Wich is your favourite Star Soldier game and why

[PowerofElsydeon]

Well I ve only beat Soldier Blade and Blazing Lasers so far and I im looking forward for the others in Pc engine trilogy

I ve also wanted to ask why are these games outdated?
They seem awesome to me especialy soldier blade with the half transparent effect laser wich looks beutifull on the pc engine

Also I think Blazing Lasers was co developed by Compile n Hudson so its kind of a crossover betwen the 2 titans So I think it fits into the Star Soldier Series do you agree?

And Is Star Soldier Vanishing Earth still a decent game or the only thing good about it is just the fact that its a shooter on the N64

[PooshhMao]

Gunhed / Blazing Lazers is not a Star Soldier game.

Otherwise, tough call - I'm inclined to say Soldier Blade because of it's nice production values, but honestly, I have trouble maintaining interest past level two.

[MintyTheCat]

Please consider using the title 'GunHed' as no one knows it as 'Blazing Lazers' - crap title if ever there was one.

Indeed, GunHed is not part of the list and it was made by Compile and not Hudson but it is often grouped incorrectly all the same.

[OmKol]

NES Star Soldier
Very challenging and unique game. It plays absolutely different for survival and scoring cause if you kill every enemy of current wave then next wave immediately appears. You can hide under some background tiles which is very unique feature. It also features many secrets - bonus points, secret powerups, weapons and warp zones. It's not variety but for 1986 it's a very good game, I like it.

PCE Star Soldier series
What I can say about every game - nice design, outstanding music, more interesting stages and of course some huge dangerous bosses. I think that Super Star Soldier the most challenging one. The main flaw - a half of weapons in these games is useless, especially flamethrower. In Soldier Blade every weapon is good but it feels like the same one weapon (except visuals and some small details).
Maybe these games is too easy on default setting but it's not bad - you can always try some hard modes.

Gamecube/PS2 Star Soldier
Nice mix between NES Star Soldier (classic enemies and midbosses, classic stage design with destructable blocks which gives powerups and points) and modern shmups (many bullets on the screen, your laser is able to cancel bullets, some advanced bullet patterns). I've enjoyed it.

I can't choose the favourite one - every game is good on it's own way.

[M.Knight]

My favorite Star Soldier is by far the PS2/GC one.
It manages to capture the caravan feeling in a full game, and makes quick-killing enemy waves outside of the dedicated modes a blast.

Maybe it is because I haven't played them that much, but I never understood why the PCE Solider games are so highly regarded. Aside from the caravan modes, they don't seem to be very fast-paced and full of interesting things to do, whereas the PS2/GC Star Soldier has lots of scoring opportunities with destructible tiles, the eye thing bonus, mid-bosses that reward you for destroying them as soon as they appear and a few secrets such as the black cats. The rock-inspired music is excellent as well.
Only things I can complain about are the need for an autofire controller and the dumb power-down system. Aside from that, it really takes the best from the caravan formula Hudson helped to build and successfully applies it to an entire game.

If Star Force counts, I would put it in second place. Despite its difficulty, the basic mechanics just feel fun.

[Ed Oscuro]

If you want to add a non-traditional game to the list that often gets passed over, there's always Hector '87. Didn't really seem playable at first but I think that with time I'd grow to like it. I hope to give these titles some more time eventually.

I do like Star Prince too

[M.Knight]

Duh, I totally forgot about Star Prince!
It is also a nice game, although I feel the shield mechanism is a bit gimmicky as the only moments it is useful (if not mandatory) is against the midboss and on that bullet-spamming ennemy wave right before a boss. Compared to the bullet-canceling laser from Hudson Selection Star Soldier for example, it is not as involved in the level design.

Is Hector 87 the one with alternating horizontal and vertical stages? Wasn't too fond of it; maybe I should give it a few more tries as well.

[TerraCottaFrog]

I like soldier blade. Hard mode is fantastic, until I get killed by a stealth bullet coming out of nowhere.

I general I can't stand the PCE games in the series because of this. Maybe my eyes just suck

I haven't really played any of the others except the NES one, and the terrain hiding in that game really bugs me.

[SuperDeadite]

Vertical Force!

[BIL]

I love Super and Blade for different reasons... the former's highest difficulty is a helluva rush expertly tempered by console concessions, as to be expected from the future developers of Nexzr. Simultaneously intense and hyper-flexible. I find the latter's hugely abusable BOMBAs simply cute as hell. So much big, chunky, awesome-looking enemy hardware to rip apart in booming explosions. The bullet-blocking Option is fun and vital on suicide bullet-infested Hard difficulty, too. A destructive joyride that's just easy enough to screw up. Possibly my ultimate feelgood vert (the PCE is most definitely my ultimate feelgood STG platform).

There's also the FC game which plays absolutely nothing like either of the above, or much of anything really once you take the bizarre terrain system into account. Think I'd go with that - I really dig its combination of brisk simplicity and a bizarre twist. Never fond of buttonmashing, but it's easy to self-regulate. (Takahashi Meijin's right there in the manual hawking his own-brand controller at the kids of mid-80s Japan, bahaha)

[Despatche]

Star Soldier is barely a series. The first game is a direct followup to Star Force, and is followed by Hector '87. Super Star Soldier and onward just take after Gunhed, which goes into Aleste (another name that is barely a series) and about 80% of the shmups on PC Engine. There's also the PSP Star Soldier, the PS2/GC Star Soldier, Vertical Force, Soldier Force, etc.

People bash Vanishing Earth way too much. It's way better than any of the PC Engine titles, that's for sure.

[Angry Hina]

Playing Vanishing Earth at the moment. Although I've never played the PCE Aleste/Star Soldiers, I played the ones on the Game Gear and on Master System. At the moment I dont see bad things in Vanishing Earth I cannot see in the 8-bit Alestes. If the PCE Aleste/Star Soldiers are alike, I dont see why you should bash VE and praise the ones on PCE.

Well, if you cut out the compile Aleste-like Star Soldiers out of the series and accept, that the first one is heavily based on Star Force, I would see it as a real series. But there are not many entries in it. And the "real Star Soldiers are the ones mostly no one talks about
Star Soldier
Star Soldier (GC/PS2 and PSP)
Star Soldier Vanishing Earth
Star Soldier R

But I think Aleste games have often the same idea of level design and enemy patterns, which focusses more on fast easy to learn fun without memorizing which feels sometimes a bit bland if you are used to learn some clever designed attack patterns.

[MJR]

For me, it's Star Soldier R easily and by far. I have very rarely been in so excited and addicted to a shmup, almost to a point of psychosis.

If Star Force counts, then I'd say that the original arcade Star Force is even better, as it has touch and feel and finesse that is very rare in shmups (Tehkan made pure gold in it's hey day). Maybe some day I'll write an essay about Star Force, why I think it's so important in the history of shmups.

As for other Star Soldier games, I like them, but none of them (that I've played so far) really do it for me as these two do.
I know it's just an opinion and you are welcome to disagree.

[To Far Away Times]

The best game in the series has to be Soldier Blade right? That game is fantastic. Arguably the peak "compile-like" shmup. That's a game that just feels real good to play. Nice and fast action and powerful weapons along with a killer soundtrack. I feel like a badass playing it. An essential console shmup experience, and if I could think of a single game that defines what the PC Engine was about, this would be the one.

[blazinglazers69]

The best game in the series has to be Soldier Blade right? That game is fantastic. Arguably the peak "compile-like" shmup. That's a game that just feels real good to play. Nice and fast action and powerful weapons along with a killer soundtrack. I feel like a badass playing it. An essential console shmup experience, and if I could think of a single game that defines what the PC Engine was about, this would be the one.

100%. It's one of those games that's more than the sum of its parts. On paper there's no crazy gimmicks or anything, but it all just comes together very nicely. The ost and difficulty level reminds me of Mega Man X. It's high energy. It's a challenge, but it won't take 50 hours to clear. It just FEELS really, really good. It's definitely a top 3 PCE shmup for me.

[davyK]

NES got Star Soldier and Hector '87 are still both excellent games. The latter didn't grab me initially but it's pretty good. I have the SNES cart that has both games and Star Force on it. The cart is called Caravan Shooting Collection but Hector '87 is the only game on the cart that has a caravan mode..

GC Super Star Soldier is a gorgeous version but I think I might prefer the old NES games.

Here is me playing Hector '87 in 2min mode courtesy of the SNES cart - captured ghetto style off my CRT so apologies for the image and my language at times. My last attempt in this is the worst run but I actually get a 2min clear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vKkrpDEmec

[Sengoku Strider]

I've had this conversation on this forum previously, but I've never understood why Blade merits rapturous praise but Final gets dismissed. Like, they almost feel like the same game to me. It also seems there isn't much reason to use the green weapon over the blue.

I can understand edging out Final with Soldier I guess, but for me the answer is the two of them.

[Ebbo]

The thematic cohesion is Soldier Blade's strongest asset. Final Soldier veers much closer to Blazing Lazers "throw in everything and the kitchen sink" mentality with more varying enemy and stage designs while not being quite as striking. Neither come close to SB's feeling of dismantling enemy forces piece by piece, heavily elevated by its meticulous presentation (recurring rival mech being an absolute highlight but far from only one). Achieving such a strong narrative throughline so effortlessly in 1992 in a shooting game is truly remarkable and something many modern games could learn from to be honest.

I like Soldier Blade a lot.

[ShootyShoot]

My favorite is Super Star Soldier. Weak start and perhaps some stolen ideas - L4 Image Fight background, L5 Gradius crystals / bubbles, L6 Compile plants, L7 Salamander escape,etc. But has great bosses and gives purpose to switching weapons in the later stages.

[Angry Hina]

NES got Star Soldier and Hector '87 are still both excellent games. The latter didn't grab me initially but it's pretty good. I have the SNES cart that has both games and Star Force on it. The cart is called Caravan Shooting Collection but Hector '87 is the only game on the cart that has a caravan mode..

GC Super Star Soldier is a gorgeous version but I think I might prefer the old NES games.

Here is me playing Hector '87 in 2 min mode courtesy of the SNES cart - captured ghetto style off my CRT so apologies for the image and my language at times. My last attempt in this is the worst run but I actually get a 2min clear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vKkrpDEmec

Sadly the NES versions (and even the SNES ones o.O) dont have caravan modes and also dont have autofire. Does someone enjoys these games without both? I think its extremely hard to play these games without autofire (or at least an arcade board). Nearly dont get the eyeballs down with maxed weapons (with maxed-1 its easier), which sucks a bit... Forgot about the mode of Hector but this game is a very hard one.

The best game in the series has to be Soldier Blade right? That game is fantastic. Arguably the peak "compile-like" shmup. That's a game that just feels real good to play. Nice and fast action and powerful weapons along with a killer soundtrack. I feel like a badass playing it. An essential console shmup experience, and if I could think of a single game that defines what the PC Engine was about, this would be the one.

for me they dont count as "real" SS games even though VE references on some/one of them. So, I havent said before: for me its Vanishing Earth.

Favorite has to be NES Star Soldier. Very unique feeling being a caravan game. Unique mechanics, switching weapons, secrets, bonuses. Love the rush it gives.

But what about the strange changes on height levels or how should I call it? You randomly (?) are above or underneath the level structures. if underneath, you cannot shoot and often get killed after passing the structure because of the dense enemy formations. This can really kill the fun for me. But whith the not implemented autofire I possibly could stand it

[Sengoku Strider]

Funny to see this thread pop up again, as I'm playing through all the PCE Soldier-likes/Aleste-likes for 1CCs right now. GunHed, Final Solder & Soldier Blade are done, I'm currently going at the final boss of Spriggan, and Star Parodier should hopefully be here by the end of the week.

I really took to Soldier Blade by the end, it was a cool experience that I'll be going back to down the road on hard. I also see the stark differences between it and Final Soldier, but I wouldn't say those differences reflect negatively on Final. Playing on top speed, Final is a crazy fast game which tends to structure obstacles around the player which grant exit lanes if you micro-dodge with your speed high enough. The way these risk-reward scenarios played out was fun as hell, and often left me feeling like a total boss. The hit boxes are wonderfully tight and the controls are absolutely impeccable, which is remarkable given how many titles of the era break down at top speed. For instance, tap-dodging in Spriggan at speed 5 through tight bullet spreads with that big mech seems nearly impossible on a stock pad, I need to keep it at 4.

Soldier Blade, on the other hand, really anticipates danmaku design by often pinning the player down if they opt to micro-dodge. The reward is generally longer sustained fire on targets or weak points, so it's well-structured in that sense, and again they nailed it on the tight hit boxes & ship response (I see a fair amount of influence on Dodonpachi in Soldier Blade, the green wave weapon even felt like playing ship B at times). But I almost felt like I was playing a stealth-action game at some points, curling up into a little ball and watching boss patterns slowly sail past. It was a stark contrast to blasting through gaps halfway across the screen at warp speed in Final. But still a great time overall.

Please consider using the title 'GunHed' as no one knows it as 'Blazing Lazers' - crap title if ever there was one.

Konami, who own the rights to the Hudson IP, have made the official name of the game Blazing Lazers, even in Japan. It was the flagship title of the TurboGrafx-16 and had TV commercials in rotation during network cartoon blocks in the US & Canada, so it is pretty well known among North American gamers familiar with the era. I know for me, as a Canadian kid with no access to the system for its first few years, it was the one title I really drooled over after seeing those ad spots. More importantly, the GunHed title was a now obscure movie license held by Toho which was slapped on at the last minute, and the game's content doesn't have any connection with it at all. So for both financial & thematic reasons it makes sense to ditch it.

Personally I've always really liked the Blazing Lazers title, it perfectly echoes the 'turbo graphics' image, and has a nice consonance in English. GunHed not so much to my ears (or eyes).

Indeed, GunHed is not part of the list and it was made by Compile and not Hudson but it is often grouped incorrectly all the same.

It fits as well or better than Hector '87, which people often lump in and is retroactively considered a Star Soldier spin-off but was really Hudson's answer to Salamander with its alternating vert/hori stages. GunHed, on the other hand, was initially intended to be a mainline Star Soldier title during development, until the Toho deal hit at the 11th hour. This is pretty clear from the opening two stages which are highly reminiscent of Star Soldier. And given how deeply it influenced the Soldier titles which came afterward, I think it fits. As a huge fan of both series I'm comfortable including it in both Aleste & Star Soldier discussions; it's important as a transformative missing link between both. That it was done by Compile isn't really a mark against it, as Kaneko were behind Super Star Soldier, and Final Soldier is credited to Now Productions/NauPro. Hudson was spinning a lot of plates during the early 90s so they leveraged a lot of talented outside parties to fill out their release schedule.

[blazinglazers69]

Personally I've always really liked the Blazing Lazers title, it perfectly echoes the 'turbo graphics' image, and has a nice consonance in English. GunHed not so much to my ears (or eyes).

100% Blazing Lazers is better. I am obviously quite taken with the name myself. It's interesting to see that on this board and elsewhere, more hardcore people tend to always go with original names: Tatsujin vs Truxton, GunHed vs Blazing Lazers, Mega Drive vs Genesis, etc. It almost seems like a weird purity thing.

Sometimes it makes sense to me. There is definitely a tendency in the west to make everything edgier. Sometimes it seems like a bit too much when they make Sonic or Kirby look all pissed when they're supposed to be more cute, but sometimes I do appreciate the trend. Turbografx-16 and Genesis to me sound way cooler than PC Engine and Mega Drive. The former invoke cool, rad systems while the latter sound more like generic hardware to me.

But yeah, GunHed just looks misspelled and sounds lame. Blazing Lazers is definitely an improvement and oozes 90s-skater-rad-charm. Case in point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40B1bQ6d08w

[To Far Away Times]

Blazing Lazers is a cool title and GunHed is not. And rule of cool always prevails.

I basically pick whichever is cooler, unless there are major regional differences. Bare Knuckle III vs Streets of Rage 3, or Xexex vs Orious, or whatnot.

Just make sure you call the fourth game in the Thunderforce series by its superior and hilariously butchered title: "Lightening Force"

[Sengoku Strider]

I usually say the Japanese title because that's usually the one I have, Western retro games are just too expensive these days, and I get to tell myself I'm doing something responsible by practicing Japanese reading.

Turbografx-16 and Genesis to me sound way cooler than PC Engine and Mega Drive. The former invoke cool, rad systems while the latter sound more like generic hardware to me.

It's worth noting that those are both console titles using English tech words in 1980s Japan. So it presented an air of cosmopolitan/internationalist technocracy. The work tool image wasn't a hangup either, being corporate was a cultural point of masculine pride and accomplishment, not of being a square. In 1980s Japan being part of a big corporation made you a modern day samurai taking on the world, doing your duty for the country. Cute girls would also consider you a really good catch, a big moment in Japanese weddings is when the bride and groom are announced, and the groom's job and place of employment are announced. If that announcement said Panasonic or Sony, she won and her mom might finally get off her back. Even career actors and rock stars were usually corporate or agency employees, not freelance artists as in the West. So it represented a goal, a victory, not a hassle.

In the case of the PC Engine specifically, the PC-88 was NEC's core business and the dominant name in computers in Japan at the time. Home computers themselves were also relative rarities, so the idea that you were getting the "engine" of a gaming computer without all the boring stuff or having to pay absurd amounts of money was appealing, while linking it to the larger brand identity. (Though ironically, PC 88 & 98 games were never actually as good as what the PC Engine could do).

Sega and NEC were quite right to rebrand in North America though. From what I read Sega of Japan management themselves weren't all that happy with the Mega Drive name, and wanted something that represented a new beginning for the company after the Master System didn't catch on. In Europe it was a different story; especially in the UK gaming had long been associated with affordable home microcomputers like the ZX Spectrum, Atari ST and Amiga. The Master System didn't really take off there until after the Mega Drive was out in other places, and the NES didn't take off at all. So they stuck with the Mega Drive name to place it within the dominant image of gaming at the time, that computers were where it was at.

Just make sure you call the fourth game in the Thunderforce series by its superior and hilariously butchered title: "Lightening Force"

Even if I didn't have a Japanese Mega Drive I would have gotten an adaptor and a Japanese copy of the game just to avoid that particular car wreck.

[BIL]

It's interesting to see that on this board and elsewhere, more hardcore people tend to always go with original names: Tatsujin vs Truxton, GunHed vs Blazing Lazers, Mega Drive vs Genesis, etc. It almost seems like a weird purity thing.

I know I and a few others use [X] titles because we're referring to [X] versions.

There's a recurring phenomenon with people firing up Ghouls n' Ghosts, their old favourite, and getting annihilated by the first stage. Because they're not playing Ghouls n' Ghosts; they're playing Daimakaimura, which has a much harder first loop.

I remember some noob bitching to me about Alien Soldier's "sluggish performance" and replying through a mouthful of Cheetos "Bitch the fuck you say, AS runs silky smooth, repent you heretic assclown motherfucker," assuming he was emulating it on his ShitePhone, only for it to turn out he was playing the real cart - the 50hz PAL cart. Ewww! But yes, mystery solved there.

If you're playing Contra III and referring to it as Contra Spirits, that's a bit wanky imo. If you're just talking about Nobuya Nakazato's landmark sidecrolling run/gun and prefer to go by its original title, for whatever reason - say, because you find the SNES version's localisation a bit gauche - that's fine imo.

(the NES Contras were moved from the 26th century to the XTREEM 1980s, so when Spirits' futuristic world rolled around, the localisers had to fanfic some guff about the protagonists being "the descendants of" Bill and Lance - was it some RADICOOL 1980s superior soldier genetic archival project? or did they get married and fuck? - and to make this work, they literally erased the dates from the ending photo sequence, turning what was goofy jingoistic MURICA FUCK YEAAA into an exercise in Stalinist revisionism )

[Sengoku Strider]

There's a recurring phenomenon with people firing up Ghouls n' Ghosts, their old favourite, and getting annihilated by the first stage. Because they're not playing Ghouls n' Ghosts; they're playing Daimakaimura, which has a much harder first loop.

NOW you tell me.

At least I get to feel better now about not being able to pass stage 3 >_>

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

I see that Blazing Lasers is an option.

Thus I am voting for Super Aleste.

Spoiler

It's Soldier Blade

[neorichieb1971]

I played Soldier Blade and Super Star Soldier for the limited time I had a PCE.

Loved them both. At the time I had a Duo and couldn't get past the composite output but didn't know about mods back then so sold it. I've never replaced it.

[blazinglazers69]

I see that Blazing Lasers is an option.

Thus I am voting for Super Aleste.

Based and Com-pilled.

It's not without its flaws. Some of the caravan score attack style levels didn't really need to be there and I think they probably could have cut maybe 2-3 of the weapon choices. Still utterly fantastic and fun. Incredible presentation and runs so amazing on the notoriously slow SNES, thus cementing Compile as technical wizards. The mode 7 level and the incredible wavy backgrounds along with bopping soundtrack make it such a joy to play. A personal 10/10 for me.

[BrianC]

I usually say the Japanese title because that's usually the one I have, Western retro games are just too expensive these days, and I get to tell myself I'm doing something responsible by practicing Japanese reading.

Turbografx-16 and Genesis to me sound way cooler than PC Engine and Mega Drive. The former invoke cool, rad systems while the latter sound more like generic hardware to me.

It's worth noting that those are both console titles using English tech words in 1980s Japan. So it presented an air of cosmopolitan/internationalist technocracy. The work tool image wasn't a hangup either, being corporate was a cultural point of masculine pride and accomplishment, not of being a square. In 1980s Japan being part of a big corporation made you a modern day samurai taking on the world, doing your duty for the country. Cute girls would also consider you a really good catch, a big moment in Japanese weddings is when the bride and groom are announced, and the groom's job and place of employment are announced. If that announcement said Panasonic or Sony, she won and her mom might finally get off her back. Even career actors and rock stars were usually corporate or agency employees, not freelance artists as in the West. So it represented a goal, a victory, not a hassle.

In the case of the PC Engine specifically, the PC-88 was NEC's core business and the dominant name in computers in Japan at the time. Home computers themselves were also relative rarities, so the idea that you were getting the "engine" of a gaming computer without all the boring stuff or having to pay absurd amounts of money was appealing, while linking it to the larger brand identity. (Though ironically, PC 88 & 98 games were never actually as good as what the PC Engine could do).

Sega and NEC were quite right to rebrand in North America though. From what I read Sega of Japan management themselves weren't all that happy with the Mega Drive name, and wanted something that represented a new beginning for the company after the Master System didn't catch on. In Europe it was a different story; especially in the UK gaming had long been associated with affordable home microcomputers like the ZX Spectrum, Atari ST and Amiga. The Master System didn't really take off there until after the Mega Drive was out in other places, and the NES didn't take off at all. So they stuck with the Mega Drive name to place it within the dominant image of gaming at the time, that computers were where it was at.

Just make sure you call the fourth game in the Thunderforce series by its superior and hilariously butchered title: "Lightening Force"

Even if I didn't have a Japanese Mega Drive I would have gotten an adaptor and a Japanese copy of the game just to avoid that particular car wreck.

What's interesting is that NEC used similar names to Turbografx for a later model of the PC Engine (Core Grafx) and an updated PC Engine (Super Grafx).