New PS-2 Shooters...

[ST Dragon]

Hello people.
Next week I’m thinking about buying some new PS-2 shooters. So is it worth spending my hard earned money on these:

1945 I & II collection – Price: around 20Euros – 25$
========================================
I already have Strikers II for the PS-1 by Agetec & the 2 Saturn games & I found the PS-1 version better, but it was missing the cool Saturn intros & the sound effects were too loud. Is this collection a more faithful Arcade conversion & does it combine all the positive factors of the previous console ports while removing all the negative?

Gradius V – Price: around 30Euros – 37$
=================================
I’m not a huge Gradius fan. I enjoyed Life Force on the NES, but I hate the cheap-ass difficulty the Gradius series is known for, the annoying check points, losing all your weapons after death & having to collect all the power ups all over again. But I’ve read that Treasure did a good job with it.
Is it worth it?

Mobile Light Force II - Shikigami no Shiro - Price: around 20Euros – 25$
======================================================
The European title sucks but I all ready have Shikigami No Shiro II for my DC, so I would like to try this.
Is it an arcade perfect port?
Is it better than X-Box & Cube versions?

R-Type Final Price: around 45Euros - 56$
==================================
I didn’t like R-Type Delta & I find R-Type series gameplay & difficulty rather annoying. R-Type Leo is quite innovating though. Is this any better?

Also music is very important in my book, so it will be nice if they're good in the music department.

Thanks in advance.

[mannerbot]

Yes to Gradius V, no to the rest. Use the search function to find out why.

[Nei First]

Whatever you do...... Get Gradius V, you won't be dissapointed Oh and there's no checkpoints in this one.

R-type final ain't bad, haven't seen the strikers port on PS2 and I heard Shikigami no shiro 1 isn't as good as the sequel.

[Kron]

Completely agree with mannerbot.

[Guus]

Same for me.

[Fighter17]

Get Gradius V and R-Type Final.


But:
Gradius V > R-Type Final

[SheSaidDutch]

Whatever you do...... Get Gradius V, you won't be dissapointed Oh and there's no checkpoints in this one.

No checkpoints does that mean you either

[A] Start from the begining
Respawn

[dementia]

The latter.

[SheSaidDutch]

The latter.

Thanks, I remember a description of Gradius V and LifeForce was mentioned, I just wasn't sure if it was the gameplay.

[sjewkestheloon]

the strikers pack is meh.

the sound quality is better than the ps1 strikers 2, but the lack of high score saves is intensely annoying. tate mode does help though.

i picked it up due to the fact that it's very playable and only cost me 10 quid, so i don't really complain too much.

[SheSaidDutch]

the strikers pack is meh.

the sound quality is better than the ps1 strikers 2, but the lack of high score saves is intensely annoying. tate mode does help though.

i picked it up due to the fact that it's very playable and only cost me 10 quid, so i don't really complain too much.

OT
I thought I'd never like a game by Psikyo, but I really like the Strikers Series
I've been playing Strikers 1945 I-II in mame and enjoying them.

[Nei First]

@SheSaidDutch: Hey man, you might wanna get Gradius V too.

I'm not too bothered about getting the strikers pack for now, I'm still looking for a decent deal on DOJ and ESP Galuda.

[SheSaidDutch]

@SheSaidDutch: Hey man, you might wanna get Gradius V too.

I'm not too bothered about getting the strikers pack for now, I'm still looking for a decent deal on DOJ and ESP Galuda.

Instant respawn in a Gradius game though, I dont partially like the Salamander series becasue of it. It's not Gradius without the checkpoints to me IMO.

[gameoverDude]

You CAN have checkpoints in Gradius V if you use the Revival Start option. I don't use this myself- I say good riddance to the checkpoints. Being able to regrab your options is a major help and avoids "Gradius III Syndrome"- so it's not the end of the game if you lose one ship.

[SheSaidDutch]

You CAN have checkpoints in Gradius V if you use the Revival Start option. I don't use this myself- I say good riddance to the checkpoints. Being able to regrab your options is a major help and avoids "Gradius III Syndrome"- so it's not the end of the game if you lose one ship.

Thats good then

It's good that both styles are included.

I prefer the checkpoint system of Gradius than the instant respawn of Salamander.

[BUHA]

I don't care for the other Gradius games (even Gaiden), but Gradius V is still blowing me away. Awesome game, literally no complaints from me. The style, challenge, graphics, everything....i don't know how they could have done it any better. I dont see how anybody could not like it. Even my non shmup friends like to watch me play and say how cool the bosses are. Even they're impressed by it, and they usually only like gimmicky crap.

[Regulus]

Gradius V is great and is a little closer to the NES Life Force than, say, the first 4 Gradius games. I'm sure you'd like it.

R-Type Final is good, but I doubt you'd like it (judging from you little descriptio there), so don't bother.

[rib]

in the later levels the "picking up the power ups after loosing a life" can be extremly annoying because, you are just about to move you ship into walls for getting them back and then back on screen, in this first moment you cant concentrate on the game situation itself which ends up easily in dying again and entering this situation again, which is imo the worst thing about gradius v. if you are picky with that kind of things you will become hate/loving the game in some way, as i do..

[dave4shmups]

Well, given what you've written, I say go with the Strikers pack, and with Gradius V.

You're probably not missing anything if you already have Shigi 2 for your DC, and if you didn't like R-Type Delta, you probably won't like R-Type Final. There are a LOT of ships you can unlock, but some of them have the same weapons, and the game itself runs at a ridiculously low frame rate-literally about the worst I've seen in any shmup.

[ST Dragon]

the strikers pack is meh.

the sound quality is better than the ps1 strikers 2, but the lack of high score saves is intensely annoying. tate mode does help though.

i picked it up due to the fact that it's very playable and only cost me 10 quid, so i don't really complain too much.

Forgive my ignorance but what is "meh"?

And what's tate mode?

[visuatrox]

Well it seems to me like you have something against difficult games, and unfortunately you picked the wrong genre if you like it easy . None of the games you mentioned are particularly easy.. But anyway Gradius V is a must have, R-Type Final is pretty awesome too if you can live with the fact that it has a couple of boring/bad framerate levels.

And I heard shikigami evolution on Xbox is better (have not actually tried it though).

[ST Dragon]

No I don't have a problem with difficult games & I don't prefer easy games. I have a problem with annoying games.

Parodius Series, Border Down, Apidya etc... are quite hard by I still find them very cool games.

[Last Guardian]

For me Delta plays quite different to Final. I found Final to be a more atmospheric, accesible and enjoyable game then Delta. It's earlier levels, combined with the huge array of ships allow (for me at least) for more Force experimentation which is what R-type ultimately is all about. It's difficulty settings are more pronounced making it a very complete package for any Hori shmup fan. Unexpectedly it's turning out to be my fav. shooter this gen.

Who cares what other people think is better after all it's all about the experience imo. I mean, how many people actually totally agree with the top 25.

I love Gradius V almost as much but it isn't like it's without faults either. How about an even more boring first level :p and bullets that are ocasionally indistinquishable from the background.

Shikigami No Shiro I found 'lacking' like in no solid gameplay feel. Can't comment on the other.

Just to level things a bit, enjoy whichever you pick.

[sjewkestheloon]

'meh' is my universal term for things that are ok, but just ok. here the games themeselves are obviously quality, but the execution of the pack i very lacking. tate mode is the mode in which you turn your moniter/tv on its side to gain a full arcade-like aspect. no shrinkage and black borders

[SheSaidDutch]

[quote="sjewkestheloon"]'meh' is my universal term for things that are ok, but just ok./quote]

I've only heard of it through a female friend, no one else I've spoken to
knows what meh means.

[ST Dragon]

'meh' is my universal term for things that are ok, but just ok. here the games themeselves are obviously quality, but the execution of the pack i very lacking. tate mode is the mode in which you turn your moniter/tv on its side to gain a full arcade-like aspect. no shrinkage and black borders

The Panorama Mode in Raiden Project that stretches the display to fit the screen is even better that TATE mode.
Not a very good idea flipping your TV on it's side.


More vertical shmups that were ported to consoles like Gunbird, Ikaruga, 1945 Strikers I & II would have looked so much better with Panorama.

Does the 1945 Strikers Collection on PS-2 have Panorama mode like Raiden Project, or does it only have TATE?