Improved framerate/speed w/ PC Engine CD-Rom2 of Spriggan...

[PC Engine Fan X!]

If you have access to either an optional NEC Arcade Duo Card or the Arcade CD-Rom2 Card variant on the various PC Engine gaming platforms (i.e. CD-Rom2, PC Engine Duo/Duo-R/Duo-RX, Supergrafx or even the classic USA region Turbo Duo console), upon booting up the classic PC Engine CD-Rom2 Spriggan shmup will have an improved overall framerate + speed (not just for the actual game itself but it applies to the opening intro as well). The opening intro loads much faster and has a faster arcade-spec like feel to it. I like the subtle reference to the "Five Star Stories" movie with it's two pilot setup (main pilot and co-pilot) tribute with the Spriggan mecha suit. The additional 16 megabits of RAM sure does work wonders for this Spriggan game indeed.

FYI: if using a plain vanilla unmodded Turbo Duo setup, it'll require the use of an Hu-Card convertor or Kisado convertor with said Arcade Duo Card just to play 'em Arcade CDs -- it's a known fact.

I'm quite sure that the developer of Spriggan really didn't anticipate such a faster framerate upgrade would benefit such a shmup title like Spriggan but it there for the taking.

My only little niggle is that NEC didn't include built-in Arcade Card FW from the get-go (they could've easily incorporated it from within the console itself despite including a single PC-FX stylized gamepad to get the ball rolling with PCE Arcade CDs). Both NEC & Hudson Soft were wise to have Duo-RX console buyers buy into the venerable Arcade CD-Rom2 software upgrade with it's original MSRP of 17,800 yen pricepoint back in 1994. Only a grand total of thirteen Arcade CD-Rom2 games were released though including the highly regarded "Ginga Fukei Densetu Sapphire" shmup title.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Obiwanshinobi]

I wonder if Ootake benefits from this enhancement by default.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I think it's by trial and error of finding out exactly what classic PCE CD-Rom2 based games or shmup titles that'd greatly take advantage of the extra RAM like with Spriggan does (even though it was never official documented/acknowledged by NEC themselves). This is certainly one of the benefits of owing the real PCE hardware over emulation in this rare case of improving upon a well-known PCE shmup title.

Is that PCE game of Ootake a plain CD-Rom2 game as well?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[xbl0x180]

I cannot find either card for sale - the converter card, nor the arcade card

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The Hu-Card convertor or Kisado ones appear from time to time on eBay...just gotta keep looking around. Or could bite the bullet and pay through the nose by picking up an PCE Duo/Duo-R/Duo-RX with said Arcade Duo Card setup -- a much more expensive but well-worth it proposition/solution.

Or the sensibile alternative is to scour on YAJ for an Arcade Duo Card upgrade.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Obiwanshinobi]

Ootake is just a very good PCE (CD, Duo and all flavours I believe) emulator for the PC. Perhaps my question doesn't make much sense in a thread about playing on real hardware.

[sunburstbasser]

Interesting. I have a Japanese Duo, but no Arcade system games or card. I'll pick up the card for sure now. Maybe it'll work with the Darius games or Gate of Thunder?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I did try the Arcade Duo card with all three listed games of Super Darius, Super Darius II & Gate of Thunder = framerate and overall speed still remains the same with the built-in Super CD-Rom2 FW setup (despite Arcade Card placed inside the Duo's Hu-Card slot).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[sunburstbasser]

That's too bad. I would have liked seeing those games get a boost.

Have you found any other games, shmup or otherwise, that the Arcade card effects?

[Jack Burton]

I did try the Arcade Duo card with all three listed games of Super Darius, Super Darius II & Gate of Thunder = framerate and overall speed still remains the same with the built-in Super CD-Rom2 FW setup (despite Arcade Card placed inside the Duo's Hu-Card slot).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Thanks for this!!!! I was surprised it actually works.

I tried some more games with no success. (Gradius II, Super Darius 1/2, Space Fantasy Zone) I'll probably try some more tonight.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

It's quite something, especially on the real PCE hardware with a handy Arcade Card. Thanks for confirming that Spriggan works on your Duo setup, Jack. I stumbled upon this PCE Spriggan speed up boost on accident & it worked out for the best.

It'll probably be a hit or miss that another PCE CD-based shmup title will take advantage of an Arcade Card's extra RAM though. There are still plently to check throughly with the huge back catalog of PCE shmups. Some games that NEC released were released as a Super CD-Rom2 title but do have the Arcade Card compatible label distinction to show that they'll take advantage of the extra RAM easily for better overall graphical presentation (i.e. 3x3 Eyes).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[sunburstbasser]

With Spriggan being a Compile game, maybe their other games will work? I believe Sylphia was made by Compile, though it is pretty hard to get a hold of.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I'll give that Super CD-Rom2 title of Sylphia a spin with the ol' Arcade Duo Card & see if it improves the overall framerate/speed. Tis a shame that no high score chart nor any ability to save such high scores with the Duo's built-in RAM memory manager with this Sylphia shmup title though. everthing is lost upon powering down the Duo for the night...so it's recommended to take some JPEG pics for posterity/proof of such Sylphia high scores indeed.

Shall report back on my findings.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[GhostSeed]

Wow! that's pretty cool about Spriggan. Hopefully there are some other undocumented games that support this.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I don't think NEC nor Hudson Soft knew about the cool Spriggan increased speed boost with an Arcade Card upgrade when it was first released back in 1994 (unless it was already mentioned in some of the indy Japanese BBS sites dedicated to PCE gaming back in the early 1990s..can't be certain for sure though). Of course, Spriggan was already a three year old shmup title by then. It certainly is a nice bonus for the owners of the real PCE Duo variant consoles nevertheless in 2012.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The verdict on Compile's Sylphia shmup title with an Arcade Card remains unchanged. Interesting to point out that, in-game, the main character is spelled "Silphia" instead.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[chadti99]

I just played through the entire game without the Arcade card last night, tried the arcade tonight after finding this post and I could tell no difference in intro load or game speed, at least on first level.

[Strider77]

I didn't either

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Did you try comparing the overall framespeed on the opening intro of Spriggan with and without said Arcade Card Duo?

I'm using an PC Engine Duo-RX variant console setup if that helps. Will report if this is the case or not on a U.S. region unmodded "plain-vanilla" Turbo Duo setup with a Hu-Card convertor setup.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Strider77]

I'll try again... I have a RX also.

[nosorrow]

Do the stages load faster? (After beating a boss, the screen freezes for a second or two before loading the following stage.) I'm considering buying this for my Duo-R - it would only be for use with Spriggan as I have no real interest in Sapphire and whatnot.

[nosorrow]

Ok, I've tried this, with and without the Arcade Card (on my Duo-R) and I can't see any difference. Intro and first stage seem to run exactly the same.