I think that there are very few of those on RUclips who are willing to look at Xevious through the lens of history, instead of contemporary game design. I think you are the only outside of Jeremy Parrish who truly sees Xevious for what it is. Again, thank you.
I think it's really hard to ignore the importance of Xevious if you're looking that the history of video games, especially if you look at their cultural impact in Japan. Parish and I are on weirdly similar wavelengths when it comes to a lot of the context of eighties gaming.
Xevious is one of the most important games, but I think "one of the first games with a boss" is missing the detail of what makes the boss important here, although I know that's how people often see this. I think what's most important is that provides a solid recipe for a "vertical scrolling and stop at a boss" design with a beautiful look. There are plenty of games with a boss or boss like thing, like GORF, Bosconian". There were side scrollers like Scramble. Vanguard even had a strange combo of side scroller, vertical scroller and "stop at the boss", but it's still takes place in the black void of most golden age games and the boss isn't much to write home about. This boss feels , at some level, like what an end of level boss is supposed to be. What's interesting is that it never made much of an impact in the US. I suspect Atari did something wrong in the marketing. It is early enough that it should have avoided the crash.
I did not appreciate this game until years later, but that comes from being in America at the time of Xevious's huge impact in Japan. In the US, we got Xevious on the Atari 7800 before the NES, but it was still coming in very late by 1986 (delayed from 1984 no less,) and the people who owned an Atari vs a NES in 1986 were, well, few. It's a shame that the game never had a chance to succeed in the US.
@@Nemo2342 A kid with a 7800 was rare, but the 2600 was very popular again after 1986 thanks to the NES. It was a "budget system" for the families that couldn't afford a NES or 7800.
@@anactualmotherbear When I got a 7800 they were half the price of a NES ($50 vs $100 as I recall). Being too clever for my own good I asked for it hoping that my parents would cave on the cheaper alternative, which they did. I should have just pitched a fit for a NES instead :D
I didn't really get around to xevious until I played it on namco museum 2 on playstation. It was fun I could see why people loved it back then. I know there's another S flag early on near a body of water I think was mentioned in namco museum somewhere.
I'd like to think I'm the one who convinced him that Xevious was one of the cornerstones of Japanese video game development, but I'm pretty sure it's just a matter of both us doing our research on the game in close proximity.
I think that there are very few of those on RUclips who are willing to look at Xevious through the lens of history, instead of contemporary game design. I think you are the only outside of Jeremy Parrish who truly sees Xevious for what it is. Again, thank you.
I think it's really hard to ignore the importance of Xevious if you're looking that the history of video games, especially if you look at their cultural impact in Japan. Parish and I are on weirdly similar wavelengths when it comes to a lot of the context of eighties gaming.
Xevious is one of the most important games, but I think "one of the first games with a boss" is missing the detail of what makes the boss important here, although I know that's how people often see this.
I think what's most important is that provides a solid recipe for a "vertical scrolling and stop at a boss" design with a beautiful look.
There are plenty of games with a boss or boss like thing, like GORF, Bosconian". There were side scrollers like Scramble.
Vanguard even had a strange combo of side scroller, vertical scroller and "stop at the boss", but it's still takes place in the black void of most golden age games and the boss isn't much to write home about. This boss feels , at some level, like what an end of level boss is supposed to be.
What's interesting is that it never made much of an impact in the US. I suspect Atari did something wrong in the marketing. It is early enough that it should have avoided the crash.
I did not appreciate this game until years later, but that comes from being in America at the time of Xevious's huge impact in Japan. In the US, we got Xevious on the Atari 7800 before the NES, but it was still coming in very late by 1986 (delayed from 1984 no less,) and the people who owned an Atari vs a NES in 1986 were, well, few. It's a shame that the game never had a chance to succeed in the US.
Count me as one of those poor kids who had an Atari instead of a NES (at least at first), and I definitely had Xevious!
@@Nemo2342 A kid with a 7800 was rare, but the 2600 was very popular again after 1986 thanks to the NES. It was a "budget system" for the families that couldn't afford a NES or 7800.
@@anactualmotherbear When I got a 7800 they were half the price of a NES ($50 vs $100 as I recall). Being too clever for my own good I asked for it hoping that my parents would cave on the cheaper alternative, which they did.
I should have just pitched a fit for a NES instead :D
Thanks for sharing!
This game also had a dev Easter egg and the bases at the end of some levels take the rank down rank shows up in most stgs from this point on
I was never a huge fan of Xevious (basically because the genre had moved on before I came across it), but this is a really nice port!
I didn't really get around to xevious until I played it on namco museum 2 on playstation. It was fun I could see why people loved it back then. I know there's another S flag early on near a body of water I think was mentioned in namco museum somewhere.
It’s random on that line bomb to get it
Wondering if this game inspired ZUN to make Touhou
Entirely possible since Xevious inspired about half the Japanese video game industry.
Jeremy parish
I'd like to think I'm the one who convinced him that Xevious was one of the cornerstones of Japanese video game development, but I'm pretty sure it's just a matter of both us doing our research on the game in close proximity.
Othello and Xevious make great donors for superior NROM games, if you still do that sort of thing like I do! Micro Mages anyone?