Yuzo Koshiro is making new MD shmup.

[StoneofTriumph]

Spoiler

A minor thing that bothers me, but do you really have to beat the game without dying at all to hear the villain's speech at the end? Otherwise it just cuts to them abruptly getting finished off.

Yeah, that's what you've got to do.

You can get it on any difficulty, but that is the condition.

[xEbb1993x]

Yeah, that's what you've got to do.

You can get it on any difficulty, but that is the condition.

Whatever. I don't know why we have to beat the game without dying at all to hear the villain's motives. Does it have to be no deaths, though? Can't I just 1CC it?

[Despatche]

Except they make editions that appeal to private collectors with painted cases, extra physical tat etc etc. Those are explicitly meant and marketed for private individuals.

Sure, but those are very clearly marked as special editions, and they're not any worse than CAVE making that home version of Akai Katana (a legitimately unique version of the game no less!) or something. They're for the individuals who traditionally buy arcade hardware outright because they actually want to, there is a market for that and it's existed for decades, especially in pinball. At no point is this required to play a game, but someone can let me know if that ever changes, I guess. Until then, that's not what Sumez is pretending to be so angry about, though I'm sure he'll eventually try to claim it actually was, which would make all his fake anger so much worse.

Nobody calls pinball "anti-consumer" like this, unless they want to rightfully call out the way Stern feels very "walled garden"-y at times, because most people know better. Not much better, mind, some pinball people really seem as if they despise the hobby for all its worth, but there is at least an understanding.

[xEbb1993x]

In other news, I wish I could get more artwork of Azusa, in both casual and her pilot suit. I think she has some voice clips in the game, but I can barely hear it.

[system11]

I had to delete a lot of posts. Seems like people forgot the rules about the piracy aspect. Please don't make me do it again.

The game is not even fully released and people are ROM begging, discussing flash carts and patches etc - what the fuck is wrong with you?

This is way beyond things being added to MAME after X years, this is just straight up piracy.

[Sumez]

This is way beyond things being added to MAME after X years, this is just straight up piracy.

Both of those are straight up piracy

[Despatche]

(no it isn't)

The game is not even fully released and people are ROM begging, discussing flash carts and patches etc - what the fuck is wrong with you?

The entire internet is like this now. Years and years of downloading and playing games For Free! has rotted so many brains more than they were already rotted. Every new release for an old console has people frothing at the mouth about where to get that damn ROM. I appreciate you actually caring about your corner of the internet on this.

[Sumez]

In this thread it was mostly a question of being able to play the game on MegaDrive, moreso than getting it for free. But I agree it's bad form for the thread to discuss what is obviously still piracy.

It really sucks they released the game, a MegaDrive game, without at least making the ROM image available for purchase. But there's probably too many big time publishers involved who are afraid of anything that's DRM-free by definition. Fortunately a lot of modern homebrew *is* being sold as ROM downloads. If you buy anything physical from Bitmap Bureau you even get the ROM for free on top. Nice guys, those people.

I'll patiently wait for a physical cartridge of Earthion before I play it though, there's plenty of other great new stuff to get into out there.

[StoneofTriumph]

Whatever. I don't know why we have to beat the game without dying at all to hear the villain's motives. Does it have to be no deaths, though? Can't I just 1CC it?

Nah

I mean, if this was a Genesis game made in the '90s there would be a 50/50 chance that if you 1CC'ed it on Normal you'd get "Congratulations! Now try hard mode!" as your whole ending, so there's a tradition of this kind of thing for this hardware.

Either that or Yuzo & pals considered the antagonist's motive speech to be Earthion's TLB.

[xEbb1993x]

So I can lose a few lives, then?

[StoneofTriumph]

So I can lose a few lives, then?

No, you have to do it on one life, the "Nah" was to the rhetorical "Couldn't I just 1CC it."

I've gotten the speech, but I did it on Easy- I don't mind being silly about things if the dev is going to pull things like this.

[Johnpv]

It really sucks they released the game, a MegaDrive game, without at least making the ROM image available for purchase. But there's probably too many big time publishers involved who are afraid of anything that's DRM-free by definition. Fortunately a lot of modern homebrew *is* being sold as ROM downloads. If you buy anything physical from Bitmap Bureau you even get the ROM for free on top. Nice guys, those people.

I'll patiently wait for a physical cartridge of Earthion before I play it though, there's plenty of other great new stuff to get into out there.

There are still a lot that don't just sell the rom though, I definitely wish more did. I'd buy more of them. If there was a rom I could buy for Earthion I would absolutely do it. I'll wait for the cart though, just wish it wasn't going through LRG.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Earthion is currently listed on the USA region Nintendo eShop portal. It's a mere 50mb d/l at best with an MSRP of $19.99 and is slated for a 9/18/2025 digital release. A whopping 27 BGMs in total await your listening pleasure. Am not sure what screen filters will be made at your disposal but it looks to be quite sharp and colorful on an Oled-based Switch setup as it is.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Sumez]

just wish it wasn't going through LRG.

Oh oof. I didn't consider that

[Ms. Tea]

For people who don't want to deal with the LRG wait times, there's a regular retail edition coming out in Japan from Superdeluxe (LRG's Japanese label). So you could just order that from Amazon Japan or something and trust that the release date will actually be the date.

[Loom1es]

I'll be getting my PS5 copy from Clear River, they are releasing a PEGI version in the EU.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

There's a 25.3mb patch that updates the Steam port of Earthion to v3.3.0 released today, 9/11/2025. The glitch that plagued stage 4's boss encounter has been resolved among other things that have been fixed.

----------
So that means the MD/SG rom of Earthion is now at the latest v3.3.0 variant rather than the "now deemed older" v2.01 variant rom as it is.
----------

There's a patch note detailing what's been done/implemented as there are plenty of issues addressed and taken care of (moreso than the v2.01 patch update indeed). So that means the online leaderboards will be changed to reflect the latest rankings with v3.3.0 shortly.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Enemy]

Anyone tested 3.30 to see if they have added sram saving natively? I have decrypter but haven't had chance yet.

Seems when running the new version of the rom it says press button on the title screen and overlays the graphic on steam with start but just shows as blank when running rom. I will fix when doing the new patch

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Anyone tested 3.30 to see if they have added sram saving natively? I have decrypter but haven't had chance yet.

Seems when running the new version of the rom it says press button on the title screen and overlays the graphic on steam with start but just shows as blank when running rom. I will fix when doing the new patch

With the newly updated v3.3.0 Steam port of Earthion, S-Ram functionality hasn't been added whatsoever -- the demo runs show the stage number + difficulty setting now (which wasn't available with the two earlier versions). Earthion indeed, is getting better and better with each new patch/update -- the highly anticipated MD/SG cart release will surely be it's best when it's finally out in coming 2026.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Enemy]

sorry to the forum ops i think i need to setup something on shmups forum for these releases but as a kicker here is Thunderforce IV highsaver

https://archive.org/details/thunderforce-iv-hi-trex

i will create a new board subject here for any more. i have done shinobi III and Thunderforce III but they onmly have a high ... i want to create a high table for them so will take longer.

[it290]

A 1 million point bonus has been added when clearing the game without missing a shot

Oof, wonder how many maniacs are going to get this one, lol.

[evil_ash_xero]

I wonder if they will alter the actual game itself? It's a little sloppy in parts. Most people agree that's it's good, but has some issues.
They would have time to take in that feedback and tweak it.

Might take too many resources, though.

[mojilove]

A 1 million point bonus has been added when clearing the game without missing a shot

Oof, wonder how many maniacs are going to get this one, lol.

It's a mistranslation - the JA text says "no miss" as in "no deaths"

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The three rom variants of Earthion are listed as follows: v1.8.0, v2.0.1 & v3.3.0. You can see the rom version displayed on the "lower left" portion of the screen if you press "Button B" while entering the Options screen of Earthion.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~