im new to shmumps and i had a few questions

[janrodricks]

Some hardware questions:

(1) Would I be correct to assume that if I buy a Japanese PS2 it would only be able to play Japanese games?

(2) What is the PS1 like with imports? Can it run them by itself or do you have to mod it or what?

[ill6]

1) Yeah Jap PS2's only work with Jap games (unless you buy a flip top one and Swap Magic or chip it)

2) Jap PS1's only play Jap games (unless you buy a PSXchanger)

[mannerbot]

Well, Japanese PS2's can also run Asian releases, and vice versa.

[janrodricks]

Now, what about selection: is any PS2 shmup available in America also available in Japan?

[gingerj]

Half of these questions you can answer on your own...

Like just look at your local game shop website and you'll see what are availble in your location... It aint rocket science, get off your ass and do some of the leg work yourself

[janrodricks]

Will an American memory card and controller work with a JP PS2? (And I'm not gonna rely on the losers at my local GameStop for advice on importing. I'm in the process of finding little local stores that do imports)

[SheSaidDutch]

Will an American memory card and controller work with a JP PS2? (And I'm not gonna rely on the losers at my local GameStop for advice on importing. I'm in the process of finding little local stores that do imports)

A controller will, although I'm not sure on the memory card but I think it's compatible.

[captain ahar]

memory cards will work, i still only have 1 ps2 mem card to share between my us and asian systems. no problems at all.

[shariar07]

In Dodonpachi the whole point of the game is to run into as many bullets at once as possible; this is how you build up a chain. It takes a little practice, but soon you'll be racking up 800+ hit chains like the pros. Button 3 transforms your plane into a robot in disguise.

LOL
Do i become a deciptcon or an autobot, when i press botton 3

[dave4shmups]

Half of these questions you can answer on your own...

Like just look at your local game shop website and you'll see what are availble in your location... It aint rocket science, get off your ass and do some of the leg work yourself

Nice way to welcome someone to the forum-treat them like you're their mom. The guy's JUST ASKING QUESTIONS!! (Which, anymore, has become a figgin' capital offense on this site.) Honest to Pete, the attitude and elitism on this site is sickening.

[Chum_Bum]

I'm also completely new to the shmup scene and became addicted after playing Astro Boy: Omega Factor for my GBA on hard. I have a meager collection at this point with Gradius Galaxies, Ikaruga and Gunbird 2. Right now I'm just looking for Saturn and Dreamcast shmups and am currently looking at getting a hold of Bangai-o. I justed wanted to get some more feedback on this game because I'm looking to buy it, but I'm still undecided.

I generally know what I'm looking for on the Dreamcast, however, I have no clue what kind of shooters are on the Saturn other than Silouhette Mirage and Radiant Silvergun.

I also have a question that's been bothering me since I discovered this site. Are the Panzer Dragoon games considered shmups?

[janrodricks]

I'm completely in love with Bangai-O. It's one of the funnest games I've played in a long time. And it's great cus I can actually play it (Unlike some other shmumps I've gotten recently haha)

[TVG]

chum bum: if you enjoyed astro boy, there's no reason you wouldnt enjoy bangai-o since they're fairly simmilar in gameplay. that is, if you dont mind the hella dated visuals.

[umi]

I wouldn't call the visuals dated... unless if by "dated" you mean "2d"...

chum bum: if you enjoyed astro boy, there's no reason you wouldnt enjoy bangai-o since they're fairly simmilar in gameplay. that is, if you dont mind the hella dated visuals.

[TVG]

they are, tho.

until you get to the Xth stage with 3000 sprites onscreen at once, then you see WHY they're kinda weak, and why they are awesome, but dont tell me your first run trough stage 1 you werent like "ew"
show someone your average 2D game theyll be like "nice", show someone bangai-o first stage theyll be like "what the hell is that shit"

doesnt make the game any worse, but you got to be biased to admit the visuals arent dated.

[umi]

Sorry, but your average 2d game isn't made up of hundreds of tiny detailed sprites such as those :P That isn't to say there wasn't room for more improvement over the n64 version, but nothing about the visuals disappointed me at all. No slowdown either. I cringe more when I see dodgy-looking polygon models in these current-wave naomi releases on the same system, not to mention the slowdown... that isn't a stab at the games, just the fact that polygon-based games will have more glaring uglies and speed issues than a good ol' fashioned, well-crafted 2d game. Make sense? I really should play it again, I haven't played it in a while. It was fun as hell from what I remember... so very fun... LOVE the music as well.

[TVG]

Sorry, but your average 2d game isn't made up of hundreds of tiny detailed sprites such as those That isn't to say there wasn't room for more improvement over the n64 version, but nothing about the visuals disappointed me at all. No slowdown either. I cringe more when I see dodgy-looking polygon models in these current-wave naomi releases on the same system, not to mention the slowdown... that isn't a stab at the games, just the fact that polygon-based games will have more glaring uglies and speed issues than a good ol' fashioned, well-crafted 2d game. Make sense? I really should play it again, I haven't played it in a while. It was fun as hell from what I remember... so very fun... LOVE the music as well.

thats true, and i wouldnt have the game changed, because better graphics would mean slowdown or less sprites on screen (not to mention the game keeps up with whats happening the whole stage in real time, insane) but you dont see that in stage 1.
the truth is, im sure many people stopped playing the game after 5 minutes because of that, wasnt a topic made recently where a guy in fact just said that a few days ago?

[ST Dragon]

ive been reading about them for a few days now, and im extremely interested in trying some out. all i have is a dreamcast, though.

the questions:
what would be a good game to start with?

does the ps2 have a good enough selection of shmumps to warrant getting either a domestic or japanese ps2?

hmm i thought i had more...but maybe i will later. any help with this would be greatly appreciated

Don't bother buying a Japanese PS-2.
Just mod the Us PS-2 & you can play all those cool import PS-1/2 shmups, or you can play any image which you can download from emule.

[gingerj]

or you can play any image which you can download from emule.

And thats exactly why chipping is illegal and shmups aren't around as much these days because people like you promote downloading them for free, so these tiny development firms get no fiscal rewards. Then our beloved genre will die...

[ST Dragon]

That will happen to all genres eventually & not just because of Modding, but because most modern games & genres, deliver no innovation, sucky gameplay & very high prices for what they give. Most people downloaded Doom III in August, 1-2 days before it even hit selves! The ones that liked it went & bought the original, the rest didn't waste their money on it.

What I meant is that if you can easily buy the original of the shmup, then get it, don't download it. But if they just don't sell them where you live (Like here ), then how are you going to get to play all those hard to find JPN shmups?
I you like the copy then buy the original.

Also its crazy paying 200$ for a shmup like Radiant Silvergun, even if you couldn't download it!
No game is worth that much!

[Chum_Bum]

Thanks for the second opinions umi and The vagrant I think I'm officially going to buy it, but I only have one more decision, whether I'm going to buy the game with all of the extras (cd case, booklet, etc.) or just the disc itself and save a few bucks, but that just depends on how much of a collector I am I guess.

[janrodricks]

I've decided I'm going to buy a PS1 before I import a JP PS2. I still have many of my PS1 games (but no system) and I've been meaning to get another system for a while now. And I don't really need to go and buy a bunch of games that are similar to DDP when I'm not even good at DDP itself (or any other similar game). So I'm gonna get a PS1, buy some games I used to have, but I'm also gonna get some shmups like TFV, R Types Delta, Raycrisis etc...

[Chum_Bum]

just like to let you know I just nabbed Bangai-o for US$27 on eBay. I don't think that's too bad. I also put up a bid of US$30 for Dodonpachi, but it ended up going to around US$50, so I didn't bother.

[janrodricks]

Nice You'll like it. I'd be playing mine more, but my memory card has always been faulty, and I haven't replaced it because it didn't prevent me from playing a game. But now, whenever I get to about level 25 in Bangai-O the data screws up and I have to start over. I can't wait to get another card - I really wanna play