20 Years of PULSTAR

[Gummy Bear]

I keep forgetting about the NGdev games, and although i haven't played any of them you may very well be right gummy, the game certainly look's sweet on the youtube vids i've seen of it.

It's a thing of beauty, man.
Not the best shooter, but definitely pretty.

 

[RabbitTroop]

Twenty years later, and I'd rather be playing Hellfire.

 

[oliverclaude]

Twenty years later, and I'd rather be playing Hellfire.

Let me guess... unfixed re-spawn points & more power-ups throughout the game in Hellfire. On the other side Pulstar, where extends & continues work merely on a rhetorical basis. Got to see it as a statement against continue abuse .

 

[Fakk2]

R-Type is hands down one of, if not my absolute favorite shooter made back in the 80s by IREM. Then I bought R-Type on TG16, and I LOVED it even more, mainly due to owning at home. Then Super R-Type on SNES... holy shit, I loved it soooo much! When SNK sent me a FanClub Newsletter in '95 that featured PULSTAR on the front cover, and they talked about it in full for several paragraphs about the game being the "New Powerhouse Shooter on the Neo-Geo", I nearly died from excitement! I called them on the phone and quickly asked for the sales rep so I could order the game, and I wanted to die when they told me that they could not procure it for the American market on AES. They politely told me to try to get the JPN version on AES, or wait for the CD version, as they were definitely getting that asap here in America, and they knew that I owned the Neo CD at that time, and even though I begged them to try to get the AES cart in America, they just seemed to think that it was not a big deal, as there were "plenty" of Japanese carts available, and they gave me several numbers to call for stores that could get it here in California, even if they were second hand.

When I finally got the CD version of the game in '95, I was BLOWN AWAY at the graphics, the music, the sound, I was just in awe over that game, and my best friend at the time, who also loved R-Type, kept pointing out all the similarities to R-Type, and was so jealous over that CD version of the game. We must have played it daily all night long for like a month straight until we were able to beat it fairly easily, as we took turns mastering the game. It wasn't until about a year, or a year and a half, that I was able to get a videogame store to sell me their JPN copy on the MVS that they just weren't making money off of any longer, so I felt lucky to get it for around $350. I drove that puppy home, called over one of my good friends and told him that I had a game he would not believe in my hands, to come check it out, and 20 minutes later, we were rockin' that damn Pulstar on the CAB all night long! When we were tired of standing up, we took the memory card out, sat down, and played it on the damn AES all night using the upgraded Pranslation. I still remember that shit like it was yesterday! We were BOTH shocked that the game lacked the FMV intros for each stage and that the ship explosion still had that strange lag before exploding, otherwise, we were thrilled there was no more loading times!

Then by the time Blazing Star came out, we were both like holy shit! The Pulstar sequel!!! I bought the MVS cart of it from the same gamestore about 6 months after it's release, and I was so pissed off that there was no CD Release to keep me occupied until that time, so all I could do was read about it, and hear about it from GameDude employees, and just dream about it. lol Then the day came when I bought it, took it home, called my buddy over, and we were in awe over the intro.... then we played the game. :'( sadly, we beat it in like 30 minutes... we both were underwhelmed, and we both basically had the same feeling about the game. It looked washed out in colors, was too easy, has way too much Bonus samples to the point it was annoying, and overall that Pulstar was way better, and still feel that way to this day about Pulstar.

Pulstar is still my favorite shooter on the Neo-Geo, and my favorite shooter of all time. The only damn game to come close to the colors, the music, the sound, the difficulty, and the fun factor was Last Hope. PULSTAR is a GOD of Shooters, and I still hope that one day I can find it on the AES is absolutely MINT condition so I can finally feel that I have the greatest shooter of all time in my possession! Nothing comes close to Pulstar when it comes to shooters, absolutely nothing. I just WISH SNK and Aicom would have made it in a Euro version on AES, as that is my only complaint about the game. I god damn LOVE Pulstar!

 

[FinalbossNYC]

.... I god damn LOVE Pulstar!

Love stories like this full of passion and excitement, great memories are better shared. Thanks for the smile.

PS would rather read stuff like this over Retro Wiki Magazines

 

[oliverclaude]

It wouldn't sell.

 

[LWK]

Did my first real shot of Pulstar today. Good god is this game beautiful. I'm currently learning it. Stage 2 music is so cool.

 

[oliverclaude]

Kudos! Regarding stage 2 music, don't worry, you'll hear it a lot... it's a tough level to master .

 

[LWK]

Sure is, but the game has a learning curve. I got up to the boss. Each time I die it takes me to a checkpoint. I wonder if I can remove that in the options, I kind of like that system about the game though, it punishes a lack of knowledge, and the games with that mindset tend to be my favorite types. Learning curve games. Dark Souls/Demons Souls type stuff. Game is a blast really.

 

[oliverclaude]

Manageable, yes, but die once and it's over. Could have been partly avoided with a free-adjustable speed, like the one you have in Delta, which is a lot easier due to this fact, but let's not split hairs.

 

[bravojohny]

It wouldn't sell.

Like someone said before, it's good to read stories. He should send a letter or mail to EDGE magazine. Perhaps it wouldn't be published but many gamers of the old days would enjoy to read more stories.

 

[oliverclaude]

Well, as for now, it's ng.com exclusive. We're proud.

 

[Kid Panda]

Sure is, but the game has a learning curve. I got up to the boss. Each time I die it takes me to a checkpoint. I wonder if I can remove that in the options, I kind of like that system about the game though, it punishes a lack of knowledge, and the games with thadt mindset tend to be my favorite types. Learning curve games. Dark Souls/Demons Souls type stuff. Game is a blast really.

This game was designed to be hard. If they took the checkpoints out then it wouldn't be the game it is. The devs wanted to make a game similar to rtype that has the same type of difficulty. Keep practicing, but to be honest, you really needs to get to point to beat the game with one man. When we had it for the shmup of the month last month, I practiced to the pony that I did on fact 1cc it with one man. If you die anytime after stage 4 it's almost, almost impossible to recover. Good luck!

 

[oliverclaude]

Yes, the only spot you can die and still keep going on easily is the final boss. Everywhere else and it's practically game over.

 

[Yagyu Jubei]

teh hunt for Pulstar mastery is real

 

[Jonathan32]

On the CD version enter up,up,down,down,left, right,A,B whenever you start a stage and your ship is still blinking, or after you die and the game starts you back and your ship is still blinking. Doing this code will make your ship fully powered up. Using this code is the only way that Ive been able to beat Pulstar. Also this code only works on the NGCD version of the game.

 

[Kid Panda]

On the CD version enter up,up,down,down,left, right,A,B whenever you start a stage and your ship is still blinking, or after you die and the game starts you back and your ship is still blinking. Doing this code will make your ship fully powered up. Using this code is the only way that Ive been able to beat Pulstar. Also this code only works on the NGCD version of the game.

That's cheating though.

 

[oliverclaude]

Not to mention that the CD version of Pulstar is easier than the cart one, due to the fact that is suffers more slowdowns. Scores of the CD should always be listed separately. BTW anybody noticed that stage 2 boss music glitch?

 

[Bill Kilgore]

Not to mention that the CD version of Pulstar is easier than the cart one, due to the fact that is suffers more slowdowns. Scores of the CD should always be listed separately. BTW anybody noticed that stage 2 boss music glitch?

Does the CD version really have that much more slowdown?

 

[Liquid Snake]

On the CD version enter up,up,down,down,left, right,A,B whenever you start a stage and your ship is still blinking, or after you die and the game starts you back and your ship is still blinking. Doing this code will make your ship fully powered up. Using this code is the only way that Ive been able to beat Pulstar. Also this code only works on the NGCD version of the game.

That's very similar to infamous Konami code......
Any ex-Konami staff involve in Pulstar production?

 

[oliverclaude]

Does the CD version really have that much more slowdown?

I have both and played them side by side to compare. I'm not the only one though, just listen to Kiken:

"Pulstar does well enough, but even then, the Neo CD rev suffers from a lot more slow-down than the original cart."

 

[cat]

I own the cd version too and have never noticed a lot of slowdown (probably because i suck at it and can't get very far) so pity help me if i am ever fortunate enough to own the cart version.
The sound track is great though and i'm assuming it's better than the cart soundtrack, seem's the OST's are the only advantage of owning the neo cd in general TBH...

 

[city41]

The sound track is great though and i'm assuming it's better than the cart soundtrack, seem's the OST's are the only advantage of owning the neo cd in general TBH...

Pulstar didn't get an arranged soundtrack. The CD and cart versions have the same music.

And just so you know, OST, original soundtrack, refers to the soundtracks of the cart games and AST is for arranged soundtrack.

 

[cat]

Pulstar didn't get an arranged soundtrack. The CD and cart versions have the same music.

And just so you know, OST, original soundtrack, refers to the soundtracks of the cart games and AST is for arranged soundtrack.

moral of the story never assume anything, thanks for setting me straight city41...

 

[thermaltreasure]

Some really great stories in this thread. I've been thinking about this game a lot lately and hammering it in mame, it's the perfect blend of R-Type and Salamander 2 for sure. The learning curve and difficulty are absolutely spot on.