Incline Shoot'em up goodness (review and discuss)

[Great Deceiver]

I've been playing Irem's X Multiply, it's a 1989 shmup that is similar to R-Type, but it has a darker atmosphere, almost horror movie-like instead of alien. There's an option that's fixed to your ship but which you can control to some extent - the two little arms flail around and you can block shots with it.

Definitely worth a look.

 

[Nutmeg]

Nice. I love Irem. Along with Toaplan, they're the other shmup developer I most associate with the serious 80s salaryman aesthatic. I've been putting some time into Image Fight, which I read was the main inspiration for RSG. Kickass OST too.

 

[Valestein]

This is an Asteroids clone rather than a side-scrolling shoot-em-up in the traditional sense, but Nova Drift is a great game. The gimmick is that your ship is also your character build that you build up as you advance waves, similar to ARPGs like D2/PoE.


It's very replayable even in Early Access.

Speaking of Asteroid clones, It'd be nifty if the Super Stardust games could find their way to PC/Steam.

This was prolly my second PS3 game back in the day(definitely among the first 5 i owned) and was one of the few legit 1080P games on the platform.



I had this one on the Vita as well.



And lastly this on the PS4.

 

[Derringer]

I've been playing Irem's X Multiply, it's a 1989 shmup that is similar to R-Type, but it has a darker atmosphere, almost horror movie-like instead of alien. There's an option that's fixed to your ship but which you can control to some extent - the two little arms flail around and you can block shots with it.

Definitely worth a look.

Konami ripped them off and made their own version, Xexex.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I've been playing Irem's X Multiply, it's a 1989 shmup that is similar to R-Type, but it has a darker atmosphere, almost horror movie-like instead of alien. There's an option that's fixed to your ship but which you can control to some extent - the two little arms flail around and you can block shots with it.

Definitely worth a look.

Konami ripped them off and made their own version, Xexex.

Xexex is pretty cool but I don't think it's all that similar to X Multiply - you can throw the option, for example. It's also got a lighter atmosphere. I haven't played too much of it, though, Licorice is the resident Xexex fan.

 

[Silentstorm]

Super Stardust is from Housemarque, who also made Nex Machina, a great game that at least got to PC, BUT, they have said they will not work on arcade style games at all anymore after Nex Machina flopped...one could say the market is nicer to these games nowadays and that porting Super Stardust and Nex Machina to more systems would help...but they have become an AAA developer, i think they are making a Dead Space clone.

OH, and either they got bought by Sony or are the kind of Sony fanboys now that would rather die than making a game that isn't exclusive to PS4/PS5 so even less chances of Super Stardust coming out of PS...well, i guess one could pick an Amiga and play the first entry in the series.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Nex Machina is the best arcade-style game to come out in the last decade. A shame it didn't sell, it's brilliant on all levels.

I'm curious about Housemarque's game coming out this month (Returnal), it seems to have some shmup sensibilities such as bullet patterns, etc. I hope it won't be too popamole, but I can't blame them for pursuing a more profitable business model. They tried for many years to stick to their arcade formula and made some great games. Apes just don't buy good games these days.

 

[Silentstorm]

I never had any console until i recently got gifted a Xbox Series X, but i absolutely did not regret buying Nex Machina on PC, it's a genuinely great game but shmups and arcade-style games are pretty niche these days, unless it's Nintendo, mainstream gamers just want multiplayer, sports games or ones with big epic stories, games that are shorter and much faster to go for action with great gameplay get left behind.

I don't think anyone in the industry even notices these games...except for the guy behind Drakengard and Nier games, apparently when asked about his favorite games in the last few years, he actually did mention Nex Machina and other arcade-style games, those shooter sections in Nier Automata are kinda a reference to shmups...it's odd that the only big developer who has ever mentioned Nex Machina is a japanese guy known for making depressing games that require playing tons of times to get the full story.

He also mentioned Alienation and Matterfall in a top 10 games of 2017 list, all he had to say was:

"I’d like to introduce Housemarque, a developer that I love, with my top third, fourth and fifth titles.

With these three releases, we were able to enjoy games with great craftsmanship and gameplay. However, Housemarque has recently released a statement that they are going to stop developing arcade style games.

Just as it is for CAVE, whom I mentioned earlier, this makes me really sad. I do want to believe that “a new era will be born, and I want to be excited for new styles of games that will come out of it.” However, I’m 47 already, and I can’t really imagine a future in which I’m devoted to a new genre.

This was an incident… that made me think that us, the players, will also fall and be left behind by the times as well."

In case you're wondering, Horizon:Zero Dawn was on 2nd place and first place was...Animal Crossing for smartphones...okay then.

 

[Valestein]

Super Stardust is from Housemarque, who also made Nex Machina, a great game that at least got to PC, BUT, they have said they will not work on arcade style games at all anymore after Nex Machina flopped...one could say the market is nicer to these games nowadays and that porting Super Stardust and Nex Machina to more systems would help...but they have become an AAA developer, i think they are making a Dead Space clone.

OH, and either they got bought by Sony or are the kind of Sony fanboys now that would rather die than making a game that isn't exclusive to PS4/PS5 so even less chances of Super Stardust coming out of PS...well, i guess one could pick an Amiga and play the first entry in the series.

Yeah, I'm aware of their affiliation with sony, but with Sony titles having come onto Steam(like Horizon Zero Dawn) that gives me some vague hope that it's possible.

 

[Nutmeg]

I've been playing Irem's X Multiply, it's a 1989 shmup that is similar to R-Type, but it has a darker atmosphere, almost horror movie-like instead of alien. There's an option that's fixed to your ship but which you can control to some extent - the two little arms flail around and you can block shots with it.

Definitely worth a look.

Konami ripped them off and made their own version, Xexex.

Xexex is pretty cool but I don't think it's all that similar to X Multiply - you can throw the option, for example. It's also got a lighter atmosphere. I haven't played too much of it, though, Licorice is the resident Xexex fan.

Yeah they both have tentacles but X-Multiply's tentacles seem nothing like Xexex's. Xexex's level design is Gradius through and through, but it's "flintlock" is R-Type's force but with an (different) AI and it can latch onto things for speed kills. Usually the Gradius level design is great, but some strats you can pull off with the flintlock are cheesy. I'm thinking of how you can position your flintlock at the edge of the screen in the levels with looping scrolling and just sweep the field of battle, but it's only for a minute or so you can do this and it's satisfying to do anyway.

I'm tempted to make the comparison that X-Multiply's tentacles (Irem) are to Thunder Cross' options (Konami) as Xexex's flintlock (Konami) is to R-Type's force (Irem).

I like this Konami / Irem tit for tat.

Aesthetically, X-Multiply takes after Salamander, specifically it's reskin/update Life Force.

The rivalry would continue into the 90s, with Einhander (made by the same dudes behind Xexex, but now at Square) competing with R-Type Delta.

BTW if you ever want to play Salamander play the PCE version. Fixes many issues with the Arcade release.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Life Force was the very first shmup I cleared on 1 life back when I was a wee little lad. I love that game. I actually like the NES version more than the arcade Salamander, because it has Gradius-style manual power-ups, the level order is a little different and the tunes sound even more amazing. Another thing it has more in common with Gradius than Salamander is that dying sets you back to the peashooter, whereas in the arcade (and later Gradius V) you can continue from where you left off and get your options back if you're fast enough.

About Salamander/ X Multiply, I can see some similarities in the design, but X Multiply is a lot darker, Salamander has that gooey/biomechanical vibe but again, I think Irem's game is straight up horror inspired, despite having biomechanic elements like R-Type. Unlike Salamander, dying sets you back on the level down to the peashooter and that makes the game very tough once you die.

 

[Silentstorm]

Noticed Sine Mora Ex is going for cheap right now, how is that game?

Looking on Xbox Deals...that and Iro Hero seem to be the only shooters on sale, and arcadey games are rare too, though this pinball game called Demon's Tilt is on sale and it reminds me of Alien Crush and Demon Crush, pondering on getting this too.

 

[Silentstorm]

Guessing it's a NO to Sine More EX then?

Was only looking at it because it's cheap, but yeah, there are better games in the XBOX, which may be no Switch, but still has Radiant Silvergun, CAVE games and i did notice Vasara Collection there which i didn't know came to Xbox, though not on sale.

 

[Silentstorm]

R-Type Final 2 has been released, and there is a Deluxe Edition that gives you Art Book+Soundtrack+Season Pass and it seems like the DLC is porting stages from old R-Type games to the new engine and playable with the new ships, so far, only two stages, one from R-Type 3 and another from R-Type Leo.

...I haven't played it yet, wondering still if it's worth buying but i am heavily considering it.

 

[Derringer]

It looks like a budget R-type release in UE4, if you want that sort of thing.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Nex Machina is the best arcade-style game to come out in the last decade. A shame it didn't sell, it's brilliant on all levels.

I'm curious about Housemarque's game coming out this month (Returnal), it seems to have some shmup sensibilities such as bullet patterns, etc. I hope it won't be too popamole, but I can't blame them for pursuing a more profitable business model. They tried for many years to stick to their arcade formula and made some great games. Apes just don't buy good games these days.

Happy to report that Returnal is a great game. Pretty impressive production values, but it's a tough and uncompromising game. I'm still early on (first boss), and initial impressions are very good. Although I'm not the greatest fan of third person shooter gameplay, the structure is sound (roguelike with special maluses and bonuses through parasites and randomized weapon traits). The atmosphere is top notch and strongly reminds me of Alien's Acheron (LV-426). I hope Housemarque scores big with this one and, most importantly, doesn't cave in to the journos crying that the game is too hard. It really isn't.

There are some shmup elements (some bullet patterns, traps etc), but so far nothing too crazy. I'm sure they will figure more prominently later on.

 

[Silentstorm]

Glad to know it's great, never been much of a console guy and never had a Playstation...but still great to know they are doing something great, i very much enjoy Nex Machina and even if they don't support my favorite system, it's still no reason to wish developers to die.

Just hope people buy that game and some more actually arcadey ones so that we get more games...just hopefully not PS exclusive.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Yeah, I'm sure it makes sense from a business perspective for them to be in a console environment. There's just too much piracy on PC and when people do buy games, they do so at very deep discounts. This is a full price ($70) game on a closed ecosystem and those who did manage to buy a PS5 are starving for new games (I bought mine at release but never had a PS4, so PS4 games kept me busy). I really hope they're able to rake up some serious cash now, it's way past due.

 

[Spark Mandriller]

R-Type Final 2 has been released, and there is a Deluxe Edition that gives you Art Book+Soundtrack+Season Pass and it seems like the DLC is porting stages from old R-Type games to the new engine and playable with the new ships, so far, only two stages, one from R-Type 3 and another from R-Type Leo.

...I haven't played it yet, wondering still if it's worth buying but i am heavily considering it.

I got it. It's okay, but not as good as Delta (I guess you can say that about 99% of horis though). Probably not as good as 1 or 3 either, but I'll need more time to properly evaluate it.
It's clearly unfinished in a few ways so that sucks. It has the same giant playable ship list from Final except a bunch of them aren't in the game. Instead you get an empty space with a note telling you to wait for an update. Also the single player has a branch at one point so the final levels will be different depending on what option you pick, except two of the four options lead to exactly the same levels. I guess they never finished the fourth set? Maybe there is a difference between 3 and 4, but if there is nobody seems to have found it yet.
The ship unlocks are fucking terrible though, gotta say. The developers seem to think that everyone who'll play the game is obsessed with R-Type, so they don't actually tell you what you're buying until you've bought it. You get a number, but that's it. If you haven't memorised everything so you can tell that ship 7 is Principalities and ship 26 is Sleipnir and 48 is Eclipse and so on then fuck you, I guess. And on top of that a bunch of ships require you to buy other ones before you're allowed to buy them, except they give you no hints as to where they are. You're looking at ship slot 69 and it tells you you need to buy an R-11S2 first, but it doesn't tell you how. So first you need to find where the R-11S2 is, which the game gives you no hints about, and then you need to randomly buy it, because the game doesn't actually tell you it's an R-11S2 until after you buy it. Before that it's just ship 47. And then you're finally permitted to buy ship 69, and you'd better hope it's good because you still don't get told what it is until after you buy it. If you aren't interested in Cross the Rubicon then joke's on you, you just wasted all that time grinding for resources for nothing. Except you are interested because it leads to Cerberus and everyone loves Cerberus, so at least that's fine.
You can obviously get around most of the shit by just using a guide that tells you what ships are what and where they're located, but I think if people need a guide just to know how to use the shop in your game then you've done something wrong.

Anyway, yeah, that post sounded really negative, but the game itself isn't bad. Sometimes. Some of the levels are kinda boring. There are a bunch of difficulties and I haven't tried the higher ones yet so maybe they'll get better though.

 

[Silentstorm]

Thanks, i think i will just wait for a sale, reviews seem mixed overall and there are other cheaper games to play, and i still have Radiant Silvergun, just shocked a lot of people saying the game feels unfinished in some ways and quite a few people saying the PS2 game looked better.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I didn't like the first R-Type Final at all. Bought it on release, the framerate was disgusting and the levels were quite boring for the most part. The ship unlocking gimmick never did anything for me.

My favourite R-Type game is Final, although it also had a terrible framerate, the levels and music were much better.

Actually, my favourite R-Type is Leo. Forgot about that.

 

[Falksi]

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. I'm usually good at detaching myself from it and forming an objective opinion, but with the original R-Type I really struggle to, and keep going back to play it on the Sega Master System.

Weird.

Despite the flicker, it still looks so good for an 8-bit game....

 

[Great Deceiver]

The SMS version of R-Type was ok for the time, but the best home console port of the era was definitely the PC-Engine one. Almost arcade perfect.

 

[Falksi]

Anyone played Wings of Bluestar?

 

[Black Plague]