Strikers 1945 II

[wiNteR]

Ummm ... so I am playing this these days. The only other Psikyo games I played before were gunbird 1 and 2. While I really liked gunbird 2, I am liking this game alot more.

I gotta say this game would have to be my favorite non-bullet hell shooter to date, and among top-3 or top-5 overall. Well the reasons why I like this so much ...

Pros:
1) Perfect mix of shooting and dodging elements. The charge shot just adds to this feeling further.

2) The mix of slow bullet mazes combined with fast patterns is brilliant and is just done to perfection.

Something I have noticed in few other games is that fast bullets only can lead to an over-reliance on tapping. For example, look at Mushihime original or Raiden* games. But somehow, I doubt that even if these games tried a mix of fast and slow bullets, it would not work as good as it does in this game.

3) Stage design is good. The stages have a rushed feeling but each stage still manages to introduce some unique elements despite the brevity.

4) Graphics, for some reason, are quite pleasant on the eyes. I am not even sure why because they are not technically advanced. Am I the only one or does this game look better than its successor?

Some general comments:

5) Haven't tried all the ships but there seem to be some interesting differences. I am not sure about hit box and speed. Other than that, the primary differences seem to be the secondary shot and charged shot. For example one of the ships has a charge shot which leaves a stationary shooting pod. This can both be and advantage and disadvantage depending on situation.

6) The last stage is bit of a let down aesthetically.

7) Sure it's not that the game can't be improved further. Some bosses (atleast in round 1) are best dealt without any improvisation (although that doesn't mean that they don't require skill). This is a problem in my view.

I reckon that the need to remove randomness completely comes because some of the patterns are possibly too harsh. I think that could be better dealt with mitigating these patterns and then adding some randomness.

8 ) The other problem would be how there are some seemingly intimidating points that are best dealt with few easy taps or no movement at all (before stage 6 boss). Although this is not a big issue because the game doesn't do it too often.

Overall there are few games which have this feeling of tight controls combined with perfect mix of shoot and dodge.

*I do like Raiden but it is quite easy to criticize it on "objective" grounds. I feel that the whole point of Raiden games is pretentious patterns and the rush of going through fast scrolling backgrounds.

[Herr Schatten]

Am I the only one or does this game look better than its successor?

Quite possibly. Strikers II is by far the worst-looking Psikyo game, imo. Both Strikers I and Strikers 1999 look a whole lot better.

I agree with everything else you said. Strikers II is really almost perfectly balanced.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The original arcade PCB version of Strikers 1945 II is great to play/own...there's nothing like playing it on the original arcade hardware/software as it was meant to be played/enjoyed. ^_~

It's too bad that proper tate support was axed from the Agetech USA region PSX game of Strikers 1945. There is some speculation that it's still in there but would require a Gameshark hack to implement it. Of course, the original JPN PSX version of S-1945 II (along with the re-released Success Superlite 1500 series version) has tate option.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Battletoad]

I got more into the first two Strikers games recently. Strikers II is definitely better (and an extremely awesome shooter), the stage design and the boss patterns are superior and also seemingly fairer. The balancing is good for the bosses which become harder through the game. But I don´t really understand it in the stages... at least to me stages 5, 6 and 7 aren´t more difficult as stages 3 and 4, except for the bosses of course.

Am I the only one or does this game look better than its successor?

Quite possibly. Strikers II is by far the worst-looking Psikyo game, imo. Both Strikers I and Strikers 1999 look a whole lot better.

I agree with everything else you said. Strikers II is really almost perfectly balanced.

I think you misunderstood wiNteR here, or did I??
I find the first Strikers game really ugly, but Strikers II has already much more to offer, I also really like its graphics. More colour (too much grey in the original Strikers), more detailed backgrounds, more and especially better boss animations. So I personally can´t understand how Strikers II should have worse graphics than the first one, would be nice if you could explain why you think so.
Just can´t say too much about the third one yet.

[louisg]

Strikers II is sweet, and I usually don't like Psikyo!

[dpful]

Strikers 1= to easy but great pace- a little antiquated difficulty and graphic wise compared to the others
Strikers III= graphic masterpiece, amazing visuals and super tight presentation, but a little too difficult and dense to take advantage, I thought-- I feel like I'm fighting for my life from the first second, and die at the same place every time. Dragon Blaze seems much harder to me, but like I'm a little more in control the whole time.

Strikers II= presentation 2nd only to #III, (a little more homogenous in the graphics), and an excellent difficulty level and great charge shot anticipation and build-up-- my only criticism would be that the fast and slow spreads seem a little too random sometimes, like someone is throwing a net at me, rather taking shots at me, and I always panic and die when I swear there were gaps I could have fit through.

[Herr Schatten]

I find the first Strikers game really ugly, but Strikers II has already much more to offer, I also really like its graphics. More colour (too much grey in the original Strikers), more detailed backgrounds, more and especially better boss animations. So I personally can´t understand how Strikers II should have worse graphics than the first one, would be nice if you could explain why you think so.

The first one has lovingly crafted hand-drawn pixel art. Be it the sprites or the backgrounds, everything looks sharp, crisp and clean. You can even count the warts on the back of a giant alien space crab monster thingy.

The graphics in the second one are just lazy. They are pre-rendered and pretty much left at that. This results in better boss animations, but the backgrounds and sprites are smudgy, and there are artefacts all over the place. Only in a few places someone bothered to touch up the pre-rendered stuff. Additionally, the render technique wasn't all that advanced, which results in ships and planes looking like plastic. The choice of colours seems more random, too, resulting in a less convincing atmosphere.

The third one has still pre-rendered stuff, but Psikyo seem to have learned. Almost everything has been touched up by hand, so it's more convincing than the smudgy mess of Strikers II, even though there's still a lot of things looking uncomfortably plasticky.

[Zeether]

Flying Pancake. Use it.

[lilmanjs]

I really love strikers 1945 II and the one that appeared on the Neo-Geo arcade platform. anyone have a plane they never use?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Yep, that would be Strikers 1945 Plus variant on the ol' Neo-Geo MVS setup. Interesting that Psikyo would go with it's S-1945 Plus game as a verizontal screen setup akin to the first two Gigawing games or even Night Raid for that matter. Psikyo could've easily made it a true tate game -- which would've been a first on the MVS platform indeed. They decided to buck tradition (by not making it a tate game) & thus it was released as is.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[man9child]

I guess, but in all my life I've only run across a single dedicated Strikers 45 2 Plus cabinet. You've got to imagine that most of the carts purchased by arcades and businesses were put in multi-slot cabs, so it just makes a lot more sense to have it letter boxed because it was going to be running next to Metal Slug and KoF. Still a great game, regardless, it's a decent remix.