this game is exelent for newcommers to the genere. its shows all usual shoot em up shenanigans, without kicking the player directly in to a hell. its basicly a "how to shmup" shmup. also great visuals.
Excellent video, mate. I had GunHed on the PC Engine back in the day, and it's one of the first games I re-bought later on. It's easily in my top 5 shoot 'em ups of all time, and you gave it a very nice, detailed look.
Glad you appreciated the detail! It was the one which really pushed me into acquiring a PC Engine a couple of years ago - I'd been really getting into it at an event and thought it was time to go for a system. I know there's a lot of folk who prefer the more punishing shooters out there, but for me the approachability really makes this one that I stick with.
So glad you did this Rob. As you know, I've been messing around with my mini consoles and put some PC Engine games on my Mega Drive Mini. This being one of them. Will give it a go now! Thanks again for the efforts with your vids, they're wonderful :-)
I feel that's like crossing the streams. It's a shame the PCE Mini wasn't officially released here, because from what I've seen: it's a pretty darn good system. It has a good crossover with the Mega Drive, but a lot of great hitters on its own. Plus the infamously ridiculously priced Supergrafx with that nice port of 1941 too! (I could probably go on for a while on some rad picks for the system tbh…)
@@BeyondTheScanlines haha, nah not really. The MegaDrive mini, like all the minis, is essentially just a cute emulator so I don't feel like I'm quite crossing the streams, maybe nearly. It works well and the controller is nice. PCE and MD games seem to complement eachother too. No lag either. I'd love a PCE mini, one day!
Another great video, Rob. I find the whole Caravan tournament thing interesting. Here in the UK we did have a few examples of that, like the SEGA bus or the Pepsi Challenge.
Sadly, there's few pieces out there which explore the history - I'd honestly love to see the perspective of someone from Japan who lived through and competed in them to really learn about the vibe and experience. There were other comps here too, but not at the same national level.
Thanks. It's a genuine challenge doing niche stuff, because the algorithm unfriendly nature of it can be genuinely punishing. Then there's the joy in self-promo. Too many places have strict "rules" which make it worthless to even bother, unless you have all the time in the world to find things to post which aren't (but that gets in the way of producing great videos). I'm grateful for the folks who enjoy it, but sometimes it can feel like I'm pushing uphill…
@@BeyondTheScanlines It takes years of doing everything correctly for a channel to snowball. Also, keep in mind the target audience for this material is much smaller than for modern games, so that's something to compete with. As long as you're making the videos you yourself would like to watch, you're doing it correctly, and just have to have patience. (Disclaimer: I'm a youtube metrics nerd)
I've been making videos for a while, just rebooted things about 18 months ago. But it's a slow path, and more than anything, I miss the old Creator Studio. A lot of the data I cared about got scrapped, which makes understanding what did/didn't work tough too. My comparisons are against other retro channels - but even then, maybe it's ultimately the location which is my biggest drawback. Hard to know sometimes. But I'm incredibly happy with what I put out - I was incredibly happy with this one for instance, along with a bunch of the last few.
@@BeyondTheScanlines All of the old metrics are in the new Studio, but you might need to dig to find them. I recommend watching a few VidIQ videos to cover the new metrics. I don't follow you -- what do you mean by "the location which is my biggest drawback". Location?
Location as being situated in Australia where most of my audience are US and UK based. It brings a challenge between posting when it's convenient for me, so I get a best chance at answering comments… …or posting when it's more suitable for people in those locations, but would have a big lag on being able to respond. I'll take a look at the VidIQ stuff to see how to get the data I was after.
I am terrible at shooters but I really like this one. As you said it has a nice difficulty curve so even I can progress fairly deep into the game. I tend to favour the power wave weapon because when powered up it nearly covers the whole screen. But it's individual hits are fairly weak so some enemies take a fair few shots to destroy. Excellent game.
Yeah, the difference in power makes for an interesting challenge. I dig Field Thunder for the coverage, and the power. Of course, it's not as straight-forward coverage-wise as the Power Wave, but I find I can manage it a bit better, as it also lets me focus on just movement, instead of movement and targeting. One of the things I appreciate is the impact it had on Compile's work going forward - if you get a chance, Super Aleste/Space Megaforce on SNES is *well* worth a shot, it takes a fair few cues from this and is quite chill to play.
Great video- getting into a lot of PC Engine stuff at the moment, interesting about the original film, erm "tie-in" lol! Film looks quite good fun actually!
I was expecting it to be *bad* (being that its director took their name off it and was credited as Alan Smithee), but it's a decent enough B-Movie. Certainly wasn't time wasted watching it.
I like this game a lot -- it's one that definitely gets a lot of playtime on the Mini! Both this and the Soldier games strike a great balance between accessibility and challenge that keeps me coming back for more time after time after time. Big fan!
Considering the general also-ran-ness the PC Engine kind of had outside Japan, I'm glad to see the Mini get some traction, especially with games like this. It was also the one which basically convinced me to get one a few years back and start diving in. Lots of great gems here for sure, some of which I'll hopefully get around to covering in due course ;)
Gunhed is genius for designing the Full Fire homing laser. Besides that awesome lookin weapon, I don't like the game. The weapon upgrade system is also the major pain in the ass. Playing it feels like you operate a one armed bandit. The upgrades pods are so bouncy, it is impossible to AVOID them when needed. So I always loose the nice guns, not because of a hit, but because of a wrong upgrade. On Final Soldier you just get homing missiles, and they'll stick around until you die. Here they get swapped all the time by shields, side shooters, full fire etc. Another critic is although it might be too easy in the first stages, it does feel crap you respawn the level on every hit. If you are out for a game like this and want one that is not such a nag to play, get Final Soldier. It has the most clear and easy to use power up system, is slightly forgiving on hits and simply has the best music of any shmup on any console.
I tend to find myself a fan of the system Compile employ, and actually appreciate you get plenty of opportunities to collect pickups. It's a mechanic which I find gives you a fighting shot - unlike other shooters where power ups are few and far between, which is boosted by losing a level when you're hit. I quite appreciate the Soldier games - particularly for similar reasons, though of course their weapon options tend to be more focused over Compile's choices. Neither's wrong, but I can appreciate them both for various reasons. (One more thing: Please don't use ableist talk in the comments. I've got a lot of friends who actually have ADHD, and it's not really something to trivialise in that way. The world is enough of a crapshoot right now, and a little compassion goes a long way.)
this game is exelent for newcommers to the genere. its shows all usual shoot em up shenanigans, without kicking the player directly in to a hell. its basicly a "how to shmup" shmup. also great visuals.
Agreed!
Excellent video, mate. I had GunHed on the PC Engine back in the day, and it's one of the first games I re-bought later on. It's easily in my top 5 shoot 'em ups of all time, and you gave it a very nice, detailed look.
Glad you appreciated the detail! It was the one which really pushed me into acquiring a PC Engine a couple of years ago - I'd been really getting into it at an event and thought it was time to go for a system.
I know there's a lot of folk who prefer the more punishing shooters out there, but for me the approachability really makes this one that I stick with.
So glad you did this Rob. As you know, I've been messing around with my mini consoles and put some PC Engine games on my Mega Drive Mini. This being one of them. Will give it a go now! Thanks again for the efforts with your vids, they're wonderful :-)
I feel that's like crossing the streams. It's a shame the PCE Mini wasn't officially released here, because from what I've seen: it's a pretty darn good system.
It has a good crossover with the Mega Drive, but a lot of great hitters on its own. Plus the infamously ridiculously priced Supergrafx with that nice port of 1941 too!
(I could probably go on for a while on some rad picks for the system tbh…)
@@BeyondTheScanlines haha, nah not really. The MegaDrive mini, like all the minis, is essentially just a cute emulator so I don't feel like I'm quite crossing the streams, maybe nearly. It works well and the controller is nice. PCE and MD games seem to complement eachother too. No lag either. I'd love a PCE mini, one day!
PC Engine games on the MD Mini. Like the definition of blasphemia. Way to go!
Another great video, Rob. I find the whole Caravan tournament thing interesting. Here in the UK we did have a few examples of that, like the SEGA bus or the Pepsi Challenge.
Sadly, there's few pieces out there which explore the history - I'd honestly love to see the perspective of someone from Japan who lived through and competed in them to really learn about the vibe and experience.
There were other comps here too, but not at the same national level.
I used to have this one on the TG16. Played the hell out of it along with Military Madness.
Great overview of the game and it's "tie-in" to the movie. You deserve more success and viewers; I hope you get it someday. Keep up the good work.
Thanks. It's a genuine challenge doing niche stuff, because the algorithm unfriendly nature of it can be genuinely punishing.
Then there's the joy in self-promo. Too many places have strict "rules" which make it worthless to even bother, unless you have all the time in the world to find things to post which aren't (but that gets in the way of producing great videos).
I'm grateful for the folks who enjoy it, but sometimes it can feel like I'm pushing uphill…
@@BeyondTheScanlines It takes years of doing everything correctly for a channel to snowball. Also, keep in mind the target audience for this material is much smaller than for modern games, so that's something to compete with. As long as you're making the videos you yourself would like to watch, you're doing it correctly, and just have to have patience. (Disclaimer: I'm a youtube metrics nerd)
I've been making videos for a while, just rebooted things about 18 months ago.
But it's a slow path, and more than anything, I miss the old Creator Studio. A lot of the data I cared about got scrapped, which makes understanding what did/didn't work tough too.
My comparisons are against other retro channels - but even then, maybe it's ultimately the location which is my biggest drawback. Hard to know sometimes.
But I'm incredibly happy with what I put out - I was incredibly happy with this one for instance, along with a bunch of the last few.
@@BeyondTheScanlines All of the old metrics are in the new Studio, but you might need to dig to find them. I recommend watching a few VidIQ videos to cover the new metrics.
I don't follow you -- what do you mean by "the location which is my biggest drawback". Location?
Location as being situated in Australia where most of my audience are US and UK based. It brings a challenge between posting when it's convenient for me, so I get a best chance at answering comments…
…or posting when it's more suitable for people in those locations, but would have a big lag on being able to respond.
I'll take a look at the VidIQ stuff to see how to get the data I was after.
I am terrible at shooters but I really like this one. As you said it has a nice difficulty curve so even I can progress fairly deep into the game. I tend to favour the power wave weapon because when powered up it nearly covers the whole screen. But it's individual hits are fairly weak so some enemies take a fair few shots to destroy. Excellent game.
Yeah, the difference in power makes for an interesting challenge.
I dig Field Thunder for the coverage, and the power. Of course, it's not as straight-forward coverage-wise as the Power Wave, but I find I can manage it a bit better, as it also lets me focus on just movement, instead of movement and targeting.
One of the things I appreciate is the impact it had on Compile's work going forward - if you get a chance, Super Aleste/Space Megaforce on SNES is *well* worth a shot, it takes a fair few cues from this and is quite chill to play.
Great video- getting into a lot of PC Engine stuff at the moment, interesting about the original film, erm "tie-in" lol! Film looks quite good fun actually!
I was expecting it to be *bad* (being that its director took their name off it and was credited as Alan Smithee), but it's a decent enough B-Movie. Certainly wasn't time wasted watching it.
@BeyondTheScanlines the Alan Smithee thing was an edit done by the translators, the director was not involved with that decision.
I like this game a lot -- it's one that definitely gets a lot of playtime on the Mini! Both this and the Soldier games strike a great balance between accessibility and challenge that keeps me coming back for more time after time after time. Big fan!
Considering the general also-ran-ness the PC Engine kind of had outside Japan, I'm glad to see the Mini get some traction, especially with games like this.
It was also the one which basically convinced me to get one a few years back and start diving in. Lots of great gems here for sure, some of which I'll hopefully get around to covering in due course ;)
They left the best of the series out of the Mini. Too bad. Luckily I've a real console too.
Gunhed is genius for designing the Full Fire homing laser. Besides that awesome lookin weapon, I don't like the game. The weapon upgrade system is also the major pain in the ass. Playing it feels like you operate a one armed bandit. The upgrades pods are so bouncy, it is impossible to AVOID them when needed. So I always loose the nice guns, not because of a hit, but because of a wrong upgrade. On Final Soldier you just get homing missiles, and they'll stick around until you die. Here they get swapped all the time by shields, side shooters, full fire etc. Another critic is although it might be too easy in the first stages, it does feel crap you respawn the level on every hit. If you are out for a game like this and want one that is not such a nag to play, get Final Soldier. It has the most clear and easy to use power up system, is slightly forgiving on hits and simply has the best music of any shmup on any console.
I tend to find myself a fan of the system Compile employ, and actually appreciate you get plenty of opportunities to collect pickups. It's a mechanic which I find gives you a fighting shot - unlike other shooters where power ups are few and far between, which is boosted by losing a level when you're hit.
I quite appreciate the Soldier games - particularly for similar reasons, though of course their weapon options tend to be more focused over Compile's choices. Neither's wrong, but I can appreciate them both for various reasons.
(One more thing: Please don't use ableist talk in the comments. I've got a lot of friends who actually have ADHD, and it's not really something to trivialise in that way. The world is enough of a crapshoot right now, and a little compassion goes a long way.)
@@BeyondTheScanlines Sure. It was self mockery... Edited.