Wing Force (ウイング.フォース) - 1993 A.I./ATLUS

[EmperorIng]

It even has star-shaped bullets like Sand Scorpion. What did A.I. have that those talentless shits at Sankindou didn't have (besides talent)?

[Ed Oscuro]

Cooked lobster > raw lobster

[OdiousTrident]

Sankindou did Metal Stoker and Nostradamus! Both excellent. You guys are killing me but Sand Scorpion does look as derivative as anything.

[trap15]

And even Sand Scorpion would probably qualify as "not bad" if it didn't have crippling slowdown.

I'm pretty sure the spinning star bullets were originally from Raiden, and everyone took them because they're cool.

[trap15]

The ROMs are out if you know where to look. I expect writeups on why Wing Force is the best game ever on my desk by noon tomorrow.

[EmperorIng]

/off-topic

Sankindou did Metal Stoker and Nostradamus! Both excellent.

Now I'm confused. Did FACE ever develop their own games? Zupapa? Hany in the Sky ?

I expect writeups on why Wing Force is the best game ever on my desk by noon tomorrow.

It truly has the best non-fightable final boss I've ever seen in a shmup. I'm excited to dive in.

[trap15]

/off-topic

Sankindou did Metal Stoker and Nostradamus! Both excellent.

Now I'm confused. Did FACE ever develop their own games? Zupapa? Hany in the Sky ?

Hany in the Sky is also Sankindou, I'm not sure who did Zupapa. Money Idol Exchanger is FACE proper as well, I think.

[Xyga]

Is there some form of rank with an influence on boss attack's shape and intensity ? (maybe I am just hallucinating)

[VRC-7]

Nah, it's A.I crew the whole way. I'll post what I've found on the staff soon.

I look forward to it.

Now I'm confused. Did FACE ever develop their own games? Zupapa? Hany in the Sky ?

I've heard Sankindo was an "associated company" of Face. Quiz DNA no Hanran is the last game that name appears in. I wouldn't be surprised if it was merged into Face.

[IseeThings]

It is really hard to believe this didn't get released, so hard to believe part of me wonders if there really isn't a finished version out there (keep in mind just because this is a prototype doesn't mean there couldn't also be later / earlier versions sitting around someplace)

1993 was a tough year for sure in terms of competition, but with a little more polish this would easily have been up there with the best released that year, and for regular Jamma type games, a genuine contender in any 'game of the year' polls.

The difficulty doesn't even bother me, for a seasoned pro yeah, I can see why it might be a bit easy, for a casual player, the balance seems just about right.

Interestingly the magazine review makes a point of saying the game is very difficult which again makes me wonder if there aren't other versions, and maybe this one was over-compensated the wrong way?

Overall tho, the artwork and music are top notch, the game is smooth, responsive, you always feel like you have enough firepower (none of that horrible thing a lot of 90s shooters do where you can be shooting an enemy from the moment it appears at the very top of the screen until a split second before you have to move out the way before it actually dies) The weapons are varied, but at the same time none of them feel duff, all have their uses. The scoring system is also easy enough to learn, the hidden secrets, medals etc. appear easily enough to make even a casual player start to think about a level strategy (unlike some other games where the conditions are just too unclear unless you devote a LOT more time to it) The backgrounds also have plenty going on, the nuke being dropped being a fairly obvious visual hint that stopping it will reward you with something (a 1up) again, good for somebody wanting to get into the genre.

There are a few bits that feel rushed, the animation on the SAM site about 3/4 through the first level I can't quite work out what is meant to be doing, and there seem to be some safe spots in places, and obviously the attract mode and general arcade 'play me!' presentation could have done with some work, and the lack of dipswitch support is intriguing but those are things that would end up being ironed out towards release.

So who knows what happened? maybe it spilled over into 94, and Atlus decided to fund / work with Cave for the '95 release of Donpachi instead? This one definitely has a much stronger appeal to newcomers to the genre, hence why I think it would have been a genuine contender for GOTY awards, the balance is just right for a majority audience to enjoy it.

It's leaps ahead of a lot of games that we know DID get released however.

[Obscura]

Just got the 1-all on my third credit, despite missing the stage 2 hidden extend. I'm pretty sure that makes this the easiest arcade game I've ever played.

Cool from a preservationist perspective, but the game isn't all that amazing. The action lacks any "oomph" in the first loop aside from a few all-too-brief sections (start of stage 2, stage 4 boss, stage 5 boss once he starts doing the spread that plugs the bottom-center safe spot), weapon balance is weird (I can't find any reason to use anything other than Gattling), the "take a hit and your weapon gets blown off but you survive" mechanic isn't fun at all (oh, hey, now that I've taken a hit, the boss I'm fighting takes about 10 minutes to die!).

[Shou]

It is really hard to believe this didn't get released, so hard to believe part of me wonders if there really isn't a finished version out there (keep in mind just because this is a prototype doesn't mean there couldn't also be later / earlier versions sitting around someplace)

It is the final version developed. There is an earlier location test version where the game could reset if you used a bomb on certain stages.

[plasticxo]

Thanks A LOT shou for making this happen !
Very noble of you.

[monouchi]

Also thanks to Trap for working on the tech.

[kyapiko]

I stumbled upon it for sale on YAJ and was hoping somebody would make good use of it and hopefully dump it and put it in MAME.
But I didn't expect it may happen so quickly. Thanks for that Shou !

[g_block]

amazing the stuff that still is found to this day. Thanks Shou/Trap15 for preserving this almost lost game for us all!!!

[Jaimers]

2-ALL Video

Pretty cool game. Thanks for sharing.

[moozooh]

That game is almost like a Jodorowsky's Dune of shmups. Powerup carriers (and powerup themselves) as well as possibly the broken overpass assets will be later transplanted into Varth (I believe?), the final boss and its safespot looks exactly like in Donpachi, there are birds flying from a tree much like in Garegga, and the canyon crawler thing will find a new life in Ketsui a decade later. This is rather amusing, considering there weren't any significant staff overlaps to my knowledge.

Oh, and that background design is super charming; the zebra chase scene in the first stage is just adorable.

[trap15]

http://daifukkat.su/secret/wingforcemame.7z

Updated with autofire and custom buttons.

[EmperorIng]

Super! Made some sections a bit easier. I know the game is a little on the low-end of difficulty, but 1-4 and 1-5 get a little hectic with the amount of stuff on the screen.

[copy-paster]

http://daifukkat.su/secret/wingforcemame.7z

Updated with autofire and custom buttons.

Can you do that on mame 32 ?

[trap15]

No, I'm not going to spend an hour compiling for the small handful of people on 10-year old potatoes.

[Tatsuya79]

Thanks guys, great game!

Just wished the ship was a bit faster, my feeling with raiden too.
G weapon + autofire is almost cheating.

I feel like they didn't put the last battle with the final boss at the end of loop2.
I finished the game twice to see that, was surprised it didn't happen.

[EmperorIng]

It is unfinished. If you watch trap's stream, he enters in cheats to see the final boss, but no attack patterns were ever coded in. =(

[Illyrian]

So am I the only one here who thinks this is a very generic early 90's 2 button shmup? It isn't that great.

It is certainly not bad but it isn't amazing or anything. It is none the less awesome to have this lost shmup preserved for history though!

[Tatsuya79]

It is unfinished. If you watch trap's stream, he enters in cheats to see the final boss, but no attack patterns were ever coded in. =(

Ah I missed that video, so that's how it is.

So am I the only one here who thinks this is a very generic early 90's 2 button shmup? It isn't that great.

It is certainly not bad but it isn't amazing or anything. It is none the less awesome to have this lost shmup preserved for history though!

Well, it's amazing to have an almost finished and decent game of this time to discover now, that's what the excitement is about I guess.

[Enemy]

Great find, great dedication, great preservation, does anyone know if this going to be released as a mainstream rom as i obviously dont know where the correct place to look for the roms as has been reported in previous posts. Sorry if this sounds "rom" grabbing. .. i just want to play it

[EmperorIng]

The right place to look for roms is [your preferred search engine here].

So am I the only one here who thinks this is a very generic early 90's 2 button shmup? It isn't that great.

It is certainly not bad but it isn't amazing or anything. It is none the less awesome to have this lost shmup preserved for history though!

I think the good graphics, music, and playability make it at least a better example of a Raiden clone; after Sand Scorpion and Zing Zing Zip you can see so many ways in how you can fuck up the Raiden/K-Tiger formula. Outside of the low-low difficulty, there's nothing bad about the game; it's a pleasant playthrough.

[Enemy]

The right place to look for roms is [your preferred search engine here].

So am I the only one here who thinks this is a very generic early 90's 2 button shmup? It isn't that great.

It is certainly not bad but it isn't amazing or anything. It is none the less awesome to have this lost shmup preserved for history though!

I think the good graphics, music, and playability make it at least a better example of a Raiden clone; after Sand Scorpion and Zing Zing Zip you can see so many ways in how you can fuck up the Raiden/K-Tiger formula. Outside of the low-low difficulty, there's nothing bad about the game; it's a pleasant playthrough.

must be doing something wrong as i have used my "preferred search engine" and cant find it.

edit:found it from a well known video viewing source in the end, who would have though it

[Zen]

Thanks for preserving and sharing, Shou. Very generous. (and to trap15 also, for putting in the work).
Interesting and enjoyable shump surprise.