Starblade on Namco Arcade app

[Toykyle]

There's a Starblade game on the namco arcade app on iPhone and iPad. Apparently it cost $5.99 to purchase the title. A bit expensive, but worth it. When it first was added, i started playing it (this was the part that led me to the UGSF galaxian 3 for the very first time). the audio was a bit high pitched and there were no stars. In the next update, this had fixes with white stars and fixed audio. It even had infinite continues (if you purchased the title). Unlike other titles however, this has no cheats. But who cares. The controls on this game were the touch screen. Tapping corrosponds with the blue shooting thing. But I don't think there'll ever be a galaxian 3 on this app. 

[DarthNuno]

Yeps, this version is a part of the "Namco Arcade" ipad application :



Namco put their best games available via this app, and what a great surprise they made Starblade playable in there! No doubt it's for me one of their best game ever done, but it's not what we can call a "mainstream game that everyone know and want on their mobile device  "... but anyway, it's really cool to see it there!    



I like this version, curiously very well playable with only one finger (move & shoot at the same time). This makes the game far more easy than playing it via the arcade controls. Very useful for learning enemies patterns for example... LIKE!  



Now let's all pray Namco will remember their most famous dream machine ... yeps... Galaxian3...and make it available on a recent platform!

Oh, and welcome to you here, Toykyle.  

[Vond]

Thanx for the heads up Toykyle!
Did you register just to post this story? Or are you otherwise involved in the hobby?
We are a nosy bunch here
But first of all, welcome!

[Toykyle]

I wanted to get involved in this favorite hobby. Of course galaxian 3 wasn't released on any consoles, other than the psx. Sure it had the 4th best rising of gourb which is just epic.  there are 2 more galaxian 3 scenarios in final lap 2 ost. The final lap 2 ost was released a year before starblade ost including galaxian 3. I saw the picture of galaxian 3 attraction laserdisc video showing all 16 screens with weird numbers on top left all screens. I guess someone bought 16 laserdisc videos.

[Geosword X]

Interesting that they put Starblade on I phone. I'm not all into touch screen games but that is a interesting choice(played Sonic CD on touch screen and it was hard to control). I wonder how popular it will get later for retro buffs despite not making up for the mainstream games that are released now?

[Toykyle]

Ik right. I mean they had excellent controls on starblade. The rest on other classic games though were a bit hard to control. Anyway I noticed about that excellent starblade comic you got there

[Geosword X]

Ik right. I mean they had excellent controls on starblade. The rest on other classic games though were a bit hard to control. Anyway I noticed about that excellent starblade comic you got there

I now wonder if they look over the control schemes of some of their games before releasing them on different mediums so they can play well and smooth. If they find the controls are difficult to use then it should be the same for the player who plays it. I do sometimes find it funny, when I hit a snag in playing some games, and wondered if the developers had as much as a difficult time as I did going through control issues or difficult to pass obstacles.

Yes I do thank you for enjoying my comic. Stay tuned for more!

[zxthehedgehog]

The game was probably recoded for this release. That means that the models and game code are still saved somewhere on some 90s computer's HD, unless they re-rendered it completely, which I doubt. This being said, on that same HD, there are probably the G3 models as well.

[Toykyle]

Galaxian 3 models lol.  Speaking of them, I hope namco releases a galaxian 3 on consoles and iOS

[Toykyle]

Sorry for the bump... but my god! And I thought it was going to last forever... guess I'll have to stick with internet roms and PSX games... and existing copy of Tekken 5 I can find.

Did any of you know about Namco arcade terminating service 3/15/16 (saw it at the bottom of shop)? The games are even no longer for sale! 

I really hope the games already purchased prior aren't lost when the service terminates, and I really hope Bandai Namco changes its mind. 

UPDATE: Doesn't look like it. Well, it's been fun while it lasted... but at least some people would now know its existence. It might as well be time to dig deeper into more of these GALAXIAN3 photos on the internet.

[Toykyle]

Namco Arcade is no longer available. If you purchased any of the games (I believe most of the people that did purchase only purchased Starblade) prior to February 16, 2016, which made the arcades no longer for sale, you may still play them. The fate of One Free Token per day though, is unknown yet. However, the Expert Replays and the shop itself are no longer functional; Every time you tap these buttons now, it crashes the app itself, taking you right back to the home screen.

The leaderboard is also rendered as null ("Begun on" and "Last Update" literally said that). It's probably best for you not to delete the app if you purchased at least one of these games; the only way to restore these purchases are through the shop, and that's non-functional now.

[Tyrem]

Namco Arcade is no longer available.

oh how much i hate this digital download future.

[DarthNuno]

oh how much i hate this digital download future.

Yes, these digital download stuff are a shame...

[Toykyle]

Hopefully, Bandai Namco changes its mind and brings it back, along with the purchase digital receipts. Also, I hope the termination didn't wipe out the Free-Token per day part...

I swear, transferring the apps to the other iphone; I might risk losing the in-app purchase and be unable to restore them, or even buy them again, since the "shop" is down and the app is gone from the store.

Quick note: Just a concern, wasn't the free token part also tied with the namco arcade servers (Wi-Fi)? Might have to find out; still have the app and Starblade.

UPDATE:
Nope. That termination did take that free token down. I waited a couple days. All you can play now are purchased games.

UPDATE 2:
I hoped that wasn't true, but it is. There is no longer one free token per day. If you had purchased any of the games prior to them being taken off sale, you can still play them. But as for the ones not purchased, all you can do now is watch the attract mode.

It's been fun while it lasted.