Balder
Supreme Overlord
Trying to cut down the amount of movies I watch
Posts: 6,827 
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Post by Balder on Dec 12, 2016 23:30:24 GMT
I'm creating this thread some hours early because I don't know if I've got time to do it tomorrow.
This week:
Truxton
Chosen by: stratogustav
Year: 1989
Developer: Toaplan
Publisher: Taito, Midway, Romstar
Platforms: Sega Genesis, PC-Engine
Send me suggestions to Balder. Next suggestions: pimpalicious, Guilion, Cervantes
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Post by ModeratorNumber2 on Dec 12, 2016 23:32:47 GMT
Added to the review list.
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MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651
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Post by MeleeMonk on Dec 13, 2016 2:43:31 GMT
Darn. I was so hoping this week would be my suggestion. Didn't you tell me this week would be Bomberman, Balder? |
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Balder
Supreme Overlord
Trying to cut down the amount of movies I watch
Posts: 6,827
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Post by Balder on Dec 13, 2016 9:36:50 GMT
Darn. I was so hoping this week would be my suggestion. Didn't you tell me this week would be Bomberman, Balder? You know that I post the order of suggestions right? So you can always see what user's suggestion is next. |
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MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651
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Post by MeleeMonk on Dec 14, 2016 0:38:39 GMT
I just was worried that you forgot about my suggestion. That's all.
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Post by winnersdontusedrugs on Dec 14, 2016 1:50:34 GMT
When I played through Truxton a few years back I wasn't going into the game expecting much, considering I only played it for the memes. That said I was surprised at how tense and exhilarating it was for the majority of the playthrough. Even some of the lowly fodder enemies can pose at least a decent threat (to me) since the bullets move so damn fast. Once the game actually starts throwing difficult enemies and advanced patterns at you you're on a constant adrenaline rush.
My beef with the game is how punishing a single death is. Not only do most of your upgrades get stripped upon death, but you're also thrown back to the nearest checkpoint. I get SHMUPs are supposed to be hardcore and unforgiving and all that shit, but deaths fuck you over so hard it almost defeats the purpose of having lives to begin with and you might as well get sent to the title screen.
Yeah the game often gives you free powerups around checkpoints, but if you couldn't get past a certain pattern when you're decked out with full upgrades, you sure as shit can't get passed it when you only have a handful of upgrades and your ship moves so slow it might as well be stationary.
Even though design choices like that baffle me they feel like semantics after it's all said and done, because it's not really that long of a game. I should also say that I like the soundtrack on the pcengine/turbographix, the themes for stages 1 and 5 in particular are excellent and they do a great job at setting their own mood.
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Pimpjira
Guardian Force Shooter
Posts: 1,102
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Post by Pimpjira on Dec 14, 2016 12:13:47 GMT
I played the arcade version a bit, but not enough to give it a rating. Seems pretty fun, but probably too hard for me.
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Balder
Supreme Overlord
Trying to cut down the amount of movies I watch
Posts: 6,827
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Post by Balder on Dec 14, 2016 15:32:02 GMT
I just was worried that you forgot about my suggestion. That's all. Yours coming after mine again. That's when the reset starts. |
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MeleeMonk
Cartoon Pony Wrangler
Part-time gamer, full-time environmentalist, and member of PAPO (People Against Palm Oil)
Posts: 3,651
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Post by MeleeMonk on Dec 15, 2016 2:51:05 GMT
I just was worried that you forgot about my suggestion. That's all. Yours coming after mine again. That's when the reset starts. Gotcha. |
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Guilion
Lord Wing
Former Incompetent Evil Commander
Posts: 284
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Post by Guilion on Dec 15, 2016 2:53:48 GMT
Well, as always I have one major gripe with this game. The gripe that I have with it is one that I don't think I've ever seen a reviewer talk about; the game on the Genesis has framerate issues. I don't get it, it may be the only Genesis game that I've seen with framerate issues, the weirdest part is that said framerate issues aren't present when emulating the game, only when playing it on the actual console.
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Cervantes
Off-Brand Transformable Robot
A former Incompetent Evil Commander (XP: 2423)
Posts: 2,820
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Post by Cervantes on Dec 15, 2016 16:26:42 GMT
I have to admit I've never played it, not even on emulation. Pardon me, Lord Karnage! :/
From all the videos I saw (especially Mark playing it), it seems to be a very fine shooter on the Genesis/Mega Drive, but not nearly as impressive as something like MUSHA.
Let's all agree its title is badass, though. Even the japanese title also sounds awesome: Tatsujin.
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Balder
Supreme Overlord
Trying to cut down the amount of movies I watch
Posts: 6,827
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Post by Balder on Dec 18, 2016 21:46:50 GMT
I gave this game a 5, it's not perfect, but it's pretty damn good. The soundtrack is good, even though other there exist other SHMUPS with better soundtracks. The gameplay however is top notch, it's space shooting at its finest. So much fun, however, as winnersdontusedrugs has stated; dying one single time is too punishing, and I couldn't agree more. Once you die once you lose pretty much everything. Space shooters like Don Pachi and Layer Section aren't this punishing and makes for better games as more casual SHMUP players get to have fun. It's not the best game by any means (don't understand how Mark can think so since there are better games in this category), but still very enjoyable, hence the rating. |
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stratogustav
Supreme Overlord
Warrior with Bandana
Posts: 7,460
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Post by stratogustav on Dec 19, 2016 0:44:48 GMT
Truxton is the perfect top tier arcade shmup of its generation.
Obviously the genre evolved with revolutionary releases like DonPachi and DoDonPachi, both made by CAVE, a company formed with Toaplan ex-members. However at the time, Truxton was the Street Fighter II of shmups.
Just like all the top tier shmups come from CAVE and MOSS nowadays, back then they came from Toaplan, the creators of the NES classics Tiger-Heli and Sky Shark. This is before Treasure was a thing, which by then, Toaplan became Takumi, which is the dev that gave us the Giga Wing games and Mars Matrix.
The Genesis was the only console on the market that provided higher fidelity to the arcade originals, which is why it was the preferred console for arcade games to end up at.
The Genesis (Mega Drive in Japan) was basically the Dreamcast of its time. Just like the Dreamcast had the perfect Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 and Capcom Vs. SNK 2 ports that no other consoles had at first, the Genesis was the same way with the arcade games of its generation.
Even with the Western arcade games such as Mortal Kombat, the Genesis was the one with blood. That's why they pride themselves in that, to the point of still featuring those games in the 2016 versions of the console.
The introduction of the 6 button layout was what made their controller the perfect pad for fighting games. It's almost as if it had Street Fighter II in mind. It was basically the arcades in your house, and people wanted top tier shmups in their houses, so they ported almost every single Toaplan game, starting with Truxton of course.
They end up porting to the system:
- Truxton
- Fire Shark
- Hellfire
- Twin Hawk
- Zero Wing
- Twin Cobra
- Slap Fight
- Grind Stormer
Maybe not all were ported directly by Toaplan but they were all made by Toaplan. Even Compile's Aleste's Metallic Uniframe Super Hybrid Armor Full Metal Fighter Ellinor: M.U.S.H.A was built with the same sound engine of Truxton. It had that kind of prestige.
As you can see these are the classics that made the Genesis special, that made it worth owning despite having the SNES as a rival. You simply couldn't get the full experience unless you had both consoles.
Trivia: Many of our ranks in the forum are based on these classics, if you haven't noticed it already, to honor all those masterpieces of the time.
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Post by teddykongcountry on Dec 19, 2016 3:55:14 GMT
I give it a 2-1 since I can never seem to get past that stage.
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stratogustav
Supreme Overlord
Warrior with Bandana
Posts: 7,460
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Post by stratogustav on Dec 19, 2016 5:15:17 GMT
Well, just like top tier fighters, top tier shoot 'em ups have never been casuals friendly, that's just the nature of the gameplay of those genres.
Sometimes consoles get casuals friendly modes, but the original design is challenging and meant for the arcades, it requires skills and precision, it basically asks for excellence, and that's part of what makes them great.
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