New NGDEV Neo-Geo Game: Razion

Samuray said:

According to their FB page, shipping of the LE starts tomorrow. Yay!!!!

Click to expand...

actionking said:

After I posted I read about the three differents ships at shmups.com. So my mistake (sadly I cannot edit my post).
Re the graphical distortion/glitch in the explosion, it is hard to describe, but sometimes I could see something like a "block" in the explosions. If I have the chance later, I try to make a photo of it.

And yes, the "cutscenes / ending" is maybe my biggest complaint. They put a lot of effort in the graphics / sounds, so the missing ending or the simple pictures between the stages feel quite poor compared to the actual game.
I don't need anything fancy, but e.g. the animated scoretables in Fast Striker were kinda cool. Something like this in Razion would be nice.

Click to expand...

I totally agree, NGDevTeam seems to want to cut corners on their games to get them out the door faster, and it's a shame really. If they just spent a little more time on their games, and fleshed them out more like we see in games like DownLoad 2 on the PC Engine, then their games would not only outshine SNK's, but, they would also become more of an instant classic than they are at this point in time. Those rushed intro's, shit cutscenes, and nothing but a picture and some end credits style endings, are easily their biggest downfall, (next to having no Memory Card Support), and I fucking hound them about these facts all the time through my emails to them, and they are getting damn tired of hearing about it from me.

I think more and more people need to email them, and tell them how THEY feel about these corner cutting techniques, and explain to them how much we want to see real actual cutscenes in our games, (yes, even the shooters deserve them), and we want ENDINGS and INTROs! If 8Bit games can outshine the damn Neo-Geo in these areas, then something is OBVIOUSLY wrong here! So, everyone that actually BUYS their games, and PLAYS THEM like I do, need to email them and tell them what your looking for in their games now and looking ahead into the future! If everyone just ignores this shit, things will NEVER change! SNK used to listen very closely to the fans through phone calls, and through letters. They use to add things into the games when we, the fans and customers, would tell them, "Hey, your games are good, but, they lack the following to be GREAT games!), and then give them a list of things you want to see in their games starting right now. SNK made damn sure to listen to us back then, as any good developer would do even now.

Give NGDevTeam your ideas, and make them count. If we all work on doing this, instead of making them believe that all we do is buy their games to "collect", or buy for "future investments", then they just might cave in, and start making better quality games that are, simply put, more fleshed out, and more than just pretty stages and beautiful music. Perhaps they will focus on more than those aforementioned features, and start to understand that the difference between a good game and an incredible game is a fine line, and they walk that line all the time, and they are slipping. Perhaps if they begin to look at their games that are 1,560Megs, and then look at games such as a simple 46Meg "Magician Lord", they will notice the differences we are talking about right away.

Sure, Magician Lord might not have a Stereo CD Quality Soundtrack, with amazing 3D style graphics. But, what Magician Lord does have, among many others of the past on the Neo-Geo, (like Nam-1975, Ninja Combat, and Ninja Commando, just to name a few, but, I am focusing on Magician Lord right now), is an awesome intro, and cool cutscenes with real voice speech, which SNK always boasted about on the Neo-Geo. Magician Lord also had a damn ending that was worth watching, (along with Nam-1975, Ninja Commando, and quite a few others). They might not be the most amazing in the world, but, at least they are there, (sure, Gunlord has a good intro, and even a decent ending, but, this is their only game that really felt finished in that respect). Everything about that simple little Magician Lord, which was a LAUNCH TITLE mind you, has something that made it instantly one of the better games made in 1990. Little minute details such as the rotating score board in the end when you put in your initials, which also had an awesome soundtrack that accompanied it as well, all the way down to stages that took time to beat due to having a feeling of an open environment, nice difficulty setting which made you have the choice of getting used to the game and master it, or get your ass handed to you, (instead of quarter feeding it to beat it on the AES), and it had a feeling of great replayability, and also an amazing feeling of something about the game just being so damn different from so many others...it felt ORIGINAL in just about every fucking way imaginable in 1990. As much as I LOVE my NGDevTeam games, none of them give me THAT feeling when I play them. This is, unfortunately, what is MISSING from their games.

Even the Game Over screen in Ninja Combat, which was another Launch Title, had a distinct feeling of originality, it was interesting to watch as the sign flips around until it pops into place, and is yet again accompanied by a neat little tune that was short enough to end with the sign fade, and even though it was something pretty damn simple, it still clicked and it worked very well. Then we look at the NGDevTeam games, and when you see their Game Over screens, like in Last Hope for example, there is no music at all nor is there any animation, so I complained about it. Then in Last Hope:Pink Bullets they changed the picture from Black and White, to Color, and added a music track. However, they obviously still don't understand how it works, and it's so obvious, as the damn song for that Game Over screen is like 5 minutes long! Who the hell is going to sit there and listen to a Game Over song for 5 minutes, besides me of course? Answer is, not many. This is why we need to tell them what we are looking for, and explain it to them what makes the ideas work, and WHY.

Also, if NGDevTeam would just look at the more simple games to gather ideas from, and understand what makes games amazing, they can easily brush up their techniques, and become masters in the 2d Pixel Art world. Recently, they REALLY thought it was all about just beautiful music and graphics, but, hearing people bitch about the floaty jumping in the first trailer of Kraut Buster gave them a great understanding that there is MORE to it than just great music and beautiful graphics, so they fixed that. If all of us that actually PLAY their games, write to them and don't tell them in a demanding way, but, instead just let them know what we all REALLY REALLY hope to see in their games, this will open their eyes, and within the next few games, we might just see an all new NGDevTeam emerge from the shallow waters that they are swimming in right now, and watch as they jump into the deeper waters and bring us immersive, imaginative, amazing games that bring not just beautiful music and graphics, but EVERYTHING ELSE that we have come to love about our Neo-Geo games of the past and possibly even more in the future!

Oh, and the graphics problems that you see in the explosions are due to sprite flicker. The Neo-Geo has more sprites than any of the time period for 2D games, but, it's not unlimited. That will happen when too many solid sprites overlap each other. This is a good reason SNK began introducing alternate sprite flicker to many of the shadows of characters in games, and even to some bullets in shooter. This is yet another technique that NGDevTeam needs to introduce into their own games, and master to make them flicker less, and possibly defeat some slowdown in the process. Please always remember, SNK didn't start the Neo-Geo with Metal Slug 5, they ended the Neo-Geo with it. NGDevTeam has years of growth ahead of them, and games like Gunlord are amazing proof of this. Give them time, and they may possibly end up being the next Nazca on the Neo-Geo Advanced Entertainment System, and Multi Video System. After all, when the Neo-Geo hardware is being used, The Future Is Now! Always was, always will be, and that is why NGDevTeam makes games for it.

Yes, the intro and ending of NGDevTeam's games still have rooms to improve. They focused too much on the game play and graphic. A great game shall have balance in all aspects.

ckchan said:

Yes, the intro and ending of NGDevTeam's games still have rooms to improve. They focused too much on the game play and graphic. A great game shall have balance in all aspects.

Click to expand...

They need to watch Fatal Fury 3's intro over and over to learn how to do them in Neo style.

So, uh.....has any LE buyer gotten a shipping notice yet? Cuz I haven't

(I'm aware it'll take two weeks to ship all copies, yeah. But I was hoping they wouldn't go about it alphabetically...)

Nope, not yet. But I guess I got in on one of the last orders (12th of November). I'm crossing fingers my copy will come in next week the latest.

Do you receive any automated email/web update when your order gets shipped?

Yes

Samuray said:

So, uh.....has any LE buyer gotten a shipping notice yet? Cuz I haven't

(I'm aware it'll take two weeks to ship all copies, yeah. But I was hoping they wouldn't go about it alphabetically...)

Click to expand...

Got my shipped message today! Can't wait to fire it up!

Got it today and I have to say I'm a bit underwhelmed about the quality I got for 450 Euro.

The insert looks like it hasn't been cut 100% straight, looks handcut.

The manual has mostly japanese language in it even though I got the US version - maybe they only did one for both?

The case closes kinda uneven and the front and back doesn'T seem to 100% align when closed.

meh

The game plays nicely though. No highscore to post though as I suck big time at those damn shooters.

pics?

I asked NG Dev team for my order (last batch from preorders) and they said in a max of 2 weeks these will be shipped.

TikTekTak said:

The manual has mostly japanese language in it even though I got the US version - maybe they only did one for both?

Click to expand...

It is exactly the same with the MVS release. The few papers that are included, are mostly in Japanese, despite I also having bought the US version. It also does not include a mini marquee, which it should being a complete Limited Edition MVS release, but anyway, it seems no NGDev release includes it.

Regards.

xsq said:

pics?

Click to expand...

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/az1mry5s44qlmk0/AAACObw65eXvCWE-mqBP4LcJa?dl=0

There you go. Maybe I was bit strict on the cutting as you only see it when the insert is in the case.

Still would have been nice to get some english story bits in the manual as well. Got some nice mega boobs pics on the other hand (see last two pics).

The uneven closure of the case is still a bit uncomfy for me but maybe that's what DG cases are not always 100% accurate.

Wow, I am only just hearing about this game. Looks like I jumped on this bandwagon a bit too late....

Hmmm....I ordered rather early, I believe, but no shipping notice for me. I too got that "two weeks" estimate when I asked today, so I guess I need to be patient.

The low-quality (?) snapcase is a downer, though....much more so than a handcut insert. I hope I won't notice it too much...

Samuray said:

The low-quality (?) snapcase is a downer, though....much more so than a handcut insert. I hope I won't notice it too much...

Click to expand...

I wouldn't call it low quality it's just that it doesn't close 100% aligned. The build quality is okay and almost like the real deal.

TikTekTak said:

There you go.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Doesn't look that bad to me, as long as the game is solid it wouldn't bother me out of my mind

TikTekTak said:

I wouldn't call it low quality it's just that it doesn't close 100% aligned. The build quality is okay and almost like the real deal.

Click to expand...

Okay, sounds good.
And what counts most is the game itself, of course. Still can't believe that music from the trailers will sound like that on my AES.....can't wait!

Great looking release. I would try to learn how to program for the NEO myself but you need strong programming skills and good pixel artists to make a game worth playing, because of the official SNK games raising the bar too goddamn high. You can kinda get away with some stuff on other platforms but not on the Neo Geo I guess.
Sure most of the graphics were made with 3D rendering tools but you actually have to know what you're doing to make it look right. Definitely not beginner stuff.

TikTekTak said:

Got it today and I have to say I'm a bit underwhelmed about the quality I got for 450 Euro.

The manual has mostly japanese language in it even though I got the US version - maybe they only did one for both?

Click to expand...

This is one of my biggest complaints as well about my US AES cart. I posted a ton of pics on my FB page, and when I got to the god damn manual, I was like okay, what the fuck is this? I own the US AES cart, and the manual is 95% Japanese. If I wanted the manual to be in Japanese, I would have bought the Japanese version! Biggest fuckup EVER for this release. Otherwise I think they did a decent job. The cart sticker is nice, the cart is mint, the snaplock is mint, I have no other real complaints except still no damn memory card support. I feel like the NGDevTeam wants to make good Neo games, but god dammit they lack in certain areas, and are WAY to hard headed about fixing those areas, despite demand from their very own customers that support them and love their work. All I ever ask for really, is a sound and music test menu, and options/configuration menu, and memory card support. They act as it I am asking them to make Metal Slug 3 for christ sakes. :P

Anway, the game is great no doubt, it just needs so badly shit like: Power ups, Speed Ups, different weapons, Stages that dont just move in the same direction at the same speed, with very little deviation in how the game feels, and holy shit, the in between stages screen shot is pure shit. No other complaints. This game does need a sequel though, one that gives us everything this game fucking lacked. I would, however, prefer a beat em up like Burning Fight/Final Fight, or a really neat game like Diablo. But, I guess the Neo-Geo ever getting another beat em up or ever getting an RPG besides the JPN only SamSpirits RPG is a dream that is just never going to happen..

I wish to god I could help someone make a Neo-Geo game a actually be a PART of the process in creating one, just to make sure no corners are cut, and actually see how amazing I can help make one be, but, I guess that will never happen either.

Fakk2 said:

Anway, the game is great no doubt, it just needs so badly shit like: Power ups, Speed Ups, different weapons, Stages that dont just move in the same direction at the same speed, with very little deviation in how the game feels, and holy shit, the in between stages screen shot is pure shit. No other complaints. This game does need a sequel though, one that gives us everything this game fucking lacked. I would, however, prefer a beat em up like Burning Fight/Final Fight, or a really neat game like Diablo. But, I guess the Neo-Geo ever getting another beat em up or ever getting an RPG besides the JPN only SamSpirits RPG is a dream that is just never going to happen.

Click to expand...

+1
This game needs a secuel including all what its currently missing, if it just had a few items like Last Hope that would have made the game even more amazing. Memory card support is a must, 4 credits only makes it an unbeatable game.
I cannot understand a game like this one without extra power ups, speeds and weapons, anyway maybe this is a part they decided on the design to make it "feel" different than other ones already released.
Happy with my purchase so far, just wished it had a couple of extras and fine touch on certain aspects that would have made it an impressive game.

...or a really neat game like Diablo...

Click to expand...

Are you actually wishing that a dev who can barely put a half decent shmup together should instead be working on dungeon crawlers?

You might be on to something

the grafix in the game are awesome. The scrolling of the background and the huge size of obstacles are crazy and I guess its hard to find something equivalent on this system. But I must also agree that I really missed some power ups or different kind of bullets or any kind of variety when playing. And besides that: I don´t care about the manual if its US or Jap, its still completely useless in this game.