New Neo-Geo shmup -- Last Hope [also for DC]

DavidHolliss · Post by **DavidHolliss** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 10:28 am

A retail outlet of Red Spot Games (I believe)

http://www.vanbasilco.com/shop/

Klaus · Post by **Klaus** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 10:29 am

Shotgunfacelift wrote:Who's van balisco?

Board FAQ wrote:When possible, search for answers to your question on Google or using the forum's search feature

Now quick, straddle mein bowl.

RotateMe · Post by **RotateMe** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:00 pm

Klaus wrote:
Shotgunfacelift wrote:Who's van balisco?

Board FAQ wrote:When possible, search for answers to your question on Google or using the forum's search feature
Now quick, straddle mein bowl.

Great first post Klaus!!!

Shotgunfacelift · Post by **Shotgunfacelift** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 12:37 pm

DavidHolliss wrote:A retail outlet of Red Spot Games (I believe)

http://www.vanbasilco.com/shop/

Thanks. Never heard of them,
Nothing comes up in Google either!

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 5:00 pm

Klaus wrote:
Shotgunfacelift wrote:Who's van balisco?

Board FAQ wrote:When possible, search for answers to your question on Google or using the forum's search feature
Now quick, straddle mein bowl.

Welcome Klaus, I like you already

Shotgunfacelift wrote:Thanks. Never heard of them,
Nothing comes up in Google either!

Helps if you spell it right

mirkvid · Post by **mirkvid** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 6:41 pm

play-asia shipped mine today!
new DC game = happy for me!

KBZ · Post by **KBZ** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:47 am

Yes, van balsilco is one of the retailers selling Last Hope. It is owned an operated by the same guy who owns and operates Redspotgames, and dreamcast-scene.com.

zomg Max Scharl!

also, from: http://www.lasthope-dc.com/

The planings of the Last Hope Limited Edition are completed and it will be delivered with following content:

* White multipak for 2 CDs
* Adjusted spinecard with handwritten numeration
* Game CD with multicolor label print
* 12 page color manual (game)
* Soundtrack (OST) on Vinyl-CD
* 4 page color booklet (OST)

The Vinyl-CD will be playable on every current CD player and the Dreamcast and the upper side will have a complex vinyl structure as well as a label.

The Limited Edition is strictly limited to 500 pieces and there won't be a repress.

hope this info hasn't already been stated :p

Shotgunfacelift · Post by **Shotgunfacelift** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:49 am

Kingbuzzo wrote:Yes, van balisco is one of the retailers selling Last Hope. It is owned an operated by the same guy who owns and operates Redspotgames, and dreamcast-scene.com.

zomg Max Scharl!

also, from: http://www.lasthope-dc.com/

The planings of the Last Hope Limited Edition are completed and it will be delivered with following content:

* White multipak for 2 CDs
* Adjusted spinecard with handwritten numeration
* Game CD with multicolor label print
* 12 page color manual (game)
* Soundtrack (OST) on Vinyl-CD
* 4 page color booklet (OST)

The Vinyl-CD will be playable on every current CD player and the Dreamcast and the upper side will have a complex vinyl structure as well as a label.

The Limited Edition is strictly limited to 500 pieces and there won't be a repress.
hope this info hasn't already been stated :p

Thanks for that!
So Play - asia dont have the LE version yet??

KBZ · Post by **KBZ** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:52 am

no, there's some production issues with the LE version, so it's been delayed.

here's a quote from P-A's newsletter

Please note that the Limited Edition release of Last Hope has been pushed back due to a production problem. The item is now expected to be in stock by middle of February.

max\DCS · Post by **max\DCS** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:27 pm

Stop bitching around!

Please, I would like to hear some impressions from the game. Anyone?

hermosaguy · Post by **hermosaguy** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:08 pm

I'm not sure if there are any impressions of the game within the past few pages, but if so could someone please repost it...thanks!

Arvandor · Post by **Arvandor** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:12 pm

Edit: Ah... The thread was cleaned so I deleted the quote of CIT's impressions that are a page back or so. Thank you, and sorry Ghegs ^^;

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:17 pm

Oh, by the way:

Looks good, but:

Noooooooooooooooo!!! Fatal design flaw!!!

hermosaguy · Post by **hermosaguy** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:19 pm

Arvandor wrote:
CIT wrote: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.
Only post with impressions so far. Sorry for the mess -_^

Thank you! The first impressions sound very promising. Now I'm wondering if only the regular version was shipped out. I had ordered the Limited and my order has not been shipped out yet. I had modified it twice adding things since it was initially ordered, but my last modification was after the status was 'sold out'. I'll be keeping my figers crossed!

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:26 pm

Thanks for that pic, CIT. At least it's not Sesame-Street-obvious which one of these is not like the others.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:46 pm

RHE wrote:Is this shmups.com or neo-geo.com?

Hey, I gave you my money for a Limited Edition copy, be nice

PS. I want it, already! Why isn't it out yet?

Post by **Ghegs** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:53 pm

Split the thread and banned Shotgunfacelift.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled discussion about Last Hope.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:05 pm

hermosaguy wrote:Now I'm wondering if only the regular version was shipped out.

That is correct! The limited edition is still in production and will be shipped in a week or two.

hermosaguy · Post by **hermosaguy** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:08 pm

CIT wrote:
hermosaguy wrote:Now I'm wondering if only the regular version was shipped out.
That is correct! The limited edition is still in production and will be shipped in a week or two.

Thank you! I'll put my 'bitching you guys never send out my stuff on time' email to Play-Asia on hold till the next time I want to buy from them.

Sonic R · Post by **Sonic R** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:21 pm

Ah thanks for the impressions! R-Type, Pulstar, Last Resort---great games (to me)! I am going to get this title but will have to wait as I'll get it with Trigger Heart (and cash is tight-too many games to buy)

max\DCS · Post by **max\DCS** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 1:03 pm

The release of the Limited Edition will take another week or two since we also want to improve the mistakes we were informed by gamers who bought the regular version.

The orange bar of the Limited Edition will be just like the other Dreamcast releases, sorry for messing that up with the regular version.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 1:12 pm

max\DCS wrote:The release of the Limited Edition will take another week or two since we also want to improve the mistakes we were informed by gamers who bought the regular version.

The orange bar of the Limited Edition will be just like the other Dreamcast releases, sorry for messing that up with the regular version.

Cool! Thanks for the update. I'm looking forward to finally playing it.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:10 pm

max\DCS wrote:The release of the Limited Edition will take another week or two since we also want to improve the mistakes we were informed by gamers who bought the regular version.

The orange bar of the Limited Edition will be just like the other Dreamcast releases, sorry for messing that up with the regular version.

Nice, are you able to tell us what other mistakes will be corrected in the LE version?

bVork · Post by **bVork** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 10:26 pm

Are there any plans to sell the soundtrack separately?

soniq-man · Post by **soniq-man** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:32 pm

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.

Hello all,

I'm the composer behind the music in Last Hope.

I'm glad to hear that you guys are enjoying the melodies. The extra soundtrack CD with the LE is of course more special than the pure in-game music. Apart from being re-mastered for a better listening experience, the tracks are in full length, i.e. as originally composed. Due to level design, gameplay constraints etc. the full tracks can't always be heard in full while dodging plasma death and space debris. So you are getting more music as such. Apart from that, the DC version itself has 2 more music tracks than the original NeoGeo version. That, plus the extra booklet and the knowledge that your copy is one of only 500 out there should make it nice to own. Anyway, it is sold out as is, so there you go.

Regards,

Rafael Dyll

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Mon Feb 05, 2007 2:59 pm

Thanks, Rafael. Welcome to the forums

hermosaguy · Post by **hermosaguy** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 10:33 am

Thank you Rafael. Its great to hear what developers have to say!

icepick · Post by **icepick** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:29 am

soniq-man wrote:Apart from being re-mastered for a better listening experience, the tracks are in full length, i.e. as originally composed.

Ah, excellent! That's awesome. I understand what you mean about "game versions" being shorter and perhaps tuned slightly to gameplay/background music. I'm sure that your works shine on the full soundtrack disc!

Again, thank you so much for taking the time to tell us about the soundtrack. Definitely nice to hear, no pun intended.

LSU · Post by **LSU** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:17 pm

Did anyone else place an order from Van Basilco? (Linked off the official Last Hope site.)

My order still shows as pending - any idea if they're shipping them out yet? Many thanks.

tassian · Post by **tassian** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:38 pm

Some of the German shops already started shipping the normal editions (not the LE). I received my copy of Last Hope yesterday. I think they should be shipping soon. Max from DCS might be able to give you more detailed information. Or you could also write them an e-mail and ask about the status.