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Post by pocketpocket on Mar 31, 2012 19:08:28 GMT
I am referring to the following Japanese shmup packs Konami released:
Detana Twinbee Yahoo! Deluxe Pack
Gokujou Parodius Da! Deluxe Pack
Gradius Deluxe Pack
Salamander Deluxe Pack Plus
I've been eyeballing these recently, as I've been wanting to expand my shmup collection a bit, and these are looking like very good value. I already have the Parodius pack, and it's one of my favorite games on the system. Twinbee is looking very appealing right now, as I adored Detana!! Twinbee on Wii's Virtual Console, and would love to try out some more of the series (I'd much rather play Detana!! on the Saturn than the Wii too).
I was just wondering what packs are generally considered the best, if any of them are mediocre ports, and so on. I recall hearing someplace that the Gradius pack is a bit weak, but I never found out about anything wrong regarding it. And on a side-note, what's a reasonable price for Salamander? I've noticed it seems to generally be the most expensive of the lot.
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NeoGeoNinja
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Post by NeoGeoNinja on Mar 31, 2012 19:16:00 GMT
And on a side-note, what's a reasonable price for Salamander? I've noticed it seems to generally be the most expensive of the lot. IT'S QUITE SIMPLY BECAUSE... the Salamander pack is easily the BEST of the packs. Both Salamander & Salamander 2 are absolutely amazing shmups. Gameplay is amazing as is the music! If you know what's best, you'll prioritise > the other packs  (although, it's arguable - not by me - that Gradius II is considered the best > both Salamanders) |
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Post by pocketpocket on Mar 31, 2012 19:23:58 GMT
And on a side-note, what's a reasonable price for Salamander? I've noticed it seems to generally be the most expensive of the lot. IT'S QUITE SIMPLY BECAUSE... the Salamander pack is easily the BEST of the packs. Both Salamander & Salamander 2 are absolutely amazing shmups. Gameplay is amazing as is the music! If you know what's best, you'll prioritise > the other packs (although, it's arguable - not by me - that Gradius II is considered the best > both Salamanders) At the very least, I've noticed that Salamander 2 is easily the most technically advanced out of all the games in these packs. It looks beautiful! I have Life Force for the NES, and I love that one too, but my NES is so unreliable right now that getting it to run is a chore, and then it's prone to crashing, so once again, I'd much rather have it on the Saturn! That, and the Saturn version appears to be a bit more advanced too (better graphics, voice clips, ect.) Though I have to ask, what is the difference between Salamander and Life Force? I thought all they changed was the name, but did they tweak the game a bit as well? |
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NeoGeoNinja
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Post by NeoGeoNinja on Mar 31, 2012 20:45:02 GMT
Though I have to ask, what is the difference between Salamander and Life Force? I thought all they changed was the name, but did they tweak the game a bit as well? SURE THING. I'll ELABORATE... for you Pocketim  There ARE further differences than the basic one I'll mention, which"ll I'll mention in brief. Basically, Salamander plays differently to Gradius in that the weapon system is different. Instead of using the Gradius style power up bar/menu, Salamander actually involves you physically collecting power-ups, weapons and options like a 'regular' shoot em up. Life Force, by comparison, adheres to the 'standard' Gradius style power-up system. Persona, I prefer the former, as it gives the game a different, more instant feel to it There are some other notable differences including differing colour pallete usage and also differing enemy designs in places too. Can't think of much else. JUST TO CONFUSE MATTERS... I have been lead to believe that, outside of the Arcade versions (present on that compilation) that Salamander and Life Force 'differ' again on varying console ports, including Life Force NOT having the Gradius power up system, and vice versa for Salamander?! But what matters are the Saturn versions we are discussing here |
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Post by infernalcombustion on Mar 31, 2012 21:06:47 GMT
At the very least, I've noticed that Salamander 2 is easily the most technically advanced out of all the games in these packs. It looks beautiful! I have Life Force for the NES, and I love that one too, but my NES is so unreliable right now that getting it to run is a chore, and then it's prone to crashing, so once again, I'd much rather have it on the Saturn! That, and the Saturn version appears to be a bit more advanced too (better graphics, voice clips, ect.) Though I have to ask, what is the difference between Salamander and Life Force? I thought all they changed was the name, but did they tweak the game a bit as well? I'd definitely make the Salamander Deluxe pack your priority. As I've mentioned on these boards before I'm more of a fan of vertical shooters rather than the horizontal variety, but the original Salamander has always been a firm favorite of mine. Indeed, I'd argue that it has the best balance of all Konami's shoot-em-ups (I guess the fact that it mixes in some very challenging vertical levels adds greatly to it's appeal for me though). Don't get me wrong Salamander 2 is also a great game though - but after somewhat extensive play I still prefer the original!! Anyway, I have all of the Deluxe packs apart from Parodius (but only because I have the PAL release) and I can firmly recommend them all, even the Gradius one (Which is a series I've never been a particular fan of). I don't know why Konami decided to call Salamander Lifeforce for some versions, but from my own experience there are a great deal of variations to the game if you ignore the name change and compare formats anyway. Virtually all of the home conversions across all formats from the humble 8bits (Nes, Spectrum, C64, CPC etc) to the more advanced 16bits are all very different anyway. Certainly none are arcade perfect that's for sure!! Incidentally, I also picked up the MSX antiques collection a few years ago which features Konami's home computer versions of these titles - so if you're a major fan of these games it just may be worth checking out (although do bear in mind that these conversions were considerably limited by the original hardware). |
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