tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

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mycophobia
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tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by mycophobia »

post about how much you love tatsujin/truxton here. if you don't love this game, or would potentially not love this game, please stop here.

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!

anyway that\s enough from me. please tell me why you like this calssic game, and your experiences with it, etc..
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by mycophobia »

here are some good replays (WARNING: You have to be REALLY good to be able to do this):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_912_pXAU_g - Truxton 10mil+
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPc1m8nMj4w - Tatsujin 10mil+ NO AUTOFIRE WTF O_o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umu_fCEanNQ - another Tatsujin 10mil+
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by Shepardus »

what about tatsujin ou
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by mycophobia »

Shepardus wrote:what about tatsujin ou
i want to love it but it's just too mean. and that stage 3 boss, what the fuck
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by mycophobia »

I mean i guess if you REALLY want to, you can post about Tatsujin Ou in this thread. I will allow it.

here's somebody looping it for like seven hours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BJCAtvodtg
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by retroshmuper »

Truxton is the game that kickstarted my collecting way back in the day ( I couldn’t find my Megadrive copy and thought it would be easy to find another copy so I started going to car boot sales to obtain a copy and started to pick up all sorts of other bargains) I enjoyed this game in the arcades but I’d moved away from my home town arcades so I had to buy for the home systems. I was lucky enough to own the PC Engine and Megadrive versions. Both of which I still enjoy playing now. It’s a solid game that I feel was a good evolution from Toaplan’s previous games. I bought an FM Towns Marty to play Tatsujin Oh, I’ve still never seen this in an arcade. For me it was a great ‘bridge’ game from some the favourite games from my youth, Star Force and Xevious to the awesome games of the early 90’s. I think I’ll have a game later now.
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by mycophobia »

just tried the pc engine port and it sux ballz

give the player autofire but make the minibosses have like a million hp...no thanks....
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by Turrican »

About Megadrive version: is this true?

https://segaretro.org/Truxton

"This port is unusual in that it appears to be written for PAL specs; the overall speed of the game, music and sound effects, etc, greatly resemble the arcade version when played at 50 FPS."
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by mycophobia »

I think it's just the music that's too fast. the speed of the game overall doesn't really seem off to me.
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by Turrican »

here the thing is mentioned

viewtopic.php?t=53008

but I notice how most players still submit scores playing it 60hz.
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by BIL »

Pretty sure it's just the music (edit: and even then, not for PAL optimisation reasons). Masahiro Yuge has said he made a mistake while coding the port (in less than ideal circumstances). He apologised for it in this interview.
—By the way, how involved were you in the music for the console ports?

Yuge: Overall I didn’t have much involvement. The port I was most involved with was the Megadrive port of Same! Same! Same!. You know, regarding the Megadrive, I have this one bad memory that I’ve always wanted to apologize for, and that’s the tempo being too fast in the Tatsujin port. We didn’t receive any instructions from Sega on the sound hardware until 2 weeks before the mastering deadline. So I was really rushing to program everything and get the data coded, and we didn’t have a lot of time to tweak things, and that fast tempo resulted.
Last edited by BIL on Wed Jun 06, 2018 3:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by mycophobia »

BIL wrote:Pretty sure it's just the music. Masahiro Yuge has said he made a mistake while coding the port (in less than ideal circumstances). He apologised for it in this interview.
—By the way, how involved were you in the music for the console ports?

Yuge: Overall I didn’t have much involvement. The port I was most involved with was the Megadrive port of Same! Same! Same!. You know, regarding the Megadrive, I have this one bad memory that I’ve always wanted to apologize for, and that’s the tempo being too fast in the Tatsujin port. We didn’t receive any instructions from Sega on the sound hardware until 2 weeks before the mastering deadline. So I was really rushing to program everything and get the data coded, and we didn’t have a lot of time to tweak things, and that fast tempo resulted.
I knew I read that somewhere....thx.

I wonder how hard it would be to hack the rom to make the music slower.
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by Bydobasher »

I always thought this game was cool, but never did become very good at it. I really liked the look and setting of the game -- especially as compared with predecessor Toaplan shmups like Flying Shark and Twin Cobra (both of which I like as well). I had a SNES back then, and not a GEN . . . Truxton was definitely one of those shmups that made the GEN look good.

You can fire very fast in this game (just as with its contemporary from 1988, Image Fight), and it can be a bit of a hand-breaker because of it. That video posted by the OP showing a 10mil run without autofire is truly expert (not just because of the autofire, but that definitely makes it more impressive).

For a long time I thought I liked the sequel better, but I'm not sure about that now. Certainly the original game is more classic and is the first thing I think about when somebody mentions its name. For me, Truxton is probably Toaplan's most iconic shmup.
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by mycophobia »

Bydobasher wrote:I always thought this game was cool, but never did become very good at it. I really liked the look and setting of the game -- especially as compared with predecessor Toaplan shmups like Flying Shark and Twin Cobra (both of which I like as well). I had a SNES back then, and not a GEN . . . Truxton was definitely one of those shmups that made the GEN look good.
The Genesis version is very good, plays very similarly to the arcade. A couple of safespots don't work anymore because of the nearly halved screen size but overall someone who's good at the arcade game would certainly do fine in the Genesis. The PC Engine version...not so great, aside from the mostly improved soundtrack. But yeah, I really love the aesthetic, very distinct especially among other Toaplan games...
You can fire very fast in this game (just as with its contemporary from 1988, Image Fight), and it can be a bit of a hand-breaker because of it. That video posted by the OP showing a 10mil run without autofire is truly expert (not just because of the autofire, but that definitely makes it more impressive).
Autofire is a must in this game as far as I'm concerned lol.
For a long time I thought I liked the sequel better, but I'm not sure about that now. Certainly the original game is more classic and is the first thing I think about when somebody mentions its name. For me, Truxton is probably Toaplan's most iconic shmup.
I would say, 100%, that Tatsujin Ou was better than its predecessor if the checkpoint recoveries weren't so brutally hard. Just the fear of dying on the checkpoint right before the stage 3 boss keeps me from dedicating any more time to it. I'm sort of looking into coming up with a MAME cheat that lets you respawn instantly on death (like you do when there are two players), cuz even if you're severely underpowered you can at least bomb-die-bomb your way through the tough part. but I'm really bad at researching that sort of thing :P Also I'm more or less content with just playing Tatusjin until I can clear multiple loops of it prolly.
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by Bydobasher »

I always play Truxton with autofire too. (I used to play Image Fight without autofire and beat it many times . . . but I always play with autofire now . . . just getting old maybe.)

I love checkpoints, but they must be well designed so you feel like you can prevail (even if it is really difficult). There's nothing more discouraging than a checkpoint that makes you give up in despair. I actually don't remember that 3rd boss checkpoint in the sequel.... But anyway, I'll have a game of Truxton later today!
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by OmegaFlareX »

mycophobia wrote:just tried the pc engine port and it sux ballz
PCE port has the best music of any version. That drum beat they put in makes it shine.
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by mycophobia »

OmegaFlareX wrote:
mycophobia wrote:just tried the pc engine port and it sux ballz
PCE port has the best music of any version. That drum beat they put in makes it shine.
agreed, but I hate everything else about it
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by Vludi »

I didn't find the game too exhausting without autofire (granted mashing a keyboard is probably easier than stick or pad), you'll be fine with moderate mash most of the time and you can relax in the blue laser stages. Same!3 on the other hand is something I'd not even attempt to play without auto.
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by Despatche »

is a good game desu ne

ou as well

though i agree with the statement about the checkpoints, because for whatever reason toaplan thought it'd be a great idea to start the player with total crap after giving the player a decent default weapon in multiple previous games

well

at least same!x3 1p could probably use the five way actually, that game is kinda ridiculous

but at the very least tatsujin ou is less vile than raiden or raiden ii or whatever. i think we can all agree on that.
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by aerobert »

Please don't flame me for this; the game is pretty good for an early mega drive port. I actually never tried the original arcade game. But there is a pcb available locally for 200 euros. Should I go for it?
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by mycophobia »

aerobert wrote:Please don't flame me for this; the game is pretty good for an early mega drive port. I actually never tried the original arcade game. But there is a pcb available locally for 200 euros. Should I go for it?
fuck yeah dude. buy me one too pls :D
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by MrJBRPG »

I am attempting to take a double play on Truxton 2 with no miss, maximum power, and minimal bombs (nearly impossible at stage 4 boss), with save states only to learn boss patterns. The bosses are really a mixed bag at player's max power most likely because the max speed really does not suit well against dense bullet patterns and a large hit box, particularly the stage 4 boss, which only 2 bombs have to be used.

I also suspect much of the common death comes from bosses constantly flashing light blue when hit from shooting bright purple with red, blue, or green shots while the usually orange shots from enemy units seem to either be too small or bright that blends in with the explosions, thus forcing the player to constantly have a very agile and aggressive play style.

The only things that I would enjoy much with the Truxton 2 is the music and the detailed background and enemy designs.

As for the power-ups:
Red splash missiles is absolutely the best weapon since it burst from 6 sides at full power, and clear away enemies fast when hit close with 2-3 missiles simultaneously.
Blue target lightning does not provide a lot of cover and is reduced to 2 shots that target 1 close enemy at a time.
Green is a decent spread shot that attacks only from the front, but pales against the red splash missiles in total damage output.

I am also surprised that a fully-powered up main shot is as potent as about 2 red missiles, each with 4 equally powerful shots for precise targeting.

I almost feel like the Truxton 2 shot choices is like Zero Wing, which there is only one weapon that is absolutely best over everything else despite good intention form casual play throughs.


No wonder Truxton 2 seems to be one of those black sheep with a cult following in wanting to perfect the game.
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by Square_Air »

Despatche wrote:but at the very least tatsujin ou is less vile than raiden or raiden ii or whatever. i think we can all agree on that.
I'd rather take Raiden over Tatsujin Ou. Raiden II gets pretty dumb, I'll give you that, but I think I still prefer it over Tatsujin Ou.

Tatsujin is great though. You can really see how this game would go on to influence Dangun Feveron years later. I've been casually playing it for a little while now and hit 1.1 million pts today, so I think i'm going to sink into it now since i'm having so much fun. I have mixed feeling about the enemies coming from behind, and I feel like while speed is encouraged and rewarded, it's not to the same level of elegance as Dangun, but the recoveries in this game are far better than many of its contemporaries. Recovery in early Raiden, Kyukyoku Tiger, and Tatsujin Ou are borderline garbage at times, but Tatsujin is surprisingly well balanced for recovery.
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by Shepardus »

I've never really been able to get into Tatsujin/Truxton 1 for some reason, but I've never stuck with it further than the beginning of stage 2 either. I just get wrecked by the major enemies early on and never feel interested enough to actually learn to deal with them. I do enjoy Tatsujin Ou, though, at least until I die or hit a boss (which is usually the same thing as dying anyway). Its pacing, combined with the seemingly carefree attitude with which the enemies glide around and fire their patterns, and the calm but upbeat music, gives me the impression of a relaxing cruise over a distant land, rather than the all-cylinders-firing gauntlet of many other shmups. The background of the middle part of stage 4 really sells this to me, even though I don't particularly care for the game's setting otherwise.

Then you die and you're left with a peashooter which, despite having a steady stream of fire (thanks for enabling autofire by default, Toaplan!), struggles to take out even popcorn enemies. The enemies of course don't care, and will continue to lazily drift towards you while you try in vain to find an angle at which to fire at them while not getting rammed by other enemies or bullets. Actually the enemies are still really resilient even with full power, but being able to cover your sides and attack multiple things at once makes a massive difference. "Don't die," you say? The bosses say no to that. The stage 1 boss isn't too bad but it's awkward at best, the stage 2 boss is inoffensive but also kind of boring, the stage 3 boss can go to hell, the stage 4 boss is insane, and I haven't reached the stage 5 or 6 bosses but they look like a massive pain in the ass too.

One thing I don't like about both Truxton games is how you're forced to either pick up all the speedups or sacrifice a bunch of score (from excess pickups) that could have given you extra lives. In Tatsujin Ou maximum speed isn't too much of a problem during the stages but it's uncomfortable during the bosses (trying to avoid shooting at the bubbles on the stage 1 boss, tapping around to adjust your position while timing out the stage 3 boss...).
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by FRO »

BIL wrote:Pretty sure it's just the music (edit: and even then, not for PAL optimisation reasons). Masahiro Yuge has said he made a mistake while coding the port (in less than ideal circumstances). He apologised for it in this interview.
—By the way, how involved were you in the music for the console ports?

Yuge: Overall I didn’t have much involvement. The port I was most involved with was the Megadrive port of Same! Same! Same!. You know, regarding the Megadrive, I have this one bad memory that I’ve always wanted to apologize for, and that’s the tempo being too fast in the Tatsujin port. We didn’t receive any instructions from Sega on the sound hardware until 2 weeks before the mastering deadline. So I was really rushing to program everything and get the data coded, and we didn’t have a lot of time to tweak things, and that fast tempo resulted.
Very interesting! I've never played the arcade original, and probably haven't messed around with it in MAME for a decade, so I have no frame of reference. But the faster pace works for the game, I think, because it heightens the pace a bit, even if just artificially.
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by OmegaFlareX »

You don't have to time out the Tatsujin Ou stage 3 boss if you're decently powered-up. If you have the red weapon powered-up enough to have side-shots, you can carefully aim them on the L/R guns to destroy the panels behind the guns first, which will make destroying the guns, then the main body, easier. The body is done by staying close and sweeping left/right with a small pause on each side. When the add pods time out (they will leave like a minute before the boss does), you can move down a bit to avoid the larger spread the body starts to fire when it's heavily damaged.

Owarabi does this here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/215277012?t=26m12s

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Something I really like about MD Truxton is the shield they added to the powered-up red weapon. This makes it so you don't have to worry about those little fucks that sneak up behind you.
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by mycophobia »

enemies from behind aren't so bad; they don't even really show up that much until like the very last stretch of stage 5. you can pretty well memorize when they come up cuz the enemies are often very distinctly patterned out, if that makes any sense? like you can think "three from the left, three from the right, three left, three right, a few from up top, now I need to get off the bottom of the screen". i mean if you die from the same surprise enough it ceases to be a surprise :D
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by mycophobia »

while im just here randomly saying shit im gonna put it out there that Tatsujin Ou's soundtrack is #1 to Garegga's #2. #3 is either Ketsui or Mushi Futari. idk. not really on topic, sorry...
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by BIL »

Soundtrack discussion is always on-topic. Image
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Re: tatsujin/truxton appreciation thread.

Post by Shepardus »

Tatsujin Ou's soundtrack is my second-favorite Toaplan soundtrack after Out Zone. Stage 5's is my favorite of the bunch - "STILL LOVE YOU" reminds you that the game still loves you and is trying its hardest to express it, even if it doesn't always know how to do so (this particular stage being a prime example of that). Stage 4 in Tatsujin, "FRIEND," is also great. Shmuplations has an interview that covers each track, would recommend.
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