M2 Toaplan collection

[Sweatlord_STG]

I heard each game only had 6 save states. Seems a little rough and an odd choice especially for the really long and difficult games.

ACA fans look on in envy...

Lol so true

[NightBeast]

Each game has six save states or each collection/volume has six save states?

[GGA_HAN]

Just picked up Zero Fire, playing on PS5 - I know I'm late to the party...

Can someone please tell me if there's a way to show the M2 gadgets on the 2 player set of Zero Wing? I can't figure it out, if there's a way.

Also, is 30Hz the only autofire speed available? I couldn't figure out how to change it.

Thanks for any help, looking forward to digging in and getting at least a 1-ALL on Zero Wing at some point.

[pegboy]

I dont think so. The same! Same! Same! Port didn't have gadgets or replays or leaderboards for the 2p versions.

[AGermanArtist]

Just picked up Zero Fire, playing on PS5 - I know I'm late to the party...

Can someone please tell me if there's a way to show the M2 gadgets on the 2 player set of Zero Wing? I can't figure it out, if there's a way.

Also, is 30Hz the only autofire speed available? I couldn't figure out how to change it.

Thanks for any help, looking forward to digging in and getting at least a 1-ALL on Zero Wing at some point.

Change autofire rate with triangle.
Gadgets is greyed out in the 2p version options. They would've had to display 2 sets of Gadgets. They could've found a custom 2p compromise (as with Operation Thunderbolt/Salamander/2), but likely chose not to.

[jpganisso]

Still getting random stuttering, but it's not as bad as it was. This is really annoying. I think I may start playing on Switch until this gets fixed. I could play on PCB and I'd love to get a Same! 1P PCB 1-ALL, but PCB has no practice tools and my cabinet does not enough buttons for a good autofire setup for Same!, so I'd rather not...

My only issue with all digital everything is the fact there is no printing, no media, no distribution and no retail and yet none of these savings has been passed onto the consumer.

One of the big things that makes physical games great that no one can argue against are the changes in pricing over time and depending on the game's performance (aka unsold stock). Buying used goes in the same box. Digital only users are SOL on that if a publisher decides to not be as aggressive as others in an online download marketplace.

I got physical Death Stranding 2 for like 18% off from Amazon Japan before it even released, and then I added like 700 points or whatever they're called to bring it down slightly further. That was pretty nice, and obviously not happening with digital. It's still weird to me that digital games even exist on consoles; I don't recognize their existence, usually, so when people say they buy digital console games I'm always like WTF you can do that? Why the hell would you? I don't like relying on Amazon too much and I think Amazon does screw over someone (shipping companies, probably) with this discount before launch thing, but it does ultimately save me money, so I'm not going to complain too much.

Still, best reason to buy physical is so that your friends can cover their their old games with so many signatures that you can barely even see the box art anymore

Spoiler

Can't do this with digital!

Noticed some stutters while playing Ketsui on PS5, don't remember seeing those in the past. Maybe a PS5 update is the culprit?

[Marc]

Does V-V still you start with more than 3 lives if you don't go to the DIP switch menu before you start playing the game even though it's supposed to save your settings? That still happens on PC too. Does the bass track in

Weirdly, that's the only game I've found so far on Switch that only starts you with 2 likes, no matter which version. Does save once changed, but odd all the same.

[Steven]

Noticed some stutters while playing Ketsui on PS5, don't remember seeing those in the past. Maybe a PS5 update is the culprit?

That is my guess as well. I believe it is possible to revert to older firmware, but it's probably a pain.

Does V-V still you start with more than 3 lives if you don't go to the DIP switch menu before you start playing the game even though it's supposed to save your settings? That still happens on PC too. Does the bass track in

Weirdly, that's the only game I've found so far on Switch that only starts you with 2 likes, no matter which version. Does save once changed, but odd all the same.

Did they put V-V and V-V Bomber Ver. on the same leaderboard despite essentially being two different games? They did on PC. Grind Stormer is separate, fortunately.

[utsunderthesky]

Honestly this isn’t a bad collection. It plays better than the Astro City V versions for sure. It has the typical options you would expect for retro compilations, as well as dipswitches and regional variants, along with some special editions that people mentioned.

It doesn’t feel as premium as M2, but it feels better than say, the SNK Classics collection ( the one with Athena).

Care was definitely put into it

[davyK]

Ordered physical copy of Vol.1 for Switch just to check it out - from the in game screenshots it looks like the Bitwave Steam ports which I quite like as they have decent features and play pretty well for my level of skill anyhow. So I think it's worth a rattle to get Batsugun on Switch at least instead of that Saturn emulation hackjob. I've got a couple of the M2 releases for Switch too (all physical) - so treble dipping on these!!



If it's OK I may spring for vol.2

[Loom1es]

Noticed some stutters while playing Ketsui on PS5, don't remember seeing those in the past. Maybe a PS5 update is the culprit?

That is my guess as well. I believe it is possible to revert to older firmware, but it's probably a pain.

Does V-V still you start with more than 3 lives if you don't go to the DIP switch menu before you start playing the game even though it's supposed to save your settings? That still happens on PC too. Does the bass track in

Weirdly, that's the only game I've found so far on Switch that only starts you with 2 likes, no matter which version. Does save once changed, but odd all the same.

Did they put V-V and V-V Bomber Ver. on the same leaderboard despite essentially being two different games? They did on PC. Grind Stormer is separate, fortunately.

Hi, I was intrigued by the mention of stuttering on Ketsui. I have fired up Ketsui v1.03 on PS5 and there is a micro stutter in the scrolling which is at a repeatable interval, i suspect this is the fps/hz being locked to the arcade which is somewhere in the region of 57-59hz, this would cause a stutter kind of the same as uneven framepacing. I tried turning off 120hz mode in the PS5 settings and it still happened. I then booted the disc with no internet so no updates were applied, running v1.00 the stutter is still there. Finally i put the game on the ps4 pro and the stutter is there. Its low level and doesn't hurt gameplay.

[davyK]

Ordered physical copy of Vol.1 for Switch just to check it out - from the in game screenshots it looks like the Bitwave Steam ports which I quite like as they have decent features and play pretty well for my level of skill anyhow. So I think it's worth a rattle to get Batsugun on Switch at least instead of that Saturn emulation hackjob. I've got a couple of the M2 releases for Switch too (all physical) - so treble dipping on these!!



If it's OK I may spring for vol.2

Just gave this a quick trial. Seems good. The only quibble is the autofire in some games is set higher than on the Steam version. But otherwise is solid. No padding in Vol.1 either -all nice games.

[StrzxgvNuvWvfld]

Noticed some stutters while playing Ketsui on PS5, don't remember seeing those in the past. Maybe a PS5 update is the culprit?

That is my guess as well. I believe it is possible to revert to older firmware, but it's probably a pain.

Weirdly, that's the only game I've found so far on Switch that only starts you with 2 likes, no matter which version. Does save once changed, but odd all the same.

Did they put V-V and V-V Bomber Ver. on the same leaderboard despite essentially being two different games? They did on PC. Grind Stormer is separate, fortunately.

Hi, I was intrigued by the mention of stuttering on Ketsui. I have fired up Ketsui v1.03 on PS5 and there is a micro stutter in the scrolling which is at a repeatable interval, i suspect this is the fps/hz being locked to the arcade which is somewhere in the region of 57-59hz, this would cause a stutter kind of the same as uneven framepacing. I tried turning off 120hz mode in the PS5 settings and it still happened. I then booted the disc with no internet so no updates were applied, running v1.00 the stutter is still there. Finally i put the game on the ps4 pro and the stutter is there. Its low level and doesn't hurt gameplay.

I'm pretty sure I also noticed this on Dangun Feveron years ago (it would've certainly been on the PS4). I came to the same conclusion as you, that the PCB had a slightly odd refresh rate that they had to fit into 60hz.

[Steven]

Hi, I was intrigued by the mention of stuttering on Ketsui. I have fired up Ketsui v1.03 on PS5 and there is a micro stutter in the scrolling which is at a repeatable interval, i suspect this is the fps/hz being locked to the arcade which is somewhere in the region of 57-59hz, this would cause a stutter kind of the same as uneven framepacing. I tried turning off 120hz mode in the PS5 settings and it still happened. I then booted the disc with no internet so no updates were applied, running v1.00 the stutter is still there. Finally i put the game on the ps4 pro and the stutter is there. Its low level and doesn't hurt gameplay.

That is something completely different. My stuttering is causing the entire game to stop, including the music.

[davyK]

Toaplan Collection Vol.1 seems a bit screwy with keeping local high scores. It seems inconsistent across the game. For Batsugun it seems to keep local scores (and update the online board) but if you record a score in Batsugun Special Edition on its local high score it wipes the local scores of original Batsugun - though the online high scores are retained for each. (not all local scores are wiped if you exit the game and close it down so it isn't just a case of scores being wiped when the game is closed down on the Switch)

Not quite the polished M2 package but it's disappointing as the Steam ports keep local scores across all regional versions which does matter quite a bit with certain games (Twin Cobra for example). It is a reason to have these separately from M2 if you like having local score tables saved.

Batsugun sound was glitchy on one of my TVs too though it's fine docked. Tried it on another TV and it was fine. Will try it again on the 1st TV.


Save states seem to held for each version separately too - need to me a bit more methodical is testing before saying any more. Hoping if local scores are supposed to be retained then it gets a patch to resolve all of this.

I'd like the auto-fire to be slowed down to the same rate as the Steam ports too if any devs are listening!!

[jpganisso]

Hi, I was intrigued by the mention of stuttering on Ketsui. I have fired up Ketsui v1.03 on PS5 and there is a micro stutter in the scrolling which is at a repeatable interval, i suspect this is the fps/hz being locked to the arcade which is somewhere in the region of 57-59hz, this would cause a stutter kind of the same as uneven framepacing. I tried turning off 120hz mode in the PS5 settings and it still happened. I then booted the disc with no internet so no updates were applied, running v1.00 the stutter is still there. Finally i put the game on the ps4 pro and the stutter is there. Its low level and doesn't hurt gameplay.

That is something completely different. My stuttering is causing the entire game to stop, including the music.

The one I'm encountering is different from differences in refresh rates, it also stops the music and freezes the whole screen for maybe 200 milliseconds, managed to record it here:
https://youtu.be/gnSP58T_eW0

Don't remember having those freezes/stutters in the past. Maybe I should go after a PS4

[Steven]

Now that is the one that I have. I wish it would go away. I really don't want to have to set up my PS4 again because I have no space for it, but maybe no choice.

I'm guessing the answer is "no" but I will ask anyway: has anyone told M2 about this?

[mrsmr2]

Have you tried clearing the cache:
https://www.techradar.com/how-to/how-to ... che-on-ps5

[Steven]

I don't remember, but I will try it (maybe again) just to be safe. I do recall doing something to see if it fixed it, but I don't remember what I did.

[Marc]

God fucking damn OutZone and FixEight are cool. Firs impressions are that OZ is a tad more considered and strategic, FE is the 80's action movie version. FE also reminds me quite a bit of that Data East (?) shooter/pinball hybrid I can't remember the name of.

[Despatche]

Gun Ball/Nitro Ball? They do seem similar, yeah. They were both 1992, not sure which came out first.

I just like that FixEight is just "Super Out Zone II Turbo" to be honest.

[Sumez]

I guess this is also the thread for the BitWave compilations now

I got both of them from my local video game pusher last week, and got to try some of them very shortly over the weekend. Honestly, this is exactly what I've wanted from a Toaplan shooter compilation. Vol. 2 alone has such an incredible collection of games it makes every other shump collection seem meager in comparison.
My only issue here is why the hell split the games (quite arbitrarily, even) between two game cards. It's better than what M2 have been doing of course, but it still feels annoying.

The presentation and menus is exactly what I want from these kinds of compilations. Unlike most other "ROM collection" releases, it doesn't try too hard to push its own wrapper UI over the games, instead they are built seamlessly into the presentations, with nice massive artwork plastered over the main menu. There is zero loading time ever, and I'm noticing absolutely no input lag on Switch, and I don't need to go through all kinds of convoluted options to start a game. It feels like the games are part of the package, and not launched by an external emulator. It's little things, but it's stuff that affects me.

I do have issues with emulator features like rewind being mapped directly to the controller by default, but it's very easy to just unmap them and then apply that mapping to every game in the collection. I'm not going to use it, but the CRT filter is also by far the best I've seen in any commercially released game so far. It actually looks good, even if it didn't need that (admittedly subtle) curvature.

If there is some emulation inaccuracies plaguing the games, I didn't notice it from any of the ones I played. But quite honestly, it's harsh to say it, I'm not sure I need M2's releases now that I have this...

[Sumez]

God fucking damn OutZone and FixEight are cool. Firs impressions are that OZ is a tad more considered and strategic, FE is the 80's action movie version. FE also reminds me quite a bit of that Data East (?) shooter/pinball hybrid I can't remember the name of.

I love it whenever someone new "discovers" Out Zone. It's such a fun game that's really easy to sleep on. I didn't really pay much attention to it either until I got to try my friend's PCB. It's actually a lot of fun in co-op as well.

[Steven]

Out Zone is glorious. I have great difficulty not outright saying it's the best Toaplan game, with Hishouzame and Slap Fight coming so close that I'd pick any one of these three depending on what day it is.

Just gotta watch out for enemy shots being drawn underneath your shots. I think that's one of the only things the game could be criticized for, but there was that one time when I went into the stage 6 boss room and died to nothing on a screen completely devoid of enemies and enemy shots.

[Sumez]

I don't remember I've ever had any issues with the draw priority of shots. Maybe it's just that I know the enemies well enough, dunno?
Definitely not relevant criticism either way

[Steven]

Yep, it can happen lol

But I agree that it is not really a problem. Even if it was, the game's general awesomeness effortlessly more than makes up for it!

[Faith]

Yep, it can happen lol

Hahaha!!!~

Wow, had to watch that frame-by-frame...

...poor Jaimers I think maybe had 3-4 frames where he would be able to see that?

What Toaplan game should I play after Batsugun? I have to say, Batsugun is really such a super great game. Love it very much @_@"...

Now working on Batsugun Special 4-ALL (PB is 3-ALL)... seems this was the game needed to pull me away from Crimzon Clover for a little bit lol, I was starting to feel a little bit sad.

So far from what I see, Truxton seems like the next best?

It took me a long time. But I finally "'get" Toaplan now... there is just a certain special rhythm and style.

The pace, the music, everything, just comes together so beautifully.

[Steven]

lol yeah, that is the one weird thing with Out Zone. Once you know about it it's not too bad, fortunately.

As for what's next, I am in a V-V type of mood right now, so I'd do V-V. Not Grind Stormer and not V-V Bomber, just normal V-V. I think V-V is kind of overlooked, sadly, as I don't see many people talk about it, which is too bad because I think it's one of Toaplan's best games.

[Sumez]

Yep, it can happen lol

But I agree that it is not really a problem. Even if it was, the game's general awesomeness effortlessly more than makes up for it!

Maybe it's a consequence of me never using the direction shot then

[Steven]

I don't use it either. I don't think there are any places in the game where I'd rather not use the 3-way and bomb if I have to, or the Super Ball in the rare cases in which I'm okay with feeling like a cheater. Super Ball borderline ruins the game, sadly, so randomly being forced to pick it up on stage 5 is annoying, especially because it's a pain to go through the process of getting the 3-way with 8 Cs again and forgetting what number I'm on.