Let's Compare ( Dragon Spirit )

Video Locations:
Reviews 0:26
Arcade 1:27
ZX Spectrum 4:56
Amstrad 8:27
MS DOS 11:56
Commodore 64 14:48
NES ( Sequel ) 18:18
MSX2 21:53
Amiga 24:21
Atari ST 27:52
Turbografx 16 31:22
Sharp X68000 34:52
Playstation 38:26
PS2, Xbox, Game Cube, Windows 41:55
Xbox 360 / PS3 45:25 / 47:10
Description Source
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_...
Dragon Spirit is a 1987 vertical-scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco. In North America, it was distributed by Atari Games. Controlling the dragon Amul, the player must complete each of the game's nine areas to rescue the princess Alicia from the demon Zawell. Similar to Namco's own Xevious, Amul has a projectile weapon for destroying air-based enemies and a bomb for destroying ground enemies. It ran on the Namco System 1 arcade board.
Music for the game was composed by Shinji Hosoe and designed by "Tatsuya". Hosoe, previously a graphics artist for Namco, was allowed to work on the music himself due to most of the company's composers working on Genpei Toma Den, however much of his work was accidentally wiped from the hardware midway through development and forced him to start over. Tatsuya previously created character artwork for Rolling Thunder, being assigned to the project after taking interest in the enemy designs. The game was dedicated to Shouichi Fukatani, a Namco programmer who had died a few years earlier in 1985 and worked on many of the company's older games, such as Dig Dug and Super Pac-Man.[2]
The game was ported to several home systems, including the Sharp X68000, Atari ST and TurboGrafx-16, and is included in several Namco video game compilations. The arcade version of Dragon Spirit was met with positive reviews from critics for standing out amongst other shooter games, being praised for its Paleozoic setting, graphics and soundtrack. Home versions were met with a more mixed reception, being criticized for its high difficulty and inferior graphics and music. It was followed by two sequels, Dragon Spirit: The New Legend (1988) and Dragon Saber (1990). A ShiftyLook webcomic adaptation of the game was also produced.
Gameplay:
Dragon Spirit is a vertical-scrolling shooter video game. The player controls the dragon Amul in his effort to rescue the princess Alicia from the serpent demon Zawell. Amul can move in eight directions and has access to two weapons; a flame projectile to destroy air-based enemies, and a bomb to destroy ground-stationed enemies, similar to Namco's Xevious series. Amur can take two hits before dying, indicated by a life bar at the bottom-left of the screen. Amur can use bombs to destroy eggs found on the ground of some stages, which will award one of two powerup items; a blue orb that will give Amul an extra head, granting him additional firepower, or an orange orb that will strengthen Amul's shots when three are collected.
The game features nine stages, which include large rivers, volcanoes, glaciers and jungles. Dying halfway through a stage will star the player at a checkpoint. At the end of each stage is a boss that Amul must fight in order to progress to the next stage. Amul can sometimes find special orbs throughout the game that can grant him additional abilities, such as a homing shot, a multi-shot, and the ability to shrink down in size to evade bullets. The game's opening cutscene shows Amur atop a mountain raising his sword in the air, with lightning striking it and transforming him into his dragon form.

[@mastersproutgamer9327]

For my new year's resolution, I would to like see GHS's new Let's Compare videos uploaded on KZbin, including the remakes of Rainbow Islands, The Legend of Kage, Gauntlet, Galaxian, Alien Syndrome, Commando, Contra, After Burner, Street Fighter II series of games, as well as new videos like Puyo Puyo 2, Puyo Puyo Sun, Mr. Driller, Truxton, and so on. Who's with me?

[@mastersproutgamer9327]

@@Random_Person. Well, it is now.

[@downsouth420]

I loved the TG16 version, but that MSX version looks pretty damn smooth.

[@Corsa15DT]

Whos watching it live? Btw those timestamps are wrong :)

[@retro-rock3067]

Welp it is the best game as well made by Namco and Atari

[@JackTheGamer3]

You bet it was! ^^

[@JackTheGamer3]

You still make content to this day! ^^

[@wingnut4427]

yes. but not as much I'm afraid. I have a lot on my plate atm & it's difficult to find the time. But I am working on things. But I'm afraid that I may not make it this week.

[@NaraSherko]

No anymore

[@christianpalmer225]

I have a soft spot for the TG-16 version. It was the subject of my game envy back in the early 90s. And frankly, it was well placed game envy, now that I have it.

[@lovemadeinjapan]

It is the best version, bar none. It replaced the annoying FM-sound from the music with lush wavetables, and it is a bit easier, which is much needed for this game.

[@harrydigital9073]

X68000 best for me

[@zackschilling4376]

It usually is. What an amazing machine! If you re into the X68000, check out GameSack's video on the system + a bunch of games, its one of their best.

[@youforget1000thingsaday]

LOVE THIS OST

[@VemberJudgement]

A long fav of mines. I always felt someone should have made a remake of the NES version, since that added so much to the arcade version.

[@matttyree1002]

I was a huge fan of this game on the nes. I can't believe how many weirdly random ports there are!! Ugh, to be a game dev in those days when there were a million platforms, and none were fir sure as a thing... but you had to develop for them anyway...

[@karnovrpg]

I've never heard of this and it's been on practically everything. Probably because there's so many damn games with Dragon in the title.

[@nachofernandez7345]

Let complete dragon's lair

[@GamingHistorySource]

I can't. Don Bluth is ruthless about his copyright.

[@arthursnyder6935]

Try doing a Let's Compare on Dragon Saber if you haven't done it already because of it and Dragon Spirit being part of Arcade Archives

[@mastersproutgamer9327]

Sadly, Dragon Saber doesn't have enough ports, since it was only ported to the PC Engine.

[@RadicDotkey]

I remember this game to be painfully hard to play. I assume you used autofire, it helps a bit. Btw why comparing emulated ones? Kind of pointless to me.

[@Corsa15DT]

The Amstrad is painfully slow. They so desperately wanted to show some color, paid the price

[@Booruvcheek]

Looks and sounds like a choo-choo train sim :)

[@Corsa15DT]

@@Booruvcheek haha

[@Booruvcheek]

@@mastersproutgamer9327 :D

[@ChristopherBurtraw]

Any version that doesn't play music during gameplay is pitiful. The game isn't the same without it. I'd rather have music and no sfx than vice versa.

[@fradd182]

ZX looks crappy but plays much better than CPC. C64 not looking that great but runs fast and is very playable.

[@zackschilling4376]

Realism? Uh, ok Gamest, I guess. You can praise this game in many ways, its a great shooter with unique features, but its realism isnt one. What was going on in that magazine's office? I though Japan had rather strict drug laws, sounds like they were trippin billies. Never mind, it probably was just King Ghidorah just doing his daily fly over of Japan's Historic Gaming Magazine district.

[@RiggsBF]

Hey man what happened? Are you going to make anymore videos?

[@GamingHistorySource]

My work schedule has been extremely demanding. Not sure when or if I can get back. Also, there are a lot of behind the scenes things that folks don't see, such as youtubes constantly changing agreements that make it more difficult for everything you publish. It's becoming less attractive to publish anything on this site anymore. It's a way bigger struggle than most people realize.

[@Setsu2]

Commodore got best version

[@Corsa15DT]

SPeccy is you typical no sound, no color, slow shooter.