Cotton 2 - With Tea Cup - Saturn
Soldier Blade - PC Engine
Hyper Duel Sega - Saturn (Bought)
Deathsmiles 2 Limited Edition - Xbox 360 (Bought)

The hunt begins and there might even be some spare money in the war chest for a bonus buy!

Bullet Soul - 360

A seriously great time for 360 shmup fans, another shooter announced!

Bullet Soul:

http://5pb.jp/games/bulletsoul/

A shooter developed by the company that did the ports Ketsui and Dodonpachi Dai Ou Jou on the 360 - 5pb

It's rumoured to be heavily Cave influenced, more news when I have it!

Available for preorder at Play-Asia:

http://www.play-asia.com/Bullet_Soul/paOS-13-71-br-49-en-70-3y5h.html

12 Months, 14 Shmups, £1200 – Game #2

To understand what I’m attempting to achieve with this project do please see the previous blog entry here:

http://gmintyfresh.blogspot.com/2010/07/12-months-14-shmups-1200.html

2nd game bought today, Last Resort on the AES. Took a bit of scouring to find this shmup at a reasonable price and with some confidence it was an original, not a pirate or an converted MVS cart. There was also a few tatty examples and even one from a seller that bore no responsibility for any damage or loss even though he wouldn't sent the game out recorded. The game cost £118 including P&P.

Expect a new video 1-2 weeks.

Current status

Blast Wind - Sega Saturn
Harmful Park - Playstation 1
Radiant Silvergun - Sega Saturn
Ibara - Playstation 2
Mushihimesama Futari Ltd Edition - Xbox 360
GlayLancer - Megadrive
Gigawing 2 - Dreamcast
Zero Gunner 2 - Dreamcast
Twinkle Star Sprites - Dreamcast
Last Resort - NEO GEO AES - Bought
Cotton 2 - With Tea Cup - Saturn
Soldier Blade - PC Engine
DeathSmiles 2 Limited Edition - Xbox 360 (Bought)
Hyper Duel Sega - Saturn

The hunt begins and there might even be some spare money in the war chest for a bonus buy!

(iPod) Dodonpahi Resurrection - First Thoughts

I downloaded Dodonpachi Resurrection for the IPOD today, I know it's not the 360 game but i'll give an indication of how well the game transfers home. For a start it's only £2.99 for the first four days of release. The game still employs the autofire system from Espgaluda 2 which works quite well, be careful though I suspect you'll either like it or loathe it - you can try the Lite version first. When the game loaded up I was amazed by the graphics, it really is a good looking game with completely over the top graphics and screens full of bullet hell! The game seems to work better on the ipod than the ESP2 because the game is a little bit simpler with less botton presses needed and suiting touch screen control. A special mention should be given to the soundtrack, it's really over the top and sounds brilliant suiting the pace of the game perfectly.

You can tell the game is slightly stripped down port of the arcade version as there isn't quite as much happening onscreen, but this coversion bodes very well for the Cave 360 port.

360 Shmup Preorders

Over the last few weeks there has been a bumper list of 360 shmups announced, most are actually already available for preorder!

Pink Sweets/Muchi Muchi Pork - Not Available But Listed

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-br-49-en-70-3xkm.html

Dodonpchi Resurrection + Limited Edition - Available for Preorder. Preordered!
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-br-49-en-70-3xkw.html

Radirgy Noa Massive - Available for Preorder. PrPreordered

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-br-49-en-70-3x41.html

Senko No Ronde Duo Limited Edition 17/08/10

Turned up today and it did come all the way from Japan really quickly, it's got an amazing art nouveau cover. Can't wait to give it a go.

MORE 360 Shooters!!

Huge announcements from the Cave at the 360 shooting festival this weekend!!

As suspected with the announcement of Dodonpachi Dai Fukkatsu on the iPad a 360 port of the most recent arcade version (v1.5) has been confirmed for 25/11/2010! I've been waiting for this port for ages because the most recent Dodonpachi game looks insane and cranks the bullet hell and an overpowered player ship up to new levels
There will be a limited edition version with an arrange CD and preorder download card

A quite obscure and strange Cave shooter called Dangun Feveron (check it on MAME) is getting a port for release in 2011 probably on XBLA.

And another biggie Muchi Muchi Pork and Pink Sweets Ibara are getting a double pack release in Spring 2011 - the best shmup compilation ever?

Youtube 300 Sub Competition

NOW IN HD!!

Recent Pickups 1

Stuff that I've picked up over the last few days:

My mate Tim picked up this lovely little copy of Speedball 2 from a local charity shop, it really is mint and he is a throughtly good chap!

The "other" Gamecube Star Wars game, no idea how this plays but another game for the complete GC collection. This game cost me £2.50 including postage and packing.

Been after this sucka for ages, dispite the average reviews I've been throughly enjoying KOF 12 for the last few weeks, picked this up for a tenner. It has to be said it's got some of the most amazing 2D graphics I've ever seen, like controlling a cartoon.

Radirgy Noa Massive - Update 12/08/10

Sorry non-Japanese 360 owners I can confirm that Radirgy Noa Massive is not going to be region free from the latest preorder update on NCSX:

http://www.shopncsx.com/rajiruginoamassive.aspx

There's some really interesting info on the conversion and sales figures for the Wii version!!

"NCS Product Synopsis
Update: August 10, 2010
«©NCSX» Sales for the Wii conversion of Radirgy NOAH were tepid. Maybe the elite shmup corps overseas didn't feel like playing a shooter with an input device called a "Nunchuk" or a "Remote." In a couple of months, Radirgy NOAH is getting ported over to the Japanese Xbox 360 which should prove to be more favorable for Milestone's sales. In the confines of NCS' offices, we consider the X360 to be the spiritual successor of the Dreamcast... at least in terms of coin-op to console shooter conversions.

Radirgy NOAH is a vertical shooter where a squat ship displays its versatility by shooting at flitting enemies, shielding itself from danger, and slashing at incoming attackers. By firing away and slashing during the course of the stages in Radirgy, the ship levels up both offensive functions for improved performance. "NOAH" features a simultaneous 2-player option and is viewed in the Yoko (horizontal) aspect which allows enough room for both gamers to maneuver and takes sides. The final boss "Ruki Mishima" from the first Radirgy is an optional player character in NOAH. Bosses in the game include a bald-headed homo sapien in yellow pants who performs a spin attack that launches fireballs and an aerial platform that disappears in a puff of clouds when destroyed.

Milestone is adding the word "Massive" to the Xbox 360 conversion of Radirgy NOAH but that impressive descriptor appears to only encompass new game modes in addition to the default arcade mode, an illustrations gallery which features unlockable artwork, and an online ranking mode. Preorders for the Japanese Xbox 360 import Radirgy NOAH Massive are welcome to ship on October 14, 2010 at JPY6800 or US$75.90 from NCS.

Questions and Answers
Q: What is this Radirgy Noir that I see on some sites?
A: The word "Noir" is a mis-transliteration of NOA or NOAH.

Q: Do ya'll prefer Radirgy or Radirgy NOAH?
A: Asteroids. Scratch that. Asteroids Deluxe.

Q: Is Radirgy NOAH Region-Free?
A: Nope. The earlier shooters that were RF appear to be outliers.

Q: How many copies of Radirgy NOAH did NCS sell on the Wii?
A: Exactly 173. We shipped the rest back to Tokyo at 35% trade.

Preorders for the Xbox 360 import Rajirugi Noah Massive are welcome to ship on October 14, 2010. Alternate spellings include Rajirugi Noa, Radirgy Noa, Radilgy Noa, Radio Allergy, and variations thereof.

Japanese Product Name: ﾗｼﾞﾙｷﾞﾉｱ Massive

Region Lock-out
Please note Japanese Xbox 360 games will not boot on USA or European Xbox 360 consoles due to the inherent region-lockout on Japanese X360 game discs."

Senko No Ronde Duo Limited Edition

Just scored a copy of Senko No Ronde Duo Limited Edition for £56.00 a good £20 cheaper than anywhere else I've seen it! As you probably all know I'm mildly obsessed with my 360 shmup collection and this was one I missed oout on at release due to a three month period when a new shooter was released every month. This was released the same month as Ketsui so obviously that game got bought!! I've checked out some youtube vids of this and it looks like it plays very much like the original game (which is no bad thing) but with more bullets!!! Grrr!! Cant wait to give it a whirl

Stuff I've Bought Recently XXXV

Radirgy Noa Massive - Available for Preorder!

I love it when another rumoured 360 shooter becomes official!

Radirgy Noa Massive available for Preorder on Play-Asia:

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-br-49-en-70-3x41.html

Preordered my copy, there's also an updated overview of the game:

"The arcade fan-favorite Radirgy, is ported to the Xbox360. The graphics in this new horizontal shooter are even more beautiful on your HD screen, and the electronic world in the game will be even more realistic.

This new port has new game modes and an online function. You can upload your scores and compete with the people in the country.

Besides gameplay, there are many more additions in the gallery mode, be sure to win these new illustrations and see what they are."

Radirgy Massive Update 04/08/10

The 360 version may be titled Radirgy Noir Massive, there's quite a bit of confusion about what the game is called. Anyway the game is now listed on Amazon Japan http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003Y5I4D8/ and some screen shots have emerged:

12 Months, 14 Shmups, £1200 – Game #1

To understand what I’m attempting to achieve with this project do please see the previous blog entry here:

http://gmintyfresh.blogspot.com/2010/07/12-months-14-shmups-1200.html

Well I’ve managed to secure my first game from the list, DeathSmiles 2 X Limited Edition.

After a bit of negotiating with the seller on Ebay I picked it up for the bargain price of £64, a full £7 cheaper than I expected to pay.

Expect a new video during the coming week.

I also finalised the list of games I’m going to go after over the coming months:

Blast Wind - Sega Saturn
Harmful Park - Playstation 1
Radiant Silvergun - Sega Saturn
Ibara - Playstation 2
Mushihimesama Futari Ltd Edition - Xbox 360
GlayLancer - Megadrive
Gigawing 2 - Dreamcast
Zero Gunner 2 - Dreamcast
Twinkle Star Sprites - Dreamcast
Last Resort - NEO GEO AES
Cotton 2 - With Tea Cup - Saturn
Soldier Blade - PC Engine
DeathSmiles 2 Limited Edition - Xbox 360 (Bought)
Hyper Duel Sega - Saturn

The hunt begins and there might even be some spare money in the war chest for a bonus buy!

Radirgy Massive

Radirgy Massive has been confirmed for a physical 360 release on 28/10/10:

http://books.rakuten.co.jp/rb/%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B8%E3%83%AB%E3%83%8E%E3%82%AE%E3%82%A2-MASSIVE-Xbox360-4988648738355/item/6635403/

Aliens Vs Predator

Been after AVP for a while now but it's always been a little too expensive, so when I saw this for sale in Grainger Games for £9 I had to buy it. I've seen the average reviews but I'm having none of that it's a cool little game. I've played the game through as the Predator and the control system is brilliant, the game really does pay homage to the films. It does go to show that sometimes you need to take games reviews with a pinch of salt - Dark Void, Bionic Commando, and Star Wars Force Unleashed all being examples of games that didn't review brilliantly but I really enjoyed.

Radirgy - 360?

There are quite a few rumours circulating about some sort of Radirgy release on the 360:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=402203

http://sazanami.net/20100723-news/

I love the art style of the game but not keen on how it plays, still interested to see what is actually going to get released.

Any new 360 shmup release is good news to me!!

Akai Katana

It's been a good few weeks for Cave fans with the announcement of Dodonpachi Dai Fukkatsu for ipod and the announcment of a new arcade game Akai Katana.

Everything was a bit cryptic about this game until recent location test videos sprung up:




I really like what I've seen so far the first thing that springs to mind is how much the game resembles progear,those backgrounds are pure Dodonpachi, and I really like the look of the insane boss battles. One to watch out for I think.

Kotaku article:

http://kotaku.com/5594510/first-look-at-akai-katana-bullet-hell

30,000 Achievement Points - Nearly There

Edit: 30000 hit playing Live Arcade!!

Woah less than 200 points away from another landmark, man I need to get a life!!

RIP Janet Johnson, 19/11/23 - 21/07/10

Hello Chaps

Not many of you know this but for the last 8 months myself and my sister have been caring for our terminally Ill grandma. Unfortunately she passed away yesterday. I've got a mixture of emotions going through my head at the moment and writing this blog is helpful. I may take a short break from retroing but I'll be back!

Geoff

Thunder Force V - A New View

As some of you may know my favourite Saturn shooter is Thunder Torce V, there's something inherently appealing about the game to me. It's the combination of fast pace, rocking soundtrack, and an intuative weapon system that makes it head and shoulders above the rest. I've always wondered how the Playstation version of the game compares, apparently whilst not looking as good the game has extras not included in the Saturn version:

• CG rendered movie sequences
• Extra Artwork
• Enhamced sound
• More game modes
• Easter eggs
• Less slowdown

This week I actually won a Japanese copy of the game for a bargain price of £11, a full £20 cheaper than the game should have been! Admittedly the copy I won didn't have a spine card but I can live with that.

Looking forward to adding this to my expanding PS1 shooter collection and seeing how it compares to the Saturn version..

Watch this space I feel a video coming on...

THUNDERFORCE V THUNDERFORCE

Loads of Games Arrived This Week Part 1.....

Quite a haul of games this week, all really cheap too:

Rage Racer is my fabvourite Ridge Racer series game, I've had a used copy since release but the cover was missing. This is a long due replacement that cost £3, interesting demo disk too which my original copy doesn't have.

A quite nice condition US copy of Meteos for the DS, this cost £5. Spent about 2 hours playing the game on Thursday night and it's a great little puzzle game

Been after a copy of New Zealand Story Revolution on the DS for ages and missed out on getting a copy by pence a few times on Ebay. I managed to secure this copy for £5 and its mint. Wow NZS has never looked so good and the touch screen elements are nice, the game does seem as brutally hard as the original game the port is based on.

Ahh the gorgeous R-Type III more on this later, cost me £21

12 Months, 14 Shmups, and £1200

This is a project I’ve been mulling over for the past 6 months, basically I’ve created a list of 14 shmups that I’d buy if money wasn’t an object. This list has evolved over the last few months and it’ll probably change again but this is how it stands at the moment in no particular order:

Blast Wind - Saturn
Harmful Park - PS1
Radiant Silvergun - Saturn
Ibara - PS2
Mushihimesama Futari Ltd Edition - 360
Glaylancer - MD
Gigawing 2 - DC
Zero Gunner 2 - DC
Rayxanber III - PC Engine CD
Last Resort - NEO GEO AES
Cotton 2 (Special Edition with Tea Cup)- Saturn
Star Soldier - PSP
Deathsmiles 2 Limited Edition - 360
Hyper Duel - Saturn

At one point Espgaluda II Special Edition (360) was on the list but I managed to pick it up cheaply, so Glaylancer replaced that game. Rayxanaber III will probably leave the list as it’s purchase is dependant on getting a PC Engine DUO (Final Soldier is looking good at the moment).
So what am I going to do with this list? Well the project was always going to be a series of Youtube videos charting my adventures in acquiring all of these dream games over 12 months with a budget of £1200.

Now the exiting news that I’m almost financially able to actually start buying!

Watch this space over the coming month for more news!!

R-Type 3

So finally after all those years of waiting I have a copy of R-Type 3, I slightly ballsed up this purchase because I thought it was boxed - It wasn't as I read the description incorrectly. The version I bought is the beautifully designed Japanese release with the instruction booklet included. Seeing how pretty this is has just made me hungry to buy a boxed copy of this great game (the artwork truly is stunning). Still the game was still cheap and there is trade potential in the future.

Talking about Snes shmups, this month's "Let's all play" on the Retro Gamer forum is all about Axelay. There are always lively discussions when it comes this monthly thread, give it a go you might even get published in Retro Gamer. Not the biggest fan of the game to be honest, it's good but not great my thoughts from the thread:

"There's no denying the greatness of Axelay, however it's nearly fatally flawed by those vertical levels. They look and play quite crudely in comparison to the more refined and enjoyable Horizontal sections. It's like two different games have been haphazardly squashed together."

Guwange!!

Great, some more news about the XBL conversion of Guwange.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/10/cave-shmup-guwange-to-be-released-worldwide-on-xbla/

FEAR

Hello kids

This week I'm going to make it my mission to finish a game I've had on the back burner for a long time, FEAR for the 360. I picked this up for about £20 including the Orange Box and Condemned 2 from my mate. I've finished both the other games but I'm still grinding my way through this one. I do quite like the game but the levels just merge into one in my mind and it's a bit samey. On level 7 so hopefully I'll get it finished this week, I need space on my shelves!!

Been checking out videos for the game Vanquish by Sega, really exited by this game it looks smart. I'll be preordering this one in the coming weeks.

Bought a couple of replacement games this weekend:

1. Rage Racer PS1 - Had a copy since release but it hasn't got a front cover so I finally got a replacement.
2. Pocket Fighter PS1 - Another Japanese copy, picked this up cheap and this copy has got the spine card!
3. New Zealand Story Evolution DS - Not a replacement but I've always fancied this game.

300 Subs

Man that came round really quickly, I posted the teaser trailer online for the next competition - just waiting for the game to physically arrive before the competition can start.

MAME

Ok a few new developments today

1. I finally got my 360 Street Fighter control pad working with MAME, piece of piss when you know how! Played some great shmups, going to spend a day playing Cave shmups tomorrow!!
2. Got some plans ready for a 300 sub Youtube competition, watch this space.
3. Another 360 limited edition turned up today, Splinter Cell Double Agent:

This special edition includes an LED light and cost me the princely sum of £10 - an absolute bargain.

Meteos

Won a copy of Meteos for the DS yesterday, £5 including P&P. I won a copy of the original version not the crappy Disney themed rerelease. Looking forward to playing this interesting fusion between shooter and puzzle game. Been after this one since it's release.

(GC) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Picked up a copy of Harry Potter TCOS for a quite reasonable £3 inc P+P, the game always seems to go for a premium because the character is popular. Lorraine has played through most of the series as she loves HP, they're not too bad but a bit kiddy for me. Anyway was in immaculate condition another game for the complete PAL GC collection.

Post Number 1

Oh man had this account for quite a while and never posted anything, inspired by AmidstStorm to start posting. Completed a video for Chaos Field on the Gamecube for ash81b4u relating to this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7bSYEtwlrc he's got a great channel and love his shmups. I posted this video so he could see the US version, I must admit I prefer his Jap copy it looks ace.

My vid can be found here:



Also some images: