Silhouette Mirage review

[Anonymous No.7403493]

>15%
>PlayStation
>Mega Fun (Dec, 1998)

>Silhouette Mirage ist ein Hüpfer, der seinen Weg in unsere Gefilde nie schaffen wird, da bin ich mir ganz sicher. Viel zu japanisch läuft das träge Spielgeschehen über den Bildschirm und die langweiligen Pseudo-Kämpfe wollen auch so recht keiner Spielspaß aufkommen lassen. Dazu gesellen sich eine unterdurchschnittliche Grafik-Engine und das grausame Japano-Gedudel. Fazit: Grausam!

Supposedly German magazine "Mega Fun" reviewed Silhouette Mirage and absolutely trashed it. However I can't find it. I checked through the supposed issue, as well as all the issues from July 1998 to Jan 1999.

https://segaretro.org/Mega_Fun

[Anonymous No.7403509]

>>7403493
This game is good ?

[Anonymous No.7403515]

>>7403509
>Trashure game
>good
Pick one and only one.

[Anonymous No.7403518]

>I checked through the supposed issue, as well as all the issues from July 1998 to Jan 1999
Sounds like you're not much of a magazine reader
Most retro game magazines, I know nothing about this particular one, had sections where they reviewed whatever they happened to find in bargain bins as well as older titles they'd picked up otherwise and figured were worth reviewing.
It could sometimes take years for a game to be mentioned in a magazine only for it to recieve a small mention in some column with a title like "Ben The Bargain Hunter's reasonably priced corner" or "Dem Wacky Japs - foreign-developed titles for cheap"
It could also be that they reviewed it years in advance despite never actually having even seen a copy and basing the review entirely on what the dev told them or on an unfinished prototype. Best one I've ever seen was a 9/10 review of Prey. Back in 1998

[Anonymous No.7403553]

>>7403509
If you speak Japanese yes, it was localized by Working Designs so they fucked with the gameplay and the balance.

[Anonymous No.7403565]

The PS1 version really is borderline unplayable boring slog though.

[Anonymous No.7403629]

>>7403493

>Silhouette Mirage is a hopper that will never make its way into our realms, I'm quite sure of that. Much too Japanese, the sluggish game action runs across the screen and the boring pseudo-fights don't want any fun to arise. In addition, there is a below-average graphics engine and the cruel Japanese tootling. Conclusion: cruel!

[Anonymous No.7403646]

>>7403493
If something only exists in one place on the internet it's likely the only other place it's ever existed is in the imagination of the faggot who posted it

>>7403509
Yes. I never played the burger version so can't comment on that.

[Anonymous No.7403658]

>>7403518

Mega Fun has an index page listing all the games in each issue and I read all those from July to Jan 1999. I read the entire review sections for the Nov-Dec-Jan issues and didn't find it.

Moby-games does list it as Dec 1999, but maybe they got the date wrong? There's a big quote so it looks real enough. Based on the date, it looks liek they were reviewing the Japanese PlayStation version in an import review.

German gamers have a few projects where they scan and catalogue review scores butt they don't list a Mega Fun review, just Video Games. These projects are constantly being updated and they're never complete of course.

https://ninretro.de/
https://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=kult/kultmags&km=show&id=2279

[Anonymous No.7403664]

>>7403646
>>7403518

Mega Fun did do a lot of import reviews so it's plausible and the timeline would line up to after the Japanese PlayStation release. It was posted to Mobygames and those reviews tend to be accurate, but I have found a few instances where they get the issue or date wrong.

[Anonymous No.7404619]

>>7403509
>>7403646
I've played every version of the game from the Saturn to the Japanese and US PS1 versions. I love the game to death but sadly wish it got a definitive edition or something. As is it is it's arguably Treasure's weakest game of the generation but I think it's such a fun and novel little game that executes on it's core idea well enough that it's worth playing but sadly doesn't push that idea as far as it can be pushed. Not helped by the fact the localized version messed up the game balance thanks to Working Designs getting their grubby hands on it, definitely play the Saturn or Japanese PS1 versions and if you like it well enough after that you can try the US version just to see the things it changes.

[Anonymous No.7404638]

>>7403493
I've stopped myself time and time again from playing the western version of this game, i can't bring myself to do it. It sucks that no company wants to handle this

[Anonymous No.7404645]

>>7403493
Silhouette Mirage is honestly one of Treasure's worst games period, and in my opinion it is the worst one from the 90s aside from Light Crusader.
It has great character design, it still has those inspired little autistic details that make Treasure games so good, but the mechanics honestly stink and the game isn't fun to play. They went way overboard with the left/right color coded bullshit and it ruined the game.

[Anonymous No.7404683]

>>7404645
>the mechanics honestly stink and the game isn't fun to play
i'm sure there's a reason for that, are you one of the many people that grew up with the ultra modified bastardization of the game or the original?

[Anonymous No.7404704]

>>7404683
Not him, but I played both and I still agree this is Treasure at its weakest. The controls are kinda sluggish, the action isn't nearly as tight as in their other games and I found some setpieces to be annoying (like that soup boss).
But it is still a charming gaming, just not up to most of their output.

[Anonymous No.7404727]

>>7404704
I can agree even as someone who really likes the game a lot. I do think after you get to grips with how the game works the enjoyment of it really expands especially if you're playing the Japanese versions and can actually play around with your weapon loadout instead of just sticking with Surosa for most of the game. For me the biggest shortcoming of the game is that it's a little too short and the second half is not as fun as the first 4 levels, with the final few bosses not being great.
Soup boss overstays it's welcome on repeat playthroughs but I think it's still very charming and makes good use of the game's mechanics but it doesn't touch the Zohar(Rival), Goliath(Wrestler) or Pablo(Werewolf) fights.

[Anonymous No.7404831]

>>7404683
I saw "Working Designs" and refused to play that on principle.
I played the Japanese Saturn version. The game is weak. It feels like a legitimate Treasure but the worst possible version, the same way Skyward Sword feels like a legitimate Nintendo Zelda.

[Anonymous No.7404843]

>>7404619
>definition edition
Maybe Nintendo buy out Treasure instead.

[Anonymous No.7404876]

>>7404727
>wut anime

[Anonymous No.7404904]

>>7404843
If that happened we could possibly get some Treasure ports on modern gens that aren't just Ikaruga and maybe even more exposure for the companies more obscure titles. It would be a double edged sword though.
>>7404876
Just Silhouette Mirage fan art by Yutaka7.
https://www.deviantart.com/yutaka7

[Anonymous No.7405565]

>>7403493
Who wants to see unused bosses from the Official Guide Book?
Here we have this director-looking guy called "Nebuchadnezzar" who'd fit right in with the TV studio...

[Anonymous No.7405571]

>>7405565
...And here we see that Geluve (designated "02") from the PlayStation release was planned to be in the original Saturn version, along with some other chick!

[Anonymous No.7405574]

>>7405565
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz9EoFfzwZQ

[Anonymous No.7405667]

>>7405565
>>7405571
Really love these concept arts and this Reaper picture some of the promo material had too.

[Anonymous No.7405720]

>>7405667
Reaper is such a better boss than Geluve that I'm surprised he really does seem to be entirely new to the PlayStation version. I understand why Geluve was left out of the Saturn version 'cuz if she's anything like she was in the PlayStation version then she totally sucked.

[Anonymous No.7405743]

https://retrocdn.net/images/3/31/MegaFun_DE_1999-01.pdf

It's on pg. 108. Mobygames was off by 1 month.

[Anonymous No.7405781]

Did you guys know this game got a bunch of fan doujins that have been lost to time.
https://www.doujinshi.org/browse/parody/3699/SILHOUETTE-MIRAGE/

[Anonymous No.7405812]

>>7405781

It's just a matter of someone caring enough to buy and scan them. Or alternatively finding any existing scans.

[Anonymous No.7405829]

>>7405565
The boss above, Hashmallim, is also unused. I kind of feel like it and Nebuchadnezzar were replaced by Gargantuan and Sara, respectively, considering Faust is mentioned.
>>7405571
Pinkie is named "Judas" and seemed to be Megiddo's answer to Keruv (Geluve). May have been an alternate final boss like her, but oddly enough, she's not part of the GA series.
>>7405667
Looks so given Polly Peeper/Specter concepts. Reaper is a chump if you know to rely on reflector, you just need to dodge his scythe.

[Anonymous No.7405842]

>>7405743
>Mobygames was off by 1 month.
Unless you're a first-party Nintendo game, the internet basically guesses on the release date of just about every pre-2000's video game.

[Anonymous No.7405850]

>>7405829
Yeah he's pretty easy with reflector but the fight is still fun and he's cool. Wish you could play with him and a lot of the other bosses like you can with Zohar in the English release similar to Guardian Heroes arena mode.

[Anonymous No.7405958]

>>7405571
Is...is her hat her mouth?

[Anonymous No.7406008]

>>7405829
>>7405850
Every Silhouette fight is cool because of that boss fight music.

[Anonymous No.7406985]

>>7405829
>The boss above, Hashmallim, is also unused. I kind of feel like it and Nebuchadnezzar were replaced by Gargantuan and Sara, respectively, considering Faust is mentioned.
Hashmallim description also mentions Pablo of Area 3 so maybe it's related to..Malak? It's got the chameleon motif going on, almost like it's a test tube version of Malak's.
>Pinkie is named "Judas" and seemed to be Megiddo's answer to Keruv (Geluve). May have been an alternate final boss like her, but oddly enough, she's not part of the GA series.
It seems to imply she'd be somewhere in Area 6, which only has one boss in the final (Gargantuan). Maybe was replaced by Reaper?

[Anonymous No.7408153]

>>7403664
I very much doubt they did "a lot of import reviews". If they did their shit would be archived and searchable multiple places and everyone would be citing it.
>any game site
>accurate
lol. Fake citations are nothing new and with childsourced content you're bound to have bullshit. I'll give any "reputable" source the benefit of the doubt, but still take it with a grain of salt. As soon as something doesn't add up it goes from maybe to bullshit in my book. Doesn't mean the quote is wrong but if you're wrong about your source then you're wrong. That's just the way it works.

[Anonymous No.7408179]

>>7408153
>I very much doubt they did "a lot of import reviews".

Well, I actually read these magazines and they do in fact do just that. There was a big import scene in Brazil and Europe at the time so they would often do reviews of Japanese only titles. And they could review a game months before others got their hands on it if it released in PAL territories. American mags weren't as big on reviewing Japanese titles, although Gamefan and Gamers' Republic did a lot of them.

this particular review was found in the next month's issue here. They got the date wrong. >>7405743

> If they did their shit would be archived and searchable multiple places and everyone would be citing it.

Moby games, and several German projects do just this. UVList has many French magazines. There's no one unified project that covers everything and it's a sporadic mess.

https://ninretro.de/
https://www.kultboy.com/

[Anonymous No.7408210]

>>7408179

There's a lot of scans of Acao Games and Super GamePower which did a lot of Japanese reviews. Here's a review of Pretty Fighter, a bland girl fighting game for the snes.

[Anonymous No.7408220]

>>7408179

There's a lot of scans of Acao Games and Super GamePower which did a lot of Japanese reviews. Here's a review of Pretty Fighter, a bland girl fighting game for the snes.

[Anonymous No.7408276]

>>7404904
>double edged sword
They haven’t developed any games since 2014.

[Anonymous No.7408439]

>>7408276
Yeah but Nintendo has a habit of making a lot of their side projects/series pretty sterile and uninteresting in recent years. I'd hate for the same thing to befall Treasure, though I would appreciate their stuff having a bigger install base at the very least though the gatekeeping asshole deep down inside shutters at the idea of it too.

[Anonymous No.7408912]

>>7406985
>Maybe was replaced by Reaper?
It says she was a hidden boss meant to appear between 6 & 7, which was Reaper's role in the PlayStation version (albeit moved to between 5 & 6), so probably.

[Anonymous No.7409969]

>>7403493
>Dude, let's make a run and gun where your character controls like absolute ass, and the only way to defeat enemies is to trudge on to a specific side of the screen with a shitty auto-aim mechanic

Man not even the most hardcore Trashure faggots can defend this stinker, and the fee that do are the more ultra autistic types that gloss over everything just for the stupid ass obscure characters whose designs violate every rule of appealing character design, I can sense some of these people in this very thread.

[Anonymous No.7409978]

>>7403493
That game is shit, that score is accurate.

[Anonymous No.7409980]

>>7403629
>the cruel Japanese tootling
The fuck is tootling?

[Anonymous No.7409982]

>>7409969
Appealing as what? That spumco shit or those little dolls they call anime

[Anonymous No.7409992]

>>7409980

>The car in front was just tootling along through the beautiful scenery.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/tootling

[Anonymous No.7409995]

>>7409969
It's truly baffling. Who in the fuck thought these character designs were appealing? They look like absolute fucking garbage that a child drew, and not in the endearing child-like way but like actual shit.

[Anonymous No.7409996]

>>7403493
tranny game.

[Anonymous No.7409997]

>>7409992
OK so what does cruel Japanese tootling mean? The characters move slow?

[Anonymous No.7410198]

>>7408179
Sorry, I was being retarded. I read "import" as "important". Good work tracking down the correct issue.

[Anonymous No.7410571]

>>7403493
i never liked that game and i'm a fan of treasure.