Zeroigar! An obscure AF but awesome shmup

[awbacon]

https://youtu.be/6JIM76XyXIo

If you are going to have ONE shmup on the PC-FX at least it's a good one! I especially love the light RPG elements the game includes

anyone else ever check Zeroigar out?

[uroko-sakanabito]

Have it, played it but its FAR from "awesome".
Plays like some generic doujin STG.

PS Why did you not play the translated version?

[awbacon]

Have it, played it but its FAR from "awesome".
Plays like some generic doujin STG.

Lol well I am fully into it. Fun soundtrack, solid graphics, interesting RPG mechanic for progression between deaths...really tries to be unique

[awbacon]

Have it, played it but its FAR from "awesome".
Plays like some generic doujin STG.

PS Why did you not play the translated version?

I dont have the translated version / burning it causes FMV skipping on my PC-FX

[uroko-sakanabito]

Is this footage from OG PCFX?
Looks like emulation to me. AV / S-Video PCFX still looks horrible most of the time, even on good CRTs.

[awbacon]

Is this footage from OG PCFX?
Looks like emulation to me. AV / S-Video PCFX still looks horrible most of the time, even on good CRTs.

its from an OG PC-FX. It's S video run through a PVM and Framemeister and then cleaned up in DaVinci Resolve before export.

Also I would say the PC-FX has some of the better S video output I have seen. Looks great on my PVM

All my content on Tuesday's is always on original hardware no matter how obscure the platform

[uroko-sakanabito]

Hm ok,
well the translation should not cause any problems on og hardware.
Did finish the game on FXGA and PCFX.
Most people with your issues play on emulator.

[awbacon]

For some reason the patched iso causes some crashing in between levels. May just be a slightly iffy burn. Who knows...PC-FX hates cd-r

[uroko-sakanabito]

Check the caps maybe some have problems.
First thing you loose is CDR playability

[awbacon]

Check the caps maybe some have problems.
First thing you loose is CDR playability

Hardware checks out. It’s just probably the cd-r brand.

I had a PC-FX new in box that hated burns too. Just one of the weird quirks of the platform it seems

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I burned a Sony 700mb CD-R of the translated Zeroigar & it works flawlessly without skipping on a PC-FX console setup. The anime cutscenes, alone, are worth checking 'em out. Makes me wonder what other possible/proposed STG titles NEC & Hudson Soft were seriously considering releasing on the PC-FX gaming platform. If the proposed PC-FX 3D polygonal board upgrade add-on was released, sure would've been awesome to see/play the next Soldier Blade sequel iteration (but it wasn't meant to be).

Back in January of 1994, Turbo Technologies Incorporated announced to American store retailers that they weren't going be selling any more NEC gaming hardware (which meant the upcoming PC-FX console also) causing retailers to liquidate their remaing TurboGrafx-16/Turbo Duo hardware & software on clearance for the entire 1994 year & into early 1995 as well (that was the perfect time to score such gaming hardware 'n' games on the cheap -- those were the days of TG-16/Duo lore).

If NEC gave the "green light" to sell the PC-FX stateside, Digital Leisure probably would've released it's backcatalog of ported arcade LD titles on it for sure.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[jd213]

The used PC-FX I got also had skipping with CD-Rs at first, but I was able to fix it just by adjusting one of the pots as in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZymVnylftU

Only took 1/8th of a turn, then all the cutscenes in all the games I burned worked perfectly. Try that before replacing caps.

[Sengoku Strider]

Don't worry, you pronounced it right.

It's a shame NEC bailed on the PC FX so quickly. Yeah, they made some bad bets - FMV focused, no polygons, waited too long to release it - but it clearly had unreached potential. Sometimes I get the vibe like there were execs at the company who didn't want to be in the console business at all. The TG-16 failed in no small part because the NEC refused to spend on advertising after it didn't take off out of the gate. They wouldn't even let the American arm bring big name titles like Rondo over, and didn't bother with Europe at all. And that's to say nothing of the SuperGrafx, which seems to have been abandoned before it even hit the shelves.

[Strider77]

This game gave me diarrhea.

[RebeL9]

Bumping this.
Now when Team Innocent got an English fan translation I thought it would be cool to try it out.
After burning that game I experienced major skipping on the FMVs. The word on the web is to burn the games in slower speeds than 10X but that’s easier said than done since most modern CD burners can’t go slower than 10X.
Then I found this video guide. https://youtu.be/SZymVnylftU?si=sYxUDKyVtY2fzOb-

What you basically need to do is turn one of the potentiometers counter clockwise slightly. And that fixed it! No more skipping FMVs and audio issues!
I’ve tried it on several other games. Zenki FX, Zeroigar,
Rurula…
All works like a charm!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Over the years, I bought a second PC-FX gamepad, the PC-FX mouse and PC-FX backup unit to compliment the PC-FX console itself. It'd sure be nice if a new PC-FX homebrew game was released.

Where can I d/l that Team Innocent translation patch, Rebel9?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Don't worry, you pronounced it right.

It's a shame NEC bailed on the PC FX so quickly. Yeah, they made some bad bets - FMV focused, no polygons, waited too long to release it - but it clearly had unreached potential. Sometimes I get the vibe like there were execs at the company who didn't want to be in the console business at all. The TG-16 failed in no small part because the NEC refused to spend on advertising after it didn't take off out of the gate. They wouldn't even let the American arm bring big name titles like Rondo over, and didn't bother with Europe at all. And that's to say nothing of the SuperGrafx, which seems to have been abandoned before it even hit the shelves.

The 3rd-party United Amusements manufactured TurboGrafx-16 jamma conversion kits (that were custom-made for NEC of Japan) were priced at $1,695.00 usd for two brand new complete pcb kits as a set to sell to arcade operators in 1989 through early 1990. Actually, the hardware was a PC Engine game console modded to accept both Japanese Hu-Cards and American Turbo Chip cartridges (without the need to use a Hu-Card convertor whatsoever) combined with a timer board (that would chirp loudly and freeze the game outright forcing the player to insert another quarter to unfreeze and continue on with the current gaming session -- if a quarter wasn't dropped within a certain timeframe, it'd go back to game demo mode) and properly attenuated RGB levels so that it'd display correctly on a low-res 15.7kHz RGB monitor setup. A single player control panel (that was emblazoned with the eye-catchy neon colored TG-16 brand name in a repeating pattern/motif) along with a factory-installed Happ 8-way digital arcade joystick and two Happ push buttons labelled I & II for gameplay + a green colored backlit Start button that'd light up once a quarter was inserted. There was a full-sized neon colored TurboGrafx-16 arcade marquee that was backlit as well. There wasn't any auto-fire capability with buttons I & II on the TG-16 control panel itself (like with the Turbo Pad and Turbo Stick themselves that already had auto-fire from the "get-go").

Since NEC Home Entertainment (the USA subsidiary branch of parent company NEC of Japan) was based out Illinois, the staff working there would've had to juggle both the home console division + the arcade TG-16 division together concurrently but there weren't enough employees to do both, so the arcade TG-16 division was dropped in early-1990 entirely altogether -- sad but true. I've only got try out the arcade TG-16 jamma conversion kit housed in an upright Dynamo cab sporting a 19" Wells Gardner RGB monitor back in February of 1990 running Blazing Lasers only once -- it was quite awesome for it's brief time in the American arcades despite being sold to arcade operators that were seriously interested in it (and it's cult rarity status amongst arcade pcb collectors nowadays alongside with the Spain based Tourvision PCE console endowed with four cart slots jamma pcb {i.e. -- Nintendo Play Choice 10 styled multi-game selection} that was sold and distributed in both Spain and France).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[SuperDeadite]

I enjoy Zeriogar, it's very much a "console" shooter, but it's fun. The later levels that use FMV as a background layer still look trippy cool. To be fair though, like most FX games it's very much an anime thing. Being a fan of 1960-70s super robot shows will really up the enjoyment on this one.