Who ya gonna call...? Air Buster! I was always so proud of the MD/Genesis port. The best thing about both ports is they retain 2 player co-op which most times got chopped in the 16-bit era. Thanks for explaining the "load times" for the MD version, never understood that until now. Great Battle!
A very underrated shooter for Megadrive, and a fantastic port that it has. I enjoyed a lot this BOTP, love your explanations about the comprissing graphics for the cartdrige and all the stuff!😄
This was one of the best games on Sega, I remember as a kid I was blown away by it's graphics, music and gameplay!! Honestly it was the best air fighter game of it's time, if you'd ask me!
Oh man I played this when it came out on the Genesis and I loved it. Still do! It wasn't until recent years that I played the arcade and PC Engine versions. All 3 are fantastic but I like the Genesis version the most as I have strong nostalgia for it. BTW it was released as Air Buster on the Genesis here in North America. :)
This was perhaps Kaneko's peak at popularity. They did start with Fly Boy / Fast Freddie 2D hang gliding arcade, then stayed under the Taito umbrella developing Ka-Ge-Ki arcade and assisting in reprogramming Flying Shark by Toaplan (another Taito umbrella developer) for Sharp X68000. Kaneko also developed several fighting games, including The Kung-Fu Master Jackie Chan and its revision Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire. Two of their last efforts were Cyvern and developed by splinter company of Athena Corp., Warashi Inc., called Sengeki Striker. The PCE CD/TGCD game Nexzr was co-developed by Kaneko and their secondary developer Inter-State (known for PC Engine Aero Blasters) with Naxat Soft, which Naxat Soft also had porting deals with other Taito umbrella developers Toaplan and Technos Japan, which Double Dragon II: The Revenge, Zero Wing and Nexzr share similar animation styles and were released on PCE CD/TGCD. Nexzr's game composer was Katsuya Yoneda who later composed Cyvern arcade.
I liked this game so much I bought it twice! Last one was the Turbografx version. Great game either console. Music is individual preference. I prefer the TG16/PCE music. Thanks for another upload!
Man! Aero Blaster is simple but hell of fun! And the Tunnel level is a classic and based Turrican 2 shoot'em up levels....So yea, some value over here (And i played most of the versions. I have more fond memories with the Mega Drive port!)
I can't believe I let this one pass me by in 1990. I got my Sega Genesis in 1989 essentially leaving the 8-bit generation almost entirely *today I collect for all. This game is an absolute stunner for the year 1990. You have to remember most people were still gaming on an Nes at the time. The 16-bit wars was finally beginning to really heat up. This is the time that Sega was running the "Genesis does campaign" and they were Playing it Loud (who gets this reference). Welcome to the next level...;) I remember making the conscious decision as a kid to go all in with Sega. I had both the Nes and Master System at the time but something felt different this time. I remember school kids in my class saying "Sega sucks" and "the Genesis was going to fail like the Master System before it." Once I had the opportunity to play both Altered Beast and Ghouls N' Ghosts I knew they were wrong. I stayed on the Sega/Nintendo course for many years following this. Now, this does not mean I dislike the TG-16 (I love it) but there were problems from the very beginning. At the time (1990) Sega was firing on all cylinders and NEC seemed as if they didn't understand the American market. While Sega was hitting every genre with absolute showstoppers Nec was fumbling. When I would go to the store for games I would always peruse the TG-16 isle first. I wanted a definitive reason to get one but most games were all shmup's. By then my pallet had grown well beyond the simple one man against an armada theme and I wanted more. I wanted beat em' up's, RPG's, sports, platformers, and arcade games. By the end of 1990, Sega had it all in spades. Not only had Sega taken the lead in the market (wow), they were beating Nintendo. We as Americans saw the proverbial wall that Nintendo put up fall and it was good. No longer were game companies tied to Nintendo with unenforceable and illegal contracts...no, the gaming world was on fire like never before.
@@turrican4d599 In 1990 the market share began to flip on its head as Sega derailed Nintendo's 84% share of the industry. Don't forget the US was and still is the largest region in gaming...so that's a lot of people. After Super Mario Brothers 3 hit and everyone had it (including me), the Nintendo gravy train was over. Sega took a commanding lead in the video game market. By the end of 1990 they owned the 16-bit market and were roughly 45% of the entire video game market here. So...at least half the game playing country was rocking out on a 16-bit something. By the time the Snes released in 1991 Sega dominated them with over...I want to say 65% * edit- market share. Addendum- The Amiga and Atari ST were fine but once the 16-bit consoles hit everywhere the writing was on the wall as Sega went on to dominate them as well. Nintendo "won" the 16-bit race simply by default in world-wide sales. Sega was ahead of them as they were in a deadheat by 1994. Unfortunately, the idiots that ran Sega of Japan decided to kill the Genesis giving Nintendo the budget market all to themselves here in the US. They were the only company selling a console for under a 100 bucks, they didn't split their market, and were pushing new games out like crazy. Their victory was quite literally handed to them on a silver platter and it didn't matter how many other regions Sega won...they lost here. It cost them the fourth generation and the fifth as well.
The first thing I thought when those fast moving tunnels showed up was... Hey, wasn't that in Turrican II? Well, so was a version of the boss that opens up to reveal the weak spot. I think you just found the inspiration they had for those levels! Looks like a great game too :)
One of my favourites this, definitely underappreciated. I remember years ago having a mad argument online with a rapid PC Engine fanboy who INSISTED the PCE version was better than the better-than-arcade' MD port. He even reckoned the tinny music was better, the nutter.
Every PC Engine fanboys thinks every PC Engine version of a game that's also on the Mega Drive is better on the PC Engine. Sad really. I own both systems and really enjoy both but if I had to choose a winner it would be the Mega Drive. Better graphics, more action and better audio.
One of my favorites shoot'em ups ever, it was kinda easy so I last more than other games so it was my choice to play every time I find it. Didn't know there was a Megadrive port though, I would have gone crazy to know of that version when I had my Megadrive
I played a bit of the Megadrive version of Aero Blasters, and somehow i just couldn't get into the game enough to keep playing, however i would like to give this game another chance by trying the PC-Engine version by myself. good Battle of the Ports episode by the way.
This is a game that would have greatly benefitted from a PC Engine Super CD release, as the PC Engine is clearly capable of better than this. That version could have been pretty awesome.
Good to see so many comments echoing my thoughts - I had the MD version and loved it, great game, great soundtrack and I also preferred it over the arcade version.
Another fun game. I have it on Turbografx, and have always enjoyed it, as it always felt like one of the faster horizontal shooters of the time, but it got less play than it probably deserved due to Download, Sinistron, Gate of Thunder, and Gradius II taking most of my time for that style on the system. Great choice!
Retro Core True... any system with 3 ThunderForce games is a good horizontal shooter console, then toss in Gaiares, Sagaia, Steel Empire, Whip Rush, Zero Wing... it just keeps going on that one, too!
Looks like this game was a victim of bad timing. Even though it wasn't a bad game in any way, there were so many shmups in the arcades at this time that it would have been hard to compete. The arcade version didn't seem to have any complex scaling or anything, so I wasn't surprised that the Mega Drive version looks almost identical (aside from the slightly different colors) and even the PC Engine version isn't that much worse. Of course, the sound hardware is far more similar between the arcade and the Mega Drive, so I'm not surprised the PC Engine version has the worst music of the three, as it usually is behind both the Mega Drive and SNES in that category. The Mega Drive version lacks the sampled drums of the arcade original, but considering it was a 4-meg cartridge, I don't think they would have been able to squeeze them in.
They're completely drowned out by the other instruments though, so they're nowhere near as pronounced as those in the arcade original. If you want to hear what really good FM synth drums sound like, check out Thunder Force II, III and IV on the Mega Drive.
I use a pretty old card for modern standards. It's a Korean made card called Capture X by Sky Digital (not related to sky TV). It was one of the first cards able to capture 1080 at 60fps in 3D.
Retro Core, I'm just messing around with a channel called Wright offs, just me and my boy having fun. Tbh though it's mostly me playing shooters in mame lol, I'm suffering from frame pacing issues which makes it all a little painful. I haven't put a voiceover any of yet but I have many excellent stories from playing games through the 80's through to present day and working in the games industry up until march this year, I really appreciate the effort you put in getting these videos week in week so many thanks.
Another classic Japanese shump I see here and the pce/tg16 soundtrack of games sound the same and the md/genesis are known for having great shumps and great Japanese composers for that system.
Yep but Matt and Jester couldn't use the Mega Drives Yamaha sound chip to save their lives. Only the Japanese could make that chip sing due to having a lot of experience with it. It's the same chip that's used in many arcades of the time.
Looks great on every platform. Haven't played any version yet, but I may at some point play the Genesis version. I think there would've been an arcade perfect port on the Atari Jaguar as it looks like graphics done on the Jaguar.
I owned the japanese MD Version, it´s challenging but with adjusted settings you eventually beat it, there is a real learning curve here. Very good shooter.
Welp, I see that Mark is having fun as usual. I personally feel that you can make a few dollars, pounds and even some yen making DVD's of these great Battle of the Ports Mark. I personally would buy from you. Especially the SNK versions for sure. 8^) You have my support Mark. I think it would do good. 8^) Anthony..
Retro Core Well, you can easily buy 1 of those things from the USA, & make 'em region free no problem, though I suggest burning them very slowly so they can play properly in the best way possible.
I wouldn't be burning BluRay. I do have a BluRay burner although I've never burnt a BluRay. If I was to release the shows I'd want them pressed on to discs.
Oh so this is the reason behind these loading screens in the Mega Drive port? Makes sense and excusable since they're here for good reasons. So it comes down to loading screens (MD) vs worse visuals and sound (PCE). Also one thing that you didn't point out is that the PCE version doesn't run fullscreen and instead has a large black bar for the HUD. Lot of PC Engine ports have screen reduction like this. And personally I much prefer stage 2's music on arcade/MD than PCE, fits the stage much better with a nice and subtle sense of tension. Also there are great parallax scrollings going on during this stage and during the boss fight, all of which are lacking in the PCE port. And yeah, it's a pretty good shooter even though I'm not too keen on the power-up system but it's still fun to play and has some nice graphics and music. btw the PC Engine might have more onscreen color capabilities than the Mega Drive but I won't say "vastly" since both systems have the same master palette so this doesn't leave that much more possibilities on PCE side. Actually, there are many games with similar graphics on both systems (like here with Aero Blasters) and also many with better graphics on Mega Drive (Strider, Golden Axe, The Newzealand Story, Puyo Puyo 1 and 2, Shadow of the Beast, Atomic Robo-Kid...) while on the other hand the Mega Drive has the edge over the PC Engine in almost every other technical aspects: CPU, sprite engine, scrolling capabilities, sound... and also connectivity, with native RGB and 2 controller ports unlike the PC Engine. It's actually crazy to think that the Mega Drive was released only 1 year after the PC Engine and was even launched at lower price given how much more it has to offer! But still the PC Engine is a pretty good console with some great games so there are good stuff to enjoy either way :)
The Mega Drive can display between 61 to 512 colors depending of how it's used: - standard: 61-64 colors - shadow/highlight: 114-192 colors - mid‑frame palette swap: 75-256 colors - direct color: 256-512 colors The PC Engine can display more subpalettes and thus theoretically up to 482 onscreen colors but, as I said, both systems have the same master palette (512 colors 9-bit RGB) so this doesn't leave that much more possibilities on the PC Engine side and many multiplats have actually as good if not better graphics on Mega Drive. Also I guess that the more colors a game displays, the harder it is for the system to handle it which can be another reason why most PC Engine games actually display between 40 to 120 colors instead of more? And aside from colors, the Mega Drive usually has the edge in every other visual aspects: resolution, scrollings, sprites... Which is why Mega Drive games usually look more advanced and "fuller". Anyway I plan on doing a huge thread about all of this because it's still misunderstood (and I still need to dig a few things myself). I also gonna include the Amiga and SNES in this and there are other things planned :)
i first played this for my TG16, later got it for the Gen but never played it really. the arcade music an sound effects are pretty kool. kool fun fact about the MD/Gen 🙂 , better then the arcade though? neah
I've not heard of a PS2 version. Maybe you saw some of the CG renders that one person was making. These are on the net but they were never made in to a game.
Sega Crushing it again with the arcade ports... the pce version is nothing to sneeze at considering its crippled by its own hardware and software limitations but they always did pretty impressive work.
I remember you playing the Sega Genesis port of this game for showing the Xrgb3 features, i even bought one because of your review, do you still have it?. One of the first videos i saw in your channel. Keep on doing these great videos. Hasta la vista.
I would think that the arcade perfect port for this game is the Sega Genesis dude so what is going to be the next battle of the ports video dude? I really enjoy these videos and again another good job on this video
Retro Core hey I have an idea how about making a battle of the ports video about rockman x3 I swear YOU ARE GONNA LIKE IT *Spongebob's voice and laughs*
“One of the first games to feature decompression” is very misleading. Perhaps one of the first to have a loading screen while decompressing, but compression techniques have been employed since the earliest of video games. As an example, here are several compression algos used by Sega games: www.smspower.org/Development/Compression
One thing I never understood is why developers gave a shit what region you use a game in. Why the hell did they even bother with region locks in the first place? What do they care where the person is from who buys the damn game? Makes zero sense to me.
Because games cost more in different regions. For example a game in the US may have been 40 dollars while in the UK it was 40 pounds. Thing is, back then 40 pounds was about 65 dollars. So you can see why game companies wanted to sell games in specific regions. Actually, games in Japan have generally cost more than the West.
@@RetroCore That's what currency conversion is for. I don't really see what the cost has to do with anything tho. As long as they make their sales then why would they care where it's being sold and for how much? The profit margins on games have always been small anyway.
SEGA GENESIS unbelievable look fantastic is a great great ports more than like arcade better music sounds better graphics the game is absolute look great on Sega genesis version PC ENGINE is very good ports not bad + more fun to played just like Arcade & Sega Genesis the graphics is very good the music sounds is ok not better than Sega genesis & Arcade in the stage 2 they have a different music sounds genesis & arcade don't have that only on pc engine version ARCADE version we are already know arcade is superior better music sounds better graphics better everything + excellent gameplay no doubt in my opinion Me personally Genesis is the game for Aero Blasters Battle
The mega drive version definitely is the best out of the ports. Who ported the PCE version? was it NEC Ave? or was that done in house? It looks rather bland compared to the rest. They certainly didn't take advantage of what the system could do.
The rearranged music on Stage 2 in the PC Engine port is vastly superior to both the arcade and Mega Drive I think; the track is absolutely amazing. The port does look more cartoony/8-bit but I don't think it suffers as a result. Would put the PC Engine port alongside the Mega Drive version overall.
The rearrangement of stage 2's music is cool as mentioned in the video. The overall soundtrack isn't that great mind you as it lacks a lot of base. Same as the Arcade actually.
![Mega Drive Longplay [507] Aero Blasters](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/46Qm8Lj7AWM/mqdefault.jpg)
I just bought a crispy copy complete of Air Buster for Genesis off eBay and can’t wait to play it!!!
Who ya gonna call...? Air Buster! I was always so proud of the MD/Genesis port. The best thing about both ports is they retain 2 player co-op which most times got chopped in the 16-bit era. Thanks for explaining the "load times" for the MD version, never understood that until now. Great Battle!
Never clicked so fast on one of your videos.
I LOVE AERO BLASTERS! It's the game that got me into shmups.
I absolutely love that faux unit shield they used for the logo!
A very underrated shooter for Megadrive, and a fantastic port that it has. I enjoyed a lot this BOTP, love your explanations about the comprissing graphics for the cartdrige and all the stuff!😄
This was one of the best games on Sega, I remember as a kid I was blown away by it's graphics, music and gameplay!! Honestly it was the best air fighter game of it's time, if you'd ask me!
Yes, Aero Blasters! I was really waiting for this one. One of my favorites on MD.
Oh man I played this when it came out on the Genesis and I loved it. Still do! It wasn't until recent years that I played the arcade and PC Engine versions. All 3 are fantastic but I like the Genesis version the most as I have strong nostalgia for it. BTW it was released as Air Buster on the Genesis here in North America. :)
Funny how in the States they kept the arcade name but in Japan they changed it to Aero Blasters.
Thanks again! This was one of the first games my brother and I had on the mega drive. Brings back memories.
This was perhaps Kaneko's peak at popularity. They did start with Fly Boy / Fast Freddie 2D hang gliding arcade, then stayed under the Taito umbrella developing Ka-Ge-Ki arcade and assisting in reprogramming Flying Shark by Toaplan (another Taito umbrella developer) for Sharp X68000.
Kaneko also developed several fighting games, including The Kung-Fu Master Jackie Chan and its revision Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire. Two of their last efforts were Cyvern and developed by splinter company of Athena Corp., Warashi Inc., called Sengeki Striker.
The PCE CD/TGCD game Nexzr was co-developed by Kaneko and their secondary developer Inter-State (known for PC Engine Aero Blasters) with Naxat Soft, which Naxat Soft also had porting deals with other Taito umbrella developers Toaplan and Technos Japan, which Double Dragon II: The Revenge, Zero Wing and Nexzr share similar animation styles and were released on PCE CD/TGCD. Nexzr's game composer was Katsuya Yoneda who later composed Cyvern arcade.
You forgot D.J Boy and B-Rap Boyz
I actually love the soundtrack on the PC Engine version. I guess it's a matter of taste. Chip music vs the Megadrive's FM-sound.
TI123 Exactly. I prefer the PC Engine / Turbo music myself.
Such an unappreciated shooter. It deserves more attention.
It sure does.
Retro Core We can all agree with that statement, & this can also be said for Magic Jewelry on the NES.
I love this channel!! Always a highlight to see the new episode notification!,
74Vidgamer I agree with you :).
Thank you, 74Vidgamer
Oh memories, Seaside City Level, the ascend into orbit.. very good 2player shooter.
I liked this game so much I bought it twice! Last one was the Turbografx version. Great game either console. Music is individual preference. I prefer the TG16/PCE music. Thanks for another upload!
I'm so glad you picked this game. One of my all-time favorites despite the difficult power-up mechanic.
Air Buster kept its original name for the North American Genesis release.
I am excited for next year where I can play this game in real life.
...fantastic stereo separation...
Well, on the Model-1 Mega Drive, you gotta plug in the dual speakers to the console using the 3.5mm plug...
I always did that via a specially modded RGB cable and got stereo out of the TV. That was quite common even back in 1988.
My second Mega Drive game back then!
Nice choice.
This is my favorite show on TV. Any station you tube or otherwise.
Thanks Alex. That's very nice of you to say.
This game really need more attention.
It most likely never will but I do think you're right. It's a very overlooked game.
Man! Aero Blaster is simple but hell of fun! And the Tunnel level is a classic and based Turrican 2 shoot'em up levels....So yea, some value over here
(And i played most of the versions. I have more fond memories with the Mega Drive port!)
I wa thinking Amiga Turrican 2 as well
My absolute favourite shmup after Axelay.
A good game with excellent music.
One of my fave shoot em up games. The music was awesome as well... the only complaint I can leverage against it is the high difficulty curve.
Especially once you reach stage 4. That's one tough stage.
haha, LET'S THE ARCADE GOLDEN AGE BEGINS !!!
then what's your fav, the Arcade or Pc-Engine version ?
^_^ MegaDrive of course :p
Genesis version! I own it CIB (Air Buster)
I can't believe I let this one pass me by in 1990. I got my Sega Genesis in 1989 essentially leaving the 8-bit generation almost entirely *today I collect for all. This game is an absolute stunner for the year 1990. You have to remember most people were still gaming on an Nes at the time. The 16-bit wars was finally beginning to really heat up. This is the time that Sega was running the "Genesis does campaign" and they were Playing it Loud (who gets this reference). Welcome to the next level...;)
I remember making the conscious decision as a kid to go all in with Sega. I had both the Nes and Master System at the time but something felt different this time. I remember school kids in my class saying "Sega sucks" and "the Genesis was going to fail like the Master System before it." Once I had the opportunity to play both Altered Beast and Ghouls N' Ghosts I knew they were wrong. I stayed on the Sega/Nintendo course for many years following this.
Now, this does not mean I dislike the TG-16 (I love it) but there were problems from the very beginning. At the time (1990) Sega was firing on all cylinders and NEC seemed as if they didn't understand the American market. While Sega was hitting every genre with absolute showstoppers Nec was fumbling. When I would go to the store for games I would always peruse the TG-16 isle first. I wanted a definitive reason to get one but most games were all shmup's. By then my pallet had grown well beyond the simple one man against an armada theme and I wanted more. I wanted beat em' up's, RPG's, sports, platformers, and arcade games. By the end of 1990, Sega had it all in spades. Not only had Sega taken the lead in the market (wow), they were beating Nintendo. We as Americans saw the proverbial wall that Nintendo put up fall and it was good. No longer were game companies tied to Nintendo with unenforceable and illegal contracts...no, the gaming world was on fire like never before.
You can't go wrong with Aero Blaster. It was one of my favourite games back in the day. It just looks so sleek.
In the US people were still playing NES 1990. In Europe we had our Amigas.
@@turrican4d599
In 1990 the market share began to flip on its head as Sega derailed Nintendo's 84% share of the industry. Don't forget the US was and still is the largest region in gaming...so that's a lot of people. After Super Mario Brothers 3 hit and everyone had it (including me), the Nintendo gravy train was over. Sega took a commanding lead in the video game market. By the end of 1990 they owned the 16-bit market and were roughly 45% of the entire video game market here. So...at least half the game playing country was rocking out on a 16-bit something. By the time the Snes released in 1991 Sega dominated them with over...I want to say 65% * edit- market share.
Addendum- The Amiga and Atari ST were fine but once the 16-bit consoles hit everywhere the writing was on the wall as Sega went on to dominate them as well. Nintendo "won" the 16-bit race simply by default in world-wide sales. Sega was ahead of them as they were in a deadheat by 1994. Unfortunately, the idiots that ran Sega of Japan decided to kill the Genesis giving Nintendo the budget market all to themselves here in the US. They were the only company selling a console for under a 100 bucks, they didn't split their market, and were pushing new games out like crazy. Their victory was quite literally handed to them on a silver platter and it didn't matter how many other regions Sega won...they lost here. It cost them the fourth generation and the fifth as well.
a great video! I have the Japanese Megadrive version..a very hard game!
Sounds great Mark. I'll gladly contribute to give a helping hand. 8^)
Anthony..
The first thing I thought when those fast moving tunnels showed up was... Hey, wasn't that in Turrican II? Well, so was a version of the boss that opens up to reveal the weak spot. I think you just found the inspiration they had for those levels!
Looks like a great game too :)
Wow, I've got to go and check out Turrican 2 now to see the comparison.
@Retro Core to help you find it, the tunnels and the boss that opens up to expose the weakspot are both found in world 3-3 :)
Very good Megadrive game and another miss for us Europeans as it didnt get a release here.
Strange that it never got a Euro release. It did come to the states but the box art is horrible as to be expected.
despite losing in stage 4 every time, I keep going back.. love this shooter!
It is a tough stage. It gets a little easier after that.
One of my favourites this, definitely underappreciated. I remember years ago having a mad argument online with a rapid PC Engine fanboy who INSISTED the PCE version was better than the better-than-arcade' MD port. He even reckoned the tinny music was better, the nutter.
Every PC Engine fanboys thinks every PC Engine version of a game that's also on the Mega Drive is better on the PC Engine. Sad really. I own both systems and really enjoy both but if I had to choose a winner it would be the Mega Drive. Better graphics, more action and better audio.
One of my favorites shoot'em ups ever, it was kinda easy so I last more than other games so it was my choice to play every time I find it. Didn't know there was a Megadrive port though, I would have gone crazy to know of that version when I had my Megadrive
Wow, I'm surprised you didn't know about the Mega Drive port. Normally that's the port people know about.
"LURVELY" game, thanks Mark
Recently ordered a loose cart of the US Genesis version. Might be the last game I can find that I wanted that'll be somewhat affordable.
I have the TG-16 version. A real ball buster of a game. It's odd that it didn't get ported to more platforms.
Fantastic game no matter the platform you choose to play it. No losers here. Well, except Super Famicom/SNES players.
I played a bit of the Megadrive version of Aero Blasters, and somehow i just couldn't get into the game enough to keep playing, however i would like to give this game another chance by trying the PC-Engine version by myself. good Battle of the Ports episode by the way.
This is a game that would have greatly benefitted from a PC Engine Super CD release, as the PC Engine is clearly capable of better than this. That version could have been pretty awesome.
Good to see so many comments echoing my thoughts - I had the MD version and loved it, great game, great soundtrack and I also preferred it over the arcade version.
While all versions 's are good I like to think most people agree that the Mega Drive version is the ultimate release.
Another fun game. I have it on Turbografx, and have always enjoyed it, as it always felt like one of the faster horizontal shooters of the time, but it got less play than it probably deserved due to Download, Sinistron, Gate of Thunder, and Gradius II taking most of my time for that style on the system. Great choice!
Ah, there was a lot of great choice on the PCE when it came to shooters. On the Mega Drive too come to think of it.
Retro Core True... any system with 3 ThunderForce games is a good horizontal shooter console, then toss in Gaiares, Sagaia, Steel Empire, Whip Rush, Zero Wing... it just keeps going on that one, too!
This may be an odd question but would you ever do a retrospective/history of a company like Kaneco? Not sure if that's in your channel mission.
Hmm, not now but who knows about the future.
Looks like this game was a victim of bad timing. Even though it wasn't a bad game in any way, there were so many shmups in the arcades at this time that it would have been hard to compete. The arcade version didn't seem to have any complex scaling or anything, so I wasn't surprised that the Mega Drive version looks almost identical (aside from the slightly different colors) and even the PC Engine version isn't that much worse. Of course, the sound hardware is far more similar between the arcade and the Mega Drive, so I'm not surprised the PC Engine version has the worst music of the three, as it usually is behind both the Mega Drive and SNES in that category. The Mega Drive version lacks the sampled drums of the arcade original, but considering it was a 4-meg cartridge, I don't think they would have been able to squeeze them in.
Ah, but the Mega Drive has cool snyth drums :)
They're completely drowned out by the other instruments though, so they're nowhere near as pronounced as those in the arcade original. If you want to hear what really good FM synth drums sound like, check out Thunder Force II, III and IV on the Mega Drive.
Excellent vid thanks Mark, always loved this game on all three formats tbh. Could you tell me what hardware you use to capture the footage please.
I use a pretty old card for modern standards. It's a Korean made card called Capture X by Sky Digital (not related to sky TV). It was one of the first cards able to capture 1080 at 60fps in 3D.
Retro Core, I'm just messing around with a channel called Wright offs, just me and my boy having fun. Tbh though it's mostly me playing shooters in mame lol, I'm suffering from frame pacing issues which makes it all a little painful. I haven't put a voiceover any of yet but I have many excellent stories from playing games through the 80's through to present day and working in the games industry up until march this year, I really appreciate the effort you put in getting these videos week in week so many thanks.
Another classic Japanese shump I see here and the pce/tg16 soundtrack of games sound the same and the md/genesis are known for having great shumps and great Japanese composers for that system.
Sonic Thrillington Yeah, the Genesis has great Japanese composers, but they're NOTHING compared to the music of Matt Furniss, & Jesper Kyd!!!
Yep but Matt and Jester couldn't use the Mega Drives Yamaha sound chip to save their lives. Only the Japanese could make that chip sing due to having a lot of experience with it. It's the same chip that's used in many arcades of the time.
This looks like a fairly easy shmup. I may give it a try since I suck at those games.
It is until the gravity stage.
Looks great on every platform. Haven't played any version yet, but I may at some point play the Genesis version. I think there would've been an arcade perfect port on the Atari Jaguar as it looks like graphics done on the Jaguar.
Very very hard game, I rent this game in never finished.
It is tough one, especially stage 4.
Retro Core Yeah, those this could've been much easier if a ZX Spectrum port was made as it wouldn't run that fast.
I owned the japanese MD Version, it´s challenging but with adjusted settings you eventually beat it, there is a real learning curve here. Very good shooter.
Welp, I see that Mark is having fun as usual. I personally feel that you can make a few dollars, pounds and even some yen making DVD's of these great Battle of the Ports Mark.
I personally would buy from you. Especially the SNK versions for sure. 8^)
You have my support Mark. I think it would do good. 8^)
Anthony..
Ah, I've been thinking of doing BluRays for a while. I'd have to set up a kick starter though to get funded.
Retro Core Well, you can easily buy 1 of those things from the USA, & make 'em region free no problem, though I suggest burning them very slowly so they can play properly in the best way possible.
I wouldn't be burning BluRay. I do have a BluRay burner although I've never burnt a BluRay. If I was to release the shows I'd want them pressed on to discs.
@ben owen I would too, but I would make those as "collector's items".
Oh so this is the reason behind these loading screens in the Mega Drive port? Makes sense and excusable since they're here for good reasons.
So it comes down to loading screens (MD) vs worse visuals and sound (PCE).
Also one thing that you didn't point out is that the PCE version doesn't run fullscreen and instead has a large black bar for the HUD. Lot of PC Engine ports have screen reduction like this.
And personally I much prefer stage 2's music on arcade/MD than PCE, fits the stage much better with a nice and subtle sense of tension. Also there are great parallax scrollings going on during this stage and during the boss fight, all of which are lacking in the PCE port.
And yeah, it's a pretty good shooter even though I'm not too keen on the power-up system but it's still fun to play and has some nice graphics and music.
btw the PC Engine might have more onscreen color capabilities than the Mega Drive but I won't say "vastly" since both systems have the same master palette so this doesn't leave that much more possibilities on PCE side. Actually, there are many games with similar graphics on both systems (like here with Aero Blasters) and also many with better graphics on Mega Drive (Strider, Golden Axe, The Newzealand Story, Puyo Puyo 1 and 2, Shadow of the Beast, Atomic Robo-Kid...) while on the other hand the Mega Drive has the edge over the PC Engine in almost every other technical aspects: CPU, sprite engine, scrolling capabilities, sound... and also connectivity, with native RGB and 2 controller ports unlike the PC Engine. It's actually crazy to think that the Mega Drive was released only 1 year after the PC Engine and was even launched at lower price given how much more it has to offer! But still the PC Engine is a pretty good console with some great games so there are good stuff to enjoy either way :)
The Mega Drive can only show 64 colours at once or 240 odd with special coding while the PC Engine can show 482 colours at once as standard.
The Mega Drive can display between 61 to 512 colors depending of how it's used:
- standard: 61-64 colors
- shadow/highlight: 114-192 colors
- mid‑frame palette swap: 75-256 colors
- direct color: 256-512 colors
The PC Engine can display more subpalettes and thus theoretically up to 482 onscreen colors but, as I said, both systems have the same master palette (512 colors 9-bit RGB) so this doesn't leave that much more possibilities on the PC Engine side and many multiplats have actually as good if not better graphics on Mega Drive.
Also I guess that the more colors a game displays, the harder it is for the system to handle it which can be another reason why most PC Engine games actually display between 40 to 120 colors instead of more?
And aside from colors, the Mega Drive usually has the edge in every other visual aspects: resolution, scrollings, sprites... Which is why Mega Drive games usually look more advanced and "fuller".
Anyway I plan on doing a huge thread about all of this because it's still misunderstood (and I still need to dig a few things myself). I also gonna include the Amiga and SNES in this and there are other things planned :)
i first played this for my TG16, later got it for the Gen but never played it really. the arcade music an sound effects are pretty kool. kool fun fact about the MD/Gen 🙂 , better then the arcade though? neah
those explosion sound fx sound like raiden?
They're similar but not the same.
In this case I think the Console has surpassed the Arcade.
I'd say so. The Arcade seems litle flat.
A great game, from my favourite era of shmups.
I thorght there was an updated ps2 version, but i must of been wrong.
This would of been awesome on the fmtowns tho
I've not heard of a PS2 version. Maybe you saw some of the CG renders that one person was making. These are on the net but they were never made in to a game.
Sega Crushing it again with the arcade ports... the pce version is nothing to sneeze at considering its crippled by its own hardware and software limitations but they always did pretty impressive work.
My suggestion for the next 'Battle of Ports'... Double Dragon of 1995.
You mean the Neo Geo one? That only had one port to the PlayStation unless we count the Neo CD.
Yes. That one.
the arcade version is far superior
Both ports are good, I do prefer the Genesis version as it is easier. Especially in the last couple of levels.
Ahh... The Nostalgia...
I remember you playing the Sega Genesis port of this game for showing the Xrgb3 features, i even bought one because of your review, do you still have it?. One of the first videos i saw in your channel. Keep on doing these great videos. Hasta la vista.
Wow, that was a while back. The Xrgb3 has long gone but the copy of Aero Blasters used in that video is the same one now.
Though the Mega Drive port is very impressive, I still prefer the original.
I would think that the arcade perfect port for this game is the Sega Genesis dude so what is going to be the next battle of the ports video dude? I really enjoy these videos and again another good job on this video
The next video maybe a day late. I'm actually away at the moment and won't return until Friday. I'm thinking Pengo will be the next show.
Retro Core hey I have an idea how about making a battle of the ports video about rockman x3 I swear YOU ARE GONNA LIKE IT *Spongebob's voice and laughs*
Sega is the best.
still have very hard game
MD BASS
“One of the first games to feature decompression” is very misleading. Perhaps one of the first to have a loading screen while decompressing, but compression techniques have been employed since the earliest of video games. As an example, here are several compression algos used by Sega games: www.smspower.org/Development/Compression
Yes, you are right. I should have said the first game to use a loading screen while decompressing.
I paid a pound for my copy on the Mega it was a bargin
You can't go wrong for a pound!! You'd never get it for that price now.
You would if the corner of the cart was chewed by a dog as my example is , problem is even a clone case is more than the cost of the game ;)
👏😊💖🎮
One thing I never understood is why developers gave a shit what region you use a game in. Why the hell did they even bother with region locks in the first place? What do they care where the person is from who buys the damn game? Makes zero sense to me.
Because games cost more in different regions. For example a game in the US may have been 40 dollars while in the UK it was 40 pounds. Thing is, back then 40 pounds was about 65 dollars. So you can see why game companies wanted to sell games in specific regions. Actually, games in Japan have generally cost more than the West.
@@RetroCore That's what currency conversion is for. I don't really see what the cost has to do with anything tho. As long as they make their sales then why would they care where it's being sold and for how much? The profit margins on games have always been small anyway.
added russian subtitles
Thank you, Евгений Поддерживающий. I will go and enable them soon.
Oh,just checked. I added them the other week.
SEGA GENESIS unbelievable look fantastic is a great great ports more than like arcade better music sounds better graphics the game is absolute look great on Sega genesis version
PC ENGINE is very good ports not bad + more fun to played just like Arcade & Sega Genesis the graphics is very good the music sounds is ok not better than Sega genesis & Arcade in the stage 2 they have a different music sounds genesis & arcade don't have that only on pc engine version
ARCADE version we are already know arcade is superior better music sounds better graphics better everything + excellent gameplay no doubt in my opinion
Me personally Genesis is the game for Aero Blasters Battle
Genesis version is actually called Air Buster
The mega drive version definitely is the best out of the ports. Who ported the PCE version? was it NEC Ave? or was that done in house? It looks rather bland compared to the rest. They certainly didn't take advantage of what the system could do.
Seems to be by NEC avenue but it's also possible they just distributed it. The Mega Drive port was done in house at Kanako.
The rearranged music on Stage 2 in the PC Engine port is vastly superior to both the arcade and Mega Drive I think; the track is absolutely amazing. The port does look more cartoony/8-bit but I don't think it suffers as a result. Would put the PC Engine port alongside the Mega Drive version overall.
The rearrangement of stage 2's music is cool as mentioned in the video. The overall soundtrack isn't that great mind you as it lacks a lot of base. Same as the Arcade actually.
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