Yeah, that's probably the best strategy.iatneH wrote:It's not an official game, you're not forced to stick it in the middle of your collection of licensed games. I doubt it's even pressed on a GD-ROM, if "game CD" is any indication. File it off to the side or something.
New Neo-Geo shmup -- Last Hope [also for DC]
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professor ganson
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Herr Schatten
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I think "Lust Hope" would actually be a much better name than Last Hope. They'd have to throw in a couple of hentai cutscenes, though.Ceph wrote:By the way, is it just me or is the katakana title mis-spelled?
They spelled it ラストホープ, which sounds like "Lust Hope".
Schouldn't it be ラーストホープ ?
And that Lust Resort sounds like the place to be, definitely.

So, Last Hope will be released for the Dreamcast on 31 January 2007.
Judging by the screenshots, graphically, Last Hope shares a lot with Pulstar on the Neo, so it's of no accident for one to think so.
Last Hope:

Pulstar:

Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the 1st Euro Shooter since Team17's Project X-2 (X2) made its debut on the PSX in 1996-97?
That was another excellently hand drawn game!
Judging by the screenshots, graphically, Last Hope shares a lot with Pulstar on the Neo, so it's of no accident for one to think so.
Last Hope:

Pulstar:

Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the 1st Euro Shooter since Team17's Project X-2 (X2) made its debut on the PSX in 1996-97?
That was another excellently hand drawn game!
Saint Dragon - AMIGA - Jaleco 1989
"In the first battle against the Guardian's weapons, created with Vasteel Technology, humanity suffered a crushing defeat."
Thunder Force V
"In the first battle against the Guardian's weapons, created with Vasteel Technology, humanity suffered a crushing defeat."
Thunder Force V
I knowKaede wrote:Errr...Play Asia never charge your card until your order is shipped. At least, this is what I've always been told in my order confirmation emails.Never heard of this before with paypal.

But when using paypal without a credit card it's different.
My pre-order there is already paid for.
All errors are intentional but mistakes could have been made.
The latest from NG:DEV team's English blog:
source: http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=50184We've made Last Hope for Dreamcast more accessible, added visualizations of boss hit zones and made it easier to differ between bullets and explosions. For experienced players we've included the original NEO·GEO game mode which means speedier bullets and a harder difficult setting. To stay arcade typish, the original Dreamcast Arcade Stick is next to the standard Controller fully supported. You also can save your game progress and score on your Visual Memory Unit as usual.....
On a sidenote, in agreement with the publisher we've decided to release this Dreamcast version first. An release date of the NEO·GEO CD version isn't estimated yet.
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mario2butts
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Yes, I can. I had the very strong feeling that it would, but searched around a bit and found the confirmation:mario2butts wrote:Can anyone confirm whether or not the DC version supports VGA?
Additionally, there was this mention:LAST HOPE - FAQ wrote:The game will be VGA compatible.
I didn't know that there was such a thing as "240p."NG:DEV.BLOG wrote:Dreamcast version will be a pixel perfect port with scanlines on 240p in progressive mode. Be sure that the game will run on NTSC and PAL systems on 60hz; Region Free. Last Hope also runs directly on your Dreamcast just like every original game.

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Michaelm wrote:I knowKaede wrote:Errr...Play Asia never charge your card until your order is shipped. At least, this is what I've always been told in my order confirmation emails.Never heard of this before with paypal.
But when using paypal without a credit card it's different.
My pre-order there is already paid for.

MUST. READ. POSTS. PROPERLY.
Got my copy yesterday, so it's time for:
FIRST IMPRESSIONS!
Gameplay:
It's kind of like Last Resort, in that the pod can be positioned in 8 different locations around your ship, but instead of detaching and re-detaching the pod, you have two buttons that rotate it either to the left or the right of the ship.
The rotation buttons are a bit sensitive so it's best to tap them shortly, rather than to hold them down, or you might position it incorrectly during the heat of battle.
Note that the pod cannot destroy enemies on contact, but only deflects bullets. I lost my first credit about 10 seconds into the game, because I didn't figure this out yet. ^^
The pod will also fire off your subweapon, of which there are 3 types, homing missiles, side missiles, and very powerful energy blasts that have a slow rate of fire.
By holding fire your ship's main shot can also be charged into an energy beam.
Graphics:
Probably the nicest graphics in a doujin shooter, other than Kamui. Nicely drawn sprites and backgrounds, with some cool effects used here and there and some good details, like shrapnel when stuff blows up. Personally, I didn't have any trouble distinguishing the bullets from shrapnel, as the bullets are always yellow. Some things could have used a little bit more animation though, especially the bosses.
The game is displayed in 240 progressive with scanlines, and also supports vga.
Sounds:
Very nice Chris Hülsbeck-esque and slightly eerie snyth sounds. The music is redbook audio, so it's easy to rip as well.
Packaging:
It comes in a Japanese DC game styled jewelcase, so it has orange borders etc, but without any Dreamcast logos or anything else under sega's copyright. The booklet is entirely in Japanese.
Overall:
This game has R-Type and Pulstar written all over it and is a huge hommage to these two classics. You will discover a ton of references throughout the game. (btw, stage 4 takes place on "planet Katakis"
) If you like those games chances are you will like Last Hope, too.
The difficulty level is extremely high, on par with Pustar, possibly even higher (couldn't get past stage 3 yesterday). You will need to perfectly memorize your every step through this game in order to beat it on one credit. Making a mistake almost invariably means death.
I am really surprised how good this game is. I had my doubts, but it's definitely a real shooting game, and not a gimmick like Nanostray, X2 and other Euro shmups. So yeah, if you like oldschool tactical shooters, or love your DC (or NG) you should get this game. It's definitely a lot cooler than R-Type Final.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS!
Gameplay:
It's kind of like Last Resort, in that the pod can be positioned in 8 different locations around your ship, but instead of detaching and re-detaching the pod, you have two buttons that rotate it either to the left or the right of the ship.
The rotation buttons are a bit sensitive so it's best to tap them shortly, rather than to hold them down, or you might position it incorrectly during the heat of battle.
Note that the pod cannot destroy enemies on contact, but only deflects bullets. I lost my first credit about 10 seconds into the game, because I didn't figure this out yet. ^^
The pod will also fire off your subweapon, of which there are 3 types, homing missiles, side missiles, and very powerful energy blasts that have a slow rate of fire.
By holding fire your ship's main shot can also be charged into an energy beam.
Graphics:
Probably the nicest graphics in a doujin shooter, other than Kamui. Nicely drawn sprites and backgrounds, with some cool effects used here and there and some good details, like shrapnel when stuff blows up. Personally, I didn't have any trouble distinguishing the bullets from shrapnel, as the bullets are always yellow. Some things could have used a little bit more animation though, especially the bosses.
The game is displayed in 240 progressive with scanlines, and also supports vga.
Sounds:
Very nice Chris Hülsbeck-esque and slightly eerie snyth sounds. The music is redbook audio, so it's easy to rip as well.
Packaging:
It comes in a Japanese DC game styled jewelcase, so it has orange borders etc, but without any Dreamcast logos or anything else under sega's copyright. The booklet is entirely in Japanese.
Overall:
This game has R-Type and Pulstar written all over it and is a huge hommage to these two classics. You will discover a ton of references throughout the game. (btw, stage 4 takes place on "planet Katakis"

The difficulty level is extremely high, on par with Pustar, possibly even higher (couldn't get past stage 3 yesterday). You will need to perfectly memorize your every step through this game in order to beat it on one credit. Making a mistake almost invariably means death.
I am really surprised how good this game is. I had my doubts, but it's definitely a real shooting game, and not a gimmick like Nanostray, X2 and other Euro shmups. So yeah, if you like oldschool tactical shooters, or love your DC (or NG) you should get this game. It's definitely a lot cooler than R-Type Final.

Why wouldn't there be? It's just a progressively drawn number of lines. Monitors and TV started long ago, well before the era of HD and huge resolutions.icepick wrote:I didn't know that there was such a thing as "240p."
I could write a 12p game if I wanted to. It would have some bloody large scanlines though.
Indeed, thank you for those first impressions (literally!) CIT!
I hope that I get to try this soon.

I should probably read up on what that whole thing is about. I thought that I had before, and understood it, but I don't remember reading anything with 240p/240i. I'm perfectly fine with the concept, though.


Oh, I didn't mean that in any sort of sarcastic fashion; I'd just thought that 480p was the buzz term for 640x480, although somehow the "official" buzz term, while 240p would be the appropriate "unofficial" buzz term for something like 320x240. It makes sense, I'd just never heard it used before.elvis wrote:Why wouldn't there be? It's just a progressively drawn number of lines. Monitors and TV started long ago, well before the era of HD and huge resolutions.

I should probably read up on what that whole thing is about. I thought that I had before, and understood it, but I don't remember reading anything with 240p/240i. I'm perfectly fine with the concept, though.
Hmm. Does this make the official soundtrack basically the game disc without the game? Either way I'm happy with it, but as I usually make copies of soundtracks anyway (especially rare ones like this), hopefully there are extra tracks on the OST disc. As an aside, the newest game that I made a soudntrack for "the old-fashioned way" was Demolition Racer: No Exit. That was fun, late at night when I was supposed to be packing for a road trip.J-Manic wrote:I'm really glad about the redbook audio.

I thought that was unusual as well. Maybe they're trying to be accessible by the Japanese STG community, which I suppose couldn't hurt.FrederikJurk wrote:Oh my god, how pretentious.
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