Has anyone heard of Steel Dragon EX?

Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 8:44 pm

Hey there! I just brought this game home from my shop. It's for the PS2 and has 2 versions of the game on it. THe first is the original sprite based game while the other , new, version of the game is 2.5d and seems to all be rendered - at least that's how it looks from the screenshots. I won't be able to play it for a while as my PS2 is at a friend's house. Is it any good? I don't know that much about SHMUPS but I thought I had heard of all the high profile ones, oh well!

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 8:53 pm

This game was also released in japan as "Double Shienryu"; the sprite-based game is the original Shienryu (which is also available on PS1 and Saturn), while the 3D one is "Shienryu Explosion," not a true sequel but packaged with it nonetheless. I've only played the first game (I've ordered the second though), but there's a link to a review of Explosion on the shmups.com main page.

Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 8:56 pm

I thought the ship looked similar! I have never played either of the games but I am aware of the ship. Well, that's a bonus as it saves me a fortune buying the Saturn originals!

Smraedis · Post by **Smraedis** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:19 pm

the Shienryu Explosion game being quite possibly the easiest shooter ever made

and the PAL version is said to be even easier, which I thought was never possible.

Shienryu itself is nice though.

Post by **system11** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:23 pm

Nah - stuff like Gaia Seed, Harmful Park, and Thunderforce 3 are waaaaaaay easier than this. I would say set it to hard mode straight off though - it's a much better game that way. The UK one is much easier by the way - through gameplay tweaks and running slower.

Smraedis · Post by **Smraedis** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:26 pm

oh yeah

I should have remembered those games that you can finish on your first try.. so add a lot of PCE games to that too.

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:45 pm

bloodflowers wrote:Nah - stuff like Gaia Seed, Harmful Park, and Thunderforce 3 are waaaaaaay easier than this. I would say set it to hard mode straight off though - it's a much better game that way. The UK one is much easier by the way - through gameplay tweaks and running slower.

I can't comment on Gaia Seed but I definitely agree on the others. It's no toughie by any means but there are loads of easier shmups out there. I always thought Explosion was a pretty solid game. Nothing spectacular mind you but worth picking up (particularly if you don't have the first Shienryu.

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Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:49 pm

Well, if it's that easy it should be good for my ego 'cos I am truly shite at SHMUPS! I really try but I have never 1cc'd a single game - so wish me luck when I get to play this next week.

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 8:07 am

I finished explosion on my second go, but just finishing it is not the point of the game. It's finishing it WITH A GOOD SCORE. Once you start playing explosion for score it becomes one hell of a challenge, as you have to carefully use the analog fire, always switching between power and speed, to produce more and bigger satrs from the enemies. It's a lot of fun that way.

And you get Shienryu as a bonus, that game is excellent. For the bargain price they ask for the double pack you really can't complain.