Hamster taking suggestions for more PS2 aracde ports!

[CIT]

So you know the Oretachi Geesen-zoku series by Hamster, that's now releasing Contra and Akumajo Dracula, already released Scramble and Sonic Wings, and was supposed to be releasing Xexex.

There's been the usual criticism of display settings, resolutions, budget cover-art, etc blabla, on these, but I think they are nice packages for $20 when all is said and done, as you get a game soundtrack CD, a superplay DVD and a reprint of the original arcade instro-card with them!

Anyway, Hamster now put up a questionnaire asking which games people would like to see released as part of the series. Excellent! Now we can flood their mailbox with overseas requests! Mwaharharhar!!!

I don't know if this will have any impact whatsoever, but I've translated the questionnaire, so please take the time to fill it out.

The link to the questionnaire is: http://www.hamster.co.jp/orga/enquete/

Here it goes:

Of the following titles, which ones would you like to see ported?

(I put all shooters in bold type)

BTW, you can check as many titles as you like!

left row:

- A-JAX
- Akumajo Dracula
- Gacha Gachamp
- Quiz Gakumon Susume
- Quiz DoReMiFa Grandprix 2
- Contra
- Side Pocket
- Gyruss
- Stadium Hero
- Sonic Wings Series
- SRD - Super Real Darwin
- Dark Seal 2
- Time Pilot '84
- Joe and Mack Returns
- Terraforce
- Trio The Punch
- Hyper Sports Special
- Fighters' History Dynamite
- Fighting Bujutsu 2nd (a.k.a. Fighting Wu Shu)
- Magmax
- Mr. Goemon
- Road Fighter

right row:

- B-Wings
- Edward Randy
- Kyuukyoku Sentai Dadandarn (a.k.a. Monster Maulers) <- it's that obscure Konami side scrolling beat-em-up, where you battle against the Gradius bosses!!! Vote for it, it's great!
- Quiz DoReMiFa Grandprix
- Quiz DoReMiFa Grandprix 3
- Circus Charly
- Thundercross II
- Super Cobra
- Xexex <- vote for this!!!
- Darwin 4068
- Dark Seal
- Turbo Force <- in case you didn't know, this is the obscure Sonic Wings series game with the flying cars!
- Joe and Mack
- Chinatown
- Tobe! Polystars <- The rare Konami M2 hardware shooter! It's polygonal, so display settings won't matter. And afaik it's un-emulated!!!
- Bloody Wolf
- Fighters' History
- Fighting Bujutsu
- Puuyan
- Magical Drop 3
- Midnight Resitance

If there are any titles apart from the ones given above, please write them in the box.

[...]

If you would like, please provide us with the following information:

1. Sex

male female

2. Age

teens 20s 30s 40s 50s

3. Which game systems do you own?

PlayStation2 Gamecube X-Box X-Box 360
PSP Nintendo DS GBA/GBAsp GBA Micro

4. How do you get information about games?

magazines newspapers shops TV commercials friends
company homepages websites other

5. Please give us your opinion on the Oretachi Geesen-zoku series below:

[...]

submit - reset



Okay, so please participate. I would love to be able to play Polystars, Xexex, Dadandarn, Thundercross II on my PS2. *dream* [/b]

[Herr Schatten]

Thanks for translating the site.

Btw, the left button on the bottom of the page is "Submit", the right one "Reset".

[CIT]

Oh yeah, thanks for pointing that out. I guess it's kind of important, isn't it?

[Devil REI]

If I recall correctly, Hamster has full access to Data East's back catalogue. I wound up writing in Skull Fang and Wolf Fang and sticking in a vote for Magical Drop III.

[CIT]

You can vote for more than 1 title, btw.

[captain ahar]

thanks seven force. my votes have been cast, although i consider it a major failing not to include Nostradamus (as this seems like an ideal candidate, given their other options).

i voted for 11 total, not counting my write-ins.

[BulletMagnet]

Submitted, thanks for the heads-up.

[Neon]

B-Wings meaning Boogie Wings?

Boogie Wings needs a port almost as much as Batrider.

[captain ahar]

nope, its B-wings

[CIT]

Well, Hamster aparently has access to the back catalogues of Konami, Nichibutsu, Video System and Data East, so if you write Boogie Wings (or rather "The Great Ragtime Show" so they know what the hell you're talking about) who knows, maybe they'll try to get it.

[Ghegs]

Pretty cool that they're actually taking suggestions. Let's hope something good comes out of it. Turbo Force sounds cool...

And thanks to Seven Force for the heads-up and translation.

[Neon]

What a disappointment. At least it's Data East and therefore pure gold. Tumble Pop, Diet GoGo, and Boogie Wings all need ports. I've heard good things about Edward Randy too.

Can you edit the title, 7F? I thought it was gonna be a lame petitions thread.

[CIT]

That better?

[professor ganson]

I've done my civic duty.

P.S. Thanks to Seven Force!

[SAM]

Just filled in the questionnaire.

************************************

And here is my suggested answer to some questions:

If there are any titles apart from the ones given above, please write them in the box.

[...]

プラス・アルファ (Plus Alpha), 鮫！鮫！鮫！(Fire Shark), スラップファイト (Slap Fight), 飛翔鮫 (Flying Shark), 達人王 (Tatsujin Oh), 奇々怪界 (Kiki Kaikai), ソロモンの鍵 (Solomor's Key)

5. Please give us your opinion on the Oretachi Geesen-zoku series below:

[...]

Please include non-interlace video mode and fully customizable buttons settings.

[Xexyz]

Hrm... I've always wondered how the arcade version of Data East's Chelnov (Atomic Runner) was compared to the Genesis port.

[zak]

did anyone else vote for joe and mac?

[system11]

I'm writing a script now to submit this 10,000 times voting for a random game, and Bloody Wolf. Mwuhahaha.

[Neon]

That better?

Don't sound so put out, just a suggestion amigo. Did you ship shippu mahou?
Thanks for the translations etc.

Voted for both Joe & Macs and bloody wolf, as well.

[zinger]

Hrm... I've always wondered how the arcade version of Data East's Chelnov (Atomic Runner) was compared to the Genesis port.

I think the Mega Drive / Genesis game is atleast a lot better looking and sounding, gameplay seems pretty much intact but is probably better too. There's no reason to play the arcade game at all, but do give it a try with MAME.

[captain ahar]

x68k revision was fun too.

[Devil REI]

I'm writing a script now to submit this 10,000 times voting for a random game, and Bloody Wolf. Mwuhahaha.

I sincerely hope you're kidding, because if something like this happened I can practically guarantee they'd be tossing out all suggestions from foreign IPs.

[system11]

I'm writing a script now to submit this 10,000 times voting for a random game, and Bloody Wolf. Mwuhahaha.

I sincerely hope you're kidding, because if something like this happened I can practically guarantee they'd be tossing out all suggestions from foreign IPs.

I sincerely hope you save the money you'd spend on these games, and invest in the sense of humour transplant you so sorely need

[Lone Deranger]

Data East? Ah!!.. Let's have some Override then! My favourite shmup of the entire PC-Engine catalogue. This is such an overlooked and under appreciated game IMO.

[captain ahar]

this is a series of arcade ports. the hu should be really cheap...

it is pretty cool though, sting did nice work. doesn't get interesting until later in the game though.

[/aside]

[Dylan1CC]

I just voted, thanks for breaking down what the selections were, Seven! Now c'mon and release Xexex, Hamster. It was supposed to be a real release, should not have to vote on that one. Grrr.

[Blade]

Can anyone think of any shmups that weren't listed and put them in Japanese text or something so that we can all put them on our vote list?

[CIT]

If you tell me what shooters you would like to vote for, I can post the Japanese names and you can copy and paste.

[Ganelon]

Nice, Edward Randy is on there. A great sidescroller.

[Ed Oscuro]

Kyukoku Sentai Dadandarn...I like the sung voice theme, but the gameplay seems iffy in the extreme. Where's Violent Storm??

EVERYBODY VOTE FOR THIS GAME OK:

Mr. Goemon. Dated, but a hell of a lot of fun. It's a crying shame this game never got a home port, but now it'll be a perfect port. Huzzah!

My other choices:

Gyruss
Time Pilot '84
Edward Randy
DADANDARN
Thunder Cross II
Xexex
Dark Seal (pretty O.K. Dungeons & Dragons-themed top-down game)
Turbo Force
Polystars
Battle Rangers/Bloody Wolf (another top-down shooter game in the vein of Commando, probably the prequel to Thunder Zone/Desert Assault). Isn't this the game with the infamous "YOU! INVADERS!" quote, in some incarnation?
Magical Drop 3
Midnight Resistance (though not amazing, it's certainly better than Bloody Wolf. Finally, a port with the poster in the background (first stage)! I hope, however irrationally, that they include a Mega Drive/Genesis music option, though, as that was done better overall...)

Write-in: Super Contra
&!$(: Meant to vote for Joe & Mac. Maybe I did.

I think the Mega Drive / Genesis [Chelnov/Atomic Runner] is atleast a lot better looking and sounding, gameplay seems pretty much intact but is probably better too. There's no reason to play the arcade game at all, but do give it a try with MAME.

At some points the arcade game has nicer graphics, such as the statues (?) in the backgrounds of some stages. It's all used far too often, though, so levels tend to blend together into a generic mush.

Aside from the dumb new intro sequence and the worse default control scheme (fix it up with those in the third row), the MD/Genesis port is much better. Racing pyramids! One of the games that finds its way into my Nomad most often.

x68k revision was fun too.

Not having a working x68000 at the moment, I can't say despite owning this port. It should be exactly the same as the arcade game, though.