MUSHA: Most Fun I've had Shmupping in a While

dczx · Post by **dczx** » Fri May 05, 2006 2:58 am

I've really enjoyed a few shmups, the R-Type's and Ikaruga... didn't really get into Border Down or Thunderforces at much. Today, however, I was at the shop and I ran across a copy of MUSHA. Great theme, excellent gameplay, music, force bits. Great all around game.

Go MUSHA!

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Fri May 05, 2006 3:09 am

Heck yeah. One of the best uses of the Genny's sound chip. Compile sure knew how to master the old Z80. I can't get the music from the first level out of my head now.

Don't let go of it, as it usually fetches fairly high prices on Evilbay. (30 for a mint copy of MUSHA is fairly high, IMHO.) And it's a bit hard to find.

Congrats and enjoy. I was able to 1CC it in normal a few years ago via emulator. And the intro is pure Pwnage on the 68000.

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Fri May 05, 2006 5:00 am

Specineff wrote:Heck yeah. One of the best uses of the Genny's sound chip. Compile sure knew how to master the old Z80. I can't get the music from the first level out of my head now.

Anyone know what the Z80's job was in the Genesis? I'm assuming it controlled the sound chip but I'm not clear on it.

Yeah the music is pretty rad.. I could never get into MUSHA myself, but it had some neato levels.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Fri May 05, 2006 5:30 am

Yeah, the MD Z80 processor is predominantly used for the sound program.

I liked MUSHA but found its Robo Aleste cousin to be more fun.

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Fri May 05, 2006 6:48 am

musha is a game where you actually have to _try_ to die in

no sir i don't like it

chempop · Post by **chempop** » Fri May 05, 2006 7:07 am

MUSHA and Robo Alesta are top shelf if you ask me. Sure they are on the easy side, so what!? That doesn't make them bad games though. Both have 10/10 sound tracks too.

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Fri May 05, 2006 8:03 am

Twiddle wrote:musha is a game where you actually have to _try_ to die in

no sir i don't like it

Word. One of the most overrated games in the entire history of shooters. It's a mess!

Post by **system11** » Fri May 05, 2006 8:33 am

Agree with the original poster - top game, one of the best on the system.

sjewkestheloon · Post by **sjewkestheloon** » Fri May 05, 2006 8:46 am

i think i had a quick go in emulation with crazy ninja mecha dudes with big swords on the first stage and it seems cool but i really need to put some time into it. when i've played more of what i already have i may look into picking this up.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Fri May 05, 2006 11:57 am

MUSHA is amazing, but like all Compile games you've got to raise the difficulty a couple of notches to fully appreciate it. I like Spriggan a bit more that MUSHA, though.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Fri May 05, 2006 1:04 pm

Hard game to find, though. There seems to be exactly one copy for Genesis (cart only) on eBay right now.

benj · Post by **benj** » Fri May 05, 2006 2:17 pm

Not really. There are several on eBay right now. Quite pricey, though.

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Fri May 05, 2006 4:03 pm

bloodflowers wrote:Agree with the original poster - top game, one of the best on the system.

What about some Elemental Master love?

ahnslaught · Post by **ahnslaught** » Fri May 05, 2006 4:20 pm

Musha's got great graphics and music, but the levels just drag on too long for my tastes. It would have been better if they condensed all the filler in the stages, as it would have made it more exciting. I'm crap at shooters, and it's a problem when I can get to stage 4 without losing a life on the first try.

Dale · Post by **Dale** » Fri May 05, 2006 6:22 pm

I just found stage1 to long all the other one's were fine to me. Awesome game

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Fri May 05, 2006 7:57 pm

Musha is great. Don't listen to the spoil sports.

J-Manic · Post by **J-Manic** » Fri May 05, 2006 9:56 pm

benj wrote:Not really. There are several on eBay right now. Quite pricey, though.

Yup. But M.U.S.H.A. is well worth the price though. And whoever is looking for a copy better buy it now before the price goes up even higher. It's easily one of the top ten best shmups for the Genny. And the soudntrack is excellent. I still play my copy once in a while.

overdrive · Post by **overdrive** » Sat May 06, 2006 12:47 am

It's always been a personal favorite of mine. Just has this really cool vibe to it that makes it fun to go back to on a regular basis.

Iori Branford · Post by **Iori Branford** » Sat May 06, 2006 2:09 am

MUSHA is gold. Just seeing it in a strategy guide made me want to play it. And I don't need super hell difficulty to enjoy myself, thanks.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Sat May 06, 2006 2:49 am

Yup, Musha Aleste is absolutely superb - like all Compile games, of course.

I personally like Spriggan just a bit better overall (better graphics and sound, not as "cluttered"), but I will certainly never part with my copy of Musha Aleste.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Sat May 06, 2006 12:31 pm

Thumbs up from me. Always interesting to see shmups which split the community in half.

BBH · Post by **BBH** » Sat May 06, 2006 12:40 pm

the levels do drag on a bit, but look on the bright side - gives you more time to enjoy the music.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:14 am

I was looking for another thread when I stumbled across this one. And I have to agree, M.U.S.H.A. is a great vertical shmup on the Genesis. Good music, good variety of levels, nice selection of weapons, and something that (at the time) was almost unheard of in a vertical shmup... numerous layers of parallax. Where horizontal shmups often have many layers of scrolling, vertical ones were always so flat looking with a single layer, or possibly two. But M.U.S.H.A. changed that in one fell swoop, by cranking it up to four, five and more layers of scrolling. It added a level of visual depth that simply wasn't there at the time for verticals. Tack on that to see the full ending, you have to play it on the hardest setting, and it's a shmup that's well rounded on all fronts. And yes, I liked the length of the levels. They were unusually long, but each background changed a bit as you traveled through them, so they never got stale.

Good stuff that really did deserve a full-on sequel.

Edge · Post by **Edge** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:31 am

Yeah the game is not that hard, but it is a great game overall.
Awesome music, great weapons, varying level design, interesting theme. Musha Aleste is maybe the best Meda Drive shmup in my opinion.

A lot of other home console shmups from this time aren't that hard and they don't have to be. I'll rather like to play easy games like Musha Aleste, Elemental Master or Thunderforce 3 than any Gradius 3 (arcade) unfairness. At least in my opinion.

Alpolio · Post by **Alpolio** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 4:09 am

M.U.S.H.A. is a great Genesis shmup! I can remember when I rented it for the first time back in 1992. Back then, you could only keep a rental for 2 days. But those 2 days were really rockin'! I never did buy it though -- my limited Walmart salary prevented that. But back then video game rentals were only about $2 a pop, so that's how I got my gaming fix each weekend.

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:50 pm

I liked playing Musha too, as well as Super Aleste, though I miss the certain style in Super Aleste. Granted, you don`t die as quickly as in other shmup styles, but Complie shmups have a certain feel to them I can`t deny. It`s a way of old-school I like. The 1st stage boss must have been the inspiration to the 4th or 5th stage Boss in Guwange, that moving house...

Strangely, I can`t get into SuperNES shmups as much as I do with Genesis/Megadrive ones (not that there are that much on the SNES), but the Genesis ones have a certain crunch to them, much like PCE games. And selectable ship speed rules!