PC Engine shmups recommendation

[sunburstbasser]

The whole respawn/checkpoint thing in Blazing Soldier is easy to manipulate. Every time you get a powerup that cycles through the different weapons, shoot it for a while. It'll turn into a flashing item that eliminates enemies and grants you an instant respawn. The games all give far more of those cycling powerups than lives. The only reason not to turn them into respawns is to make the game more challenging.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Aldynes is a Super Grafx card, not a PCE one.

sigh

Thanks for the recommendations, so far I have added R-Type I & II, Daisenpu and non shmup Legend of Valkyrie to my purchase list. I'm a bit skeptic on the Hudson's Star Soldier series, afraid it might end up like Image Fight which I really couldn't enjoy one bit.

you may as well edit your post and change everything but "love it" to "aged"

After doing a bit more browsing, I have came across "Summer Carnival" versions of some shmups. What are those?

it's a bit confusing. in that era there were "Caravan"/"Carnival" competitions with the 2 minute and 5 minute modes in some games. naxat had their own called "Summer Carnival", which is made of the following (note that aside from Recca these are all PCECD games):

1. Seirei Senshi Spriggan (wasn't badged like the others but was used for Summer Carnival '91)
2. Summer Carnival '92: Alzadick
3. Summer Carnival '92: Recca (Famicom game)
4. Summer Carnival '93: Nexzr Special (a different release from the original Nexzr with the cutscenes removed and the Carnival levels added)

"Caravan", on the other hand, typically applies to Hudson's games, e.g. the Star Soldier series.

spriggan is bad as nearly all compile games are, do not waste your time with them

What's interesting about that Compile produced PC Engine CD-Rom2 game of Spriggan, if you have an Arcade Duo Card inserted into the Hu-Card slot of a typical PC Engine Duo/Duo-R/Duo-RX or even a U.S. region Turbo Duo variant console, it'll speed up the gameplay and animations much faster. Try it out for yourself and see.

As for the Caravan shmup titles, there were only four of them made by Hudson Soft for special competitions throughout Japan back in the day:

1.) Gunhed - Special Version Hu-Card
2.) Super Star Soldier - Special Version Hu-Card
3.) Soldier Blade - Special Version Hu-Card
4.) Final Soldier - Special Version Hu-Card

The average price of any Caravan Shmup Hu-Card will be in the $195-$200+ range easily. No accompanying dedicated Hu-Card CD case nor any original PCE paperworks accompany such Caravan Hu-Cards though. That's a given.

As for the TTI version of Magical Chase (considered the holy grail of TG-16 Hu-Card collecting), plan on spending in the neighborhood of $1,400-$1,500+ USD for one in super mint condition complete with original TTI box and all accompanying paperworks. Of course, if you can get a JPN region version of MC for around $140.00-$200.00 USD, that's the going rate for that particular original version of MC. There was a time when U.S. Toys-R-Us stores were selling brand new copies of MC for a mere $19.99 USD back in early 1994 but those days are long gone. I should know as I've seen them selling at that attractive & very affordable pricepoint during those days. The mail-order based business known as Turbo Zone Direct (that specialized in selling new TG-16 and Duo games) also sold new copies of the TTI version of MC at their asking price of $39.99 USD back in 1994 and into 1995.

Hint-hint: If you check your local U.S. based pawn shops, it's possible to buy the TTI MC Hu-Card on the cheap for mere pennies on the dollar. Sure, it just may be a barebones Hu-Card by itself but can be resold for a really nice profit on the secondary TG-16 collector's market.

Only once, did I see a complete used copy of TTI MC for sale in the spring of 1995 but never again after that. At the time, when the TTI MC first arrived at retail, it actually, got a very limited retail distribution. I never did see TTI MC stocked at the local specialized gaming stores like Baggage's, Electronic Boutique, Funcoland, Software Etc, etc. but only at Toys-R-Us. Go figure.

Sure, it's best to buy a professionally produced repro of Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire (with accompanying paperworks) if you don't want to spend upwards in the three figure range for an original copy. Or if you really want to be cheap, just burn a CD-Rom copy of Sapphire and give it a spin to see whether if you like it or not.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Despatche]

I dunno if I'd pay too much for Daisenpu, unless you tried it on emu and fell in love with it. I thought it wasn't nearly up to Toaplan's usual standards myself, though it does have a couple interesting gameplay ideas.

the thing is that daisenpuu fits in too well with toaplan's standards for most people to stomach. it's more of a sequel to hishouzame than same! same! same! will ever be, so if you like hishou at all... etc. obviously i'm not talking about conversions, nor should i!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Give the Super CD-Rom2 shmup title of "God Panic!" a spin...it's got a Parodius type of vibe with that wacky Japanese flavor to it (albiet it's a verizontal shmup title at best). It surely doesn't take itself too seriously like with some of the hard-core PCE shmup titles that have been produced.

With the PCE Arcade CD-Rom2 shmup title of Sapphire, it does feature some cool rendered enemy sprites and end-stage bosses to marvel at.

Would it be possible to make a fully-rendered CG shmup title with tate on the PCE platform (with it's given hardware limitations)?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[sunburstbasser]

The PCE was designed to be pretty easy to program and develop for. You'd need someone who really knows their way through the system, but at the very least a tate game could be made. It would basically be a hori with rotated controls, perhaps with the option to play as a standard hori. Making a game with both standard and rotated options is a bit harder. Full pre-rendered CG ala Sapphire is unlikely.

You might ask this guy what the feasibility of a tate shmup on PCE would be, even as just a proof of concept.

http://pcedev.wordpress.com/

[trap15]

Doing tate isn't some magical and difficult thing like most people seem to make it sound. It's just a matter of rotating the graphical assets and essentially programming the sprite/bg X and Y coordinates swapped. Tate can be achieved on any platform.

Full pre-rendered CG is a possibility as well, due to the nature of the PCE's graphics chip.

[gundamalpha]

Added Blazing Lazers to my purchase list.

Kinda off topic here but what are some good games that is cheaper on the Turbo Grafx than on the PC Engine? I know Ninja Spirit is one but that remains a myth to me since all the copies I have seen are more expensive than the Japanese versions.

[louisg]

Added Blazing Lazers to my purchase list.

Kinda off topic here but what are some good games that is cheaper on the Turbo Grafx than on the PC Engine? I know Ninja Spirit is one but that remains a myth to me since all the copies I have seen are more expensive than the Japanese versions.

Bloody Wolf! I also really like Alien Crush, and Galaga '90 is seriously not to be missed if you like scoot 'n shoot games at all. It's seriously amped up from the 1982 release with dimension warps, bosses, the triple-ship powerup, and even some simple scrolling bits. None of it feels very out-of-place, which is a feat.

I'm not sure what the prices are doing anymore. Looking on eBay, though, I do see Ninja Spirit from $3 to $15. Are you sure where you're looking is accurate?

[gundamalpha]

No such luck since many of them only ships within the US

[louisg]

No such luck since many of them only ships within the US

Ahh yeah, that would complicate things

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Another cheaper alternative to play the TTI version of Magical Chase (or even the original Japanese PCE version of MC) is to pick up an PC Engine Flash cart, upload the rom to it, and play it on the real PCE hardware. Or pick up an Turbografx Everdrive flash cart and you're good to go in that department. Plus using an TG-16 Everdrive flash cart (with support up to a 32GB MicroSDHC card -- which is plently more than enough space for all them PCE Hu-Cards roms and then some) negates the need to have a multi-region modded PC Engine/Core/Duo/etc. setup since you can play all TG-16 Hu-Card games on those respective platforms easily.

Alas, it's nice to have access to a real TTI MC Hu-Card though just for posterity.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[CIT]

Best PCE-exclusive shooters IMO:

Coryoon
Gate of Thunder
Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire
Gunhed
Image Fight II
Magical Chase
Nexzr / Nexzr Special
PC Denjin
Rayxanber III
Seirei Senshi Spriggan
Soldier Blade
Super Star Soldier
Star Parodier
Sylphia
Winds of Thunder

You can't go wrong with any of these, although some of them will run you an arm and a leg.

There are also several dozen ports of arcade games, some of which are very nice (Gradius II, Salamander, Kyuukyoku Tiger, etc.) but in many cases there are now other versions available that are more "arcade perfect".

[PC Engine Fan X!]

What's interesting about Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire, it offers simultaneous two player capability from the get-go. Of course, that'd entail using a second PCE controller & multi-tap/turbo tap to pull it off successfully.

PCE Sapphire Factoid: If you try to boot-up Sapphire without an Arcade Card Duo or Arcade Card Pro setup, you'll get a cool screen saying that it needs one to play it.

TTI's prototype Fanasty Star Soldier, a Super CD-Rom2 shmup title, was supposed to be released in the USA but for some reason, it never was (the only difference is the all-English text and new main title screen). It's available as a downloadable CD iso if it piques your interest in it. It's original Japanese PC Engine counterpart, Star Parodier, is a great shmup in it's own right.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~