PS1 Shmups Article - It's UP! Thanks all! :D

[BulletMagnet]

As the topic says, I'm writing an article/summary of the shooters available on the PS1, and am looking for some assistance in filling in the spots regarding games I haven't played and/or can't find sufficient information on. If you want an idea of what the finished product would be, it'd basically be a PS1 equivalent to this - one to three paragraphs' worth of information about each game.

At this point I'm mainly looking for info on these shooter "mini-games" -

*None, article's finished!*

Thus, if anyone has firsthand experience with any of these games, or information that they can point me to about them, please either post here or PM me, I would greatly appreciate it. Your name will be credited in the article once it's written. Thanks in advance.

(PS - If you're going to flame me for any given item included in the Saturn write-up, please do it on RB, to avoid cluttering up this thread. )

[Turrican]

I have no info on the games you're researching, but just in case you're not missing anything obscure, here's a PS1 shmups list:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?p=35726#35726

should be complete.

edit: oh wait I have Super Dropzone with me - what you need to know about it?

[BulletMagnet]

Yeah, I used that list to help me round up stuff I'd need to look for, but any info other than the games' names is hard to get ahold of.

As for Super Dropzone, I'm aware of the SNES and GBA ports of it, so I know basically how it works, but I don't know what the PS1 version has that makes it what it is (and apparently not very good) - also, is the stage/powerup layout or anything else like that changed? Just a general summary on that front would be of much help. Also, I believe that the PS1 SD was only released in PAL territory - as far as you know, is that correct?

[professor ganson]

I think Space Invaders 2000 is the same game that got a domestic release on PS1 and N64. It's not bad. I may have the N64 cart around somewhere.

EDIT: This game even had a port to the GBC, if I'm not mistaken. I have that lying around somewhere as well, I think.

[Turrican]

Yeah, as far as I know, it's EU only - I never saw a foreign copy on ebay.

I bought Super Dropzone together with another Ignition PS1 release, IK+. While IK+ turned out to be a quite good conversion, Super Dropzone was definitely in the sucky area.

Why's that? Well, basically the game behaves like the SNES original, but it's plagued by incredibly long loading times between stages. And I mean LONG.

It must be said that I'm not especially a fan of the Snes Dropzone either - adding bosses and graphical detail but becoming clunkier in the process.

Anyway, I have the disc around - haven't found a possible buyer, heh - so I'll give it another go and report if there's anything worth a mention.

[BulletMagnet]

I think Space Invaders 2000 is the same game that got a domestic release on PS1 and N64.

I believe that the game you refer to was released in Japan as Space Invaders X - that one I managed to find a decent amount of info on, but the Japan-only PS1 Space Invaders games are pretty much nowhere to be found.

@ Turrican: Thanks for the info so far, whatever else you can find is appreciated.

[professor ganson]

Yeah, that's the one. Strange, I have no idea what those Japan-exclusive Space Invader games are.

[captain ahar]

As the topic says, I'm writing an article/summary of the shooters available on the PS1, and am looking for some assistance in filling in the spots regarding games I haven't played and/or can't find sufficient information on. If you want an idea of what the finished product would be, it'd basically be a PS1 equivalent to this

hah, i read some of that the other day, not realizing it was written by you.

good work, dude.

[sven666]

strike force hydra is a piece of shit, the whole dev team is 2 people if i remember correctly.
just awful top down 2D shooter with jump buttons and all kinds of ridiculous shit that guy who was here recently complaining about innovations in shmups should like this just fine...

metaphlist - think of a poor mans radiant silvergun, bad 3D graphics, ok controls, often poor level design.
RPG elements that include leveling up and travelling around the universe, tons of japanese story but thankfully english options.

[glitch]

i have Meta-Ph-List.
it's not particularly good, but kinda charming in its weirdness.
it's a vertically scrolling yoko. you rotate your shot-direction with L and R.
i often end up flying above enemies while shooting backward.
the bomb has some massive slowdown-inducing animation involving a huge skull, accompanied by a lo-fi robotic voice saying "GO TO HELL".
there's 3 weapons and you can switch on the fly.
your weapons level up between stages.
you pick your stages from a sort of map-screen.
i think there's a life-bar.
one stage uses the screen itself as a texture in the background, leading to this weird "infinite" regress effect. bloody confusing. and sort of awesome.
it's worth playing if you're into quirky.
more for the atmosphere than for the gameplay.
supposedly it was released the same day as Final Fantasy VII.
which didn't do the game any favors, of course.

there's a vertical GBA shooter called Strike Force Hydra too, by the way.
i suppose that's a port of the same game.
it's horrible. *shudder*

[MadScientist]

there's a vertical GBA shooter called Strike Force Hydra too, by the way.
i suppose that's a port of the same game.
it's horrible. *shudder*

I played that a few days ago. Utterly abysmal. You can only fire one shot at a time and it takes about half an hour for that shot to reach the top the screen. Agggghhh!!!

[undamned]

Space Invaders X

Nice. I came across that on YAJ and nabbed it a while back on a whim. My curiosity paid off It's a fabulous game, surely setting the foundation for Space Invaders Xtreme, being as Space Invaders Xtreme is basically a mashup of Space Invaders X and Puyo Puyo Fever.
-ud

[BulletMagnet]

Thanks much for the help, everyone. A few clarifications on the stuff you mentioned:

Sven: I did try the GBA "Hydra," and it sounds like the PS1 version is the same basic idea. Are there any differences worth noting, that you know of? Also, I believe this was another PAL exclusive (luck you ) - can you or anyone else confirm that?

Glitch: The Metaphlist info is great, I might PM you for a few further details.

UD: Yeah, that's the one SI version that I found some info for (and yeah, it does seem to set the stage for Extreme in many ways) - it's the other three I'm stuck on!

Thanks again all, anyone else with info, keep it coming!

[CIT]

Funnily I just played Strike Force Hydra yesterday! Probably one of the worst shmups ever, I'm not kidding. Basically everything you're not supposed to do in a shooter, they did!


Writing about PS shmups will be hard, cuz there are many more than on Saturn, and lotsa obscure ones, incl. some hidden on various compilations.

Bet you haven't heard of this one, right?


Tsuntsun-kumi 3: Kanjivader

[BulletMagnet]

Bet you haven't heard of this one, right?

Heh, you have me there, indeed - this is a new one on me, I'll hafta add it to the list above. Weird, though, as according to GameFAQs (for whatever that's worth) its predecessors were puzzlers.

Suppose I might as well add, to any reading this topic: any other oddball shmups you know of that aren't mentioned here, make a quick mention of them - I may well have missed them!

[Ghegs]

I guess you're already aware of Air Grave, Gatchaman Shooting , Shooter: Space Shot, Stahlfeder and Two Tenkaku? I could tell about those if needed.

[glitch]

Tsuntsun-kumi 3: Kanjivader

tell me more.
that front looks awesome.

[BulletMagnet]

I guess you're already aware of Air Grave, Gatchaman Shooting , Shooter: Space Shot, Stahlfeder and Two Tenkaku? I could tell about those if needed.

Yeah, I am aware of those five, but there is one question I ought to ask you about Air Grave - how exactly does the lock-on mechanic work? Any info/videos I've managed to find on the game seem unsure...

[CIT]

Tsuntsun-kumi 3: Kanjivader

tell me more.
that front looks awesome.

It's an invader-game for kids to learn Kanji. Not so good, unfortunately...

[05pro]

Space Invaders (Japan, 1997) - Original release on PSOne. Same as the Saturn version you mention in your link. Includes Original Mode, VS Mode and Time Attack Mode. The best box art but the worst version to own.

Space Invaders 2000 (Japan, 1998) - Same as the above but released at a lower price (Y2000), and Dual Shock compatablity was added to celebrate Space Invaders 20th anniversary. Includes playable demos of G-Darius and Densha de Go 2.

The Invaders (Simple 1500) - Same as the above, minus the playable demos, but with an added 3D mode. The 3D mode plays like regular space invaders but at the press of a button you can shift the perspective. This mode was included on the PS2 25th anniversary release.

PD Ultraman Invader - Plays like Spacec Invaders but with really horrible graphics. I sold mine on here a few years ago and can't remember much more about it other than it was ass. http://gameads.gamepressure.com/tv_game ... sp?ID=4610
http://www.truveo.com/PD-Ultraman-Invader/id/2969772342
There's some play footage on these links.

SD Gundam Over Galaxian - Similar to the above but in a Galaxian format. Very easy and looked terrible. Your ship gained a lock-on shot if you waited in front of any enemy without shooting for a second ago. Again, I sold this on here a few years back so someone out there should be able to provde a bit more info.

[BulletMagnet]

Excellent, many thanks! The article's progressing nicely - I definitely need more on that "Kanjivader" game though...

[05pro]

It's not a shooting game in the conventional sense so you're not really missing anything

[05pro]

You may want t find out more on Toko Toko Trouble by Media Entertainment (Kyuuin people) too. It's listed as Action, puzzle, shooting. I'm sure it got trashed by Famitsu when it got released and I never bothered picking it up. Hidden gem or complete pap? Who knows.

[05pro]

Image Link

Keep an eye out for Vermin Kids too. It's meant to be more of a puzzle game than an STG but it clearly says shooting in the title so could be worth a look. Never played it myself and I don't think it's meant to be up to much but you never know.

[MadScientist]

there is one question I ought to ask you about Air Grave - how exactly does the lock-on mechanic work?

I usually set the lock-on to a different button, but the default is the same as the shot button. Anyway, when you see the target reticle come up, try and move the cross in the centre over ground objects, at which point you'll see a little green cross show up - try and keep this object in the target window while you try and position the centre cross over near-by ground targets. When you're ready, release the button and that will launch the homing missiles and destroy everything labelled with a green cross. While this is happening you have a few more seconds to move the target reticle around to destroy more ground objects. There's a bonus at the end of the level which I think is based on the most ground based objects you manged to destroyed at once (or something like that).

Hope that made sense.

[BulletMagnet]

@05pro - I'm sure that most such titles that we around here don't already have wind of are nothing to write home about (to say the least), but regardless I'm trying to make this article as comprehensive as I can, so I'm up for just about anything. Thanks much for the leads, though so far I've had no luck finding out the nature of any of them...

@MadScientist - Thanks for the clarification.

[J-Manic]

The Gatchaman shooter and AirGrave.

I have these two on backup. They're both pretty obscure if you ask me. I you need me to, BulletMagnet, I'll pop these in and give you some further details about them. If you're interested, that is.

[BulletMagnet]

First of all, thanks to everyone who's helped with this - the article's almost done.

If I could ask for a little more assistance from the community, though - I'm including a "bonus" section on some of the shooter mini-games hidden inside of other games for the system. I've already looked through some of the old threads on here about such "mini-game" shooters, and made a list of a few of them in the first post, but I could use a bit more info - I'm also tossing up one or two miscellaneous questions. Anything you have to offer on that front, as always, would be appreciated.

Thanks again!

[mjclark]

Ha ha-I've just wasted 2 hours unsuccessfully trying to unlock "Welcome to the world of Rellim (Play Galaga)" on MK3.Oh no-my KOmbat Kodes wouldn't work.Fuckit....
....weirdly MK3 and Ridge Racer Revolution were laying in a pile next to each other when I went to check my PSx collection after reading this thread.RRR has a little Galaga slot before the main menu and you seem to get abot 30 seconds of play.Once the 30 seconds is up then you get told how many hits you scored then on with Rrrrridddge Rrrrracerr....
...Also in the pile were PD Ultraman Invaders which is a hideous stilted rendition of Space Invaders (not to be confused with Ultraman Fighting Rebirth which is the greatest PS2 game of all and guaranteed to make you feel slightly mentally ill) and SD Gundam Over Galaxian.My copy wouldn't boot properly but I saw just enough of the South-Park-like robots to remind me why I'd only ever played it once (as far as I can remember it's like isometric Space Invaders with tiny robots).
Anyway,PSx shooters is a great subject and I wish you well with your endeavour BulletMagnet
And yes let's hear it for Two-Tenkaku!!!

[BulletMagnet]

Heh, thanks for your efforts - sorry about the Kombat Kode thing, in particular (6-4-2 / 4-6-8, right?).