Under Defeat HD

[Mikey]

When a game is not re-released and other games like it are, I assume the source code is lost. I believe the code for House of The Dead is lost, considering how many times the sequels have been ported for various consoles.

[kid aphex]

The idea that Psy2 and Border Down source codes are lost is something I never considered and it's giving me anxiety.
I really do love those games.

[Ms. Tea]

I kind of wonder if the hangup with Psyvariar 2 is just expense/rights - you'd have to license it from both Success and Skonec, probably?

(Actually, it's also kinda funny that Homura hasn't had a new port since the Nesica release back in 2012... it'd sure be nice to have an updated home port.)

[m.sniffles.esq]

Release Trailer

Edit: somehow I forgot to actually put the url into the link tag (phone posting probably), more troubling is that no one seemed to notice. I don't know if that says anything about how many people care about the release trailer--but anyway--it's fixed.

[Lander]

The idea that Psy2 and Border Down source codes are lost is something I never considered and it's giving me anxiety.

I find it safer to assume everything has been lost for any given classic, what with the spotty nature of source control (e.g. paper source code printouts, if you're lucky!) in the early years of tech.
On the bright side, reverse-engineering is always possible if you have a runnable game. Decompiled code might not be beautiful, but the meaning stays intact, and can be molded back into proper form by the right pair of hands

[davyK]

Source code can - in theory - be recreated from the binary. There are tools that can create a C source listing from assembler but it would be big job to make sense of it, relabel the variables, figure out calls to chip graphics/sound functions etc.

If the game is coded in assembler to begin with then the "only" thing that's missing are the comments the developer would have added to the assembler listing. It's big job to make sense of an assembler listing without comments but it's possible for someone with the skills, time and motivation.

You would also have a job separating data from code - it would require good knowledge of the target architecture.

[Lander]

Yeah, it's certainly not simple next to simply having the original available, but is still a tangible comfort blanket in the face of possible source loss

If such a thing were to happen, I'd expect it to be done with significant amounts of machine assistance. Much less of a pain to teach a program the ins and outs of a given architecture and have it chew through the endless hex codes on your behalf, then sugar up the output until it's halfway understandable by a human engineer.

Though data formats, those are liable to be a pain. Hardware's one thing, since it tends to have a cut-and-dry reference manual that can inform an equally cut-and-dry de/compiler, but trying to reverse the data itself apropos of a few functions that access it (perhaps nonexhaustively) is a lot more firing in the dark.

[ciox]

I think it would be very unlikely for the source code of Psyvariar 2 to have been lost, the game was ported to 3 different consoles so at least one version of its code should have survived. Medium Unit and Revision also got ported to Unity and had new content added.
Border Down's code being lost is also kinda unlikely given this developer interview from some time ago: https://web.archive.org/web/20120617030 ... -interview

[Lemnear]

【アンダーディフィート】新BGM「BOOSTED SOUND TRACK」試聴動画【UNDER DEFEAT】

[BIL]

I dunno, tbh. I'm liking quite a few of the tracks, but the whole gabber thing doesn't really fit the mood nor pace, imo. Could pass for Hosoe & Saso's RR series work tbh. The new st5 BGM The Deviated Game (rad trackname ) sounds like my beloved Dan Dat Day... A. UD was never a game to make me yell FOOKIN AVE IT. TWAT IT. YEAAAAA at the monitor.

Thought this was interesting, from a JP commenter.

前回2回のBGMアレンジでやりたい事を出し尽くしたということで、今回はキャラクター2人の趣味で聞いてる音楽のジャンルという設定で作曲したとゲーセンミカドの配信で言っていましたよ。

He said in the Game Center Mikado broadcast that he had done everything he wanted to do with the previous two BGM arrangements, so this time he composed the music based on the genre of music that the two characters listen to as hobbies.

Then again, the LE soundtrack's Medley remains one of my fondest tracks associated with UD, and it sounds little like anything on the OST, too. The wistful dual lead that comes in at 1:16 is so good. (from st5 / Tears Which Died)

So I'm sure the new set might grow on me too. Nice for variety at any rate.

[m.sniffles.esq]

【アンダーディフィート】新BGM「BOOSTED SOUND TRACK」試聴動画【UNDER DEFEAT】

Hosoe tracks are okay, Saso tracks suck...

[BIL]

Hm, some tracks hew closer to the OST's tone than others. Final boss MASSIVE ARMOR keeps that bleak tribal death pulse, moderately grooved up. Reminds me a bit of he and Noguchi's classic pummelling Assault. (whose acridly keening guitars remind me of Under Defeat )

I like tracknames

Power Unleashed Bit twee. Dispatch Preparations is where it's at for this rueful Neo-WW2 slaughter.
Offensive Decoy Lethal purpose, that's more like it.
Catastrophic Collision Fuck yes.
The Deviated Game Man is born to carnage
Silence Them Deadly boss trackname.
Disappears Nailed it, over and out.

[Lemnear]

Pseudo nazi WW2 and gabber/hardcore?
I don't know if it's like this everywhere but at least here they are two things that go hand in hand in the extreme right LOL

[Necronom]

Pseudo nazi WW2 and gabber/hardcore?
I don't know if it's like this everywhere but at least here they are two things that go hand in hand in the extreme right LOL

You just couldn't hold it in, right? Smells like leftwing delusions and communist bullshit in here
...
This "Boosted Soundtrack" sounds like the ultimate upgrade this game always needed but never dared to ask. I love it.

[BIL]

24hrs on, st5/The Deviated Game gives me the violent urge to make a XEXEX amv. Gleefully relentless, reminds me of a cranked-up Go For Broke! in spots.

Final boss BGM is the most successful, imo - the intro's headstomping tattoo is perfect for that brutal monster, and it brings in plenty of the OST's acrid jazzy breeze, adapted to a dancier format. Will be a lot easier to tell what works at the controls, ofc.

That final boss's intro and spectacle haunts my dreams man.

Spoiler

A harrowing scene with your tank allies encircled by enemy armour - then the boss executes your guys and his in one callous strike, trash-talking you over his loudspeaker. Then obliterates god knows how many other poor bastards, somewhere else in the ruined city, so the blast wind and debris can take you out. It's thoroughly crazy shit, but also grimly reflective of the game's savage groundings.

[Astro City II]

The Western digital release has been delayed until 2025 unfortunately.

https://x.com/clearrivergames/status/18 ... 1693312123

[TransatlanticFoe]

And that's just the digital release. May as well import it, I do wish Western releases would have a clear roadmap and stick to it - Clear River's physical release of Batsugun S-Tribute just disappeared. Assault Suit Leynos 2 physical is still AWOL, having stripped English language from the JP release.

[EmperorIng]

Where's that fuckin' steam logo.
I ain't paying the Switch lag tax yet again.

New soundtrack is a total misfire though, it doesn't fit the slow-paced/melancholic mood of the game at all. They truly got the music right the first time, every attempt to try something different has just not been as good as that DC arrange.

[m.sniffles.esq]

And that's just the digital release. May as well import it

Yeah, I already pre-ordered as... I sorta had a feeling
(not about the digital, that's a genuine surprise. But it just seems every fucking western physical is an ordeal anymore)

[Necronom]

Where's that fuckin' steam logo.
I ain't paying the Switch lag tax yet again.

New soundtrack is a total misfire though, it doesn't fit the slow-paced/melancholic mood of the game at all. They truly got the music right the first time, every attempt to try something different has just not been as good as that DC arrange.

Melancholic, yes. It is more about precision and it's slower than something like Dungan Feveron or Raiden Fighters but calling it slow-paced is a bit much imo.
I like how experimental these soundtracks get. They are just options after all.
The Steam release will be announced separately that's why there's no Steam logo yet.

[DrTrouserPlank]

That new soundtrack is absolutely horrific. Less "Under Defeat" and more "Under the Influence .... (of MDMA)"

[Lemnear]

it's on the japan store, who's the guinea pig for input lag?

[m.sniffles.esq]

Absolute trash, completely unplayable

Spoiler

mine is being shipped, I just wanted to be the first

[Steven]

Wait what this is out now? Since when? I guess that's what I get for not paying attention...

[m.sniffles.esq]

It's almost 8pm in the land of the rising sun (it won't be in the west until next year), so it's been up for probably 7-8 hours.

[Lemnear]

Wait what this is out now? Since when? I guess that's what I get for not paying attention...

https://store.playstation.com/ja-jp/pro ... EFEATHDPS5

That new soundtrack is absolutely horrific. Less "Under Defeat" and more "Under the Influence .... (of MDMA)"

Corretc

[Lemnear]

oh well I didn't want to wait so I bought it, I'll try it tonight!

[BIL]

Godspeed Brave Lem ;w;7

Everyone else...

Spoiler

:3

[m.sniffles.esq]

In my defense, I don't own an atomically calibrated lag detection meter™, so if I was to play canary, and it felt about the same as the DC/360 version, I was have said "seems okay to me".

Two weeks later someone with said meter would report it was actually trash and unplayable, then everyone would yell about how stupid I was, how low my standards were, and how I owe each and every one of them a refund.

not that this has happened before or anything...

[BIL]

tbh everyone trashes Raiden IV Mikado on PS5 for having twice the input lag of the PS4 one. But the PS4 one has the non-60hz scrolling hiccup... in a fucking native 60hz game. Which I can't forgive.

Tried out the PS5 one, cos I got it FO FREE and my PS5 asked me to install something at setup, and went "This is alright" :O I'm guessing it's like 2x0.2 or some shit. You know, "LMAO UR RISK OF [X] IS 2X" but the baseline is like winning the lottery while fucking Elvis in the mouth aboard a UFO.

So yeah, I'm 75% sure it's fine, and if not will get patched. tbh I'm just not that bothered about UD tbh. Got the DC and PS3 revs already. Border Down or Strania I'd go in against my better judgment.

In fact, CC, pay attention, get those ported and I will request PERMABANN if I fail to day zero. Do it you fucks. Imagine the heartbreak and spectacle of lovable shumps mascot BIRUFORD being sent to the firing squad! Haha, a little reverse psychology there :3 GET IT DONE YOU FUCKJIOJGN MOTHERLESS FUCKIHNG CFUFUCK FUCCC