ChainsawGuitarSP wrote:I like this article. The guy just tells these games as they are, no pointless bias to certain entries and no complaints about shit that isn't really that big a deal.
In my view, telling it as it is might include
- Discussing the scoring systems
- Discussing ship characteristics besides the pretty graphics (a typical HG101 failing is throwing in all the romaji possible and talking about "omake" stuff while leaving the core of the game untouched, which is absolutely true here, you see "danmaku" but not even the basics of each ship type, besides just a general mention that yes, AF3 has charge shots now)
- Discussing fun things in the stages
- Anything about boss strategies (like the table "ghost" enemy from AF2, whose patterns you can often literally sit through as the bullets just graze your ship)
- Actually mentioning Spanky / Whity by name (holy crap there's a dolphin pilot this game is too crazy man)
Maybe that's expecting too much for such a short article. So, given the lack of space, what's most important to write about in an HG101 article?
Name-dropping:
While Aero Fighters' comedy is very prevalent, it is not as overt as Parodius or other similar games, as there are still plenty of serious moments too.
Surprise! Asia is part of Japan
In Japan, this game was known as Sonic Wings, however, when released worldwide, the game was renamed to Aero Fighters, which stuck for most worldwide releases throughout the series.
Age is a function of how many bullets
Aero Fighters Special feels a lot more contemporary than the previous entries. There are more bullets here than any other entry in the series and some elements of danmaku, though not enough to keep it from feeling old school.
Here is an excellent rank control system
The branching gets an overhaul too, as some levels are different depending on your performance and score. One game lasts eight levels, but they all come from a large pool of over fifteen. You end up getting harder levels and tougher bosses if you're doing well, likewise, if you end up with a bad score and use more than a few credits, the game pulls its punches and sends you to easy levels. This simple, but very well implemented rank system adds a lot to the already high replay value.
I CAN'T GET OVER HOW CRAZY THIS SERIES IS
The storyline, characters, setting and tone, in general, get a lot sillier and wackier in Aero Fighters 2, and stays with it for the rest of the series. Before, the silliest it really got was the giant monkey that served as a hidden final boss
Like football (which people in the US of A call "soccer"), we root from the sidelines (note: the "rival countries" thing will confuse the hell out of readers who haven't played the series, and still doesn't really make sense even if you know what they mean)
Aero Fighters 2 seems to drop the "rival countries" idea from the first game, allowing players to pick any combination of characters they want, and sending them through the same stages in the same order regardless of character selection
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ChainsawGuitarSP wrote:no complaints about shit that isn't really that big a deal.
Direct from the article:
The New York level [in AF2] has not particularly aged well, as you can not only blow up the World Trade Center, but you can also find bonus points lying inside the smoking remains. You can also find Rabio from Video System's other shooter Rabio Lepus appearing as a carnival ride at Coney Island.
The [AF3] boss theme, is memorable, and not in a good way. It is a very short song and it features vocals, mostly of a man screaming and gargling continuously.
Translated from dipshit, those quotes might read:
A trademark of the Aero Fighters series is awesome destructible levels!
AF3's boss music might not be a fan favorite like "Valkyrie: She Likes Gabber" from Zed Blade, but it tells you awesome things, is awesome, and you certainly won't hear any gargling noises unless you've packed cotton and gerbils into your ears! Possibly the best-performed lyrics in video game music up to Omega Boost's warbling robot singer in "Back to the 1946."
I think the absolutely worst thing is not mentioning the awesome background stuff, like the Batmobile and Ecto-1 parked next to each other at the beginning of AF2.
The best thing is that there
is a lot of good information, although the stuff that is obviously wrong detracts from my ability to believe any of it without checking, and the article is hard to follow at times. This is good information, though (well, if it's true, but I assume it is):
The team for Aero Fighters left Video System shortly after it was announced that the sequel would be exclusive to Neo Geo hardware.
It's nice to see
something in the article that isn't wrong, irrelevant, or an uncredited borrowing from the
Sonic Wings wiki, but
from Wikipedia
instead.
He did a flip when Milestone Prez got arrested for making his STGs too hard. 
Let's say a sutra for him and guide him to the land of Buddha, so he can be reincarnated as an alt. ( 
)
