PC-Engine shmups

Darkfield · Post by **Darkfield** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:57 am

Hello, I purchased a PC-Engine Duo R last winter with Steam Hearts and a copy of Sapphire. I have recently had the uncontrollable craving for some new shooters on this system. I just placed an order for Super Raiden, but does anyone know any other good shooters for the PC-Engine( Hu card or CD) Thanks.

ccovell · Post by **ccovell** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:55 am

Here's a start:http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=11583

And you've looked through here, right? PCE HuCards and CD reviews

rolins · Post by **rolins** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:00 am

I recommend checking out the VGDen. It's one the best places for PC-Engine reviews & screenshots.

Darkfield · Post by **Darkfield** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:57 am

Thanks for the links. But are there any that you guys really think are woth playing. I have read quite a few reviews and saw alot of screen shots but maybe there is something that just cant be missed that some one here has played and thinks is totally awesome. I know Im interested in R-Type, Rayxanber III, Cotton, Star Parodier, Lords of Thunder, Gate of Thunder and some others. I just cant make up my mind. Most of these games are pretty expensive if I can find them.

rolins · Post by **rolins** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 4:25 am

A lot of PCE games are overly priced. How about trying Kyukyoku Tiger? It's one the best arcade ports and affordable. This one and Raiden are favorite games to play on the Turbo Express.

bVork · Post by **bVork** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 5:54 am

Kyukyoku Tiger's best port is in the PSX compilation Toaplan Shooting Battle 1.

Despite having a certain fondness for contemporary ports of arcade games, I can't really recommend it unless you plan on playing it with a PC Engine GT.

I made a similar topic about the best PCE shooters a while back when I bought my PCE Duo. The consensus was to track down Nexzr Special, Gate of Thunder, Lords of Thunder, Gunhed, Super Star Soldier, Final Soldier, and Soldier Blade.

I ended up getting most of those games and I can attest that they're all excellent. I suggest starting with Gate of Thunder - it's fairly cheap and the US version also includes Bonk 1 and 2. Nexzr Special is amazing but fairly pricey. You might want to hold off getting it until you find a great deal on it. The three Soldier games can be found for fair prices. I suggest Super Star Soldier followed by Soldier Blade. Gunhed is a little more expensive than the Soldier games, but still shouldn't break the bank. It's also a lot better than any of them.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:18 am

rolins wrote:A lot of PCE games are overly priced. How about trying Kyukyoku Tiger? It's one the best arcade ports and affordable.

Tatsujin/Truxton is more faithful - layout-wise - than KT on the PCE. KT's colors are more faithful on the PCE than on the Genesis, but the layout is all wierd and it's missing the explodable shacks for star bonus pickups at the beginning of the airfield at the end of the first level (for example).

I also can't really place the enemies - while the enemies in the Genesis port are about where they should be if they had half the screen to move in before you see them, the placement doesn't really seem to match up in the PCE version.

Oh, and the screen wipe is black now, for no good reason. (Unless this is Magic Engine's fault - don't have a real KT card to play with, unfortunately.)

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:03 am

Wow, a topic about PCE shmups, how long has it been since the last one, a week? Is the search broken?

About Kyukyoku Tiger:
I own all three KTs and in my opinion the PCE port feels closer to the original; it looks better, too. The Mega Drive's KT plays very differently (I have to admit though that ever since I got Toaplan Shooting Battle I've only played that; it's aracde perfect for all I know).

In case you don't have Shooting Battle for PS1 I suggest you buy Kyukyoku Tiger for PCE, you won't regret it.

rolins · Post by **rolins** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:20 am

Alright Ceph. Thanks for 1up to the pc-engine's KT. I happen to enjoy this port more so than playing it on mame or psx. The exception would be the FM-Towns port for the arrange soundtrack.

As for Tatsujin that game is one beautiful monster. Nice graphics & music, and extremely hard. IMO the game is harder than Rayxanber II.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:30 am

Rayxanber II is one of the most annoying shmups ever (due to low firepower), it feels like you are armed with a pea shooter. It could have been good if it wouldn't take dozens of shots to kill even the weakest enemies. Rayxanber III does it right.

bVork · Post by **bVork** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:35 am

Rayxanber III is also really, really, really expensive. Get if if you find it for cheap, but it really isn't worth the usually psychotic asking price.

jp · Post by jp » Thu Dec 14, 2006 11:33 am

Last I checked Rayxanber III cost like $100...

Edit:
Actually, its like, $60. Whats your definition of stupid expensive?

bVork · Post by **bVork** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:23 pm

My definition is $100+, and if Rayxanber 3 is sitting at $60, then it has dropped in price since I last checked.

mulletgeezer · Post by **mulletgeezer** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:30 pm

How about L-Dis? It never gets mentioned around these parts for some reason, but it's a worthy game, full of charm and challenge.

description and sample of the lovely stage 1 music here http://pcenginebible.roarvgm.com/HTML_Games/L-Dis.htm

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:37 pm

I checked out the Genesis/PCE Twin Cobra thing a bit more.

As usual, both have a unique interpretation of the levels. In some spots the Genesis version is closer (the airfield/tank park in level one is off in the PCE version), but in the second level the PCE version is (note that the first plane appears over the sea while you are approaching the battleship; in the Genesis version it shows up over the ship. There also is a disagreement about how many white planes appear; some versions have two, another has one.

The blue spread shot seems (and looks) pretty narrow in the PCE version, but it's appropriate given the width of the screen. The blue shot is much wider in the Genesis version, but you'll be forced to use it.

On default settings, the PCE version is much easier than the Genesis one (but the Genesis version is set to Hard).

Finally...it's been a while since I played the original via MAME. Wow, it looks incredible compared to the other versions. It seems to move along faster, and the weapon select gems cycle faster, too.

Short version:

Stage one seems more accurate in the Genesis version, layout-wise; stage two seems more accurate in the PCE version, but the layout is generally closer in the PCE version. Your milage will vary.

Post by **Ghegs** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:14 pm

mulletgeezer wrote:How about L-Dis? It never gets mentioned around these parts for some reason, but it's a worthy game, full of charm and challenge.

Lies, I try to mention it whenever appropiate. L-Dis is indeed one of the best PCE shmups and pretty cheap to boot. Get it.

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:44 pm

Ghegs wrote:
mulletgeezer wrote:How about L-Dis? It never gets mentioned around these parts for some reason, but it's a worthy game, full of charm and challenge.
Lies, I try to mention it whenever appropiate. L-Dis is indeed one of the best PCE shmups and pretty cheap to boot. Get it.

Listen to this man! I bought L-Dis solely because he kept mentioning it and I've never regretted my purchase.

Alec · Post by **Alec** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 7:14 pm

Gunhed and Gate of Thunder are absolute must own/must plays. Neither too expensive either. Get those 2 first.

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:16 pm

Alec wrote:Gunhed and Gate of Thunder are absolute must own/must plays. Neither too expensive either. Get those 2 first.

I haven't played Gate Of Thunder, but I can agree w/ Gunhed (aka Blazing Lazers) as a must-play. Also, obviously Lords of Thunder is an awesome game, though I've only played the SegaCD version.

scrilla4rella · Post by **scrilla4rella** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 4:46 am

Other then the games already mentioned, I can emphatically recommend: Hanatakdaka also known as Long Nose Demon. Very colorful and attractive Hori that has the player playing as a Tengu and fighting other critters from Japanese mythology

While not the best game ever Dragon Blaze has a strange appeal to me. Graphics are pretty janky but yoiu could get the gave for under $10.

sideshow · Post by **sideshow** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 5:14 am

You got to play Download 2 for CD. It has great cinemas, music, and the last boss is a big suprise.

Post by **Ghegs** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 11:57 am

scrilla4rella wrote:While not the best game ever Dragon Blaze has a strange appeal to me. Graphics are pretty janky but yoiu could get the gave for under $10.

I would guess you mean either Dragon Spirit or Dragon Saber here.

Darkfield · Post by **Darkfield** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 12:28 am

Wow thanks for all the replies. I just recieved Super Raiden in the mail and its awesome. Im a little spoiled from the rocket boost in Steam Hearts that my ship feels slow to dodge enemy fire but its a good game. I think I will order Gate of Thunder and maybe Soldier Blade. I really want to try Rayxanber III because from the screen shots I have seen it looks like some of the best graphics on the Engine, but new its like $150 and used its between $60 and $100. Still I will eventually have to buy it.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 12:35 am

Nexzr is better than Rayxanber III, so get that first. Also, don't forget about Spriggan.

sideshow · Post by **sideshow** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 3:07 am

I know there is so much titles being recommended and you really cant go wrong with Gates of Thunder, Lords of Thunder, Blazing Lazers, Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, etc.

Another great shooter which might fetch a lot of money like Sapphire is Sylphia. Sylphia is medieval fantasy vertical shooter and has quite a lot of detail in the environments. Its debateable whether Compile helped in making this game as the speed up bars are the exact same style that blazing Lazers has. I dont think its worth the money that it goes for much like Saphire but its worth checking out if you can.

Cotton for PCEngine is a great port that has probably the best music in comparison to all the other ports including the arcade version.

Psychic Storm is a easy shooter that has some terrific graphics and you can morph into different types of ships as you play. Easy but fun.

The PCEngine is loaded with shmups and a huge amount of them are recommendable. You have to watch out for crap titles though like Legion even though the game cover is awesome.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 10:19 am

sideshow wrote:Sylphia is medieval fantasy vertical shooter and has quite a lot of detail in the environments. Its debateable whether Compile helped in making this game

No, it's not. It was made entirely by Compile, and published by Tonkinhouse.
There are several Japanese websites with info on this; the Japanese Wikipedia entry for Compile also confirms it.

Unfortunately I just sold my second copy; good luck finding one. Great game indeed.

ccovell · Post by **ccovell** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 12:57 pm

Sylphia is a good game and a fun ride while it lasts. It's way too easy, however. If you have good reflexes, you can beat it on your first try.

It definitely is made by Compile; the palette fading routine during cinemas seems identical to Power Strike II's on the Game Gear [anorak mode off]

Eric Manch · Post by **Eric Manch** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 5:29 am

Before you mess around with anything else, buy Lords of Thunder (Winds of Thunder - JP). The music and level design still holds up to this day. I just played it again tonight.

Star Parodier is another fantastic game. The references to other Hudson games are great. On the whole, the game is a bit on the easy side.

AeroBlasters is a great side-scroller, far better than its Genesis/MD equivalent Air Buster. Another game that still looks great to this day.

Avoid R-Type I and II; while good for their time, there are far better ports available on other systems. Also, please note that on the PCE HuCards, R-Type I is actually R-Type PART I, meaning it contains only the first four levels of the game. R-Type II on HuCard has the last 4 levels. If you insist on owning R-Type on PCE, buy R-Type Complete on CD.