ZPF on megadrive

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fireflame
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ZPF on megadrive

Post by fireflame »

I have been checking to see if there was a thread about this game on the forum but the search engine doesn't fid it, so I am going to assume there aren't.


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

The music is composed by Jamie Vance, the game designer is Gryzor, programmer is Mikael Tillander.

I found the information on MO5.com:https://mag.mo5.com/actu/186673/zpf-un- ... ega-drive/
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dark
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by dark »

Looks great, very impressive for a megadrive/genesis game. Is it a commercial product?
fireflame
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by fireflame »

dark wrote:Looks great, very impressive for a megadrive/genesis game. Is it a commercial product?
They don't mention but Mikael Tillander worked on Mega Cat Studio Collections 1 which was a homebrew cardridge.
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BrianC
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by BrianC »

fireflame wrote:
dark wrote:Looks great, very impressive for a megadrive/genesis game. Is it a commercial product?
They don't mention but Mikael Tillander worked on Mega Cat Studio Collections 1 which was a homebrew cardridge.
Mikael Tillander worked on Tanzer in that collection, which is a homebrew MD game and awesome! It's also available on MD cart. It was mentioned here a few times too.
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kid aphex
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

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FRO
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by FRO »

The demo is quite promising! I spent time with all 3 ships and all 3 selectable stages, and I like the direction this is going. I don't suspect it will unseat the absolute best Genesis/MD shooters as king, but it certainly looks to position itself a lot closer to the top of the pile than even some of the venerable titles on the console.
PC Engine Fan X!
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

Did the upcoming Genesis STG of "Genesis Metal Fury: Irena" ever get finished? It's still listed on the Mega Cat Studios site.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
spmbx
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by spmbx »

PC Engine Fan X! wrote: Fri Oct 27, 2023 8:32 pm Did the upcoming Genesis STG of "Genesis Metal Fury: Irena" ever get finished? It's still listed on the Mega Cat Studios site.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
It's apparently still being worked on
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wh ... ts/3901599
spmbx
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by spmbx »

Spent some time with it this weekend, pretty solid demo that runs great. The style looks pretty cool. The sound was a bit underwhelming when i looked at it on youtube but in gameplay it didnt bother me and was absolutely fine for me. I did have a problem with the bullets being a little too hard to spot sometimes (for example the blue bullets on the blue background in stage1, etc). And had a crash once where the background disappeared just before gameover and the game froze. All in all it looks pretty promising and i'd definitely support it if they offer a rom download option.
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by gradiusscrub69 »

I know what I'm playing when I finish my movie :wink:
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Dale
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by Dale »

Is there a way to buy a digital version? Like pay money to get a rom? Or a normal pc release?
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FRO
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by FRO »

Dale wrote: Fri Nov 03, 2023 6:44 pm Is there a way to buy a digital version? Like pay money to get a rom? Or a normal pc release?
It hasn't been released in full yet, only the demo. I'm not sure if they'll be selling a ROM release or doing a PC version, but I believe I heard somewhere that modern console and/or PC versions would be part of the release schedule, so we'll have to wait and see.
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pablumatic
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by pablumatic »

At last a date for the launch of the Kickstarter.

https://twitter.com/GRozyrg/status/1795765865691873633
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pablumatic
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by pablumatic »

spmbx
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by spmbx »

Seems the kickstarter is up. No word on a rom-only option sadly, i'll keep an eye on their comments section to see if that will become available at some point in time.
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pablumatic
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by pablumatic »

I figured this was more or less just a pre-order type Kickstarter given the Mega Cat Studios backing and the longer than expected time to launch this KS. Looks to be a correct assessment since they already met their low funding goal.

Ordered a physical copy. Will grab a digital ROM if they ever offer it for sale.
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Some-Mist
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by Some-Mist »

style looks awesome and while I own a genesis, I've been looking at downsizing my collection since I really prefer to emulate the console using different controllers than what I have available for the platform

I'd definitely buy a rom if/when available
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Samuray
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by Samuray »

This will certainly be available outside of kickstarter later on, right?
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pablumatic
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by pablumatic »

Samuray wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2024 6:54 pm This will certainly be available outside of kickstarter later on, right?
Yes definitely. On the Mega Cat Studios store/website.
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by spmbx »

Mega cat studios probably means there won't be a ROM download option, at least i only see demo roms available for the megadrive games on their site. Tanzer had a ROM option on kickstarter but that was before mega cat was involved. Getting the boxed copy will cost me a little over 90 euros (100usd) after postage and taxes. I'm not spending that amount on a boxed game for which i don't even want the box, i'm pretty much done with physical games unless there is some exotic reason where it would be necessary. We'll see how things go, i enjoyed the demo at least.
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Samuray
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by Samuray »

Yeah, I'm the opposite….digital is no fun for me, I need my games physical. But 100 bucks is too much, I hope the post-kickstarter copy will be somewhat cheaper.
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by spmbx »

In an ideal world we could both choose what we prefer i guess ;) It's already 500% funded, i'm not expecting any new tiers or stretchgoals to appear but you never know. I'm happy to see the kickstarter going so well, i really enjoyed the XYX games and the zpf demo so well deserved imho.
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by spmbx »

Image

Well, no rom. If i had to guess i'd say they will probably come up with some semi-emulated experience on steam, like the Bitwave toaplan stuff.
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Some-Mist
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by Some-Mist »

even better tbh. as much as I love roms, I'm a big fan of having all my stuff in one place (I know some people are anti-steam though).
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MintyTheCat
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by MintyTheCat »

I am very pleased to see Rozyrg's MD game get a release.

I've backed it myself today and added the Artbook to the order.

Looking forward to seeing it.

In other news: my order of Eliminate-Down is on its way and we managed to find a copy for my mate - he's happy :)
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SavagePencil
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by SavagePencil »

Got my copy today. Very pretty, sounds great especially through a subwoofer.

Needs some assistance from an editor: the scrolling text for each ship is interminable (tell me what the thing is good at!) and the “hint” item in the shop is more frustrating than cute. It sucked in Forgotten Worlds but you somehow made it worse.

Only other complaint so far is the sprite drop-out. I think I’d prefer flicker over complete drops. It seems to affect the Gold ship the most.

Melee attack is novel, but you really gotta know the game to take advantage of it.

Ship selection definitely impacts survivability.
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it290
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by it290 »

Got my copy the other day as well and finally got to spend some time with it last night. I'm enjoying the game, but definitely feel it could have used more polish.

Pros: Cool soundtrack, neat Euro-demo styled presentation without the Euro jank factor, lots of hidden content and replayability.

Cons: The game as is feels pretty imbalanced. The default ship is generally wayy easier than the other two, and similarly out of the intro levels the cyberpunk-themed one is much harder than the other two. There are lots of sniper-type shots that you'll essentially have no chance of dodging without foreknowledge of the levels. The visual presentation, while cool, is also very busy and the game has bullet visibility issues in many sections as a result.

The weird: each level is divided up into lots of little named subsections at the end of which your ship flies off the right end of the screen before beginning the next. This is kind of cool, feels very 16-bit computery and isn't something I recall seeing in a game before, but also means that the game lacks the sense of continuity present in some of its inspirations (the game draws from Lords of Thunder, Thunderforce, Last Resort and others). I haven't completed the game yet but I also don't think there's any vertical scrolling other than in the bonus levels?

Despite the flaws, I think it's still a more than worthy addition to the Megadrive library and worth seeking out.. if only to whet your appetite for Earthion!
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LDigital
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by LDigital »

Got my copy and finally managed to beat my first run with Gladius (middle Ship). I agree with most of the feedback above however I got used to the patterns and visibility issues over time once I had a few runs under my belt.

During my ending It heavily implies that its not a perfect ending and there is more to find. I ended up with 40% secrets score. I have no idea what constitutes a secret. During my run I found 2 different keys and a bonus round I don't know if the keys were connected to the bonus or what they were for otherwise. Also on the level select screen I activated only one of the orbs, dont know how. It seems there is more to uncover but I will wait to see what others find out and share.

I think there is a lot of hidden depth here and it looks and feels like some of the best on the system. I am glad to have kickstarted it.
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by SavagePencil »

I believe one gets keys by having a no-death run in that level.

Overall it’s competently implemented but the design is uneven and lacking polish. The melee attacks in particular lack emphasis.
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it290
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Re: ZPF on megadrive

Post by it290 »

LDigital wrote: Wed Jun 18, 2025 11:02 pm Got my copy and finally managed to beat my first run with Gladius (middle Ship). I agree with most of the feedback above however I got used to the patterns and visibility issues over time once I had a few runs under my belt.

During my ending It heavily implies that its not a perfect ending and there is more to find. I ended up with 40% secrets score. I have no idea what constitutes a secret. During my run I found 2 different keys and a bonus round I don't know if the keys were connected to the bonus or what they were for otherwise. Also on the level select screen I activated only one of the orbs, dont know how. It seems there is more to uncover but I will wait to see what others find out and share.

I think there is a lot of hidden depth here and it looks and feels like some of the best on the system. I am glad to have kickstarted it.
The manual mentions something about using each ship in their corresponding world (so Knight for Fantasy, etc.). I believe that may be tied to the secrets/ending.
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