Andros Dunos II - physical releases in September including 3DS and Dreamcast

[+jgkspsx]

I stumbled across this pretty awesome looking game coming to Switch, PS4, Xbone, 3DS, and Dreamcast the other day:

 

 

It is the sequel to a fairly unloved Neo Geo game that was widely criticized for not looking impressive (which seems fair) for the Neo Geo and for not having much innovative about the gameplay.

 

 

It is described as a hybrid of R-Type and Gradius, and it does look that way:

 

The original game was by Visco, of Neo Drift Out and Chiki Chiki Boys fame (?). This new game is by Picorinne Soft who made Infinos Gaiden for the PC a couple years back, and this looks a lot like that:

 

What is most exciting to me as a lover of the 3DS’s stereoscopic 3D is that this is getting a physical 3DS release! It will surely be one of the last games physically released for the system.

 

Publisher Pixelheart released the Wii U “Shmup Collection” of games by doujin developer Astro Port that goes for frightening prices used now. Also a port of that for the Switch that had serious input lag issues. (EDIT: Nope, I was thinking about the Psikyo Shooting Stars compilations.) They seem to specialize in indie games by very small studios like Golden Force and Tanuki Justice.

 

I don’t know that I would buy a physical copy of this for any systems but the 3DS, but I am excited for new 3D games and this one looks like a lot of fun even if it is a tad derivative. If you’re a Neo Geo fan there is an edition that comes packed in an empty MVS cartridge shell for the Switch and PS4 versions for 80€, which seems a bit much.

 

They’re also reissuing Andros Dunos for the Dreamcast only for a relatively reasonable 30€. It comes in EU, JP, and US flavors. They’re ALSO rereleasing it, and apparently ALL of Visco’s Neo Geo games. 400€ is a LOT of money for a single game, but if you are able to spend like that you can evidently get a discount...

 

If you’re interested in preordering this you can apparently get 15% off with the code “newpixel” if you haven’t ordered from Pixelheart before: https://www.pixelheart.eu/shop/?query_type_plate-forme=or

 

Ooh, they also have the pressed CD release of @Orion_’s new Dreamcast sequel to Alice’s Mom’s Rescue for preorder too!

[Tanooki]

I'm an owner of a Neo-Geo arcade cabinet and have had Andro Dunos on a cart for most the time and I wouldn't go as far as calling it underappreciated, as much as mostly just that too many fanboys love to lose their shit over Blazing Star and Pulstar which are a set of gems, and then well everything else short of the overly expensive puzzle/shooter Twinkle Star Sprites, an the 194X series (1945 Strikers Plus) tend to just get less media coverage.

 

The game quite fairly so is a hybrid of Gradius and R-Type.  It has more of the G style of play style, stage and enemy patterns, but it has more of that r-type touch with the visuals, some of the mechanics, and the whole bio-alien thing going on there too but isn't as sadistically hard as RT can be.

 

I've been aware of this but pixelheart seems to lean a bit on the taking advantage heavy handed side of pricing and such with the Neo-Geo re-releases.  If they were a bit more reasonable even I'd consider snapping some VISCO games up on MVS but I can't stomach that.  AD2 though I'll grab, just not which which format.  3DS I know I won't sell off again, but the Switch is what I mostly use now yet it'll get retired fairly soon for a PRO version, and beyond that, then what... it'll just sleep mostly like any old system I've retained.  If they did a GOG/Steam release I'd probably jump on that since they're maintained, no worries about console lifespans etc.

[Punisher5.0]

Cool stuff. I thought the 3DS was done after the Atoii Collection. It looks like they might be selling elsewhere too. On the page it says total of 5000 and 3000 are available on their site.

 

Found another store selling in USD:

 

https://www.vgnysoft.com/product-page/andro-dunos-2-nintendo-3ds

[Steven Pendleton]

Yep, I preordered the Dreamcast version of Andro Dunos II the day they announced it. Will likely get the 3DS version, as well, and I also preordered the AES rerelease of Andro Dunos, as the original release is quite expensive at around $3000 or so. Also may get the Dreamcast version of Andro Dunos.

 

Andro Dunos II's dev is Picorinne Soft, who is the developer of Infinios and Battle Crust. Some of the Infinios games are free on his website, so you can go try them if you want. The shooting games community apparently worships this dude as some sort of genius shooting game designer who is among the best ever or something like that, so yeah, definitely worth at least looking into.

 

The original Andro Dunos, as already mentioned, is basically R-Type+Gradius/Salamander+Thunder Force all at the same time, which means it's awesome! Definitely play it if you like shooting games, or maybe even if you don't.

Edited May 18, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[Steven Pendleton]

17 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

If you’re interested in preordering this you can apparently get 15% off with the code “newpixel” if you haven’t ordered from Pixelheart before: https://www.pixelheart.eu/shop/?query_type_plate-forme=or

I actually missed this... I used it after I'd already ordered Dreamcast Andro Dunos II from them and it still worked for some reason. Made Neo Geo AES Andro Dunos a lot more affordable, as it reduced the price by quite a decent amount. Not sure if it is supposed to work that way or not, but it did.

 

By the way, I contacted them about their AES carts and they actually were nice enough me some PCB photos, which I saw are designed properly, and confirmed that the voltage on the carts is the proper 5V, so yes, these are legit, good AES carts and should* be 100% safe to run in your Neo Geo. I am sure someone will say these are too expensive, but if you want one, just know that these carts should* be completely safe.

 

*no promises and I don't work for them, so don't blame me if your Neo Geo explodes or something!

[Tanooki]

Yes but the problem is they're AES only right?  It's not like someone could get a conversion adapter and jam that sucker in an arcade cabinet and go to play it now can they?  That would improve some viability of them if they're truly made like NG games were, both formats, just different board/shells to keep things as profitable at home or in arcades for SNK.

[Steven Pendleton]

2 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Yes but the problem is they're AES only right?  It's not like someone could get a conversion adapter and jam that sucker in an arcade cabinet and go to play it now can they?  That would improve some viability of them if they're truly made like NG games were, both formats, just different board/shells to keep things as profitable at home or in arcades for SNK.

Yeah, PixelHeart said they have no plans to make MVS games. They are considering releasing Andro Dunos II on the AES, though.

Edited May 19, 2021 by Steven Pendleton

[Tanooki]

2 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Yeah, PixelHeart said they have no plans to make MVS games. They are considering releasing Andro Dunos II on the AES, though.

It's kind of why I started it that way, I had a feeling I saw that somewhere.  AES format is an expensive joke, probably helps them justify that price as they'd seem about as cheap as you can get.  MVS would be more competitive at those rates and it could be twice the work too for the boards, yet there are converters so having the code alone see which is which on there would be a nice choice.

[Steven Pendleton]

3 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

It's kind of why I started it that way, I had a feeling I saw that somewhere.  AES format is an expensive joke, probably helps them justify that price as they'd seem about as cheap as you can get.  MVS would be more competitive at those rates and it could be twice the work too for the boards, yet there are converters so having the code alone see which is which on there would be a nice choice.

I would not be surprised if there are more private AES owners than private MVS owners, as the MVS was not marketed to consumers for use as a home system, so it might make sense from a business perspective to sell the home version in that case, as the majority of the MVS systems would still be in the possession of businesses, not privately owned by individuals for home use, as the MVS got new games until 2004, so it's not been off the market for that long. I see quite a few of them in arcades here, for example, as Mikado has a ton of them. Lots of AES systems in local game stores, but I have only ever seen a single MVS for sale locally.

 

Neo Geo carts are apparently quite expensive to manufacture for some reason that is unknown to me, so they'd naturally want to use the whole economy of scale thing as much as they can or something, even if they are not producing thousands of carts. You'd have to ask the company directly, though... I don't know. I don't have any statistics or anything to back any of this up.