Aleste series back? [M2] Compile series including M.U.S.H.A.

[TransatlanticFoe]

"Work cut out" means something is challenging. Which porting a game probably is, given "runs in an emulator on Windows" is pretty irrelevant for a natively coded game (not a ROM packaged into an emulator to run on a 360).

[parallaxscroll2]

M2's SEGA Classics Collection came here recently with Power Drift and Puyo Puyo Tsuu. M2 managed to get Power Drift running at 60 FPS in 3D on the regular 3DS, a game emulators on more powerful hardware have a hard time with.

According to the developer interview, M2 *almost* had to split it between 30fps on regular 3DS and 60fps on New 3DS, but in the end they were able to make Power Drift run at 60fps on both regular and New 3DS. The music also plays right and does not have to stream like it does in 3D Galaxy Force II.

M2 also did a fantastic job with 3D Thunder Blade, with its special mode, screen and movement options, plus an additional level and end boss that was never in the arcade, making Thunder Blade feel more "finished" than the arcade game.

M2 is truly dedicated to their craft and are the best at what they do.

[jepjepjep]

What ports have they done recently?

working on Dangun Feveron right now.

This means nothing, since it's not out yet.

Futari on the 360 of course. They did the Sega classic compilations on the 360

I think they pretty much had their work cut out for them on these since 360 was notoriously easy to port to for most stuff that could run (or be emulated) on Windows already or was made by CAVE. Saying "of course" for something that probably no more than 10% of users on this forum actually know sounds kinda silly. Also, where did you get the idea that they did Futari? I looked on the box and through the manual and there's no mention of M2 anywhere. Is it in the in-game credits? I'm not doubting it, I'm just not going to boot up the game just to check that.

3DS Sega Ages collection and the PS2 Ages2500 MD collections (like Phantasy Star or Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box). Also Fantasy Zone II DX of course (the System16 remake).

I only played a few of these 3DS Sega ports and they were generally pretty good, but who knows, since I doubt whatever this Aleste thing is will come out for 3DS and certainly isn't coming out for PS2.

I can understand you skepticism, MachineAres, when it comes to emulation and ports. I'm very skeptical too because a lot of them are done badly, but M2 is the gold standard when it comes to retro remakes. They have a long track record of quality and attention to detail that's pretty much unrivaled.

As for the 360 ports/Futari, thanks to the translation by hashiriya1 (http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=34313):

Code: Select all

Asada (Cave): For us, when we ported Mushihimesama Futari, Horii-san from M2 created tools for us to port the game. Once our programmers saw these newly-created tools, they were ecstatic. They were eager to make the port of the game. 

Horii (M2): Cave worked very hard on this game!

Asada (Cave): We want you to see what we have done with your tools

Horii (M2): Then you are welcome to come visit us anytime! [Laughs]

Asada (Cave): The tools were really great. In the original version of Deathsmiles, there were a lot of bullets on the screen. Normally we wouldn’t be able to handle that on the XBOX 360, but because of Horii-san’s tools, we didn’t have to omit anything. This made the programmers kind of cocky because they were able to do a lot of things beyond their talents. I thought it would be to the point where they would say “Yeah, yeah, whatever, when we have time then we’ll work on Deathsmiles II X” [Laughs]. But really, the programmers worked hard with the research and such and their efforts were worth it. With the new business tools in place, it was easy to make these games. It can be done in just 2 or 3 days. So our next step is to work on games for PS3, which take a lot of time. 

[OmegaFlareX]

Code: Select all

Asada (Cave): The tools were really great. In the original version of Deathsmiles, there were a lot of bullets on the screen. Normally we wouldn’t be able to handle that on the XBOX 360, but because of Horii-san’s tools, we didn’t have to omit anything. 

What? So the X360, that can push a bajillion high-res-textured polys per second, is unable to handle a few hundred 2D objects at once. That's completely contradictory to all the other statements I've read that said "when we first loaded the CV1K code to X360, everything screamed along at 60fps with no slowdown, so we had to program that in." Is Asada referring to lack of dev resources (time/$) committed to object handling code? So confused.

Please don't ever compare DotEmu to M2. Not even in the same galaxy. Raiden Legacy PC was such a gigantic mess that I'm incredibly loathe to consider any of their other ports.

[Emerald golvellius]

Great news i hope this happens,i remember play Aleste on MSX2,my old Sony F-700,and time after Super Aleste on Super Nintendo
"SPACEEEEEEEEE MEGAFORCE PRESENTED BY TOHO AND COMPILE"
ohhhhhhhhhhh great memories from the Axelay era .
greetings.
_________________
Alestes metamorphoses into an Owl,the time to Fight has come.

[MachineAres 1CC]

Probably got the idea from the massive M2 logo when you boot the game up...

And I haven't played Futari since about 2010 or so, it's hard to remember the boot screen from a game you haven't played in 6 years.

I *would* say something like "maybe we should hold off all this vast speculation on something we have next to no information about" but that would go against the golden rule of internet forums, so nevermind.

[Squire Grooktook]

I *would* say something like "maybe we should hold off all this vast speculation on something we have next to no information about" but that would go against the golden rule of internet forums, so nevermind.

I don't see any reason to doubt M2, is the thing. Everything they've done so far points to them being a dev that actually cares (as opposed to "slap an illegal emulator in a box and call it a day" DotEmu), so whatever it is, we at least know that it's the developer who's been behind a number of high quality products up to this point.

There's no certainty in anything, but I'd be hard pressed to think of a dev that I'd rather have doing it.

I don't really see any "vast speculation" here, though. It's pretty much, if it's anything, that it either might be a new title (like the excellent ReBirth games), or it might be a compilation. That's not exactly wild speculation.

[BIL]

Looks like it might just be some shoddy ports like some of the other ports of old games that have hit Steam (Raiden Legacy comes to mind)

M2 have an ongoing and well-documented record of excellence dating back to the Mega Drive and spanning many platforms since.

In the world of old games stewardship, DotEmu is currently somewhere between male-pattern baldness and AIDS compared to them.

No speculation, just clarification. ^_~

[Domino]

Looks like it might just be some shoddy ports like some of the other ports of old games that have hit Steam (Raiden Legacy comes to mind)

M2 have an ongoing and well-documented record of excellence dating back to the Mega Drive and spanning many platforms since.

In the world of old games stewardship, DotEmu is currently somewhere between male-pattern baldness and AIDS compared to them.

No speculation, just clarification. ^_~

Gauntlet IV for Genesis/Megadrive FTW.

[BIL]

Fuck yeah. X68000 fan port gone professional console release with massive arrange content and Sakimoto/Iwata OST... their later highlights like the bespoke Fantasy Zone II arcade version seem par for the course after that start.

[jugu]

Count me as excited as I'm a big fan of M2 and the work they've done. Even their Neo Geo ports for the PS3 were good.

[BrianC]

Here's the link with the list found in the 3D Gunstar Heroes ram. At least a couple of these came out in some form, but some like Columns were only talked about. According to the recent interview M2 was thinking of doing Columns in the 3D Classics series, but SEGA talked them into doing the AC Puyo Puyo Tsuu instead (a good choice IMO).

In a couple interviews, M2 mentioned interest in Virtua Racing and Alien Syndrome. I hope these eventually become 3D classics. VR especially since it never had an arcade perfect port.

[gameoverDude]

Here's the link with the list found in the 3D Gunstar Heroes ram. At least a couple of these came out in some form, but some like Columns were only talked about. According to the recent interview M2 was thinking of doing Columns in the 3D Classics series, but SEGA talked them into doing the AC Puyo Puyo Tsuu instead (a good choice IMO).

In a couple interviews, M2 mentioned interest in Virtua Racing and Alien Syndrome. I hope these eventually become 3D classics. VR especially since it never had an arcade perfect port.

VR FlatOut on the PS2 is close but also has some subtle improvements (rendering resolution is slightly higher) and extra tracks. The Saturn one is way far off, though I think that is the fault of it not being ported by Sega.

[BrianC]

Here's the link with the list found in the 3D Gunstar Heroes ram. At least a couple of these came out in some form, but some like Columns were only talked about. According to the recent interview M2 was thinking of doing Columns in the 3D Classics series, but SEGA talked them into doing the AC Puyo Puyo Tsuu instead (a good choice IMO).

In a couple interviews, M2 mentioned interest in Virtua Racing and Alien Syndrome. I hope these eventually become 3D classics. VR especially since it never had an arcade perfect port.

VR FlatOut on the PS2 is close but also has some subtle improvements (rendering resolution is slightly higher) and extra tracks. The Saturn one is way far off, though I think that is the fault of it not being ported by Sega.

VR Flatout isn't close. Camera angles are off and gears are buggy. Not sure if it was messed up for the classics collection version, but the highest gear in manual goes up much faster than it should.

[BulletMagnet]

On a separate(?) note, Moo Niitani is having another crack at starting a new company, though their first production will be a puzzle game, not a shooter.

[BrianC]

Hopefully, it won't turn out like Compile Heart that made one puzzle game and mostly were involved with idea factory games.

[BulletMagnet]

If memory serves Compile Heart was formed as a subsidiary of Idea Factory in the first place, so this one is probably best compared to Aiky...which made one puzzle game, and then died. Better luck this time, we hope!

[gameoverDude]

A couple other titles I'd like to see M2 improve on the console versions of:

* Rolling Thunder 3: Use Namco's NB-2 32-bit hardware as the emulated platform and add 2-player, with higher difficulty levels available. Normal mode should be about on par with the Genesis' "RISKY" difficulty.

* Final Fight 2: Give it CPS-1 quality audiovisuals and kick up the enemy counts as well as their AI.

If there's a new VR port, I wouldn't mind an optional Remaster mode with the popup fixed. Maybe bring over the tracks and cars from 32X VR Deluxe as well- if they were DLC, I think that'd be an easy $10. A PC version would be especially nice with the resolution cranked to 4K.

[BrianC]

* Final Fight 2: Give it CPS-1 quality audiovisuals and kick up the enemy counts as well as their AI.

The visuals were the least of that games problems. Character designs are well done. I don't want that game remade, though. It's too much of a rehash and wouldn't play as well as the top Capcom AC beat 'em ups even with improved and enemy counts and AI.

[Battlesmurf]

A couple other titles I'd like to see M2 improve on the console versions of:

* Rolling Thunder 3: Use Namco's NB-2 32-bit hardware as the emulated platform and add 2-player, with higher difficulty levels available. Normal mode should be about on par with the Genesis' "RISKY" difficulty.

If there's a new VR port, I wouldn't mind an optional Remaster mode with the popup fixed. Maybe bring over the tracks and cars from 32X VR Deluxe as well- if they were DLC, I think that'd be an easy $10. A PC version would be especially nice with the resolution cranked to 4K.

I like you.


I love Rolling Thunder, but I did miss the 2p/arcade version.

[D]

M2 rules! Their software is amazing and industry leading in terms of quality, options and just plain awesomeness. I hope they're reading this. You guys rock!

Quick list of all of M2's releases
http://www.gamefaqs.com/company/77897-m2

[KAI]

Here a more complete list of their works
http://www.mtwo.co.jp/development/

Wow, didn't know they localized those godawful neogeo ""ports"" made by Terminal Reality.

[BrianC]

Wow, didn't know they localized those godawful neogeo ""ports"" made by Terminal Reality.

Where does it say this? I couldn't find anything about this on the M2 site. I know G1M2, a different company, did the emulation for some of the NeoGeo PS2 collections and SNK opted for different Terminal Reality done emulations for some games instead.

Edit: The only one listed I could find was the Orochi Saga for PSP. The JP version has a separate page on gamefaqs. I wonder if it's another case of the JP version getting different ports like with some of the PS2 collections.

[KAI]

KOF Orochi Saga (PS2/US) and KOF Chapter of Orochi (PSP/JP) are exactly the same game except the psp port has japanese roms. Apparently, they also did the same work with Metal Slug Anthology/Metal Slug Complete.

[BrianC]

KOF Orochi Saga (PS2/US) and KOF Chapter of Orochi (PSP/JP) are exactly the same game except the psp port has japanese roms. Apparently, they also did the same work with Metal Slug Anthology/Metal Slug Complete.

There's a US PSP version too, but it looks like it's also the same and even has the same menus (telling from videos). Not sure why gamefaqs has separate pages for the US/JP PSP Orochi Saga. A bit disappointing that it seems M2 just localized the games rather than redoing the emulation. At least Terminal Reality's emulation is better on Wii, though it's still not that great emulation wise.