Shikigami, Gunbird and Light Force clarification, anyone?

[Spartacus]

I'm trying to come to some kind of understanding about these series of games and the information I'm finding is confusing me. I've decided to just put the information I've been able to gather together and try and sort it out as best I can with YOUR help. So far, on my own, I've only managed to give myself a big headache. I'm not sure if the Gunbird series is directly or indirectly related to Shikagami no Shiro series of games. Perhaps XS games threw me for a loop by porting Gunbird (by Psikyo?) to the Playstation under the title Mobile Light Force and then used it's next incarnation of that title nomenclature - Mobile Light Force 2- to produce a port of an entirely different game ala Shikigami no Shiro (Alfa Systems). I would naturally assume Mobile Light Force 2 would be the logical port of Gunbird 2, thus I've become discombobulated!
Does anyone know if Gunbird and Shikigami no Shiro and Castle Shikigami are the same, connected in some way, or are completely different games? And what the Hell has Mobile Light Force got to do with any of these? I'd appreciate any clarification anyone can give me on this. Thanks.

Shikigami no Shiro (XBOX/PS2) aka PS2 Mobile Light Force 2 ? aka Shikikami No Shiro (Arcade) ?
Shikigami no Shiro II (XBOX/PS2/GameCube/Dreamcast)
Shikigami no Shiro III (Arcade)
Shikigami no Shiro Evolution (XBOX)
Shikigami no Shiro: Nanayozuki Gensoukyoku (PS2)
Castle Shikigami 2 (PS2/GameCube) sequel to PS2 Mobile Light Force 2 ? aka Shikigami no Shiro II ?
Gunbird (Saturn) aka PS1 Mobile Light Force
Gunbird 2 (Dreamcast) aka PS2 Mobile Light Force 2 aka Castle Shikigami 1 ?
Gunbird 1 & 2 (PS2)
Mobile Light Force (PS1) aka Gunbird
Mobile Light Force 2 (PS2) aka Gunbird 2 ?

Publishers, producers, developers and porters that I'm aware of....
XS games
Alfa Systems
Psikyo
Taito
MediaQuest
Sega

[Kid Fenris]

Gunbird is not related to Shikigami no Shiro. XS Games released Gunbird in the West as Mobile Light Force on the PSX and then brought out the original Shikigami no Shiro as Mobile Light Force 2 for the PS2. In other words, XS bought two unrelated Japanese shooters and published them in the U.S. as though they were part of the same "Mobile Light Force" series.

Last year, XS Games released Shikigami no Shiro 2 in the U.S. as "Castle Shikigami 2," having apparently decided that the whole Mobile Light Force thing was just stupid. Which it was.

Capcom released Gunbird 2 on the Dreamcast in 2000, well before XS Games started up the Mobile Light Force nonsense.

Gunbird (arcade/Saturn/PSX): the PlayStation port was released in America as Mobile Light Force.
Gunbird 2 (arcade/Dreamcast): released in the U.S. under its original title.

The Gunbird games were developed by Psikyo and have nothing to do with the Shikigami no Shiro series, which was created by Alfa Systems.

Shikigami no Shiro (Xbox/PC/arcade/PS2): The Playstation2 port was released in the U.S. as Mobile Light Force 2.
Shikigami no Shiro Evolution (Xbox): Enhanced version of the original Shikigami; unreleased in the U.S.
Shikigami no Shiro 2 (Xbox/arcade/PS2/DC): The PlayStation2 port was released in the U.S. as Castle Shikigami 2.
Shikigami no Shiro 3 (arcade): Unreleased in the U.S. thus far.
Shikigami no Shiro: Nanayozuki Gensoukyoku (PS2): An adventure-game spin-off, it will be released in Japan this August.

I'm not sure about all of the ports; the first Shikigami may have appeared on the Dreamcast. There's a cell phone game as well, but I forget what it's called.

[slownerveaction]

I'm not sure about all of the ports; the first Shikigami may have appeared on the Dreamcast. There's a cell phone game as well, but I forget what it's called.

The first Shikigami never appeared on DC. Oddly enough, it was ported to Xbox first (the PS2 version came later.) I think SnS2 made it to PC too (in Japan).

SnS3 isn't even out in arcades yet, I believe, although it's tough to keep track of that stuff.

I think Nanayozuki Gensoukyoku, the adventure game spin-off, will have some shooting sections too.

[Lord Contaminous]

So that's why Mobile Light Force is so cheap.

Another American Street Combat/Ranma 1/2-esque violation.

And the fact that it was 2-D in the first place.

[VACRMH]

The funny part is, XS made sure to change MLF's packaging and title screen... yet the background in the options screen (I think that's where) still says Gunbird LOL

I could have lived with it being called MLF if they included the cut scenes between stages. Hell, they were already in english from the arcade version.

Oh well, it's a shooter so i'm happy ;)

[Damaramu]

Anyone here own Shikigami no Shiro? I would love to get a scan of the cover to hide that embarassing MLF2 one. Sheesh. LOL