shmuplations.com - 12/1 Zanac

[MathU]

Oh good grief, don't link that French single-credit clear of Karous. The player doesn't try to score at all and makes the game seem incredibly boring. Karous isn't an interesting game to play for simple survival.

Otherwise great to hear more thoughts from Kimura. I seem to remember him saying something in an Edge interview to the effect that he was in fact a source of shooters idea at MileStone, but from this he sounds more like he was simply the businessman of the company. Wonder if he'll ever work in industry again after his energy company scandal.

[rtw]

Once again thanks for a brilliant translation blackoak

[KAI]

Thanks for spreading the Milestone love Blackoak.

[M.Knight]

That Milestone interview was very enjoyable, thanks a lot blackoak.
I am curious to see what the Chaos Field prototype could have been, I definitely like shmups with urban landscapes such as Esp RA.DE.

It is true that there are not many translated interviews of the programmers/level designers, though. There's a khdn interview but that's all I can find.

I also second MathU's recommendation. The Karous "1-sissy" video is useful for those who just want to clear the game easily and/or see the ennemy patterns, but something like Kiken's Hard Mode 1CC could be more exciting for the viewers who don't know anything about the game.

[blackoak]

Bump with a new update! Added two Seibu Kaihatsu interviews covering Viper Phase 1 and Raiden generally. They aren't super in-depth, but I do have a much longer Seibu Kaihatsu/MOSS interview that is sure to please coming up. Also added two short interviews from the Gun Frontier and Turbo Force developers, respectively. The Gun Frontier one is something I did awhile ago but forgot to add to shmuplations, so some may have read it before. For non-shmups, I have two interviews from Yoshitaka Amano, if you're into his artwork.

In addition to that longer Seibu interview, I've got two Akashicverse interviews that I'm almost done with for next time. I also want to say a special thanks to Hexxellor, whose generous help with the designs and formatting allowed me to get this update out in a timely fashion. With his help I hope to increase the frequency of updates and get this backlog taken care of (the perennial quest...)

@MathU, yeah, that Karous 1-sissy is pretty tame, but there isn't always a lot to choose from on youtube. Sometimes its a choice between a good playthrough at horrible 240p resolution, or a lesser performance at better quality. I usually go for the latter, within reason, since the main purpose of the videos are just to visually introduce the game to people.

[rtw]

Bump with a new update! Added two Seibu Kaihatsu interviews covering Viper Phase 1 and Raiden generally. They aren't super in-depth, but I do have a much longer Seibu Kaihatsu/MOSS interview that is sure to please coming up. Also added two short interviews from the Gun Frontier and Turbo Force developers, respectively. The Gun Frontier one is something I did awhile ago but forgot to add to shmuplations, so some may have read it before. For non-shmups, I have two interviews from Yoshitaka Amano, if you're into his artwork.

Once again thank you very much blackoak, I really enjoyed the Seibu interviews!

[blackoak]

Just added rancor's Zuntata Darius Odyssey translation to shmuplations as well. Added a few Zuntata music links for reference, though there aren't many tracks from the Dariusburst OST available on youtube, oddly.

I'm going to try and archive the rest of rancor's translations soon, too.

[blackoak]

bump with a longer, more interesting Seibu Kaihatsu / MOSS interview from 2006. It covers the Raiden series from the original game up through Raiden III. Very interesting with lots of cool details about how Raiden came to be. I dedicate this one to Emo Fox Jet Pilot and what I have dubbed his "Raiden lifequest", haha. I also added two interviews with Endless Shirafu, the creators of Akashicverse. Their shmup knowledge is on full display, so its a fun read even if you haven't played the game (and hopefully it gets some people interested in trying it). A couple Final Fantasy-related interviews round out the non-shmup side.

[BulletMagnet]

I just picked up Akashicverse recently, so especially fortunate timing that I get to read more about it so soon - keep up the good work, as always!

[KAI]

Thanks blackoak, those Akashicverse interviews are great, you rule.

[emphatic]

Yep. Thanks a lot, man!

[rtw]

thank you very much for all the Seibu Kaihatsu goodness

[jpj]

thanks again dude, i wont email you any more stuff for a while

[BIL]

Brilliant work on the Yoshinori Satake (Hot B) interview! Absolute pleasure reading his commentary on Koutetsu Teikoku's strikingly realised world, especially the thoughts behind scenes like the lethal mining explosion and the touchingly quaint "trip to the moon." I feel particularly fortunate to have lucked out on a nice copy of the game a while back, now. As usual, I come away a slightly hardcorer Japanese gaming nut than I was previously.

[Frenetic]

i swear shmuplations is one of the highlights of the month for me thanks so much blackoak...btw, do you need more people to help you out with web layout? i can put the word out again.

cheers,
f

[blackoak]

thanks guys! glad to hear you enjoyed the Seibu Kaihatsu and Akashicverse interviews. I really liked translating the Seibu Kaihatsu one myself, don't think there's much about them from that period... I also have a bunch of Go Satou stuff here, mostly liner notes.

In my effort to get shmuplations updated twice a month, I present a couple new things: an interview with Recca composer Nobuyuki Shioda and admirer Manabu Namiki (who claims there would be "no Garegga without Recca") and a music-centric interview about the Mahou Daisakusen series. All three games are covered, including stuff not mentioned in the STG Gameside interview I did a couple years back. Also, not strictly shmup related, but there's a light-hearted 20 questions thing with a bunch of 1985 developers (several shmup related developers too). More of a slice-of-life than serious info, but fun to read nonetheless.

@Frenetic, I've got enough help with Hexellor graciously lending a hand, so I think I'm good for now. Thanks though! What I really need to do is start figuring out a better indexing system...

@BIL, happy to see the older translations are still getting read. shmuplations is intended as "a possession for all time" after all, haha...

[KAI]

More VGM nerdiness. I love you dude.

[blackoak]

bump with new translations (took a bit of a break for some long-distance walking in May)

Added the ChoRenSha68k development diary and a Compile STG interview (covering Musha and the Spriggan series) from the liner notes of the Naxat STG Collection cd. Pretty interesting stuff, especially the ChoRenSha68k developer's thoughts on shmup game design. Also added a couple short non-shmup translations (Sunsoft music and Dragon Quest IV) if you're so inclined.

Lots more coming later this month!

[Mortificator]

Great work, thanks!

[BulletMagnet]

Many thanks for the Cho Ren Sha article in particular, I'd like to link it in my next Racketboy writeup.

[Squire Grooktook]

I'm totally honored that you used my 2-all video for the CRS68K article

[BIL]

[non-shmup] Sunsoft Famicom Music - Naoki Kodaka interview

Hell yes. Devouring now. Thanks!

edit: immense. You truly get a sense of how special Sunsoft's music team was, with talent like that (both musical and technological) all pulling together.

And now I get why Raf World's manual has sheet music, haha.

[LordHypnos]

Thanks blackoak! the CRS article was quite interesting!

[CStarFlare]

And now I get why Raf World's manual has sheet music, haha.

I've been surprised at how often old vinyl OSTs (and maybe the CD versions too?) come with sheet music of the tracks. I've always thought that demonstrated a lot of respect for the music, and the fans who bought it.

[waiwainl]

Thanks! Great reading as always!

[blackoak]

thanks everyone! the pleasure is all mine, as they say.

@Bullet Magnet, yes, feel free to use it for racketboy!

@BIL, yeah, Sunsoft, Natsume, all those classic famicom action developers... I want to know more about them. The glitterberri Sunsoft interview is really good, I'm sure you've read it.

I added a lengthy R-Type developer interview with Masato Ishizaki. He talks in detail about the sound and music of R-Type, but for Irem fans, he also reminisces about what it was like to work there.

I added two non-shmup interviews too: Wild Guns and Mega Man 9. And I have a lot more special stuff coming soon...

[rtw]

Thank you for the brilliant R-Type interview translation blackoak!

[nasty_wolverine]

Just read the CRS68k translations.

Thank you so much.

[GSK]

Once again, awesome work!

Natsume USA definitely re-released Wild Guns on the NA/PAL Virtual Console; I wonder why it never came out in Japan. Shatterhand will probably never be re-released, unfortunately.

[To Far Away Times]

The R Type music interview was pretty cool. Thanks for that.