I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

[BIL]

6.6hz is the highest autofire rate you can have without affecting the rank. Trap15 (I believe?) has outlined how shot rates influence the rank here:

https://shmups.wiki/library/Gun_Frontier/Advanced_Rank

Holy fuck First-rate info, first-rate conversion Cheers bud!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

(You don't want to stay below that threshold all the time, though - give the bigger enemies hell.)

I recently 1CC'd this. Friend suggested I should play it, and I somehow got the clear just as I was about ready to give up and move on to something else. I used 20 hz auto, no regrets. It's aesthetically VERY cool but it's hard for the wrong reasons. The ship's slow as molasses with a shot that has no spread to it, and that feels very button mashy without autofire. Not a fun combo. Honestly, the slow ship speed and relatively larger hitbox makes it difficult whether you're at low or high rank, and the game is totally manageable at max rank (it doesn't become impossibly hard or anything). So yeah, from a practical standpoint I found the "don't use autofire or rank will kill you" was vastly exaggerated and the extra DPS helped a lot. You will find you can probably crank it up higher without issue.

I'm glad I beat it so I can move on to playing the much improved Gun Frontier 2, aka Metal Black, which has a wider shot with much more movement speed. <3

[Klatrymadon]

No problem! The link comes courtesy of a tweet by Plasmo.

BKR: Yeah, you're probably right! It's a game I've always instinctively tried to rank-control without necessarily feeling the run completely slip away from me if I fail to...

I really hope ACA Metal Black is in the pipeline. The Ray'z Arcade Chronology shows Saturn Tributes needn't be the death knell for good ports.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I've no doubt Metal Black's in the pipeline, especially if Gun Frontier was.

I didn't realize there were so many other things that impacted rank. I honestly did hoard bombs throughout the game, and it seems like that has a significant impact on rank. Optimally it looks like using 6.6 hz auto for stages and 30 hz for bosses is probably the best way to minimize the impact shooting rank has, but I haven't bothered trying this to see how much it reduces rank in a practical sense, or if rank will max out anyway simply by having lots of lives and bombs when you beat stages. Using bombs also raises rank, so that's not a solution, you basically would have to avoid collecting bomb items altogether which would rather spoil things.

[Sima Tuna]

Every Taito game that gets released by Hamster increases my Elevator Action Returns hype boner.

[BurlyHeart]

Based on recommendations here, I picked up Big Tournament Golf (aka Neo Turf Masters) and Shock Troopers.

I had a blast playing Shock Troopers last night. I can see myself putting in time on this one. The directional movement while shooting is a little tricky at first, as it is quite different to other run 'n guns. It looks, sounds and feels fantastic. And I love the different characters and ability to play as one or as a team.

Big Tournament Golf was fun....tho I don't quite the hype (at least not yet). My wife looked super interested in it tho, and I can foresee some future battles on the greens

Thank you all once again - I definitely was going to pick Metal Slug 5 and KOTM if not for your advice

[Sima Tuna]

Shock Troopers has perfect controls considering the limitations of older style consoles (pre-dual analog.) It's all very intuitive and feels right. Tap shot for Mercs movin-and-shootin', hold to strafe. Tap in melee range for a melee attack. Readjusting your aim is fast yet precise. I wish Pocky Reshrined had those controls tbh.

[Jeneki]

Today I learned: The western release of Gun Frontier has a teeny, tiny & symbol on the title screen. So it's called Gun & Frontier, and listed that way on the online store. Not sure why but this is highly amusing to me.

[BIL]

Based on recommendations here, I picked up Big Tournament Golf (aka Neo Turf Masters) and Shock Troopers.

I had a blast playing Shock Troopers last night. I can see myself putting in time on this one. The directional movement while shooting is a little tricky at first, as it is quite different to other run 'n guns. It looks, sounds and feels fantastic. And I love the different characters and ability to play as one or as a team.

Big Tournament Golf was fun....tho I don't quite the hype (at least not yet). My wife looked super interested in it tho, and I can foresee some future battles on the greens

Thank you all once again - I definitely was going to pick Metal Slug 5 and KOTM if not for your advice

Good times. Shock Troopers was always a favourite, but lately it's become a contender for my Desert Island ten. I'm never big on route select, being more Contra III than Hard Corps, but this has the same edge as Dracula X: Rondo - not only is the stage design consistent, and genuinely varied, but you can mix/match routes mid-credit, effectively a custom playlist. It really adds to the sense of authoritative trailblazing demolition. Then there's the character variety, and the starkly different LONLY WOLF (Engrish Is Essential ) vs TEAM BATTLE, the latter getting really nuts in 2P with six different troopers in play; all this over one of the smoothest-handling topdown run/guns ever.

The only knock I have is the scoring being a bit busted by timer milking - but honestly, I care about as much as I do with the Metal Slugs and their famously janky scoreplay. What's more, just like Slug, the actual mechanics - liberating armies of POWs, taking enemies down face-to-face - are still incredibly lucrative from pure survival/domination standpoint, which is what I go for.

DEM GRABZ

Spoiler

Yeah NTM/BTG is notoriously good at roping in onlookers, it's just a very inviting game I think. As with Slug's run-gun/STG roots, Nazca had racked up a ton of arcade golf experience at IREM by that point.

The 6.6hz autofire in ACA Gun Frontier is so good. Currently hosing down stages with it as Roo suggested, with 7.5hz (minor increase) for scenery chewing, and 30hz (you're askin' for it buddy! ) for boss takedowns. Although, GF being what it is, it's fun to prolong those showdowns a bit. I'd never really processed how goddamn nuts ST2's whole scene is, starting with that preposterously, joyously violent *DSHHH* as big hoss audibly punches through the cloud cover.

st2boss @ 6.6hz
st2boss @ 30hz

(I keep hearing Batwider's CHOP U erupt as the weather goes apeshit ). That's pretty badass, pardner! With the punishing explosions and hyper-detailed, metal-shearing destruction, a good time is assured either way.

Shock Troopers has perfect controls considering the limitations of older style consoles (pre-dual analog.) It's all very intuitive and feels right. Tap shot for Mercs movin-and-shootin', hold to strafe. Tap in melee range for a melee attack. Readjusting your aim is fast yet precise. I wish Pocky Reshrined had those controls tbh.

Plus a very sensible Metal Slug HMG-styled "sweet n' low" autofire ceiling - tap the button for a little more DPS while drilling hard targets, at the tradeoff of losing lockon. No need to mash! You get the max boost with just a leisurely "tap tap tap," super comfy.

Today I learned: The western release of Gun Frontier has a teeny, tiny & symbol on the title screen. So it's called Gun & Frontier, and listed that way on the online store. Not sure why but this is highly amusing to me.

I loved seeing that too! All these years, I figured it was just a lame typo from Taito Legends - but nope! Ampersand is L-L-L-LEGIT



I wonder if it was some obscure legal thing, ala Gun.Smoke's full stop? Maybe the Matsumoto manga had some presence in the West... hm.

[trap15]

There was some TV show with the name Gun Frontier trademarked iirc

[BIL]

Aha - makes sense. Can't swing a dead polecat without hittin' them thar Western IPs, as Capcom discovered a few years prior.

"The namesh Gun. Frontier Gun."

[Klatrymadon]

I haven't had a PS4 for long and have only started buying vertical ACA games recently, so apologies for the old-hat question, but is rotating the display not considered legal in the high score and caravan modes? My display options in hori games are always saved but the orientation keeps reverting back to yoko in GF...

[BIL]

Unfortunately yeah, that sounds about right. ACA's HS Mode has always been a bit of a joke... most of the time it's quite handy, but with some games you'll run into annoying hardcoding - like enforcing censorship and skinny res in Metal Slug 4 and 5, or yoko display for verts.

IMO, its main benefit is cheat-proofing runs to an extent, since pausing will force a reset. If it's a choice between minor sus and favoured display options, though? Fuck that, Original Mode all the way imo (especially in a game as inimitable as this one).

The mode could really use a sprucing-up, though I like to think of this as Hamster's equivalent of M2's glacial release schedule. They do try, it just takes years. (the front menus got noticeably snappier a while back, compared to 2014-19, and you can do once-unfathomable things like opting out of the online score entry, or submitting autofire-enabled scores, marked as "ON" accordingly)

[Klatrymadon]

Cheers, BIL! That's a bummer - rotating my 21" monitor isn't exactly giving me an unfair advantage.

Hamster are doing a stream with Takatsuna Senba in which they go through the design documents for Gun Frontier. I wish I understood a word because this is absolutely essential viewing.

https://youtu.be/b93CrO6CfPg

[BrianC]

Cheers, BIL! That's a bummer - rotating my 21" monitor isn't exactly giving me an unfair advantage.

Hamster are doing a stream with Takatsuna Senba in which they go through the design documents for Gun Frontier. I wish I understood a word because this is absolutely essential viewing.

https://youtu.be/b93CrO6CfPg

A couple ACA releases were revealed during the stream, as well. Metro Cross next week and Champion Wrestler on September 8.

[Steven]

Unfortunately yeah, that sounds about right. ACA's HS Mode has always been a bit of a joke... most of the time it's quite handy, but with some games you'll run into annoying hardcoding - like enforcing censorship and skinny res in Metal Slug 4 and 5, or yoko display for verts.

Uh... that's some disappointing stuff. Anything to be aware of that's like this? I just realized that the only vertical ACA games that I have are Thunder Dragon 2 and Fighting Hawk. Time to go check to see if they lets me rotate them. I'm guessing that most of this stuff is in the earlier releases, as they've been really good with the newer stuff. It's still really weird to have different controls in the main menu, though, where sometimes you have to press Options or + or whatever and then for some releases you can press anything because they figured out that it's better that way. Oh well. I've yet to encounter anything truly horrible so far.

Okay, yeah, both games let me rotate. My monitor doesn't rotate, so it doesn't really matter to me as of right now, but I have been thinking about getting a rotating monitor for some time.

[BIL]

At least on PS4, AFAIK, it's just how Hi Score mode deals with TATE, unfortunately. I just tried out Dragon Saber, the second most-recent vertical STG after Gun Frontier - same deal. Hi Score mode will carry over your filter settings from Original Mode, but it'll always enforce yoko, to accommodate the (rather chintzy) score table display.

Okay, yeah, both games let me rotate. My monitor doesn't rotate, so it doesn't really matter to me as of right now, but I have been thinking about getting a rotating monitor for some time.

Wait, do you mean in the Original Mode (the basic, vanilla "here's the arcade game" mode)? Yeah, every vertical ACA title I know of, going right back to 2014, lets you rotate the display in all four directions. It's just Hi Score mode where it insists you play in yoko.

EDIT1: Yep, Bombjack spinnin' just fine.

EDIT2: Haha, damn. Not just verts, but horizontal games, too, let you rotate. Ninja-kun is good to go as well. Might be a handy option to have, somewhere, I guess. I believe in overkill.

The only drawback of the very old (2014-15) releases is, a few of them don't let you switch the wallpaper to flat black. NBD, with it being hardly distracting anyway, but I always go for blackout where I can. Also, the older releases' menus are noticeably a little slower, compared to the lightning-quick snap of more recent ones.

There's also the odd older release that doesn't have a Hi Score mode at all, eg Rygar and Double Dragon. Even with those, though, they've received significant overhaulings since the earliest days of ACA. IIRC, it was with Bubble Bobble that they really started shaping up, with the existing lineup to that point getting lots of patches.

This still happens at present, recently most of Gotch's Konami STG releases (Gradius, Salamander, Thunder Cross et al) got new scanline options and input lag reduction, to bring them in line with the far more recent Switch releases. Akumajou Dracula even got the entire overseas Haunted Castle revision added (not that anyone should play that one lmao).

[Steven]

lol oops, I totally forgot high score mode even exists... too busy smashing that Options/+/O/A button to get in the game to notice that there's other shit on the main menu!

[DenimDemon]

Gunfrontier is now available on the eshop. Downloading…

[Klatrymadon]

Cheers, BIL! That's a bummer - rotating my 21" monitor isn't exactly giving me an unfair advantage.

Hamster are doing a stream with Takatsuna Senba in which they go through the design documents for Gun Frontier. I wish I understood a word because this is absolutely essential viewing.

https://youtu.be/b93CrO6CfPg

A couple ACA releases were revealed during the stream, as well. Metro Cross next week and Champion Wrestler on September 8.

Also a casually-produced bombshell: https://twitter.com/klatrymadon86/statu ... PZcIwzTUEA

[BIL]

God damn that's beautiful I guess there's Border Down, but still...

Enjoyed the stream earlier despite not knowing a lick of JP (other than picking out a gruff "bomba" and "bakudan" here and there ), it's just great seeing these guys with their materials. Really puts their craft into perspective, sketches of boss patterns and attack trajectories (like that tough-as-nails submarine midboss in Gun Frontier's third stage, bristling with viciously fast linear rockets). Saved it for posterity, on the off chance someone wants to translate it someday (or failing that, I get around to mastering a foreign language in my seventies )

I'd forgotten how letter-perfect the direction of Gun Frontier's fourth stage is, from the tranquil waters, to the windswept fields, and through the deserted main street - "Welcome" - a ghost town in the most lyrical sense, humming with absence. Where stage 2's airfield is a ripping feast of retribution, this place all but vanishes before the rolling carnage, before the uneasily hushed final scene obviates all trace of earthly warmth. Welcome, and goodbye, and Godspeed.

I wonder if Senba had worked with Fukumori before, or at least knew his work? He jokes about hand-picking him for fear Zuntata couldn't match his vision, but it seems downright uncanny how well their respective styles matched up here. Maybe I'm taking the story about the poor bastard having to hide in an elevator while watching game footage too literally.

[trap15]

I only can assume Fukumori was close on hand because he worked at a contractor company "Space Creative", which had been previously tapped by Taito for graphics and other work. Of course, his main body of work at the time was for Visco, but again that was under Space Creative. Taito was never any stranger to outsourcing work to the same places frequently, see long time associates VAP and Natsume

In general, Taito and Visco seemed to be somewhat tight, much like Taito and Seta (possibly similarly co-located and/or sharing origins?), so it wouldn't surprise me if Taito staff were very aware of what was coming out from Visco and had easy access to the same contractors.

[BIL]

That definitely sounds right - it'd have been one hell of a lucky pick, getting a soundtrack as singular as Gun Frontier's at random. Even before reading the rather callous n' brutal conditions Senba soldiered through to get this game done, it's apparent this was a passion project.

For a good decade or so, I'd assumed its OST was actually YACK's, a misconception I recalled after credit-feeding to the Good End last night (OGR gets a credit too, both under Sound Design). There's a lot of the same well-observed Morriconesques YACK uses in RunArk, but the chassis is decidedly rockier, in a wistful southern/country vein. That gorgeous refrain in Stage 4 / To The Wilderness sounds almost Allman Brothers/Bob Seger-esque hymnal.

(Welcome To Heaven, what an ice-cold boss trackname Reminds me of another sardonic favourite, Raiden III's Passing Pleasures)

I don't know how I never pieced together Natsume's longtime associations with Taito! Sometimes it feels like SFC Kiki and Ninja Warriors popped out of nowhere, but of course there's SMS Sagaia too.

[DenimDemon]

https://youtu.be/taVU3hv7kDU

From this video seems the fire rate makes quiet a difference…

[Rastan78]

https://youtu.be/taVU3hv7kDU

From this video seems the fire rate makes quiet a difference…

There really are a lot more French fries coming at you with 30hz.

[Steven]

Mmmmmm, delicious cancer-inducing French fries~

[Rastan78]

AKA lovely splendid chips

[BIL]

Fortunately the 4D Lizardmen (from Glasgow?) are colourblind, otherwise they'd have taken advantage of the dusty terrain and switched to the dreaded Garegga Rounds aka Skin-On Fries Golden brown and sizzling hot!

EDIT: Very nice 1CC by that same player!

[BrianC]

I got Gun Frontier on PS4 and played the JP version first and the music was different than I remembered. I tried the & version, and it sounds like I remember from Taito Legends. JP version seems to have better sound quality.

[DenimDemon]

Fortunately the 4D Lizardmen (from Glasgow?) are colourblind, otherwise they'd have taken advantage of the dusty terrain and switched to the dreaded Garegga Rounds aka Skin-On Fries Golden brown and sizzling hot!

EDIT: Very nice 1CC by that same player!

Yeah watches that one. The game is kicking my ass…