Yuzo Koshiro is making new MD shmup.

[Firehawke]

My opinion so far, having only done one run through, is that it's probably not quite GOTY material but it's definitely high up the list. Unlike most Euroshmups, it doesn't feel like taking damage is forced for the most part and your weapons never feel pathetically weak.

If I were grading it off the one run, I'd probably give it a B+ or A- as of right now. How I feel after 10, 50, or 100 runs is where I really make my lasting grade of the game. Will it still be fun, fresh, and interesting at the level of Gradius Gaiden, Einhander, or even R-Type FInal 2?

We'll see.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I must say it really is pretty positive they postponed the megadrive release, if they want to they could adjust the visibility issue still before the carts get produced.

I'm sure the upcoming Earthion MD/Genesis boxed carts will be honed & adjusted for maximum visual punch so that it looks at it's best on an old-school CRT-based RGB monitor benchmark setting.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Udderdude]

This one comes as close as possible to euroshmup-ness without actually setting off my patented euroshmup alarm. It feels like a mix of euroshmup and japanese shmup sensibilities ..

I'd really like to see someone attempt a 1 life clear no damage challenge run .. it seems like it would be quite difficult, even on normal skill. Also, they probably delayed the console and cart versions so they could further refine the game, so don't be afraid to post on the steam forum .. lol.

[LDigital]

so I played through the campaign via Everdrive on original hardware and CRT this evening, completing the game on easy mode to just get a feel for things. Its a really really good looking game, some of the best graphics I have ever seen on the base system. The music and sounds as usual are excellent from Yuzo.

I didnt have problems with projectile visibility but there are sections that get pretty hectic, it didnt feel cheap though.

The power up system is interesting and gives decent choices to allow you to customise what is important to you as you progress. I think for purists they should have given a no shield option, but I didn't mind it at all.

I think this is worth playing just for the graphics and music alone to see your 30+ year old console sing, it just so happens its a lot of fun too.

Happy

[it290]

Played several rounds of this today. I think it's pretty well-balanced, although obviously designed for casual players to eventually clear by using the upgrade/password system. Pretty much everything can be dodged, you just have to get used to the attacks like any classic game. None of the attacks here are faster than the projectiles from the first boss of Thunderforce III, for example—in fact I'd say this game is pretty comparable to that one, just designed around the shield mechanic rather than copious 1-ups and the overpowered homing weapon.

Even though the shields help with survivability a lot, you still have to be cautious, because losing your weapon powerups will turn bosses into bullet sponges and make them much more difficult to defeat. The powerdown is a necessary balancing feature, the game would be way too easy without it.

Out of this year's MD releases, I'm not sure if I prefer this or ZPF — Earthion certainly wins in the graphics/sound department, although both are really good at both. ZPF has a bit more of a 'classic' vibe and Earthion is an attempt at a more modern shmup design — with the shield mechanic, this is basically the Halo of the genre.

[Stevens]

I put some more time into this evening. Haven't really had any issues with visibility outside of the 2nd stage, and I was able to improve that considerably with the gamma option.

What else? To make it a bit more challenging I set my lives to zero/normal difficulty in the options, the game is pretty forgiving. That said I haven't ventured beyond normal yet. My best is the stage four boss, but on a subsequent continue I got to stage five. I've only been upgrading sub weapon level if I finish a stage with the pod.

There are some great set pieces and overall I think it's pretty damn good.

[Steven]

Maybe I should buy this game again and give it another attempt, but this time with keyboard. I think I may have rage-quit too easily, as I never made it out of stage 1 due to the frustrations of never getting my Mega Drive controllers working the way I want them. I don't think that's an unreasonable request; it's a Mega Drive game, so let me use Mega Drive controllers.

Well... I'll think about it. There is another reason that I feel bad about it, one that is the primary reason that I may buy it again, but I'd rather not talk about that.

[BEAMLORD]

There's nothing fancy when it comes to scoring- It's like many other Genesis/Mega Drive shmups in that it consists entirely of shoot thing = get point.

However, there are more things that can be shot than one might initially expect. Even smaller enemies can throw off debris when destroyed, and this debris is in and of itself destructible. And these debris pieces give way more points than you might initially expect- when it comes to some of the smaller enemies they may be worth as much or more points than destroying the enemy itself, so there are substantial rewards for pilots who clean up after themselves. Those green powerups also add to score.

The end of game score bonus doesn't depend on anything out of the ordinary- Lives remaining, difficulty, damages taken, powerups picked up, whether you used a password, that kind of thing, but you've seen that screen already.

Ah, not surprised to hear there's nothing much special to it, being a Mega Drive game, after all. As most people are naturally likely to be shooting everything in sight throughout, seems that high scores will be largely dependent on your end of game stats.

[spmbx]

Maybe I should buy this game again and give it another attempt, but this time with keyboard. I think I may have rage-quit too easily, as I never made it out of stage 1 due to the frustrations of never getting my Mega Drive controllers working the way I want them. I don't think that's an unreasonable request; it's a Mega Drive game, so let me use Mega Drive controllers.

Well... I'll think about it. There is another reason that I feel bad about it, one that is the primary reason that I may buy it again, but I'd rather not talk about that.

You could get the rom and just buy it when it becomes available officially if the pc version is not what you want or doesn't work for you

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Do you think Earthion could get a proper sequel if it does well, "sales-wise?"

A sequel could improve upon the original with new gameplay & game mechanics as expected -- the promised second coming/revival of "modern-day" MD/Genesis stgs in the 21st century era.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Gave the Steam port of Earthion a spin on the Easy difficulty setting and died at the Stage 5 boss on my first stint with it using a 1st-gen Steam Deck setup. Found out that if you use the "Prism Laser" power-up on the Stage 1 Boss, you can take it down rather quickly. Of course, the real "meat 'n' potatoes" of Earthion is on the "Normal" and higher difficulty settings but if you're just starting out with Earthion and learning the ropes of it, the Easy setting is a nice introduction of what it has to offer the stg player. Once you feel confident enough, starting on Normal setting would be a good choice to start with after being familarized with it on Easy setting.

Some of the smaller enemies, if destroyed, are worth a whopping 4,000 points each (which easily adds up to your overall score). By grabbing the largest green crystals floating around on-screen, they'll replenish your "Shield Gauge" to keep going further into the later stages indeed.

Eventually in the higher stages, by gathering the slick "Homing Laser" power-up (a tribute/nod towards to Capcom's Forgotten Worlds & Namco's Air Buster arcade-based stgs which featured "homing lasers" first showcased there), it does "home in on" the smaller zako enemies, larger enemies & end-stage bosses (which is quite awesome by the way). Yes, it'd be nice to try out Earthion on the real bona-fide MD/Genesis gaming console as originally intended/meant to be enjoyed on.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Skykid]

Yeah the rom was decrypted immediately from the Steam release. I suppose I can legally take it since I own the Steam game... everyone else is, and Yuzo even retweeted a guy who stuck it in his cab.

I'm having fun with it actually. Stage 7 on my second proper try, although it gets really tough there. Not using passwords, that's too much of a labour. Not sure why it couldn't just offer saves on the PC release.

[it290]

For the passwords, the game will remember your most recent one if you just go into the password screen after a game over—so if you use an emulator and save states there's no need to write it down.

[LDigital]

I don’t think I got a homing laser yet. What symbol is that?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I don’t think I got a homing laser yet. What symbol is that?

If you're playing on Easy setting, I believe the "Homing Laser" icon is a rectangle with two small green-colored lasers curving from backside to right-side forward position -- you can't miss it once you see it floating on-screen.

Here's Time Extension's take on Earthion: https://www.timeextension.com/reviews/s ... k/earthion

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[StoneofTriumph]

Well, I got my 1st cc on Normal live last night on stream. It was a pretty ugly 1cc, but I uploaded the vod to youtube anyway largely because I think we could do with more videos that show that shmupping can be done by mere mortals. Sorry if the voice is too quiet, my viewers assured me my audio balance was fine.

I don't really get why people think that tanking hits is mandatory, because it feels like the only difference between some of the things I was expected to deal with in Earthion and some of the things you're asked to deal with in Gradius 2/3 is that you don't have a life bar in Gradius- Being hemmed in between terrain and 11 different herbs and spices of enemy firepower just feels like the cost of doing business in a horizontal shmup.

After grabbing that trophy, I think I'm still going to be coming back to this game like I do with Soldier Blade, Gleylancer and a few other choice classic console shmups I still play off and on. It just meshes well with what I get out of playing those other, older games.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

If you're waiting for the Sega Genesis variant Earthion cartridge boxed set, Limited Run Games will be handling/publishing it themselves in 2026 (as mentioned on the Atari Age forums: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/383470-earthion/ ).
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[FunktionJCB]

Do you think Earthion could get a proper sequel if it does well, "sales-wise?"

A sequel could improve upon the original with new gameplay & game mechanics as expected -- the promised second coming/revival of "modern-day" MD/Genesis stgs in the 21st century era.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Koshiro is very accessible on social media, and on launch day, besides congratulating him for the launch, I said I was hoping the game wasn't a "one off", and that he would continue to tackle 16-bit style games, maybe in other genres (I mentioned an obvious one, beat'em ups, considering his work on the Streets of Rage series).

His reply was:




So, reading between the lines, the next game will neither be a shmup nor a beat'em up.
But, it's great news that he sees this as something to give continuity.

[Creamy Goodness]

Would be interesting if he did another game in the Beyond Oasis series.

[Steven]

OMG Yuzo please make a really fucking difficult strategy RPG, preferably SF and and not the same generic and boring fantasy stuff that everybody does.

Maybe I should buy this game again and give it another attempt, but this time with keyboard. I think I may have rage-quit too easily, as I never made it out of stage 1 due to the frustrations of never getting my Mega Drive controllers working the way I want them. I don't think that's an unreasonable request; it's a Mega Drive game, so let me use Mega Drive controllers.

Well... I'll think about it. There is another reason that I feel bad about it, one that is the primary reason that I may buy it again, but I'd rather not talk about that.

You could get the rom and just buy it when it becomes available officially if the pc version is not what you want or doesn't work for you

I don't want to illegally obtain Yuzo's brand-new game, though. That's the thing that I felt bad about, as well; I bought it, extracted the ROM, found that it didn't work, rage-quit (quite unlike me to do this, for that matter) and got a refund, and later found that yes, it does work and I hadn't deleted the ROM yet. I will probably buy it because there's no reason not to now that I know that it does work on a real MD.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Here's a live stream of Earthion Exa through Hey!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbsD-RRGjl4

and the Earthion 1CC on Hotshot mode done by Jamiers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whl7relOk7w

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Tatsuya79]

The weapon and upgrade system feels more annoying than anything, I'd rather have something fixed right from the start.
The 1st 2 weapons you get seem like the best ones, everything else after that is rather underwhelming.
The ship is quite slow, no speed option or upgrade.
I didn't like the debris and stuff coming from the background.

Then it's not awful. It's a native megadrive game which is already something.
But okayish at best with lot of "homage".

Drainus was a lot more well thought imo.

[Turrican]

Judging from what I've seen so far, this will belong to a Megadrive shmup top 20. I can't see It in a top ten, but maybe hands-on impressions will reserve a surprise.

[Stevens]

Here's a live stream of Earthion Exa through Hey!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbsD-RRGjl4

and the Earthion 1CC on Hotshot mode done by Jamiers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whl7relOk7w

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I watched the first six stages of Jaimer's run (I've only been that far), and even he gets hit 100 times (I watched the very end too). He prioritizes main shot and shield followed by sub weapon level. I'll echo what others have said - V Fire and Prism laser seem like they can carry you through most of the game.

[it290]

Those two weapons are quite good, but IMO the best one is the free aim green shot, which is essentially the best of both worlds. I think some of the enemies are also vulnerable to specific weapons, e.g. the flamethrower seems more powerful vs biological enemies from what I can tell.

[Necronom]

Here's a live stream of Earthion Exa through Hey!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbsD-RRGjl4

and the Earthion 1CC on Hotshot mode done by Jamiers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whl7relOk7w

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Looks like Exa version gets the M2-treatment:

-Better sound quality, especially voices
-Better visibility
-No slowdown
-Hypermode
-A bezel around the gamescreen that has lots of actually useful info

I gladly supported the Steam release and am really enjoying it but damn...the original MD version and therefore all the other home versions are vastly inferior

[FunktionJCB]

It seems the game may have a few hidden things.

One of them is a slightly alternate, interactive intro sequence, that may grant some extra points.

When selecting the difficulty, press and hold the normal shoot button (on my Xbox One controller, it's X), until the countdown numbers appear.

Here's a video someone posted demonstrating it:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gqdGLFnAMQ4

[BEAMLORD]

It seems the game may have a few hidden things.

One of them is a slightly alternate, interactive intro sequence, that may grant some extra points.

When selecting the difficulty, press and hold the normal shoot button (on my Xbox One controller, it's X), until the countdown numbers appear.

Here's a video someone posted demonstrating it:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gqdGLFnAMQ4

That happened to me one time, had no idea why, or how to replicate it. Thanks for confirming.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

It seems the game may have a few hidden things.

One of them is a slightly alternate, interactive intro sequence, that may grant some extra points.

When selecting the difficulty, press and hold the normal shoot button (on my Xbox One controller, it's X), until the countdown numbers appear.

Here's a video someone posted demonstrating it:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gqdGLFnAMQ4

That happened to me one time, had no idea why, or how to replicate it. Thanks for confirming.

Does this alternative opening intro "bonus point scoring" trick apply to the Steam, MD and Exa versions of Earthion?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Stevens]

Those two weapons are quite good, but IMO the best one is the free aim green shot, which is essentially the best of both worlds. I think some of the enemies are also vulnerable to specific weapons, e.g. the flamethrower seems more powerful vs biological enemies from what I can tell.

Nice pick up. I wonder if one spawns towards the end of level three?