Anyone else have a deep appreciation for games in this particular series?
A refresher for those familiar and a primer for those unfamiliar...
Alien Crash/Crush (PC-Engine/Turbografx-16)
The one that started it all. Released in 1988 for the Japanese PC-Engine and a launch title for the US Turbografx-16, this game coupled the aesthetics of Alien and HR Giger, an atmospheric OST and pinball together in one strange, surreal package. The game, and most of the series' future installments, was designed by Compile-- creators of Zanac, Aleste and, perhaps most famously, Puyo Puyo.
I originally played it around it's US release on a relative's Turbografx and it honestly creeped out younger me.
The game is an interesting take on pinball because while it is one primary table, meeting certain criteria in-game will cause the player to gain access to certain bonus tables which function like boss battles.
It's a deeply impressive game, especially for a first installment. Though I prefer it's immediate sequel, I will always suggest newbies to the series to start here. It's not available worldwide on current consoles, though it is still up on PSN for PSP/PS3, Japanese 3DS and Wii-U.
Alien Crush- Lunar Eclipse
Devil Crash/Devil's Crush (PC-Engine/Turbografx-16)
Alien Crush's sequel went for a decidedly different theming-- dark fantasy. But that's not all that is different; the main table has greater vertical height (taking up three screens instead of two), a greater variety of bonus rooms with much more intricately designed boss challenges and an even more killer, upbeat OST.
Due to the occult imagery used in the game (think 80's metal cover), the US version has some strange localization changes to mask things like usage of the pentagram.
Devil's Crush- Main Theme
Like Alien Crush before it, it's kind of tricky to locate the game nowadays. It's pretty much stuck on the same exact platforms as Alien Crush.
While it is my favorite game in the series, it's not my favorite version... That honor goes to...
Devil Crash MD/Dragon's Fury (Mega Drive/Genesis)
Before moving on... can we appreciate how bad the Western boxart for this game is? It reminds me of a fantasy novel hidden away in a Waldenbooks in 1991.
While this port is notable for its changes, it is also notable for being designed by Technosoft, developers of Herzog Zwei and the seminal Thunder Force series. Though this is probably a very subjective thing about where your tastes lie, the soundtrack thumps even harder here than it does on Turbo-- sounding more like the thrashy sort of music you expect from this developer.
Scoring is slightly different and the boss battles are mostly completely redrawn or flat-out different. Courtesy of Sega-16:
Physics feel very slightly different between the two-- which one is the best probably comes down to personal taste.
Devil Crash MD- Main Theme
Sadly, this game is pretty much stuck on the Genesis/Mega Drive and has never seen a release anywhere else.
The next title isn't even made by either one of these teams and its a black sheep if there ever was one...
Dragon's Revenge (Sega Genesis/Mega Drive)
(There is a Japanese release but the boxart is effectively the same)
So this one is a bit a deviation from the others. I assume that Dragon's Fury on Genesis did okay in the West as this is a Western-developed sequel to that game!
This game really ramps up the, uh, dragon theme. It falls very short of the standards of the other two games but it's not necessarily a bad game-- just relative to the stellar titles before it.
Aesthetically-- nothing in this game seems to be congruent. You know how people complain about indie games having mismatched styles of pixel art? Imagine that in the early 90s coupled with the most budget of fantasy novel covers and you sort of have an idea of what this game looks like. When people unfairly call Genesis games reductive garbage like "robot farts"... you can kind of apply it to this one. Plus there are weird female voice overs of the dragon lady that tend to make very sexualized moans when you hit certain bumpers on the board.
Speaking of the board, this one doubles the real-estate of Devil's Crush and is three screens vertically and horizontally. As a result, the hazards and stage feel broken up and don't flow together as naturally as they do in the previous titles. Again, this is a pretty ok console pinball game but a bad Crush/Crash title.
For better or worse, this is also stuck on the Genesis/Mega Drive.
Dragon's Revenge- Main BGM (it's very bad)
Jaki Crush(Super Famicom)
The Crush series makes it to the Super Famicom with yet another thematic makeover-- Japanese demon/folklore! Outside of the theme, the most profound difference with this one mechanically is the addition of multiball-- it's a good idea but due to how the full screen scrolls it becomes literally impossible to manage both balls as sometimes you'll have two balls on entirely different screens. The board also feels disjointed and doesn't tend to utilize space as well as the previous Compile-devloped games.
It has all of the sorts of bells and whistles you expect from a Super Nintendo game in 1992 and that works to it's advantage/detriment depending on who you are. Personally, I feel the pacing of the game is sacrificed in order to show off what was then impressive features of the hardware-- the game feels slower than the prequels. It sort of reminds me of another mistake Compile made as seen in the difference between Musha and Super Aleste.
It's still a pretty great pinball game, I just prefer the earlier titles in this series. Sadly, this game has never found a home outside of the Super Famicom release.
Jaki Crush- Main BGM
P.S. the FM tracks in earlier titles slap harder than this game's main theme.
Alien Crush Returns (Nintendo Wii Ware)
I'll be honest with you, I haven't played this one as much. I own it on a Wii which is in a storage unit and has been for nearly two years.
This one isn't developed by the original developers but Tamsoft, published by Hudson Soft.
If anyone wants to wax poetic or tear this game down-- be my guest. I don't see myself playing it in the foreseeable future.
--
Guessing that Hudson/Konami owns the rights to these games, we'll probably never see a new installment. A collection would be very welcome, especially considering Devil Crash MD/Jaki Crush never made it outside of their respective consoles. I'd even take a low effort comp with bad filters at this point!
A refresher for those familiar and a primer for those unfamiliar...
Alien Crash/Crush (PC-Engine/Turbografx-16)
The one that started it all. Released in 1988 for the Japanese PC-Engine and a launch title for the US Turbografx-16, this game coupled the aesthetics of Alien and HR Giger, an atmospheric OST and pinball together in one strange, surreal package. The game, and most of the series' future installments, was designed by Compile-- creators of Zanac, Aleste and, perhaps most famously, Puyo Puyo.
I originally played it around it's US release on a relative's Turbografx and it honestly creeped out younger me.
The game is an interesting take on pinball because while it is one primary table, meeting certain criteria in-game will cause the player to gain access to certain bonus tables which function like boss battles.
It's a deeply impressive game, especially for a first installment. Though I prefer it's immediate sequel, I will always suggest newbies to the series to start here. It's not available worldwide on current consoles, though it is still up on PSN for PSP/PS3, Japanese 3DS and Wii-U.
Alien Crush- Lunar Eclipse
Devil Crash/Devil's Crush (PC-Engine/Turbografx-16)
Alien Crush's sequel went for a decidedly different theming-- dark fantasy. But that's not all that is different; the main table has greater vertical height (taking up three screens instead of two), a greater variety of bonus rooms with much more intricately designed boss challenges and an even more killer, upbeat OST.
Due to the occult imagery used in the game (think 80's metal cover), the US version has some strange localization changes to mask things like usage of the pentagram.
Devil's Crush- Main Theme
Like Alien Crush before it, it's kind of tricky to locate the game nowadays. It's pretty much stuck on the same exact platforms as Alien Crush.
While it is my favorite game in the series, it's not my favorite version... That honor goes to...
Devil Crash MD/Dragon's Fury (Mega Drive/Genesis)
Before moving on... can we appreciate how bad the Western boxart for this game is? It reminds me of a fantasy novel hidden away in a Waldenbooks in 1991.
While this port is notable for its changes, it is also notable for being designed by Technosoft, developers of Herzog Zwei and the seminal Thunder Force series. Though this is probably a very subjective thing about where your tastes lie, the soundtrack thumps even harder here than it does on Turbo-- sounding more like the thrashy sort of music you expect from this developer.
Scoring is slightly different and the boss battles are mostly completely redrawn or flat-out different. Courtesy of Sega-16:
Physics feel very slightly different between the two-- which one is the best probably comes down to personal taste.
Devil Crash MD- Main Theme
Sadly, this game is pretty much stuck on the Genesis/Mega Drive and has never seen a release anywhere else.
The next title isn't even made by either one of these teams and its a black sheep if there ever was one...
Dragon's Revenge (Sega Genesis/Mega Drive)
(There is a Japanese release but the boxart is effectively the same)
So this one is a bit a deviation from the others. I assume that Dragon's Fury on Genesis did okay in the West as this is a Western-developed sequel to that game!
This game really ramps up the, uh, dragon theme. It falls very short of the standards of the other two games but it's not necessarily a bad game-- just relative to the stellar titles before it.
Aesthetically-- nothing in this game seems to be congruent. You know how people complain about indie games having mismatched styles of pixel art? Imagine that in the early 90s coupled with the most budget of fantasy novel covers and you sort of have an idea of what this game looks like. When people unfairly call Genesis games reductive garbage like "robot farts"... you can kind of apply it to this one. Plus there are weird female voice overs of the dragon lady that tend to make very sexualized moans when you hit certain bumpers on the board.
Speaking of the board, this one doubles the real-estate of Devil's Crush and is three screens vertically and horizontally. As a result, the hazards and stage feel broken up and don't flow together as naturally as they do in the previous titles. Again, this is a pretty ok console pinball game but a bad Crush/Crash title.
For better or worse, this is also stuck on the Genesis/Mega Drive.
Dragon's Revenge- Main BGM (it's very bad)
Jaki Crush(Super Famicom)
The Crush series makes it to the Super Famicom with yet another thematic makeover-- Japanese demon/folklore! Outside of the theme, the most profound difference with this one mechanically is the addition of multiball-- it's a good idea but due to how the full screen scrolls it becomes literally impossible to manage both balls as sometimes you'll have two balls on entirely different screens. The board also feels disjointed and doesn't tend to utilize space as well as the previous Compile-devloped games.
It has all of the sorts of bells and whistles you expect from a Super Nintendo game in 1992 and that works to it's advantage/detriment depending on who you are. Personally, I feel the pacing of the game is sacrificed in order to show off what was then impressive features of the hardware-- the game feels slower than the prequels. It sort of reminds me of another mistake Compile made as seen in the difference between Musha and Super Aleste.
It's still a pretty great pinball game, I just prefer the earlier titles in this series. Sadly, this game has never found a home outside of the Super Famicom release.
Jaki Crush- Main BGM
P.S. the FM tracks in earlier titles slap harder than this game's main theme.
Alien Crush Returns (Nintendo Wii Ware)
I'll be honest with you, I haven't played this one as much. I own it on a Wii which is in a storage unit and has been for nearly two years.
This one isn't developed by the original developers but Tamsoft, published by Hudson Soft.
If anyone wants to wax poetic or tear this game down-- be my guest. I don't see myself playing it in the foreseeable future.
--
Guessing that Hudson/Konami owns the rights to these games, we'll probably never see a new installment. A collection would be very welcome, especially considering Devil Crash MD/Jaki Crush never made it outside of their respective consoles. I'd even take a low effort comp with bad filters at this point!
