Just a heads up: our chief concern (bullet and hazard visibility) in Razion EX is getting a patch before launch. Look at us, effecting positive change.
"You can't pilot a star fighter without your space thong" see, Ser gets it! I must admit, I'm an absolute sucker for the low-res prerendered sprite look. It really is unexpected for a game on modern platforms to be released physically before it gets a digital release, but I'm glad it's available on both now. And kudos to them for doing more print runs of the physical version! I am so fed up with scalpers making collecting games of any sort absolutely miserable, I hope this game collecting bubble bursts soon
Have the physical for this and gunlord x by ngdevs... favorite physicals in my collection for the artwork alone. Awesome shooters too, and look amazing handheld
Day one for me - so glad it comes digitally now. Can't wait until next week. Thanks for the great review. Maybe they'll patch the visibility issue like the Cotton Reboot devs did.
Looking forward to buying this! I was confused because they (NGDev) said it wasn't going digital. I'll buy the digital but, I'm still looking to buy a reprint of the physical copy.
so hyped for this. i didnt know it was coming until the other day. Loved Gun Lord X. was really hoping for more ngdev stuff. one of the few games i have bothered to pre-purchase
Great review, I enjoyed this one but I agree the game could have used hi resolution renders! Ed I noticed you didn't mention the option to switch to full 16 by 9 though I am not sure if it's just being stretched! I wonder if future reprints will include that small patch though I believe that patch just fixed a minor graphical bug!
WHAT?!?!?! I thought you were going to be taunting us with how amazing the physical release is kind of like Junkie's review...but it's coming to the eShop so the rest of us can check it out. I appreciate you comments about the hype and your (as always) thoughtful and in depth review. Keep being awesome!
Is it alright to say that I am more interested in the high quality physical art material than the game itself? It has this fusion of retro anime charm with modern art quality and detail.
@@StudioMudprints I know right! I truly like shooters, but that precious art just speaks to me. The cart would be a bonus. I would have bought the limited edition in a heartbeat if I had known.
Think I will stick with Mushihimesama and Espgaluda II. In case you are unaware the physcal release of Mushihimesama is on Limited Run Games both standard and collector editions.
Thinking about buying this game. I wonder if NGDev acquired assets from Hucast; a lot of the level design (literally), effects, and enemies are taken from Dux. Maybe the same people are involved?
Oh Hell yes! Once again, my fave shmup destination gets it right. This is a game that reminds me of what got me so addicted to this genre in the first place. It actually seems right at home with my Einhander's, Radiant Silvergun's, & various Cave, & Irem release's. To damn bad I wont be picking it up even if it was free though.
Ummm. . . 2 things I guess? First is how much this " literally" life saving genre means to me (stroke survivor / doctors orders lol ) & second is self respect.@@finnmarr-heenan2397
Where did I say I was happy it got ported to Switch? If anything, I would have more respect for them if they stuck with thier original lie, they simply arent able to have it available for digital, cause physical scarcity with its built in scalper support, is what brings in the big bucks. Now, they "somehow" found a way to create a digital version & all is well, after giving first dibs to people who make fun of the genre, AND the people who still love & support it? Gimme a fucking break Jack! Hope this clears things up a bit for you Sir.@@jackburton2680
@@ronniepatterson2827 i have zero context for what your saying. why would your self respect be on the line? im not confronting you i just wanted you to elaborate
Lol my first reaction to footage of this game was: wait, did they just make dux AGAIN? :') Thanks for the informative review! Game seems rather mediocre if it wasnt for the stellar presentation. Your end verdict was still more positive than I expected though. Might get it on a sale OR if I can manage to grab a re-issued physical copy. But even then id probably rather buy any of the other upcoming shmuptitles on switch. It just seems a bit pricey considering ngdev shmups are usualy as bare bones an affair as they come(as in, few stages, no truly different ships, no unlockables, no extras,) which doesnt mean its bad, but when pretty much all other smhups offer more for less money nowadays it doesnt come off as a great deal.
Yeah, it's above average and "worth playing" tier because of the scoring system which is pretty fun. It didn't quite make it to "highly recommend" though, with a "good" value rather than "great" or "excellent" on our new non-numeric scales as it's very basic all around.
It was a Neo Geo game before it was anything else, so that obviously tracks. I think the whole 24-bit angle was highly dubious, though, I believe the Neo-Geo was indeed still a 16-bit system at its core (similar to how the PC Engine/TG16 are actually 8-Bit,) albeit a very beefy, very powerful one.
Who in the hell is giving your two dislikes already. That's a little absurd. I love the overall message of this video = fuck scalpers. You take the money away from these titles then you take away the power these scalpers have. At least the game is available digitally so even if people have a hard time getting access to this title from a physical point of view, the digital version will always be available especially for those that want to play the game myself included.
Yep same here. This looks like my dream game, but what these anti consumer EA wannabes did,by letting scalpers have it before shmup fans, "for hype?" is where I draw the line. They can say they were broke, & digital games always sells much less than physical, or whatever bullshit spin they want, I happen to know better. How I feel about shmup sites ignoring, or glossing over thier anti consumer practices, in exchange for free codes, or future content perks, is just mind boggling - to say the least.@@blossom357
@@ronniepatterson2827 It's left a bad taste in my mouth, too. Everyone's like "well, it's out digitally *now*, so the past is forgiven." I don't get it.
Yep. Heck, I was thinking this genre being so niche these days, I wouldnt be dealing with anti consumer greed like the vast majority of todays gamers have to deal with, but nope, same greedy devs, same support by journalist. Rince & repeat. @@blossom357
Today is the 16th of September which is the day Razion EX should release via eShop, but for whatever reason, no purchase option is present! Do have to wait until a specific time for the game to actually launch, or is the game retail only? Should I just wait until tomorrow to buy the game? *Please help!*
@@StudioMudprints Just got it day one! You know I was originally trying to save up for Cruis'n Blast, but when I learned that NG DEV was finally releasing this game on eShop, *I needed to get it!* I was kinda certain it was going to be a limited release by which point I had to ensure I didn't miss my chance to play the game. The first time I even came across this, I was amazed by the CGI- style graphics, usually to trick you into thinking they were 3D graphics when it really aren't. Because of this, you could swear you were playing a some 2.5D laser disc arcade game. This was something that I thought could get me back into playing shoot-'em-ups at which point I wanted to get Razion EX...only to learn it was a limited release that already sold out long ago. Worse, is that NGDEV barely had any plans to make it digital at the time...until now. Thinking that was going to be a limited release *again*, I wanted to ensure I didn't miss my chance that time, because even though I had taken a break from the sh'mup genre, that was the one game from that genre that I wanted in my life, and as soon as I got the game, I was ready to kick butt.
Ahh! Razion. I remember now. Just another rehash of Hucast's Dux. The latter and its numerous revisions have left me with a bad impression. An informative review tho.
I cannot blame scalpers for this one. I blame the developers. I am very glad to see they changed their minds though. It is hard to support developers who do not make it easy to buy their products. 4 more days, I cannot wait.
Our mushi livestream caught Livewire's attention, allegedly. We're in the middle of a review for Espgaluda II right now, which is prefaced by Mushihimesama as well.
I think it's a *bit* overpriced for the market it's entering on switch. Gunlord was $10 and I think Fast Striker on PSN was also $10. Razion is going to be twice the cost. At that price, it's the same cost as Mushihimesama, Espgaluda II, Gradius Arcade Collection, and $5 more than R-Type Dimensions. It's more expensive than the hamster neo-geo ports of games that probably inspired it. It's also the same price as Crimzon Clover, Rolling Gunner and it's twice the price of Danmaku Unlimited 3. Fast Striker is a fun game, but I wouldn't buy that one either if it was $20. It feels a little weird too how NGdev were so adamant razeon wouldn't be digital, then now it's suddenly digital but the price is higher than their other digital releases. That's leaving aside the whole ethical issue of how ngdev pander to scalpers and use words like "investment" to refer to people buying physical copies of their games. Which just isn't for me and leaves a bad taste.
I think it's a good value, but not great (like the Gradius Collection) or excellent (like mushi) on our recommendation scale. If it was any more, it would stray into iffy or poor value.
The stackup is fine, you guys truly are the best at this & why yall are my faves. The ????? lol comes from what the guy was getting at overall , you seemed to somehow miss, gloss over, or straight up ignore. That being said, I know how things work in the real world, so no biggie : )@@StudioMudprints
Just a heads up: our chief concern (bullet and hazard visibility) in Razion EX is getting a patch before launch. Look at us, effecting positive change.
Great news - can't wait until later today when the e-shop update hits.
Six
"You can't pilot a star fighter without your space thong" see, Ser gets it!
I must admit, I'm an absolute sucker for the low-res prerendered sprite look. It really is unexpected for a game on modern platforms to be released physically before it gets a digital release, but I'm glad it's available on both now. And kudos to them for doing more print runs of the physical version! I am so fed up with scalpers making collecting games of any sort absolutely miserable, I hope this game collecting bubble bursts soon
Have the physical for this and gunlord x by ngdevs... favorite physicals in my collection for the artwork alone. Awesome shooters too, and look amazing handheld
Day one for me - so glad it comes digitally now. Can't wait until next week.
Thanks for the great review.
Maybe they'll patch the visibility issue like the Cotton Reboot devs did.
Looking forward to buying this! I was confused because they (NGDev) said it wasn't going digital. I'll buy the digital but, I'm still looking to buy a reprint of the physical copy.
I just did a crimzon clover preorder, of course I got the one with the thumb drive & ball top 🤣
Heck yeah
so hyped for this. i didnt know it was coming until the other day. Loved Gun Lord X. was really hoping for more ngdev stuff. one of the few games i have bothered to pre-purchase
I'm glad this is FINALLY coming to eShop. I do find it weird the music was sped up from it's original Neo Geo release though.
Sped up? Probably for the better, I'd say!
This is great! I'm stoked they are finally releasing their games fir something other than the AES!
Neo Geo as fuck and I love it.
NGMVSAF
Great review, I enjoyed this one but I agree the game could have used hi resolution renders! Ed I noticed you didn't mention the option to switch to full 16 by 9 though I am not sure if it's just being stretched! I wonder if future reprints will include that small patch though I believe that patch just fixed a minor graphical bug!
Sweet, thanks for covering this.
WHAT?!?!?! I thought you were going to be taunting us with how amazing the physical release is kind of like Junkie's review...but it's coming to the eShop so the rest of us can check it out. I appreciate you comments about the hype and your (as always) thoughtful and in depth review. Keep being awesome!
Did you watch Junkies review? He asked everyone to encourage the devs to release it digitally.
I did and he did. Bought my copy of Gunlord X as encouragement.
Can’t wait for this one..🤩❤️🤩
So basically Razion is the Blazing Star to Dux's Pulstar.
I can get behind that.
Is it alright to say that I am more interested in the high quality physical art material than the game itself? It has this fusion of retro anime charm with modern art quality and detail.
That's more than acceptable, though to me - as a game - it should really be the main attraction; it's not a manga, after all =P
@@StudioMudprints I know right!
I truly like shooters, but that precious art just speaks to me. The cart would be a bonus. I would have bought the limited edition in a heartbeat if I had known.
Popped up on my recommended...subbed
That soundtrack is beautiful.
Think I will stick with Mushihimesama and Espgaluda II.
In case you are unaware the physcal release of Mushihimesama is on Limited Run Games both standard and collector editions.
I had no idea!
Can't wait!
Thinking about buying this game. I wonder if NGDev acquired assets from Hucast; a lot of the level design (literally), effects, and enemies are taken from Dux. Maybe the same people are involved?
Rene Hellwig heads up HuCast, and he does a lot of the art for both it and NGDev team
Oh Hell yes! Once again, my fave shmup destination gets it right. This is a game that reminds me of what got me so addicted to this genre in the first place. It actually seems right at home with my Einhander's, Radiant Silvergun's, & various Cave, & Irem release's. To damn bad I wont be picking it up even if it was free though.
Why not?
Ummm. . . 2 things I guess? First is how much this " literally" life saving genre means to me (stroke survivor / doctors orders lol ) & second is self respect.@@finnmarr-heenan2397
@@ronniepatterson2827 Huh? So you love the game, youre happy it got ported to switch, but wont play it cuz you have self-respect??
Where did I say I was happy it got ported to Switch? If anything, I would have more respect for them if they stuck with thier original lie, they simply arent able to have it available for digital, cause physical scarcity with its built in scalper support, is what brings in the big bucks. Now, they "somehow" found a way to create a digital version & all is well, after giving first dibs to people who make fun of the genre, AND the people who still love & support it? Gimme a fucking break Jack! Hope this clears things up a bit for you Sir.@@jackburton2680
@@ronniepatterson2827 i have zero context for what your saying. why would your self respect be on the line? im not confronting you i just wanted you to elaborate
I wish there were a gaming purgatory for scalpers. Make them spend eternity playing the titles they charged 10x for.
Or just regulate and punish them/ban the bots they use
Bought it digitally, but want it physicaly.. waiting 2022 to put my hands on a non scalper box ... Still hoping
Lol my first reaction to footage of this game was: wait, did they just make dux AGAIN? :')
Thanks for the informative review! Game seems rather mediocre if it wasnt for the stellar presentation. Your end verdict was still more positive than I expected though. Might get it on a sale OR if I can manage to grab a re-issued physical copy. But even then id probably rather buy any of the other upcoming shmuptitles on switch. It just seems a bit pricey considering ngdev shmups are usualy as bare bones an affair as they come(as in, few stages, no truly different ships, no unlockables, no extras,) which doesnt mean its bad, but when pretty much all other smhups offer more for less money nowadays it doesnt come off as a great deal.
Yeah, it's above average and "worth playing" tier because of the scoring system which is pretty fun. It didn't quite make it to "highly recommend" though, with a "good" value rather than "great" or "excellent" on our new non-numeric scales as it's very basic all around.
Strange it says 16 bit style in the Switch e-shop when it’s clearly 24 bit style.
It was a Neo Geo game before it was anything else, so that obviously tracks. I think the whole 24-bit angle was highly dubious, though, I believe the Neo-Geo was indeed still a 16-bit system at its core (similar to how the PC Engine/TG16 are actually 8-Bit,) albeit a very beefy, very powerful one.
Who in the hell is giving your two dislikes already. That's a little absurd. I love the overall message of this video = fuck scalpers. You take the money away from these titles then you take away the power these scalpers have. At least the game is available digitally so even if people have a hard time getting access to this title from a physical point of view, the digital version will always be available especially for those that want to play the game myself included.
Two thumbs down is pretty typical for that timeframe.
They created the environment for that scalping to happen by ever thinking physical-only made sense in 2021. So I say fuck em, never buying this.
Yep same here. This looks like my dream game, but what these anti consumer EA wannabes did,by letting scalpers have it before shmup fans, "for hype?" is where I draw the line. They can say they were broke, & digital games always sells much less than physical, or whatever bullshit spin they want, I happen to know better. How I feel about shmup sites ignoring, or glossing over thier anti consumer practices, in exchange for free codes, or future content perks, is just mind boggling - to say the least.@@blossom357
@@ronniepatterson2827 It's left a bad taste in my mouth, too. Everyone's like "well, it's out digitally *now*, so the past is forgiven." I don't get it.
Yep. Heck, I was thinking this genre being so niche these days, I wouldnt be dealing with anti consumer greed like the vast majority of todays gamers have to deal with, but nope, same greedy devs, same support by journalist. Rince & repeat. @@blossom357
Today is the 16th of September which is the day Razion EX should release via eShop, but for whatever reason, no purchase option is present! Do have to wait until a specific time for the game to actually launch, or is the game retail only? Should I just wait until tomorrow to buy the game? *Please help!*
Yes, the eshop updates a little later in the day, around 1pm or so for us in Atlantic Canada. Check back now, it's likely live.
@@StudioMudprints Just got it day one! You know I was originally trying to save up for Cruis'n Blast, but when I learned that NG DEV was finally releasing this game on eShop, *I needed to get it!* I was kinda certain it was going to be a limited release by which point I had to ensure I didn't miss my chance to play the game. The first time I even came across this, I was amazed by the CGI- style graphics, usually to trick you into thinking they were 3D graphics when it really aren't. Because of this, you could swear you were playing a some 2.5D laser disc arcade game. This was something that I thought could get me back into playing shoot-'em-ups at which point I wanted to get Razion EX...only to learn it was a limited release that already sold out long ago. Worse, is that NGDEV barely had any plans to make it digital at the time...until now. Thinking that was going to be a limited release *again*, I wanted to ensure I didn't miss my chance that time, because even though I had taken a break from the sh'mup genre, that was the one game from that genre that I wanted in my life, and as soon as I got the game, I was ready to kick butt.
If it gets a PS4 release, I’ll look into it.
Allegedly, a PS4 version is in the works.
Perfect! I have a sealed physical copy that I don’t want to open. I just stare at it on my shelf. I’ve wanted to play it Sooooo Bad! Now I can!!!!
Yeah!!!!!
Still need to get Last Hope
Ahh! Razion. I remember now. Just another rehash of Hucast's Dux. The latter and its numerous revisions have left me with a bad impression.
An informative review tho.
I'm going to answer some questions on our launch stream next week. Tune in, I asked about this very thing.
@@StudioMudprints Will do. Thank you for the heads up.
So what revision of Dux is this?
The NG-Dev one. But i addressed this with Timm, I have some more insights for our Livestream next week.
I cannot blame scalpers for this one. I blame the developers. I am very glad to see they changed their minds though. It is hard to support developers who do not make it easy to buy their products. 4 more days, I cannot wait.
It's going to be a good time. We'll be doing a launch day stream that night.
@@StudioMudprints that is awesome. I can watch you destroy the game as I struggle with it.
You're placing far too much faith into my skill 😆
Thank you now if we can get MushihimeSama up off the ground eh
Our mushi livestream caught Livewire's attention, allegedly. We're in the middle of a review for Espgaluda II right now, which is prefaced by Mushihimesama as well.
@@StudioMudprints thats is super exciting, i put over 110 hours into Mushi. Very exciting to hear whats going on.
@@StudioMudprints we are also EXCITED for Crimzon Clover World EXplodion coming to the switch by first press games!
Looks based
This game is awesome!
I think it's a *bit* overpriced for the market it's entering on switch. Gunlord was $10 and I think Fast Striker on PSN was also $10. Razion is going to be twice the cost. At that price, it's the same cost as Mushihimesama, Espgaluda II, Gradius Arcade Collection, and $5 more than R-Type Dimensions. It's more expensive than the hamster neo-geo ports of games that probably inspired it. It's also the same price as Crimzon Clover, Rolling Gunner and it's twice the price of Danmaku Unlimited 3. Fast Striker is a fun game, but I wouldn't buy that one either if it was $20. It feels a little weird too how NGdev were so adamant razeon wouldn't be digital, then now it's suddenly digital but the price is higher than their other digital releases.
That's leaving aside the whole ethical issue of how ngdev pander to scalpers and use words like "investment" to refer to people buying physical copies of their games. Which just isn't for me and leaves a bad taste.
I think it's a good value, but not great (like the Gradius Collection) or excellent (like mushi) on our recommendation scale. If it was any more, it would stray into iffy or poor value.
????? lol @@StudioMudprints
Look at the stackup and you'll see what I'm talking about @ronnie patterson
The stackup is fine, you guys truly are the best at this & why yall are my faves. The ????? lol comes from what the guy was getting at overall , you seemed to somehow miss, gloss over, or straight up ignore. That being said, I know how things work in the real world, so no biggie : )@@StudioMudprints