Progear Red Label

[Teufel_in_Blau]

I searched and didn't find anything. Maybe it is well known and I'm just slow, but today I learned that there is a Progear hack called: "Halfway To Hell: Progear Red Label"

http://halfwaytohell.gameordie.com/

The major changes according to the site are:

- you start out in the second loop of the Japan version with a 500,000 counter, but enemy bullets are slower
- player plane speeds are much faster
- the bomb game is changed
- you respawn in place after a death instead of getting kicked back to the beginning of the stage
- the scoring system is different from the original second loop: gunner mines for diamonds and fighter mines for rings and you you get points for simply killing enemies in addition to the counter game

The site is terrible to navigate but there is also video footage of the game if you click the 'videos' section.

Thought? Does anyone actually own the PCB?

[CStarFlare]

One screenshot indicates a Jan 17th 2016 build. I wonder if those kits are sold? Or if they're even intended for sale.

Sounds interesting. But you're right, that site is terrible - note that it scrolls right where you can find the download section.

edit: why are their trailers on Mega and not youtube? How can people know how to make an arcade hack and not know how to competently design a website or use basic video sharing services?

[Skykid]

you respawn in place after a death instead of getting kicked back to the beginning of the stage

Pretty sure that's normal for Progear.

[CStarFlare]

Not if you're in the 2nd loop, which this appears to be based on.

[SuperPang]

Great, now perfectly good CPS2 games are not only getting sacrificed for conversions but hacks too.

A kit, really?

[STG]

*watched a video of stage one*

Err, yeah, that looks like a hacked version... The whole thing is bizarre, especially selling "kits" of it.

[Arcade_At_Home]

what i'm really thinking is........
is it LEGAL???

[Bananamatic]

cave or capcom gonna shut this down real soon tbh

[dink]

I hate to be negative about something like this, especially since Progear is defo one of my favorite games, but yea, here goes...

After playing quite a bit, all I can say is that they spent much more time on the packaging than the game itself. What were they thinking? "Lets make something shiny w/lots of fan-art to sell to dopey collectors"? I wish that weren't the case..

[Some-Mist]

man... I love all things progear
I wouldn't spend a penny on the kit.... but I want it.

edit: why are their trailers on Mega and not youtube? How can people know how to make an arcade hack and not know how to competently design a website or use basic video sharing services?

probably to not draw attention in case of copyright infringement

[Strikers1945guy]

man... I love all things progear
I wouldn't spend a penny on the kit.... but I want it.

Says they aren't for sale anyway. Why bother making a kit and not just having this as a bonus version you could swap on a progear board ? (If that's even possible, same way my DOJ board I can swap with my BL roms).

[Shepardus]

For anybody wondering, the downloadable patcher patches over the progearjbl rom (decrypted bootleg version) after which you can rename the files it outputs and get it to run in MAME as progearjbl. I'm not sure how legal/illegal it is, but the site says that the ten "kits" they made aren't for sale and were for arcades (the site lists TRY as one of them, which also has trap15's Ketsui Arrange) and the patcher seems similar in nature to the one for Ketsui Arrange, so my guess is it's not any more legal/illegal than that. The OST and artwork rips they have on the site, though, surely can't be legal.

The hack itself is basically the second loop with slower bullets and no checkpoint restarts, and a couple other changes I've noticed:

• You start with 500k counter.
• Planes are waaaay faster. Ring+Chain, of all things, feels the most comfortable to me.
• Bomb powerups give 2 bombs instead of 1, and I think they always activate the x2 counter bonus. The maximum number of bombs you can carry is also increased, to 5 (or maybe more?).
• You start with 3 bombs on your first life as usual, but if you die you spawn with 1 bomb.
• Gunner shot always gives diamonds. Not sure what the point of the pilot shot for scoring is now.
• Continues are disabled (unless there's something in the settings that can reactivate them?).
• The voices on the select screen are gone and replaced with Ring's "yahoo!".
• The music is changed. I haven't gotten past the first stage yet, but the select screen music sounds like the main melody is gone for some reason, and the first stage sounds like they're using the credits roll music.

[Udderdude]

I've seen better Mario ROM hacks. Come the fuck on, step up your game, you lazy scrub modders. At least replace the enemy formations and boss patterns.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Bolt + Nail on the Stage 1 vid, that movespeed's messed up. It's basically impractical to use the stronger rapid shot during bosses now because you're way too fast.

What's the point of this hack? It seems like this was a "start on the 2nd loop, no checkpoints" (which would have been fine as is for people who've never gotten to try the 2nd loop) hack that got way, way too many other features tossed in for no reason.

Bomb powerups give 2 bombs instead of 1, and I think they always activate the x2 counter bonus.

You start with 3 bombs on your first life as usual, but if you die you spawn with 1 bomb.

Weird. Is this supposed to make it feel like vanilla Progear where no-missing is super lucrative?

Gunner shot always gives diamonds. Not sure what the point of the pilot shot for scoring is now.

If diamonds still have their massive cancel radius, this seems like it'd make things way, way easier, not to mention really reduce the meaningfulness of carrying max bomb bonuses, and the scoring in general.

[rancor]

I'm headed out to Akiba in a few minutes. I'll give it a few runs and see if I can tell any differences.

[Frenetic]

Hmmm, I wonder if they'd be able to mod Dimahoo with Battle Garegga/Ibara rank management scheme.

I like some of the mods, and some of the others. Maybe we could reach out to them and let them know about design suggestions?

Having finished the first loop of Progear, I'd like to see just a bare bones option to start at the 2nd loop, maybe respawn at death rather than restart the level, but the options included to include one and/or the other. I think that would be rad.

--F

[chempop]

Hmmm, I wonder if they'd be able to mod Dimahoo with Battle Garegga/Ibara rank management scheme.

You could set extends to every 1,000,000 and basically have at it. I'm believe that if that was the default, people would all of a sudden love the game.

[viewtifulzfo]

Seems like there is a FAQ on why changes were made, for those curious:

http://halfwaytohell.gameordie.com/infe ... nswers.txt

[CloudyMusic]

Copying in case the link goes down:

The reason this was made is because I wanted to make it. There is no hidden agenda to try to make money. I simply wanted it to exist. There was a while during development where I wanted to be able to make my money back that I spent on the kits but in the end I'd rather just lose the money than to put up with the possible aftermaths of that.

There's a good reason for all the changes, but you have to get deep into the game to figure them out. The point was to "fix" the second loop (under certain opinions) into a fun playable game. None of the changes are pointless (other than what had to happen to Bolt's speed because of outside factors) but that is just how it worked out and you can't really use him seriously for score anyway, he is a gimmick. And there are also limits to hacking that nobody understands other than the people doing the hacking. If you come up with a few ideas, some of them we wouldn't be able to do even if there was time and interest.

Ring is called the gambler for what he can do pointblanking and you can rack up serious pointblanking on some bosses with him and the C auto and gain big points with a big counter, it also kills enemies close by quicker than any other method so it helps sometimes with survival when there is too much you can handle in a scoring/diamonds way. You are penalized for using this massive speed increase by only getting rings. The game expects you are going to mostly use gunner mode. But there is still sometimes a point to fighter mode.

The project started out just as a way to jump the PCB into the second loop but after you do that you realize there are lots of other issues that stop it from being fun. If anyone reading this has cleared the original 2nd loop, you have *got* to be shitting me. There is such a thing as "too hard".

The changes are all subtle but they attack the 2nd loop's biggest problems directly. The reason you start with a 500,000 counter is because if you don't have it the scoring sucks. Stage 6 is assuming you kicked ass on the first 5 stages and have a built up counter. Otherwise you're not getting what you deserve by beating the first couple of bosses if you don't have an opportunity for holding a high counter during the battles and racking up points.

Ring's plane speed is sped up and optimized for my personal play style on the 2nd loop. You can play the game with way less memorization and depend more on reflexes. The reason a speed change is needed though is because Progear's plane speeds were made for the 1st loop. They suck for dodging the 2nd loop patterns, like a slug on air hockey. That's one of the reasons nobody ever clears it. If anyone is wondering, Ring and Bolt now each have their own fighter speed that doesn't change depending on gunner. And all gunner mode no matter what combo you choose is always the same. Both of Ring's speeds are an attempt at perfect optimization for surviving loop 2 patterns and Bolt's fighter mode is a bit on the gimmicky fast side. This is already spelled out in the manual.

Slowing enemy bullet speeds down too makes the game easier, maybe even beatable by humans. The scoring system change where you always get diamonds, this too is mainly to help with survival because it clears bullets better. It also gets too hairy late in the game for the old build up system, you need to just be able to herd and herd. It's still hard and you can score more massively and in a very satisfying way. I haven't gotten a 1CC yet. It's deceptively hard. Note also that the game runs faster on the real PCB than current emulation.

P icons were "leftover garbage" on the second loop, and they don't do anything but give you points so we turned them into bombs, the most important point being that they are a great bonus to your counter. It's also now possible to max your counter on stage 5 but only superplayers will be able to ever do it. It maxes at 999,999.

The bombs game isn't random, it's planned out where you have to earn your bombs instead of getting born with them (1 instead of 3) but after you do you build them up (up to 5), you can plan some pre-bomb routes on spots you often die at before your skills are up and get pretty far in the game with that, if you actually execute your plan well. Another reason for the bombs going to 1 after a death is that this is a game of punishment and getting 3 bombs after each of your 5 men deaths felt like getting a gift for sucking.

I imagine this will be a hit for people who play it seriously as a game, playing for score or 1CC. I'll probably update this doc again later on.

-Jones (Red Label changes designer) 2016.1.20

[Bananamatic]

Ring's plane speed is sped up and optimized for my personal play style on the 2nd loop. You can play the game with way less memorization and depend more on reflexes.
Slowing enemy bullet speeds down too makes the game easier, maybe even beatable by humans.
If anyone reading this has cleared the original 2nd loop, you have *got* to be shitting me. There is such a thing as "too hard".
The reason a speed change is needed though is because Progear's plane speeds were made for the 1st loop. They suck for dodging the 2nd loop patterns, like a slug on air hockey. That's one of the reasons nobody ever clears it.

[Strikers1945guy]

Ring's plane speed is sped up and optimized for my personal play style on the 2nd loop. You can play the game with way less memorization and depend more on reflexes.
Slowing enemy bullet speeds down too makes the game easier, maybe even beatable by humans.
If anyone reading this has cleared the original 2nd loop, you have *got* to be shitting me. There is such a thing as "too hard".
The reason a speed change is needed though is because Progear's plane speeds were made for the 1st loop. They suck for dodging the 2nd loop patterns, like a slug on air hockey. That's one of the reasons nobody ever clears it.

Sums up my thoughts as well

[BareKnuckleRoo]

There's a good reason for all the changes

I imagine this will be a hit for people who play it seriously as a game, playing for score or 1CC.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA no.

This confirms my suspicions that this is a garbage hack made by someone who doesn't actually know much about the game, let alone appreciates it. This whole bullshit about fucking up the ship speeds because he wants to wide dodge around everything with Ring and can't understand that Bolt exists because he sacrifices the raw scoring potential for better long-range damage and movespeed, the fucking up the scoring to be diamonds all the time, complaining about how the 2nd loop is too hard yet he can't clear his hack. This is the stupidest goddamn manifesto I have ever read.

Even with the harder patterns and revenge bullets, the 2nd loop in Progear is nowhere near Futari Ultra, DOJ 2nd Loop, etc. The thing that makes it truly difficult is the checkpoint system is tosses in, because you have only 3 bombs per level to use, and you have to no-miss to the boss of each stage to progress (rendering your massive stock of resources useless for getting through the stages). If the checkpoints weren't in place it would be hard, but only like a bit harder than Mushi or Futari Maniac.

[donluca]

Ring's plane speed is sped up and optimized for my personal play style on the 2nd loop. You can play the game with way less memorization and depend more on reflexes.
Slowing enemy bullet speeds down too makes the game easier, maybe even beatable by humans.
If anyone reading this has cleared the original 2nd loop, you have *got* to be shitting me. There is such a thing as "too hard".
The reason a speed change is needed though is because Progear's plane speeds were made for the 1st loop. They suck for dodging the 2nd loop patterns, like a slug on air hockey. That's one of the reasons nobody ever clears it.

ROFL

[Elixir]

If anyone reading this has cleared the original 2nd loop, you have *got* to be shitting me. There is such a thing as "too hard".

Did DrTrouserPlank make this?

[copy-paster]

cave or capcom gonna shut this down real soon tbh

I doubt that capcom even remembered the game, I mean it's like "What? we ever making a danmaku game?"

[Some-Mist]

but...I mainly use bolt + rivet :/

If anyone reading this has cleared the original 2nd loop, you have *got* to be shitting me. There is such a thing as "too hard".

Did DrTrouserPlank make this?

[Frenetic]

I wish more people did fan versions of games. It's really creative! It would be rad to know how to do it, too.

[vvv_stg]

If anyone reading this has cleared the original 2nd loop, you have *got* to be shitting me. There is such a thing as "too hard".

Did DrTrouserPlank make this?

I would really love to see an actual Plank-made rebalancing patch for Cave games.

[BIL]

DTP's much too rarefied a scrub for that. A man of sublimely detached arrogance, he's the best anyone can ever be and he knows it. A hack would be like rigging a slot machine to him!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

It would be rad to know how to do it, too.

Step 1: Open the the game code in an appropriate text/hex editor.
Step 2: Take a dump on your keyboard.
Step 3: Repeat step 2 indefinitely.

There are good game hacks, of course, but these are much rarer because they require competence (as well as the use of fingers as opposed to feces).

I don't think trap15 thinks terribly highly of his DDP hack as it's no longer even linked on his hacks page, but it's still much better thought out than this.