Boyographic - Solar Striker Review
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- In the early days of the Game Boy, Nintendo was eager to populate the system with games of all genres. This decision lead them down some interesting alleys, but perhaps none more so than the route of creating a vertical scrolling shooter called 'Solar Striker'. An unusual genre for Nintendo to cover yes, but the real question, as always, is of course is it any good?
This is the 106th episode of Boyographic, the series looking to highlight the highs and lows of the Gameboy library, playing the hits and the misses so you don't have to!
All footage is used in fair use to give a cultural perspective of the character and context for this game's release. All footage is owned by it's respective copyright holders, and was not created by myself. I do not own any other footage used at the beginning of the video.
You can find more Gameboyle goodness on Twitter - @GameBoyle
On Facebook at boyographic & 'Gameboyle' on Instagram.
While I've only seen about 30-40 of your videos, this one is the best. The Game and Watch connection is something I never would've made in a million years, and it's a fantastic point. It makes me see this game (which I already liked) in a completely new light, and now I'm going to go play it again. Thanks!
No problem man! I think you're probably right in it being the best video I've done, it's why it's still as the channel trailer haha... I like the Tower of Druaga one too, but this is generally the standard I'm trying to chase when I make a new video! I don't always get there from an editing stand point like this one, but I hope I'm at least getting close to it in terms of information vs. review!
Why oh why are you still so underrated? This channel is a gold mine.
Hey man, I'm happy that people like yourself appreciate it at all... I'd rather be proud of my content than put out low quality videos / cover stuff I don't care about! Thanks for the support as always :)
You understood the art of reviewing, congratulation. Phenomenal video!
Thanks Lee, as I'm sure I said in the Drunk Friends podcast, I still think this is where I've set the bar for reviews... Let's see if I can get more of them to this quality haha!
Excellent review, Matt! I had read that interview you cited, and it definitely sheds new light on the original intended purpose of the Game Boy, and certainly provides new context for many early titles. Even without that context, however, Solar Striker is still a solid shmup that is well worth the time for any genre enthusiast. As the portable analog to the Famicom, Solar Striker, in many ways, acts as the Game Boy’s answer to early Famicom and NES vertical shmups, like Star Soldier, Star Force, and the early conversion of Xevious. It’s the first vertical shooter on the platform, and despite its limited scope, is a fun game that really showed that Nintendo had even more range than we all thought, given that they’d never done a shoot-em-up before. I was unaware of the boss timer, as I always worked to destroy them as quickly as possible. Also, that blasted Stage 4 boss always tripped me up, but I see you worked out the pattern for it, so next time I go back to the game, I might have less difficulty with it, since I can just replicate what you did. It’s definitely one that I recommend, and worthy of a place in any Game Boy or shooter fan’s collection.
Cheers buddy! Should've known you'd been on this one with 'Shoot the Core' and all haha! The stage 5 boss was the one for me that was a pain in the ass haha! Once I finally managed to beat him, I was literally chanting 'don't die, don't die' to myself as I played the final level xD Hope you've managed to beat him since! Thanks for the support as always dude!
Very impressive review and I'm stoked to see others appreciating SS as much as I do! This was actually the first shmup (and Gameboy game) I ever had/played and I still love it! So many memories. I have now subbed and am eager to check out what else you have on this channel.
Really nice summary and a unique perspective on this. For me personally I always preferred simpler, bolder graphics, and short, replayable games for the original DMG Gameboy. The original fuzzy greenscreen with its ghosting dig not suit too detailed graphics, or epic long play sessions too well imo, for example I always found Super Mario Land 1st graphics to work better on that screen that the more detailed, but less easy to differentiate graphics of the sequel, and also preferred just picking up the first game and playing it right through from start to finish. I think that's why Tetris worked so well as well, very bold, simple, easy to read graphics, and easy replayability for a quick blast. Of course, later iterations of the Gameboy were far better and more comfortable for playing more detailed and in depth experiences.
Cheers squire! I always feel that when it comes to the Game Boy and graphics, I'm always impressed when the developers can get the harmony of great sprite work and good gameplay. Whether that means Trip World levels of visuals or something like R-Type where they really push the system to it's limits in terms of speed! As long as it plays well, graphics aren't an issue for me! Thanks for the comment and for watching!
The boss sprites looked really unique! I'd like to check this one out!
@Grana Banana I'm a big game Boyle fan!
Did you end out checking it dude? What did you think? Thanks for the support as always!
@@GameBoyle I still gotta mess with the sabrina games. but get this, every time you make a review, I find the game like a week later. Really just saw this game a few days ago! Are you a wizard?
I love Solar Striker! For many of the reasons you mentioned. Great replay ability! Just like a game and watch game! Really interesting to hear that it could have been one of Gunpei’s visions for the game boy! Probably explains why I enjoy some of the earlier releases so much! :) great video as always!
Cheers dude! I feel like this lines up with how he potentially envisioned the Game Boy a lot more than some of the other titles. Of course, not being there or knowing anyone who was means this is of course all my opinion! Thanks for the support as always!
Great review! Love the research that goes into these
Cheers :) Glad you enjoyed, thanks for taking the time to watch it!
Finaly! Man, been waiting for this gem! Thank you! Well done good sir!
Haha so have a lot of people I think! I'm glad I finally got around to covering it - not only because people have been wanting me to, but because it's honestly turned me around on the game itself! Thanks for watching and the constant support!
Solid review and finally someone that appreciates Solar Striker for what it is without having to make the Nemesis comparison. I restored a GBC last week and played through some of SS as a test tonight. I love this game, the music, how clean it is and it looks really sharp on a gbc. Prior to that I was playing it on a super gameboy and GBA. 👍
Looking forward to more videos!
Thanks for the kind words! I can see from the other comments you watched a ton of them after this, which is greatly appreciated!
@@GameBoyle lol, yeah I went through every video, some multiple times. 👍
Couldn’t agree with you more on this review Mat. I genuinely love this game and the soundtrack is second to none. For me, this type of game is where the GameBoy shines.
I love this game Lee and I'm happy to see you feel the same haha! You are a man of taste sir!
Enjoyed that Matt, one id still like to get along with the other early releases
Get on them Tooty, there's some gold in those early games! Thanks for the support as always!
Stll one of my favorite shooters, that includes more modern games such as R-TYPE Delta and Contra 4.
I've been playing the hell out of it, even since posting the review up, I've really found a love for it! I still need to get Contra 4 though, we never got it in Europe and the prices only ever went up! Thanks for the support as always!
I got this game for a steal and am enjoying it! I see where all the praise comes from!
I still need to get myself a boxed copy to fulfill my plans of having the Shmup collection CIB! The cart is now alongside Tetris in my travel bag at all times! Thanks for watching and sorry for the lateness of my reply!
This is one of my favorite games on the original GB.
After this video, it's one of mine too! Thanks for watching!
I always bust this game out if I am at a loose end, I love shmups and the straight forward nature of this game is what appeals to me. Sure Nemesis, Sagaia and Rtype are all fantastic on the GB but this is just as you say, a repeat player that doesn’t dull.
100% - I keep a spare cart of this along with Tetris in my GB travel bag!
Well said about this game! It is one of my favorite games that Nintendo released on the original Gameboy. I wonder who the composer, T.Okada is?
I really like this game. It's a simple pick up and play, as you note in the video. It's cheap, too! I got it for about $5 on EBay. Good video!
Cheers :) Yup, it's a cheap one for sure! Oddly, one of the only shooters I don't have CIB... I guess I'll need to fix that soon! Thanks for watching!
Nice reflections about the game!
Cheers :) Thanks for taking the time to write and for watching Björn!
Yes!!! Solar Striker Rocks
Damned straight :D! Thanks for watching!
Such a fun game. I was surprised by how fun it was lol
Me too! Thanks for watching :)
I have a go at solar striker every time I take out my game boy consoles, it's a great lil game for the hand held
Hi! Have sent you a message with dozens of Game Boy titles to review, few weeks ago. Just checking if you've seen it?Lovely review, as usual 😊
Hey BC, where did you send it? I've been getting a lot of requests recently so I just want to be sure to mark them down! Thanks for the support!
boyographic@gmail.com ! Sent 09/11
I've always heard that this game was pretty vanilla, so I was surprised to hear much praise given towards it for once. Haha.
I'd always heard and thought the same about it - no idea why it suddenly clicked for me, but I've had it in my bag for commutes even after doing the review haha... Give it a go and let me know whatcha think!
Brilliant.
Thanks!
I picked this game up a week ago for $5. It's pretty hard but fun.
Nice :D
Cheers Lee! Thanks for watching and sorry for the lateness of my reply!