This game always make me remember Mark from CGR as well. I play this at least once a year or so, it's a great game. I've never finished it unless I can't remember finishing it - it's pretty tough.
@@ThePirateCasey I think I read part of it was that TH-cam copyright strikes were really hitting him hard and it wasn't financially viable. I do remember that he had to turn off his pinball and arcade machines in the background due to that as well
@@navibc31 I wasn't aware he was getting hit with copyright strikes. From who and for what? So many video game reviewers out there and I don't recall him ever using someone else's footage.
Well hello there fellow Truxton player! I just found your channel tonight. Did a search of 'truxton', and here ya are! Great vids! I remember saving up allowance money and my mom taking me to Target to go buy this game. It quickly became one of my Genesis favorites. Now, I'm sure you're probably already aware of this, but I remember reading in GamePro magazine when I was a teen that if you pause the game after using a bomb, if it becomes paused while the skull is visible, the bomb will continue to damage enemies. Pause with skull visible, wait like 20-30 seconds, un-pause, Boom!
Just looking at the video gives me eye strain - I can't imagine having to finish all five levels of this (even worse 3 times to get all the endings). I salute you for powering through.
I also miss CGR. It seems that Mark was operating with more costs than profit was coming in, he got sick of the constant TH-cam copyright strikes, and he failed to engage well with fans to grow the channel to what people wanted. In the end he evicted Derek with zero notice, completely pivoted away to comics, and lost his entire audience. It's honestly pretty weird as Mark's been a historical documentary producer for a long time. I always found it odd he had that gigantic commercial premises which would usually house a business of say 20+ employees and wondered how on earth he could afford it just from TH-cam videos. I guess he couldn't.
It's baffling. Mark had a lot of things going for him, he was there first, had charisma, humor and a very listenable voice, but great at business he wasn't, with his all-over-the-place alienating branding and attempts at catchphrases (Lord Karnage, Turbo Volcano, wha?...) and a focus on quantity over quality. I'm guessing he was as coked up as that chicken of his maybe.
Truxton is one of my favorite schmups . I got it when it first came out on Genesis. I play now on steam but would love to play on my consoles. I disagree with Pam on the music. I love the music and got hooked on it the first time I played. Have seen Truxton II but never played. Great if both would come out on Playstation or Switch some day. Thanks for the review Pam
Toaplan shooters are definitely are an acquired taste and can I see why many people just don't get what all the hype is about. I was one of these people, until I got rather good at shooters, got addicted to them, decided to to give the Toaplan library another go and it all began to click with me. Their early to mid period shooters are slow paced, all have kind of drab graphics devoid of many special effects, "different" art style and feature unconventional and minimalistic music scores. In some ways, their shooters are the polar opposites of Compile's, which are all fast, flashy, catchy and noobie-friendly. However, it is arguably Toaplan that ended up being more influential and is considered to be the daddy of the modern shooter/shmup/STG. Anyhow, when you become good enough to properly enjoy them, their shooters truly reveal themselves to you. Toaplan's "magic" is in the gameplay, which is tough but fair, and has the right design elements and pacing to put you in the "zone", which all true STG fans crave. The experience becomes hypnotic and puts you in a kind of "trance", where you react automatically and just go with the flow, resulting in a very pleasant release of endorphins. Their droning, "not immediately catchy but grow on you" and minimalistic music scores are designed to compliment this experience. There's also the elusive "one more go" quality to their gameplay, which makes it hard for me to stop playing. The fact that most of their games are of the "one continuous stage" variety, only reinforces this. Like most retro games, Truxton has to be reviewed in the context of when it was released. For a 1989 Genesis game, it was a very impressive, arcade-like experience, with a level presentation that completely blew away anything possible on the NES or SMS. While the total lack of parallax scrolling is disappointing, the rather colorful graphics, large sprites, interesting enemy animations (such as bosses and mini-bosses catching fire when damaged), huge bosses, stupendous weapon and bomb effects, and generally unique art style, all impressed, especially considering that the only other high profile shooter on the system was the rather blandly presented (other than the music) Thunder Force 2. Yes, MUSHA came out a year later and totally blew it away presentation-wise, but then again, Compile were true wizards with any hardware they worked on and no other Genesis vertical shooter really matches MUSHA in that regard. It is rather unfortunate that as the developers began to truly take advantage of the Genesis hardware and expanded cart capacity, the vertical shooter fell out of favor as a mainstream genre and we never got to see an 8+ Mbit Genesis vertical shooter on the same level of quality as Thunder Force IV. By the way, the subsequent PC Engine port is good, featuring better colors and music. However, it's missing the cool dynamic enemy damage animations that I mentioned before and often struggles to keep up when you're fully powered up, resulting in slowdown and excessive sprite flicker. It also has a much more brutal difficulty curve. Overall, I do prefer the Genesis version.
The sped up music is caused by a compatibility glitch that outputs the music at PAL settings that results in it running at 120% speed. That glitch got past testing because the Genesis port was infamously rushed compared to the more stable PC-Engine version.
Well, that thumbnail worked on me! haha Good review, it also reminds me of CGR. I agree that they could have done more with the static background tiles. Also the bullets blending in with your weapon on the last stage was a bad design decision!
Retro shooters are incredible. I loved gyrus growing up. Btw love your channel and how genuine it is. Doesn’t feel fake like a lot of channels and I truly enjoy your content
So many good shooters back in the late eighties to early nineties. Both Toaplan and Compile made some unforgettable classics, Truxton is certainly one of them. This is for sure a game that brings back memories of Mark and his Classic Game Room
Visually, this is one of the prettiest shooters on the Genesis, I've got to say. Something about the visual presentation really resonates with me. Love the look you've gone for in this video, you always have such impeccable tastes on that front.
That's great that you are coordinated with the Truxton explosion. Like so many, I just know this one from CGR. I burnt out on playing shooters from the PC engine mini, but still can listen to reviews!
There is a workman like charm to these early Genesis games that I can't quite explain. Maybe it is the excitement of watching a console find an identity and anything is possible. With the Super Nintendo it seems to have sprung fully formed. Before you mentioned it, I thought the character was an anime guy. Great video, you are on a hot streak.
I remember this game being almost everywhere when the Mega Drive was released over here. Every almost demo unit they had set up would have Truxton running. And this was how I was introduced to the entire SHMUP genre, so I'm kind of nostalgic about this game. But this was most likely a game that benefited greatly from being a very early Mega Drive/Genesis release, and had it been released just a little bit later it would have been overshadowed by all the other great games released for the system.
Haha, I was thinking the exact same thing... "when i hear Truxton I think of CGR." Now I also think of the funny parody of various video game channels that Game Sack did, which included CGR. Great vid pam!
I love how clumsily the manuals tried to imbue a sense of story to this old games: "You are Tom "The Bomb", a rogue maverick in the far reaches of space, fighting against the evil of... Who am I kidding, just shoot 'em all"
Thanks for the polykill recommend the other day on stream. I went back and listened to the ep with you and Petee on power hour and it was great! Then I checked out the other podcasts and they are great as well.
@@Cannotbetamed1 and then I saw today that you were on AGAIN! Great pod, and great video as always. I think it's great that you dipped a little more into elden ring. 100% right about summoning and having fun together. Jolly Co-operation!
Excellent video, as usual! I love Truxton, its atmospher, its gameplay, its challenge… but I can understand people who don’t like it. But one of my favorite feature about this version and the PC Engine port is the gorgeous artworks on the boxes: pieces of work that even H.R. Giger wouldn’t deny!
Truxton was definitely known for its difficulty curve, the further you progress the harder the game gets. Many old school retro gamers would agree there are many different shoot up games that has a steep difficulty curve and challenging.
that read of the manual's intro would fit perfectly on an attract screen for an updated arcade version or something lol. I never thought Truxton was great but this video is, I think it's important for us retro gamers to put some respect on the OGs and I always appreciate the efforts you're putting in in that regard!
I enjoyed this game so much. Music is too good for me, helps you concentrate with excitement. I know there are better shooters out there, but this will always hold as a Solid shooter for me. Thanks for covering it.
Probably nostalgia. This was one of the "system sellers" in the very early days of the Genesis/Mega Drive, and I guess he played it when it was pretty new and was impressed by it (when it was released it was quite impressive, more so than many other early titles, like Altered Beast, but it did not take long before more impressive games were released)
miss classic game room 😩. I had a chance to pick this up a couple of years ago.. hope to see a musha review from you too . 😊 Edit: I found it.. watching it now!! 😌
MUSHA on original hardware might be pricey, better to emulate these days due to price. MUSHA great game though. Lightening Force (ThunderForce 4) is probably my fave Genesis shmup of all time, THunderforce 3 was pretty good too
If you don't have it, Musha Aleste (the Japanese version) is like 1/4 as expensive and it's the exact same game, you don't need to learn any japanese to play it, and you can just watch the cutscenes in english online. I got it when it was only $60 CIB, but nowadays it can be had for as (comparitively) little as $130 for a loose cart. It can be played on Model 3 gens or other models with a game genie. I was honeslty MEGA dissapointed by that game after mark hyped it to high heavens, having a loud, noisy ridiculously technical soundtrack does not automatically mean good. Raiden Trad is a better vertical shooter and much less expensive. *Also she already reviewd Musha 4 years ago as I look in the reccomended section*
Never played this Shmup, but I don't think I am missing out based on the review. The music used from the game for this video reminds me of early 80's pinball machines and that's not really a compliment. Thank you for the review Pam! Definitely going to check out the Musha review next.
Would luv to see more reviews of classic shmups from the 16 bit era when there were soooo many of those games. Genesis, SNES, Turbografx-16, and Neo Geo had a lot of goodies.
Mark has actually just signed on to narrate a documentary about Toaplan, the developers of this game. I understand your impressions of it, they're how I felt about pretty much every Toaplan shooter (Twin Cobra, Sky Shark, Hellfire, etc.) before I got really into shmups. That's when I found out Toaplan are revered by that community, and they're responsible for many of the key elements that defined the genre over the years (the screen clearing bomb, giant weapon spreads, the creation of bullet hell, etc). The thing about Toaplan's games is they nail the fundamentals - movement feel, sense of impact, encounter design, etc. I had always thought Truxton looked awesome in magazines, but never had a Genesis as a kid. I finally got the game this year (JP Mega Drive version), and I personally find it holds up really well. But I can totally understand why someone who likes the genre but doesn't obsess over it would rather spend their time on something like the Thunder Force games, which deliver on both the fundamentals and the spectacle. One side note of trivia - the need to scroll the playfield left and right isn't due to the righthand display, it's part of the design and was present in the arcade version as well. The arcade machine used a monitor arranged vertically (a setup called 'TATE', you might be familiar), to give the player more visual space in front of them. The side of the screen in the Genesis version being blocked off for lives/score etc. was done to mimic this aspect ratio, rather than having to redesign enemy encounters to accommodate a squashed 4:3 space. I think all their Genesis games do this. The wider playfield off-screen gives the player more space to maneuver, and helps prevent things from feeling like they're trapped in an alley being shot at.
Truxton is one of the first titles I remember playing on the Genesis (okay, Mega Drive). It may even have been the very first, because I asociate it so hard with the shape of the gamepad. Space-age stuff all the way!
The bullet size was the first thing I noticed. Sure, on some stages it’s perfectly fine.. but the rest.. omg! So, it’s not just you that needed glasses haha. My compliments about your fashion style. It looks great on you:)
I love the shmup reviews please keep them coming! It's a niche genre but it's one I'm completely addicted to. Truxton is great but it is very adept at kicking my a**. Not for the faint of heart but worth it. And there's something special about the mega drive / Genesis games. I also agree it's on the next tier down for its era from the likes of Thunder Force and Musha
The sheer number of times Mark mentioned Truxton during reviews for other items on CGR is pretty impressive. Honestly, while Truxton is a good, solid shooter on Genesis, I think even the other shooters on Genesis alone make Truxton easy to overlook. There're just so many interesting shooters on Genesis. Also, I have to say, when I saw this video in my subscriptions, I immediately had two questions: 1) Will Pam mention CGR? 2) Will Pam do a cover of Mark's Truxton song?
Thanks for the video review! I like Truxton and R-Type but I have a thing for space shooters of all eras. Truxton is definately a late 80s shooter and they were all kinda the same sound and style wise. I do have a thing for shooters from that era (as well as beat em ups and other stuff) because I like how the visual color palettes always had tons of white shading and they tried to make the sprites as big as possible. Also I love the music but I'm also a massive fan of FM synthesis. Things changed in the 90s with Gaiares, Whip Rush and certainly Lightening Force which are all incredible games with the last one having some pretty heavy 90s SNK shooter influence, they all still get regular play from me (Currently playing Andro Dunos on Neo Geo so I can go see what the hell Andro Dunos 2 is all about) Great video review and video capture! 🤘🏽
Even though this game has nothing on "insert any Compile game here", seeing the thumbnail made me instantly click this video :) Love me some Pam reviews.
Ha, a double blast from the past. Not only CGR, but I actually had Truxton as a kid. Would always wear me out, and probably had me beaten before then too. Still went back to it though. A big source of inspiration for a fertile young mind
Awesome! I remember this game on my Genesis. Now I play it on an emulator....CLASSIC!! Forgot to add it is a really hard and unfair game!! LOL Thank you for posting
These classic shooters were hard for me when I was a kid. Getting close to 50 now and I don't think there's any way I could do well in them. I am pretty glad some newer games do not rely on great reflexes.
Well I think this game is made just they way it should be. I have played Truxton for hours and still love it! And I have never beaten it either. But it makes me want to keep playing to get better at it.
I rented this & MUSHA back in the day. I was quite surprised that both had attained such incredible reputations. If I knew they'd be this sought-after, I'd never have returned them to Doorstep Video, along with that Tengen Tetris cart, lol.
Incredible review and anyone else excited for the Toaplan documentary. I hope Cannot Be Tamed features U.N. Squadron, R-Type Delta, and Rez in the future.
Ahh, Truxton. My friends and I used to have arcade challenges on Tatsujin all the time to see who could get the farthest, and we dumped a lot of quarters into it. I remember the first time "beating" it, going wild... only to watch the game loop from the beginning seconds later!!! Ahhh! Good times :)
I still watch CGR episodes from time to time. That channel was so good! Personally I think what happened was being on an intergalactic spaceship they got too far away from us to where at the speed of light it would still take thousands of years to contact them. I like to think Mark is still playing classic video games from viewers whom he puts a thumbtack on maps from other planets. Also is it just me or is that star field background the same one when you travel to a different planet from Phantasy Star? Maybe in the hectic heat of battle you killed Alis? There goes the fate of the Algol System.
In case you didn't know, there's a "trick" in the game where you can easily beat the bosses with a single bomb. When you press the bomb button, just spam the Start/pause button quickly until the boss dies.
This game always make me remember Mark from CGR as well. I play this at least once a year or so, it's a great game. I've never finished it unless I can't remember finishing it - it's pretty tough.
Yeah...Mark. Jesus what happened to his channel? He simply dropped his show and just started reviewing comics and podcasts that one is watching.
Rip.
@@RetroPiero If I remember correctly, he sold all his old video's to amazon. I'm sure there is more to it though.
@@ThePirateCasey I think I read part of it was that TH-cam copyright strikes were really hitting him hard and it wasn't financially viable. I do remember that he had to turn off his pinball and arcade machines in the background due to that as well
@@navibc31 I wasn't aware he was getting hit with copyright strikes. From who and for what? So many video game reviewers out there and I don't recall him ever using someone else's footage.
I thought it was ultra rare.
My first mega drive game.
I never got very far.
Well hello there fellow Truxton player! I just found your channel tonight. Did a search of 'truxton', and here ya are! Great vids! I remember saving up allowance money and my mom taking me to Target to go buy this game. It quickly became one of my Genesis favorites. Now, I'm sure you're probably already aware of this, but I remember reading in GamePro magazine when I was a teen that if you pause the game after using a bomb, if it becomes paused while the skull is visible, the bomb will continue to damage enemies. Pause with skull visible, wait like 20-30 seconds, un-pause, Boom!
Finally, people will realize that Truxton isn't worth $200 and I can pick up a copy. Thank you for your good works.
On the Sega mini 2 this game plays great!
Just looking at the video gives me eye strain - I can't imagine having to finish all five levels of this (even worse 3 times to get all the endings). I salute you for powering through.
I also miss CGR. It seems that Mark was operating with more costs than profit was coming in, he got sick of the constant TH-cam copyright strikes, and he failed to engage well with fans to grow the channel to what people wanted. In the end he evicted Derek with zero notice, completely pivoted away to comics, and lost his entire audience. It's honestly pretty weird as Mark's been a historical documentary producer for a long time. I always found it odd he had that gigantic commercial premises which would usually house a business of say 20+ employees and wondered how on earth he could afford it just from TH-cam videos. I guess he couldn't.
his daddy is rich
@@pengwin_ Kinda got the vibe he was spending someone else's money....much to that "someone else's" great disappointment.
He is back.
It's baffling. Mark had a lot of things going for him, he was there first, had charisma, humor and a very listenable voice, but great at business he wasn't, with his all-over-the-place alienating branding and attempts at catchphrases (Lord Karnage, Turbo Volcano, wha?...) and a focus on quantity over quality. I'm guessing he was as coked up as that chicken of his maybe.
This was the first Genesis game I played when I got my system. I loved it and the Genesis became my favorite system. This was back in early 1992.
But now Tatsujin 3 aka Truxton Extreme is out on switch and PS5.
Vertical shoot-em-up on horizontal 3D graphics
@@rroberts2023 Thanks, I love that series!
Truxton is one of my favorite schmups . I got it when it first came out on Genesis. I play now on steam but would love to play on my consoles. I disagree with Pam on the music. I love the music and got hooked on it the first time I played. Have seen Truxton II but never played. Great if both would come out on Playstation or Switch some day. Thanks for the review Pam
big fan of the wardrobe department on this one! haha great color pallet, and beautifully executed.
the controls are spot on and love the music. best bomb ever. its legendary.
Toaplan shooters are definitely are an acquired taste and can I see why many people just don't get what all the hype is about. I was one of these people, until I got rather good at shooters, got addicted to them, decided to to give the Toaplan library another go and it all began to click with me. Their early to mid period shooters are slow paced, all have kind of drab graphics devoid of many special effects, "different" art style and feature unconventional and minimalistic music scores. In some ways, their shooters are the polar opposites of Compile's, which are all fast, flashy, catchy and noobie-friendly. However, it is arguably Toaplan that ended up being more influential and is considered to be the daddy of the modern shooter/shmup/STG.
Anyhow, when you become good enough to properly enjoy them, their shooters truly reveal themselves to you. Toaplan's "magic" is in the gameplay, which is tough but fair, and has the right design elements and pacing to put you in the "zone", which all true STG fans crave. The experience becomes hypnotic and puts you in a kind of "trance", where you react automatically and just go with the flow, resulting in a very pleasant release of endorphins. Their droning, "not immediately catchy but grow on you" and minimalistic music scores are designed to compliment this experience. There's also the elusive "one more go" quality to their gameplay, which makes it hard for me to stop playing. The fact that most of their games are of the "one continuous stage" variety, only reinforces this.
Like most retro games, Truxton has to be reviewed in the context of when it was released. For a 1989 Genesis game, it was a very impressive, arcade-like experience, with a level presentation that completely blew away anything possible on the NES or SMS. While the total lack of parallax scrolling is disappointing, the rather colorful graphics, large sprites, interesting enemy animations (such as bosses and mini-bosses catching fire when damaged), huge bosses, stupendous weapon and bomb effects, and generally unique art style, all impressed, especially considering that the only other high profile shooter on the system was the rather blandly presented (other than the music) Thunder Force 2. Yes, MUSHA came out a year later and totally blew it away presentation-wise, but then again, Compile were true wizards with any hardware they worked on and no other Genesis vertical shooter really matches MUSHA in that regard. It is rather unfortunate that as the developers began to truly take advantage of the Genesis hardware and expanded cart capacity, the vertical shooter fell out of favor as a mainstream genre and we never got to see an 8+ Mbit Genesis vertical shooter on the same level of quality as Thunder Force IV.
By the way, the subsequent PC Engine port is good, featuring better colors and music. However, it's missing the cool dynamic enemy damage animations that I mentioned before and often struggles to keep up when you're fully powered up, resulting in slowdown and excessive sprite flicker. It also has a much more brutal difficulty curve. Overall, I do prefer the Genesis version.
The sped up music is caused by a compatibility glitch that outputs the music at PAL settings that results in it running at 120% speed. That glitch got past testing because the Genesis port was infamously rushed compared to the more stable PC-Engine version.
Personally I prefer the PC Engine/TurboGrafix music, it has a fuller sound and it has drums.
Well, that thumbnail worked on me! haha Good review, it also reminds me of CGR. I agree that they could have done more with the static background tiles. Also the bullets blending in with your weapon on the last stage was a bad design decision!
Retro shooters are incredible. I loved gyrus growing up. Btw love your channel and how genuine it is. Doesn’t feel fake like a lot of channels and I truly enjoy your content
Thank you so much
I thought I knew a lot about games until I found this channel, I just watched all and learned a lot. Thanks!
No problem
Now at a point where I feel nostalgic for a YT channel. Always fun to go through CGR's library and remember the days.
So many good shooters back in the late eighties to early nineties. Both Toaplan and Compile made some unforgettable classics, Truxton is certainly one of them. This is for sure a game that brings back memories of Mark and his Classic Game Room
Visually, this is one of the prettiest shooters on the Genesis, I've got to say. Something about the visual presentation really resonates with me.
Love the look you've gone for in this video, you always have such impeccable tastes on that front.
That's great that you are coordinated with the Truxton explosion. Like so many, I just know this one from CGR. I burnt out on playing shooters from the PC engine mini, but still can listen to reviews!
There is a workman like charm to these early Genesis games that I can't quite explain.
Maybe it is the excitement of watching a console find an identity and anything is possible. With the Super Nintendo it seems to have sprung fully formed.
Before you mentioned it, I thought the character was an anime guy.
Great video, you are on a hot streak.
Thanks!
I'm so glad I have this on my arcade box. Its a cool shooter.
I remember this game being almost everywhere when the Mega Drive was released over here. Every almost demo unit they had set up would have Truxton running. And this was how I was introduced to the entire SHMUP genre, so I'm kind of nostalgic about this game. But this was most likely a game that benefited greatly from being a very early Mega Drive/Genesis release, and had it been released just a little bit later it would have been overshadowed by all the other great games released for the system.
Haha, I was thinking the exact same thing... "when i hear Truxton I think of CGR." Now I also think of the funny parody of various video game channels that Game Sack did, which included CGR. Great vid pam!
Super cool review, thank you Pam! 🤩
truxton = amazing soundtrack, one of the best of all time
Wow I totally forgot I had this game as a kid. Thanks for the trip back!
I love how clumsily the manuals tried to imbue a sense of story to this old games: "You are Tom "The Bomb", a rogue maverick in the far reaches of space, fighting against the evil of... Who am I kidding, just shoot 'em all"
That was every "Story" in those Games: "You are good, They are Bad, make boom!"
So rad of you to review this!!!!!
Mr PLANdemic loves Truxton.
Truxton is a fantastic shooter! Its all in the eye of the beholder you love shmups or hate em!
Thanks for the polykill recommend the other day on stream. I went back and listened to the ep with you and Petee on power hour and it was great! Then I checked out the other podcasts and they are great as well.
So glad you checked out and enjoyed the podcasts!
@@Cannotbetamed1 and then I saw today that you were on AGAIN! Great pod, and great video as always. I think it's great that you dipped a little more into elden ring. 100% right about summoning and having fun together. Jolly Co-operation!
Got this game with a hand-me-down Genesis as a kid, and it kicked my ass. Good memories.
I'm loving these Genesis reviews, keep up the good work!
Glad you like them!
Excellent video as always
Thank you!
I love the sound track to this game
This is funny you are covering this today. I just picked this up for my iiRcade this morning
Nice
Excellent video, as usual! I love Truxton, its atmospher, its gameplay, its challenge… but I can understand people who don’t like it. But one of my favorite feature about this version and the PC Engine port is the gorgeous artworks on the boxes: pieces of work that even H.R. Giger wouldn’t deny!
I missed you!, Most beautiful game editor ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(Vampress)
I really love this game, my favourite one of Sega Mega Drive. Superb!!
Truxton was definitely known for its difficulty curve, the further you progress the harder the game gets.
Many old school retro gamers would agree there are many different shoot up games that has a steep difficulty curve and challenging.
Mark and CGR are back!!!
that read of the manual's intro would fit perfectly on an attract screen for an updated arcade version or something lol. I never thought Truxton was great but this video is, I think it's important for us retro gamers to put some respect on the OGs and I always appreciate the efforts you're putting in in that regard!
Thanks so much.
I enjoyed this game so much. Music is too good for me, helps you concentrate with excitement. I know there are better shooters out there, but this will always hold as a Solid shooter for me. Thanks for covering it.
Sorry if this is off topic, but you look incredible here Pam.
With my space ships
Of red, blue and green
You'll hear the crowd of ladies scream!
WE WANT TRUXTOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!
Classic Game Room went back to being a documentary filmmaker if I remember correctly. I always wondered why he picked Truxton as his trademark.
Probably nostalgia. This was one of the "system sellers" in the very early days of the Genesis/Mega Drive, and I guess he played it when it was pretty new and was impressed by it (when it was released it was quite impressive, more so than many other early titles, like Altered Beast, but it did not take long before more impressive games were released)
miss classic game room 😩. I had a chance to pick this up a couple of years ago.. hope to see a musha review from you too . 😊
Edit: I found it.. watching it now!! 😌
MUSHA on original hardware might be pricey, better to emulate these days due to price. MUSHA great game though. Lightening Force (ThunderForce 4) is probably my fave Genesis shmup of all time, THunderforce 3 was pretty good too
If you don't have it, Musha Aleste (the Japanese version) is like 1/4 as expensive and it's the exact same game, you don't need to learn any japanese to play it, and you can just watch the cutscenes in english online. I got it when it was only $60 CIB, but nowadays it can be had for as (comparitively) little as $130 for a loose cart. It can be played on Model 3 gens or other models with a game genie.
I was honeslty MEGA dissapointed by that game after mark hyped it to high heavens, having a loud, noisy ridiculously technical soundtrack does not automatically mean good. Raiden Trad is a better vertical shooter and much less expensive.
*Also she already reviewd Musha 4 years ago as I look in the reccomended section*
She's done one already. th-cam.com/video/tBV6QFP1C88/w-d-xo.html
She reviewed MUSHA a while back.
CGR...thank you for showing us the way
Ahh, Classic Game Room, brings back good memories. The flashing skull/clown face during that one boss was jarring.
Great Toaplan shmup!
Never played this Shmup, but I don't think I am missing out based on the review. The music used from the game for this video reminds me of early 80's pinball machines and that's not really a compliment. Thank you for the review Pam! Definitely going to check out the Musha review next.
I love these classic shooters so much.
Would luv to see more reviews of classic shmups from the 16 bit era when there were soooo many of those games. Genesis, SNES, Turbografx-16, and Neo Geo had a lot of goodies.
Mark has actually just signed on to narrate a documentary about Toaplan, the developers of this game. I understand your impressions of it, they're how I felt about pretty much every Toaplan shooter (Twin Cobra, Sky Shark, Hellfire, etc.) before I got really into shmups. That's when I found out Toaplan are revered by that community, and they're responsible for many of the key elements that defined the genre over the years (the screen clearing bomb, giant weapon spreads, the creation of bullet hell, etc). The thing about Toaplan's games is they nail the fundamentals - movement feel, sense of impact, encounter design, etc. I had always thought Truxton looked awesome in magazines, but never had a Genesis as a kid. I finally got the game this year (JP Mega Drive version), and I personally find it holds up really well. But I can totally understand why someone who likes the genre but doesn't obsess over it would rather spend their time on something like the Thunder Force games, which deliver on both the fundamentals and the spectacle.
One side note of trivia - the need to scroll the playfield left and right isn't due to the righthand display, it's part of the design and was present in the arcade version as well. The arcade machine used a monitor arranged vertically (a setup called 'TATE', you might be familiar), to give the player more visual space in front of them. The side of the screen in the Genesis version being blocked off for lives/score etc. was done to mimic this aspect ratio, rather than having to redesign enemy encounters to accommodate a squashed 4:3 space. I think all their Genesis games do this. The wider playfield off-screen gives the player more space to maneuver, and helps prevent things from feeling like they're trapped in an alley being shot at.
Truxton is one of the first titles I remember playing on the Genesis (okay, Mega Drive). It may even have been the very first, because I asociate it so hard with the shape of the gamepad. Space-age stuff all the way!
one of my all time favorite shmups!
The one I played on my mega drive/ genesis was called Tatsujin. One of the best shmups ever! A childhood fav of mine
Holy crap this game IS real, I swear I thought I made it up in my head because I never known anyone else that played this
Goddamned, instantly reminded me of Classic Game Room.
The bullet size was the first thing I noticed. Sure, on some stages it’s perfectly fine.. but the rest.. omg! So, it’s not just you that needed glasses haha. My compliments about your fashion style. It looks great on you:)
AAAhhh, brings back memories. 1988 ouch, i'm ancient.
I love the shmup reviews please keep them coming! It's a niche genre but it's one I'm completely addicted to. Truxton is great but it is very adept at kicking my a**. Not for the faint of heart but worth it. And there's something special about the mega drive / Genesis games. I also agree it's on the next tier down for its era from the likes of Thunder Force and Musha
A late 80s early Genesis/PC Engine arcade port is such a uniquely specific era and feel
The sheer number of times Mark mentioned Truxton during reviews for other items on CGR is pretty impressive. Honestly, while Truxton is a good, solid shooter on Genesis, I think even the other shooters on Genesis alone make Truxton easy to overlook. There're just so many interesting shooters on Genesis.
Also, I have to say, when I saw this video in my subscriptions, I immediately had two questions: 1) Will Pam mention CGR? 2) Will Pam do a cover of Mark's Truxton song?
Sorry for the lack of cover
Damn Pam. nice review. i used to play this a ton at a friend's house.
Recently spotted Truxton on a map in AZ and was immediately reminded of Mark n CGR
I remember paying this at my local arcade back in the day, very challenging. Never even knew it was on the Genesis.
Thanks for the video review! I like Truxton and R-Type but I have a thing for space shooters of all eras. Truxton is definately a late 80s shooter and they were all kinda the same sound and style wise. I do have a thing for shooters from that era (as well as beat em ups and other stuff) because I like how the visual color palettes always had tons of white shading and they tried to make the sprites as big as possible. Also I love the music but I'm also a massive fan of FM synthesis. Things changed in the 90s with Gaiares, Whip Rush and certainly Lightening Force which are all incredible games with the last one having some pretty heavy 90s SNK shooter influence, they all still get regular play from me (Currently playing Andro Dunos on Neo Geo so I can go see what the hell Andro Dunos 2 is all about) Great video review and video capture! 🤘🏽
Beautiful as always pam.
Even though this game has nothing on "insert any Compile game here", seeing the thumbnail made me instantly click this video :)
Love me some Pam reviews.
It's hard to compete with Compile.
Thank you!
This is my favorite genesis game of all games and as good as it gets for shmups
Ha, a double blast from the past. Not only CGR, but I actually had Truxton as a kid. Would always wear me out, and probably had me beaten before then too. Still went back to it though. A big source of inspiration for a fertile young mind
Truxton was always available for renting at the local rental store I used to rent games.. Nobody wanted it! Now I see it's such a great game.
I loved the game when i was young.
Awesome! I remember this game on my Genesis. Now I play it on an emulator....CLASSIC!! Forgot to add it is a really hard and unfair game!! LOL Thank you for posting
These classic shooters were hard for me when I was a kid. Getting close to 50 now and I don't think there's any way I could do well in them. I am pretty glad some newer games do not rely on great reflexes.
Well I think this game is made just they way it should be. I have played Truxton for hours and still love it! And I have never beaten it either. But it makes me want to keep playing to get better at it.
I rented this & MUSHA back in the day. I was quite surprised that both had attained such incredible reputations. If I knew they'd be this sought-after, I'd never have returned them to Doorstep Video, along with that Tengen Tetris cart, lol.
Hell yeah Tatsujin and Musha are my favorite megadrive shooters!
This game looks like a fun shooter for once. Original color palette.
Incredible review and anyone else excited for the Toaplan documentary. I hope Cannot Be Tamed features U.N. Squadron, R-Type Delta, and Rez in the future.
I missed playing this game. Definitely one of my favorite space shooters.
Ahh, Truxton. My friends and I used to have arcade challenges on Tatsujin all the time to see who could get the farthest, and we dumped a lot of quarters into it.
I remember the first time "beating" it, going wild... only to watch the game loop from the beginning seconds later!!! Ahhh!
Good times :)
Never heard of this, thanks for sharing!
Genesis sure had a top tier library of shooters.
some of my faves on the Genesis were Truxton, MUSHA, Thunder Force 3, Lightening Force/Thunder Force 4, Air Buster/Aero Blasters
5:15 "Maybe my eyes are just getting old...mm..yeah there are.."
Could have fooled me, you don't look a day over 30.
This game is so underrated
Thanks to Mark at CGR I even knew what this game was.
I prefer Fireshark, Twin Hawk, and Twin Cobra from Toaplan
Ahhhh Tatsujin.... One of my all time favourites. The pcengine is my favourite versión. Hard as nails and addicting.
I still watch CGR episodes from time to time. That channel was so good! Personally I think what happened was being on an intergalactic spaceship they got too far away from us to where at the speed of light it would still take thousands of years to contact them. I like to think Mark is still playing classic video games from viewers whom he puts a thumbtack on maps from other planets.
Also is it just me or is that star field background the same one when you travel to a different planet from Phantasy Star? Maybe in the hectic heat of battle you killed Alis? There goes the fate of the Algol System.
This theory is FAR more intelligent than some of the other ideas I hear about the closure of Classic Game Room.
Maybe they did travel too far away. Another galaxy is getting the videos now.
I always enjoyed this game!
FUN FACT, This game got a sequel in the arcades and it was only ported to the super rare FM TOWN Marty.
yo that game was sick
I really liked this one. And the sequel.
People can mock the “plot” of Genesis-era shmups. But the most memorable of them all is famous because of the plot: Somebody set us up the bomb!
CGR is back!!
At least through 2024!
PERFECT!!!
In case you didn't know, there's a "trick" in the game where you can easily beat the bosses with a single bomb. When you press the bomb button, just spam the Start/pause button quickly until the boss dies.
So exactly like Blaster Master (NES).
this video reminds me that I love playing with 2 big guns
The echo effect on the story was a nice touch.
Thanks