"Every Extend Extra" for PSP

[PC Engine Fan X!]

So, anyone buy the U.S. rev of EEE yet?

For Dylan1CC,

I shoud break down and head down to my local Gamestop to get the USA Bandai/Namco Games release of Every Extend Extra...and isn't it priced at $39.99 USD or what? ^_~

Sure, I've had the orginal PC shareware version of Every Extend for a few years now...fine "Bomber"-type game for it's time...(the background story for the PC ver. is a bit odd but I get it.) ^_~


PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Dylan1CC]

^^^

http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=190296

$29.99 @ EB. Yes, please buy it so I should know if I should get it (not that angrycoder's excellent impressions weren't enough to already convince me). My current game budget is nil until I get a new job. T_T

[Soldato J]

For the record, the US version cover kicks J version ASS

[Dylan1CC]

FWIW, The IGN review is up. Juan Castro gives it a score of 8.1, "impressive." Juan says the game's main strength is that it forces players to max out their chains instead of making things easy for novices who would want to just go in with "all guns blazing" (how often do you hear that in an IGN shooter review?) He says the only drawback is the game is too short but is a small gripe since they "demand repeat playing."

http://psp.ign.com/articles/745/745184p1.html

The EGM recap:

Robert Ashley scored it an 8, said the chaining is rewarding once you figure it out and that it has "a surprising amount of satisfying depth." Thank you.

Michael Donahoe scored the game a 5.0 saying "...the in game tutorial did nothng to help me comprehend the painfully confusing EEE....I felt as though my brain was put in a blender" adding that it's not enough like Lumines or Meteos. Heh. Once more it is proven that most EGM editors score a 2D game poorly when it puts up a decent challenge or at least requires a little figuring out in order to be, ya know, rewarding.

Jeremy Parish, who I used to think had a competent writing style, goes on to prove he is one of the most inconsistent reviewers on the scene by starting his review of EEE with the following: "Every Extend Extra is Tetsuya Mizuguchi's remake of a flash based rip off of his own masterpiece, Rez." And you thought comparing every shmup to RS made no sense.

Because of this heartfelt "revelation" and also because apparently the game is broken since he thinks it is too "sparkly." How so? Parish tells the readers EEE is so over the top bright that they should play the original flash game instead because "...it's fun when you can actually tell what is going on." No mention of the chaining system either and he gives it a 6.0

[nem]

It's the best game on the PSP, bar none.

Thisis the only review you need to read.

Seriously, if you're even remotely interested in it (and that should make all of you!) and you have a PSP, buy it.

Buy it.

[Icarus]

Ahh crap, now I have an urge to play the PC version again. -_-;;

[Soldato J]

Upon further investigation (read: actually having some time to sit down with this), I see that this game is indeed cool and fun. Just realizing that you can hold down the button while still moving thanks to the help from those earlier in the thread (I am playing the J version) changed the game completely for me. Highly recommended

[nem]

Upon further investigation (read: actually having some time to sit down with this), I see that this game is indeed cool and fun. Just realizing that you can hold down the button while still moving thanks to the help from those earlier in the thread (I am playing the J version) changed the game completely for me. Highly recommended

Also, push right (or was it left?) shoulder button down to activate the remote bomb. Great for those tight places.

[Soldato J]

"remote .......... bomb.........?"

(runs off to try it)

thanks for the tip!

[Dylan1CC]

It's the best game on the PSP, bar none.

Thisis the only review you need to read.

Seriously, if you're even remotely interested in it (and that should make all of you!) and you have a PSP, buy it.

Buy it.

Thanks, that was a great read.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

It's the best game on the PSP, bar none.

Thisis the only review you need to read.

Seriously, if you're even remotely interested in it (and that should make all of you!) and you have a PSP, buy it.

Buy it.

Thanks, that was a great read.

Ah, if one has a PSP with firmware 1.5 and loads up this new PSP Every Extend Extra UMD software, it says that the PSP will need to be upgraded to firmware 2.81 in order for it to work properly. Such a tradeoff for the ability to play homebrew or emu on the PSP, hmmm?
(I think that justifies the need for a 2nd PSP purchase just for the ability to play the latest PSP UMDs such as EEE then.....) ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[maxlords]

I had to upgrade to 2.71 to play it. Saw this on the shelf yesterday and did a little happy dance in the store. Almost all I've done today is play EEE. I made it on one credit to the level 3 boss so far...but DAMN is this game hard! With continues I got to level 6 before I felt like I was cheating

What's this about remote bombs and holding buttons down? I didn't actually read the manual yet...

Also, so far the best I've done for chains is something like 58. Can you get much higher than that? I'm mostly in the 20-30 range usually and I think my high score so far is a measely 3.5 mill.

By the way...reading the IGN review...they gave it smoking kudos but it only got an 8? That's so confusing. And for a game that's supposed to have an important music component, did anyone else find that the music was just kind of there?

[Dylan1CC]

It's the best game on the PSP, bar none.

Thisis the only review you need to read.

Seriously, if you're even remotely interested in it (and that should make all of you!) and you have a PSP, buy it.

Buy it.

Thanks, that was a great read.

Ah, if one has a PSP with firmware 1.5 and loads up this new PSP Every Extend Extra UMD software, it says that the PSP will need to be upgraded to firmware 2.81 in order for it to work properly. Such a tradeoff for the ability to play homebrew or emu on the PSP, hmmm?
(I think that justifies the need for a 2nd PSP purchase just for the ability to play the latest PSP UMDs such as EEE then.....) ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I somehow idiotically upgraded to 2.81 so unless devhook releases a 1.5 emu for 2.8 + I will eventually have to get a 2nd unit. But the new Konami shmup collections will surely have 2.8 + anyways, so whatever.

By the way...reading the IGN review...they gave it smoking kudos but it only got an 8? That's so confusing.

I think it was partly due to the fact it's not very long even with 9 stages. But yeah, an 8.5 would have at least made more sense based on the tone of the review.

Gah. Must. Play. This.

[Dylan1CC]

Finally got my copy of EEE. Picked it up at Gamestop for just 19.99. Love the game so far, the chaining is nicely intuitive and very addictive (I'd played the Omega game before on the 'net but never delved into it as deeply as I am now).

The rush you get from artfully weaving into swarms of enemies in order to maximize the destruction feels nicely reminiscent of Bangaioh. And being forced to chain competently just to stay alive keeps the intensity consistent.

The visuals of course are beautifully surreal. My fave level so far is Cambrian Drive with its neon colored sea creatures.

The only gripe I have so far is that the titles and menus are very bland and the music, while pleasing, could use more "oomph." Otherwise, great buy and the perfect pick up and play PSP title to keep one busy before the Konami shooter comps are released.

My only question is, when are all the levels unlocked? I have played up to stage 6 yet the only levels available in caravan are 1 and 2.

[Dylan1CC]

^^^

OK, now I know how to get levels into Caravan mode, apparently you have to get an A or better rank.

From an IGN preview back in August:

http://psp.ign.com/articles/723/723117p1.html

There's also Versus Mode, where you have to earn more extended combos than your opponent. With every combo that you complete, you move a giant orb closer to the other player. Once it gets into the middle of the screen, they're toast. If your friend doesn't have the game, don't worry; the game supports Game Sharing, and the download time is reasonable, clocking in at around a minute and some change.

Either the IGN editor who wrote this preview worded the above paragraph very poorly, or game sharing multiplayer really was there but Q took it out of the final build. In any case, the game requires two UMDs for multiplayer. Tried it tonight and all game sharing would let me do is send a short gameplay demo to my friend's system.

[TheSickboy]

Beautiful game.

Any links to super-play vids from Japan or something? I'd love to see some advanced techniques with the core break. I'm doing okay - up to stage 7, 8 or 9 million so far, max chain somewhere in the late 60s, but I hardly ever use the core break...

[Arznei]

Whoa, thread revival.

Anyway yeah - this game rocks. The american box art is the best I've seen in box covers over the past few years.

[warp_zone]

I picked up this gem 2 weeks ago on a whim and it hasn't left my PSP yet! I hope it's selling well so Sony knows not everyone buys a PSP to play sports games and WWII "shooters".

[silvergunner]

In Europe the Game will be release next month(09.Feb.)...I hope!

[infested_ysy]

Just tried this gaem yesterday.

Oh god the creators of the game are high on coke D:

[Dylan1CC]

Just started playing this again a few nights ago after a brief hiatus. This is a very hard game to 1CC, especially when you're aiming for S-A ranks in all 6 stages (still only 4 stages unlocked in caravan ). It's always either the carousel, Retinal Gear or (especially) the morphing vein boss which become evil wild cards against my progress.

Beautiful game.

Any links to super-play vids from Japan or something?

Was wondering this myself.

[TheSickboy]

I still don't understand the unlock system. Can someone please explain? There seems to be a little background map that navigates through, level by level. Is that just cosmetic or does it relate to your rank?

I've played the game through to the end of Techno Drive, seen the credits, but still haven't found a way in to those two extra levels that you can see at the end of Caravan Mode... Anyone?

[Dylan1CC]

I still don't understand the unlock system. Can someone please explain? There seems to be a little background map that navigates through, level by level. Is that just cosmetic or does it relate to your rank?

I've played the game through to the end of Techno Drive, seen the credits, but still haven't found a way in to those two extra levels that you can see at the end of Caravan Mode... Anyone?

No the progress bars are not cosmetic. You'll want to try and keep the bar going up for each subsequent stage you finish by honing your skill.

Also, according to someone on Gamefaqs, for the bonus levels, you must play through the whole game with S-A rank on each boss to get one level. The other level is unlocked by playing through the whole game with a B/average score. Maybe someone here can clarify.

[msm]

Also, according to someone on Gamefaqs, for the bonus levels, you must play through the whole game with S-A rank on each boss to get one level. The other level is unlocked by playing through the whole game with a B/average score. Maybe someone here can clarify.

iirc i got to play one of them by being rubbish and going the whole way along the bottom of the tree/graph thing

[Dylan1CC]

Also, according to someone on Gamefaqs, for the bonus levels, you must play through the whole game with S-A rank on each boss to get one level. The other level is unlocked by playing through the whole game with a B/average score. Maybe someone here can clarify.

iirc i got to play one of them by being rubbish and going the whole way along the bottom of the tree/graph thing

Cool. Thanks for the info.

[Krooze L-Roy]

Sorry to resurrect such an old topic, but I didn't want to create a new thread just to ask this simple question, which has probably already been dealt with. Which is:

When playing a PSP game vertically (tate mode), which way is which? What I mean is, is the d pad facing "up" or are the buttons?

Again, sorry for being to lazy to comb through all the content.

[nem]

Don't know why you're asking that in this thread, because Every Extend Extra is a bog standard hori title, but all the tate games I've played have been d-pad down (this includes Star Soldier and Noizsa).

[HeLGeN-X]

Every PSP/DS shooter should be boycotted.

Make games for real consoles with real controllers that can tate comfortably plz.

PSP is "VERY" tate friendly, have you played star soldier?
The console has enourmous potnetial for shmups. its very natural playing vertical.

There needs to be a stronger word than friendly for when saying PSP is very tate friendly, because it's beyond that, I've enjoyed various shmups and ebooks thanks to the PSP and it's monstrous handheld widescreen.

[Krooze L-Roy]

Don't know why you're asking that in this thread, because Every Extend Extra is a bog standard hori title, but all the tate games I've played have been d-pad down (this includes Star Soldier and Noizsa).

Yeah, I'm not too sure why I did that either. Thanks for the reply though. Seems like it'd be better the other way around to me. I think the screen would be shaking too much with me pounding buttons up high, plus, the analog nub seems like it'd be easier to access if it were on top. But I'll guess I'll just have to trust the general consensus on this one (especially since I'm SOL if I don't like it, right).

[nem]

Actually, I don't think anyone uses the face buttons in tate mode. In Noizsa firing is done by pressing the left trigger, which works quite well. Also, in many emulators you can setup firing to the analog nub, which works even better, I think.

The only thing that bothers me is that it's quite top heavy when played sideways, but you can always rest it against something,