Galactic Attack is rockin

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:50 pm

Another niche title on the Saturn, another game published by Acclaim back when they were cool..

Anyhoo, I've been playing this for more than a week and I totally dig it. The lock-on laser took a few levels to adjust to, but the game and music is so tight. After a few plays I really like the lock-on laser, it's really unique. The bosses are also cool, especially that crab boss where if you take out two of his legs he falls down...I actually really like it when things fall down in this game, like the floating islands.

Today I got pretty far on 1 credit but really fucked up at the last level (whoo, overconfidence and cockines strikes again!!) and got a score of 1,260,600.

And what's this game in the Ray- series? Rayforce?

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:54 pm

Yep, Rayforce. Also known as Layer Section or Gunlock.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:58 pm

It sure beats the hell out of that POS Ray game Working Designs brought over stateside on the PS1.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 11:06 pm

^^^

Sage, are you talking about Raystorm or RayCRISIS? Because although Rayforce/Galactic Attack is definitely my fave, I think Raystorm is still very manic and hold up extremely well. Raycrisis, although fun for awhile was IMHO (and many others') an absolutely watered down and terrible way to end the series. Random stages, bland level design and overemphasis on lock on. Bleh.

tehkao · Post by **tehkao** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 11:12 pm

Galactic Attack is my fave shmup ever. Glad to you've finally experienced this masterpiece.

subcons · Post by **subcons** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 11:45 pm

Surprisingly enough, this game really got me into shooters (as well as imports in general) all on its own. I had played Galaga, 1943, etc. in the arcade before, but I was never a huge fan of the genre. All I ever really played was fighting games... pretty much because that's all the arcades I ever frequented had.

Then back in '02, I bought a friend's Saturn off of him for like $30 with a handfull of games, good ones too, like Panzer Dragoon I & II and Legendary Oasis as well as Galactic Attack. After playing that a while I started hunting down others and then imports and it all just snowballed from there. Hello eBay.

I still like GA immenselyl. It's not bad looking by any means. It plays really well. Control is spot on and it's challenging to the point that when you play it you always make it just a bit further to keep you interested.

A must own on the Saturn! Especially considering the price it goes for.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 11:49 pm

LoneSage wrote:Another niche title on the Saturn, another game published by Acclaim back when they were cool..

When was this, exactly?

Though I do appreciate that Acclaim largely left the game alone and let it get by on its own merit. The one thing that really bothered me about it was that when playing in letterbox mode, your lock-on status and a few other things were displayed at the bottom of the playfield, and when you moved down there it could prevent you from seeing what you were doing. Why didn't they shift it onto the black "border" area, as others have done? Just a really lame-brained oversight, in my opinion...otherwise I like the game for the most part.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 1:26 am

He probably meant the "only game published by Acclaim back when they were cool..." Anyway, the Saturn music is pretty sweet.

But I've no idea why anybody who loves Rayforce would hate on Raystorm considering nearly everything except the visuals are similar...

freddiebamboo · Post by **freddiebamboo** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 1:58 am

It does have a fantastic last boss. I suck at the old school shooters, but that is one game I wanna 1cc.

Were there prequels and/or sequels? Cause I'm getting a little confused keeping track of the pseudonyms this game has

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:11 am

Ganelon wrote:He probably meant the "only game published by Acclaim back when they were cool..."

Yeah, I know what he means, but my question was, "When was Acclaim EVER cool?"

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:28 am

When they localized this game of course!

Edit for question:

freddiebamboo wrote:Were there prequels and/or sequels? Cause I'm getting a little confused keeping track of the pseudonyms this game has

Rayforce: 1st game
JP arcade: Rayforce
world arcade: Gunlock
JP Saturn: Layer Section
US & PAL Saturn: Galactic Attack

Raystorm: 2nd game
JP Saturn: Layer Section II
all else: Raystorm

Raycrisis: 3rd game
all: Raycrisis

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:31 am

Touche'.

pixelcorps · Post by **pixelcorps** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:43 am

Play GA in vertical mode at all costs!!

normal horizontal screen mode doesnt take advantage of the nifty H-split effects, the visual difference on some of the stages , especially the first, is pretty stunning!

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 4:17 am

Kosh: I'm talkin bout RayCRISIS. One of the few games I ever sold.

BM: As Ganelon said, during the period in which they supported the Saturn

We got Darius Gaiden, Capcom fighters and this game because of them! top-notch.

I really like the translation, I thought it would have been XS games quality, but hot dog...the story in the manual actually sounds like Acclaim didn't mess it up.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 4:21 am

BulletMagnet wrote: Yeah, I know what he means, but my question was, "When was Acclaim EVER cool?"

Thank you for getting to this before me...

Obviously they were cool for doing all those otherwise mangled ports of other games...or, uh, their crappy sports titles?

Personally I'd have even rated Working Designs higher (*shakes head in shame*) but for the horrifying 'spaz' imprint still stuck in my brain...

Frogacuda · Post by **Frogacuda** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 5:07 am

RayForce/Galactic Attack is absolutely one of the best shmups ever hands down.

RayStorm was solid. It didn't live up to the original, but it was one of the first shmups to use 3D graphics and at the time it was pretty awesome.

RayCrisis was shit. Pure and simple. I just don't see any value in it.

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 5:42 am

Storywise, the games run is this order:

RayCrisis, RayForce, RayStorm.

Right about the time that RayCrisis was released, I was looking for a Japanese copy of RayStorm. Luckily, shortly after the US release of RayCrisis, the Super Lite release of the Double Shooting RayStorm X RayCrisis came out. So I snagged both games in one for less than $30 new. Quite a good deal, actually.

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 5:48 am

BulletMagnet wrote:
LoneSage wrote:Another niche title on the Saturn, another game published by Acclaim back when they were cool..
When was this, exactly? Though I do appreciate that Acclaim largely left the game alone and let it get by on its own merit. The one thing that really bothered me about it was that when playing in letterbox mode, your lock-on status and a few other things were displayed at the bottom of the playfield, and when you moved down there it could prevent you from seeing what you were doing. Why didn't they shift it onto the black "border" area, as others have done? Just a really lame-brained oversight, in my opinion...otherwise I like the game for the most part.

All you have to do is a press a certain button, I believe it's "L", to remove those things from the screen.

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 1:47 pm

Ganelon wrote:He probably meant the "only game published by Acclaim back when they were cool..." Anyway, the Saturn music is pretty sweet.

But I've no idea why anybody who loves Rayforce would hate on Raystorm considering nearly everything except the visuals are similar...

I'm going to have to disagree with this. The visuals are the obvious thing, but the music is quite different as well. Not to mention that in the jump to the "pseudo-3D" perspective a much greater emphasis on lock-on laser usage was implemented. Play through the first 3 levels of each game and you'll realize how much more important lock-ons are in Raystorm as they were in Rayforce/GA/Layer Section.

Also, the music in both games is absolutely great. I like listening to the tracks from GA in my CD player since their redbook audio. Wish I could do that w/ Raystorm...

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 8:35 pm

Nemo wrote:All you have to do is a press a certain button, I believe it's "L", to remove those things from the screen.

Can you do that? I'll hafta try it...that would be great if it were included. I don't recall it being mentioned in the instruction manual, but I'll definitely try it.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 9:55 pm

lol, BM you must experiment with the controls! Pressing the L shoulder button takes all the crap off the screen. Sure you won't be able to see your score, but I much rather prefer playing that way. Besids, if I want to see my score, I just press it again for a quick glance.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 10:39 pm

Heh, as my avatar attests, "experiments" in my case have a tendency to blow up in my face...whenever I push a stray button during a game I half expect it to melt the disc or something. But yes indeed, I shall remember this little "trick"...

The Bullet Dodger · Post by **The Bullet Dodger** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 1:00 am

Layer Section; definetly in my top-five Saturn shmup list, even though I STILL haven't beaten it! But I think I prefer the lock-on system much better in RayCrisis though.

I'm hangin in there. And one of these days I will beat it!

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 1:23 am

Bullet Dodger wrote:Layer Section; definetly in my top-five Saturn shmup list, even though I STILL haven't beaten it! But I think I prefer the lock-on system much better in RayCrisis though.

I'm hangin in there. And one of these days I will beat it!

Good luck. I've been trying for about a year. The rank system doesn't jive with the way I play.

gigadrive32 · Post by **gigadrive32** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 7:32 am

lets see, I have the U.S. domesticated Saturn Galactic Attack, I have the GunLock and RayForce roms that I can play in MAME (and Raine IIRC), and I have the Win95 PC RayForce/LayerSection.

PC Layer Section/RayForce is the worst ver
Saturn Galactic Attack/Layer Section is in the middle
Arcade RayForce/GunLock is the best

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 7:39 am

I could be remembering wrong, but didn't the Saturn version have remixed music that sounded better than the arcade?

Diabollokus · Post by **Diabollokus** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 12:31 pm

It was my first saturn shmup ans still one of my favs

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 2:18 pm

Ganelon wrote:I could be remembering wrong, but didn't the Saturn version have remixed music that sounded better than the arcade?

It is remixed, but not very different. Just some tweaks here and there. Also, the music in stage 2 has a longer intro.

tehkao · Post by **tehkao** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 9:43 pm

The soundtrack is one of Zuntata's very best work, IMHO.

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 10:12 pm

tehkao wrote:The soundtrack is one of Zuntata's very best work, IMHO.

Indeed. It's written by a lady named Tamayo Kawamoto, who wrote the music for all of the games in the ray-series.

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Galactic Attack is rockin

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