PCEngine shmup recommendations

[professor ganson]

It has been quite a few years since I played any PCEngine shmups, but I just picked up a Turbo Everdrive and am looking for some shmup recommendations.

I believe this will only support HuCard games, not CD games.

Off the top of my head the only game I recall wanting to try again is Magical Chase, but there must be some others. I'm not so interested in arcade ports unless the port is exclusive or otherwise special.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions! I won't be able to play the games until I get over this nasty cold, but my future self will no doubt enjoy trying out your recommendations.

[Special World]

Having downloaded these games on Wii Virtual Console with no true idea which ones are HuCard and which are CD:

Gate of Thunder (definitely my favorite)
Lords of Thunder (fairly certain this is CD actually)
Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, Final Soldier
Star Parodier
Blazing Lazers
R-Type (if you're into it)

Man the PC-Engine is so good — wish I had money to drop on one plus a CD attachment as well.

[CIT]

Leaving out arcade ports (except for one), this would be my list of essentials. In general, I think the CD shooters tend to be a bit better than the HuCard ones.

Hu Card:

Magical Chase
Soldier Blade
Super Star Soldier
Hanataaka daka!?
Gunhed

CD-Rom:

Gate of Thunder
Ginga Fukei Densetsu: Sapphire
Image Fight II (worthy sequel in every way, just as challenging as part one)
Nexzr (probably the best shooter on the system)
Rayxanber II (beautiful but infuriatingly difficult)
Rayxanber III (way easier than the predecessor)
Seirei Senshi Spriggan
Side Arms Special (better than the original arcade version, and includes an arranged mode)
Star Parodier
Winds of Thunder

[Pretas]

Magical Chase and Soldier Blade are definitely the best HuCard STGs. Paranoia/Psychosis is an okayish R-Type clone with some interesting trippy imagery. Overall, though, the system's library is rather painfully limited without a CD unit and necessary hardware expansions.

[Pretas]

Coryoon hasn't been mentioned yet and is also a HuCard game. While fairly mediocre, it's earned a decent following due to its high level of charm and cuteness.

I find PC Denjin/Air Zonk rather tiring to play, but it's a HuCard release that's superior to its CD sequel.

[CIT]

I find PC Denjin/Air Zonk rather tiring to play, but it's a HuCard release that's superior to its CD sequel.

Can you explain why you like the first one better?

A lot of people say that PC Denjin is better, but I recently played both and honestly didn't see anything wrong with CD Denjin. Perfectly fine sequel as far as I am concerned.

[professor ganson]

My vague recollection before I ordered the Turbo Everdrive was that there would be quite a few HuCard games to check out. Then I looked at the list of games, and it seemed like a lot of so-so arcade ports, and not a whole lot more that caught my attention. That's why I started this thread-- in the hope I might have overlooked some good stuff. I see there are a few that weren't on my radar, but not so many.

Seems like most of the best stuff is on CD, so now I'm kicking myself for having sold my Turbo Duo-R + CD games. It looks like the system and games have gotten more expensive in the meantime. Oh well, live and learn.

[evil_ash_xero]

Air Zonk and Coryoon (to a lesser extent) are good.

[HardcoreOtaku]

My top 5 favourite PC Engine shmups are

1. Winds/Lords of Thunder (CD)
2. Soldier Blade (HuCard)
3. Hana Taka Daka! (HuCard)
4. Spriggan (CD)
5. Magical Chase (HuCard)

[CIT]

My vague recollection before I ordered the Turbo Everdrive was that there would be quite a few HuCard games to check out. Then I looked at the list of games, and it seemed like a lot of so-so arcade ports, and not a whole lot more that caught my attention.

Some arcade ports are well worth checking out though. Gradius, Salamander and Side Arms, for example, are better than the arcade version in many ways.

[To Far Away Times]

Gate of Thunder and Spriggan are my favorites. Really good shmups with a fast pace and "aggressive" feel.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Data East's OverRide shmup title is fast 'n' furious with a slick 60fps framerate on the venerable PCE platform.

If the original PC Denjin dev team had done a proper Super CD-Rom2 sequel (or even an Arcade CD-Rom2 sequel for that matter)...it would have had to top the already high bar set with the established gameplay mechanics/graphics on the Hu-Card release. Even a dedicated arcade PCB release of PC Denjin AC would've been ace in the Japanese game centers during the early 1990s.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Herr Schatten]

There's a couple of HuCard-only shmups on the PC-Engine worth checking out. They might not be the most high-profile of shmups, but they are worth your while nonetheless. All of Hudson's Soldier games are great (plus they feature those sweet caravan modes). Cybercore and Download are more than decent, and Paranoia/Psychosis, while certainly not the most inspired shmup gameplay-wise, is worth checking out for the novel setting alone.

As CIT already mentioned, don't dismiss the arcade ports, some of them are really good. Mr. Heli no Daibouken is fantastic and features an exclusive mode where you take less damage from hits. The Gradius and Parodius Da! ports are lovely and play very well, as do Dragon Spirit and (to a lesser extent) Dragon Saber. Speaking of which, you can't really go wrong with anything from Konami and Namco(t).

[PC Engine Fan X!]

NEC Avenue's Download has some excellent cutscenes that take place between stages, especially the opening cutscene that leads into Stage 1. The various Engrish swearing on the Game Over screen is hilarious/priceless...am sure that if NECHE USA (the fine folks whom distributed the TG-16 hardware/software back in 1989 to 1992) were to release it stateside, it would've been heavily edited for domestic release indeed. There's a very strong Blade Runner-ish vibe with the opening cutscene as well.

The actual PCE version of Raiden weighs in at a whopping 7 megabit sized Hu-Card.

What's cool about the Turbo Everdrive is that it doubles as a handy System Card besides the usual Rom booting cart -- can be used as a CD-Rom2 System Card version 1.0 all the way to a Super CD-Rom2 System Card version 3.0 with ease (and even used as a dedicated Game Express Card to boot up/run those slick 3rd-party Game Express produced Super CD-Rom2 games as well). The only thing is that it can't be used as a dedicated Arcade Card since there's no on-board RAM like with a real Arcade Card Duo (16 megabits of RAM) or Arcade Card Pro (16 megabits + 2 megabits of RAM) setup.

TurboGrafx-16 R-Type Factoid: The USA Turbo Chip version of R-Type combined both data of two seperately released JPN PCE Hu-Cards of R-Type Part 1 and R-Type Part 2 into just one cart. How cool is that?

The upcoming homebrew PCE shmup of Xymati is still on course for a physical release...asked about if it would be released as a Hu-Card cart or on CD format? The answer: mostly as a Super CD-Rom2 disc due to the big data files for each stage and whatnot.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[professor ganson]

There's a couple of HuCard-only shmups on the PC-Engine worth checking out. They might not be the most high-profile of shmups, but they are worth your while nonetheless. All of Hudson's Soldier games are great (plus they feature those sweet caravan modes). Cybercore and Download are more than decent, and Paranoia/Psychosis, while certainly not the most inspired shmup gameplay-wise, is worth checking out for the novel setting alone.

As CIT already mentioned, don't dismiss the arcade ports, some of them are really good. Mr. Heli no Daibouken is fantastic and features an exclusive mode where you take less damage from hits. The Gradius and Parodius Da! ports are lovely and play very well, as do Dragon Spirit and (to a lesser extent) Dragon Saber. Speaking of which, you can't really go wrong with anything from Konami and Namco(t).

Very interesting, thanks! I tend to think of Saturn and PS1/PS2 as *the* systems for ports of 80s and 90s arcade games, but surely there are exceptions and these sound especially promising. I will definitely check them out when I get a chance.

[Koa Zo]

Galaga '88 and Salamander are the HuCards I go back to more than any others.

Space Invaders reportedly has an arrange mode which I'm eager to check out, but haven't had a Duo hooked up in quite some time.

[Despatche]

there was a topic like this not too long ago... i'll just quote from there

-gate of thunder
-psycho chaser
-metamor jupiter
-metal stoker

considering rayxanber ii and one of the down loads

still never really got around to playing either more. i'd definitely try all three games if i were you

the problem with those older arcade-to-console conversions is that they're arcade-to-console conversions; they have to try really hard (same! same! same! md, the package known as slap fight md, etc) to be worth even acknowledging

(pce tatsujin has cool music though)

(you'll notice that nexzr was removed from the list)

[ZaKa-tokyobassist]

Where's the Gradius II love?

You people disappoint me.

[w-ring]

W-ring. And parodius

[CStarFlare]

Where's the Gradius II love?

You people disappoint me.

Pretty sure that's a CD game. He also noted that he's less interested in ports, so...

Magical Chase is Ace, and I thought W-Ring was pretty interesting. Lots of hidden stuff and you can select the loop up to like 15 or some crazy shit.

[Despatche]

w-ring is indeed pretty cool, i just don't think i'm familiar enough with it to recommend

Can you explain why you like the first one better?

from what i've played of it cd denjin's ok by itself, but compared to pc denjin it's slower paced to a bad point and lots of fun+useful stuff was needlessly toned down or removed. also the music theme is a great idea but it doesn't seem to fit with the actual game, hmm

[kisaku]

Winds of thunder...best shooter ever.

[Despatche]

i like winds of thunder but i haven't played it enough to know which is better from a gameplay standpoint, and i think gate of thunder is better either way. i do think the mcd version has WAY better music and that the people who say otherwise are completely insane, this coming from someone who generally despises arranges. even jade penetrate/black package is comparatively better than pcecd/mcd winds/lords

[PC Engine Fan X!]

w-ring is indeed pretty cool, i just don't think i'm familiar enough with it to recommend

Can you explain why you like the first one better?

from what i've played of it cd denjin's ok by itself, but compared to pc denjin it's slower paced to a bad point and lots of fun+useful stuff was needlessly toned down or removed. also the music theme is a great idea but it doesn't seem to fit with the actual game, hmm

The TTI version of the Super CD-Rom2 Super Air Zonk shmup doesn't play the original Japanese vocals song of a certain redbook audio track during the Game Over screen (like that on the original CD Denjin game does) but is still included for completeness if you load it up on a regular music CD player and listen to it. How cool is that?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Obiwanshinobi]

GunHed/Blazing Lazers can be played on a hidden difficulty level (harder). Look up the strategy forums.
How's the Ordyne port? I take it there's no sprite rotation, but that's cosmetical.

[thermal_treasure]

Be sure to play Violent Soldier. Way underrated.

[professor ganson]

Violent Soldier. Way underrated.

Interesting suggestion. Will definitely check it out when things are less hectic. I found some discussion of it here: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=40724

[Obiwanshinobi]

I found some discussion of it here: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=40724

There they come - second post there and Gunhed already gets badmouthed. The game could use a romhack in the vein of Recca Pure, that would make the extra difficulty level better known.

[BIL]

Override is really good fun, picked up a copy myself recently. It's obviously Compile-influenced, with the busy yet forgiving pace and regularly delivered items oscillating downscreen. But its stages are generally more concise and it also has several fun situational weapons that recall Irem (your ship's jet blast during speed changing even damages stuff, Image Fight style). Maybe a bit of Toaplan too, some enemy behaviour brings Tatsujin in particular to mind.

It's all executed soundly and with unmistakable enthusiasm. Most impressive feature is its speed - it regularly throws tons of large sprites around without a hint of slowdown. Also has a monstrous charge shot that's hugely gratifying to unleash (let off the fire button for a couple seconds). The cool "flying tank" ship isn't just for show either - Stages 4 and 5 are ground-based with walls and tight squeezes galore, the former in particular having absolutely gripping design. Reminds me of Elemental Master. Another touch I really like is, rather than having to collect the same weapon multiple times consecutively to upgrade it, you can switch to another and come back later - as long as you've had a weapon previously, the next time it's equipped it'll have gained a level. So it's actually beneficial to switch around early on.

Unfortunately it's definitely way too generous with hitpoints+lives (takes three hits to die, with HP restore items occasionally given, and plenty of score extends piling up in the meantime). I highly recommend treating lives as credits, and limiting yourself to two or three before resetting - otherwise, you'll probably finish it in a few attempts. I never make raw challenge the ultimate priority with console originals, but the devs were clearly playing it safe by allowing such an enormous margin for error - the game's way more interesting with Elemental Master's more sensible rules self-imposed.

Metal Stoker is another I've long enjoyed but only recently acquired. Ground-based roaming tank shooter that plays much like Granada (X68k/MD). Good stuff if you like the seek and destroy tanking, strafing about and knocking out targets.

I really like what little I've played of W-Ring, will probably get that too sometime. The hidden evil version of each stage is a cool idea.

[Laurel_McFang]

just a +1 for Super Star Soldier
One of my favorites by the same designer as Blazing Lazers.
Also liked Air Zonk a bit back in the day.
The pc-engine has more shmups then we know what to do with so keep looking.