also the Megadrive had lazy ports :)

[kremiso]

yes im looking at the Xenon2 catridge atm, in a corner of my retrocollection

i remember a not great darker palette, darker with a strange blue tone

similar to some ST to Amiga ports, like Midnight Resistance
maybe even worse effect

also 4 levels instead of 5, the last 'mechanical world' was strangely cutted out
(EDIT corrected, thanks TCD)

i got the cartridge almost for free just a couple of years ago, so i can imagine the reactions of who took this full price back in the day

[CCRider]

Nobody cared for Xenon 2 on Mega Drive. Jeez, just look at its shmups library...

Try harder.

[sokolovic]

Originally Posted by CCRider

Nobody cared for Xenon 2 on Mega Drive. Jeez, just look at its shmups library...

Try harder.

Is it really or are you making anachronic comments based on how easy it is now to accès the whole Megadrive library for free ?
The review I've found of this game on the Megadrive at that time didn't slashed it.

[Megalomaniac]

Admittedly I'm not a fan of Xenon 2 on any system, but while It was released early in the Mega Drive's life they already had MUSHA, Thunder Force II & III and indeed Battle Squadron - would even a perfect conversion of Xenon 2 have been a match for those? Still, Mean Machines here in the UK gave it 82% on the Megadrive, so someone obviously thought so.

[gimbal]

It has the same low framerate. That's practically unforgivable.

[rare_j]

Originally Posted by CCRider

Nobody cared for Xenon 2 on Mega Drive. Jeez, just look at its shmups library...

Try harder.

Jeez, what a strange comment. You might as well write 'nobody cares' against every thread in the forum.

[Retro1234]

Consoles had a number of very generic platformers and fighters that are very boring.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by kremiso

also 3 levels instead of 4, the latest 'mechanical world' was strangely cutted out

Xenon 2 on Amiga had 5 level: https://amiga.abime.net/games/view/x...megablast#maps

[Retro-Nerd]

The Turrican MD port was really bad too. Battle Squadron could have been much much better.

[sokolovic]

Originally Posted by Megalomaniac

Admittedly I'm not a fan of Xenon 2 on any system, but while It was released early in the Mega Drive's life they already had MUSHA, Thunder Force II & III and indeed Battle Squadron - would even a perfect conversion of Xenon 2 have been a match for those? Still, Mean Machines here in the UK gave it 82% on the Megadrive, so someone obviously thought so.

You seems to believe that in the early 90's everyone had the same level of knowledge or easy access to thé games that we have today

Most Megadrive gamers at that time were kids around 10 years who could chose a game just by its cover and played it intensively because they had 2 or 3 games a year.
Musha wasn't even released in Europe. Nobodies would know something of that game before some years in Europe.
Xenon 2 have aged badly but I'm fairly confident that an UK kid getting this game for Xmas would have deeply enjoyed it.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by sokolovic

Musha wasn't even released in Europe. Nobodies would know something of that game before some years in Europe.

I wouldn't be too sure about that: https://www.kultboy.com/testbericht-uebersicht/1571/


I got several import games for the SNES and MegaDrive/CD in the 90s.

[Megalomaniac]

Fair point that the European catalogue for the Mega Drive was behind the American and Japanese ones. Maybe you'd enjoy Xenon 2 if you didn't have anything else to play, but Megadrive owners were even more used to smooth 50 or 60 frames per second scrolling than computer owners were, so I'd imagine they found Xenon 2 jarringly slow. Imagine playing Sonic for a few minutes than inserting Xenon 2?

Maybe the hype and bluster behind the Bitmap Brothers name did translate towards the consoles to an extent, indeed in my opinion Xenon 2 was successful on the computers because of that rather than actual quality (especially on the Amiga, where we had the (IMHO) far superior Hybris and Battle Squadron from unheralded developers and minor publishers, and Xenon 2 probably outsold both of them put together)

[sokolovic]

Originally Posted by TCD

I wouldn't be too sure about that: https://www.kultboy.com/testbericht-uebersicht/1571/


I got several import games for the SNES and MegaDrive/CD in the 90s.

You had to go in a specialized shop and pay fairly more to access import games.
Plus you had to have a 60hz TV, sometimes a special adaptater.
That certainly wasn't very common or widespread in comparison of big retail houses selling consoles or games officially.

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by sokolovic

You had to go in a specialized shop and pay fairly more to access import games. T.
Plus you had to have a 60hz TV, sometimes a special adaptater.

hat certains wasn't very common or widespread in comparison of big retail houses selling consoles or games officially.

Ah, but that sounds a tad different than " Nobodies would know something of that game before some years in Europe." doesn't it?

What I can agree on is that many of those "10 year olds" (aka bunch of people across all ages) would indeed enjoy Xenon 2, but that's not because they owned 3 games per year and did not know any better, but simply because it wasn't nowhere near as bad a game as the opinion around here requires us to believe.


Sure, it was overhyped, and a bit of style over substance, but the only real gripe with gameplay are the floaty controls - which are annoying but something one can get used to. And apart from that it's really not that
bad. I'd give it a ~7/10 myself, which is pretty on par with the actual majority opinion. I certainly would rather play X2 than something like Agony, which is a minimal-challenge snoozefest.

As for the port itself, I did play it not long ago on MD and it seemed just about the same as the computer versions. I don't get the "darker palette" gripe at all and it's certainly not something anybody would bothered about bitd. One or two levels less certainly is something to complain about though.

[Tigerskunk]

For us usual kids though, imported games were almost unreachable.

I have never even seen a PC Engine / TG16 in real life back in the late 80ies, for instance.

I knew of a very rich kid who had a Neo Geo plus imported games, but that was the sole exception.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by sokolovic

You had to go in a specialized shop and pay fairly more to access import games.
Plus you had to have a 60hz TV, sometimes a special adaptater.
That certainly wasn't very common or widespread in comparison of big retail houses selling consoles or games officially.

What does that have to do with 'nobodies would know something of that game before some years in Europe' ?

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by gimbal

It has the same low framerate. That's practically unforgivable.

i can agree with this
damn, even with the max autofire level bought in the shop, the enemies reach to pass in a stright bullets line

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Tigerskunk

For us usual kids though, imported games were almost unreachable.

Found this in ASM 5/1992:

An imported Japanese game for the MD was 49 - 79 DM, with the adapter 78 - 108 DM. Average retail price for a European version was 80 - 90 DM.

[sokolovic]

Originally Posted by TCD

What does that have to do with 'nobodies would know something of that game before some years in Europe' ?

99% of Megadrive users in Europe would'nt have a clue of Musha existence, hence it would be difficult for them to compare it to Xenon 2.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by sokolovic

99% of Megadrive users in Europe would'nt have a clue of Musha existence, hence it would be difficult for them to compare it to Xenon 2.

I just linked to reviews in European video game magazines. PowerPlay was one of the biggest (self claimed the biggest) multi system video game magazine in Germany.

Edit: Oh look, reviews from 1991 in Tilt and Generation 4 https://www.mobygames.com/game/22661/musha/reviews/