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Shmup Report 2
It seems that I finally got to a stable structure to document my shoot'em up addiction. This post is part of it, for it's the 2nd text I write on shmups. It is also accompanied by a short video I edited and published on youtube – just found out it's a blast to spend a Saturday afternoon playing these games in order to capture some pieces of them for the video.
Another thing that I'm putting on air now is my shmup control page, which contains my shmup collection checklist and my high scores. That's for me, for all shmup fans willing to see what I got and for those out there willing to throw me a challenge. Everybody is also welcome to correct any mistakes or point games that aren't included there!
OK, now for some brief reviews! Let's go from older to newer, shall we?
A classic in its own right, Gradius for the NES is an old, old shooter that seems even older when put side by side with its sequels. I got acquainted with the series rather late, with Gradius V for the PS2 (ain't that a shame?). The original Gradius for the Nintendo 8-bit system is still fun, and sort of difficult. The neat thing is that it allows looping, the not-so-neat thing is that it has crazy warps that sometimes make you skip complete stages!
Astro Warrior is probably the quintessential average vertical shooter for the Master System. Its 3 stages loop endlessly with increasing difficulty. No special remarks regarding graphics or music, everything's just plain: not awful and not outstanding either. It's one of the games I always wanted to play as a kid, but only now I could actually put my hands on.
I think you could call Atomic Robo-Kid a weird-looking game. It's not a platformer because you fly all the time, and staying on the ground means quick death. Colorful and varied, the game suffers from a poor playability design: if you die in later stages, the amazingly slow default speed of the character might make you want to reset the game. Therefore I recommend it to hardcore shmuppers only. Note: the music in this game reminds me a lot of the Mega Man series on the NES. Check it out and see for yourself.
From the outside, Curse looks sensational. A nice cover, an attractive design. The game, however, is rather weak. There are five stages with extremely choppy scrolling that lead to the last boss, the female head displayed on the game cover. Easily forgettable, this game is maybe worth for its last stage – both for the music and for the challenge of a stage with an unique checkpoint (die during the boss fight and you're back to the beginning).
Man, I can't believe I had never played Subterrania before. Where was I then? Where was this wonderful cartridge hidden? Beating it is one of the most fulfilling gaming experiences you'll ever have, in any console. Intelligent controls, beautiful level design and an incredible soundtrack. Definitely one of the best and most overlooked games for the Mega Drive roster.
M.U.S.H.A.! Another overlooked title during my golden MD era, although this time it was completely my fault... Still impressive today, graphically, musically and playability wise. It surely is a high point in the Aleste series, just as Robo Aleste for the Sega CD, its sequel. The things I like most about this last title are the music and the nice touches made on the graphics (examples are the rain in stage 2 and the overhead flashlights in stage 9). The bottom line is: if you play one of these games, you have to play the other. Period.
It should be noted that Sol-Feace was one of the launch titles for the Sega CD. While not great, it's average and fun, and definitely delivers. There's also the Mega Drive version, without the improved soundtrack and cut scenes, and that's why the Sega CD version is deemed to be so poor. It is indeed one of the weakest (few) shoot'em ups for the CD add-on, but even still I have a blast playing it. Or the cart version, whatsoever.
The Japanese-only release of Gunbird for the Sega Saturn falls into the category of quick shmups that can be beaten in less than 30 minutes. It's a nice and challenging little game that puts you in the action against some crazy creatures and mechs, where you can choose between 5 very different characters. For you PS1 fans, be aware that this game exists in US under the name Mobile Light Force.
I can say with no reservations that I am one of the biggest fans of the Darius series. When I learned that there was a port of Darius II for the Saturn, I went and got it right away. But I gotta tell you, this is an insanely more difficult game than Darius II is for the Mega Drive. It surely gave me some trouble to beat! Believe me when I say that the NORMAL difficulty in this game WILL turn you into an extremely cautious methodical shmup player.
Last but not least, there was also Castle Shikigami 2 for the PS2 (which I received as a Secret Santa gift!). I got mixed feelings about this game. While it can get really awesome during the intense bullet hell of some parts, I don't actually dig the fact that you use your special weapon more than your regular weapon, with no power ups! The tension bonus system is a cool addition to the gameplay, but the game itself gets really hard early on the 3rd stage, so beating this with just 1 credit is really a feat to behold.
To read some more lines I wrote about M.U.S.H.A., as well as some really nice gaming testimonies on the Mega Drive, you can go to Sega-16's Reader Roundtable for the month of March. I also left some appreciation words for Subterrania on Reader Roundtable 29, for the month of April.
And to finish the post, to the right you'll find the video with some bits and pieces of all the games I wrote about, for our shmupping pleasure!
Text posted by Kollision on June 10th, 2008