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: