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Post by Xeogred on Jul 9, 2022 17:14:58 GMT -5
Just beat Lords of Thunder and what a ride. I know I've played the SegaCD version before but this version definitely has to be harder and more memorable, I don't remember it being this balls to the wall. While I loved Gate of Thunder last month, I have to give Lords of Thunder the edge. This has to be one of the best 16bit console shmups period. The presentation is absolutely nuts. Insane graphics, music, everything. Loved the shop system, much like UN Squadron's, another shop I actually dig in a shmup in between levels. Of the four Armor (Ships) you can use, I favored Water the most since it covered your back, but I'm sure the others might have shredded the bosses easier. The final bosses last phase gave me tons of trouble until I figured out you could cheese it, lol.
Yep, no wonder I see this game name dropped as one of the best in hardcore shmup circles. Lives up to the hype for sure.
By the way guys I finally got Mednafen working well... because I never knew having both that and Mednafe is what you need. Hopefully my PCE emulation experience is smooth sailing from here on.
I also have Seirei Senshi Spriggan and Sylphia on deck, along with maybe going through toei's recs.
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Post by Ex on Jul 9, 2022 21:40:09 GMT -5
Xeogred toeiYeah Renny Blaster is worth a playthrough for action-platformer fans. XeogredI agree Lords of Thunder is an excellent shmup. Perhaps the best on TG/PCE-CD... with the exception of one particular shmup I plan to play this month. I'm using BizHawk to emulate for this theme, though Mednafen is supposed to have great compatibility.
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 9, 2022 22:30:57 GMT -5
Hopefully that starts at Stage 6's theme, if not, GO THERE! Lords of Thunder's OST as a whole takes the cake, but this might be my track of the day.
Another great Compile shooter here, Seirei Senshi Spriggan. This is just straight up MUSHA 2 basically. Not quite as hard from what I remember, but pretty awesome. I'd put this above Super Aleste. This one has a pretty freaky/awesome bio cave like a lot of shmups did back then. The boss for that stage was like the giant frog from Blaster Master and here, you have to keep mowing down chunks of its body and it just won't go down. Was hilariously nasty in all the right ways. Some cool anime styled cutscenes along the way, voice actors like Japanese Vegeta as the lead, etc. There is some weird big final confrontation with the big bad near the end and you have to hear him speak for what felt like 5 minutes, in-game lol. Was pretty weird, but maybe that was a cool moment for Japanese speakers.
Has an interesting mix and match power up system, where you collect 3 colored orbs and a certain combination of them determines your weapon. Like other Compile games I've played, not all power ups are equal. The Yellow orb here was the one I dodged harder than actual enemy gunfire. It was a single beam homing attack and just really sucked for all the chaos going on the screen. I liked the simple Red, Green, and Blue combo, for a nice little shield that rotates around you and can stop enemy fire, while your attack is a nice big three shot spread. But yeah, lots of room for experimenting.
Beat it on Normal, about 50 minutes. Was amusing how the other difficulties were: Hard, Super Hard, Unbelievable.
I think this is an obscure one I don't mentioned much. Any fan of Compile shmups and MUSHA especially should check it out.
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 10, 2022 13:23:19 GMT -5
Anyone recommend the PCE-CD Valis games?
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Post by toei on Jul 10, 2022 13:50:58 GMT -5
Anyone recommend the PCE-CD Valis games? The quality varies a lot from game to game, as does the general feel, as they weren't all made by the same division at Telenet (Riot/Renovation VS Laser Soft). I like Valis 2, I do recommend it. It's a good game. Valis 1 PCE CD is a remake, so it was released later and it was done in the style of 3 & 4. I don't like any of those - in fact, I really kind of hate 3 & 4, even though they don't seem bad at first. My beef with Valis 1 is that you have to redo the whole level when you lose to the boss, which is such a waste of time. I like the Genesis Valis 1 better, even though it moves weirdly slowly.
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 10, 2022 14:53:20 GMT -5
Good to know.
I already love Rondo of Blood. What other good sidescrolling action games are on the PCE-CD? I was going to check out Legendary Axe finally but I guess that's just the PCE.
Some weird discoveries going through a rom list. This version of Gradius II looks awesome. R-Type Complete looks so so. I'm surprised Lemmings is on here (granted the SNES/Genesis had some too). And there's a PCE-CD Golden Axe? It looks terrible... lol.
I also always forget Puyo Puyo isn't a SEGA thing. I guess it just worked really well throwing Sonic on top of it for Dr Robotnick's Mean Bean Machine.
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Post by toei on Jul 10, 2022 20:13:43 GMT -5
A number of then slightly old Sega arcade hits were licensed for the PC Engine, through Naxat Soft I believe. There's Shinobi, Golden Axe, Altered Beast, maybe Space Harrier? Can't remember. None of those ports are any good. There are NES ports of most of those too. The originals all from like '87, '88 I think, so probably Sega hadn't settled on keeping their games exclusive to their consoles yet, much like Nintendo let Hudson do Mario on Japanese computers early on.
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Post by Ex on Jul 10, 2022 20:52:04 GMT -5
What other good sidescrolling action games are on the PCE-CD? You might like: Bonk 3: Bonk's Big Adventure CDExileFaussete AmourGenocideKaizou Chounin Shubibinman 3: Ikai no Princess
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 10, 2022 21:08:20 GMT -5
What other good sidescrolling action games are on the PCE-CD? You might like: Faussete Amour
This one looks appealing... maybe. The music seems super good at least.
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Post by Ex on Jul 10, 2022 21:14:40 GMT -5
You might like: Faussete Amour
This one looks appealing... maybe. The music seems super good at least. I beat it a while back: Obviously Renny Blaster is worth a play.
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