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Post by Transatlantic Foe on Sept 30, 2020 20:12:17 GMT
Early days for this because most of the info is in Japanese but M2 (Sega Ages, amongst other emulation projects) have announced an Aleste compilation which covers Sega's 8 bit consoles: Aleste/Power Strike (SMS) Power Strike II (SMS) GG Aleste (GG) GG Aleste II/Power Strike II (GG) GG Aleste 3 (GG) Yeah that's right, there's a brand new Game Gear title - there are pics online of a Game Gear cart for it, but it's unclear if it's just a promotional mockup or not. Compilation trailer: youtu.be/AzT7jlw3obwGG Aleste 3 trailer: youtu.be/UAL0r74vyTEBased on the music in the trailer, SMS Power Strike II will be emulated at the correct 50 Hz speed. Hurrah! This is Japan only for the moment but it'd surprise me if it didn't get a UK/EU release due to Power Strike II's cult status. Confirmed for Switch and PS4, Japan release at xmas. It also looks like there's a Game Gear Mini which includes the games, for anyone with thumbs impossibly tiny enough to make a teeny Game Gear viable!
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Post by Transatlantic Foe on Jun 11, 2021 18:16:14 GMT
I gave up on waiting for news of a release outside Japan and imported it. It's amazing!
* 5 games, so plenty of value for money * You can disable slowdown on all titles * All the games run perfectly at their native refresh rate, no emulation hitches or frameskipping * Power Strike II (SMS) has a toggle for the debug menu, so you can play the boss rush and access the extra options without a cheat * FM soundtrack toggle for Power Strike * Full soundtrack playable in-game for each title, no need to use cheats * All manner of widgets available (and can be disabled if you prefer) which show things like your power levels, progress to extra lives and even the rank (via an obscure string, which is fun to watch change if nothing else) * Lets you choose between localisations where relevant (Aleste/Power Strike, GG Aleste II/Power Strike II) * There are a few other options, which disable the online rankings, like an easy mode; toggles for rank/power up behaviour; extra lives * GG Aleste III is superb, amazing to see a brand new from scratch 8-bit title with a professional dev team behind it. I don't think they're releasing an actual Game Gear cartridge for it though
First post-Brexit import too, testing the waters with the new weird "seller collects the tax" mechanism. Popped another couple of games in and paid extra on Playasia for courier, no extra charges at all - just came through after a few days!
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Post by snowblind on Aug 1, 2021 20:28:51 GMT
It's so expensive, still holding out for a western release. How well does it eliminate sprite flicker in Power Strike 2? If at all. I never minded slowdown since it can be helpful but the sprite flicker ruined many playthroughs.
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Post by Transatlantic Foe on Aug 1, 2021 22:03:18 GMT
I'll check it later, the Switch hasn't been used for a while and needs charging, but I'd been playing with the option turned on and it completely removes slowdown. I think that also cleans up the flicker (because I hadn't noticed any) but I'd need to double check - it ups the difficulty significantly anyway, which is handy because they're not especially tough shooters otherwise. It's pretty much required for the new GG Aleste III though, that grinds to a standstill otherwise so often that it's distracting.
On price though, it's a hell of a lot cheaper than Power Strike II! And you get 4 other games on top
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Post by Transatlantic Foe on Aug 2, 2021 18:46:37 GMT
Can confirm, the option which removes slowdown also removes flicker. It's not possible to have slowdown on and flicker off though, it's one option for both things (and maybe some other things I've not noticed)
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Post by snowblind on Aug 6, 2021 22:43:47 GMT
Thanks for checking. It will be great to play it without flicker (some day) and I'll manage without slowdown, just have to get better at it. I've never gotten past stage 6 before.
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Post by BobSega on Aug 15, 2021 5:52:23 GMT
I've been playing a lot of Zanac and Aleste/Power Strike lately and discovered that even though Zanac was mostly on MSX, Aleste/Power Strike began on the SMS, early '88. It was ported to MSX2 later, but I mistakenly thought that all the manga cut-scenes had been removed for the SMS and that we were missing out.
Aleste 2 was on the MSX2 first, but SMS Power Strike 2 is different. I've not played any of the GG games, but they appear to be follow ups to Aleste 2 with the same heroine pilot.
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