Official Tyrian Appreciation Thread

[DraQ]

some data cubes are even non plot relevant information like planet stats etc.

And that's pretty much the most HHGTTG-esque thing about Tyrian, because stuff can get pretty surreal.

BTW:
Is it just me or Heavy Guided Bombs got serious tracking boost in Tyrian2000 compared to vanilla and Open Tyrian?

 

[Ulminati]

Oh, nice. Just realized I had Tyrian 2000 for free on my GOG account. Guess they were good for something after all.

And apparently it detected it's christmas, because my ship is firing candy canes!

 

[catfood]

^ Yeah, I thought that was a nice easter egg.

 

[Darth Roxor]

^ Yeah, I thought that was a nice easter egg.

Yeah, and it's, in my view, the biggest evidence that back in the day games were made by different people with a different mindset. Each time I play some old games around Christmas, I discover hidden Christmas modes. Last year it was Crusader: No Regret and Worms Armageddon. This year it's Tyrian. And I imagine there are dozens more out there. When was the last time you've heard about a Christmas easter egg in a modern game? Yeah.

Anyway, what would be your favourite/least favourite maps?

Best ones for me are prob Savara and the Fleet. I love shooting down big ships and actual airplanes, and both of them are filled with those to the brim. Also, the Savara theme has to be my fav one in the game.

I absolutely fucking hate Gyges and Deliani, though. It's like all the Fucking Annoying enemy types can be found only on Gyges. Deliani also has lots of uncool stuff, especially sudden bumrushes of platforms that shoot those big yellow balls

 

[Executer]

Love this game, was better at it when I was a kid though, sharper reflexes I guess.

 

[Raapys]

Always loved Tyrian. Only played the 2K version though, not sure how it differs. Excellent music, amazing ship customization( which is what's lacking in basically all other games of this type), cool maps, game modes, etc. Awesome all around.

Really must be played using the mouse though; keyboard performance doesn't come close, it's just not fast enough.

 

[Darth Roxor]

But you know, despite all that robust ship customization, it always ends with Stalker Supercarrot + zica lasers + sonic wave anyway

And while zica laser is up to debate (can be replaced with normal laser HUEAHUEAHEHUEH), is there actually ANY reason whatsoever to get something other than sonic wave? I just don't see it.

 

[Raapys]

Well, that's a fair point. I kinda liked my all-banana ship, but nothing really touched lasers + sonic I think. But isn't that the way of every game though? Devs will try to balance things and whatnot, but in the end there's usually always a 'ultimately the best weapon in the majority of situations' anyway. And since you couldn't actually stock up on weapons in Tyrian, you kinda had to go with the 'best average' ones. Arguably they weren't just the best average but the best period, in all situations, but still...

 

[DraQ]

^ Yeah, I thought that was a nice easter egg.

Yeah, and it's, in my view, the biggest evidence that back in the day games were made by different people with a different mindset. Each time I play some old games around Christmas, I discover hidden Christmas modes. Last year it was Crusader: No Regret and Worms Armageddon. This year it's Tyrian. And I imagine there are dozens more out there. When was the last time you've heard about a Christmas easter egg in a modern game? Yeah.

Christmas EE would be too insensitive in our politically correct times. Can't have that.

Anyway, what would be your favourite/least favourite maps?

Best ones for me are prob Savara and the Fleet. I love shooting down big ships and actual airplanes, and both of them are filled with those to the brim. Also, the Savara theme has to be my fav one in the game.

I absolutely fucking hate Gyges and Deliani, though. It's like all the Fucking Annoying enemy types can be found only on Gyges. Deliani also has lots of uncool stuff, especially sudden bumrushes of platforms that shoot those big yellow balls

The only maps I hated were those without proper background (pure space maps) and/or *completely* off the wall themes (not just somewhat off the wall as it is expected of Tyrian maps) or just BSB - like windy, markers, mistakes, EP2 Soh-Jin (actually empty space with shit), also Coral and Fruit from EP5 (T2000), but EP5 was p. shit anyway.

Always loved Tyrian. Only played the 2K version though, not sure how it differs.

Mostly shitty Ep5, some new super-arcade modes (including flying a dragon), some new stuff like ships and equipment, unfortunately mostly restricted to EP5 and new type of shield breaking the linear progression somewhat (Gencore Solar Shield, middling protection, but self-powered).

I think there are some tweaks in as well, for example heavy guided bombs seem to track their targets better.

Really must be played using the mouse though; keyboard performance doesn't come close, it's just not fast enough.

KB is still better than touchscreen, though.

But you know, despite all that robust ship customization, it always ends with Stalker Supercarrot + zica lasers + sonic wave anyway

And while zica laser is up to debate (can be replaced with normal laser HUEAHUEAHEHUEH), is there actually ANY reason whatsoever to get something other than sonic wave? I just don't see it.

Actually, there are quite a few valid weapon combos.

Sonic wave is so awesome because it is versatile - it has two different firing modes that allow it to function as either front support weapon or side/rear defensive one.
Still, if you have plenty of forward firepower you can try other rear weapons - rear missiles add really heavy firepower to forward/side angles where many enemies will be coming from when you're focusingon something with your main weapon, guided microbombs are pretty awesome, even though they clutter the screen, heavy guided bombs work very well in T2000 by delivering heavy hitting power to targets regardless of where they are, starburst may be neat if you want primarily protection from lateral collisions, rear megapulse adds excellent side firepower in addition to supporting forward firing weapon and firing to the rear AND it fragments and spams projectiles all around the screen and so on.

Forward firing weapons are also not limited to just lasers and zica lasers. Megacannon is good if you want to hit stuff behind obstacles and it hits large targets multiple times, megapulse is actually excellent well rounded weapon that also murders swarms of enemies, even ordinary pulse is pretty reliable in terms of raw firepower.
My only problem is that heavy and normal missiles are pretty wimpy later on.

And then you have sidekicks and can pick those that do the best job compensating for weaknesses of your main weaponry.

 

[Jasede]

Inferior - or perhaps different - to any given Japanese arcade SHMUP, Tyrian is still the cream of the crop when it comes to what western people think a shoot 'em up is, combining many charming secrets, a highly replayable main quest, dozens of weapons and excellent music to form a whole that can stand on its own. The game is free on Good Old Games if you'd like to try it.

And I also always end up with the Sonic Wave...

 

[catfood]

Well, that's a fair point. I kinda liked my all-banana ship, but nothing really touched lasers + sonic I think. But isn't that the way of every game though? Devs will try to balance things and whatnot, but in the end there's usually always a 'ultimately the best weapon in the majority of situations' anyway. And since you couldn't actually stock up on weapons in Tyrian, you kinda had to go with the 'best average' ones. Arguably they weren't just the best average but the best period, in all situations, but still...

Yeah, I would have liked a bit more variation regarding to ships as well. The main problem is that the only difference among them is the amount of hull armor they have so it's a no brainer as to what ship to choose. A good way to solve this problem would be to increase the amount of statistics that they have: such as speed, weapon capacity (or even types of weapons that they can use, for example some ships could never use the sockwave, etc.), or the max level of shield they can install.

As for weapons, they could tie in with the type of ship just like I mentioned earlier, or have certain enemies be more susceptible/resistant to certain types of damage. Or even better, maybe some maps could feature lots fast enemies with low hp, which would require faster firing weapons that dealt low damage, while other maps would have slower, bigger enemy ships that need heavy weaponry to brought down. And some maps could have a mix of the two so the player would need to compromise.

Btw, does this game have any mods, or user maps, or something?

 

[DraQ]

Yeah, I would have liked a bit more variation regarding to ships as well. The main problem is that the only difference among them is the amount of hull armor

Twiddles. There are also twiddles.

A good way to solve this problem would be to increase the amount of statistics that they have: such as speed, weapon capacity

Yes.

Or even better, maybe some maps could feature lots fast enemies with low hp, which would require faster firing weapons that dealt low damage, while other maps would have slower, bigger enemy ships that need heavy weaponry to brought down. And some maps could have a mix of the two so the player would need to compromise.

Actually this sort of is the case.

Some weapons excel on some maps, but not the others, for example rockets annihilate clustered weak enemies, megapulse is utter rape against screens full of a lot of non-clustered, fast enemies, laser and L10 Zica laser are glorious against mobile enemies with narrow/temporary weak spots, mega-cannon is effective against large enemies and enemies with all sorts of defences, and so on.

For example on some levels you have shooters with several rotating balls around them, most of which are invulnerable. Killing them with rockets will involve off-center hits to allow splash to bleed through their defences, fast projectile speed weapons (laser, vulcan) will have to hit the spot when it's visible, mega-cannon will fire right through, while many other weapons will be fucking out of luck, and make those enemies more difficult.

The problem is that with weapons you'll generally want to hold onto powerful rares, even at the expense of efficiency in particular level.
They should have let you either unlock weapons and have them available ever after or carry a number of spares.

Edit:
Why do Ep2 secrets suck so fucking much?
You're better off avoiding any orange balls like a plague in Ep2 if you're after gameplay (hello? SHMUP. What fucking else could you be after?).

 

[catfood]

^ Yeah, but laz0rz + shockwave = uber alles on most maps. Not that I would normally care about balance too much in a single player game anyway. Usually I try different weapons each time just to see them in action (even the proton gun ) and give myself a boost in challenge.

 

[DraQ]

^ Yeah, but laz0rz + shockwave = uber alles on most maps. Not that I would normally care about balance too much in a single player game anyway. Usually I try different weapons each time just to see them in action (even the proton gun ) and give myself a boost in challenge.

That's because if you don't hold onto the laser when you have an opportunity, it's pretty much gone, while if you do it's versatile enough to carry you through all situations.

As for the proton gun (rear, front is pretty much "lolwut") it is actually a pretty decent defensive weapon, too bad it doesn't really help you kill stuff.

 

[Demnogonis Saastuttaja]

Personally I don't think western spaceship shooting games / run n' gun games are worse than the Japanese ones, the same goes for platformers. It's a different style, not for the worse, but for variety, and it's a shame they're not a priority anymore. Tyrian is excellent.

I also remember a Finnish spaceship shooting game I liked... But what the hell could have been it's name? It was released on CD IIRC.

 

[BaconAndEggs]

Just got to Episode 2. Gotta love candy cane Pulse Lasers and christmas tree Sonic Waves. After loving Raptor so much, I wonder why I didn't play this game earlier...

 

[Borelli]

^ Yeah, I thought that was a nice easter egg.

When was the last time you've heard about a Christmas easter egg in a modern game? Yeah.

Hidden zombie levels/mods are the new Christmas easter eggs.

 

[DraQ]

I also remember a Finnish spaceship shooting game I liked... But what the hell could have been it's name? It was released on CD IIRC.

I only know of Polish Katharsis.

 

[DraQ]

Ok, one thing I have noticed:

Tyrian 2000 has been extensively tweaked in terms of balance compared to normal Tyrian 2.0.
It doesn't mean it's exactly better balanced (for example laser is even more OP in 2000) but some things are better, for example heavy missiles are actually good in 2000, same with heavy guided bombs.

It's also harder.

One more thing:

Almost all new equipment is worthless due to being fairly weak, but available only in shitty Ep.5.
The only exception is Gencore Solar Shield, which will be very tempting even with much more powerful shields being available before you get graviton pulse wave generator.

 

[Destroid]

Hydorah is a really good, free, modern game in the same vein.

 

[catfood]

^ does it have cheat codes yet? This game is teh hard.

 

[Pope Amole II]

Playing through it for the first time, having an absolute blast. Generally, I'm not a huge action/arcade genre lover, but the reason why I love this kind of western shmups (although "this kind" might be an overstatement - apart from Jets n' Guns & Raptor, it's not like there's a ton of them) is that they're more RPGs than most RPGs are. Whereas in their japanese counterparts it's all about learning patterns & having fast enough reflexes, in Tyrian & co you need to have a proper ship build, first & foremost. Sure, you can twitch your way through the level with the improper one, evading most of incoming fire and whatnot, but by doing so you will miss lots of money and that'll mean you'll also have to skip past the next level's enemies and down the slippery slope you go. And if making a proper character build is not an RPG experience, what is, then?

Now, I'm not far into the game (because I replayed the starting levels a lot, y'know, milk first level enough so you can milk the second level properly, it's either the slippery slope or the snowballing), and I'm pretty sure that somewhere in the game there will be a broken weapon or two that will absolutely ruin the balance and thus fun, but as of now things are awesome so who cares? I played it for just a couple of hours, but I already got ten times more fun out of it than from the recently played 60+ hour avadon 2, so whatever.

One thing to note is that, when compared to the Jets n' Guns, it's more action packed - Jets had a rather slow moving speed, and here even in the first secret level (Holes - as I understand, there's some choice there) you have to maneuver like hell to survive. And, well, my reflexes are too old for this shit, but at least I've managed to compensate for it tactically - turned out that it was much easier to get though that clusterfuck of ships by flying aggressively rather than defensively.

And OST is awesome - actually, OST is what lead me to playing this game. After listening to his Deus Ex job for a countless time, I've decided to explore Alexander Brandon's other work and Tyrian was so good that I just couldn't resist actually playing it.

 

[Xor]

My first computer (an Acer something-or-other with an amazing 100MHz Pentium and 16 megabytes of ram!) came with a shareware version of Tyrian. I don't remember which version it was exactly, but it was one of the first computer games I could play regularly. A friend of mine and I would play arcade coop and get as far as we could (usually not that far).

One of my favorite nostalgic games. I don't even like SHMUPs, but I love Tyrian.

 

[Abelian]

Well can you bros spoil it a bit then? Like what is it all about? The story I mean...

I finished the game about a year ago, so the story is still pretty fresh for me.

Spoiler

You play as Trenk Hawkins, a terformation pilot for mega-corporation Microsol (a dig at Microsoft in the early 90's, perhaps?). Tyrian is the only planet with some sort of anti-gravity rocks that Microsol wants to harvest in order to build floating planetary defense platforms. Your lizard humanoid friend and parents are killed by Microsol and they try to get you next.
You fight your way to Savarra, where you join Microsol's competitor Gencore. In the third episode you defeat Microsol's fleet. I think there was another faction that was controlling Microsol.
There's also this enemy commander Vykmond or something that you run into a few times as a boss.
In the fourth episode, you needed to go to go on suicide mission to rescue scientists from under a planet whose center is set to explode. You also overhead that your Gencore boss considers you expendable.
In the fifth episode, you fought against some aliens who were attempting to transform the entire universe to fruit. Yes, I did just write that. Troll 2, anyone? At one point, you lampshade that you forgot the name of your lizard friend who first set you on this entire path of revenge.

The story actually changed in minor ways based on what mission you selected at certain points. Tyrian had a lot of plot for a shooter game.
The banana-shooting carrot ship you could get in the arcade mode was funny.

 

[SilentMRG]

I think it's good to note that the source ports are here:

https://github.com/opentyrian/opentyrian

https://github.com/KScl/opentyrian2000

A note for version 2000 which received an update this year. =D

And let's not forget that GOG offers version 2000 for free via DOSBox: https://af.gog.com/game/tyrian_2000?as=1649904300