Xeno Fighters R (2019 GM Studio Port)

[n0rtygames]

Good stuff. From the video it looks like they're firing late enough that miyamoto would still wreck them hugging the center but there's enough going on with that particular stage that movement is necessary for scoring to get the at-a-time bonuses on boats n stuff

I'll give it the kamikaze meee-ya-mooo-dooo treatment at some point and see how he fairs

[EddyMRA]

You mean when it makes that bonus stage sound from Sonic the Hedgehog? Or is it something else entirely?

You will see the word "WARNING!" flashing on the screen with a crosshair focusing on the radar. Destroy the radar before it explodes on its own, or you fail the objective. So destroy the radar during the WARNING sequence. You have to let it summon missiles several times before the Warning sequence starts.

[xxx1993]

I see now... I must have went too fast on the boss and treated it as a typical boss battle.

[EddyMRA]

Several ships/characters have received overhauls.

Solvalou (returning since removed in 2010): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLwa7S461aE
Michelle Hart and Kevin Walker (Legendary Wings): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtq0CfW1DWI
Pollux (Gemini Wing): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvgkcpHrs-4
Miyamoto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD8VNzseF8s

There are more overhauls that have not been put onto video yet. Stay tuned!

[Pikachu4Prezident]

Holy hell, it's been so long since I last heard of this project... I didn't think it was going to be back anytime soon, if ever again. And yet, here I am, having found it again, with its original creator still active (though now taking a backseat for understandable reasons).

I'm honestly kinda glad that it's back up and running again after all this time. I really can't wait for the full project to come through at last.

On a side note, are we going to see some past ships like TwinBee returning to the fold (I can't remember all of them; it's been a long time since I last paid much attention to the project, but I do remember Hikaru from Parodius being a part of the playable cast at some point), or will they still be excluded for one reason or another? (That said, I'm not torn up about the removal of Zapdos for the legal bullet dodging; Gengar was an equally bizarre addition even before it was removed for being out of place and insanely overpowered, and Pokemon isn't really a SHMUP to begin with.)

[EddyMRA]

On a side note, are we going to see some past ships like TwinBee returning to the fold (I can't remember all of them; it's been a long time since I last paid much attention to the project, but I do remember Hikaru from Parodius being a part of the playable cast at some point), or will they still be excluded for one reason or another? (That said, I'm not torn up about the removal of Zapdos for the legal bullet dodging; Gengar was an equally bizarre addition even before it was removed for being out of place and insanely overpowered, and Pokemon isn't really a SHMUP to begin with.)

The remaining characters including Hikaru and Twinbee are: Jade Knight, Falchion Beta, Lord British, and Michael (from Parodius). We have no plans to bring those characters back because they are a nightmare to balance. The person who added those characters to the game gave them game mechanics that clashed badly with the core Raiden mechanics. So we do not have any reservations about keeping those other Konami characters out of the game. Plus, including the Vic Viper, there were once 7 Konami characters/ships on the roster, far too many representatives from one company.

We brought back Solvalou because at least that one was designed to conform to the Raiden mechanics. The only change we did on it was to increase its damage output.

[Pikachu4Prezident]

The remaining characters including Hikaru and Twinbee are: Jade Knight, Falchion Beta, Lord British, and Michael (from Parodius). We have no plans to bring those characters back because they are a nightmare to balance. The person who added those characters to the game gave them game mechanics that clashed badly with the core Raiden mechanics. So we are not torn about keeping those other Konami characters out of the game.

We brought back Solvalou because at least that one was designed to conform to the Raiden mechanics. The only change we did on it was to increase its damage output.

Ah, gotcha. So those characters were put in by someone else and weren't very balanced in and of themselves. I presume this was back in the days when the project was running concurrently with Mushroom Kingdom Fusion and when the development team was much bigger, leading to a lot of clashing views on how the game should be done. I can understand that, even if it is still a shame to see 'em go. Still, I'm just glad to see that this game is still in active development, and I'm psyched to see it completed at long last.

In response to the edit: That's basically like Nintendo having too many Fire Emblem or Pokemon reps on the Smash roster, so...yeah, I can see the rationale there even more.

[Pikachu4Prezident]

While I'm here, I'd also like to ask about a few other things.

First, I've noticed there seems to be a visual glitch with the Miclus in every level in Xeno Fighters R. While they start off hidden, the sprite of a hidden Miclus starts to flash on the screen underneath where they're hidden, making them far too easy to find. I don't know if that's a glitch only unique to me or if it's a much wider problem, but if it's the latter, can that be fixed?

Secondly, there don't appear to be any Miclus in Stage 2, even though there were in XF-EX. Was that an intentional choice or were they accidentally left out of the level?

Thirdly, will the original boss theme for Citadel Geryon be used for its incarnation in XF-R? I loved it in EX (particularly how the intro was timed to the plane getting shot down on top of the blast doors and Citadel Geryon opening) because it gave the fight a very climatic feeling coming off the already difficult level before it, even though it was only the fifth boss in the game.

Finally, will the Dreadnought Echidna be the "battleship raid" that it was in the original XF-EX? I know it's design it completely different and I shouldn't expect everything to be the same as it was in EX - just as close as possible while giving the game a new flavor, but I also loved that fight for being an intense race to Earth scored to "Ah, Geez!" from Duke Nukem 3D (though using an arrangement that I haven't heard from any other version of the game).

[EddyMRA]

While I'm here, I'd also like to ask about a few other things.

First, I've noticed there seems to be a visual glitch with the Miclus in every level in Xeno Fighters R. While they start off hidden, the sprite of a hidden Miclus starts to flash on the screen underneath where they're hidden, making them far too easy to find. I don't know if that's a glitch only unique to me or if it's a much wider problem, but if it's the latter, can that be fixed?

Secondly, there don't appear to be any Miclus in Stage 2, even though there were in XF-EX. Was that an intentional choice or were they accidentally left out of the level?

Thirdly, will the original boss theme for Citadel Geryon be used for its incarnation in XF-R? I loved it in EX (particularly how the intro was timed to the plane getting shot down on top of the blast doors and Citadel Geryon opening) because it gave the fight a very climatic feeling coming off the already difficult level before it, even though it was only the fifth boss in the game.

Finally, will the Dreadnought Echidna be the "battleship raid" that it was in the original XF-EX? I know it's design it completely different and I shouldn't expect everything to be the same as it was in EX - just as close as possible while giving the game a new flavor, but I also loved that fight for being an intense race to Earth scored to "Ah, Geez!" from Duke Nukem 3D (though using an arrangement that I haven't heard from any other version of the game).

1. The Miclus flash you is is intentional when you play on lower difficulty settings. The purpose is to show you where they are located so you can memorize them for higher difficulty settings, when they do not flash at all from their hiding spots.

2. There are no Micluses in Stage 2 of XFR. In their place, we put in Fairies instead.

3. The public release will use different .music for Citadel Geryon. But I plan to release a music model that completely recreates the original XFEX soundtrack.

4. Dreadnought Echidna is the mainline battleship raid for XFR, but it will not be the only one. It will use new music for XFR, but again, the 2003 XFEX soundtrack mode I will make will include all those tracks you mentioned.

[Pikachu4Prezident]

1. The Miclus flash you is is intentional when you play on lower difficulty settings. The purpose is to show you where they are located so you can memorize them for higher difficulty settings, when they do not flash at all from their hiding spots.

2. There are no Micluses in Stage 2 of XFR. In their place, we put in Fairies instead.

3. The public release will use different .music for Citadel Geryon. But I plan to release a music model that completely recreates the original XFEX soundtrack.

4. Dreadnought Echidna is the mainline battleship raid for XFR, but it will not be the only one. It will use new music for XFR, but again, the 2003 XFEX soundtrack mode I will make will include all those tracks you mentioned.

1. I gotcha. The purpose of that would be to help players not only build their skill level, but to also help them build a higher score for higher difficulties. Very clever!

2. The fairies are sort of another form of the Miclus, correct? I asked because all of the spots where the Miclus were in XF-EX are still there so I initially thought they were still in the same spots. I also presume that the fairies are for the sake of adding more points to the score for players skilled enough to trigger them (unless I'm wrong).

3. Oh, awesome! Like I said, I loved the music for Citadel Geryon in the original (it's titled as "Aircraft Carrier" in the sound test), so it'll be awesome to hear that play in the new version!

4. Another battleship raid? That sounds like it'll be a lot of fun to play! It makes me wonder what it'll be like now... And I'm really glad that you foresaw that players of the classic version will be able to use the original soundtrack if they wish to do so.

I'm really glad to see you're willing to answer questions regarding the game's development. It's neat to get insight on what goes into a game and what's being planned. I've been a fan of yours since your MUGEN days, so it's pretty nice to see you're still hanging in here.

[EddyMRA]

2. The fairies are sort of another form of the Miclus, correct? I asked because all of the spots where the Miclus were in XF-EX are still there so I initially thought they were still in the same spots. I also presume that the fairies are for the sake of adding more points to the score for players skilled enough to trigger them (unless I'm wrong).

4. Another battleship raid? That sounds like it'll be a lot of fun to play! It makes me wonder what it'll be like now... And I'm really glad that you foresaw that players of the classic version will be able to use the original soundtrack if they wish to do so.

I'm really glad to see you're willing to answer questions regarding the game's development. It's neat to get insight on what goes into a game and what's being planned. I've been a fan of yours since your MUGEN days, so it's pretty nice to see you're still hanging in here.

2. In a way. Fairies are different in that they're triggered by getting a chain of a certain length at a certain part of certain stages. Fairies give you extra Bombs and are worth 100k points when you collect them. We revised the Stage 2 backgrounds to remove the Miclus hiding spots, since they're no longer found the stage. Take a look at this video showing the most recent changes to see how Fairies are triggered and how they behave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS63i9dIY_I

4. BPzeBanshee and I are working on many adjustments, fixes, and new content for a new public version. As soon as that version is released, I will release the XFEX 2003 soundtrack mod to go along with it.

I am releasing new videos of XFR's newest updates on my YouTube channel, so if you want to stay updated on the latest changes as they come, take a look at my YouTube channel.

XFR will have every stage from XFEX represented in the game. The only change is that we changed the Stage 4 boss from a bomb complex to a giant missile. This is due to technical reasons. All the XFEX stages are represented as part of a new mode called Path Mode:


The path that recreates the XFEX stage order is called the "2K3 Path":

Stage 7 in XFEX is Stage F-A in XFR, while Stage 8 and Dreadnought Echidna are combined into one stage in XFR: Stage F-B

We named the path that lets you play through all the stages in the game after the player who won our Christmas 2019 scoring competition:

[Pikachu4Prezident]

Wow, XF-R's changes are definitely extensive. The Path mode is a nice addition for those who want to take a specific path through the game without having to worry anything about objectives, and congratulations to Prales for scoring the top spot in that competition!

Ah, so that's how the fairies work! Thanks for the clarification. And I really can't wait to see what's coming in the new public release.

By the way, what is the "X-Museum"? That's been something that's been in the game's menu for a long time but there's been almost no information about it. Is it some kind of archive where players can learn more about the original and guest fighters, ATHENA and BRES, see the past incarnations of the game's various elements, etc.?

[EddyMRA]

By the way, what is the "X-Museum"? That's been something that's been in the game's menu for a long time but there's been almost no information about it. Is it some kind of archive where players can learn more about the original and guest fighters, ATHENA and BRES, see the past incarnations of the game's various elements, etc.?

That is the plan for the X-Museum. It'll be like an encyclopedia of the game's lore, the ships, both original and guest, and other information.

[Pikachu4Prezident]

Awesome! I'm really curious to know more about the world you've constructed and even learn about all of the other games represented in here! Honestly, the more I learn about this game, the more psyched I get about it. Really, I can't wait to see the finished product and finally enjoy it in its entirety.

[EddyMRA]

Awesome! I'm really curious to know more about the world you've constructed and even learn about all of the other games represented in here! Honestly, the more I learn about this game, the more psyched I get about it. Really, I can't wait to see the finished product and finally enjoy it in its entirety.

You can read up on the game's lore on the wiki here: https://xenofighters.fandom.com/wiki/Xe ... ers_R_Wiki

Be warned that the wiki is extremely out of date, and it was only in the past 72 hours that I have started to update the outdated articles as I get to them.

Also, I did not write the lore on the Wiki, Skyknight wrote it about 11 years ago. We will use the current lore as a foundation for the game, but we will have to revise it for video game and pacing purposes.

[Pikachu4Prezident]

For something written a decade ago back when the remake was just getting off the ground, this is very well thought out and clearly has had a lot of planning put into it. I'm glad to see that it'll still see some use in the final product, and the reworking to make sure the flow of the gameplay still remains fun while still giving players incentive to see what happens next is understandable (I appreciate a good story as much as anyone does, but making a game that can be fun and have good flow is just as important, if not more so). It's also good to see that the wiki is getting updated again; that should help newer players who want to know more about the game.

[darkking]

There was a lot of change and I enjoyed it sometimes.
I've seen it often because of updates.

When do you expect the next public release?

[Pikachu4Prezident]

When do you expect the next public release?

They'll probably release it when they feel it's ready to be released. As Eddy said, they're trying to put together enough new content and fixes into the next public beta to help tide players over until they can release a fully-completed project. That said, it's impressive how much they're getting done in a short time, given that development has been on hold for almost a decade.

[EddyMRA]

It has been a long time since we made any new stages, but we have recently begun working on several new stages. Here's one of them.

Stage EX-5 (Lair of the Leviathan)

It is a recreation of stage 6 from the first Raiden Fighters. The stage name is a nod to Mushroom Kingdom Fusion and Super Mario Fusion Revival, which I used to be a part of. It also fits the stage theme, since the RF1 Stage 6 boss, Vahrstor, is a huge flying fortress: a leviathan of sorts.


Stage objective.


Some foreshadowing. Pun intended.


Chance of thunderstorms: 100%


Vahrstor makes its dramatic appearance (WIP)

[lilmanjs]

Wow! Glad to see this back. The game is looking better than ever.

[EddyMRA]

Final revision of the background rendering in Stage EX-5 (Lair of the Leviathan):


The next thing BPzeBanshee and I will work on is the movement timing of Vahrstor and enemy encounters.

[christianbelchior]

Hey, I'm new here. And I'm lookin' for some great splosions for my shmup project, but at least can you give me this game's explosions?

[EddyMRA]

Here's our newest stage pretty much complete: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDz9DhHu8Fg

It's a recreation of the sixth stage of the first Raiden Fighters. Since this video, we have lowered the enemy jet sounds and fixed some stage balance issues.

[darkking]

Wow~ It's been over 13 years since I made this game.
I often look around on YouTube and watch the latest updates.

And we are looking forward to the next new public version release.

[EddyMRA]

We've started implementing the story that Skyknight wrote years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqGrQOSppJo

For those who don't like any story elements in their shmupping, we have a new mode called the Path Mode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRuJocfT-gg

In Path Mode, the story, cinematics and cutscenes, stage branching, stage objectives, and voiceovers are disabled. You select from one of seven predetermined stage paths after you select your ship.

[xxx1993]

Wonder when Balor will finish? I can’t wait to see it in action as the true final boss.

[darkking]

We've started implementing the story that Skyknight wrote years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqGrQOSppJo

For those who don't like any story elements in their shmupping, we have a new mode called the Path Mode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRuJocfT-gg

In Path Mode, the story, cinematics and cutscenes, stage branching, stage objectives, and voiceovers are disabled. You select from one of seven predetermined stage paths after you select your ship.

The modes that will be released in the next latest version are Story mode & Path mode.

[EddyMRA]

Xeno Fighters R v0.200 RC1 has been released.

Download here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lLc6VI ... sp=sharing

Join our Discord here: https://discord.com/invite/wUNuhJy

[tiaoferreira]

WOW! Updates? Let's test it!

[christianbelchior]

If you are looking to publish the new explosion sprites to TSR, will they belong to...
Raiden Fighters?
Raiden Fighters 2?
or
Raiden Fighters Jet?
If you're not doing so, then I will rip explosions from Viper Phase 1 (because that's where the explosions in RF series originated, along with some explosions exclusive to this game)