Search

I know a lot of shmup fans don't really care much about the stories in their games, but I think it's nice when game creators make an effort.

The original Sonic Wings/Aero Fighters is one of my top arcade favs, so I'm looking forward to this one!

Already out on Steam, brand new to Switch though.

It's an exA release, so big bucks if you wanna buy it -- but there's a chance you might spot it in the wild if you've got an arcade near by.

FTA:

>exA describe the title as “the shooter spectacle of the year”; they have notably redesigned the game into a sequel as opposed to a remaster. This brings numerous improvements and enhancements so that it works better as an arcade game, such as reducing its completion length vastly from four hours. Instead of setting it up that way, the AC version has branching paths like Darius, where every time you play, it picks from a different pool of pre-designed levels. This operates at 1 frame of input lag, and comes with a heavy metal soundtrack.

I'm kinda freaking out -- Aleste is my fav shmup series (you may have noticed!), and I'm quite fond of Zanac, too. Looking forward to this project for sure!

Just throwing a Mastodon-style hashtag on here, just to see if it shows up for people following this comm on Mastodon.

#shmups

From the article:

>Also known as Vulcan Venture, Gradius II launched in 1988 and was ported to the Famicom, PC Engine CD and Sharp X68000 – all of these ports were exclusive to Japan. The coin-op was later released on Saturn and PS1 in the Gradius Deluxe Pack and PSP as part of Gradius Collection. The game has also been released on Switch and PS4 as part of Hamster's Arcade Archives collection. > >This is not to be confused with the MSX Gradius 2, which is a completely different game.

Interesting news: Among the nine titles being prepared for future release from Edia are the shmups Griffin and Sol-Deace (aka Sol-Feace).

Edia is presently the rights-holder for the intellectual property that used to belong to Telenet Japan, and Telenet had a couple more shooters in its library: Arrow Flash and (most importantly to me, anyway) Gaiares. Could be some good stuff on the way.

No word on markets outside of Japan, but I'm keeping an eye out for updates!

Via the r/shmups sub.

I like Gunvein a lot. Collectors Editions/limited releases less so...

Just found out that the Windows version of Cho Ren Sha has been updated. The title of this post goes to the Retronauts post about it. Download is available here: https://yosshin4004.github.io/x68k/crs68k/official/index.html

Relevant part of the article:

>What's this? A vertically-scrolling shooting game based on the popular mecha anime property Macross, originally developed by NMK and published by Banpresto in Japan and Fabtek elsewhere and never ported or reissued until now; based on the Do You Remember Love? film, players control Hikaru Ichigo and/or Maximilian Jenius in their war against the Zentradi, which is executed by shooting bombing, collecting shot-strengthening power-ups and transformation capsules that change the form and shot type of your mech, while also optionally grabbing medals and/or uncovering hidden Minmay heads for score. (The ACA version offers extended options to play the P2 character as P1 and vice-versa, starting on the second loop or adding on-screen rank and medal value display.) > >Why should I care? This game only does this game present a lovingly-crafted digital tapestry of one of the most beloved pieces of Macross media but also reconfigures the format and feel of contemporary NMK shooting games like Thunder Dragon and Gunnail for a mass audience, which in practice means it's way, way easier and bereft of most of the customary clunk that might have turned casual players away from their other games. (It's also a game that nobody expected to ever be reissued, and the premium price reflects the exorbitant expense of the license.) > >Annoying reality: While the chronically infuriating international Macross embargo, enforced by Robotech producers and eternal rent-seekers Harmony Gold, has eased in recent years, products and content from the pre-Flashback 2012 library are still a legal minefield, and so the odds of this reissue hitting global storefronts are incredibly low.