wgogh wrote:
Also, [Lancer-Lancer-Burner-Burner] is the setup the guy from games done quick used.
For years, I assumed LLBrBr was speedrunner-only (due to them zipping past virtually every non-boss enemy). Turns out it's excellent for "normal" (ie
kill everything in sight) play, it just needs a light touch and ideally a solid upgrade route (ie knowing when to hold back, and when to just dump a full clip into a boss's face before grabbing the refill).
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I remember reading something about the developers dreaming about heaving a boss with 100 jointed parts. There is a translated interview somewhere out there.
Not sure if they're the ones you mean, but blackoak has posted a
short, intense and fairly amusing commentary from director Hideyuki Suganami, with a few AS-related interview excerpts from Masato Maegawa included.

Even by the standards of the time, AS's dev cycle sounds so wildly ambitious and brutally harried, I'm just glad the game arrived in the state it did. The only thing I find seriously lacking is WolfGunBlood. I've posted about how I'd have preferred that fight to go
elsewhere - it's not quite the "sentry at the gates of hell" battle I'd like.
Otherwise, I'm glad for the MD's limitations, and the wordless intensity they promoted. As cool as I'm sure a theoretical Saturn version might've been, I dread the thought of Guardian Heroes/Silhouette Mirage's pace-killing cutscenes. I love those games, but I almost wish they'd been on the MD too with AS, Gunstar and Headdy. Or better yet on the STV ala Radiant Silvergun.
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Seven Force Kaede
Real Name: Nanase Kaede (14) - Gender: Female - Origin: Hiroshima
Psychic pilot of the multiform robot Seven Force. Was actually killed by XiTiger, so now she is a cyborg with a sentient computer brain and has no emotions. When alive, she was Fou's best friend. She is, along with Fou Misaki, one of the X-Ages (terminology for psychic kids). With a particulary strong telekinesis, Nanase Kaede was trained to fight Scarlet as the pilot of the mecha Seven Force.
I'd assumed Kaede ambushing Fou in Act 3 was an evil trick on the enemies' part, with her being resurrected/parasitised as their ultimate soldier. This makes me wonder if it was just a tragic chance encounter. Maybe she was en route to Z-Leo as well, and simply attacked "Epsilon" on sight. From Fou's perspective, it turns what should be a minor refuelling stop (who's the ranking force on that rock otherwise? lovable jackass Melon Bread?) into a grueling battle with a cruel personal edge.
It's one of many things I'm glad is left up to the player's imagination. The fatal confrontation ends on a conspicuously sentimental note (a brief glimpse of the setting sun), that's plenty enough.
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Antroid
Real name: Yomesan Hakisuke - Age: 23 - Gender: Male
Polyergus samurai ant morphing-being. Being a master of martial arts, he makes use of quick jumps to attack.
I always thought his stance looked promising. Keep your dukes up, that's rule #1! Sadly, nobody told him the dangers of standing near the screen edge!
Ghost rider in the sky... BURNER
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Sniper Honey Viper
Real name: Daikazoku Hachibei - Age: 52 - Gender: Male [the kanji literally reads "Bee of a Large Family"]
King bee morphing-being. He dreams of creating a big Flower Garden, where babies-bees are born one after another by simple asexual reproduction. Had no intention to fight when he joined Scarlet.
Aww jeeze, this guy is my #1 target for a brutal technical face-stomping in Act 1.

Respect to Mr. Honeyviper! He may not have wanted to fight, but he did a damn fine job of it. Random flying rubble, random spawning bees, random falling grenades, an altogether tricky fellow to demolish consistently. Maybe he is the Android 16 of Alien Soldier.
