So I was like playing this like 20 year old obscure game and...

The track I mentioned is from the loading screens at the start of the x68k version - I thought it may have been in the MSX one too.

When I was saying it is high in price I was referring to the game itself, its usually £100+ even on YJA sometimes. On ebay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sharp-X68000-...ptZUS_Vintage_Video_Games?hash=item563ad2665b

And YJA: http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e81528570

Sounds kind of similar to the X68k version with regards to the blood cell things, there are certain bits where you respawn and if you don't already have a power up for the speed it is near impossible!

I've been doing the 'recovery' runs on it this morning where you can get extra weapons by flying into the core. Does the MSX version have that? Some of the weapons are very cool and very helpful, like the up laser.

 

So, I just recently played through the MD/Gene Conversion of Altered Beast.

Man , the game makes me RAGE so hard. The hit detection and difficulty of the game in general just irritates me .
It's not much fun singleplayer, I used to play it with my best friend growing up but we live in different states now and meh lol.


Post Altered Beast I started up Shadow Dancer for the MD/Gene , this was my first time playing this game and I enjoyed it right away. The game has aged pretty well and has a catchy soundtrack as well as pretty awesome sound effects.
The game was actually fun...Until the last stage and Final Boss.

That ninja creating son of a bitch. -______________-

 

That pretty much explains it as the MSX version does not have any loading screens - the game is on a ROM cart, not a floppy disk.

Yeah, the MSX version does have all the extra items and weapons. I prefer the setup with Up-Laser + Napalm Missiles + Extend Laser. They changed the timing on the core-warp a bit though... the MSX-version will give you 2 new weapons if you beat the boss in 15 seconds and 1 new weapon if you beat it in up to 30 seconds. Everything above will grant you access to the bonus level, but no weapons can be acquired there.

The X68k did not have the 15s step IIRC, I think you could only get 1 weapon for beating the boss in 30 seconds... or something like that. ^^

 

I've just played the game through (using the 99 lives/no score option - yeah yeah I know its cheating but I wanted to see the X68k exclusive levels on the 2nd loop ) and the aforementioned track is actually on one of the exclusive levels. Its a really nice level to boot - kind of like Garudius 95's first level, except waterfalls have the power to kill!

I used the same setup as you use in the MSX game - the later recovery weapons were a bit pointless imo, like that 'reflex' boomerang thing. There doesn't appear to be any sort of timing for it on the bosses - I've killed them within literally a second and sometimes longer than 30 seconds, either way you get one weapon by capturing the core.

Oh and you should play it via emulation, even if you despise stooping to that...the games just too damn good! Best Gradius game for me, possibly followed by Gradius III and then Garudius '95.

 

I have been playing Tatsujin (Toaplan 1988, PCB-ver.) since the end of April and today was the big moment:


My first 1CC in this game
AVE - 1,641,040 - Area 221 (Stage 2-1) - PCB (Autofire)

This game is TOUGH. But I've been playing it really much the past few days and once you remember all the patterns of the many mini- and major bosses (which are, mostly, not that difficult), it becomes a bit easier. The only thing that worried me till be end were those LOTS of small enemies that do not only like to come from beneath (immediate death if you're not exactly in the middle of the screen) but also change to green mini-enemies towards the end of the game and those little fuckers shoot really fast.
The second loop, however, is hard as nails. I could get past the three minibosses in stage 1 because I only had three bombs after each resurrection and they shot really fast triple-shots... end of game. I'm happy with how it turned out, I definitely never thought that I will once MASTER the MASTER (or in Japanese: Tatsujin^^).

 

I started playing my Phelios pcb (1988 hope that's old enough) recently. The Megadrive version is also one of my favorites for that system. I think it's a pretty underrated shooter, and one that's fairly challenging (though not as intense as the bullet hell stuff). It does also contain some nice Japanese speech and lovely backgrounds with the neat 80's fantasy anime design.