M2 Toaplan collection

[Steven]

Shop-specific bonus info is up now. Looks like 1983 will be getting its own alt cover art for Teki-Paki and ebten will have a B3 tapestry, among others. Looks like I will be spending more money on this release than I thought I would.

Tomorrow is the field test for Horror Story. I wonder what the ??? game next week will be.

Thanks for this, do you have a link for that cover offer?

https://shop.1983.jp/shop/shop.cgi?orde ... 2%E3%83%BC

[hamfighterx]

Tomorrow is the field test for Horror Story. I wonder what the ??? game next week will be.

Does the ??? game refer to the console port reveals? (I sure hope we get the MD and PCE CD versions of both Hellfire and Zero Wing!)

Schedule for the May 18 stream as reported by Gematsu is:

19:00 – Opening
19:05 – DoDonPachi Blissful Death Reincarnation – Kyoto a-cho hands-on event report, plus the premiere of a new illustration by Junya Inoue.
19:20 – Zero Fire – Announcement of console titles included in the collection, an introduction to the bonus contents of the physical edition, and an in-depth overview of the M2 Gadgets in Zero Wing and Hellfire.
20:25 – Ending

[cfx]

Promo graphic for the upcoming stream:

[Steven]

これがCERO-Bの力か！！

I think it's safe to expect PC Engine Hellfire based on that. Uemura-san has said a few times that he considers the PC Engine version's music to be superior to the PCB's music. Too bad it is the version of the game that plays the worst.

[cfx]

Given M2's penchant for arrange modes and various optional gameplay tweaks, could they fix that? I've never played Hellfire S, so I don't know specifically what the issues are and if that is even a reasonable question in this case.

Looking at a bit of a longplay video, it looks like the ship speed is very fast or maybe it just accelerates weirdly, where it is hard to control?

I see this was NEC AV, ports released by them always seemed to have quirks in my experience.

[Steven]

The problem with PC Engine Hellfire is that it's way too easy. Don't be surprised if you 1CC it the first time you play it.

[cfx]

Ah. The way the video I checked looked, it appeared the biggest challenge would be to not crash into something because of the way the ship moved. I'm sure this was emulated so it's possible it was just an emulation issue rather than how the game actually is.

I always found the Genesis Hellfire impossibly tough, so this must be quite a change.

[Steven]

PC Engine Hellfire is also unfortunately based on the older revision of the 2P version, which creates an additional problem; if you die, you can expect to do a magnificent chain death. It's not too hard to not get hit, and the game does give you a shield, but if you do die, you're going to die a lot very quickly. There's a reason that the Zero Fire trailer specifically advertises the 1P version as being Uemura-san's recommended version, not the 2P version. He was the director, lead game designer, lead programmer, and composer, so if anyone knows about that game, it's him.

The weirdest part is that the PC Engine version is actually significantly more accurate to the arcade versions than the MD version is, as the MD version is very different from the arcade, but it's really odd because either the 1P arcade version or the MD version is the best version, depending on which gameplay style you want, then arcade 2P, then PC Engine in last place.

PC Engine Hellfire did make one more somewhat minor mistake; some of the music is out of order, with the stage 2 music on stage 4 and the stage 4 music on stage 2 for some reason. Not a big problem, but it's kind of weird to not hear the Egypt music on the Egypt stage and stuff.

I actually prefer to play Hellfire at max speed. It's perfectly fine to play it that way. Zero Wing, however...

[jehu]

Would be a nice break from tradition if they allowed OST swaps in this Toaplan Garage.

Is there enough motivation to do so? Maybe. There hasn't been this much incentive in previous releases at least.

Megadrive Zero Wing OST is universally - until someone says otherwise - spoken about as superior to the PCB.
If Uemura has said that he prefers PCE Hellfire OST to PCB, then that would be another bonus.

[Steven]

I forgot where Uemura-san said PC Engine Hellfire's music is better than the PCB and now I'm trying to find it, but I can't... pretty sure he did say that at least once and now it's bothering me.

Anyway, it seems that the field test tomorrow is going to be Zero Wing again. Probably not going to go this time since I already tested it.

I forgot to mention it before, but I went to the Horror Story field test the other day and I played miserably there. Rather than admit to my badness, I will attempt to pass it off as me unfamiliar with the version of the game that I played; it was the China start version, which I had only played once before. Yeah.

[cfx]

I'm interested in Horror Story. The gameplay certainly looks janky with the weird floaty jumps, but I played the PC-Engine version years ago with initially thinking the same thing, but then surprisingly finding it to be a quite good game.

I'm undecided on buying this. I love what M2 is doing and like to support them, but I don't know if I like Hellfire and Zero Wing enough for the price. Megadrive Hellfire I do quite like (and own), but Megadrive Zero Wing I bought and sold, so I'm not sure on this.

[scrilla4rella]

Yeah, I'm not crazy pumped on this newest release (but I was totally down to pay top-dollar for KyuKyoku Tiger). My only experience with HellFire was the PCE port so it's interesting to learn that the arcade board and MD versions are better... aww shit, who am I kidding, I'm sure I'll end up throwing down for this. Horror Story looks cool too.

[Marc]

I'm playing Horror Story on Evercade at the minute. It's bang average, and gad ut been a Euro developed Amuga game, it wouldn't get a second look.

[cfx]

I'm playing Horror Story on Evercade at the minute. It's bang average, and gad ut been a Euro developed Amuga game, it wouldn't get a second look.

Is that some new German dialect?

Horror Story isn't something I'd buy the collection for, but if I do get it, I will play the game. On the other collections I feel the same about Wardner, but I will never ever touch Get Star.

[DejahThoris]

I'm playing Horror Story on Evercade at the minute. It's bang average, and gad ut been a Euro developed Amuga game, it wouldn't get a second look.

Is that some new German dialect?

Horror Story isn't something I'd buy the collection for, but if I do get it, I will play the game. On the other collections I feel the same about Wardner, but I will never ever touch Get Star.

Come now. Guardian is way better than Wardner.

[Steven]

Horror Story is fucking awesome. Version B is, anyway, and of course that's the one that nobody has played. Horror Story Ver.B is the best game in the Zero Fire collection aside from Teki-Paki. BTW does anyone need a Teki-Paki code? I will have extra codes for both systems once I get my Zero Fire copies.

Get Star is also a really nice little game. Everyone who made it REALLY likes it, especially Iwabuchi.

ebten's B3 tapestry is up. It's exactly what I expected it to look like:



lol amiami's keychain is up, too. Yeah, this might be the best one so far

[cfx]

They really missed it with that art. CATS should have been what is looming large in the background. They could have made him look more menacing and less anime-like, and it would have been just as awesome as the tiger in the back of the Tiger Heli collection.

[Sumez]

Horror Story is fucking awesome. Version B is, anyway, and of course that's the one that nobody has played

What's different in "version B"?

[Steven]

They really missed it with that art. CATS should have been what is looming large in the background. They could have made him look more menacing and less anime-like, and it would have been just as awesome as the tiger in the back of the Tiger Heli collection.

This is exactly what I was hoping for for this artwork and it's exactly what we didn't get. I am so disappointed that CATS isn't on the main artwork for this.

Horror Story is fucking awesome. Version B is, anyway, and of course that's the one that nobody has played

What's different in "version B"?

A decent amount of things, actually. The stage order is completely different, and there are different enemies and stuff. I actually don't know that much about A since I have only played it twice, but B is awesome, and much better than A, I think. The PCB for B is somewhat rare, so few people played it when it was released. It's not as rare as Enma Daiou and probably Get Star, but it's one of the more rare Toaplan PCBs. I am not sure which version the PC Engine version is, though.

[BIL]

The artwork is kind of cute, in that "generic Japanese space STG" way that NTSCJ MD Zero Wing (and Yuji Kaida's own NTSCJ Whip Rush) are... but in this case, especially with the "Garage" moniker, I would've liked to see him go for something along the lines of X68k Phalanx or PC-88 Silpheed (or his own Garegga) - that gritty hyperreal aesthetic. Hellfire's ship in particular, get the fucker bristling with detail on those gun arms.

IN THE GARAGE.mp3

Spoiler

Now that I think back, MD Whip Rush is actually pretty friggin gritty, itself. The back cover in particular is utter hardcore spacewar, dig the sense of speed and scale:

HIGH SPEED DEMENSION.mp3

Spoiler

And yeah, fuck the meme goons; CATS has earned his pride of place here. He's a legit character design. The more casual hair-down look he's sporting in the creator's recent art would be a nice twist.

Ah, anyway. Day the fuck 1 as always. Kaida peaked many decades ago with the most manful artwork the Makaimura series ever saw, which is saying something:

OPERATION IN UNSTEADY SPACE.mp3

Spoiler

[Steven]

Yeah, CATS is well-designed, and I wanted him here because he looks cool. He is supposedly the final boss of Zero Wing, too, even in the arcade version, which makes him more relevant than whatever the thing on the Zero Fire art is supposed to be. I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be the final boss of Hellfire, but it still looks pretty different from what is in the game.

I checked out PC Engine Horror Story and it's a clunky, downgraded version of A that somehow has a severe lack of colors despite being on the PC Engine. The arranged music also sucks, which is exceedingly disappointing because Horror Story has some awesome music. Looks like NEC Avenue once again crapped out another C-tier port of a good game. Stick with the arcade versions instead.

[Marc]

I'm playing Horror Story on Evercade at the minute. It's bang average, and gad ut been a Euro developed Amuga game, it wouldn't get a second look.

Is that some new German dialect?

Horror Story isn't something I'd buy the collection for, but if I do get it, I will play the game. On the other collections I feel the same about Wardner, but I will never ever touch Get Star.

Ha, late night, beer, and touch screens.

I find the entire Get Star puzzling also, seems to be an incredibly poor Kung Fu Master clone?

[Steven]

Stream time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CMDCXGPEdg

Fuck yeah, AYB CATS was in the trailer. He's also in the direct menu. I like how they designed the direct menu this time.

lol now they are showing off the English "translation" of Zero Wing. It unfortunately looks like they have European Zero Wing running at 50FPS. I guess that's "correct" in a way, but nobody wants to play it like that.

Well, they just revealed who made CATS; yep, it's Hayashi Miho. She's doing the art for the Horror Story cover. I was hoping she would show up, and here she is. She showed me an updated version of the CATS art that I posted a while ago and it's even better than the original version. She's REALLY DAMN GOOD. The final version of this will be fucking awesome.

[BIL]

She's doing the art for the Horror Story cover.

Oh man that should own

(only reason I say "should" is, the ZeroFire cover is by an accredited legend in Yuji Kaida, and he apparently had his one off day in thirty-odd years >_> )

[Steven]

Believe me, Hayashi Miho won't disappoint. She's the best. Trust me. Even looking at the rough draft, you can already tell it's going to be awesome.

Spoiler

BTW here are the stickers

Spoiler

Hell yeah, more CATS art. Now will people believe me when I say Japan knows about all your base are belong to us? I might swap some of the stickers in my Astro City's instruction space for these if these fit.

Well, might as well go all-out; I can now finally show off the world's only English Zero Wing signed by the creator of CATS; that's Hayashi Miho on the right in silver, along with Iwadare Noriyuki on the left and Uemura-san at the top. I wonder how much I could sell it for, but no, I'm NEVER selling it lol

Spoiler

[BIL]

Iwadare, there's a name I've not heard in STG context for a while. Sharp choice! Guys like him and Sakimoto are the warrior kings of FM Synth, those custom drivers...

Love the makeover on Horror Story's schlubby exterminator dudes, makes me think of Cyber-Lip.

[hamfighterx]

Nice, CATS art on the MD Euro version! Glad to see MD/PCE versions of both games, including regional variants.

[BIL]

I gotta say, while I was never compelled to try out the PCE/CD versions of these games on hardware (see also Kyuukyoku Tiger, Daisenpu & Tatsujin) - seeing them lined up next to the AC and MD ones sure is nice, from archival standpoint. (I just associate Toaplan really strongly with the MD, I suppose - even the stuff not actually ported by them, like Kyuukyoku Tiger and Wardner and V-V just feels like it belongs there with Tatsujin, SameSame and Daisenpu... probably the snapcase fiend in me talking, haha)

No surprise, ofc. M2 have been killing it @ comprehensive sets for damn near two decades now, going back to the PS2's AGES 2500 Space Harrier II, Treasure Box, Fantasy Zone, Phantasy Star, Monster World.

[SavagePencil]

Iwadare, there's a name I've not heard in STG context for a while. Sharp choice! Guys like him and Sakimoto are the warrior kings of FM Synth, those custom drivers...

Love the makeover on Horror Story's schlubby exterminator dudes, makes me think of Cyber-Lip.

I always thought the blue dude from Horror Story bore a resemblance to Todd (of Slime World fame).

[BydoR9]

I did a quick Google Lens translation on M2's video earlier. It seems to me that all the versions (PCe, MD, Arcade variants) will be on the disc.

Can anyone confirm this?