August 2019 Shmup Club - Blazing Lazers aka GunHed

[MetalFRO]

[img width=481 height=482]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-039/ms/U-039-S-00070-A.jpg[/img]

1989 was an important year for the shoot-em-up genre. Not only did arcade technology continue to advance, but many important games were released that year. From Area 88 to Cotton, to sequels like Gradius III, Darius II, and R-Type II, lots of quality shooters released during that time. 1989 also marked the North American release of both the Sega Genesis, and TurgoGrafx-16 consoles. While the former eventually saw healthy success in the West, the latter, unfortunately, never quite took off. Despite its Japanese counterpart, known as the PC Engine, which experienced major popularity and sales in its home country, the Turbo line of consoles barely made a dent elsewhere.

However, there are a handful of TurboGrafx games that are held in high regard, and remembered fondly by enthusiasts, and by people who discovered the system posthumously through collecting, emulation, or services like the Wii Virtual Console. Among those is Blazing Lazers, known in Japan as GunHed. The original Japanese version was based on the film of the same name, though references to the film were removed for the North American version. Although not part of the TurboGrafx 16's August 1989 launch line-up, Blazing Lazers was out by November, and has since become one of the more recognized shmups in the TurboGrafx library. The game was co-developed by Hudson and Compile, and you can definitely see connections to both Hudson's Star Soldier series of games, as well as similarities with Compile's Zanac and Aleste series. Since its release, it has also seen a digital reissue on both the Wii Virtual Console and PSN systems, though both are now unavailable; however, it's still available on the Wii U Virtual Console.

Join the RF Generation Shmup Club in August 2019, and celebrate this classic shooter, 30 years after the launch of the TurboGrafx, and nearly 30 years after its North American release, as we play Blazing Lazers, and its Japanese counterpart, GunHed!

Participants:
MetalFRO
Addicted
Crabmaster2000
Duke.Togo
zoydo
coin_tengoku
Douglie007
dtungsten

High Scores:
1. MetalFRO: 13,11,180
2. zoydo: 4,477,950
3. Duke.Togo: 3,031,470

[Crabmaster2000]

Yes please

[Duke.Togo]

[img width=200 height=150]https://media.giphy.com/media/13DrdRI2JqdoLC/giphy.gif[/img]

[EZ Racer]

Wish I had a way to participate, but I'll have to wait till March (TG16 mini) to dive into this one.

[MetalFRO]

Wish I had a way to participate, but I'll have to wait till March (TG16 mini) to dive into this one.

If you have a Wii U, it's on the e-shop. If not, maybe you can enjoy a few streams

[zoydo]

I'm in.

[Duke.Togo]

I got to Stage 9 and died in the Boss Rush. It was pretty hard trying to get through that part for me, and I blew through a lot of lives. If I had some bombs left after State 8, it would have helped. I'll try to conserve them more next time.

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/ZdfqKwA.jpg[/img]

I tend to stick with weapon 3 and the shield, and occasionally switching to the Firepower with weapon 3 for the homing shot.

[zoydo]

Lost my weapon during the boss rush in Stage 9 and couldn't recover.
I'm still experimenting on my weapon strategy. Weapon III with missiles or pods works good, but my weapon of choice so far is I with missiles.

[img width=500 height=375]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48435927087_572d6e6af1.jpg[/img]

[zoydo]

Same story. Good run until the boss rush (St. 9) and died shortly after the stage 1 - boss. It's nearly impossible to recover from this checkpoint.

Also struggled a bit in Stage 5. Maybe i need to change weapons for that, to take out the pyramids more quickly.

[img width=500 height=458]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48459504821_8a0fde0b6b.jpg[/img]

[MetalFRO]

The pyramids and Moai heads in 5 will definitely give you trouble, if you're not powered up enough, or prepared for them. That's where my runs have ended thus far, but I've only had time to do a small handful of plays. Hoping to jump back in this evening, and stream some more.

[coin_tengoku]

  I'm playing

[MetalFRO]

Haha, welcome coin_tengoku!

I managed to get past Stage 5, and made it to 7, before getting eradicated.

[douglie007]

I just got a led screen on my Express.  I might join in and see what I can do with this fine game.

[zoydo]

I just did another run and it ended at the exact same spot in Stage 9 as the last two runs. No new score though.

[coin_tengoku]

Read some of the manual today. Tidbit of info ... did you know the GunHed weighs in at 80 tons!  Man it moves quick!


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