SNES

[lemmy_kilmister]

Super Aleste sucks. The only decent SNES shooters are Axelay, Space Megaforce, and UN Squadron.

Um, Super Aleste and Space Megaforce are the same game, dude.

[j_factor]

hah. I can't believe nobody caught that right away.

[Dartagnan1083]

Bio-Metal is OK as well.
just as long as you can stomach the repetitive 'Stadium' music.

(serriously, the music seems like it was ripped straight from the PHX-SUNS 92-93 season).

[ary incorparated]

crap,R type 3 is crap.way to hell and damned slow,darn you 2,56 mhz snes.crap slow thing with graphics.TF force and musha eat em all.

[DrunkHeadbanger]

Um, Super Aleste and Space Megaforce are the same game, dude.

hah I wanted to say that too you were faster than me for that reply.

Firepower 2000 (Mega SWIV) is OK in my opinion. The Weapon's power ups are kind of lame, but it can be fun in two player mode with the chopper and armored SUV.

[Drixxel]

No, I left out R-Type 3 because it's terrible.

Could you substantiate that opinion just a tad?

[Melf]

I know the GBA port of R-Type 3 is crap, but I was under the impression that the SNES one was pretty good (never played it).

[Drixxel]

R-Type 3 is a pretty rockin' game in my opinion. I've yet to play the GBA port, but Melf's opinion seems to be pretty universal through what I've read of it. Honestly, though, SNES R-Type 3 is a great shooter. Levels are rather devilish until you get a feel for their layout, but they're fun to play through, and there's no shortage of shit going on. The three different force devices offer a weapon variety lacking from previous R-Types, control is tight, and the game offers a good challenge. No way is it a terrible game.

Bio-Metal is OK as well.
just as long as you can stomach the repetitive 'Stadium' music.

(serriously, the music seems like it was ripped straight from the PHX-SUNS 92-93 season).

While I have only played through the first stage of BioMetal, it seems that the developers, in lieu of any cunning enemy attack formations of their own, just made every enemy craft chug mindlessly forward while firing shit loads of bullets in your direction. Does the game improve at all after stage one?

[j_factor]

I find R-Type III needlessly frustrating because I keep running into walls and dying. There'll be no wall on the bottom of the screen for a while, and then all of a sudden, BAM, a wall out of nowhere, so if you happened to be on the bottom of the screen, you're SOL. I generally dislike having walls kill you at all, and R-Type III takes it further by making deadly walls part of the level design.

Also, the music reminds me of Battletoads in Battlemaniacs. And not in a good way.

Another thing I didn't like was how the screen would occasionally get cluttered unnecessarily. As a quick example here's a pic from the first level:



Those things aren't actually enemies. They're just these things that sit there and hope you ram into them. And wtf is with that foreground?

[extrarice]

Right, the GBA port of Rtype 3 is crap. The company that was picked to do the port was given no support from Irem - no original source materials, such as sprites, music, level designs, anything. From what I've read, it was basically reverse-engineered. The porting house did a good job with what they had, but the final output is nothing close to the SNES version.

[Drixxel]

I find R-Type III needlessly frustrating because I keep running into walls and dying. There'll be no wall on the bottom of the screen for a while, and then all of a sudden, BAM, a wall out of nowhere, so if you happened to be on the bottom of the screen, you're SOL. I generally dislike having walls kill you at all, and R-Type III takes it further by making deadly walls part of the level design.

Also, the music reminds me of Battletoads in Battlemaniacs. And not in a good way.

Another thing I didn't like was how the screen would occasionally get cluttered unnecessarily. As a quick example here's a pic from the first level:



Those things aren't actually enemies. They're just these things that sit there and hope you ram into them. And wtf is with that foreground?

That space debris is easily dispatched with simple firepower. The foreground is there for maybe ten seconds, and it doesn't really obscure much of the screen while it's zooming past. As for deadly surprise walls, it's the kind of thing that you learn to expect after a couple lives lost. Like any shooter, eventually it all becomes memorized anyway. Personally, I find that kind of tricky level design far more engaging than, say, a more old-school shmup in the vein of something like ol' Slap Fight - navigating sinister layouts is nothing new to R-Type anyway.

Anyways.. to summarize, were you to spend more time with R-Type III, you would surely come to enjoy it.

[extrarice]

Personally, I find that kind of tricky level design far more engaging than, say, a more old-school shmup in the vein of something like ol' Slap Fight - navigating sinister layouts is nothing new to R-Type anyway.

Right. The R-Type series has always been about memorization and pattern recognition, whereas other shooters such as Gradius are purely twitch shmups. Some people like the former, some like the latter, some both and some neither. Three cheers for variety!

[Dartagnan1083]

R-type involves too much thinking as opposed to shooting.
This applies accross most of the franchise.
The exceptions that I have noticed are R-type Leo and FINAL. I haven't gotten around to playing DELTA yet.


R-type III added extra Force modes, longer levels, and more of the ever bloated Mode-7. I really couldn't stomach it for very long. I have gone back a few times, but I ultimately remembered why I didn't stick with it each time.

I don't feel I should memorize all the generalized safe spots and Force-launch spots.
but that's the key to success in every R-type.

You could argue that memorization is rewarded in every shmup.
But R-type games are unique in that most of the fireing patterns are relativly set in stone provided you take the intended 'safe-path'
while many other shmups will let you move around a bit more. . .as no 1 place is completely 'safe'.


and now to quote a great statement;
"R-Type is a video game "classic" in the same way Birth of a Nation is a movie "classic." Okay, so R-Type may not be a racist tribute to the Ku Klux Klan, but they're both highly regarded turning points for their respective artistic fields that just aren't relevant today. R-Type is slow, plodding, and memorization heavy; don't waste your time with its archaic design."

[extrarice]

R-type involves too much thinking as opposed to shooting.
This applies accross most of the franchise.
The exceptions that I have noticed are R-type Leo and FINAL. I haven't gotten around to playing DELTA yet.

Delta is closest in feel and gameplay to R-Type 1. Leo is thought of as the "bastard child" of the franchise, as it was so radically different than the others. Final was too much "ZOMG look we can swing the background around this way...and THAT way!!", but was a good swan song (especially since you can unlock a buttload of different ships, including the ship from the NeoGeo knockoff "Pulstar").

and now to quote a great statement;
"R-Type is a video game "classic" in the same way Birth of a Nation is a movie "classic." Okay, so R-Type may not be a racist tribute to the Ku Klux Klan, but they're both highly regarded turning points for their respective artistic fields that just aren't relevant today. R-Type is slow, plodding, and memorization heavy; don't waste your time with its archaic design."

*shrug* Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. Me, I get tired of the "endless wave" style of shmups and find the memorization aspecs of R-Type refreshing. But when I do want a twitch shmup, I'll pop in SNES Gradius 3 on Arcade mode. Now, Ikaruga is a whole other ball of wax - another "thinking"-type shmup, superb in its minimalism. But I digress.

[Nintendon't]

Does anyone have any love for Starfox around here? I can't get enough of that game lately. It had that Super FX chip graphics accelerator built into the cart right? Was anything similar even possible to install and operate in Genesis carts?

I have been playing Starfox on the SNES a lot recently. For some reason I love the game, while I hate the N64 version.

I personally like the SNES more than the Genesis but I love both systems. The SNES has the more memorable games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 3, Super Mario RPG, Kirby Superstar, and Link to the Past. The Genesis is almost as good but one thing that is good and bad about the system is that most of the games don't have a password or battery save. It does extend the life of most games but it isn't fun having to play for an hour and a half straight to beat all the levels in Sonic and then losing all your lives in the last 2 levels.