Chouyoku Senki Estique, another impressive homebrew for the Famicom

[Ghegs]

Some tweets have revealed another shmup homebrew in the works for the Famicom:

https://twitter.com/kakikukecat/status/ ... 4171800902
https://twitter.com/kakikukecat/status/ ... 8776777817

I honestly thought that was a Genesis shmup on first glance. I'm not sure if the game has a title yet, I couldn't figure it out from the tweets or images.

There's switching (apparently freely) between fighter plane and robot form, power-ups, different weapon types, very good-looking backgrounds...and I'm not seeing any flicker there either, even in the busy parts of the video. All props to OverObj, but in a way this looks more impressive. And with those aforementioned features this looks to be more of a real proper game.

They say there's a playable and purchasable demo (on an actual cart?) available at Digigame Expo 2023, held on November 12th. If anybody happens to be going there, I'll pay decent money for somebody to buy me a copy too, if it is indeed a real physical cart.

[neorichieb1971]

I'm getting Last Resort vibes from the video. Obviously scaled down quite a bit.

[Voxbox]

Looking damn impressive. Robot transformation straight out of Macross too.

[Jeneki]

Night time cityscapes are cool. Thanks for sharing.

[Austin]

It’s looking great! I would definitely like to play it.

[blazinglazers69]

I love the background! Reminds me of an 8 bit Akira.

[Ghegs]

TimeExtension has written an article about the game, also confirms what the name is.

[Steven]

Oh, Komabayashi's working on this? He's a good dude and extremely knowledgeable, so this should turn out pretty good.

[Ghegs]

Well this is a surprise - the game will be published, in both NES and Famicom cartridges, by Broke Studio as confirmed in their recent tweet, so that makes it supereasy for anyone to get this. Neat.

[Sumez]

Nice! Broke is good guys

[soupbones]

Well this is a surprise - the game will be published, in both NES and Famicom cartridges, by Broke Studio as confirmed in their recent tweet, so that makes it supereasy for anyone to get this. Neat.

Amazing news! Looking forward to this.

[neorichieb1971]

Not sure if someone has posted this yet as they always use a different name than the one I am familiar with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLkxQ_Cm4Jo

Its in Hey arcade in Akihabara on test with release later in the year.

https://www.cathuitrading.com/?page_id=2563

[Arino]

"Made by ex employee of M2"

Damn, looks so sick

I hate how I don't live next to Mikado or HEY, what a miserable life

[Ghegs]

Thanks for that, nice to see some new footage.

But whew, I was relieved to hear the guy say the music will be changed...

[soupbones]

This went up for preorder today - both the NES and Famicom editions.

Shipping 12/16/2024!

Website is R-type slow.

https://www.brokestudio.fr/product/chou ... stique-fc/

https://www.brokestudio.fr/product/chan ... tique-nes/

[PC Engine Fan X!]

So both the FC and NES carts of Chouyoku Senki Estique are 4 megabit + 64kb in size? If so, that's really pushing the FC/NES hardware as it is. Wow! The 50€ pricepoint is quite affordable and resonable (unlike with the HABit caravan cart with it's higher asking price). Suppose if it had been released back in the early 1990s, it would've been a technological marvel indeed.

Awesome to learn that the NES cart of CGE is presented entirely in English as with the accompanying instruction manual as well (cool mecha artwork depicted on the NES cart -- something different for a change of visual flair compared to the FC CSE cart artwork).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[soupbones]

Time Extension just posted a glowing review of the game. Really looking forward to this shipping soon!

https://www.timeextension.com/reviews/n ... an-estique

Sounds like the NES version of the game actually crops and changes in game artwork for the worse - in a nod to the awful atrocities we've done to past video games from Japan.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

It's sounds like based on Time Extension's review of the NES Estique variant, the FC variant is the one to get then.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[MintyTheCat]

I ordered a copy myself - it looks pretty decent.

[bobrocks95]

Want to get this after some glowing reviews and seeing all the ex-Compile devs on it.

Can anyone confirm if Broke Studios' cartridge releases have proper voltage conversion, beveled edge connector, hard gold finish, etc?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Want to get this after some glowing reviews and seeing all the ex-Compile devs on it.

Can anyone confirm if Broke Studios' cartridge releases have proper voltage conversion, beveled edge connector, hard gold finish, etc?

I'm not sure if both the Famicom and NES carts of Estique have the above listed attributes -- indie dev/publisher Broke Studio would be wise to consider doing those listed attributes to make sure both FC and NES consoles run/operate properly (that can be affected with shoddy and crappy FC carts manufactured with cheaper subpar and non-conformatory electronics, especially from publisher Columbus Circle as an illustrated and well-known example). If you order a copy now, it won't ship until February of 2025 at the earliest, out of France internationally.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[bobrocks95]

Want to get this after some glowing reviews and seeing all the ex-Compile devs on it.

Can anyone confirm if Broke Studios' cartridge releases have proper voltage conversion, beveled edge connector, hard gold finish, etc?

I'm not sure if both the Famicom and NES carts of Estique have the above listed attributes -- indie dev/publisher Broke Studio would be wise to consider doing those listed attributes to make sure both FC and NES consoles run/operate properly (that can be affected with shoddy and crappy FC carts manufactured with cheaper subpar and non-conformatory electronics, especially from publisher Columbus Circle as an illustrated and well-known example). If you order a copy now, it won't ship until February of 2025 at the earliest, out of France internationally.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Sent them an email on their contact form, hopefully it's all up to snuff! Columbus Circle carts are indeed probably the worst example I can think of recently, probably because they were pretty widely available. Sure junk you get from China isn't built right, but these were in actual stores. I don't know if they ever improved, but it was enough bad publicity that I still avoid their cartridge releases!

EDIT: A great response on their part, ordering a Famicom copy now (don't like the "localization changes" approach personally)

We offer high quality PCBs, using 5V chips when we can, and using 3.3V to 5V level shifters when its needed (that's the case for Estique since we're using an FPGA).
Connector edges are beveled and we're using hard gold finish for the conector.

[spmbx]

Using an fpga as in "we can't get some specific old asic used in nes carts anymore" or fpga as in "we'll just add some horsepower to do things not possible on nes" ?

[bobrocks95]

Using an fpga as in "we can't get some specific old asic used in nes carts anymore" or fpga as in "we'll just add some horsepower to do things not possible on nes" ?

If you want to think of it that way you would have to say every mapper chip in the NES' lifetime was doing things not possible on the system. Doubly so for the SNES. The strength and longevity of the Famicom line comes from the expandability and versatility the cartridge connectors offered through forward-thinking engineering. Before mapper chips (and memory prices dropping), Super Mario Bros was conceived as the final, ultimate cartridge release as they moved onto the Famicom Disk System.

[Herr Schatten]

Got my NES copy from Broke Studio. Both the cart and the rest of the material are of high quality. It’s a really nice package.

First impressions from sitting down wirh the game for an hour or so:

The visuals are soectacular. I don’t think I've ever seen better on the NES. Excellent choice of colors makes the graphics almost look like they are from a Mega Drive game.

The sound is not quite as impressive. SFX are a little too loud. The music, while not bad at all per se, lacks bass and sounds a little tinny. Likewise, the compositions are alright, but they are surprisingly jaunty and don't really fit the mood of the stages.

The game itself is good, but the Compile background is very noticeable both in various enemy formations and in the fact that the game is super easy during the first few stages (I reached the fourth boss on my first try ever) and then ramps up quite suddenly.

It's fun to exoeriment with the ship transformations and the switching between offensive and defensive shot type. For now I mostly use the mecha during the stages (because it can touch walls) and switch to the ship for the bosses. I prefer the offensive weaponry for the most part, but switch to the defensive one in tight spaces.

This is a worthwhile purchase, unless you really dislike Compile.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

How is the Official OST music CD of Chouyoku Senki Estique? I see that Super Sweep sells it with an MSRP of 3,170 yen with a February 21st, 2025 release date.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Here's the link to order the Chouyoku Senki Estique OST music CD from the Super Sweep shop: https://sweeprecord.ocnk.net/product/71

Ordered one and we'll see how it fares out.

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Broke Studio has announced via e-mail that all future orders for both Famicom and NES games of Chouyoku Senki Estique will sold and delivered through the "Handmade Factory" site as of 3-27-2025.

Famicom version: https://www.homebrew-factory.com/famico ... ue-fc.html

NES version: https://www.homebrew-factory.com/nes/57 ... e-nes.html
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PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[bobrocks95]

I think they said they were still packaging the Famicom version, hopefully it arrives soon!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Finally got my copy of the Super Sweep released "Changeable Guardian Estique" Original Soundtrack music CD with licensing through Cat Hui Trading LLC (C) 2023. It's priced at 3,190 yen and has a grand total of a whopping 32 tracks: tracks 1 through 18 are the ones related to the FC stg game of "Chouyoku Senki Estique" and tracks 19 through 32 are considered bonus tracks. It was officially released on March 7th, 2025, as indicated on the backside of the obi sleeve itself.

The front cover of the CGE OST itself features seven characters including four buxom and shapely gals which are easy on the eyes -- artwork done by Kodama DaiGattai and Ken Fujioka.

A total of four artists consisting of Sakamoto Shinichi, Hosoe Shinji, Saso Ayako and sdhizumi have composed the cool tracks which are presented in glorious stereo 44.1kHz redbook audio format compared to the mono-sound format with both the FC & NES stg release of CSE/CGE respectively.

Is certainly a companion piece to your copy of CSE/CGE indeed -- would've been nice to buy the bundled set of a FC or NES version of the boxed stg game + OST music CD together in "one fell swoop/one shot" type of deal rather having to buy the game & OST music CD separately -- it is what it is in the end regardless of the current marketing situation with the CSE/CGE game itself.

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Here's a "God of Game" play-through of the FC version CSE by makuchan: https://youtube.com/watch?v=yNMt3pTvjOg with all-English translation of the kanji script as a bonus (quite helpful if you bought the more-desirable FC version and need help with the translation involving the two main characters of Mary and Kanon throughout the cut-scenes shown between stages).
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According to developer Cat Hui Trading LLC, both the FC & NES carts of CSE/CGE are 4Mbit + 64kSRAM size-wise -- so a bit of technical wizardry or "black magic" in creating it/playing it on real FC/NES gaming hardware, especially nowadays (akin to adding a super charger with nitro methane fuel added = the FC & NES hardware really "hauls ass" towards the finish line in terms of graphics-wise). Had CSE/CGE been released during the FC/NES's heyday or approaching towards it's twilight years, it certainly would've done quite well "sales-wise" and by "word-of-mouth" as well. As the ol' saying/adage goes: Better later than never, right?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BrianC]

I think they said they were still packaging the Famicom version, hopefully it arrives soon!

I just got the FC version in the mail today. Wasn't expecting it to ship this month after seeing the estimate change to May and ordered the NES one, which arrived a few days ago. I'm liking the game so far. Definitely has that classic Compile feel to it.

The sound is not quite as impressive. SFX are a little too loud. The music, while not bad at all per se, lacks bass and sounds a little tinny. Likewise, the compositions are alright, but they are surprisingly jaunty and don't really fit the mood of the stages.

I have mixed feelings about the music, but I do like that one of the tunes is a remix/parody of the Goonies theme.