New Triangle Service STG for X360 in 2014: Gamecenter Love

[CRP]

Yesasia
http://www.yesasia.com/global/ga-sen-lo ... /info.html

[Special World]

on the plus side, this is destined to be one of the 360's rarest titles

[Pretas]

Is it known if the limited edition has any extras besides the OST? A second run of Trizeal hachimaki would almost be tempting enough.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Here's an older thread with some info and links to gameplay videos for the arcade release: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=40125

I just had a brief look at the videos. Here is one that gives a glimpse at all modes of the game. It turns out that the STG skills test is only a small part of the package:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwi2-sfgiCs

Here's a long video showcasing the STG skills test:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKWKMVI8yJo

The inclusion of the 80s arcade game Pengo is puzzling.

It looks like the two power rangers are having a jerk off competition on a fence in the first video.

[spl]

Is there any word if this will be region free?? Super hyped for Pengo! I hope it supports online play!

[trap15]

Elixir posted on Twitter that he emailed them and they said it is indeed region free.

[spl]

Elixir posted on Twitter that he emailed them and they said it is indeed region free.

Excellent news.

[ACSeraph]

Bumped for great justice!

So, while I was out today I tried Combat Zeal at the arcade for the first time. That game... is really really fun. It looks super old school visually, but don't fool yourself into thinking it's a random collection of minishmups, it really isn't. I only had time for a little bit of play before the Guilty Gear players took over though.

So basically it has 5 stages, like most shmups, but you choose which one you want to do. All of them have their own theme and play a bit differently, but your ship is always the same. Like for example, there's a meteor stage which is pretty standard shmup fare, but then there's also a stage called 8-bit where you fight super oldschool style enemies. Another stage gave you a powerup bar that works like the one in Gradius, and there was also a boss stage. What's weird about it though is you don't have the standard 3 lives, when you die, the stage is over and you get to choose another stage. The stages seem to get harder the longer you survive in them, like the 8-bit stage started easy, but got really rough because I managed to survive quite a long time, it didn't end until I died. When I did the meteor stage I didn't die, but I was passively avoiding the meteors right before it ended so I think you have to keep up a certain kill rate to keep going. In the boss stage every time I killed a boss part the boss got harder until it was totally brutal. I'm not sure if the stage ends when you kill the boss since I failed to do so. In my case after 3 stages the game ended, but I'm not sure if good performance allows you to do all 5. In any case it was damn good fun, not really a survival game exactly, seems to be all about score. But damn is it ever good at doing what it does, don't write it off because of the simplistic oldschool vibe it gives off.

[Pretas]

Hmmm, I may have to give this a chance after all, and Fujino needs all the support he can get. From a cursory examination, CombatZeal looks like a paltry alternate version of Shmups Skill Test, but I'm definitely interested if it isn't. I also know a couple people who would be interested in trying the local multiplayer.

[Mero]

In my case after 3 stages the game ended, but I'm not sure if good performance allows you to do all 5. I

I've linked this vid on here a few times before but here's a video of a single player CombatZeal run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLmAQMy3ZQg

There is a time limit in effect if you can survive long enough, in this run the player doesn't die and scores over a million. Judging from this vid the game ends after 3 stages no matter what but bear in mind that this video is quite old and I know that Ge-Sen Love has had at least one revision since it came out in 2012.

[Mero]

This has been postponed, until the 24th of April

http://triangleservice.co.jp/

For reasons of wanting the product to be "better quality"

[BPzeBanshee]

That kinda sucks, but better late with perfection than now with quality issues.

Gives everyone more time to scrape some money to buy it in the meantime I guess.

[Pretas]

That kinda sucks, but better late with perfection than now with quality issues.

Statements like this mean considerably less in an age of patches. Still, it's better to avoid problems at launch to maintain a good reputation, and this isn't exactly a must-play title that anyone's eagerly anticipating.

[NeoStrayCat]

So they delayed right next to Bullet Soul: Infinite Burst (they even released their previous title 10th Aniv. right next to Saidaioujou too.)

Ironic, isn't it. =/

[BPzeBanshee]

Statements like this mean considerably less in an age of patches. Still, it's better to avoid problems at launch to maintain a good reputation, and this isn't exactly a must-play title that anyone's eagerly anticipating.

This is true, if there were any outstanding bugs he could just patch later. But based on prior knowledge and reading of this forum I get the impression that Fujino isn't exactly the type to do post-game patches. Certainly more than one person sent emails about the bug in 10th Anniversary to no avail, and I recall some folks saying there were some bugs in 200X as well [citation needed].

[Pretas]

It may have been because he didn't want to pay the cost of patching, but Microsoft no longer charges for 360 patches.

[BPzeBanshee]

I thought of this as well and mentioned it in the message I sent some time ago about 10th Anniversary's replay deletion bug, but perhaps it didn't get through Google Translate very well, or like my previous theory he'd rather the disc be the "final" product. Oh well.

[pestro87]

I had to pre-order this when I heard that Pengo was included. In all seriousness though, CombatZeal looks pretty cool. Thanks for posting your impressions on it, ACSeraph.

[colour_thief]

I've also pre-ordered this. Pestro, we need to finally meet/play multiplayer Pengo when this gets released!

[pestro87]

Definitely! That would be awesome B-)

[ACSeraph]

Soooo...

I played a bit more combat zeal a few days ago, and have some new things to share.

But more importantly first off, I scored a copy of 200x for like 2000yen and played Shmups Skill Test for the first time. I recall some people being worried about Combat Zeal being another pile of minigames ala SST. Well... after playing SST I can say that if you don't like the basic feel of SST you won't like Combat Zeal. Personally though I think SST is like the best thing ever. Combat Zeal looks and plays similarly except with 5 standard long-ish levels that you choose between rather than the random and sometimes short stages of SST.

Beyond the somewhat more standard single player experience, it seems like the big draw of Combat Zeal is that it is a versus shmup, something I hadn't realized since my friends don't play these games. Basically Combat Zeal is a versus shmup based on SST. In the versus mode, you fight through the same stages, but you are competing for score while also trying to kill each other. The focus here seems to be more on score and less on killing the other player Twinkle Star Sprites style though. Basically you each have your own screen, but you are fighting the same enemies. If you kill something before your opponent it explodes into suicide bullets on their screen. So basically you are trying to speed kill things before the other player in order to get the points for yourself, while also dealing with and dealing out the suicide spreads. It seems like a pretty awesome concept to me, a bit more in line with the interests of hardcore shmup players than Twinkle Star Sprites. The only problem is whether you will have anyone to actually play it with.

So basically, if you have a friend to play it with you absolutely should buy this game, it seems like one of the most compelling versus shmups I've ever seen. If you don't have anyone to play with but you like SST, you'll like this too even in it's standard single player format. If you however have no friends to play it with and didn't like SST you are A: a terrible person, and B: probably won't enjoy Combat Zeal.

[Mero]

No wonder the game's been delayed for a month, they needed the extra time to make this new cover



There's a new LE cover too which features the bird in a different pose.

This and Bullet Soul: Infinite Burst will be my first 360 purchases since I bought SDOJ and XII Stag/DeltaZeal over a year ago.

GET HYPE

[armalyte]

There's a new LE cover too which features the bird in a different pose.

http://pixelor.de/forum/board12-videosp ... /#post9166

[Phellan Wolf]

I love Fujino, it is all about Pengo isn't it???
Really the guy who chose the cover is freaking awesome. I find it cute and retro at the same time

[Kollision]

that's just ridiculous
what's next, an angry birds mock-up?

[trap15]

What? The bird is Pengo. Entirely relevant to the package, and honestly pretty awesome.

[Kollision]

yeah I know pengo
however I'd rather have a bill-sienkiewicz-in-his-prime incomprehensible badass spaceship drawing than a fuckin' stupid bird on the cover of my new shmup

this gives me the phalanx creepzzz

[Pretas]

So what warranted the CERO B rating?

[BPzeBanshee]

Power Rangers beating eachother up, I suppose?

[trap15]

I imagine Pengo is the main selling point on the package, which is probably why it's the cover. At least it's not some frilly girl, right?