NOTE: This was a previous Game of the week discussion thread!
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A new Game of the Week today! Alpha Mission seemed to be one of the most popular, so its this GotW. ^^;
Unfortunately, I've never played it, so let's hear what you guys have to say...
Alpha Mission 2: Last Guardian
Players: 2 Genre: Shmup Size: 47 Megs Released on: AES, MVS, Neo CD
Brief Description:
Alpha Mission 2: Last Guardian is a vertically scrolling full screen shoot 'em up released by SNK in 1991. The game has only 2 or 3 buttons used depending on the selected shuttle mode. Pull the joystick to manuever the shuttle. The first shuttle mode enables you to fire missiles and laser shots simultaneously with Button A, but in the alternate mode press Button A for laser shot and Button B for missile shot. Laser shots are used for air-to-air attacks and Missiles are used for air-to-ground attacks. When a drone is shot, power ups can be collected: S for Speed, L for Laser shots, M for Missile shots and G for credits. Credits are useful for purchasing weapons in between stages. The power ups are changed by shooting them. When Laser shots and Missiles are maxed, they are more widespread and combined in power.
The core ideas behind the game are great, I loved the morphing craft and all of the different weapons but really the game isn't that entertaining to play, a bit too linear for me. Yes I did own this btw
Ive always though this looked like a Megadrive game and have not played it much as it just does not seem very exciting. I know this game has its fans so I will endeavor to play it again, it very much reminds me of Tatsujin/Truxton which I suspect is a superior game.
This game certainly beats its prequel and it certainly has a better gameplay than the old PC space shooters I played through like "Major Stryker", "Overkill", "Xenon", "Xenon 2" and "Star Defender". Alpha Mission 2 however isn't quite up to date with the shooters with fancy features like "Gunbird", "Gunbird 2" and "Strikers 1945". Unlike most shooters, bullets don't destroy everything in their path in a ridiculous fashion, but the laser bullets for air targets and the missiles for ground targets is absolutely effective.
The game certainly has some atmosphere especially Stages 2, 3, 5 and 6. The Super Weapons I like to use are "Fire", "Blackhole", "Phoenix" and "Homing Missile". Even I like the way the ship morphs when the weapons are fixing on it.
I can see what you mean by saying this game doesn't look Neo-Geo. True its graphical features seem to resemble not only Megadrive graphics, but perhaps also Amiga and PC Dos graphics. The Music reminds of the Adlib tunes DOS games commonly have.
Edited by Will on 11. October 2009 17:59
i enjoyed Alpha Mission 2, i used to have it for NGCD. my only real sort of complaint is being able to shoot the power ups you can collect. sometimes you'll shoot it accidentally or shoot it and end up missing the power up you wanted because you keep shooting to cycle through and find the one you want.
I recently started trying every NG game from A to Z as an experiment to see what hidden gems I don't know about yet. I've been writing down quick notes about each game because I was thinking of starting a thread and encouraging others to try them all as well. Anyway, here's what I wrote about AMII:
"Alpha Mission II - Probably not bad for it's time, but it really shows it's age."
It really does look like an old DOS game. I'm sure it was enjoyable when it came out, but now I feel like I'm wasting my time playing it when there are so many good shooters out there that I haven't played. It also doesn't seem to compare well to other NG games that were out around the same time such as Blue's Journey.
Edited by reelmojo on 12. October 2009 17:08
Will wrote:
but the laser bullets for air targets and the missiles for ground targets is absolutely effective.
Ah is that how it works? What a spasticated system... curse me for getting a japanese neo geo and not knowing this sooner
HMMM...
I'm guessing this is the same kinda system as used by the Xevious series & the Dragon Spirit series on PCE etc? But sadly, having not played ASOII, I'm unsure...
STE C stated plain, actual hard facts on 26.11.11... "SF4 & MVC3 can go s*ck my knob because KOF (XIII) is king... again"
HMMM...
I'm guessing this is the same kinda system as used by the Xevious series & the Dragon Spirit series on PCE etc? But sadly, having not played ASOII, I'm unsure...
Alpha Mission II is a decent shooter but I just feel it lacks any special qualities to really keep me engaged. Also graphically it's rather uninspiring and just doesn't look like a Neo Geo game. A much better example of an early Neo Geo shoot 'em up is Ghost Pilots which has nicer graphics and is more enjoyable too IMO. I will be giving Alpha Mission II another go though seeing as it's gotw.
Edited by merlin on 12. October 2009 21:48
I just have to chime in and say that I disagree with almost everyone who posted - ASO II is a great shmup, better than Ghost Pilots (sorry Merlin) and Zed Blade at any rate.
The first time I played it, I must say I hated it . The powerup system was very annoying, the separation between flying and ground target (ala Xevious) was kind of a throw-off, and the armor system seemed overcomplicated.
However I stuck with it and discovered the diamond under the rough. The armor system open up a whole lot of fun possibilities and is actually pretty clever. The music is very atmospheric and the graphics aren't bad at all, though the bosses could use some more animation.
Hi glowsquid welcome to the site. You can always introduce yourself if you want in the arrivals and departures section of the forum and tell us a bit about yourself. Good to see you taking part in the high score challenges.
I will give this game another go this week and try and keep an open mind. I guess it's partly the graphics that are putting me off. Even for an early Neo title I would have expected them to be a bit better.
Well Glowsquid, you make the game seem much deeper than I originally thought based on my first impression. And since you hated it at first too, I've decided to give it another shot.
Oh, and the old DOS style graphics don't bother me so much. They actually give the game a bit of a nostalgic feel for me since in 1991 I was playing DOS games a lot. I sure as hell didn't have access to a Neo Geo at the time!
It does look like it plays like those shooter like Will says. I think that may be a good thing though, cos they are a differnet kind of shooter and I have a lot of nostalgia for them. I am looking forward to playing this!!
"There's a guy on Geometry Wars. I can't remember his Gamertag, but his score is far above anyone else in the world, and it makes me think this person doesn't have a life, doesn't work, and is completely and sickly addicted to this one game."
reelmojo wrote:
Well Glowsquid, you make the game seem much deeper than I originally thought based on my first impression. And since you hated it at first too, I've decided to give it another shot.
Oh, and the old DOS style graphics don't bother me so much. They actually give the game a bit of a nostalgic feel for me since in 1991 I was playing DOS games a lot. I sure as hell didn't have access to a Neo Geo at the time!
My parents couldn't afford to buy me more than a couple of NES or Game Boy games a year back then, wonder what they would have reckoned if I'd have put a Neo Geo AES on the 'Santa list'
Glowsquid wrote:
I just have to chime in and say that I disagree with almost everyone who posted - ASO II is a great shmup, better than Ghost Pilots (sorry Merlin) and Zed Blade at any rate.
The first time I played it, I must say I hated it . The powerup system was very annoying, the separation between flying and ground target (ala Xevious) was kind of a throw-off, and the armor system seemed overcomplicated.
However I stuck with it and discovered the diamond under the rough. The armor system open up a whole lot of fun possibilities and is actually pretty clever. The music is very atmospheric and the graphics aren't bad at all, though the bosses could use some more animation.
I played this again just for this discussion.
While I don't disagree with you per se, I just feel like my time is better spent on a different game. I also find myself humming Thunderforce 3 music on the subway at random.
ASO II isn't really comparable to any other Neo Geo shmups (Or any other arcade shmup for that matter). If the game discussed was, say, Arrow Flash or Whip Rush, I'd understand the comparison with other shooters more.
The one fatal weakness of ASO II is that the power-up system and the meaning of the icons isn't explained anywhere in the actual game. The game only really "clicked" with me when I found this neat table explaining the power-ups.
"There's a guy on Geometry Wars. I can't remember his Gamertag, but his score is far above anyone else in the world, and it makes me think this person doesn't have a life, doesn't work, and is completely and sickly addicted to this one game."
A while ago, NeoTurfMasta gifted a bunch of protos he had to the community, one of which was Alpha Mission 2. It was added to MAME shortly after.
I couldn't find any footage of the Alpha Mission 2 proto, or even much information beyond the NG.com thread so I recorded a video of it.
YouTube Video
The differences are (quoting the description)
Mechanics:
*The player ship has a vastly lower firerate and a bigger hitbox.
*The K item is a ship pickup (obtained by shooting the purple, negative ship powerups) instead of a ground item.
*The Warp and Reverse items don't work.
*The C/skull head powerdown is more dangerous. In the final build, it simply remove whatever armor you have currently equipped while here, it depowers you down completely AND remove all armors in your stock.
Assets:
*The stage 1, boss and first half of stage 2 themes are completely different and do not appear in the final build.
*Most enemies have different coloring and lacks minor details, with some (such as the second Stage 1 midboss) diverging more from the final build.
*The Shop screen background is completely different
I noticed more level design and enemy behaviour differences but I figured noting all would make the description too tl;dr. If anyone is interested about them, I can add them to the description.
(woah, the very first thread I posted in here. Ca ne me rajeunit pas...)
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I didn;t realise you were new, haha - must have been a bit dozy yesterday. I like all these new members! I hope you stick around 