November 2018 Shmup Club - Steel Empire

[MetalFRO]

[img width=600 height=450]http://images.nintendolife.com/games/3ds-eshop/steel_empire/cover_large.jpg[/img]

What do you get when you combine steampunk and horizontal shoot-em-ups? You get Steel Empire! Originally released in 1992 on the Mega Drive/Genesis line of consoles, this unique horizontal scrolling shooter combined the steampunk theme and aesthetic with an interesting shooting game that adds a couple different mechanics to make the game stand out. Instead of only scrolling from left to right, some areas have you scrolling right to left at different times, as you pass back and forth over some bosses or landscape. There are 2 different craft to choose from, each of which has different attributes, and gives the player a very different experience. The large dirigible is slow and a bit clunky, but it's quite powerful. The biplane is weaker, but faster and far more nimble, in addition to being much smaller, and better able to weave through bullet spam. Choose either craft, and prepare to take on the Motorhead Empire, as you fly into their strongholds to attack their bases, and take out their forces, to weaken them and stop the tyranny. You play as a pilot for the Silverhead Republic, the only free state left in the world, on a mission to free the rest of society from the Morothead Empire.

This game is available on many platforms. In addition to the original Sega Genesis and Mega Drive release, it received a remake on the Game Boy Advance, as well as a later remake on the 3DS, available via the eShop. Recently, the game was remade again, based on the 3DS remake, and given a release on Steam, with updated graphical elements. No matter which you play, you're sure to have fun shooting bullets, dropping bombs, and blowing up elaborate tanks, canons, and other fantastic flying machines from a fictional steampunk universe. Whether you play on console, PC, or on the go, be sure to join us for the Shmup Club game of November 2018, Steel Empire!

Participants:
MetalFRO
Addicted
Normatron
lordb0rb4
Retroshmuper
Square_Air
Golem
EZ Racer

High Scores Per Version:
Sega Genesis - MetalFRO (Normal) 4,782,800  -and-  Golem (Hard) 5,978,800
Game Boy Advance -
3DS - Golem (Normal) 1,776,681
Steam/PC - Normatron (Normal) 3,109,050

[Normatron]

I hope its not to late to put my name in the hat for this game, im playing this on steam.

[MetalFRO]

Nope - we start in November, so I'll add you to the list. Welcome aboard!

[Normatron]

Thank you, I used to have it on the genesis but somehow lost it, but saw it on steam when I saw this post. so I got it!

[Addicted]

I'll be playing this on the Genesis and 3DS.

[EZ Racer]

Should have the Genesis copy shipped to me by the end of the week.

[lordb0rb4]

Hello RF Generation!
First time posting here and this topic was the very reason for me to join this amazing Forum.
I'm from Brazil and english is not my native language so please bear with me.
Steel Empire was a game that although i've known it for a long time i didn't actually give it a go until the recent steam release and OH BOY what a gem of a game!
I'm going to be honest here, after playing it on 3DS the PC port seems to be inferior in a lot of ways, the smoothed graphics doesn't blend well and there are some hickups performance-wise.It's not deal breaking but it is not perfect at all.
I'm playing both PC and 3DS version and maybe Genesis for curiosity sake.How high scores are going to be settled? 1 credit on default settings?

[MetalFRO]

Welcome to RF Generation, lordb0rb4! Steel Empire is our game for November, so obviously we'll be waiting to look at scores specifically until then, but yes - high scores should be submitted only on a single credit play. There are no prizes, per se, but more a matter of bragging rights, so take a screenshot or photo of your score and post it here. I use Imgur for mine, but you can probably use most any image hosting service to do that. Glad to see more people coming in internationally, and I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts on the game as we go through November

[lordb0rb4]

Welcome to RF Generation, lordb0rb4! Steel Empire is our game for November, so obviously we'll be waiting to look at scores specifically until then, but yes - high scores should be submitted only on a single credit play. There are no prizes, per se, but more a matter of bragging rights, so take a screenshot or photo of your score and post it here. I use Imgur for mine, but you can probably use most any image hosting service to do that. Glad to see more people coming in internationally, and I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts on the game as we go through November

Thank you my friend, i can't wait!

[Retroshmuper]

Hi, I'll be playing this with you this month as well. Looking forward to it

[MetalFRO]

Welcome aboard, Retroshmuper! Glad you can join us, and good luck!

[lordb0rb4]

Not a high level run by any means but i think i've managed a good 1cc run, dying twice.
As i said, not a gold tier score but it is a starting point.
[img width=700 height=394]https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1962/44751593295_2b08785c5a_c.jpg[/img]

[MetalFRO]

Woah, congrats on the 1CC already! Which craft did you use, the plane, or the dirigible?

[lordb0rb4]

Woah, congrats on the 1CC already! Which craft did you use, the plane, or the dirigible?

Etopirika, the plane, it's downward bombing run is really usefull.
Forgot to say that i've played the Steam version.
lordb0rb4 is my tag on Steam if anyone cares.

[Square_Air]

Count me in! I actually had never heard of this game before dinner when I got home today, and after about a half dozen credits, I manged to grab a 1CC on Normal mode. I almost manged to no-miss it as well, but I foolishly lost a life during the second last attack from the final boss  . A clear is a clear though, so I can't complain.

[img width=664 height=374]https://i.imgur.com/0J6AjqI.png[/img]

Genesis/Mega Drive - Normal Mode
Square_Air - 4,027,200 - ALL - Fusion 3.64

I kind of enjoyed this game! After 1942 twisted up my soul (though I will get my revenge clear on it one day ) I was quite relieved to find out that this game is actually pretty cool. It's a little easy for my tastes, but still a fun steampunk journey. It's actually quite colourful for a steampunk game, and the usual twangy electric guitar style Genesis/Mega Drive synthesizer is used to pretty great effect here. While the gameplay earns an overall thumbs up from me, I don't feel like this game really offers enough for more relatively experienced players besides going for the no-miss/no-bomb. The game doesn't seem to have much in the way of scoring either, so that's unfortunate. The highest scores for this game that I can seem to find are around 4.8 million.

A few tips:

1. Don't stick to the plane or the dirigible for the entire game. It is more beneficial if you use this order:

• Stage 1 (beginning) - Plane
• Stage 2 (underground) - Plane
• Stage 3 (clouds) - Dirigible
• Stage 4 (water) - Plane
• Stage 5 (night city) - Dirigible
• Stage 6 (base) - Plane
• Stage 7 (space/boss) - Plane

The plane is the all around better option, since the maneuverability is usually better than bulk and power. The 3rd and 5th stages have a large midboss and twin bosses respectively that take much too long to damage with the plane, while the dirigible's missiles can make short work of them comparatively. Those two stages don't have tight enough dodging to really justify the plane's low hp either, which makes the dirigible the superior choice.

2. During the speed section of stage 2 I like to stay about two thirds of the way back to be a bit closer to the spawning life recovery power ups that appear. If you're having trouble reacting though, staying all the way back might be easier for you.

3. ALWAYS Bomb the helicopter drones that appear near the end of stage 5 & 6, right before their respective bosses. These drones are too resilient to effectively destroy with your normal shot, but a single bomb will take out all drones on screen. You want to do this because they drop a plethora of goodies including: power ups, options, points, life recovery, bombs, and even 1-UPs. You will usually gain more bombs then what you spend on destroying them, so this is a risk free way of loading up on resources late game that you should never miss.

4. This might not be obvious for everyone, but you can hide behind the rocks during the last attack from the final boss.

Not a high level run by any means but i think i've managed a good 1cc run, dying twice.
As i said, not a gold tier score but it is a starting point.

Congrats on the clear! I'm interested to hear if there's scoring differences between the original and steam versions if anyone is willing to give both a try.

Good luck to all on their progress!