I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

[Super Joe]

Dragon Spirit in two weeks !

[BIL]

Goddamn, quality overload lately! The last few months have been stacked with killer STGs. Loving the fortnightly Namco releases.

Between ACA and ShotTriggers, this has been one of the strongest eras for home arcade releases ever.

[EmperorIng]

would prefer dragon saber... but I guess that will come too in about 2 years.

[BIL]

TBH it's Metal Hawk I'm really pining for, no home release ever unlike its BFF Assault. 3; The advent calendar aspect is a painful pleasure.

[CecilMcW00t]

would prefer dragon saber... but I guess that will come too in about 2 years.

They have been pretty good about getting sequels out there in a reasonable time. I didn't think we would see New Rally-X so soon after Rally-X but we got it. Also it makes sense to get Spirit out before Saber.

[BIL]

^ Yeah, that's what I'm hoping too. They definitely have some continuity going on with Super Pac-Man, Hopping Mappy and New Rally-X, so hopefully they'll get to Saber in similar fashion. I've still never 1CCd the PS1 Encore version...

...speaking of which, that one's Rolling Thunder was more of an Old+New Ver hybrid, than a straight conversion - would be great to see it too. Even with stuff that was on the PS1 Museums (excellent efforts, but very much hand-assembled conversions with differences here and there), it feels good to get definitive arcade emulations.

Metal Hawk, NebulasRay and Phelios, those are my big three unported STG wants. Also Splatterhouse and Finest Hour and Rolling Thunder 2. >_>

[Jeneki]

... would it be weird if one of the Namco games I really want a home release for is Aqua Rush?

[BIL]

Honestly, I'd get a boner for any arcade-perfect releases from their mid-to-late 90s arcade catalogue. WTB RRRRAAAVE RACERRRR

It's rare I really look forward to stuff (cruel world), but I'd love to see Hamster (and M2) take advantage of current-gen hardware, at some point way down the line (like five years or so) when they've really tapped out their libraries. There's an absolute fuckton of Taito, IREM and Konami stuff, plus DECO (which Hamster and M2 both have licensed titles from, via G-Mode), so I'm in no hurry, and I'd rather see them maintain their excellent standards than rush into anything. But getting ACA/ShotTriggers-quality Rave Racer and Brave Blade, yeah, other than FromSoft that's something I'd look forward to.

[Rastan78]

The Switch got high quality ports of Rolling Thunder, RT 2, and Splatterhouse, handled by Gotch, via the Namco Museum. I'm surprised this set never did make it over to PS4!? It has nice pixel perfect scaling options and everything. Somewhat underrated collection there.

Can't remember off the top of my head
, but I think it lets you pick old or new version of RT.

Re: more modern stuff. M2 blatantly cock teased that they had Naomi emu ready to go for the Sega Ages series right before it got shitcanned by Sega. Their amazing port of Virtua Racer showed off some of that upscaled low poly goodness. Increased draw distance with zero pop in and all that.

Basically every comment section of every article about Sega Ages was begging them to move into the 32-bit era. Of course we still got Sonic 1 and Alex the Kidd.

[BIL]

^ Indeed, those are on my shortlist of "WTF why aren't these on PS4?!" (see also M2's Shinobi, Virtua Racing and Gain Ground)

Then again it seems Gotch's Ms. Pac-Man is stuck on PS4, so can't complain I guess.

[Jeneki]

Yeah I'd rebuy Sega Ages if it released on ps4, as my significant other always has the Switch.

[CecilMcW00t]

Metal Hawk, NebulasRay and Phelios, those are my big three unported STG wants.

NebulasRay would give me a small heart attack. Been wanting that ported for years! I had Arcade Phelios on the Wii Virtual Console (Japan exclusive), but an Arcade Archives of it would be wonderful.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

... would it be weird if one of the Namco games I really want a home release for is Aqua Rush?

Aqua Rush is an unbelievably good puzzle game with fantastic music (that got on the Apple iTunes store despite the game never receiving an overseas release or even a console port). It's downright criminal that it's gone relatively unknown for so long.

It's also pretty cheap as far as PCBs go, I picked one up rather inexpensively on Tops for a couple hundred bucks.

[Randorama]

TBH it's Metal Hawk I'm really pining for, no home release ever unlike its BFF Assault. 3; The advent calendar aspect is a painful pleasure.

Feel the need to loop st. 2 and st. 3's songs for hours on end? I still do, from time to time.
This one's BGM, Assault's and the BGM's from the Dragon STG's are Hosoe Shinji's finest early works, I believe.

[BIL]

I was reminiscing not long ago on Assault's OST over in the STG music thread. Bit late here so will do a shameless copy/paste but I vouch for it all.

Offhand, my favourite fantasy-themed STG soundtrack remains Dragon Saber (a bit of a cheat pick, as it includes the nearly-as-brilliant Dragon Spirit in beefed-up form). Hosoe's interplays of soaring, intricately spiralling leads and primal rhythm has an uncommonly total synergy with the divinely vengeful earth-razing action, and he is also (as Under Defeat and Ibara reestablished a few gens later) a formidable STG hookmonger.

Half-related, his Assault leans somewhat funky, but the Jungle Battle BGM (mahfuckin Apocalypse Now downriver gauntlet) is something a starving T-Rex would write before eating some mahfuckas heads off. Pure keening bloodlust. Same basic components as his Dragon* duology, radically different effect.

Even at his most supremely tuneful (Dragon Saber w/ Spirit AST is my pick of the bunch), Hosoe got RIDDIM.

(confessional, re hooks, I didn't know he'd ripped off Ibara's Showtime wholesale from Stratovarius's Black Diamond until Roo posted a comparison recently What was that great Oscar Wilde quote, about talent borrowing and genius stealing? )

Just saw this nice bit of Dragon Spirit fanart by @siropen, tweeted @ Hamster:



Ladies gotta wait until Saber for equal rep (and a purple-haired bishy on third mic), this an oldschool 1980s damsel in distress joint!

[Sima Tuna]

Hamster still need to release Violent Storm, Undercover Cops and Combatribes.

[BIL]

I feel pretty good about Violent Storm and Mystic Warriors showing up sometime in the next year or so, to complete their respective VIOLENCE STREET ACTION and OG R2RKMF trilogies. ACA's had some pretty nice runs of early 90s Konami stuff before (last year bringing Thunder Cross II, Crime Fighters 2 - which I'm getting some unholy hours out of, god damn this is amazing - and of course XEXEX; previous years had Detana! Twinbee and Sunset Riders).

Dunno what's going on with IREM and Technos, I hope we see more from them at some point. Seemed like things were just getting interesting in 2019, with the M72 quartet and M92's Kaitei Daisensou. I'd like to see Shadow Force at some point, I've had a love for Muneki "Kicking Geek" Ebinuma ever since Return of Double Dragon's uniquely filmic take on Technos beating.

...speaking of Namco music, just enjoying ACA Dangerous Seed this morning, and while the MD soundtrack does indeed blow the doors off of the PCB - what great tunes, even in shadowy facsimile. Discomfortingly alien yet fierily driven and catchy, pitch-perfect STG tone. Iron Maiden fans will love the Flash of the Blade soundalike.

I notice the input response feels just a tad soft - which is what I'd expect, given MAME puts DS's movement at 4f input lag (5 frame steps before visual feedback). It's nowhere near problematic, just noticeable coming straight from the impeccably razor-sharp Thunder Dragon 2. I remember someone mentioning the authentic Galaga '88 PCB had similar handling.

Lots of interesting, customarily hardcore notes from TZW_Guile on this release, sounds like they brought in a high-level DS aficionado for playtesting. I'm guessing the "Rapid Normal/Fast" setting is PCB-accurate, given that. Couldn't resist switching to the latter, jyeeeeah boiiiii this some Darius Gaiden Extra minigun actions Might go with the default Normal for now, feels a bit too good taking apart bosses with buzzsaw hertz.

Dangerously Seedy! All your feets are belong to me!

Spoiler

Oh hey, Arcadia tracks Normal and Fast settings. Nice.

[seiatsu]

I've always wondered why they don't allow us to play the caravan or score attack modes of ACA games in tate. I always forget about this and it's quite jarring when I first fire up one of those modes. Of course I can work around it but still...

I guess they made the hud for those to only accommodate one orientation :/

[BIL]

Yeah, HS and Caravan are nice tokens, and quite valuable in the former's case (a simple but effective anti-cheat mode), but they can be rather un-accomodating. My pet hate are the ACA NeoGeos enforcing stanard res in HS mode... which is fine, if that's what the games used (Metal Slugs 1/X/3), but horrible for ones that use wide res (MS4+MS5). Just couldn't be arsed learning to play the latter while being edge-blind, so I just played in normal mode. Eh. Not like the MVS carts are any less spliceproof.

(also MS4+5's HS modes enforce censorship, absolutely hideous cum spraying all over my screen, oh hell no!)

I'm loving Dangerous Seed though - took a while to adjust to its innately floatier control, bit like returning to PCB Garegga, but that absorbed it's the Galaga With Ground Targets I didn't realise I wanted. Despite certain resemblances to Exed Exes, it plays absolutely nothing like that one's AI dosie-do. Those divebombing bastards are strikers and will kill you dead if not shot down with icy diligence! I'm actually kinda warming up to the AC OST, too. Fast Auto feels grrrreat, very Halley's Comet among 80s STGs.

OH GOD NO, NOT SCORPIONS PLS - What? "Strike Ants?" Yeah ok np.

Spoiler

Really digging the aggressive boss design, pretty stern for st2. ROLLER SNAIL's economical spreadshots under SHITSTORM O' DESTRUCTIBLE LEAFS hawt too!

[Udderdude]

"Look how big we can make these scorpions!" "Let's make two of 'em!"

[BIL]

It just hit me that they're meant to be scuttling about on the viney surface below - I thought Namco had just bunged 'em out there, knowing the audience would be too busy going "HOO HOOOOO" and "Brah - thats FUCKIN SHAWEET" to care. I know I was.

It also just hit me - I can't stand spiders, but IDGAF about scorpions. Despite the ones we get being respectively harmless and very venomous. Reactions are respectively "Don't touch me you motherless fuck I swear to fuckin God " and "You can't be in my house stingybro, dog might eat you "

So I'll start calling spiders Wall Ants

---

MAXING und RELAXING mit mein boys ROLLER SNAIL and SHARK MOUF, enjoying going for the charmingly YGWesque tank tread destructions, when h-hey! WTF!

Spoiler

Bitch stood me up! What is this - STAR SOLDIER for MUH OLD NINTENDO!! These dudes time out quick Seems the pacing is deliberately knock-down/drag-out, minute tops to git 'er done. Goes well with the chunkily destructible boss parts, what kind of ingrate doesn't love shredding the treads off a tank? Oh god I blew he head off. 3;

Spoiler

Daww :3 That's one for the Attract/Title/Game Over thread for sure. Due a bump soon.

Did a little light reading/refreshing on Namco's SystemXX hardware foibles. Turns out it was Haze's post I was recalling, re Galaga '88's PCB. I'm guessing the ACA releases replicate the hardware performance, as is Hamster's wont. TBH I wish they'd look into tightening up inputs a bit.

That said... I switched from PCB Speed back to 60hz (in Preference Options), and while placebo effect can never be ruled out, I could swear it feels marginally tightened-up. Macro sweeps and cutbacks felt more immediate, and micro-taps less sluggish, on stages and bosses alike. It felt like I was really fighting aginst the controls previously, while I was sweeping Roller Snail and going for 100% destruction sans bombs. (an aside, 30hz + Fast Autofire tears bosses to shreds, as expected - very Darius Gaidenesque, think I'll stick with just the PCB Fast Auto for now)

I'm also reminded of Pistol Daimyou, which (going by MAME) has quite a bit of native lag too. I only ever played that one's ACA release at 60hz, was surprised at how responsive it felt, considering. Granted, part of that is the game design, with its big, forgiving shot hitboxes and relatively agile player character. As ever, I'm a fuckin caveman on this stuff, but perhaps the higher framerate = less perceptible input processing time? At any rate, I think I'll be leaving the later 80s/early 90s Namco STGs at 60hz for now.

Much comfier input response. Slipping and sliding? NAW! That ass I be riding (■｀w´■)

Spoiler

EDIT: while the AC soundtrack lacks the MD's thumping beat, goddamn, I'm loving those vastly beefier explosion SFX! Especially on bosses, with their Rayforce-esque violent *BOOMs* MD BGM+AC SFX would be one of the best-sounding videogames ever.

[BrianC]

The first thing I thought of when I played the AC Dangerous Seed was how much it reminded me of Galaga '88, despite playing differently. No surprise it's on the same hardware.

[BIL]

Did my usual first pass (savestate after nomissing each stage) last night - quite a shock when you hit Stage 5, and suddenly have a rather massive ship, assuming all your dudes escaped TEH TUBE. Some sharp stage and boss designs to go with it, though. I like the emphasis on pendulum macro-dodging. Good way to make the player feel like a stud with minimal rehearsal.



The short, violent, yet finessed boss duels are excellent, too. I particularly enjoy HUNTER MOTH, an obligate speedkill done right (blow away her cannons immediately, or you're getting a timeout at best). TWIN CLAW (more like TWIN SHRIMP MIRITE ) got some very enjoyable interlocked macro, too. Gotta deftly stagger your sweep to evade his three-pronged attack.

Spoiler

I did start using the 30hz autofire around Shark Mouth's stage, though. At that point, the middleweights get a bit Euroshumpy for my liking... autofire sorts it out nicely, with gutsy pointblanks still needed for unscathed 100% shootdowns.

Solid late-80s fare. I recommend playing it on 60hz (the ACA default) - definitely seems to eliminate a bit of PCB drag. It's not a very twitchy STG, but you do need sharp cutbacks.

I love how they translated the Stage 5 pilot survival report as your dudes "outliving" phase 1.

Thought this was interesting, from the ending (ta VGmuseum, as ever):

Guessing those caricatures are by the same artist as Genpei Toumaden's

Spoiler

Working title Kristallkern = Crystal Seed, if I understand correctly? Interesting moniker, if not especially catchy. Definitely goes with the xenoinsectoid theme. STG codenames rock, in any case! Ship's got a cool name too, "Moon Diver."

[Herr Schatten]

Working title Kristallkern = Crystal Seed, if I understand correctly?

Not quite. A more accurate translation would be Crystal Core.

[BIL]

Cheers Kage-san. That does alliterate pretty nicely! Brings to mind their PCE Cyber Core, even. I was thinking today that the "crystal" aspect fits the last boss better than its final codename, "Danger Seed" - to the point that its design suddenly seems a lot less random. I just wish the surroundings weren't so blah - looks less like the heart of solar system-ravaging xenohorror, than a paving sample from a driveways brochure.

To my surprise, I've grown to like the AC soundtrack... it's undeniably reedy compared to the MD's kicking pulse, but by the same token, it kinda works for these superbly catchy-yet-uneasy tunes. The more mood-oriented pieces (st4 especially) do well on AC, and moreover, it seems the MD cart is missing an excellent later one (no idea if its stage is AWOL too). At least, I can't seem to find the track in any OST rips. It's the Jupiter theme, in the arcade version. A chilly yet subtly plaintive march into the furthest darkness - a keen contrast with the stage's rather furious pace, and a good interlude before energy surges back for the final showdown.

[DenimDemon]

This week. Some oddity?
Don’t know this one.

https://www.famitsu.com/news/202202/23252313.html

[BIL]

Man, Taito's early 80s catalogue is miles deep. Never heard of Highway Racer either, will have to give it a quick spin in MAME.

Visibility's always a potential issue for me, with the loud palettes Taito favoured then. The Tin Star is a really tragic case - a great beltscroll/arena STG hybrid with the worst bullets ever. Still, fingers crossed

[BIL]

High Way Race - basically, if you like Road Fighter and Zippy Race's brand of topdown drive+dodge, you might dig this. Has some interesting concepts, like banked turns. Also has a Burnin' Rubber-style jump, but collisions are instant death, so the resemblance is firmly ended there.

Seems formally well-done, with responsive controls and adequate visibility. Road Fighter's physical, tactile combat-driving is my pick of the subgenre, but I like this one enough to pick it up. Looking forward to Dragon Spirit!

[DenimDemon]

^^ Damn, played so much Road Fighter on my famicom as a kid. Loved that game to bits.
I wonder how well ACA sells. Did they ever released sales numbers?
Went back to Thunder Dragon 2 recently and made it to 16 on the leaderboard with in a few runs (stage 5) which makes me think that probably there’s not many people playing it. On Switch in this case.

[Skyknight]

Keep in mind that in Dangerous Seed, there are hidden versions of the sixth and seventh stages, accessed by letting particular bosses escape:

St. 6 Saturn Orbit: Allow Multi-Squid to escape

St. 7 Neptune Orbit: Allow Shark-Mouth to escape

St. 7 Pluto Orbit: Allow Multi-Squid to escape, then allow Monster-Mouth to escape