Xeno Crisis - Bitmap Bureau (MVS)

[ChrisBEANS]

Love it!!

[markedkiller78]

I want to try it twin stick now

[geotrig]

I can barely manage one stick

[jimmerd]

Hi,

I realised that I never gave any feedback on the game.

For me it's a 7.5 out of 10 on the NeoGeo, basically good to very good with 1 point deducted for the fiddly control scheme.

Perhaps most impressive when played in its original form on the MegaDrive, but still even with the modest gameplay improvements on the NeoGeo it's well worth picking up for the colour and scaling enhancements.

The artwork is generally top notch, if a little sparse for the backgrounds in some places. The sound and especially the music is excellent.

The enemy patterns of attack are fairly basic, but do become more challenging as new types of enemies are mixed in as the game progresses. It never quite gets to the level of smash tv where the bad guys co-operate to beat you , eg swarming around you.

Some of the rooms feel a bit unnecessary as if padding out the total play time of each stage , perhaps they could have made it so you can exit the level with keys without going thru all rooms, - unless I've missed something?

The later stages are much more interesting and if this were an arcade game I'd suggest they start on 'the nest' stage and really show off what the game has to offer.

The theming, story and general vibe is very cohesive and sucks you into the action.

Clearly BB have laid the ground work for future Neo Geo releases, I'm really looking forward to Final Vendetta and especially Battle Axe.

[aerobert]

Love it!!

I swear that looks exactly like the little shop I found in the electric town parts of Akihabara right next (under) the train station.

It has to be, I even took a picture of it. https://photos.app.goo.gl/j99i8GQLRRWeUakH7

Will sell my MVS copy. Couldn't get into the control scheme at all. Not being able to throw the grenade while continuously pressing fire button ruins it for me. I like it a lot better on megadrive though!

[zak]

I want to try it twin stick now

Is there a twinstick mode on MVS? How are they doing this?

[sven666]

Wouldnt it work if you split the directional inputs between the two sticks and added the firebutton to each input on the 2nd stick? (A wire hack in the panel essentially)..

[jimmerd]

BB have stated that Xeno Crisis 2 is currently in development and will be coming to the Mega Drive.
Hopefully they will include a twin stick mode, although the game would need to be rebalanced a bit. They also have other limitations to overcome like increasing the total number of enemies/hostages that can be displayed on screen at once.

[ChrisBEANS]

Love it!!

Will sell my MVS copy. Couldn't get into the control scheme at all. Not being able to throw the grenade while continuously pressing fire button ruins it for me. I like it a lot better on megadrive though!

Totally agree. I only bought the ROM (and art) for the MVS, and I’m glad. I have a physical copy for the Mega Drive and I much prefer how it plays on a six button pad.

Despite my massive nostalgia for various Mega Drive games, Xeno Crisis is one of my most played MD games and has been since I bought it.


Now… where’s my MVS Final Vendetta?!

[aerobert]

Wouldnt it work if you split the directional inputs between the two sticks and added the firebutton to each input on the 2nd stick? (A wire hack in the panel essentially)..

yup, if you run the video description in translate it seems it's exactly that with the help of a board. Joystick movement translated to button inputs.

[mx5dob]

Hopefully some ingenious soul will create a plug-and-play adapter somewhere down the line. I'm always seeing random hacks on Yahoo Japan. They had a jamma, stick and buttons After Burner 2 PCB on there the other day!

I believe this is the Youtube channel of the modder. I googled his name after translating the original Youtube vid description:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-avbARGScig

[sven666]

Last to the party... finally had a chance to play this some, what an absolutley gorgeous game!

Sadly the MVS button layout is whack and the gameplay is very lacking, lots of baffling choices which just goes to show how important it is to have a competent playtester and for devs to drop the ego and implement those changes, this game was very close to being great now its a dud

[ChrisBEANS]

I largely agree.

The Mega Drive version is great on a six button pad. Makes perfect sense.
I imagine a SNES or Saturn version would control even better, with shoulder buttons for grenade and roll.

Edit: sorry, I didn’t realise I’d already made this point just a couple of posts up

[1up]

I played the game on Steam, Megadrive and Neo Geo MVS.

For me this game is a 9/10 on Steam. Proper twin stick controls and everything feels excellent. The Megadrive version is a 8/10 with a 6 button controller and sadly I would give the MVS version a 6/10. The controls are SO hard to get to grips with. I can complete the game on 1 credit on Steam but I can barely clear the first 3 stages on MVS.

I love the theme, graphics and gameplay style and I'm in love with the whole soundtrack.

[zak]

Anyone making adapters for twinstick controls on MVS?

@Kold666 made me a great Libble Rabble adapter which uses p1 and p2 sticks for left and right control.

Maybe someone clever can find a solution for the MVS version (like in the Japanese video)?

[aerobert]

Absolutely same sentiment as many here. I probably already posted here before about it.

The original megadrive 6 button layout is good for what it is. But the MVS controls are horrible. But my main gripe no matter the version is about the rolling maneuver. gonna quote myself from earlier.

They also messed up the rolling mechanism. You can't roll unless you're not shooting! The roll is an evasive maneuver and should override all other control input, but now you have to stop shooting, and then press roll again. This ruins the gameplay imo, I'd prefer to keep a shoot button pressed at all times, then roll, and when roll animation is finished you immediately start shooting again.

[geotrig]

I don't mind the MVS controls but haven't tried any of the others so I should probably try the megadrive version just to see what it is like ....although i'm a freak and don't mind smash tv with buttons instead of 2nd stick and enjoy centipede with a joystick You all know hitboxes are the future ...now im **** at this so maybe ruling my opinion out !

@aerobert I remember you mentioning this and take notice when giving it a go , it didn't bother me adds a layer of thought to contols not that we need anymore.

[aerobert]

Maybe, it sure is different from how I'd like it. Each to his own and it's a design choice.

[mx5dob]

Anyone making adapters for twinstick controls on MVS?

@Kold666 made me a great Libble Rabble adapter which uses p1 and p2 sticks for left and right control.

Maybe someone clever can find a solution for the MVS version (like in the Japanese video)?

A plug and play adapter would be a game changer

[FrancoB]

I was browsing this thread the other night and saw that twin stick setup and thought it looked fun! I didn't even realise this game had a release on Switch!

I downloaded the Switch version and had a think about how to make a twin stick setup on the Vewlix. Turns out it's pretty easy as you have all of the individual inputs available to you on the P1 controller. They just need remapping to P2 joystick. I swapped around a couple of the other inputs just to make it a little more friendly to where my fingers naturally lie.

I've been doing a bit of video work recently so thought I would post something different for a change



I'll have a think about a MVS version. It's a bit more tricky as you don't have all of the individual inputs from what I can see. Ideally you just want something like a JAMMA passthrough that remaps what's required.

If anyone wants to lend me a MVS, cart and supergun (lol) I don't mind having a look at it.