What's your favorite gigawing game?

[dark]

There's Gigawing 1, Gigawing 2 and Gigawing Generations. In my mind they all embody different aspects of what was standard for shmups during the years they came out. I've enjoyed them all over the years, but I'd say I mostly just go back to Generations these days. It feels faster and more action packed and I think it's helpful that the game is in a tate style, fewer bullets coming at you from 90 degree angles.

At the time, I liked that 1 and 2 had stories and cut scenes and was surprised that Generations didn't, but I wouldn't say the stories were that profound or aged particularly well, so these aspects don't add anything to the games for me at this point. Also at the time, I thought it was pretty neat that the DC port of Gigawing 2 allowed for 4 players, but having experienced 4 player Gigawing 2, it's just a novelty and doesn't make the game more fun to play, if anything it's just way to chaotic and it didn't feel like a lot of skill was involved to progress as my friends spammed megabombs one after the other.

[EmperorIng]

The stories/characters of Giga Wing and Giga Wing 2 have that little extra bit you can enjoy in them, even if the translation is a little stiff (especially in 2). It's fun to take in the character design, interactions, etc.

Of the three games I think I've played Giga Wing 2 the most. I really admire Giga Wing's art and I enjoy the game, but the pleasure of triggering a Volcanon medal rush in Giga Wing 2 is so good that it really keeps me coming back. I can see how the volcanon system makes GW2 a bit more restrictive in terms of scoring (because you really have to use your barrier strictly to trigger them and get your multiplier up), and I can also see how the final 3 stages of the game being boss fights is a bit of a letdown vs. GW1's full suite. That being said, Giga Wing 2 is my favorite of the bunch, having some really great boss fights and bullet patterns to put your Reflect Barrier or Reflect Laser to use.

Check out Rob's old superplay or Marus' new community record of GW2 to see how crazily you can optimize volcanon triggers in the second game. It's nuts!

Even if I don't use them, the 4player modes are really fun features to have as party games; I have fond memories of my college days getting my friends to spam bombs like crazy (as well as get to the TLB in Giga Wing 1!).

I've finally been able to play Generations both from the TTX crack and on the PS2. I haven't yet decided if I like the PS2's YOKO mode more (where they remove the screen scrolling of the vert game to make it more like the other games) vs the arcade's TATE. I can appreciate them trying to make the PS2 port a bit more like the previous games as well as not accommodating people who can't TATE their TVs.

It's not bad at all! Though I've only made it to stage 4, so I don't know how the latter half of Generations hashes out. It kinda feels a bit like a "greatest hits" of Giga Wing 1/2, but that's not bad. There are a lot more medals to grab which makes it feel snappy and engaging.

At this point I need to play some more GW1 since it's been a long time since I dove into it.

[Austin]

The first one. Nice, 2D visuals. More upbeat soundtrack.

[Jonpachi]

Mars Matrix

[davyK]

1CCed the original a few weeks back - so that's the one I have played the most.

I've had a look at GW2 and tried it out on Dreamcast and it seems to be very enjoyable but I haven't played it enough to form an opinion.

[dark]

Mars Matrix

That's one hell of a game. I didn't think it would be that much of a crutch, but I'm pretty good at the DC version which lets you map a button to repeatedly do the short range blast, and much less good at the arcade version which requires you to use the same button for that blast and the normal bullets.

[To Far Away Times]

This series fell so hard. Giga Wing just might be the only series in gaming where the production values keep getting worse and each sequel gets a downgrade visually.

It's gotta be the first one. The first game looks pretty nice and sounds good. It looks like a late CPS-2 game, and I mean that in the best way possible. An all around good game.

[dark]

This series fell so hard. Giga Wing just might be the only series in gaming where the production values keep getting worse and each sequel gets a downgrade visually.

No that would be Battle Arena Toshinden

Re: Gigawing, the graphics are kinda apples and oranges what with the first one being 2D and the later ones 3D. Very good art in the first one though. Second one didn't wow me with its graphics but it wasn't ugly. I thought graphics in Generations are good for what it is and on the level with other 3d shmups of the time.

Relatedly, I thought Generations didn't have all of the trimmings of the first two games, like that Takumi was phoning it in (this was its last game?) and maybe didn't have the time or resources to put in all the stuff they did for the first two games. Since it was a Taito Type X game, I wonder if Taito might have approached Takumi and contracted with them to put out a new gigawing/shmup for their arcade hardware in order to make the hardware of more interest to arcade owners (similar to Capcom with Cave for Progear on CPS2), thus, perhaps Takumi weren't totally passionate about the idea themselves but put something together to fulfill a contract.

[To Far Away Times]

This series fell so hard. Giga Wing just might be the only series in gaming where the production values keep getting worse and each sequel gets a downgrade visually.

No that would be Battle Arena Toshinden

Re: Gigawing, the graphics are kinda apples and oranges what with the first one being 2D and the later ones 3D. Very good art in the first one though. Second one didn't wow me with its graphics but it wasn't ugly. I thought graphics in Generations are good for what it is and on the level with other 3d shmups of the time.

Relatedly, I thought Generations didn't have all of the trimmings of the first two games, like that Takumi was phoning it in (this was its last game?) and maybe didn't have the time or resources to put in all the stuff they did for the first two games. Since it was a Taito Type X game, I wonder if Taito might have approached Takumi and contracted with them to put out a new gigawing/shmup for their arcade hardware in order to make the hardware of more interest to arcade owners (similar to Capcom with Cave for Progear on CPS2), thus, perhaps Takumi weren't totally passionate about the idea themselves but put something together to fulfill a contract.

I think that sums up Generations pretty well. The whole package, from the arcade release to the cruddy PS2 port, basically feels like a contractual obligation.

[BulletMagnet]

While Generations does have subpar production values and a lousy home port (I'll never get over the fact that the attract demonstration runs at 60 FPS and the actual game runs at less than 30 ), it also has the best bullet visibility in the series (something I tend to nitpick) and my personal favorite scoring mechanics of the bunch, so it's a tough one for me to hate outright, even if I probably should, heh.

As far as the first two are concerned, I tend to prefer the first, mostly due to the visuals, the less serious story, and less one-note scoring system, though 2 is certainly still worth playing.

[Jeneki]

Giga Wing 2 was a slow burner for me.

Back in the Dreamcast days I vastly preferred Giga Wing 1. I had a lot of visibility issues with Giga Wing 2, just so much going on in the backgrounds at times that I couldn't process everything. However after spending more of time with Giga Wing 2 in recent years, I've come to like it more than the first. Once I figured out all the little nuances to getting volcanoes it gets more rewarding, and for a while I could identify what small little detail went wrong if one failed to trigger. After that it was hard to go back.

I never tried Generations.

[xxx1993]

I think I like the second game the best. Mainly because of the voice acting ("REFLECTO FOOOOOOORCE!") and the storyline and characters. Is it the same Ark from Raiders of the Lost Ark that Kart, Limi, Romi, Cherry, and Largo are after? I also like how some of the characters encourage me to continue if I run out of lives. The third game has no plot or characters.

[dark]

What are the criteria for triggering volcanos? I've only ever played shmups for survival so I've never consciously tried to get them.

[BulletMagnet]

What are the criteria for triggering volcanos? I've only ever played shmups for survival so I've never consciously tried to get them.

If memory serves it's just a matter of spawning a certain number of medals on the screen at one time with a single reflect; if enough show up they'll split into the huge cascade and you can unleash your best 90's-style exclamation of Raaadicaaaalll! Extreeeme!.

[EmperorIng]

In Gigawing 2, Volcanons are mainly triggered by using the Reflect Barrier/Laser to spawn 110 medals onscreen at once. Then, every medal will split into multiple volcanons depending on its value (the highest medal turns into... something like 15 or more volcanons).

You can also trigger this by surpassing the on-screen object limit (according to gamefaqs), including enemies, medals, bullets, etc. I don't know how true it is, though I think I recall something to this effect. I don't know what said object limit is, so don't rely on this.

Playing GW2 to trigger volcanons, there's really no other way to play. Everything else is very unsatisfying compared to wringing every last medal explosion out of a stage or boss. Compare Marus' stage 1 of Giga Wing 2 to yours and weep (as I do!).

[dark]

So you just wait until there is a lot of stuff (probably bullets is best) on screen, use reflect shield, and then you get a volcanon? I'll give the game a whirl tonight.

[Despatche]

Generations.

Also, Mars Matrix should be treated as a GW game. Because it is. Same with Bloodborne being a Demon's/Dark Souls game.

This series fell so hard. Giga Wing just might be the only series in gaming where the production values keep getting worse and each sequel gets a downgrade visually.

It's gotta be the first one. The first game looks pretty nice and sounds good. It looks like a late CPS-2 game, and I mean that in the best way possible. An all around good game.

It's all just 3D (GW1 is prerenders), so no not really. Also Generations has better audiovisuals than 2, and really, 1 and Mars Matrix.

I think that sums up Generations pretty well. The whole package, from the arcade release to the cruddy PS2 port, basically feels like a contractual obligation.

And yet Generations is probably the best game in the series, only competing with the Dreamcast version of Mars Matrix! Fancy that.

[marus]

Playing GW2 to trigger volcanons, there's really no other way to play. Everything else is very unsatisfying compared to wringing every last medal explosion out of a stage or boss. Compare Marus' stage 1 of Giga Wing 2 to yours and weep (as I do!).

Funny enough, Rob's much older run gets a better stage 1 than me, although I make up for it later with a more optimal stage 5 boss. I'm not very consistent getting a good medal count in stage 1 actually - when I was trying to beat Rob's score I spent a ton of time restarting stage 1 until I got a "good enough" run before moving on to the rest of the game.

But anyways, to echo what some other people have said, Giga Wing 2 all the way! In a lot of ways Giga Wing 2 feels like an incomplete game, especially compared to the first. The first game has more interesting enemy and boss designs, the stages are more memorable visually, the music is better, and the 3D models in Giga Wing 2 feel very amateurish even for the time it came out. Once you start playing for score though it's really hard to go back to the first game. Triggering volcannons is so much fun and it's such a rush seeing the screen explode with medals. Once you get good at volcannons, the first game feels so bland and vanilla.

I've yet to play Generations. It's been on my backlog, although it's a shame the home port is subpar.

So you just wait until there is a lot of stuff (probably bullets is best) on screen, use reflect shield, and then you get a volcanon? I'll give the game a whirl tonight.

The easiest spot to try it out is on the sky stage (stage 1 with Chery or Kart). Early in the stage there's these blimps that will shot a ton of bullets at you which are easy to trigger volcannons against - my run has an example of it. The basic idea is you want to use your reflect force to generate medals, but avoid picking up the medals until the volcannon triggers.

If you time it right you can actually get a double volcannon there, although the timing for that is much more advanced - for that you want to quickly trigger a volcannon against the closer blimp, then pick up enough medals to go below the 110 medal threshold before your reflected bullets hit the farther blimp. If you do it right you'll get a second volcannon as soon as the first one ends!