tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

[Flobeamer1922]

Start of stage 5 @ max rank - holy shit. I wasn't expecting the game to get any easier, but I wasn't expecting it to get that much harder either. NMS - in your video I notice you die here. Is that deliberate to lower the rank?

Yep, you're not getting through this stage or the next stage without some good routing. I've practiced stages 5 and 6 far more than the first four because of how much harder they are.

[Steven]

When I credit fed my way through Tatsujin Ou recently I found that the potatoes on stage 6 were by far the most difficult thing in the game. Some other stuff might be more difficult when powered up due to rank, which I definitely wasn't due to all of the deaths, and the potatoes might not even be all that hard when you know what to do against them, but I really hate those potatoes.

[bcass]

I can now get through the first part of stage 5, but not at max rank. I may have to change my strategy of no-missing a stage before moving onto practising the next (final stage) as the start of stage 5 at max rank is insanely difficult. If I could get there with 3 bombs it might be doable, but I don't fancy my chances of that as I need 3 bombs for the stage 4 boss, and I sometimes need to use one or two at various points getting to that point to counter occasional mistakes on prior stages.

[Steven]

Today I found the ROM for the Mega Drive 2 Mini version with the fixed music. I tested it on my Nomad and it does work on real hardware.

[Steven]

After playing the MD Mini 2 Tatsujin ROM for a little while on various real and fake Mega Drives and Mega Drive 2s, it seems that the audio is affected by the YM3438 busy behaviour thing, so the music will not work properly if you play it on a Mega Drive 2 variant. I'd have to check the MiSTer's settings again, but I don't think that ran the music correctly either for some reason.

[mycophobia]

Today I found the ROM for the Mega Drive 2 Mini version with the fixed music. I tested it on my Nomad and it does work on real hardware.

oh cool i didnt even know that existed

[Steven]

Yeah, all of the MD Mini 2 ROMs are available now, I think. The new ones like Star Mobile and whatever only work on the MD Mini 2 itself, but the older games will run on real Mega Drives and FPGA stuff, including this, but the music breaks on most of them. I will give the MiSTer another try and see what happens with it.

Yep, music is broken on MiSTer no matter what settings I tried.

[bcass]

Here's an interesting post I recently saw on pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/814870126322420240/

As shown, it seems to indicate that there were earlier designs for the player ships in Tatsujin Ou. Maybe these are still present in the ROMs? These original designs actually more closely resemble the ships on the arcade poster and OST CD. If these are in fact older designs, then I think I prefer the new ones.

[Steven]

One of Tatsujin Ou's 3 graphics dudes is on Twitter and I think he's the guy that actually did the player sprite, so I guess you could try asking him if you really wanted to know.

The final sprites definitely look more detailed, though.

[Sengoku Strider]

Today I found the ROM for the Mega Drive 2 Mini version with the fixed music. I tested it on my Nomad and it does work on real hardware.

Did they fix the thing where the music resets every time you pause? That always struck me as a bug. And I'm sure this is a long shot, but did they add any parallax anywhere? It's always struck me as a weakness of the port that right off the bat you're faced with a flat wallpaper-looking starfield, given that the system's VDP natively supports dual background planes and line-scrolling.

[BrainΦΠΦTemple]

yOu gotta kiss the pcb to truly show your appreciation

[BrianC]

Yeah, all of the MD Mini 2 ROMs are available now, I think. The new ones like Star Mobile and whatever only work on the MD Mini 2 itself, but the older games will run on real Mega Drives and FPGA stuff, including this, but the music breaks on most of them. I will give the MiSTer another try and see what happens with it.

Yep, music is broken on MiSTer no matter what settings I tried.

There's now another hack that slows down the music. This hack is an update of previous hack that replaces graphics with the arcade sprites and seems to work much better on real hardware.

[Steven]

I am starting to like this game more as I play it more. Got my Retro-Bit Truxton and my Tatsujin + Tatsujin Ou OST signed by Yuge and Iwabuchi (he did some of the graphics on the MD version)

Spoiler

I have been looking for a PCB for some time, but all of the ones I have found recently have been repaired and I want a pristine one. I'll settle for this for now, but every time I play the MD version I think "damn, why am I playing this instead of the arcade version?" Made it to stage 4 for the first time today, so I should have a clear on MD soon enough. The little shield thing that max power red gives you in this version really does trivialize a lot of the game, though.

Yeah, all of the MD Mini 2 ROMs are available now, I think. The new ones like Star Mobile and whatever only work on the MD Mini 2 itself, but the older games will run on real Mega Drives and FPGA stuff, including this, but the music breaks on most of them. I will give the MiSTer another try and see what happens with it.

Yep, music is broken on MiSTer no matter what settings I tried.

There's now another hack that slows down the music. This hack is an update of previous hack that replaces graphics with the arcade sprites and seems to work much better on real hardware.

Finally checked out the hack and it's really good. Mostly, anyway. It seems to also use the YM2612 busy behaviour to play the music, so it doesn't work properly on Mega Drive 2s or the Analogue Pocket. Will test on MiSTer in a few minutes. The only MD2 that I tested it on was my Nomad, but I doubt that playing it on my Mega Jet or Mega Drive 2 will make a difference. Works perfectly on the MD, though.

Edit: damn, doesn't work properly on the MiSTer no matter which audio chip I choose. Interesting that both of the versions that have fixed music don't work properly on anything but a Mega Drive. Anyway, great hack is great, but play it on a Mega Drive, not a Mega Drive 2.

[Angry Hina]

The little shield thing that max power red gives you in this version really does trivialize a lot of the game, though.

But its not reliable, if you move (with higher speed) but some moments, where enemies fly at you can be trivialized with it but you should learn them anyway, in case you die and havent max level or accidently got another weapon.

[Sumez]

If you're at max power anyway, there's no reason to not just use the blue weapon. It decimates everything at that point.

[mycophobia]

you kinda run into trouble if you don't hold off on blue until early-ish stage 3. at least on first loop

[Steven]

Definitely keep red until stage 3, aside from taking green 2/3 of the way through stage 1. This is especially true on MD, where you can annihilate all zako with max power red by holding C while not moving at all because they can't really do anything to you. You should probably still get the Thunder Laser on stage 3 even on MD, though.

I really want the PCB now. I was going to get Tatsujin Ou, but I kind of want this instead.

[Sumez]

Yeah I do the same, but that's really just because of the bulbs.
I tend to switch to green on stage 1 as well, but that's only because my shot isn't fully powered yet.

[Steven]

There is also the extend item on stage 1 that you need green for. Those bulbs are annoying, though.

[Steven]

I forgot something: there is a new model of the Tatsujin ship coming from RC Berg that was shown off at Tokyo Game Show. Not sure when the release date is, so check RC Berg's website and stuff if you are interested.

[nabi44136]

personally, I like everything about this game. the graphics are top notch, and the music is classic toaplan. it's perfectly paced at ~30 minutes per loop, and the checkpoints are well thought out and very memorizable; recovery can be tough, but never impossible. also i really like how every stage seamlessly flows one into the other without stopping, even between loops. and much like other toapaln games, it loops endlessly, which means if youre good enough you NEVER have to stop playing!

[BrianC]

I am starting to like this game more as I play it more. Got my Retro-Bit Truxton and my Tatsujin + Tatsujin Ou OST signed by Yuge and Iwabuchi (he did some of the graphics on the MD version)

Spoiler

I have been looking for a PCB for some time, but all of the ones I have found recently have been repaired and I want a pristine one. I'll settle for this for now, but every time I play the MD version I think "damn, why am I playing this instead of the arcade version?" Made it to stage 4 for the first time today, so I should have a clear on MD soon enough. The little shield thing that max power red gives you in this version really does trivialize a lot of the game, though.

Yeah, all of the MD Mini 2 ROMs are available now, I think. The new ones like Star Mobile and whatever only work on the MD Mini 2 itself, but the older games will run on real Mega Drives and FPGA stuff, including this, but the music breaks on most of them. I will give the MiSTer another try and see what happens with it.

Yep, music is broken on MiSTer no matter what settings I tried.

There's now another hack that slows down the music. This hack is an update of previous hack that replaces graphics with the arcade sprites and seems to work much better on real hardware.

Finally checked out the hack and it's really good. Mostly, anyway. It seems to also use the YM2612 busy behaviour to play the music, so it doesn't work properly on Mega Drive 2s or the Analogue Pocket. Will test on MiSTer in a few minutes. The only MD2 that I tested it on was my Nomad, but I doubt that playing it on my Mega Jet or Mega Drive 2 will make a difference. Works perfectly on the MD, though.

Edit: damn, doesn't work properly on the MiSTer no matter which audio chip I choose. Interesting that both of the versions that have fixed music don't work properly on anything but a Mega Drive. Anyway, great hack is great, but play it on a Mega Drive, not a Mega Drive 2.

I'll try it on my VA6 Genesis 1. Odd thing is that the music changes speed on MiSTer and MD2.

[Steven]

I am starting to like this game more as I play it more. Got my Retro-Bit Truxton and my Tatsujin + Tatsujin Ou OST signed by Yuge and Iwabuchi (he did some of the graphics on the MD version)

Spoiler

I have been looking for a PCB for some time, but all of the ones I have found recently have been repaired and I want a pristine one. I'll settle for this for now, but every time I play the MD version I think "damn, why am I playing this instead of the arcade version?" Made it to stage 4 for the first time today, so I should have a clear on MD soon enough. The little shield thing that max power red gives you in this version really does trivialize a lot of the game, though.

There's now another hack that slows down the music. This hack is an update of previous hack that replaces graphics with the arcade sprites and seems to work much better on real hardware.

Finally checked out the hack and it's really good. Mostly, anyway. It seems to also use the YM2612 busy behaviour to play the music, so it doesn't work properly on Mega Drive 2s or the Analogue Pocket. Will test on MiSTer in a few minutes. The only MD2 that I tested it on was my Nomad, but I doubt that playing it on my Mega Jet or Mega Drive 2 will make a difference. Works perfectly on the MD, though.

Edit: damn, doesn't work properly on the MiSTer no matter which audio chip I choose. Interesting that both of the versions that have fixed music don't work properly on anything but a Mega Drive. Anyway, great hack is great, but play it on a Mega Drive, not a Mega Drive 2.

I'll try it on my VA6 Genesis 1. Odd thing is that the music changes speed on MiSTer and MD2.

Pretty sure it has to do with the busy behaviour in the YM2612 being wrong, and it was fixed on hardware revisions that use the YM3438. Some games like Hellfire seem to use the YM2612 busy behaviour to run the music correctly, so Hellfire's music breaks on the YM3438 unless you use the new Retro-Bit cart, which fixed it. Tatsujin seems to also have this problem, but you should be fine. I'll test it on my Mega Jet eventually, as that's basically a Mega Drive 2. The audio and video quality on the Mega Jet is completely insane, though. It's so good that I'd absolutely use it as my primary Mega Drive if it wasn't so awkward to hold.

[mycophobia]

personally, I like everything about this game. the graphics are top notch, and the music is classic toaplan. it's perfectly paced at ~30 minutes per loop, and the checkpoints are well thought out and very memorizable; recovery can be tough, but never impossible. also i really like how every stage seamlessly flows one into the other without stopping, even between loops. and much like other toapaln games, it loops endlessly, which means if youre good enough you NEVER have to stop playing!

wow. i completely agree with this person. like, verbatim! amazing

[Steven]

Oh cool, Tatsujin put a thing of the model in the video they put up today.

Spoiler

Yes, that's all there is to look at as of right now. The Kyuukyoku Tiger model (yes, that one in the background there) turned out really great, so I imagine this will as well.

[BrianC]

I'll test it on my Mega Jet eventually, as that's basically a Mega Drive 2. The audio and video quality on the Mega Jet is completely insane, though. It's so good that I'd absolutely use it as my primary Mega Drive if it wasn't so awkward to hold.

Interesting. I haven't heard that much about Mega Jet and assumed it was like a nomad without a screen. I use mostly model 1 VA6 and model 2 VA3. I have the VA3 hooked up near a Sony 15kHz component TV and TCL 4k TV with Retrotink 5x and the VA6 hooked up to a composite only TV with low lag LCD monitors and another RetroTink 5x nearby. VA3 has an odd composite picture but looks great in RGB transcoded to component. It also has some nice sound. I use the HD Retrovision MD cables and also have adapters to use them with Saturn, Genesis 1/SMS, and PS1.

[Steven]

I'll test it on my Mega Jet eventually, as that's basically a Mega Drive 2. The audio and video quality on the Mega Jet is completely insane, though. It's so good that I'd absolutely use it as my primary Mega Drive if it wasn't so awkward to hold.

Interesting. I haven't heard that much about Mega Jet and assumed it was like a nomad without a screen. I use mostly model 1 VA6 and model 2 VA3. I have the VA3 hooked up near a Sony 15kHz component TV and TCL 4k TV with Retrotink 5x and the VA6 hooked up to a composite only TV with low lag LCD monitors and another RetroTink 5x nearby. VA3 has an odd composite picture but looks great in RGB transcoded to component. It also has some nice sound. I use the HD Retrovision MD cables and also have adapters to use them with Saturn, Genesis 1/SMS, and PS1.

Mega Jet is super amazing. They are somewhat rare and expensive (mine was just the system, with no box or PSU or anything else, and I paid about 22,000 yen for it in a local store a few years ago), but if you can find one, definitely get it.

It effortlessly outclasses every other Mega Drive I've seen in both sound and video; its video is actually rather comparable to a Mega Sg or MiSTer, which is quite impressive, and the audio is better than my VA4 Mega Drive, and also much louder. It's also slightly more capable than the Nomad in some ways; Nomad requires a mod to get CD audio through the cartridge port and to play Mark III/Master System games, but the Mega Jet doesn't. Its only real weaknesses is that it's rather awkward to hold, it has TMSS, which will break compatibility with some games, and the fact that you have to hold it very still when playing Sonic 3 & Knuckles so that the cartridges don't wobble too much. Nomad has latter two those problems too, but at least the Nomad is very comfortable to hold and use.

[To Far Away Times]

I rememeber buying a nomad on clearance for $50 in the 90's. Totally worth it, except for that it ate 6 AA's in 2 hours. The wall wart and cigarette lighter adapter was an absolute must.