Terra Cresta II - First Impressions (with screenshots)

[Ceph]

Terra Cresta II - マンドラの逆襲

I finally got Terra Cresta II for PC Engine today; took me long enough to get hold of a decent-priced copy. Since I couldn't find a single review for it anywhere, here are my own first impressions:

Old-school enemy designs, gameplay and scoring system. Even though it was published in 1992, it has a distinct 80s-feeling to it. Difficulty is moderately high. Enemy formations are pretty standard. The backgrounds are nice looking but nothing fancy, some levels feature 2 layers. Some of the music is pretty good (you can listen to it in the sound menu).
Besides a "normal" mode Terra Cresta II also contains 2 and 5-minute Caravan modes, which is a nice addition for the score hunters among us.

You can select your ship's speed (1-4, I found "2" to be ok most of the time).

The power-up system is interesting; there are power-up capsules (numbered from 2-5 and F, the capsules must be shot open and can be used to smash enemies to their left and right) which contain parts that get added to your ship when collected.


The first one is a stronger frontal shot, then you get a rear-shot, then an even stronger frontal shot, then a rear shield.


After collecting the first power-up, you get 3 "formation marks" (F). Each time you collect an add-on, your formation marks go back to 3 (you can't hold more than 3). If you collect an (F) while you already have 3, all enemies on screen are destroyed.

If you have one or more add-ons and press "I" on your controller, one F is used up and your add-ons are positioned around your ship and become very powerful weapons for about 20 seconds (the type of power-weapon you get depends on what add-ons you have). Collecting an item and turning the formation on makes you invulnerable for a second; a life-saving feature.


The way the add-on parts are positioned and the shot-direction can be edited at the beginning of the game (reminds me of X-Out).



Some more screenshots:

Boss of level 1


Boss of level 2


Level 3


Level 4


There are several more levels; I haven't finished the game yet.

Overall Terra Cresta II is not a bad game, solid but not outstanding; maybe a 7 out of 10. Considering the price this goes for I suggest you try before you buy (due to its rarity it's one of the Engine's more expensive shmups). If you like 8bit shooters, you might enjoy it.

[Kaspal]

the pics look good for me... but sadly enough, i don own a PC Engine, so i guess i'll pass on tryin it... unless i find an ISO image and the emu to run it.

[SAM]

the pics look good for me... but sadly enough, i don own a PC Engine, so i guess i'll pass on tryin it... unless i find an ISO image and the emu to run it.

The previous game i.e. Terra Cresta (Acrada Version) is avaliable on PS2 as a budget release.

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-r-4 ... 0-pa4.html

[neoalphazero]

It's a very solid game, my sole complaint with it was some annoying slowdown, otherwise a good effort. *-neo

[Ceph]

It's a very solid game, my sole complaint with it was some annoying slowdown, otherwise a good effort. *-neo

I think so, too. When I asked about it in this forum half a year ago, I got a few negative replies that I don't agree with now that I have played it. That's why I posted this mini-review.

[Ed Oscuro]

Nichibutsu shooters in general seem to be neglected. The gameplay usually seems simple, and their shooters were mostly in that twilight zone between the early simplistic shooters and the more familiar shooters out in the later half of the 80s. Still, they're pretty impressive: Magmax has a unique background rendering technique (early version of Mode 7 perhaps), Ninja Emaki is very playable, and Legion is pretty good as well. Only a few games of theirs that I would say are outright boring (Armed Formation seems to be that way).

I've got Moon Cresta and TC (X68000 port) and I've been inspired to take a closer look thanks to this.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Nichibutsu shooters in general seem to be neglected. The gameplay usually seems simple, and their shooters were mostly in that twilight zone between the early simplistic shooters and the more familiar shooters out in the later half of the 80s. Still, they're pretty impressive: Magmax has a unique background rendering technique (early version of Mode 7 perhaps), Ninja Emaki is very playable, and Legion is pretty good as well. Only a few games of theirs that I would say are outright boring (Armed Formation seems to be that way).

I've got Moon Cresta and TC (X68000 port) and I've been inspired to take a closer look thanks to this.

I remember playing Nichibustu's UFO Robo Danguard arcade game cabinet at a local arcade back in 1987-1988...it was presented in true 'Tate' mode. I liked how one could gather up different parts to form even bigger mecha with more powerful weaponry galore (but at the expense of having a bigger "hit box" to deal with)... ^_~

May the 1980's arcades rest in peace whether that may be in arcade heaven or arcade hell..... ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[ccovell]

Magmax has a unique background rendering technique (early version of Mode 7 perhaps)

It doesn't scale anything, so it isn't "mode-7-like". It's just a simple form of line-scrolling that warps the playfield, much like the scrolling floor in Street Fighter 2. (I remember people called that scaling too!)

[Ed Oscuro]

Good catch :)

Still quite impressive for the time, it gives the playfield a sense of depth. Actually it does it for everything on the field, now that I think about it.

I checked out a number of games in MAME just a while ago.

Moon Cresta: Tough, and not especially rewarding. Seems to loop after you've cleared the rounds. Keeping the ship all together is a challenge.

Terra Cresta: When I think of Nichibutsu, I think of stuff that looks like this. Really good graphics and music. The gameplay...hmm, quite simple, really, but I found myself quickly totally engrossed in trying to keep the ship together, and after a half hour's practice I was almost able to get the phoenix! :D

Terra Force: Well, graphics took a step backwards, I think (but mostly due to the wide variety; the destroyed underground city is pretty impressive although it makes little sense to see that underground, complete with weather patterns in the distance), and so did the music. Still, not too bad. Feels like an update of Magmax.

That's it, actually. I'm proficient at Ninja Emaki (I have a replay for MAME of me snagging something like 3M points) and I doubtless will try to do that well for Terra Cresta as well, which is a really cool game.

TC2 looks awesome. I'll be checking that one out - I still haven't because it's not available on the systems/MAME I had thought it would be, heh.

[Ceph]

TC2 looks awesome. I'll be checking that one out - I still haven't because it's not available on the systems/MAME I had thought it would be, heh.

MAME? I was under the impression that Terra Cresta II is a PC Engine exclusive (on Hu-Card). If you want the ROM for evaluation purposes, just search for it with google

[Ed Oscuro]

Yeah, my tortured grammar meant to say that. I had thought it was supposed to be on MAME, and it isn't. Still, that's easily enough fixed.