1955: Time Gal PS1 \\ Options & full playthrough!
4Trying out the options and then playing through Time Gal, the first game disc in the Japanese PS1 two-disc compilation release "Time Gal & Ninja Hayate," in the emulator DuckStation in Windows!
My other PS1 games playlist: • smbhax's other PS1 adventures!
0:00 - start
0:50 - Dip Mode (options)
11:34 - playthrough
38:33 - ending
39:26 - credits
40:00 - wrap!
Had to resort to save-stating nearly from the start 'cause the input windows are so narrow, even on the easiest "Level" "1"--higher levels do stuff like remove the hint arrows, and may narrow the input timing window even more...although it's so tiny to start with that it's hard to tell if it's getting even smaller.
There seem to be pretty frequent checkpoint even within each single, relatively brief time period scene. I was still quite capable of missing every single super-fast input prompt though! It seems like you're meant to play it more as a memorization game than a reaction game. Maybe this was because they feared the actual animation running time was quite short. I'm quite capable even of missing the brief input window on a memorized input that I'm MASHing here! ; D
The animation that is there IS nice, even in this low-res and somewhat compressed and grainy reproduction--the stylishly nonsensical anime action still comes through. Time Gal laughs, giggles, and chatters to herself nearly non-stop while evading (or not) cascades of ridiculous deadly threats (there's a "subtitles" option but it just seems to print the names of the...monsters, or something?).
In retrospect, I actually got to watch more of the animation here while playing then in the Dragon's Lair and Space Ace games; this seems unintuitive because the input timing was far tighter here--but actually, BECAUSE it was so nearly impossible to succeed on initial reaction, and you fall back on memory after (multiple) failures, you're not so much needing to hyper-focus on the input hints, so you can watch more of the full screen; also, since I died at least once on probably over 90% of the input prompts, I probably saw each little animation segment more frequently than in those other games--or at least, more immediately repeated, thanks to being able to use DuckStation's quick save state saving and loading, which I have bound to L3 and R3 on my DualSense pad.
Still, I'm pretty sure I far prefer the Dragon's Lair / Space Ace style of being able to play largely on reaction rather than memorization! I can see myself playing through those games again--Time Gal doesn't feel nearly as tempting to replay, I suppose because I incline toward (re)action games.
Even the flashing animation objects that--not counting the optional hint arrows and button--tell you what input to press aren't always quite accurate, time-wise; some, like the one at 33.10, flash to indicate an input well BEFORE the input is accepted--so if you enter it then, nothing happens, and you somehow have to know when AFTER that it will work--so, some trial and error too.
More trial and error: some scenes end with a three-option multiple-choice text prompt (thank goodness for the English text option!) on what action to take next, rather than a timed input; two out of three lead to a quick death--and which one doesn't isn't always obviously logical, so maybe this was a way to get a few deaths out of new players who were freakishly good at the timed inputs. : P
There are continues you can enable but you have to remember to use SELECT to give yourself up to 9 credits BEFORE pressing START--the second time--to start the actual LaserDisc-style gameplay. Pressing SELECT after that doesn't make the credit-entering sound, so as far as I can tell, nine credits is all you get.
These games were LaserDisc-based arcade games, originally; anime production house Toei Animation produced the animation sequences.
Oh huh last time I played this game for the channel--years ago--I got copyright claims on music in a few early (all I made it through ; D) scenes; didn't get any this time! So wait copyright claims on game music can actually get BETTER with time??? = D (Or was it just because I was talking this time and obscuring the music? ^ _^)
6/28/23
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