Any love for Exzisus?

This is the main shmups forum. Chat about shmups in here - keep it on-topic please!
Post Reply
User avatar
Sly Cherry Chunks
Posts: 1979
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2005 8:40 pm
Location: Colin's Bargain Basement. Everything must go.

Any love for Exzisus?

Post by Sly Cherry Chunks »

Its a little unsophisticated and a bit easy in places but it's cute and fun - look:

Image Image Image
Jet Pack Guy teams up with Robot Space Bird and Robot Space Dog to fight the enemy. All three characters can combine into a spaceship too. You pack some serious firepower once fully powered and you'll need it, enemies will be attacking from behind a lot in this game.

Came across this one in MAME but I hear it's on the Taito Legends disk too. Worth checking out IMO, I'm up to stage four at the moment. I still working on a strategy to get me past the springy wobbly things.

Yeah, I love the oldies :)
The biggest unanswered question is where is the money? [1CCS]
User avatar
Dale
Posts: 1390
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 10:31 pm

Post by Dale »

This game is awesome I just tryed it on Taito legends I love the sheer amount of firepower you use and the extra challenge of trying to dodge with such a tall sprite. I,m also stuck on the springs,the oldies are the best in my opinion.
User avatar
Damocles
Posts: 2975
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2005 12:23 am

Post by Damocles »

Like everyone else, I'm stuck on level four. Granted, I only played it a few times... Anyway, the game to me is a bit repetitive. Patterns aren't anything interesting and it's just redundant.
User avatar
Bloodreign
Posts: 1286
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:34 am
Location: Louisiana
Contact:

Post by Bloodreign »

That game has given me headaches to no end, just when you think you've got the game down pat, you die. Great game though, I'll occasionally fire it up on Taito Legends.
Neo Rasa
Posts: 456
Joined: Tue Nov 08, 2005 11:15 pm
Location: New Jersey, US

Post by Neo Rasa »

This was the biggest surprise for me on Taito Legends as most shmups that made it to US arcades in the eighties I got to play in an arcade somewhere at some point. Awesome game.

I just wish the criminally underrated Out Zone was on there. :(
User avatar
doctorx0079
Posts: 1277
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2005 4:16 pm
Location: Dayton, OH
Contact:

Post by doctorx0079 »

This is a fun fun game, but I just cannot figure out the boss at the end of the city level. I'm guessing this is the last boss. He fires a big thing that fills the screen and I can't dodge it. Well maybe I will beat this game after spring break.

I was thinking, if Space Ghost had a game it ought to be something like this. Jet-pack dude shoots the bejeezus out of everything with his hand-held ray gun. Get the right powerups and his super robo-bird and robo-dog appear to shoot even more lasers, and they can also be sent off to attack and come back to you like good pets. He can also morph into a space fighter shaped like a jet plane (!!) and his pets can turn into extra fins on the plane. The enemies all look like cartoon monsters, they might as well have come out of Space Ghost. In the middle of each level there is some new obstacle you have to dodge. At the end of the level his space surfboard jets up and he flies off and teleports away, kinda like the Silver Surfer. Great game. This game is actually much better than the old Space Ghost cartoon, which was/is about as lame as Scooby Doo. Space Ghost should be this rad.
User avatar
Herr Schatten
Posts: 3287
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 12:14 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Post by Herr Schatten »

I like it. I too tried it in MAME recently.

I clearly remember a magazine reviewing it back in the day. It came out about the same time R-Type hit the arcades. In that magazine, the reviews of Exzisus and R-Type were next to each other. R-Type got a full page and Exzisus got a half one. I think the reviewer said something along the lines of "it's all very nice, but I can't play it when the R-Type cab is standing right next to it".
User avatar
Sly Cherry Chunks
Posts: 1979
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2005 8:40 pm
Location: Colin's Bargain Basement. Everything must go.

Post by Sly Cherry Chunks »

doctorx0079 wrote: I'm guessing this is the last boss. He fires a big thing that fills the screen and I can't dodge it.
He pauses before he fires that thing, the key is to get up above his head or something. The attack "spreads" to fill the screen so if you're at the back then you're pretty screwed. The game gives you plenty of time to get out of the way though, I just wish I could get there consistently.
The biggest unanswered question is where is the money? [1CCS]
User avatar
CecilMcW00t
Posts: 329
Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2005 5:12 am
Contact:

Post by CecilMcW00t »

EDIT: Nevermind, just got past it. All you have to do is REALLY pay attention.
"I've always wanted a thing called Tuna Sasimi!"
User avatar
gameoverDude
Posts: 2269
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 12:28 am
Contact:

Post by gameoverDude »

Exzisus is pretty good, but the one part with the expanding/contracting things that you must go over is a bit aggravating in a Super Cobra way. You have to get through at just the right time, while not being tricked or missing your chance totally. Some of the enemies put out a good amount of firepower for a 1987 game, and the A powerup becomes quite useful (the space ship is vertically smaller than the jet-pack guy).

One special parallax effect in this one adds some depth to the visuals, with the rearmost background layer going up or down as you travel vertically.
Kinect? KIN NOT.
User avatar
scrilla4rella
Posts: 948
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2005 2:16 am
Location: Berkeley, CA

Post by scrilla4rella »

word, I was just talking about this game on sjewketheloon's sabadical thread. yeah the enemies are pretty generic but the firepower and the bosses is what does it for me. And of course the transformers thing.

Am I missing something or is the special attack, where you comand your pets to attack, pretty much useless? I can't aim it for shit and the bullets that they turn into are so small...
User avatar
undamned
Posts: 3273
Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2005 9:27 am
Location: Phoenix

Re: Any love for Exzisus?

Post by undamned »

Just came across a screenshot of this game. Is it me or does the ship form look strikingly like the Silver Hawk (although a year after Darius I)?
-ud
Righteous Super Hero / Righteous Love
User avatar
Herr Schatten
Posts: 3287
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 12:14 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Any love for Exzisus?

Post by Herr Schatten »

undamned wrote:Just came across a screenshot of this game. Is it me or does the ship form look strikingly like the Silver Hawk (although a year after Darius I)?
-ud
They are both made by Taito, so I guess the same artist worked on both.
User avatar
Imhotep
Posts: 355
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2005 9:41 am
Location: Switzerland

Re: Any love for Exzisus?

Post by Imhotep »

I played this recently and liked it quite a bit, it has lots of enemies and bullets to dodge, instead of big obstacles.
land for man to live, sea for machine to function.
User avatar
bcass
Posts: 2671
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2005 11:10 am

Re: Any love for Exzisus?

Post by bcass »

I played this first time round back in the 80s. Awesome soundtrack. Classic Taito.
Post Reply