Zero Gunner 2

GreyFox

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Oct 9, 2014
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I absolutely adore this game on Dreamcast. For those that haven't played it you control a helicopter (from a choice of three) from a sort of top down view and have free movement around the screen. Pressing a button allows you to rotate your chopper to take out enemies and releasing this buttons "locks" you in position. Hard to describe but an outstanding mechanic and simple to use.

Enemy patterns come from all sides but as you can rotate to any angle it isn't a problem. Bosses tend to look like straight forward Heavily Armed Train, enemy helicopter, a big tank etc but they are all hiding a second form.

To me this feels like a game the original asteroids could have evolved into if it had kept getting sequels.

Incredible game and very rarely mentioned. Any other fans out there?
 

FilthyRear

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Dreamcast, you say?

Never heard. I'll have to check that out.

Thanks for the heads up.
 

suicidekiller

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Realy great game by one of my favorite developers (Psikyo). It's definitely one of their harder games and you'll need a good amount of tactic to beat those later levels. There is a replay of a 2-ALL loop on the disc btw. from which you can learn a lot. Noteworthy is the DC port was JP-only. And it fetches a pretty penny nowadays too (about $180).

I would realy like to try out Zero Gunner 1 but it never received a home port. And the arcade version runs on 31kHz only. Shouldn't be easy to get it to work without a cab then unfortunately.
 

Kid Panda

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Zero gunner is actually a model 2 game and runs at 24 kHz, it's decent, but 2 is mos def the better of the two.
 

Electric Grave

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One of those good games that never got re-released and I wish it did, like Ikaruga, that was a decent release on all formats.
 

neo_mao

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easily my fav of the dreamcast shmups
 

skate323k137

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I like ZG2 for casual co-op play. It's a good shmup to play with people who like shmups but aren't that good at them.

Not to hate on it; it's a great game, just that's when I usually play it.
 

Jeneki

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Zero Gunner 2 is a Naomi game, so it runs perfectly on the Dreamcast.

The most important thing to know is that if you stop shooting, you suck in any items on the screen. Special attacks wreck face in this game.
 

Ip Man

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one i never got to play because of the price tag.
 

BLEAGH

Haomaru's Blade Shiner
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I love everything Psikyo and Zero Gunner 2 is amazing. Helicopter shmups are the best.

A re-release like Under Defeat got would be awesome for this game. They could give it an updated dual stick control scheme or something.
 

Electric Grave

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woooooo...dual stick!!!!!

Edit: I can see that mechanic working well for the turret, hopefully not a straight up twin stick shooter, I dunno, something creative would be cool. Have you played Omega V, that's an awesome twin stick shooter that doesn't feel like a twin stick shooter. Same with Guwange Arrange mode, cool twin stick set up for a shmup.
 
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BLEAGH

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No 360 so I haven't played omega v, looks awesome from a video. I didn't even know dual stick guwange was a thing! I've been missing out.
 

Electric Grave

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You could prolly get a cheap one and just the handful of games for under 100 bucks. Raiden Fighters Aces was also a decent port, there's more too and some of the cave games are region free. Cheap enough too as there seem to be quite a bit of them at least futari platinum edition/greatest hits.
 

oliverclaude

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Helicopters? Twin sticks? No decent port, except on a handheld? Well, it all fits Thunder Blade. The Return to Forever S.S.T. Band soundtrack, the quick 15 minutes of fame length and the harsh, nail-biting, bootcamp difficulty would've been worth another SEGA 2500, including a "Neo Classic" mode, alas we never got one. Let's be thankful for Galaxy Force 2.
 

Tarma

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Zero Gunner 2 > Ikaruga

One of my all time faves, and definitely the best shmup on the DC imo.
 

JohnnyFever

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This is a quality have with a good soundtrack and great graphics. I think they hold up well even by today's standards.
 

Electric Grave

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Helicopters? Twin sticks? No decent port, except on a handheld? Well, it all fits Thunder Blade. The Return to Forever S.S.T. Band soundtrack, the quick 15 minutes of fame length and the harsh, nail-biting, bootcamp difficulty would've been worth another SEGA 2500, including a "Neo Classic" mode, alas we never got one. Let's be thankful for Galaxy Force 2.

Zeo Gunner 2 is not a twin stick game, it would be awesome if they add such a thing to it though.
 

moonwhistle

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I had zero gunner 2 for a long time and never liked it that much. It's got that bullshit psikyo difficulty with giant hitboxes and boss bullet patterns that become unavoidable after a few levels unless you feel like memorising everything. Even the music sucks for the most part. It's been fairly cheap until quite recently, I sold mine last year for £40. If you only decided that you suddenly want it now, where were you for the last 15 years?
 

oliverclaude

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Zeo Gunner 2 is not a twin stick game, it would be awesome if they add such a thing to it though.

At least they did succeed with their pad adaptation. I wish Metal Stoker had tank controls. Such a good game, such a flawed control-concept.
 
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