Battle of the ports: DoDonPachi

Battle of the Ports: Donpachi

Panzer Dragoon Remake Review

Panzer Dragoon, Rolling Gunner physical available for pre-order

It turns out Panzer Dragoon: Remake that launched the other day on the Switch eShop is available as a physical release on pre-order right now from Limited Run Games, pre-orders are open until April 24th and the game is available in a regular edition and a "Classic Edition" kitted with a US Sega Saturn cover. There's no real "lmit" here except the pre-order cut-off date.

 

Meanwhile, the physical edition of Rolling Gunner for Switch (a PC version is also available) is also available for pre-order from Physicality Games and pretty much not a limited item per se, it just needs to hit a certain amount of pre-orders to get made at all. There's a vanilla version and a deluxe edition to choose from. The deluxe version pictured below comes with the games awesome soundtrack.

Panzer Dragoon: Remake launched today on Switch

Panzer Dragoon to go VR

Gematsu reports that Panzer Dragoon is set to go VR (though no specific VR platform has yet been pinpointed) as Panzer Dragoon: Voyage Record and turned into a first person shooter (sadly).
Still, if you're a fan i'm sure you don't want to miss out.

The History of Zaxxon

It's actually kind of fun to finally post something about Zaxxon.

Wing Warriors: new homebrew shmup for SEGA Master System

Every once in a while these things happen, a very old console or home computer gets a new shmup.

This is such an occasion, Wing Warriors is a new homebrew shmup for the SEGA Master System. It's free so just go grab it!

Bullet Heaven reviews Armed 7 for Dreamcast

Twin-sticker Xeno Crisis is out on literally everything now

After being successfully Kickstarted Xeno Crisis is now shipping for Sega MegaDrive, Sega Dreamcast, Neo Geo MVS/AES, Nintendo Switch, Sony Playstation 4 and Microsofts Xbox One (did I forget a platform?). I forgot a platform: Steam!

In a lovely twist you can buy just the game as a ROM for MegaDrive or a CD image for Dreamcast for people who just want to play the game without the added bulk (and wait for) of packaging.

The soundtrack is also available on vinyl and CD.

It's chapter 5. The Dreamcast STG Chronicles continues

Hey, I helped fund this, all you have to do is watch!

Another nice episode of what is shaping up to be (as promised!) the definitive chronicling of the Dreamcast library of shmups/STGs.

Panzer Dragoon remake to go physical

The Panzer Dragoon remake coming to Nintendo Switch is getting a physical release it was revealed today. More details are forthcoming...
I think it's fairly safe to say that Limited Run Games is the distributor.

More physicals, more  fun!

Sturmwind goes EX, surfaces on Steam

Sturmwind is a horizontally scrolling shmup released for the SEGA Dreamcast way back in 2013.

But the makers, Duranik, have now gone back and re-tooled the graphics for 4K displays and are prepping for a Steam launch on September 28th with an added EX to the name.

The pitch:
STURMWIND EX is a shoot-em up in the tradition of old arcade games. If it moves - shoot it.
You can play missionmode with all 16 levels with saving your progress with every finished level or arcademode with 6 levels and no continues.

I really like this on the Dreamcast so I'll probably buy it again.

EDIT: It's coming to consoles as well, and Switch is a target.

Power Strike II review from Bullet Heaven

An ancient shmup for an ancient system. How fitting.

Bullet Heaven unboxes Game Paradise

Vacation update number 1

I'm on my vacation right now so it's not every day I have a computer (I write blog posts on a real computer, I hate writing on phones and/or tablets) but here's a run-down of stuff that keeps happening anyway:

1. Blazing Chrome seems to deliver everything it promised:


2. Grazella has posted their first monthly update on the R-Type Final 2 development status.

3. Sarah Jane Avorys new shmup in development for the C64 has a name: Soul Force.

4. Acclaimed shmup Hellsinker is out now on Steam.

5. New shmup Red Horizon is out now on Steam, debuting July 19th. It's 10% off right now and as a result dirt cheap!

6. The physical edition of Caladrius Blaze for Switch is Korean and has started shipping. Mine sadly hasn't arrived yet.

7. With only days to go, July 25th is the date, Raiden V: Director's Cut for Nintendo Switch is getting retail releases in NA and EU. This one had me worried for a while with rumours of a "single print run" in "low numbers" being spread - possibly to stoke the fire of pre-orders.

8. After a substantial delay Dispatch Games has started shipping the NA version of Psyvariar Delta. They were gracious enough to send me an eShop key for the game (huge thanks! as an aside, I never ask for free games, and I don't expect developers to just give away their work) and I have the asian physical release from way back when.

9. My MegaSD has shipped!

Terraonion had a big day of announcements

Terraonion is the spanish company behind the flashcarts for Neo Geo AES, Neo Geo MVS and the amazing flashcart+ODE (Optical Disc Emulator) SSDS3 for the PC Engine, and today they had some great new announcements:
1. The NeoSD AES & MVS Pro carts can play Neo Geo CD games from SD card. Yes, really!
2. MegaSD is a basically an SSDS3 for the Mega Drive/Genesis. Yes, a Sega CD/Mega CD ODE in an FPGA implementation that plugs into your Mega Drive/Genesis/Mega sg (and yes again, the Mega Drive FPGA re-creation is supported!)

This enables so many shmups across the systems involved that I can practically feel my thumbs ache already!

Here's the whole announcement extravaganza:

Ikaruga gets physical again

Ikaruga is a really great shooter with puzzle elements or possibly a still great puzzle game with shooting elements. Whichever way you see it there's no denying that it is already readily available to play:
First developed for the arcade, it was first ported to Dreamcast and subsequently to GameCube, Xbox 360 (it's compatible with Xbox One), Windows, Switch and PlayStation 4. The physical releases in that long list of targeted platforms are only Dreamcast and GameCube (sure, the arcade release was physical but if you're into arcade PCBs you already knew that) however.

But now Nicalis is doing us all a favor and releasing it physically for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch:

No details yet on release date.

E3 2019 turns out to not be a complete dud for shmup fans

Let's get this out of the way, Konami, until recently thought to have abandoned console gaming made a stunning comeback:


Contra Anniversary Collection is out now on PlayStation 4, Switch, Xbox One and Steam.

And a new canonical game in the series was announced, Contra Rogue Corps:

Switch version coming September 24th this year.

On top of this they also announced a PC Engine mini (although it appears to be a 1:1 replica size-wise):

Different regions get different games but all regions get some shmups.

We already knew that Panzer Dragoon was being remade but neither platform nor date was set. Well, the platform is (initially) Nintendo Switch and it's coming this winter:

News round-up of the last few days

Taito has confirmed that Space Invaders Invincible Collection is coming to Nintendo's Switch. Six titles are included, including never-before-ported-to-consoles Space Cyclone.

R-Type Final 2 Kickstarter wraps up in a couple of hours after what can only be described as a week of massive success, as of now it has smashed through $800.000 and keeps ticking.

Horizon Shift '81 (out already for Switch) launches on PlayStation 4 and Steam today.


Shmups on Switch has posted a Psikyo Retrospective:


And finally here's an english fan translation of Dreamcast shmup Karous.