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

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Looks like Jackal hasn't appeared on the american PS Store despite being announced by Hamster. ¿Does it was struck by "concerns" like Jail Break?

[Marc]

Ah, damn shame about Jackal. Screen-riding / off-screen sniping ruins otherwise great games for me - it's the reason Raiden can go fuck itself, and why I haven't put nearly enough time into Guerilla War, which is otherwise how I'd have described the perfect Rambo gane as a young 'un.

Oh well, back to Rastan for now.

[arturo]

Looks like Jackal hasn't appeared on the american PS Store despite being announced by Hamster. ¿Does it was struck by "concerns" like Jail Break?

It's already available in the EU eShop.

Iron Horse, Jackal and Mikie would make for a rather nice Xmas present for this old MSX-Konami fanboy.

I need Jackal…

I still can't believe they released it. Been waiting forever…

[Fingolfin]

Looks like Jackal hasn't appeared on the american PS Store despite being announced by Hamster. ¿Does it was struck by "concerns" like Jail Break?

No here…

Jackal is up now on US PS Store
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/pro ... C000000001

Double checked both online as link above as well as directly thru PS4 accessing of PS Store to confirm Jackal IS UP.

It would be good if Hamster would clarify directly on their ACA Arcade Archives website which games cannot be released and why. Even if such info was just briefly stated (if not explained).

That doesn’t seem like too much to expect.

Would anyone know how much $ Hamster and ACA Arcade Archives make each year? Would be helpful to know how much they make in all regions/by region: Japan, Asia, NA, Europe, etc.

Thanks much in advance!

Edits for spelling/grammar and apparent need for clarification

[OldSkoolShmuper]

I can confirm, Jackal is up on U.S. PSN PS4 store.

[BIL]

I'm feeling in the mood for some hacky slashy barbarian action. I've got Rastan and Volgarr, and I was thinking of adding Rygar to the list. Maybe along with some action-rpg arcade stuff like Valkyrie no Densetsu, Cadash and Vandyke. I know BIL loves Rygar. What are people's thoughts on ACA Cadash and Valkyrie?

Gentlemen, pls accompany me 2 TRVE KVLTIC KILLING FLOOR

viewtopic.php?p=1557498#p1557498

(apologies, want to wild the fuck out w/NO REMORSE )

Played my firend's Jackal PCB only a couple of weeks ago, and I didn't even remember it having horizontal panning, lol. That it's even an issue for the gameplay is a surprise to me, but then I didn't really play for a 1CC. Also, I'm the guy who actually really likes horizontal panning in my shootahs.

I also had no idea there's a version of the game where the machine gun isn't fixed to a vertical direction, that does sound kinda painful.

Both ACA revs are 1CC or bust. 3; I don't mind at all (and as always, users can always set their own checkpoints), though it really highlights the mean-spirited spike at the halfway mark (the submarine bridge). Between the constant pointblank spawns, laggy aim, and deliberately claustrophobic layouts, improv craters to near-zero. Total memoriser on par with something like Magician Lord. As with that game, you can put some personal spin on it - nailing multiple targets with deftly-placed rockets always feels great - but step outside the route and it's your ass.

Oh hi, didn't see you there! No literally, I didn't see you. Prick. (｀w´メ)

Anyway, I've harped on enough. Still can't help liking it. And at any rate, ala Manhattan 24, I'm glad it finally received a reference-quality home translation. Mid/late-80s Konami seemed to have the highest highs and lowest lows... Super Contra, Manhattan 24, Jackal, Flak Attack, Majuu no Oukoku, and Crime Fighters all have flaws that make me wince. But just the same, I like coming back to wrangle out decent runs. Will jump into Iron Horse similarly.

[BJQ1972]

Jackal isn't on UK Nintendo eShop or PS Store. I wish Hamster would at least update about the reason why.

I do suspect some of them are errors and they should actually be available, but it seems impossible to get anything out of Hamster.

[Jonpachi]

I must have videogame ESP (other than the ‘rade or ‘Galuda variety) as I’ve been obsessed with the NES game lately and working on a NMNB clear. So excited to jump in as I don’t think I’ve ever played the arcade version.

[Jonpachi]

LOL in the thumbnail on PSN it looks like they missed hitting BOLD on the last letter of the title, such that it reads as: JACKAL

[Arino]

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Looks like Jackal hasn't appeared on the american PS Store despite being announced by Hamster. ¿Does it was struck by "concerns" like Jail Break?

No here…

Jackal is up now on US PS Store
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/pro ... C000000001

Double checked both online as link above as well as directly thru PS4 accessing of PS Store to confirm Jackal IS UP.

Took a screenshot of the PS Store right now, and Jackal is still unavailable. Strangefully, Star Luster popped up in its place. Curious since the Mexican store uses the same games as the US store.



Is on Wishlist with no price tag, along with Rompers and Sky Kid.
https://store.playstation.com/es-mx/concept/10010825
https://store.playstation.com/es-mx/concept/10005203
https://store.playstation.com/es-mx/concept/10003534

[Sumez]

Both ACA revs are 1CC or bust. 3;

Oh it was more a question of I had like ten minutes to try it out

[BIL]

Haha, I figured ^_~

Predictably, with routes nailed down, I'm liking it a lot more. Amongst topdown run/guns, it's about the routiest that ever routed, 90% for the triad of bad FOV, lagged aim, and assholic enemy placement. But the pace and runtime are addictively tight, as are the mechanics. Demolishing scads of targets with a single "X" shaped blast is as much a winner here as on NES.

Ultimately, Gun.Smoke is my ideal. I like my games calculatedly volatile, more skirmish than surgical strike. I could see those nearer the latter end of the scale really digging this. To eliminate your enemy / Hit them in their sleep, as they say.

I'm just a bit sad it ended up fitting the AC/FC Contra paradigm so squarely. Flawed hardcore vs polished feelgood; wtb happy medium, y'know? Still, much as I told myself I was done wrangling for their AC division after Super Contra, I love their demolishing pace and jingo-tastic style way too much to stay mad at 'em.

[Fingolfin]

Looks like Jackal hasn't appeared on the american PS Store despite being announced by Hamster. ¿Does it was struck by "concerns" like Jail Break?

No here…

Jackal is up now on US PS Store
https://store.playstation.com/en-us/pro ... C000000001

Double checked both online as link above as well as directly thru PS4 accessing of PS Store to confirm Jackal IS UP.

Took a screenshot of the PS Store right now, and Jackal is still unavailable. Strangefully, Star Luster popped up in its place. Curious since the Mexican store uses the same games as the US store.



Is on Wishlist with no price tag, along with Rompers and Sky Kid.
https://store.playstation.com/es-mx/concept/10010825
https://store.playstation.com/es-mx/concept/10005203
https://store.playstation.com/es-mx/concept/10003534

Has Jackal shown up yet?
If not, I hope that Jackal shows up in the Mexican PS Store soon!

Based on the last year or thereabouts issues with ACA Arcade Archives games not being released in all regions for various reasons, all of us who are ACA Arcade Archives diehards understand and are frustrated with a) games that for whatever reasons don’t show up in certain individual regions or multiple regions and b) little to no explanations from Hamster as to why — where we’re left having to track down the answers or speculative theories/possibilities as to why certain ACA Arcade Archives games were not released. IIRC in some cases we don’t have any clue or evidence as to why games were an issue and not released.

My posts about Jackal’s availability on US PS Store were confirmed by OldSkoolShmuper and jonpachi’s posts above. Not sure why you needed to post photos of the Mexican PS Store showing Jackal not being available — we have no reason to doubt you: we do believe you.

However you stated in your first post captured in the quotations above that Jackal was/is not available in the US Store. I fully understand that in the past there’s always been a 1 to 1 match between what is available on the US Store being identical to what is available on the Mexican Store. It would appear that based on the ACA release of Jackal that is no longer the case.

Moving forward if you would please not assume that what’s on or not on the US Store is representative of what is on the Mexican Store or vice versa as this — at least in the case of Jackal — is not accurate. As stated your claim that Jackal’s not on the US Store is incorrect and misleading. And rather than correct your mistake you chose to post evidence (wholly unnecessary) that you were correct. Which at best just seems confusing…

Not in any way trying to irk you or anything of the like: if at all possible just hoping to have folks share accurate info about ACA Arcade Archives releases especially considering all of the snafus/weirdnesses with the now many ACA games that have not been released for all regions.

We are all in the same boat, right? We all love our ACA Arcade Archives releases and just want to know the straight poop as much as that is possible.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks for reading and considering.

[Marc]

Thanks to BiL's visibility warning, I dodged Jackal and took a punt on Romper instead. It's neat, I really like this.

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Nichibutsu's Ninja Emaki is this week's game.
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202407/9639

[Lemnear]

It was said in this topic that War of Aero was difficult... but i didn't think it was that difficult :\ it seems as if they didn't do any playtesting before releasing it... or they had some freaks do it.
Furthermore, it seems that the positioning of the enemies has no real logic...at least in Image Fight there is a precise logic, it's much more understandable.
But i think it's really Allumer's problem... in Mad Shark i struggled a lot with bosses, and it's strange because the stages seem much more "normal"...

While Rezon (yes, i tried it) appears "possible", and that's what i tried several times, and every time i lose i have the impression that it's my fault and not the game, unlike their other titles - _- and this incentivizes me a little more to try, even if according to the difficulty scale it is well above the others.

I also tried other things Hamster has, such as S.T.G. Strike Gunner. They give it as a SHMUPS/S.T.G. suitable for beginners, and apparently it is, but it's... too fast, the enemies, the bullets and your own ship are very fast!
Task Force Harrier is very similar in this, but slightly better and more manageable.
PS: the music in S.T.G Strike Gunner is crazy cool!

In the end Daioh is much easier, or at least it's more in line with what i can naturally manage.

So, among the teams Hamster took the rights to, the best are Video System, NMK (especially for P47) and UPL (especially for Penguin Kun Wars ) and perhaps Athena. But Allumer...my god their cabinets were token eaters and that's it basically?

I'm probably missing something or i'm approaching some titles incorrectly.

[Sumez]

Nichibutsu's Ninja Emaki is this week's game.
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202407/9639

The only Nichibutsu game I really wanted! Nice!

[Lemnear]

Anyway, what are the main differences between ACA NeoGeo and the games (usually in compilations) released by SNK itself? Do they run worse? Better? the same? I know the Metal Slug Anthology is terrible, is that the case with the others too?

[Arino]

Nichibutsu's Ninja Emaki is this week's game.
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202407/9639

I really needed this to forget about those City Connection fans.

[Marc]

Nichibutsu's Ninja Emaki is this week's game.
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202407/9639

I really needed this to forget about those City Connection fans.

Dude, get over it.

[BIL]

Doing the usual Caribbean ex-pat ritual of sitting around like an asshole waiting to see if a hurricane wipes out my neighbourhood, I'm cheered up by Ninja Emaki! Oof, bad deja vu of Ivan in 2004. I was posting about Gradius V right before that one knocked out the grid for a couple months!

It was said in this topic that War of Aero was difficult... but i didn't think it was that difficult :\ it seems as if they didn't do any playtesting before releasing it... or they had some freaks do it.

Yeah, it's very much by and for Image Fight otaku. They even copied IF's PCB stage select, plus the very nice addition of Weapon Select. (go to Preference Options to enable both; you select your starting stage at the title screen, while you cycle through weapons with the normally-unresponsive Button 3)

Unfortunately, the stage select doesn't let you set the Rank. So it's of limited use in practicing the second loop from No Miss perspective. Still, it's the thought that counts. Weapon Select is particularly handy in ACA, since you can make a savestate, then use Button 3 to try out different weapons at max Rank. (imo, it's a good idea to have two or three dummy accounts for savestate practice; handily gets around ACA's usual limit of one. call 'em "Save01" or "Bravo Two Lima" or something and give 'em snazzy coordinated wallpapers, that's what I do!)

Furthermore, it seems that the positioning of the enemies has no real logic...at least in Image Fight there is a precise logic, it's much more understandable.

The solutions are there, have faith! These games are all about experimentation, and resisting the gnawing sense of futility. I would say Aero's first loop is a bit tougher than Image Fight's (Japan ver, minus Penalty Zone). And while its second didn't seem as rock-hard as Image Fight's Japan 2ALL, which I last played several years ago, it demanded similarly close observation until routes would click.

From my week with it a few months ago (got a basic 1ALL, did some loop practice), the hardest stage was 2-4; specifically its reverse-scrolling second half. My route makes specific use of the turrets' wakeup delay to speedkill them at pointblank. With my weapon choice, keeping safe distance as they scroll in would invite a hail of awkwardly-placed fire. As in countless classical 2D games, the delay between an enemy spawning/entering the screen, and attacking, is absolutely critical info!

CHARACTERISTICS OF ENEMY SHOOTING ATTACK (■｀w´■)

1) Enemy's targeting ability. Are there blind spots we can sit in?
2) Enemy's shooting frequency. Is there a significant reloading period?
3) Enemy's wakeup delay. Is there a safe window for pre-emptive action?

You will ascertain the above time and again, should you take up the hobby of 1CCing arcade STGs, and home ones modeled on them! For a quick example apropos IREM, here is Metal Storm's arcade-tough second loop, where the turrets' wakeup delay lets you sweep through 2-1A's thorny finale in imperious style. Don't creep along like a little weenie when they're not even cocked and loaded! #dickstock

The most assholic stage, both loops, is the fifth. Maximum Speed ♫ straight outta Gradius II; similarly annoying. Nowhere as complicated as the stages on either side of it, just liable to bewilder at first due to how quickly it moves.

The one harsh critique I have of Aero is a bout of godawful bullet visibility, late in the third stage. Blue bullets on blue BGs. -_- It's short and easily memorised around, fortunately! Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Aero. I think it'd have done IREM proud as an Image Fight Leo. Last couple stages are exemplarily fiendish Living Memoriser™ design, meticulously harrowing every time.

I also tried other things Hamster has, such as S.T.G. Strike Gunner. They give it as a SHMUPS/S.T.G. suitable for beginners, and apparently it is, but it's... too fast, the enemies, the bullets and your own ship are very fast!
Task Force Harrier is very similar in this, but slightly better and more manageable.
PS: the music in S.T.G Strike Gunner is crazy cool!

In the end Daioh is much easier, or at least it's more in line with what i can naturally manage.

So, among the teams Hamster took the rights to, the best are Video System, NMK (especially for P47) and UPL (especially for Penguin Kun Wars ) and perhaps Athena. But Allumer...my god their cabinets were token eaters and that's it basically?

I'm probably missing something or i'm approaching some titles incorrectly.

Something to always keep in mind is, back in the day when these games were released, you'd typically be playing with a crowd. So you'd inevitably learn faster. Druaga and Ishtar were expressly designed for this communal spirit. Approaching a balls-hard arcade game alone, you're inevitably going to feel overwhelmed. The nearest equivalent these days is the internet, but it's never quite the same as in-person community.

Daioh's a much friendlier STG than most of its early 90s Toaplanesque contemporaries. Possibly a good starter title, especially with the ACA release's Rank meter. Challenging game once it gets going, but won't brickwall you as aggressively as Raiden or Trigon.

I wish Strike Gunner's nasty st5 BGM didn't let the game down so badly, because other than that, I think the music is rad. The first three tracks have a melancholy that offsets their tinny sound and short loops. st3's ambient groove verges on legitimately good; in a stronger OST, I'd assume the synth boom's brittle compression was deliberate. I love how it splinters and decays over the glassy soundscape... reminds me of Garegga's inimitable Coin In sound. (note the macro-dodging; you mention fast bullets vs fast ship, it's that sorta game!)

Sadly, st5's BGM deluges the bed in corn-ridden explosive diarrhoea. 3; st6 recovers with generic feelgood rockin', and st7 has a cute shuffle, but it's nowhere as interesting as the earlier stuff. The OST's better half reminds me of HIDE-KAZ's Task Force Harrier, another sullenly abrasive not-for-everyone OST. (albeit Harrier is an entirely less amateurish affair than Strike Gunner)

Compared to its audio foibles, and its poor rep, I found S.T.G. itself surprisingly decent. Like a lost Sonic Wings prequel for Japanese PC, with lots of obvious Compile and later IREM influence. Some neat tactical considerations with the subweapons. Nothing exceptionally great, to be sure, but you gotta be grateful for small mercies when Athena's in Bad Game mode. I'm not looking forward to ACA Dragon Unit, but if it means ACA JJ Squawkers, I'll tolerate it.

[hamfighterx]

Nichibutsu's Ninja Emaki is this week's game.
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202407/9639

I really needed this to forget about those City Connection fans.

Hey we can agree on this one at least! Ninja Emaki was high on my wanted list, super happy to see this one!

[Daytime Waitress]

I did a silly and bought a bunch of AA titles a little while back - studiously avoiding the recommendations of practically everyone in this thread that I leaned on for recs - and I still have to commit to a hagiography for them (they make me feel feelingly). So I'm gonna skip Ninja Emaki for the time being, but it seems charmingly cacophonous and is definitely on the radar.

Doing the usual Caribbean ex-pat ritual of sitting around like an asshole waiting to see if a hurricane wipes out my neighbourhood, I'm cheered up by Ninja Emaki! Oof, bad deja vu of Ivan in 2004. I was posting about Gradius V right before that one knocked out the grid for a couple months!

You've gotta do like I did, BIL, and emigrate to a country with a higher instance of natural disasters - put that shoe right on the other foot, see?
In all seriousness, I hope stuff you care about remains safe - love and peace from an internet rando <3

[Arino]

Nichibutsu's Ninja Emaki is this week's game.
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202407/9639

I really needed this to forget about those City Connection fans.

Dude, get over it.

I'm just messing around I love this forum and its members, no matter what

Nichibutsu's Ninja Emaki is this week's game.
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202407/9639

I really needed this to forget about those City Connection fans.

Hey we can agree on this one at least! Ninja Emaki was high on my wanted list, super happy to see this one!

Hahaha okay that's great I should be able to buy and start playing it on Friday, looking forward to the talk about it here in this thread

[BIL]

You've gotta do like I did, BIL, and emigrate to a country with a higher instance of natural disasters - put that shoe right on the other foot, see?
In all seriousness, I hope stuff you care about remains safe - love and peace from an internet rando <3

Ta bud! We're usually ok; really only mentioned by way of explanation for not playing Ninja Emaki yet. Have been vocally pining for it in this thread for half a decade, now. I can tell it still looks rad at least!

EDIT: quick spin for the directory thread. Man, this got some big guns for '86. Got that Halley's Comet spirit. Diverse guns, too; nice selection of archetypes, and a few I can't recall seeing before. I like the factory autofire on the main shot, as well. Having the full set of eight weapons freely-switchable during timed POW mode sounds good.

EDIT2: tbh, "archetypes" may be underselling Nichibutsu's work. This was only a year at most after Gradius. Lots of shredding joie de vivre in the weapon selection. Between Emaki and Terra Cresta, Butsu had a great line in stylishly extreme firepower...

I was dreading this having the heavy aim lag of Holy Warrior Amaterasu / Soldier Girl Amazon, but it feels a lot lighter. Actually, I was struggling to feel it at all. Reminds me of Super Contra vs Devil World... I wonder if the latter games' lighter handling was a conscious toning-down by their devs. Glad at any rate.

[Arino]

The Japanese name of this game is so much better. As always.

Steven why are they playing Crazy Climber 2? https://www.youtube.com/live/-pJw2Ur5nX ... Cs5cF6ItDT

[Lemnear]

Noob Rant

Yeah, it's very much by and for Image Fight otaku. They even copied IF's PCB stage select, plus the very nice addition of Weapon Select. (go to Preference Options to enable both; you select your starting stage at the title screen, while you cycle through weapons with the normally-unresponsive Button 3)

Furthermore, it seems that the positioning of the enemies has no real logic...at least in Image Fight there is a precise logic, it's much more understandable.

The solutions are there, have faith!

I've never liked it too much as a "solution" however they didn't just copy that... i mean.. i understand that they liked Image Fight, but they also shamelessly copied the flyer
(or the ship color...or maybe they likes orange since in Mad Shark it's orange too)

CHARACTERISTICS OF ENEMY SHOOTING ATTACK (■｀w´■)

1) Enemy's targeting ability. Are there blind spots we can sit in?
2) Enemy's shooting frequency. Is there a significant reloading period?
3) Enemy's wakeup delay. Is there a safe window for pre-emptive action?

This is very usefull actually, ty!

Noob Brant the 3rd

Something to always keep in mind is, back in the day when these games were released, you'd typically be playing with a crowd. So you'd inevitably learn faster. Druaga and Ishtar were expressly designed for this communal spirit. Approaching a balls-hard arcade game alone, you're inevitably going to feel overwhelmed. The nearest equivalent these days is the internet, but it's never quite the same as in-person community.

I read about Druaga and i was always fascinated by this "exchange" between players, on how to approach the game. I didn't know Ishtar. Playing an arcade game alone (especially a difficult one) can be demotivating

The one harsh critique I have of Aero is a bout of godawful bullet visibility, late in the third stage. Blue bullets on blue BGs. -_- It's short and easily memorised around, fortunately! Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Aero. I think it'd have done IREM proud as an Image Fight Leo. Last couple stages are exemplarily fiendish Living Memoriser™ design, meticulously harrowing every time.

I also noticed this in Mad Shark in some places...(but also in USAAF Mustang...)
The only difference is that the stages in Mad Shark are more pleasant to play than those in Raiden... where the tanks snipe you without even leaving the hangars...but Raiden's color palette is far nicer.

(note the macro-dodging; you mention fast bullets vs fast ship, it's that sorta game!)

This is very interesting, because Task Force Harrier is like this too, but i found it much easier than the others, while in S.T.G. Strike Gunner was almost a penalty (same for Speed 4 in Image Fight)
It's also true that in Task Force Harrier at a certain point you're faster than ANY bullets... and maybe this makes it a little easier if you play reactively like me.
I never perceived Battle Garegga as "fast" but more as "Medium" speed...(little by little i'm improving there too) I also tried Battle Bakraid and it seems infinitely easier but i don't understand exactly why, maybe it's because the projectiles are more visible.

[BIL]

(note the macro-dodging; you mention fast bullets vs fast ship, it's that sorta game!)

This is very interesting, because Task Force Harrier is like this too, but i found it much easier than the others, while in S.T.G. Strike Gunner was almost a penalty (same for Speed 4 in Image Fight)
It's also true that in Task Force Harrier at a certain point you're faster than ANY bullets... and maybe this makes it a little easier if you play reactively like me.

Are you playing Task Force Harrier in MAME? The ship speed is broken there, unfortunately. It's supposed to increase proportionally to slowdown, but since MAME doesn't emulate this currently, it just gives you a lightning-fast ship that runs rings around everything.

Here's how it's supposed to look. Nice moderate Kyuukyoku ship speed. Still not a very hard game, mind! 1ALL is quite easy by NMK standards, loop isn't too harsh either IIRC. This is another of the resemblances to Gunnail trap15 mentioned, now I think about it.

I love both games though. Harrier in particular has an awesomely gritty, bloody, gunmetal n' asphalt style to go with its deceptively well-observed Toaplan x Xevious x IREM. (don't sleep on the support fighters, they're Bit Modules in all but name! Thrusters and rotors go through enemy armour like BRADE OF NINJA )

IMPLACABLE OFFENSE+DEFENSE (｀w´メ)

On the subject of bullet visibility, it's also one of the sadly rare STGs I can think of to palette-swap the orange bullets to purple for the fucking desert stage. God damn, I wish more STG designers had done similar. Raiden, Trigon, Mad Shark... even NMK's own P47! Great games, but all of 'em have the Desert Sunset Boner™

NSFWR (◎w◎;)

...now I look at P47, I almost wonder if the sun is a deliberate visual hazard, haha. Smack in the middle of the screen like that. Not quite willing to extend it that credibility, and it'd be a bad idea anyway, but as any Iron Maiden listener knows, the sun's a real motherfucker in a dogfight!

[Lemnear]

(note the macro-dodging; you mention fast bullets vs fast ship, it's that sorta game!)

This is very interesting, because Task Force Harrier is like this too, but i found it much easier than the others, while in S.T.G. Strike Gunner was almost a penalty (same for Speed 4 in Image Fight)
It's also true that in Task Force Harrier at a certain point you're faster than ANY bullets... and maybe this makes it a little easier if you play reactively like me.

Are you playing Task Force Harrier in MAME? The ship speed is broken there, unfortunately. It's supposed to increase proportionally to slowdown, but since MAME doesn't emulate this currently, it just gives you a lightning-fast ship that runs rings around everything.

Here's how it's supposed to look. Still not a very hard game, mind! 1ALL is quite easy by NMK standards, loop isn't too harsh either IIRC. This is another of the resemblances to Gunnail trap15 mentioned, now I think about it.

I love both games though. Harrier in particular has an awesomely gritty, bloody, gunmetal n' asphalt style to go with its deceptively well-observed Toaplan x Xevious x IREM. (don't sleep on the support fighters, they're Bit Modules in all but name! Rotors go through enemy armour like BRADE OF NINJA )

Spoiler

On the subject of bullet visibility, it's also one of the sadly rare STGs I can think of to palette-swap the orange bullets to purple for the fucking desert stage. God damn, I wish more STG designers had done similar. Raiden, Trigon, Mad Shark... even NMK's own P47! Great games, but all of 'em have the Desert Sunset Boner™

NSFWR (◎w◎;)

...now I look at P47, I almost wonder if the sun is a deliberate visual hazard, haha. Not quite willing to extend it that credibility, and it'd be a bad idea anyway, but as any Iron Maiden listener knows, the sun's a real motherfucker in a dogfight.

I always try them emulated before taking the ACA, but i think it was FinalBurn Neo. Ah that's why then? hahaha (is incredibly hilarious by the way!)
Gunnail doesn't even start, otherwise i would have tried it T_T nor GunForce 2, and the release of the IREM Collection Vol.2 seems like a mirage...
I love sunset stages...or seaside stages...if a game doesn't have them i feel like i'm suffocating.
Ketsui is the only exception because it makes up for it with that amazing 2000 japan-urban vibe.
By the way.. the plane sprite in Task Force Harrier is really cool.