Finally got to play Tobe! Polystars

awbacon

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I've been looking for Tobe! Polystars for years, and yesterday my pcb was finally delivered from Japan. Since it's a much lesser known shmup, Ifigured I'd leave my thoughts here.

Gameplay wise, it's a vertical shooter that utilizes a horizontal monitor setup. Interestingly there is a real element of depth in the game as far as screen space is concerned, as when you press forward you aren't so much going up on the screen as you are going "into" the game space in certain areas. (your ship becomes smaller)

Challenge wise I played my first game on "medium" difficulty (level 5 of 9 in the menu settings) and on my first play through made it halfway through the second stage before I used my first continue. From there it actually became decently difficult, with some interesting boss patterns and enemies coming in from "behind" the screen that you have to avoid while focusing on what is occurring in front of you on screen. That definitely gave the game a bit of extra challenge and dimension, as you aren't just exclusively focused on what is in front of you at all times.

Game is super colorful with a great soundtrack, and definitely slides right into the "cute-em-up" genre.

I am definitely looking forward to learning the game and getting to a 1CC level of proficiency with it. Once I get a capture device I'll be recording some playthroughs of the game as well, since there is not a ton on youtube that isn't super old.

But I definitely recommend the game if anyone ever comes across it. Not easy at all to find, but worth picking up if you want to check out a lesser known but fun shooter.
 

ForeverSublime

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Thanks for the heads up. News to me. Shots looked a little hard to see, but it certainly looks interesting. Looking forward to checking out the soundtrack (note to self)
 

oliverclaude

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Cool. Thanks for pointing it out. I have that secret love for 2.5D games in general, and STGs in special. Tilted like Silpheed, with the blocky charm of Xevious 3D/G+ or Terra Cresta 3D. Looks great!
 

awbacon

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Cool. Thanks for pointing it out. I have that secret love for 2.5D games in general, and STGs in special. Tilted like Silpheed, with the blocky charm of Xevious 3D/G+ or Terra Cresta 3D. Looks great!

Me too. It’s just something different to break up the norm. I’d been playing Cave stuff and Psyvariar so I was into the change!
 

oliverclaude

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Me too. It’s just something different to break up the norm.

You're my man (and vice versa ;).

Let's have other interesting outings within the blocky 2.5D world:

Brave Blade (Arcade|Raizing|2000)

Terra Diver (Arcade|Raizing|1996)*

Psychic Assassin Taromaru (Saturn|TWI|1997)

G-Darius (Arcade|Taito|1997)

Einhänder (PS1|Square|1997)

R-Type Delta (PS1|Irem|1999)

Radiant Silvergun (Arcade|Treasure|1998)

RayStorm (Arcade|Taito|1996)

RayCrisis (Arcade|Taito|1998)

Trizeal (Arcade|Triangle Service|2004)

Thunder Force V (Saturn|Tecno Soft|1997)

Klonoa (PS1|Namco|1997)

Tomba! (PS1|Whoopee Camp|1997)

Xevious 3D/G (Arcade|Namco|1996)

Terra Cresta 3D (Saturn|Nichibutsu|1997)

AirGrave (PS1|Santos|1996)

Not blocky enough to count, still worth mentioning, because they capture the charm of their blocky predecessors well:

Thunder Force VI (PS2|Sega|2008)

R-Type Final (PS2|Irem|2003)

Border Down (Arcade|G.rev|2003)

...there are many others, though.

Note: I only mentioned 60fps games, a feature I find essential to the 2.5D sub-category. That's the reason, why Strider 2 (Arcade|Capcom|1999) didn't make it for example. One has to set priorities.

* see post No. 9, No. 9, No. 9, ...
 
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Kid Panda

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I beg to differ, Terra Diver/Soukyugurentai doesn't use polygons, that's full on pre-rendered sprite work.
 

awbacon

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I do miss the 2.5D stuff from the PS1 era. I have like half the games on that list haha.

Tomba...I played the shit out of that back in the day. I need to find it again for the collection
 

oliverclaude

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I beg to differ, Terra Diver/Soukyugurentai doesn't use polygons, that's full on pre-rendered sprite work.

Yep, you're right, I was too eager with that one but what about the skyscrapers in the first stage?

I do miss the 2.5D stuff from the PS1 era. I have like half the games on that list haha.

Tomba...I played the shit out of that back in the day. I need to find it again for the collection

Hopefully this will become the next retro shabby chic style for graphics, like the 8- and 16-bit lookalikes. And yeah, the first Tomba! is great, try also The Granstream Saga (PS1|Shade|1997) if you're looking for another action-adventure experience. Clockwork Knight (Saturn|Sega|1994) is cool, too.
 

Kid Panda

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Yep, you're right, I was too eager with that one but what about the skyscrapers in the first stage?

Ok, I will give you that, but the rest is all sprite work, there maybe some other "efx" in areas that are 3d, but very little. ;)
 
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