• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha and Bravo coming west in early 2020

Bullet Club

Banned
Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha and Bravo coming west in early 2020

Two collections of arcade shoot 'em ups.

7Mc2DHW.jpg


NIS America will release shoot ’em up collections Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha and Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha for Switch in early 2020 in North America and Europe, the company announced. Pre-orders are available now at the NIS America Online Store.

Each collection contains six arcade titles currently available for Switch individually via the Nintendo eShop.

Here is an overview of each collection:

Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha
Strikers 1945, Strikers 1945 II, Strikers 1945 III, Sol Divide, Dragon Blaze, and Zero Gunner 2 combine forces in one arcade collection! Bring the arcade home by blasting through these shooters vertically in the popular ‘TATE’ mode for the ultimate shoot-em-up experience!

Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo
Samurai Aces Episode I, Samurai Aces Episode II: Tengai, Samurai Aces Episode III: Sengoku Cannon, Gunbarich, Gunbird, and Gunbird 2 unite to form this epic arcade collection! Bring the arcade home by blasting through these shooters vertically in the popular ‘TATE’ mode for the ultimate shoot-em-up experience!

Watch a trailer below. Visit the official website here.




Source: Gematsu
 
Wonderful! I imported these already, but I'm thrilled they're coming West. More exposure for some great shmups, some of which have never been ported to physical format (like Dragon Blaze and Strikers III).

In celebration, enjoy a superplay:

 
Last edited:
I just got the Japanese version of this same pack in the mail, titled 'PSiKYO Shooting Library Vol.1', equivalent to 'Shooting Stars Alpha'. I guess I can kinda report in.

I also own the first two 'PSiKYO Collection' volumes, which only had 4 games per cart. This newer package has 6 games for about the same price. However, they stripped out the menu. Every game has its own icon on the Switch bar. It's a completely superficial touch, but I kind of liked the menu. This version has received a recent patch (when the company was acquired by City Connection) to fix some lag issues.

However, my biggest gripe with the game remains: your settings are not saved from session to session. It's not the end of the world, but it's an obvious oversight and I wish they'd fix it.

If you're curious about the shmups themselves: they're all excellent.

Strikers is a top-notch franchise, yet a lot haven't played it. Kind of like Raiden, but has a charge attack.
Zero Gunner 2 is a helicopter shooter where enemies come from all directions.
Dragon Blaze alone is worth the price of admission. Great theme, great music, and all the dragons are fun to play as. Hasn't been ported to consoles until these collections.
Sol Divide is the one I've played the least. It's unique.
 

Gargus

Banned
I want that but FUCK using NISAMERICA's website.

Well in that case



 
S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
THEY CUT THE GAMES IN HALF? WHAT THE SHIT?
 
Who is pricing these things Akashi? Jesus.
You should see what M2 charges for a single game breh.

Shmups are barely a step above Atari / Colecovision retro libraries in terms of perceived market value so at least we're getting collections instead of everything being standalone.
 
S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
You should see what M2 charges for a single game breh.

Shmups are barely a step above Atari / Colecovision retro libraries in terms of perceived market value so at least we're getting collections instead of everything being standalone.
M2 doesn't just port the games though. (ages)
 
My one complaint, at least for the moment, is NISA only selling these as $60 limited editions. I keep waffling over whether to choke down the cost and added items I don't want or throw the slightly cheaper Japanese standard editions into an order from Amazon Japan.

What's the difference between these and the ones you can already buy standalone on the Switch?
As far as I'm aware, there shouldn't be any difference with the games, themselves. These releases are just physical compilations of the already available digital titles.
 
As far as I'm aware, there shouldn't be any difference with the games, themselves. These releases are just physical compilations of the already available digital titles.

Thanks. I think they are releasing the compilations digitally as well and was just wondering if there was any reason to double dip.
 

Bootzilla

Banned
Is there anything new in here or is it just a compilation of the existing releases?

I'm a little on the fence. I love Psikyo, but their games are not exactly known as diverse, even within the shmup genre, and I already have a few of my favorites.

I really wish the Zero Gunner 2 port wasn't trash.
 

Worth it just for Dragon Blaze and Strikers III, in my opinion. I'm a sucker for holding the button for a focus or charge-shot and these games are some of the best examples of that mechanic.

Is there anything new in here or is it just a compilation of the existing releases?

I'm a little on the fence. I love Psikyo, but their games are not exactly known as diverse, even within the shmup genre, and I already have a few of my favorites.

I really wish the Zero Gunner 2 port wasn't trash.
These were already released digitally on Switch and in a previous (smaller) Psikyo collection.
 
Last edited:

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
def want it. but at the current price it's too much imo

should have been 20 each and 2 for 40
 
Top Bottom