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Posts with tag shmup

Protothea might not be terrible

Posted May 10th 2008 6:00PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: Video, Screens, WiiWare


Earlier this week, we shared with you videos from Ubisoft newly announced WiiWare title, Protöthea, and the game looked, at best, boring, at worst, awful. Seeing this trailer for the original 2005 PC game which the WiiWare release will be a remake of, however, has given us a new hope. This looks about a hojillion times more exciting than the clips IGN trotted out for us to preview!

Further improving our opinion of Protöthea, the original PC game was Cartoon Network's Project Goldmaster winner at the 2005 Independent Games Festival, rewarding developer Digital Builders an opportunity to create a game based on a Cartoon Network license. Knowing all this, maybe the screenshots in the gallery we've included below will seem more interesting to you.

Protöthea was supposed to launch with WiiWare, according to IGN, but we didn't see the title on the list posted earlier today, so who knows when the shmup will be thrown onto Nintendo's download service. While we wait around for someone to announce a release date, spend a moment to leave us a comment on whether or not this trailer has changed your opinion on the game.

Gallery: Protothea


[Via GoNintendo]

VC Friday: Cho Aniki and the return of the Neo Geo

Posted May 9th 2008 11:15AM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News, Virtual Console



We were already totally pumped about getting Cho Aniki on the European and Aussie Virtual Consoles, but our faces lit up when we saw what else was lying in store for us this morning. Metal Slug is the first Neo Geo game to appear on the download service since December 14th, but what a comeback!

From a value-for-money perspective, we'd still recommend picking up Metal Slug Anthology (especially now that it's so cheap), but it's great to see SNK's classic series represented on the VC (and this version even has Classic Controller support). Puyo Puyo 2 and TurboGrafx billiards title Break In complete this week's line-up.
  • Cho Aniki -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 900 Wii Points
  • Metal Slug -- Neo Geo -- 900 Wii Points
  • Break In -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 700 Wii Points
  • Puyo Puyo 2 -- Mega Drive -- 900 Wii Points
Hop in your Slug and blast your way past the break to see all four in action!

Continue reading VC Friday: Cho Aniki and the return of the Neo Geo

A large formation of Castle Shikigami III videos approaches

Posted May 6th 2008 8:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Video


In case you can't tell all the Wii shooters apart, Castle of Shikigami III is
  1. one of the few that comes on a disc, and
  2. the one in which you play a flying butler.
That should help you keep them straight. Here's a handy mnemonic device: butler. It's apparently coming out next week (we hope for real, as all three of the shooters that were supposed to have come out this week have been delayed), and in anticipation of its release, IGN has posted five gameplay videos. We've picked the most butlery for the place of honor atop this post, and embedded the rest after the break. Be sure to check the last video for some weird fourth-wall breaking!

Continue reading A large formation of Castle Shikigami III videos approaches

MehWare: Ubisoft reveals Protothea

Posted May 6th 2008 9:45AM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: Video, WiiWare


Ubisoft has finally announced its first contribution to Nintendo's forthcoming WiiWare service, and it's a remake of 2005 PC shooter Protöthea. Supposedly, there are a lot of additions, but whatever Argentine developers Sabarasa (Mazes of Fate) and Digital Builders added, it hasn't made the game interesting.

It's not just the laggard enemies and humdrum soundtrack that have us yawning -- even the heads-up display is enough to put SHMUP fans to sleep. But that's alright, as the last thing we needed was more must-buy WiiWare games.

Protöthea is scheduled to debut with WiiWare's launch on May 12th alongside (more interesting) shooters Star Soldier R and Gyrostarr. Ubisoft will be asking 1,000 Wii Points for the game. Bring a pillow and blanky past the break for another Protöthea video and a list of new features for the remake.

Continue reading MehWare: Ubisoft reveals Protothea

VC Friday: The Hanabi Festival returns! [Update]

Posted May 2nd 2008 10:30AM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News, Virtual Console

An immensely pleasing sight greeted our bleary eyes when we inspected the PAL Virtual Console this morning -- the revival of last September's Hanabi Festival! What does that mean? Simple: for the next few weeks, the VC will feature games that were previously unreleased in Europe or Australia, which we suppose justifies the slightly higher price tags.

Best of all, we're promised that this will continue for the next few weeks. Wonder what else we'll get? Here are this week's trio:
  • Columns III: Revenge of Columns -- Mega Drive -- 900 Wii Points
  • Final Soldier -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 700 Wii Points
  • Gradius II Gofer no Yabou -- TurboGrafx-16 -- 900 Wii Points
As usual, make the jump for footage of all three.

[Update: There's much excitement here, as further inspection of Nintendo's press release reveals that Speedos-clad TurboGrafx-16 shooter Cho Aniki will be one of the future Hanabi Festival releases!]

Continue reading VC Friday: The Hanabi Festival returns! [Update]

Free shmup OpenTyrian ported to Wii

Posted Apr 28th 2008 4:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Homebrew

You know what the Wii needs? More scrolling shooters. So severe is the Wii's lack of shmups, in fact, that a homebrewer called nuvalo has ported the open-source version of the classic shareware shmup Tyrian to the Wii. The vertical shooter Tyrian was originally released by Epic MegaGames (back when they were best known for things like Jill of the Jungle and the Jazz Jackrabbit games) in 1995, but has since been released as a free, open project. It was recently ported to the DS as well.

Okay, so there are a lot of shmups on the Wii. But this one has the important distinction of being free.

[Via DCEmu]

YES! Star Soldier R seeing release on U.S. WiiWare

Posted Apr 16th 2008 4:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News, WiiWare



Hudson must have been reading our diary, because Star Soldier R is coming to the WiiWare service in the United States. The news arrives via a press release that has just made its way into the inbox of our overlords at Joystiq and we couldn't be happier. We love to shoot stuff (in video games) and we can't wait to shoot stuff in Star Soldier R!

Star Soldier R will be releasing alongside the launch of the WiiWare service next month.

Gallery: Star Soldier R

Star Soldier R shoots us some fresh videos

Posted Apr 15th 2008 6:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Video, WiiWare


If you're anything like us, then the upcoming release of WiiWare is going to mean a smaller bank account total and less time on your hands. After all, there are several quality titles that will be available through the service, one of which is Hudson's Star Soldier R.

We don't know if it's the shmup fan in us or the interesting take on level structure (time-based challenges compared to the usual progression of advancing through a set stage), but we're completely smitten with the game. Thankfully, IGN uploaded some new videos to watch, which should help us deal with the waiting.

Continue reading Star Soldier R shoots us some fresh videos

May 6th is Shooter Day

Posted Apr 14th 2008 12:45PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News

In a bizarre turn of events, two new scrolling shooters will face off for the money of the tiny audience who buys scrolling shooters on May 6th (well, probably May 7th, since the games ship on the 6th). Both Majesco's Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy and Aksys Games' Castle of Shikigami III will be released on that day, according to Gamestop. This makes May 6th either the most awesome day in years or the worst for shooter fans, depending on their financial situation. There usually aren't two original shooters to choose from within six months of each other!

Exacerbating the shooter overload, Jack of All Games' 3D fighter-jet game Rebel Raiders is also coming out on the same day. Too many options! And of course, all three will be competing with whatever shooters Nintendo puts on the VC that week.

Read - Castle of Shikigami III
Read - Blast Works
Read - Rebel Raiders

VC Friday: 'Stay a while ... Stay FOREVER'

Posted Apr 11th 2008 12:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News, Virtual Console

"Nintendo, with this week's four Virtual Console releases you are really spoiling us!"

We feel extra special this week, because kindly old Uncle Nintendo has lavished the PAL Virtual Console (or at least the European Virtual Console) with four new titles, including another two Commodore 64 additions (both of which are cracking), and the first Master System games to reach Australia. Unusually, all four are worth a look, but Impossible Mission has a special room all of its own in this blogger's heart. As usual, there's footage of all titles past the break.
  • California Games -- Commodore 64 -- 500 Wii Points*
  • Impossible Mission -- Commodore 64 -- 500 Wii Points*
  • Wonder Boy -- Master System -- 500 Wii Points
  • Fantasy Zone -- Master System -- 500 Wii Points
* Europe only, for now -- sorry, Aussies!

Continue reading VC Friday: 'Stay a while ... Stay FOREVER'

Star Soldier R video longer than the game itself

Posted Mar 31st 2008 1:30PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Video, WiiWare


The news that Star Soldier R would abandon a traditional progressive level structure in favor of time attack-style gameplay (available in two- and five-minute pockets) wasn't warmly greeted by everyone. Game|Life's Chris Kohler criticized the title for representing poor value, while some of you sounded pretty miffed.

In his latest WiiWare video tour, WiiFolder's Josh Thomas attempts to win some of the naysayers over, playing through the game's five-minute mode, and also the (Takahashi Meijin-inspired?) Fast Shot mode. It sure looks hawt, and there's plenty going on to keep your eyes glued to the screen, but is this amount of content worth eight bucks?

VC Friday: Commodore 64 hits the ground running

Posted Mar 28th 2008 12:45PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Virtual Console



Ladies and gents, let's make some noise for the latest addition to the PAL European (sorry, Aussies) Virtual Console, the Commodore 64. Woo!

Yep, after what feels like an eternity, the fondly remembered platform has made its Virtual Console debut with two of the strongest titles from its vast library: International Karate and Uridium. Both are comfortably worth the entrance fee of 500 Wii points, and begin to look like an even more obscene bargain when you consider this week's other addition: Midway's totally mediocre Cruis'n USA. Hit the break for videos of all three.
  • International Karate -- Commodore 64 -- 500 Wii points
  • Uridium -- Commodore 64 -- 500 Wii points
  • Cruis'n USA -- N64 -- 1000 Wii points

Continue reading VC Friday: Commodore 64 hits the ground running

The VC Advantage: Square's Knight

Posted Mar 26th 2008 9:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Virtual Console, The VC Advantage


King's Knight is fairly bizarre, much like anything else Square did before, say, Final Fantasy. A medieval shooter is at the very least more original than Square's takes on OutRun and Space Harrier. What is most interesting to us is how related it seems to be to what eventually became Final Fantasy.

We wanted to provide just the endgame sequence here, but we were limited to what YouTube would provide. If you'd like the ultimate spoiler, you're free to watch the entire video (or, hey! Gameplay strategy: do exactly what this guy does) but our interest is around the 17-minute mark, when the final boss fight is about to begin. By now, the four player characters -- the knight, the wizard, the monster, and the thief -- have united to form a party, moving in concert, and have all leveled up significantly. Each character has gained the ability to use powerful spells -- the knight's, shown here, is a Pegasus transformation that is extremely similar to a summon. The final boss is a giant dragon who seems to have crawled up through the floor.

We like to imagine King's Knight as an evolutionary relative to Final Fantasy, and think of what would have happened if Hironobu Sakaguchi had decided to continue down this path instead of lifting Dragon Quest's gameplay wholesale. Would Square have turned into a hardcore shooter company? Would they be making games with flashy graphics, memorable characters, anime-like storylines, excessive cutscenes, baroque character leveling systems -- and blazing-fast arcade gameplay?

Blast Works media reveals more of editor, underwhelming boxart

Posted Mar 19th 2008 3:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Screens

For a game as inventive and unique as Budcat's Blast Works, that sure is some vanilla boxart. Okay, so it's functional in a Ronseal-kinda way, but it's also far from pretty or imaginative (like the game itself). Then again, sporting the kind of cover you'd expect to see on the blandest of Wii budget shovelware didn't harm Game Party's chances, so perhaps this will do the trick, and millions will get to sample Blast Works' original premise and amazing item editor. We can but hope.

Speaking of the item editor, it's the center of attention in the fifteen new Blast Works shots in the gallery below. It looks as deep and as engrossing as ever, and there's some encouragingly weird ships being created in those screens.

Gallery: Blast Works

VC Friday: 'R you ready?'

Posted Mar 14th 2008 12:45PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Virtual Console

So asks the front of Super R-Type's box. Of course, you won't get the box when you purchase Super R-Type on the Virtual Console (you are purchasing Super R-Type ... right?), but we couldn't resist revisiting such a deliciously bad pun. You just don't get that kind of cringeworthy wordplay on today's boxart!

The NES version of Operation Wolf also makes an appearance today, and if you ask us it's one of the very few Virtual Console games that would actually benefit from added Wiimote functionality.
  • Super R-Type -- SNES -- 800 Wii points
  • Operation Wolf -- NES -- 500 Wii points
Don't forget there's footage to get all misty-eyed about after the break!

Continue reading VC Friday: 'R you ready?'

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