Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

This is the main shmups forum. Chat about shmups in here - keep it on-topic please!
Post Reply
User avatar
rancor
Posts: 2802
Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:33 pm
Location: Tokyo
Contact:

Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by rancor »

And here we are with my 6th translation project - an interview with the guys behind doujin super-group ASTRO PORT!

This translation comes from pages 152-153 of Shooting Gameside Magazine #4:

Image

As I always say before these translations: If you notice any glaring mistakes, or are able to translate some parts in a better way then please let me know via PM. This translation took me MANY hours to complete - an hour alone just to format it to be readable on this site - and if you appreciate it and would like me to have the time to do more, PLEASE consider purchasing something from the link in my sig. This work is purely my own, and it you choose to post elsewhere please give credit to me for the translation. I reserve the right to edit this translation as I see fit. 8)

This is now my SIXTH translation. You can find the previous five below:

Makoto Asada Interview (CAVE)
Yotsubane Inteview (Crimzon Clover)
CAVE Round-Table Interview / Akai Katana Discussion
Dodonpachi SDOJ Pamphlet Translation
Ibara Scanlation - Chapter 1 and 2 - Work in Progress

For more translations, be sure to check out the work that user blackoak is doing. You can find some of his awesome doings here:

Doujin Round Table Discussion
Famitsu Magazine interview with CAVE
An Interview with RAIZING
An Interview with Masahiro Yuge of Toaplan
An Interview with Tatsuya Uemura of Toaplan

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
... I give you Mr. SAK and MR. ORDAN of ASTRO PORT:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Image

"Even if the difficulty level was not high, we wanted to instill a love for a terrain shooting"

Their new work "Satazius," shows a lot of respect to horizontal scrolling STGs of the past. Hopefully the tagline "Be Prepared" is to be taken seriously.

Interviewer: Kaze no Iona

- First of all, tell us about the beginning of your circle.

SAK - I met ORDAN on a Dezaemon 3D fan site. We made games by exchanging floppy disks through the mail. Ordan started to complain saying, "it's time to switch to a more efficient method of doing this".

ORDAN - I suggested to him that I could be in charge of programing while he would be in charge of everything else. From this basis we formed our group. This was in April of 2006.

- I see, so Mr. ORDAN managed all the programming matters, and Mr. SAK took care of the rest.

SAK - He also did overall game design, I did planning, direction, and other miscellaneous stuff.

- Games coming out of non-hentai circles are mainly shooting games, right? What are your favorite shooting games?

ORDAN - The Gradius series. Especially II, Gaiden and V. Among vertical shooting games, I like Battle Garegga, I own the PCB for that one. I also like Image Fight.

SAK - I like the Gradius series too. It was the title that made me realize how wonderful video games can be. It had such a great influence on me that you could say it led me to this industry. My other favorite game is ZANAC. Those two are the best to me.

- Back to Satazius, how did you guys come to create the game?

SAK - Because ASTRO PORTs games are usually so easy to clear, we wanted to make a game that is harder. As we said, we love Gradius as well as other terrain dependent shooting games that are rather hard even though they have been made easy to play.

- The game contains a lot of elements found in Gradius and Darius, doesn’t it?

SAK - That is true. The tagline "Prepare Yourself" is also an important element of the game because you’ll most likely have to repeatedly die before clearing it. The message is that only those who are prepared to die should buy the game.

ORDAN - I really wanted to include infinity scroll in Satazius. Like the fifth stage of Salamander 2 and Gradius V, it’s great to be able to scroll up and down freely as far as you like.

- In terms of difficulty, the stage one boss is pretty ridiculous in Satazius. I really got into it.

ORDAN - It's been criticized that the boss in stage 1 was far too difficult. In fact, the boss in stage 2 is not as tough as the first one. Initially the first stage boss was to be put in the second stag and vice versa, but the order was changed at the last minute to make more of an initial impact.

SAK - We anticipated that we’d get complaints regarding the order. However everything turned out OK because that decision gave the game a bit of publicity.

- I find it unique that weapon power up methods are different for each shot. It’s also remarkable that only the most powerful mode has the time limit.

ORDAN - First, we were gonna make the most powerful mode to gain special points, but changed it because the point of changing the weapons gets lost if the weapon that is in its most powerful mode can earn more points than others significantly. So we put the time limit on the most powerful mode, and the time would extend if you get more items.

SAK - Originally we were worried that the setup might cause unnecessary stresses to the rest of the program, but found out that it didn't at all. We are always making games by trial and error.

- Are there any particular points in the game that you want people to pay attention to?

SAK - All of the mechanical design. We wanted to make the machines in the game to be distinct. In that area, we put a lot of work on every vehicle.

ORDAN - The up and down scrolling I was talking about earlier was really difficult to realize. And the part where the missiles fly really close to the ground was harder than I thought initially.

SAK - That was already being done in the 80's, but it was much harder to actually program it myself. We were amazed to know that something that is still hard to do today was already being done in the 80's on hardware that was far inferior than ours. We'd also like people to notice how the armor of the stage one boss gradually comes off.

- The game has a lot of scenes that remind me of the famous scenes from some older vertical and horizontal shooting games!

ORDAN - Yes. In the stage one, if you make holes in the bridge, it collapses and blocks the way. That was inspired by the MSX version of Gradius. We thought of stage one of the Game Boy title Nemesis 2 for the rapid scrolling while fighting the bosses, and for the stage one, the fifth stage of Salamander. But what we ended up with was entirely different from those.

- Were there any other unexpected incidents took place in the production?

SAK - Yes, my hand suddenly stopped working while working on the title. I faced a slump while creating graphics. I think it was a mental thing. Right away I emailed ORDAN and told him "I am sorry, I’m really messed up now!" Because we were so close to the completion, I asked him to make the final adjustments.

ORDAN - I told him it was OK to take time off until he could recover.

SAK - I felt relieved. For a week, I concentrated on my daily job leaving the doujin life behind entirely. But after that week, I started wanting to draw again. I was happy to hear from ORDAN that I could count on him

-I can feel a strong tie bonds you two. I really want people to play the game all the way to HARD after clearing NORMAL! Thank you very much for today's interview!
Last edited by rancor on Wed May 23, 2012 12:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Ghegs
Posts: 5052
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 6:18 am
Location: Finland
Contact:

Re: Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by Ghegs »

Oh cool, I didn't realize Astro Port had an interview in those magazines. Thanks rancor, they're probably my favourite doujin game circle.
No matter how good a game is, somebody will always hate it. No matter how bad a game is, somebody will always love it.

My videos
User avatar
BarfHappy
Posts: 160
Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:20 pm
Location: In a CAVE

Re: Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by BarfHappy »

Hey hey fame for the guys :p

Thanks rancor for the nice translation ! I hoped they would be a little more technical ^^;
st5ex0boss/st5ex0boss.cpp, st5ex0boss/st5ex0b_appear.cpp, st5ex0boss/st5ex0b_disp.cpp, st5ex0boss/st5ex0b_move.cpp, st5ex0boss/st5ex0b_anime.cpp, st5ex0boss/st5ex0b_check.cpp

And there shall be TTLB... <3 Muwohohoho
User avatar
BIL
Posts: 18991
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 12:39 pm
Location: COLONY

Re: Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by BIL »

Cheers rancor, I love these guys. :D
User avatar
GenkiPatton
Posts: 108
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2011 3:35 pm
Contact:

Re: Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by GenkiPatton »

Thanks, rancor!

Quick namedrop and props: I've met Sak twice & he's the nicest guy you could hope to meet!
----------------------------------------
Homepage: http://www.nyu-media.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NyuMediaLtd
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nyumedia
----------------------------------------
User avatar
rancor
Posts: 2802
Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:33 pm
Location: Tokyo
Contact:

Re: Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by rancor »

GenkiPatton wrote:Thanks, rancor!

Quick namedrop and props: I've met Sak twice & he's the nicest guy you could hope to meet!
Hey! Thanks! :wink:

Not sure if you've seen the issue, but your website got a shoutout on page 153. There's a small box saying that Satazius is being ported by Capcom and released by Nyu-Media. Maybe you've seen an uptick in Japanese traffic lately?

Shooting Gameside #5 will be out at the end of this month, and you can bet that blackoak and myself will be devouring it and pushing out more translations for everyones enjoyment. 8)
User avatar
Moniker
Posts: 2149
Joined: Fri May 27, 2011 3:28 pm

Re: Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by Moniker »

Big thanks to rancor and blackoak for doing these translations. A lot of great interviews.

Astro Port is my favorite doujin outfit as well. So much goodness.
The freaks are rising through the floor.
Recommended XBLIG shmups.
Top 20 Doujin Shmups of ALL TIME.
User avatar
blackoak
Posts: 1066
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:43 am

Re: Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by blackoak »

Cool read... I like how often Zanac gets referenced by developers. Zanac Neo is my go-to "chill out" shmup lately. I haven't tried Satazius yet, but I've been meaning to. What are their other games like?

Can't wait for the Technosoft special in Shooting Gameside #5! 8)
shmuplations.com - translated game developer interviews and more
support shmuplations on patreon!
User avatar
BIL
Posts: 18991
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 12:39 pm
Location: COLONY

Re: Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by BIL »

Not a shooter, but Gigantic Army is one hell of an Assault Suits Valken tribute act. If making shit explode violently while stomping about in a mech sounds good, definitely give it a try!

I've not played most of their earlier games in-depth, but I like Meglilo The Witchborg for its ununusual time-stop mechanic and bizarre Radirgy-meets-Ibara style. Looks like the former, has a weapon system and explosive carnage like the latter. Have to pick up a copy at some point.
User avatar
Observer
Posts: 1516
Joined: Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:23 pm
Location: In a huge battleship

Re: Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by Observer »

BIL wrote:Not a shooter, but Gigantic Army is one hell of an Assault Suits Valken tribute act. If making shit explode violently while stomping about in a mech sounds good, definitely give it a try!

I've not played most of their earlier games in-depth, but I like Meglilo The Witchborg for its ununusual time-stop mechanic and bizarre Radirgy-meets-Ibara style. Looks like the former, has a weapon system and explosive carnage like the latter. Have to pick up a copy at some point.
Don't forget Armed Seven, the "prequel" to Gigantic Army in terms of manly mechs beating the crap out of each other.

But, yeah, Astro Port rocks!
Image
NOW REACHES THE FATAL ATTRACTION BE DESCRIBED AS "HELLSINKER". DECIDE DESTINATION.
User avatar
KAI
Posts: 4646
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2010 5:24 pm
Location: Joker Star Galaxy, Argentina
Contact:

Re: Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by KAI »

Sorry to ask you this here, do you have any intention of translating the Basiscape interview published on Shooting Gameside Magazine vol.1?
Image
User avatar
rancor
Posts: 2802
Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:33 pm
Location: Tokyo
Contact:

Re: Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by rancor »

KAI wrote:Sorry to ask you this here, do you have any intention of translating the Basiscape interview published on Shooting Gameside Magazine vol.1?
Hadn't planned on it as I'm not familiar with them. I'll take a look and see if it's interesting.
User avatar
KAI
Posts: 4646
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2010 5:24 pm
Location: Joker Star Galaxy, Argentina
Contact:

Re: Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by KAI »

Basiscape:
Manabu "Santaruru" Namiki (Garegga/Batraider/Dodonpachi DOJ-DFK-SDOJ/Ketsui/Deathsmiles/Mushihimesama)
Hitoshi "YmoH.S" Sakimoto (Soukyuugurentai/Radiant Silvergun/Batraider)
Masaharu "Rezon" Iwata (Mushihimesama/Magical Chase/Shippu mahou Daisakusen)
You don't need more info than that.
Image
User avatar
blackoak
Posts: 1066
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:43 am

Re: Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by blackoak »

I was planning to do that Basiscape interview set next actually, unless something more interesting comes up. It should go pretty quickly. I'm kneedeep in the Cave shooting history interviews at the moment, btw, and there's a long Namiki interview in there, too.
shmuplations.com - translated game developer interviews and more
support shmuplations on patreon!
armalyte
Posts: 26
Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2009 1:28 pm
Location: Germany

Re: Astro Port Interview Translation - Shooting Gameside #4

Post by armalyte »

Article and Video (german) about every game from Astro Port:

http://pixelor.de/astro-port/
Post Reply