The programmer of this game, Shinobu Yagawa, went on to develop for Raizing and Cave. His most famous work of course being one of the most recognized masterpieces of the genre, Battle Garegga. He was never afraid to push limits and design the game he wanted to design. This attitude is what inspired Tsuneki Ikeda to go all out with his bullet hell ideas in DoDonPachi despite being talked into reining things in with his previously developed titles at Toaplan and the original DonPachi. Recca was the catalyst for a new era for shmups.

Summer carnival 92 is one of the best shoot'em ups ever. ;-)

@Sinistar1983

3 жыл бұрын

Its the first shmup I've ever owned. And despite me not being a expert in the genre, this hooked me up and is so addictive to play.

Came due to the AVGN shoutout, stayed for the excellent SHMUP history video :D I'm glad i found your channel, great and well researched video!

@DJminor92

5 жыл бұрын

Literally exactly what i was about to say. Gunna be subscribing too.

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you! It was fun to research

@DJminor92

5 жыл бұрын

@@Cannotbetamed1 Looks like you had a good time playing it too! Impressive gameplay.

@SeppelSquirrel

5 жыл бұрын

Same! Came from AVGN, saw Recca, was immediately excited. 😁

@BawonSamndi

5 жыл бұрын

Same

I have a famicom reproduction along with a Crisis Force one. Insanely fun games

That was a wonderful little documentary! Thanks for uploading.

@Cannotbetamed1

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it.

10:22 I love how insane Recca's visuals can get, and the purple and red to boot (most unsettling colour combination ever). Like "this is so crazy the system's barely handling it!" I'd like to think it was intentionally supposed to freak you out. So much effect done with so little tech. Goes with the increasingly daunting bgm to boot. Also the first half of the vid reminded me of Master Higgins (Takahashi Meijin), the 16 shots per second man and Hudsonsoft executive. His name even comes up at 2:55

We have the 3DS port of Recca and the PC Engine ports of Nexzr and Spriggan. We've always wanted to learn more about the Summer Carnival because of these, so of course we were ecstatic when we found this video. Thank you for making this!

@Cannotbetamed1

4 жыл бұрын

You're welcome

One of my favorite Shooters of all-time. Crank the whole ost in your car, flip off the old lady driving her honda next to you.

wow, I'm so used to NES Gradius speed, this game runs smooth. Great video.

@Cannotbetamed1

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you

Pam: "Alzadick is a little underwhelming"... Alza: Hey!

Finally, someone else talking about the Summer Caravans! Thank you for this informative video!

This game is B O N K E R S and I love it. I've only played it emulated but it's incredibly challenging and I don't think there's a more fast-paced game from the 8-bit era. I managed to savescum my way through the hard mode once and the final stage is ridiculous beyond belief. The music is great too, and I produced an arrangement of the boss theme way back in my VGMix days. I particularly love that this game has a few levels that scroll both forwards and backwards and force you to completely change tactics when the scrolling changes.

This is the most aggressive game I have ever played. That's not even an exaggeration - I literally cannot imagine a game being much more frantic than this, especially not compared to Hard Mode.

@ianswift3521

Жыл бұрын

uh. Lol. Honey. Kaboom! for atari 2600 after about ten minutes. Good luck.

The hardcore techno soundtrack makes it worth playing!

Very cool to hear the history of that competition! Huh, I hadn't heard about the Canadian one either .. Also +1 for pew pew shirt and +1 for saying "shoot-em-up" vs. "shmup" . . I bet Blade Buster was designed around Recca... same type of game

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

There's not much info out there about the Canadian competition, just some ads in old gaming magazines.

I played this for hours on a multicart and had no idea what it was. Now I have all the backstory, awesome!

Never grew up with shumps and my first entry to the genre is Touhou (yes I'm a weeb) but seeing RECCA makes me not only want try out the game, but also branch outside of Touhou.

I've run into stuff about this game a few times, it good to learn more about it

This was fascinating! Really enjoyed the history bits leading into the review.

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Great video! My most recently played shoot'em up was Jamestown, great indie shooter with pixelly graphics. It's beautiful!

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you! I liked Jamestown too, I reviewed the PS4 version a while back.

@JuliaMinamata

5 жыл бұрын

Ahh! Nice! I will look for it :).

This is really cool. I picked up Recca from the eshop because it looked like a fun shooter that I'd never heard of. I was impressed by it and for an NES game it's amazing what they did without slowdown or flickering etc... But I had no idea there was this much history behind it, thanks for covering this!

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

No problem!

Recca is a funtastic fast paced shooter, that puts shame to most of shooters on SNES, the 8bit power at the limit. Nice video review

Great video, Pam! And good timing for me, I’ve been on a huge arcade shooter kick lately, despite being awful at them. Always wanted to play this one.

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Found you from the AVGN cameos, and this is a pretty good video. I'll be checking out your Vampire Bloodlines vid too b/c I love that game!

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Welcome!

I have this game in Nes Cart, but is a pirate 3 in 1 game and... yes, is one of the most incredible games in the Famicom, push the console to the limits with no slowdown, awesome effects and music, a w e s o m e.

@only257

3 жыл бұрын

Osman Garcia play jetman or zyuranger on Famicom they are fun games😉

@osmangarcia2693

3 жыл бұрын

@@only257 yes, nice games too

Oh. NES is full of interesting stuff like this. It looks unbelievably smooth. And thanks for the history. Sometimes games originate under very different circumstances. And finally, you are pretty good with the game! You should cover more shmups.

I really enjoyed the history of the game competitions. I was living under a rock apparently during the original World Championships. Didn't hear about any of this stuff until later, and this is my first time learning about the Japanese events (which honestly sound way cooler).

Death Grips might use this as a sample

Always amazed at what this game pulls off on this hardware. It makes crushing your soul (and fingers) fun.

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

I'm at the point where just holding an NES controller is uncomfortable, but having to hold down both buttons during this game made my hands extra sore.

@Peter_1986

2 ай бұрын

@@Cannotbetamed1 I usually fire only the secondary weapons, since they can be used without detonating the shield bomb - my strategy is typically to constantly fire the red S power-up (except on enemies who shoot suicide bullets), and then detonate the shield bomb if things get really hectic. There are also a few situations when blue F or blue B are useful; blue F is great for crowd control and for tough stationary enemies that appear on the sides, and blue B is ideal for bosses.

Pew pew pew! Your shirt is killing me. xD It's very fitting, regarding the topic. Great video. I didn't know the game before and i like its soundtrack quite a lot. Nothing will ever top my personal favorite Tyrian 2000 tho. :P

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

I picked the shirt specially for the topic. Thanks!

I loved this, Pam. What a well done and comprehensive overview. I knew nothing of this game and I have to say it looks amazing. The speed, fluidity and bosses all were super impressive. The music sounded awesome too. I’m so impressed that this game was a famicom game; It almost looked like it was a 16 bit game. Awesome job with this!

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Duke! I agree, it definitely looks more like a 16 bit game.

This looks really impressive for being a shooter on the nes. It's really fast and vivid. My go to system for shooters is the Genesis but I might have to check this out👍

@Peter_1986

2 ай бұрын

Another great and smooth shooter on the NES is "Gun Nac". There are also a few excellent shooters on the SNES, especially "Space Megaforce" (which is basically the SNES equivalent of "Gun Nac"), "U.N. Squadron", "R-Type 3: The Third Lightning", and "Axelay". "Space Megaforce" is my personal favourite, and it has barely any slowdowns at all, so it is definitely comparable to the best Genesis shooters.

Holy shit another chick talking about the history of one of my favorite games!!! Keep up the great work!!!!

@Cannotbetamed1

3 жыл бұрын

I’ll try

i dont know why i remeber so much this game.,

Great video! Thank you!

wow amazing video. thanks for it

Great very well done Pam

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you :)

Always loved those DPCM samples ;))

the best soundtracks for nes, i recorded it on tape and heard it till middle 00´s

RECCA! Such an awesome game. Killer video on this absolutely killer game. Not many people talk about it, so it's super nice to see someone give some appreciation and context to it. Thumbs up.

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks, I really wanted to learn more about the context once I started playing and thought others would be interested as well.

oh man i love you for saying "MAYRIO" LOL.

This was an awesome video, I'm sorry I'm two days past.

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

No worries, thanks

Great video Pam, I love Recca and you did a great job explaining all its different aspects. I'm not aware of any live, on-site shmup competitions like in the old days, but the Classic Tetris World Championship is a ton of fun every October at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo.

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks! I hope to go to PRGE one year soon.

Recca is awesome, great vid!

Great job, really well put together video. Until I saw this I had never even heard of this game. I'm pretty impressed at what they were able to do with this game back then on the NES, as well as the fact that many of the game mechanics you still see in games to this day.

@Cannotbetamed1

4 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

this video is invaluable to history

Awesome overview Pam! This game is a very intense but fun game. I enjoy playing this from time to time on the NES.

I dig Recca but never knew about the history of the contest. Learn something new every day.

Great video Pam!! Always love your material!! I didn't know you had a video out until I saw it on Twitter. My alert was delivered activated for some Reason.

One very good strategy in this game is to get the red S power-up, and then use that weapon as your main firepower by holding down the A-button - the bomb shield only activates when you press the B-button, so you can use the red S power-up while being protected by the bomb shield at the same time, until you really need to detonate it.

Never seen this game in action. Looks as awesome as it was hyped up to be! The history bit at the start was cool to learn about. They should bring these championships back to the gaming conventions if they haven't already.

My favorite shoot'em ups Games.

I barely knew ANY of the background info you provided prior to the review other than some tidbits about the Nintendo World Championship. Quite informative.

My first time experiencing 'zen' state in a game

Fantastic video! I learned SO much about the Summer Carnival series! I had no idea it ran for so long! And that Canadian Nintendo tour?! Had no clue that was a thing. Jeeeezus, stage 2 made my eyes melt. I've always known Recca was immensely impressive but seeing your footage...it was downright implausible. How did they even make this game?! More of this type of video, please!

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Glad you liked it. For stage 2 I kinda just had to hope for the best, there was no way I could keep up with what was going on.

I NEED this game! I need Spriggan too! Loved the caravan history. Obviously this subject is right in my wheelhouse. Star Force is so brutal. That game was obviously made with caravan competitions in mind. I love the combination of red and magenta. They go great together. I've never looked into repros of this game, but I sure will now. Looks like it has a ton of replay value. Great job on this video, Pam!

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Wes! I feel like I need Spriggan now too. I think a repro was a good option for this game.

Huh... I never knew KID had this kind of history with competitive gaming. (Mostly knew them for GI Joe and Pepsi Man) Also, thanks for putting RECCA on my radar. It looks pretty high quality for an 8-bit title. Great video!

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Legitimately fascinating stuff! Awesome video. 'Bullet Hell' sounds about right.

Love this game, love the Summer Carnival titles, love Naxat! Awesome to see you spread the word on this!

It's great seeing this NES stuff, it wasn't a big a deal over here at the time (Sega was king) wasn't until the SNES that Nintendo pushed harder. I like the background history behind this, very well done Pam!

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.

Hi Pam ! You 're awesome ! Love your channel !

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

This is really very well researched and presented

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

hard mode is literally the hell in a 8 bit space universe.

You made me look up the definition of the word "provenance", I was totally stumped. I'd never heard of this game before, nor did I know anything about the competitions - other than the Nintendo World Championship. Thanks for the tour through time!

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Provenance is in my vocabulary because of my anthropology/archaeology major in school.

@DaddyGamerDiaries

5 жыл бұрын

@@Cannotbetamed1 that makes a lot of sense.

Nice video

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Very informative, Pam! I recall the Nintendo World Championships back in the day. The Japanese were always a few steps ahead when it came to gaming competitions.

I was so happy when I saw you on AVGN along with Game Sack and even some cool KZreadrs id never seen! Love this channel as much as I love 90s shoot em ups. Ever played Steel Empire or any others by HOT•B, by the way?

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

No, don't think I've played anything by Hot B.

@lucarioanubis-ranlucario5472

5 жыл бұрын

Their Steel Empire got a really great remaster on 3DS and Steam actually, I think they’re gonna port it to Switch soon too

I never heard of this. Very informative , and entertaining. Thanks for this video. The retro footage had me wishing I owned a few of those 14" CRT monitors. I'm a retro gamer alright:)

Congrats on 16K subscribers. Any channel celebrations planned?

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks! No celebrations planned.

Really glad you covered this game Pam as I've wanted to attempt a No Death Run of it for quite some time. Although I'd like to do it in the unlockable ultra hard mode. I heard there are modified ROMS that unlock it from the start. Have you heard of that? Anyway, great job on this vid. I learned a lot I didn't know, both about the Summer Carnival and Recca itself. I've got a Repro of the game as well so I guess I better get practicing! Great job as always.

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you! A no death run sounds brutal! But you are the shmup master. I haven’t heard anything about the different ROMs, sadly.

Wow fantastic , I am a huge fan of retro games and your videos are awesome

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

I once saw Recca on a list of shmup recommendations for beginners. I think that person might have been having a laugh 😛

There is something about your voice I really like. It's a bliss to listen to you.

I knew Carnival 92' (or whatever it's called) was used in a contest, but I thought it was a contest between private game developers to make the best game. Nice research.

KID made some interesting titles for the NES. Recca, Kickmaster, Burai Fighter and G.I. Joe are games that deserved some recognition from the gaming community, but due to their obscurity, they passed out of the radar.

Terrific review! I'm thinking we should have a summer carnival online this year -- just a high score contest for one of these games.

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Great video Pam!

I want you to know that this is my first comment in like 10 months. I enjoyed your video =)

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Well thank you for making the first comment here :)

Famicom games are always excellent fun ! nice video !! (:

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

3:00 SOLDIER BLADE SOUNDTRACK .

Holy crap Pam your hair is gettin long :D I applaud you for being able to deal with bullet hell, I loved Igaruga (sp?) but it blew my mind!

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

It is, I need a haircut > Ikaruga is so difficult, I’ve never finished that one.

I can’t believe I waited until now to watch this entire video. It was SO good! Super informative and flowed nicely. I think this may be my favorite video I’ve seen of yours! 😄

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thank so much!

Hey Pam! Great game review with some historical context! Not sure if today in Japan you go the arcade saloons and see these kind of competition anymore! 🕹🕹🕹

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

I think I got carpel tunnel syndrome just from watching those kids tap those buttons so fast. This was fantastic. Aside from the Nintendo World Championships, never heard of any of this. Very informative.

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah, it was nuts how fast they were playing that game.

Really cool video Pam. I love Shooters. I have a Shooter Sunday Live Stream on my channel last week I played some Xbox 360 Shooters.

Came here because I have RECCA downloaded to my New Nintendo 3DS XL,

This game looks fun, but damn I'm pretty sure this is one way ticket to seizure town!

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Yep, some of the levels are visually... excessive.

🤘

What's gone it's gone... I'm waiting for sequel of recca.. Alteast hoping to get in android in future..

this game is amazing i would like to git gud at it

Excellent, well researched video! Can't say the subject was my favorite but it was so well done i'm excited to see what else you do like this.

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Those red pods in RECCA were subweapons? I thought those were like shields

Hey Pam. Even though Shoot'em'Ups are possibly my least favorite genre, I absolutely appreciate the constantly increasing quality of your videos. Not only the content (script, writing, research done etc.) becomes (in my opinion) better, your new room and with it the better lighting is also an obvious improvement. Seems like Will and you chose your new home wisely. ;) Anyway, thumbs up and keep up the great work!

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much

😌

Soft reset after finishing game to enter hard mode, not hard reset. It's funny to see so many comments declaring they don't care for this "genre" the Space Shooter *is* video games. It's like saying you like rock and roll but you hate the blues. Yeah, they did try a lot of different things since it started, didn't they It's not being stuck in the past to recognize your own father. I'm proud that Space Invaders was my first favorite game. I play heavily modded Skyrim and Fallout New Vegas too. In the late eighties I was mostly into RPGs and Questing Adventure games like Zelda, but I always knew Video Games started with Sports, Racing, and Shooters. I never forgot where I came from. The darkness of the neon glow The black light lit amusement hall. The Video Arcade. Outer Space. Those are the *real* video games.

Does your Recca repro work on an actual NES console or is it just a novelty item?

@Cannotbetamed1

Жыл бұрын

I think it works in an actual NES.

How much did the repro cart cost?

@Cannotbetamed1

3 жыл бұрын

I don't remember... $40 maybe.

Awesome video. Really in depth and well researched. Interesting thought that Recca could be the first bullet hell. I’ve beaten Nexyr but haven’t gotten to Recca yet. Seems like a hard game

@Cannotbetamed1

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks! I think the Zanki attack mode especially makes a good argument for it being the first bullet hell.

Я прошел её на hardmode мой джойстик был в поту просто весь как качек после шести часовой тренировки в зале.

Top vid, that game looks ridiculously hard🙈