A port of Silpheed
The best 3D shooter game of the 80's. Drive the Silpheed fighter jet and crush the ambitions of the Xacalite who have sacked Gloire. "SILPHEED" is a vertical scrolling 3D shooter game released by Gamearts in 1986. The player boards the air fighter SA-08 Silpheed and sets out to crush the insurgency. The game consists of a total of 20 areas, including outer space, inside the base, and above the planet, and players advance while destroying enemies who fly in one after another. Silpheed can be powered up by collecting items placed in each area, and weapons are added according to the score. At the end of each area, players will be confronted by large enemies with unique attack methods, such as attacking with ring lasers or reflecting our lasers.
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“Travel through space and cruise past planets. Defeat XACALITE!”
Okay I lied in the last review about taking a break from these for a while, I couldn’t help myself so have another Eggconsole review from me.
Silpheed is one of those games I was aware of ever since I was trying to find cool Mega CD games to play. I still have yet to play that version all the way through but I’ve always found the original intriguing from a review of it and screenshots. This game even had a US release on our home computers back in the day so it’s not even some game that was notable mostly in Japan. Never really played a shmup on a Japanese computer but it’s worth a shot!
Well the story is pretty interesting. You get a very long intro detailing many parts like the Silpheed ship you use and we find out a new threat has arrived in the name of XACALITE. They stopped at nothing to put an end to the good guys and raid a ship called the GLQIRE and even go as far as stealing a missile that can devastate the entire planet. It’s up to the ship Silpheed to put an end to the bad guys and save the world. I’m just surprised there’s so much though I read it first on the how to play page because I didn’t think there would be a text crawl and started the game early, oops. I like how this happened in a game that was in English too for some reason.
With the awful recap by me out of the way, time for the gameplay. It’s a vertical shmup but done in a perspective to make it look 3Dish. It’s pretty interesting and unique especially for the 80s. You’ll travel through 20 stages fighting many bosses and going through different stage types. The types of stages consist of flying through outer space, infiltrating a base, and flying above a planet. While you’re still doing the same thing in each one, it adds some variety and it helps every stage have different level design though no gimmicks so keep that in mind. You think the twenty stage amount would get old but surprisingly it doesn’t.
The ship can use five different weapons attached to both sides you can customize. Be warned though, taking three hits in a stage will put the weapon out of commission for two stages with the exception of the starting weapon. You start with the Forward Beam which is just a basic shot that goes forward, nothing special. Phalanx Beam shoots in a wide area to give you the most range but can lack power for something like a boss. V-Beam fires shots in a V shape meaning you better have good diagonal aim. Laser Cannon is the strongest weapon in the game but can only be shot forward and you better hope you don’t fight the boss that can reflect it. Auto-Aiming will just aim shots towards the direction of the opponent so don’t treat it as a full on homing shot. You won’t start with all of these in the beginning as you’ll need to get 50,000 points to earn a new one and you need to do it twice to get it for both sides. You can mix and match weapons but I always tried to match because I felt it was right to do but maybe others have strategies?
Sometimes you’ll come across a capsule called a GOLAN. This can contain a powerup sometimes and they can be very helpful. The W is a Weapon Powerup which will increase the strength of your shots up to level 3. S is Speed Up where you can move faster but you can only get it once with no way of getting more unless you lose it. F is Autofire where holding the shoot button will continuously shoot all the time, this is one you can also lose if you’re on the brink of death. B is Set Barrier which will let you take a hit without losing your shield. A is Asteroid Belt and honestly, idk what this does. Even the description on the how to play page feels poorly worded. D is Destroy which well destroys every enemy on screen. H is Shield Advancing which gives you a free shield to keep. I is invincible which just gives you invincibility and thankfully the game does warn you when it’s about to end. N is bonus score which just gives you more points. Finally R is for All Repair which fixes any damage and shields, get this one at all cost if you’re in danger. One last thing to note is getting any of them when they would add no use will instead give you points to compensate.
Now with all that out of the way let me just say this game is hard!! When I played this game, I was not expecting to struggle so hard. I’m going to be blunt, I did use the rerelease’s rewind system because you only have one life for the whole game, lose it just once and it’s game over. Sure you have shields and you can take two more hits and even items can help but that won’t stop the onslaught of enemies with erratic patterns, enemies with fast projectiles like lasers, a perspective that can make it hard to aim and the game just will not let you breathe. There is a level select and the game does let you use a virtual num keyboard but I can’t seem to get the level codes to work, if anyone can do them let me know.
I can’t deny there were times I was getting angry because it can be pretty brutal and I’m not good at shmups despite the enjoyment of them. I won’t say the game is bad or something because the game can still be fun and it at least can let you breathe a bit like when you finish a level you will be on one of two ships named WOLF and VINCE. WOLF will repair damages to Silpheed and repair three levels of your shield. VINCE will repair all shields and give you back Autofire and Speedup. With enough practice you can get through it probably or maybe just be more skilled than me. I do wish there was a scene select, it’s oddly missing in this release. You also can’t use speed options for this release probably to prevent you from playing the whole game at 0.5X speed.
Lastly there are the bosses which there aren’t too many and yet despite the constant many rematches with them, they still can kick my ass. I especially hated the one with the rotating laser turrets because it’s so hard to get in but if you destroy said turrets, he gets all pissy and bombards you with projectiles. There’s even one that can reflect your lasers, what a dick. Honestly, sometimes it was easier for me to just dodge and let the boss fly away which helped me take way less damage, I don’t need the points anyway by the second half. There’s also the final boss which has like three phases it goes into for the fight and it takes many laser shots to put this guy out. Remember, one death means it’s back to the very beginning. When it’s all over, you’ll feel like the best person in the world, congrats on beating the game if you beat him.
The presentation is easily the best so far of the three games I’ve reviewed. I really love the OST in this game, I think all of it sounds pretty nice and I didn’t even realize the PC 88 could do such nice music. It’s even got voice samples in English and some Japanese. They don’t sound good but it was probably amazing for the time. Those graphics too and not even too much slowdown really makes Silpheed shine in the presentation department. Shoutouts to the cutscenes too even if they are very slow. You also sadly can’t seem to do the Easter eggs in these for this release. I also should note this release runs the game at 4 hz which is what the game was supposedly designed for though this will mean you can get slowdown at times.
It was hard to rate Silpheed because I appreciate the game and respect it but it did have moments I did get a bit mad. Though I don’t think that should undermine the fun Silpheed has going for it. It was impressive for the time and while there are much better shmups after this game, it still is a fun game and if I had this back then, I would have probably been satisfied. If you have ever played Silpheed on the Mega CD then you should give this one a try too. Anyone with curiosity for the PC 88 should also make this a must play even if it has issues. I still think Hydlide is my favorite so far but this is a pretty close second. This game would get a sequel on the Mega CD as mentioned earlier in the same paragraph, though some sites say it’s a remake I don’t know who’s right. I’ll play it sometime this year. The series also had a game on PS2, a sequel to that on the Xbox 360, and finally a mobile game that’s very old. I wonder if they’re any good. Regardless, Silpheed is an impressive visual treat with fun gameplay but people who don’t like a challenge should stay far away. If you think you can handle it, hope you enjoy what it has to offer.
Okay I lied in the last review about taking a break from these for a while, I couldn’t help myself so have another Eggconsole review from me.
Silpheed is one of those games I was aware of ever since I was trying to find cool Mega CD games to play. I still have yet to play that version all the way through but I’ve always found the original intriguing from a review of it and screenshots. This game even had a US release on our home computers back in the day so it’s not even some game that was notable mostly in Japan. Never really played a shmup on a Japanese computer but it’s worth a shot!
Well the story is pretty interesting. You get a very long intro detailing many parts like the Silpheed ship you use and we find out a new threat has arrived in the name of XACALITE. They stopped at nothing to put an end to the good guys and raid a ship called the GLQIRE and even go as far as stealing a missile that can devastate the entire planet. It’s up to the ship Silpheed to put an end to the bad guys and save the world. I’m just surprised there’s so much though I read it first on the how to play page because I didn’t think there would be a text crawl and started the game early, oops. I like how this happened in a game that was in English too for some reason.
With the awful recap by me out of the way, time for the gameplay. It’s a vertical shmup but done in a perspective to make it look 3Dish. It’s pretty interesting and unique especially for the 80s. You’ll travel through 20 stages fighting many bosses and going through different stage types. The types of stages consist of flying through outer space, infiltrating a base, and flying above a planet. While you’re still doing the same thing in each one, it adds some variety and it helps every stage have different level design though no gimmicks so keep that in mind. You think the twenty stage amount would get old but surprisingly it doesn’t.
The ship can use five different weapons attached to both sides you can customize. Be warned though, taking three hits in a stage will put the weapon out of commission for two stages with the exception of the starting weapon. You start with the Forward Beam which is just a basic shot that goes forward, nothing special. Phalanx Beam shoots in a wide area to give you the most range but can lack power for something like a boss. V-Beam fires shots in a V shape meaning you better have good diagonal aim. Laser Cannon is the strongest weapon in the game but can only be shot forward and you better hope you don’t fight the boss that can reflect it. Auto-Aiming will just aim shots towards the direction of the opponent so don’t treat it as a full on homing shot. You won’t start with all of these in the beginning as you’ll need to get 50,000 points to earn a new one and you need to do it twice to get it for both sides. You can mix and match weapons but I always tried to match because I felt it was right to do but maybe others have strategies?
Sometimes you’ll come across a capsule called a GOLAN. This can contain a powerup sometimes and they can be very helpful. The W is a Weapon Powerup which will increase the strength of your shots up to level 3. S is Speed Up where you can move faster but you can only get it once with no way of getting more unless you lose it. F is Autofire where holding the shoot button will continuously shoot all the time, this is one you can also lose if you’re on the brink of death. B is Set Barrier which will let you take a hit without losing your shield. A is Asteroid Belt and honestly, idk what this does. Even the description on the how to play page feels poorly worded. D is Destroy which well destroys every enemy on screen. H is Shield Advancing which gives you a free shield to keep. I is invincible which just gives you invincibility and thankfully the game does warn you when it’s about to end. N is bonus score which just gives you more points. Finally R is for All Repair which fixes any damage and shields, get this one at all cost if you’re in danger. One last thing to note is getting any of them when they would add no use will instead give you points to compensate.
Now with all that out of the way let me just say this game is hard!! When I played this game, I was not expecting to struggle so hard. I’m going to be blunt, I did use the rerelease’s rewind system because you only have one life for the whole game, lose it just once and it’s game over. Sure you have shields and you can take two more hits and even items can help but that won’t stop the onslaught of enemies with erratic patterns, enemies with fast projectiles like lasers, a perspective that can make it hard to aim and the game just will not let you breathe. There is a level select and the game does let you use a virtual num keyboard but I can’t seem to get the level codes to work, if anyone can do them let me know.
I can’t deny there were times I was getting angry because it can be pretty brutal and I’m not good at shmups despite the enjoyment of them. I won’t say the game is bad or something because the game can still be fun and it at least can let you breathe a bit like when you finish a level you will be on one of two ships named WOLF and VINCE. WOLF will repair damages to Silpheed and repair three levels of your shield. VINCE will repair all shields and give you back Autofire and Speedup. With enough practice you can get through it probably or maybe just be more skilled than me. I do wish there was a scene select, it’s oddly missing in this release. You also can’t use speed options for this release probably to prevent you from playing the whole game at 0.5X speed.
Lastly there are the bosses which there aren’t too many and yet despite the constant many rematches with them, they still can kick my ass. I especially hated the one with the rotating laser turrets because it’s so hard to get in but if you destroy said turrets, he gets all pissy and bombards you with projectiles. There’s even one that can reflect your lasers, what a dick. Honestly, sometimes it was easier for me to just dodge and let the boss fly away which helped me take way less damage, I don’t need the points anyway by the second half. There’s also the final boss which has like three phases it goes into for the fight and it takes many laser shots to put this guy out. Remember, one death means it’s back to the very beginning. When it’s all over, you’ll feel like the best person in the world, congrats on beating the game if you beat him.
The presentation is easily the best so far of the three games I’ve reviewed. I really love the OST in this game, I think all of it sounds pretty nice and I didn’t even realize the PC 88 could do such nice music. It’s even got voice samples in English and some Japanese. They don’t sound good but it was probably amazing for the time. Those graphics too and not even too much slowdown really makes Silpheed shine in the presentation department. Shoutouts to the cutscenes too even if they are very slow. You also sadly can’t seem to do the Easter eggs in these for this release. I also should note this release runs the game at 4 hz which is what the game was supposedly designed for though this will mean you can get slowdown at times.
It was hard to rate Silpheed because I appreciate the game and respect it but it did have moments I did get a bit mad. Though I don’t think that should undermine the fun Silpheed has going for it. It was impressive for the time and while there are much better shmups after this game, it still is a fun game and if I had this back then, I would have probably been satisfied. If you have ever played Silpheed on the Mega CD then you should give this one a try too. Anyone with curiosity for the PC 88 should also make this a must play even if it has issues. I still think Hydlide is my favorite so far but this is a pretty close second. This game would get a sequel on the Mega CD as mentioned earlier in the same paragraph, though some sites say it’s a remake I don’t know who’s right. I’ll play it sometime this year. The series also had a game on PS2, a sequel to that on the Xbox 360, and finally a mobile game that’s very old. I wonder if they’re any good. Regardless, Silpheed is an impressive visual treat with fun gameplay but people who don’t like a challenge should stay far away. If you think you can handle it, hope you enjoy what it has to offer.
Seeing the wireframes and polygons they were able to achieve on an 8-bit computer makes this a worthwhile experience, really showing how (between this and Thexder) Game Arts were programming magicians of the PC-88.
As for the gameplay, it's pretty good too, it's a lot more playable than some of the other Eggconsole rereleases, being a straightforward shmup. The genre was evolving rapidly at the time and it doesn't quite measure up to some of the shooters that were coming out for consoles and game centers, (Darius, Salamander, Fantasy Zone...) but it has some fun powerups and unique level design, with said powerups being put in purposeful locations relative to the hazards ahead. Being able to change your type of fire before each level is pretty sick too.
The one actual flaw is that the game's tilted perspective (à la Radar Scope) is just as disorienting as it is impressive, and you're better off sticking to the bottom of the screen, taking potshots from afar like an early Invaders clone, which doesn't feel nearly as good. Overall though, this is a technical marvel for the time, and worth checking out if you want to dive into some early Japanese computer titles that actually stand the test of time.
As for the gameplay, it's pretty good too, it's a lot more playable than some of the other Eggconsole rereleases, being a straightforward shmup. The genre was evolving rapidly at the time and it doesn't quite measure up to some of the shooters that were coming out for consoles and game centers, (Darius, Salamander, Fantasy Zone...) but it has some fun powerups and unique level design, with said powerups being put in purposeful locations relative to the hazards ahead. Being able to change your type of fire before each level is pretty sick too.
The one actual flaw is that the game's tilted perspective (à la Radar Scope) is just as disorienting as it is impressive, and you're better off sticking to the bottom of the screen, taking potshots from afar like an early Invaders clone, which doesn't feel nearly as good. Overall though, this is a technical marvel for the time, and worth checking out if you want to dive into some early Japanese computer titles that actually stand the test of time.