Finally, Sega Ages 2500 Vol. 30: Galaxy Force II for PS2 - July 26, 2007

[airraid]

Galaxy Force II has never had an arcade-exact home release. the closest we got was the Saturn version in 1998 but it ran at ~30fps or less, whereas the 1988 arcade version, on far less powerful hardware, ran at 60fps with no slowdown.

the PlayStation2 version is said to be the first arcade perfect home version.

http://www.ncsx.com/templates/ncs_schedule.htm
http://www.gamebaz.com/?a=i&i=6657
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-r-49-en-70-1zez.html



Sega Ages 2500 Vol. 30: Galaxy Force II
Sega
Compatible with PlayStation2™
For JPN/Asian systems only.
In stock on Jul 26, 2007.
Price: US$ 28.90


for those that don't know Galaxy Force II,
it was basicly "AfterBurner in Space", released in 1988.
There were three arcade cabs: Upright, Deluxe and Super Deluxe

Super Deluxe version was a fully rotating chair that cost something like 20k to 30k!


http://www.arcadeflyers.com/flyers_video/sega/16188201.jpg
http://www.arcadeflyers.com/flyers_video/sega/16188202.jpg

in 1998, I thought the Saturn version would at least bring home the gameplay, graphics and sound. man was I wrong. it was a sloppy, choppy, pixelated MESS, programmed by some CRAP developer, instead of Rutubo Games, the developer that brought us near-exact renditions of Space Harrier, OutRun and AfterBurner II on Saturn.

got my fingers crossed that the PS2 version has been done properly.

[diskoboy]

The Genesis version wasn't too shabby for the hardware it ran on. Especially since the Genesis didn't have rotation or scaling features in the hardware.

But there's no experience like the super deluxe arcade cockpit. The arcade at our mall had one until about 1995.

[norkusa]

I remember on my 8th grade class trip to Cedar Point, they had one of these sitdown cabs in the arcade there. Before that though, I had a Gamepro issue that the sit-down Galaxy Force II was featured in and I would always fantasize about playing the real thing someday. Of course, the damn thing was out of order so the most I could do was hop into the cockpit and pretend it worked. :(

It's no sitdown cab, but I guess this is the next best thing.

[roushimsx]

Given the quality of the 3dSega Ages line as of late (when it shifted from remakes to highly accurate ports w/ nice extras), I have very little doubt that this will be 100% arcade perfect. Hell, I even had fun with the Saturn version, despite its flaws. Galaxy Force II was a hell of a fun game.

There's still tons of games in the Ages line that I'd like to pick up but haven't yet, so I may roll this into a nice bulk order or some such.