Trigon (Lightning Fighters) by Konami

[Xonatron]

It was interesting to stumble upon Trigon (aka Lightning Fighters) and discover it was made before Raiden II and in some ways technically equivalent to it. Trigon did not have the advanced particle system Raiden II had, but it had scaling bosses, some of which broke into pieces (both seen in the youtube video I posted below).

Have you played it? Did you like it?

Trigon reviews:
http://shmups.classicgaming.gamespy.com/reviews/trigon/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAWXh0OZO7w

[captain ahar]

Trigon is a classic. A giant, pain-in-the-ass classic.

I started playing it on the (indirect) recommendation of Malc, our original benefactor here at shmups. Very difficult, and not totally in the enjoyable way. But somehow, I still have some fun with it when I get around to booting it up (I play in MAME).

[Ed Oscuro]

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=21118

edit: Cap'n and I seem to be joined at the hip lately in our replies...

[Dragon1952]

I have the pcb and I love it! Yes, it is challenging but a whole lotta fun!

[Udderdude]

It's one of those 'Die once and you're screwed' shmups .. still pretty fun though.

[gameoverDude]

I've played it before, but now that you mention it- I tried it again. It's even better than I remembered, and will get a spot in my current rotation.

The Dragon Laser in this is awesome. If your weapons are leveled up well and you use the DL one time, keep spamming your main shot

At least you're not screwed as badly as in Gradius 3 if you die. Dying in G3 ensures that your factory condition Vic Viper gets raped on reentry- so the story there is "one life clear or no deal". You at least have an actual chance to come back in Lightning Fighters.

Malc's Toaplan comparison in his great review is spot on, right down to the Sky Shark style powerups (and also IMO the fact that Trigon's 1P mode has restart points like Kyuukyoku Tiger, while LF is like Twin Cobra in that regard).

At first, your large hitbox (or lack thereof?) can be a bitch especially after being used to smaller ones ala Raiden IV, DOJ, Ketsui KJ, etc.

Shame on the lack of a home port. Paired with Xexex, this would've been great as a PS1 launch title to go up against Raiden Project.

[BIL]

As a bit of Konami trivia, Gradius Gaiden's fourth Boss Rush enemy uses the Lightning Sword and Dragon attacks from Trigon.



(from Gradius Homeworld)

[caldwert]

I have Lightning Fighters but honestly haven't played it much. All I recall is ridiculously large and slow ships.

[Xonatron]

I have to play it... so my best bet is probably via MAME I would say. It's too bad more of these games do not get home ports. I am hoping Xbox LIVE opens up to more and more of these. But I already heard stories of them rejecting shooters...

http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/03/28 ... bla-by-ms/

[gameoverDude]

As a bit of Konami trivia, Gradius Gaiden's fourth Boss Rush enemy uses the Lightning Sword and Dragon attacks from Trigon.



(from Gradius Homeworld)

That boss itself sure IS the ship from Lightning Fighters, only maybe about 20x the size. It's interesting how Konami turned one of the good guys from their past works into a boss.

[BIL]

Indeed! The only other crossover ship in Gaiden (that I'm aware of) is Falchion Beta, based on Falsion's ship. Would've been kind of cool to have another non-hori Konami ship as the fourth playable craft, although I guess making it a boss avoided overkilling the idea.