If Sapphire wasn't so stupid-expensive, where would it fall on the scale of PCE Shmups?

[andsuchisdeath]

and a more casual shooter design (ie not bullet-hell).

 

[wataru330]

As I understand it, all of the Arcade Card CD games came out late in the systems life and had low print runs. Sapphire ended up with the high price since it's the only Arcade Card shooter, a technical showpiece and a fun game. Similar in that aspect to Zeroigar on the PC-FX.

Great post; this is exactly right.

I would pay legit Saphire money for Download 2, if I had to. Story, cutscenes, MUSIC (By T's...same crew as Thunder series), level design, weapon variety...my favorite PCE game by a mile. A sublime experience.

http://youtu.be/aUXlRxA3wYo

T's MOTHERFUCKING MUSIC!

http://youtu.be/UMtnExRVXXk

 

[Mercuttio]

Great post; this is exactly right.

I would pay legit Saphire money for Download 2, if I had to. Story, cutscenes, MUSIC (By T's...same crew as Thunder series), level design, weapon variety...my favorite PCE game by a mile. A sublime experience.

http://youtu.be/aUXlRxA3wYo

T's MOTHERFUCKING MUSIC!

http://youtu.be/UMtnExRVXXk

Whoa, hey, that looks awesome! And it's so reasonably priced online! Thanks for the suggestion, I hadn't seen this one yet.

 

[wataru330]

Whoa, hey, that looks awesome! And it's so reasonably priced online! Thanks for the suggestion, I hadn't seen this one yet.

Cheers!

As opposed to Sapphire, DL2 is more of a *ahem* hidden gem.

 

[potetoboy]

co-sign on DL2. definitely one of the craziest story lines I've come across on PCE...

 

[Jeneki]

I wouldn't say that price is affecting the ranking. There's a port on psp, and of course "other ways" of playing it.

A few of the local guys have one. It's a cool game. Honestly, I'd pay up to $100 for a legit copy. Any more though, and it's competing with far higher priority games.

 

[Takumaji]

The situation with Sapphire reminds me a bit of Gleylancer and Eliminate Down on Genny. Quite a few people give them the thumbs-down because of their high 2nd hand market prices while saying that they're just shmups and not worth that kind of money. IMO that's unfair, they're great games and shouldn't be dissed just because of the crazy collectors market.

 

[ShootTheCore]

...they're just shmups and not worth that kind of money.

Huh, that's interesting because it seems like shmups are usually among the most collectable / expensive games on their platforms. See examples Pulstar AES, Sapphire on Arcade Card, Darius Plus on SuperGrafx, Magical Chase on TG-16, Hyper Dual on Saturn, Giga Wing 2 on Dreamcast, MUSHA on Genesis, Power Strike 2 on Game Gear...

 

[pulstar]

Huh, that's interesting because it seems like shmups are usually among the most collectable / expensive games on their platforms. See examples Pulstar AES, Sapphire on Arcade Card, Darius Plus on SuperGrafx, Magical Chase on TG-16, Hyper Dual on Saturn, Giga Wing 2 on Dreamcast, MUSHA on Genesis, Power Strike 2 on Game Gear...

Surely you mean Darius Alpha...Darius Plus is cheap and easily available. Darius Alpha on the other was a very limited, coupon only title that was never available for purchase from new. Both Darius Plus and Alpha work on a normal PCE as well, they just have graphical upgrades on the Super Grafx...1941 is the most expensive shooter that was available only on the Super Grafx.

 

[Mercuttio]

Huh, that's interesting because it seems like shmups are usually among the most collectable / expensive games on their platforms. See examples Pulstar AES, Sapphire on Arcade Card, Darius Plus on SuperGrafx, Magical Chase on TG-16, Hyper Dual on Saturn, Giga Wing 2 on Dreamcast, MUSHA on Genesis, Power Strike 2 on Game Gear...

I tend to think of them as the most "infinitely playable" too. Shooting games and fighting games bring me back more often than a platformer or RPG. I'm way more likely to get my money out of an expensive shooter/fighter than an expensive anything else.

 

[FilthyRear]

View attachment 24472

Its perfect.

The PCE cover is a beautiful work of art. Its really a testament to the overall - almost hand-crafted - quality of the software itself. The game was perfect for its platform.

But this.

This was part of a larger patchwork of things that were AWESOME with gaming in the US in the 90s. This cover has almost nothing to do with the game itself. Where is his armor? Why is he not wearing pants? His helmet kinda makes him look like a goat. This could double as a Slayer album cover.

But look at the platform its for - Sega CD. I didn't know anyone with a Sega CD, especially by the time this came out in 1995. They were expensive to begin with and by the time they were affordable, the Saturn and PlayStation were out, and even i didn't care anymore.

And the cases just HAD to be the big plastic fragile as shit jewel cases. Look at that oblong monstrosity with its obnoxious blue band. Everything about this is in-your-face for no reason. Hes controlling ALL THE ELEMENTS AT ONCE! LOOK AT THAT VOLCANO! HE IS A DESTROYER OF WORLDS! YOU CAN PLAY AS A GOD!

The game is nothing like this and its STILL amazing. This cover captures not just an idea, but the entirety of an era. It was a game for a system that was an add-on for a now-older system that you were getting rid of to make room for another system that has its OWN games. But gawd love 'em, they were still squeezing every dime out of this before the 32x came out. This cover facefucks you with reckless abandon and screams "THIS! IS! THE! 90'S!" at you.

This is quite possibly the greatest cover ever made.

 

[ShootTheCore]

Surely you mean Darius Alpha...Darius Plus is cheap and easily available. Darius Alpha on the other was a very limited, coupon only title that was never available for purchase from new. Both Darius Plus and Alpha work on a normal PCE as well, they just have graphical upgrades on the Super Grafx...1941 is the most expensive shooter that was available only on the Super Grafx.

Yep, you're correct - I did mean Darius Alpha.

On another note, it was pretty cool back when shooters were considered the "show off" games for the platform - pushing the platform to the limit graphically. Nintendo Power pushed Life Force. Sega pushed TTI pushed Lords of Thunder pretty hard in their magazine ads - it was the game that convinced me to pull the trigger on my own Duo.

 

[LoneSage]

The worst thing is that they bothered to SIGN it. Man. I knew the PCE version was better, but didn't realize that extended to the packaging art too...

Boris and Julie Bell did that with their video game covers too. Super Valis IV and Run Saber come to mind.

 

[Mercuttio]

Boris and Julie Bell did that with their video game covers too. Super Valis IV and Run Saber come to mind.

Oh man.

That is intensely epic, and I actually can't figure out if it's good or bad. I'm gonna say good.

 

[Electric Grave]

Anything Boris Vallejo/Julia Bell is good, always. I'm more of a Frazetta guy when it comes to artist of that nature but you can't deny that this couple is tremendous.

 

[BladeDancer314]

It's a good shooter but I would def. pick something else on the PC engine/turbografx to play, unless I specifically wanted to play it of course.

 

[WoodyXP]

It's a good game but there are better shooters on the system. As tech piece it is crazy impressive. My favorite vertical shooter on the system is Blazing Lazers/Gunhead but that was one of the first games I saw on a demo station. The graphics were mind blowing as I'd only played the NES.

Hell yeah brother.. Gunhead is a hell of a game. Still holds up today, IMO.

 

[lidiaandmichael]

The situation with Sapphire reminds me a bit of Gleylancer and Eliminate Down on Genny. Quite a few people give them the thumbs-down because of their high 2nd hand market prices while saying that they're just shmups and not worth that kind of money. IMO that's unfair, they're great games and shouldn't be dissed just because of the crazy collectors market.

Agree 100%

 

[Samuray]

I wouldn't put Sapphire in the God Tier of PCE shooters, but it's high on the list.

Which ones are God Tier?

For the record, I love Sapphire a lot, but I also greatly appreciate Gate & Lords of Thunder. Awesome games, all of'em.
Haven't had the chance to play Download 2 yet, though.

 

[ShootTheCore]

Which ones are God Tier?

For the record, I love Sapphire a lot, but I also greatly appreciate Gate & Lords of Thunder. Awesome games, all of'em.
Haven't had the chance to play Download 2 yet, though.

My God Tier PCE Shooters would be:

Gate of Thunder
Lords of Thunder
Macross 2036
Rayxanber 3
Soldier Blade
Aero Fighters
Blazing Lasers

 

[Gentlegamer]

Its perfect.

The PCE cover is a beautiful work of art. Its really a testament to the overall - almost hand-crafted - quality of the software itself. The game was perfect for its platform.

But this.

This was part of a larger patchwork of things that were AWESOME with gaming in the US in the 90s. This cover has almost nothing to do with the game itself. Where is his armor? Why is he not wearing pants? His helmet kinda makes him look like a goat. This could double as a Slayer album cover.

But look at the platform its for - Sega CD. I didn't know anyone with a Sega CD, especially by the time this came out in 1995. They were expensive to begin with and by the time they were affordable, the Saturn and PlayStation were out, and even i didn't care anymore.

And the cases just HAD to be the big plastic fragile as shit jewel cases. Look at that oblong monstrosity with its obnoxious blue band. Everything about this is in-your-face for no reason. Hes controlling ALL THE ELEMENTS AT ONCE! LOOK AT THAT VOLCANO! HE IS A DESTROYER OF WORLDS! YOU CAN PLAY AS A GOD!

The game is nothing like this and its STILL amazing. This cover captures not just an idea, but the entirety of an era. It was a game for a system that was an add-on for a now-older system that you were getting rid of to make room for another system that has its OWN games. But gawd love 'em, they were still squeezing every dime out of this before the 32x came out. This cover facefucks you with reckless abandon and screams "THIS! IS! THE! 90'S!" at you.

This is quite possibly the greatest cover ever made.

I never thought of it that way.

 

[Bardoly]

I would put Sapphire in the top 5 PCE shoot-'em-ups, but then again, I'm definitely more of a casual shoot-'em-up player than a hardcore player. I can grind through some of the difficult games if given enough time and continues, but some of the more difficult shoot-'em-ups are out of my league. Also, I really enjoy playing with a friend, so the fact that Sapphire has a 2-player cooperative option puts it at or near the top for me.

 

[powerflower]

I got mine ca. 2007 when it was traded for 700 Euro (!) plus AC Card. Mine was 190 Euro with the old AC Card (white) CD-Rom). Also there were professional copys around for 50 Bucks. So yeah I had good luck.

The game:

Phantastic graphics. Morphing, scaling, rotation and big bosses showed what PCE can do with 2.3MByte of memory.

Gameplaywise? Hmm, 2 Player is very nice but it seems a little bit non-polished. It seems like a little bit thrown together.

Weapon system is mediocre. Look what Kyokyuku Tiger did or Gunhed.

I think it's a nice goodbye to the fans. It's not the best but special because it's the last game produced and the first and only shooter on AC Card.

 

[The Orkin Man]

Go for the boot and save the money...these days there aren't many legit copies out there. I paid $500 for mine and like an idiot it's a boot. It just sits on the shelf and rarely gets played. Soundtrack is awesome. There are many other pic shooter worth buying...like twin bee for starters lol

 

[Dr Shroom]

Average game. I'd rather play Soldier Blade or Wings of Thunder.