Innocent self-spam number 34,5°: Shmup reviews

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:56 am

(Moderators/administrators/men in black: please teleport the thread in the off-topic section in case it's too generic, i'm posting here because the announcement is shmup-based).

Ok folks, i am putting some reviews of various shmups on my gamingjournal (please click on the link in the sig), they will be on shmups in some unknown future, but for the moment i'm putting myself ahead (since it's summer and i'm slacking off). I will try to upload every Monday, but if i see that i'm in the mood, i may increase the frequency.

EDIT: I put "Slap Fight" online yesterday and i will retrieve the other reviews in the day.

mannerbot · Post by **mannerbot** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 11:35 am

Thanks for the heads-up Rando, I've always enjoyed reading your reviews. Though, it seems like you give every game you review extremely high ratings; maybe you should review some games outside of your favorites just to balance it out.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 1:32 pm

mannerbot wrote:Thanks for the heads-up Rando, I've always enjoyed reading your reviews. Though, it seems like you give every game you review extremely high ratings; maybe you should review some games outside of your favorites just to balance it out.

I don't know what you're used to, but i usually use the full spectrum of votes.A 10 for me is just a work without any real flaws, technically. I know that (like here in The Netherlands) the higher votes are granted only for innovative works in some systems, but i don't agree with such an approach, it's too "conservative". Beside that, Slap Fight was way more innovative than it seems...at any case, stay tuned!

alpha5099 · Post by **alpha5099** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:19 pm

Just out of curiosity, what are your thoughts on the Mega Drive port of Slap Fight? I've played it a few times in an emulator, and it seems pretty nifty. Too bad it's rare as all getout.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:12 am

Sorry for the late reply but: No, i never played it, and to my knowledge, gameplay should be the same, whereas graphics are a bit watered down.

yojo! · Post by **yojo!** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 3:18 am

Randorama wrote:Sorry for the late reply but: No, i never played it, and to my knowledge, gameplay should be the same, whereas graphics are a bit watered down.

The MD is pretty good, with a 2 games in one feature (original and a remake with new levels and bosses). The gameplay is quite faithfull but much easier than the arcade (even on hardest diff); mainly because the shield option does not time out as it does in the arcade.

A lovely game; one of my all time favorite (with FlyingShark and Truxton).That game deserves more recognition; thanks for you review; I hope it gets other peoples to play it and give it some love and joy.

Toaplan had a funny way at tweaking the diff setting back in the day. I found Slapfight , Flying Shark and Outzone easy on "hard", where games like truxton and V-Five are quite difficult on "normal"setting.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:28 pm

ok, spamming some more, here's the Galuda review: Kakusei frenzy

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 1:26 pm

Takumi's Kyukyoku Tiger II reviewed!

incognoscente · Post by **incognoscente** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 8:45 pm

From Kyukyoku Tiger II review:
"The designer behind both Kyukyoku Tiger titles is the same, albeit right now i can't recall her name. ..."

Sanae Nito?

Keep up the good work :)

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 9:44 am

incognoscente wrote:From Kyukyoku Tiger II review:
"The designer behind both Kyukyoku Tiger titles is the same, albeit right now i can't recall her name. ..."

Sanae Nito?

Keep up the good work

;_; \/ !

Many thanks!

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 4:50 pm

The king, Tatsujin

llabnip · Post by **llabnip** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 5:03 pm

alpha5099 wrote:Just out of curiosity, what are your thoughts on the Mega Drive port of Slap Fight? I've played it a few times in an emulator, and it seems pretty nifty.

It is very nifty! And I agree with Rando on his review - the game is a classic but still holds up well after 20 years. The Megadrive port is quite good - adding in a special version which has levels that are fairly different from the main version (more space-oriented levels) and maybe a tad easier. Gameplay is tight and the game can be a little frustrating until you get the levels down (typical Toaplan style of having tanks and stuff come at you from the side and bottom of the screen occasionally). Two different selections on music. Special versions, two music tracks, auto-fire optional... these are options not normally found in the 16-bit era. Good work by Tengen to port this to Sega's 16-bit console. The game plays fine on a stock US Genesis 3 or a model 1/2 with something like a Game Genie (in theory you could file down the sides of the cart slot on your Genesis since the only lockout on the Slap Fight MD cart is physical).

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 2:39 pm

ok, back to the old west of tomorrow: Gun Frontier

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:42 pm

NIght Raid, welcome to nightmare!

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 10:40 pm

the nice and original Daisenpu, or Twin Hawk.

Incognoscente, in case you're reading this, any infos on the game?

incognoscente · Post by **incognoscente** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 12:04 am

Not much, sorry. Staff-wise, it is one of the biggest Toaplan mysteries to me. I have some suspects, but no way to confirm.
The only information I recall finding was Osamu Ohta as musician.

As far as the game itself, the third, forth, and fifth loops change the player's ship.
1st and second loops: WW2 plane
3rd: helicopter
4th: jet fighter
5th: stealth jet
And then the pattern is repeated.

I've only seen this first-hand on the Megadrive/Genesis conversion, but I doubt this kind of feature would be added only for a home release :)

edit January 03, 2005: was looking around a few Japanese websites last night and can anti-confirm this. The helicopter, etc. are to my current knowledge only available in the MD/Genesis version.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 10:51 pm

The rise of the Giant fishes!

Smraedis · Post by **Smraedis** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:23 pm

Randorama wrote:The rise of the Giant fishes!

What about the milking the bosses for a while, and the milking all your ships on the end boss parts to the game?

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 9:28 am

Hey Rando, why don't you post those on shmups.com ? There seems to be a severe lack of recent reviews.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 12:02 pm

For the moment, it's impossible to put up the reviews (on this site, i mean), so i store them in my journal. Once the problem is solved, they will go up...

I hope.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 10:57 pm

THe return of the giant fishes!

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 5:20 pm

The side story of Proco and Tiat

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 8:49 pm

The origin of the giant fishes

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 10:33 pm

The return of the divine thunder