GAIARES IS NUMBER ONE!: The History of Gaiares | Rewind Arcade

[@ShmupJunkie]

Awesome seeing you make another STG themed history! Gaiares has always been one of my favorite side scrollers and I still play it a lot today. Anyone who enjoys Gradius style gameplay and that challenge level owes it to themselves to play it. I honestly come back to it as much or more than the Thunder Force games. Aside from that final boss rush mode at the end, which wasn't too uncommon back then, it's a pretty perfect experience all around.

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks man! I’ve been wanting to cover this game for a little while now, but was worried about making a video on it due to how niche it is. Finally bit the bullet though! I agree that the game has a really nice classic shmup feel and the “weapon steal” mechanic really adds a lot to the gameplay. Also love the different stage and boss designs! The boss rush and short final stage seem to have been kind of tossed in quick since Yokata had to leave the project early and a lot of the late work was dumped into the extensive cutscenes instead. Really liked the nod to Gradius with the easy final boss too. 👍

[@reagandow850]

Fancy seeing you here my brother. You’re dead on right. This is a fantastic game and pretty dang hard too!! I’m surprised that it didn’t get very good reviews in Japan. I guess it wasn’t hard enough for those crazy guys. ;)

[@ScoutimusPrime]

I really love playing Gaiares on Sega Genesis at emulation too. Great challenge gameplay, new mechanics like Treasure game, Great gameplay and etc. 😁👍

[@Skysmeller1]

Great video and great feature @shmupjunkie this is a great channel

[@thirteenthirtyseven4730]

That 2022 special edition has such a unique blend of self-irony, retro culture and niche geekdom. I love it! Also: Gaiares OST smokes! Fully endorsed!

[@RewindArcade]

Agreed! I don’t buy a lot of the cartridge re-releases but I had to get the Gaiares one. They did a great job with it!

[@pernellvaughan8535]

Another hit, my friend! I enjoyed watching this one. Having just beaten Alundra yesterday, it was interesting to see that one of this game's creators moved onto the sequel. Also, the Japanese cover runs circles around the US one in this case!

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks man!! Yeah, I thought it was a fun and interesting game with a cool story. I’m a big fan of Alundra, but I never played the sequel. And yeah, the Japanese Gaiares cover is 10x better than the NA one!

[@wizards-themagicalconcert5048]

Appreciate you shining a light on this gem of a game mate! Part of my childhood ! You earned your self a new sub !

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks a ton, glad you enjoyed it! Such a great shmup!

[@arcadeages3917]

Learned some new stuff from this video on a title I’ve been closely following since it’s debut. Nice video!

[@joeboo8626]

I still have my 1992 EGM buyer's guide and one of those ads is in it. Actually convinced me to buy the game from Funcoland... and I never made it past stage 6. Loved the game despite its difficulty and the way its become revered recently. Back in the early 90s, it was pretty obscure. I no longer have a CRT, so my dreams of beating it legitimately are over.

[@RewindArcade]

That’s awesome! Did you get one of the original t-shirts from the magazine ad? I will agree that stage 6 is particularly brutal, though 7 gets pretty mean too. Hope you get to see the game to the very end someday!

[@drivelikej9962]

Anything you produce on shmups, I'm watching. Thanks for putting this together, Chris - really well-paced, well-produced video.

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks a ton, really glad you enjoyed it! I’ll definitely be covering more shmups in the future scattered in between videos. 👍

[@indieeric6530]

Another great video!!! Good job dude. I can’t wait for the next one. I’m going to start sharing them to Twitter from now on too

[@RewindArcade]

Thank you so much!! The next video will be much larger and more mainstream. Really appreciate it!

[@wargameboy72]

Great video, Bro! It's incredible that this game was made by such a small amount of people. I've always loved this game. I wish they would have made more levels instead of making cut scenes. But then again, it's those cut scenes that make the game special. I enjoy all your videos, but this one and the Gradius one are my favorite. Ghosts & Goblins, ActRaiser and Capcom's 2D Mecha Fighters are awesome videos too! Do you ever think of doing anymore Shmups? Or maybe a Run & Gun franchise? Anyway, keep up the great work.😊

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks a ton!! Yeah, Gaiares doesn’t really get enough love and has an interesting development story so I thought it’d be fun to do a video on it. I’m currently taking a break from doing any new videos since I’m honestly pretty burnt out and haven’t been getting many views on my newer docs lately, but I have covered some early Capcom shmups like 1942 and Vulgus in my most recent video series if you feel like checking those out. Thanks for watching!

[@Galaxy40k]

One of the best channels on KZbin. I binged all your content after finding you via the GNG video, excited to see a video via sub box this time, haha

[@RewindArcade]

Thank you so much, really appreciate the kind words! I wish I could post videos more often, but they take a long time to make, haha. Glad you're enjoying them though!

[@GregoryOborne]

This was a fun watch. Excellent break down of the gameplay mechanics that was easy to understand what sets it apart from other STG's.

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks!! It’s definitely a shmup that doesn’t get nearly enough love these days.

[@jaydenlee2702]

I try and watch every video about this game that comes out. I was a kid and had inherited a Sega genesis from my dad, and one day, for whatever reason walking through a Shell gas station no less- they had one of those little kiosks where they just sold dumb Knick nacks etc, this would have been around 1998. Well they were selling 2 packs of sega genesis games, probably just offloading them for as cheap as possible. I bought this with my allowance in a 2 pack with Zool. Zool was good, but this game became an absolute obsession of mine, and now as a 30 year old I look back on this game so, so fondly. The soundtrack alone gets me amped up because as a kid I refused to lose to it. I never made it past mission 5, but fuck if I didn’t put probably 5000 hours into trying to beat it. Thank you for making this ❤

[@RewindArcade]

That’s awesome! I’d have never expected to see Gaiares in a cheap budget Genesis 2-pack at a gas station. Too funny! You’re not lying about it being extremely tough. I definitely had to use save states to capture some of the late game footage. Super fun game though! Thanks for watching and sharing your memories with it! 👍

[@ZakkHung]

Excellent information. Been a fan of this game since I first rented it back in the day, and it's nice to learn the details behind it. Well made video.

[@RewindArcade]

Thank you! I never played it as a kid but loved it as an adult. Definitely glad it had a bit of a resurgence lately with the Telenet collections and Retrobit re-release.

[@PragmatikReviews]

Gotta love that cinematic work! But it's insane the lengths developers would go to to bring out the best of games, even if it meant taken away entire days. Shame it didn't get the recognition it deserved, but it's difficulty and quality sure shows!

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks man!! It definitely was a different time for game development. I feel like amount of work they squeezed out of people at Japanese development studios was insane and terribly unhealthy, but the passion people still had for their craft and creations can't be denied.

[@chid255]

Man I only played this game a little bit, but damn the whole shooter + kirby thing is genius. It's an awesome addition to the Sega Genesis library, I should play it some more. Really need that shirt too.

[@RewindArcade]

Yeah man, the game mechanics are really interesting and I love the sprite art, but it took me a while to "git gud" at the game, haha. I missed out on the Retro-Bit re-release, but I'm gonna try and track it down now that some retailers are receiving them.

[@LouGojira2]

Having rented this game, the one aspect that kept me from actually buying it back in the day was that you didn't respawn where you died. The game is FANTASTIC in every way otherwise... Good and enjoyable video! Thank you for covering this underrated game.

[@RewindArcade]

It’s an amazing game, but I agree that it certainly has a few flaws. Thanks for watching!

[@nostartia]

Very interesting facts, I especially love all the connections you help us make with your videos :) Haven't played this one too much but I will someday. Always loved that Japanese box art :D

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks, really glad you enjoyed it! This one tied in a little with my ActRaiser video which was a big reason I decided to make it. I love the Japanese box art too!

[@Terranigma23]

It would be interesting to learn more about the drama with Wolf Team/Telenet. I heard that a lot of them move away after the launch of Tales of Phantasia. They created Tri Ace, and made Star Ocean as a "revenge". :)

[@RewindArcade]

Yeah, I read quite a bit about them while making this, but they weren’t very relevant to the story so I didn’t really expand on it. It definitely would make for an interesting topic though! 🤔

[@MrVariant]

Playasia has a switch Japanese telenet collection that includes gaiares

[@NefariousWes]

Finally got around to watching this. Excellent video! Great job, man! I love this stupid-hard game! I was in 8th grade when all of the Gaiares ads were in the magazines. I had a subscription to GamePro, I read EGM, and that damn mullet! It all sucked me in. But what really encouraged me to buy it was the enormous boss sprites. Too bad I couldn't see many in real life, cuz Gairaes is just too friggin' brutal! I can't get past stage 3. I had to use the stage select code to see the other levels. It's kind of a bummer, cuz I'd really like to get good at it, but it's just so damn demoralizing. But man, back in the day when this shit was new it blew me outta my chair! The anime cutscenes. The colorful graphics. And that killer soundtrack! So awesome. I have the cart and box now, but no manual. Came across one in great condition at a recent swap and inquired. Guy looked it up, said it was $47, but he'd do it for $25. I turned it down cuz I just can't pay that much for a manual, despite it being a deal. I'm sure he'll still have it at the next swap. Maybe I'll change my mind.

[@RewindArcade]

Ay thanks Wes, appreciate the kind words dude! Yeah man, it's such a gorgeous game and the boss sprites are really impressive for a console title at that time. The advertisements are what I remember the most cause they were just so strange, haha. I'd be lying if I said I didn't use save states to make it through some of the later levels to capture all the footage. Game is so mean!! Hope you can track down a cheaper manual for it, but I'll keep an eye out for one just in case. Thanks again for watching man!

[@lexnoil]

Great video! I'm just waiting for retrobit to send me my collectors edition of this great game.

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks, really glad you enjoyed it! I missed preorders so I’ve been keeping an eye out at retailers for a copy. 😅

[@lexnoil]

@@RewindArcade well i hope that they will have them at retail.

[@sylehu7056]

Wow Yokota s resume is amazing. I love all the games you mentionned he was involved in. Anyway, thanks for letting me know about this game. I have to try it out😃 the cut scenes definitely look like the wolfteam ones in my opinion. Too bad I never heard about this game back in the time. Maybe was not it realesed here in France. Anyway, fantastic video. I m glad I discovered your channel

[@RewindArcade]

Yeah, he's tied to a lot of great games! He shows up briefly in my ActRaiser documentary which is kind of what drew me into doing the video on Gaiares. He also did Granstream Saga too which I've been meaning to play. I know Gaiares was covered in some French gaming magazines, but I could not find any information about it actually releasing over there sadly. Thanks for the kind words and I appreciate you watching!

[@sylehu7056]

@@RewindArcade your work is pure quality (research, animation, etc...) so of course I am watching now😃 I have to look for your actraiser video. Another fantastic game😆 For some reason KZbin did not notify me about the video upon release😅 I wish you a great day to you and your family Sir😃

[@DTM-Books]

I had read somewhere that "Gaiares" was Japanese shorthand for "Gaia Rescue," as the plot revolved around your attempt to save the Earth from destruction.

[@RewindArcade]

Yeah, that was the theory for a long time, but it was actually disproven in an interview with Kouji Yokota in John Sczcepaniak's book, The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers. Most of the facts in this video came from that. Definitely worth a read if you ever have a chance! Here's the particular snip-it from the interview about the name: imgur.com/mekiPaf

[@DTM-Books]

@@RewindArcade Ah, now that's interesting! Thanks for sharing. Now if I could only remember the invincibility cheat code.

[@CoreyDehMan]

I love you making videos on titles like these :) I love being exposed to new games and series

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks Corey, I didn't expect much from this video as this was more of a fun one for me to put together since I thought the story was interesting and sort of linked in with ActRaiser's a bit, but I'm glad people still enjoyed it. Appreciate you watching!

[@ThePurplePassage]

I haven't played many shoot 'em ups, but I did play Gaiares emulated when I went through a phase of (re)playing mega drive (genesis) games via Kega fusion. I think I tried the game due to its unusual title and got drawn in by the initial stage music and weapon stealing mechanic. The difficulty kept me coming back, though I was certainly stuck for a long time on mission 5 (the number of things to dodge with the icebergs and fireballs) and the bosses of missions 5 and 6 were pretty damn brutal. but after numerous attempts I kept going further. Felt pretty good to finally finish it. I find it amusing to learn the reason for the game's difficulty - I had assumed shmup players were just all seasoned genre veterans by the time the game was released (which I guess may often have been the case) so I'm kind of surprised to read some players never finished it

[@RewindArcade]

That’s awesome you finally saw it through to the end! This game is definitely pretty mean even early on. During the late 80a/early 90s there were a lot of shmups that cranked up the difficulty so much they became notorious for it (Gradius III arcade is a big one) since shmup players were becoming so skilled.

[@reagandow850]

Great video and well researched. It wouldn’t piss me off if you made as many STG “History Of” videos as you feel like! ;)

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks a ton! I plan to cover more STG games in the future, but they'll probably be released randomly like this one in between my longer form videos.

[@jayme69]

Great video! Thanks for sharing :-)

[@RewindArcade]

Appreciate it, thanks for watching!!

[@dezm101]

dude another killer video! This game always kicks my ass!

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks dez!! Capturing footage for this one was ROUGH! You really have to memorize some of the tough sections and I definitely used some save states closer to the end, haha.

[@geekstorian]

I didn't know anything about this one, it looks like a blast even though its unlikely I'd get to far in it because of how bad I am at this genra. Really well done and presented I loved it!

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks man! This is about as far niche as I go on this channel, haha.

[@RockyVegaTV]

And I was literally scooping up a handful of modern and retro shoot 'em ups over the last week. Guess I gotta grab this one, too!!!

[@RewindArcade]

It’s a pretty mean game at first, but once you start to get the levels and mechanics down it’s a lot of fun. 👍

[@ACLMSC]

Gaiares was beautiful, it was a hard game that would just wear you down. The game felt like an experience, one that you weren't going to survive but you would go on the adventure anyway. I still have my copy.

[@RewindArcade]

Yeah, great game, but like you said, tough as nails.

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

Fitting this on 8Mb is insane. Although thunderforce 4/lightEning force is the winner though on that front - how they squeezed that on 4mb ill never know!

[@RewindArcade]

Yeah, TF4 on a 4mb cart was crazy!

[@thejackal007]

I definitely remember the ads that taught you how to pronounce the name of the game.

[@AndrewAmbrose]

Definitely gotta give Gaiares a shot sometime. Very cool that it has ties to Ys and ActRaiser! 😄

[@pointeaxis]

I always thought the res in Gaiares stood for resurrection, since that's the goal

[@TatterD]

Thanks for the history! I do find this one difficult and it's heartening to hear it was intended to be very hard. It's awesome being able to quickly power up your ship (and you' need to since it's so easy to die) and select the optimum speed whenever you like. Those ads and the shirt could have been so much better featuring clear pictures/art of the game... the endorsement angle could still have been used with the player pictured much smaller in the corner giving his thumbs up. I think it would have done better if it was called something like "Earthless", too. Gaiares seems more like a title given to an rpg... and the american box art doesn't scream schmup either... almost looks like a strategy game with a hooded skeleton throwing a dagger... just my thoughts

[@RewindArcade]

Yeah, the Western version’s marketing and cover art were very bizarre choices, but I think it also kind of helped make them extra memorable. Probably not for the reasons they hoped for though. 😅

[@pernellvaughan8535]

Also, it's amazing just how many of the greats got their start at Nihon Telenet!

[@RewindArcade]

And Falcom too!

[@darrylt8502]

For me, it was the shield that made it possible for me to complete the game. Then the special weapon T-Braster made it worth replays. But, man, I remember spending so much time trying to replicate and unlock those random hidden weapons: T-Vulcan, A-Bullet, and F-Formation. To the point where I wrote a letter to Sega to see if they can help. Surprisingly they responded but only for T-Braster which I mentioned in the letter that I already knew...

[@RewindArcade]

Oh wow, I’m surprised Sega responded to you, especially since they didn’t develop the game. Still pretty cool though even if they couldn’t help you out.

[@jeremyabbott4537]

Really good video! I had no idea the development behind Gaiares was like that! It's a real shame it didn't do well in the markets because it was my second shoot em up ever! (right after MagMax on NES) I personally thought that Gaiares stood for Gaia plus a shortened form of Restore or Resurrect, referring to the reward if you stop the terrorists.

[@RewindArcade]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!! Yeah, thankfully it just got a re-release on Switch in the Telenet Shooting Collection so hopefully that helps get more eyes on it and makes it more accessible for people.

[@jeremyabbott4537]

@@RewindArcade I didn't even know that was a thing! I'll have to pick it up, thanks!

[@BassicBits]

Awesome! Sounds like a cool game

[@RewindArcade]

It's tough as hell, but a lot of fun once you finally start to get things down.

[@SimplySunky]

Awesome vid. 👌

[@RewindArcade]

Thank you!!

[@gabrielepasquali5479]

One of the best shoot'em up 16bit ever

[@PapiPandaTheWise]

Great Video! I kinda of prefer the name Aziton. Also, I think this game would of had a different outcome if Yakoto would of been able to see through the final 2 stages of the game. You def need to recreate that magazine ad with the shirt one day.

[@RewindArcade]

Thanks man!! I almost tried to recreate the ad for the thumbnail, but I just didn’t have enough time nor do I have the shirt. 😭

[@portwain]

Thank you!

[@RewindArcade]

Thank YOU!

[@weebnerdgaming4908]

As a youngster that wasn’t born yet in the Genesis era, I’d love to see the game ported to modern systems.

[@RewindArcade]

That’d be awesome! It would probably be bundled in a Renovation Products collection if they ported it.

[@arcadeages3917]

My only criticism of the game is that there is no sound-test mode available. On a platform where sound-test was very common, it’s a shame that a game with such great music lacks this feature. Bummer!

[@RewindArcade]

It’s been a minute since I’ve played it, but I thought there was a sound test you could use if you put in a certain button combination. Weird that they’d hide it though. Thanks so much for watching!

[@Orionwayz]

I was obsessed with this game.

[@RewindArcade]

It’s an excellent game!

[@Orionwayz]

@@RewindArcade Yes, this game and thunder force 3 are the only shootmup i actually praticed enough to complete them.

[@roberto1519]

This is probably the only Mega Drive game that I could mistake by a PC-Engine game, something in its visuals, maybe the colors or something else, apart from the background layers that were mostly absent on NEC's console. Many other shooters on SEGA's console doesn't have that feel, I wonder if the team behind Gaiares created games for the PC-Engine before? Since Japanese like to abbreviate and combine names, I thought GaiaRes as something like Gaia Rescue, Gaia Restoration or Gaia Resurrection.

[@RewindArcade]

Definitely feels like a PC Engine game for sure! Koji Yokota, the lead artist, actually went on to work on games like Lunar and Illusion of Gaia. Thanks for watching!

[@MrVariant]

5:43 stupid me thought Gai Ares like Naruto's Might Guy had the god of war as a brother 😂

[@shona-sof]

I've never played Gaiarus, but I recognize every piece of music used in the video! I'm exceedingly confused.

[@RewindArcade]

That’s really strange! I knew the first stage theme from an OC Remix track I listened to in the early 2000s. I don’t think the music has appeared anywhere else, at least to my knowledge. 😅

[@gabrielepasquali5479]

The greatest shoot em up with thunder force IV

[@StrnGuy]

Great vid and great production! I have this one ordered. And I gotta say… Zz Badnusty is my new Mommy 😍🙏💕✨

[@RewindArcade]

Thank you, much appreciated!! Have you played it before or will the Retro-Bit one be your first time? Zz is definitely mega waifu! 😂😂

[@gman9332]

I remember when games, like this one, used to make it a point to tell you on the box how much memory they had - "8 Meg of memory". I don't think I played Gaiares, but I remember the ad and some of those screenshots, and thought it looked cool, and remember it got a great review in EGM. Sushi-X gave it a 9/10. Renovation published another game on Genesis called, Master of Monsters. I really liked that game when I was young. Ever play it?

[@RewindArcade]

Yeah, I remember the size of the cartridge being such a big deal back in the day too. I feel like it was such a big marketing tool for game companies around that time. I have not played Master of Monsters, but I’m always down to try new games. Is it a shmup or a different type of genre?

[@gman9332]

@@RewindArcade It was a strategy game where you summon monsters and moved them around a hexagonal gameboard battling other monsters and ultimately trying to take out the masters of those other monsters. Up to 4 people could play. I remember there being a lot of depth to that game at the time.

[@gman9332]

@@RewindArcade I think Strider, the Genesis version, not the NES version (although I remember both of them being good), was the first 8 Meg game cartridge for a console.

[@RewindArcade]

Interesting, it sounds right up my alley. I’ll check it out one of these days, thanks for the recommendation!

[@mr.hatman9345]

Another favorite of mine. Amazing graphics, catchy music and unique weapon systems. Too hard for me though (thanks cheat code) It's just such a shame that they never made a sequel. I didn't think much of Whip Rush.

[@RewindArcade]

It really is a brutal game, but still a masterpiece in regards to unique and interesting shooter design. I've been quite happy that it's been getting a second chance at life through many different avenues recently.

[@calebprenger3928]

I'm here because I just got it for the evercade in the renovation collection

[@RewindArcade]

Nice! That collection is great!

[@jackylee5850]

There's a freeware game made by Konamig called Last Defender, which basically borrows this game's concept of analyzing weapons, I thought it was a fairly original idea, until I found out the real origin of the concept. If it wasn't for Last Defender I wouldn't have known about Gaiares

[@RewindArcade]

Oh nice, that's really cool! Do you have a link to some footage? I'd love to check it out!

[@HappyMealBieber]

The intro art reminds me of Phantasy Star.

[@RewindArcade]

It definitely has a very 1980s sci-fi anime art style that looks really awesome.

[@alexrain1188]

Wish this one would be released on PS4 along with MUSHA.

[@RewindArcade]

It got released on Switch in the Telenet Shooting Collection somewhat recently which I'm honestly surprised hasn't gotten a PS4 release yet.

[@thenuclearsandwich]

I will never forget that cheesy ad from back in the day which is why I will never forget the title of this game. 🤣

[@RewindArcade]

Right?? I love that Retro-Bit really leaned into using the ad again with the re-release cartridge marketing! 😂

[@thenuclearsandwich]

@@RewindArcade That mullet!! It just screams late 80s early 90s to me. I never had one, but I know many fellow white boys trying to pull it off. 🤣🤣

[@RewindArcade]

A couple of kids in my elementary school were rocking them back in the day, haha! 😂😂

[@JuanRoosterbeard]

#shmupsareshooters

[@katsujinken10]

No no, it's not Gaia Less. the story of the game is to "Restore" "Gaia" Gaia Restore, or Gaiares. Get it?

[@RewindArcade]

There is an interview in John Szczepaniak’s “The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Vol. 1” with Gaiares co-creator Kouji Yokota where he explains that the name was always intended to mean Gaia-Less. It’s a great interview and I highly recommend giving it a read since much of this video’s information was pulled from it. 👍

[@katsujinken10]

@@RewindArcade Well.. I stand corrected lol. Thank you for your good work.