M2 Toaplan collection

[BIL]

Yikes, those fishheads look like a problem. Nice solution in the video, Stephen. How far into the game before you hit this sort of roadblock? Seems pretty tough!

imo, Hellfire (AC/1P) is significantly tough - not Gradius III's deluging nightmare, or R-Type II's fiendish puzzlebox, just notably unforgiving - but also very amenable to aggression. Your ship's max speed is lightning-quick, its max shot tears apart anything non-Fishhead, and the latter two shot types - green/vertical and blue/4way - are dominating even during improv, never mind learned play. The big danger is your massive hitbox, which is tricky not only vs Fishheads, but also the preceding stage's midbosses (similar concept; multiple chunky parts, all moving around and firing aimed shots), and during the last two stages' respective labyrinth and battleships; plus, really, anywhere zako are allowed to gather.

But those st3 bosses don't survive long, the stages are all very memo-friendly, and you learn to annihilate even the tiniest zako soon enough. Fishheads are the 1ALL's single highest difficulty spike by far, imo. Steven's speedkill tactic is invaluable, and a good reason to master the usual weapon-switch muscle memo! Anyone familiar with Garegga or Thunder Force, or non-STGs with similar one-button, one-way switches, like Saigo no Nindou, will recognise the process right away; I find it easiest to memo the # of taps between particularly useful shots, eg, Forward to 4way is "tap tap tap;" the inverse is "tap." Forward to Vertical is "tap tap," same to return.

(might just be a weird personal quirk, but even if a game allows backswitching - eg Shin Contra - I find myself sticking to just the "forward" switch; feels less complicated, and less liable to trip me up mid-run)

(my OFFICIAL arcade hori 1ALL rank ;3

1 - Weenie - MegaBlast
2 - Friendly - Thunder Cross
3 - Rugged - Metal Black
4 - Dangerous - R-Type II
5 - SADOMASO - Gradius III

I'd put Hellfire at 3.5)

[professor ganson]

That's a valuable phrase: weapon-switch muscle memo! Also, I appreciate the comments about the difficulty level. I'll definitely pick this package up at some point, so it's good to be prepared for the pain I'll be subjecting myself to.

[pablumatic]

I wonder if I can just slip the alternative cover inside the case with the one already there, bit annoying to store otherwise.

I bought this $6.99 5-pack of empty game cases from Nintendo for the various alternate covers I have for some of my Switch games. Seems more fitting.

https://www.nintendo.com/store/products ... -5-105674/

[Angry Hina]

Its possibly not the best thread to post my question but does someone know, if its the Arcade or the Mega Drive Soundtrack which is on the Zero Wing Vinyl ?

[hamfighterx]

I wonder if I can just slip the alternative cover inside the case with the one already there, bit annoying to store otherwise.

That's exactly what I do, alternate cover goes right over the top of the standard one. The whole family:

I wish there was a special arrange mode where you could map each shot type to its own button on the controller, that'd be cool.

I'm sort of shocked that isn't an option, I certainly thought it would be!

[Ghegs]

Didn't know Nintendo sells empty official cases, that's good to know. The Horror Story cover is the only extra cover I have so far, though.

That's exactly what I do, alternate cover goes right over the top of the standard one. The whole family:

Nice, those look pretty. I've thought about getting the Flying Fire Shark pack, but it'd be pretty much solely for Wardner, since I'm not that interested in the actual shmups there, so...eh.

I've been playing more Horror Story than Hellfire these past few days. Just a really fun game, heavy on the memorization, and I like how the stages flow into one another directly. Slowly making progress.

[velo]

I know I'm late to the announcement and all, but this still seems like such an odd licensing choice. I know the STG genre is getting a bit more visibility with things like YouTube personalities, reviews by competent folks on sites like NintendoLife, etc. but this still seems like such a niche title to pick up, especially since--as someone commented earlier--most people who would have wanted to would have likely grabbed a copy already.

English menus and (probably) a lower price are going to make a difference for a lot of people. A lot of potential customers don't even know these exist. I've certainly grabbed games that weren't even on my radar until they received a belated localization. To me it's stranger that they're not all getting western releases right away, since it can't be a tough translation. Are these games really so more niche than Zombie Nation or something?

PC Engine Horror Story doesn't really feel right at all. It's hard to describe, but the collision or the physics or whatever feel super wrong.

I'm just now messing with this port for the first time after hearing nothing but negative things and my first impression is basically positive. There are lots of little seemingly arbitrary changes that had to have been deliberate, like the cycle order for weapon pickups being different. Jumps seem faster. It might be an attempt at a rebalance. It's not faithful to the original but it seems perfectly fine taken on its own. In the context of a collection like this, better to have one more distinct version of the game.

[Jonpachi]

Very jealous of those alt covers. Love me a good sub-set

[PsikyoPshumpPshooterP]

How and where do you detonate a bomb in Zero Wing?

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

Well, you could launch the bomb using the tractor button...

But let me tell you, the real way to bust a load is to RAM IT IN.

But be careful, you have to make sure it's just the tip.

[PsikyoPshumpPshooterP]

Zero wings secrets are crazy

[wabbylegs]

Are the 1UP drops in Hellfire random or is there something to it?

[jehu]

Are the 1UP drops in Hellfire random or is there something to it?

There's a nice gadget in Hellfire 2P that helps sort out this little feature but...

There are three requirements to get a 1UP drop.

1. There's a hidden counter that counts down as you expose Power Ups/Speed Ups/Bonus Items. The countdown begins at something like 15 or 16, and decreases by one for every item exposed. The final position in the countdown gives you a chance to get the 1UP provided you break the next item pod under the following conditions...
A. You're using either front shot or back shot.
B. You're located on the leftmost or rightmost position on the screen.

So, if you're on the final position in the countdown, you're on the far lefthand side of the screen, and you destroy the next item carrier using your front shot - the 1UP item is guaranteed to spawn.

I assume it works the same way for 1P, but haven't confirmed. It's worth playing around with the gadgets to get some practical experience with the trick. In print I think it sounds more esoteric than it is in practice.

EDIT:

How's everyone's journey going?

I've made a lot of progress, but I've come to see that I'm still a pretty good distance away from the clear. I'm now more confident about the late-game than the mid-game. I've been taking bad losses to the ST. 3 mini bosses and the ST. 4 volcanoes, late stage, and fish heads. Going to do more practice to clean up the problem spots before going for more runs. If anyone has any tips for the fish volcanoes, that would be much appreciated. I'm least consistent there.

Unrelated, but the art has grown on me. It follows the same "two player ships and giant thing looming in background" format, but goes for the sleeker futurism that defines this release's chrome-synth aesthetics (a departure from the grit and rock of Tiger and Same!). I'd wager the paired-down sterility that struck me poorly at first was a stage direction from M2.

[Steven]

Does nobody want Teki-Paki codes? I have extras, and I am sure others have extras, too.

Hellfire 1UP item: you can only get 2 of these, but you can get both of them on stage 1 if you know how and where. It spawns as the 17th item provided you meet the conditions. The first appears at roughly the halfway point through the stage and the second at the very end. These spawn conditions do not apply to PC Engine, but I think they may apply to MD. On PC Engine, you can get 3 of them simultaneously from what is I think the last item carrier on stage 1 if you kill it with the back shot.

I've been taking bad losses to the ST. 3 mini bosses and the ST. 4 volcanoes, late stage, and fish heads. Going to do more practice to clean up the problem spots before going for more runs. If anyone has any tips for the fish volcanoes, that would be much appreciated. I'm least consistent there.

Volcanoes = use diagonal shot in 1P for that entire water section. 2P... uh, yeah, that's why you play 1P. Try forward/back shot, as appropriate, depending on where the volcano appears. Diagonal shot is extremely useful for that entire stage on 1P, but for 2P it's rather risky instead of helpful.

Stage 4 late stage: play at max speed and use forward/back shot to kill everything. Diagonal shot will save you if you get overwhelmed, even on 2P, but maybe only if you have max speed.

Stage 3 mini bosses are actually pretty easy once you learn the strategy and are at max power. First one = go hide in either the bottom or top right corner before it appears and hit it with a few up/down shots as it appears. It will shoot at you on the way in, so make sure you are ready for that and don't get hit. Then move through the empty spaces as it rearranges itself, change to front shot, spam the front shot as fast as you can, move through the gaps again, hit it with the up/down shot a few times, and it should die. Total time it takes to do this is probably about 5~8 seconds or so.

Set of 3 mini bosses on stage 3: move to upper right to pointblank the first one as it appears. It will move to the bottom left, so switch to back shot to follow it down the screen while shooting it. It should die very quickly, and then you're pretty much good for the rest because killing they become way easier once you kill one of them. On Mega Drive, you can safely fit between their little orbs and the very edge of the screen (maybe only on the vertical axis), but not in the arcade, so on the MD either the hitbox on the orbs is smaller, your hurtbox is smaller, both, or something got repositioned. Anyway, you will die if you try this on the AC versions, so don't try it.

I'll record all of this later if you really want me to, but in general playing as aggressively as possible for both stages is best.

[wabbylegs]

Are the 1UP drops in Hellfire random or is there something to it?

There's a nice gadget in Hellfire 2P that helps sort out this little feature but...

There are three requirements to get a 1UP drop.

1. There's a hidden counter that counts down as you expose Power Ups/Speed Ups/Bonus Items. The countdown begins at something like 15 or 16, and decreases by one for every item exposed. The final position in the countdown gives you a chance to get the 1UP provided you break the next item pod under the following conditions...
A. You're using either front shot or back shot.
B. You're located on the leftmost or rightmost position on the screen.

So, if you're on the final position in the countdown, you're on the far lefthand side of the screen, and you destroy the next item carrier using your front shot - the 1UP item is guaranteed to spawn.

I assume it works the same way for 1P, but haven't confirmed. It's worth playing around with the gadgets to get some practical experience with the trick. In print I think it sounds more esoteric than it is in practice.

EDIT:

How's everyone's journey going?

I've made a lot of progress, but I've come to see that I'm still a pretty good distance away from the clear. I'm now more confident about the late-game than the mid-game. I've been taking bad losses to the ST. 3 mini bosses and the ST. 4 volcanoes, late stage, and fish heads. Going to do more practice to clean up the problem spots before going for more runs. If anyone has any tips for the fish volcanoes, that would be much appreciated. I'm least consistent there.

Unrelated, but the art has grown on me. It follows the same "two player ships and giant thing looming in background" format, but goes for the sleeker futurism that defines this release's chrome-synth aesthetics (a departure from the grit and rock of Tiger and Same!). I'd wager the paired-down sterility that struck me poorly at first was a stage direction from M2.

Thank you so much for the 1UP information. I just couldn't make heads or tails out of that gadget. This helped immensely to the point I was finally about to get into the second loop just from the confidence alone.

Regarding the fish volcano section (and the part afterwards, both the hardest parts for me hands down) the strategy I used was to sit in the left middle of the screen and fire as soon as I see the fish pop out. Keep forward shot for the first two volcanoes then when the third volcano shows up I go to the front of it and back shot it. Once the volcano starts to go down and the item carrier shows up I go from the bottom of the screen back to the left side of the screen and blast the carrier. I do this same pattern for the remainder volcanoes. I saw this strat from watching the replay from the top player on the Switch leaderboard (I can't recall his name but I think he got to the 5th loop). As for the next section well it's basically memorization. It helps to destroy the land crawler's weapons with the front shot before a wave of zako show up.

I can't help but feel disappointed over this release if only for the fact they made the 2P set the Arcade version. It was pretty frustrating when I was expecting the checkpoints. Also deep down I was hoping they'd have an option to let you use the PCE soundtrack for the Arcade version but that's small fry compared to the stupid 2P set.

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

I never knew about those bizzare 1up conditions. That'll make future runs way easier.

[PsikyoPshumpPshooterP]

Anyone know how to trigger the special power up and It’s heavy trophy in Zerowing??

[PsikyoPshumpPshooterP]

I wonder if I can just slip the alternative cover inside the case with the one already there, bit annoying to store otherwise.

That's exactly what I do, alternate cover goes right over the top of the standard one. The whole family:

I wish there was a special arrange mode where you could map each shot type to its own button on the controller, that'd be cool.

I'm sort of shocked that isn't an option, I certainly thought it would be!

Are all those alternate covers Amazon Japan exclusive??

[cfx]

But those st3 bosses don't survive long, the stages are all very memo-friendly, and you learn to annihilate even the tiniest zako soon enough. Fishheads are the 1ALL's single highest difficulty spike by far, imo. Steven's speedkill tactic is invaluable, and a good reason to master the usual weapon-switch muscle memo! Anyone familiar with Garegga or Thunder Force, or non-STGs with similar one-button, one-way switches, like Saigo no Nindou, will recognise the process right away; I find it easiest to memo the # of taps between particularly useful shots, eg, Forward to 4way is "tap tap tap;" the inverse is "tap." Forward to Vertical is "tap tap," same to return.

(might just be a weird personal quirk, but even if a game allows backswitching - eg Shin Contra - I find myself sticking to just the "forward" switch; feels less complicated, and less liable to trip me up mid-run)

It's how I do it too. It's also how I play Tetris. Though I've always thought it was just my brain couldn't deal with the extra buttons and having to think that much.

[pablumatic]

Are all those alternate covers Amazon Japan exclusive??

Yes they are.

[gbaplayer]

Why wasnt there a nice Booklet included? Like in the last 2 Toaplan Releases? Or did i order the wrong Switch Version?

[doodledude]

Why wasnt there a nice Booklet included? Like in the last 2 Toaplan Releases? Or did i order the wrong Switch Version?

Yeah, it's disappointing with no booklet. All we get is some crappy stickers which I'll never use.

[pablumatic]

Why wasnt there a nice Booklet included? Like in the last 2 Toaplan Releases? Or did i order the wrong Switch Version?

You ordered the right version. There just wasn't a booklet this time, unfortunately. Zero Wing and Hellfire are my favorite of this series so far. Shame.

[velo]

How's everyone's journey going?

1cc'd Demon World B fwiw. Difficulty is definitely on the tamer side. I thought it had a second loop, but it Game Overed right after I won. Is there a special condition, or is that only for version A, or am I not remembering right. I used the spreader for pretty much everything except the big jellyfish, where the DPS just wasn't cutting it. That's the hardest part of the game for me.

Of the three games, Demon World is the only one I'd played much of before this collection. I dipped my toes into arcade Zero Wing for a bit... what triggers the 10-up?

[AGermanArtist]

On PS5 when you highlight the game on your main screen there's some junk text on screen and when you go into your game collection there are no logos on the launcher like the other Arcade Garage/STG games. Small nitpicks I know, but I'm paying for the updated presentation of games I've been playing for free for 20 yrs.

[Steven]

Uh

what

it's perfectly fine

Spoiler

[gbaplayer]

When do you think Arcade Garage Vol. 4 will be released? And maybe when will we hear about it?

[Steven]

Not soon enough. Fuck that CAVE crap that I already own and give me Out Zone, a different (and better) game that I already own!

[AGermanArtist]

So, anyway




"The legend is rekindled, setting the universe alight[?]This
is a definitive collec"




In Game Lists on PS5 with none of the branding of all previous Shot Triggers and Toaplan Arcade Garage releases.

I tried to draw their attention to it on release day.


EDIT: fuck it's yrs since I BB forumed

[hamfighterx]

When do you think Arcade Garage Vol. 4 will be released? And maybe when will we hear about it?

2024, and probably not until after Dodonpachi DOJ releases in December.