Bring BACK 3D Shmups! Terra Diver / Soukyugurentai Review (PS1, Sega Saturn)

Bring BACK 3D Shmups! Terra Diver / Soukyugurentai Review (PS1, Sega Saturn). Raizing Shoot Em' Ups have returned and today we are talking about what has become of one my favorite Raizing games, Terra Diver! Specifically in today's review I spend a lot of time discussing what I think is the game's strongest feature, it's incredible 3D presentation - not only when it comes to the player and enemy designs, but also in terms of the beautiful background work. What I think Terra Diver does so well that even modern shmups need to learn is how to make the backgrounds more dynamic through the use of sprite scaling or 3D camera or whatever is going on under the hood of this game. The background is something that I think modern devs and players tend to take for granted, but I think it's a very under-explored area of shoot em' up design and I think it was during this early PS1 / Sega Saturn era that devs were looking into these ideas the most, likely because 3D tech was new and they were jazzed to play around with it :-) Not only does Terra Diver look great, I also think it's lock on system is really interesting and a very clever way to address the screen space problem when it comes to the vertizonal (horizontal that scrolls vertically) aspect ratio that remains popular to this day. These lessons modern devs could also learn from!
Overall I solidly recommend Tera Diver and even though the Sega Saturn version is the definitive version in terms of accruacy to the arcade, I think the PS1 version is under-appreciated due to it being more accessible and having some cool extra modes. It's a massive shame that this game is trapped on these older consoles because it would be fansastic to see a QUALITY port of the game come to PS4/PS5, Xbox, Steam, or even Nintendo Switch. Also the OST of the game is fanstatic and composed by the same guy who worked on Treasure's Radiant Silvergun (as well as Squaresoft's Vagrant Story).
If you want to learn more about the game's scoring mechanics and history, def check out this awesome episode of STG Weekly! • STG Weekly #191: Souky...
Awesome thumbnail created by @boghogSTG
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[@BknMoonStudios]

I love the presentation of this game. The striking white and red text before each stage gives it a very unique identity. *Fun Fact: The soundtrack was made by Hitoshi Sakimoto, the same composer for Radiant Silvergun, Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII.* 😎👍

[@theghuardianlegend]

...don't forget Vagrant Story ;)

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I love the ost as well, honestly one of my fav in the genre, no joke. I think it's actually better than the silvergun ost

[@Evilriku13]

Wasn't that the one who lived in germany as a child and thus when he did the SaGa Frontier 2 OST he named the tracks in a german way like "Todesfeind", "Misgestalt" or "Tiefe" etc.?

[@BknMoonStudios]

@@Evilriku13 No, that is Masashi Hamauzu. Hamauzu is the composer for Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

[@henning2794]

So happy to finally see this being featured on the channel. Noone can deny that this game is an audio-visual spectacle from beginning to end. There is no other shmup whose visual design resonated with me this much. It is my go-to feel-good shmup.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

absolutely henning. Raizing really outdid themselves with the visuals and sound on this one, sort of the last era where shmups were keeping up with the mainstream genres like rpgs in terms of presentation.

[@RalphBarbagallo]

Maaaan...I wish they'd bring this out in the S-Tribute series or something.

[@GojiGuy]

Yeah but without the lag lol

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I do hope we get a port of terra diver in the future for sure! Though I think the S-Tribute series is sort of scary as they have been crazy laggy ha. I almost wonder if a patched up version of the ps1 port would be easier to make happen

[@RalphBarbagallo]

@@TheElectricUnderground Yeah I just no of no other company that's doing Saturn emulation. I wish Sega would let M2 go at it, and do Titan emulation instead.

[@jan-niklashoffmann4683]

Recent S-Tributes were alright. Metal Black was fine. So was Elevator Action Returns.

[@reinhartsieger6588]

i hope not lol

[@rahndail3863]

Man, holistically I think this game has one of my favorite presentations of any game out there. The oldschool 3D graphics, the camera work, the storytelling in each stage, the font design, the gritty art direction, the boss designs, the vertizontal aspect ratio, the goddamn soundtrack... Side note, for the love of god, I want the OST on vinyl.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Hi Rahn, I like that you pointed out the font scaling. I wish I would have touched on that a bit in the vid but I also think the fact that the game has all this aggressive font flying across the screen really adds a lot of flavor. Reminds me of eva ha

[@rahndail3863]

@@TheElectricUnderground Yeah for sure. There's an English version floating out there somewhere (I think it's only on certain versions of the Saturn port?), but it doesn't have the same impact as the imposing Japanese characters. Between this game and Radiant Silvergun I'm totally onboard for other devs to make 3D styled shmups.

[@boghogSTG]

Haha oh man that description of Raizing as really creative, smart devs that just happen to miss really obvious surface level issues is spot on. Part of the reason why the bullet visibility is so bad in this game is cuz the player's shot is drawn on top of them instead of below, maybe they figured that with how important lock ons are it wouldn't be as much of a problem or maybe they just missed that element entirely, but either way it's a really obvious mistake in an otherwise really impressive game.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yeah bog that's a really clever observation because I didn't notice it until you pointed it out! That is a rookie mistake on raizing's part. I'm no historian of devving but I get the sense that the dev history of this game was a little messy ha.

[@futureskeletons66669]

Thanks to RetroArch I've been playing this, R-Type Delta, Einhander and Gradius Gaiden a lot. Gaiden has some of the most interesting levels I've seen in any Gradius game. I skipped the PS1/N64 generation and quit arcades. I hated early 3D, so I've been playing catch up with some of these 3D STG. Can't seem to get Zanac Neo working in RetroArch though, which is a shame. I've played that on PS3 and it's a very good game.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yeah emulation is a godsend for this era of games, as a lot of them were never ported and the hardware is kind of obscure and the games are probably really expensive now

[@jasonburt5404]

I have been playing Zanac neo ok on retro arch. It take a long time to load but plays just fine.

[@ianswift3521]

those are 4 excellent games. don't know why zanac x zanac / neo wouldn't be working for you, it's always worked for me. try downloading it again from another source that seems to clear up that kind of problem more often than not. maybe if you don't have the ps1 bios files in your /system/ folder that could be a culprit.

[@Skelta75]

Another stg with some very creative and crazy use of background graphics is definitely Revolver 360 Reactor. This cylindrical, rotatable backgrounds and bullet patterns make one hell of a mindf**k😅

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Oh I've heard about this game a lot! I need to try it at some point, maybe as part of my obscure shmup series.

[@jbates237]

Great background work on Air Gallet.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Oh yeah! I really like the boss that's in the water and when it walks around the water splashes. A minor detail but really adds to the feel.

[@philmason9653]

Yep, this is pretty much how I feel about it. "I love this!! But why did they do this??" One key aspect of the visuals that unfortunately I don't think 99% of Western players will have a chance to key in on is not just how they make things more dynamic, but that they do a great job of visual storytelling. This comes through a lot more clearly if you can read the walls of gigantic kanji the game punches you in the eyes with at the beginning of every stage (even for Japanese speakers this aims to appear very technical/militaristic and a bit overwhelming). They set up what your aim is in each stage, and when and how it ties into the wider narrative of the game. This is something that started with Musha Aleste, one of the multiple Compile callbacks in this game (and as a call-forward, one of the stages in GG Aleste 3 is even called Terra Diver). Like that 3rd stage, your command has intercepted reports that an allied base is about to be surprise attacked. So you're dropped into the atmosphere 5 KM above North America, hunting down the enemy convoy; the whole thing is you surprise attacking a surprise attack, death-from-above style. You take out their air support, dive through the cloud cover and obliterate the convoy from behind. This is one of the coolest sequences I can think of in any shmup, especially the way the music ties into the whole thing, with dramatic punctuation in the brief moment midway when you see the boss through the clouds, your prey looking tiny off in the distance from your position. In comparison to most shmups where you're the little underdog scrambling to barely survive an overwhelming enemy, here the tables are turned and you're the badass hunting the hunted. There are a lot of other cool elements, like if you check, the timestamp on the first stage is tied to your Saturn's system clock. Subsequent stages are weeks and months apart, creating the sense of a lengthy sustained campaign as you push the enemy back from Tokyo to Mars, destroying their manufacturing, supply lines and orbital defences. All the various elements like this add up to make it one of my favourites, despite its awkward flaws.

[@dingo535]

That sequence sounds amazing, I look forward to experiencing it some day hopefully soon.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Oh yes that's a great point phil. I am a big fan of the aggressive font scaling in the game. Even though I have no idea what it says, aesthetically I think it adds a lot of flavor :-)

[@jamesisaacson6379]

@The Electric Underground question is there any mainstream game you like god war or spiderman or red dead 2 or something .are me list you like I know your more of old school guy but If you had pick some main stream games you like?

[@aureateseigneur5317]

Part of what makes Yagawa games so cool, and Ibara one of my favorite Cave games is how interactive the backgrounds are. There's tons of ground unit interactions in Ibara and Garegga, and APB. It's something Yagawa always pushed in all gis games and many other shmup developers ignore the depths ground based units and how they can effect score systems and drops and be a puzzle unto themselves.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yes I love the background work in raizing across the board, it's top tier. One of my favorite little touches is in sorcerer striker where there are little villagers that run around on the ground on some of the stages ha

[@Zillion3170]

I still have this game for the Saturn. We use to called it "the poor man's Radiant Silvergun" back in the day.

[@darylward4039]

Eschatos and Raystorm have incredible presentation, Eschatos in particular for me :)

[@Wrekkshoppe]

Yeah Mark, this game looks awesome. I owned a Saturn in the 90s, and I mainly bought import fighting games. You're always exposing me to Saturn games I just wasn't aware existed back then, even now

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I'm really happy to hear that! This time around you gotta think the patrons too because their voting often brings really cool games that aren't on my radar to my attention!

[@fredleggett923]

I loved this game and played it constantly via burned disc on my modded PS1. It is unbelievably satisfying to target "lower" and ground-based elements and blow them to bits with your guided weapons. And the soundtrack is very "serious" and oddly stays with you, even if it isn't very hummable. This and games like Raycrisis and Raystorm really show how SHMUPs can shine beyond the usual single-plane action.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

oh yeah I think the reason why the soundtrack hits so hard is because is has this really moody base that has a massive vibe factor to it. Even the moor toned down tracks hit like trucks because of the bass. I love it, one of my fav ost in the genre.

[@fredleggett923]

@@TheElectricUnderground It gives the game a real sense of stakes while still being unabashedly Japanese in aural aesthetic. I can hear the drums pounding as I type this along with the accompanying synth. How do the console versions compare with the arcade? I never even knew it first appeared as a coin-op.

[@darylward4039]

Raystorm and Ray Crisis agreed, incredible stuff!

[@fredleggett923]

@@darylward4039 Yep. I know people like to rag on RayCrisis for various reasons, but I think they're both extremely enjoyable (though RayStorm is the better of the two). BTW, this might whet your appetite: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bV7PnYCrq5dlgrs I don't have a console, unfortunately, but I hope this is a decent remastering.

[@gigatywing3483]

I love the attention to detail and animations in background of Harmful Park

[@TheElectricUnderground]

That is a really fun looking game. Another ps1 era hidden gem, i believe there is a ps1 port right ha

[@gigatywing3483]

@@TheElectricUnderground yeah it's a ps1 exclusive...and effing expensive. I managed to snag a copy when it was still under radar

[@andyauthor2007]

Ones you forgot to mention are Layer Section and the Raystorm series. With the lock-on used to destroy enemies in the background, those games make huge use of the backgrounds.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I actually didn't forget layer section, but since this game is constantly compared to layer section I decided to talk about other examples ha. But yes not doubt about it rayforce is another game of this era with insane background work.

[@ianswift3521]

destoroy the enemy, target for the weak points

[@timothyelwell2482]

I absolutely love the backgrounds and 3d elements in einhander

[@timothyelwell2482]

I wish square enix would make another shmup cuz they got so much right on their only one they ever made. Most of that dev team still works there too cuz of the easter egg seen in some random gummy ship level in kh3. And they did all the gummy ship stuff too

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I'm excited to look at that game soon!

[@bananonymouslastname5693]

I love Soukyugurentai! It's probably my second favorite shooter on Saturn behind Galactic Attack. I love how the game rewards you for maximum destruction over a more gimmicky system. I hated the grazing and color chaining in Radiant Silvergun, which made me play it in a less enjoyable way, and Soukyugurentai let me tee off and blow stuff up. I've never played the PS1 port, but at least the Saturn version isn't so pricey compared to its peers!😊

[@johnjeneki3758]

Something cool in the options for Souky is setting the starting rank for each stage. If you manually max out rank in stage 1, the boss has an attack that you'd likely not see otherwise. Really interesting that our friendly dev team programmed in stuff that no on will ever see unless they're digging around. As far as under played Raizing shmups, Brave Blade is probably the most obscure. It's not a game for everyone though as the Twinbee-style medal juggling mechanic is going to rub some the wrong way. But it definitely wins the Rule Of Cool award, with all the transforming mechs.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

oh wow it would be wild to clear the game at max rank! I'm sure it's been done but I bet it would be BRUTAL. I've seen garegga at max rank and I shiver in fear ha.

[@HieronymousLex]

This game is awesome. It kicks my ass six ways to Sunday, but the craftsmanship is immediately evident. It’s a spectacle from the start

[@TheElectricUnderground]

The game is so hard if you collect the power up items. My advice would be avoid power up items at all costs ha, since they jack up the rank

[@bboydrew71]

One of my all time fave shoot em ups. Classic

[@JogosMofados]

Funny that I had a PlayStation back in the day and, for some reason, I completely missed this one. Thanks, looks like a nice addition to the collection.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yeah it was a very sneaky release, even for shmup fans!

[@gabrielesquaratti5709]

i just ADORE the type c ship and the second stage

[@tournaline3448]

It took me a while to get into Terra Diver but I persisted because of how cool it looked. Visuals were a huge part of why I got into shmups, I feel like shmup developers today don’t consider visuals to be of much importance sadly. As you mentioned in the vid, it’s often the visuals that bring in more players. Great vid as always, still the best reviewer out there.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

absolutely tournaline. I think visuals matter a lot! the issue that indie devs run into today though is mostly budget when it comes to shmups, since the game make so little money. But I think with some of the techniques of this game, like sprite scaling, even a low budget game can have some extra appeal!

[@hornbucklewho4105]

I know this was a review rather than a discussion, but I am a little surprised there was no mention at all of the stellar 3D in G-Darius!

[@dukeofhmph6348]

When watching the Mikado stream for RayForce the other day, it only occurred to me then how crazy the backgrounds are. Pretty similar to this with the scaling in, and the constant sense of heading downwards really stuck out to me. Not to mention having the most impressive use of parallax to achieve a faux-3D effect I have ever seen.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Oh yeah rayforce is another clear example of this era of amazing background work. I didn't mention it in the vid only because terra diver is so often compared to rayforce ha.

[@c2ironfist]

I do miss the good old days when graphics were heavily limited by their hardware Developers I find were more creative and talented back then due to this Just by looking at a game you could tell it was on the Saturn, Playstation, N64 etc All of the stuff now just looks like everything else 😢

[@SolCresta3405]

Game needs a re-release on modern consoles…

[@TheElectricUnderground]

it really does!

[@SolCresta3405]

@@TheElectricUnderground At least base it on the Saturn port.

[@LEXICON-DEVIL]

You and Mike Matei could totally have a SHMUPS podcast lol 🤙 Great video. I love this genre but its hard to explain what kind i like. Gradius V PS2 gets ma feels. 🤙

[@TheElectricUnderground]

That sounds like fun! I'm always down to podcast and talk about the genre :-D

[@thegobbojones]

Backgrounds like soundtracks bring the flavour! Speaking of backgrounds is that a Royal portable typewriter I spy behind you?

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yes it is! It's my typewriter I keep in my office as decoration and sometimes I will type little notes on it ha. Great eye it is a Royal :-)

[@israelgonzalezabrego3551]

Best Shoot Em' Up ever made it!!! my Saturn still play it this gem hope for a HD remastered like Radiant Silvergun has

[@TheElectricUnderground]

That would be really cool! I think the closest you can get to a remaster is some nice upscaling in emulator, you never know though.

[@israelgonzalezabrego3551]

@@TheElectricUnderground I play it on a Trinitron CRT 40" and sometimes in a Sony Oled 65" with OSSC to 5X with scanlines both options look outstanding

[@StiffAftermath]

Functional backgrounds in shmups are the holy grail of game design. Good examples are R-Type Delta, umm....that is it?

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I think a lot of the ps1 era shmups have great background work! R-Type delta does have awesome backgrounds for sure, especially the last stage.

[@StiffAftermath]

@@TheElectricUnderground not just great background art, but functional level design, like actual geometry to maneuver through. Actual level structures. Super R-type has this too. No shmups do this anymore. It is all about the bullet/screen space real-estate.

[@Tomorer]

Hi! Newfound Soukyuu Gurentai Otokouyo fan here after getting me a Satiator. I'm happy to find this game finally but sorry to be finding this is a one of a kind. Im basing alot of my loyalty to this game's format on the fact it is on a horizontal aspect and veritcally scrolls with enemies approaching from up and below instead of forward and sides like Reidiantoshirubāgan - for old school feel, along with modern widescreen compatibility (UBER TIP here - get a Phillips AUREA 42" LCD [42PFL9903H] - trust me - protect and preserve them). Room for improvement on the targeting, and the variety of ships, levels, and sequels, for sure. One thing sets this apart big time - on the Saturn - is that U can use the 3D controller - unlike any other Ive tried so far - and this helps massively when dodging the flack. I wonder what the chances of fan-made extensions to this are!?! Crowd funding a few developers for a year, or what????

[@PikaStu666]

I love Soukyugurentai! It’s my favourite Saturn shmup, which is just as well as it’s one of the few fairly affordable ones! I love the stage with the clouds, absolutely stunning! Hopefully it comes to Switch at some point, it would be nice to be able to play it on the go, or on the big TV instead of a 21” CRT.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

The saturn is such a powerhouse for this era of shmups. Gameplay wise i still favor radiant silvergun, but visuals and sountrack wise I think terra diver is really hard to beat. The ost is one of my favs in the genre outright.

[@julianseph842gamez5]

Epic Raizing classic! The PSX version is quite better because of CGI cutscenes, new ship, narration and a new last boss

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I do like all the extras! From what I understand though it's not very accurate in terms of scoring the game. Probably fine for survival play though as you can swap over to arcade difficulty in the options.

[@ohfivepro]

@@TheElectricUnderground The PS1 game has 2 modes. Special & Arcade. Special has cutscenes, an extra ship & is easier & has different scoring mechanics to the arcade game. Arcade Mode, which you need to select from the title screen, is much closer to the STV game but you still need to go into the option menu to raise the difficulty to 5 (AC) to match the proper arcade release. I forget if the Saturn port defaulted to the wrong difficulty or not but it should be 5 too. It doesn't have the Special Mode at all but runs a bit better overall

[@israelgonzalezabrego3551]

Totally wrong pal I had both versions and the PSX its a bad port, Saturn all the way, the yellow ship is ugly as f@ck by the way

[@Prickly_Angler]

@@ohfivepro From what I've seen from mutmut02's replays PS1 lvl 5 difficulty is higher than Saturn lvl 5/AC normal

[@dingo535]

I’ve never played this but have seen it a lot over the years. It looks sick, I definitely intend to get around to it at some point. I love the graphics !

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I think you'd really like it dingo! You should also play some silvergun if you haven't! I don't know if you have a saturn or not though ha.

[@LEXICON-DEVIL]

Please do a video on PHELIOS SEGA. 🤘 The backgrounds tell the story of the game and journey so perfectly. Its gotta be a hidden SHMUP gem. Greek Mythology, flying Pegasus horse and a magical shooting sword. What more could you ask for? Even the tone is mature as SEGA usually is. From the sky temple into the depths of hell i go to save thy love haha. I didnt realize all this until you started really going deep on the backgrounds haha. Great video.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Hey it could happen, I could see the patrons voting on a game like this ha. I'm actually covering lords of thunder next, which seems to have a similar vibe :-)

[@LEXICON-DEVIL]

@@TheElectricUnderground Noice! 🤙 I dont know how i stumbled onto your video but it was the first i seen. 💪

[@jasonburt5404]

I just played the ps1 retroarch version and just completed it. The visuals and music is fantastic. I’d say the music is very similar to battle garrega. The only thing I didn’t like about the ps1 version is the full motion video cut scenes and the Japanese lady narrating the beginning of each stage. It didn’t really seem like it took that long to complete. But when playing this, you’ll see how much went into this. And there is no comparison to modern games. This just has something that current shmups can’t duplicate.

[@davidaitken8503]

In regards to using the background elements for gameplay purposes developers need to check out more games from the 16-bit era, particularly the SNES. Axelay had a number of cool elements such as a mini-boss that keeps dipping down into a cloud layer to hide as well as attacks coming from a city below. Space Megaforce had a level that had an entire space station that you would descend on for attack runs that would fire missiles up at you. The first level of Imperium did some excellent visual storytelling with you witnessing the bombing of a city, ascending into the clouds, descending back through them to the city, then descending down close to see the devastation. D-Force, though awful, always had a cool idea behind it that I wish a competent developer had tried. You could fly around at 2 different heights and change between the two of them with a push of a button.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Oh yeah I love axelay! One of my fav snes shmups (it will get its own vid soon). I think the 3d mode 7 of the game looks really cool. dodging wise it's pretty awkward but I like to think of it as a shmup version of f-zero ha

[@davidaitken8503]

@@TheElectricUnderground Interesting note. That actually isn't mode 7 being used in the overhead stages. They are squishing the image down towards the top of the screen but nothing ever actually gets closer or further away. It is the same way the title screen of DKC looks like it is peeling away like a sheet or the music player spinning on DKC3. I'm not even sure if stage 4 is using transparency either, but instead the old scan line palette swap trick. The surface texture is probably a row of sprites but I can't say for sure.

[@RaydinAE11]

This is a fun game. The rank system isn't super clear. Like Garegga the bosses Will have different patterns and behaviors based on your performance. As a newb this game has been an excellent teacher.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yeah i really wish they didn't tie the rank to the power up items, I think that was a mistake for this one. I think Crimzon clover had a better idea by tieing rank to special star items that also give extends, but you can see how much terra diver likely influence CCWE which is really cool

[@gutsxgriffith6950]

one of my fave stgs

[@daserfomalhaut9809]

Came from your Slave Zero X video after inquiring about this game. One game I'm surprised you didn't mention when talking backgrounds was Revolver360. Not sure if you played it or not. It's not a favorite. It's kind of...straining on the eyes. But it has the most interesting background mechanics I've seen in an STG. It's a sidescroller, but you literally rotate the world around the ship. As if the ship is barrel rolling. When doing this, you can use a secondary shot that fires into the background when you place your ship over destructible background objects. Sometimes the game will have to warn you about these when it's not even in view. A falling building for instance will be hurdling toward you, and you have to rotate the background to blow it up before impact. But there's a lot of stuff to blow up that you have to place yourself over to shoot at while dealing with enemies on the main plane. I think you're rewarded for this at the end of each stage. Bosses also heavily take advantage of this and it's an additional means to dodge bullets as well. It plays with scoring in that you can rotate *enemies* on their respective planes. Line up waves together and use these hyper charges to shoot down the new clumps of enemies at once to jack up your multiplier. It's the only game I've seen like this and it was really fascinating to play.

[@SicketMog]

I never gave it much time... But at least graphically always thought Soukyu was a VERY pretty game (unlike many old titles its 3D holds up imo). Now to watch the video. 🙂

[@TheElectricUnderground]

oh yeah graphically this game is one of raizing's best! I do like the gameplay a lot as well, I just wish the rank system wasn't so weird and brutal.

[@MovingTargetOne]

I enjoyed this on the saturn, think it was my first 1cc

[@jbates237]

Love Raizing. gonna try his

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Oh yeah must play for raizing fans!

[@dearcrowns]

The point about weapon design making for good vertizontal shmups got me wondering if that style of game lends itself better to a single ship that can do many things vs multiple ships that have different strengths/weaknesses

[@shmups_hobby]

Hey man, just to clarify something about the PS1 version. Is the ‘Easier Difficulty’ mode the default when you boot up? Then the ‘Arcade Mode’ that’s selectable via the Select button menu is the equivalent of the Saturn version??

[@energyzer_bunny1913]

It also plays fairly decent on MAME as well.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

oh awesome! I wonder if fb neo can run it? I should try ha.

[@PedroFerreira-sx2gd]

Raizing games are quite strange to me to get INTO. they are good but that visual clarity of the bullets is a major Turn off. In that sense sorcer striker is my favourite as it does not have those issues. When it cames to tera driver graphics Honestly i prefer the 2d pixel art of the other raizing games.but it is a matter of taste. I Will give a second chance and try to play it again. Love your in deep reviews. Would love to someday to see a review of cyvern One of my alltime fav and quite unique and underrated.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Thank you very much my dude! I could see Cyvern being the type of game that the patrons vote on, so it's absolutely possible!!

[@darylward4039]

Sorcer Strikers my favorite Raizing game at the mo for the same reason, just got a 1cc on it :)

[@MimosaSTG]

Speaking of 3D shmups... Danmaku Unlimited: Wyver Ultra looks like it is coming along quite nicely. I hope you do some coverage on this at some point.

[@shmups_hobby]

Also, does the PS1 version have menu options that unlock based on play time/playthroughs? Eg. a practice mode? My version currently has 3 options only when you press Select: Settings (difficulty etc), Arcade Mode and 1 credit Score Attack mode. That’s it!

[@soratheorangejuicemascot5809]

What do you think about Alltynex series? People praise Kamui and RefleX but Alltynex 2nd doesn't get much love. For me, I do like Alltynex 2nd because I like switching weapons from range to melee.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I absolutely need to cover them at some point, I do have them all on steam ha, just haven't played them much.

[@liamconverse8950]

For aero fighters 2 it seems like they just took the exact same formula from aero fighters 1 even though the aspect ratio changed, and I read that Psikyo was basically founded because the guys who worked on aero fighters 1 didn't want to make vertical shmups for standard 4x3 screens

[@mrkirkaldy6633]

I have a question. Came across Yukinko Daisenpuu. Looks like a Cutemup is it any good or should I stick to Batsugun both are on Switch

[@NIMPAK1]

What's your opinion on Super Spy Hunter / Battle Formula? I think that game did some pretty innovative stuff with implementing background with foreground, albeit on a 2D plane. The coolest example in my opinion being where you have to do these really big jumps and you have to precisely land on the road below Pilotwings-style.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I've actually never played super spy hunter but let me tell you I was a massive spy hunter fan back in the day. My local pizza shop had a spy hunter cab and I spent so many quarters playing it, brutal but so awesome. It would be cool to return to it now.

[@shmups_hobby]

Last one 😅 Where did you get the info about the PS1 version with the changes to rank etc? Thanks!!

[@Evilriku13]

Speaking of gorgeous backgrounds and somesuch: Darius Gaiden. Do it. Iirc you haven't done a review on that game or talked about it on this channel :)

[@apocalypseon]

Hey my friend. Dunno if u can help me with this, but there is this old indie game Im harping for. I remember it being a side scrolling shmup. Not too hairy or fast paced. With really large ships. I also remember it going from black and white or grey to more colorful as stuff exploded around u. If I were to pin down a release date, my gut says 2004-2007. All I can tell u is it was on Pc. And I had a bunch of games like gish, eets, astro tripper, mutant storm, wik, zuma, jets'n'guns, ether vapor. So its from that era.

[@MegaDeth859]

Dang I love this game.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

It's a gem!

[@Dojonpachi]

Playstation version also has an exclusive character :Yellow Boy

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Hell yeah!

[@JGrove303]

If you haven’t given it a chance or panned it like most, give Raiden V another shot. Especially if you like the devs doing cool shit with the backgrounds

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I've actually never played raiden 5, I'm a huge fan of raiden fighters but I need to do a dive on the series here soon. Maybe a series tier list or something since I was a big raiden fan back in the day. (in fact I called all shmups raiden games for years lol).

[@JGrove303]

@@TheElectricUnderground With the Raiden III x Mikado Maniax releasing stateside June 6th, the lead up to it may be great timing

[@opaljk4835]

Got this for the PS1. The bonus yellow ship’s lock on system is way way snappier than the other ones. Did you try that one? Not the best visually of the two ports, but it’s really fun anyway.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Oh wow I did not! I heard the bonus ship was op though so now that could be a cool way to get a 1cc ha.

[@BobBobOnYouTube]

I had this on Saturn. Great game. Tried to play it recently but I can’t get mame to load it.

[@scottbaylo]

I have a major issue when it comes to 3D shooters (I don’t think I can bring myself to say “shmups”), my eyes were never able to adjust to the chaos of when the ships are supposed to be taking a different path I guess, and the bullet hellishness end up killing me every few seconds! I usually just stick to pixel art shooters, at least I have a chance of surviving!

[@reinhartsieger6588]

R-Type Final 3 there you go. A 3D STG for you ;)

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Yeah but the 3d work, at least in final 2, is kind of shaky. I mean it's there like how the levels will turn a bit, but sometimes it's really hard to tell if something is in the background or play field ha. Hopefully final 3 is better in this respect though.

[@davy_K]

The Saturn version has been on my shelf of shame for years. Really nice game but havent spent enough time with it as I got it in the early 00s when I was jumping from game to game far too much. The version I have has a level 1 demo of Garegga on the disc.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

time to take that badboy off the shelf and put some wear on that disc lol! Just kidding if the game is expensive just play a burned copy ha.

[@davy_K]

@@TheElectricUnderground I'm in the school of games are to be played...

[@DonnieDisasters]

the only shmup I've played is Iridion 3D. and I loved it. I don't know how it compare to the other shmups. What should I play next?

[@LEXICON-DEVIL]

Anybody remember Robo Bombo? 😁

[@NB-1]

It is possible to shoot and lock-on at the same time!! But only on Saturn:) Honestly that's how it should have been from the beginning. The "original mode" or any other version becomes kinda useless after that. Now how do we unlock this mode? I never was quite sure about that but as far as I know the Nights 3D Pad has to be involved. Not only analog controls are possible (which are better than one might think!) but a certain hidden options menu gets unlocked or something within that menu (where I dabbled with the button layout) gets enhanced by switching to analog controls and therefore somehow this secret gets activated. My memories are foggy and I never fully understood how I got this to work. There are two of these hidden menus if I'm correct of which one has to be unlocked by some achievement? It's not necessary to play analog with the 3D pad though. And I managed to get it running on a normal controller, probably because everything was set up and saved already? Again, foggy. So yeah, look out for this mode and watch how much more fun this game gets. PS: The Saturn version has one downside though. Compared to ST-V it has slowdowns, especially in 2P. They are far too much and if Mame can be trusted the arcade PCB doesn't have this issue as much. From what I gathered the ST-V is roughly a Saturn with 4MB RAM expansion. So that could explain the better performance.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Oh thank you for the heads up on the extra mode! That sounds really awesome. Maybe what happened is that they didn't have time to put these ideas into the arcade version but could sneak them onto the Saturn extra mode? who knows but it does sound cool.

[@jasonburt5404]

I noticed this in the ps1 version as well. I didn’t really use the lock on when playing it. But you had to release the fire button in order to use it. The Saturn version is obviously the best.

[@energyzer_bunny1913]

It also plays fairly decent on MAME as well. Also, whats the game at 3:34?

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I believe it is Touhou 8 Imperishable Night? I know it is one of the windows 98 touhou games, i just forgot which one i used. I think 8 though.

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

Sōkyūgurentai should have been tate, but I think that all yoko vertical shmups should have been tate The backgrounds and scaling effects were indeed awesome. Also the music is very fitting The presentation for the rest is kinda of a let down. not enough love was put into that, seems rushed. The power up icons are stupid ugly I have to play it again, thx for the video and pointing out it's strengths

[@markguyton2868]

The Terra Diver ship is a playable DLC ship in Darius Burst CS... it feels awkward to play there too... it's not bad, just awkward.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

that game is crazy ha, that is a really cool inclusion though

[@markguyton2868]

@@TheElectricUnderground There are a lot of odd DLC ships there. Also a _really_ long shmup campaign.

[@ZatohRondohoon3227]

Review ESCHATOS?

[@ultraspinalki11]

1:57 What is that game being shown??

[@HydrogLox]

GRAND CROSS: ReNOVATION

[@ultraspinalki11]

@@HydrogLox much appreciated!

[@MrStrangermoon]

game uses 3d bacround in first level then uses amazing 2d sprites clouds on level 3 but until astorid level between leves not use any 3d bacround like first enterance. suddenly game forgat 3d bacrounds ı dont know why. the ps1 version graphlicy missing like level 3 enteracne clouds. saturn version diffrent enterance and menu look like neo genesis anime style but its not have fmv video on ps1. and 1 ship missing on saturn dont know unlock after something.

[@roleplayingpain4349]

Terra diver you've been gone too long in the midnight dirt....

[@Psych0boost]

Personally I don’t think anyone beats Raizing when it comes to graphical style in shmups

[@TheRealJPhillips]

Just a MID shooter to me. Something comparable like Mars Matrix is better

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I think you could say mid in terms of all time classics like garegga, but in terms of the genre overall I think it's a very strong game, just needed more work on the powerup/rank system.

[@kirkcavenaugh758]

My boy needs a haircut

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I'm growing my hair out a bit ha, probably not too much longer though.

[@kirkcavenaugh758]

@@TheElectricUnderground bald heads rule

[@EugenetheSupporter]

ok but it`s 2d

[@TheElectricUnderground]

it's a saturn game so it's a mix of 3d and 2d ha. But the scaling effects are 3D in nature, even if they are pre-rendered. I don't mean pure 3d as that would be a rail shooter ha, though I do love rail shooters.

[@ostravia]

Sorry can't watch your channel. Would love to but the term SMUPZZ (or whatever) just turns me off. And I am not the only one: it just cheeses me out and makes me crings. They are Shoot 'em ups.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

I think you're going to have a hard time overall since the term shmup is now widely popular and used pretty much everywhere among fans of the genre ha. the more you talk about the genre the more silly it is to insist on saying shoot em' up all the way through every time ha. That's a very long phrase after all.

[@ostravia]

@@TheElectricUnderground I have been doing this a lot longer than you.