Gunhound EX: PSP sidescrolling mecha game from G.Rev

[Turrican]

I've heard of improvements on PSP games being played on Vita WRT the frame rate, and now am wondering if this would fix Ys: Ark of Napishtim's choppiness (so it would run as smooth as Falcom's own Felghana port if not better).

Come on, it's a screen. It can't make a racing horse out of a donkey.

[greg]

Guys, Gunhound EX is essentially a handjob to Masaya fans everywhere. If any of you are on the fence about buying this game, don't be. Just buy it. If you love Leynos and Valken, I guarantee that you will love Gunhound EX. If you aren't satisfied, maybe Skykid can give you a handjob instead.

I've only played up to the 3rd level so far. The training simulator levels are rather hard, I think, so after a while I just went straight into the game. (The second training level was the only one I couldn't get the hang of.) So far, the game does not have the same amount of weapon diversity, such as the flamethrower, laser beam, etc., but switching between the gatling gun/punch and the cannon/missiles is super fun. My only gripe is that I keep wanting to use a shield like in the other games. My other irrelevant gripe is that your character looks and dresses like a flunky from AKB48. But, such is the times, I guess, and long gone are the days when you could hope for a badass as your protagonist.

I bought mine for only 2500 on Amazon Japan. A game this cool for this cheap on the PSP should not be passed up.

Oh yeah, and speaking of Masaya, I've been working a bit off-and-on on the Masaya fan page. Which reminds me, I still need to scan some PC Engine covers for the site. http://stevethefish.net/masaya

[Skykid]

maybe Skykid can give you a handjob instead.

Happy to oblige.

I've got a huge hard-on for Masaya and Valken specifically, my favourite of their games. Someone buy me the Gunhound LE and I'll upgrade the favour to a blowjob with benefits.

[greg]

I'll add that the turrets with telescoping cannons in the first level of this game are straight out of the first level of Valken. Another minor gripe is that there doesn't seem to be many items for HP replenishment. Regardless, this is one kickass game!

[Ghegs]

Glad to see that other people will finally be able to play this, it's pretty sweet.

greg, I guess the PSP version's menus are completely in Japanese? Can you take a screenshot of the customization menu, my PC version has garbled text for some reason and it'd be nice if I could get it translated somehow.

[Koa Zo]

This game is essentially Assault Suits Valken 3 with a Thunder Force VII soundtrack.

[Ed Oscuro]

my PC version has garbled text for some reason

Just a random thought I picked up recently - did you try putting a file with a Japanese name on your desktop and rebooting? Windows 7 (not sure about Vista and XP) apparently loads fonts only on demand, so even with fonts enabled it can screw up sometimes. I assume you already know about "language for non-Unicode programs" and it wasn't that.

Hmm, that would be a significant incentive to get the PSP version though - not having to worry about text readability.

[greg]

greg, I guess the PSP version's menus are completely in Japanese? Can you take a screenshot of the customization menu, my PC version has garbled text for some reason and it'd be nice if I could get it translated somehow.

I'm all snuggly under my warm kotatsu table right now, so I'll take a pic later. For now, here's the translation:

weaponry:
Main shot (gatling gun)
Sub shot (secondary weapon)
Anti-air main (the badass cannon)
Anti-air sub (missiles)

mecha:
Base (I only have default now)
Armor (again, only the default so far)

Select

[Ghegs]

my PC version has garbled text for some reason

Just a random thought I picked up recently - did you try putting a file with a Japanese name on your desktop and rebooting? Windows 7 (not sure about Vista and XP) apparently loads fonts only on demand, so even with fonts enabled it can screw up sometimes. I assume you already know about "language for non-Unicode programs" and it wasn't that.

Hmm, that would be a significant incentive to get the PSP version though - not having to worry about text readability.

That's the weird thing, the original Gunhound displays Japanese characters just fine, but Gunhound EX doesn't. But I'll give that file-on-desktop -trick a shot. It's not like it matters much, the really important parts are in English anyway, you just have to do some trial-and-error experimenting with the setting menus and it's not like I would understand the story anyway.

weaponry:
Main shot (gatling gun)
Sub shot (secondary weapon)
Anti-air main (the badass cannon)
Anti-air sub (missiles)

mecha:
Base (I only have default now)
Armor (again, only the default so far)

Thanks, that's really all I wanted to know right there.

[Ed Oscuro]

my PC version has garbled text for some reason

Just a random thought I picked up recently - did you try putting a file with a Japanese name on your desktop and rebooting? Windows 7 (not sure about Vista and XP) apparently loads fonts only on demand, so even with fonts enabled it can screw up sometimes. I assume you already know about "language for non-Unicode programs" and it wasn't that.

Hmm, that would be a significant incentive to get the PSP version though - not having to worry about text readability.

That's the weird thing, the original Gunhound displays Japanese characters just fine, but Gunhound EX doesn't. But I'll give that file-on-desktop -trick a shot. It's not like it matters much, the really important parts are in English anyway, you just have to do some trial-and-error experimenting with the setting menus and it's not like I would understand the story anyway.

If you can view Jananese fonts in Windows already, this fix won't do anything (at least not during the session).

[Turrican]

This game is essentially Assault Suits Valken 3 with a Thunder Force VII soundtrack.

don't wake me, i'm in heaven

[KAI]

May I ask for the tracklist of the PERFECT SOUNDTRACK?

[DocHauser]

May I ask for the tracklist of the PERFECT SOUNDTRACK?

[KAI]

Many thanks DocHauser.

[Friendly]

Guess what just arrived:

Thanks again for the P-A discount code, Koa Zo!

I'm going to transfer the iso to my PS Vita (via eCFW); can't beat that d-pad and OLED screen.

[Skykid]

I'm going to transfer the iso to my PS Vita (via eCFW); can't beat that d-pad and OLED screen.

/ADVERT

Anyone else got a spare PA coupon going? Would be much obliged. I figure I'll order it from there since they're located on my doorstep.

[Friendly]

This would look better on a Vita. I'm spoiled, once you play PS1/PSP games on your Vita it is hard to go back to your PSP.

I can now confirm that it does

[undamned]

Guess what just arrived:

Nice. Greg has been telling me of it's wonders and offered to pick me up one
-ud

[evil_ash_xero]

Hrmmm! I'm gonna have to take a look at this one. I'll do that in about...mmm....20 minutes or less.

If it's good, I'll buy it.

[evil_ash_xero]

There's a big gunship on mission 4(I think). Once I blow off it's guns and engines, what do I do? I can't figure it out.

[KAI]

Go to the middle of the ship and jump inside it.

[evil_ash_xero]

Actually, I pressed select, and it made my guy drop some stuff off his suit. Then, he was able to jump higher, and jumped on the nose of the ship.

I wish there was a English patch for this. There is a lot of dialogue going on.

The game's pretty damn good. How many missions does it have?

[KAI]

5, missions 3 and 5 are divided in two parts.

[evil_ash_xero]

Wow, that's too short. I was hoping it would be longer.

Is it still available on PC? I can't seem to find it. I ordered it for my PSP though.

[Skykid]

I wish there was a English patch for this. There is a lot of dialogue going on.

Does any of the text hinder the actual gaming or is it pure action? (As in, there are no multiple choice questions or anything?)

[boagman]

I wish there was a English patch for this. There is a lot of dialogue going on.

Does any of the text hinder the actual gaming or is it pure action? (As in, there are no multiple choice questions or anything?)

Ugh, can you imagine how tedious a pure action game or shooter would be with Quick Time Events? Of course, now that I've written it down/said it out loud, *some* idiot out there will do it, just because it'd be "different".

[evil_ash_xero]

I wish there was a English patch for this. There is a lot of dialogue going on.

Does any of the text hinder the actual gaming or is it pure action? (As in, there are no multiple choice questions or anything?)

Well, it does stop the game(pauses in action while they talk). And it's obvious that it's telling you to "protect the ship" or whatever. No multiple choices thus far.

[evil_ash_xero]

So, this game actually has me interested in the games that inspired it.

Which game do you guys think is superior- Assault Suit Leynos 2 or Gun Hazard?

Gun Hazard is easy to get the ROM for, but ASL2 would take some importing.

[Skykid]

So, this game actually has me interested in the games that inspired it.

Which game do you guys think is superior- Assault Suit Leynos 2 or Gun Hazard?

Valken.

[Zaarock]

Yeah, Gun Hazard is basically a Valken ripoff fused with a JRPG but the gameplay stages aren't as polished. Fun game though, definitely worth playing.