Choosing between Shienryu and Soukyugurentai (SAT) ?

[parallaxscroll2]

I've got a choice to get either Soukyugurentai / Terra Diver or Shienryu for Saturn -- What is the better game?

[beatsgo]

Soukyugurentai, simply a great game. Plus it's Raizing

[SePh1r0tH]

Both games are awesome, really tough to choose. Souky is cheaper so maybe start with that. Shienryu isn't too pricey either.

[man9child]

Shienryu plays kind of like Raiden. Soukyugurentai plays kind of like Layer Section/Galactic Attack. Don't know if that helps.

Also I don't know if you tate your screen or not, but if you don't, Shienryu will be letterboxed because it's a true vert and Souky will be full screen because it's "vertizontal".

[parallaxscroll2]

Shienryu plays kind of like Raiden. Soukyugurentai plays kind of like Layer Section/Galactic Attack. Don't know if that helps.

Also I don't know if you tate your screen or not, but if you don't, Shienryu will be letterboxed because it's a true vert and Souky will be full screen because it's "vertizontal".

I prefer Layer Section /Galactic Attack so it seems I will be going with Soukyugurentai.

I do tate my screen so that won't be a problem.

[HydrogLox]

I prefer Layer Section /Galactic Attack so it seems I will be going with Soukyugurentai.

If you intend to play it on a non-japanese Saturn you may want to look for the "Soukyugurentai Otokuyo" version - which had the half-baked attempt at (English) localization stripped out. An Action Replay bypasses the region lock but it doesn't change the region reported by the console - which in turn unleashes the unfinished localization (from the arcade code) of the original "Soukyugurentai" release on non-japanese Saturns. Playing the original "Soukyugurentai" on a japanese Saturn doesn't run into this problem regardless of the presence of an Action Replay cartridge as the English localization is never triggered.

[Ed Oscuro]

Shienryu plays kind of like Raiden.

Daioh, more precisely!

[EmperorIng]

The garbled English is not that bad in the regular Soukyogurentai though.

Just know that if you get the normal version, don't press any buttons during the take-off scene (only lasts a few seconds)! It will glitch the screen up!

I like actually that I can kind of know what's happening in the game with the little bit of English text - poorly-translated, as well!
The epilogue with its goofiness makes it all worth it.

Then again I love Engrish in my games.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Shienryu has a seemingly perfect PS2 port (240p, TATE), whereas Souky for the PSX is lacklustre. Hence the latter is more efficient choice of a Saturn game. PS2 is going to be cheap to replace for years to come. Saturn, on the other hand...

[SuperSoaker360]

Soukyugurentai because the game is badass.

[moh]

BATSUGUN

[Kollision]

Both are excellent and will give you plenty of fun and challenge.
They are very different from each other, so whatever you choose is fine. Later on you can get the other one. However, if you go for Souky try to get the Otokuyo release.

[RaidenViper]

Hyper Duel!

[TransatlanticFoe]

The regular version is fine through an Action Replay cart as long as you wait out the launch sequence at the start. You get garbled text as the bosses approach but other text is translated.

You can't play the score attack/practice levels though, they always glitch up with grids overlaid everywhere.

Also a good opportunity to post the translation of the menu:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_inlHSSFzNsI/S ... i_menu.jpg

I thought Shienryu had boring weapons and that pretty much killed my interest in it. Like Garegga, I occasionally come back to the arcade version to see whether it's worth picking up for the Saturn. Each time I do, I'm convinced I've made the right decision.

[Despatche]

you never really have a choice; get both

[null1024]

Say, is there an Action Replay code that forces Souky to think the game is on a JP Saturn? I mean, it's not just a region bypasser.

Just curious, only ever played PS1 Soukyugurentai, what's the issue with that version? Not sure if I should pick up the Saturn version, it's ~$50 on eBay.

[Ed Oscuro]

Souky is a ST-V game originally, and the ST-V and Saturn share most of the same hardware. It's hard to get more accurate than that.

[Despatche]

Just curious, only ever played PS1 Soukyugurentai, what's the issue with that version? Not sure if I should pick up the Saturn version, it's ~$50 on eBay.

there's no "issue", it's just a port from its native system to one that's not, so it doesn't run like it should

in exchange that yellow ship was added

[MrChiggins]

So Shienryu is good? It was always one of those games I just assumed was bad after watching some footage.

[MrChiggins]

*and for the record I enjoy Raiden

[BulletMagnet]

Shienryu's not bad; not the sort of shmup that has people going "oh god play it right now it'll change your life" but you shoot things and they blow up nicely, heh.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I thought Shienryu had boring weapons and that pretty much killed my interest in it.

I doubt the emulation is nearly as good as the PS2 port, but for what it's worth I found those pounding rockets pretty awesome (see, I like pulse weapons that give shmups some distinct rhythm) and the lightning weapon is effectively the Raiden's bishop laser, just looking differetly (although I think it's rooted in Compile shmups, particulary GunHed). It's a game of Fun Weapons™, if not very challenging early stages. Possibly most Fun Weapons™ to grace an ST-V shmup before Guardian Force and Radiant Silvergun rocked that horsie.

[louisg]

Shienryu isn't bad, but it plays like a fan tribute to Raiden and, in later levels, Truxton. The shot patterns are mostly uninspired, and the music and sound frankly terrible although the graphics are nice. It's not quite as tight as Raiden in any department, but I'd say it's decent. I bought it, played it a few times, and shelved it. I'd be up for selling it actually.

Soukyugurentai, on the other hand, is awesome, if you can get past the "don't collect vulcan powerups" flaw (both ranking and a really obvious probability-based oversight). The stage design is varied, well-paced, and interesting. The bosses are all distinct and have unique strategies needed to beat them-- probably some of my favorite shmup bosses. The mood of the game overall is very dramatic, kind of like Ikaruga, and has a lot of memorable moments.

There are a couple severe difficulty spikes in the game (imo: st3 boss, and st5). Souky does have a little bit of a "too many useless weapons to select" problem as a lot of the webs seem pretty useless against the incoming enemies in later levels. It is also a little more pre-rendery looking than Shienryu, but is richer in detail. But overall, it's one of my favorite shooters.

Aren't both of these ST-V native?

[BIL]

Yep, both STV native and hence both perfect SS ports.

[futurematt5]

They are both A1 titles for the Saturn, so your choice is one of those win wins that life throws up now and then. Neither is that pricey as others have pointed out, so you won't be disappointed either way.

Shienryu has more of an old school arcade feel, with superb sprite handling and parallax, but feels a bit too easy on the early levels (and suffers from two out of the three weapons being MARMITE (translation: love em or hate em).

Souky is out and out gorge to look out and features loads of sprite scaling, parallax and graphical effects (3D skyscrapers for example). But it is badass difficult and can annoy. And it's Yoko not Tate (my only gripe, too much width, no enough length).

Both of these stand up there with Layer Section (Galactic Attack in the US / UK) as the best of the best, value for money wise (not forgetting Gunbird which is cute).

I've done reviews on all these games on my youtube channel linked below and which come up pretty high on a google video search for either game.

www.youtube.com/user/futurematt5

[Shatterhand]

I like Shienryu more than Souky. Souky is a pretty good game too. I don't think either of them is OH MY GOD AMAZINGLY GOOD, but both are solid shmups which will give you lots of fun.

Shienryu feels slower and more methodic and old school (Like in a Raiden/Truxton way, as it has been said), while Souky is a little more frantic and it has a score system.

In the end it's really up to what kind of game you like the more. I personally prefer oldschool shmups, so I prefer Shienryu (I *really* like Shienryu).

The letterbox mode in Shienryu looks bad though. The game does't draw 1/4 of the lines so the whole screen fits. This makes the sprites look squished. At least you really have all screen to move your ship, unlike Donpachi and Dodonpachi in the yoko mode, where enemies point-blank at you merciless.

[gct]

Shienryu feels slower and more methodic and old school (Like in a Raiden/Truxton way, as it has been said), while Souky is a little more frantic and it has a score system.

You need to pick up every speed up item in Shienryu, game goes nuts. Or maybe it just felt like that because I suck. Really fun game though, I think it's one of those cases where watching footage is not so exciting, but it is enjoyable to play.

Neither of these games is very expensive, are they? Why not get both. I think I even had them both on ST-V at one point, and they weren't very expensive there either.

[Ed Oscuro]

Nah, it's not just you - the game goes outta control if you're picking up powerups after max power (possibly other items as well, not sure; I think it's been discussed here before).

[jepjepjep]

I haven't played Shienryu you can't go wrong with Souky. It's a great game.

[dpful]

I'd get bored with souky before shienryu. I think they're both masterpieces in their own ways-- soukyugurentai too fast, hard and light feeling, but excellent fast paced presentation.
Shienryu a little slow at first, and straight-forward for scoring, but just excellent REDO of an older school style. I LOVE the music and sound. Some of my fav tunes. If you love the panoramic drama of raiden (2, the graphics are wonderful), and the compulsive hacking away and respawning of truxton, you'll totally fall in love with shienryu. You'll have both eventually, surely.