Do DonPachi review for the Sega Saturn
A hectic game for sure. (©Atlus/Cave 1997)
Released in the beginning of '97 in the arcades and at the end of that same year it was released for the Saturn.
The words Big, Fast, Hyper and Powerfull come to mind.
There's a vertical arcade mode present.
Check the How to.. section of this site for instructions on how to succesfully rotate your monitor.
FACT FILE
Vertical arcade mode
Yes
Unlimited continues
No
Levels
6
Aircraft
3
BGM Audio test mode
No
CD player audio
Yes
There are three aircraft to choose from.
The aircraft weapons: shot, laser & bomb.
Each are activated by a dedicated button.
-Shot is just a regular type of autofire like the ones found in most games and your moving speed isn't effected by firing it.
-Laser is a constant beam that when used drasticly alters the speed of your aircraft, but is a very effective weapon for killing big enemies like bosses and sub-bosses. Laser doesn't need charging and never depletes. The only down side is your ship moves slower and the rang is very concentrated and only fires forward.
After you select your aircraft you're given an extra option.
This option lets you select the balance in firepower of shot and laser.
Choose to either focus your firepower on shot or focus your firepower on laser.
If you choose shot than your shot is more powered up than the shot you'll get when you choose laser. If you choose laser than your laser is more powered up than the laser you'll get when you choose shot. Get it?
This game features beatiful big sprites.
There are really nice backgrounds.
Just check out the screenshots.
Something you might read in other reviews is that some explosion have a pixelly effect to them. I guess the explosions bitmaps are small and scaled out in the Saturn game to speed up the game and to use less internal memory.(I'm glad they handled it this way/no slowdown)
I think most people don't even notice this.
The explosions are big and beautifully animated nevertheless.
It really is amazing how there's NO SLOWDOWN in one player mode. Maybe in two player mode. But which shooter doesn't have a little slowdown in two-player mode.
There are two modes of play both of which can be played on a vertical monitor (display mode: tate).
The two modes are Arcade and Saturn:
-Arcade mode is self-explanitory and has only the six levels the orignal arcade has. In this mode you'll get 9 credits to finish the game
-Saturn mode has one extra bonus level at the beginning so it has seven levels (not sure though). In this mode there are unlimited continues (press R).
The fighters speeds
speed = ***(3)
speed = **(2)
speed = *(1)
During play when you press A (fires your laser) your ship moves much slower than when you press C (fires your shot).
The type of aircraft (shot or laser) you choose influences this speed drop.
When you choose the laser type your ship will move less slow when you fire laser than when you choose the shot type.
The game is not that hard because of the 9 credits you get.
The music is okay and fits the game nicely.
There's no BGM option to listen to the tunes but the game music can be played on a cd-player.
Le verdict:
Playability 10
Graphics 10
Music 8
Lastability 10
Arcade-ness 10
Overall 10
Get this game and get Battle Garegga too, since these two games are the best and they are so so so much better than Radiant Silvergun.
Check 
for more screenshots, tips, info, high scores, strategy, etc..
Some 14 blown up screenshots:
