PS1 IS: Internal Section...

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dave4shmups
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PS1 IS: Internal Section...

Post by dave4shmups »

All I know about this game is that it's a rail shooter, developed by Squaresoft, where the weapons represent signs in the Chinese Zodiac.

This site: http://www.digitpress.com/archives/didy ... shmups.htm
goes so far as to call it "the precursor to Rez"! :shock:

Is it really that good, and is it worth purchasing if you love rail shooters?

Man, now that we have Shooting Specials for the Saturn and the Neo Geo, it would be great to see a PS1 Shooting Special!
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Post by Ganelon »

Well, it's really pretty much just Tempest. Only the abstract backgrounds and the fact that you can put your music CDs in to change the art depending on the flow of the music makes a connection to Rez.
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Post by dave4shmups »

Ganelon wrote:Well, it's really pretty much just Tempest. Only the abstract backgrounds and the fact that you can put your music CDs in to change the art depending on the flow of the music makes a connection to Rez.
Thanks for that feedback! :D So, in terms of "fun factor", how would you compare Internal Section to Jaguar Temepest 2000-the best of the Temepest games?

And what about the Chinese Zodiac based weaponry? It's always interesting to find cultural things like that in shmups, IMO! :D
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Post by Ganelon »

Well, to be honest, I've never liked rail and tube shooters so I'm afraid I can't really make that judgment. IS is definitely just as repetitive as the rest...

As for the zodiac weapons, to be honest, they could be called anything and it wouldn't make a bit of difference (sorta like Silhouette Mirage's sin-based weapons, which are also completely arbitrary). You don't exactly turn into the animals nor does the firing patterns have anything to do with the animal weapon used.
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Turrican
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Post by Turrican »

On a side note, I've been looking for this one for quite a bit. If anyone is selling...
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Post by Thunder Force »

It's Gyruss meets Rez. It plays purely like the former though with bosses added, not actually a rail shooter. Definitely among Squaresoft's all-time best games.

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Post by BenT »

I find it incredibly boring. I just have it to ogle the nice graphics once in a while. I was never a Tempest fan, but I prefer Tempest to iS.
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Post by dave4shmups »

Thunder Force wrote:It's Gyruss meets Rez. It plays purely like the former though with bosses added, not actually a rail shooter. Definitely among Squaresoft's all-time best games.

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Well that's good to hear! Yeah it is hard to find, I'm looking for one on Ebay, and haven't found one yet.
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Post by NRS »

NFG has a pretty good review up... although somewhat cryptic
http://nfg.2y.net/games/is

And I agree with Thunder Force on "it's Gyruss meets Rez."
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Post by Kiken »

VGI currently have a copy in stock:
http://www.videogameimports.com/get_gam ... w=8&side=1
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Updated: 12-15-05 - the 411 on iS: internal section...

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

iS: internal section is a Japanese PSX release only that runs in 16-bit graphics mode at 60 frames per second framerate for silky smooth gaming action + is presented in 640 x 480 (highest resolution mode that the PSX can output anyways). It isn't surprising that the entire internal section game data on a standard PSX game disc is a measly 206MB out of a 650MB to 700MB PSX game disc...Squaresoft could've added some more extra programming to extend the replayability factor of internal section but did not choose to do so. I was hoping that Squaresoft would at least release a sequel or at the very least, an append disc that would need the orginal internal section game disc to open up new stages & challenges for the discerning internal section gamer to play...but that was not to be. And so, just the single disc of internal section is all that remains to this very day for the unsuspecting virgin internal section player to pick up & play.

Lots of cool brightly-lit neon colored bullet-filled barrages in each stage. It is possible to selectively pick your favorite zodiac weapons out of the 12 total available and save it to a PSX memory card for your customized gaming prefferences.

The true goal is to see if you can 1cc on both difficulty settings. At the end of each iS gaming session (assuming you beat it), there are several different info screens telling you how well you did including a mysterious "password" that changes each you complete the game. There are several factors in determing this so-called mysterious password. Play internal section enough times & you'll find out what factors come into play in order to generate it.

internal Section was slated for a USA PSX release but SquareUSA (then at the time back in 1999-2000) but decided not to...it would've been regarded as one of the cult PSX games to own...this one is a keeper in your gaming stash alrighty! ^_~

There are eight stages in all. On each stage, you'll notice a small dim white colored circle...shoot it with the appropiate weapon, and out comes a fish. On some stages, there are more than one circle to shoot down to collect the hidden fish or fishes (which added up, thus changing the overall scoring at the eventual conclusion of the game).

Plus how many times an internal section player spins to the "right" or the "left" is detailed at the conclusion of a gaming session as well.

On the stage where the internal section player battles a piece of newspaper end-stage boss, by simply picking up either English letter character or numerals or even Japanese kanji...it is possible to spell out a simple phrase or word (or even perhaps a name if one wishes to do so). But most of the time, the player will be too busy concentrating on fighting the "newspaper boss from hell" to be able to spell anything...it will be mostly by good old fashion luck to spell out something remotely that resembles a word or phrase. More times often than not, it will be a mixture of both Japanese & English gibberish. Whatever the player has accumulated at the end of the demise of the newspaper boss, the internal section gaming engine remembers what the player has spelled and it too is displayed at the conclusion of an internal section gaming session (if beaten with no continues, of course).

On the default difficulty level, one may continue as many times as he or she likes...however on the secondary harder difficulty setting, the CPU rebukes the player for continuing, thus attempting to 1cc on the "Hard" difficulty setting is the primary goal for an internal section rookie to attempt. (It took me 47 continues to finally beat the "Hard" setting on the internal section game itself...very tough beast to beat it, let alone 1cc it).

On the stage that has a bunch of mini-puzzles for the internal section gamer to solve, the four colored dots at the four corner edges of each respective puzzle will change from green ---> to yellow ---> to red ---> then vanish (if the player hasn't solved it after the dots vanish, then it's time to move on to the next mini puzzle to try to solve). The real goal is to solve each mini puzzle when the tiny neon-colored dots are green, thus earning the player the maximum point value possible to his or her overall score.

----------------------------
There are several key factors that determine the customized "mysterious" password at the conclusion of the game:

1.) How many fish (or fishes) uncovered on each particular stage

2.) How many mini-puzzles correctly solved in the stage that contains them

3.)How many rolls to either the "right" or the "left" during an entire single completed gaming session of internal section

4.) What English and/or Japanese kanji/letter/numerals picked up during the newspaper end-stage boss fight

5.) How many reserve lives remaining at conclusion of gaming session

I have reason to believe that Squaresoft was probably going to put up a special internal section "web ranking" website where ace internal section player could post their special custom generated password given to them at the conclusion of their gaming session and see where they place among the world's best internal section players. I checked on the Japanese Square's site back in 1999-2000 to see if there was such a special internal section web ranking site, but none was ever created. Would've cool to see it having been implemented though.
--------------------------

On the back of the internal section manual, the official tagline states: "welcome to the devil's kaliedelscope" sets the stage for the virgin internal section player to enter at his or her own risk.

-------------------
Some related internal section goods released for the Japanese market:

An official Digicube release of the internal section OST music CD was released in Japan with all the original BGM tunes found in the game + two extra bonus music tracks not featured in the game itself.

Squaresoft also released an official internal section strategy guide for the clueless internal section players to get the most out of playing it to the maximum potential.
-------------------

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
Last edited by PC Engine Fan X! on Thu Dec 15, 2005 9:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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More revelant info regarding internal section...

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

My above earlier post regarding the cult PSX gaming classic of internal section has been updated today on December 15, 2005. Please check it out for more revelant info on internal section not found anywhere on the internet but here.

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Post by velocity7 »

With a bit of programming and disassembly, it would be possible for someone to generate their own Internet Rankings of sorts for this game.
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And would you like to see if it could be done?...

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

velocity7 wrote:With a bit of programming and disassembly, it would be possible for someone to generate their own Internet Rankings of sorts for this game.
Yo velocity7,

And would you like to see if it could be done?

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Re: And would you like to see if it could be done?...

Post by dave4shmups »

PC Engine Fan X! wrote:
velocity7 wrote:With a bit of programming and disassembly, it would be possible for someone to generate their own Internet Rankings of sorts for this game.
Yo velocity7,

And would you like to see if it could be done?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
I dunno about anyone else, but I'd love to see some gameplay footage of Internal Section! :P
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Post by Turrican »

can anyone quickly explain to me what's the difference between:

Normal
Enhanced
Ambient 1 (this one opens up stages only if you completed them in normal, I guessed)
Ambient 2
Ambient 3 (I got that in this one I cannot die)

:?:

Thanks :-D

edit: Wikipedia Japan + Excite web translator gave me this:

Normal
Usual play mode.

Enhanced
Mode where difficulty goes up.

Ambient
Mode that keeps choosing arbitrary stage and playing. It is also possible to make BGM
music CD. Details are described later.

Fullauto
It keeps automatically playing the stage only by choosing an arbitrary stage and the tune in the mode of each newspaper that appears in specific conditions. It is endless until ending by posed menu because the machine is invincibility.

Ambient mode

One stage can keep being long played in this work. It divides into three in this ambient mode.

* Ambient1-enemy's appearance pattern is the same as normal.
* Mode that lowers ambient2-difficulty. The boss doesn't appear.
* The machine is invincibility though ambient3-enemy's appearance pattern is the same as enhanced. The boss doesn't appear.

It is possible to reproduce BGM from arbitrary music CD besides 16 hard techno collected by these three modes (fullauto of ahead) in the game. Moreover, only these modes replace CD from posed menu while playing and it is possible to change BGM.
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Post by dave4shmups »

I'd just really like to see some gameplay footage of IS-I've seen some of similar-type shooters, such as N20.
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Post by Turrican »

is it me or the best weapon setup is switching between monkey and tiger? I don't find the rest that useful.
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Post by Specineff »

I have one in mint condition and don't play it. Want it? (I think Rez is waaaay better.)
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