This review is essential for anyone who doesn't get what platinum intended. They full on brought back those ancient graphics and fused it to modern gameplay. They didn't do a "bad job," they did something hillariously confrontational and fresh.
Seriously, SUCH an awesome channel this is. There are so many games that I can only talk to a very select few people about, because bullet hell games didn’t seem like what was catching the main stream (at least, within my conversation circles)… I’d been a bullet-hell fan since the early 80s. There are so many awesome games covered in this channel, and I’m forever appreciative. Thanks for, yet, another excellent video… Cheers!
Well done review of the entire series. Nichibutsu basically came and went, putting out "shovelware" games that people enjoyed. The fact that Hamster actually allowed this to be made speaks volume how much people wanted a new game in the series/with the docking mechanic. I certainly hope Platinum will continue on with the Neo Classic series and takes all the feedback on Sol Cresta into account. P.S.: Terra Cresta 3D is mentioned, but not in a traditional sense. In Dramatic Mode, in the first stage, when Sho talks about the simulation, you will see an arcade cabinet with Terra Cresta 3D's title screen on the left.
Great review! When I saw you streaming this, from the visuals I thought it was an early 2000s game with pre-rendered sprites that hadn't aged well. When I searched for the title I couldn't believe that it was released in 2022! Very strange aesthetic choice, but maybe they were going for that 2003 look. Who knows!
This was a very comprehensive review that adds even MORE perspective and appreciation to those that will play Sol Cresta. This was an excellent take, and I hope more shmups that have a rich history present the chance for you to do another review in this style. FANTASTIC work!
Seriously, SUCH an awesome channel. I see all the games that I could only talk to a very select few people about, having been a bullet hell fan since the mid-80s… awesome! THANK YOU for another amazing vid. Cheers!
This one was one I've been putting together since Sol Cresta was announced. It was a challenge getting Terra Cresta II and 3D for the production, but worth it for native hardware, real software captures.
Reviewing them as a collection adds so much context and helps me understand Sol better. I didn’t realize I’ve played Terra Cresta as a kid in the arcade before I saw your clip of the T-Rex exploding into bones when shot.
Great video Ed, really appreciate the work you put into this. Insane effort, it does not go unnoticed. On the other hand, you could so something similar to this around the Kiki KaiKai series, coming from the Arcade original to it's ports to Pocky and Rocky on the SNES (and GBA!) to Hevenly Guardian/Snow Battle Princess SAYUKI | 雪ん娘大旋風. All in all finishing up with Pocky and Rocky Reshrined which is coming later this month iirc. Would be interesting, while it is known to people it was highly influential and there are games no one even knows about in that series.
@@StudioMudprints Really glad to read this. You're still to this day one of the biggest influences regarding shmups and if you give as much effort as you always do towards the kiki kaikai series then I'm sure people will notice it. This is big news :D
@@StudioMudprints I wouldn't sell yourself so short yet Ed. If it wasn't for you there would be almost no newcomers to the genre in the past 14 years or so. People still say "it appeared on bullet heaven" or "Bullet Heaven covered it" in many places. Don't pay attention to the secular farm opinions. In any case, at least in my eyes and many others, your work is appreciated. Hope you're better after everything that has happened in the past year and a half or so. Take care!
Comprehensive & dope review. However; I've been playing on Switch OLED since launch in TATE & default mode; with both joycon & pro controller & haven't encountered any performance issues or input lag. Actually been having a blast
Just wanted to say this was a *great* round up of the series as a whole. I'm certainly not a master of them (not having spent serious time with Moon Cresta, and Terra Cresta - in its arcade form, as well as its C64 port manages to kick my butt), but I'm seriously guilty of not having check out Terra Cresta II, which certainly looks like it lives up to the original. Been playing the PlayStation version of Sol Cresta (though on a PS5 though backward compatibilty), and so far it's felt pretty solid in terms of performance. One upside is that at least from the distance I'm sitting away from the TV is that the roughness of the visuals can be noticed, but it's not bothering me as much as it would were I be playing on a PC or on Switch in hand held. I fully agree that it's the one blemish on what's a pretty darn top notch shooter - one I'm hoping people do check out (in fact, I was having a chat with a co-worker who digs Platinum's other games about it, and so I hope it brings their other audience in too).
Great Video on the series! Oh, I already bought the Limited Run Switch version before finding out about the performance issues. I guess I'll keep it sealed and play the PC version.
Great reviews! Loving Sol Cresta so much on PC. Still double dipping for switch LRG just because 😅. I played Terra Cresta a week before Sol Cresta. I liked it. I do want to try Terra Cresta 2 now , looked fun :)
Fantastic review, looks like fun games. Bummer that Sol Cresta for now is way too pricy and looks kinda rough, still as a mecha fan, I do adore the very Getter-Robo style combination system though! TCII looks pretty dope, shame it's not easily available on modern systems. That I'd love to try now
Great video! I've been playing the classics and Terra Cresta is quite fun (didn't enjoy Moon Cresta though, the erratic movements of some enemies put me off). Will check Terra Cresta II as well before Sol Cresta. Thanks for the video!
I bought it on day one on PS5 and love it. I'm not experiencing the issues others are reporting on Switch. As a lifelong Nichibutsu fan in the way some are NMK fans, to me it's a love letter to Nichibutsu from another lifelong fan. They're b-tier games, but not without charm and with an easily identifiable style and presentation. I hope to see other Nichibutsu games feature and there's no reason why we couldn't see some NMK games treated in the same way, since Hamster also own the rights to their games too.
Yeah, I've seen a couple other reviews mention that the Playstation and PC versions seem to run about the same. The Switch is the only one with problems. Which is a shame, since that's my preferred shmup platform at the moment.
I did a few, but never finished what I had envisioned. It would be a good one. Someone had also recommended Pocky & Rocky, which I think is where we'll go next.
awww i wish you covered UFO Robo Dangar as well. it's a Cresta in every way but name only, so i definitely know why it's lesser known than the others, but it's my favorite in the series for sure ^^
Thanks for making this comparison video. The only Cresta game I played is Terra Cresta and loved it back in the 80s. The new Sol Cresta looks good, but just too many options and the graphics doesn't look sharp. Maybe the developer can update the graphics and push out an update in the near future.
There is one interesting thing that I've seen on all reviews of Sol Cresta... No one mentions the 3 unlockable ships 👀 To be fair, even unlocking the white Fuso ship requires effort. Sol Cresta is a game that would be a total nightmare to play with continues and one of the "easier" achievements to get are clearing the Hard and Platinum Hard modes. It will require effort to unlock all the achievements.
I think it's Empire City: 1931. That was a Seibu Kaihatsu (of Raiden fame) game if memory serves, but good news: it was recently released as part of Hamster's own ACA series on Switch (and presumably PS4).
Picked the switch version up last week and unless the most recent patch fixed everything i haven't been noticing any issues with switch version either in lag or ugly visuals already finished on hard with no issues at all. In fact it has a more than ok selection of scanline options to help make it look nice something i can't say for the cave releases i also picked up akai katana at same time and man it looks rough same cave problem of poor scaliing and jaggy everything even if you turn smoothing on it looks pretty bad gonna have to stop picking up the cave re-releases the devs put no effort in making them look decent on modern displays.
PS4 version runs perfectly. Also, Sol Cresta is highly compatible with the analogue stick, actually better than the d pad since it is possible to constantly fire 360 shots.
Platinum making a classic style arcade shmup IS a beautyfull Thing to see, now we need Treasure to make a Character Action Hack'n Slash game and everyone Will bê happy
I’ve been a fan of Nichibutsu games since the days of Moon Cresta and Crazy Climber in the arcade. Random trivia: their arcade games are great, but really only a sideline to the company’s main product: strip mahjong games.
Was the Switch version improved with patches? It doesn't seem too tremendously awful, although it helps that I only paid $12.49 for it in a recent sale. I wish the game was a bit more manageable, but even if you don't understand the play mechanics, it's super fun to play. Platinum did this series justice.
I was strongly considering buying Sol Cresta on switch from Limited Run before the shmup Junkie review and the one from here, but now since I have to fall back on it for performance issues, now I may want to consider gambling on if still buying it and having a patch out when I get it would be worth it too.
I love this. I feel like TC2 slips through the cracks of PCE shooters, to the point where I've never even messed with it. Now I will. (Praise be for the Everdrive.) Also, I never realized the NES port got a US release. Wild.
i really love sol cresta so far. getting my ass kicked in the later levels though lol. i think its worth the price if you like classic shmups. graphics didn't bother me too much, but i agree the filter wasnt needed
I saw an option in the graphics for scanline strength. Given how pixel graphics used to be drawn to take advantage of the less-than-precise color display of older monitors, have you tested if turning on these overlays improve the visuals? It feels like a very auteur move by Platinum Games, but not an unsurprising one. Sucks about the framerate, though.
No Cresta, no dice! In all seriousness though, it really is too far gone from the formula sequel or not. I see Rainbow Islands as separate from Bubble Bobble too, despite being a direct sequel
An exhaustive review of the R-Type or DDP series would be nice - the latter due to the fact that there's a lot of information throughout that franchise which has been missed, despite coverage of multiple games. Can't exactly blame you guys for doing that though, everyone makes mistakes.
This review is essential for anyone who doesn't get what platinum intended. They full on brought back those ancient graphics and fused it to modern gameplay. They didn't do a "bad job," they did something hillariously confrontational and fresh.
Seriously, SUCH an awesome channel this is. There are so many games that I can only talk to a very select few people about, because bullet hell games didn’t seem like what was catching the main stream (at least, within my conversation circles)… I’d been a bullet-hell fan since the early 80s. There are so many awesome games covered in this channel, and I’m forever appreciative. Thanks for, yet, another excellent video… Cheers!
Well done review of the entire series. Nichibutsu basically came and went, putting out "shovelware" games that people enjoyed.
The fact that Hamster actually allowed this to be made speaks volume how much people wanted a new game in the series/with the docking mechanic.
I certainly hope Platinum will continue on with the Neo Classic series and takes all the feedback on Sol Cresta into account.
P.S.: Terra Cresta 3D is mentioned, but not in a traditional sense. In Dramatic Mode, in the first stage, when Sho talks about the simulation, you will see an arcade cabinet with Terra Cresta 3D's title screen on the left.
Neat, didn't catch that!
Great review!
When I saw you streaming this, from the visuals I thought it was an early 2000s game with pre-rendered sprites that hadn't aged well. When I searched for the title I couldn't believe that it was released in 2022! Very strange aesthetic choice, but maybe they were going for that 2003 look. Who knows!
This was a very comprehensive review that adds even MORE perspective and appreciation to those that will play Sol Cresta. This was an excellent take, and I hope more shmups that have a rich history present the chance for you to do another review in this style. FANTASTIC work!
Excellent video. Thanks for this
Seriously, SUCH an awesome channel. I see all the games that I could only talk to a very select few people about, having been a bullet hell fan since the mid-80s… awesome!
THANK YOU for another amazing vid. Cheers!
This one was one I've been putting together since Sol Cresta was announced. It was a challenge getting Terra Cresta II and 3D for the production, but worth it for native hardware, real software captures.
I have to set some time aside to watch this in full, but let me say this in advance: THANK YOU for doing this video, awesome!
Reviewing them as a collection adds so much context and helps me understand Sol better.
I didn’t realize I’ve played Terra Cresta as a kid in the arcade before I saw your clip of the T-Rex exploding into bones when shot.
Great review. There's a lot more complexity than I thought.
Great video Ed, really appreciate the work you put into this. Insane effort, it does not go unnoticed. On the other hand, you could so something similar to this around the Kiki KaiKai series, coming from the Arcade original to it's ports to Pocky and Rocky on the SNES (and GBA!) to Hevenly Guardian/Snow Battle Princess SAYUKI | 雪ん娘大旋風. All in all finishing up with Pocky and Rocky Reshrined which is coming later this month iirc. Would be interesting, while it is known to people it was highly influential and there are games no one even knows about in that series.
OK, you got us. Pocky & Rocky is a solid endeavor. Hang tight and an announcement will be made :)
@@StudioMudprints Really glad to read this. You're still to this day one of the biggest influences regarding shmups and if you give as much effort as you always do towards the kiki kaikai series then I'm sure people will notice it. This is big news :D
Nah, my influence has fallen off dramatically. Our image has been irreparably damaged and it's a wonder we even have the audience we do.
@@StudioMudprints I wouldn't sell yourself so short yet Ed. If it wasn't for you there would be almost no newcomers to the genre in the past 14 years or so. People still say "it appeared on bullet heaven" or "Bullet Heaven covered it" in many places. Don't pay attention to the secular farm opinions. In any case, at least in my eyes and many others, your work is appreciated. Hope you're better after everything that has happened in the past year and a half or so. Take care!
Aleste or the Thunder Cross series would be great! Thanks for the great vid/review!
Comprehensive & dope review. However; I've been playing on Switch OLED since launch in TATE & default mode; with both joycon & pro controller & haven't encountered any performance issues or input lag. Actually been having a blast
And that's the weird thing: performance and lag is improved in Tate, super bizarre. Probably because the animated gadget and widgets hog resources.
above and beyond coverage, here
Just wanted to say this was a *great* round up of the series as a whole. I'm certainly not a master of them (not having spent serious time with Moon Cresta, and Terra Cresta - in its arcade form, as well as its C64 port manages to kick my butt), but I'm seriously guilty of not having check out Terra Cresta II, which certainly looks like it lives up to the original.
Been playing the PlayStation version of Sol Cresta (though on a PS5 though backward compatibilty), and so far it's felt pretty solid in terms of performance. One upside is that at least from the distance I'm sitting away from the TV is that the roughness of the visuals can be noticed, but it's not bothering me as much as it would were I be playing on a PC or on Switch in hand held.
I fully agree that it's the one blemish on what's a pretty darn top notch shooter - one I'm hoping people do check out (in fact, I was having a chat with a co-worker who digs Platinum's other games about it, and so I hope it brings their other audience in too).
Another masterful review! Its nice to have the former entries in the series as a reference of where the Cresta series came from.
Great Video on the series! Oh, I already bought the Limited Run Switch version before finding out about the performance issues. I guess I'll keep it sealed and play the PC version.
Nah, you gotta get that CD ripped. I know I am!
I love it! I know you've done quite a bit of Darius but I'd love a Darius video like this. And maybe a Cotton.
Great reviews! Loving Sol Cresta so much on PC. Still double dipping for switch LRG just because 😅. I played Terra Cresta a week before Sol Cresta. I liked it. I do want to try Terra Cresta 2 now , looked fun :)
I just want to say that this was a wonderful video, I love your work!
Fantastic review, looks like fun games. Bummer that Sol Cresta for now is way too pricy and looks kinda rough, still as a mecha fan, I do adore the very Getter-Robo style combination system though! TCII looks pretty dope, shame it's not easily available on modern systems. That I'd love to try now
There's rumors of a Hamster Console Archives, and since they own all Nichibutsu IP, there's a strong possibility for a release of TCII if it happens!
Great video! I've been playing the classics and Terra Cresta is quite fun (didn't enjoy Moon Cresta though, the erratic movements of some enemies put me off). Will check Terra Cresta II as well before Sol Cresta. Thanks for the video!
Even for its time, Moon Cresta was brutal as well. Still, it did something nothing else did, and that's pretty cool.
Classic Rush thanks Nitchibutsu and youtube content creator for this.
Awesome video! Really hope they patch the Switch version soon.
I bought it on day one on PS5 and love it. I'm not experiencing the issues others are reporting on Switch. As a lifelong Nichibutsu fan in the way some are NMK fans, to me it's a love letter to Nichibutsu from another lifelong fan. They're b-tier games, but not without charm and with an easily identifiable style and presentation.
I hope to see other Nichibutsu games feature and there's no reason why we couldn't see some NMK games treated in the same way, since Hamster also own the rights to their games too.
Yeah, I've seen a couple other reviews mention that the Playstation and PC versions seem to run about the same. The Switch is the only one with problems. Which is a shame, since that's my preferred shmup platform at the moment.
@Future Skeletons - sometimes that magic charm ends up making the b-tier stuff the a-tier stuff. I love me some B-Wings, for example.
Excellent review, great job!
This video is fantastic, I hope you will do more long form style like this in the future
We have our next one planned, with one last release left to buy.
@@StudioMudprints fantastic. You’ll knock it out of the park
Is that a homage to the opening of the anime "Vifam" at 28:00? It mimics the speed and cadence perfectly, and its in english just like vifam.
Dope review and very informative you got my sub💪🏾
Amazing video as always. What about a soldier series review? I'm not sure if you already did that tho
I did a few, but never finished what I had envisioned. It would be a good one. Someone had also recommended Pocky & Rocky, which I think is where we'll go next.
I picked this up on PS4 & have been enjoying it so far 👍 It does take a bit of time to get used to the controls though.
awww i wish you covered UFO Robo Dangar as well. it's a Cresta in every way but name only, so i definitely know why it's lesser known than the others, but it's my favorite in the series for sure ^^
I'm sure we'll see it at some point on ACA. I'll likely do another round of Nichibutsu shooters sometime in the future.
Thanks for making this comparison video. The only Cresta game I played is Terra Cresta and loved it back in the 80s. The new Sol Cresta looks good, but just too many options and the graphics doesn't look sharp. Maybe the developer can update the graphics and push out an update in the near future.
Great videos 👍
But we need icons showing what version I'm watching, like PS, SS, MD, etc...
There is one interesting thing that I've seen on all reviews of Sol Cresta...
No one mentions the 3 unlockable ships 👀
To be fair, even unlocking the white Fuso ship requires effort. Sol Cresta is a game that would be a total nightmare to play with continues and one of the "easier" achievements to get are clearing the Hard and Platinum Hard modes. It will require effort to unlock all the achievements.
Extra replay right there. I'll definitely have to work towards it!
One of my favorite Nichibutsu arcade games was Empire City 1935, AWESOME GAME
I think it's Empire City: 1931. That was a Seibu Kaihatsu (of Raiden fame) game if memory serves, but good news: it was recently released as part of Hamster's own ACA series on Switch (and presumably PS4).
Picked the switch version up last week and unless the most recent patch fixed everything i haven't been noticing any issues with switch version either in lag or ugly visuals already finished on hard with no issues at all. In fact it has a more than ok selection of scanline options to help make it look nice something i can't say for the cave releases i also picked up akai katana at same time and man it looks rough same cave problem of poor scaliing and jaggy everything even if you turn smoothing on it looks pretty bad gonna have to stop picking up the cave re-releases the devs put no effort in making them look decent on modern displays.
PS4 version runs perfectly. Also, Sol Cresta is highly compatible with the analogue stick, actually better than the d pad since it is possible to constantly fire 360 shots.
That's good news. Granted, I've played stick almost exclusively for over a year now, so I wouldn't have noticed. Something to be mindful of.
I hope they work on the switch version's performance a bit before the LRG physical is released since thats what I play on
Platinum making a classic style arcade shmup IS a beautyfull Thing to see, now we need Treasure to make a Character Action Hack'n Slash game and everyone Will bê happy
I’ve been a fan of Nichibutsu games since the days of Moon Cresta and Crazy Climber in the arcade. Random trivia: their arcade games are great, but really only a sideline to the company’s main product: strip mahjong games.
Was the Switch version improved with patches? It doesn't seem too tremendously awful, although it helps that I only paid $12.49 for it in a recent sale.
I wish the game was a bit more manageable, but even if you don't understand the play mechanics, it's super fun to play. Platinum did this series justice.
I know they did a lot of stuff to the game some time after this feature, and it's better for it on PC at least. I'm not sure about Switch though.
Love this.
I was strongly considering buying Sol Cresta on switch from Limited Run before the shmup Junkie review and the one from here, but now since I have to fall back on it for performance issues, now I may want to consider gambling on if still buying it and having a patch out when I get it would be worth it too.
I love this. I feel like TC2 slips through the cracks of PCE shooters, to the point where I've never even messed with it. Now I will. (Praise be for the Everdrive.)
Also, I never realized the NES port got a US release. Wild.
i really love sol cresta so far. getting my ass kicked in the later levels though lol. i think its worth the price if you like classic shmups. graphics didn't bother me too much, but i agree the filter wasnt needed
THAT'S IT I AM *SO* PLAYING THESE
I saw an option in the graphics for scanline strength. Given how pixel graphics used to be drawn to take advantage of the less-than-precise color display of older monitors, have you tested if turning on these overlays improve the visuals? It feels like a very auteur move by Platinum Games, but not an unsurprising one.
Sucks about the framerate, though.
I have not, but others have reported that they're less than great...
Poor Terra Force... Nobody remembers that it is a direct and official sequel to Terra Cresta...
No Cresta, no dice!
In all seriousness though, it really is too far gone from the formula sequel or not. I see Rainbow Islands as separate from Bubble Bobble too, despite being a direct sequel
Please do a PS4 review in the future to see how its performance compare to Switch. Thanks
🤙🤙 great vid
An exhaustive review of the R-Type or DDP series would be nice - the latter due to the fact that there's a lot of information throughout that franchise which has been missed, despite coverage of multiple games.
Can't exactly blame you guys for doing that though, everyone makes mistakes.
WHY CANT YOU UNLOCK MOON CRESTA TERRA CRESTA ON SOL CRESTA ??????
Likely because of Hamster's ACA series. Why include what you can charge 16 bucks for (worth it though)
*COUGH*finishStarSoldier*COUGH*
That Price combined with the awful performance on switch makes this a no buy for me. After „Babylons Fall“ Platinum games is slowly losing it…
I recommend avoiding switch, PC is much, much better.