Hellsinker: shoe-sama's favorite shmup since ChoRenSha 68k

[eight]

Thanks for the hint, but I get the same error message with or without Applocale and no matter from which folder I try it. =/ Seems like this game doesn't want me to play it.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I love the cool BGM tunes featured in this Hellsinker 2 demo, are they original or taken from various other shmup titles? (And if they're original, who composed them?)

And is there any way to listen to Hellsinker 2's BGM tunes as MP3s?

I like the very stylish fonts used, especially for the letter "S" in the main title's font style (very eye-catchy for some reason) -- some talented creativity went into creating those cool smaller font styles...I like it! ^_~

All those little extra touches/embellishments can help or break such a PC shmup title -- very well done... ^_~

I like how the two various montage designs are spinning at various rates and upon entering another colored section become a different color altogether -- when it gets to the scan-line section, it reminds me of the classic arcade shmup titles running on a traditional RGB monitor -- very cool effect indeed! The overall visual style on the main menu selection screen of this particular Hellsinker 2 demo reminds me of the cool "negative/positive" space values taught in art class (except to combine it with several images and to change colors "in real time & on the fly" is breathtaking). From an artist's viewpoint, makes me wish that arcade ports of shmups' main titles screens weren't so boring looking with their static screens and no animated special touches to differentiate from the competition... ^_~
Tis makes me wonder how this Hellsinker 2 would look if it was ported on specialized arcade hardware for Japanese game centers -- would indeed look dazzling! This demo is fucking ace all the way!..... ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Zeether]

Is there scoring in this game? It doesn't look like it...

[VanRaily]

I've been following this game for quite some time, and was quite happy to have the honor of buying it at C72. I just got around to installing it today, and I'm a bit puzzled.

You say that the C72 version is the full version of the game. However, the fourth character is not available for play. Does she have to be unlocked? The screenshots from the back of the package clearly show her being used. However, they also show other things that I've not seen in the game (such as a "Behind / Lead" option at the start of a stage, which can be seen at the game's C72 page). Am I missing something?

Also, is there any way to get more continues? So far I can only continue once, which is pretty harsh.

And PC Engine Fan, I agree with you completely about the game's visual style and music. Those two things were some of the main reasons I started (and continued) playing the game.

[Afterbirth]

I suspect the final character is available after completion of the game.

[bathroomrage]

I know this is an old topic, but I thought I'd reply with some things I've figured out.

1. Only Deadliar has the piercing shot.
2. With a full Luna meter, the aura that appears will damage anything it touches AND will erase bullets, turning them into powerups that slightly increase your Stella gauge.
3. As Mindgame, holding shot and using your subweapon when it's fully charged will create a zone on the screen that damages anything inside of it AND makes you invincible if you stay inside. Combining this with a charged main shot will essentially break the game.
4. With Deadliar selected, you can press your Bomb button to change the type of subweapon he has equipped.
5. Green stars raise your Stella level ALWAYS. Purple stars ALWAYS lower your Stells level.
6. The blue counter that appears when you let your Luna gauge stay at full too long is your Self Eclipse time. If you let it run out, you will "Self Eclipse", which causes two purple stars to appear on-screen.
7. Terra seems to give you a free Extend. I'm not sure exactly how to empty it, but it resets at the end of a stage and possibly with a Self Eclipse.
8. Again, all characters can create a bullet-eating aura if their Luna gauge is full just by not shooting.(You don't have it listed that Fossil Maiden can do this)
9. If you're close enough to an enemy, it will become Sealed. While an enemy has "Seal" over it, it won't ever shoot.
10. Running into enemies won't kill you, it simply bumps you away. This is awesome.
11. Can anyone who knows Japanese provide some translation as to what it says when you die at the Perpetual Calendar boss?(Stage 5's boss) I'm dying to know, because a lot in this game seems to involve its' storyline.

12. Deadliar's bomb is a spread of Sol shots, its' power is based on the Sol meter.

Fossil Maiden's bomb appears to be a shield of invulnerability.

Mindgame's bomb causes him to spin, spraying bullets in all eight directions and making him invulnerable. Duration is dependant on Sol meter.

[Dandy J]

Newest patch is 1008c: http://sanagimaru.nobody.jp/hs_c72_patch_1008c.exe

Also here's a Hellsinker uploader, which will probably have some replays for the new version soon: http://www3.uploader.jp/home/hellsinker/

[Dandy J]

Double post!

Hey, does anyone know how to do this stuff with Kagura?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdrQwZSMnGI

I even have a replay where he does these attacks, but Kagura is completely different from this when I use him. What's up with that?

[Macaw]

In the character select screen there is a button you can press to change the equipment of a character (only works for Dead Liar and Kagura)

Kagura has 4 different types of equipment. The most awesome is undeniably his 'Ecliptic Chariot' which is this huge armor attached to him that can also be unmounted and use independently (like the force in R-type)

[shoe-sama]

hay

why's my name in the topic?

i h8 doujins rofl

[Dandy J]

WATUP SHOE

Macaw, thanks a lot! I'll add that to the OP.

edit

Okay, added info for all of the equipment types and cleaned things up a bit. Next I'll add basic info for all the bombs, those seem pretty important from watching some replays.

[Zeether]

In the character select screen there is a button you can press to change the equipment of a character (only works for Dead Liar and Kagura)

Kagura has 4 different types of equipment. The most awesome is undeniably his 'Ecliptic Chariot' which is this huge armor attached to him that can also be unmounted and use independently (like the force in R-type)

More specifically like the dragons in Dragon Blaze

Which button is it?

[Dandy J]

Updated the OP with corrected and clarified descriptions for stella, spirit, jolly ranchers and tokens.

Which button is it?

It's pause. Not sure what that is on the keyboard layout, but you can set it in the controller config. I should add the keyboard layout to the OP.

edit - Re-updated with some of bathroomrage's stuff, thanks! BTW, the Luna gauge doesn't have to be full so have the aura available, and as far as I can tell, Fossil Maiden doesn't have a normal aura while idle. Are you using the latest version?

edit2 - Re-re-updated with some additional gameplay stuff. The OP is getting a little close to becoming a ST. :/

[Mischief Maker]

2 quick questions:

1. What is the default keyboard button for "slow?"

2. Does "Level" in the dipswitch menu correspond to difficulty? Do "Unplugged, Limited, Compressed, and Distorted" correspond to "Easy, Normal, Hard, and Lunatic?"

[Waddle Dee]

2 quick questions:

1. What is the default keyboard button for "slow?"

If you mean "slow" as in "reduce chara movement speed", hold down the shot button (Z). Also, different attacks may have different movement speeds. (e.g., Fossilmaiden's melee atack (hold shot+sub) moves faster than normal.)

2. Does "Level" in the dipswitch menu correspond to difficulty? Do "Unplugged, Limited, Compressed, and Distorted" correspond to "Easy, Normal, Hard, and Lunatic?"

I've never seen this take effect; certainly not in the main game. I think it's supposed to restrict the rank (Stella) levels to certain ranges for the practice mode.

[spelll]

So, are we clear on what unlocks Kagura (the fourth character)? Do you have to beat the game, or...?

[kozo]

Think you have to 1CC through Level 4. Then you can die or keep going, whatever - I think that's it.

[zendred]

I am really having issues with this game! why is it so difficult?

I don't even have the segment menu available because I think it has to be unlocked by getting thru s.4 on 1cc!

I am stuck forever at stage 2 with the onslaught of the UNNAMED horde of oval-shaped gold-colored enemies that come just before the GLORIOUS SYMBOL.

I am trying to get past the horde using FOSSIL MAIDEN set at momentary/5-lives/solidstate

It seems that when I have the blue aura, being hit by the horde doesn't kill me as fast, but sometimes I am only getting there by the skin of my teeth and I don't have enough lives to survive the hits!

I've survived the horde only about 3 times only then to succumb to GLORIOUS SYMBOL.

Right now, I just want to get past stage 4 so that I can get my unlockables! Can anyone offer some advice? I've watched the videos & my own replays.. my progress is painfully slow.

My current strategy has been to lower my max lives, kill everything in sight, & collect all the goodies I can to try to get immortality before I hit the horde, but so far that hasn't worked.

suggestions?

[Zaarock]

I've made a mac port "wrapper"(it doesn't include the actual game) using wine for hellsinker, it should work on any intel mac with osx 10.4-10.6

http://www.mediafire.com/file/m2kxodtjn ... kerMac.zip

What you need:

an original hellsinker folder, the trial should also work if it can be played with the dx9build.

You need to install the CXZ amethyst engine, it is the modified wine version that the application uses.
Download it here: http://www.mediafire.com/?mw25wntdegz

More detailed instructions in the readme, have fun


ps. I tested and optimized it on the lowest end intel mac there is (1st gen intel mac mini) and it ran a bit faster than a low end pc I had access to, so it should run great on any newer mac. PM me if it doesnt work as said in the readme!

[CptRansom]

Nice! Now make a port with scoring that makes sense, please. =( I WANT TO LOVE THIS GAME.

[Avatar Ignis]

Hey so i'm having some problems playing this game-

I use an xbox 360 controller to play shmups on my laptop. Whenever i try to play this game wit the xbox controller connected, the game goes awol with randomly moving the cursor at the select screen/my character during game. This problem does not happen if I just try to play it via keyboard, but in no way do i enjoy using a keyboard to play any game.

Anyone else have this problem? Any recommendations to fix it?

[jonny5]

Hey so i'm having some problems playing this game-

I use an xbox 360 controller to play shmups on my laptop. Whenever i try to play this game wit the xbox controller connected, the game goes awol with randomly moving the cursor at the select screen/my character during game. This problem does not happen if I just try to play it via keyboard, but in no way do i enjoy using a keyboard to play any game.

Anyone else have this problem? Any recommendations to fix it?

google xpadder...grab the free one from softpedia....

[Avatar Ignis]

quote]

google xpadder...grab the free one from softpedia....[/quote]

Thanks for the reply, i'll give it a try

[Mischief Maker]

2 quick questions:

1. What is the default keyboard button for "slow?"

If you mean "slow" as in "reduce chara movement speed", hold down the shot button (Z). Also, different attacks may have different movement speeds. (e.g., Fossilmaiden's melee atack (hold shot+sub) moves faster than normal.)

No, I mean if you're using "Momentary," alternate," or "triphase" for movement, what is the keyboard button to slow movement? Not automatic mode.

[Abadd]

I use a sega saturn USB controller to play this game and have set the slow buttons to the trigger buttons. Works twice as better than a keyboard.

Anywho, if you can follow the control set up guide posted here, you can assign the slow button to another key. All I know is that z corresponds to 1, x to 2, c to 3 and v to 4. After that, I dunno. My advice is to assign the shoot command to the key you want to find.

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... Hellsinker

I got a question of my own. How the heck do you get to the Last Boss (3) (and thus the True last Boss) from the Stage 8 boss using Minogame? I can't seem to do anything to fill the satisfaction bar. It seems to work like the Shrine of Regret, where certain attacks will actually decrease the satisfaction meter (like bombing, for instance)

[O. Van Bruce]

Hi again, maybe this will fix by itself or not but just in case, i'm gonna post my problems here...

- I play Hellsinker on a laptop and there the game locks the framerate at 50 fps. Dunno why and it's very strange because the game doesn't actually fluctuates the fps. it's just allways 50 fps. I've played other games with "lag" and they are allways jumping bettwen +5 -5 fps or more. So i was wondering if anyone knows a solution for this or has ever happened to then.

- Also, and what is more important, i've actually managed yesterday to beat the game completely, including THE UNNAMED 771. So, i rewatched my replay as happier as i can and trying to descipher all the "thoughts" that ran in the background I even saw it 4 times in just one night. I went to sleep, closed hellsinker , etc. This morning when i opnened again Hellsinker, THE "THOUGHTS" OF 771 WERE GONE! it wasn't on screen anymore during the replay. I tried to change settings and even redo the extra2 but the sentences were gone... AND NOW I'M DESPAIRING BECAUSE I WANTED TO MAKE A REPLAY/REVIEW OF HELLSINKER TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE FROM MY FORUM TO PLAY IT...

Any idea why this happens? any solution?

[Barrakketh]

- I play Hellsinker on a laptop and there the game locks the framerate at 50 fps. Dunno why and it's very strange because the game doesn't actually fluctuates the fps. it's just allways 50 fps. I've played other games with "lag" and they are allways jumping bettwen +5 -5 fps or more. So i was wondering if anyone knows a solution for this or has ever happened to then.
Any idea why this happens?

What is your refresh rate set to?

[O. Van Bruce]

Where do I see that?

[Barrakketh]

Display Settings -> Advanced -> Monitor.

Display Settings is probably in Personalization on Vista/Win7.

[O. Van Bruce]

Thanks a lot, that solved my problem. 50 Hz whenit should have been on 60Hz. Now the game properly works at 60 fps.

Now, the only thing that's left is that issue from the extra. Those sentences are only shown the first time you play the extra? anybody knows why does this happen.

Also, i've cleared the game, and both extras but the "MEMENTO" menu screen isn't selectable on the options plus the music box doesn't show. Does this mean i have to clear the game with ALL the characters and options to get those?