Good "Mech" based Shmups?

Armored · Post by **Armored** » Sun May 28, 2006 4:13 pm

Hello all! First time posting. Found this site when looking into this thing called emulating; just now sorta found out about 'this scene' recently.

Anyway, I had recalled a game in the early 90's arcade, where one used a mech one built from a back weapon, a melee weapon, and a leg-piece - and it scrolled horizontally. One could also 'powerup' by grabbing little soldiers to ride your mech's lower leg assembly, who'd help shoot lesser bad guys down.

I'd only played it 4-5 times back then, as I was living as a young teen with my folks - and the arcade that had the game was literally 60 miles away. But, since (to me) it was so unique that a standup arcade let you BUILD your mech to your liking, I thought some one here would be able to recognize it.

Sure enough - some one described "Rohga Armor Force". With some sleuthing, I was able to find MacMAME, and came across Danguard UFO ROBO, as well as Rohga Armor Force, and have been basking in mech-shmupping glory over the last two days.

Any other 'mech' or robot -based shmups I should be aware of? I understand that's a mere quibble of graphics - plane, robot, who cares right? But, I find the way one improves the mechs in the two above-mentioned games fascinating.

Any other games like these?

Thanks in Advance!

(P.S.: Anyplace I can get a avatar with Rohga mechs?)

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Sun May 28, 2006 4:19 pm

oscar psychonics is a mech run'n'gun with gradius type powerupsystem, pretty decent

for total mecha awesomeness try Cybattler.. its a vert tho..

Post by **Icarus** » Sun May 28, 2006 4:26 pm

Hey, welcome!

First, mech games: there are quite a few around, and most of them are pretty good. If you want transformamech stuff, you can't go wrong with the two arcade Macross games (SDF Macross and SDF Macross 2 I believe they are called) as well as the Super Famicom version Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie. All based on the Macross anime.

Then there's UFO Robo Dangar and Rohga, as you've mentioned.

Also look into Hyper Duel by Technosoft. Another transformamech one, horizontal scrolling, very very good. Typically fast Technosoft-style gameplay. Available for arcade and Sega Saturn.

My personal favourite mech game has to be Brave Blade, a vertical scroller by Raizing. Done in 3D (somight emulateslowly depending) but brilliant fun, as your mech form can only attack up close, adding some extra difficulty. Also features typicaly insanely hard Raizing-like gameplay. ^_-

Finally, you can try Cybattler, another vertical scroller by a company whose name espaces me at the moment. Excellent presentation, very hard gameplay. Might be up your alley. ^_-

There's a lot more than that, but names are failing me at the moment. Someone else might be able to add a few more.

As for an avatar: you could try taking a screenshot of the image you want in question, then cutting it down in an image editing program.

Macaw · Post by **Macaw** » Sun May 28, 2006 4:29 pm

There are heaps of mech based run and gun games, but as far as true shmups go there is the spriggan series (spriggan 1 and 2 and spriggan powered) that are quite good.

Armored · Post by **Armored** » Sun May 28, 2006 4:33 pm

Scrambled Valkyrie: Ohhh, yes! Just finished that one; should have mentioned it. Gorram, that had some 'interesting' bosses...

Well, the first two posters responded with Cybattler. I'll be looking into that.

As for Image Editing -- I've a Mac OS 10.3.9; any freeware any one could suggest to create a Rohga Avatar? Tnx.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Sun May 28, 2006 4:35 pm

Sidearms is pretty popular. It's fun, but it feels a bit dated to me.

Post by **Icarus** » Sun May 28, 2006 4:45 pm

Armored wrote:As for Image Editing -- I've a Mac OS 10.3.9; any freeware any one could suggest to create a Rohga Avatar? Tnx.

¯\(º_o)/¯

I'm on Mac as well, but I use primarily Adobe Photoshop, and Macs seem to come bundled with Preview only, which only lets you view stuff. You could take a look through http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/imaging_3d/ for some shareware/freeware programs that will do the job.

Armored · Post by **Armored** » Sun May 28, 2006 4:48 pm

Macaw wrote:There are heaps of mech based run and gun games, but as far as true shmups go there is the spriggan series (spriggan 1 and 2 and spriggan powered) that are quite good.

OK, found "Spriggan Powered" (odd game, btw); Are 1 & 2 actually called "Spriggan/Spriggan 2"? And what system were they for?

Armored · Post by **Armored** » Sun May 28, 2006 4:50 pm

Andi wrote:Sidearms is pretty popular. It's fun, but it feels a bit dated to me.

Sidearms? Never heard of it; what system is it for? With that name, it seems a little hard to find info on it google wise (or, more likely my google-fu is in need of practice)?

rolins · Post by **rolins** » Sun May 28, 2006 5:23 pm

Armored wrote:
Macaw wrote:There are heaps of mech based run and gun games, but as far as true shmups go there is the spriggan series (spriggan 1 and 2 and spriggan powered) that are quite good.
OK, found "Spriggan Powered" (odd game, btw); Are 1 & 2 actually called "Spriggan/Spriggan 2"? And what system were they for?

Spriggan 1 + 2 is for the PC-Engine CD.

Other mecha shooters you should try is Musha Aleste (MegaDrive) and Robo Aleste (MegaCD).

Macaw · Post by **Macaw** » Sun May 28, 2006 5:23 pm

Armored wrote:
Macaw wrote:There are heaps of mech based run and gun games, but as far as true shmups go there is the spriggan series (spriggan 1 and 2 and spriggan powered) that are quite good.
OK, found "Spriggan Powered" (odd game, btw); Are 1 & 2 actually called "Spriggan/Spriggan 2"? And what system were they for?

They are called Spriggan, and Spriggan mark 2, and they are both on the PC Engine SCD. Spriggan is a vertical shooter, while mark 2 is a horizontal shooter with lots of story/dramatic sequences in the stages. There are reviews of both of them here: http://www.classicgaming.com/shmups/xen ... inecd.html

EDIT: looks like rolins beat me to it.

Post by **Ghegs** » Sun May 28, 2006 5:40 pm

Armored wrote:Sidearms? Never heard of it; what system is it for? With that name, it seems a little hard to find info on it google wise (or, more likely my google-fu is in need of practice)?

Side Arms, an arcade original, was first ported to the PC Engine a long while ago, but has recently seen new, arcade-perfect ports in Capcom Collection PSP and the upcoming Capcom Collection Vol.2 for consoles.

Diabollokus · Post by **Diabollokus** » Sun May 28, 2006 8:47 pm

Bari arm and hyper duel are my favs, Scrambled Macross on SNES is very good aswell.

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Sun May 28, 2006 9:29 pm

As for Image Editing -- I've a Mac OS 10.3.9; any freeware any one could suggest to create a Rohga Avatar? Tnx.

If you've got X11 installed, you could try MacGIMP-- it's a sort of freebie Photoshop-like program. www.macgimp.org .

Rajirugi's got mechs too =) sorta. Cybernator on SNES rocks a lot for heavy duty mech action. It's not exactly a shooter, though there's no shortage of action and with a couple of small tweaks might have felt at home in an arcade.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Sun May 28, 2006 10:21 pm

Arrow Flash on the Genesis is passable; it's not great, but it's good for a run.

BlaZeon on the SNES is quite shite. Stay away, don't let the box art lure you...

Macross: DYRL? on the Saturn is pretty mediocre as well.

I've wanted to play Hyper Duel for so long now, never managed to find a copy in a decent price range.

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Mon May 29, 2006 12:10 am

Why oh why did nobody mention Mazinger Z by Banpresto yet?

That shmup is awesome!

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Mon May 29, 2006 2:31 pm

Bari Arm (MCD) is also known as Android Assault in the US BTW.

Zeroigar (PCFX) is OK with slippery feeling controls (and a super-quick rapid fire rate that does surprisingly little damage to bosses) although the anime sequences (intro, between stages, and the end) are really long and of good quality.

Macross 2036 (PCE) is a solid game IMO although it doesn't control as smoothly as most modern games (worse than Scrambled Valkyrie but still a hell of a lot better than the Do You Remember Love game for the PS and SS).

Stay away from the Gundam and 2 Z-Gundam shooters on the SS.

Limbrooke · Post by **Limbrooke** » Mon May 29, 2006 4:32 pm

Hyper Duel anyone?

This is a great horizontal transforming mech shooter for both Arcade & Saturn. If you know Tecnosoft/Technosoft then this game should speak for itself.

Edge · Post by **Edge** » Mon May 29, 2006 7:48 pm

You also play a mecha in Musha Aleste for Mega Drive/Genesis.
Though it can't transform, but it's a nice game worth checking ...in my opinion.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Wed May 31, 2006 6:13 pm

The similtaneous two-player game of "Hyper Dyne Sidearms" from Capcom Co. Ltd. was released in Japan back in 1986 and was released for the U.S. arcades in 1987 from Romstar/Capcom. There are some subtle differences between the original Japanese Bios and USA Bios versions of the Sidearms arcade Jamma PCB.

Two different anime mecha-based series were the inspiration for the Player 1 and Player 2 sprite-based characters shown in the Sidearms arcade PCB: Machine Soldier Dorvack with it's Powered Armor suit (for Player 2 character) and the personal armored suit (for Player 1 character) taken from Super Dimensional Calvary Southern Cross anime series respectively.

---------------------
Little known trivia Sidearms PCB Factoid:

There is, also, a subtle background sprite tribute to the great Miyazaki anime god in Sidearms PCB game in the form of a "Fire Demon" skeleton character that was shown in Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind anime movie (that premired in Japan back in 1984).
---------------------

Another cool mecha-based shmup title is the rare PSX import of: "70's Robot Anime - Geppy X" from Aroma that spans four CD-Roms! ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:54 am

It's worth mentioning that there were two versions of Side Arms on PC-Engine: the regular hucard release, and Side Arms Special (CD).

Link of the moment: stuff about SA Special.

Post by **Ghegs** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 5:31 am

Ed Oscuro wrote:It's worth mentioning that there were two versions of Side Arms on PC-Engine: the regular hucard release, and Side Arms Special (CD).

I'd say it's not worth mentioning because Special sucks.

"Before Christ"-mode is stupid and the normal game suffers because the CD-format introduces brief pauses to the gameplay between stages when the system loads the next music track.

Stick with the hu-card.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 7:21 pm

Here's a PC based shmup demo with mecha & hentai content under the name of "Armoroid Assault Angelio" from Enterbrain. Download if you dare (yeah, some pics of anime gals with big breasts indeed in this PC shmup game demo if that's your thing):

http://www4.kcn.ne.jp/~bakure2/angelio_trial_st1n2.exe

It's a 22.2MB zipped file so wee 56K modems will have to take a long while to d/l this particular file. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 8:23 pm

OFF TOPIC: Icarus, I miss your Parodius signature.

D_Davis · Post by **D_Davis** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:52 pm

I am digging the heck out of BRAVE BLADE at the moment, an overhead shmup with a transformable mech, lots of item juggling, manic style gameplay.

Middlemoor · Post by **Middlemoor** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 1:20 pm

Musha Aleste for Mega Drive/Genesis...

I was gonna recommend that.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 2:07 pm

just remebered another

ranger X (EX ranza) on the megadrive is a pretty cool hori shmup, similar to free scrolling shmups like fantasy zone altho with some really badass mech design

somewhat off control but overall a pretty good game, not expensive either so its definetly worth picking up!

Soldato J · Post by **Soldato J** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 5:20 pm

Debatable as shmups but....

Assault Suits Leynos (Target Earth in US) for Genny
and
Assault Suits Leynos 2 for Saturn are very kick-ass games...side scrolling shooting fun with cool weapon upgrades (esp ASL2)

and tons of fun

Armored · Post by **Armored** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 4:32 am

Wow. was away for a little while, attempting some of the titles metioned early on.

Had no idea so many mech shumps existed.

Hyper Duel - This one really does take the cake... took a while before I figured out the control system... interesting way of having 2 specials with one player.

Macross Plus - This one is what I'm attempting to try now. Boy, even on 'easy', it's NOT!

Great way of using powerups to switch mech modes... anyone know a good FAQ for this game? (or codes?)

Cybattler - found a friend who had one, but it plays really slow/choppy... it might be my computer tho. Thing seems to be a near-xerox of Gundam 0079's world set.

UN Squadron: Earth Joker - Ok, good game, damn wierd set up. The bad guys seem to be techno-parasites?? Is it supposed to be THIS fast? I almost can't get through 30 seconds without coining...

Armed Police Batrider - "WTF?!?!?!" Was my first thought. Ok, yeah, you get multiple lives, but each one represents a totally different fighter... o_O I had to really play around before seeing how the choice system could be best used...

[/code]

Soldato J · Post by **Soldato J** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 12:21 pm

The coolest thing about Hyper Duel in my opinion: if you stand still, you get points...

shmups.system11.org

Good "Mech" based Shmups?

Good "Mech" based Shmups?

Sidearms PCB from Capcom Co. Ltd. circa 1986...

Re: Sidearms PCB from Capcom Co. Ltd. circa 1986...

Re: Sidearms PCB from Capcom Co. Ltd. circa 1986...

Here's a PC based shmup game w/ mecha & hentai...