PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

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

Post by Perikles »

kitten wrote: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.
kitten wrote:it [Spriggan Mark II] 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.
Two highly offensive statements in one post, thou shalt be ostracized from the high 16-bit senate. Image

In all seriousness: I still cling to the opinion that Rayxanber II is not memorization-heavy, it's simply brutal. The hardest sections in the game (stages 4 & 6) are highly unpredictable and demand extemporaneous solutions, the only noteworthy methodology at work is how to kill bosses as fast as possible (using the blue weapon). Dying outside of boss battles is not much of a penalty (grab a single power-up and you're back on your feet), game's not inordinately strict as a result. All weapons have their uses although the red weapon is usually outclassed by the green weapon (which is the best for universal purposes) and the blue weapon (which has amazing point-blank capabilities). Game's also remarkably short and doesn't waste your time before it gets into the essential action. Quite an excellent console-exclusive for the PCE CD if you can handle the sometimes frustrating challenge.

Spriggan Mark II on the other hand is a Euro shmup if we're all frank here. Arbitrary enemy waves that will chip away a bit of your health from time to time, equalized by a regenerating health bar and respites in order for it to work. No stage design, no real thought anywhere, just random stuff. Side Arms (or the other two flying man games from Capcom) is how you really handle this sort of action from all sides.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by kitten »

BIL wrote: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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_XwCNsxP7I&t=16m23s

i felt like this was genuinely one of the most agonizing stretches of dead air that i've experienced in a shooter. you can actually remain perfectly still for nearly an entire, unbroken minute if you're holding down the fire button, there (you might have to do a micro adjust to make sure you pick yellow up at a vertical orientation).
Perikles wrote:In all seriousness: I still cling to the opinion that Rayxanber II is not memorization-heavy, it's simply brutal. The hardest sections in the game (stages 4 & 6) are highly unpredictable and demand extemporaneous solutions, the only noteworthy methodology at work is how to kill bosses as fast as possible (using the blue weapon). Dying outside of boss battles is not much of a penalty (grab a single power-up and you're back on your feet), game's not inordinately strict as a result. All weapons have their uses although the red weapon is usually outclassed by the green weapon (which is the best for universal purposes) and the blue weapon (which has amazing point-blank capabilities). Game's also remarkably short and doesn't waste your time before it gets into the essential action. Quite an excellent console-exclusive for the PCE CD if you can handle the sometimes frustrating challenge.
i'll maybe give rayxanber II another shot, in that case, but it seemed far from my type of shooter. i definitely admit to having not played it much - just felt very immediately offputting.
Spriggan Mark II on the other hand is a Euro shmup if we're all frank here. Arbitrary enemy waves that will chip away a bit of your health from time to time, equalized by a regenerating health bar and respites in order for it to work. No stage design, no real thought anywhere, just random stuff. Side Arms (or the other two flying man games from Capcom) is how you really handle this sort of action from all sides.
i feel like my praise for it was quite restrained and the accusation of quality was largely due to its high-quality presentation, which i did mention outshining the mechanical design. the last level feels almost like a real shooter stage (the closest it ever gets) and some of the bosses leading up to it are a bit of fun, too. i mostly brought it up in relation to emperoring's (somewhat) positive impression of macross, which i felt to be a pretty similarly undesigned shooter obsessed with its anime-aspiring presentation. there are a lot of kuso-shooters for the console and i still maintain that spriggan mark II does a fair bit to keep itself out of that kind of territory.

edit

i realized it might help if i clarify this statement - "well above pce standard in terms of quality and does float to the top of the pile of detritus"

when i say "well above pce standard," i mean that i consider the general average for pce shooters to be pretty low (there are some seriously excellent titles, but for every one of those, there's a half-dozen unremarkable ones). there are droves of significantly low quality and kuso titles, and i feel like spriggan mark II "floats to the top" of that pile of low-quality stuff while still somewhat belonging to it. i don't think particularly highly of the game, but if you're digging deep into the library, i do feel like its presentation is noteworthy and it can be pretty enjoyable, i.e. "pretty decent." here's my personal mini-review i did over on my backloggery page -

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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

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kitten wrote:i felt like this was genuinely one of the most agonizing stretches of dead air that i've experienced in a shooter. you can actually remain perfectly still for nearly an entire, unbroken minute if you're holding down the fire button, there (you might have to do a micro adjust to make sure you pick yellow up at a vertical orientation).
Pretty sure the boulders are indestructible on Mania difficulty, and have to be edged around with pixels to spare? I seem to recall suicide bullets or at least more threats in the vertical section, too. I may be completely wrong on both counts, do correct if so.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

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BIL wrote:Pretty sure the boulders are indestructible on Mania difficulty, and have to be edged around with pixels to spare? I seem to recall suicide bullets or at least more threats in the vertical section, too. I may be completely wrong on both counts, do correct if so.
i only played the first three stages on mania before quitting because i wanted to save something for whenever i bought a physical version, it's quite possible that it makes that stage significantly more interesting. what i played of mania still had the same general feeling as the rest of the game, but there were definitely upped enemy counts and i think hp increases.

i would assume mania does something to make those nooks have some sort of purpose. i was practicing weaving in and out of them on default setting before realizing you never needed to :lol: wanted to check on youtube, but couldn't find a single person playing it. criminy.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by BIL »

Ah, that definitely explains things.

TBH I think "Normal" should've been Easy and "Mania" Normal, with a third properly hard difficulty. Still, Mania's pretty decent for a milder Iremesque.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

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i came off of it just after getting back up to the point where i could relatively reliably no miss r-type, and found it really lacking, in comparison. i do agree that mania seemed more like the intended difficulty from what i had played up to, especially considering there are long stretches on normal where nothing at all is happening. perhaps this was a reaction to complaints of high difficulty in the second game?

if rayxanber III were just a bit faster, i think i'd like it a lot, but i felt even from what i played on mania, it never had that r-type level of excitement. slow, but nowhere near as cleverly methodical and stretches where i felt like i was sitting in place or just going through the motions. its lack of something like r-type's force pod also made the play feel as if it was lacking some kind of critical gimmick to make it stand out.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by Squire Grooktook »

I find Rayxanber III pretty okay difficulty and design wise by the standards of most console shooters of the time. First 2 stages are fairly easy, but it heats up fairly nicely.

About the "critical gimmick" I think that's supposed to be the boost, which is a cool idea on paper but generally falls into the realm of an esoteric veteran benefit given how difficult it is to use without crashing and how few opportunities to use it effectively present themselves over the course of most of the game*. Still kinda fun to screw around with when you have an opportunity to.

*In reference to Xanber 3, I understand it does in fact become frequently mandatory in the second half of the second game.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

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kitten wrote:there are a lot of kuso-shooters for the console and i still maintain that spriggan mark II does a fair bit to keep itself out of that kind of territory.
I'd argue that one of the strengths of the PCE is the relative lack of outright terrible games. If we combine the HuCards and CD games, we're at almost 100 shmups. Of those, I would call six terrible (Barunba, Deep Blue, Legion, Rock-On, Saint Dragon, Toilet Kids). Granted, Ai Cho Aniki is the paragon of a kusoge, but that's obviously intentional. Then there're quite a few more unspectacular, (slightly) below to (slightly) above average games like Avenger, God Panic, Hawk F-123, Psychic Storm, Terra Cresta II, Terra Forming, Toy Shop Boys... which is where I would place Spriggan Mark II. Outstanding presentation for sure, the gameplay on the other hand is not even as solid as it is in, say, Avenger. That's not to say someone can't wholly enjoy Spriggan Mark II, it most assuredly lends itself to a quick romp, the complete and utter lack of any stage structure is a serious detriment, however.
BIL wrote:
kitten wrote:i felt like this was genuinely one of the most agonizing stretches of dead air that i've experienced in a shooter. you can actually remain perfectly still for nearly an entire, unbroken minute if you're holding down the fire button, there (you might have to do a micro adjust to make sure you pick yellow up at a vertical orientation).
Pretty sure the boulders are indestructible on Mania difficulty, and have to be edged around with pixels to spare? I seem to recall suicide bullets or at least more threats in the vertical section, too. I may be completely wrong on both counts, do correct if so.
Indeed. You have to hide in the crevasses above (I don't think there's enough space below) and carefully tap backwards lest you crash into terrain once the scrolling proceeds. Quite a tense section on Maniac - it's generally not much of an increase in difficulty and I cannot stand the absurdly resilient final boss, but for the most parts, it intensifies the game neatly.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

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Perikles wrote:I'd argue that one of the strengths of the PCE is the relative lack of outright terrible games. If we combine the HuCards and CD games, we're at almost 100 shmups.
i'm curious, here - what resource did you use to compile this information so quickly? do you have a link? that would be mighty useful for me.
Then there're quite a few more unspectacular, (slightly) below to (slightly) above average games like Avenger, God Panic, Hawk F-123, Psychic Storm, Terra Cresta II, Terra Forming, Toy Shop Boys... which is where I would place Spriggan Mark II. Outstanding presentation for sure, the gameplay on the other hand is not even as solid as it is in, say, Avenger.
man, sticking spriggan mark II on a similar level as avenger and syd mead's terraforming feels outright mean ;O those games definitely have something resembling more of a traditionally designed and paced shooter, but i'll take spriggan mark II's directionless playground of neat mechs and weapons to either of those two games any day of the week. i don't even think it's a good game, just a pretty decent one, but i wouldn't call avenger or terraforming even decent. haven't played the rest, aside from psychic storm, which i actually like quite a bit (despite considering it super piss easy, but hey, i sometimes like a really easy-but-showy game).

i suppose it's important to emphasize that i consider it a cinematic shooter rather than a traditional one, and i feel like it does a good job of being like a playable OVA. i can arguably agree the shooting is technically better in avenger, but i don't think spriggan mark II is to be enjoyed as technical shooter. there's satisfying feedback when you blow stuff up and quite a variety of ways for you to do it - something i can't say for some of these other games. if you're looking for a solid shooting experience, yes, it is a failure, but even though i don't consider it a high quality game, i still think looking for solid shooting in it is missing the point.

you could still get a better ova-esque experience AND solidly mechanical game out of other titles (like valken, or hell, even leynos), but i still feel it's pretty decent at what it tries to do.
Indeed. You have to hide in the crevasses above (I don't think there's enough space below) and carefully tap backwards lest you crash into terrain once the scrolling proceeds. Quite a tense section on Maniac - it's generally not much of an increase in difficulty and I cannot stand the absurdly resilient final boss, but for the most parts, it intensifies the game neatly.
i'm interested if you agree with BIL's feedback that it feels like maniac is more the proper "normal" for the game. things like that vacant tunnel i linked make it feel normal was developed as an easy mode, but then things like you mentioning a 5 minute long final boss fight seem to make it seem like maniac is meant to be a higher difficulty. it's really hard for me to understand what the designer's intent for this game was. i feel like all the resources are there to make a great game, but they never got arranged meaningfully enough to make it there.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

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kitten wrote:i'm curious, here - what resource did you use to compile this information so quickly? do you have a link? that would be mighty useful for me.
Just added my 1CCs for both PCE platforms together (see signature link). :mrgreen: I know I'm missing the relatively recent homebrew Atlantean (if we want to count that) and both Space Invaders ports (which go on forever and can't be beaten anyway, I would imagine?), but I'm pretty sure I've cleared every other PCE shmup outside of a handful of games that one may or may not classify as a shmup in the first place (like the PCE CD Wonder Boy III - Monster Lair).
kitten wrote:[...] i still think looking for solid shooting in it is missing the point.

I respect your predilection, that's a bit of a poisoned praise nonetheless. "It really is an exciting, cinematic game, all you have to do is look past the gameplay". :mrgreen:
kitten wrote:i'm interested if you agree with BIL's feedback that it feels like maniac is more the proper "normal" for the game.
Hard to tell. III is by far the easiest game in the series as far as I know (haven't played the first game, but the universal consensus seems to be that it is easier than II yet still considerably harder than III), thus it stands to reason they intentionally deadened the challenge in it. I find it hard to believe they ever thought of a final boss fight that takes forever as the norm, might be they designed the tunnel with the Maniac difficulty at first and then changed it for it is much harder than the rest of the game, potentially upsetting the balance.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

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Perikles wrote:I respect your predilection, that's a bit of a poisoned praise nonetheless. "It really is an exciting, cinematic game, all you have to do is look past the gameplay". :mrgreen:
i still consider cinematic play to be play ;) just more passive.

to make an example of another genre, i'd never consider a call of duty to be as well made or nearly as good as doom, but i still think there's enjoyment to be had with those games in playing them. even if playing them is often passive, repetitive, and sedimentary when you get past all the flash and bombast, said flash and bombast is a hell of a charmer to get past. a lot of the joy in call of duty is in the simple, visceral feeling of aiming down the iron sights as your controller rattles along to your shots, being enveloped in the refined feedback without ever needing to play well or improve yourself. i would, however, consider most call of duty games to be more fun than something like duke nukem 3d, which is more mechanical and with a higher skill ceiling, but ultimately much, much more boring for me to play.

i feel like spriggan mark II crafts an environment where even if i'm just screwing around in a meaningless playground, it superficially feels more engaging than average, and sometimes i'm content to revel in the superficial. i think there is a type of craft to making something like that i respect a bit, even if it will never be something i appreciate as much as a mechanical masterpiece. the degree to which its presentation charms and its feedback entices (more than just "good graphics") is crafted enough that i'm willing to distract myself from the nuts & bolts of the game being haphazardly assembled or even missing. i usually refer to stuff like this as popcorn entertainment. and, again, i don't think this one is great at it, just pretty decent.
Hard to tell. III is by far the easiest game in the series as far as I know (haven't played the first game, but the universal consensus seems to be that it is easier than II yet still considerably harder than III), thus it stands to reason they intentionally deadened the challenge in it. I find it hard to believe they ever thought of a final boss fight that takes forever as the norm, might be they designed the tunnel with the Maniac difficulty at first and then changed it for it is much harder than the rest of the game, potentially upsetting the balance.
quick q - do you have or know of a play of maniac uploaded anywhere? i'd like to watch it to see how exaggerated the final boss becomes (and maybe familiarize myself with a bit of the game's latter half on that difficulty).
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

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kitten wrote:i'm curious, here - what resource did you use to compile this information so quickly? do you have a link? that would be mighty useful for me.
kitten wrote:i still consider cinematic play to be play ;) just more passive.

to make an example of another genre, i'd never consider a call of duty to be as well made or nearly as good as doom, but i still think there's enjoyment to be had with those games in playing them. even if playing them is often passive, repetitive, and sedimentary when you get past all the flash and bombast, said flash and bombast is a hell of a charmer to get past. a lot of the joy in call of duty is in the simple, visceral feeling of aiming down the iron sights as your controller rattles along to your shots, being enveloped in the refined feedback without ever needing to play well or improve yourself. i would, however, consider most call of duty games to be more fun than something like duke nukem 3d, which is more mechanical and with a higher skill ceiling, but ultimately much, much more boring for me to play.

i feel like spriggan mark II crafts an environment where even if i'm just screwing around in a meaningless playground, it superficially feels more engaging than average, and sometimes i'm content to revel in the superficial. i think there is a type of craft to making something like that i respect a bit, even if it will never be something i appreciate as much as a mechanical masterpiece. the degree to which its presentation charms and its feedback entices (more than just "good graphics") is crafted enough that i'm willing to distract myself from the nuts & bolts of the game being haphazardly assembled or even missing. i usually refer to stuff like this as popcorn entertainment. and, again, i don't think this one is great at it, just pretty decent.

quick q - do you have or know of a play of maniac uploaded anywhere? i'd like to watch it to see how exaggerated the final boss becomes (and maybe familiarize myself with a bit of the game's latter half on that difficulty).
No reaction on the fact that his "information ressource" was his own hand-on experience(1CC'd all shmups on the platform)? :mrgreen: I know I was pretty impressed! :shock:
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

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FinalBaton wrote:No reaction on the fact that his "information ressource" was his own hand-on experience(1CC'd all shmups on the platform)? :mrgreen: I know I was pretty impressed! :shock:
make no mistake, i respect perikles' completely awe-inspiring frame of reference a lot. somewhere in the the action game thread, i remarked on being concerned if he was even human.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

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kitten wrote:somewhere in the the action game thread, i remarked on being concerned if he was even human.
nice, lol
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by EmperorIng »

It's a normal reaction. What terrestrial human being can sit there and say "For the next two weeks, I'll work on polishing up my Twin Eagle - Revenge Joe's Brother strategy"? 8)
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by BIL »

^ other than Joe himself ofc. :wink: (or is the protagonist the brother of Revenge Joe? Revenge Joe's a pretty sweet username, actually. Oh SETA! You bring such mirth to the hard world of shumping!)
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by Strider77 »

Brandish, from what little I've played, is fantastic
OMG... how do you manage that weird camera. Maybe in person it's better? The videos make it look confusing as hell.
Damn Tim, you know there are quite a few Americans out there who still lives in tents due to this shitty economy, and you're dropping loads on a single game which only last 20 min. Do you think it's fair? How much did you spend this time?
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by EmperorIng »

It is confusing as hell at first. Eventually you either kinda "get it", or you don't. Some people have likened it to "what if a first-person dungeon crawler had a top-down camera?"

It's ugly and inelegant (see the PSP remake for how to do the system justice), but it if you come to grips with controlling your character like a tank, you can find a fun dungeon crawler beneath the obtuse design choices.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by CIT »

Strider77 wrote:
Brandish, from what little I've played, is fantastic
OMG... how do you manage that weird camera. Maybe in person it's better? The videos make it look confusing as hell.
When you're actually playing it yourself it's far less disorienting, since you know what direction you just turned in. However, I'd strongly recommend the PSP remake over the originals. One of Falcom's best titles for sure!
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by EmperorIng »

Aaagh, that photobucket paywall fuckery means it's going to take a while to sift through my posts and re-image things. Nothing I can't stand more than all the screenshots i took screwed over because of that shitty's site bullshit.

Image

ImageImage

Been recently playing some Iga Ninden Gao to see if Nichibutsu had what it took to make an engaging action platformer...

It seems like they did not. I feel like the majority of style/panache went into the game's opening, with some neat shots displaying this game's ugly art-style for character portraits. At it least it looked cool!

The game looks drab and lifeless. The backgrounds don't move and are barely animated, making things feel like an 8bit game. The tilesets feel random and haphazard as if the designers did not care (why are their wooden crates embedded into the middle of solid rock? Why are random... oil barrels? electric batteries? stacked two stories high in a rainbow arc over a stretch of river?). Ugly and without a unique vision.

Your character (Gao I assume) moves slowly, and has a charge attack that is weaker than your main attack. Enemies knock him back, which is a particular problem when you have small, shin-high enemies (robotic crabs, wolves, etc.), who will easily slip past your attack's hitbox and run into you over and over again. Enemy design is lame and AI is worse. Enemies seem to be a random hodge-podge of feudal Japan + robot. In theory, that should be cool (see: Super Shinobi), but here it comes off as dumb and lazy. Why are there random horse heads floating around? They act like CV's Medusa Heads, but they don't even animate. They just lazily float around like you are playing some amateur gamemaker game made by a teenager. If the game can't even take the time to animate its enemies, why should I take the time to learn how to play it "effectively"?

Last I tried I was falling asleep while I was playing through some pedestrian platforming. Maybe I was just tired but, uh, I guess Gao didn't exactly keep me riveted. I lasted about 3 or so levels before I gave up and got rid of this game.


Quality Ranking:

High
Middling
Low


Also: story is lame. Don't care. Can't skip the cutscenes entirely, but you can speed up the text. The ugly art-style (pointy noses everywhere) kinda makes you want to look away. Oh no, your friends (?) die a cutscene after you meet them. cue sad music and more 1-frame horse heads to impede you.

EDIT:

On a different note, Toaplan's Horror Story port is pretty fun, silly, and no-nonsense. Enjoyable monster mayhem, with relentless enemy rushes that make me wish I was a better gamer. However, as the game kills you quickly, restarts are made more painful with a slow, sedate, and long level 1. Replaying it can be a drag.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by Despatche »

I don't remember if PCE Horror Story is based on the older level set or not, but I remember the older level set being nicer. Stage 1 is still kinda long but makes more sense as a stage 1, for example.

Photobucket literally just put themselves out of business with that bullshit, I hope they burn. They cannot possibly have anyone willing to fund this shit. In 2017, companies do not even nickel 'n' dime, they go for the gold.

avenger is cute and i like it. everyone should give their copy of avenger a hug once in a while.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by Koa Zo »

Despatche wrote: everyone should give their copy of avenger a hug once in a while.
Indeed.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by EmperorIng »

This is no major bump, other than to say that a few enterprising folks at PCEFX have just discovered a hidden shootemup in the Telenet RPG Tenshi no Uta II. Apparently it has more than one whole stage. It's called Dark Left.

It has no music, so if you want to play it, you'd better crank some tunes to drown out those terribly loud PCE sound effects.

Video Courtesy of Black_Tiger:
Dark Left shootemup

The only way to access it is apparently putting in Tenshi no Uta II into a system with System Card 1.0 or 2.0 and input a special code, as per this blog link:
http://norondor.tumblr.com/post/1659034 ... left-found

Image

Rad title screen, at least! I suspect it must have been a canned project that got shoved into a much more lucrative game as a bonus. Judging by some pics and the vid, it can be hard to make out your ship and enemy bullets with the busy background!
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BIL
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by BIL »

Aha, always interesting to hear another of these has been unearthed! Looks more interesting than the main game, as they always seem to. Image At some point I'd like to track down that Tokimeki disc for Force Gear, and Zero Divide for Tiny Phalanx.

Hmm. I wonder if it's Euroshumpy badness, or the player's approach, keeping those big green ships alive? Would make a fairly bangin' stage 1, if you could wreck 'em all to the nice "car crash" explosion SFX.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

For EmperorIng,

The ol' trusty Turbo Everdrive can be used as a System 1.0 or 2.0 Card -- that'd be ace to try out the cool hidden PCE shmup of Dark Left.

For BIL,

Yes, Konami's Force Gear is cool to take for a spin. Suppose if Konami had decided to make Force Gear a fully fledged PCE shmup title, would it be a Super CD-Rom2 or Arcade CD-Rom2 shmup title?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
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BrianC
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by BrianC »

EmperorIng wrote:Aaagh, that photobucket paywall fuckery means it's going to take a while to sift through my posts and re-image things. Nothing I can't stand more than all the screenshots i took screwed over because of that shitty's site bullshit.

Image

ImageImage

Been recently playing some Iga Ninden Gao to see if Nichibutsu had what it took to make an engaging action platformer...

It seems like they did not. I feel like the majority of style/panache went into the game's opening, with some neat shots displaying this game's ugly art-style for character portraits. At it least it looked cool!

The game looks drab and lifeless. The backgrounds don't move and are barely animated, making things feel like an 8bit game. The tilesets feel random and haphazard as if the designers did not care (why are their wooden crates embedded into the middle of solid rock? Why are random... oil barrels? electric batteries? stacked two stories high in a rainbow arc over a stretch of river?). Ugly and without a unique vision.

Your character (Gao I assume) moves slowly, and has a charge attack that is weaker than your main attack. Enemies knock him back, which is a particular problem when you have small, shin-high enemies (robotic crabs, wolves, etc.), who will easily slip past your attack's hitbox and run into you over and over again. Enemy design is lame and AI is worse. Enemies seem to be a random hodge-podge of feudal Japan + robot. In theory, that should be cool (see: Super Shinobi), but here it comes off as dumb and lazy. Why are there random horse heads floating around? They act like CV's Medusa Heads, but they don't even animate. They just lazily float around like you are playing some amateur gamemaker game made by a teenager. If the game can't even take the time to animate its enemies, why should I take the time to learn how to play it "effectively"?

Last I tried I was falling asleep while I was playing through some pedestrian platforming. Maybe I was just tired but, uh, I guess Gao didn't exactly keep me riveted. I lasted about 3 or so levels before I gave up and got rid of this game.


Quality Ranking:

High
Middling
Low


Also: story is lame. Don't care. Can't skip the cutscenes entirely, but you can speed up the text. The ugly art-style (pointy noses everywhere) kinda makes you want to look away. Oh no, your friends (?) die a cutscene after you meet them. cue sad music and more 1-frame horse heads to impede you.
Do you know what is up with that girl on the box art? I watched a video of the game and I'm curious why she's naked throughout most of the game. From what I heard and seen of the game, I wasn't too impressed either.
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evil_ash_xero
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by evil_ash_xero »

Not a CD game, so I'm breaking the rules of this thread. But I didn't want to open up another thread for just one game.

Which version of Jackie Chan do you guys like better? The NES or the PCE? I've played thru the NES version, but am only in the first few stages of the PCE version.
I think they both have their strengths. I'm a little torn.
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

For EmperorIng,

What's your opinion of the Game Express released titles for the PC Engine platform? It's well known that Game Express Super CD-Rom2 titles needed a dedicated Game Express Card just to boot them up properly/play 'em (or you could use a Krizz Turbo Everdrive with Game Express card rom instead).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
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Bratwurst
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by Bratwurst »

evil_ash_xero wrote:Not a CD game, so I'm breaking the rules of this thread. But I didn't want to open up another thread for just one game.

Which version of Jackie Chan do you guys like better? The NES or the PCE? I've played thru the NES version, but am only in the first few stages of the PCE version.
I think they both have their strengths. I'm a little torn.
The NES version has tighter level design and more defined graphics, and the difficulty is more forgiving. The PCE version certainly looks and sounds good but it seems like the visuals suffer a little from the artists not knowing what to do with the broader color palette.
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andsuchisdeath
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Re: PC-Engine CD: The Search for Quality

Post by andsuchisdeath »

Oops.

Sorry.
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