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Post by Discoalucard on Jan 21, 2015 15:57:07 GMT -5
Now available in paperback, kindle and PDF formats: www.hardcoregaming101.net/kshooterbook/kshooterbook.htmUS Amazon link for paperback: amzn.to/1CgqbWAConsidering how look it took to get the Castlevania book completed, I'm happy I was able to get this out within four months! The Konami shooters are what introduced me to the genre - Life Force, Gradius III, and Parodius in particular - so they remain particularly special to me, especially since they were some of the first games I imported. I know many of these games are not well known, and the last Konami shooters released were the, uh, not fantastic Otomedius games, but they're definitely worth checking out, especially some of the more obscure ones like Space Manbow and Xexex. I also played through a lot more crappy Tokimeki Memorial games to find the minigames hidden within them, so please appreciate that section! |
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Post by Jungyin on Jan 21, 2015 17:30:53 GMT -5
You forgot the ".net" in the first link.
Really looking forward to getting this.
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Post by zilliont on Jan 24, 2015 0:29:14 GMT -5
What a coincidence to see this released right as I got to play Gradius Gaiden for the first time! I've already bought it on Kindle, and I have to say that both the book and the game completely and totally rocks!  |
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Post by Malev on Jan 25, 2015 4:48:14 GMT -5
Bought the PDF. The cameo section seems truncated, but then again, the sheer amount of nods and stuff would be insane to fully catalog. Off the top of my head, a few cameos not covered: -Ring-spewing Moai fighter and the Gradius stage in Dream Mix TV World Fighters (only mentions TwinBee) -UFO ending of Silent Hill: The Arcade. Robbie the Rabbit even plays the NES Gradius. VID- Tokimeki Memorial 4. During the RPG segments, Rui can attempt her Special Art, and if successful, has DDR arrows perform the Konami Code and summon Vic Viper. Yeah, at some point the dating-sim series stopped having shooter minigames. -Speaking of DDR, when not just having shmup song remixes and video cameos, also added unique/custom arrow designs, one of which is Vic Viper. Pop'n music also has a modifier to change the notes to TwinBee bells. -Konami ported Scribblenauts to Japan, and added Konami characters you can create, such as Goemon, Ebisumaru, Solid Snake, LovePlus girls, and, of course, the Vic Viper. As far as BEMANI titles, songs and remixes from shmups appear in Beatmania/IIDX/III, DDR, pop'n music, KEYBOARDMANIA, Guitar Freaks + Drummania, Dance Maniax, Toy's March, ee'mall (technically), and the iOS/Android versions of Jubeat/Jukebeat and REFLEC BEAT. They range from filler ripped-from-game medleys* to tangental/"inspired" tunes ("GRADIUSIC CYBER", "Salamander Beat Crush mix" + their remixes) to damn fine rearrangements with some brand-new imagery. About a dozen+ of the songs are from the Gradius series, some with Motoaki Furukawa personally rearranging his Gradius II music in his fusion style, but there's a few others from TwinBee, A-JAX, FALSION, GYRUSS, even the Bubble System warmup "Morning Music". Of course, there's still probably a dozen more Konami games with their shmup stuff lying as Easter Eggs... Does Elebits have the Vic Viper or Moai or something in it on a stage? * Seriously, they put effort rearranging music from Lethal Enforcers and Frogger, but still haven't done a XEXEX or Thunder Cross remix? |
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Post by Discoalucard on Jan 25, 2015 22:24:53 GMT -5
Of course, there's still probably a dozen more Konami games with their shmup stuff lying as Easter Eggs... Does Elebits have the Vic Viper or Moai or something in it on a stage? I read a post about the Vic Viper being one the rides in the amusement park...but I watched some videos of that section of the game and couldn't see it, so I elected not to include it. |
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Post by banshiryuu on Jan 27, 2015 21:53:25 GMT -5
Speaking of BEMANI, beatmania IIDX 22 PENDUAL had an event that started back in October where in order to unlock the final song (Broken Sword in the Chrono Seeker event, if I remember correctly) you had to input the Konami Code through a combination of the EFFECT, VEFX, 1P START and 2P START buttons, as well as the white keys and black keys and then play a song related to the Gradius series. I'm really looking forward to grabbing this, it looks super, super cool! |
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Post by Malev on Jan 28, 2015 3:35:32 GMT -5
Speaking of BEMANI, beatmania IIDX 22 PENDUAL had an event that started back in October where in order to unlock the final song (Broken Sword in the Chrono Seeker event, if I remember correctly) you had to input the Konami Code through a combination of the EFFECT, VEFX, 1P START and 2P START buttons, as well as the white keys and black keys and then play a song related to the Gradius series. I'm really looking forward to grabbing this, it looks super, super cool! Well that and unlocking so much beforehand. The unlock mechanisms are super complex and made to make people spend more cash. Funny how the wiki for the game lists that LEADING CYBER and TRANOID don't count as Gradius songs. The former is like a sequel to the already tangential GRADIUSIC CYBER and only has minimal ties aside from the background vids in DDR EXTREME reusing the Burning Heat! animations. The latter only jokingly uses the logo and font, since the song is a throwback to old-fashioned PSG game music.  And Broken Sword as a tune has NOTHING to do with Gradius whatsoever. At least the other unlocks were based on logical "play songs by the same artist on certain rotation" methods. And that's not counting the OTHER unlock events PENDUAL has/had. |
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