Monday 14 February 2011

RECENT SHUMP PICKUPS

ALPHA MISSION II (ASO II:LAST GUARDIAN)
NEO GEO AES
SNK
1991

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This is the US version of Alpha Mission II and the cover art is fantastic. This is my first ever Neo Geo AES game, though Ive owned the system for over a year. I already have this game as the MVS version which I play through my AES using the Super MVS II Converter. A really tough arcade shooter and perhaps one of the best on the the system. I've only scratched the surface of this so far.


FAST STRIKER
Sega Dreamcast
NG-DEV
2010

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A beautiful shooter from NG:DEV. This was ported over from the NEO GEO version and was released in 2010. It's region free. I've been playing this alot over the past few days and at first couldn't get anywhere, even on the suprisingly hard, Novice mode. I've now moved on to Original mode, though Novice not completed without credit feeding. I have so far managed to reach the Stage 3 boss on 1 credit, but I have started to realise ways of chaining better and that there are tech bonuses for destroying certain parts of the bosses before you atack the core. Other modes include Maniac and Omake which are more aimed at bullet hell fans. I actually prefer these modes but they are alot tougher to score points and involve a slightly different chaining system.

Current high score for original mode is below, though I can hit above 500 million on the first level now alone, so the room for score improvement is massive. This game is a worthy edition to the Dreamcast Shooter library. Thank NG:DEV.

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GYNOUG (WINGS OF WOR)
UK PAL SEGA MEGA DRIVE
MASAYA
1991

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Perhaps my most played Mega Drive shooter so far. It's not a system I show much love for and this is something I'm trying to change. Enjoying this game alot, though Stage 3 suprises me during the water section, as you can literally hold down the shoot button all the way to the end with very minimal bullet dodging. In some ways I found the game to be a little tedious as I tend to play on the assumption that I'm aiming to 1CC games when I play them rather than credit feed them to the end.. so generally as a rule, I have to restart from the beginning when I run out of lives.


GALAXY FORCE
UK PAL SEGA MASTER SYSTEM
SEGA
1989

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SPACE HARRIER II
UK PAL SEGA MEGA DRIVE
SEGA
1990

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4 comments:

  1. Great pick-ups. I've recently got a Neo Geo AES, and one of the first games I bought was Alpha Mission II. It's an impressive system, I'm looking forward to play it to the fullest.

    Fast Striker is excellent indeed, it deserves all the praise it's getting. It's good to see you posting on the high score section of the shmups forums and avoiding credit-feeding (of course there's no problem with that when we're practicing though).

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  2. I have noticed you picked up an AES.. I check your shmups lists quite regularly to reference and keep mine up to date. I have all but three of the NEO shmups on a multi cart so have got to play them quite a bit.

    Yeah really loving Fast Striker even just after a few days play im improving.. im up to level 4 on 1 credit now but ive noticed that if you don't die it actually gets harder.. rank level etc. Im wondering if this can be used as an advantage to 1CC the game rather than going for no miss bonuses for score.. maybe you'll have to let me know when you finish it, as i'm less likely too.

    I have another haul of games on the way.. I sold about 20 or so PS3 games to fund them and these ones.

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  3. I've got the MD ones but I'd love an AES with Alpha Mission 2. I recently reviewed the first one and liked it and the second is even better! :)

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  4. I've still to play the first Alpha Mission. May have to fire it up in MAME.

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