Gun & Frontier, Garegga source for inspiration

stratos · Post by **stratos** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:14 pm

Several days ago I read an interesting article about autofire on Free Conversant by Randorama; I don't remember why, he mentioned the 90' Taito shooter "Gun Frontier" (also known as "Gun & Frontier"), specifying that it was a great source of inspiration for Raizing developers in the making of Battle Garegga (probably my favourite shmup). So I played it and I figured out it had many interesting characteristics that reminded me of Garegga, like the tanks that release small bomb fragments, the boss milking style and the flamingoes... yes, they are very similar to those we can see in Ibara, after the cascade: incredible!

The game is also really playable and amusing; you can destroy anyhing with your bulletts, but in certain areas you have to use bombs to take down too big targets, there are the medals, there are non-boss enemies that can be shut down piece by piece, and some targets can be destroyed in different phases to get more points or more bombs; for exemple, you encounter some water veichles approaching to the coast: if you shot down them when they reach the coast, you get bomb fragments, and if you wait, they let go soldiers on the sand!!

Not only this, the veichles in the game are very singular: they resemble the likes of a gun! And the musics are really good too.

I'd like to know much about this interesting old classic, like the storyline, curiosity and much more; if you like the game, know information or simply want to discuss about it, simply post here!

Also, I'd like this post woul'd be a "general discussion" one, since I'm going to open another thread in the strategy section for, obviously, strategy babblings...

Let's share your knowledge!

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 8:24 pm

Some random stuff:

- I think Rando might have mentioned that in the article you read, but Gun Frontier is also the name of a Leiji Matsumoto Manga from the 80s, fusing sci-fi with the old West, and most certainly one of the inspirations for the game of the same title.

More recently it was turned into an Anime:
http://www.leiji-matsumoto.ne.jp/gunfrontier/top.html

- The game's production value was very high, and it was meant to be Taito's shooting game hit of 1991. However, Street Fighter II was released in the same year, kicking off the all-consuming vs-fighter boom and Gun Frontier became a flop. Konami's expensive Xexex failed for the exact same reason. However, both game still have a very strong cult following in Japan. Specifically Gun Frontier is remembered as one of the first shooting games to emphasize details irrelevant to gameplay in order to create one coherent "game world" and atmosphere, such as the intro about the young boy waiting for the "Desperado" to take revenge for his murdered family, the coherent visual style across all levels, little details like the birds in stage two, etc.

- The rank system in the game is tied to the amount of bullets the player fires. This was believed to have been a measure against autofire hardware that many gamecenters began installing at the time.

- Apparently it was the first shooting game where different flight patterns were given to different looking bullets.

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 12:04 am

I'm still curious about wether Gun Frontier has anything to do with Metal Black (Project Gun Frontier 2) or not (aside the obvious like staff members, genre and such). I feel there oughta be a reason to why they gave Metal Black that extra title?

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 12:25 am

I think it's probably just cuz it's the same team and the fact that it's the next shooting game after Gun Frontier.

EDIT:

Although in terms of storyline I guess it could be a prequel to Gun Frontier, since in Metal Black humans only just got the power of space flight.

BTW, wasn't Metal Black also supposed to originally be Darius III!?

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 1:16 am

Glad someone is giving this game attention. I've always loved it, but it certainly is a flawed game and those not-too-stellar aspects will always keep it from the top 25 list. That said, GF offers a unique perspective on shooters, and one worth offering up an homage to, not just once but now in two AAA titles.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 1:23 am

Picking up bullets to increase your bomb stock, thats in Garegga.

When you use the bomb, the napalm attack is just like the first ship in Garegga's bomb.

Some of the explosions looks like just Garegga.

Some of the bullet styles in Gun & Frontier are in Garegga.

Hit box is small, like Garegga.

At Stage one, there are a lot of tanks you can destory so you can increase your bomb stock, same thing in Garegga.

Raizing really loved Gun & Frontier.

CecilMcW00t · Post by **CecilMcW00t** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 3:47 am

I love this game. I think the presentation has a lot to do with it. It has its problems, but I always find myself coming back to play it. And this game made me a fan of composer Yasuhisa Watanabe's (aka. YACK) music.

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 4:51 am

Fighter17 wrote:Picking up bullets to increase your bomb stock, thats in Garegga.

When you use the bomb, the napalm attack is just like the first ship in Garegga's bomb.

Some of the explosions looks like just Garegga.

Some of the bullet styles in Gun & Frontier are in Garegga.

Hit box is small, like Garegga.

At Stage one, there are a lot of tanks you can destory so you can increase your bomb stock, same thing in Garegga.

Raizing really loved Gun & Frontier.

Rank is increasingly unforgivable, like Garegga.

Don't forget the power up coins

scrilla4rella · Post by **scrilla4rella** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 8:58 am

this game is great. It really got class and to think that it came out in '92. It really add something to the Toplan syle of shooters but with more destruction and better atmposhere and music, Really ahead of it's time in this regard. A bit easy tho.

It's like the Raiden with ambiance...

elvis · Post by **elvis** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 9:17 am

http://www.mameworld.net/maws/romset/gunfront

- TRIVIA -

This game is known in Japan as "Gun Frontier".

This game was inspired from the Anime series of the same name by Leiji Matsumoto. It is a hilarious, thrilling and outrageous story that takes place on a lawless planet in deep space. In a wild land where the dust of sand swirls, two totally different men, Harlock 'the Quick Draw' and Tochiro 'the Master Swordsman,' meet a mysterious woman called Sinunora and travel together. "This odd threesome gets involved in thrilling and outrageous brawls and seems to attract one fight after another!".

S. Yagawa paid homage to this game by programming "Battle Garegga", which has a lot of features taken from "Gun Frontier" (not only design, you can destroy scenery, weapon and bombs system, etc).

Leiji Matsumoto, in his series 'Cosmo Warrior Zero', recycles the "Gun Frontier" settings for the 'Silvana' character. Since the Sony PlayStation tie-in was produced by Taito, the planet looks like planet "Gloria", the one featured in this Taito shmup.

Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Runark, Gun Frontier - PCCB-00060) on 21/04/1991.
Zuntata Records released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Zuntata History L'ab-normal 1st - ZTTL-0038) on 01/04/1999.

- SERIES -

1. Gun & Frontier (1991)
2. Metal Black (1991)

- STAFF -

* Sound composer : Yasuhisa Watanabe (Yack.)

And on to the sequel, Metal Black:
http://www.mameworld.net/maws/romset/metalbj

- TRIVIA -

Metal Black was originally planned to be "Darius III", but somewhere in the middle of development, the programmers decided that it had to be a different, unrelated game.

Moriyama Yoshihiro (See Staff section for more info) is the chief of G.rev (makers of "Border Down" in 2003).

The game forbids the initials 'SEX' on the high score table. If you try, it gets changed it to '***'.

Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Metal Black - PCCB-00079) on 21/01/1992.
Zuntata Records released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Zuntata History L'ab-normal 1st - ZTTL-0038) on 01/04/1999.

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

* Levels Select : Boot machine with service switch pressed.
Message appears : SERVICE SWITCH ERROR, press 1p Start(x3), service switch, 1p Start.
Message appears : SELECT BY DOWN SW, select level with joy Down/Up and push Start button.

- SERIES -

1. Gun & Frontier (1991)
2. Metal Black (1991)

- STAFF -

* Producers : Senba Takatsuna, Hori Takamasa
* Game designers : Senba Takatsuna, Hori Takamasa, Kuroki Naoya, Ohno Tomohiro, Seguchi Takashi, Mizobe Kumi, Watanabe Yasuhisa, Jun Sawaki, Ishikawa Katsuhisa
* Art directors : Senba Takatsuna, Ohno Wepokichi
* Programmers : Tarabar, Kuroki Naoya, Seguchi Takashi
* Hardware engineers : Jun Sawaki, Takeda Tomio
* Decorator : Kumi Mizobe
* Sound (Zuntata) : Yasuhisa Watanabe (Yack.), Ishikawa Babio
* Bit pattern : Moriyama Yoshihiro, Tanaka Kuniaki, Nakahara Yoshikatsu, Tsuneoka Masatoshi, Vap-Awave
* Cast : Ho Lee Chan, Zuntata, John Neianik 8th, Sakou Menme

- PORTS -

* Consoles :
Sega Saturn (1996)
Sony PlayStation 2 (2005, "Taito Memories Vol. 1")

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 10:04 am

Gun Frontier has also some strong influences from Laputa ("Laputa, castle inthe sky"), like the flamingoes at the beginning of the second boss battle, or the overall design of planes (to be exact, the players' plane is taken from the plane of of "Nausicaa in the valley of the wind", the one flown by Mito).

The entries regarding Gun Frontier (the paragraph on Matsumoto's inspiration) and the comment about Metal Black being a canned Darius III, so to speak, are actually mine (i.e. i upped them on arcade-history.com), together with some notes on Batsugun.

Speaking of Taito, well of G.Rev actually: Border Down's plot is an indirect reference to Captain Harlock. Basically, Frank Void, the main character, is a product of S.D.F. plan to create the ultimate fighter and fighting program.He then rebels, albeit indirectly, to this plan. There is a very indirect quote in the game, in 6B ending scene, in which the bearded guy (can't remember, but something like LEIJI Bowman...), he makes a comment about Frank, "the seed have sown" (sic!).

This comment is a reference to something said by Queen Rafflesia in episode 35 (not too sure) to Harlock, as she wants to indirectly say to Harlock that the Mazonians were the secret creators of humankind, and humankind rebelled to them.

Beside that, Frank Void looks like a blonde Harlock, so...

At any case, i have written a lot of stuff on these things and, while not 100% reliable (they are blog entries after all), i have analyzed many of these links. I will try to post some links later, at any case.

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 4:19 pm

Seven Force wrote:Specifically Gun Frontier is remembered as one of the first shooting games to emphasize details irrelevant to gameplay in order to create one coherent "game world" and atmosphere, such as the intro about the young boy waiting for the "Desperado" to take revenge for his murdered family, the coherent visual style across all levels, little details like the birds in stage two, etc.

It makes you wonder if that was also the inspiration for the detail-oriented story slant of character-based Psykio shmups, since that has been their Raison d`etre with games like Gunbird, Sengoku Ace/Blade, & Dragon Blaze.

Pointman · Post by **Pointman** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 8:40 pm

I picked up a copy of Gamest last year with a nice Gun Frontier cover and a generous 4 page spread. I managed to take a few pics, apologies if the writing is a bit tricky to see.

http://img434.imageshack.us/img434/2528 ... ver9mv.jpg
http://img347.imageshack.us/img347/6821/gamest12em.jpg
http://img347.imageshack.us/img347/4708/gamest29dg.jpg

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 9:27 pm

Pointman wrote:I picked up a copy of Gamest last year with a nice Gun Frontier cover and a generous 4 page spread. I managed to take a few pics, apologies if the writing is a bit tricky to see.

http://img434.imageshack.us/img434/2528 ... ver9mv.jpg
http://img347.imageshack.us/img347/6821/gamest12em.jpg
http://img347.imageshack.us/img347/4708/gamest29dg.jpg

Thanks.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 12:05 am

Oh, wow. Cool Gamest cover.

Well, hmm...good info about GF, but it takes away all the mystery, doesn't it? It stands to reason that something that original and bizzare wouldn't just materialize out of thin space, though. Unfortunately.

Frogacuda · Post by **Frogacuda** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 6:53 am

CIT wrote:BTW, wasn't Metal Black also supposed to originally be Darius III!?

I've heard stuff like this, but nothing credible, and I think it's likely BS based on obvious similarities, since few if any of the staff of the prior Darius games worked on Metal Black.

EDIT: Oh, ccol, it looks like we have the source here: Where did you hear about the Darius connection?

Metal Black is a pretty neat game, and perhaps a smidge underrated, and the most obvious parant of Border Down. Gun Fronteir I never found to be very playable or enjoyable. Don't really know why. I never liked Garrega either, so maybe they are similar.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:14 am

Frogacuda wrote:
CIT wrote:BTW, wasn't Metal Black also supposed to originally be Darius III!?
I've heard stuff like this, but nothing credible, and I think it's likely BS based on obvious similarities, since few if any of the staff of the prior Darius games worked on Metal Black.

EDIT: Oh, ccol, it looks like we have the source here: Where did you hear about the Darius connection?

Pretending that the trolling tone is absent in this post:
Darius III was supposed to be released in 1991, but they released a third arcade Darius only in 1994. Metal Black has a few fish enemies (like,say, the final boss) that are a remaining of the old sketch, and one of the endings in Darius II shows a boss which is more or less similar the third boss of Metal Black.The Darius games also have big differences in teams, to my memory only Hisayoshi Ogura is the only person that has worked on all four titles.

I will not reply to any offensive comments, of course, or anything that is based on claiming "BS" without saying why, thanks.

kemical · Post by **kemical** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:31 pm

wow, this is neat. All the stuff that I class as being original Raizing style actually come from GunFrontier.... I guess Taito really are the all-time creators of the shmup..

bigbadboaz · Post by **bigbadboaz** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:29 pm

I gave this a run in MAME (latest version) and there's a noticeable graphical anomaly where the ground enemies seem to be sitting on a different parallax layer than the ground itself - i.e. when you scroll the screen sideways, the ground moves first, then a split second later the enemies move with it. Is this a problem with the emulation or a bit of "character" present in the actual PCB? It certainly doesn't look right...

elvis · Post by **elvis** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 3:14 am

From the WIP listed on MAWS I think that is an emulation glitch. I can't say for sure, as I don't have the PCB myself.

Here's the MAWS listing for the Taito F2 driver. Notice the comments about sprite glitching there too.
http://www.mameworld.net/maws/driverinfo/taito_f2.c

Also on the Gun Frontier page itself, emulation status is listed as "good" (meaning playable with audio and graphics, and any glitches do not affect gameplay). Until a driver is rated "perfect" you can expect glitches:
http://www.mameworld.net/maws/romset/gunfront

Skyknight · Post by **Skyknight** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 3:10 am

More specifically, Taito decided that the somewhat gloomy atmosphere of Metal Black wouldn't fit with the previous Darius games.

I still think of Metal Black as existing in the same universe as the Darius games, though. More specifically, I think of Darius II--Olga putting a stop on the Belser invasion of Earth--as occurring because of Metal Black (Belser and Mabaher decide to take advantage of the rout of the Nemesis forces, and gain control of that race's rejected creations--Terran humans)...

Bigode! · Post by **Bigode!** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 4:48 am

In that gameone documentary about shmups (http://shmup.canalblog.com/) Hiroyuki Maruyama, of G. Rev says that Border Down is more or less a tribute to Metal Black. I thought he worked on Metal Black too....

SAM · Post by **SAM** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 5:45 am

CIT wrote:- I think Rando might have mentioned that in the article you read, but Gun Frontier is also the name of a Leiji Matsumoto Manga from the 80s, fusing sci-fi with the old West, and most certainly one of the inspirations for the game of the same title.

More recently it was turned into an Anime:
http://www.leiji-matsumoto.ne.jp/gunfrontier/top.html

松本零士 ?!?! How unexpacted.

roker · Post by **roker** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 9:41 am

kemical wrote:wow, this is neat. All the stuff that I class as being original Raizing style actually come from GunFrontier.

yeah

but Raizing got the exectution part down pat

many of the best movies, music, paintings, etc. were inspired by something else before it

BBH · Post by **BBH** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 10:53 am

roker wrote:but Raizing got the exectution part down pat

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:58 pm

batrider's rank system isn't too bad, actually

beam · Post by **beam** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:12 pm

After some babelfishing through japanese pages it appears the rank works like this :
When your shot doesn't touch or kill an enemy the rank goes up.
But other sources (mainly this forum) are saying the difficulty rises solely with the number of bullet you shoot.

Does anybody knows how the ranking works ?

Moreover the saturn version seems not to be loved by japanese gamers because of some flaws in the port. What are the main differences between the Taito Legends 2 version (arcade) and the saturn one ?

Some informations :
http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/web/body/?wb_url=http://park18.wakwak.com/~kuwano-h/game/new-106.html&wb_lp=JAEN&wb_dis=3
http://neuro-nex.net/molclock/gunfro/basic/gunfro.html

D · Post by D » Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:23 pm

beam wrote:After some babelfishing through japanese pages it appears the rank works like this :
When your shot doesn't touch or kill an enemy the rank goes up.
But other sources (mainly this forum) are saying the difficulty rises solely with the number of bullet you shoot.

Does anybody knows how the ranking works ?

Moreover the saturn version seems not to be loved by japanese gamers because of some flaws in the port. What are the main differences between the Taito Legends 2 version (arcade) and the saturn one ?

Some informations :
http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/web/body/?wb_url=http://park18.wakwak.com/~kuwano-h/game/new-106.html&wb_lp=JAEN&wb_dis=3
http://neuro-nex.net/molclock/gunfro/basic/gunfro.html

So with Garegga rank goes up by the amount of bullets you shoot and with Gun Frontier, the rank goes up by the amount of bullets missed?
An obvious difference between the GF SS and PS2 is 240p vs 480i.
The Saturn versions seems like emulation to me, so I wouldn't be surprised if both version were the same. More on this by the next guy Replying after me.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 9:22 pm

beam wrote:Moreover the saturn version seems not to be loved by japanese gamers because of some flaws in the port. What are the main differences between the Taito Legends 2 version (arcade) and the saturn one ?

If memory serves, there's some sort of autofire option on the Saturn port which makes the game a lot easier, but I forget the details.

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 10:24 pm

BulletMagnet wrote:
beam wrote:Moreover the saturn version seems not to be loved by japanese gamers because of some flaws in the port. What are the main differences between the Taito Legends 2 version (arcade) and the saturn one ?
If memory serves, there's some sort of autofire option on the Saturn port which makes the game a lot easier, but I forget the details.

Instant respawn also, no?