Awesome Saturn Shooters...

[ST Dragon]

In the past week I’ve spent some time playing some Saturn Shoot Em Ups:

Batsugun
Guardian Force
Hyper Duel
Oshaberi Parodius – Forever With Me
Steam Hearts
Twin Cobra II

I must say that these are some excellent shooters.

Huper Duel, The Saturn mode greatly enhances the graphics & animation of the arcade game & makes it look like a completely new Mecha shooter.

Batsugun is arcade perfect in every way. I finally got to hear the music since the audio isn’t emulated by Mame yet. It even adds an arrange music mode with some cool kick-ass soundtracks. One thing that stands out in this game, are the colors, they’re vivid & bright & blend perfectly.


Twn Cobta II is arcade perfect port. Everything I remember from the arcade is present. Cool graphics, gameplay & sound.
I have 1’cc the arcade version back in 1997, but this feels a bit harder for some reason. I might be getting older…

Guardian Force is one hell of a cool Tank shooter. Very innovating being able to shoot 8-Way, while the scrolling changes from Horizontal, vertical or diagonal, so that makes for some variety you don't usually see in the genre. Some of the level & Bosses do remind me a bit of Swiv on the AMIGA. Unlike other shooters where the weapons just don’t look that powerful, in Guardian Force you feel like you're obliterating everything in sight with burly weapons of global scale destruction.

Steam Hearts is a weird Japanese Erotic Shooter. I can’t quite tell what the story is about but you battle some huge Mecha-Bosses, which are operated by some cool looking JPN chicks. Some cut-scenes follow after each Boss fights where you bring the girls to their senses…
How good is the PCE DUO Super CD2 version compared to the Saturn?

I completed “Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius – Forever With Me” on the Saturn in order to finish the Parodius series. I beat it with Vic-Viper, but what I find strange is that the ending was very similar to “Gokujou Parodius” on the PS-1 (You beat the same Octopus Boss & then in the ending cut-scene, a bomb blows up) I can’t remember the endings in Sexy Parodius other than that you encounter a cool looking chick…
Are they any different?
Can you get alternative endings in “Gokujou Parodius” & “Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius - Forever With Me”?
The ending in “Parodius Da!” On the PCE is completely different to Gokujou & Forever with Me, but you do fight the same Octopus Boss

The Japanese humor in the Parodius Series is just priceless!
In the endings of all the Parodius games, there is a specific Quote by Konami “We Love Shooting Games”
I wonder why they didn’t make any more on the PS-2 or Game Cube?


I also tried Blast Wind yesterday, but this just didn’t reach up to the quality of Techno-Soft shooters. Is it just me or is this a boring shooter?
It also looks quite bad for Saturn standards. More like a Mega Drive / Genesis shooters… Axelay is eons ahead of this in looks, sound & gameplay imo.

By the way, has "Vimana" (Toaplan 1991) ever been ported onto the Saturn or any other console?

[incognoscente]

By the way, has "Vimana" (Toaplan 1991) ever been ported onto the Saturn or any other console?

Nope.

[captain ahar]

Steam Hearts is a weird Japanese Erotic Shooter. I can’t quite tell what the story is about but you battle some huge Mecha-Bosses, which are operated by some cool looking JPN chicks. Some cut-scenes follow after each Boss fights where you bring the girls to their senses…
How good is the PCE DUO Super CD2 version compared to the Saturn?

same game, more and longer cut-scenes. and if you want completely uncensored, i've heard tell of a PC version floating around.

[ST Dragon]

The Cut-scenes were kind of weird on the Saturn... It would show 2-3 still screens & the dialogue would carry on without showing anything else...

How good are the in game graphics & animation of the PCE DUO version?
Some of the Bosses on the Saturn version & levels, have excellent animation. Not sure if the DUO could cope with it as well...

[Ghegs]

The Cut-scenes were kind of weird on the Saturn... It would show 2-3 still screens & the dialogue would carry on without showing anything else...

That's pretty much what the PCE version is like as well. <utterly shameless plug> It just so happens I have it for sale at this very moment, why not pick that one up as well, make detailed comparisons and do a favour for the whole shmup-community? </utterly shameless plug>

[ST Dragon]

How much are you asking for it?

[Dylan1CC]

Batsugun is amazing, the granddady of "modern" over-the-top manic shmups and btw, also my first 1CC. The weapons aren't just for show though, you really do need the full power of those crazy looking beams to take down vicious bosses like Jupiter and Floor of the Galaxy.

The only other title in that list I own is Kyukyouku (twin cobra) II which I really need to play again sometime.

[ROBOTRON]

The Cut-scenes were kind of weird on the Saturn... It would show 2-3 still screens & the dialogue would carry on without showing anything else...

How good are the in game graphics & animation of the PCE DUO version?
Some of the Bosses on the Saturn version & levels, have excellent animation. Not sure if the DUO could cope with it as well...

No RS? TF5? Layer Section? Those rule.

Soukyugerentai mauls ass too..

[ST Dragon]

Batsugun is amazing, the granddady of "modern" over-the-top manic shmups and btw, also my first 1CC. The weapons aren't just for show though, you really do need the full power of those crazy looking beams to take down vicious bosses like Jupiter and Floor of the Galaxy.

The only other title in that list I own is Kyukyouku (twin cobra) II which I really need to play again sometime.

Yes the weapons in Batsugun look very cool & are quite effective.
By the way, how do you know the exact names of the Batsugun Bosses? (Jupiter and Floor of the Galaxy)
Are they printed in the manual?

It has come to my attention that for some shooters like RayStorm, even though there is no direct in-game reference of the Bosses' names, nor in the manual, people seem to know them regardless the lack of reference …. (Zinovia, Spartakus, Petragon, etc...)
Where does this info come from?

Also which 2 horizontal & vertical shooters have the most destructive firepower & impressive primary-secondary weapons of mass destruction?
Don Don Pachi & Thunder Force V & Die Slave (PC Freeware) come pretty close but I need something more powerful.
Obviously it must be some exotic Japanese Shooters that over pass my mind.

Thanks in advance.

[BulletMagnet]

By the way, how do you know the exact names of the Batsugun Bosses? (Jupiter and Floor of the Galaxy) Are they printed in the manual?

I believe that the bosses' names appear onscreen in the game just before they arrive.

Also which 2 horizontal & vertical shooters have the most destructive firepower & impressive primary-secondary weapons of mass destruction?

Batsugun itself is pretty famous for huge firepower in the shmup world...I believe that "X2" for the PS1 is supposed to have pretty big weapons when they're completely powered up, though that game is generally not held in nearly the same regard as Batsugun (I haven't played it myself, so I can't personally comment on it).

[Randorama]

The names will appear before the battles and are:

1-Deep Purple
2-Madzella
3-Mad Steel Darkness
4-Jupiter
5-Ground of the Garaxy (sic)

And yes, Batsugun is the game with the biggest amount of firepower on screen ever.

The port is not arcade perfect, but "better", as it lacks slowdown on the last round of the special version.

[ST Dragon]

I have X2 (Project X2) for the PS-1.
The game has the best 2D hand drawn graphics money can buy. Typical Team17 work... couldn't expect anything less from them.

Yes, the weapons do look massive when fully powered up, but they're very ineffective & generally leave you unsatisfied. As far as destruction goes, they don't seem to inflict any great damage & it takes ages to kill the bosses.
"Criticus" & "Enemy Instalation" come to mind.

Thanks for the tip on the Batsugun Boss names.
I'll have to check that... obviously I was in one of my "not paying enough attention" modes when I last played it.

The shooter with the most noticeable Boss name announcements is Darius Series imo.

What about the Boss names in RayStorm (PS-1/Saturn)?
At what point of the game do they appear?

[Randorama]

I think they only appear in the japanese booklet of the game, but i lack my copy of Raystorm, sadly. Alternatively, they may be mentioned in the OST's handboock, as for Rayforce.Since i can't check, a speculation is that they also appear in the cut-scenes of the Extra version. The OST's handbook should be the more consistent option.

[LoneSage]

I've heard the Steam Hearts PC Engine original has a lot more nudity than the Saturn game; more hardcore to the Saturn's softcore version.

Hi five for the props to Guardian Force. Really nice game with some neat-o ideas, by far the best true tank shmup.

[Ganelon]

Yeah, that's because the PCE version is more explicit about its sex scenes and the fact that the "girl" "protagonist" is a hermaphrodite. Had Steam Hearts' been released earlier on the SS, you could bet that it would've been more provocative as a red label.