Developer question - Kaneko and associates

[Herr Schatten]

After finally playing through Nexzr and thoroughly enjoying it, I’d like to play some more games made by (more or less) the same people. However, I have a hard time deciding whom I actually have to look out for. Would that be Naxat Soft, Kaneko or Inter State?

[Bassa-Bassa]

I just asked about this as I was curious as well. Inter State was part of Kaneko, which was hired by Naxat for this development.

[Herr Schatten]

I think I remember seeing the Inter State credit on the title screens of Super Star Soldier and PCE Aero Blasters. Anyone know, what else they have worked on?

[copy-paster]

all I know about Kaneko is they made one of best meme shmup, Explosive Breaker a.k.a Attack Helicopters in Space!

[Bassa-Bassa]

I think I remember seeing the Inter State credit on the title screens of Super Star Soldier and PCE Aero Blasters. Anyone know, what else they have worked on?

What I was told is that Inter State and Kaneko were not really different things so they shared staff, a bit like the Riot/Laser Soft/Telenet case. The ones you mention were indeed works of Kaneko for Hudson, as was Star Parodier (Inter State again present on the title screen). K. Tiger for the X68000 also mentions Inter State, and Wani Wani World for the MD also does in the credits.

[Sengoku Strider]

all I know about Kaneko is they made one of best meme shmup, Explosive Breaker a.k.a Attack Helicopters in Space!

Aero Blasters is one of those second-tier games that's well regarded, but might still be pretty underrated. I bought it never having really played it (unless you count on a friend's PC emulator back in 1996 or something), and it's probably ended up the most played STG in my (physical) PC Engine collection. It has that hard to define pick up & play quality that makes you say "Just one more game."

My collection includes Nexzr, funnily enough. I have the Summer Carnival version, but I haven't quite figured out what the big deal is yet. It seems kinda one-dimensional. (This doesn't mean I wouldn't like to know the deal though, I did pay for it after all, lol

Super Star Soldier is alright, but out of the PCE Star Soldier quintology (I'm tossing in Gunhed and Star Parodier here for my own personal head canon) it's probably my least favourite, and definitely least played. It just seems kinda...I dunno, hostile toward the player in its construction? Certainly compared to the rest of the games. By no means bad, but it's got some heavy competition for that HuCard slot.

[To Far Away Times]

Super Star Soldier is noticeably harder than Blazing Lazers/Solider Blade/Final Soldier and not always for good reasons.

Still plenty of fun to be had though with frantic action, nice sprite work, and a soundtrack that slaps.

[Herr Schatten]

If I understand it correctly, Inter State just seem to have been the home console development division of Kaneko, much like Namcot was for Namco, but it was totally random if they appeared seperately on a title screen or not. Interestingly, members of Inter State seem to have gone to either Red or Eleven later, which kind of makes sense I guess.

So I think I’ll cast my net wider and have a closer look at home releases credited to Kaneko.

Among those is apparently the PCE version of Heavy Unit. That one looks solid. Is someone familiar enough with it to recommend it?
Also, has someone tried both the MD and PCE version of Aero Blasters? I already have the former. Does the PCE one have any advantages or can I skip it?

Speaking of publishers instead of developers, Naxat seem to be just that, but they seem to have been able to attract some good talent. I’ve been eyeing both W-Ring and Burning Angels lately. Are those any good? (They are rarely talked about, so I assume they’re not?)

My collection includes Nexzr, funnily enough. I have the Summer Carnival version, but I haven't quite figured out what the big deal is yet.

There’s no big deal, it’s just a very well-made game with a killer soundtrack. What elevates it above its contemporaries is the enormous variety on offer. Each stage plays very differently from the others. Thus, the game manages to keep you on your toes much better than other games of its kind. Additionally, cranking up rank by playing well can produce some surprisingly devious attacks both from regular enemies and bosses that keep things fresh. I can’t think of any similar game where replaying the earlier stages didn’t start to bore after a couple of runs, but that didn’t happen with Nexzr.

My only complaints are the unbalanced subweapons (crawl missiles are vastly overpowered) and some checkpoints that are quite difficult to recover from.

[Mortificator]

Red Clash
Dr. Toppel's Adventure
Heavy Unit
Air Buster
Super Star Soldier
Star Parodier
Nexzr
Explosive Breaker
Cyvern

Super Star Soldier is probably the closest to Nexyr with its bombless vertizontal design (though it also has a Recca-like emphasis on swarms)

Edit: And lol, I just remembered how Ceph spent a couple years campaigning HARD for Nexzr in the annuals, including pressing people for votes and a totally genuine ballot

[Bassa-Bassa]

There's also The Alphax Z at least, if you're going for the full list. Many would include Magical Crystals as well.

[pcb_revival]

Also, has someone tried both the MD and PCE version of Aero Blasters? I already have the former. Does the PCE one have any advantages or can I skip it?

Shmup Junkie takes a look at both versions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkNvt9JodX0

[Jeneki]

If you want to be close to the pcb, stick with Mega Drive. If you like the game and want to try a neat arrange, pick up the PC-Engine version. The leaderboard here needs more action.

[Sengoku Strider]

Among those is apparently the PCE version of Heavy Unit. That one looks solid. Is someone familiar enough with it to recommend it?

I'm speaking second-hand here, so somebody with direct experience can feel free to contradict me, but Heavy Unit in general seems to be regarded as a miss in their catalogue. It comes in near the bottom of every "ranking shmups on platform X" poll I've seen it on.

Speaking of publishers instead of developers, Naxat seem to be just that, but they seem to have been able to attract some good talent. I’ve been eyeing both W-Ring and Burning Angels lately. Are those any good? (They are rarely talked about, so I assume they’re not?)

W-Ring is a high quality B-tier Gradius inspired shooter. They did quite a good job on the visuals. The game is somewhat sought-after and is one of the higher-priced STGs on the PCE, though certainly not out of reach.

There’s no big deal, it’s just a very well-made game with a killer soundtrack. What elevates it above its contemporaries is the enormous variety on offer. Each stage plays very differently from the others. Thus, the game manages to keep you on your toes much better than other games of its kind. Additionally, cranking up rank by playing well can produce some surprisingly devious attacks both from regular enemies and bosses that keep things fresh. I can’t think of any similar game where replaying the earlier stages didn’t start to bore after a couple of runs, but that didn’t happen with Nexzr.

My only complaints are the unbalanced subweapons (crawl missiles are vastly overpowered) and some checkpoints that are quite difficult to recover from.

I'll dig back into it when I finally get around to RGB modding my Duo (seriously, how did NEC never include that in their 57 revisions of that console?). I remember Shmup Junkie (him again) did a lengthy video praising it to the skies, even going as far as getting someone to translate the cinemas:

Greatest Shoot Em Ups of All Time - PC Engine NEXZR

Even though he described it accurately, getting it in my hands and having a 1-button shooter with homing lasers was like...okay, I don't get it.

[To Far Away Times]

W-Ring is okay. Visually it looks above average, I didn't notice anything it was neccisarily doing wrong, but I didn't really feel like sticking with it and learning it.

There's lots of more interesting games to play on the PCE and elsewhere.