About lost shmups, you could cover Death Ephemera, from Akira Goya. It was definitely released, but nobody seem to have it. I mean, apart from one youtuber.
Man, I've wanted Ubusuna for so long... and the next stg from Crimzon Clover World EXplosion developer Yotsubane - Garukilla (CC is just so good that I want more). Great video!
What about Duality ZF 双攻 (was Planned for Xbox 360 and PC) and was hyped alot in Xbox Live Indie game channels. The Developer made other STG'S only for Xbox 360 but this vanished none ever got PC ports either. Lots of gameplay and trailers of it Exist of it online. Even one of the Serious Sam games had a Duke Nukem forever stlye joke of the game inside it.
Excellent Video! Good, though-out visual effects & editing. 4:45 I played this in North America back in the day, but I imagine I was one of the few, as the USA release was priced too high for the English E-shop market and had little marketing. _Kokuga_ maybe could have been an early E-shop hit if it had "played its cards" better. An interesting fact about _Kokuga_ is that the 'BGM6' ("黒風") theme is likely an self-homage by Namiki to 'Live to Fly' from _Thunder Dragon 2._ 6:42 lolol "vectors are 180 degrees" A runner-up game that's adjacent to lost shmups I'd suggest is Taito's _Outburst4D_ unreleased arcade game. Footage exist, but no rom; kinda neat.
Excellent video! Given the popularity of the genre in the late 80's and into the earliest part of the 90's, I suspect there are a lot of other lost games like this. I mentioned Variant Schwanzer on a podcast recording, because apparently someone owns a PCB of that unreleased Seta shmup, and has had it on location at one of the Mikado arcades in Japan, but as far as I know, that's another one that hasn't been dumped. Also, it's wild to think of Ubisoft making a shmup, and perhaps even wilder that they canceled it because Thunder Force IV was such a beast of a game.
Thanks! I haven't heard of Variant Schwanzer I'll have to check that one out. And yeah, Ubisoft making a shmup is a weird sentence. Fwiw it seemed like it would've been pretty euroshmuppy like the game that inspired it, but I still would like to try it some day.
If Ubisoft were worried about the mega drives life cycle ending, they were sure jumping the gun. TF4 came out in 92. Idk if Sonic 2 was even out by then. Maybe that same year.
It dropped in 93 in NA/EU and lots of new hardware was being announced and released by then. Genesis was 5 years old by then so I do get it, but I think it was a premature call for sure.
Very interesting video ! I'd argue that some of the games you've shown aren't exactly lost. Ubusuna will most likely be released imo (just have to be patient). DoDonPachi Campaign is in the hands on the people who won the contest, it's just that it was never meant to be released (like other limited Cave PCBs). I know Shou desperatly wants WTN to sell it to him, but he won't, and in any case I guess dumping the rom might cause legal issues because Japan and all. To be frank I feel that it not getting a release is karma for everyone who has been shitting on the Saturn port (which is about as accurate/inaccurate as Darius Gaiden's port) for decades lol. Also it's funny you mention Zodiac and Stardust as I actually saw Laurent Cluzel discuss the games (among other things) at a seminar last december. I was quite impressed by the game's graphics, lore, and mechanics (especially the right to left scrolling) but I cannot remember exactly what he said sadly... As a shmup and Taito fanboy I think it might be interesting to do a video about obscure Taito shmups (R-Gear, Metal Black Tarabar, Darius Gaiden Extra, etc.) :)
Campaign Edition of DDP hasn't been dumped because Cave dipped the mask ROMs with the updated data in epoxy resin; if they're tampered with then it makes the PCB permanently unusuable. ZBL-Nai attempted to do so and nearly ruined his board, and thus has never touched it. Shoutime was in the process of finding a board but nothing came of it and he runs EXa Arcadia now. Multiple boards were spotted at one Cave Matsuri Fes years ago, so Cave likely does have either the board or the source code; they're notoriously against emulators like MAME.
@@GojiGuy because they knew ZBL-Nai or whoever would end up with the PCB would dump the ROM for this special version of the game that was made for basically one person. This wasn't meant to be sold off, dumped, or for monetary gains.
@@mostverticalproductions4808 so Cave is Ok with their other games being dumped? If anything there is even less of a reason to add copy protection to DDPC since they would know exactly who dumped it...
@@GojiGuy they aren't, not their "newer" stuff at least. They sent a C&D to the Mame team when SDOJ was added. The older stuff that either has no source code or they have no interest in is free game. Likely they do have a couple of boards and the source code, but don't want to release it.
@@mostverticalproductions4808 that's my point. If they hate MAME they would have dipped all their PCBs in resin. I have a hard time believing they found the perfect anti-piracy technique and only used it on one obscure game. It's likely there is some other reason it hasn't been dumped
I forget the name of the game but it was a jrpg on famicom that has footage and stuff, but was never released. I believe someone has the cart but it was never dumped. I saw it on a video that covered more than video games so it’s hard to remember, but damn when I saw that game I wanted to play it so bad
I found some beta screenshots of Thunder Force 4 and footage of the Thunder Force 5 beta. I also have a screenshot of Thunder Force 5 on sega mega drive
@@GojiGuy Supposedly it didn't do well at location tests. Maybe something to do with the main character sprite being horrendous and the ability to use cancer as a weapon... that likely was a few steps too far.
Said it before, I'll say it again... this is the sort of content I've always wanted people to do around shmups. Keep up the good work Alex!
Thanks! Means a lot to hear!
Agreed!
About lost shmups, you could cover Death Ephemera, from Akira Goya. It was definitely released, but nobody seem to have it. I mean, apart from one youtuber.
Oh wow that's pretty interesting. I'll have to check that out, thanks!
Man, I've wanted Ubusuna for so long... and the next stg from Crimzon Clover World EXplosion developer Yotsubane - Garukilla (CC is just so good that I want more). Great video!
Death Ephemera
Dodonpachi Campaign that shit blows my mind a few got a custom PCB. We have never seen it thru probably can't show it the people that got them.
What about Duality ZF 双攻 (was Planned for Xbox 360 and PC) and was hyped alot in Xbox Live Indie game channels. The Developer made other STG'S only for Xbox 360 but this vanished none ever got PC ports either. Lots of gameplay and trailers of it Exist of it online. Even one of the Serious Sam games had a Duke Nukem forever stlye joke of the game inside it.
Excellent Video! Good, though-out visual effects & editing.
4:45 I played this in North America back in the day, but I imagine I was one of the few, as the USA release was priced too high for the English E-shop market and had little marketing. _Kokuga_ maybe could have been an early E-shop hit if it had "played its cards" better.
An interesting fact about _Kokuga_ is that the 'BGM6' ("黒風") theme is likely an self-homage by Namiki to 'Live to Fly' from _Thunder Dragon 2._
6:42 lolol "vectors are 180 degrees"
A runner-up game that's adjacent to lost shmups I'd suggest is Taito's _Outburst4D_ unreleased arcade game. Footage exist, but no rom; kinda neat.
Thank you! And hey, I'm a huge fan of Taito so I'll definitely have to look into Outburst4D.
Excellent video! Given the popularity of the genre in the late 80's and into the earliest part of the 90's, I suspect there are a lot of other lost games like this. I mentioned Variant Schwanzer on a podcast recording, because apparently someone owns a PCB of that unreleased Seta shmup, and has had it on location at one of the Mikado arcades in Japan, but as far as I know, that's another one that hasn't been dumped. Also, it's wild to think of Ubisoft making a shmup, and perhaps even wilder that they canceled it because Thunder Force IV was such a beast of a game.
Thanks! I haven't heard of Variant Schwanzer I'll have to check that one out. And yeah, Ubisoft making a shmup is a weird sentence. Fwiw it seemed like it would've been pretty euroshmuppy like the game that inspired it, but I still would like to try it some day.
That's too bad for Zodiac, but you can't compete with the pedigree of Thunder Force IV. That game was amaaaazing!
Yup! Certainly tough competition
Bruh... how can someone mix two of my favorite things like this??? Subbed
Thanks!
Keep up the good work. Always on the hunt for this type of storytelling as I do the same too!
>Lost DDP game
The Electric Underground has entered the chat
LOL!
Mark has talked about it on his channel!
Athena also made Bio Metal on the SNES and the Dezaemon series of shmup building games.
That's a different (and much more popular) Athena! This is 株式会社アシーナ not 株式会社アテナ. They get mixed up a lot.
@@GojiGuy Oh. Thanks for the info.
If Ubisoft were worried about the mega drives life cycle ending, they were sure jumping the gun. TF4 came out in 92. Idk if Sonic 2 was even out by then. Maybe that same year.
It dropped in 93 in NA/EU and lots of new hardware was being announced and released by then. Genesis was 5 years old by then so I do get it, but I think it was a premature call for sure.
great video, i love how bizzare the dinoforce story is !
Thank you! Yeah, it's such a weird one. No wonder the game never got released!
This content was so good man. I would love to see more of this and other retro games.
Very interesting video ! I'd argue that some of the games you've shown aren't exactly lost. Ubusuna will most likely be released imo (just have to be patient). DoDonPachi Campaign is in the hands on the people who won the contest, it's just that it was never meant to be released (like other limited Cave PCBs). I know Shou desperatly wants WTN to sell it to him, but he won't, and in any case I guess dumping the rom might cause legal issues because Japan and all. To be frank I feel that it not getting a release is karma for everyone who has been shitting on the Saturn port (which is about as accurate/inaccurate as Darius Gaiden's port) for decades lol.
Also it's funny you mention Zodiac and Stardust as I actually saw Laurent Cluzel discuss the games (among other things) at a seminar last december. I was quite impressed by the game's graphics, lore, and mechanics (especially the right to left scrolling) but I cannot remember exactly what he said sadly...
As a shmup and Taito fanboy I think it might be interesting to do a video about obscure Taito shmups (R-Gear, Metal Black Tarabar, Darius Gaiden Extra, etc.) :)
Well, thankfully R-Gear is "not entirely lost" now I guess! Haha
Yes those are great choices. I'd really love to see what Zodiac is like.
Enjoyed this, can sense the heart behind it
Thanks! I'd love to make more like it :)
Great video. Thank you !
Glad you liked it!
50YW is short for 50 Years War
Thanks! Where does he explain that?
Campaign Edition of DDP hasn't been dumped because Cave dipped the mask ROMs with the updated data in epoxy resin; if they're tampered with then it makes the PCB permanently unusuable. ZBL-Nai attempted to do so and nearly ruined his board, and thus has never touched it. Shoutime was in the process of finding a board but nothing came of it and he runs EXa Arcadia now. Multiple boards were spotted at one Cave Matsuri Fes years ago, so Cave likely does have either the board or the source code; they're notoriously against emulators like MAME.
If dipping the mask ROM in epoxy resin is such an efficient counter-piracy measure, why didn't Cave use it for all of their other games?
@@GojiGuy because they knew ZBL-Nai or whoever would end up with the PCB would dump the ROM for this special version of the game that was made for basically one person. This wasn't meant to be sold off, dumped, or for monetary gains.
@@mostverticalproductions4808 so Cave is Ok with their other games being dumped? If anything there is even less of a reason to add copy protection to DDPC since they would know exactly who dumped it...
@@GojiGuy they aren't, not their "newer" stuff at least. They sent a C&D to the Mame team when SDOJ was added. The older stuff that either has no source code or they have no interest in is free game. Likely they do have a couple of boards and the source code, but don't want to release it.
@@mostverticalproductions4808 that's my point. If they hate MAME they would have dipped all their PCBs in resin. I have a hard time believing they found the perfect anti-piracy technique and only used it on one obscure game. It's likely there is some other reason it hasn't been dumped
I forget the name of the game but it was a jrpg on famicom that has footage and stuff, but was never released. I believe someone has the cart but it was never dumped. I saw it on a video that covered more than video games so it’s hard to remember, but damn when I saw that game I wanted to play it so bad
I'm still holding out on Ubusuna. It better come this year or next year.
I'm holding out hope too... At this point I do wonder if it will stick to PS4 or not!
@@GojiGuy Well, I'm gonna get a PS5 just in case. Either way, we must have that game.
I'm also waiting for Aleste Branch... That game is one mystery I still have yet to solve.
@@SolCresta3405 yeah... M2 is already in my video twice otherwise I would've added it here!
@@GojiGuy Feveron School is another mystery as well, I agree. But right now, Aleste Branch and Ubusuna is the jackpot for me.
I found some beta screenshots of Thunder Force 4 and footage of the Thunder Force 5 beta. I also have a screenshot of Thunder Force 5 on sega mega drive
I'm still waiting for Ubusuna lol
Cool video! Look up Chimera Beast and shudder...
Chimera Beast is such an odd game! I wonder why it never released...
@@GojiGuy Supposedly it didn't do well at location tests. Maybe something to do with the main character sprite being horrendous and the ability to use cancer as a weapon... that likely was a few steps too far.
I dont like you very much
#pewpew