XBLA: Guardian Heroes (Fall 2011)

[Elixir]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByxHeJSkv54

Early fall, releases with optional HD filter, up to 12 player vs. and additional online co-op.

I probably won't buy this straight up considering my recent experiences with Outland and Bangai-O HD's absolutely atrocious online co-op, I'll wait for some people to report back. I think this will either make or break a purchase.

[Blackbird]

Holy shiiiii---

Have you ever played the original game on the Saturn? It is honestly one of the most entertaining beat-em-ups of all time... perhaps even one of the most entertaining co-op games in general. My mind is honestly blown that they are re-releasing this game, considering that the original was a somewhat obscure cult-classic. This is amazing.

It looks like this version reduces a lot of the slowdown present in the original game... the Saturn version could slow down quite a lot when a lot of stuff was happening on screen. Battles got hilariously chaotic... bodies and laser beams flying everywhere.

If they didn't take too many liberties with the gameplay or horribly mangle the controls somehow, I would highly recommend this game if you've never played the original.

[Paradigm]

It's cool that they've included the original graphics (I wonder if RS will do the same), I actually prefer them to the HD upgrade. Is the HD setting supposed to look that dark?

[jepjepjep]

Great news! I've been wanting to play this for a long time, but never had a Saturn. I love how Treasure is making their back catalogue accessible. I wish other devs would follow suit.

[Jeneki]

Hmm it's been a while since I played the Saturn version coop, but didn't it have friendly fire? I can't imagine how you'd avoid hitting other players with 12 on the screen. I wonder if they'll add more rows to fight in or something.

[Elixir]

720p shot: http://images.gamersyde.com/image_guard ... 0_0004.jpg

Looks better in motion though.

[GaijinPunch]

I've only played the original a few times. They look filtered, not redrawn (to me). The backgrounds also look like they're definitely the same assets.

[Phellan Wolf]

I've only played the original a few times. They look filtered, not redrawn (to me). The backgrounds also look like they're definitely the same assets.

They haven't redrawn the sprites. Actually it looks quite awfull. I have already seen the videos and it is atrocius. Maybe I am too generous with the gfx of the saturn version, but the original one included in this new port, looks extremely poor to me since is more an emulation than anything else while the new one are only some filters they've added for the show, so that it doesn't look like shit on any LCD,LED or Plasma tv.
I may sound harsh but I doubt treasure put some serious work on this one though the good news is that now most x360 users won't have to invest in a saturn to play the game.

[cj iwakura]

It looks good to me, and I loved the original.

Serena for life!

[Stormwatch]

Quite disappointing. They should have redrawn the sprites, like the new KOFs.

[Cuilan]

Quite disappointing. They should have redrawn the sprites, like the new KOFs.

Redrawing all the sprites for a game like this one can be very expensive. Remember that this is going to be a $10~$15 download. The new KoFs pay back their production costs via arcade revenue and the sale of full-priced console ports.

[Ganelon]

Super Street Fighter II HD Remix was only $15 yet featured completely modified sprites.
NeoGeo Battle Coliseum on 360 was only $10 yet featured touched up sprites and it didn't even have "HD" in the title.
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was $15 and didn't feature real HD enhancements (only upscaling and offering a 16:9 expanded view), hence no "HD" in the title.
Guardian Heroes will go at a similar price point and doesn't look to be true HD at all, but is being advertised as such? I expect a lot more than just upscaling and offering a 16:9 expanded view from a game with "HD" in the title.

The only interesting aspect of this game for me is the whopping 12 player versus but that mode never had great lasting potential given how unbalanced the characters are (although setting handicap is a great equalizer compared to most other games).

[DragonInstall]

Never got a chance to play it, so I'm really excited. It's a good year for downloadable games so far.

[Khan]

o....m.....g....

*orgasms*

I still own the original Saturn game I bought for £45 when it first came out :p probably my most favourite Saturn game although nowadays I play it on SSF theres nothing like the original. They have used smooth filerting to make it look more modern but am I the only one who hates the fact that its so dark?

Ive been begging for a true sequel and since they apparently have the original team in Treasure working on this I dont see why they cant pull their asses in gear and give us more hardcore fans a sequel

regardless Im excited and cant wait! instant buy for me.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Never got a chance to play it, so I'm really excited. It's a good year for downloadable games so far.

Yeah same here theres so many great all time classics that ive yet to play with many of them been Saturn exclusives and as more of these get HD remakes it makes the experience of playing these games for the first time more enjoyable for me. So just like Raiden Fighters Aces and RSG this is another game ill steer clear of playing emulationed. However the remake has to be half decent to make it worth paying cash for instead of just playing the rom for free.

[Skykid]

HD version looks nasty.

Who are these asshole commentators?

[GaijinPunch]

Who are these asshole commentators?

The Seals that faked the OBL assassination.

[Cuilan]

I can understand them not wanting to redraw the sprites for this game; GH seems to have a large number of sprites. It would probably be far too costly and time-consuming for a game like this one.

[Skykid]

Who are these asshole commentators?

The Seals that faked the OBL assassination.

Suddenly makes perfect sense.

[Herr Schatten]

For some reason, I read the topic title as "XBLA: Guardian Heroes (Fail 2011)"

[Khan]

I just hope they dont remix the music, GH has some really epic tunes one of my most favourite is Valgars theme called "Rough and lady"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zZ7n8MDcP0

One of those tracks that still gives me goosebumps

[E. Randy Dupre]

Super Street Fighter II HD Remix was only $15 yet featured completely modified sprites.

SFII has about 1/6 of the sprites that are in Guardian Heroes, with a comparitively tiny number of animation frames on each of them, to boot. There's no comparison in terms of the amount of work that'd be required.

[JoshF]

Patented Treasure "awesome player system inside kusogame stages" with an ugly botched facelift. No thanks. Also the magic breaks this game hard.

[Ganelon]

SFII has about 1/6 of the sprites that are in Guardian Heroes, with a comparitively tiny number of animation frames on each of them, to boot. There's no comparison in terms of the amount of work that'd be required.

GH's sprites have much lower resolution. I don't agree that SFII has fewer animation frames per character either.

But if you want a better comparison, take my offering of NBC, which almost certainly has more (and higher res) sprites than GH. SNK isn't made out of cash either yet it went through and enhanced a game that wasn't 5 years old. It wasn't a huge uplift but the effort was appreciated. And it doesn't even boast HD in the title.

[Cuilan]

The sprites in NGBC look like they were pre-filtered and then touched up manually after that. Something like that could work here maybe, but I have a feeling Sega would rather not put that much effort into this release in order to maximize profits.

[Elixir]

Patented Treasure "awesome player system inside kusogame stages"

I'm trying to picture what Treasure games are actually like this but Silhouette Mirage, Mischief Makers, Omega Factor and Sin & Punishment keep coming to mind. Please help.

[RNGmaster]

Patented Treasure "awesome player system inside kusogame stages"

I'm trying to picture what Treasure games are actually like this but Silhouette Mirage, Mischief Makers, Omega Factor and Sin & Punishment keep coming to mind. Please help.

Alien Soldier, maybe. The bosses are generally great, but the stages... meh.

Now, Gunstar Heroes has great stages - don't be dissin', yo.

[JoshF]

Haha it's how I feel about most Treasure games now actually, though I haven't played all of them. Mischief Makers is the worst offender. Goddamn do those suck. They didn't even try with Alien Soldier but it's still good in a Punchout kinda way, and stages probably wouldn't have worked anyway with sprites that big. Guardian Heroes is fun until you realize a beefed up magic attack massacres everything better than the cool combo you've been trying to get down for half an hour.

[mesh control]

Patented Treasure "awesome player system inside kusogame stages"

I'm trying to picture what Treasure games are actually like this but Silhouette Mirage, Mischief Makers, Omega Factor and Sin & Punishment keep coming to mind. Please help.

Alien Soldier, maybe. The bosses are generally great, but the stages... meh.

Now, Gunstar Heroes has great stages - don't be dissin', yo.

Roll the dice stage.

[Drum]

Roll the Dice stage is the best stage in the game.

Don't agree w/ Elixir that Omega Factor had good stages. A lot of them are real rough. Great game though.

Did not like Guardian Heroes much at all, one of their lesser efforts - and I like bmups.