PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

Yes, that'd be the "NEC Arcade Pad 6" that came bundled with the Duo-RX console and available as a separate gamepad purchase as well. You still had to buy either the NEC Arcade Card Duo or the Arcade Card Pro in order to play any of the Arcade CD-Rom2 titles on the Duo-RX (it would've been interesting to see NEC release the Duo-RX with built-in Arcade CD-Rom2 support from the get-go but naturally, it'd increase the overall MSRP if it was implemented -- so thus it was rather graced with Super CD-Rom2 support from the get-go instead -- makes for smart business sense on NEC's part in going this particular route in retrospect).

NEC also released another official 6-button endowed gamepad under the name of "NEC Avenue Pad 6" with two nifty bonuses/upgrades: built-in auto-fire + slo-mo functionality both on the fly -- how cool is that?

Heck, there was supposed to a bundled deal with some Arcade CD-Rom2 game titles along with an Arcade Card Duo to be sold in the USA for Turbo Duo gamers/owners but that particular deal fell flat rather quickly -- so one had to resort to the specialty import gaming retailers to get their PCE Arcade CD-Rom2 fix back in 1993 to 1995. Those were the waning twilight days of PC Engine gaming lore.

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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by BIL »

WelshMegalodon wrote:the CD port of Ryuuko no Ken
Fuck me, those load times are atrocious :shock: I'm nowhere as interested in fighters as I am other arcade staples, but I always enjoy a bit of casual porting archaeology... that's rough as hell. Puts the awful Arcade CD Strider in perspective. At least you don't go bald between rounds there.

Oh also, rock n' roll kneesliding into not just one (arcade legend!) but two (late NEC release!) tangents: Rainbow Islands is a quality! Picked up a copy recently. Unfortunately the monster difficulty seems nerfed, despite the choice of easy or normal levels. Island 3 vampires and frankensteins are slow. It's ok though, the AC's beautiful, beautiful jump and rainbow mechanics are bang on, and the fiendishly tricky item spawn/secret systems seem accurate too. Graphics seem perfect, bar minor breakup under extreme load. Likewise, there's a little slowdown when things absolutely boil over - craptons of rainbows, starbursts and vanquished enemies exploding - but nothing that feels at all untoward. Music is copyright-skirting redbook perfection, load times are minimal.

It's a shame they didn't go that last yard with AC monster intensity (or did they? can't find anything on difficulties besides the default easy/normal). Ultimately though, it's best taken as a mild consolising of the AC game - you can restart or return to an island if you screw up the true ending requirements, at the cost of one life, and save/load later too if that's your thing. You can also greatly simplify the secret room paths by toggling the top option, allowing the collection of gems out of ROYGBIV order. Naturally all of these amenities can be ignored for classic one coin play.

Ala Gradius II, Forgotten Worlds and Cotton, it's not strictly "arcade perfect," but thoroughly satisfying regardless. A work of love - strong recommend. Sorry ING-san, I know you already listed it in OP! But I hads to say it. :cool:
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by EmperorIng »

Not at all! I have from post 1 welcomed other takes on the CD library. Yours is much appreciated. :mrgreen:

I need to find a translation of the menu options in Rainbow Islands because I have no clue what I'm doing. I'm also happy you note the differences between versions because too long is it parroted that the PCE-CD port is "arcade perfect" - differences matter for these 80s arcade ports, dammit! Being unfamiliar with the arcade original I have no frame for reference, which is not helped by the ease by which I die on world 3.

Right now I am playing on and off Falcom's Popful Mail. The PCE-CD port is about as close as a port/remake of the PC98 original as there is. Flavorful mix of light platforming challenges with Ys-bump combat - but with weapon-specific button inputs as well. No EXP means that only gold and equipment determine how well you do and how well you survive, which in some ways takes a need for grinding out of the mix... a little bit anyhow. Just like Mail herself, you end up being a greedy bastard who's in it for the money, fuckers! Getting too cocky or greedy without the requisite healing, equipment, and character swapping will result in a swift biffing:

Image

While large stretches of the game are not challenging, it is chock full of Falcom charm, especially courtesy of everyone's most popful Mail and her two cohorts. There are some parts that the PC design irks - bosses whose attacks seem to be beyond your meager ability to dodge without tanking some major damage. The only thing that majorly hinders enjoyment is the lack of knowledge of Japanese that sometimes forces one to look at a FAQ (I was stuck for months before finding out that I needed to farm for 5 gold bars in a volcanic mine in order to pay off one of the resident miners). Also a little character imbalance: using Gaw's superior strength and Tatto's ranged attacks unfortunately tends to sideline the delightful-but-average main heroine for too long (maybe this changes later on).

I would say it's about as good as most Falcom games from this era - that is to say, very good! They really showered the system with much love: Brandish, from what little I've played, is fantastic. Xanadu 2 is pure eye-candy (fan-translation due out this year, I believe!), and the Ys games (the fourth one also fan-translated!) are rightfully legendary - except for the third being more legendary for its weird side-scrolling and horrendous English VO!
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by BIL »

AFAIK (with the caveat of fatigue and booze, also, not exact translations!): from top to bottom, the first screen is "New Game" and "Continue Game." The lower will save between sessions.

If you choose NG for a clean slate, the top option is "Gem Order," the middle is "Difficulty," the bottom is "Start Game." By default the options are "Arcade + Normal." Toggle 'em for "Free + Easy." <_< Or mix and match! If you forget which you've set to which and don't want to bother memorising characters (I can't be arsed atm!), just soft reset - they'll return to the defaults.

Basically, free gem order lets you grab small gems - created by killing enemies with shattered rainbows ala Suspiria, with gem colour determined by the vertical strip of screen where the vanquished bugger lands - in any order. Complete the set for a 1UP and instant access to the secret door at the boss. Arcade rules demand that you collect them in ROYGBIV sequence, or the inverse. Fail to do this, and you'll still get the extend and treasure chest post-boss, but no secret room.

Note that it's ok to create gems out of order - just don't collect 'em. Beautiful, beautiful precision fire system, reminds me of Raiden Fighters. TRIPLE FAST RAINBOW will tear the screen apart but they'll also bone your gem order - and then you'll need to restart, and you'll be back at single slow rainbows! :O STUNT OR DIE

PCE Popful's purported proximity to PC98 promptly piques my pecker! Always down with those vintage Japanese PC-to-console efforts. ALSO I've just realised why Mail's character design always gave me funny feelings in my naughtiness detector™ That particular presentation of a lissome animu OR 3D cutie's leg is so alluring ¦3 oh god help me. 3: Also PUT SOME FUCKIN PANTS ON TOOTS, THAT FEMORAL ARTERY SHIT AINT NO FUCKIN PICNIC :O

Definitely checking it out - so far Compile's beautiful FC port of Dragon Slayer IV is my lone foray into Falcom on console. Silly action in formidable subterranean labyrinth edit: hey... the status bars in that screenshot look kinda familiar!
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by WelshMegalodon »

EmperorIng, have you looked into the MS-DOS ports of the first three Brandish games? They were only released in Korea (along with Eiyuu Densetsu 1-4, Zwei!!, and some obscure Compile games), but they appear to be direct ports of the PC-98 releases. I haven't had any success with DOSbox.
BIL wrote:ALSO I've just realised why Mail's character design always gave me funny feelings in my naughtiness detector™ That particular presentation of a lissome animu OR 3D cutie's leg is so alluring ¦3 oh god help me. 3: Also PUT SOME FUCKIN PANTS ON TOOTS, THAT FEMORAL ARTERY SHIT AINT NO FUCKIN PICNIC :O
You'd like the box art for Langrisser II. Or you probably did, considering how often Urushihara's name has come up in the past.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by BIL »

Urushihara does tend to perturb my hentai battle station, even sweet innocent CRAIRE from ASValken! The stern leadership of CHACK JOHNSTON aka HENTAI COLONEL keeps me in line there though. On the Falcom/Dragon Slayer tip though, fuckin DSII: Xanadu MSX boxart yo. Datsa KYOOT LIL ANIMU BUTT ¦3
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(aww sheeit I just keep hittin' them segues! pls see PCE-CD GAIN GROUND SX for manly butt ver! It's the best alternative I know of anyway :O )
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by wgogh »

EmperorIng wrote:Not at all! I have from post 1 welcomed other takes on the CD library. Yours is much appreciated. :mrgreen:

I need to find a translation of the menu options in Rainbow Islands because I have no clue what I'm doing. I'm also happy you note the differences between versions because too long is it parroted that the PCE-CD port is "arcade perfect" - differences matter for these 80s arcade ports, dammit! Being unfamiliar with the arcade original I have no frame for reference, which is not helped by the ease by which I die on world 3.

Right now I am playing on and off Falcom's Popful Mail. The PCE-CD port is about as close as a port/remake of the PC98 original as there is. Flavorful mix of light platforming challenges with Ys-bump combat - but with weapon-specific button inputs as well. No EXP means that only gold and equipment determine how well you do and how well you survive, which in some ways takes a need for grinding out of the mix... a little bit anyhow. Just like Mail herself, you end up being a greedy bastard who's in it for the money, fuckers! Getting too cocky or greedy without the requisite healing, equipment, and character swapping will result in a swift biffing:

Image

While large stretches of the game are not challenging, it is chock full of Falcom charm, especially courtesy of everyone's most popful Mail and her two cohorts. There are some parts that the PC design irks - bosses whose attacks seem to be beyond your meager ability to dodge without tanking some major damage. The only thing that majorly hinders enjoyment is the lack of knowledge of Japanese that sometimes forces one to look at a FAQ (I was stuck for months before finding out that I needed to farm for 5 gold bars in a volcanic mine in order to pay off one of the resident miners). Also a little character imbalance: using Gaw's superior strength and Tatto's ranged attacks unfortunately tends to sideline the delightful-but-average main heroine for too long (maybe this changes later on).

I would say it's about as good as most Falcom games from this era - that is to say, very good! They really showered the system with much love: Brandish, from what little I've played, is fantastic. Xanadu 2 is pure eye-candy (fan-translation due out this year, I believe!), and the Ys games (the fourth one also fan-translated!) are rightfully legendary - except for the third being more legendary for its weird side-scrolling and horrendous English VO!
Having cleared first the Sega CD version, maybe I could play that one without relaying on a FAQ...
I remember that grinding for money, at least on the version I've played, wasnt necessary. It was just that it was fun to do. Also, you talk about character imbalance, but I remember using Mail for most of the time, rarely even seeing Tatt.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by MJR »

What a delight to find this thread, when I just purchased myself a mint-condition RGB-modded PC-Engine Duo R! ^_^

To me the biggest attraction was Cho Aniki - I love this game to bits. The atmosphere is totally out of this world, and I just love the soundtrack. That was also the game I bought first.

My future purchases will be Gradius 2 and Dracula X. I tried both on cd-r copies, and they just oozed quality.

I think PC-Engine Duo/R/RX is, for me, one of the pinnacles of enjoyment a video game system can give. It is my favourite console.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by EmperorIng »

Nice! If I was to recommend cheap(er) games, looking at my list on the OP, I'd say Brandish is a good dungeon-crawl (though try it to see if you can get used to the camera and controls, because it is very jarring at first), Popful Mail for another colorful RPG (read the caveat below though) or Legend of Xanadu II, another polished Falcom RPG with Ys-like combat + side-scrolling boss fights, Super Darius - though the graphics show their age, it is a fun port and update of the original Darius - and L-Dis, another Masaya (devs of Cho Aniki) shooter with zany goings-on.

One thing I forgot to mention about Popful Mail, which does bring down the experience a bit: the game does like to indulge in unskippable voiced-cutscenes. These aren't the charming animated scenes, but just hearing voices talk to one another while the sprites sit there. Most frustrating if you saved before one of them and died afterwards, because you are forced to hear it again! :x While the voice-acting is good a la a CD drama, you just kind of want to get back into the game and start bobbing heads and bum-rushing raccoons to death.

Unless there is a way to skip past them (I haven't found it), it is bit of a smear on an otherwise fun experience. They never nearly get anywhere close to the absurd lengths of the awful Fiend Hunter (see my post earlier in the topic bitching about FIFTEEN-MINUTE UN-FUCKING-SKIPPABLE HORSESHIT GARBAGE TALKING), but it nonetheless slipped my mind when gushing about the game.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by gbaplayer »

MJR wrote:What a delight to find this thread, when I just purchased myself a mint-condition RGB-modded PC-Engine Duo R! ^_^

To me the biggest attraction was Cho Aniki - I love this game to bits. The atmosphere is totally out of this world, and I just love the soundtrack. That was also the game I bought first.

My future purchases will be Gradius 2 and Dracula X. I tried both on cd-r copies, and they just oozed quality.

I think PC-Engine Duo/R/RX is, for me, one of the pinnacles of enjoyment a video game system can give. It is my favourite console.
Be prepared to spend a lot of money on some games, Dracula X is one of them these days.
I owned Nexzr and Sylphia a few years ago and regret selling them. But still i have a little over 100 games left in my collection
and i got myself a bunch from Hit-Japan (Ebay) yesterday, Aldynes was one of them. Hope it is worth the 200€ i spent for it.

But then again, excellent choice picking up that beautiful console. :)

@Topic: The RPGs are all very amazing and i played through nearly 40 of them already.
Neo Metal Fantasy, Ys IV, Far East of Eden I-III, Gulliver Boy, Princess Minerva, Legend of Xanadu I+II, Dragon Knight I-III, Tenshi no Uta I-II are especially great.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by BIL »

gbaplayer wrote:I owned Nexzr and Sylphia a few years ago and regret selling them.
Nexzr's regular or Special/Summer Carnival edition? The latter's still relatively cheap+common, and the superior of the two quite frankly (score attack > cutscenes). I was kinda glad their prices weren't the other way around, haha. Aldynes is really cool (got one myself) but I'd absolutely never be without Nexzr Special.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by gbaplayer »

I mean the regular edition of Nexzr. Didn´t know that the Summer Carnival one was the better...
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by EmperorIng »

Summer Carnival Nexzr replaces the cutscenes of the original in favor of a score-attack caravan mode. About the only thing it really loses is the magnificent cover art of the original.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by BIL »

You can't go wrong with either tbh - the main game's the thing and it is magnificent - but given the choice of coverart+cinemas or caravan+cash I ain't hesistate. Also, even if I'd gone with regular I'd be possessed by neurotic fury to get Special anyway, to complete the Naxat Summer Carnival quartet with Spriggan, Recca and Al's A Dick. :cool:
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

For EmperorIng,

What are your thoughts and opinions about the original JPN version of Magical Chase and it's USA region TTI counterpart of the same name? A Turbo Everdrive is essential to be able to play them both as not to break the bank or your wallet these days, right?

It was common to see the mail-order business by the name of Turbo Zone Direct based out of Southern California sell brand new copies of the TTI Magical Chase for a mere $39.99 USD back in 1994-1996. Of course, Toys-R-Us was selling their TTI MC stock at a discounted price of $19.99 back in February of 1994 -- that is a given.

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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by EmperorIng »

I've heard the TTI release was mildly improved. I admit I haven't played Magical Chase yet, even in Ootake, but it's one of those games I've considered ordering a custom HuCard for - though the Everdrive is probably a smarter and wiser investment. For what it's worth (and that's much I would say! :wink: ) Perikles considers it one of the best 16bit shooters with an actually-developed scoring system.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by BrianC »

EmperorIng wrote:I've heard the TTI release was mildly improved. I admit I haven't played Magical Chase yet, even in Ootake, but it's one of those games I've considered ordering a custom HuCard for - though the Everdrive is probably a smarter and wiser investment. For what it's worth (and that's much I would say! :wink: ) Perikles considers it one of the best 16bit shooters with an actually-developed scoring system.
Everdrive is my way of playing it. I like how it can play both versions.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by wgogh »

I would like to know the RPGs that were translated to english. On the PC Engine, I imagine that the were few (Already played Ys series)
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by EmperorIng »

wgogh wrote:I would like to know the RPGs that were translated to english. On the PC Engine, I imagine that the were few (Already played Ys series)
On the CD, officially:

Cosmic Fantasy 2
Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes
Dungeon Explorer 2
Dungeon Master: Theron's Quest
Exile
Exile: Wicked Phenomenon (avoid this garbage at all cost; even the Japanese version)
Heroes of Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra
Ys 1&2
Ys 3

Of the ones I've played, I can only recommend Ys 1&2, Dungeon Explorer 2, and kinda Exile (it's a neat game but not a must-play).

These games have fan translations:

Startling Odyssey 2
Ys 4: Dawn of Ys (with a fandub)
Xak III: The Eternal Recurrence

Falcom's PCE-CD exclusives, Legend of Xanadu 1 and 2, are both slated to be released as fan-translated (and dubbed, optionally) some time this year. Or so I am told. There may be work done on Emerald Dragon afterwards, as the hard task of hacking in an English script for that is already completed.

edit: forgot Dragon Slayer! Dragon Slayer V: Sorcerian also got a CD release, but that is Japanese only and its menu system is very convoluted (as opposed to the JPN Brandish, Popful Mail, and Xanadu games).
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by WelshMegalodon »

The first Eiyuu Densetsu also received a CD release.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by wgogh »

Thanks for the complete answer. Not that many, as I suspected. Dungeon Explorer 2 seems to be my cup of tea.
I'm also curious with Exile for being the guys who made Valis, I'll look for a youtube video.

I'm far from being able to afford a PC-Engine and its games, the shipping and coin changes would be fortunes, but still have appreciation for the console.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by gbaplayer »

You can play most RPGs with the guides available. Ain´t too bad, just try it. ;)
I wonder why nobody translates the Tengai Makyou games or Gulliver Boy.

The 2 Exile games are good but really short. Sadler is a bad-ass. :)

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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by BrianC »

Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes also has an official English version.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by gbaplayer »

Stupid question: Is Aldynes only working on a Super Grafx system and not on the PC Engine Duo R? My Aldynes won´t boot on my Duo R. :(
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by EmperorIng »

Aldynes will only work on a SuperGrafx system. This goes for all five SuperGrafx releases.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by gbaplayer »

Ok, learning something new everyday. ^^

I bought an Aldynes without knowing that it won´t work on my Duo R. XD
No i think i will never ever play it. The Super Grafx prices seem ridiculous.

Funny fact, it boots for around 2-3 seconds with sound and then there is a pink screen.^^
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by Ex_Mosquito »

No love for Rayxanber 2? Excellent hori shooter with an amazing soundtrack. It's a bit of a memoriser, more so than R-Type, but it plays really nice. I can't believe it's a standard CD-ROM game either. Great stuff!
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by EmperorIng »

RayXanber 2 is like repeatedly slamming myself into a brick wall, hoping with successive attempts that the wall is crumbling bit by bit in order to let me through to the next wall.

At the moment, that wall is stage 4, entirety of, but not too long ago it was stage 3, entirety of.

Fantastic visuals and music, but sometimes I think it is a little bit too much!

I picked up a bootleg Dungeon Master: Theron's Quest a little while ago, so I am interested in seeing how that is, since I've been getting into older western RPGs recently.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by kitten »

EmperorIng wrote:RayXanber 2 is like repeatedly slamming myself into a brick wall, hoping with successive attempts that the wall is crumbling bit by bit in order to let me through to the next wall.

At the moment, that wall is stage 4, entirety of, but not too long ago it was stage 3, entirety of.

Fantastic visuals and music, but sometimes I think it is a little bit too much!

I picked up a bootleg Dungeon Master: Theron's Quest a little while ago, so I am interested in seeing how that is, since I've been getting into older western RPGs recently.
i didn't care for rayxanber II at all, personally. felt amateurish and highly memorization intensive. really boring weapon system, too. ended up only playing it a little bit before dropping it.

rayxanber III is (pretty widely) considered to be a pretty big improvement over II, but it's got a lot of incredibly dull stretches of dead air that will nearly put you to sleep, even on its harder difficulty mode. art and music up to par with some of the finest pce releases (along with horrible, grating sound effects - why is this such a common thing on pce? :lol: ), though, i really think its visual identity is tremendously impacting. much less memorization, too, but still a memorizer-type shooter. still not particularly great and nothing to justify its absurd price tag, but i was charmed enough by it to want to eventually pick up a physical copy, anyway. i played through it several times on a burned copy where my roommate (bless her heart) lovingly drew the logo artwork onto the cd with a sharpie. plenty of 1cc's, but was never able to do a no miss. would always die once (or sometimes twice) during a lapse in concentration due to all the dead air.

- - - - -

has spriggan mark II already been recommended anywhere in the thread? ain't a goddamn thing like the first thing (for starters: it's horizontal), but i found it to be of a pretty decent quality. in the same kind of vein as macross 2036, in what is almost a pc engine cd exclusive shooter subgenre - more focused on its presentation than its mechanics, with plenty of interruptions (that you can choose to completely disable, thankfully) for story bits and enemy formations that make more sense in an anime than they do in a game.

has a very assault suits valken-esque story and progression, which is quite a bit of fun. i could never understand what on earth they're saying due to not being a japanese speaker, but like any shonen-esque anime, you can pretty much tell just by reading their facial expressions and tone of voice. former ally turned evil, regretful death of the one woman character ( :roll: ), colony drop because of anger at earth governments, etc. you've probably seen all this stuff somewhere or another and will be able to tell what's happening.

it doesn't play super great, but i would say it's well above pce standard in terms of quality and does float to the top of the pile of detritus. notably better than the macross game, in my opinion, too. as you progress, your ship naturally gets more parts without having to mess with a shop, and you get to choose between different general loadouts. the weapons are a lot of fun to use, even if the limited ammo feels nonsensical in a shooter like this. i particularly liked the sword weapon and how even when it was out of ammo, you could drive it into enemies without swinging and still deal damage (which, given the aforementioned preference for enemy formations maintaining anime presentation, is easy to do - they're not very smart). i got this down to a no miss on default settings relatively quickly and had fun while doing so.

i played this on another roommate-drawn-sharpie-copy, but have a physical one arriving in a couple days and might try some higher difficulty meddling.
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BIL
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Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 12:39 pm
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by BIL »

kitten wrote:rayxanber III is (pretty widely) considered to be a pretty big improvement over II, but it's got a lot of incredibly dull stretches of dead air that will nearly put you to sleep, even on its harder difficulty mode.
The opening battleship defense is alarmingly long-winded (though it at least lets the player entertain themselves with lots of charge-shottable zako formations intent on scuffing the mothership's paint job). I wouldn't describe the rest of the game in anywhere near those terms, however... "dead air" implies to me literally nothing is happening, ala much of R-Type III or Final's opening stages. RXIII is generally pretty good at keeping a variety of things happening, it's even pretty busy at times.
Last edited by BIL on Sun Apr 23, 2017 11:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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