What's Not so new..

Sun May 30th
R-Type Delta released in UK

It's finally here! R-Type Delta was released in the UK last week, and I've just managed to get my grubby paws on a copy. Apart from the slightly disappointing European sleeve artwork compared to the Japanese release (not sure how the US version fares in this respect) it's not bad at all for a PAL release, with minimal letterboxing and as far as I can see all the features of the import game ie. Gallery, Wallpaper options, Battle report screens etc. are intact, much better than the UK version of R-Types which had some similar features cut. The game is the first in the R-Type series to feature true 3D polygonal graphics, and although it arguably does not quite reach the exceptional standard


of Square's Einhander (still the King of 'old-school' polygon PS shooters in my opinion) it is still an awesome title indeed, and captures the classic R-type 'feel' remarkably well for a non-sprite game. One thing that struck me though was how totally outclassed the original R-9 fighter is in this new game by the two new optional fighters - the new RX 'Albatross' and R-13 'Cerberus' come equipped with some stonking weaponry which rather blows away the old-style ship and leaves it looking a little obsolete. Time for the scrap heap for the original R-9 perhaps? Nah.. Maybe not.. ;) Also after cutting my way through assorted enormous and highly unfriendly Mechanical Bydo craft on the first stage my ship seems to have a bit of a problem with..erm.. wasp nests.. The walker Guardian ship thingie on level three is awesome though, this level reminds me a little of the famous Mothership encounter
in the first R-Type game played in reverse.. It came from behind.. aargh!





Further details on R-Type Delta can be found at Irem's official R-Type Delta
website and also in the review archive at Shmups.


Thurs May 20th GigaWing Preview

 

GigaWing



GigaWing

On the rare occasion that a games producer releases an old-school arcade shoot-em-up nowadays, there is often
a certain amount of interest shown in gaming circles if only because such titles are an exception to the current trend towards 3D arcade experiences. And
when the company concerned is none other than
Capcom, whose long lineage of original and classic shooters earns them a rightful place in the Top 5 favourite softcos of many a long-term shoot-em-up fan, you just know it's going to be a good game. Gigawing is the first shooter released by Capcom since the highly
rated
19XX appeared 3 years ago.
Using the same SPS2 system and development team as the latter title, Gigawing promises to deliver a full-on
old-fashioned, seat-of-the-pants blast replete with the Capcom stylishness us gamers have come to love. Further screenshots and info can be found on a Preview page for the game
here. Gigawing should be hitting arcades around now, and if you know of a machine in the UK yet, drop me an e-mail and let me know its location, I'd love to play it! The same thing applies if you know where I can find a 19XX machine nowadays in fact! ;)

A site that has kept me chuckling for quite a while recently is the excellent and very witty UK Resistance gaming page, which has a slight Sega/Dreamcast bias, but don't let that put you off if you are not a Sega-phile like myself.. the site is well worth taking a look at, especially now it seems to have gone OTT taking the mickey out of the Star Wars Episode I hype-machine and Sega's US Dreamcast Ad campaign amongst many other probably quite justifiable and deserving targets. All good clean fun, and hilarious stuff to boot.. ;)





'Yeah, very stylish, very clever, very post-modern and arty, looks good on the ad company's CV, but what the f**k are you selling? What's the product? WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY? For God's sake, it's happening again. IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN! Put the bargain buckets on stand-by...' UK Resistance


Wed May 19th Layer Section (Rayforce) Review

Another excellent review by Zach, another great shoot-em-up. While US
and European Playstation owners were enjoying the 3D-ified delights of the Working Designs/Sony release of Taito's generally highly-acclaimed shooter Raystorm on their consoles, envious Saturn owners may have been missing
out on a far less well publicised, arguably superior title on their own machines.




That game was Taito's prequel to Raystorm - Layer Section - which was known in the arcades as Rayforce, and released by Acclaim in the US and Europe under the dubious title of (..drumroll please..) Galactic Attack. All I can say is that this Saturn title is in all honesty the best vertical shooter ever released for the Saturn outside of Japan, and I would have no hesitation in recommending it wholeheartedly to any fan of the genre. Go read the review right away, and don't come back till you understand the greatness that is this game. Off you go! ;)


Sun May 16th Raiden Project Review

Zach Keene's Raiden Project (Playstation) review is now up in DAM Reviews.
For those not in the know, RP contains arcade-perfect conversions of both Raiden and one of my fave ever shooters, the fab Raiden 2, both of which can be enjoyed in spectacular TV-on-its-side (careful!) Arcade-style vertical mode. A snip at the bargain price for which it should be available nowadays, don't hesitate to pick it up if you have not as yet procured it. Zach's review of another of my all-time fave top-down shooters (good taste that man Zach ;)) Layer Section (also known as Rayforce in its arcade incarnation and renamed to Galactic Attack in the West) will follow very soon so keep an eye open for it.




Sun May 9th

Raiden in Mame soon?

Apparently so! Looks like a driver
for Seibu's famous (and long un-emulated) shooter has been completed (see some screengrabs from the as yet unreleased Mame incarnation
here) and should - fingers-crossed - be released with the next version of Mame (beta13, I'm having trouble keeping up!). With Mames' brilliant vertical mode capabilites we should be able to enjoy the game as intended. Looking forward to it.. :)


Another notable release in the recent Mame 0.35 beta 12 (yep - yet another beta release!..) was Air Buster, which many Genesis or Turbografix owners may know as Aero Blasters - a great little side-scrolling shooter with some neat and unusual little touches. Take a peek at some screengrabs from the game here.

Mame 0.35 beta 12 and the Air Buster
rom can be had from
Retrogames.

A belated mention to the excellent new alt.games.video.shooters newsgroup set up recently by Zach Keene who runs a great game FAQ site (here - do check out his Einhander and Castlevania SOTN faqs)  which has proved very popular with shoot-em-up addicts (myself included). Do feel free to drop by and join in with the discussion.

Darius fans will emit a shudder at the very name 'Titanic Lance'.. Why? Because it happens to be the moniker of one of the biggest, meanest, dare I say it.. orangest shooter bosses known to man or beast.. This particular breed of Alien genocide-machine harks from the classic Darius Gaiden (Arcade and Sega Saturn) and has the dubious honour of being first to be inducted into the new Hard Bosses section of the Rogues Gallery here at DAM.. so do go and make his acquaintance right away ;) Oh, and look out for a proper (and in-depth) Saturn Darius Gaiden review very soon.






Look out for Zach Keene's Raiden Project (PSX)
review coming very soon..







The aptly-named 'Titanic Lance' - Evil Knievel
would never have been able to get over this
fella on a motorbike eh?..


L
astly, check the RAINE Hompage for details of two new releases
for Raine -
Omega Fighter and previously 'secret title' Atomic Robo Kid.


Sun April 25th Emulation Updates & Other stuff

Mame Beta 0.35 Beta 11 has been released! (see Mame Homepage). Newly supported games which caught my eye include Terra Force (a personal fave and a must download!) and UFO Robo Dangar - these two are the third and fourth games in Nichibutsu's Moon Cresta/Terra Cresta series. Another addition to this release of Mame is Prehistoric Isle 1930 - an early SNK shooter featuring Biplanes vs Dinosaurs which I only vaguely remember in the arcades but is rather good fun. Thanks to Malc of SHMUPS! for that info. Also in the new release are Nichibutsu's Armed Formation F, a decent top-down shooter, and Cabal, the forerunner to Wild Guns.

You can grab the new Mame and download the roms from
Retrogames.






A new version of Raine (v0.20) was recently released including support for a further 16 games including Arkanoid 2 and cute platformer New Zealand Story, plus some interesting looking shooters - Earth Joker, Ashura Blaster, Galmedes, Fighting Hawk and Space Invaders 95. The last game in particular looks cool, being to the original Space Invaders what the Parodius games are to the original Gradius games, check out the screenshots on the RAINE Hompage! Eeek..Aliens in drag..Freaky..
Again, grab the roms at
Retrogames.

While I'm doing the emu thang, a quick mention to the new version of Shark V3, the excellent Toaplan shooter emulator, which has also had a recent update. Not quite sure exactly whats been changed, if you want more info go to the Shark Homepage.

Has anyone got Rodland (Jap version) working in the new Mame yet? I can't seem to get it going either in Mame or Raine.. a shame as it's one of my favourite all-time 'cutesy' games.. oh well, maybe it's a bad rom I've got.. :(

Site-wise not a lot of action I'm afraid.. I finally got around to adding a Console Emulator page to the Emulation section, and a few more bosses to the Easy Bosses section of the Rogues Gallery though. As always, I'm on the lookout for possible contributors, if you might be interested give me a quick e-mail and let me know.. there are still an awful lot of blanks in the Rogues Gallery index to be filled in!

Like the little 'space-montage' at the top of the page? One of my English pounds to anyone who can tell me which two games I nicked the screengrabs from - hehe, I'd be surprised if anyone knew them both!

 
 
 
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