Give opinions on the following Saturn games.

[Curryman123]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Blast Wind looks fun for what it is, but why do the graphics look so average?
I seen better looking Genesis games.

[jerry coeurl]

Wow, Metal Black looks awesome! I'm surprised I haven't heard of that one prior to this thread.

[Curryman123]

Does the Saturn version of Metal Black feature rapid fire and CD audio?

Also, how is Strikers 1945?

[M4R14NO94]

I like it more than Gun Frontier (seriously, that game is not fun at ALL)

I thought I was the only one that didn't like Gun Frontier! I never found it appealing.

[StarMist]

Strikers 1945 is rather lame; the music's lifeless and the enemy art style unfit for the real life military planes one pilots. I find Gunbird to have more personality. Both these will likely be too easy for you, you might be better off with Strikers 1945 II (PS) or Gunbird 2 (DC). There's also the Sengoku Blade + Ace pack (Saturn) though they're generally regarded very easy; nonetheless for visuals and music they're by far the best.

[Kollision]

IIRC there's no rapid fire in Metal Black (SAT). However, the little automatic firing that's present won't wreck your wrists because the game works with a type of burst-fire (not-so-fast tapping will produce the same results as autofire).

Just a minor correction on SM's post....
Sengoku Bla(e)de on Saturn is a single game, the confusion exists because it's also called Sengoku Ace Episode II.
Sengoku Ace, the first in the series, can only be found for consoles on the PS2.

[M4R14NO94]

I think that when he mentioned a double pack he meant the one that was only released in Japan for the PS2.

[Curryman123]

Strikers 1945 is rather lame; the music's lifeless and the enemy art style unfit for the real life military planes one pilots. I find Gunbird to have more personality. Both these will likely be too easy for you, you might be better off with Strikers 1945 II (PS) or Gunbird 2 (DC). There's also the Sengoku Blade + Ace pack (Saturn) though they're generally regarded very easy; nonetheless for visuals and music they're by far the best.

Nah I am not as good as Kollision when it comes to manic shooters.

[JFLY]

Does the Saturn version of Metal Black feature rapid fire and CD audio?

Yes and yes.

[A Black Falcon]

I thought I was the only one that didn't like Gun Frontier! I never found it appealing.

The biggest problem with the game is the insanely slow ship speed, I think. There are no speed powerups either -- you're stuck at "barely moving" all the time. It just makes the game so ridiculously difficult and frustrating that it quickly stopped being fun. I did finish it once, but only by bringing in a second player in order to keep playing... the game sends you back to the last checkpoint after you die, in one player mode, and I found some of the later bosses simply impossible without the ability to continue where I died.

As for Strikers 1945, the second one probably is better, but all of the games in that franchise are fun... basically Strikers 1945 plays a LOT like Aero Fighters. I like both series quite a bit.

The US "Strikers 1945" on Playstation is of course Strikers 1945 II. It's mostly a good port, but sadly the tate mode was removed. For that reason, if you can, consider an import copy. I've read that the PSX version is actually a little better than the Saturn one, though, while Strikers 1945 1 is better on Saturn than PSX (both Japan only of course).

[Bloodreign]

Metal Black on Taito Legends 2 has beam refocus issues, Saturn version thankfully isn't broken, but prepare to be good, it has a continue limit. If you let your beam spread out, you cannot refocus it, this issue apparently isn't in the version on Taito Memories for PS2.

KGP: It's fun enough, and the racing mode can be disabled via code so it plays like a regular Raizing shmup. Tate is best for it as mentioned before.

Shienryu: I have on PSN on my PS3, it's a decent shmup, very old school in appearance, and can get difficult unless you control rank.

Blast Wind: I still prefer Hyper Duel on the Saturn, though it too is not cheap. Never felt good playing this one, don't own it either unlike the other 3 above.

Now Gun Frontier, I do like, but it's been said the Saturn version is easier than the arcade version. Don't ask me how because I never could get very far into it without more continues. I'll stick to the Legends and Memories version with no continue limits.

[Curryman123]

What is this beam refocus issue? Can you explain?

[ThunderForce]

I want to collect Metal Black, Blast Wind, Kingdom Grand Prix and Shienryu, But I am reading mixed reviews on these games.

Do you guys mind sharing your opinions? How are these games?

Metal Black is the best game of your list. One of my favorite Taito shooters and very unique. CD audio from the soundtrack and has no slowdown issues compare to the PCB.

Blast Wind is ultra easy but killer soundtrack if you listen to it on a CD player. The Sound effects are much louder than the BGM. I don't think it is worth the price for the gameplay value.

Kingdom Grand Prix is average. You can get it for $20-$30 and you may not play it much.

Shienryu is a great cheap game that very Raiden-like. Game does use a checkpoint system.

I thought I was the only one that didn't like Gun Frontier! I never found it appealing.

Saturn port of Gun Frontier as said already is crap. It made the game too easy by giving you too many extends in a short period of time and looks like the ranking system got removed from the game (the more you shoot without hitting an enemy the more aggressive the enemies will be).

[Curryman123]

yeah. I am putting down the 30 bucks for Metal Black. I like the unique look and feel of this one.

I've already picked up Shienryu for 30 bucks. : -X

[M4R14NO94]

The biggest problem with the game is the insanely slow ship speed, I think. There are no speed powerups either -- you're stuck at "barely moving" all the time. It just makes the game so ridiculously difficult and frustrating that it quickly stopped being fun. I did finish it once, but only by bringing in a second player in order to keep playing... the game sends you back to the last checkpoint after you die, in one player mode, and I found some of the later bosses simply impossible without the ability to continue where I died.

As for Strikers 1945, the second one probably is better, but all of the games in that franchise are fun... basically Strikers 1945 plays a LOT like Aero Fighters. I like both series quite a bit.

The US "Strikers 1945" on Playstation is of course Strikers 1945 II. It's mostly a good port, but sadly the tate mode was removed. For that reason, if you can, consider an import copy. I've read that the PSX version is actually a little better than the Saturn one, though, while Strikers 1945 1 is better on Saturn than PSX (both Japan only of course).

Oh yeah, your ship's obnoxiously slow. Always hated that.

As for the Strikers series the reason why it's so much like Aero Fighters is that it's by many of the same people. Apparently the developers weren't too thrilled with Video System's idea of making vertical shooters on a horizontal display (as the later games in the series show) so they left and formed Psikyo. It's massively ironic when you consider that one of the later games in the series runs on a hori display (then again, it was on Neo Geo), and that a few of their games (Sengoku Blade and Sol Divide) are hori shooters too.

It was kinda strange to see Agetec release the second one under the name of the first. They could have at least made a double pack with both games instead of taking the sequel and renaming it thus adding confusion (MobyGames' entry for the original had some screens from Strikers 1945 II alongside those from the first, but I sent a correction for that and they're where they should be now)