Sylphia is a vertical shooter published by Tonkin House. The game draws from Greek mythology and tells the story of Sylphia, a female warrior with a tragic destiny. Her tale starts as she lays fatally wounded in the temple of Athena - merciless monsters have taken over the city and she perished as she desperately tried to protect innocent villagers. The gods, touched by the sincerity of the young woman's devotion and love, decide to give Sylphia another chance... Now turned into a Sylphid with tremendous powers, the female warrior embarks on a long journey of revenge, ready to fight for her homeland. Sylphia starts equipped with a fairly basic fire weapon that can be upgraded in various ways - four different types based on the four basic elements are available throughout the game, from Fire (Red), Air (Green), Water (Blue) and Earth (Brown). Each weapon type is associated with an additional sub-weapon which range from Homing Fireballs (Red), Reverse Fire (Blue), Ring Blades (Green) and Rotating Rocks (Brown). Sylphia can also trigger a devastative special attack that deals great damage to on-screen enemies - this power is obviously available in limited quantities and may only be be used in desperate situations. Various other items are available for the taking, such as extra lives, Mirrors/Gems (slowly increase a health bar located at the bottom of the screen that gives the player an extra life when full) and Green Orbs (increase the active weapon's power level). Sylphia consists of eight stages and is single player only.
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Probably the most unique of the Compile shooters. It uses a fantasy setting, has a somewhat interesting plot compared to other shooters told through an anime cutscene at the start, and has a rather bizarre OST considering the genre. Yes, it's not going to kick your teeth in like a Gradius or R Type, but it's still a lot of fun. I will say that the weapons aren't nearly as satisfying as some other shmups, though. The only one I really had fun using was the water one, and that was basically all I needed to get through the game on normal anyways.
Fairly enjoyable and well-crafted like a lot of Compile shmups, but I found it too easy like a lot of Compile shmups
You know I gotta say, I play way too many shmups on this system. You think as someone who tries to review a lot of games on this console so more people might be more aware of the library that it would be nice but I sure have done a poor job, almost half of the games on my ranking lists are shmups! So you might be wondering why another one? Well the cover kept intriguing me, no there's no other reason.
Well when I started playing I knew immediately what I was getting into. I immediately went "Compile worked on this didn't they" well it's kind of weird because they technically did as some of the same people worked on this but Compile is oddly never listed anyone in the actual game or box. Also that name, Sylphia. I'm quite confused by it. According to the Hardcore Gaming 101 page for this game, it says the protagonists name is Silphia but other sites including this one say Sylphia like the title. Who's being wrong here I'm confused... (me from the future to say I'm blind. I literally purposefully looked at the game over screen twice and didn't even notice the game says "Silphia has no life!" How the hell did I not notice that...)
Well here we have what you expect from a Compile shmup especially from this console. Now I will say I had some hope of liking this one since I really enjoy Spriggan which is basically just an Aleste game without the name. I feel indifferent towards this one. It's got a lot of stuff that feels familiar but it's got some issues. I will say though that for a story on a CD game made in 1993, the cutcenes are so nothing to me that it feels kind of wrong. There's no voice acting whatsoever and there's only an opening and ending. I don't know if it was intentional but compared to other games on the console it kind feels so different to me.
I like the Greek Mythology thing going on here, it reminds me of Phelios from Namco. In fact I'll give this game that there's no stinkers for stages this time around. Now I got my issues but there's not really a level that has an awful gimmick. As much as I like Spriggan, it had one level I didn't like at all that had some really tight sections with the walls. Though saying all that this game just doesn't feel balanced well at all. Some stages are long, some are short, some are easier then others, and worst of all the bosses difficulty are all over the place.
Sylphia does not too much wrong but compared to other shmups by Compile it feels so...uninteresting? I think when you got some great shmups already made it can make issues with others more glaring to the mind. At least for me personally. I can't help but feel that more work could have been done on it. You know what I hate the most about this game? The enemy bullets. Why are so many bullets in this game just a non threat but then randomly some enemy has bullets that ignore your own bullets like why you gotta be so inconsistent about it? Honestly it almost feels like the devs knew some bullet patterns were too harsh and went and redid them to have your bullets destroy them.
Oh silly me I didn't even mention the weapons you use. You can use four different elements with water, fire earth, and air. Water is the most powerful but you have some shots that are directed depending on what direction you touched last. Fire has homing properties. Earth gives you a shield and shoots short ranged shots in front of you. Air shoots a ton of projectiles out from front and behind but it's also a little weak in power. The game does a decent job of balancing it but by the end it's very clear water is the best one for taking out enemies.
Oh also you got a health meter and even a laser that makes you invincible during it and do a lot of damage. I'm on and off about health in games like these because I think they can work but sometimes they feel implemented in a way to excuse some bad shmup design. Also like many other Compile shmups, it's very easy to rack up on lives when getting points. You also can fill up a meter to get another use of your laser weapon.
In some ways I feel bad criticizing it as again it is well made but I guess I just expect more and really this game just does a serviceable job. You guys ever just play a game and you're just not feeling it in your soul like some of the other team's work? That's this game summed up for me in a way.
At least the game graphically looks nice. Like I said before the presentation is Greek Mythology themed meaning environments and especially enemies can stick out from other games of the genre. I like it a lot though what I don't like is the sound effects in that the game oddly feels quiet at times. At least the music carries all that on it's shoulders because it's awesome! Easily the best part of the game and it's worth a listen if you've never heard it before.
Oh Compile, you sure did some odd decisions back then. As someone who loves Puyo Puyo, it did always make me kind of sad how much it infected the company and honestly brought the downfall of them until they were finally gone. Stuff like Sylphia is evident of that. They don't have the same luster as they once did. It's still got positives but you can't help but feel there could be more done, or maybe just me idk. Nowadays Sylphia is known more for it's obnoxious prices online. A company named PCEWORKS rereleased the game which is neat I guess. It was also put in a bundle with Faussete Amour, Kaze Kiri Ninja Action, and Renny Blaster. Maybe I'll check those out sometime this year to see if they're any good. Should you play Sylphia? I mean if you like shmups then it wouldn't hurt but I wouldn't prioritize playing this one. This game may have given Silphia a second chance at life but I think I'm gonna pull what the game over screen does if you don't continue and just stick with other games like Musha Aleste instead.
Well when I started playing I knew immediately what I was getting into. I immediately went "Compile worked on this didn't they" well it's kind of weird because they technically did as some of the same people worked on this but Compile is oddly never listed anyone in the actual game or box. Also that name, Sylphia. I'm quite confused by it. According to the Hardcore Gaming 101 page for this game, it says the protagonists name is Silphia but other sites including this one say Sylphia like the title. Who's being wrong here I'm confused... (me from the future to say I'm blind. I literally purposefully looked at the game over screen twice and didn't even notice the game says "Silphia has no life!" How the hell did I not notice that...)
Well here we have what you expect from a Compile shmup especially from this console. Now I will say I had some hope of liking this one since I really enjoy Spriggan which is basically just an Aleste game without the name. I feel indifferent towards this one. It's got a lot of stuff that feels familiar but it's got some issues. I will say though that for a story on a CD game made in 1993, the cutcenes are so nothing to me that it feels kind of wrong. There's no voice acting whatsoever and there's only an opening and ending. I don't know if it was intentional but compared to other games on the console it kind feels so different to me.
I like the Greek Mythology thing going on here, it reminds me of Phelios from Namco. In fact I'll give this game that there's no stinkers for stages this time around. Now I got my issues but there's not really a level that has an awful gimmick. As much as I like Spriggan, it had one level I didn't like at all that had some really tight sections with the walls. Though saying all that this game just doesn't feel balanced well at all. Some stages are long, some are short, some are easier then others, and worst of all the bosses difficulty are all over the place.
Sylphia does not too much wrong but compared to other shmups by Compile it feels so...uninteresting? I think when you got some great shmups already made it can make issues with others more glaring to the mind. At least for me personally. I can't help but feel that more work could have been done on it. You know what I hate the most about this game? The enemy bullets. Why are so many bullets in this game just a non threat but then randomly some enemy has bullets that ignore your own bullets like why you gotta be so inconsistent about it? Honestly it almost feels like the devs knew some bullet patterns were too harsh and went and redid them to have your bullets destroy them.
Oh silly me I didn't even mention the weapons you use. You can use four different elements with water, fire earth, and air. Water is the most powerful but you have some shots that are directed depending on what direction you touched last. Fire has homing properties. Earth gives you a shield and shoots short ranged shots in front of you. Air shoots a ton of projectiles out from front and behind but it's also a little weak in power. The game does a decent job of balancing it but by the end it's very clear water is the best one for taking out enemies.
Oh also you got a health meter and even a laser that makes you invincible during it and do a lot of damage. I'm on and off about health in games like these because I think they can work but sometimes they feel implemented in a way to excuse some bad shmup design. Also like many other Compile shmups, it's very easy to rack up on lives when getting points. You also can fill up a meter to get another use of your laser weapon.
In some ways I feel bad criticizing it as again it is well made but I guess I just expect more and really this game just does a serviceable job. You guys ever just play a game and you're just not feeling it in your soul like some of the other team's work? That's this game summed up for me in a way.
At least the game graphically looks nice. Like I said before the presentation is Greek Mythology themed meaning environments and especially enemies can stick out from other games of the genre. I like it a lot though what I don't like is the sound effects in that the game oddly feels quiet at times. At least the music carries all that on it's shoulders because it's awesome! Easily the best part of the game and it's worth a listen if you've never heard it before.
Oh Compile, you sure did some odd decisions back then. As someone who loves Puyo Puyo, it did always make me kind of sad how much it infected the company and honestly brought the downfall of them until they were finally gone. Stuff like Sylphia is evident of that. They don't have the same luster as they once did. It's still got positives but you can't help but feel there could be more done, or maybe just me idk. Nowadays Sylphia is known more for it's obnoxious prices online. A company named PCEWORKS rereleased the game which is neat I guess. It was also put in a bundle with Faussete Amour, Kaze Kiri Ninja Action, and Renny Blaster. Maybe I'll check those out sometime this year to see if they're any good. Should you play Sylphia? I mean if you like shmups then it wouldn't hurt but I wouldn't prioritize playing this one. This game may have given Silphia a second chance at life but I think I'm gonna pull what the game over screen does if you don't continue and just stick with other games like Musha Aleste instead.
Bem whatever, ainda mais pros padrões da Compile. Só o tema que se destaca – não é todo shmup que se passa na Grécia mitológica. De resto, visual fraco e ação meh. Nem a música se salva. Apesar de ter umas melodias bacaninhas, a remixagem deixou muito a desejar, faltando aquele “oomph” extra típico do estúdio.