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Dr Seedyman

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geldra

geldra

Posted
Posted

I noticed some of the tat was a model of the R9, which made my whiskers twitch a little bit. Big fan of plastic tat. 
 

Tat tangent, picked up this wee beasty recently. Just couldn’t help myself.


edit: also! Big up Project Starship X. Enjoying that, even if it is a touch on the “zany” side. 

 

 

 

74955B2F-EA42-4749-B8B9-2262C798043F.jpeg

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Qazimod

Qazimod

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Stoikovich said:

Just got Kickstarter email through re R-Type Final 2 release date, which they say is end of April for Japan, a little later elsewhere (given their record to date, we’ll see).


Anyone else in for this?

 

In for the digital copy and soundtrack. I liked Final 1 but I picked it up with a bunch of other games whilst browsing bargain bins, and I probably never gave it enough time, so I'm kind of making amends :) 

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ImmaculateClump

ImmaculateClump

Posted
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1cc'ed GG Aleste and GG Aleste 2 there today.

 

The first one just wants to be your best friend and take you on an exciting adventure.
Finished it first go because of course I did. I am the big man after all, but the second one totally wants you dead by comparison!

 

It was a proper shock going from the first one to that, I was just expecting a nice cosy, fun, relaxing time again and there were spaceships flying around and under, shooting me from angles straight off the bat!

 

That's me done all the games in the collection now, I think.
I'd rank them in order like this at the minute.

 

Power Strike 2
GG Aleste 3
Aleste
GG Aleste 2
GG Aleste

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Dig Dug

Dig Dug

Posted
Posted

Level 8 boss stole my Thunder Force IV deathless from me. Outside of that boss I'm finding the game very easy now. It's only a matter of time.

I've made a list of games I want to 1CC to clear my switch backlog after I finish with Thunder Force IV.
Thunder Force AC, Super Hydohra, R-Type, Omega Fighter, Gradius, Danmaku Unlinited 3 Normal, Satazius Normal.

I should take it one game at a time but it'd be great to get those clears.

Ten 1CC clears this year would be a cool goal for me.

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ImmaculateClump

ImmaculateClump

Posted
Posted

Power Strike 2 with the rank turned up one notch to 3 (hard) feels great! Porridge feels just right for me there.
Gonna try and 1cc that next.

 

It has the added bonus that it looks like hardly anyone plays at that difficulty.
I think there were only ten people on the leaderboard and only one person had cleared it when I was playing today.

 

Feels like the real normal mode since the normal mode in these games is forgiving.
Gonna sniff round the other games and see if they have similar settings.


I quite like games like that where the default mode is sort of like easy instead of normal, because you don't have to swallow your pride and pick "baby monkey" mode or whatever and it lets you learn the stages without being too overwhelmed at any point.

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ImmaculateClump

ImmaculateClump

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It came to me whilst lying in bed this morning that the reason the leaderboards for slowdown on and off are lumped together is that the timer won't be in-game, it won't speed up and down with framerate, it'll be separate, and that's your reward for managing the game without the slowdown, shaving more seconds off your clear and pushing yourself further up the leaderboards.

 

Took a worryingly long amount of time for that particular penny to drop.

I'm assuming these games have so many milking opportunities that they'd be changing the games hugely if they took those all out.

 

So these games are time attack games now and that encourages you to use the most OP weapons if you're going for a quick time.

I think I'm OK with that.

 

1cc'ed GG Aleste special mode the other night. It's just the same but with suicide bullets. Definitely makes it a lot more interesting.
It's good that arguably the "worst" game on the collection is still a lot of fun to play through. That game seems to have a lot more dead air than the others and it's definitely the easiest.

 

Who's gonna take one for the team and try the Squadron '51 demo? :D - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1378800/Squadron_51/

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geldra

geldra

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

Hehe, I don't know how accurate this is - https://www.pricecharting.com/game/sega-master-system/power-strike

looks like power strike 2 is worth slightly more - https://www.pricecharting.com/game/pal-sega-master-system/power-strike-ii

 

I wonder if stuff like the m2 collection would make the price of the originals rise or fall.


I reckon it can only really push the price up, inevitably. Any new fans of the game will no doubt want to source a physical original copy if they’re into that thing. That’s my take. Terrible behaviour if you ask me...

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Dig Dug

Dig Dug

Posted
Posted

Before we started porting everything there was a time where rereleases were uncommon and did push the price down because people like me who only buy games to play them no longer needed to track down the original.

 

Today everything is more expensive by default anyway but collector culture is also much bigger. Not only do we have completion collectors who want full libraries but we also have quality focused collectors who like the idea of owning libraries consisting of highly regarded games. The internet has only made these kind of collectors more common as nothing is hidden, overlooked or underrated anymore. A “good” game is a fine addition to their collection even if the game isn’t to their taste.

 

These collectors won’t settle for the CD or iTunes download, they want the original vinyl. They won’t use it but they can show their admiration with it.

 

We have the speedrunning culture and these ideas of hardware purity to take into account also. Ports are out under the microscope now for differences and inconsistencies which is good as it pushes up the standard of porting but it also plays into the original hardware fetish. 
 

People can now more easily give themselves excuses to invest in this stuff for any of the above reasons. I say this as someone who likes playing on original hardware but even my stance has loosened greatly thanks to the improvements modern ports can make (thanks M2). Would it be nice to own Thunder Force IV boxed or play it on a mega drive and crt? Yes. Do I feel a want or need to go out of my way to have those things over the Sega Ages port? Nope, they’re unnecessary in the grand scheme.

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Jonster

Jonster

Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

It came to me whilst lying in bed this morning that the reason the leaderboards for slowdown on and off are lumped together is that the timer won't be in-game, it won't speed up and down with framerate, it'll be separate, and that's your reward for managing the game without the slowdown, shaving more seconds off your clear and pushing yourself further up the leaderboards.

 

Took a worryingly long amount of time for that particular penny to drop.

I'm assuming these games have so many milking opportunities that they'd be changing the games hugely if they took those all out.

 

So these games are time attack games now and that encourages you to use the most OP weapons if you're going for a quick time.

I think I'm OK with that.

 

Power Strike 2? Sounds like something I'm currently thinking about so might be good to check out...

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ImmaculateClump

ImmaculateClump

Posted
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1 hour ago, Dig Dug said:

The trailer makes it hard to see the actual gameplay which is a massive pet peeve of mine alongside trailers that speed up footage or shake the screen when something explodes.

 

The game itself looks excellent.

 

Yeah, exactly.

Compare it with this.

 

 

Exciting footage of the game at full size on the screen in almost every frame with exciting music pumping away in the background. Less than a minute. It's all you need.

 

I end up scrubbing through a lot of game trailers trying desperately to find the game footage when checking new releases on steam and it can be painful.

There was one the other day I must have clicked 6 times across the timeline, each time landing on a mostly black screen with some witty made up quote or something and I just fucked it off.

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Count Buffalos

Count Buffalos

Posted
Posted

I managed a 1cc of arcade UN Squadron today. It wasn't too difficult but I'm happy with it nonetheless. The game still holds up well and is enjoyable to play, still looks good in that late 80s / early 90s way too. On to the SNES version next, which I remember being quite difficult back on the day.

 

 

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geldra

geldra

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

Woohoo! Got my hard mode 1cc in Power Strike II this morning.

 

gOBX6qc.jpg

 

D104bfE.jpg

 

Might try and better my time in the first aleste tonight, because I think it was pretty pants.


inspired me to pick up the collection. I had steered clear as I thought “Game Gear?!?! How good can it really be?”

 

Turns out, apparently pretty great. Strikes me as the kind of release that you’ll regret not picking up because chumps will be selling it for £100+ on ebay in a month or two. 

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Camel

Camel

Posted
Posted
40 minutes ago, geldra said:


inspired me to pick up the collection. I had steered clear as I thought “Game Gear?!?! How good can it really be?”

 

Turns out, apparently pretty great. Strikes me as the kind of release that you’ll regret not picking up because chumps will be selling it for £100+ on ebay in a month or two. 

 

Where did you order? The thought of buying anything from outside the U.K. right now gives me a feeling of dread.

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geldra

geldra

Posted
Posted
26 minutes ago, Camel said:

 

Where did you order? The thought of buying anything from outside the U.K. right now gives me a feeling of dread.

Amazon.co.jp

 

They apply taxes etc when you buy the stuff so I don’t think you’ll get smashed with extra charges. Worked out about £46. Unless you fancy the GG Micro special edish....

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ImmaculateClump

ImmaculateClump

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Count Buffalos said:

I managed a 1cc of arcade UN Squadron today.

 

Nice one! That looks canny good. Looks like it's one of the games in "pack 2" of that capcom arcade stadium thing that's coming out* - https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?p=1437465#p1437465

 

1 hour ago, geldra said:

“Game Gear?!?! How good can it really be?”

 

Yeah, I was the same! So glad I took the chance, really enjoying my time with these games.

 

*edit: Oh, hang on, it looks like the guy on the shmups forum might have got that wrong, it says elsewhere that it'll be Carrier Air Wing/U.S Navy

"The spiritual successor to U.N. Squadron".

 

I'll have to fire UN Squadron up in mame and give it a try.

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geldra

geldra

Posted
Posted

I played Pulstar for the first time last night. Stating the obvious from 20 years ago but wow! How much of an rtype rip!!?

 

It amused me that the continue screen kind of implies that the pilot of your ship has nodded off mid mission. 

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ImmaculateClump

ImmaculateClump

Posted
Posted

Woah, I just had a look. That's pretty shameless!
Does it still play OK despite that?

 

There's an upcoming game, started life as a mobile shmup I think, called Rangok Skies that people were ragging on because it looks like they just lifted dodonpachi sprites wholesale.
It was alright, I quite enjoyed the demo when it came out, and didn't notice any of plagiarism, to be honest.

 

 

 

Was trying to 1cc GG Aleste 3 special mode today and died on the very last pattern of the final boss. I didn't know whether to scream or cry or laugh. I was doing so well, had about 5 lives or something and just totally went to pot.

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Oh Danny Boy

Oh Danny Boy

Posted
Posted
18 hours ago, geldra said:


inspired me to pick up the collection. I had steered clear as I thought “Game Gear?!?! How good can it really be?”

 

Turns out, apparently pretty great. Strikes me as the kind of release that you’ll regret not picking up because chumps will be selling it for £100+ on ebay in a month or two. 


Yeah I recently picked up ESP. Ra. De. Psi for similar reason. Been on my want list for a while but always too pricey, but thought to splash out as I’m sure it will soon move from pricey to waaaay too much to justify on a single game in the near future. 
 

Aleste, sounds like another amazing M2 effort but is it worth it if you’ve never played the series? Might be too hard to get over the dated Game Gear presentation without nostalgia driving me. 

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geldra

geldra

Posted
Posted
48 minutes ago, ImmaculateClump said:

Woah, I just had a look. That's pretty shameless!
Does it still play OK despite that?


yeah it’s great. I’m sure I read somewhere recently that said a load of Irem staff worked on it at the time so it makes sense it’s ridic close to rtype.

 

 

48 minutes ago, ImmaculateClump said:
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Camel

Camel

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, geldra said:

Amazon.co.jp

 

They apply taxes etc when you buy the stuff so I don’t think you’ll get smashed with extra charges. Worked out about £46. Unless you fancy the GG Micro special edish....

 

Thanks for this. I ordered this while half asleep last night. It worked out to about 50 quid and while I'm sure it said something about covering taxes and whatnot, when I look at my order now I see no mention of it. Fingers crossed I suppose.

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geldra

geldra

Posted
Posted
41 minutes ago, Camel said:

 

Thanks for this. I ordered this while half asleep last night. It worked out to about 50 quid and while I'm sure it said something about covering taxes and whatnot, when I look at my order now I see no mention of it. Fingers crossed I suppose.


Glad to help.  Pretty sure it doesn’t allow you to buy it without paying the taxes so I think you’ll be ok. 

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