Aldynes Enhancement

[deubeul]

I love that cover art. Maybe my favorite PcE one.

Yeah, the boy on the cover is cute.

I agree a little more oppai wouldn't have been bad.

[esteban]

To be honest, I thought one of the messages of the intro was that the planet got attacked/damaged/destroyed, so the blackness is thick smoke, with a polluted sky above it.  I think that light grey and blue sky is out of place and far too cheerful for what I assume happened in the storyline.

Indeed.

Perhaps a compromise between the two screenshots is in order?

Are you up for the challenge, fragmare?

Take your screenshot and add a dash of tobacco, a dollop of dioxin and, for good measure, a schmear of liverwurst.

[fragmare]

To be honest, I thought one of the messages of the intro was that the planet got attacked/damaged/destroyed, so the blackness is thick smoke, with a polluted sky above it.  I think that light grey and blue sky is out of place and far too cheerful for what I assume happened in the storyline.

Ah, okay... that makes sense.  They sure could have done more to convey a polluted landscape.  The large black area aesthetically looks like someody literally forgot to draw the middle of the screen lol!  When I get home, maybe I will make another edit with pollution in mind.

[shubibiman]

To be honest, I thought one of the messages of the intro was that the planet got attacked/damaged/destroyed, so the blackness is thick smoke, with a polluted sky above it.  I think that light grey and blue sky is out of place and far too cheerful for what I assume happened in the storyline.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks the colors in this game illustrate the blacness of the story. I sometimes think that those who say Aldynes looks like an MD game would rather have flashy  Hello Kitties everywhere.

Has someone ever checked how many colors are displayed onscreen ?

[Punch]

I accept no bright colors in my post apocaliptic sczhmup.

[esteban]

I accept no bright colors in my post apocaliptic sczhmup.

[fragmare]

Okay, I tried to make it look a bit more toxic/polluted/post-apocalyptic.  If I were going to color something I wanted to look toxic/polluted, I'd use colors a more like this... except with better art.  *cough*



That huge blank area in the middle of the screen is bothersome, no matter how you color it.  What it really needs is more smoke/cloud detail.

That being said, I think I prefer the second (right-hand) image a little more.

[esteban]

Okay, I tried to make it look a bit more toxic/polluted/post-apocalyptic.  If I were going to color something I wanted to look toxic/polluted, I'd use colors a more like this... except with better art.  *cough*



That huge blank area in the middle of the screen is bothersome, no matter how you color it.  What it really needs is more smoke/cloud detail.

That being said, I think I prefer the second (right-hand) image a little more.

Both are an improvement, IMHO.

[Black Tiger]

To be honest, I thought one of the messages of the intro was that the planet got attacked/damaged/destroyed, so the blackness is thick smoke, with a polluted sky above it.  I think that light grey and blue sky is out of place and far too cheerful for what I assume happened in the storyline.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks the colors in this game illustrate the blacness of the story. I sometimes think that those who say Aldynes looks like an MD game would rather have flashy  Hello Kitties everywhere.

Has someone ever checked how many colors are displayed onscreen ?

I've never understood why similar comments about Aldynes pop up once in a while. The usual stereotype about most Genesis games looking bad should be enough to discount the comments, which I've alwaya assumed were based on people only ever firing up the game in an emulator and not playing past the first stage.

The game has a gritty cyberpunk variation of the Super Star Soldier graphic style and the assets are nicely shaded and polished and it is one if the more "colorful" PCE games, pushing close to and sometimes more than 100 colors at a time.

I think that pretty much every 16-bit console game could benefit from a color palette hack, let alone proper reworking. It just makes no sense that people criticize the SuperGrafx's killer app, but everyone only ever sings the praises of games like Download.

Only the blandest sections of Aldynes feature a level of shading on par with most of Gate of Thunder, which looks much more like a Genesis game and the better (not best) sections are on par with the best sections of GoT. Stages 5(?) and 7(?) in Aldynes look like they can't be from a 16-bit console, unless you count Neo Geo (they also remind me of the nicest colored parts of Alpha Mission II).

Maybe if you're playing with stock composite, you might think that the nicer foregrounds and backgrounds are monochromatic, but they really put almost every other similarly styled PC Engine game like Soldier Blade, Nexzr, etc to shame.

[shubibiman]

Stage 7 is so awesome.

I mean... look at this pic : do people really think this looks like an MD game ?



 

[fragmare]

Stage 7 is so awesome.

I mean... look at this pic : do people really think this looks like an MD game ?



 

Dude... I *TOOK* that screenshot for the shmups.com Aldynes review I did back in like 2002 or something.  >> http://shmups.com/reviews/aldynes/index.html

Look, nobody is saying ALL parts of Aldynes look like shit.  It's an awesome game with some very pretty areas.  In fact, I'd say it's my favorite horizontal shmup on HuCard format (with R-Type and Parodius up there too).  I gave it a solid 9/10 for shmups.com, and I still stand by that score.  It's just that some parts do, unfortunately, look like a Genesis game.... like, for example, the entirety of stage 1.

[Bonknuts]

Are we sure we're all talking about the same game?

 I love Aldynes too, but the game really does fall short in the color department.

 Just to point some things out: Yes, the last level looks fantastic, but no other level comes close. The 3rd level is pretty monochroma-ic, but the shading isn't constrast-y.  Stage 4 is monochrom-ic as well, but the music is just so awesome that I give it a pass Stage one, the whole thing including the Boss, lacks so much shading and is very contrast-ic. It looks border line Genesis/NES. The first Boss looks like NES shading (not gonna lie). Level 5 actually has some color, but almost no shades and the colors they used looked straight out of an.. again NES title. Levels 2 and the last look the best. Level 6 looks OK, but the boss is awesome.

 The coarseness of the shading (lack of it, contrast-y look), or the monochroma-ic look - it screams typical Genesis. Level 5 though.. I always thought it looked the worst; an embarrassment for what was supposed to be a superior system.

 The enemies, bosses, weapons, and music pretty much make this game. Oh, and the last level too.

[SamIAm]

I don't really have a problem with the way the game is colored, and I think making it more vibrant would cause it to lose some of its unique personality.

Stage 1 is admittedly underwhelming. I mean, the game is a whole is definitely not a shining example of what's possible on the system or great pixel art in general. That said, it's at least thematically consistent. Plus, I like a game that doesn't blow all of its best stuff on the first level.

I actually think Stage 3 is the best looking one. It's not for any technical reason - it's because it gets my imagination going, and gives me a great sense of the atmosphere of the game's world.