An Einhander question

dtdg · Post by **dtdg** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 6:38 am

How rare is this game? I heard from there are about 2,500 copies in existance. Is this true?

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 7:05 am

Well, the game had commercial releases in both Japan AND the United States, that should already make it more common than any Shooter only released in Japan. I bet you there are at least 70000 Einhänders in the world. Even though demand for the game is very high, it should never cost you more than $35 max, so that means it's rather common.

AOTD3025 · Post by **AOTD3025** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 7:19 am

If you're hunting for a copy, there are two places that you might want to try:

Though they might not put the things out on display anymore, you might still be able to score a used copy of Einhander at a Gamestop. Just ask if they've got any PS1 games lying around that you could sift through.

You'll probably find copies of it on E-Bay as well. Hell, I did a search just now and I saw few copies. As for what they'll be selling for, the Buy it Now prices range from $28 to $40.

Hope this helps.

-AOTD3025

AntiPasta · Post by **AntiPasta** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 10:22 am

Yeah, a friend of mine in the US got one at his local Gamestop for $30, in complete condition (manual has some minor water damage though)

And a year later I found one in Japan for 200 yen

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 4:03 pm

Yeah, in my experience Einhander's not too hard to find...it's a bit more "in demand" than a lot of domestic shooters, so it'll cost you some more than, say, Philosoma, but if you can fork out 30-40 bucks you should be able to get ahold of it...if you want a lower price you may hafta search and wait awhile.

cdawg4949 · Post by **cdawg4949** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:43 am

I found mine at a flea market for $5 but it was a little scrateched...turns out I didn't like it very much. I kept trying to give it a chance but it seemed more like work than fun...sold it.

-CODY-

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 11:29 am

BulletMagnet wrote:Yeah, in my experience Einhander's not too hard to find...it's a bit more "in demand" than a lot of domestic shooters, so it'll cost you some more than, say, Philosoma, but if you can fork out 30-40 bucks you should be able to get ahold of it...if you want a lower price you may hafta search and wait awhile.

Well, the problem is this game (Einhander) don't worth $30 to 40.

IMO there is tons of PSOne shooter which could got at $30 to 40 which are much better than Einhander:

Gradius Gaiden
Raiden Project/DX
S1945 I or II
Sonic Wing
R-types / R-Type Delta
Raycrysis & Rayforce
G-Darius
(and all of them cost less than $25)

If Einhander is sold around $15 to $25, I may consider.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:57 pm

SAM wrote:IMO there is tons of PSOne shooter which could got at $30 to 40 which are much better than Einhander:

Gradius Gaiden
Raiden Project/DX
S1945 I or II
Sonic Wing
R-types / R-Type Delta
Raycrysis & Rayforce
G-Darius

If it is around $15 to $25, I may consider.

Okay, well, this is largely a matter of personal taste. To me Einhander is the single best shmup one can get for the PS1, but if you prefer R-Type Delta, Gradius Gaiden or Raiden DX, that's all totally legitimate.

But seriously, you just cannot tell me that you actually think Raycrisis and Raystorm (which is what I assume you meant, as Rayforce was only released on Saturn) are better than Einhänder. I'm sorry, but those games are just waaay too lame.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 6:25 pm

Seven Force wrote:[ I'm sorry, but those games are just waaay too lame.

Cunning argument! I'd add that comparing an hori to a vert (or pseudo-vert) is also pretty smart, yes.So,Seriously, if someone doesn't agree with you, it can't be serious,can he? I hope you're willing to rephrase your post in a bit more open-minded way, but i don't want to deny you the right to make random comparisons, of course!

At any case, Einhander (sorry for the lack of umlaut) is usually around 40$, about 30$ with some luck.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 6:41 pm

Hey, I'm not the one who started comparing horis with verts in this thread!

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 7:48 pm

Seven Force wrote:Hey, I'm not the one who started comparing horis with verts in this thread!

Ok, but let's say that, seriously or not, let's not take apples and oranges together (this is a suggestion to SAM as well, of course). another thing that i noticed: in case someone wants to OST (which i happen to find superb), it's relatively cheap, usually about 25$. Champs_Des_pines often has a copy of it.

ROBOTRON · Post by **ROBOTRON** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 12:51 am

Einhander is a masterpiece and is certainly worth buying at inflated ebay prices.

Post by **Icarus** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 12:57 am

Randorama wrote:another thing that i noticed: in case someone wants to OST (which i happen to find superb), it's relatively cheap, usually about 25$. Champs_Des_pines often has a copy of it.

I saw an Einhander OST go for about $150 or thereabouts on eBay a few months ago. Good thing I got mine from YAJ for about $25 ^_^

Einhander is easily one of the best on the PSX. While some might not like its stylings, and yes, its pacing is a bit slow, it's got some killer setpieces, great gameplay, and is one of the most challenging games I've ever played.

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 2:39 am

Icarus wrote:Einhander is easily one of the best on the PSX. While some might not like its stylings, and yes, its pacing is a bit slow, it's got some killer setpieces, great gameplay, and is one of the most challenging games I've ever played.

That's the complet opposite of my impression on Einhander. (Puzzled

) Usually even I do not like a game, I could still feel it is great.

But Einhander had never give me the impression that it is good. May be I had spent too little time with it and I discarded it too soon.

I would revaluate Einhander again next time when I play horizontal shmups see how I would ranks it amoung these games.

Gradius Gaiden
Gradius Deluex Pack
Parodius Deluex Pack
Talking Parodius
Sexy Parodius
Cotton Orginal / Cotton 100%
Harmful Park
R-Types / R-Type Delta
X-Mutiply
G Darius
Darius Gaiden
In The Hunt
Thunder Force V
Salamander Deluxe Pack

SAM's Einhander Ranking Changes:
[Worst PSOne Hori Shmups] -> [Ranking Pending]

superhitachi4 · Post by **superhitachi4** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 4:07 am

hehe this is starting to turn into a war.

All the games you guys mentioned are pretty good. I don't even compare games most of the time. When you do that, you sometimes skip over a real gem. Anyway, grab Einhander if you can. I bought my import copy shortly after it was released, and I still play it now and then. Great game.

AOTD3025 · Post by **AOTD3025** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 6:11 pm

SAM wrote:That's the complet opposite of my impression on Einhander. (Puzzled ) Usually even I do not like a game, I could still feel it is great. But Einhander had never give me the impression that it is good. May be I had spent too little time with it and I discarded it too soon.

Alot of people have a bit of a problem with the pod switching, especially with the Endymion Mk. II (three horizontal, one vertical); I knew somebody once who just wouldn't fly the Endymion Mk. II because of this. Oddly enough, he tended to fly the Astrea Mk. I (two vertical) which, at least from my experience, is the harder fighter to fly.

Anyway, a number of people have said that they didn't like Einhander too much until they figured out how to fly the Endymion Mk. II. Once they got used to the 3/1 pod-switching, the game really shined for them. I myself found the Endymion Mk. III (one vertical, and supposed to be the easiest fighter to fly) to be too restrictive with its single gunpod after flying the Mk. II for a while.

Of course, I could be a bit biased

-AOTD3025

Pshooter · Post by **Pshooter** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 6:17 pm

Einhander is 24.99 at Gamestop, you can you to gamestop.com and search by your zip code for inventory, there is one location in my area that has the game in stock. I am always thinking of getting this game, but i always hear contradicting opinions about it (like in this thread!).

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 10:26 pm

Well, you could always snag it and keep it if you like it, but if you don't just return it within the time limit and get all yer money back: free rental!

AOTD3025 · Post by **AOTD3025** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 11:22 pm

Pshooter wrote:Einhander is 24.99 at Gamestop, you can you to gamestop.com and search by your zip code for inventory, there is one location in my area that has the game in stock. I am always thinking of getting this game, but i always hear contradicting opinions about it (like in this thread!).

Well, here's why I think Einhander turns so many people off: it's got an unusually high learning curve for a shmup. I mean, you need to deal with:

-12 different weapons, some of which behave differently depending on its orientation. Wasps are the most extreme, with both homing and dumb-fire modes.

-ammunition count for all but your default weapon that you always have. I don't know of any other horizontal shmups where you have to worry about that. The only ones that I know of for the vertical shmups are Ikaruga in experimental mode (I think it's called) and that old PC shmup Tyrian 2000, where your option side weapons have a limited but always recharging ammo count.

-If you're flying the Endymion Mk. II, you have to worry about three different pods, and having the state of mind to switch to the right pod in the middle of battle can be difficult at times.

-If you're flying the Astraea Mk. I, you have to worry about not only which weapons you pick up, but where you pick it up (top or bottom).

All of the above have to be done in the middle of combat, and that can be a real strain at times if you're new to Einhander. You really do have to play for a while before you start to appreciate this admittedly complex weapons-handling system.

Of course, the default control settings may also be throwing some people off; I always had to change it to something more usable myself.

-AOTD3025

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 4:11 pm

BulletMagnet wrote:Well, you could always snag it and keep it if you like it, but if you don't just return it within the time limit and get all yer money back: free rental!

Is this a regular Gamestop policy? With a CD burner and a modded PS1, this could be a beautiful, albeit unethical, thing.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 9:27 pm

Heh, I've been able to return a few games I bought there and get all my money back, but in my case all of them didn't work quite right, so I at least had an excuse...I'm not sure if they have a "no questions asked" policy within a few days or anything like that; you could always stop in and ask.

Pshooter · Post by **Pshooter** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 10:41 pm

is Einhander pretty chaotic? (like games like G Darius can be, where you basically close your eyes and prey you won't get hit). With the weapon/ammo managing, I would hope it wouldnt be ?

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 11:43 pm

AOTD3025 wrote:-If you're flying the Endymion Mk. II, you have to worry about three different pods, and having the state of mind to switch to the right pod in the middle of battle can be difficult at times.

It's not really any different from playing the Thunder Force series or Axelay.

Post by **Icarus** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 12:03 am

Kiken wrote:
AOTD3025 wrote:-If you're flying the Endymion Mk. II, you have to worry about three different pods, and having the state of mind to switch to the right pod in the middle of battle can be difficult at times.
It's not really any different from playing the Thunder Force series or Axelay.

The only difference being that you can accidentally replace one of your useful Gunpods with a Hedgehog or Mosquito at the most inopportune time ^_-

J5983 · Post by **J5983** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 12:50 am

Pshooter wrote:is Einhander pretty chaotic? (like games like G Darius can be, where you basically close your eyes and prey you won't get hit). With the weapon/ammo managing, I would hope it wouldnt be ?

Only in a few select places. The rest of it is more about preparing yourself, I feel. Realistically, on Normal, all the bosses before 5 die too fast to be tough, if you're not playing empty gunpod mode. 6 is nasty, though.

This is one of the few games that feature large enemies who try and strike you, which is pretty cool. It can be pretty crazy since it mixes up your reactions.

AOTD3025 · Post by **AOTD3025** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 1:26 am

J5983 wrote:
Pshooter wrote:is Einhander pretty chaotic? (like games like G Darius can be, where you basically close your eyes and prey you won't get hit). With the weapon/ammo managing, I would hope it wouldnt be ?
Only in a few select places. The rest of it is more about preparing yourself, I feel. Realistically, on Normal, all the bosses before 5 die too fast to be tough, if you're not playing empty gunpod mode. 6 is nasty, though.

This is one of the few games that feature large enemies who try and strike you, which is pretty cool. It can be pretty crazy since it mixes up your reactions.

Then there's the first half of L7 . . .

-AOTD3025

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 5:59 am

Icarus wrote: The only difference being that you can accidentally replace one of your useful Gunpods with a Hedgehog or Mosquito at the most inopportune time ^_-

Actually, I've found the Hedgehog quite useful.. you just have to be willing to point-blank a target to get the most out of it.

J5983 · Post by **J5983** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 9:01 am

AOTD3025 wrote:
Then there's the first half of L7 . . .

-AOTD3025

Really? It's pretty easy if you don't care about points.

AOTD3025 · Post by **AOTD3025** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 3:07 pm

Dunno . . . I've always found that part to be total chaos myself. Of course, trying to grab all those pods probably isn't helping matters much >_<

-AOTD3025

Dartagnan1083 · Post by **Dartagnan1083** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:42 pm

I got a complete copy for $10 and I still feel ripped off

Honestly though, don't spend too much on it.
It's nice enough, but not worth more than $30