Dezaemon Plus on PS3 (US)... anyone making games?

[xexex]

Dezaemon Plus was released a little while ago on the US playstation network (thanks to monkeypaw games, I'm picking up all their titles even though I own the original psx versions). I picked it up hoping there would be a number of user games released. I checked the older thread dealing with the release of this game on the HK and JP playstation networks, but even there I couldn't find much. Has anyone else picked this up? Does anyone know of any sites to download user-created games? It would be great if there was a site that collected all the great user games that have been made over the years (I fear many of them are on memory cards that have been lost or don't work anymore, but there must be some out there). Anyone on this forum planning to make any titles?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I've worked on some killer BGM tunes using the original Dezaemon Plus setup on a PSX with PSX mouse setup...it was a lot of trial & error/experimentation to come up with some good catchy beats including one that has a retro 1970s vibe to it. I worked on them for four years: 2000-2004. Unfortunately, it's all stored on several PSX & PS2 memory cards for posterity.

Despite the limitations of the built-in BGM Editor featured in Dezaemon Plus, some cool BGM tunes can be created. Just be prepared to take some time if you want them to sound good.

Back in 2000-2001, there were a few Japanese sites that had some user created Deza-Plus games to check out but you had to d/l them and unzip with a special conversion program + use a modded printer cable hooked up to PSX memory card reader from a PC (a DIY PSX Dex device basically), then upload them to a PSX memory card to finally be able to check them out. Most Deza Plus user created games were on the average of zipped 222KB file size back in the day.

If you really want to see what some user created games were made using Deza Plus, just check out the PSX Dezaemon Kids two disc compliation...there's quite a bit to digress through. There's even one that gives a nod to the old-school Toaplan stylized arcade shmups complete with spot-on sprites.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Rozyrg]

I finally broke down and got a PSP, so naturally this was the first thing I bought for it. For some reason I thought this was the one that came after 2 on the Saturn, though, so I was a bit disappointed to see certain things missing. I've been working on something for it since I got my system; but there's no telling if I'll get as far (or further) than I did with what I was making on 2.

I *really* hope they bring Dezaemon Kids to PSN eventually too.

[Jeneki]

Oh yea, there are PS2 memory card to USB converters out there. You can even upload saves to a PS3. However the one I tried *bricked* my memory card instead of uploading from it. Seriously, how hard is it to read-only?

[Sumez]

Whoa I had no idea they were still making Dezaemon games! I need to try this.

[Rozyrg]

It's not exactly new; but it's still worth getting if you dig the series. I honestly think the included games are way better than Dezaemon 2's as well. Guess that's why they won the contests.

Just curious, though, has anyone here played Dezaemon Kids enough to shed light on any further improvements they made? I can name a bunch from D+ to D2 off the top of my head.

-No separate palettes for different elements (shot, ship,enemy,boss, background etc.) and a much larger palette.. D+ gives you only 16 colors at a time, D2 gives you something like 3 times that.
- Enemies can be 'stacked' as long as they don't cover the lower enemy's origin tile (top or bottom left I think.) This was what you could use to make tanks or anything that had an independently moving turret.
- You can set the minimum speed and power level of your ship, so if you wanted, you could do without weapon upgrades and speed ups altogether. (I miss this feature the most. SPEED UPS SUCK BALLS!)
- On death, enemies can generate other enemies or a specific powerup (D+ doesn't give you any control over this, they simply appear in a set sequence), allowing you to do things like craters and gratuitous explosion effects. You can also set them to destroy certain other enemies, allowing for crazy chain reactions and other fun things.
- Bosses can have multiple phases (different movement, shot pattern sequences for each), and can generate helper subparts on cue.
- You can make horizontal shooters as well as vertical.

(I can't speak for the music editor at all, though.)

Dammit, if I keep thinking about this, I'll have to run out and get a japanese Saturn. >_>

[BPzeBanshee]

Dammit, if I keep thinking about this, I'll have to run out and get a japanese Saturn. >_>

If you get a Japanese Saturn you'll not only have access to the Dezeamon version you mentioned but you can also get for it:
- Radiant Silvergun
- Battle Garegga
- Thunder Force V (graphically superior, no cutscenes if memory serves though)
- Dodonpachi
- Donpachi
- Thunder Force Gold Pack 1 & 2
- Batsugun
- Gekirindan
- Soukygurentai
- Hyper Duel
- Blast Wind
and other titles that I probably don't know/forgot about.

[Rozyrg]

Lol... I can play all of those on my US console + Action Replay, I just can't afford them. Why does Batsugun have to be so damn expensive?? -_-

With Dezaemon 2, you can't save what you're doing at all with that setup. I think it's since the memory part of the cart is inaccessible after loading the game, and the Saturn's temporary memory can't store all of it (it needs a few megabytes.) Daioh P! is really fun, though, so only being able to *play* it isn't all that bad.

[Rozyrg]

Sorry for the ridiculous necro-bump; but I have a question for anyone with a more thorough knowledge of the series. If there's a more definitive thread for the series here that I missed, I apologize further.

Anyways, I've been playing the hell out of Dezaemon Kids' 'Select 100' (finally played every last one of them) and I was thinking about making a short video covering some of my personal favorites, as some of them truly are fantastic. My question is if there's a handy list out there that has the games and their authors names translated, romanized, or hell, even just in Japanese text that can be easily copy-pasted onto a caption/subtitle.

I'd hate to result to that tired, ignorant 'blah blah some ching-chong crap' schtick just to show off a few cool games. >_>

[Kollision]

finally played every last one of them

I was wondering if I could've done the same a while ago, but gave up on it (for now)

I can't contribute but I'd also love to see the complete list of games somewhere!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Yeah, I personally like the old-school Toaplan-ish visual aestethics on one homebrew shmup title using the PSX powered Dezaemon Plus engine on the Dezaemon Kids 2nd disc. The attention to sprite detail and usage of a limited color palatte/scheme (I'm sure was quite painstaking) a labor of love indeed.

Trying to make some decent BGM loops for a custom-made DP shmup game is another matter altogether...it can be done. Having spent four years on just creating some slick BGM tunes with the DP's BGM Editor program was a lot of trial & error -- but worth it in the end. A dedicated PSX mouse is a definite must-have item if you want to create any sprite work or BGM tunes at a faster pace.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Rozyrg]

The styles replicated are all over the place and yeah, they're done amazingly well.... and typically pretty far ahead of the sample games provided by Athena. My favorite so far (Sky High) has a polished, real-world Aero Fighters sort of vibe, and some of the cute-em-ups on there are just eye-poppingly beautiful.

... now if I only knew their names.

Having spent four years on just creating some slick BGM tunes with the DP's BGM Editor program was a lot of trial & error -- but worth it in the end

Have you considered recording/posting them somewhere? I couldn't ever even wrap my head around Mario Paint's music editor, personally.