Ok, so I check this forum regularly even though I don't post much, and I was browsing the Sales and Deals thread which led me to check up on which Shmups were on sale there...
And this came out of nowhere. I had no idea this was even being worked on.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2577 ... _Missions/
It's a new enhanced version of Demonstar. I can't be the only one that has love for this game...I played this SO much back in the day in the Windows 98 era. It even allows you to switch between the Enhanced graphics/gameplay and the original.
Just wanted to put a spotlight on this. Demonstar is a stone-cold classic.
Demonstar: Original Missions
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Darkseed_5150
- Posts: 126
- Joined: Fri Dec 15, 2017 4:39 pm
Re: Demonstar: Original Missions
Gonna grab this. Looks hot.
Re: Demonstar: Original Missions
Wow, this came out of nowhere. Always wanted to check this game out, thanks for finding this. Apparently the expansions are coming soon too.
Rage Pro, Rage Fury, Rage MAXX!
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Giga Power
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2016 5:56 pm
Re: Demonstar: Original Missions
I was recently talking to Scott (Demonstar creator, who originally made the first version of the game back in the 90s) on his Discord and he remarked that the early Raiden games and Viper Phase 1 were significant influences for him for Demonstar. As he told it, he would play Viper frequently at a local bowling alley/arcade in the 90s, and then immediately come home and see what he could do to Demonstar to push it a bit more in the direction of the Seibu games. I thought this was pretty neat, he sounds like a very early Japanese shmups fan... I don't think I've ever heard of any other US developers of the 90s intentionally seeking to emulate mechanics or style of Japanese shmups at the time.
We also discussed Raptor. That game, with its item buying/selling shop and energy bars on the side of the screen, and some of the enemies and weapons (among other things) always reminded me a bit of Zarlor Mercenary on the atari lynx. Scott confirmed that he did have an atari lynx in the early 90s before Raptor was being worked on, and he had played it a lot before developing Raptor, so it could have been a bit of an unconscious influence. He mentioned Raiden 1 and maybe 2 was also an influence for Raptor, as well as another game or two that were not top down shmups (maybe the wing commander games? I forget). He also shared this video of the prototype he made for Raptor, at the time called Mercenary 2029. In certain respects, it shows even more potential influence to Zarlor Mercenary in terms of the weapons, level backgrounds, gui for the shop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG7b4urrO7g
We also discussed Raptor. That game, with its item buying/selling shop and energy bars on the side of the screen, and some of the enemies and weapons (among other things) always reminded me a bit of Zarlor Mercenary on the atari lynx. Scott confirmed that he did have an atari lynx in the early 90s before Raptor was being worked on, and he had played it a lot before developing Raptor, so it could have been a bit of an unconscious influence. He mentioned Raiden 1 and maybe 2 was also an influence for Raptor, as well as another game or two that were not top down shmups (maybe the wing commander games? I forget). He also shared this video of the prototype he made for Raptor, at the time called Mercenary 2029. In certain respects, it shows even more potential influence to Zarlor Mercenary in terms of the weapons, level backgrounds, gui for the shop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG7b4urrO7g
Re: Demonstar: Original Missions
He also mentioned that he has always been mindful of framerates and appreciated the smoothness of the seibu games and it was a disappointment that he could not get raptor or demonstar at 60fps at the time. I think he's achieved that with the demonstar remake on steam and it is something he is planning for with the raptor remake.