So yeah, I enjoyed some Sagaia. Played up to one of the 4th levels with a few continues and it's good stuff. Was getting pretty tricky by then too.
Then played through the first couple of levels of Gynoug. After playing all these other shooters this week the difference is immediately obvious. It looks better, sounds better, controls better and everything is just completely clear. The underwater part in the second level is a bit of a lull, because it doesn't add any more interesting effects or enemies like a lot of stages do, but otherwise pretty much perfect. In other games I struggle to dodge through a handful of bullets. Here I can pick my way through a screen full with precision. It's great.
Forgot how tough Gynoug got after the first couple of levels. Took a few restarts to get through level 3 (using save states at the beginning of each level), and a few more to get to the 4th boss. It doesn't seem unfair though - except maybe it's a bit stingy with the extra lives.
I dabbled this evening. Played Wings of Wor until I accidentally added a save state after a reset, then Biohazard Battle, on to Gadget Twins and finished up with Sol Deace.
I've wanted to play Gadget Twins since I saw a positive review in Sega Pro, but it's poor. I was hoping for a two player Super Fantasy Zone, but the bosses take an age to destroy, it all feels a bit flimsy and changing the direction of the attack is cumbersome.
Biohazard was fine, but nothing special aside from the co-op.
Sol Deace was solid, if a little slow. There's probably a good game here. I didn't know it existed until I was going through my ROM list, played the MCD sequel (I think?) briefly a few years ago. Typical Wolfteam clapclap music too.
Booted up Super Fantasy Zone - old school on the actual hardware. It doesn't suffer fools (i.e. me). It looks glorious - so nice to see the Megadrive show some bright colours.
There isn't that much to it - Super adds in more power ups in the shop and a few ideas such as purchasable headlights for an underground level. The presentation and charm elevates it.
I prefer the original game's music but it's selectable via a keypress sequence - you can also play it in the sound test.
Have you played Fantasy Zone 2 on the Master System, Davy? It actually does add a bit more depth to the formula, with multiple parts to each stage that you can warp between and shops (and secret shops) that stay put. I always found the MD game to be a step back from that, despite obviously looking much better.
Had a quick go of Steel Empire at the weekend, which I wasn't that taken with. I'd somehow mistaken it for a bit of a looker from screenshots, which it isn't. Not a bad game, but I'd had enough after two stages.
Sub Terrania is my shout for the best shooter on Megadrive, not that it quite fits the brief as I'm assuming we're only doing the forced scrolling ones. It was near-perfect in 1993 imo.
I'll play a Thunderforce this evening, see what all the fuss is about (not that there's been much fuss in here, it doesn't sound like it's aged as well as some).
I have been totally slack with this so huge apologies. The good news is that I am away next week with work so I should be able to revisit a lot of the games I missed either on the plane or most evenings (depending on socialising).
So have recently been playing Windjammers after Eurogamer recently reviewed it for PSN, it's basically a Data East Frisbee update of Pong for the Neogeo with great chatacterisation, graphics and a decent two player mode. It's pretty arcady (only two buttons) so should be one you can dip in and out of but there's enough tactical nuance to take the game further if you want to!
MAME's a no go on my old computer. Used to work until I upgraded to Windows 7, then I guess there's some driver or something related to graphics that didn't update and I can't run a lot of stuff.
PS4's an option, but it's not like I actually want to buy it.
It's might be on my Raspberry Pi somewhere, or I might be able to 'sideload it' or whatever the thing is with the laptop command prompts. I was paying attention retrok, honest.