Gleylancer

[Crunch]

but you can order from amazon.co.jp even with a US account.

Doesn't seem to work for me. Everytime I try it says the email address didn't show up in the records. And to sign up for amazon.co.jp you need a Japanese address.

[Nemo]

I'm in the US and I've ordered a number of times from Amazon.co.jp, they even have help menus in English.

[Ceph]

You can't order from the Japanese amazon marketplace without a Japanese account, only directly from amazon.

[llaoyllakcuf]

also, I believe there are certain restrictions on international orders, such as game software and some educational materials.

but I haven't had problems purchasing music CDs and movie DVDs through Amazon JPN (not marketplace).

[Lyle]

Gleylancer is an OK shooter but it only gets interesting once you've reached level 4. Still, it's fairly easy (I almost managed to 1cc after a few games) and a bit overpriced IMO.

[adam76]

GleyLancer better than TFIII?! Heresy, Infidels!

GleyLancer has poor level-enemy design & little variation. Most levels I remember only take place in space. There is one where you circle a gigantic ship similar to the Cerberus stage in TFIII, but the gameplay is nowhere near as fun as TFIII.

The bosses are boring as well. TF3's guardians were out of this world(literally ) for the time but Gleylancer's were pretty unimaginative IMO.

I don't think i can remember more than two of Gleylancer's bosses. In contrast, TF3's mechanical 'Godzilla' will stay etched in my mind for ever.

[Samudra]

As for presentation, or as a whole, I'd say Gleylancer is NCS Masayas best shooter. Everything is just extremely well-made and solid. Gynoug comes second, with its well-designed bullet patterns, odd atmosphere and fantastic enemy design - but I feel the levels are too long and the first few are just boring.

I've yet to try the Choaniki series though.

EDIT:

Eventhough it doesn't count, they ported Toaplan's Hellfire to the MD. It's a solid conversion of a very frustrating game. :)

When I first played Gynoug I felt the same way. I would call all of them boring even except for the third one (because I like the music) and the last one (everything which should have been spread out through the other levels happens in this one). Especially level 2-2 (I consider everything after the music change and mid boss part two of a level) which seemed to go on forever.

Now after I've played it a lot and can 1cc the game I don't notice it anymore and even relish it in a certain way. So this facet of the game might just be an acquired taste. A taste the designers presumably have as well.


Interesting to see other people who don't like Gleylancer. I too didn't like the lack of difficulty. The bosses go down as fast as in Arrow Flash even on hard.

[Herr Schatten]

I just played through Gleylancer on the Wii VC.

Is it supposed to be that easy? I finished normal mode on my second try and only lost a couple of lives in the maze in stage 4 and later in the bit where you have to shoot your way through the pink blobs, because the search options are really difficult to put into use there. Bosses are a total pushover, except for the last one. The penultimate boss has the right difficulty for a good level 1 boss, IMO.

Nice game, but I'd feel a bit ripped off if I had payed the normal price for a physical copy.

Hard mode seems to be a decent challenge but it suffers from visibility issues. Meh.

[Ceph]

Great game with great music, I still like it very much. If you think it is too easy, then don't select the auto-aiming sub weapon type. And play it on hard.

PS.
Funny reading CIT's post from 3 years ago about having paid 75 EUR for the game (which was 90 USD at the time). Have a look at the current ebay prices

[riffbear]

Love this game!

[Fenrir]

Gleylancer? For MD? Jap? 75€???? Didn't know AT ALL that it was so pricey. Why is it that?

Christ, to say that I bought it ca. 12 years ago for something like the equivalent of 9 euros in a 3-games bundle from a shop that was shutting for good and didn't know what to do with all that import crap... and was selling NTSC/J games in groups of 3 for basically nothing

I remember a very nice bundle with Parodius Da!, Pop n Twin Bee and Pop 'n' Twin bee Rainbow Bell Adventures for yeah, roughly 9 euros.
Too bad I had all of them and didn't buy it

I even thought, at the tame, that it was a pretty mainstream shmup. I think it today as well polished but not that exceptional.

[Ceph]

Gleylancer? For MD? Jap? 75€???? Didn't know AT ALL that it was so pricey. Why is it that?

Supply and demand. It's rare. And you are not going to find it for 75 EUR now; that was three years ago.

I bought it ca. 12 years ago

There you go. A few years ago two Mauritius "Post Office" stamps were sold for 4 Million USD. Their combined original value was 3 pence.

[Skykid]

Uh, not so sure about that. I was offered a copy from two sources + saw a buy it now on YHJ about a month ago for £50.

Don't watch ebay.

My man in Japan will be bagging it for me at that price this week.

[Turrican]

yeah ebay = inflated prices.

[SamIAm]

I just played through Gleylancer on the Wii VC.

Is it supposed to be that easy?

Don't use the search option. Try the first two, normal and reverse. You actually have to be good at the controls then, and the game gets significantly deeper.

[Ganelon]

yeah ebay = inflated prices.

Even Ebay had a few copies of Gleylancer around at $80 BIN last year...

[Mortificator]

I like how Gradius V totally rips its "freeze" and "rotate" option formations from this game. Rotating options were in earlier Gradius games, but the Gley way of switching direction with a button wasn't.

Of course, Gley Lancer and about a million other shooters snared the idea of Options from Gradius in the first place, so I guess it works out.

[Angry Hina]

I just played through Gleylancer on the Wii VC.

Is it supposed to be that easy?

Don't use the search option. Try the first two, normal and reverse. You actually have to be good at the controls then, and the game gets significantly deeper.

But not that deep or interesting even without search. It gets only interesting on hard but many satellite options arent viable anymore and the rail section in stage 9 is a very big downer.

[Sengoku Strider]

I just played through Gleylancer on the Wii VC.

Is it supposed to be that easy? I finished normal mode on my second try and only lost a couple of lives

No, you are a Jedi if you actually pulled that off. It took me a while to 1CC the Switch release, and maybe I'm wrong but I have to imagine the Wii VC version was laggier. Stage 4 where you have to make vertical moves through tight spaces was always tricky, I didn't think it was that tough at first but consistently making it the whole way through clean came down to pixel counting in the end. And the last two levels took some learning; I don't often use save states but I did use one to learn the final boss, just because the game is a bit long and getting through all that then getting insta-wiped at the end and learning nothing was a grind.

I just played through Gleylancer on the Wii VC.

Is it supposed to be that easy?

Don't use the search option. Try the first two, normal and reverse. You actually have to be good at the controls then, and the game gets significantly deeper.

But not that deep or interesting even without search. It gets only interesting on hard but many satellite options arent viable anymore and the rail section in stage 9 is a very big downer.

to me the biggest disservice the game did itself was making the search mover option available from the jump, it trivializes much of the shooting. And the multi & multi-R mover options seem like they flat out don't work even on normal, there are so many angles I couldn't hit effectively.

But I think playing it with reverse like a side scrolling Image Fight is a really good time that re-prioritizes the accuracy part of a shooting game, something that became almost forgotten over the course of the 90s. I feel like it must have influenced Rolling Gunner, there's even a mover option called roll.

[Angry Hina]

But I would say, its in deed one of the few games,where you can 1cc it on the second try , even if you are not one of the best here on the board. At least, if you choose search mode.

[To Far Away Times]

I think my 1CC of this was also on a second try with search mode.

Still a cool game though. A bit like a lesser Thunderforce.