Zone of The Enders 2 & Slave Zero.

[retroborg]

I Completed Zone of The Enders 2nd Runner.
Awesome graphics, hyper fast action game-play, cool Boss battles & great music.
The last two fights against Anubis are the most impressive Boss battles I’ve ever encountered.
Also, the level where you have to destroy the 5 Bahram battle ships over the sky of Mars, is just too cool!
The Lock-On lasers are great, but only effective against smaller enemies.
I found the “Grab” being one of the most effective sub-weapons. It’s so cool spinning around the enemies and watching them brake up into pieces.
The sword-slice combos of Jehuty, could take on Strider Hiryu any day!

The story & videos were amazing!

“Project Auman’s purpose is not domination…
Destruction!”

Also the video/dialogue with the Zakat pilots was nice.
After you defeat them they escape, so I guess they might reappear in Zone 3?!

Zone 2 is light years ahead from Robotech Battle Cry!
I loved the Intro main song, both original & remixed. That girl has nice voice.

Seeing as you also get to fight against the famous Vic Viper, what else would you want from a fast action Mech game?!
I wonder if the infamous KONAMI code works in Zone 2?
If the game had been a bit larger, it would be almost perfect!


Another cool Mech game, well worth to try out is: Slave Zero for PC-CD-ROM.
This is a huge game, with great gameplay, graphics & music.
The Boss fights are just as cool as in Zone 2.
Some of them are just massive. The Boss that comes smash-charging into the sewer-level gate and you continue fighting & ascending upwards, while the sewer gets flooded, is great!
The game also features Techno-Rave music tracks which are a bit better than Zone 2 in my opinion.
It takes place in a huge Mega-City similar to the Judge Dredd Megapolis!
The game is a constant ascension to the highest point of the city, culminating in a final battle against the Final Boss.
I found some of the weapons and levels of the 2 games, being a bit similar!
You could grab objects & smash enemies in both games.
Also the Mech enemies of Slave Zero looked better than the cheap looking Raptor frames & spider-bots in Zone 2.

Can’t wait for Zone 3!

[Gunbuster]

Retroborg: What other Mecha (anime style not american) games would you reccomend?
I own a PC, Gamecube and Dreamcast, oh and a really hacket old ps1 that only works upside down! I'll probebly buy a PS2 at some point for the Armored Core games, ZOE, Ring of Red, MGS2 and the upcomming Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex Game.

[retroborg]

Retroborg: What other Mecha (anime style not american) games would you reccomend?
I own a PC, Gamecube and Dreamcast, oh and a really hacket old ps1 that only works upside down! I'll probebly buy a PS2 at some point for the Armored Core games, ZOE, Ring of Red, MGS2 and the upcomming Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex Game.

PS-2:
SDF Macross (You'll have to import that, as it's only available in Japan)
Robotech Battle Cry
GunGriffon Blaze
Virtual On Marz (1-on-1 Fighter)
Gundam vs Federation DX (1-on-1 Fighter)

DC:
Virtual On Oratorio (I've heard it's better than PS-2)
Gundam vs Federation (1-on-1 Fighter)

PSX:
Omega Boost
Zero Divide 1, 2

There aren't that many 3rd person Mecha, Japanese Shooters.

I can recomend you many Japan Horizontal/Vertical Shooters that feature many in-game Mecha like:

GCube:
Ikaruga

DC:
Ikaruga

PSX:
RayStorm
RayCrisis
Thunder Force
1945 Strikers II

PS-2:
Silpheed - The Lost Planet
R-Type Final
Gradius V

etc...

But I don't know if you like that genre?

Tell me and I will post a better list....

[Gunbuster]

Finally got some time to reply properly.
Firstly, sorry I'm not a fan of top down shooters they usually make them to hard as they are a niche genre or maybe thats why they are a niche genre I don't know. Having said that Ikaruga looks really nice.

I've played Virtual On for the DC, they standard controller is unsuited to the game and a custom twin stick controller would be better for playing it. I borrowed it from a friend so I'm not going out to find one. The PS2 game might be a weaker game, but the PS2 pad is much better suited for the series so it should balance it out.

I've seen some copies of Robotech: BattleCry for the GC kicking around in a local Game, have you played it? if so is it any good?

I bought Tech Romancer for the DC ages ago, its a fairly bad game, but does have a line up of I can't believe its not Evangelion/Macroos/Geikanger/etc. Most of them are really blatant rips its almost funny.

Also checkout http://www.the-underdogs.org/theme.php?id=2&sort=rating
Has a number of japanese freeware top down shooters. I can't guarantee the quality tho.

On a side note, two games I do have for the PSX that you might like are Ghost in the Shell and Silent Bomber. GITS is mainly centred around use of the Fuchikoma mechs from the Manga rather than the character based film that didn't even show them. Silent Bomber's main charcter doesn't have a mech, but most enemies are mechs, robots or wear power armor. Its a fairly old skool style game feals like a Choas Engine/Bomber Man/Top Down shooter hybrid and I'm fairly sure you'd like it. Its should be kicking a round for £5 now a days.

thanks for the feedback so soon.

[retroborg]

Thanks for the link.

Tech Romancer for the DC?
What’s that like?

If you don't like top down shooters due to their increased difficulty, maybe you should try some horizontal shmups that aren't too hard & also feature some great Mecha enemies!

Thunder Force Series - Genesis / PSX (Especially Thunder Force V is great!)
Einhander - PSX
R-Type Delta - PSX (This is one can get a bit frustrating I'm afraid though!
In the Hunt - PSX
R-Type Final - PS-2 (Looks awesome)

I would suggest you (Even though you don't like the genre) to try on MAME emu:
1945 Strtikers series (Especially II)
SDF Macross
RayForce/Gunlock
Gunbird I, II
R-Type LEO
Hyper Duel
Bat Rider

RayStorm – PSX (isn’t hard at all, as you can change the difficulty, through 8 settings)

They all feature awesome animated Mecha Enemies & bosses & They're not too hard.

A very good, under rated 1-on-1, Mecha fighter, is Gundam Endless Duel on the SNES!
You should try the Japanese ROM on a SNES emu.
I enjoyed this, a lot more than Gundam Battle Assault 1 & 2 on PSX!
Plus it also features the cool "Rhythm Emotions” intro song.

Also Macross – SNES
Macross 2036 – PC-Engine CD
Aldynes – Super GrafX

I played the PS-2 version of Robotech Battle Cry up to level 2.
It didn't fascinate me much, neither graphics nor music department, as it featured the original Harmony Gold soundtrack only in the Intro. Music is very important in my book & the in level music sucked. They didn’t use any of the cool battle tracks from the anime, up to level 2 at least.
My friend loved the game though.
I've heard that the X-Box version is more or less the same, but I've never tried the GCube version. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same thing.
Generally this game didn’t score too well, as everybody was expecting too much.
I’ll probably give a 2nd try as a rental.
If you’re a Robotech / Macross fan, try it out, but SDF Macross (J) looks better.