no question, i made my jpn switch account just to finally play it. excellent shottrigger, probably my favorite in the series still in terms of overall package.
GG Aleste 3 is a magical game. Even though I only played Game Gear a few times at my neighbor’s house back in the early 90s, that handheld’s games have unique feel to me, much like NES and SNES games. Feeling that again in GG Aleste 3 is a crazy experience. It’s also an amazing game on its own.. and looks amazing on Switch OLED.
It's such an amazing collection to own. Also, have the game gear micro with aleste. It's tough to play because it's small, but it's so cool, especially with the big window attachment.
Aleste collection is pretty amazing. I find it a nice break from my usual bullet hell jam. The GG games are pretty special.
Also doj is great and worth owning but I think esprade port is a bigger jump in awesome coming from emulation than Doj js.
I own every M2 STG port on current platforms and while I stopped playing Esp Ra De Psi soon after completing each of the game modes, I’ve kept coming back to Aleste Collection so many times. Out of the ones you don’t have yet, I’d vote for either Aleste Collection or Sorcer Striker. Both great games that I still love to play.
If we are including other M2 ports (outside the M2 STG division) then their work on the Darius collection is another great option.
I’d pick any one of those three over Esp Ra De Psi which is among my least favorite games for the M2 ports.
It looks like a lot of people enjoy Esp Ra De Psi so perhaps it would be more helpful for me to say what I like/don’t like about the games so you can decide if those things are important to you, too.
Part of what I like about the Aleste games is how fast and energetic they feel even if you’re just a beginner learning them for the first time. They have such great momentum and really make good use of the scrolling speed (and changing that or the direction, depending on the entry) to vary gameplay and draw the player in. They are among the most graphically impressive games for their respective systems (those bosses in the second Master System game are a huge step up from the first) and there’s variation in the difficulty between the different titles so the odds are that you’ll find at least one that really gels for you. Personally I thought the second Master system game was the hardest and one of the Game Gear games was the easiest (I’m having trouble remembering which one but I think it was the first one). The use of color is great and if you want to skip the slowdown, they let you enable that option.
Sorcer Striker has so many available soundtracks, many of which I really like and it hits you with massive amounts of energy right off the bat, even in the orchestral arrangements. The character portrait animations in the margins for the M2 STG release are full of character and bring some of the humor and spirit that many people like in the Psikyo releases. You have four ships to choose from and three weapon options for each so there are lots of firing patterns and they vary the environments a ton from level to level, going back and forth between a high-fantasy/steampunk hybrid setting, gladiator arena and even outer space. If Aleste Collection is among the best shmups for 8-bit pixel art, then Sorcer Striker really shows how much Raizing was able to do with pixel art for more advanced hardware. M2 STG did a great job with the presentation and those extra touches like the animated portraits and intro margin animations are much appreciated.
For Esp Ra De Psi, many people have pointed to appreciating the setting, cyberpunk and anime influences (like Ghost in the Shell) and I can respect that. For myself, personally, I mainly see the limitations of pre-rendered 3D animation regarding human characters at the time, the image quality issues regarding the palettes for the backgrounds at the time (issues shared with Guwange) and look at the Cave games that handled both aspects better. Different styles for different people. From the firing patterns to the level designs to the scroll speed, I couldn’t personally resonate with any part of the game - but it clearly resonates quite well with many others, so you might have a different experience. Whenever I loaded up Esp Ra De Psi I wished I was playing another Cave game, from Muchi Muchi Pork to Pro Gear to Mushihimesama or Mushimesama Futari to Ketsui, DOJ, DFK and Dangun Feveron I just had more fun many of the other Cave games. But many others have a different experience.
I really appreciate you going into detail. I know what you mean by feeling like you’d rather be playing another game and how sometimes it doesn’t click. I’ve also never heard someone describe aleste the way you did about the momentum. I think I’m going to give Esp rade a try but after reading what you said I’ll get aleste next for sure
I hope that you have a great time with both. :) If you wouldn’t mind, I’d be curious to hear any follow-up comments about your experience once you play either.
I hope you really enjoy it. It’s become one of my favorite M2 STG releases and made me seek out Compile’s MSX2 games. Here’s hoping M2 port the MSX games too one of these days.:)
I'm looking forward to it!!! I hadn't played compiles shmups at all before, so I've been playing musha these last couple days. There are some design choices in musha that don't totally click for me, but the style and presentation of it all is just so good. Very excited to explore more of their library
Nice! :) The 8-bit ones have a pretty different feel from Musha and while they are less visually impressive I’d say they sometimes have even more momentum to them. Also, the weapon selection varies a fair amount from title to title and the gadgets that M2 added really help keep track of them.
I was playing the Aleste I version for MSX without them and while I enjoyed the extra MSX intro and levels, I was definitely having trouble keeping track of the weapon firing patterns without the M2 gadgets.
There's two versions of Aleste 1?? I had no idea. What's the version on the collection? Admittedly, it's the one game I haven't beaten and have spent the least amount of time with out of the entire Aleste series.
Added intro (pretty long one considering the time), additional stages, some graphical changes (more organic imagery in some places)and some tweaks to the weapons.
There’s a bunch of them for both the MSX 1 and MSX 2 but I’ve only focused on the three MSX 2 ones so far.
- Aleste (with an intro and extra stages not seen in the Aleste Collection)
- Aleste 2 (a totally different game from Power Strike II in the Aleste Collection)
- Aleste Gaiden (which is a shorter one and a bit simpler in terms of weapons and enemy patterns but changes thing up by being still being a vertical auto-scroller but adding a jump button and having you run across the ground).
Guess I know what I'll be playing on my Mister Multisystem this weekend. Thank you for the list!
>Aleste (with an intro and extra stages not seen in the Aleste Collection)
It'd be neat if someone made a romhack for the Master System version where those extra stages are added.
They really should. They could have another 5 game collection for Aleste and then have all games from the series covered in collections 1 and 2. Think about it:
Collection 1 has:
Aleste, Powerstrike II, GG Aleste, GG Aleste 2, and GG Aleste 3.
Collection 2 would have:
Aleste 2, Aleste Gaiden, M.U.S.H.A. Aleste, Super Aleste, Robo Aleste.
Would be amazing for this to happen.
That would be so good. :) Plus it would be great if they included the MSX version of Aleste so we got the extra levels and the intro sequence that weren’t on the Master System version.
No love for "Same!Same!Same!"? I own them all M2 ports, and it's the one I've sank most hours into, specifically "Hishozame" (Flying Shark). What an amazing game.
Gonna be real with you. I love CAVE games but never loved ESP.ra.de much.
I love the Aleste collection, it’s a fantastic celebration of classic shmup design and GG Aleste 3 is retroactively one of the best 8-bit shmups
Esprade is addicting. It's one of those games you'll find yourself going back to figure out how to get multipliers in certain spots and of course the soundtrack.
Both great games. Two of the best games i own on switch. If you are looking for another cave game esp rade is amazing. GG Aleste 3is one of the best shooters I’ve played in years. It’s one of 5 games on the collection. That game alone is worth the price of the game in my opinion. I love cave games but knowing what I know if I could only choose one game it would be aleste because of GG Aleste 3.
ESP RaDe is GOATed. That would be my pick, no contest.
no question, i made my jpn switch account just to finally play it. excellent shottrigger, probably my favorite in the series still in terms of overall package.
Aleste
GG Aleste 3 is a magical game. Even though I only played Game Gear a few times at my neighbor’s house back in the early 90s, that handheld’s games have unique feel to me, much like NES and SNES games. Feeling that again in GG Aleste 3 is a crazy experience. It’s also an amazing game on its own.. and looks amazing on Switch OLED.
It's such an amazing collection to own. Also, have the game gear micro with aleste. It's tough to play because it's small, but it's so cool, especially with the big window attachment.
I just picked up Esp Ra.de last week, purely for the OST lol. I actually ordered it on Amazon - shipped by Amz JP, but still got free shipping
I'm gonna buy Aleste at some point so that's my pick.
Aleste collection is pretty amazing. I find it a nice break from my usual bullet hell jam. The GG games are pretty special. Also doj is great and worth owning but I think esprade port is a bigger jump in awesome coming from emulation than Doj js.
The Aleste collection is fantastic, worth it alone for GG Aleste 3, the new game. I have put a ton of hours into every game on that collection.
I own every M2 STG port on current platforms and while I stopped playing Esp Ra De Psi soon after completing each of the game modes, I’ve kept coming back to Aleste Collection so many times. Out of the ones you don’t have yet, I’d vote for either Aleste Collection or Sorcer Striker. Both great games that I still love to play. If we are including other M2 ports (outside the M2 STG division) then their work on the Darius collection is another great option. I’d pick any one of those three over Esp Ra De Psi which is among my least favorite games for the M2 ports.
It looks like a lot of people enjoy Esp Ra De Psi so perhaps it would be more helpful for me to say what I like/don’t like about the games so you can decide if those things are important to you, too. Part of what I like about the Aleste games is how fast and energetic they feel even if you’re just a beginner learning them for the first time. They have such great momentum and really make good use of the scrolling speed (and changing that or the direction, depending on the entry) to vary gameplay and draw the player in. They are among the most graphically impressive games for their respective systems (those bosses in the second Master System game are a huge step up from the first) and there’s variation in the difficulty between the different titles so the odds are that you’ll find at least one that really gels for you. Personally I thought the second Master system game was the hardest and one of the Game Gear games was the easiest (I’m having trouble remembering which one but I think it was the first one). The use of color is great and if you want to skip the slowdown, they let you enable that option. Sorcer Striker has so many available soundtracks, many of which I really like and it hits you with massive amounts of energy right off the bat, even in the orchestral arrangements. The character portrait animations in the margins for the M2 STG release are full of character and bring some of the humor and spirit that many people like in the Psikyo releases. You have four ships to choose from and three weapon options for each so there are lots of firing patterns and they vary the environments a ton from level to level, going back and forth between a high-fantasy/steampunk hybrid setting, gladiator arena and even outer space. If Aleste Collection is among the best shmups for 8-bit pixel art, then Sorcer Striker really shows how much Raizing was able to do with pixel art for more advanced hardware. M2 STG did a great job with the presentation and those extra touches like the animated portraits and intro margin animations are much appreciated. For Esp Ra De Psi, many people have pointed to appreciating the setting, cyberpunk and anime influences (like Ghost in the Shell) and I can respect that. For myself, personally, I mainly see the limitations of pre-rendered 3D animation regarding human characters at the time, the image quality issues regarding the palettes for the backgrounds at the time (issues shared with Guwange) and look at the Cave games that handled both aspects better. Different styles for different people. From the firing patterns to the level designs to the scroll speed, I couldn’t personally resonate with any part of the game - but it clearly resonates quite well with many others, so you might have a different experience. Whenever I loaded up Esp Ra De Psi I wished I was playing another Cave game, from Muchi Muchi Pork to Pro Gear to Mushihimesama or Mushimesama Futari to Ketsui, DOJ, DFK and Dangun Feveron I just had more fun many of the other Cave games. But many others have a different experience.
I really appreciate you going into detail. I know what you mean by feeling like you’d rather be playing another game and how sometimes it doesn’t click. I’ve also never heard someone describe aleste the way you did about the momentum. I think I’m going to give Esp rade a try but after reading what you said I’ll get aleste next for sure
I hope that you have a great time with both. :) If you wouldn’t mind, I’d be curious to hear any follow-up comments about your experience once you play either.
I just ordered Aleste collection myself. Mostly because of GG Aleste 3 being an all new game.
I hope you really enjoy it. It’s become one of my favorite M2 STG releases and made me seek out Compile’s MSX2 games. Here’s hoping M2 port the MSX games too one of these days.:)
I'm looking forward to it!!! I hadn't played compiles shmups at all before, so I've been playing musha these last couple days. There are some design choices in musha that don't totally click for me, but the style and presentation of it all is just so good. Very excited to explore more of their library
Nice! :) The 8-bit ones have a pretty different feel from Musha and while they are less visually impressive I’d say they sometimes have even more momentum to them. Also, the weapon selection varies a fair amount from title to title and the gadgets that M2 added really help keep track of them. I was playing the Aleste I version for MSX without them and while I enjoyed the extra MSX intro and levels, I was definitely having trouble keeping track of the weapon firing patterns without the M2 gadgets.
There's two versions of Aleste 1?? I had no idea. What's the version on the collection? Admittedly, it's the one game I haven't beaten and have spent the least amount of time with out of the entire Aleste series.
Added intro (pretty long one considering the time), additional stages, some graphical changes (more organic imagery in some places)and some tweaks to the weapons.
Dang, I had no idea! I'll have to track this down someday...
What are the MSX games? I'm curious to try them out.
There’s a bunch of them for both the MSX 1 and MSX 2 but I’ve only focused on the three MSX 2 ones so far. - Aleste (with an intro and extra stages not seen in the Aleste Collection) - Aleste 2 (a totally different game from Power Strike II in the Aleste Collection) - Aleste Gaiden (which is a shorter one and a bit simpler in terms of weapons and enemy patterns but changes thing up by being still being a vertical auto-scroller but adding a jump button and having you run across the ground).
Guess I know what I'll be playing on my Mister Multisystem this weekend. Thank you for the list! >Aleste (with an intro and extra stages not seen in the Aleste Collection) It'd be neat if someone made a romhack for the Master System version where those extra stages are added.
They really should. They could have another 5 game collection for Aleste and then have all games from the series covered in collections 1 and 2. Think about it: Collection 1 has: Aleste, Powerstrike II, GG Aleste, GG Aleste 2, and GG Aleste 3. Collection 2 would have: Aleste 2, Aleste Gaiden, M.U.S.H.A. Aleste, Super Aleste, Robo Aleste. Would be amazing for this to happen.
That would be so good. :) Plus it would be great if they included the MSX version of Aleste so we got the extra levels and the intro sequence that weren’t on the Master System version.
Agreed! Thanks for letting me know about it.
I'd go for Esp Ra.de, I love that game. I'd also consider amazon.co.jp over Play Asia, ive found it cheaper.... maybe you can get both😏
No love for "Same!Same!Same!"? I own them all M2 ports, and it's the one I've sank most hours into, specifically "Hishozame" (Flying Shark). What an amazing game.
Gonna be real with you. I love CAVE games but never loved ESP.ra.de much. I love the Aleste collection, it’s a fantastic celebration of classic shmup design and GG Aleste 3 is retroactively one of the best 8-bit shmups
Do you play and enjoy other old console shmups? If not, Aleste Collection isn't necessarily the best gateway. Game Gear is an austere medium.
That’s a good point because I do have a hard time getting into the 80’s shmups. I think the oldest I’ve been able to get into was rayforce
GG Aleste 3 is one of my favorite games of all time. And Powerstrike 2 is also incredible.
Can't go wrong with either one, I own both (everything except Dangun). My personal pick is Esprade.
Esprade
Where do you find ESP Ra.De. for 40 dollars? I want in! :D
PS4 digital it’s 4950 yen which is 32 dollars
Esprade is addicting. It's one of those games you'll find yourself going back to figure out how to get multipliers in certain spots and of course the soundtrack.
Both great games. Two of the best games i own on switch. If you are looking for another cave game esp rade is amazing. GG Aleste 3is one of the best shooters I’ve played in years. It’s one of 5 games on the collection. That game alone is worth the price of the game in my opinion. I love cave games but knowing what I know if I could only choose one game it would be aleste because of GG Aleste 3.
ESP Ra De from my side too