After having Einhander in my library for almost 5 years now, I finally took it off the shelf last night and beat it. It took me close to 2 hours, but it was worth every minute. I remember when I first played the game it didn't appeal to me that much (god knows why). But now that I've completed it, I can say without any hesitation that this one of the finest horizontal shmups I've ever played, on any console. I probably would've completed it sooner had I not died so easily the first few tries. Getting used to the hitbox around that weird-shaped ship took me a while. And the bosses......fuggedaboudit! This game has some of the biggest bosses I've ever seen. Especially in the very last level where you apparently commit high treason and are forced to battle it out with your own comrades in space. ...an unforgettable experience.
Einhander is the Shmup that brought me back into Shmups. The funny thing is that when I bought it two years ago, I didn't know that it was a Shmup. I bought it in an impulse because I read a Gamespot article denoting it as one of the greatest games ever. I came upon the game a fair Sunday evening when I was checking a Gamestop's bunch of used PS games. It was hung on a carton case at the end of a line of sports games crying out to me to pick it up from the filth. It was too powerful to resist, even though it was a disk-only copy for 30. When I got home, I fired it up in a hurry, wondering if I had been ripped off. I fell in love with it from the very beginning. My jaw dropped when I saw the Einhander speeding up into the city, and when I stole my first Vulcan from an enemy ship, I couldn't help but say cool. My excitement topped when I saw the first boss. The german voices, the robot's dancing, and the slightly diagonal perspective was the most impressive thing I had seen after months of playing just RPGs.
And the rest is history. I don't even play RPGs anymore. I'm an action guy now.
"Sooo, what was it that you consider a 'good salary' for a man to make?"
"They should at least make 100K to have a good life"
...
UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:even though it was a disk-only copy for 30.
Whoa! $30 for just the disc?! It must have been in excellent condition.
Nah, unfortunately GameStop is like that. They pretty much price used games on their relative "rarity," not on the quality of the game or the condition it's in. I remember when I first got my DC I picked up Street Fighter Alpha 3 for about $15. Took it home, popped it in, and my system couldn't read the disc, come to find it had more deep scratches on it than I could count. I got a full refund, but I'd have much rather the game worked. Still don't have a copy...
On topic, I now dreadfully regret passing up the multiple opportunites I had to play the game when my step-brother's PSX games were being stored at my house. Unfortunately, by the time I realized how cool shmups were it was long gone. It's on my long list of games to search for some day when I actually have money.
iatneH wrote:Oh great, thanks for spoiling the story...
You weren`t forced to read it, were you`? And since we`re not talking about books, movies or rpg`s I bet you still have a quite good chance to get a lot of enjoyment out of Einhänder, even being in knowledge of the last boss battle.
Anyway, Einhänder is great. And innovative. I never understood why no other shmup "borrowed" heavily Einhänder`s ideas. This game desperately needs to be cloned for actual hardware....
^ I have to disagree on this. Einhander's story is so awesome (for a Shmup) that spoiling it sucks out a lot of the enjoyment. TBD should edit the thread and put spoiler warnings for those who care about their shmup stories.
"Sooo, what was it that you consider a 'good salary' for a man to make?"
"They should at least make 100K to have a good life"
...
I figured since the game is already 7 years old, that I wasn't the only one who's actually beating it. I do apologize for spoiling the stories end. But I haven't spoiled anything as far as game experience goes. You need to beat it for yourself to know how fantastic this game really is.
I kinda think its stupid when people bitch n moan about "spoilers" when they can obviously READ the title beforehand. Example...if the title reads, "I Just Beat Einhander", well, perhaps the person posting is going to discuss BEATING Einhander!? One should go into a thread like this forewarned.
Its kinda like "warning" labels on hot coffee...DUH!!!
iatneH wrote:Grr FINE. I will credit feed this bi@tch to the end tonight!
Just make sure you "beat" the giant carrier on stage 6. If you fail to destroy all it's engines within the alloted time limit, you get the bad ending
A little tip. Use ALL of the Gunpods that appear, don't be afraid of running out of ammo, or changing quickly. Speed is of the essence. And so is a few Grenade Gunpods
Icarus wrote:A little tip. Use ALL of the Gunpods that appear, don't be afraid of running out of ammo, or changing quickly. Speed is of the essence. And so is a few Grenade Gunpods
I did this throughout the entire game, especially against all the bosses. I took no chances.
But the real key (to me) was learning the patterns of the bosses quickly. Every boss follows a really short pattern that I found pretty easy to figure out.
This post convinced me to keep my copy of Einhander, I even canceled the auction I had up for it. What was I thinking, this game is too awesome and rare to be sold to some greedy Ebayer that I don't know.
There is a soundtrack to the game, though I'm not sure if it's available in CD form anymore. I have MP3's of all tracks on my PC - pretty cool music, IMO.
FatCobra wrote:This post convinced me to keep my copy of Einhander, I even canceled the auction I had up for it. What was I thinking, this game is too awesome and rare to be sold to some greedy Ebayer that I don't know.
Good move. Best hold on to it. Don't be like my friend who sold his mint conditioned copy on eBay for $25. He regrets it greatly.
...an unforgettable experience. 
I figured since the game is already 7 years old, that I wasn't the only one who's actually beating it. I do apologize for spoiling the stories end. But I haven't spoiled anything as far as game experience goes. You need to beat it for yourself to know how fantastic this game really is.
. Never did go back to it after that.
