Today's Post 01/12/2013

Today's Post 19/11/2013

Sega Ages 2500 Puyo Puyo Tsuu Perfect Set - Japanese PS2. Another Sega Ages game this time Volume 12 of an obscure SEGA puzzle game that never made it out of Japan.

Today's Post 15/11/2013

Armed Formation F - PC Engine. Don't know much about this shooter but it was a steal for the price, it's an arcade port and the manual/cover art is lovely. Looking forward to playing this when I've got my PC Engine set up again.

Castlevania Lords Of Shadow Collection - PS3. Zavvi exclusive steelbook version of this collection which contains Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, two additional DLC chapters, the complete Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate HD adventure, and an exclusive Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 demo.

Today's Post 11/11/2013

P-47 - PC Engine. Another PC Engine shmup for the collection, and one I got at a decent price too. A bit simple in comparison to a lot of later horizontal shooters but still fun to play. This port compares favourably to the Arcade version as it's far more accessible. Gorgeous cover art too.

Gunstar Heroes - Japanese Saturn. Again another title I couldn't pass up at the price, loved the sequel and the HD port on XBL but I never picked up the PAL original because it's so damn expensive.

Ghouls and Ghosts - Japanese Megadrive Another title that I've been playing for years depite never actually owning a copy of the original (Via Capcom Compilations and borrowing the game). This hard as nails arcade adventure is a firm favourite of mine and after finally securing a copy it's the gorgeously designed Japanese packaging that's gracing my shelf!

Today's Post 05/11/2013

Instant Brain Limited Edition - Japanese 360 A Japanese interactive novel I've been after for years, there's one reason why any shooter fan needs to pick this up It contains an unlockable version of Arcade Dodonpachi as a bonus for completing the game.

Today's Post 01/11/2013

Forgotten Worlds - Japanese MD Not a huge fan of this port the arcade version plays much better but it's still fun to play. The artwork is really lovely on this game and it'll fit snugly next to my copy of Strider and a recent purchase when it arrives.......

Street Fighter III 3RD Strike - Japanese Dreamcast Great game which more or less completes my DC 1 on 1 fighting game collection, the DC port is great and does a perfect version of that hideous soundtrack!!

Top Ten Most Wanted 30/10/2013

Just want to list my current long term collecting "Most Wanted" list, damn I've been after some of these titles at a decent price for years.
  

1	Harmful Park	PS1
2	Bioship Paladin	Megadrive
3	Musha Aleste	Megadrive
4	Shinobi 3	Megadrive
5	Alien Soldier	Megadrive
6	Earthbound	SNES
7	Demon's Blazon	SNES
8	Ketsui	DS
9	Gaia Seed	PS1
10	V-V	Megadrive
Bubbling Under
11	Fist of the Northstar Ken's Rage Treasure Box	PS3
12	Contra	Megadrive
13	Hagane	SNES
14	Image Fight/X-Multiply	Saturn
15	Okami Zekkeiban	PS3

Today's Post 25/10/13

Shooting Gameside Vol0. This amazing Japanese magazine focussing on the history of shooting games is truly gorgeous. I know I've got a ton of catching up to secure all the issues, It's all written in Japanese but it's still of interest to shooting fans!

 

 

Stuff I've Bought Recently Series 3 Episode 1

Megadrive Special #1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ17JLIFRx8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Today's Post 24/10/13

Dragon's Crown - PsVita US. With bonus artworks, picked this up before I found out the art book was coming with UK preorders too. An awesome few months for Vita owners finally with the recent release of Killzone Mercenary and this. Links up perfectly with the PS3 version, completely sublime.

Super Strike Eagle - Super Famicom. Bought it for the ridiculous cover and it was dirt cheap, can't wait to see what this mode 7 arcade flight sim is like.

The Trouble with Darius

This post stems from a bigger conversation I've been having with my friend on Facebook (lets call him David) about the Darius shooter series

                                                            A good Darius game yesterday

My problem with the series really stems from playing certain bad titles over the years and only relatively recently playing some of the more accomplished games. I think Darius 2 has been an especially guilty party in my perception of the series - the ok 3 screen arcade cab (which I was lucky enough to play in the wild) really didn't transfer to home systems very well and both the Megadrive and Saturn ports try valiantly to accomplish that strange screen ratio on a home system. A guess the Saturn port is the definitive version and whilst certainly being the most accomplished version it is far from being great. Similarly the Megadrive version really struggles for me to stand up generally as a decent shooter and can be a frustrating beast at the best of times. Now onto the really offensive Darius game for me Sagaia on the Master System, now fair play to the developers it was always going to be a tall order to covert the arcade game to Sega's 8-bit system and graphically they nearly do it - the game is technically impressive. Unfortunately the game shares the same fate as Xenon 2 on the system, flickery as hell and a spaceship that handles like it's crawling through a sea of treacle. Many deaths occur because of dodgy collision detection and uncertainty as to where enemies and bullets are, for me an entirely frustrating proposition.

Other games that clouded my view were Darius Twin which I found completely boring and Darius Advance. Darius Advance is a Japanese exclusive promises so much, the cover artwork is some of the nicest I've seen on a Japanese release but ultimately falls flat on its face due to lack of variation in the levels and what feels like an underpowered weapons system. There are definite balance issues with the game which is a real shame because those boss battles are still damn good fun.

So then as a conclusion to the story Geoff hates Darius.... well that's not strictly true either.

Thanks to David and other Darius maniacs who have a wider view of the series and have urged me to give certain titles a try, I've started to see what they mean. I guess my journey to Darius redemption began with a video one of my YouTube buddies put up showing a compilation video of the crazy boss battles in Darius Gaiden, not only did the enemy designs look original and beautiful the game looked really playable. On the back of this video I scored a copy and was very happy with what I played, I always admired the uniqueness of the weird enemy and level designs in the games but finally I had a title that I actually wanted to play!

The accomplished G-Darius followed next which reminded me a little of R-Type Delta, not in content but graphically the 2.5 modelling has a similar feel.

And now finally onto what I feel is the pinnacle of the series, Darius Burst, words can't describe how impressive this title is. To me it feels like a shooter you can speak of in the same company as Border Down, Ikaruga, and Gradius 5. It has all the classic components of greatness; being well balanced, full of interesting set-pieces, a pounding soundtrack, a feeling of pace, epic boss battles, and most of all is fun to play. I feel I'm almost doing the game a disservice by not going into an in-depth review about why it's so good (honestly pay the daft money it's starting to command and get it).

I thought I'd like to chart my history with the series and explain why I'm left with mixed emotions about the games. Currently I now have an active interest in picking some of the other titles after spending years dismissing the series, I can honestly say that good or bad no other shoot-em-up series solicits such a conflict in my mind.

Today's Post 23/10/13

SCI - PC Engine. Currently my PC Engine collection is expanding and this joins Chase HQ which I picked up years ago.

Sonic Wings Special - Saturn. Another shmup for the Saturn collection, I'm rapidly running out of titles to pick up. I've been loathe to get this because I'm not a fan. But the price I picked this up for with the soundtrack CD made it worthwhile.

A Couple of 360 Imports......

Hello, it's been a while since I posted anything on here due to a new arrival in the house.

I'm finding it tough at the moment to find any spare time to have even a few pints at the moment let alone write a blog or shoot YouTube vids. Rest assured that both my shmup and regular collection are still expending and I'll be back on a slightly irregular basis from here on in.

I'm specifically looking at a couple of recent 360 imports I've purchased recently:

Sneak King - US. One of three games available from Burger King for a limited time in the US at a budget price when bought with a value meal. Not rare and bought just as a curiousity for £3 on ebay, I intend to get all three at some point.

Instant Brain Limited Edition - Japan. Finally picked this up for a non stupid price I'm sure Cave fans will know the reason why I bought this this glorified dating sim, it contains a port of arcade DoDonpachi. A real shame I've got to grind through the main game to unlock the shmup goodness, but I've heard it's quite a painless process

Oh Mummy - Megadrive/Genesis

New video!

The brilliant Indie Megadrive enhanced port of the Amstrad CPC classic, Oh Mummy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuVia1cOc5k&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Ghost Blade

Watch "The Ghost Blade Teaser — NEW Shooting Game (Sega Dreamcast) (Alpha) 720p" on YouTube

Sturmwind and Caladrius

A huge week in the world of shmups with the release of Sturmwind on the DC and Caldrius on the 360, both copies of the game have been sent out and will hopefully be with me next week. Videos will be forthcoming....

Sturmwind - Official Release Date!

Finally, 2 years and 2 months later we have a release date!!

The countdown officially begins!

"We are under attack:

Sturmwind pilots, fall in for saving the world in April 2013!

Antritt zur Weltenrettung!

The fierce enemy‘s troops have already reached our world‘s doorsteps and we are running out of time! Our reconnaissance drones have detected 16 promising locations for our search of „Mother“, the planet of our living ancestors.

After several development steps by Duranik and redspotgames the launch date for your mission is clear.
Sturmwind pilots, your all-dominant mission will begin on April 24th 2013. All documents will be sent to you until this very date.

Fight over 20 boss enemies in 16 levels. In addition to the so-called “Award Trophy System”, there will also be an internet highscore list in which your performance can compete against each other worldwide.

Your wings of steel are now our last resort.
Stay ready for further instructions. Over and out.

Shooting Love 10th anniversary - XIIZEAL & ΔZEAL

Confirmation today of yet another upcoming 360 shmup: 

http://www.shopncsx.com/images/products/detail/xiiizeal.jpg

Two editions: Regular Edition and Ltd. Edition - It seems the first print of both versions might have a LTD edition soundtrack but it's all a bit sketchy at the moment.

Preorders open on AMI AMI and NCSX

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?scode=TVG-X36-1290

http://www.shopncsx.com/shootinglove10thanniversaryxiizealanddeltazeal.aspx

It looks like the legendary shooter G-Stream will be included in the pack which was created by team members that went on to work for Triangle Service. There are also hints that the game will include some bonus shooters like The Shooting Love 200x compilation did - TBC!

Ghost Blade Level 4 Alpha Screenshot

Bloody hell another new screen shot of level 4, this game looks gorgeous!


"We are working on Ghost Blade stage 4 since we don’t have a strict order to develop a stage we went with this one. The screenshot shows an water base and some mechanic crab enemies and turrets installed. Some tanks show up as well. Oh, and a new blasting shot! It’s still all Alpha material though."

Wants List for the Start of 2013

A big long list of games and consoles I'm actively looking for at the moment:

Mega CD
Darius Burst - PSP
Love Hina - Japanese GBA
Hajime No Ippo - Japanese GBA
Tryrush Deppy - Japanese Saturn
Ketsui - Japanese DS
Ghost Pilots - Neo Geo AES
V-V/GrindStorner - Megadrive
Power Drift - Saturn
Instant Brain - Japanese 360
Harmful Park - Japanese PS1
Rule of Rose - PS1
Sega Rally - Japanese GBA
Run Sabre - SNES
Demon's Blazon - SNES
Unirally - SNES
Steam Hearts - Japanese Saturn
Sega Ages 2500 - Japanese PS1, titles I've still not picked up out of this collection.
Capcom Classics Reloaded - PSP
Star Soldier - PSP
SC Gundam X - SNES
The Itsudemo Puzzle - Japanese GBA
Space Invaders - Japanese SNES
Star Communicator - Japanese GBA
Rayxanaber III - PC Engine
Metal Slug 7 - DS
Okami Zekkeiban - PS3
Pocket Station

Favourite Puzzle Games

 

 Another list for 2013, this time my favourite puzzle games. I've been really surprised to see how many of these titles are handheld, I guess the pick up and put down nature of the genre lends itself to portable gaming.

Anyway in no particular order:

Puzzle Quest (XBL) - I love the XBL version of this, the combination of a solid puzzle game with some RPG elements and a fantasy setting works really well. One of the rare puzzle games with an interesting storyline and a character levelling system, much more than just a puzzle game.

Meteos (DS) - Strange Shooter/Puzzle hybrid that's really addictive once you get the hang of it. Works exremely well with the touchscreen. There's a Disney version of the title that's a completely different game and actually tougher because they tweaked the gameplay to stop people mashing the screen to get random lines. 

Bust a Move 2 (PS1) - Everyone knows the series, played through the night pi$$ed on numerous occasions (onemoregoitis) against my mate on the mighty PS1 port. One of the few puzzle games that relies on pure skill when placing bubbles as well as forward planning. There's a great 1 player campaign with a ton of levels but the game comes into it's own in two player.

Puzzle Fighter (PS1) - Classic combination of Street fighter and a Puzzle Game - tbh the puzzle aspect of the game is strong enough to stand on it own two feet without the addition of the franchise. I really like the fact the individual character have strengths and weaknesses. PS1 or Saturn version for me, the xbl version is cool but the control system feels a bit off to me. 

Cleopatra Fortune (PS2) - Firstly I recommend the PS2 version of the game purely because it's on Taito Arcade hits 2 which is really cheap, the Japanese Saturn version is very pricey. Egyption themed puzzle game which is probably the closest game to Tetris out of all the games I've picked. Not only is the game fiendisly difficult later on it's also very accessible initially - there's a nice difficulty curve. One of the most charning puzzle games I've ever played, looks gorgeous too.

Lumines (PSP/Vita) - Short bursts of intense play, damn good fun and a killer soundtrack.

New Dreamcast Shooter Announced: Ghost Blade

Hucast confirmed today a new DC project they are working, Ghost Blade is due for release sometime 2013 and will be a caravan-type scoring game.

The great thing about the release is that there will be a five stage game mode as well as the traditional time based scoring modes.

Looking forward to this one even though details are scarce at the moment:

"Brand NEW Sega Dreamcast game in the works!

Since Redux: Dark Matters was planned to be finished in December 2012 – but we took the extra time to give the game an 7th “Dark Planet” stage – we now have another team working on “The Ghost Blade” project.
The Ghost Blade

The Ghost Blade – Caravan Shooting Game

What is it going to be? Well, another ace shoot ‘em up for the Sega Dreamcast with focus on arcade action joy and elaborate scoring system. And various player ships too choose from and a load of game modes, such as 5 stage game mode or challenging caravan game mode and last but not least: time attack.

Now, some interesting facts for you:

Game Features:

3 Game Modes with 3 player ships too choose from.

Screen Orientation:

TATE ( “3:4”) and YOKO (“4:3”)

Game Modes:

    Stage Mode: 5 Stages
    Caravan Mode: 2 min./5 min.
    Time Attack

Release: TBA 2013

From now on expect some frequent updates on this blog and facebook/twitter

More news soon! Stay tuned!"

Redux: Dark Matters - DC. Update #11

 
A tantalising bit of news from the Kickstarter Redux update #11  about another Dreamcast game in development, fingers crossed it's another shmup:

"As mentioned in previous updates we still offer a "Kickstarter Discount Account" for hucast.com as a cool bonus for our pledgers. If you're not bothering to purchase right now - it might be interesting for you in the future to get our new games.
And the best news is that we're actually working on a new game with another programming team for Sega Dreamcast while the other team is still  working on "Dark Planet" stage! Stay tuned.

Anyway, now head on over to hucast.com and see what we've got for you! To get the 10% discount on ALL orders, FOREVER, simply follow these steps:

 1. Register at hucast.com

 2. Send kickstarter account request to info@hucast.net with kickstarter pledge proof. (Example: http://z44i.img-up.net/proof5e2e.png) or send us the email you got from kickstarter as pledge proof.

 3. Wait for confirmation

 4. Go shopping and receive 10% discount on ALL orders. Ever.

Enjoy!"

Top Ten Handheld Games

My top 10 has changed quite a bit in the last year as my collection has expanded. I still think Astroboy is my favourite handheld game, here's my top 10 in no particular order.

1. Astro Boy The Omega Factor - GBA
2. Uncharted: Golden Abyss - PS Vita
3. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - GBA
4. Gradius Collection - PSP
5. Empire of Steel - GBA
6. Metroid Fusion - GBA
7. Williams Pinball Classics - PSP
8. R-Type - GB
9. Final Fight One - GBA
10. Contra 4 - DS

Edit - Last Year's List

 1 AstroBoy the Omega Factor - GBA
2 Metroid Fusion - GBA
3 Gradius Advance/Galaxies - GBA
4 Empire of Steel - GBA
5 Ridge Racer - PSP
6 Final Fight One - GBA
7 Everybody's Golf - PSP
8 Gottlieb Pinball Classics - PSP
9 Okami Den - DS
10 Meteos - DS

Today's Post 02/01/2013

Virtua Tennis 4 world Tour Edition has the dubious honour of being my first game of 2013. I picked the game up from Game for a very bargainous price of around £5.50 (£7 in the sale + I used some Game points to knock it down a bit further). I've been very impressed with the quality of the Vita games I've picked up so far and surprisingly Virtua Tennis 4 is one of the slickest on the system. The first thing that stands out on loading is the quality production values of the game, it certainly has been optimised for the Vita. There are a ton of game modes such as a career mode and arcade mode to keep you busy and I especially like the numerous bonus games that double as a levelling system in the career mode. Most importantly though It plays a very good game of tennis, you really have to work a strategy out when playing against the AI characters. One of the most complete and polished games on the system.

The Games of Space Year 2013

I tend to list a top ten of games I'm looking forward to in the new year and 2013 is no exception. Amazingly a few of the titles below were on last years list!

In no particular order

1. Metal Gear Revengeance - PS3
2. Ni No Kuni - PS3
3. Bioshock Infinite - 360
4. Sturmwind - DC
5. Anarchy Reigns - 360
6. Ginga Force - 360
7. Gunhound EX - PSP
8. Gran Theft Auto V - PS3
9. Dead Space 3 - PS3
10. Fist of the North Star Ken's Rage 2 - 360/PS3