September Together Retro: Welcome To Treasure Island

[dunpeal2064]

Alien Soldier is indeed great. Thats one of the games I have my eye on for this month.

Worth mentioning that Ikaruga has a Steam port, and a free demo. So, if you have a PC, you can at least play through the first stage for free, and see what you think!

[pierrot]

Silhouette Mirage. That is another Treasure game I've had my eye on

I'd recommend tracking down a copy of one of the Japanese versions. (I'm pretty sure Pierrot beat a Japanese version.) The USA version was altered to be ridiculously difficult due to Working Designs being Working Designs.

Yeah, I played it on the Saturn. One big problem, for anyone looking for a physical copy of the Japanese Playstation version of Silhouette Mirage, is that it saw much more limited release on the Playstation in Japan, compared to the Saturn version. I think it's available digitally as a Japanese PS Archives release, though.

damn, you make Light Crusader sound really appealing to me, though. Haha. That does sound like something I'd be into. Well, at least I've got some good options for the month right now, then.

You probably would enjoy Light Crusader, Noise. I'm probably going to be taking another look at Alien Soldier sometime soon, too, though. I'm just not sure if I'm going to work on beating Dynamite Headdy first, or not.

[Exhuminator]

Just to be clear; I wasn't recommending that noise not play Light Crusader. Just that he should play Alien Soldier first.

[pierrot]

Oh, I know. I just wanted to add a little bit more emphasis on Light Crusader.

[nullPointer]

I played a bit more Gunstar Heroes yesterday, and I just wanted to say that the Board Game level was some pretty amazing stuff; such a simple concept and yet I'm not sure I've seen anything like that in other games. This game sure does like its bosses though. It really does start to feel a bit boss-rush-y after a while. I'm not complaining! But it's definitely noticeable. Generally speaking, I take it this is a bit of a hallmark in Treasure games?

[dunpeal2064]

I played a bit more Gunstar Heroes yesterday, and I just wanted to say that the Board Game level was some pretty amazing stuff; such a simple concept and yet I'm not sure I've seen anything like that in other games. This game sure does like its bosses though. It really does start to feel a bit boss-rush-y after a while. I'm not complaining! But it's definitely noticeable. Generally speaking, I take it this is a bit of a hallmark in Treasure games?

I'm glad you enjoyed the board game section. Its one of my favorite parts of the game, but it seems to not get much love.

And yes, Treasure likes their bosses Its not always the case, their shmups tend to progress more normally, but Alien Soldier is almost entirely bosses (Really good ones too), with just enough chumps in the way to power and heal up between fights.

[pierrot]

I didn't mind the board game section, really. I didn't love it, either, but it was interesting. I do think it's pretty annoying getting sent back to the beginning of it, though, so I understand why a lot of people wouldn't really like it.

[pierrot]

I've been playing a bit of Ikaruga. I'm starting out on Easy mode, because this game, like Radiant Silvergun, twists my brain into a bit of a pretzel. One thing that kind of annoys me so far, that I've mostly encountered in Stage 3, is how things that seem like they're in the background feel like they pop up right in front of me, without me even noticing. In some ways, I blame the lack of contrast. I realize that part of it is by design, but I'm finding Ikaruga to be a bit of a double whammy of a memorizer (between the stages, and the (colors of) enemies).

I went ahead and 1cced the Trial Mode, in order to unlock the first of the extras in the options. It's a gallery of artworks, and I find it really difficult to understand the lines used in a lot of it, to the point where I just can't make out what is supposed to be portrayed in the artwork, but it's an interesting style, at least. I've gotten to the point where I can almost reliably get to the second boss on one credit (and then make a bunch of unfortunate mistakes against it). I think it allows me five continues right now, but I've only gotten up to the third boss with that. The mini-boss just before it (I was so sure it was the stage boss that I completely didn't even notice the warning graphic not being displayed) is my kryptonite right now. It's kind of interesting how similar Sin & Punishment: Star Successor is to Ikaruga, in terms of graphical style. It almost feels like they could be set in the same universe, even though neither of them really look much like the original Sin & Punishment, outside of the artwork.


How is Sin & Punishment going for you, Prfsnl? I remember reading someone talk about it as a sort of natural progression of Contra gameplay into 3D, which was kind of a weird thing to read, since it plays so much like Cabal, or Wild Guns, but after beating it, I can kind of see it. Especially considering the inbetween stages in the first Contra.

[noiseredux]

A friend of mine was planning to download the XBLA port of Gunstar so we could co-op it, but I haven't heard from him. I guess I'll end up firing up Alien Solder soon.

[Exhuminator]

I'm still playing Light Crusader in bits and pieces. (Been a tad preoccupied with a different challenge.) I'm towards the end of the third dungeon floor now. I've begun to hit puzzles that are actually challenging (finally), and enemies aren't dropping restoratives like candy any more. Perhaps the tail end of this game will be tough. Has anyone around here beaten Light Crusader other than Pierrot?