Milestone Shooting Collection 2

[BulletMagnet]

Well, it's not really so much a "followup" to the first one as an "expanded edition"...it includes all three of the previously-bundled games (Chaos Field, Raidrgy, Karous) plus two more, namely Illvelo and Radirgy Noa. Out at the end of the year in Japan for anyone interested.

Originally spotted here.

[drunkninja24]

Hmmm...wonder if we'll end up seeing this in the US. Perhaps it could be the reason the US version of Illvelo was cancelled?

[MathU]

Whoa, what a deal. Would be very nice if this got localized. I'm still quite mad that UFO canceled Illvelo's localization.

[mesh control]

No Illevo for the 360? Shame...

[Phellan Wolf]

I don't understand why they hadn't release this on the Xbox 360 instead of Massive.

[Vyxx]

I'm still quite mad that UFO canceled Illvelo's localization.

You can still import a copy and play it on any Wii.

[MathU]

I was looking forward to playing a cheap English release. I'm on a tight budget at the moment.

[KisakiProject]

I'm still quite mad that UFO canceled Illvelo's localization.

You can still import a copy and play it on any Wii.

How so isn't region locked.

Personally if this gets localized I'll pick it up but I'm not huge on milestone games. However Ilvelo has kinda intrigued me with its bazaar art style.

[Ganelon]

It's pretty easy to play JP Wii games so long as you're not on the latest update (at least last I checked). Just a flash card, 30 minutes of research and downloading, and you're there.

[KBZ]

nice! Picking this up for sure. What a combo. I haven't bought a Wii yet, I assume even with a new wii I can softmod to play any region.

[stryc9]

I am thinking of picking this up to play on my mates Wii. Is there anything I need to know like a code for TATE like the first release? Are the versions here good enough or would one be better served with the individual versions of Noa and Illvello for example? Are there more options than Shooting Collection 1? etc...

[BulletMagnet]

Is there anything I need to know like a code for TATE like the first release?

IIRC only the Western version required the code to play in tate; someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Are the versions here good enough or would one be better served with the individual versions of Noa and Illvello for example? Are there more options than Shooting Collection 1?

The games included here are pretty much straight arcade ports, so you'd be missing out on some of the extra modes and such included on other ports (Expanded mode for CF, the GC- and PS2-exclusive modes on Radirgy, "Calories Off" and other modes in the other ports of Noa), so it depends on how much of a "complete" experience you want versus how much money you want to spend/how much time you want to devote to hunting the individual ports down.

I actually just attempted to soft-mod my Wii over the weekend and ordered this collection to confirm I did it correctly, so hopefully I'll be able to try them myself before long.

[stryc9]

Nah, playing my mates copy of MS STG collection 1 and it's the NTSCJ version - you must input a code to enable TATE control thru a joystick.

Had the PS2 Radirgy Precious for a few years and I loved it - unlike Chaos Field - until I played the version on MS STG Collection 1 and was blown away now I realise the PS2 one is so slow (it runs at like half the speed). Plus I have been enjoying Karous. The next logical step would then be to try to procure a version of Ilvello, as I've been watching videos of it and it looks great.

Might just go the collection, unless Calaries Off is something amazing.

[Deca]

Softmods to boot out of region games are really easy on Wii now aren't they? I should snag this, I really want to play Illvelo and see what Noa is all about.

[Psikyo_Ball]

love radirgy precious, but i dont like the others games of milestone.

[BulletMagnet]

Nah, playing my mates copy of MS STG collection 1 and it's the NTSCJ version - you must input a code to enable TATE control thru a joystick.

Hm, that's unusual for a JP edition - learn something new every day!

[gct]

Does the region hack go the other way? I have fully legit JP Wii, never been modded or anything... in fact, it hasn't even been turned on for the better part of a year, so it's probably not on the newest firmware anyway.

Would be nice to be able to pick up some bargain-bin titles in English.

[MathU]

You don't even need to use a region hack to change your Wii's region setting to play different-region Wii games. You just use a simple homebrew loader that bypasses the region check for the game.

[shmuppyLove]

Does the region hack go the other way? I have fully legit JP Wii, never been modded or anything... in fact, it hasn't even been turned on for the better part of a year, so it's probably not on the newest firmware anyway.

Would be nice to be able to pick up some bargain-bin titles in English.

Yes, softmodding can be done on any region Wii. And there is now a non-game-based exploit for 4.3 so doesn't matter if you're updated or not.

4.3 was released June of 2010, so you may or may not have it, but as I said it doesn't really matter any more.

[gct]

Thanks ShluppyMove, I will look into it tonight!

[BulletMagnet]

My copy of Volume 2 arrived today, and I'm happy to report two things:

1) My soft-modding attempt was successful, as my Wii booted the game no problem;

2) At the bottom of the game select screen is a "screen mode" option which lets you switch easily between yoko and tate, no silly codes required.

Now to figure out what in heaven's name is going on in Illvelo...

[cj iwakura]

Wait, Radilgy Noa's on this? Someone! Localize! Now!


Or I'll be a'modding, I suppose.

[stryc9]

My copy of Volume 2 arrived today, and I'm happy to report two things:

1) My soft-modding attempt was successful, as my Wii booted the game no problem;

2) At the bottom of the game select screen is a "screen mode" option which lets you switch easily between yoko and tate, no silly codes required.

Now to figure out what in heaven's name is going on in Illvelo...

Thanks BM. Good to know there's no code. My copy should be here next week, and although I'm familiar with Radilgy and Karous, I've never played Illvelo, although from what I've seen it looks great!

What did you use to soft mod, gecko OS, or is there something better these days?

[BulletMagnet]

I believe it's called "Letterbomb", or something like that - just followed a step-by-step guide I found. Methinks that if a tech-challenged sort like myself can do it, so can anybody.

I'll hafta start bugging people in the Radirgy Noa and Illvelo threads now, since there's some stuff I'm still trying to figure out...

[gct]

I did the Letterbomb thing last week, I was running totally legit up to the latest official network update (4.3J for myself). After following the steps in some guide at Wiihacks, it's now down to 4.1J? The guide seemed pretty outdated. Everything seems to be working fine however, except I can't get burned GameCube games to work. Not a huge deal, since at least I can get my legit US GameCube games running now.

I didn't enjoy Radirgy all that much when I owned it on DC, nor Chaos Field when I played it at Kingbuzzo's place, so I'm not entirely certain if I will get this collection though. How different are Karous & Illvelo & Noa?

[BeruBeru]

Just tried it today, unfortunately I don't have classic/gc pad and I don't have a way to connect my stick, and they don't support the wiimote dpad so I have to use the nunchuck, and it's really difficult to control like that.

[Gus]

I think Noa is a noticeable improvement over the original, though I'm not very good at either of them due to sucking with pretty much every controller compatible with the Wii.

[BulletMagnet]

I did the Letterbomb thing last week, I was running totally legit up to the latest official network update (4.3J for myself). After following the steps in some guide at Wiihacks, it's now down to 4.1J? The guide seemed pretty outdated.

The guide I used actually said that I should update to 4.3 before attempting the soft-mod, so I'm not sure whether my setup is/was any different from yours...

I didn't enjoy Radirgy all that much when I owned it on DC, nor Chaos Field when I played it at Kingbuzzo's place, so I'm not entirely certain if I will get this collection though. How different are Karous & Illvelo & Noa?

In many ways they're similar in nature, but if you want a quick overview from what I've played of them so far...

Karous: Same shot/sword/shield-barrier setup as Radirgy, but now the goal is to power all three of them (plus the score multiplier) through use - killing minor enemy formations faster makes more show up, so there's a bit of a Star Soldier-ish feel to it. Items can still be juggled/cycled, and speed up/down items are in the mix. Enemy patterns tend to be more "gotcha" in nature than in Radirgy, so sometimes you just need to know when precisely to deploy your shield or barrier to get through unscathed. I like the game's look and sound personally, as the grayscale graphics are a nice change of pace and the aggressive, moody soundtrack suits it well.

Illvelo: Again, same basic weapon setup, though I find the shield pretty much useless here: the reason is that much of your scoring potential relies on "clearing" a whole bunch of seconds-long "mini-levels" you can temporarily warp into along the way. The goal is always to kill everything (or certain main targets) before they leave the screen or time runs out, which means you're almost constantly on the offensive. The "sword" is also much different, as it's actually a pair of options that can be detached from your ship and used to either inflict additional damage on contact or to keep shooting as you get out of the way: sorta like your mount in Dragon Blaze, though here you can make it move separately along with you. No item juggling, though you can switch between the standard 3 Milestone weapons (spread shot, locking laser, piercing bubbles) via pickups. Oh, and the presentation's absolutely bonkers.

Noa: A few changes from Radirgy - for one thing, running into enemies hurts you now, and not attacking no longer deploys a frontal shield (instead it "charges" your sword, and enemies killed with a "charged" slash are worth double points, which can add up to a 32x multiplier when coupled with the "normal" scoring). Speaking of which, building up the "main" multiplier is similar, but much faster - since there's no shield, it's mainly a matter of wreaking lots of havoc while the ABS is deployed, enough to be able to deploy another one right after the previous one finishes. Do this a couple of times in a row and the x16s will flow like water. Also, this one plays in yoko format, and simultaneous 2P is available: 3 types of weapons again, but they're all variations on the "normal" shot from the first game, and can be switched via items. I tend to get lots of point-blanks deaths in this, though maybe it's just me. Same basic look as the first, though there are some voices and such added in.

Keep in mind that there's still a hunk of stuff I'm not sure about yet - more knowledgeable types, feel free to correct anything I screwed up above.

[Gähnende Leere]

Is there a way to force the game to PAL60 TV mode on Pal Wiis?

[EmperorIng]

This is actually the game I want to actually try and bypass region lock on the Wii to play. I've never attempted it before, and i don't know how many import games are worth getting for the Wii (where a knowledge of Japanese is not necessary).

These games seem like a good deal of fun - with funky music! It makes me wish that UFO localized this (but they probably thought it was pointless to publish this upgrade after the last "Ultimate" shooting collection).