Battle of the Ports - Shienryu (紫炎龍) Show 494 - 60fps

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Time Code
00:29 - Arcade
03:33 - Saturn
06:02 - PlayStation
09:05 - PlayStation 2
11:00 - All versions side by side
Enjoy!
#retrocore
#battleoftheports
#shienryu

[@AlviEao]

Shienryu's Stage 1 being a remake of Daioh's Stage 1 makes more sense as much of Warashi's staff hailed from Athena. The cycle repeated itself when some of Warashi's staff regrouped as Cosmo Machia, now the current IP holder of Triggerheart Exelica. Adding to that, Hamster acquired Athena's library and reissued Strike Gunner S.T.G and Daioh on Arcade Archives not long ago.

[@thetechn1que518]

I was wondering why I kept thinking of Daioh while I was watching this! And speaking of Hamster’s Arcade Archives and shooters, I wish they would add Raiden II or Raiden DX. If that happens, I’ll pick up their release of the original Raiden and have all 5 games on my PS5.

[@LonnieWard-g4s]

This could have been with some tweaks Raiden 3

[@Woobuggy848]

​@@thetechn1que518 no wonder the title plays similar to it...

[@jkemp6791]

I didn’t read all the comments, but Shienryu doesn’t have to be interlaced on PS2. There’s an option for 240p and TATE mode. It’s actually an excellent port.

[@NightSprinter]

Definitely have to say, the PS1 and Saturn was truly the console generation that actually brought the real arcade experience home for the vast majority of us. Least up to the 16-bit era, if you didn't own an X68000 or Neo-Geo AES, the cabinets still offered something that you couldn't exactly get at home.

[@liamconverse8950]

Well there was the Sega ST-V and the Namco System 11 which were arcade machines that used Saturn and ps1 hardware

[@bredmaster]

Probably the most adequate shooter I've ever played. Lots of really nice and subtle 2D effects as well. It won't knock your trousers off, but whatever. Fond teenage memories of picking this up for 20 dollars on PS1 at Zellers in Canada. When I played it recently, it was on a CRT in TATE via an STV board. The only way to experience it imo. Great vid as usual.

[@RetroCore]

Yep, playing this game in Tate mode via the original ST arcade or Saturn since it's identical, right down to the mono music,😅 is the only way to play this.

[@shaggymcdaniel3216]

A must have for Saturn.

[@RetroCore]

For sure!

[@blazingsoulhunter2862]

From the same studio as Triggerheart Excelica nearly 10 years later.

[@RetroCore]

Indeed. Also one of the last official Dreamcast games.

[@blazingsoulhunter2862]

@@RetroCore Karous was the last official Dreamcast game after Triggerheart Excelica. Oh and I just got a copy for it on my Switch as well.

[@AltimaNEO]

Those PlayStation modes seem like one of the programmers found a programming library with a bunch of effects.

[@RetroCore]

Lol, I'd agree. Either that or the programmer was stoned.

[@nekononiaow]

This may also have stemmed from the desire to hide the fact that the port did not measure up the Saturn one. I can imagine an executive rushing into the coders room and frantically asking for a cheap way to add more content.

[@solarflare9078]

The PS1 port is pure shitpost material with that

[@FuzzballRenakitty]

Gotta say those are some nice pixel art graphics! Lovely colouring and shading~ ...the chin on that guy though! :D

[@multigerbs550]

One of my all time favourite non Cave shooters.

[@Midekai]

I had never played this but wow. It kind of feels like they didn't even really try with the ps1 port. If anything the extra modes are like some practical joke to subject other players to if they wanted a straight forward shooter. Rubbish

[@kenwheeler3637]

Sega Saturn for the clear win this week. No idea what the Sony people were thinking with their silly "modes" .

[@papawshane]

Awesome video, but then again, they are all awesome haha. I recently started going through your back catalog of videos haha. I've watched them all before and they never get old. Thanks for all your work!

[@RetroCore]

Glad you like them and thanks for watching 👍

[@nekononiaow]

Damn, another of those nice 2D high sprite count that I never got to see in the arcades. Somehow, those do not seem to have reached Europe/France because I never saw them in the arcades I was going to in the late 90s. This may also have been due to me starting as a game developer and being so into perpetual rush mode that I didn't have the time to visit arcades and missed all those games. Skunk rush mode, I am glad those silly inefficient periods are over (for me at least). Thanks for the video Mark!

[@RetroCore]

I think in general by the mid to late 90s, a lot of western arcades were not stocking the 2D shooters. I remember visiting an arcade in Japan back in 1996 and being blown away by the number of shooters there were.

[@LonnieWard-g4s]

This could have been with a few tweaks radien 3 .......

[@beerdobarado5976]

I ❤ the music too

[@Retro_Royal]

Just played it 2 days ago after Sengoku Blade Ace 2, good little shooter.

[@RetroCore]

Nice coincidence 👍

[@mightyfilm]

I can't be the only one that gets the feeling the developers of the Playstation port knew they had a mid-level version of the game and decided they should just be cute with goofy ass modes. Surprised "Comical mode" doesn't make fart sounds every time something gets shot down.

[@RetroCore]

I think you are absolutely right. Rather than fix the poor port they just added extra crap.

[@mightyfilm]

@@RetroCore And it seems like VERY Japanese humor, too.

[@matteoluciani6930]

Request: Battle of the Ports - Darkwing Duck - Show #495 List of versions: NES/Famicom Game Boy TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine

[@RetroCore]

They're all totally different games so it can't be a Battle of the Ports.

[@solarflare9078]

The PS1 port seems more like a shitpost than an actual port, in both a good and bad way

[@reinhart.sieger]

i didnt even know there was a psx version lol. always thought there was just arcade, saturn and ps2

[@RetroCore]

It is. A very cheap and poor port. I'd love yo know who actually developed it. The net points to Warashi doing it but I can't see that.

[@RetroCore]

Battle of the Ports is educational, 😅

[@reinhart.sieger]

@@RetroCore are you the same person as the guy who reports on the mister updates?

[@apollosungod2819]

I always found it extremely annoying that this game completely escaped my attention back in the day despite buying the few American gamer magazines that still devoted coverage to 2d games while most either turned into 3d snobs who dimished the value of 2d games (including their opinions that they should be cheaper priced which is probably where the snubbing of 2d games really started and not like dumb idiot journalists like to claim like actual consumers didn't want 2d and obviously back then I knew SoA was sabotaging the chances of Japanese MD and Sega Saturn exclusive 2d games being translated and localized) or they turned traitors by relegating most 2d coverage to a couple of screens. Thus I ended up never importing this game until years later despite buying SS Japanese imports before SoA forced killing it off. Games like Shienryu remind me of Sega MegaDrive's GleyLancer and Eliminate Down as these were true arcade games made on Sega's home use hardware and the biggest problem with them is that in the west we never got arcade cabinets which should have been the standard but oh well... I really appreciate this game as it would have been cool to see what developer Warashi could have cooked up had they been able to make at least a couple of sequels or more arcade games using ST-V. Still playing this game after all these years and the PS2 version looks interesting to get as well because the PS2 was a huge 2d graphics upgrade for Sony despite the design choices on the resolution which looks fine on a CRT Trinitron tech screen but obviously falls apart on LCD monitors.

[@astrades2601]

Greaty looking game, those sprites of various machines are pretty, but man, this PS1 port with all those weird mostly pointless modes. Who think that they are good ideas?

[@RetroCore]

A developer who was high, I guess.

[@Colin_Ames]

Great BOTP. I love the graphics in this game, but do wonder what on earth the developers were thinking with the weird PlayStation versions.

[@RetroCore]

They must have been smoking some wackybacky.

[@tommylakindasorta3068]

This game is pure class. Definitely worth playing in MAME or on the Saturn.

[@RetroCore]

I agree.

[@Евгений-м9с8к]

Хороший шутер,у меня версия от Сатурна есть,другие смысла нет ставить думаю,похож на Raiden,т олько в отличие от него эту игру мало таки кто знает вообще.

[@RetroCore]

Yes, it's quite an unknown game.

[@rockhyde7775]

While the PS1 version isn’t awful or anything, just kinda butchered compared to other versions of the game. And you forgot to mention, no TATE mode on that version. That sucks. I was hoping to rotate my monitor in a vertical position (being the fan of vertical shooters that I am) and playing it. But at least the other versions let you do that. But it’s also worth mentioning the company that made this game also made Triggerheart Exelica which kicks ass btw and made a comeback recently. Just wish for a Steam release.

[@RetroCore]

Ah yes, that's right. The PlayStation version has no Tate mode. Thought I mentioned that? Must have been cut in the edit.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Its no surprise I didn't see games like this in the arcades where I lived. Arcades in America were already in decline by the late 1990s, so the surviving ones were sticking with the latest, 3-D spectacles that people would gladly pay a dollar-per-play, rather than "Oh, here's another 2D shmup!"

[@RetroCore]

Sad times for sure.

[@SlickEd91]

This shooter is really fun

[@MagisterHamid]

God i hate the interlaced mode on PS2. It looks crap on 240p content

[@RetroCore]

It sure does. Bloody awful looking and ruins so many games.

[@FLHilde]

Thanks Mark, excellent video as always, I bought a pack of 22 saturn games imported from japan in 2018 among them this game and it's a great game, I didn't know the original arcade here where I live so it was great to be able to play it on my japanese saturn. By the way, how expensive it is getting today to import saturn games or accessories.

[@RetroCore]

Glad you enjoyed this game. Even here in Japan it's quite expensive to get the good Saturn games.

[@JudgmentStorm]

I like the Saturn port. That said, PS2 can be helped tremendously by using a Low display resolution setting from the options menu, along with the tate.

[@afriend9428]

*unknown! But SATURN hands down!* ⭐️ looks like Axelay ship 👍

[@RetroCore]

It does in a away.

[@DTM-Books]

I'm surprised the PSX version was so lousy. While it lacks the Saturn's RAM, the console can do an excellent job with arcade shoot-em-ups. This was just poor work by the development studio. But, hey, another win for Sega Saturn, yay!

[@RetroCore]

It sure was poor work. I wonder who actually handled the port?

[@chrismifsud7154]

Looks like a nice game. Is it just me or do I sense a Tatsujin vibe ?

[@liambyrne3488]

I’ve always thought the ship is very similar.

[@ravagingwolverine666]

Yeah, I definitely saw elements in there from Toaplan, including the visual style. I think that's what they were going for.

[@RetroCore]

Maybe some of the staff came from Toaplan when they disbanded?

[@akatsukione2377]

The PlayStation Version and its strange game modes... What's next? - Caveman Mode: Arcade Mode but with Cavemen - Cho Aniki Mode: Arcade Mode with big smiling musclemen - ASCII Mode: Arcade Mode but all graphics are made with ASCII characters

[@RetroCore]

You know, I'm surprised they didn't do an ASCII mode.

[@klausschneider9963]

A great STG that deserves much Attention. The best Warashi Game in my opinion.

[@RetroCore]

Better that Trigger Heart? That's also pretty good.

[@klausschneider9963]

@@RetroCore I Like it more than Trigger Heart, which is a really good Game as Well. Shienryu's more straightforward mechanics and in some way the music appeals more to me. By the way: The PS2 EU Version of the two Shienryu Games is named Steel Dragon EX and also was a Budget Release. With some digging it may be possible to still get it new for around 20€.

[@bboydrew71]

Classic shoot cm up,along with terradiver one of my non Cave faves

[@TheKayliedGamerChannel-YouTube]

I've still never ever played this one - looks good 😊👍

[@RetroCore]

It is. It lacks the thumping soundtrack many shooters like this have but it's still a great game.

[@seamushadron]

Amazing game, never heard before 😮😮😮

[@eds2011]

What a wonderful Graphics! I just love it! I Will download to play.

[@RetroCore]

Have fun!

[@GamayObera]

I am surprised Natsume didn't remove the Comical Mode on the PS1 version, considering that only people who watch theatrical or variety shows such as Gaki no Tsukai knows the idea behind it.

[@RetroCore]

Too much bother I guess. It's a very cheap port to be honest.

[@GamayObera]

Also, are you doing a video on the recently uploaded Sega AI Computer stuff, Mark? I tried some games on MAME but Sega enforcing hiragana on the games made a big headache on me when trying to decode in-game text.

[@RetroCore]

I thought about that. I was looking at the SMS Power article on it. It's sure an interesting bit of Sega history. I've actually seen a real one many years ago at Hard Off. I had no idea it was so rare. I was under the impression it was as rare a the SG1000. A little obscure but not unobtainable. I missed out on that.

[@kbxthegamemaster06]

oh man i love this game, i play the ps1 version due to not being able to emulate saturn games well at all but i'm happy to see botp on this

[@DragonGrafx-16]

I have a retail copy of the NA PS1 version but l now play the Saturn version. I'd love to play it in tate mode but have no good way to rotate my TV. lol

[@RetroCore]

Play I Tate mode but rotate the controls as well. Then you can play with the Arcade quality graphics but as a horizontal shooter.

[@topofbones]

Simply one of my favorite shooters of all time. I usually still play in my PS2, and their arranged 3D version too. I enjoyed a lot this BotP!

[@RetroCore]

Thanks for watching.

[@Chris-Courage]

I'm not really a fan of any of the ports as you have to turn your TV on its side in order for the graphics to look good. I'm not sure why programmers stopped porting shooters that would look good without having to turn your TV on its side in this era.

[@RetroCore]

It's impossible to port a Tate Arcade to a home console accurately without redrawing everything. On 16 bit consoles or older, that's what they did but when games started to look more advanced, that wasn't really an option. Hence why the Tate mode was introduced. It gives the Arcade experience at home. Sadly that is not ideal for everyone's TV. So in many games, Shienryu included, there's an option to switch the controls as well enabling people to play the game as a horizontal shooter.

[@JimmyCall]

The Saturn looks the best. Pity the Saturn was discontinued and failed to gain traction.

[@RetroCore]

Only in the West.

[@daniel_lucio]

I absolutely love Shienryu, it's always in my top 5 shmups of all time. It's the game I always pick up first when I decide to revisit my Saturn, I'm happy to know that the Saturn port is the best one, as it's the one I spent the most time playing

[@RetroCore]

Yep, the Saturn version is the Arcade. Can't get closer than that 👍

[@thrillington2008]

A clever alternative to the bullet hell offerings

[@bhirawamaylana466]

The extra mode really weird in PS1 and in my opinion quite fun to play.

[@RetroCore]

They're interesting, I'll say that.

[@JimmyCall]

Very similar to Raiden II

[@euphorik3120]

i thought you covered robotron? humm guess i'll request that one 🤖

[@RetroCore]

Some day in the future I will cover Robotron

[@SiincereARC]

I'm shrieking like a little girl due to the excitement!

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

Those modes on psx 😅

[@williamwilliam9993]

Requested:battle of the ports golvellius

[@RetroCore]

There's only 2 versions of that I think. I'll look in to it.

[@mannduro]

You can use a tool for PS2 to force 480p and above. Freemcboot required of course. But these days a Memorycard PRO 2 is the way to go anway

[@RetroCore]

I know. I used it in this video but as you can see, it still looks like ass. Sadly the tool doesn't ways work. Psyvariar is another game that is ruined on the PS2. Blurry has hell while the Dreamcast game is super crisp.

[@mannduro]

@@RetroCore ridiculous how they could mess this up. I still hope that someone takes some time and patches this flaws out. Thanks for your contend.

[@RetroCore]

I hope so too.

[@Bristecom]

I hated how people acted like the PS2 was so much more powerful than Dreamcast. As you stated, the PS2 often relied on interlacing which made games look like a blurry shaky mess. And even now with deinterlacing in emulation, it still causes them to be somewhat blurry. The Dreamcast always had honest clean consistent graphics (even a VGA option).

[@RetroCore]

Absolutely! The video image on a Dreamcast is so crisp uike the PlayStation 2.

[@nattila7713]

ps2 could do 240p, also available in this version of the game. but on crt even 480i is not blurry

[@RetroCore]

On a CRT 480i shimmers like crazy. So it still looks crap. Have many an experience with 480i on CRTs via RGB back in the mid to late 90s. So glad that the Dreamcast was 99% progressive scan. Or at least in Japan it was. There's only 3 or 4 games that weren't progressive scan.

[@nattila7713]

@@RetroCore 480i on itself isn't that bad. on ps2 the shimmering came from the low render res. 480p on the dc might have been ok but... what equipment xould actually use it back in 1999? nowdays it is better but back then? ;)

[@atomiswave2]

Nice to deep dive this game.

[@WiLLiW_oficial]

[@JustPeasant]

Considering that PS1 isn't suited vith this sort of titles, the game looks rather good.

[@simon0044]

Looks like raiden?

[@RetroCore]

I mean the bomb type is similar to the cluster bomb on Raiden.

[@iwanttocomplain]

You said the PS1 game was released in 1999, three years after the Saturn version, but the title screen showed the year 2002 (C) Natsume...

[@Dirk1Steele]

1999 in Japan, 2002 for the US release.

[@RetroCore]

Ah, thats the US release.

[@newtypepunk9967]

The people that ported the PS1 version were having a laugh, outside of that nonsense it seems like a solid shooter worth playing.

[@RetroCore]

I really wonder who did the PlayStation port.

[@newtypepunk9967]

Ha, I'm sure they don't want to be found and have their names attached to that port.@@RetroCore

[@diebesgrab]

I’ve seen a couple people say that the PS2 version has 240p mode buried in the options somewhere. Haven’t ever looked into it personally.

[@RetroCore]

Wow, that's bad design if 240p has to be switched on. That should be the default mode.

[@diebesgrab]

@@RetroCore It was the CRT-era and the 00s. People were starting to pay more attention to higher resolutions, and progressive scan didn't seem like as big of a deal when you were gaming on a CRT through a composite connection. I'm not saying people were right, mind you, just that the times were what they were.

[@TheL1arL1ar]

Funny enough I grew to appreciate 2D on the ps1…even later in life I still play sonic wings special on my vita. I still remember my friend Ronnie buying street fighter alpha 3 on the ps1 over his Saturn which also had the 4mb cart. And saying they did a really really good job, and I agree

[@ravagingwolverine666]

Yeah, PS1 could do good 2D even if the Saturn was better. SFA3 is an ideal type of game since it's purely one-on-one, so the memory issues would be less compared with various team fighters. It's a shame PS1 had no option to expand the memory. Incidentally, I have the PS1 version of the game featured in this video and I thought it was really good. I didn't notice any framerate issues, but I wasn't looking for anything either.

[@videogamebookreviews]

​@@ravagingwolverine666 The Saturn version has a two-versus-one mode that allows all three different characters to be different. Good fun!

[@TheL1arL1ar]

@@ravagingwolverine666 in all aspects I prefer the ps1 version the most..I have alpha max also for my vita/tv and street fighter anniversary for my steam deck pure vanilla. Side by side the ps1 retains so much, until dramatic battle comes to play, but who cares…aside from some small small load times, which also made the ps2 freeze if enabled faster loading…😁. The ps1 has 3D hit effects and shenanigans, not present in the arcade or psp max version…but it’s all subjective.

[@GetLostGames1]

👍 love to see when you post

[@RetroCore]

I appreciate that👍