Game:

The Guardian Legend (1988)

Duration: 1:12:01

4,753 views

181

SHMUP Master Presents: An Introduction to The Guardian Legend, followed by my 1CC run of the game in SHMUP mode with commentary.

This is the first of several videos I will be releasing on this game in 2018. I have been wanting to cover The Guardian Legend since the inception of this channel. It took me a while to finally commit to it because, well, it's a massively influential game for me and for gaming in general. So I wanted to make sure I gave it the absolute best treatment possible.

The first several minutes of the video are a tribute of sorts. This sequence was originally created for a collaboration last year on my friend Brasel the Gamer's channel. I decided to re-write the script, re-tweak the video, have Jared Waldo come back and narrate it, and re-render in 4k. So it looks and sounds a lot better than it did previously. I also figured it would make a good trial run for my upcoming, much bigger video on The Guardian Legend. And for people who aren't familiar with the game, a good primer of what to expect.

At the 2:20 mark, the 1cc run officially begins. I do my usual commentary, but I wanted to present this run in a special way, while still maintaining the emphasis on the game footage and not detracting too much from it. I experimented with a lot of ideas in my previous "Legendary Wings" video, to mixed results and reception. So this time I wanted to still give a top notch presentation, but with the footage front and center at all times.

As for the actual presentation, I animated every boss in the game, in 4k (and it took forever, many sprites I had to rip myself). And presented them to the side of the screen as they pop up in the game. So you get a nice clear view of the bosses while I am fighting them. The Guardian Legend has a TON of sprite flicker when you are fighting the bosses, so I figured that presenting them on the side, in crystal clear 4k would let people see them like they've never been seen before.

One last note, The Guardian Legend is unique in that it is a hybrid game that can be played two different ways. You can play through the entire game proper, which is a combination of an over world map which you traverse and explore, with RPG elements and SHMUP "dungeons", or you can play the game in pure SHMUP mode. In order to unlock SHMUP mode you must first complete the game proper where you will receive the password TGL. Input this password at the beginning of the game and you can play all 23 SHMUP levels in sequential order and the game becomes a pure shooter. Pretty neat stuff!

I hope everyone enjoys the video and as always, feedback and suggestions for future videos are always welcomed!

*All SHMUP Master footage was captured on an original NES Model 2 console (modded for RGB Output) through a Framemeister using RGB at 60fps.

*An Extreme Cap U3 lossless capture card was used to capture this run in 1080p. It was then upscaled to 4k for the clearest possible picture quality on original hardware.

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