Gun Frontier is a horrible game

[shinsage]

All the time I invested in it, get to the last boss, and then that's it...I'm dead. Not even a second chance.

Checkpoints have absolutely no place in a game like this.

I hate Gun Frontier.

[shoe-sama]

lol i never got past stage 2

then again i only played it once

[Ghegs]

Then you go back in there and you kick that boss' ass across the galaxy, soldier! 'cause THAT'S the way we do it around here, now is the time for the shmups.com heart of fire!

[DEL]

I played it again for a couple of days last year and encountered the same old problem - 5 shots on the Last Boss and no positioning or timing seems to work .
KAC and I used to reach the Last Boss on a 2 Player game back when it was in the arcades, but we never figured the positioning & timing for the Last Boss either, shame 'cause it would be a good 1CC to get...

So I feel your pain shinsage.

Maybe somebody here has the answer
& Maybe somebody can also tell me how to negotiate Stage 9 on Lightning Fighters while their at it?! - That's another oldskool enigma...

[doctorx0079]

I just can't get into this game. Gekirindan is more fun for me.

[Gungriffon Geona]

Then you go back in there and you kick that boss' ass across the galaxy, soldier! 'cause THAT'S the way we do it around here, now is the time for the shmups.com heart of fire!

And people said I was crazy when I said that this genre is the same as giant robots, when they both incite this same reaction.

[shinsage]

Maybe somebody here has the answer :?:
& Maybe somebody can also tell me how to negotiate Stage 9 on Lightning Fighters while their at it?! - That's another oldskool enigma...

Well here's an answer:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QiKfjawT8ls

Guy shoots so damn quick I had to re-watch it three times, haha.

gyah now I have to go back and do this or else I'll feel empty..

[Dave_K.]

Although I may be a little biased, I think its a pretty cool/unique ending. Rather than a long boss-a-thon, you get a 1 on 1 showdown just like the old west. Nobody gets a second chance after they loose in a quick draw.

[Fighter17]

I like the game, but please play the game on MAME.

Saturn port was too easy.

[shinsage]

I like the game, but please play the game on MAME.

Saturn port was too easy.

I'm not playing the Saturn port, and thank god -- I feel bad for the chaps who pay $60 for it. I was close to doing so myself a few years ago, and was really eager for it after hearing it was Metal Black's predecessor (it appears the only thing the two have in common is...well, nothing, except for the people who worked on it).

I really want to like this game, but god, I never imagined it to be so bland. Taito truly is a hit 'n miss game dev.

[Fighter17]

I'm not playing the Saturn port, and thank god -- I feel bad for the chaps who pay $60 for it. I was close to doing so myself a few years ago, and was really eager for it after hearing it was Metal Black's predecessor (it appears the only thing the two have in common is...well, nothing, except for the people who worked on it).

I really want to like this game, but god, I never imagined it to be so bland. Taito truly is a hit 'n miss game dev.

I paid $40 for mine copy and I sold it for less.

Taito shmups were really bad in the 80s. Except for Darius II the rest of the shmups were crap to the core (except for Night Striker but that's a rail shooter).

[Twiddle]

Although I may be a little biased, I think its a pretty cool/unique ending. Rather than a long boss-a-thon, you get a 1 on 1 showdown just like the old west. Nobody gets a second chance after they loose in a quick draw.

Hey you have .05 seconds to fire or else you'll never get a chance ever because the enemy has invincible plating and a growing rotating shield

[Dave_K.]

I really want to like this game, but god, I never imagined it to be so bland. Taito truly is a hit 'n miss game dev.

Shinobu Yagawa would disagree with you. By todays standards, of course it would seem quite bland, but back then it was quite innovative in style.

Hey you have .05 seconds to fire or else you'll never get a chance ever because the enemy has invincible plating and a growing rotating shield

Sounds like better odds than trying to 1 life Hibachi.

[spadgy]

Although I may be a little biased, I think its a pretty cool/unique ending. Rather than a long boss-a-thon, you get a 1 on 1 showdown just like the old west. Nobody gets a second chance after they loose in a quick draw.

Being a fan of gunslingin' movies, that idea in theory really appeals to me. I have this on PS2 on the Taito Legends 2 compilation. Not sure of it's quality as a port but I'll have to check it out now...

[Mortificator]

Although I may be a little biased, I think its a pretty cool/unique ending. Rather than a long boss-a-thon, you get a 1 on 1 showdown just like the old west. Nobody gets a second chance after they loose in a quick draw.

That is the most bad-ass thing I've ever seen in a shooter.

Though I would have been pissed like hell if I'd played to the end and gotten wiped out.

[shinsage]

Shinobu Yagawa would disagree with you. By todays standards, of course it would seem quite bland, but back then it was quite innovative in style.

The idea was neat (ships and planes that resemble large guns, taking place on an alien world in the future but resembling the old west [reminiscient of Trigun], etc), but the execution was subpar. Some of the backdrops were quite nice though, I'll admit -- the waterfall at the end of stage 2, for instance.

anyways
of course after swearing to never return, I went back and this time I beat it
I was so quick to the draw last time that the 'one-on-one high noon showdown' totally went over my head. Quite brilliant really...just a pain in the ass that there aren't any continues. IIRC, Metal Black does something similar with its final boss fight.

I guess every game has its fans, no matter what. Thankfully it inspired the likes of Garegga, at least -- the similarites are certainly evident (right down to the hard to see bullets hyuk hyuk).

I stick by that checkpoints were definitely not needed in a game like this.
Another one of my complaints is the ship speed, just way too slow...if Taito had made it a notch faster, just a notch, it would have been perfect.

[BIL]

Assuming MAME was being accurate, Metal Black lets you continue at the last boss (I was stuck at a 2CC for about a month before finally clearing it for the 1CC). If you don't continue at any point in the final stage you'll get a "special" game over of sorts, basically the game's alternate ending.

Thunder Cross and Nam 1975 won't let you continue on their last bosses, iirc. In Nam's case I think it's just one death before it boots you.

[sideshow]

I like the game, but please play the game on MAME.

Saturn port was too easy.

I'm not playing the Saturn port, and thank god -- I feel bad for the chaps who pay $60 for it. I was close to doing so myself a few years ago, and was really eager for it after hearing it was Metal Black's predecessor (it appears the only thing the two have in common is...well, nothing, except for the people who worked on it).

I really want to like this game, but god, I never imagined it to be so bland. Taito truly is a hit 'n miss game dev.

I couldnt agree more. This game is mediocre. Metal Black kicks its ass.

[Randorama]

I played it again for a couple of days last year and encountered the same old problem - 5 shots on the Last Boss and no positioning or timing seems to work .
KAC and I used to reach the Last Boss on a 2 Player game back when it was in the arcades, but we never figured the positioning & timing for the Last Boss either, shame 'cause it would be a good 1CC to get...

So I feel your pain shinsage.

Maybe somebody here has the answer
& Maybe somebody can also tell me how to negotiate Stage 9 on Lightning Fighters while their at it?! - That's another oldskool enigma...

?

The final boss stops his rotating shields to shoot once they reach the max speed of rotation. The openings are orientated, alternatively,
"30 degrees of the center" / "center"

Or viceversa (or depending on your position, this latter option seems the correct one to my fading memory). Also, if you lose, it's bad ending bad a 1-CC nonetheless, for what is worth.

Also, Taito WAS (perhaps) an hit'n miss company. They stopping developing their own shmups in 1999 with Raycrisis.

[320x240]

Although I may be a little biased, I think its a pretty cool/unique ending. Rather than a long boss-a-thon, you get a 1 on 1 showdown just like the old west. Nobody gets a second chance after they loose in a quick draw.

That is the most bad-ass thing I've ever seen in a shooter.

Though I would have been pissed like hell if I'd played to the end and gotten wiped out.

They should have let the player have a chance at a traditional boss fight if they lost the draw. Imagine fighting the Grim Reaper for a chance to live on.

[BBH]

Thunder Cross and Nam 1975 won't let you continue on their last bosses, iirc. In Nam's case I think it's just one death before it boots you.

Actually it lets you use all the lives you currently have on that credit, i.e. if you have 3 lives you'll get to use them all on the last boss before reaching game over.

But yeah... Gun Frontier. Awesome music! That's about it.

[CIT]

Gun Frontier is an amazing game, it's atmosphere, it's presentation, the music...

Further, it is the single most influential shooter for the Yagawa school of shmup design, it was the first game to include many popular elements, such as:

- Bombing in specific places to increase score
- Kill enemies in a specific areas to get items & score
- Rank control buy controlling shot frequency
- Bomb building

Garegga is of course a much better game, but then again it is also 5 years younger.

CIT <3 Gun Frontier!

[Randorama]

Gun Frontier is an amazing game, it's atmosphere, it's presentation, the music...

Further, it is the single most influential shooter for the Yagawa school of shmup design, it was the first game to include many popular elements, such as:

- Bombing in specific places to increase score
- Kill enemies in a specific areas to get items & score
- Rank control buy controlling shot frequency
- Bomb building

Garegga is of course a much better game, but then again it is also 5 years younger.

CIT <3 Gun Frontier!

Nobody reharses the fact that you play with Mito's plane? Shame on you all

[MR_Soren]

I didn't care for it and didn't bother to try clearing it. If you're on Taito Legends 2, I thought Metal Black was pretty cool. (Despite having Gun Frontier 2 as an alternate title - the games are not alike at all.)

[evil_ash_xero]

I checked it out on MAME, but got rid of it. I didn't care much for it. I mainly looked into it for the similarities to Battle Garegga, which were numerous.

But I love Garegga.

s/m

[zinger]

Bomb exploit for more points, that's good. But the game also rewards you for keeping bombs in stock. Weird.

I love the atmosphere too.

[lgb]

lol i never got past stage 2

then again i only played it once

*raises hand*
MMMMM: Metal Black much more managable.