jp
01-23-2007, 09:10 PM
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hyperduellogo.jpg
Its that time again. And once again I will be reviewing a classic from Godlike developer Tecno Soft's 2D shooter library, HYPER DUEL!
Hyper Duel was originally released in arcades in 1993. At the time it was a neat side-scroller with some promise, but a tad easy and a bit annoying due to some problems I'll get into later.
Fast forward to 1996. The Sega Saturn is out and pimpin' some 2D power, and Tecno Soft is already hard at work bringing 2D shooting goodness to the system. And one of these titles is a port of the obscure arcade shooter Hyper Duel. But wait, its not just a port, its a REMAKE with a direct arcade port thrown in for good measure ('cause we all know how people like to bitch).
The end product is one of the finest games a 2D shooter fanatic can have on the Sega Saturn. The Saturn version of Hyper Duel looks good, sounds good, and plays good. And hey, for shits and giggles you can go play the ugly arcade version if you're really bored.
The premise of Hyper Duel is fairly straight forward: Pick one of three space-ships-that-can-turn-into-mechs and blast away the alien invaders over 8 stages.
Your ship has two modes: regular spaceship and mech. By using the A button, you will fire as your spaceship (or turn into the spaceship if you're the mech), likewise, by pressing B you fire as a mech (and turn into the mech if you're the spaceship). While you're firing as a spaceship, your shot goes straight forward (though could be a spread shot pending on which ship you're using and how many power-ups you've obtained) but while you're a mech you'll aim your shot by moving up and down (so if you move up your shot starts going up at a angle, if you move down... you get the picture). If you hold down A+B, then whatever mode you're in (spaceship or mech) will stay the same and you're weapon will become super-powered as long as your power gauge is filled. During this time two "options" will fly around your ship in circles and will block any bullets that hit them (though you can still die). Once it runs out, no more A+B shot for you! Though it slowly refills itself and you can snag B icons to make it fill up quicker.
As I mentioned earlier, if you're in mech-mode then the shot moves as you move up and down. In the original arcade version, there was no way to fix the direction your shot was going in. Meaning, if you wanted to shoot down at an angle, you had to move down. This is really annoying and makes some enemies a major pain in the ass to fight. Thankfully, Tecno Soft fixed this in the Saturn version so that you can hold down R-Trigger to fix the direction of your shot and move about freely in mech form.
Though I guess Tecno Soft felt this made the game too easy, and to counter that they not only made the game a bit harder in general (will get to that later), they also implemented a rank system, something they had never used prior in any of their games.
In Hyper Duel rank basically works like this: The more power-ups you have, the more the enemies will shoot at you. This is PAINFULLY obvious while fighting the level 3 and level 6 bosses. But it works out, and gives Hyper Duel JUST enough challenge to allow it to escape the "Tecno Soft games are too fucking easy" stereotype many shooter fans have given the company. Also, they did some changes to some level designs and boss fights. For instance, in level 5 a corridor you go down is narrowed considerably in the Saturn version. Also, you can destroy the level 3 boss' bullets during his second form in the arcade original, you cannot do this in the Saturn version. They also included rocks that bounce up (and can kill you!) when the level 3 boss jumps up in the Saturn version.
As I said earlier, there are three different ships to choose from. There's a blue ship, a red ship, and a white ship. The blue ship gets a spread shot when powered up and has a very powerful shot in general. The red ship is really fast and has a cool laser shot that can go through walls for the ship's A+B attack. The white ship has a powerful main shot... but in mech form its shot is practically worthless as it can only travel basically DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF the mech. So you have to get right up on enemies to even hit them with it. This does not work well for boss fights. The white ship does have a powerful A+B attack as it unleases powerful grenades though, so I will give it that.
You can also pick up extra ships to help you. Basically, you find power-ups that change between a T or a G. If you snag it while its T then you'll get a tracer, which is basically a small spaceship that just shoots straight forward. If you grab a G you get a gunner, which is a small mech that hunts down enemies and shoots them. You can have a maximum of three extra ships to aid you, though they die fairly easily.
Scoring is fairly basic. If you stand still, you get 10pts. per second. You get points for killing enemies and collecting power-ups. And the end of every level you get 4 score tallies: Clear the level (level # x 10,000), Stock (number of gunners/tracers you have left, NOT NUMBER OF LIVES!) x 10,000, Perfect (30,000 if you get it), and Special (How much of the power gauge is filled, up to 50,000).
Graphically, the Saturn version of Hyper Duel looks very nice. Nothing too flashy, but damn solid none-the-less. The levels look amazing (especially some of the backgrounds), and the enemy designs are top notch. Whereas the arcade original looked a bit washed out and had a really weird color palette, the Saturn version has tons of bright colors, looks very crisp, and has a lot of additional detail in the background/foreground that was missing from its parent.
The sound is, as should be expected of Tecno Soft, superb. Explosions are crisp and loud. The music is second only to Blast Wind's soundtrack. Also, whereas a lot of the music and sounds in arcade version are a bit muffled, in the Saturn version everything is crystal clear.
Overall, Hyper Duel on the Saturn is a damn good buy. You not only get a pretty neat arcade game that had a few flaws, but you also get the fixed super-duper Saturn version that is, in my opinion, one of the pinnacles of 2D shooting. Its a bit pricey now, but if you love 2D shooters this is definitely one of the best ones to get!
Now for crappy cell phone pictures!!!!!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd1.jpg
Choose your ship!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd2.jpg
There's a war going on in the background. (level 1)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd3.jpg
Getting into mech mode to fight an even bigger mech! (level 1)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd4.jpg
Level 1 boss is a space octopus!!! (level 1)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd5.jpg
Level 2 is a bit trippy at first... (level 2)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd6.jpg
... and definitely has its tight spots! (level 2)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd7.jpg
Level 2 boss all shooting his machine gun at me. (level 2)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd8.jpg
And when I shoot it out of his hands he starts shooting a pink beam out of his chest! And see that little circle of bullets? That just chills on the screen for a few seconds and then flies towards you. (level 2)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd89.jpg
Die big bad mid-boss guy! (level 3)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd9.jpg
Clearing this planet's surface of angry pacifist mechs. (level 3)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd10.jpg
Damn you level 3 boss and your heat seeking missiles! (level 3)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd11.jpg
Shit! See where I'm at? Stay there and don't move! (level 3)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd12.jpg
I die at this part often... (level 4)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd13.jpg
Damn the screen is crowded... (level 4)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd14.jpg
... OH SHIT!!!! (level 4)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd15.jpg
Level 4 boss is a lot like you, only bigger, and its gunners are pretty bad ass, much more than yours!!! (level 4)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd16.jpg
It can also turn into a ship. Only instead of a spread shot, it shoots a GIANT FUCKING LASER OF DEATH! (level 4)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd17.jpg
Level 5 is pretty much just a bonus level... shoot those boxes, collect the pretty discs that fall out of them for maximum pointage. (level 5)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd18.jpg
Level 6 is hard... like... really. (level 6)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd19.jpg
... I'm totally not kidding. (level 6)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/h20.jpg
"Hi! I'm JP's arch-nemesis, the level 6 boss!" (level 6)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd20.jpg
Seriously... on max rank this fight is stupid hard. (level 6)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd21.jpg
Level 7 has me cruisin' through a city. (level 7)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd22.jpg
Level 7 boss is a big spider. Stay in the top right corner and you should be fine... (level 7)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd24.jpg
... until he gets pissed off anyways! (level 7)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd25.jpg
White ship in ship form.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd26.jpg
White ship A+B shot = badass grenades!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd27.jpg
Thats as far as his shot can go. Kinda lame huh?
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd28.jpg
Red ship o' doom!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd29.jpg
She's kickin' that space tako's ass!!! (Tako = Japanese for octopus)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd30.jpg
Ya kinda need her here to get a perfect on this level... her A+B shot is very helpful.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hda1.jpg
This is the arcade version! Now for some comparisons!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hda2.jpg vs. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd30.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hda3.jpg vs. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd10.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hda4.jpg vs. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd13.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hda5.jpg vs. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd21.jpg
If you're wondering why there are no pics of level 8 (not even one), I will tell you:
To post ANY pictures of level 8 would be to do you a great disservice if you will ever own this game. Showing any part of level 8 would give away a MASSIVE spoiler that is quite awesome. And level 8 itself is just one of the most bad-ass final levels ever. And final boss fight? Fucking insanity. Pure genious, and one of the most intense boss fights I've seen in a 2D shooter to date. Hint: The name of the music during the final boss is "Hyper Duel". ;) Its badass.
Until next time when I review... Astra Superstars or Crows...
Its that time again. And once again I will be reviewing a classic from Godlike developer Tecno Soft's 2D shooter library, HYPER DUEL!
Hyper Duel was originally released in arcades in 1993. At the time it was a neat side-scroller with some promise, but a tad easy and a bit annoying due to some problems I'll get into later.
Fast forward to 1996. The Sega Saturn is out and pimpin' some 2D power, and Tecno Soft is already hard at work bringing 2D shooting goodness to the system. And one of these titles is a port of the obscure arcade shooter Hyper Duel. But wait, its not just a port, its a REMAKE with a direct arcade port thrown in for good measure ('cause we all know how people like to bitch).
The end product is one of the finest games a 2D shooter fanatic can have on the Sega Saturn. The Saturn version of Hyper Duel looks good, sounds good, and plays good. And hey, for shits and giggles you can go play the ugly arcade version if you're really bored.
The premise of Hyper Duel is fairly straight forward: Pick one of three space-ships-that-can-turn-into-mechs and blast away the alien invaders over 8 stages.
Your ship has two modes: regular spaceship and mech. By using the A button, you will fire as your spaceship (or turn into the spaceship if you're the mech), likewise, by pressing B you fire as a mech (and turn into the mech if you're the spaceship). While you're firing as a spaceship, your shot goes straight forward (though could be a spread shot pending on which ship you're using and how many power-ups you've obtained) but while you're a mech you'll aim your shot by moving up and down (so if you move up your shot starts going up at a angle, if you move down... you get the picture). If you hold down A+B, then whatever mode you're in (spaceship or mech) will stay the same and you're weapon will become super-powered as long as your power gauge is filled. During this time two "options" will fly around your ship in circles and will block any bullets that hit them (though you can still die). Once it runs out, no more A+B shot for you! Though it slowly refills itself and you can snag B icons to make it fill up quicker.
As I mentioned earlier, if you're in mech-mode then the shot moves as you move up and down. In the original arcade version, there was no way to fix the direction your shot was going in. Meaning, if you wanted to shoot down at an angle, you had to move down. This is really annoying and makes some enemies a major pain in the ass to fight. Thankfully, Tecno Soft fixed this in the Saturn version so that you can hold down R-Trigger to fix the direction of your shot and move about freely in mech form.
Though I guess Tecno Soft felt this made the game too easy, and to counter that they not only made the game a bit harder in general (will get to that later), they also implemented a rank system, something they had never used prior in any of their games.
In Hyper Duel rank basically works like this: The more power-ups you have, the more the enemies will shoot at you. This is PAINFULLY obvious while fighting the level 3 and level 6 bosses. But it works out, and gives Hyper Duel JUST enough challenge to allow it to escape the "Tecno Soft games are too fucking easy" stereotype many shooter fans have given the company. Also, they did some changes to some level designs and boss fights. For instance, in level 5 a corridor you go down is narrowed considerably in the Saturn version. Also, you can destroy the level 3 boss' bullets during his second form in the arcade original, you cannot do this in the Saturn version. They also included rocks that bounce up (and can kill you!) when the level 3 boss jumps up in the Saturn version.
As I said earlier, there are three different ships to choose from. There's a blue ship, a red ship, and a white ship. The blue ship gets a spread shot when powered up and has a very powerful shot in general. The red ship is really fast and has a cool laser shot that can go through walls for the ship's A+B attack. The white ship has a powerful main shot... but in mech form its shot is practically worthless as it can only travel basically DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF the mech. So you have to get right up on enemies to even hit them with it. This does not work well for boss fights. The white ship does have a powerful A+B attack as it unleases powerful grenades though, so I will give it that.
You can also pick up extra ships to help you. Basically, you find power-ups that change between a T or a G. If you snag it while its T then you'll get a tracer, which is basically a small spaceship that just shoots straight forward. If you grab a G you get a gunner, which is a small mech that hunts down enemies and shoots them. You can have a maximum of three extra ships to aid you, though they die fairly easily.
Scoring is fairly basic. If you stand still, you get 10pts. per second. You get points for killing enemies and collecting power-ups. And the end of every level you get 4 score tallies: Clear the level (level # x 10,000), Stock (number of gunners/tracers you have left, NOT NUMBER OF LIVES!) x 10,000, Perfect (30,000 if you get it), and Special (How much of the power gauge is filled, up to 50,000).
Graphically, the Saturn version of Hyper Duel looks very nice. Nothing too flashy, but damn solid none-the-less. The levels look amazing (especially some of the backgrounds), and the enemy designs are top notch. Whereas the arcade original looked a bit washed out and had a really weird color palette, the Saturn version has tons of bright colors, looks very crisp, and has a lot of additional detail in the background/foreground that was missing from its parent.
The sound is, as should be expected of Tecno Soft, superb. Explosions are crisp and loud. The music is second only to Blast Wind's soundtrack. Also, whereas a lot of the music and sounds in arcade version are a bit muffled, in the Saturn version everything is crystal clear.
Overall, Hyper Duel on the Saturn is a damn good buy. You not only get a pretty neat arcade game that had a few flaws, but you also get the fixed super-duper Saturn version that is, in my opinion, one of the pinnacles of 2D shooting. Its a bit pricey now, but if you love 2D shooters this is definitely one of the best ones to get!
Now for crappy cell phone pictures!!!!!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd1.jpg
Choose your ship!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd2.jpg
There's a war going on in the background. (level 1)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd3.jpg
Getting into mech mode to fight an even bigger mech! (level 1)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd4.jpg
Level 1 boss is a space octopus!!! (level 1)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd5.jpg
Level 2 is a bit trippy at first... (level 2)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd6.jpg
... and definitely has its tight spots! (level 2)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd7.jpg
Level 2 boss all shooting his machine gun at me. (level 2)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd8.jpg
And when I shoot it out of his hands he starts shooting a pink beam out of his chest! And see that little circle of bullets? That just chills on the screen for a few seconds and then flies towards you. (level 2)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd89.jpg
Die big bad mid-boss guy! (level 3)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd9.jpg
Clearing this planet's surface of angry pacifist mechs. (level 3)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd10.jpg
Damn you level 3 boss and your heat seeking missiles! (level 3)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd11.jpg
Shit! See where I'm at? Stay there and don't move! (level 3)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd12.jpg
I die at this part often... (level 4)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd13.jpg
Damn the screen is crowded... (level 4)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd14.jpg
... OH SHIT!!!! (level 4)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd15.jpg
Level 4 boss is a lot like you, only bigger, and its gunners are pretty bad ass, much more than yours!!! (level 4)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd16.jpg
It can also turn into a ship. Only instead of a spread shot, it shoots a GIANT FUCKING LASER OF DEATH! (level 4)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd17.jpg
Level 5 is pretty much just a bonus level... shoot those boxes, collect the pretty discs that fall out of them for maximum pointage. (level 5)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd18.jpg
Level 6 is hard... like... really. (level 6)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd19.jpg
... I'm totally not kidding. (level 6)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/h20.jpg
"Hi! I'm JP's arch-nemesis, the level 6 boss!" (level 6)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd20.jpg
Seriously... on max rank this fight is stupid hard. (level 6)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd21.jpg
Level 7 has me cruisin' through a city. (level 7)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd22.jpg
Level 7 boss is a big spider. Stay in the top right corner and you should be fine... (level 7)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd24.jpg
... until he gets pissed off anyways! (level 7)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd25.jpg
White ship in ship form.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd26.jpg
White ship A+B shot = badass grenades!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd27.jpg
Thats as far as his shot can go. Kinda lame huh?
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd28.jpg
Red ship o' doom!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd29.jpg
She's kickin' that space tako's ass!!! (Tako = Japanese for octopus)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd30.jpg
Ya kinda need her here to get a perfect on this level... her A+B shot is very helpful.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hda1.jpg
This is the arcade version! Now for some comparisons!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hda2.jpg vs. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd30.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hda3.jpg vs. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd10.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hda4.jpg vs. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd13.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hda5.jpg vs. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/pzykotikjp/Hyper%20Duel/hd21.jpg
If you're wondering why there are no pics of level 8 (not even one), I will tell you:
To post ANY pictures of level 8 would be to do you a great disservice if you will ever own this game. Showing any part of level 8 would give away a MASSIVE spoiler that is quite awesome. And level 8 itself is just one of the most bad-ass final levels ever. And final boss fight? Fucking insanity. Pure genious, and one of the most intense boss fights I've seen in a 2D shooter to date. Hint: The name of the music during the final boss is "Hyper Duel". ;) Its badass.
Until next time when I review... Astra Superstars or Crows...