20 Years of PULSTAR

mehguy · Sep 13, 2015

dayum son. its really been that long? I havent really got around to play pulstar. I might as well give it a go!

FinalbossNYC · Sep 13, 2015

Bill Kilgore said:
I would love an MVS copy because on the home versions i will never see the ending. I'm not that big into shooters but i love Blazing Star so much that it has found a permanent spot in my 4-slot.

Nice ! I love hearing what games people never (or rarely) rotate out.

EDIT- should I be scared of how much I'm gonna be seeing Pulstar for on eBay? or Blazing for that matter.

donluca · Sep 13, 2015

Wow, these posts about how the game is hard really make me want to try it out.

As soon as the parts for my custom stick arrives I'll give it a go and see how it goes.

Chempop · Sep 13, 2015

donluca said:
Wow, these posts about how the game is hard really make me want to try it out.

Honestly, almost everyone here is terrible at playing video games.

SuperGun · Sep 13, 2015

Yagyu Jubei said:
Pulstar MVS released 8/28/95
Pulstar AES released 9/29/95

20 Years of Pulstar yo!

Talk about anything you want about Pulstar here in commemoration of the legendary shmup that everyone (still) wants.

My first memory of Pulstar is being so pissed off that I no longer had an AES to play it when it was released.

Damn. Has it really been that long?
I think my memory is getting worse as I get older.

Reason being, I still remember the first time I saw Pulstar. It was in a dedicated NEOGEO 4-slot cab in the lobby at the Kendall 9 Movie Theater in Miami in 1995. I was immediately hooked because of my long history with R-Type. Only the thing is, I am pretty sure the movie I saw that night was Mortal Kombat, but the timing seems too close to be accurate because I looked it up and MK was released on August 18, 1995.

Either way, yes, the game is extremely difficult, but it is so bad ass that it just doesn't really matter.
It really is this simple...if you own a NEOGEO, you MUST have this game!

FinalbossNYC · Sep 14, 2015

SuperGun said:
...if you own a NEOGEO, you MUST have this game!

Damn !

Yagyu Jubei · Sep 14, 2015

SuperGun said:
It really is this simple...if you own a NEOGEO, you MUST have this game!

Yup that sums it up.

I'n my experience, Pulstar on 161 is hit-or-miss. Missing music, some glitches, etc. Maybe it's my cart or MVS converter.
Then I put in my OG MVS cart. Smooth as silk.

Get the real thing, party people.

cat · Sep 14, 2015

FinalbossNYC said:
EDIT- should I be scared of how much I'm gonna be seeing Pulstar for on eBay? or Blazing for that matter.

you're gonna have to drop some serious cash to pick up both these bad boy's, very desirable and sought after games, the best two shooters on the system ???.

Bill Kilgore · Sep 14, 2015

cat said:
you're gonna have to drop some serious cash to pick up both these bad boy's, very desirable and sought after games, the best two shooters on the system ???.

I wasn't aware that Blazing Star is now an expensive game?

Edit: you are right, even the soundtrack is expensive as hell now. I'm glad it came with the cab i bought. I could have sworn i saw this go on the Bay for 70 bucks not so long ago.

cat · Sep 14, 2015

Sorry bill I should have been more specific I meant the AES versions I don't really know what you'd pay for them as MVS carts. You'll be lucky to get pulstar on neo CD for less than £70 on ebay and some peeps are asking double that or more...

SuperGun · Sep 14, 2015

Yagyu Jubei said:
Yup that sums it up.

I'n my experience, Pulstar on 161 is hit-or-miss. Missing music, some glitches, etc. Maybe it's my cart or MVS converter.
Then I put in my OG MVS cart. Smooth as silk.

Get the real thing, party people.

Yes! I absolutely should have specified that point!
To be clear, you gotta have the cartridge! An actual physical neogeo cartridge, not a CD, not a multi cart compilation, not computer emulation, etc. Nothing else plays properly.

I had this argument about 10 years ago with one of my best friends, who was also a huge R-Type & Pulstar fan and who just wanted to play the game properly, but was miffed at how damn expensive it was to do just that. So I put up a quick page for him to see his choices, and man, prices have raised up even higher since then because a home cart will now run you about $900 and an MVS cart will now run you about $300. Long live Pulstar!

EDIT: here's the article I wrote up! Still sits dormant in a sub section of my site:

http://www.neogeoprotos.com/als.htm

captain-graubar · Sep 14, 2015

Playing Pulstar is akin to having sex with whiskey dick. Yeah she looks good but one wrong move and you lose your boner powerup, destined never to finish.

This is a nice one.

FinalbossNYC · Sep 14, 2015

Yagyu Jubei said:
Yup that sums it up.

I'n my experience, Pulstar on 161 is hit-or-miss. Missing music, some glitches, etc. Maybe it's my cart or MVS converter.
Then I put in my OG MVS cart. Smooth as silk.

Get the real thing, party people.

cat said:
you're gonna have to drop some serious cash to pick up both these bad boy's, very desirable and sought after games, the best two shooters on the system ???.

Bill Kilgore said:
I wasn't aware that Blazing Star is now an expensive game?

Edit: you are right, even the soundtrack is expensive as hell now. I'm glad it came with the cab i bought. I could have sworn i saw this go on the Bay for 70 bucks not so long ago.

cat said:
Sorry bill I should have been more specific I meant the AES versions I don't really know what you'd pay for them as MVS carts. You'll be lucky to get pulstar on neo CD for less than £70 on ebay and some peeps are asking double that or more...

SuperGun said:
Yes! I absolutely should have specified that point!
To be clear, you gotta have the cartridge! An actual physical neogeo cartridge, not a CD, not a multi cart compilation, not computer emulation, etc. Nothing else plays properly.

I had this argument about 10 years ago with one of my best friends, who was also a huge R-Type & Pulstar fan and who just wanted to play the game properly, but was miffed at how damn expensive it was to do just that. So I put up a quick page for him to see his choices, and man, prices have raised up even higher since then because a home cart will now run you about $900 and an MVS cart will now run you about $300. Long live Pulstar!

EDIT: here's the article I wrote up! Still sits dormant in a sub section of my site:

http://www.neogeoprotos.com/als.htm

Thanks for the heads up ! I noticed that the 161 Pulstar didn't remind me of the AES copy I used to have.

Yeah I'm looking for MVS these days.
Ill be checking the bay for deals then in the coming months, for now I'm still hunting for copies of Nam and Super Spy, MVS of course.

BBH · Sep 15, 2015

Ahh, Pulstar.

I remember joining the Neo-Geo mailing list around the time that Pulstar was coming out. Looked so good. I remember a GameFan review that was absolutely gushing over the game too. Ended up getting a Neo CD soon after and of course got Pulstar... struggled with it for a while from stage 5 on, making tiny progress here and there... but man did it feel rewarding getting to a new stage.

A few years later I bought an MVS cabinet and eventually picked up a copy of Pulstar and started playing it again. Relearned the game well enough to finally get a one-credit clear on it, which is still the only time I've ever done it. (this image is dated March 19th, 2000)

This thread makes me nostalgic to start playing it again but oh man, it would be an experience having to remember all these things all over again. That's what I hate about these "memorize or die" shmups.

oliverclaude · Sep 15, 2015

BBH said:
Ahh, Pulstar. ...

This thread makes me nostalgic to start playing it again but oh man, it would be an experience having to remember all these things all over again. That's what I hate about these "memorize or die" shmups.

You're a very gifted player, Lord. Talking about scores, here's the best 1-life-clear I've seen to date, done by a friend of mine:

The best european 1-credit-clear achievement comes from our own maestro, Gemant, and was done using the ominous Double K.O. technique. Check out those vids:

1. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2kc53_superplay-pulstar-neo-geo-1-3_videogames

2. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2kc6f_superplay-pulstar-neo-geo-2-3_videogames

3. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2kc6y_superplay-pulstar-neo-geo-3-3_videogames

Gemant's score is the incredible number of 1308770!!!

The official japanese 1cc record however is 6694510. Done using the Double K.O. method multiple times. Dedication to a game made in Japan. Like your great Shock Troopers score, BBH

.

Yagyu Jubei · Sep 15, 2015

Incredible scores, guys! Pulstar Gods!

cat · Sep 15, 2015

Yagyu Jubei said:
Incredible scores, guys! Pulstar Gods!

I'm with you jubei them score's are pretty epic, i know when i'm licked, i can't get past level 5.
Unless i have one of those epiphany, in the zone moments that happen every now and then when i play shooters lol...

Liquid Snake · Sep 15, 2015

It's time for me to dig out Pulstar CD and play it (but I really want a MVS cart). I can hardly pass level 2

Kid Panda · Sep 15, 2015

SuperGun said:
Yes! I absolutely should have specified that point!
To be clear, you gotta have the cartridge! An actual physical neogeo cartridge, not a CD, not a multi cart compilation, not computer emulation, etc. Nothing else plays properly.

I had this argument about 10 years ago with one of my best friends, who was also a huge R-Type & Pulstar fan and who just wanted to play the game properly, but was miffed at how damn expensive it was to do just that. So I put up a quick page for him to see his choices, and man, prices have raised up even higher since then because a home cart will now run you about $900 and an MVS cart will now run you about $300. Long live Pulstar!

EDIT: here's the article I wrote up! Still sits dormant in a sub section of my site:

http://www.neogeoprotos.com/als.htm

900 for a homecart? I got one for 2/3 of that. 300 for an MVS? I paid like 100. It's just silly what this sells for now.

Black_Tiger · Sep 15, 2015

Bitd I played Pulstar every time I found it at an arcade. It was the arcade game I most wanted to see ported to Saturn at the time. Getting to play it at home on real hardware today is literally a dream come true.

Liquid Snake · Sep 15, 2015

Kid Panda said:
900 for a homecart? I got one for 2/3 of that. 300 for an MVS? I paid like 100. It's just silly what this sells for now.

Because you are lucky

jesesfbi · Sep 16, 2015

I'll be honest I've bought pulstar just cuz of the artwork and graphics hahaha. But then I played it and man how much I love it compared to blazing star, I would have to say it's one of my top 5 shmups.
I've been trying to 1CC the entire game so far I can get through to the boss of the second level with only dying once lol.

PSICODROMO · Sep 16, 2015

Nice review this month from the guys of Neogeokult. Pulstar vs. R-Type.

http://www.neogeokult.com/versus-us/pulstar-vs-r-type-us/

Kid Panda · Sep 16, 2015

And for the record, as much as I love Pulstar, R-Type is the better game.

Chempop · Sep 16, 2015

Kid Panda said:
900 for a homecart? I got one for 2/3 of that. 300 for an MVS? I paid like 100. It's just silly what this sells for now.

Panda always jumping in with the ‘I only paid..’ line :lolz:

as if you are completely unaware that video games (neo and shmups in particular) increase in value.

20 Years of PULSTAR

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