Is City Connection Really That Bad?

[Fussbudget]

It seems like they've handled a lot of amazing games, but I've only ever seen negative comments about them. I've seen mentions on input lag, frame issues, and a lack of new features. Should I just avoid them completely? Do they have any decent ports? Any games that got better after patches?

[Koa Zo]

No, they're not that bad.
You can find specifics by searching and reading the relevant game threads on this forum.
Most of their releases are fine, it was only their first Saturn port that was particularly laggy, iirc.

As a company, they rule. They've brought us tons of great releases, particularly OSTs, that otherwise would've never seen the light of day. They meet their release dates, they don't regularly lie to their customers like so many other physical publishers, and they offer quality merchandise for their collectors editions.

[Acid]

I have Deathsmiles I+II and Game Tengoku: Cruisin Mix on the PS4. Both perform fine.

[Jonpachi]

The real headline with them is that Saturn Emulators Don't Run Well on Switch. Avoid all the S-Tribute games on Switch and you're cool. They're otherwise, as said, a reliable publisher.

[TransatlanticFoe]

No. They aren't bad at all.

Cotton/Guardian Force was one of the earliest (their first?) Saturn tribute releases was laggy even on Saturn. Add in an unoptimised emulator. Yeah it won't be great. They patched the emulator and subsequent releases have performed fine. They inherited the ZeroDiv Psikyo ports which were a little laggy at first and were tightened up ahead of the physical releases (they remain barebones and Zero Gunner 2 is inaccurate - it's essentially hacked together).

The Saturn tribute releases have some fun extras. The straight xbox ports (Under Defeat, Akai Katana etc.) are fine.

[Creamy Goodness]

My main issues with the Saturn and Psikyo ports were they were pretty bare bones in terms of features.

[AGermanArtist]

I've been a good customer of City Connection's. I have Deathsmiles I+II, Akai Katana, Guardian Heroes, Batsugun S Tribute, all but 3 of the Psikyo games, Under Defeat and Game Tengoku: Cruisin Mix on PS5. And all but 3 of the Psikyo games on Switch. There is a slight difference between the Psikyo games on Switch and PS5 with PS5 feeling slightly tighter and more responsive. I'd vouch for them.

[Leandro]

I just bought Elevator Action Returns S Tribute on Steam and it's a fun time. The soundtrack is mesmerizing. Wish I could enjoy this game back then, wish I had a Saturn in the 90s.

Cleopatra Fortune S Tribute seems insteresting but the reviews are saying it's not a good work by City connection so I didn't buy

[charlie chong]

one thing to note is that i tried playing batsugun port on ps4 on my qanba 2009 using a brook wingman converter and the lag made it unplayable (ship would carry on moving a little etc) so if you use a brook wingman i'd give these city connection ports a swerve.

[Sima Tuna]

The real headline with them is that Saturn Emulators Don't Run Well on Switch. Avoid all the S-Tribute games on Switch and you're cool. They're otherwise, as said, a reliable publisher.

My main issues with the Saturn and Psikyo ports were they were pretty bare bones in terms of features.

These are my two major issues with them. Their psikyo collections are complete shit. They're a bit laggy on the switch at around 6-7 frames of input delay, but perhaps even more importantly, they have zero practice features or options. I don't think you can even remap your buttons, so if you don't like the default layout then you can get fucked. There's no level select or save state or anything else you might want to practice what are incredibly difficult shmups. Made even harder by the input delay.

The Cotton and Guardian Force S-Tribute titles supposedly have 10+ frames of input delay on switch. Which is inexcusable. I have heard it's a combination of the shit Saturn emulation, the naturally laggy Saturn itself and whatever wrapper was used by City Connection for the release. They take a base of 5-6 frames of lag in a saturn game and throw an additional 4 frames on top of that.

Their pricier and newer releases, which are not part of the S-Tribute line, seem mostly okay. I can't remember if they handled the switch port of Akai Katana? I have that one and it's fine. It's just the xbox 360 version ported over to Switch. No more and no less. If you have a working xbox 360 and don't intend to play portably, IIRC Akai Katana is still fairly reasonably priced for xbox 360 and you may as well buy it on that console over the switch port. But if you don't, well hey, no reason not to get it on switch.

I've heard the CC port of Deathsmiles is likewise just the xbox 360 game with some overpriced DLC added. But functionally identical in terms of input delay and features, minus maybe an extra +1 frame of lag for being on the laggy switch.

I bought the Elevator Action Returns port based on feedback from this forum and after much consideration. It honestly seems like a fine port. I didn't notice any particularly massive lag or anything. But I still see it as a budget port (despite that it has some practice features and save states) rather than the fully deluxe M2 Shottriggers-quality full showcase that a masterpiece like EAR deserves. It's nice these games can be purchased commercially but the releases are a bit half-assed compared to what the games themselves deserve. I'm sure others feel the same way about Batsugun S-Tribute.

[LordHypnos]

Looking at the Steam Dragon Blaze port, it is, indeed, pretty barebones, but it doesn't have noticeable (to me) input latency, and it does have a full array of difficulty settings, complete with patronizing descriptors like "baby" and "child," lol (these will be familiar if you've ever had a Psikyo home console port). I believe this is beyond what the arcade version had (I can't find it in MAME dipswitch settings, anyway). It also has screen rotation and some kind of scanline setting, but that's nothing out of the ordinary these days.

I can't speak to any of the console versions, or the other Psikyo games, though.