Aleste is coming back?!

[Rastan78]

https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/ni ... collection

Pretty nice review of the collection. Nice to see M2 and Aleste get some mainstream love.

[Ms. Tea]

I was really curious who worked on GG Aleste 3 besides Manabu Namiki, and thankfully they've got the credits for that in English, so here's what I found:

Executive Producer - Naoki Horii
Director - Manabu Namiki
Programmer - Takashi Yamashita (from Faw Labo - he did Gaplus for NES from Namcot Collection and the Steins Gate NES spinoff)
Game Designers - Manabu Namiki, Kazuyuki Nakashima (director of Battle Garegga, graphics on Musha Aleste and concept advsior on GG Aleste)
Graphic Designers - Kazuyuki Nakashima, Shinsuke Yamakawa (graphics on Battle Garegga)
Illustrator - Kisai Takayama
Sound Designer (e.g. composer) - Manabu Namiki
Sound Programmers - Junichirou Minami, BouKiCHi (does chiptune music and has written some modern chiptune tools)
Z80 Optimizer - Tokihiro Naito (creator of Hydlide and programmer at T&E Soft back in the 80s)
Z80 Encoder - Makoto Harashino (programmer at M2 since at least 2000)
Quality Assurance - Akira Ishiki, Keita Takata, Daisuke Takano (all from Digital Hearts)
GG Aleste 3 Logo Refine - Yoshimi Mishima (Toro Kikaku), Keiichi Satoh
GG Aleste 3 Package Designers - Yoshimi Mishima, Moriwo Ashiduka, Ami Fujii (all from Toro Kikaku), Keiichi Satoh

Honestly a pretty impressive team they got together!

[BIL]

Z80 Optimizer - Tokihiro Naito (creator of Hydlide and programmer at T&E Soft back in the 80s)

I love seeing these guys still active. T&E have some quality STGs to their name (Undeadline, ZAS).

GG Aleste 3 Logo Refine - Yoshimi Mishima (Toro Kikaku), Keiichi Satoh

They got their money's worth, that logo is badass.

[BrianC]

Programmer - Takashi Yamashita (from Faw Labo - he did Gaplus for NES from Namcot Collection and the Steins Gate NES spinoff)

I heard he was also involved with Super Star Soldier, Nexzr, Star Parodier, and the NES homebrew Blade Buster?

[MachineAres 1CC]

How big is your television ? My 43" screen need a set up of 561% (V/H)
btw. thank you !

Haha, I think the ratios are just that high because it's running in 4K, so technically, you're stretching the original SMS/MKIII image (256 × 192) to 4K (3840 x 2160) so there's a pretty big difference there.

[hamfighterx]

https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/ni ... collection

Pretty nice review of the collection. Nice to see M2 and Aleste get some mainstream love.

Yeah that's a quality review, very nice to see a more mainstream site using people who clearly have a clue about the genre do their reviews. Pretty much completely in line with my thoughts, other than maybe noting that I feel the included games all have stages that tend to be just a bit too long for my liking (not enough to be a dealbreaker for me though).

[BIL]

You see GG Aleste 3 isn't just a game, it's an attitude. "Retro" can still push boundaries, "retro" can still surprise and amaze, "retro" can be more than another NES-like platformer mugging it up to a knowing audience.

Praise Jesus. INDEED. Fuck nostalgia tours. (■｀W´■) All well and good that you're using the same amps and mixing desk as Johnny Q. Rockstar (PBUH), but his records sure as shit didn't die with him. They are on my shelf! Outdo, not redo.

My apologies. The hard gayming makes me emotional. (■｀ω´■)

[Herr Schatten]

Am I disable to play Aleste (SMS,1988) or is it hard as nails ?

It's really not that bad. BIL's advice is spot on. Follow it, and don't underestimate the power of the P icons. Instead of the wavy laser I recommend using the standard secondary weapon you start with, though. It's the only special weapon that never runs out of time/ammo, it's powerful enough to clear large areas of the screen once powered up, and it doesn't have crazy effects on rank like some of the other specials.

On the console, you can produce extra slowdown by switching to FM sound (better music, worse sfx). I expect M2 to emulate this?

[TransatlanticFoe]

Weapon 2 is worth considering too. Holding the button down creates a ball in front of your ship that's completely invulnerable. Pick up a few P chips and you can have some solild firepower while hiding behind your little shield. When you need to ruin a boss, release the button! I found that easier to get to grips with than weapon 1, which takes a while to power up to something useful and requires more aggressive play than a newcomer might be comfortable with. Weapon 1 is the absolute best once you're ready to go for a one life clear and thus maximise your score, because it lasts forever and can clear the screen when you're used to handling it.

[Loom1es]

My copy from Amazon Japan finally made it. I was surprised to find it came with the Aleste History booklet, it has some really good artwork inside.

I am really enjoying the games, i especially appreciate the no slowdown/sprite flicker mode which makes the games more playable for me, if not a bit harder though. The graphics are really clean, even the Game Gear games come across really well on the big screen. Overall im really impressed by what m2 has done with this collection and GG Aleste 3 is pure class.

Hopefully the reviews for the new GG Alesete 3 will be favourable and maybe in the future more original releases will find their way on to consoles.

[kid aphex]

I bought this release to support m2 but had admittedly never played an Aleste game.
I was kind of concerned I wouldn’t really enjoy this collection, but the Game Gear games hold up surprisingly well...
And GGA3 is amazing. It’s so cool to see what modern programmers can do on old “hardware”.
It’s something I’ve always wanted to see.
Super fun game collection. We are really lucky that a company like M2 exists.

[Martinov]

Had no intention of buying this title until I watched Shmup Junkie's review. Got mine yesterday (ordered on the 29th from Amazon Japan, sent to the UK via DHL. Amazing speed given the time of year and pandemic). Pretty pleased to get the pre-order bonus booklet - really thought I'd missed out on this. Overall, I'm happy I didn't skip this collection.

Revisiting MS Aleste really makes you appreciate what an incredible job Compile's programmers did on this game. The amount going on onscreen is incredibly impressive. My only minor gripe is the weapon powerups floating upscreen are an aggravation that force you to learn your stage layouts rather than blast mindlessly.

MS Powerstrike 2 has a really weird default screen size. What settings are you using for this game to make it a more comfortable fit for your displays?

GG Aleste 3 really is fantastic. Only weird problem I have is that my brain subconsciously thinks the orange barrel bombs hurled by the stage 3 boss are power-ups and I instinctively veer towards them to pick them up, with terrible consequences, lol.

[MachineAres 1CC]

MS Powerstrike 2 has a really weird default screen size. What settings are you using for this game to make it a more comfortable fit for your displays?

We just discussed this on the last page. The game was only ever released in Europe, so it was formatted for PAL and the resolution is weird. If you set the display settings to Manual you can change it however you like. Most people felt the blue borders on the top and bottom were the most distracting part, but you can essentially make them go away by stretching it a little.

GG Aleste 3 really is fantastic. Only weird problem I have is that my brain subconsciously thinks the orange barrel bombs hurled by the stage 3 boss are power-ups and I instinctively veer towards them to pick them up, with terrible consequences, lol.

This is probably on purpose, and that's probably the hardest part of the game just because of that. I've only played it through twice, but both times I lost more lives there than anywhere else just because of instinct

[pegboy]

So did they end up using the PAL timings for Power Strike II in this release? I honestly think the OST sounds better with the NTSC timings, and the game also plays much better, PAL speed seems like playing it in slow motion.

[Jonpachi]

I finally started digging into GG Aleste 3 today, and it's great but I have a few questions:

- What does button 2 do? Nothing?
- What triggers the "Perfect" bonus? I have only had it happen in Stage 2 before the mid-boss and I don't know what I did.
- What is your preferred weapon? I seem to be sticking with C for the most part, though I also like R.

[BrianC]

So did they end up using the PAL timings for Power Strike II in this release? I honestly think the OST sounds better with the NTSC timings, and the game also plays much better, PAL speed seems like playing it in slow motion.

It seems to be closer to the PAL timings, but in 60 Hz, as far as I can tell. I played the GG Micro version of Power Strike II side by side with the EU version on mister and the pitch of the music and game speed more closely matched the PAL version. However, the mister also felt slightly faster than the game being played in actual PAL mode since it adjusted the PAL timings to NTSC. Personally, I preferred the PAL timings over NTSC because the original NTSC timing felt too fast.

It’s so cool to see what modern programmers can do on old “hardware”.

Much of the GG Aleste 3 staff actually worked on games bitd.

[Augemitbutter]

great package. Played the first 2 games exclusively so far. How do you set comfort difficulty (0) in Power Strike II? It always snaps back to normal for me.

I have two creases in my extra inlay thanks to Amazon. They don't give a shit. It's probably a bad idea to distribute these loose. Should have been inside the package. The history book is a nice bonus, quite happy about that one.

[StudioMudprints]

I have two creases in my extra inlay thanks to Amazon. They don't give a shit. It's probably a bad idea to distribute these loose. Should have been inside the package. The history book is a nice bonus, quite happy about that one.

This seems to be a common issue a lot of folks (including us) have had with this release. No bueno, for sure.

[MachineAres 1CC]

How do you set comfort difficulty (0) in Power Strike II? It always snaps back to normal for me.

Go to Rank 1 and simultaneously hold left on the d-pad and either button for a few seconds and it'll snap to 0. Just exit the options afterward and start new game.

[Augemitbutter]

How do you set comfort difficulty (0) in Power Strike II? It always snaps back to normal for me.

Go to Rank 1 and simultaneously hold left on the d-pad and either button for a few seconds and it'll snap to 0. Just exit the options afterward and start new game.

Perfect. Cheers!

[Kiken]

I finally started digging into GG Aleste 3 today, and it's great but I have a few questions:

- What does button 2 do? Nothing?
- What triggers the "Perfect" bonus? I have only had it happen in Stage 2 before the mid-boss and I don't know what I did.
- What is your preferred weapon? I seem to be sticking with C for the most part, though I also like R.

Button 2 has no function.

The PERFECT BONUS is triggered by destroying all of a certain object/enemy type within a stage.
IIRC:
Stage 1: Destroy all of the crates towards the end of the level.
Stage 2: Destroy the 7 missile firing blue mechs about midway through the level.
Stage 3: Destroy all of the left-to-right and right-to-left sliding gun placements (train cars?) in the second half of the level.
Stage 4: Destroy all of the crates again.
Stage 5: Destroy all of the spider mechs during the beginning portion of the level (even the random ones just falling off the rocket).
Stage 6: Destroy all of the eyeball mechs that spawn once the midboss is destroyed.
Stage 7: Destroy all of the high speed bonus pattern zako that spawn right before the final boss battle.

C is my preference as well. Although, A has the benefit of nullifying the flashing enemy bullets (very useful if you're having trouble with the revenge bullets on Special).

Earlier I was able to single credit Special difficulty. Got the beach scene for the ending. You can scroll the image up and down using the d-pad after the initial reveal.

[BIL]

Good to see the positive response to the collection here.

Makes me daydream of a ShotTriggers Guardian Legend. I think it'd be cute as all hell, and also could pull in some mainstream cult cred. Currently enjoying fellow Compile ARPG FC highlight Legacy of the Wizard via M2's Namco Anthology. These are both typically occasional, lazy long-players for me (2.5hrs is very doable with experience), but just avoiding their gargantuan passwords is a godsend.

*Wizard being a Falcom game, but Compile developed its beautiful FC conversion - you'd never guess it was a flipscreener, originally.

[MachineAres 1CC]

This just got here today, arrived really quick after ordering last Thursday.


SEGA aesthetic is best aesthetic.


The Aleste History book that came with the package also has some new screens and info about Aleste Branch. It's looking so damn good. The article says right at the beginning "don't worry, we're still working on it!"

[pablumatic]

Finally got my amazon.co.jp Aleste PS4 LE yesterday. The main box was crunched on one side, as per the usual for shipping from them lately.

The special PS4 case slip cover actually survived the shipping even with it just floating behind the magazine.

Just played the Game Gear mini so far. Its so tiny I can't use it. I'm going to have to play the full game soon.

[Rastan78]

Thanks for the pics. Those Aleste Branch shots look very promising.

Apparently Namiki himself has been hitting up the Switch online rankings. Look for mana 49 and try to take him down a peg or two.

[professor ganson]

Wow, love those pics!

[Jonpachi]

A game so nice, I bought it twice. I had originally bought the PS4 version, but it's the Switch that gets the most play for me as I can sneak in a few games here and there between work tasks, so I bit the bullet and ordered that version as well. I got the PS4 version from PA, but got the Switch one from Amazon jp. Here's hoping the alternate insert is still a thing.

[MachineAres 1CC]

A game so nice, I bought it twice. I had originally bought the PS4 version, but it's the Switch that gets the most play for me as I can sneak in a few games here and there between work tasks, so I bit the bullet and ordered that version as well. I got the PS4 version from PA, but got the Switch one from Amazon jp. Here's hoping the alternate insert is still a thing.

I might pick up the Switch version if it actually comes out in the West somewhere down the line cause I generally try to avoid buying anything on Switch if I can, and for now, I've got the Game Gear Micro for portable Aleste (though I also have them on my PSP)

[Rastan78]

Maybe this has been discussed but I guess there is no official way to pronouce Aleste? I always thought of it with the last e silent like Celeste. But I've also heard it as Alestey or Alesteh. I think having a name with ambiguous pronunciation should be part of the official definition of a shmup. My mind was blown that Darius is really DaRYEus.

Off topic side note: professor ganson, is that a Don Caballero album cover? I was lucky enough to hang out with those guys a few times and saw them play a lot BITD. Guess it would've been somewhere through 98 to 2000 if I remember right. A long time ago now jeez. Amazing band.

[BIL]

AFAIK it's "Arrester," as in lightning arrester, pronounced Asianly.