Salamander, Parodius, Twinbee Collections on PSP

Michaelm · Post by **Michaelm** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:00 am

Source http://gamefront.de/

Konami is working on PSP versions of :

Parodius Portable
Twinbee Portable
Salamander Portable

It's about time for a price reduction of the PSP I would think

Kaede · Post by **Kaede** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:10 am

Cool, all we need now is Sony to work on PSP's that actually let you move your ship in diagonals.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:17 am

XEXEX!!! Yessss!!!!!!

What might those secret games be? Probably Twinbee Rainbow Bell in the Twinbee pack and Paro Wars in the Paro Pack. But in the Salamnder collection? Thundercross 1 or 2? Trigon? NES Life Force?

Shocky · Post by **Shocky** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:12 pm

CIT wrote: But in the Salamnder collection? Thundercross 1 or 2? Trigon? NES Life Force?

They could port Salamander MSX version, which is very different from the original (it has different levels, secrets, tons of added weapons and stuff) and one of the most awesome shmups ever.

Dang.. These collection almost force me to buy a psp now.. just when I was starting to feel content with my DS lite and felt that I can live without the psp Gradius collection.

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 1:13 pm

The secret game in the Parodius collection could be Parodius MSX. I'd prefer that to Paro Wars, actually.

theevilfunkster · Post by **theevilfunkster** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:04 pm

Very cool but we are long overdue a new Parodius and Salamander game.

Xexyz · Post by **Xexyz** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:47 pm

I wonder if any of these besides the Salamander pack will see a U.S. release. Doesn't really matter though, seeing as handhelds are region free.

Post by **Icarus** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:52 pm

Did someone say XEXEX?
'cause I think I just heard someone say XEXEX.

What in the sweet Jesus is XEXEX doing packed in with Salamander? Is it even confirmed that its going to be bundled in? I'm getting "Hamster XEXEX port" vibes at the moment... -_-;;

UnscathedFlyingObject · Wed Oct 18, 2006 3:05 pm

That "new" in the title made me think there was going to be something new from them. Alas.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 4:13 pm

good news. sort of pissed i have to buy more stuff...

oh well one must deal.

Galaxius · Post by **Galaxius** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 4:49 pm

Great news. The Gradius Collection was top-knotch.

And Xexex yes.

bay · Post by **bay** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 5:42 pm

nice, finally something i'm going to buy for the PSP!

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 10:35 pm

Man, I really don't want to get a PSP. But if the Salamander and Parodius collections are released in the US, I don't know if I'll be able to resist any longer. This is great news.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 10:45 pm

All these collections are kind of cheap (litterally!!!) porting by Konami, considering the supposed compatibility of PSP with PSX at least (just the disc format being a hindrance). Its been announced already by Sony that there'll be many more other PSX games ported to the PSP (hey it's easy porting so why not use the massive back catalogue and do the same as Nintendo does).

It's commendable that they care to do so though and it's just utterly fantastic if they really make the effort of porting Xexex for the Salamander Collection (since they could easily make this one a sperate full release!).

And hey, if they can port Xexex for the Salamander pack, which seems odd indeed, they could just as well put in a Space Manbow port there as the (yet undisclosed) secret game!

If they do something like that I might actually remotely consider getting a PSP. Probably not though.

MSZ · Post by **MSZ** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:16 pm

DS who?

Limbrooke · Post by **Limbrooke** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:07 am

I heard that Hamster wasn't going through on Xexex due to this pack. Which bloody well stinks for anyone who doesn't own a PSP (myself included!).

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:28 am

Then it's bloody well time to get a PSP.

Limbrooke · Post by **Limbrooke** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:40 am

iatneH wrote:Then it's bloody well time to get a PSP.

I didn't think shmups had a comedy night...

Apart from a moderate interest in Xexex, I don't see the merits of buying a $200+ system which harbours barely any other interesting titles (warning, warning, OPINION). There's Ultimate Ghouls N Ghosts and that's all that immeadiately comes to mind.

Personally, not owning a GBA any longer puts me in a position to be more interested in DS.

Strider77 · Post by **Strider77** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:48 am

I have a DS!!!

I've got castlevania on the way to. I'm eager to try it out.

shinsage · Post by **shinsage** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:29 am

I wonder how Twinbee will work out, i.e. will it be mandatory to play the PSP sideways.

I'm interested in the reasoning behind Xexex's inclusion -- part of the Salamander/Gradius universe?

tviks · Post by **tviks** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 8:47 am

This is great but I'm getting pretty sick of companies giving us collections, ports, rerelases and remakes all the time of the games we already own and love. I want the new Gradius game damnit.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 1:51 pm

shinsage wrote:I'm interested in the reasoning behind Xexex's inclusion -- part of the Salamander/Gradius universe?

I'd guess they just needed to cram another game into that pack to give it the same amount of games as the other two packs, and it was about the closest fit to the "theme" that they could find.

BIG · Post by **BIG** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:17 pm

shinsage wrote:I wonder how Twinbee will work out, i.e. will it be mandatory to play the PSP sideways.

I'm interested in the reasoning behind Xexex's inclusion -- part of the Salamander/Gradius universe?

Damn if I know,but it's Xexex,so I ain't complaining!

B-

Post by **Icarus** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:23 pm

shinsage wrote:I'm interested in the reasoning behind Xexex's inclusion -- part of the Salamander/Gradius universe?

Xexex and Salamander have nothing to do with each other save being developed by Konami. So I would agree with BulletMagnet - included to fill up the numbers.

I would have preferred Xexex either as a PS2 standalone port or bundled with Thunder Cross and Thunder Cross 2, however. ;_;
I hope they don't completely mangle the port. That'd be reason enough for me to completely lose faith in Konami.

Soldato J · Post by **Soldato J** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:25 pm

Been dying to hear announcement of Paro collection....

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 1:51 am

Icarus wrote:I hope they don't completely mangle the port. That'd be reason enough for me to completely lose faith in Konami.

Most of their similar stuff like this in the past, to the best of my knowledge, has turned out pretty well...the Deluxe Packs were good on both Saturn and PS1, and most impressions of the PSP Gradius collection were good too, so if nothing else they have a pretty good track record when it comes to repackaging their old shooters.

Post by **Icarus** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 1:55 am

BulletMagnet wrote:Most of their similar stuff like this in the past, to the best of my knowledge, has turned out pretty well...the Deluxe Packs were good on both Saturn and PS1, and most impressions of the PSP Gradius collection were good too, so if nothing else they have a pretty good track record when it comes to repackaging their old shooters.

Those are a given, and they've been ported many times, giving them plenty of practice at doing it. This is Xexex we are talking about, a game that was meant to be ported to Super Famicom CD many moons ago, and then slated for PS2, and both have never materialised.

I'm a huge Xexex fan, and have the Japanese PCB. A portable Xexex for gaming on the go would be divine, but only if they don't screw it up.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 2:04 am

I don't know much about hardware or anything like that, but on this (rare) occasion I'd assume that they'll probably do a good job of porting Xexex as well as the rest. As for experience porting certain games and whatnot, again, I'm no expert on exactly how that works, but who knows how much of the staff from the Deluxe Pack era is even still there, and the Gradius PSP pack turned out well, regardless. Not like it matters to me a heckuva lot since I don't have a PSP, but I'd still say that the odds of a good port aren't too far-fetched. Of course, only time will tell for certain.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 6:46 pm

edit: Is the SHMUPs review for Xexex missing?

This is excellent news, indeed. The PSP has become a 2D compilation fan's dream. I also want to second that it'd be nice if the 5th games were the respective MSX ports or in Twinbee's case, Rainbow Bell Adventure as CIT said.

Xexex port is killer enough including NES/Fami LifeForce for the Salamander pack is icing. Would have been cool to have the NES and MSX ports on Gradius portable.

Anyways, looks like I will be broke in January.

Also, I agree it'd be nice to also have these on a home system (such as the scuttled Hamster PS2 port of Xexex) but I cannot believe some people are not more excited about this, especially after years of not just wanting Xexex itself, but just wanting better compilations in general from Konami who is finally stepping up to the plate. Possible emulation issues aside, now they just need to release big Capcom Classic style discs and they are all but redeemed IMHO.

PFG 9000 wrote:Man, I really don't want to get a PSP. But if the Salamander and Parodius collections are released in the US, I don't know if I'll be able to resist any longer. This is great news.

It plays imports, you know. My Gradius Portable import has almost zero Japanese escept for the manual.

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 5:14 am

CIT wrote:XEXEX!!! Yessss!!!!!!

What might those secret games be? Probably Twinbee Rainbow Bell in the Twinbee pack and Paro Wars in the Paro Pack. But in the Salamnder collection? Thundercross 1 or 2? Trigon? NES Life Force?

I wonder if the secret game in the Salamander pack may be Gradius V, since this didn't appear in the Gradius collection. I'm guessing the one in the TwinBee pack could be Polystars (from the 3DO M2 arcade system).