Phalanx (GBA)

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 4:59 pm

Any good?

Is this just a straight port of the SNES game or ist there some added/remixed stuff?

zak · Post by **zak** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:22 pm

I remember playing this a while ago. I couldn't see what was going on half the time. I really didn't like it.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:29 pm

I was thinking of ordering this game, but I suddenly remembered that I have a DS light now, and its terrible diagonals on the D-pad make playing shooters impossible anyway. So never mind.

Post by **Ghegs** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:32 pm

I kinda like it. 6½/10 or so. Bit on the easy side, I managed to 1CC the default difficulty after few attempts and the hardest soon after.

I did like it enough to track down MiniPhalanx.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:07 pm

What's MiniPhalanx?

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:13 pm

A mini game included in Zero Divide The Final Conflict:

Neco Hammer mini-game

Enter the "Key Config" option and change all the buttons to "No Use". Use the "Test 2" option that appears to play a mini-game that involves hitting Neco's head with a hammer.

Phalanx mini-game

Unlock the Neco Hammer mini-game, then accumulate three more hours of game play. An option to play Mini-Phalanx will appear after that time.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:21 pm

Whoa, crazy.

Wasn't Phalanx also included as a hidden bonus in (at least some versions of) Philosoma?

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:12 pm

Off-Topic, but if anyone has a chance to check out the X68K version, do so. It's loads better than the SNES and GBA revs. As for those two, well, they're nothing great, but nothing that will set the world on fire.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:29 pm

CIT wrote:Whoa, crazy.

Wasn't Phalanx also included as a hidden bonus in (at least some versions of) Philosoma?

I seem to remember that was the case with some early versions of Philosoma. It was accessible with a certain code. Upon using a Goldfinger/Super Game Convertor cheat device on my PSX & using the USA PSX version of Philosoma, I could not find the hidden mini-Phalanx game. If it were there, there would be a "exe" file along with the Phalanx name file as well to boot it up.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:56 pm

I just put my Japanese copy of Philosoma into my CD-Rom drive and had a look; there is no file called phalanx.exe

The date it was produced is 1995/06/19

Are you sure about the exe?

EDIT: I found this on the net:

Bonus Game

To play the hidden Phalanx game hold Start + Select on controller 2 while the game is booting (Note: This only works on early releases of the game).

I'll try it later.

Post by **Ghegs** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:12 pm

Ceph wrote:Unlock the Neco Hammer mini-game, then accumulate three more hours of game play. An option to play Mini-Phalanx will appear after that time.

Odd, since I haven't played Zero Divide itself for one moment. I used the "When the game is first loading up, hold Select and Start on controller 2. Play using controller 2." -method described over at GameFaqs. In Zero Divide, mind you. I've never heard of MiniPhalanx being in Philosoma.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:14 pm

I tried holding start+select on the second controller while booting Philosoma; nothing happened. Maybe it's a hoax? Or maybe someone just mislabled the Zero Divide code.

So you (Ghegs) got Phalanx Mini to play using the above trick in the PS1 version of Zero Divide? The code I pasted was for the Saturn version.

Does it matter if it's the Japanese-, US- or EU-version?

Post by **Ghegs** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:22 pm

Ceph wrote:I tried holding start+select on the second controller while booting Philosoma; nothing happened. Maybe it's a hoax? Or maybe someone just mislabled the Zero Divide code.

Quite possibly. It wouldn't make much sense for Phalanx to be in Philosoma anyway, but Zero Divide and Phalanx share some staff (at least the producer/director Akira Sato).

So you (Ghegs) got Phalanx Mini to play using the above trick in the PS1 version of Zero Divide? The code I pasted was for the Saturn version.
Does it matter if it's the Japanese-, US- or EU-version?

Yep, works fine. Don't know if the version matters, I got the US one. Disc only, so it was cheaper than peanuts.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:23 pm

I'm sure there was a discussion of mini-Phalanx over a year ago. Might try a search.

Post by **Ghegs** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:47 pm

Sidenote: I'm also convinced Gaia Seed and Phalanx share some staff as there are some similarities between the games. I guess I should play through GS one more time and hope the credits are in english.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 9:02 pm

professor ganson wrote:I'm sure there was a discussion of mini-Phalanx over a year ago. Might try a search.

I tried that, seems it was mentioned only once. Anyway, I think we have it covered. Just for the record, Mini-Phalanx has 3 stages which loop.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 10:59 pm

The game in Zero Divide is known as "Tiny Phalanx", and is a sequel of sorts to the SNES original. It is not contained in Philosoma. Tiny Phalanx is arguably the best Phalanx game even though it is only 3 stages long. The GBA one is a tweaked port of the SNES original that's simply an average/mediocre shooter.

shinsage · Post by **shinsage** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 12:41 am

The best thing about anything Phalanx-related is its X68K box art.
In at a close second is hillybilly grandpa Phalanx.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 1:04 am

shinsage wrote:...hillybilly grandpa Phalanx.

Puh-leeez!

His name is Pharmer Bob!

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 1:48 am

CIT wrote:His name is Pharmer Bob!

DURN TOOTIN'!

RoninBuddha · Post by **RoninBuddha** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 3:08 am

how bout the FM towns ver?

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 10:19 am

Out of curiousity I tried the original SNES rom of Phalanx some days ago- as far as I can see, they added smartbombs to the GBA gameplay, as well as rearranging the soundtrack. I always thought the GBA music was kind of tinny, but the SNES music is even thinner. I love the stage 2 music of the GBA version, the SNES one has the same melody but with far less instruments. If you liked the game on the SNES (well, I didn`t), you will like it on the GBA I guess.

And I agree with you on the DS lite d-pad issue. I makes playing Nanostray a pain (even more than it already is). It is such a step down from the light, clicky, responsive GBA SP one. Sometimes its hard to believe that Nintendo INVENTED the d-pad, and still they made such a mushy pad. I wish I still had my original DS.