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Lots of arcade shooters made the jump to the Genesis, but some suffered great changes. Insector-X is an example of a game that went through massive graphical and audio alterations on the trip home. The cartoony visuals were traded for some seriously robotic bugs, and the soundtrack was completely swapped out. Some argue that it's all for the better, while some say the game is worse off for it. Read our full review and decide for yourself!
I like the Genesis version of this a lot better than the Arcade and NES versions which had the super cute, super deformed sprites that I though looked super stupid. The Sega version on the other hand has really cool looking enemies and environments, and I completely disagree about the colours looking bland. The game looks fantastic and the colour palette is on par with all the other shooters on the system at that time.
The one area where I think this game really flops is the sound. Whatever sound effects are there (and there aren't many) are wickedly uninspired and flat. The explosions are dull and quiet, the gunfire sounds are practically nonexistent and the background music is acceptable at best, albeit boring. You really need good sound and music to make a shooter stand out. Lets face it this genre is nothing but an adrenaline rush and you just can't get that without a kickass soundtrack and booming sound effects.
Other than that though, the game has quite a few enjoyable qualities and I'd agree with the 7/10 score.
This game would have been rated quite highly if they had done one simple thing:
Parallax background scrolling! When this game came out, multi-planed backgrounds and raster parallax scrolling were already well-established as the norm in decent Genesis games. There was simply no excuse for this game to only have a single background plane with no parallax.
That's my biggest gripe with it. The backgrounds are just too flat. Some parallax would have really made things look cooler, since the enemy sprites are great already.
You're not alone. The game's sound was a divisive area, along with the graphics. Some really liked the way it looked/sounded as an arcade game, others liked the Genesis more in those areas. For me, the Genesis version was the better one, and I enjoyed the music and redone graphics. Just wish they'd added some parallax and a few more colors in spots so things like the big moth boss and its lair in the sewer looked less grainy.Quote:
Originally Posted by djshok
Oh, and I was surprised to see how many colors came up when taking the screenshots. Some areas had over 40 colors being used, which made it kind of shocking that some of those grainy bits even existed. Shame Taito/Sage's Creation/Hot-B (whoever made it) didn't do a little better job with color management.
Speaking of which, who the hell made this game? As far as I know, Sage's Creation published it in The States, Hot-B published it in Japan, and Taito made the actual game. The thing is, there are no end game credits to even look up names and see who worked where.
Yay, I'm not alone! I ALWAYS loved the Genesis version over the arcade/NES ones
Apparently Hot-B did the Genesis versionQuote:
Originally Posted by The Coop
I really enjoyed the Famicom version, not too keen on the Genesis version.
Here is my review of the Famicom version:
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewt...hilit=insector
The Genesis version is indeed better than the arcade, but it still is a fairly mediocre game.
By the way, the article has some nasty, weird symbols in it. Check it out:
http://www.joeredifer.com/crap/insectorxreview.png
Look at the first line after the quote and the last line after the word 'hit'. WTF is with that wacky shit?
Note to people who write stuff for Sega-16:
DON'T USE MICROSOFT WORD! IT IS HORRIBLE AND YOU WILL GET CRAP LIKE THIS!
Huh? That's weird, I don't see those symbols in the actual review.
As for Insector-X, I actually kind of liked it. Not a great game, especially if you're big into shmups, but not that bad.
Yeah the 7/10 score nails it on the head. I like Insector X's visuals and sound although there are clearly better Genesis/megadrive shmups out there. I must suck at this game though because I get my ass handed to me on level 2 every time with those red worm thingies that pop out of the ground. :bang:
I've never used MS Word. I use Open office.Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Redifer
Those symbols follow quotes almost every time. "Hit" had quotes around it, but Melf deleted them, yet the symbol didn't go with them.
Maybe Melf edited it in Word?
I use Dreamweaver, and I don't see any of those symbols in the actual review. Anyone else? Bueller? Bueller?
I can see those symbols both in Firefox and IE but they look slightly different in IE.
Nice review Melf. I really appreciate all the work the reviewers on this site have put in. I've found out about so many new interesting games this way.
I don't see those symbols in the review. They also don't appear to be in the page source. Not sure what could be doing that...
Here is what I am seeing in the source code:
http://www.joeredifer.com/crap/insectorx2.png
Dreamweaver is putting garbage in where you do any edits, most likely. This is why I do all of my HTMLing in a basic text editor.
Are you using DELETE or BACKSPACE to get rid of whatever you got rid of?
I don't see those symbols but I think the problem is related to the lack of unicode fonts in the computer of the user that see them.
Then why don't I see them in all articles? Also, if that's the case then wouldn't that be a reason to NOT use unicode fonts (whatever those are) in articles since all users can't see them?
Joe, you need to delete your WTF folder and reinstall Warcraft. That should fix the problem for you. If not, try reformatting your hard drive.
Reinstall? Warcraft will never touch my computers or enter my household!!!
The point is that there is a Unicode character where there should be NO character. Dreamweaver must be a piece of shit.
I also see those symbols. They have been in reviews and features for a very long time.
I personally thought it was an excellent game. Yeah the graphics did seem dull and washed out a bit, but there were a lot of Genesis games that suffered that. If you get over the graphics (which are really not that bad), it's a pretty good game.
Definitely neither Taito nor Sage's Creation. Probably Hot-B.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Coop
Great review btw!
When I first got the game, I thought I had turned on my PC Engine by mistake. I still enjoy playing the game even for that unforgivable omission.Quote:
Originally Posted by Firebrandx
I believe there was no parallax even in the original coin-op (included in "Taito Legends 2"). The hardware that the coin-op used was pretty low-scale, nothing the Genesis couldn't handle ports from. Don't be so surprised.
I wasn't surpised (I mentioned the arcade having none in my review). I was however, disappointed. They took the time to redo the graphics, so why not go another extra step?Quote:
Originally Posted by Aarzak
I've been told that all three versions were by Hot-B. The changes were made to the MD/Gen one to appeal to Americans.Quote:
Originally Posted by Christuserloeser
First genesis shooter with NO parallax scrolling.
Picked this game up for few bucks...lets see how well it plays. anyone wanna share?
It's one of the few games where the port is better than the original arcade version.
Sadly, that doesn't mean much.
darn....I knew I shoulda taken some advice beforehand.
Shame there's no review here for advice or anything :p
That's one review, right. Would've been interesting to hear from others. Most reviews on the net are pretty negative, unfortunately. But, I took the chance anyways.
I am fan of the genre, so I guess I'll be aight.
don't darn itQuote:
Originally Posted by Curryman123
Insector X is not a bad game "per se". It's just not top-tier stuff.
It looks amazing on screnshots, with lots of color and all those wonderful bosses, definitely the best aspect of the game IMO.
However, the lack of parallax and a less-than-stellar (albeit fitting) soundtrack take it down a good notch.
Some people also complain about the checkpoint system, but that I'll leave it to you. :)
That's right my goofy vampire friend, especially when it came out during the same period that "Thunder Force III" and "Gaiares" did!
One review yes, but you also came across as ready to regret getting it just from Kollision's comment. Remember, EGM gave it a 7.75 (a score average), Power Play gave it a 70%, and Zero gave it an 81%. It's true that one guy on Gamefaqs gave it a 2, Honest Gamers gave it a 3, and a French (I think) site gave it a 4, but those six are the majority of the reviews I found on-line for the Genesis version (not including mine). Factor in what others have said here, and I think you'd be safe in assuming that the game will be at least average, if not better.Quote:
Originally Posted by Curryman123
Thanks to the coop for recommending this game. I liked it. The game is pretty short and easy (until the final stretch), but I finished it on my 3rd play through. Good stuff.
7/10
I just finished this game. I like it, not too hard but level 5 begins with exceedingly cheap enemy mechanics ( the enemies can fly through and shoot through obstacles). The final run up to the final boss is the hardest part if the game. It almost becomes a bullet hell shooter with enemies running up your butt. You really need to keep you power ups or your sunk for sure. The bosses are too easy, dispatched with little effort. I like the game.
I bought this version despite originally hating it from being changed from it's cutesy arcade self. I figured, why not could always use another shmup in the collection.
Still prefer the original arcade version personally, good thing I have it around on Taito Legends 2 and a Taito Memories pack for the PS2. Still also want that FC version one day as it actually adds a female into the mix, something neither version has (to be fair the Genesis version is quite serious compared to the arcade original).
What's really neat on the MD version is that the original Arcade characters face is hidden in the final level within all the bees on the floor, nice touch.