Silpheed Game Review - 1988 (Apple IIGS)

A look back at one of my childhood favorites, Silpheed!

[@appleiigsmarc3484]

This game had such great music! Loved it!

[@ClassicContagious]

For me it's the music. I love the music for Silpheed.

[@BrianPicchi]

Agreed. The lack of true sound effects and speech synthesis are the only downside, but I believe there was a later 1990 DOS release that supported Soundblaster. I suppose in the end in comes down to personal taste.

[@NJRoadfan]

While the IIgs version has much better sound effects, the DOS version with a MT-32 attached has much better music. The IIgs soundtrack is much more true to the original version though. Its also one of the very few games that use the 640x200 video mode.

[@Batmanshack]

Thanks for putting this up! I played this game so many times on my AppleIIGS. I play all my Apple IIGS games on emulators now...

[@BoredScientist]

Haha, I went searching for this comment while bobbing my head to the credit music. I knew something was up because, yeah, the intro is practically unendurable without some acceleration. Played this for the first time since I was about 9 or 10 last year and I completely agree: it holds up great!

[@BrianPicchi]

Yes, the Sega CD game was a sequel (or maybe a remake?). I believe one recently came out for the Xbox 360 called Project Sylpheed, although I've never played it. The original Silpheed came out in 1986 for the NEC PC-8801, an 8-bit Japanese computer.

[@gunma747j]

The mega CD version have a direct sequel on ps2 called silpheed the lost planet

[@BrianPicchi]

Better is certainly relative. A stock IIGS (2.8MHz) is much slower than the stock PCs of the time so playability-wise the PC wins. However, unless you had an MT-32 and Soundblaster, the PC lacked severely in the sound department. Silpheed on the IIGS had stereo music and sound as well as speech synthesis. Regarding the Sega CD version, regretfully I've never played it but from what I've heard it's fantastic!

[@earthsteward70]

the only real difference i cn see betwen these versions is that the pc dos version has a smoother intro but requires a soundblaster to get digital sounds

[@CorporalDanLives]

Thank you for playing the complete rock out credits music.

[@BrianPicchi]

Ha, I did too until I starting watching reviews on it and noticed everyone was calling it "sil-feed" so I figured they must be right. Kind of like how I always pronounced Ryu and "Rye-you" until everyone said 'No, it's Ree-you".

[@Apple2gs]

I believe Silpheed for the IIGS was released in late 1989, not 1988. This is from my person recollection, but just to double-check I found it doesn't appear in vendor listings before August/September 1989 (inCider magazine). Additionally, the files on disk are dated 1989 which is telling in itself! I didn't get ahold of the game until about 1991, but never could play it through because of a joystick glitch with the ROM 3 and an issue with my copy crashing at level-2. Fast forward to present day, I'm about to play it now for the first time in 2022! (on my real IIGS, not an emulator. Found a fix for the joystick glitch!)

[@Monacomaverick]

The Sega CD version of this is awesome!! I think it's the first time I have ever heard someone swear in a game. The music is great, and it is even done in stereo. Worth owning for sure.

[@larkefedifero]

I was gonna say! By the time this game had evolved to the time of the Sega CD, it had advanced quite a bit, so I'm surprised that there had been a version for the IIgs!! COOL! 😀

[@Yusuke_Denton]

You get a like from me for letting the credits music play through.

[@ZipplyZane]

Most of the time, when someone says that an older video game track is the best ever, it's usually not bad, but it's clear that nostalgia is coloring their opinions. That is not the case here!

[@laffer35]

Very interesting review, I remember seeing this game back in the day, maybe in Sierra catalogues, but I never actually played it (same with Thexter).

[@davidmason192]

Miss thisngame one of my first

[@BrianPicchi]

I was playing it at 3.2 MHz. I find just a little boost is all I need for smooth game play, although the intro is still very choppy, especially on a stock machine. For the more skilled gamer, I'd recommend increasing the CPU to around 10MHz, but that is far beyond my skill level. :)

[@gunma747j]

I tried it on emulator,I thought 8 mhz was already smooth

[@CaptainRufus]

It is. Great graphics, amazing music.

[@BrianPicchi]

I really need to try it, everyone says it's amazing and based on what I've seen, it certainly looks like it!

[@BrianPicchi]

You could actually buy the soundtrack on cassette tape.

[@BrianPicchi]

With emulation you can boost up the speed and have yourself a real challenge!

[@sculpy2758]

Played this game so much as a child, it was unhealthy. Fantastic game though. The boss music (and the bosses themselves) were so freakin' cool. Finished it many times, but I never finished Thexder. I found Thexder totally impossible!

[@Darrencardinal]

I finally finished Thexder by hacking it. But yeah it was impossible to finish on regular.

[@DtRockstar1]

I was about the same age when I played this on my Apple IIGS! Is there any place to download this version?

[@noelsaw]

Impressive for the 80s!

[@insidious611]

I realize you're probably biased, but would you consider the IIgs version better than the MSDOS version? What about the much enhanced Sega CD version?