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Mega Drive. Yeah!

strider

By strider,
in Retro & Arcade Gaming

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Oh Danny Boy

Oh Danny Boy

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Adrock said:

What's the concern about the YouTube video?


Never knew there was such controversy with her. I keep getting her vids on my YouTube feed, lots of them seem very clickbaity and the ones I have viewed she just seems very unnatural in front of camera and has such a hammy delivery that I switch off. 

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Yasawas

Yasawas

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What’s the chat with Atomic Runner/Chelnov? I only knew it from the glowing review in the rather untrustworthy Mean Machines Sega so it did stick in my head but today is my first real go of it. After an hour mainly spent trying to find a control method that works for me, I’ve gone from thinking it’s awful to realising they might be right after all. It is awkward as hell initially, and hilarious in its brutality by sometimes restarting you right in front of an enemy, but when I can stay alive for upwards of a minute it’s thrilling like little else. I imagine it gets a bit “flow-statey” once you get a good rhythm going. Like Geometry Wars or something.

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Yasawas

Yasawas

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This will be the least hot take ever made in this thread but I'm rediscovering the MD love recently with the Mini II having lapsed a bit in recent years - just how ludicrous is Thunder Force IV? 55-inch screen, fuck your scanline filter and smoothing nonsense. Beautiful, colourful, fast and relentless. Literally struggling to believe some of what I'm seeing.

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spanky debrest

spanky debrest

Posted
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11 minutes ago, Yasawas said:

This will be the least hot take ever made in this thread but I'm rediscovering the MD love recently with the Mini II having lapsed a bit in recent years - just how ludicrous is Thunder Force IV? 55-inch screen, fuck your scanline filter and smoothing nonsense. Beautiful, colourful, fast and relentless. Literally struggling to believe some of what I'm seeing.

 

I suspect the MD Mini 2 is running it overclocked, removing a lot of the slowdown but yeah, Thunder Force IV is a marvel. 

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JamesC

JamesC

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On 28/11/2022 at 18:26, Yasawas said:

What’s the chat with Atomic Runner/Chelnov? I only knew it from the glowing review in the rather untrustworthy Mean Machines Sega so it did stick in my head but today is my first real go of it. After an hour mainly spent trying to find a control method that works for me, I’ve gone from thinking it’s awful to realising they might be right after all. It is awkward as hell initially, and hilarious in its brutality by sometimes restarting you right in front of an enemy, but when I can stay alive for upwards of a minute it’s thrilling like little else. I imagine it gets a bit “flow-statey” once you get a good rhythm going. Like Geometry Wars or something.

Atomic Runner is a fantastic game and one that still gets a fair bit of play. I have a mate who comes over for retro nights once in a while and we usually have to have an Atomic Runner blast.
It's a really unique game and it takes a bit of getting used to but once you get it it's just brilliant, with some cracking music, great visuals and top-notch level design.
There are loads of control options - I usually go for the one that maps A to shooting backwards, B to jump and C to shooting forwards.

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Yasawas

Yasawas

Posted
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2 hours ago, JamesC said:

There are loads of control options - I usually go for the one that maps A to shooting backwards, B to jump and C to shooting forwards.

 

My man. Some of the others are pretty weird but it takes all sorts etc.

 

I've fallen for it very hard in the last week or so, it's definitely up with the best retro games I only discovered as an adult. I suppose the lack of re-releases and its deceptive look (in passing it looks like an action platformer or run & gun while I would categorise it as a pure shmup now) is what keeps it seemingly pretty low-key. Certainly review scores of the time were all over the place so clearly plenty go in expecting one thing and getting quite another.

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spanky debrest

spanky debrest

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Atomic Runner was one of the last MD games I bought, before feeling content with my collection.

 

I played it a few months ago and found that it's way more ruthless than I remember. Even if you're instantly comfy with your preferred control set-up, it'll test your skills and memorisation. I certainly find it harder than most MD action games.

 

As a random aside, a few years ago a converted every MD VGM sound pack I could find into individual playable 'soundtrack' ROMs, using the Deadfish VGMPlay tool. Every few days I'd create a new batch of them, and enjoy them via a flashcart. The Chelnov OST was one of a small handful that the tool couldn't build a fully working ROM with, for some reason,  and there's more than one VGM rip of the OST out there as well, but same result (most tracks not being readable on console). I believe the sound driver itself might be unique to the game.

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Paulando

Paulando

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Was playing a bit of Hellfire yesterday. Not sure what the general consensus is, but I remember loving it as a kid. Also remember it being bastard hard.

 

So anyway, the music is incredible. Got that true Mega Drive ‘clang clang’ sound going on.

 

 

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Down by Law

Down by Law

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, Paulando said:

Was playing a bit of Hellfire yesterday. Not sure what the general consensus is, but I remember loving it as a kid. Also remember it being bastard hard.

 

So anyway, the music is incredible. Got that true Mega Drive ‘clang clang’ sound going on.

 

 

Dude, if you like Hellfire then Zero Wing will blow your nuts off. Toaplan firing on all cylinders !

 

 

1 minute mark ☠️

 

I think this game has some of the cleanest drum samples on the Mega Drive. Shit slaps

 

 

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Paulando

Paulando

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16 minutes ago, Down by Law said:

Dude, if you like Hellfire then Zero Wing will blow your nuts off. Toaplan firing on all cylinders !


Hah! This is actually one of the few cartridges I still own. Haven’t played it in years though, so will need to get back on it.

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spanky debrest

spanky debrest

Posted
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I adore Hellfire.

 

It's probably joint tied with Musha Aleste as my very favourite MD shooter, as it's always a great session, keeps me fully engaged throughout, and evidently never gets old (I was fortunate to have access to these games when they were new grey imports, thanks to an older mate).

 

Anyway, when I first got my Mega Drive running again after years away from home consoles, Hellfire was a top priority to relearn and finish, as when I was a kid I never did survive the final boss.

 

It's also the best / definitive version of the game IMO, as while the arcade original has more content and impressive animated elements, it's also stiffer and lacks refinement. The PC-E CD version is technically closer to the arcade in some ways but it lacks challenge and I do not care for the new agey soundtrack.

 

The thing about the Mega Drive Hellfire soundtrack that stands out for me - aside from the Toaplan trademark bold bouncing octave hopping all over the place - is that most of the tunes have melody lines that are double-tracked in places, so they have distinctive 'louder' sections that really do reverberate their surroundings. Thunder Force IV's more metal / crunchy riff-tastic tunes did this a bit as well but Hellfire MD's implementation stands alone.

 

The only flak I ever see this game getting is from shooter enthusiasts who prefer vertical oriented danmaku / bullet hell games from later generations, and inherently dislike checkpoint systems and environmental hazards, probably because they had formative experiences with Cave XBox 360 ports rather than Nemesis and R-Type arcade cabinets, at the risk of sounding like a decrepit boomer.

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Mr Monday

Mr Monday

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I got Hellfire on grey import after seeing the positive reviews in Mean Machines and C&VG.  I tried to love it and put a lot of hours into it, but I don’t think I ever got past the third stage.  It’s just so damn hard!  I also find the clangy music cheesy and a bit irritating.  
 

Compared to other early horizontal shooters I prefer Gynoug which has some great effects and is less brutal in the difficulty department.   And this is one of my favourite tunes from an MD shooter 

 

 

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spanky debrest

spanky debrest

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Totally fair to not enjoy / gel with Hellfire, and Stage 3 and 4 probably ought to have been swapped for difficulty spike reasons, as those mini bosses are kinda stressful until reliable dodging patterns click.

 

Back in the day I'd stock up on those Mega Drive-exclusive one-use special laser blasts just to tear through those gits and enjoy the later half of the game. And I swear the specials are way more powerful in the JPN version.

 

It's interesting to me how certain titles are interpreted. I find Thunder Force III one of the unfriendliest, cruelest games on the entire system and have no patience with it at all, but the general consensus is that it's the perfect beginners shooter. 

 

I was chatting shooters with a mate the other day and mentioned that I keep coming back to Viewpoint on the Neo Geo despite not being able to clear Area 2. It's bastard hard and non-popcorn targets are ridiculous bullet sponges but as a package it stays compelling somehow.

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merrychan

merrychan

Posted
Posted
21 hours ago, spanky debrest said:

 

It's interesting to me how certain titles are interpreted. I find Thunder Force III one of the unfriendliest, cruelest games on the entire system and have no patience with it at all, but the general consensus is that it's the perfect beginners shooter. 

I'm the same, never managed to click with Thunderforce 3.

 

I've always loved Hellfire, since seeing it running on a friend of a friend's JP machine during the early MD days I knew that was the machine I'd be getting.

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