Szycag's Game Boy 8-bit Shmups thread (DONE!)

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 1:21 am

szycag wrote:haha don't apologize

And I'm still doing the worst to best... I probably still have some 1/10 scores to give, probably to this A-Force and maybe Mercenary Force

Nonsense, man, I beg you reconsider. ^_^; Mercenary Force is among the best you're gonna get during this trip! More info on Mercenary Force here:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=11656

@Ceph: that makes sense. In fact, it's pretty unconceivable to sell Belmont's Revenge, it's a game that stays in your heart.

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 1:56 am

I get the whole "unique" angle, but I'm not having any fun with it. I'll give it some more time though.

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 7:07 am

Nobody's quitting yet! More shovelware for ya!

35. Star Hawk

Brought to you by Accolade, who realized there weren't nearly enough R-Type clones out there. Probably made by some team who wanted to do something easy for their first project. At least the sprites are nice and big. The bosses are huge, but too bad they're ugly as hell and probably didn't even have concept drawings beforehand. The weak points on the bosses are basically whatever's facing your ship and firing stuff at you, there's no real indication that you're doing any damage until you blow a part off. Add to this that the passwords are six button long combinations of B and A, and that credit feeding doesn't reset your score to 0 (time to make a hi score thread...) I'll have to agree with Turrican, this one's not worth straining your eyes over. 1/10

[EDIT: Tonight I finalized the list and added numbers to the countdown. Missing games will be revisited afterwards if I feel like it.]

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:58 pm

I noticed that the earlier JP GB b/w Space Invaders was removed from the list. It's different from the 1994 GB version, and not just with the lack of the SNES version and SGB extras. The graphics are different from the newer GB version with fewer animations.

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 6:41 pm

really?

as in, really, do I have to play 4 different versions of space invaders on game boy? (counting "space invasion" which is practically one)

you guys hate me don't you

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 7:17 pm

szycag wrote:you guys hate me don't you

Nah, you're doing great. Keep up!

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 7:47 pm

szycag wrote:really?

as in, really, do I have to play 4 different versions of space invaders on game boy? (counting "space invasion" which is practically one)

The rom sites list Space Invasion as unlicensed, so I'm not sure if it counts as official.

you guys hate me don't you

Of course not. I'm just providing info. I was confused by that Space Invaders release at first and I was surprised when I found out that the earlier JP Space Invaders is different from the b/w Space Invaders in the SGB version. I assumed that the SGB version was just a re-release of the earlier version with extras in the cart, but that wasn't the case.

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:37 am

Hm. Turrican's submission "A-Force" was also marked unlicensed.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:37 am

szycag wrote:Hm. Turrican's submission "A-Force" was also marked unlicensed.

oh ok. I guess it counts then.

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 5:28 am

Sorry got distracted by Dangun Feveron for a bit.

34. A-Force

L O L

I could probably get away with typing only that, but this game is an atrocity worth taking a few notes over. I would have put this on the bottom if I would have known about it from the start, sorry guys. We're still in the 1's though so it's all good. Take a look at this mess, huh? As we've been talking about this game isn't licensed by Nintendo. Not sure it would have gotten the license if it was to be submitted for approval.

Where to begin... huge ugly sprites. Fighter jets in space! I think the energy system is worth noting. It will slowly slowly recharge back up to 100 when you get hit. Once you lose it all though, it's time to continue, no extra lives. Your hitbox and shot efficiency/rate is pretty ridiculous. Check out these awesome bosses. Even better than Star Hawk though, these guys try to ram you against the wall, leaving only the 40% of the screen your sprite is taking up. After you beat the first stage you go to that selection screen to go to more stages with similarly ridiculous looking space backdrops that look like your six year old brother's bedroom wallpaper. One of the worst shmups EVER? Time may tell. 1/10

mainpatr1 · Post by **mainpatr1** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 6:21 am

Here's more information about the company that made this game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachen

Apparently they always make horrible games.

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:18 pm

i'll pick this thread back up soon, i promise... i've played everything now so it's just a matter of doing the grunt work

Zeether · Post by **Zeether** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:46 pm

Commin is a funny name for a company.

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 1:28 am

33. Galaga: Destination Earth

Ok, the VERY LAST 1/10 game. This is a horrible rendition of Galaga that is almost unplayable. The screen is about four times as wide as the GBC screen and scrolls, enemies can fly on screen and point blank you before you even know they're coming, so you have to move around constantly to know what could be coming at you. Next to no depth, even compared to the original. That credits screen contains all the people who actually laid down the code. Ugh. 1/10

32. Choplifter II

31. Choplifter III

I'll review these two at once, they're rather similar. Probably shouldn't really have been on my list, I think they're kinda borderliners, but they slipped in somehow. You're this slow helicopter and you have to dodge bullets and manage the weird controls to go rescue hostages, who scuffle along as slow as possible, and then you take them back to your base thing. So it's like a slower more strategic Defender. The controls and diversity of environments are slightly better in Choplifter III but the way the copter handles seems to make even less sense somehow. These are probably OK games on their own but mostly terrible shmups of course. I could see them getting a better score, but I gave them a 2 just because they are yawnfests compared to some of the stuff further up the list. So yeah, 2/10 for both.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 1:14 pm

Those choplifter games might be terrible ports too. I remember them being a blast on the Apple 2! Definitely not true shmups, but whatever.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:07 pm

szycag wrote:

I always thought that this boss looked sort of cool. Actually, he still does.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:14 pm

szycag wrote:33. Galaga: Destination Earth

Ok, the VERY LAST 1/10 game. This is a horrible rendition of Galaga that is almost unplayable. The screen is about four times as wide as the GBC screen and scrolls, enemies can fly on screen and point blank you before you even know they're coming, so you have to move around constantly to know what could be coming at you. Next to no depth, even compared to the original. That credits screen contains all the people who actually laid down the code. Ugh. 1/10

I also heard that when you get captured, you don't even lose a life. Sounds like a really poor version of Galaga. Good thing there is a MUCH better GB b/w version of Galaga with Galaga/Galaxian and Namco Gallery v. 1.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 10:47 pm

I expect at least two other batches of crappiness before we can deal with the decent stuff...

Poor little Gameboy had tons of awesome games, but shooters definitely were not its forte.

sfried · Post by **sfried** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 1:02 am

Turrican wrote:I expect at least two other batches of crappiness before we can deal with the decent stuff...

Poor little Gameboy had tons of awesome games, but shooters definitely were not its forte.

Aww...but it had Magical Chase...

Then again, even that was significantly watered down.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 2:31 am

sfried wrote:
Turrican wrote:I expect at least two other batches of crappiness before we can deal with the decent stuff...

Poor little Gameboy had tons of awesome games, but shooters definitely were not its forte.
Aww...but it had Magical Chase...

Then again, even that was significantly watered down.

Magical Chase is a GBC only game. The GBC doesn't use the exact same hardware as the original b/w GB, despite being able to play b/w GB games. That said, from what I tried, Magical Chase isn't even impressive for a GBC game. It slows down even when only a few enemies are on screen.

I don't know about that "watered down" thing with GB shmups. A few may have less features compared to similar games, but most of them aren't ports, and a few of them stand up well on their own. Nemesis has less stages than other Gradius games, but it's not a port of the original and stands on its own with its own unique bosses and stages (even the first stage, while similar to Gradius's stage 1, is different). Twinbee Da!! is often mistaken for a port, but it's an original game, and, in some ways, toned up compared to the original Twinbee.

The b/w GB actually has more shmups than most other portables. Quality ones from companies like Konami, Nintendo, Namco (if you count Galaga as a shmup), and Taito too. Game Gear only has a few, though, it got some Compile shmups and also had support from Namco and Taito. Neo Geo Pocket Color only has one shmup. WSC has two, though I heard one of them is extremely good.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 7:39 pm

BrianC wrote:
szycag wrote: To Turrican: the only Game Boy 8-bit shmup I own is Sagaia... I'll do it on my Game Boy brick :)
Sagaia! I got it from Japangamestock. I have been playing it lately. Very good remix of Darius. I'm curious how it is on the older GB, though. I only played it on SGB, GBC, and GBA.

Probably about 2.4% slower than the SGB, with no border ;)

BTW, the aforementioned Konami GB Collection oddities are par for the release. They seem to have taken JPN versions of the games and slapped a European name on them, which is very evident with Probotector (actually Contra; there aren't any robots in this port, whoops).

I hated Nemesis at first for its sub-par graphics, but the gameplay wore on me. For a first-gen GB title it's not too bad; I don't remember there being any slowdown affecting the gameplay (unlike CV Adventure, which I also like).

Also, I completely agree about Xenon: Megablast, only the Amiga-addled seem to hold that series in any regard. Pure shit.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 11:55 pm

Ed Oscuro wrote:Probably about 2.4% slower than the SGB

Why?

Ed Oscuro wrote:BTW, the aforementioned Konami GB Collection oddities are par for the release. They seem to have taken JPN versions of the games and slapped a European name on them, which is very evident with Probotector (actually Contra; there aren't any robots in this port, whoops).

Indeed, they even translated them from scratch when needed. Look for first-time "original names" sound test in Belmont's Revenge, or the actual only version ever to get right the French name of Christopher's son.

Ed Oscuro wrote: Also, I completely agree about Xenon: Megablast, only the Amiga-addled seem to hold that series in any regard. Pure shit.

Actually, regardless of your opinion on the original, to think a rate of the GB godawful port applies to other versions is rather naive...

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 12:49 am

Yeah, I got the impression that the EU Konami GB Collections just used the Japanese versions with different names, from what I tried too. Twinbee Da!! uses the original title screen with a different "Pop 'n Twinbee" title rather than the title screen of the EU GB b/w "Pop 'n Twinbee". Belmont's Revenge in the EU collection has the cross instead of the axe.

I'm confused by the GB slowness comment. Some games like Super RC Pro Am seemed slower on SGB, but most seemed to run at the same speed. It was only certain backwards compatible GBC games that seemed to have more slowdown on the b/w GB (and those GBC games seemed slower on anything besides GBC and GBA). Then again, I don't have the b/w GB any more, so I can't test for sure.

Zeether · Post by **Zeether** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 1:56 am

I thought that Galaga game was shit...'88 and Arrangement are clearly better. Or Gaplus for that matter.

BTW, anyone notice that there is no GB Choplifter 1?

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 1:59 am

ZeetherKID77 wrote:I thought that Galaga game was shit...

Just to be clear, I was referring to the GB b/w Galaga in Galaga/Galaxian and Namco Gallery v. 1 as quality, NOT the crappy GBC Galaga.

Zeether · Post by **Zeether** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 2:02 am

BrianC wrote:
ZeetherKID77 wrote:I thought that Galaga game was shit...
Just to be clear, I said good things the GB b/w Galaga in Galaga/Galaxian and Namco Gallery v. 1, NOT the crappy GBC Galaga.

I know, I was talking about GBC Galaga. Classic Galaga isn't shit

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 3:24 am

Galaga 88 should have gotten a GBC port! That would have been awesome.

More games tonight or tomorrow!

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 10:32 am

Turrican wrote:
Ed Oscuro wrote:Probably about 2.4% slower than the SGB
Why?

The SGB's hardware is said to be exactly the same as that of the GB, but running 2.4% faster. I know about the supposed slow-downs on the SGB - well, I've heard of them and not sure if I haven't seen them myself. I'm not entirely convinced they exist, but it's certainly possible. If just the CPU ran faster but everything else was the same speed, errors become more likely.

More about that for those who are interested here.

Ed Oscuro wrote:BTW, the aforementioned Konami GB Collection oddities are par for the release. They seem to have taken JPN versions of the games and slapped a European name on them, which is very evident with Probotector (actually Contra; there aren't any robots in this port, whoops).

Indeed, they even translated them from scratch when needed. Look for first-time "original names" sound test in Belmont's Revenge, or the actual only version ever to get right the French name of Christopher's son.[/quote]
I guess I'd heard about the translation of Soleiyu (or whatever) before but had forgotten. I was sure something had changed, though. That's more work than I thought they had done, to be honest...

Ed Oscuro wrote:Also, I completely agree about Xenon: Megablast, only the Amiga-addled seem to hold that series in any regard. Pure shit.
Actually, regardless of your opinion on the original, to think a rate of the GB godawful port applies to other versions is rather naive...

I started being naive when I installed WinUAE just to see if my opinion of the Amiga original had changed.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 8:50 pm

Ed Oscuro wrote:The SGB's hardware is said to be exactly the same as that of the GB, but running 2.4% faster. I know about the supposed slow-downs on the SGB - well, I've heard of them and not sure if I haven't seen them myself. I'm not entirely convinced they exist, but it's certainly possible. If just the CPU ran faster but everything else was the same speed, errors become more likely.

CPU running faster equals faster games? I cannot really say, my european SGB was total 50hz crap, so it actually played stuff slower than normal...

Actually, regardless of your opinion on the original, to think a rate of the GB godawful port applies to other versions is rather naive...
I started being naive when I installed WinUAE just to see if my opinion of the Amiga original had changed.

You're missing my point. You could argue that we are talking about shit, but there's no way that the original Xenon II and the subpar GB port are in the same shit league. They are two astronomically different kind of shit, if you want.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 5:59 am

Turrican wrote:
Ed Oscuro wrote:The SGB's hardware is said to be exactly the same as that of the GB, but running 2.4% faster. I know about the supposed slow-downs on the SGB - well, I've heard of them and not sure if I haven't seen them myself. I'm not entirely convinced they exist, but it's certainly possible. If just the CPU ran faster but everything else was the same speed, errors become more likely.
CPU running faster equals faster games? I cannot really say, my european SGB was total 50hz crap, so it actually played stuff slower than normal...

Yeah, it would.

You're missing my point. You could argue that we are talking about shit, but there's no way that the original Xenon II and the subpar GB port are in the same shit league. They are two astronomically different kind of shit, if you want.

When I started playing it, I liked the GB Color ports of Raiden (DX, playing on a GB Pocket) better than the arcade originals, in terms of ease of play. So it's not quite as simple as you say