Who rates these obscure shooters??.

Neo Gold · Sep 22, 2005

Hey some help here guys & gals would be appreciated....these two titles for the jap saturn.....Skull fang & Metal black?....are they any good?...these seem to be not mentioned much in the great saturn shoot-em-ups.....i have all the well known shooters...ie battle garegga, radiant, sokugurentia, donpachi etc....but these two seem to get little if any mention?...also who rates 'In the hunt'?... (i loved the arcade version!).
THANKS!!

ForeverSublime · Sep 22, 2005

If you want to save yourself some cash on Metal Black, it's on one of the Taito memories compilation disks for the PS2.

zhulien · Sep 23, 2005

NEO GOLD said:
Hey some help here guys & gals would be appreciated....these two titles for the jap saturn.....Skull fang & Metal black?....are they any good?...these seem to be not mentioned much in the great saturn shoot-em-ups.....i have all the well known shooters...ie battle garegga, radiant, sokugurentia, donpachi etc....but these two seem to get little if any mention?...also who rates 'In the hunt'?... (i loved the arcade version!).
THANKS!!

I'd rate Metal Black 5/10. I haven't seen Skull Fang. Metal Black is a borderline crappy side scroller. DoDonPachi rules in my place, I can't quite get into Radiant Silvergun. Ikaruga is fun though.

LoneSage · Sep 23, 2005

zhul, why

I really like Metal Black, I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10. Coming from Taito, it's no surprise this game has some badass music (Zuntata strikes again) and animalistic bosses. It's a great game and get it anyway you can...loads of replayability.

Skull Fang is absolute shit, it may have an interesting idea (go faster/slower with the bosses) but it doesn't work out well. If you're really interested in seeing what it's like, I would not pay a penny over $20 shipped for a complete Skull Fang. And even at $20, you might feel ripped.

I have not played Saturn In the Hunt, thought I love my PS1 In the Hunt. Many people agree the Saturn port is shit compared to the PS1 port, so that's pretty much why I haven't bought it. In the Hunt man, love it.

jp. · Sep 23, 2005

Metal Black would get an 8/10 from me (note: I've actually 1CC'd it).

The stupid difficulty is fun, and the music rocks. The gameplay is also pretty cool.

Skull Fang would get around a 6.5. Really mediocre in every aspect except it does have some neat gameplay mechanics.

In the Hunt would get a 5.2... the Saturn port is really shoddy and its just a boring game all around.

subcons · Sep 24, 2005

The PS1 port of In The Hunt is much better. Slowdown is horrendous on the Saturn port making it not even worth owning.

Neo Gold · Sep 24, 2005

Well...many thanks for the info there guys...i wouldn't have thought the ps1 vers of 'in the hunt' was going to be better than the saturn version!!!...obviously down to some shoddy programming i must say!!....
Btw...metal black it is then...bye bye skull-fang.
How about Prikura daisakusen ?...& Cotton 2 ??.

moonwhistle · Sep 24, 2005

I like Metal Black alot too, it's definately one of the better sidescrolling shooters on the Saturn. As mentioned the music is excellent and the game plays well too with just one weapon which can powered up and a smart bomb too. Less it definately more when it comes to some shooters. The difficulty is pitched nicely until the later levels where it gets just plain stupid. The way you reflect the bosses' bombs with your own is a cool feature.

Skull Fang is utterly mediocre at best. The graphics are absolutely horrible and the gameplay is so so. The prequel, Vapor Trail on the Megadrive is alot better in all departments, even visually. Not one I'd recommend.

I was just playing Prikura Daisakusen today, it's ok I guess but not worth the price it commands.

ord1000 · Sep 25, 2005

Yep, I really like Metal Black too. It's a great horizontal scroller, and the spiritual sequal to Gun Frontier, which is also utterly great!

LoneSage · Sep 25, 2005

ord1000 said:
It's a great horizontal scroller, and the spiritual sequal to Gun Frontier, which is also utterly great!

I always thought it was weird how it says Project Gun Frontier 2 at the beginning of the intro, and yet it has absolutely NOTHING to do with GF; MB is vertical, spacey, and just..nothing like GF. Closest it is are the graphical CPU it runs on.

ForeverSublime · Sep 25, 2005

LoneSage said:
I always thought it was weird how it says Project Gun Frontier 2 at the beginning of the intro, and yet it has absolutely NOTHING to do with GF; MB is vertical, spacey, and just..nothing like GF. Closest it is are the graphical CPU it runs on.

I always find it weird how people never bring up storylines in games when talking about sequals.

:spock:

moonwhistle · Sep 26, 2005

ForeverSublime said:
I always find it weird how people never bring up storylines in games when talking about sequals.

Shooters aren't exactly known for their storylines, especially as most are Japanese anyway.

AppleiDog · Feb 3, 2006

Ive got in the hunt for psone and had it for saturn that game is very fun imo i think that it is a bit slow but still the game is solid.

Btw i cant really notice the slowdowns on the saturn versions also you can blow up the ice bergs on the saturn version

ResO · Feb 4, 2006

Metal Black is oldschool, but very cool. The gameplay isn't super fast, but the difficulty and scoring tactics are there.

Jack Burton · Feb 5, 2006

So the slowdown for In the Hunt is worse for ps1?? I have it for ps1 and find the slowdown really bad. I find this along with minimal animation frames makes it tough to play. I can play metal slug 2 because it has many more frames of animation. I guess the people who said In the Hunt was better for saturn were wrong. Too bad. I was looking forward to picking it up with (hopefully) less slowdown.

Weevus · Feb 5, 2006

I'll admit that I'm a In the Hunt fan. :emb:

Irem rules in my book. Anybody ever play the unoficial prequel Sqoon on NES? It's nothing great, but not bad either.

kitkit.com · Feb 12, 2006

Metal Black is a good old school shooter. I really like In the Hunt, but the Sega Saturn port is only so so.

The gameplay of Skull Fung is so so, but I like its atmosphere and music.

BIG · Feb 12, 2006

Metal Black is the Salvador Dali of shooters.

I'd buy it just for the Zuntata tracks alone.

B-

Who rates these obscure shooters??.

Neo Gold

(no need to shout), Because Rot is Watching YOU!

ForeverSublime

6400|!!|Kyo Clone

zhulien

Krauser's Shoe Shiner

LoneSage

A Broken Man

jp.

Angel's Love Slave

subcons

I take no official position on the issue.,

Neo Gold

(no need to shout), Because Rot is Watching YOU!

moonwhistle

Tung's Hair Stylist

ord1000

Crazed MVS Addict

LoneSage

A Broken Man

ForeverSublime

6400|!!|Kyo Clone

moonwhistle

Tung's Hair Stylist

AppleiDog

Shamrock Chatster

ResO

water damaged

Jack Burton

Loyal Neo-Disciple

Weevus

15 year old,

kitkit.com

Ace Ghost Pilot

BIG

sony fanboy