Lynxpro Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 Wow. I finally get around to playing Sirius and I just want to flip it off. F U, Sirius. The game is just unfair. The firing is terrible all around. What kind of a shooter doesn't allow for fast firing or even a turbo option? This might be forgivable if it fired in multiple directions like Vanguard but this is not it. And at least Xevious doesn't suffer from a long lag between firing like this MoFo does. It's uncomfortable to play whether with a modded NES pad or a Pro Line joystick. I think I'll try a Sega Genesis pad or arcade stick next since I don't have the 7800 Gamepads but yikes. And the audio, this going for Plutus as well…WTF were they thinking recycling audio fx from 2600 Combat and Outlaw? That's stupider than 7800 Impossible Mission recycling audio fx from 2600 Star Wars Jedi Arena. These are games that really needed a POKEY. Ugh. Again, Sirius, F U. If you were a human personality, you'd be an a**hole for sure. At least Plutos is fun to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 Hope you realize they were both unfinished prototypes ... and Sirius is the more "challenging" of the 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 Yes it is so "challenging" I almost never play it.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted September 12, 2015 Author Share Posted September 12, 2015 Hope you realize they were both unfinished prototypes ... and Sirius is the more "challenging" of the 2. Yes, both lack endings due to them being 90% done. The lack of music during the gameplay of both isn't an indication of prototype status though since neither of the original games had music during the gameplay either. Still, the audio fx is terrible in both and considering Impossible Mission and Mat Mania Challenge, I'd say the audio fx would've remained the same had the games been completed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 And you know that because you have a "crystal ball" or something? 90% finished may entail a possible musical overhaul, gfx changes, level redesign etc.... take them as what it could have been and don't get mad at the games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Princess Yushira Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 It's just a game. Why so Sirius? 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIO2 Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 (edited) People's expectations have changed too. I used to regard arcade Robotron as impossibly busy. Now I find it kind of relaxing. As for pokey, well I like a pokey as much as the next guy but, Atari didn't put it in the 7800 - curse fate. Yes, I know it can be added via cart or someday the x whatever m was it? Expansion maybe others? But Siriusly I know the 7800 is a great machine capable of being a 2600 plus or a home arcade or practically anything. I love it, just LOVE it. So, cheer up guy. Edited September 12, 2015 by SIO2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 Shirley, you can't be Sirius. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 Yes, Sirius is balls hard. Not iron balls hard or even titanium balls hard, but freakking diamondium balls hard. I believe you can select the difficulty though using the switches. Keep both of them to the left. If I could fault Sirius on one thing, it's the parallax scrolling on those danged meteors in stage one. Some of them are nigh larger than bullets, but hit one and you are dead. I played Sirius with my custom 7800 joystick and the farthest I got was once to the end boss on stage one. I died immediately and have since not seen it again. Plutos is great though and if you learn to juggle the powerups, you'll get far. I have made it well into the second stage a few times. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 Shirley, you can't be Sirius. I am Sirius.... and don't call me Shirley. BTW, if I am not mistaken, the difficulty switches affect the shooting in this game. One way, you need to shoot everything multiple times, and the other way you only need one shot to kill enemies. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mord Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 I am Sirius.... and don't call me Shirley. BTW, if I am not mistaken, the difficulty switches affect the shooting in this game. One way, you need to shoot everything multiple times, and the other way you only need one shot to kill enemies. Pretty sure that's the case, although I think for prosystem users, the emulator sits in the multiple-shots-to-destroy position unless you're physically pressing your function keys to keep it changed. The only way to increase your firepower otherwise is to get the little satelite/whatevers to add extra shots as fast as possible. And I strongly recommend people go for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DracIsBack Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 I'm not sure I have quite that extreme reaction to Sirius, but I agree - it's far too hard. Too bad, because it looks cool and that type of game is needed on the 7800. If only they toned the difficulty down a fair bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebor Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 BTW, if I am not mistaken, the difficulty switches affect the shooting in this game. One way, you need to shoot everything multiple times, and the other way you only need one shot to kill enemies. Yes, sir. Unfortunately, it is still very difficult. B is supposed to be set it to beginner and A to advanced. However, it is more like, B = Very Difficult, and A = Extremely Difficult. I'm not sure I have quite that extreme reaction to Sirius, but I agree - it's far too hard. Too bad, because it looks cool and that type of game is needed on the 7800. If only they toned the difficulty down a fair bit. Agreed. The difficulty needs to be toned down considerably. Then, to really make the game great, it needs POKEY background music and an overhaul to sound effects too. Shame...So much potential wasted. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted September 12, 2015 Author Share Posted September 12, 2015 You know, I like hard games. What I don't like is an unfair game. And I feel the first level is completely unfair. It's either a timing or a luck factor to get through all of that because of the firing rhythm coupled with a lack of space to duck the ship when waiting for the guns to fire again. Skill should always be favored over luck. And a game should ramp up the difficulty, not kick the user's ass at the start of the game. Easy to learn, difficult to master. And since it doesn't live up to that, it violates Bushnell's Maxim from the very start. Gradius and R-Type don't do this. I hooked up a Sega Genesis arcade stick and set the B button for turbo/automatic firing. It didn't help one bit. Now it does help on Plutos though. And as I said before, Plutos is fun. Both of these games are prime candidates to fix for use with the XM. Sirius should at least have the POKEY title screen theme music from Zybex. The audio fx from Zybex isn't so hot so I would suggest not using it. Probably stick with TIA for audio fx - but substitute better audio fx - if theme music is added to the gameplay requiring POKEY. I'm assuming neither use HSC due to the time they were developed unless it was added as part of the process of getting these protos to run on real 7800 hardware after the code was recovered from the developer hard drives. The 2nd fire button should be used for something on both games. Had the 7800 been equipped with 4-joystick ports, I would probably suggest a dual joystick option for Plutos to control firing direction and to make it unique amongst shmups. I'm going to go back and play both again. I think I spotted a glitch at the start of the 2nd level of Plutos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 Had the 7800 been equipped with 4-joystick ports, I would probably suggest a dual joystick option for Plutos to control firing direction and to make it unique amongst shmups. I'm going to go back and play both again. I think I spotted a glitch at the start of the 2nd level of Plutos. Plutos does not need the Robotron treatment. You would be holding the joystick up the vast majority of the time anyway. Additionally, the powerup system rewards you for collecting matching weapons upgrades. Some of them do offer lateral options for fire power. Bullets get stronger but you need to learn when to stop grabbing powerups and just avoid them so you don't downgrade your weapon. The fully upgraded options of I, II, and III seem fairly balanced without one dominating over the others. It's kind of like Blazing Lazers almost with the upgrade mechanics. Sirius, get rid of the damned meteor field in the first stage. I waste more lives on that. Also there are a couple areas where the enemies come straight at you through a narrow corridor with no time to blast all six before they collide with you, and a very narrow crawl space in which to hide while the enemies fly by, if it weren't for those damned peanut sized parallax scrolling meteors colliding with your ship within the crawl space. I've heard stage two is a bit easier but I haven't witnessed it before. I intend to load the infinite lives hack whenever the Concerto drops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted September 12, 2015 Share Posted September 12, 2015 (edited) Only thing with Plutos would be to keep the power-ups on next stage ... and when one screws up towards the end in terms of power up give them a chance to re-power before the boss Wholeheartedly agreed that Sirius first level is beyond frustrating Edited September 12, 2015 by phoenixdownita 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 Here's a playthrough that might help!?!... Man, that game looks AWESOME!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutsy Doodleheimer Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 You need some Sirius gaming skills to play this game. Reminds me of Darius Twin for the SNES. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 (edited) Here's a playthrough that might help!?!... Man, that game looks AWESOME!! Run through the game on real hardware? I gotta give props to you. I have a new reason to hate Sirius. My Plutos repro crapped out apparently. I have cleaned it six times tonight, and no matter what I do, at the title screen, if I hit reset, select, or fire on either player controller, it crashes with black screen. And Plutos was the better of the two... Edited September 13, 2015 by stardust4ever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stun Runner 87 Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 Wow. I finally get around to playing Sirius and I just want to flip it off. F U, Sirius. The game is just unfair. The firing is terrible all around. What kind of a shooter doesn't allow for fast firing or even a turbo option? This might be forgivable if it fired in multiple directions like Vanguard but this is not it. And at least Xevious doesn't suffer from a long lag between firing like this MoFo does. It's uncomfortable to play whether with a modded NES pad or a Pro Line joystick. I think I'll try a Sega Genesis pad or arcade stick next since I don't have the 7800 Gamepads but yikes. And the audio, this going for Plutus as wellWTF were they thinking recycling audio fx from 2600 Combat and Outlaw? That's stupider than 7800 Impossible Mission recycling audio fx from 2600 Star Wars Jedi Arena. These are games that really needed a POKEY. Ugh. Again, Sirius, F U. If you were a human personality, you'd be an a**hole for sure. At least Plutos is fun to play. Me personally , I find it to be one of the funnest games on the 7800...the first week playing it was frustrating because of its difficulty, but after getting a hang of it,I mastered the controls. I get to level 3 without loosing a ship with ease now. Practice makes perfect. And the graphics are impressive. Just my personal thoughts. I love the challenge of Sirius. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted September 13, 2015 Author Share Posted September 13, 2015 Run through the game on real hardware? I gotta give props to you. I have a new reason to hate Sirius. My Plutos repro crapped out apparently. I have cleaned it six times tonight, and no matter what I do, at the title screen, if I hit reset, select, or fire on either player controller, it crashes with black screen. And Plutos was the better of the two... How old is your repro? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted September 13, 2015 Share Posted September 13, 2015 (edited) How old is your repro? Since last year November run by CPUWIZ. I sent a PM and he thinks it's a bad EPROM. I'll ship it back so CPU can fix it. Great customer support. Edited September 13, 2015 by stardust4ever 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted September 17, 2015 Author Share Posted September 17, 2015 Since last year November run by CPUWIZ. I sent a PM and he thinks it's a bad EPROM. I'll ship it back so CPU can fix it. Great customer support. Luckily, my Plutos cart works well. Also from that same batch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 Luckily, my Plutos cart works well. Also from that same batch. It's actually the second time I've had an EPROM repro go bad. The first time was a SML3 Repro (SMW hack created by Guntz of NA) from RetroQuestGames. Piko was real sport and took back the old PCB and shipped me out a new one. His used flash chips on breakout PCBs in place of rewired EPROMs I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwilove Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 If the game is unfinished - then the gameplay even more so. As playability is the last thing done - ie. adjusting the game/levels etc for difficulty. It does look like the potential of shooters for the 7800 is still not shown - not even in these games. That if someone was to do a shooter for the 7800 today - it could look even better than the examples mentioned so far. Back at the actual time of the 7800 console - memory was very expensive - which is not the case today - so a lot more is possible these days - is my guess. I'm not that acquainted with the 7800 hardware, nor for developing on it, so I am taking a wild guess. Harvey 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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