Stellar Assault

[gman]

I was looking at some videos of this game on YouTube and have to say, it looks like a great game.

I was extremely let down by the recent Project Sylpheed on the 360 and don't have a really decent space shooter.

A guy on Ebay is asking for 50 GBP starting bid for S.A.

What do you guys think? Worth that amount or more?

Here are a couple of videos...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMGvmLcQJlw
www.youtube.com/watch?v=geHFNeyYCKk

[marc]

I would think that will end at £130+ easy.......Very rare game, rarest on Jp saturn.......

[Madroms]

The most expensive shmup for Saturn, with RS.
Rare on eBay so it goes high every time, but in Japan, you can have it for 8000-15000 yens (about 50-90 Euros or 33-59 pounds). One has been sold for only 7000 yens on july on YJA: page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e68446896

Some people love it, others hate it. Maybe try it before spending a lot of cash on it.

[superdeadite]

I don't care for it, just not my thing. I like shooters and I like space-combat sims (TIE Fighter, Privateer, etc), but this game feels like its stuck in the middle. Too slow for a shooter, too simple for a sim...

[Yart]

Being a fan of the original Stellar Assault (or Shadow Squadron) for the Sega 32X, you should have seen my face when I looked at those videos.

That title looks absolutely amazing! Much faster paced than it's prequel. Even the framerate is beautiful! My only beef is that there's too much talk and not enough bang bang. Also the enemies seem like wussies. Besides that, it has me really curious.

I can't believe just how unbelievably rare this game is. I can't find it anywhere except for a single copy on eBay for the same price as an expensive game for the Neo-Geo. :S I'm not willing to dish out $322 for this game.

After converting the price from GBP to CND, I'd have to say that looks like a pretty good deal compared to the results I got. (Only $106 Canadian with the deal you found) I say read up on the game some more. Who knows? It could be too short, or worse! Those videos could be of the best levels!

If you're still unsure, try it out or something. Backups are one way... just finding someone with an image could be another problem.

[gman]

madroms said:

Maybe try it before spending a lot of cash on it.

Any idea how? I don't know anyone who has the game unfortunately

I'm watching two different copies on Ebay - one is located in Japan and is unopened; still in its shrinkwrap. It's a Buy It Now price at 156GBP. The other, as mentioned, is an auction for a pre-owned copy, without spine card, at 50GBP starting bid.

I'll see how the one on auction goes first. I'd love to have this game. If I dislike it, I guess I can always resell and get my money back on it.

yart said:

I say read up on the game some more. Who knows? It could be too short, or worse! Those videos could be of the best levels!

Unfortunately there really isn't any decent reviews or discussions about this game on the Internet at all. None of the bigger gaming sites even have a page on it

YouTube has, I presume, most if not all levels of the game captured by the same user. There are about 11 on there if I remember correctly. The user seems to get through each level between 4-10 minutes. So it could be quite short, yeah. Each level looks quite something though! Like you said, great framerate too!

[Madroms]

Like Yart said: backups are one way to try it out.

[gman]

^ My Saturn won't play them. I will have to get it chipped?

[Yart]

You could chip it, or you could do what I do. Take your crappiest game and use it as a boot disc for the Swap Trick. That page even has a demonstration video.

Basically all I had to do was open up my Saturn (by unscrewing the bottom), tape a single switch, then just swap CDs really fast at the right times. More details in that link.

If the game has a region lock not geared towards your region (since it's a Japanese game, it more than likely does), no problem! Just use this Saturn Region Patcher, created by Madroms, who is also a member of these forums. (If it weren't for his efforts, I woulda never been able to play the good games for the Saturn. So thank you, Madroms!)

The only problem now is finding the game image. :/ I can't even find it myself, not even with torrents. (The only torrent I found had no seeders) Though I heard that somewhere on the CoolROM forums someone released it. You might want to check that out.

[Madroms]

Or use SSF to test it on your PC.

Stellar Assault is available in one of the pack at UG (with only one seeder as the pack is a lilbit old).

[marc]

The copy of stellar assault you refer to is from a seller I have dealt with in the past, haveaflutter, top bloke........ I am going to have a punt at this myself. Hope everyone is asleep or skint when this ends.

[The Elite MYT]

I've been playing Stellar Assault SS on the Saturn and damn, it is great game. I love it. I died at mission 11, but I don't mind the thought of replaying to try and get to the end.

My only issue is the apparent lack of a save function. After you beat a mission there is a save option, but it is gray and you can't select it. I have absolutely no idea if it is possible to save. The viewpoint change button also doesn't work (which isn't an issue like I thought it would be) so maybe it is just a functionality that's broke.

If only there was a level select cheat or something, then I wouldn't care about the lack of a save. Some of the missions (including the one I died on) are phenomenal. The game is really beautiful and runs really well.

[slicer1000]

Played through Stellar Assault SS myself and I agree it's top stuff, one thing to note is that there are two endings in the game and you can't get to the final mission if you don't destroy all the enemies on set missions. Certainly one of my favourite flight sims along with Darklight Conflict, which is also far cheaper to buy.

[The Elite MYT]

Yep, I got the true ending. That final mission is pretty intense!