Natsuki Chronicles and Dranius are the type of shmups that new devs and new fans of the genre have to play. Rolling Gunner still my fav of the newer releases 😀
Really good hear your review as am a big fan of this game and developer. I have recently gotten back into shmup’s again and this game was a big part of that. For a novice I found it quite approachable but a solid challenge to 1cc for my skill level. After this I jumped onto Eschatos and got the 1cc. Both games are great and have killer tunes
Judgement Silversword is pretty good too, pretty much like an 8 bit version of Eschstos. Was disappointed to learn the only real way to master it is through an exploit though, allowing you to fire the wide and main beam at the same time, I HATE it when you need a hidden meta in any game to "play right" (Needless to say this makes many fighting games something I largely avoid)
Nice breakdown of how the game introduces quality of life systems without dumbing down the gameplay. Oh, and when that Chrono Trigger theme came on my heart swelled!
Informative review with good observations, nice one. I'm currently busy with Ginga Force but this is definitely on my list. I love how Qute insert RPG elements into their shooters that let you experiment with different builds and loadouts. From playing Ginga and looking at this footage it seems they found an effective and fun way to mix the old school thunder force way with modern bullet hell. Will they become the next Cave/Toaplan? ;-)
Yo, Mark? I've been playing the hell out of the two GUNBIRD games that were recently re-released on consoles. Are you ever gonna do a review on them in the near future? Love this Natsuki Chronicles vid.
The story mode balancing here is very well done. One of the rare shmups that delivers a satisfying challenge even if you don't go for a 1cc. And by the time you finish story mode on all difficulties, you can just jump into normal or even hard arcade and 1cc them without too many issues.
I know right, a double edged sword for sure. I m hoping the channel grows a bit more quickly, but if not I ll keep trucking forward slowly but surely ha
Hopefully this will come out on switch. I was initially hesitant about Eschatos because of the sub-par graphics but it immediately sucked me in because of how fun the gameplay was.
Not a bad review on Natsuki Chronicles. Having JUST played through the story mode, I have to agree with some aspects of your review, that being the elements introduced like bullet lines and regenerating shield, which definitely helped my enjoyment of the game. Some things I'd like to point out, those config options in arcade mode like speed modifying are also available in story mode under game settings, just in case you weren't aware. Also, it would definitely be cool to have different ship colours in arcade mode. I think generally the design choice to have arcade mode and story mode be so separate is something carried over from Ginga Force with its story mode and score attack mode. Speaking of Ginga Force, which Natsuki Chronicles is a prequel/side game to is also pretty solid, although way more tough for my liking even on the easiest difficulty. I'd say the elements carried over from that game to this has been wonderfully improved and rebalanced.
Yeah the story mode continue system of buffing shields is a cool system. It will help the player along but it doesn't allow for credit feeding, which is damaging for console ports
@@TheElectricUnderground I'll admit, I don't mind the fact that you don't get continues in story mode. It helps encourage me to try and play through these stages in one go. Then again, I understand that this is demanding for some people.
Yeah Ginga Force kicked my but, I beat the first sfage of NC first try on easy could S rank the first stage on normal but struggle to even complete the first of GF on easy mode.
I got this and Ginga Force on PS4 and Eschatoes on Switch/Steam…Qute shmups are fucking golden! I lowkey prefer Ginga over Natsuki but both are incredible!
it's a bumer to see that 1st press games sent you the PS4 physical copy, knowing that there are a lot of their costumers, such as myself, that pre ordered the game more than 1 year ago and still haven't received their games. I would have liked that they send the game to EVERYBODY at the same time. They lost their priorities for what I can see. But congrats to you and I am happy that you review this game.
That is a bummer my friend! Yeah it is crazy that you guys are all waiting for your copies. I can only hope this means you all will get them very shortly, otherwise why send me a copy to review? Idk this physical edition stuff seems to always have these brutal customer experiences of waiting around a long time
@@TheElectricUnderground thx for your message. Normally we should receive it in November. I am usually quite patiente and I don't mind to wait even for long time for a game, as I have a lot of games but very few time to play. But in this case, I think it is not marketing wise very smart from them.
I fucking love how real you keep it with your reviews. Gameplay, Port Quality and Presentation seem to be paramount on this channel. A pot slammer! I'm dead HAHAHAHA!!!!! Keep it up Mark. Looking forward to the EUndrgrnd shirt delivery. I'm proud to continue to support your channel.
That annoying? Looking at it, not having tried the game, they mostly just look like they'd make the game easier to play on reflexes alone (+ not having to whip your head back and forth; the main reason I don't like horis). Obviously just watching a video isn't the same as playing it hence asking. A potential problem... I'd possibly try to duck the warning lasers instead of the bullets... That'd be an issue. That's your gripe? Good to hear you have the option to have them on/off.
@@SicketMog Your potential problem was the exact issue I was having. It was just too much shit on the screen at once. Dodging bullets only to have more tracers show up so my brain tries to move for the bullets following them but I ended up getting murked by existing bullets. It just ended up being so much visual clutter I shut it off and had zero issues playing the game from there on out.
They added a training wheel for the new players and a confusing mechanic for the veteran players, in my opinion if anything that this warning lasers is gonna throw of the rhythm of more advance and veteran players as they tends to focus more on pixel perfect spot where they can squeeze into but if you put a warning laser that’s gonna add more to the challenge of when they expect those other bullets will come out to cut their escape path, I dunno maybe it’s just me but I find the laser mechanic quite a distraction.
Maaan I agree with you with the differences between the arcade and story mode. I'm having trouble getting through the 4th stage because of not being able to pick up the right weapon during gameplay in story mode. Other than that, the game is awesome. I play it on PC/Steam, the soundtrack is awesome! Also, just subscribed!
Suggestion! = Please make a video talking about memorization heavy shmups vs memorization light shmups. I would love to get some tips and insight on which shmups are less memorization heavy, as this idea feels more engaging to me. Thanks in advance ha. 😀👌
Thank you for the review, i've been eying those FirstPressGames physical releases (Natsuki & Ginga Force) for a little while, but i couldn't import them because of the shipping fees, and now that my currency is going down to oblivion, i won't be able to get them for a long time. But this edition you received is very cool (unlike you, i'm a physical game collector), i regret not having the means to get it (as well as Ginga Force).
@@TheElectricUnderground ooooh, you are crazy my friend, that's super nice of you, but keep it for yourself. I don't want you "lose" a very cool gift that was sent to you. But that's really heart warming for you to make me this offer, i love your channel even more ❤ But don't worry i'll wait and save to buy them (now that i saw what was inside the box, especially the full manual) 🙏 Thank you again, that's super, super nice of you
The visuals start to grow on you after a bit. A clean aesthetic that almost look like legos or some type of toy, especially on pc at 144fps where it’s extra silky smooth. This game in general has grown on me more on the whole.
I’m sure someone told me a fair few years back that the reason there were tons of Japanese shmups on Xbox 360 was because it was cheaper to release on that console in Japan in terms of royalties / set up costs etc to the console manufacturer and these shmup developers don’t have a lot of cash to go big so that’s why a bunch of them debuted on the Xbox platform then perhaps if the response was good they took the risk to widen their net to other platforms? Not sure how much truth there is in this but the guy who told me is a trusted friend who works at Xbox in their licensing dept. Take it with a pinch of salt, just thought it was worth mentioning. Great video though - honestly forget this game was like Thunderforce, I remember it being like Rollling Gunner, Damn my old memory failing me lol😂 gonna start playing it again I love games like this!
This is such a fantastic game. I feel like I'm playing turbografx cd/PC Engine shooters with that amazing soundtrack. Game has insane replayability and is a perfect mix of new while also tributing 90s shooters. If anyone is on the fence about this game, jump off because this game is freaking dope. For the old heads - think Gate/Lords of Thunder with a sprinkle of R Type and a serving of Thunder Force III.
Just out of curiosity, does Steam Input introduce lag? Because I use a PS2 dual shock controller for my arcade games, and many of them don't support direct input. Nastuki Chronicles DOES, but you end up with keyboard commands and the Xinput emulation gives you normal Xbox button prompts, plus auto-sets the keys correctly.
Really depends actually. For me it a about building up mental material for a review, so if the shmup is really generic then it can take a while ha. Shmups are an immediate genre though, so usually a few days. A shmup should pull on a player immediately, if it doesn't that s a failure to some degree right there
@@TheElectricUnderground That makes sense! I figured something like "get a 1CC" would definitely be too much for a review lol, but I had to assume you'd at least want to see all/most of the stages and get a good grasp of the scoring mechanics.
Nice review, I'm usually over the fence for Quite Shmups, loved Ginga Force but thought Eschatos was pretty boring. Now I'm convinced I should pick this one up, thanks. Also, is that behind you a widescreen CRT TV/monitor? If yes, that's really nice. I have 4:3 TVs, and I'm still trying to fit a widescreen one on my setup.
I greatly enjoyed the review. The whole difficulty curve always brings my mind to something though, and I finally wanna try wording it: You are on record claiming Gradius 2 as one of your favourite Gradius titles, and kinda sorta trashing Gradius 3. To me it's the other way around though, mostly because Gradius 3 puts you right into the action with a cool and fast stage 1, while Gradius 2, while it's awesome looking, has a painfully boring and slow stage 1.
Gradius 3 starts strong no doubt about it, but the level design gets absolutely wild as it goes ha, check points of death and so forth. I d say grad 3 s best sections are up front. I don't dislike grad 3, it s just wildly uneven ha
Glad to see the review. Qute and sitterskain are my fave indie developer. All their games are solid. When it comes to bullet patterns, qute is a great examples of less is more, as they are Simple and fun.being a hardcore gamer with average skill , it is always good to see that they have dificulty Settings well refined .they don't change only the speed, but Also the patterns. They do One of the most hard things in shootemup, they manage to do a easy Setting , that still manages to BE interesting. In a era we are flooded with bullet hell qute games are like Water in desert. don t know why but i Love love patterns with clássic guided Enemy missiles/ bullets. when it comes to acessibility options natsuki os One of the the games that i recommend more to newcomers in the genre.the only thing i dislike iS the grinding. In fact i strongly advise to cheat to get currency , as i don t have patience to Replay stages just for getting weapons. Finally as weird as it sounds, the newer qute games are, less i like them (altough all are good) my order of preference is first judgment , eschatos, ginga and finally natsuke
@@soratheorangejuicemascot5809 all three game play so differently. Kamui is pretty much raystorm. Fantastic musical score that plays along with the themes and beats of the game. The lock on system I think is a little better as you automatically lock on to enemies on the lower plain but your score multiplier is smaller the less energy your meter has. There is also a laser katana aka a big effing laser beam that kills enemies and destroys bullets. Using this drains your meter which gives you less points so you're constantly juggling managing the laser katana, your lock on shot and shooting with your main shot. The story is great as it's the closing of the Alltyanx trilogy. Reflex is the middle game. You have a energy shield that can reflect enemy shots which will give you a score multiplier the more enemies you take out with the reflected shots. Some bullets you can't reflect so you have to learn when to dodge, when to shoot the bullets and when to reflect them. Also your main shot is tied to the energy meter of the shield. So the lower your meter is the weaker your main shot is so again it's a balancing act. Alltyanx Second is more like a traditional vertical shump. Your ship has a meter again, you have a main shot, a homing laser shot, a laser katana which you can aim this time and a melee sword attack. This is again balanced by a energy meter. Your homing and laser katana reduce energy, also reducing the power of your main shot, but not weakening your melee attack. When you shoot down a enemy it build up a combo gage up to 25,612, per popcorn enemy at max combo. While at max combo doing a melee attack will give you a X16 bonus and it will decrease as your combo meter decreases. So again it's using the right weapon at the right time. The story is the first part of the Alltyanx trilogy of games. The super computer Alltyanx Second goes nuts and wipes out 78% of humanity with 72 hours. The survivors make their way deep into the solar system. Regroup and make a final attack on earth and Alltyanx. You start out among a fleet of fighters basically sent on a suicide mission to infiltrate and destroy the A.I. Each game has its own feel and gimmick. They each tell a part of the whole story. With all the different mechanics they play so differently. Personally I really like Alltyanx Second for the graphics, music, mechanics and especially the set pieces and boss fights. Kamui plays like a juiced up raystorm that tells a fantastic story. It's so simple to pick up that you just get right into it and don't notice that you have been playing for 4 hours. I really dig all three bit if I had to put them in a 1,2,3 rank it would be kamui, Alltyanx second then reflex. They are super cheap on steam and are totally worth it. Pick them up you will love them if you dig vertical shumps. I can't recommend them all enough.
@@michaelhoule2134 if I can't afford all three, I will go for Alltynex Second. I do hope that Kamui's lock-on shot actually requires aiming unlike Crimzon Clover.
@@michaelhoule2134 i could not explain Better. The game design is top excelent. Personally my faves are Kamui and reflexx.. altynex for me lacks the simplicity and originality of the others and the controls are more complex. Don t get me wrong. It is still great and its is a personal taste
11:52 the blunt disappointment here tickled me for some reason. lmao The recharging mechanic is straight out of Halo's book and that was revolutionary for FPS games back in 2001. I think STG's could get creative with it like FPS's have gotten lately.
Great review. Yes PC version does indeed do frame rates 120+. It's a shame more shmups don't do that. Anybody who thinks higher than 60FPS doesn't matter hasnt tried it properly.
Although I'm not a fan of AD at all (generic design, empty and soulless backgrounds), the game design on the other hand looks rather convincing and the gameplay rich, efficient and nervous. In addition, the RPG dimension seems to bring real added value to the title. Moreover, even if it has different aspects, especially in gameplay and (horizontal) scrolling, Natsuki Chronicles is closely linked to Ginga Force. I'm going for the steam version.
(kinda new player to shmups?) i have spent the last 2 days playing this game after buying it this steam winter sale. initially was trying to do normal story difficulty without upgrading weapons/using ex shields, but i ended up caving shortly. finished story mode last night at like 2am. on normal difficulty, i found that rear wave, front vulcan canon or front circle multi shot, and rotating shield option was the easiest way to get through each stage and get most of the formations.
I'm interested in the game since Shump Junkie recommended it and now you just sold it to me... If it was on Switch as there's were I play. Hopefully It get released there and it's a great port.
The gameplay looks like a horizontal Radiant Silvergun, as it appears you have multiple weapons at your disposal at all times for different situations. It has me intrigued
Great review. I may pick this one up. How is the penalty system? Not from a scoring standpoint but where do you start upon death, and when you continue? Is it limited continues? Do you earn more continues for logging in time, etc.
Oh yeah so story mode is 1 life per level but it gives you more shield the more to try and fail (pretty cool). I think arcade has a static 1 continue system but it might give you more as you try
@@TheElectricUnderground Nice. So it atleast provides a challenge built into the game. I like that, as opposed to setting personal challenges for these types of games. I usually beat games in volume , but when purchasing games I like a little resistance built into the game, ha ha. Appreciate the feedback.
Went back to it last night after watching your video. Don't know why I parked it, I must've been distracted by something else. I have far too many games. It's pretty great once you unlock some of the better weapons like the homing thing. I bought a PS5 and all I seem to do is play Arcade Archives.
How do you think this game compares with GG Aleste 3 regarding how well it ameliorates a lot of the problems that retro shmups have had, while still giving that retro shmup feel?
Now this is on my wishlist, will definitely get it sooner or later. Now as always my off-topic question: Do you have any interest in The Wonderful 101?
You know passively, I love character action games but the premise of the drawing in that game and having all these little fighters doesn t appeal to me so much. I have it on wii u and I ve never played it ha
@@TheElectricUnderground I would not say it's a perfect game but for me it's pretty wonderful and fun, I recommend you to give it a try. I got it on PC and drawing the weapons with any controller's stick is a good enough alternative to having to draw in the Wii U pad (which you can also do on the Wii U anyways), it's not slow at all and this changing weapons by drawing is a mechanic by itself since you can hit enemies with the drawing (before bringing out the weapon you've drawn). Once you have the defensive moves the game starts and I gotta admit it charmed me with all of it's silly moments, even though I think it's like the most cutscene packed game I have played from Kamiya (or Platinum Games).
A shmup with a regenerating life meter? Blasphemy! In all seriousness, it's nice to see a bullet hell-like that is more forgiving if you play your hand right without the one hit wonder aspect they're so fond of. In terms of the laser, I think a modern Galaga title used this technique to alert the player to incoming enemy formation patterns.
Hey you was just saying that dodonpachi daioujou m2 limited edition collection for ps4 which I'm sure is comeing out but they also got Ray Force Ray storm and Ray crisis collector's edition also coming off of PlayStation 4 did you know about that🕹🎮😀👍🏾
The visuals are bland, no doubt about it, but the game does get cooking with some really engaging gameplay especially in the higher difficulties. The laser system also opens up the level design more since the dev can use more creative patterns without fully surprise attacking the player
On sale along with Ginga Force for about 10 bucks. Debating getting it only because I hear the original PS4 can't handle it without slowdown, and I'm running an AMD Ryzen laptop with Vega 10 graphics.
The good news, it runs fine on high settings. The bad, there appears to be a bug where the game drops to 30fps on the first stage you play. It doesn't happen in following stages, and toggling Vsync on and off seems to fix it, but doing this every time you start a session can get annoying. Disabling full screen optimisations also seems to fix it, but that means no achievement notifications in game which is half the fun. Also, the game seems to have a point where frames drop mid way through a stage no matter what, then goes back to normal, and does not drop again after that first time.
Working on it bit by bit, repeating stages never get old and the S++ ranks honestly aren't that hard, at least on normal. And I am not exactly good at shmups, I just enjoy playing them. Some of the dialog is "lol" though; "In the end he never resisted". Oh no, he wasn't firing off enough ordinance to stop a small army, should have given him a chance! How was she even planning on "subduing" the stage 3 boss in his giant death machine anyways? Kind of hard to subdue him if he's "resisting to the bitter end" in a 3 story tall mech.
@@TheElectricUnderground I want to ask a question what do you think of this game that's for Sega Dreamcast is called out trigger they say it's a pretty good game I know you heard of it🎮🕹😀👍🏾
Is it just me or is every newer shmup pilot an anime girl? I want something new. Maybe a ninja corgi. People like corgis. Is that a big boi crt in the background? What is that Mark?
Yeah I wouldn't mind more variety of anime pilot characters! The ketsui dudes are really cool or the eaprade characters. Also yes it is my gaint crt I think it s 36 inches or something ha. Bigger than arcade monitor. Sony trinitron :-)
@@TheElectricUnderground My son calls the old school manly characters "edgy", I don't know what's up with that. I guess they are not cool anymore. Anime chicks are cool now. Can't go wrong with a trinitron. I got few. I use a 32 inch Toshiba for my Tate gameing and a 36 inch trini for some of my yoko gaming
@@TheElectricUnderground yeah, this was the last straw for me and kickstarter scams kicking us in the ass, something needs to be done about this. At least if you make a video, more people would remember about this and we can hopefully get enough people to pledge for their money back. Ontop of this, even the steam greenlight page was made private and removed, he made alt social media accounts and blocked everyone from sending to him on his main accounts and wont respond, and hasn't said a word to anyone on the web for more than 2 years now. Funny part is he forgot that he said that 4 people are working on this project and he mustakingly said that we have 3 PEOPLE working very hard to bring this project to you. This was almost 3 years ago now though. Very sussy
Be careful, this is not an 8-way movement shmup. So you have (customizable) adjustable ship speed that you can play using analog or dpad. Personally, this feels ass for me, moving in a straight line using analog is a pain in the ass. Using dpad feels insufficient, because you will always tinkering with speed setup. I want to play a shmup, not customize shits every time I got a game over. And the story is the usual run of the mile anime crap.
@@patriciozazzini3182 Just looked it up store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP4034-CUSA26073_00-NATSUKICHRON00US#noCrossCountryPurchaseNotice, seems like you can get it with a japanese account?
@@TheElectricUnderground I found something strange. It is not via Psn but if you enter psn store you can purchase it.not from psn via your console .Weird.
I just cannot force myself to invest a significant amount of time in a game that is so blatantly ugly. I think art style, visuals, etc. in shmups are as important as the gameplay. Or even more important.
yeah the blandness can be grating to the eyes sadly. The game looks better at higher difficulty through sheer volume of stuff on screen ha. I do wish the visuals were better though
I honestly do not get these games. I have all of them. Everyone hyped them. I haven’t really enjoyed any of them. Maybe it’s the aesthetic that loses me?
I really appreciate your level of detail. Most reviewers only go into the superficial aspects of a game.
Natsuki Chronicles and Dranius are the type of shmups that new devs and new fans of the genre have to play. Rolling Gunner still my fav of the newer releases 😀
Mine too! I m gonna do a 1cc commentary of it soon
Really good hear your review as am a big fan of this game and developer. I have recently gotten back into shmup’s again and this game was a big part of that. For a novice I found it quite approachable but a solid challenge to 1cc for my skill level. After this I jumped onto Eschatos and got the 1cc. Both games are great and have killer tunes
Oh absolutely I love the qute tunes ! 🎶
Judgement Silversword is pretty good too, pretty much like an 8 bit version of Eschstos.
Was disappointed to learn the only real way to master it is through an exploit though, allowing you to fire the wide and main beam at the same time, I HATE it when you need a hidden meta in any game to "play right" (Needless to say this makes many fighting games something I largely avoid)
Nice breakdown of how the game introduces quality of life systems without dumbing down the gameplay. Oh, and when that Chrono Trigger theme came on my heart swelled!
Ha yes I was like ok I need a track that envokes the idea of time
@@TheElectricUnderground , I have actually been playing the Steam port of that game recently, funny enough.
It's a great game that is also very accommodating for newr players. Will be cool to hear your take on it.
Is it too easy for more experienced Shump players ?
Informative review with good observations, nice one. I'm currently busy with Ginga Force but this is definitely on my list. I love how Qute insert RPG elements into their shooters that let you experiment with different builds and loadouts. From playing Ginga and looking at this footage it seems they found an effective and fun way to mix the old school thunder force way with modern bullet hell. Will they become the next Cave/Toaplan? ;-)
Yeah qute are great at bringing new ideas to the table, I m curious what they ll do with their next game
Yo, Mark? I've been playing the hell out of the two GUNBIRD games that were recently re-released on consoles. Are you ever gonna do a review on them in the near future? Love this Natsuki Chronicles vid.
I love gunbird and bird 2, yeah that it's a game I'm always happy to talk about.
The story mode balancing here is very well done. One of the rare shmups that delivers a satisfying challenge even if you don't go for a 1cc. And by the time you finish story mode on all difficulties, you can just jump into normal or even hard arcade and 1cc them without too many issues.
Yes story mode is very solid, shame you can't carry the ship colors into arcade mode, that breaks my heart a little
@@TheElectricUnderground that's a real shame considering how easy it would be to get the ship color swap mechanic into the arcade mode
I wish you would have more views, but I also like that your channel is basically a cozy club for cool kids.
I know right, a double edged sword for sure. I m hoping the channel grows a bit more quickly, but if not I ll keep trucking forward slowly but surely ha
Hopefully this will come out on switch. I was initially hesitant about Eschatos because of the sub-par graphics but it immediately sucked me in because of how fun the gameplay was.
I think it will at some point, it would be a good fit since it's full screen horizontal
Eschatos is amazing, difficult imo but amazing. Soundtrack is stellar!
Not a bad review on Natsuki Chronicles. Having JUST played through the story mode, I have to agree with some aspects of your review, that being the elements introduced like bullet lines and regenerating shield, which definitely helped my enjoyment of the game. Some things I'd like to point out, those config options in arcade mode like speed modifying are also available in story mode under game settings, just in case you weren't aware.
Also, it would definitely be cool to have different ship colours in arcade mode. I think generally the design choice to have arcade mode and story mode be so separate is something carried over from Ginga Force with its story mode and score attack mode.
Speaking of Ginga Force, which Natsuki Chronicles is a prequel/side game to is also pretty solid, although way more tough for my liking even on the easiest difficulty. I'd say the elements carried over from that game to this has been wonderfully improved and rebalanced.
Yeah the story mode continue system of buffing shields is a cool system. It will help the player along but it doesn't allow for credit feeding, which is damaging for console ports
@@TheElectricUnderground I'll admit, I don't mind the fact that you don't get continues in story mode. It helps encourage me to try and play through these stages in one go. Then again, I understand that this is demanding for some people.
Yeah Ginga Force kicked my but, I beat the first sfage of NC first try on easy could S rank the first stage on normal but struggle to even complete the first of GF on easy mode.
I got this and Ginga Force on PS4 and Eschatoes on Switch/Steam…Qute shmups are fucking golden! I lowkey prefer Ginga over Natsuki but both are incredible!
Yeah I'm really looking forward to comparing the two :-)
it's a bumer to see that 1st press games sent you the PS4 physical copy, knowing that there are a lot of their costumers, such as myself, that pre ordered the game more than 1 year ago and still haven't received their games. I would have liked that they send the game to EVERYBODY at the same time. They lost their priorities for what I can see. But congrats to you and I am happy that you review this game.
That is a bummer my friend! Yeah it is crazy that you guys are all waiting for your copies. I can only hope this means you all will get them very shortly, otherwise why send me a copy to review? Idk this physical edition stuff seems to always have these brutal customer experiences of waiting around a long time
@@TheElectricUnderground thx for your message. Normally we should receive it in November. I am usually quite patiente and I don't mind to wait even for long time for a game, as I have a lot of games but very few time to play. But in this case, I think it is not marketing wise very smart from them.
Also has a bomb soundtrack 👌
absolutely! Qute never disappoint on the ost.
yousuke yusui my beloved
I get serious Gate of Thunder vibes from the design. Alright, sold.
I could def see that
I fucking love how real you keep it with your reviews. Gameplay, Port Quality and Presentation seem to be paramount on this channel. A pot slammer! I'm dead HAHAHAHA!!!!! Keep it up Mark. Looking forward to the EUndrgrnd shirt delivery. I'm proud to continue to support your channel.
Thanks for this. Was under my radar for long!
Yeah I forgot about the game myself ha
Those warning lasers drove me bat shit crazy the first couple credits I played. I’m glad they have an option to shut them off.
That annoying? Looking at it, not having tried the game, they mostly just look like they'd make the game easier to play on reflexes alone (+ not having to whip your head back and forth; the main reason I don't like horis). Obviously just watching a video isn't the same as playing it hence asking.
A potential problem... I'd possibly try to duck the warning lasers instead of the bullets... That'd be an issue. That's your gripe? Good to hear you have the option to have them on/off.
@@SicketMog Your potential problem was the exact issue I was having. It was just too much shit on the screen at once. Dodging bullets only to have more tracers show up so my brain tries to move for the bullets following them but I ended up getting murked by existing bullets.
It just ended up being so much visual clutter I shut it off and had zero issues playing the game from there on out.
They are an adjustment, but once you get used to them it really increases the window for reaction times
They added a training wheel for the new players and a confusing mechanic for the veteran players, in my opinion if anything that this warning lasers is gonna throw of the rhythm of more advance and veteran players as they tends to focus more on pixel perfect spot where they can squeeze into but if you put a warning laser that’s gonna add more to the challenge of when they expect those other bullets will come out to cut their escape path, I dunno maybe it’s just me but I find the laser mechanic quite a distraction.
Hm, that laser guide stuff looks sweet! Thanks for the coverage!
It s a really cool mechanic! Absolutely worth trying
Maaan I agree with you with the differences between the arcade and story mode. I'm having trouble getting through the 4th stage because of not being able to pick up the right weapon during gameplay in story mode. Other than that, the game is awesome. I play it on PC/Steam, the soundtrack is awesome! Also, just subscribed!
Thanks for subscribing my friend! Yes story mode can ironically be harder at times due to lack of weapon switching
I love how the Chrono trigger theme kicks in when you talk about time. Nice touch, I love your background music selection.
Thank you Kevin!! Yeah I tried to play with the background music in this vid :-)
Finally doing Qute, very nice.
Yep!!! Long time coming ha
Suggestion! = Please make a video talking about memorization heavy shmups vs memorization light shmups.
I would love to get some tips and insight on which shmups are less memorization heavy, as this idea feels more engaging to me. Thanks in advance ha. 😀👌
I love how you had Corridors of Time going while you were talkin about time, I see what you did there ^_^
I'm glad you picked up on that ;-) That's a deep cut little reference ha
Thank you for the review, i've been eying those FirstPressGames physical releases (Natsuki & Ginga Force) for a little while, but i couldn't import them because of the shipping fees, and now that my currency is going down to oblivion, i won't be able to get them for a long time. But this edition you received is very cool (unlike you, i'm a physical game collector), i regret not having the means to get it (as well as Ginga Force).
I ll ship mine to you :-) hit me up on discord
@@TheElectricUnderground ooooh, you are crazy my friend, that's super nice of you, but keep it for yourself. I don't want you "lose" a very cool gift that was sent to you. But that's really heart warming for you to make me this offer, i love your channel even more ❤
But don't worry i'll wait and save to buy them (now that i saw what was inside the box, especially the full manual) 🙏
Thank you again, that's super, super nice of you
@@jepettoNFT no problem my dude!!! :-)
The visuals start to grow on you after a bit. A clean aesthetic that almost look like legos or some type of toy, especially on pc at 144fps where it’s extra silky smooth. This game in general has grown on me more on the whole.
Wish you’d put up that music playlist. Great everything!!!!
Yeah the ost of this game is really good :-)
Great review! Wich CRT do you have there in the back?
I have a giant sony trinitron 36 inches I believe. The damn thing is so heavy ha, bigger than an arcade monitor
I’m sure someone told me a fair few years back that the reason there were tons of Japanese shmups on Xbox 360 was because it was cheaper to release on that console in Japan in terms of royalties / set up costs etc to the console manufacturer and these shmup developers don’t have a lot of cash to go big so that’s why a bunch of them debuted on the Xbox platform then perhaps if the response was good they took the risk to widen their net to other platforms? Not sure how much truth there is in this but the guy who told me is a trusted friend who works at Xbox in their licensing dept. Take it with a pinch of salt, just thought it was worth mentioning. Great video though - honestly forget this game was like Thunderforce, I remember it being like Rollling Gunner, Damn my old memory failing me lol😂 gonna start playing it again I love games like this!
1st Press does some nice physical editions. I've got a couple from them--still waiting for Crimson Clover to ship.
Yeah they gotta get that stuff out the door 🚪 nothing worse than waiting
This is such a fantastic game. I feel like I'm playing turbografx cd/PC Engine shooters with that amazing soundtrack. Game has insane replayability and is a perfect mix of new while also tributing 90s shooters. If anyone is on the fence about this game, jump off because this game is freaking dope. For the old heads - think Gate/Lords of Thunder with a sprinkle of R Type and a serving of Thunder Force III.
Saw Ginga Force and Natsuki Chronicles package on psn last night for 3 dollars and change. What a steal! This game has me hooked.
Just out of curiosity, does Steam Input introduce lag?
Because I use a PS2 dual shock controller for my arcade games, and many of them don't support direct input. Nastuki Chronicles DOES, but you end up with keyboard commands and the Xinput emulation gives you normal Xbox button prompts, plus auto-sets the keys correctly.
That s a really good question!! I m not sure, it could go either way ha
Definitely need to check this one out.
Also, out of curiosity Mark, how much time do you put into a shmup before you feel you can properly review it?
Really depends actually. For me it a about building up mental material for a review, so if the shmup is really generic then it can take a while ha. Shmups are an immediate genre though, so usually a few days. A shmup should pull on a player immediately, if it doesn't that s a failure to some degree right there
@@TheElectricUnderground That makes sense! I figured something like "get a 1CC" would definitely be too much for a review lol, but I had to assume you'd at least want to see all/most of the stages and get a good grasp of the scoring mechanics.
Nice review, I'm usually over the fence for Quite Shmups, loved Ginga Force but thought Eschatos was pretty boring. Now I'm convinced I should pick this one up, thanks. Also, is that behind you a widescreen CRT TV/monitor? If yes, that's really nice. I have 4:3 TVs, and I'm still trying to fit a widescreen one on my setup.
Hi my friend, so the crt behind me is actually 4:3 as well, it's just rotated on it's side TATE and it's gaint ha. It's like 36 inches or something
@@TheElectricUnderground ah, I see. Nice setup, anyway, nothing beats playing classic Shmups on those screens.
Great content. Thank you For Sharing. Have a Good Day!💗👍
No problem!! Thanks for tuning in :-)
I greatly enjoyed the review.
The whole difficulty curve always brings my mind to something though, and I finally wanna try wording it:
You are on record claiming Gradius 2 as one of your favourite Gradius titles, and kinda sorta trashing Gradius 3.
To me it's the other way around though, mostly because Gradius 3 puts you right into the action with a cool and fast stage 1, while Gradius 2, while it's awesome looking, has a painfully boring and slow stage 1.
Gradius 3 starts strong no doubt about it, but the level design gets absolutely wild as it goes ha, check points of death and so forth. I d say grad 3 s best sections are up front. I don't dislike grad 3, it s just wildly uneven ha
Glad to see the review. Qute and sitterskain are my fave indie developer. All their games are solid. When it comes to bullet patterns, qute is a great examples of less is more, as they are Simple and fun.being a hardcore gamer with average skill , it is always good to see that they have dificulty Settings well refined .they don't change only the speed, but Also the patterns. They do One of the most hard things in shootemup, they manage to do a easy Setting , that still manages to BE interesting. In a era we are flooded with bullet hell qute games are like Water in desert. don t know why but i Love love patterns with clássic guided Enemy missiles/ bullets. when it comes to acessibility options natsuki os One of the the games that i recommend more to newcomers in the genre.the only thing i dislike iS the grinding. In fact i strongly advise to cheat to get currency , as i don t have patience to Replay stages just for getting weapons. Finally as weird as it sounds, the newer qute games are, less i like them (altough all are good) my order of preference is first judgment , eschatos, ginga and finally natsuke
Can you tell me what is good about Siter Skain games? I plan to get those someday.
Yeah my fav qute game so far is silver sword, though that could be purely because their 3d graphics look bland ha
@@soratheorangejuicemascot5809 all three game play so differently. Kamui is pretty much raystorm. Fantastic musical score that plays along with the themes and beats of the game. The lock on system I think is a little better as you automatically lock on to enemies on the lower plain but your score multiplier is smaller the less energy your meter has. There is also a laser katana aka a big effing laser beam that kills enemies and destroys bullets. Using this drains your meter which gives you less points so you're constantly juggling managing the laser katana, your lock on shot and shooting with your main shot. The story is great as it's the closing of the Alltyanx trilogy.
Reflex is the middle game. You have a energy shield that can reflect enemy shots which will give you a score multiplier the more enemies you take out with the reflected shots. Some bullets you can't reflect so you have to learn when to dodge, when to shoot the bullets and when to reflect them. Also your main shot is tied to the energy meter of the shield. So the lower your meter is the weaker your main shot is so again it's a balancing act.
Alltyanx Second is more like a traditional vertical shump. Your ship has a meter again, you have a main shot, a homing laser shot, a laser katana which you can aim this time and a melee sword attack. This is again balanced by a energy meter. Your homing and laser katana reduce energy, also reducing the power of your main shot, but not weakening your melee attack. When you shoot down a enemy it build up a combo gage up to 25,612, per popcorn enemy at max combo. While at max combo doing a melee attack will give you a X16 bonus and it will decrease as your combo meter decreases. So again it's using the right weapon at the right time. The story is the first part of the Alltyanx trilogy of games. The super computer Alltyanx Second goes nuts and wipes out 78% of humanity with 72 hours. The survivors make their way deep into the solar system. Regroup and make a final attack on earth and Alltyanx. You start out among a fleet of fighters basically sent on a suicide mission to infiltrate and destroy the A.I.
Each game has its own feel and gimmick. They each tell a part of the whole story. With all the different mechanics they play so differently.
Personally I really like Alltyanx Second for the graphics, music, mechanics and especially the set pieces and boss fights.
Kamui plays like a juiced up raystorm that tells a fantastic story. It's so simple to pick up that you just get right into it and don't notice that you have been playing for 4 hours.
I really dig all three bit if I had to put them in a 1,2,3 rank it would be kamui, Alltyanx second then reflex.
They are super cheap on steam and are totally worth it. Pick them up you will love them if you dig vertical shumps. I can't recommend them all enough.
@@michaelhoule2134 if I can't afford all three, I will go for Alltynex Second. I do hope that Kamui's lock-on shot actually requires aiming unlike Crimzon Clover.
@@michaelhoule2134 i could not explain Better. The game design is top excelent. Personally my faves are Kamui and reflexx.. altynex for me lacks the simplicity and originality of the others and the controls are more complex. Don t get me wrong. It is still great and its is a personal taste
11:52 the blunt disappointment here tickled me for some reason. lmao
The recharging mechanic is straight out of Halo's book and that was revolutionary for FPS games back in 2001. I think STG's could get creative with it like FPS's have gotten lately.
Great review. Yes PC version does indeed do frame rates 120+. It's a shame more shmups don't do that. Anybody who thinks higher than 60FPS doesn't matter hasnt tried it properly.
Although I'm not a fan of AD at all (generic design, empty and soulless backgrounds), the game design on the other hand looks rather convincing and the gameplay rich, efficient and nervous. In addition, the RPG dimension seems to bring real added value to the title. Moreover, even if it has different aspects, especially in gameplay and (horizontal) scrolling, Natsuki Chronicles is closely linked to Ginga Force. I'm going for the steam version.
Yeah shame the visuals are as bland as they are
(kinda new player to shmups?) i have spent the last 2 days playing this game after buying it this steam winter sale. initially was trying to do normal story difficulty without upgrading weapons/using ex shields, but i ended up caving shortly. finished story mode last night at like 2am.
on normal difficulty, i found that rear wave, front vulcan canon or front circle multi shot, and rotating shield option was the easiest way to get through each stage and get most of the formations.
I'm interested in the game since Shump Junkie recommended it and now you just sold it to me... If it was on Switch as there's were I play. Hopefully It get released there and it's a great port.
I think that's possible! They brought eschatos to switch, so there's hope :-)
The gameplay looks like a horizontal Radiant Silvergun, as it appears you have multiple weapons at your disposal at all times for different situations. It has me intrigued
Yeah you can sense some treasure influence on the weapon system, Darius as well :-)
NeverAwake is out and is very creppy-cute and very sad but happy too, kinda melancholic but you shall not give up.
Oh interesting! Is it fun to play?
@@TheElectricUnderground there is a Demo, try not collecting souls so you can loop.
Great review. I may pick this one up. How is the penalty system? Not from a scoring standpoint but where do you start upon death, and when you continue? Is it limited continues? Do you earn more continues for logging in time, etc.
Oh yeah so story mode is 1 life per level but it gives you more shield the more to try and fail (pretty cool). I think arcade has a static 1 continue system but it might give you more as you try
@@TheElectricUnderground Nice. So it atleast provides a challenge built into the game. I like that, as opposed to setting personal challenges for these types of games. I usually beat games in volume , but when purchasing games I like a little resistance built into the game, ha ha. Appreciate the feedback.
Thought this was about a sequel looking at the thumbnail at first and then I remembered I had played it on xbox1 lol
Ha yeah Xbox 1 version has been lost to history XD
Went back to it last night after watching your video. Don't know why I parked it, I must've been distracted by something else. I have far too many games. It's pretty great once you unlock some of the better weapons like the homing thing. I bought a PS5 and all I seem to do is play Arcade Archives.
Ha yeah ps5 is an archives machine these days. What else is even on there XD
How do you think this game compares with GG Aleste 3 regarding how well it ameliorates a lot of the problems that retro shmups have had, while still giving that retro shmup feel?
I'm really hoping this and Ginga Force gets a switch port eventually
8:57 my favorite stage in Natsuki Chronicles.
I hope you will review Ginga force!
I shall :-)
Huge einhander influence on this one
Oh interesting, I need to play that game soon
How good is this game and is the collector's edition worth it is it better than crimson clover🕹🎮😀👍🏾
Now this is on my wishlist, will definitely get it sooner or later. Now as always my off-topic question: Do you have any interest in The Wonderful 101?
You know passively, I love character action games but the premise of the drawing in that game and having all these little fighters doesn t appeal to me so much. I have it on wii u and I ve never played it ha
@@TheElectricUnderground I would not say it's a perfect game but for me it's pretty wonderful and fun, I recommend you to give it a try. I got it on PC and drawing the weapons with any controller's stick is a good enough alternative to having to draw in the Wii U pad (which you can also do on the Wii U anyways), it's not slow at all and this changing weapons by drawing is a mechanic by itself since you can hit enemies with the drawing (before bringing out the weapon you've drawn). Once you have the defensive moves the game starts and I gotta admit it charmed me with all of it's silly moments, even though I think it's like the most cutscene packed game I have played from Kamiya (or Platinum Games).
How have I not heard of this Qute game?? Is this new?
Sort of, it was locked away on Xbox for a while
What's the name of the song playing at 17:47?
Oh I m not sure, but it is part of the game s ost :-)
@@TheElectricUnderground thanks for the info! Found the ost! Great review!
A shmup with a regenerating life meter? Blasphemy! In all seriousness, it's nice to see a bullet hell-like that is more forgiving if you play your hand right without the one hit wonder aspect they're so fond of.
In terms of the laser, I think a modern Galaga title used this technique to alert the player to incoming enemy formation patterns.
Hey you was just saying that dodonpachi daioujou m2 limited edition collection for ps4 which I'm sure is comeing out but they also got Ray Force Ray storm and Ray crisis collector's edition also coming off of PlayStation 4 did you know about that🕹🎮😀👍🏾
I only bought it because of the cute anime girl, didn't regret it. I should buy it again now that I have a steam deck
Ha excellent cover art! Yeah on deck would be really cool
Looks MEH like most newer horizontal shoot em ups. "When you've already played the best....you've played the best." It is what it is
Ok so.... What is the best horizontal shmup?
The visuals are bland, no doubt about it, but the game does get cooking with some really engaging gameplay especially in the higher difficulties. The laser system also opens up the level design more since the dev can use more creative patterns without fully surprise attacking the player
nice reference to chrono
Feeling Qute, might delete it later (?)
Ha XD
On sale along with Ginga Force for about 10 bucks. Debating getting it only because I hear the original PS4 can't handle it without slowdown, and I'm running an AMD Ryzen laptop with Vega 10 graphics.
The good news, it runs fine on high settings.
The bad, there appears to be a bug where the game drops to 30fps on the first stage you play. It doesn't happen in following stages, and toggling Vsync on and off seems to fix it, but doing this every time you start a session can get annoying.
Disabling full screen optimisations also seems to fix it, but that means no achievement notifications in game which is half the fun.
Also, the game seems to have a point where frames drop mid way through a stage no matter what, then goes back to normal, and does not drop again after that first time.
Talking Natsuki Chronicles.
Working on it bit by bit, repeating stages never get old and the S++ ranks honestly aren't that hard, at least on normal. And I am not exactly good at shmups, I just enjoy playing them.
Some of the dialog is "lol" though; "In the end he never resisted". Oh no, he wasn't firing off enough ordinance to stop a small army, should have given him a chance!
How was she even planning on "subduing" the stage 3 boss in his giant death machine anyways? Kind of hard to subdue him if he's "resisting to the bitter end" in a 3 story tall mech.
"If you won't even listen to what I have to say..!"
Can't hear you over the bombs dude. 🇦🇴
Looks good 👍
Very well made game :-)
Looks real good
That's Raiden silver gun behind you it look like the screen is real big like the game is close up or something🎮🕹😀👍🏾
It is ha, it s some footage I have
@@TheElectricUnderground I want to ask a question what do you think of this game that's for Sega Dreamcast is called out trigger they say it's a pretty good game I know you heard of it🎮🕹😀👍🏾
I played this game and just removed the warning red laser indication. It killed me more than it helps.
Anyways.........eURoshMUP!!!!!!!
Once you get used to it, it helps a lot. Just don't get caught up looking at the lasers and forget to dodge the bullets already on screen ha
Are you saying Schmupp? Shoot em up!
How good is this game it looks pretty good🎮🕹😀👍🏾
It's pronounced Ginga Force with Gs like in GIF lol
This genre should be called bullets'n waifus.
The arcade only takes 20mins to check complete !
Forgot I had this thing.
Amazing game for Xbox as well
absolutely!
4:40 we got infinite lives and lower difficulty nowadays
it's a great game but still not a patch on the classics.
Yeah that s a super high bar as far as production. I think if qute stepped up their graphics, they d make a lot of waves
WARNING: Enemy ship approaching, fly spotted top left of screen 17:19
that damn fly man, drove me nuts the entire recording
Is it just me or is every newer shmup pilot an anime girl? I want something new. Maybe a ninja corgi. People like corgis.
Is that a big boi crt in the background? What is that Mark?
Yeah I wouldn't mind more variety of anime pilot characters! The ketsui dudes are really cool or the eaprade characters. Also yes it is my gaint crt I think it s 36 inches or something ha. Bigger than arcade monitor. Sony trinitron :-)
@@TheElectricUnderground My son calls the old school manly characters "edgy", I don't know what's up with that. I guess they are not cool anymore. Anime chicks are cool now.
Can't go wrong with a trinitron. I got few. I use a 32 inch Toshiba for my Tate gameing and a 36 inch trini for some of my yoko gaming
Do you remember xydonia, the guy scammed us all with his fraud kickstarter campaign that he didnt update in 2 years now.
Yep I m super tempted to make a vid about it, saw the game on itch the other day
@@TheElectricUnderground yeah, this was the last straw for me and kickstarter scams kicking us in the ass, something needs to be done about this. At least if you make a video, more people would remember about this and we can hopefully get enough people to pledge for their money back. Ontop of this, even the steam greenlight page was made private and removed, he made alt social media accounts and blocked everyone from sending to him on his main accounts and wont respond, and hasn't said a word to anyone on the web for more than 2 years now. Funny part is he forgot that he said that 4 people are working on this project and he mustakingly said that we have 3 PEOPLE working very hard to bring this project to you. This was almost 3 years ago now though. Very sussy
Modern shmups that don't have a boss select are annoying as hell
Be careful, this is not an 8-way movement shmup. So you have (customizable) adjustable ship speed that you can play using analog or dpad. Personally, this feels ass for me, moving in a straight line using analog is a pain in the ass. Using dpad feels insufficient, because you will always tinkering with speed setup.
I want to play a shmup, not customize shits every time I got a game over. And the story is the usual run of the mile anime crap.
Been holding off ps4.... Until now 😅
this game is not in PSn
Really? Is it like not in eu region? Maybe japan only?
@@TheElectricUnderground I believe it is like tiger Heli only physical
@@patriciozazzini3182 Just looked it up store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP4034-CUSA26073_00-NATSUKICHRON00US#noCrossCountryPurchaseNotice, seems like you can get it with a japanese account?
@@TheElectricUnderground I found something strange. It is not via Psn but if you enter psn store you can purchase it.not from psn via your console .Weird.
I'm horrible at that game. I blame lag
You can play high frame rate mode on PC with no vsync, lag defeated ha
I just cannot force myself to invest a significant amount of time in a game that is so blatantly ugly. I think art style, visuals, etc. in shmups are as important as the gameplay. Or even more important.
yeah the blandness can be grating to the eyes sadly. The game looks better at higher difficulty through sheer volume of stuff on screen ha. I do wish the visuals were better though
I honestly do not get these games. I have all of them. Everyone hyped them. I haven’t really enjoyed any of them. Maybe it’s the aesthetic that loses me?
I would guess that is the case for sure! Also the games show their strength at higher difficulties, that s when things really start cooking!
🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
motion sickness, gotta be careful ha