Rob's 91-95 arcade countdown: hidden gem search.

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Twiddle
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Post by Twiddle »

The one that lets you bomb is better.
so long and tanks for all the spacefish
unban shw
<Megalixir> now that i know garegga is faggot central i can disregard it entirely
<Megalixir> i'm stuck in a hobby with gays
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Arvandor
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Post by Arvandor »

Wow, V-V looks really cool, I'll have to try that guy out.
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Icarus
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Post by Icarus »

V-Five <3

Where's Batsugun?
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Post by Arvandor »

Probably in the list of things too popular to count. I see lots of love for Batsugun, but haven't heard of any of these really. Except Game Tengoku.
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Post by icycalm »

V-V is one of the few Toaplan games I regularly see in Akihabara's HEY arcade. Come to think of it, I am not sure I've ever seen any others... (edit: Batsugun of course is always there, the Special Version if I am not mistaken.)

The guys who run HEY have great taste in games, that's for sure.
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

NMK's Turbo Force.

#2! Rapid Hero (NMK, 1994)
ImageImageImageImage
An Aero Fighters or Psikyo inspired game with a few extra touches of their own. The Psikyo is in the bullets, made clear in all of the patterns. The shakeup comes from the Recca-like masses of small enemies. Scoring system amounts to "don't die or the item value resets" but these swarms of enemies and the slow bullets they release make collecting the bonus items a little risky. I'll take that and the lack of other elements Psikyo would eventually phase out over any early Psikyo game.

And that leaves...
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Fighter17
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Post by Fighter17 »

I'll give that one a shot.

About V-5, there's a OK Genesis/Megadrive port of both V-5/Grindstormer on one cartridge. The problem is that the sprite break up too much from all the action.
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j^aws
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Post by j^aws »

Out of all the NMK games listed so far, I'd go with GunNail as my favourite... mainly 'cause it gives me a hybrid, Raiden/ Batsugun vibe. And has a nice stylized look to it...
"All that matters really is taste. He might like the game, he might not." - Anonymous
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

#1! Varth (Capcom, 1992)
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To start, this is the most balanced risk-reward scoring system of the entire list. By far. It's not even remotely close. Like Grid Seeker you have two methods of defense to be used at any time. Varth is unlike that game in two major ways. Instead of making the enemies more resilient their attacks become a lot more violent. It gives the game a very good reason to allow you a shield and you will still have to watch the sides of your ship carefully. Second, the game offers plenty of reward for not using any defense. You have to be an expert to play this game in its entirety without pods (50,000 points bonus at the end of each stage), but it is not all or nothing - use the pods and refrain from using the bombs. Only three of the bombs will refill, with two more possible to collect. The difference between ending a stage with three and five is just large enough for that risk, similar to the podless bonus. The stages are all very short, I think 31 in total, there are lots of secrets to uncover and the action is very high from the start of the game. The only flaw would be slowdown due to the amount of action. Nice graphics and music make this a complete package and easily #1 for this list.

That's all. :)
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Post by freddiebamboo »

Oh no, not Varth...
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Post by shoe-sama »

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
<Sidwell> TSS is manlier than a jet figher made of biceps.
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Post by j^aws »

I like Varth; but damn is it long!... I tried to credit feed it once, and gave up at stage 20-something from exhaustion! :P
"All that matters really is taste. He might like the game, he might not." - Anonymous
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Post by Twiddle »

hahaha

Shame about the first 11 stages, though.
so long and tanks for all the spacefish
unban shw
<Megalixir> now that i know garegga is faggot central i can disregard it entirely
<Megalixir> i'm stuck in a hobby with gays
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Post by moozooh »

Rob wrote:Image
For a minute I tried to umderstand what looks so familiar in this screenshot. Suddenly, realization has come. Woo.

Image ~ Image

The list was very enjoyable read, btw, looking forward to more countdowns. :)
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Matskat wrote:This neighborhood USED to be nice...until that family of emulators moved in across the street....
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

Varth is all awesome.

Code: Select all

Games excluded:
Twin Bee Yahhoo! ~ Konami
Donpachi ~ Cave/Atlus
Pulstar ~ Aicom
Strikers 1945 ~ Psikyo
Shippu Mahou Daisakusen : Kingdom Grandprix ~ Raizing/Eighting
Raiden DX ~ Seibu Kaihatsu
Batsugun ~ Toaplan
Darius Gaiden ~ Taito
Gokujyou Parodius ~ Konami
Gunbird ~ Psikyo
Rayforce ~ Taito
Raiden II ~ Seibu Kaihatsu
Mahou Daisakusen ~ Raizing/Able
Chimera Beast ~ Jaleco
Double-Wings ~ Mitchell
Sengoku Ace ~ Psikyo/Banpresto
R-Type LEO ~ Nanao/Irem
Detana!! TwinBee ~ Konami
ASO II : Last Guardian ~ SNK
Cotton : Fantastic Night Dreams ~ Success/Sega
Thunderforce AC ~ Technosoft/Sega
XEXEX ~ Konami
+ various borderliners (check oxtsu's thread if you want to look them up)

Code: Select all

Stats:
Vertical     50
Horizontal   20
Other         3
-A few of these I thought I had downloaded, but they somehow got overlooked (Double Wings). Maybe not emulated properly.
-Games I would've liked to have played, but for the sake of sticking to the no popular game policy: Batsugun, Mahou Daisakusen, R-Type Leo, Detana Twinbee.
-Chimera Beast got excluded because I didn't want to play it again and it is unreleased anyways. Would've ranked somewhere in the middle.
-I was expecting more side scrolling shooters honestly.
Last edited by Rob on Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:46 am, edited 2 times in total.
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freddiebamboo
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Post by freddiebamboo »

Despite Varth, good list Rob.
Rob wrote: Games I would've liked to have played, but for the sake of sticking to the no popular game policy: Batsugun, Mahou Daisakusen, R-Type Leo, Detana Twinbee.
I'd maybe say that mahou and detana would qualify.
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Post by Zeether »

I thought Hotdog Storm would be on this...although I don't think it was a 91-95 shmup...
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Post by Rob »

I was wondering how people would react to Varth at #1 since I really don't know what its reputation is around here.

You guys really hate it, huh? Strange.
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Post by freddiebamboo »

I think it's the sheer ben hur scale of the task.

And people bitch about one option thing being better than the other IIRC.
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Post by Rob »

When I credit fed through for the sake of seeing it all it seemed to be about 60-70 minutes long. That's not so bad since it doesn't loop. The short stages make it easier to take in and I don't think about the entire length of the game since I probably won't even hit the second extend.

The "smart" pod type is best ignored. People should just pick the fixed type.
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Twiddle
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Post by Twiddle »

Varth takes 40-45? minutes, which is about two loops in most modern games.

I really don't like the first 11 stages, even without the pod. Pretty boring and the snipers aren't at all hard to swat away.
so long and tanks for all the spacefish
unban shw
<Megalixir> now that i know garegga is faggot central i can disregard it entirely
<Megalixir> i'm stuck in a hobby with gays
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

I don't like the first 11 stages without the pod, either. Pods from stage 2 on.

It's not all snipers. This isn't 1942.
Last edited by Rob on Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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The Coop
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Post by The Coop »

moozooh wrote:
Rob wrote:Image
For a minute I tried to umderstand what looks so familiar in this screenshot. Suddenly, realization has come. Woo.

Image ~ Image

The list was very enjoyable read, btw, looking forward to more countdowns. :)
Looks like a ship from stage 5 of RayForce as well...

Image
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Twiddle
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Post by Twiddle »

Rob wrote:I don't like the first 11 stages without the pod, either. Pods from stage 2 on.
That's a practically free 400-500k you're tossing away.
so long and tanks for all the spacefish
unban shw
<Megalixir> now that i know garegga is faggot central i can disregard it entirely
<Megalixir> i'm stuck in a hobby with gays
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

You make it sound so easy.
Twiddle wrote:It is.
No.
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Post by D »

Rob wrote:I was wondering how people would react to Varth at #1 since I really don't know what its reputation is around here.

You guys really hate it, huh? Strange.
This thread is great, so Varth it is. Something like this should be made golden or stickied or featured on some site somewhere. Maybe Racketboy.com will host this list as an article.
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Twiddle
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Post by Twiddle »

There's more powerup copters if you go podless, half of which coincidentally give you pods.
so long and tanks for all the spacefish
unban shw
<Megalixir> now that i know garegga is faggot central i can disregard it entirely
<Megalixir> i'm stuck in a hobby with gays
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Rob
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Post by Rob »

Insane obstacles like that require daredevil tactics.^
D wrote:This thread is great, so Varth it is. Something like this should be made golden or stickied or featured on some site somewhere. Maybe Racketboy.com will host this list as an article.
YES A VARTH SUPPORTER. Thank you.
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Post by icycalm »

D wrote:Something like this should be made golden or stickied or featured on some site somewhere.
I thought about this a few pages ago and PMed Rob about it. I am putting them all up on my site alongside mini-reviews by me and several other people. I love doing this shit, it's almost as much fun as playing games.
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MathU
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Post by MathU »

All right, and now for someone else to make a countdown...
Of course, that's just an opinion.
Always seeking netplay fans to play emulated arcade games with.
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