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Released under Taito's G-NET arcade platform in 2002, XII Stag is the first game released by Toshiaki Fujino under the Triangle Service label after prior business arrangements fell through with Oriental Soft.
The game is infamous for it's wobble shot mechanic, which is rumoured to have pissed off a considerable amount of arcade operators in Japan due to wearing down joysticks a lot faster than with other STGs. The game also shares a design trait seen in Fujino's previous game, G-Stream G2020, in that the content of some stages change depending on how you play.
Versions
Aside from the original arcade version, four ports exist of XII Stag, only one retains the original arcade title.
The first port made, and the only port that retains the smooth fade transitions, reflective boss warning screen and warning sound effect, is the Playstation 2 port. This version lacks all slowdown, has higher-pitched sound effects (and voices) compared to the original and introduces the Rapid Side Attack button. It is available in PAL and NTSC-J regions, personally I purchased what looks to be a french copy for less than $15 AUD. I have heard of possible audio looping issues present with this version but it is currently unknown if that's a software fault or just bad disc drive lasers in the PS2s themselves. This version also has a redesigned logo but retains the "XII Stag" name.
There is a PC "trial" build of the game called XII Stag Limited that was made a long time ago. It has no configurable options and only lets you play stage 4. It was available for some time on Triangle Service's website but appears to have since been pulled down.
A Windows Phone port exists, where the ship is controlled with cursor position much like Cave's iOS titles. This is the first port of the game to be branded as "XIIZEAL" - the change fitting in line with Triangle Service's first 3D game, Trizeal, and uses a different boss warning graphic and sound effect, along with removal of transparency in the black box under the Continue text, the transparency in the slide-in transition boxes and the "New Record/Wow Wuzza" speech that plays when you beat your personal best score on a checkpoint. Not much information is available about this version and emulation for this platform is difficult to achieve at the best of times, but from the video footage available on YouTube it appears no gameplay or other graphical compromises have been made.
There is also Shooting Love 10th Anniversary ~XIIZeal and DeltaZeal~ on the Xbox 360. The disc release only came out in Japan but is region-free and thus runs on all consoles. The pitch of the sound effects is the same as the arcade and slowdown is emulated pretty well compared to PCB footage, however on top of the aesthetic changes the first XIIZEAL port made, the side attack sound has been altered and the rapid side attack's rate of "wobble" is increased compared to the PS2 port. In addition, you cannot use the rapid-fire button for name entry, non-autofire shot button must be used there. As this version includes a Score Attack option where you can compete in specific stages for the highest score on the leaderboards as well as a more advanced graphic options menu compared to previous ports it is considered the definitive form.
As of June 6 2015 XIIZEAL also has a PC port, available for purchase via Steam. It is understood to have no emulated slowdown, however retains the visual/aesthetic tweaks and also the advanced menus of the 360 version with additional options for running at different resolutions and different control schemes.
Scoring
The scoring system in this game is relatively simple. You have a score multiplier that defaults at 1, and increases when you kill enemies and destructable bullets with either your side shot or thrusters by 1 up to a maximum value of 12. All enemies that are destroyed have this multiplier applied to it regardless of the weapon used. There is a synth voice that iterates the numbers as you get them which may annoy some people but is a good indicator of how well you're scoring - if you're at a point in the game where there's a lot of enemies appearing and you don't hear "TWELVETWELTWELTWELTWELTWELVETWEL~" you're doing something wrong. There are no extends.
Items are dropped at a rate that's directly tied to how much you're currently shooting at the time, and can drop from any enemy. This will aid your score by letting you pick up the maximum stock bonus for powerups and bombs. Make sure to keep all barrels firing!
The game also tracks your scoring progress through stage segments and compares you to the highest recorded score at that moment in time, shouting "Wow Wuzza" (which is probably supposed to be "New Record!" with heavy audio manipulation) if you beat it and shows the difference in value between them. At the end of a stage you also get a stage bonus which is basically just a tally of your stage segment scores, with a neat graph showing your overall performance compared to the highest recorded score.
Weapons
- Shot
You have, of course, a normal forward-firing shot. Upgrading via the bright blue module items will improve this weapon and will earn you 100 points every time you pick one up. It maxes out your shot strength after four modules, with any additional blue modules giving you a maximum power score bonus of 1000 points. Killing enemies with your main shot does not add to your chain counter but their death score will still have the chain multiplier applied to it.
- Bomb
Like most STGs you also have a bomb. It's an effective panic bomb providing you don't move around too much when it's first deployed. It's a black field that expands up to approx 3/4 of the screen and then disappears. Bullets that enter this area are cancelled and yield some amount of points depending on how many bullets the bomb absorbs. It starts at 10 points and for every bullet that comes in contact it increments up to 100 in 10pt increments, then to 1000 in 100pt increments. This can net you some score if you encounter a tough enemy that spits a lot of bullets at one time and you have a bomb to spare.
You are invulnerable while you remain in this bomb field, and enemies that enter this field have some damage dealt to them (enough to get rid of popcorns but not most other enemies), but will not add to the chain counter for enemy deaths. You *should* be immune to collisions as well while the bomb is active and you're within the field but there have been some suggestions that this isn't always the case due to buggy behaviour with the bomb's triangular portions so make use of this feature only if you're desperate.
- Side Attack
AKA The Wobble. This is the weapon that makes the game unique from other STGs of its time. By moving horizontally in one direction then rapidly pressing the opposite direction at least once (twice for the more powerful boom) in the presence of enemies you unleash a sonic boom that expands out, doing massive damage to most enemies and adding to the chain counter if it successfully kills an enemy. The ports of this game have a rapid side attack button that saves you the trouble of doing this with your joystick, but wiggling the joystick will allow you to do rapid side attacks *even faster* as there is no reload time for manual fire.
- Thruster
Your ship's own thruster also does damage and adds to the chain counter. You'll want to use this only for popcorns as it does weak damage by itself and most medium-sized enemies will collide with you if you attempt to use only this weapon on them.
See second post for a rundown of the stages in the game.
