Why does Strikers 1945 Plus (US) have 2 lives default?

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:10 am

Just to eat up quarters, I'm guessing? Weren't shooter fans annoyed at the time? Or perhaps there is precedent for this sort of thing.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:41 am

By giving arcade players two lives per credit, if he or she doesn't do well, "Guess it's time to insert another quarter to see how far I can get" mentality. Arcade games are made to suck in those quarters, yen and so on.....

The only bad thing is if the token/quarter machine is empty and you're in the middle of a heated shmup session down to your last life only to discover that you don't have anymore coins/tokens to play with -- that is a situation I've been in more than once..... ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

kengou · Post by **kengou** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:47 am

I've just started playing plus as well and I absolutely hate the fact that there's only 2 lives. If it was a lot easier I might be ok with it but it just doesn't feel fair to only get 2 lives.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:49 am

I hate that in US bios mode.

Why 2 lives?

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 2:28 am

kengou wrote:I've just started playing plus as well and I absolutely hate the fact that there's only 2 lives. If it was a lot easier I might be ok with it but it just doesn't feel fair to only get 2 lives.

Just switch to another region, or change it in the soft BIOS.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 3:44 am

For some reason a lot of companies used to have the mentality that games had to be made harder for the US market. Some of this was tied to the rental situation for the home market, but there are a few arcade games that are harder in their US incarnations by default. Doesn't bother me so much in the case of Strikers Plus since I usually see it set to 3 lives anyway. It is sort of sadistic, though, since it's already one of the harder games in the series.

ReKleSS · Post by **ReKleSS** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:02 am

I always thought that was just the local arcade operators being weird (I know of three S1945+ machines around here). At least they set it to 2 credits/coin. One of the 3 (the one I might actually play) is also set to 3 lives, which is nice.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 11:40 am

The one that I used to play (And it's still there, I just don't go to that arcade anymore) had first set the thing to its default 2 lives... Then they changed it to 5 lives and an easier difficulty setting (hehe, people must have complained a LOT huh? at that time everyone could finish at least the 1st loop heh). Then they switched to 5 lives and default difficulty... until finally changing it to 3 lives and default difficulty.

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:12 pm

it290 wrote:For some reason a lot of companies used to have the mentality that games had to be made harder for the US market. Some of this was tied to the rental situation for the home market, but there are a few arcade games that are harder in their US incarnations by default.

I don't know what they were thinking with Progear. The Japanese board defaults to 4 and the U.S. to 2, but the difficulty levels are harder localized than their Jp equivalents. So they made all the difficulty levels harder, just to set the game easier.

doctorx0079 · Post by **doctorx0079** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 2:19 pm

The traditional reason the US version was harder is because it cost less to play, 25 cents, versus 100 yen which was about 40 cents in 1981. This is why for example the US version of Donkey Kong has harder boards come earlier in the game.

mulletgeezer · Post by **mulletgeezer** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:28 am

I went to Hong Kong last month, they have lot sof psikyo games there and all of them are set to 2 lives which is really annoying. Non-psikyo shmups (of which there aren't many) are usually set to 3 lives. Weird.

Also while in HK i found an arcade with an esprade cab, but just as i was about to insert coin i was asked to leave due to being too old

grovsnus · Post by **grovsnus** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:30 am

What? Who asked you to leave? That sucks.

mulletgeezer · Post by **mulletgeezer** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:40 am

it was one of the arcade staff. it turned out to be an under 16s only arcade, rather tragic as it was one of the few I found in HK to have any worthwhile games. I think over 16s are allowed in with their kids though, so I guess I should have kidnapped one of the local youngsters and dragged them in there

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 3:59 am

Mortificator wrote:
kengou wrote:I've just started playing plus as well and I absolutely hate the fact that there's only 2 lives. If it was a lot easier I might be ok with it but it just doesn't feel fair to only get 2 lives.
Just switch to another region, or change it in the soft BIOS.

Can someone describe to me how to do either (or both) of these things? I'm not talking about MAME, so am I stuck?

EDIT: Found the instructions! Now I just need to figure out what the "Test Button" is.

Strider77 · Post by **Strider77** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:57 am

why does strikers 1945 plus kinda suck?

it290 · Post by **it290** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 6:02 pm

Aw, c'mon, that's a bit harsh, don't you think? I admit it's not as good as 2, but given the hardware it's still quite nicely tuned, and is one of the few good shooters on the Neo (not saying much, I know). At least it's better than the yoko modes in any of the various Psikyo ports.

roker · Post by **roker** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:21 pm

mulletgeezer wrote:I should have kidnapped one of the local youngsters and dragged them in there

I'd be easier to buy a kid off the blackmarket

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 6:41 am

Strider77 wrote:why does strikers 1945 plus kinda suck?

Noway. It's just significantly harder than the rest of the Strikers.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 8:13 am

Rank destroys you in this game no matter what level setting you put it on. You may get to level 3 boss without losing a life on easy, but Jesus is it hard after that. More bullets than Cave ultra

-Bridget- · Post by **-Bridget-** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 12:07 pm

I love Psikyo games, but they definitely dont love me back, lol.

I swear, they are a MEAN developer sometimes.

And you think this game is hard normally, try double-playing it.....

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 2:03 pm

Strider77 wrote:why does strikers 1945 plus kinda suck?

So far I like this game more than I expected-- and I had fairly high expectations. It's Psikyo, after all. Somehow the vertizontal thing doesn't bother me the way it does in AeroFighters 2 & 3, but then I never gave the latter two a fair chance.

Strider77 · Post by **Strider77** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 11:16 pm

Noway. It's just significantly harder than the rest of the Strikers.

just didn't care for it compared to 1,2, and 3. it's totally the crappy resolution/yoko mode. I'm a grafix whore at times, so sue me.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:47 am

Fair enough-- the resolution is quite poor. As far as gameplay is concerned, this ends up mattering little because of the move to brighter colors for the bullets. I love the neon pink.

shoe-sama · Post by **shoe-sama** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:25 am

i hate 1945+ cuz the charge shot system is st00pid

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 12:22 am

neorichieb1971 wrote:Rank destroys you in this game no matter what level setting you put it on. You may get to level 3 boss without losing a life on easy, but Jesus is it hard after that. More bullets than Cave ultra

It's the bullet speed that is the bitch in Psikyo's games. I dunno if it'd be more bullets than Mushi Ultra on screen at once, but instead they're so fast they clear the screen way sooner. High rank here really speeds up bullets.

Cave's shmups are still not easy, but I fare better on them than Psikyo's.

FIL · Post by **FIL** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:31 am

The difficulty curve tends to be very sharp on Psikyo games too.

unsane · Post by **unsane** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:54 am

I love the bullet speed and patterns of Psikyo bosses. They put you in the zone. I don't get that with any other shmups.

electricgrave · Post by **electricgrave** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:35 pm

I thought they give you 2 lives because S145P is way easier than the other Strikers. I love this game, the horizontal factor don't bother me none.

Mills · Post by **Mills** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 6:09 am

Del once informed me that there is one forum member whom has 2nd looped it with Flying Pancake fighter. there is also a skillful youtube replay. i did email the guy to upload more clips of his skills but he has yet to do so.