Moon Cresta

[bargora]

Just got this one in the mail yesterday (along with Frisky Tom). It's another Japanese Playstation "Arcade Hits" release, with Moon Cresta and SFX (a Moon Cresta sequel) on it. I only ever saw Moon Cresta arcade cabinets a couple of times when I was a wee lad, but I decided to get it anyway because (1) you shoot stuff, and (2) wolfgames.com was blowing it out for $16.50 new.

Man, all of this "survival horror" and "puzzle" gaming has made me weak or something, because Moon Cresta pwned me. It probably made me cry when I was little. It was more fun than I had dared hope! (Although the sound effects are a bit repetitive...)

NOTE TO PDF (or anybody else): Does the Nichibutsu Arcade Classics disc contain the Moon Cresta Sequel "SFX"?

[digitalpress]

I LOVE Moon Cresta. Where I grew up we actually had a Moon Cresta machine in a walking-distance deli/convenience store. I used to play every day, though I never got good at it. It's a pretty regular MAME candidate on my home set-up.

I've got Nichibutsu Arcade Classics and SF-X is, in fact, in the compilation. There's SF-X, original Moon Cresta, Crazy Climber, Crazy Climber '85, Frisky Tom, and Tom Strikes Back.

[NE146]

Yes. SFX is in there.

I too love Moon Cresta. That was THE game where I grew up and could be found anywhere.. in the movie theaters, at the laundromat, everywhere (usually the cocktail version).

However I will say this. The PSX version of Moon Cresta on the Nichibitsu Arcade collection sucks!! I alluded to this in another post, and just confirmed it right now (I'm home for lunch). You would expect the PSX could've done a decent Moon Cresta, but the enemies movements are way too off.. they swoop up and down the screen too swiftly and in wider arcs then they should and they change speeds! What's up with that? I guess you have to play the arcade game a couple of times to see/undertand this (I rarely say this, but Mame does a good job of emulation for Moon Cresta if you want to do a comparison). Anyway, it seems like the SNES/SFamicom did a better Moon Cresta port x_x (although in that case the enemies take up too much of the playfield) :P

Now as far as SFX goes. I was surprised when I first played it on the PSX as I'd never seen it before. It's pretty nifty though :) I should give this game a couple more goes.. By the way, did you also know that Terra Cresta is supposedly the spiritual successor to Moon Cresta? (I didnt... until recently)

Anyway, for the best version of Moon Cresta you're going to play on a console, stick to the Xbox and the versions of Mame for it.

[bargora]

Excellent. So by buying the three Nichibutsu "Arcade Hits" compilations (Crazy Climber, Moon Cresta, and Frisky Tom) I have effectively replicated what I would have gotten if I had bought the "Nichibutsu Arcade Classics" disc. And I got the three for $67. I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad about that amount, but the games are fun!

And yeah, the enemies in Moon Cresta come down FAST. I'd just figured the game for a quarter muncher, but from what you've said, NE1, it seems that they fucked up and/or increased the difficulty of the PSX port.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Y'know what? I LOVE the sound effects in Moon Cresta and Eagle. I've had a remix of those effects playing in my mind for months now. Just need to sit down and do it one of these days.

[Chunky]

that is the best $20 for an import i spent yet. and damn it's hard i can't do it, Galaga, fine, this no, wtf.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Moon Cresta will humble you. You're lucky to get your smallest, third-stage ship to last long enough for a docking. Or at least I'm lucky if I can do that. I've never kept it all together long enough to dock all three stages.

However, I will say this: conceptually speaking, the three-stage rocket thing is one of the coolest things I've ever seen in terms of keeping track of your remaining "lives."