out December 24: Arcade Archives Gradius III! game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/1296β¦π―π΅ they promised something special for this ACA release and they've revealed that, too: they've adding a custom mode that'll let you change various as-yet-unspecified settings & adds a stage select
I can only presume some sort of collision detection setting is one of the custom options... there is some precedent for this among ACA releases, they added a smaller hitbox option to Trigon/Lightning Fighters
Hamster's been sharing effusive but non-specific comments from the elite playtesters they've had working on ACA Gradius III, one per day
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another testimonial, this one from snake option devotee LOWTERIII: "will the difficult-to-use snake option, which has been written off for the past 31 years, finally join the ranks of top-tier equipment?"
Musha Aleste, Compile's "Edo Metal"-themed vertical STG for Mega Drive, is 30 years old! it was recently included on the Japanese Mega Drive Mini but I guess the Genesis Mini had to make room for Alex Kidd, oh well Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
icymi, Aleste Collection features a brand-new Aleste game made to Game Gear spec, developed by a small team of STG veterans including Kazuyuki Nakashima, artist and/or planner on MUSHA, Spriggan & Mahou Daisakusen (55:19π―π΅)
lrt: for those who understandably checked out years ago, Unsung Story was purchased from the original devs by a contract studio who saw a chance to make a name for themselves by salvaging a project thought impossible to salvage... and they're kinda doing it? somehow?
I say "kinda" because most of the high-profile JP devs touted by the original studio are not involved & the game as it currently exists is a very loose interpretation of their initial concepts, but they've been very earnest and transparent & I can't help but root for em
the obvious difference with their version is the art styleβ Yoshida is not only uninvolved but the original devs burned him so hard that the new team deliberately chose a radically different art style so as to completely erase all suspicion that they're using any of his old work
Puyo Puyo series producer Mizuki Hosoyamada talks Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 inside-games.jp/article/2020/1β¦π―π΅ I won't be able to offer a full summary until later, but he does explicitly confirm a Chronicles-style co-op boss raid mode as one of the future updates
Hosoyamada on balancing Puyo Puyo Tetris: PPT1 was balanced in-house by skilled staffers & pros under NDA, but for PPT2 they were more directly influenced by player feedback & brought in pros to share their opinions during the final stretch of development
that said... (1/3)
...when it comes to competitive versus games, there's no "correct" answer to game balance & it's something they're always thinking about, and while the pros have their own opinions, they make decisions taking into account the wide range of players of all skill levels (2/3)
the second EN-subbed "Sega Seminar" video is online this one features long-time Sega Ages producer & current classic hardware producer Yosuke Okunari giving an inside lesson on Sega's home software circa the Japanese Saturn launch
original director Tomomi Sakuba & indie studio SmokymonkeyS (Ninelives, Triglav) are crowdfunding a iOS/Android remaster of the cult 1999 PC/Mac ADV Garage: Bad Dream Adventure camp-fire.jp/projects/view/β¦π―π΅ they're already closing in on their Β₯3m goal after one day
I've never played Garage and all I really know about it is that it gets mentioned as part of the "holy trinity" with Kowloon's Gate and Baroque, and that publisher Toshiba EMI left the games business right as it was done so it got an absurdly low print run & now costs a ton
fwiw, they say they're funding this new version with the intent of releasing English/Chinese-language versions, and the EN loc is already underway
M2's Aleste stream will begin in ~10 minutes π―π΅ icymi, it'll cover the gadgets & features of the Aleste Collection and show a demo of GG Aleste 3 with some of the devs including director Manabu Namiki
one cool gadget feature: the Player Info gadget (left-side center) includes a real-time indicator for invincibility timeβCompile STG commonly give you a little invincibility after collecting an item & are somewhat consciously designed around that feature, so it's a nice to have
...and here's a full explanation of the OG Aleste gadgets, which I may or may not come back to later, but I'm sure most of it's obvious just from the images
btw, you can also choose between Aleste or Power Strike if you really want to