At face value, Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha is an excellent proposition – a collection of some of the most beloved shmups and arguably the best titles Psikyo ever produced. At the humble price of $39.99, the new owner of the Psikyo properties, City Connection, is offering four must own shmup titles and two solid STG at an average price of $6.67 each.
Again, at first glance, Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha looks like an irresistible proposition; many of these games had full-price releases back on the PS1 and Sega Saturn, after all. What is more, getting these same games on these consoles right now, especially with how hot the collecting markets for the two systems has become, is going to be significantly more expensive than this entire collection. So what is not to love, right? The price point is just too good to resist, so we can pretty much end the review here then...
Alas, if only the situation were that simple. This is going to be a controversial review because this collection cuts right between two opposing demographics of the genre: the casual pick-up-and-play crowd looking for a relaxing way to spend a few minutes versus the dedicated, prepared to burn hundreds of hours to master a single game, hardcore scene. Each demographic has their own needs and wants, of course, but this time around one camp is going to be left out in the cold.
Before we cross that bridge, let us have a look at the games themselves. The six titles on offer in this collection are Strikers 1945, Strikers 1945 II, Strikers 1945 III, Dragon Blaze, Sol Divide, and Zero Gunner 2. Of these games, the first four – in this reviewer’s opinion – are stone-cold classics. Every shmup fan at some point in his or her life should play these games and be both awed and terrified by the brutal, relentless action. Sitting somewhere between a classic shmup, like Capcom’s 19XX games, and a bullet-hell, like Raizing’s Battle Garegga, the Strikers series somehow manages to maintain a straight-forward appeal for old-school fans while also placing an impressive amount of bullets on-screen.
Of the three games, Strikers 1945 II tends to get the nod from Psikyo fans as the best due to its carefully refined systems overall. In comparison to the first entry, Strikers II includes more generous invincibility frames, a bigger bomb count, and more thoughtfully-distributed suicide bullets. In comparison to Strikers III, II also has a stronger balance between the ship types. With that being said though, the other two titles are absolutely worthwhile in their own rights as well – especially the third one, which has a unique gameplay feel and setting compared to the other two.
Next is Dragon Blaze, an under-rated shmup to be sure. After playing the game, Dragon Blaze can be described as Psikyo’s answer to CAVE and danmaku. The bullet speed is turned down, the bullet density is turned up, and there is now a fantastic creature the character rides on (like the beetle of Mushihimesama). Even the colour of the enemy attacks has been swapped to pink. Perhaps it is our inner CAVE fan speaking, but we love this game as well.
The last two games of the collection, Sol Divide and Zero Gunner 2, are more experimental and eccentric additions. In Sol Divide, we get the impression that Psikyo was interested in trying to create a fusion between a Golden Axe-style beat em’ up and a horizontal shooter. The result is mixed, and nowhere near the quality of a game like Golden Axe, but it is still a cool concept and an enjoyable addition.
Finally, there is Zero Gunner 2, which is also a solid but not top-tier shmup. What’s interesting to note about Zero Gunner 2 is that it utilizes 360-degree rotation of the player’s helicopter. like many twin-stick shooters. However, instead of mapping the rotation to a second analogue stick, turning the chopper can be handled with a button press and movement combination.
With all this said then, as alluded to before, the selection, price, or quality of games is not up for dispute. For any shmup fan – or even the casual player interested in shmups – the games themselves in this collection are absolutely worthwhile and worth owning. However, the job of a reviewer is to dig deeper than just the listed features and advertised price. How these games function and are delivered to the player is critical to recognize. It’s important to keep in mind that, when we review a collection of previously released arcade games, like Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha, we are not just evaluating the quality of the games themselves, but the quality of how these games are ported to the Nintendo Switch.
It is on this note where the review gets ugly. The first thing that needs to be pointed out, right away, is the fact that this release is identical to the previously-released Psikyo ZeroDiv ports on the Switch. City Connection has not made a single change to any of these previously ported games. It was our hope that City Connection might have taken this opportunity to make some sorely-needed changes to these ports (which will be explained shortly), but alas, they did nothing more than to group the ZeroDiv releases together with a new title screen. Therefore, if you already own the ZeroDiv releases of these games, there is no reason whatsoever to buy this collection. Nothing has been improved or altered, even the background art is identical. Still though, for the people who have not already purchased these games on the Nintendo Switch, this must be a recommended buy, right? Here’s where things get dicey.
Despite all the positives that have been noted about the games themselves, this collection by City Connection is very difficult to recommend due to how severe the input lag issue is with these ports. As mentioned in the previous Darius Cozmic Collection review, the average delay of shmups on the Nintendo Switch (in ideal conditions) is four frames. For shmups as a genre, four frames is a lot of input lag to suffer under and that number is essentially on the knife’s edge of long-term playability.
Some notoriously laggy shmups, like Battle Garegga, are within that range of delay. In the case of Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha, however, four frames looks like an ideal compared to the absurd seven frames of delay these games are being crushed under. In a 60fps game, each frame of delay equals 16.67 ms. This means that, in total, these games are taking 116.69 ms to respond to input. That is a lot of time for a reactionary genre like shmups and especially for Psikyo games, which are well-known for their blistering bullet speeds.
The argument could be made that the lag doesn’t matter, that the player can simply learn to adapt to the lag and remember to start pressing buttons earlier. This is not impossible in some games, like Super Mario Bros., where the player has plenty of time to react to what’s happening on screen and the sequence of events is locked-in and predictable. In the case of shooting games, and especially Psikyo, that lost response time impacts your ability to correctly control the ship and navigate the gameplay. Not only are actions like panic bombs (bombing right before getting hit) going to become less reliable, but the basic movement of the ship is going to feel slippery and imprecise. A delay on a shot does not matter that much, but a delay on both movement presses and movement releases is going to completely throw off well-practised timings and hand movements.
Imagine a concert pianist has to play a song, but moments before getting on stage he learns that the piano he is playing on has an extra delay between the keys and the strings, so he’ll need to press and release every key 116.69 ms earlier than he had been rehearsing for months. That is what it feels like to play these games with such high input lag.
Finally, compounding upon the issue of the high lag, these ports lack any accessibility features at all. There is not so much as a basic stage select mode to give the player a chance to try to learn. This means that, if you are interested in investing time in these games, not only will you have to suffer under horrific levels of input lag, you will also need to replay the game over and over again needlessly to hone in any late-stage practice. We shudder at the thought of someone trying to learn and clear both loops of Strikers 1945 II on Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha.
Conclusion
This collection could be recommended for those who want to casually drop a few credits in a Psikyo game here and there, and are not going to become too concerned about learning or clearing the game. If you are the type of player who respects the original versions of these classics, however, and wants to experience the feel of the intended gameplay, the Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha is not a worthwhile purchase. It is painful to say, but that money would be better spent on a properly ported shmup collection, like the Darius Cozmic Collection, or even on the old PS1 and Saturn releases of these games (if you are not interested in emulation). We understand some players will be upset by the chosen review score, but please keep in mind that giving this no-effort collection a high review score also devalues the work of other collections and developers who are putting in the time and effort to honour the playability of the games they are selling.
Comments 69
I bought all these collections separately in their initial releases and have absolutely no issue with input lag whatsoever, if it is there i'm clearly compencating for it naturally and if that is the case it must be minimal. The one thing about these games that is really poor is the wallpapers. they are so bland and generic it's an insult that anybody actually spent time making and adding them.
@Gs69 That isn't actually true, the version on the switch is the best version that exists. Upon it's very initial release it had some issues but after patching is perfect.
I imported 3 of the Japanese collections a while ago and never noticed/had any issues with input lag at all. Has something happened in this version or am I just crazy?
When did Strikers 1945 III get a digital release? At least in Europe?
@YANDMAN well when I have them running side by side the DC version looks sharper and is faster and remember I’m using vga for the DC not hdmi
I hope for a Speedway Racing review as it's like the first Daytona game in ages as the other ones never seem to ever be released.
Coming from NIS America, what do you expect. Quailty is the last thing on this companies mind.
I haven't noticed the lag, but then, I'm not that great at these games, I just have fun playing them.
Yea I didn't mention the lag in my review, but I made it clear my review was aimed very much at the causal player, but I've heard from others that hardcore SHMUP players hate the lag in these games. Even a couple of frames have them throwing a fit!
I recall reading on the shmups forum that the games generally have 7 frames of input lag. Bad or not, I'm not sure.
I haven't noticed any input lag, and NWR didn't mention any in their review. Sounds like something only the most hardcore shmup fans will notice.
Did the reviewer get an older build of the game for review? SwitchWatch's review of this collection last year doesn't mention anything. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJIRnYjniK8
I also don’t remember the lag being that bad on the digital releases, but I’m also no Tokyo candy cab super player either. I did ask Nintendo for a refund on the Genesis collection due to its horrendous lag. But then I regularly play Genesis on CRT, I don’t have access to arcade machines to get the best feel here
So let me get this straight: the digital version worked fine and once out into a cart it doesn't?
@Moroboshi876 No, because the reviewer clearly said these are the very same games that were released digitally and singularly.
I think this reviewer is particularly sensible to input lag. I didn't play any of these games but I had no issues with Ikaruga, Danmaku Unlimited 3 and Rolling Gunner, despite him saying the Switch is not ideal for shmups with an average 4 frames input lag. But again, I'm not the most hardcore shmup player out there, so who knows.
@Moroboshi876, I have it physical. The "input lag" will hardly be noticeable to the average person.
Unfortunately, Mark is right about that input lag and it's also in the versions you all have. It's usually not so obvious if you don't have better version to compare to or another shmup with less input lag you play one after another.
I have played these versions probalby 50-100 hours in total and actually argued about this subject with Mark probably already year ago in the shmup forums. After I have got used to play shmup with clearly less input lag, both on switch (Thunder Force 4, ESPrade, Rolling Gunner etc.), PS4, X360 and in actual arcade (Tengai is current set up in the arcade close to me), you can feel the difference much easily and notice how much harder it makes things. If I play the game longer, I get used to it on some level, but it's still there making things even more difficult that it should.
Dragon Blaze (and Tengai) I have played the most and if you try and let say try to learn how to get those boss tech bonuses (without a bomb), you notice how much pre-emptive estimation it needs to pull the off and that is mainly due to the input lag, which gives you less precise movement and much less reaction time with the bullets as fast as in those games.
There is no save states, no stage select either. These are really barebones ROMS with less than great emulation.
I personally would still rate them higher than Mark, the games themselves are superb and the input lag doesn't make it impossible (best highscore for Strikers 1999 online leaderboard is from the end of the loop-2 I think, which is crazy with the input lag).
These games just deserve much much better ports.
Wow I thought the individual games that were originally brought over by Zerodiv were quite good. Surprised to hear how this collection turned out so bad.
I am by no means a hardcore shmupper, and I'll defer to the experts who have already sounded off, but I've played a fair bit of Strikers 1945 II from the e-shop and not had any problems with lag. I die, quite a lot in fact, but I don't remember ever feeling like I died because the controls sucked.
It also gets regular mentions in every "what are the best shmups on Switch" thread, here and in other places. I really think the average person is not going to notice much wrong with the controls here.
Now I'm really interested in playing it somehow without the input lag, to see what the difference is. Maybe it's more significant than I realise.
@SuperCharlie78 You would have to be playing all your shoot-em-ups on a PC with a gaming monitor if you want to experience games with next to no lag. Consoles hooked up to a TV typically always experience some kind of lag, and wireless controllers only add to it. Most people never notice it, but for some hardcore gamers it's noticeable.
@JasmineDragon it is! Try Rolling Gunner (still on discount probably!), Thunder Force 4 (and ESPrade if you make the effort to buy from japan eshop).
Now I understand why my panic bombs have failed so often with these games. I’m super casual, and have really been enjoying the collection with my arcade stick, but had been a little frustrated by the lag without really realizing.
@GFoyle Thank you for this. It's nice to have input from someone who has played these games in depth with a critical eye outside of a structured review. I'd love for a a patch or update to arrive and smooth this out, but I'm not holding my breath.
btw. Strikers 1999 is the best of these what comes to input lag, it has 1 frame less I think (I noticed it right away from the feel). Not great, but better. Oh, zero gunner 2- might have less too, but I personally don't care about that game much, especially this "-" version which feels somewhat off (And I haven't played the original), like it's not how it's supposed to be at all, bosses dies really quickly etc.
So I don’t suck at games; it’s the lag!
Sounds terrible
@GFoyle Thanks, I've been thinking about Rolling Gunner for a while now, so I'll probably give it a shot.
Lazy, lazy programming
I bought the collection and I've yet to notice any input lag. Perhaps you are blaming the game rather than your lack of skill (but let's be honest these were designed to eat quarters do they aren't fair).
What a terrible cash grab.
@FX102A It's not on the eShop in America either. In fact, the upcoming Bravo collection also has a game that's not on the eShop.
@Joekun Unfortunately according to this reviewer’s testing connecting a wired controller to the dock adds 1 frame of lag as well (I guess the time for the dock/switch to communicate?). Wireless/handheld is actually better. Add that to the 1-2+ frames of input lag most HDTVs have and things get really ugly. I played Strikers II with a wired Hori RAP V on my TV with 20ms of lag and it was incredibly unresponsive. For serious play I am currently sticking with PS4 and Steam on a PC monitor. I am also thinking about putting a Brooks wireless board into my Hori to get around the dock.
@Kwentn yeah, I'm thinking about getting that wireless brook board myself for the same reason. This wired connection problem was noted already by the smash community when smash ultimate came out I think, maybe some usb polling not being optimal enough or something. Anyway, most of the my gaming time with these switch psikyo releases have been with same setup pretty much, docked, tv (game mode on) + hori rap v. Playable, but far from optimal.
@GFoyle oh good to know, maybe the Smash community bringing attention to it will be enough for Nintendo to address it someday, at least in a “Switch Pro” or something
I bought the individual releases of Strikers I and II and they were good for me. I'm not a hardcore shmup type of player, so maybe I haven't been able to notice the lag so far if the releases are just the same in the collection and individually
Honestly, the flaw with this review is explained right here in the review:
"Imagine a concert pianist has to play a song, but moments before getting on stage he learns that the piano he is playing on has an extra delay between the keys and the strings, so he’ll need to press and release every key 116.69 ms earlier than he had been rehearsing for months."
Sorry @MarkMSX , you wrote your review as if the audience here wanted to become concert pianists at Strikers 1945.
Do you really that's the case?
Of course, it is good to mention that there is relatively high input lag for the 2% who care because they are Strikers 1945 concert pianists, and for the the other 2% who are naturally sensitive enough to notice, but the way you focus on it in this review is problematic because this is a non-issue for 90% of the audience.
You're just confusing people with it, just look at the baffling "I have the eShop version and did not notice input lag, was it added to the physical version?" comments.
I'll put this as blunt as i can: For the average gamer, for 95% of the readers of this site, these are better versions of these games then the PS1/PS2/DC versions, they won't notice the input lag at all and the games certainly look a lot better on a HDTV (where normal console gamers actually play).
On a sidenote, writing City Connection (and perhaps Zerodiv depending on how that team was integrated) emails about the input lag might actually lead them to work on an update, they (Zerodiv before being bought) updated the games mutiple times in the past and reportedly reacted to suggestions players send in emails.
On another sidenote, now i want tickets for that Strikers 1945 III piano concert.
I have the import collection I got from Playasia. I have put in quite a few hours on each game and I am not noticing any lag. at least nothing that effects gameplay
I have these all digitally in the eshop and I really don’t recall the lag issues....at least it didn’t stand out to me or was obvious. But I’m buying this collection anyway and will remain factory Sealed for my collection. 😊
@YANDMAN I agree completely- I don’t remember any obvious lag at all on any of them.
@DrDaisy I stand corrected you’re right - there’s 1 game in each of the 2 collections not available digitally in the eshop hence the reason why they probably put these packages together. But Why they’re not available on the eshop in the first place is beyond me though. 🤔
Maybe the reviewer was playing with joy cons not attached to the Switch? In my experience this frequently makes for a miserable experience and even a lot of "joy con drift" is just down to shonky wireless connection.
@Kwentn I must’ve missed that. Luckily my 8bitdo arcade stick is wireless (like I said, I’m very casual). It’s been fine for me except when I panic bomb. I feel like I hit the button in time, but often it doesn’t react before I die. I had just assumed I suck at it (which may very well be the case). Still having fun with these though, and I plan to get Bravo too.
I have pumped tens of hours into all of the Psikyo shoot em ups and I honestly haven't noticed any input lag. It's obviously there if it's being called out but I think far too much of a deal is being made about it as the vast majority of people who play these will never notice it.
@EmirParkreiner It seems we have one of the very few Strikers 1945 Pianists reading the comments and downvoting every single comment that dares say they haven't noticed any input lag.
I picked this up and am enjoying it. While I do play a lot of shmups I'm not hardcore to notice or let lag bother me, I just wish these ports had online leaderboards at least. All the Cave ports have them, other shooters like the Raidens, not to mention all the Hamster ports, which cost the exact same as the ZeroDiv ones. Not looking to top the leaderboard or anything, but still always nice to see how you compare against everyone, and give some incentive and satisfaction for getting better. Also, for a lot of players, these games will be a solo experience, so I always think it's great to see a well populated leaderboard and see there's a fanbase for these titles.
@joey302 Probably to get people who have already bought some of the games to buy the set.
I’m a die hard shooter fan, I have these game’s on PS1/PS2 both run fantastic. I certainly won’t be buying this collection unfortunately.
@Joekun That 8bitdo stick appears to have additional lag when paired with the Switch: https://youtu.be/-6LEPTpX5BY?t=517
@N64-ROX No "Joy-Con drift" is not the issue. If you are interested in his testing methodology, and results of testing for other games, see https://electricunderground.io/shmup-input-lag-database/
I've got both Psikyo Shooting Stars collections. Neither have lag that spoil either collection. You can detect the difference between playing the Switch versions and the Saturn ones for example, but I wouldn't describe it as spoiling the experience.
Both collections are great, in my opinion.
It could/should still do with an update still. The fact the soundtracks on the collectors editions are recorded via analog rather than digital is a bit cheap as well.
@bstoppel here are the lag tests
http://electricunderground.io/shmup-input-lag-database/
@Magician No it's the latest build. Here are the lag tests:
http://electricunderground.io/shmup-input-lag-database/
@EmirParkreiner I write my reviews from the perspective of a player who loves these games and expects to play them seriously. That's the purpose of my reviews and writing, to share this perspective with the general gaming public. That's what I'm all about. Sure, sometimes what I say may not feel as important of an issue to some people who don't care about playing the games seriously, but I'm not going to start changing my reviews to appeal to the lowest common demonimator. I understand that you don't agree with me and that's ok, but I do hope you can respect where I am coming from, even if you don't agree.
@Axelay71 Glad to have helped!
@xxx128 No problem! Glad to have helped!
There are many other ways for latency to creep in as well.
Original console on a modern display:
1. Playing an original console on a modern display. Most displays have awful A/D (Digital to Analog conversion), often seeing a 240 signal as 480i. Not only will it look bad, with interlacing artifacts, but it will also introduce latency as the display "figures it out".
2. Playing with a USB controller
USB controllers have to poll data every few seconds to check for input. This adds input latency.
3. Modern displays all add some amount of latency, some are far worse than others. If there is a "Game Mode" make sure it's enabled.
To play nearly lag free would require the player to game on an original console, or hardware FPGA clone, such as the Analogue consoles, on a CRT system with a controller connected via the console's original controller port. Bluetooth and 2.4g controllers will also add lag, though the latter should be basically unnoticeable.
I own the European version and theres no input lag... I really dont know what you are talking about
@Gs69 Are you sure you don't just think it looks faster and better?
@YANDMAN yeah I’m not trying to be stupid about it I’m genuinely shocked the DC version has more detail take the water for instance on the switch it looks like foam and the water is static on the DC the water moves and it actually looks like water some of the enemy’s are more detailed too plus it has an intro not important but why is it missing in the switch version don’t get me wrong at the price it is on switch it’s amazing value the only thing the switch has over the DC is native widescreen
@Gs69 Has the Dreamcast version been enganced for the port and is the switch version directly tru to the board perhaps.
@MarkMSX It is understandable that the average reader here is confused given the fact that this same site gave many of the individual games in this pack an 8 or 9 out of 10 when they were released digitally. I understand that you didn't review those releases, but that's a big difference in score, so people were always going to be a bit miffed.
@YANDMAN possibly I just always thought the DC version was a direct arcade port as you probably know the DC and Naomi had very similar architecture I’m no expert but I know under defeat on PS3 had odd textures on some graphics and slowdown which are not present in the DC version either way they all play pretty much the same so everyone’s a winner
@Gs69 Not sure if you're aware, but Zero Gunner 2 was remade from the ground up as the source code was lost. So it's not a port or emulation, but a remake that attempts to look as much like the original game as possible.
@BionicDodo that explains the slight differences then still it plays the same and it’s a fraction of the cost I paid for the Dreamcast version good knowledge mate I just looked it up
“ Imagine a concert pianist has to play a song, but moments before getting on stage he learns that the piano he is playing on has an extra delay between the keys and the strings, so he’ll need to press and release every key 116.69 ms earlier than he had been rehearsing for months. That is what it feels like to play these games with such high input lag.”
So, MIDI controller to a DAW plugin circa late 90’s / early 2000’s? 🤪
A highly commendable honest review. I particularly enjoyed how you set the stage and show your knowledge and respect for the medium before you get to the harsh, but fair, critiscm. Well done.
At the end of the day lag is a personal thing, some will notice it and some won't. However, if the lag is worse than the same game on other platforms then that's a problem, and it's only fair to say so.
I don't know how these particular games are put together, but lag on Switch is rife. Particularly with Unity games. So I'm happy this issue is getting some attention.
I bought these collections from Japan. Horrible, horrible lag, so much that I don't want to play them again... even though some of them are my favourite shmups ever (Gunbird 2, Strikers 2). Shame on you Zerodiv and City Connection. And the fact that they don't fix this issue with an update is a kick in the teeth to the fans. Why don't Psikyo people say anything about this issue? I mean it's the whole CONCEPT of those games, react fast to hiscore, that is broken! I can't understand how some people here doesn't even notice it, it is a game breaker. Those ports are broken, plain and simple.
@YANDMAN Interestingly I haven't experienced any input lag at all. In fact, I felt like it was one of the best feeling shmup collections I've played on the Switch...
Is it possible the reviewer didn't have their game mode on?
@guitarpete987 No. The reviewer is very well known in the shooter circles and extremely knowledgeable. He actually screen tests the lag input. The thing is, there is a vast difference between playing shoot-em-ups and professionally playing them, his level of expertise will fall into the latter category. Most casual players, which I would probably fall into, just wouldn't notice, and that is where people have become confused over these reviews.
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