Discovered this recently, and thought other shmup fans might be interested. Hence this post. 
It's quite old now and looks unlikely to ever get a home conversion. Which is a shame because the game is absolutely excellent!
NB. I'm against the idea of emulating games that can be played legally on home consoles, so you won't see me advocating such acts, but anything that stays Arcade-only is fair game untill it gets convereted IMO. Not everyone is hardcore enough to collect the original PCBs, so MAME is the only way 99% of people get to play games like this...
Anyway, you'll need a recent version of MAME (0.90 or newer I think) to run it, or anything else that will run CPS2 games.
The game is a collaboration between CAPCOM and CAVE, and to date, it's still Cave's only horizontal-scrolling shmup. The first thing you notice about Progear are the graphics. Simply put, the game is beautiful and one of the best-looking shmups ever.
The colourful hand-drawn sprites and backgrounds are fantastic, and packed with superb detail. When the stage 1 boss approaches, it scares all the birds out of the trees as it rumbles into view, and at the start of stage 2, you can see shoals of tiny fish swimming around in the water. There are loads more excellent touches like this and the art style is also wonderful. The game's setting is the "Invention" era of the early 20th Century, so steam trains, tanks, bi-planes, zepplins etc are the order of the day.
Title Screen
Attract Mode
A choice of two pilots with different styles are available - "Gambler" or "Militant". The Gambler pilot shoots a wide spread of bullets, but has slower manouvering speed than the Militant, who shoots a more straight stream of bullets.
Gambler
Militant
Along with a choice of pilot, there's also a choice of 3 different gunners with varying shooting styles. (See Gameplay section for more info)
Chain
Nail
Rivet
Some screenshots of the take-off sequence and the first stage.
GAMEPLAY
If you're familiar with the vertical-scrolling Cave shmups, you'll know what to expect. Despite being a hori, Progear plays very similar to their other games.
As usual, two shooting methods are available - "Fighter" style is when you continually tap the A button. With this method your firepower is directed infront of you and the gunner does nothing. However, hold the button down and the gunner will help you out with more firepower and automatically lock-on to enemy targets. The disadvantage of using the "Gunner" style is that your plane moves more slowly which makes bullet-weaving harder.
Progear also features an elaborate jewel system for score-building. When enemies are destroyed, any bullets in their immediate vicinity are transformed into diamond rings (if the enemy was shot using "Fighting" style), or gem stones when the "Gunner" style was used to perform the kill.
The key to good scoring is to use the Fighting style to build up the ring level (Amethyst > Ruby > Emerald > Diamond), then use the Gunner style to reap the rewards because the high-level gem stones are worth a lot more points than the rings. Choosing the right moment to switch styles is crucial though since the ring level will reset back to the small amethyst once a "harvest" has been obtained.
The system is explained better here - Scoring Techniques.
If you're a fan of Cave's games, then you've gotta check it out as it's one of their best. An English version is available, but it lacks the voice acting and is said to be easier.
It's quite old now and looks unlikely to ever get a home conversion. Which is a shame because the game is absolutely excellent!
NB. I'm against the idea of emulating games that can be played legally on home consoles, so you won't see me advocating such acts, but anything that stays Arcade-only is fair game untill it gets convereted IMO. Not everyone is hardcore enough to collect the original PCBs, so MAME is the only way 99% of people get to play games like this...
Anyway, you'll need a recent version of MAME (0.90 or newer I think) to run it, or anything else that will run CPS2 games.
The game is a collaboration between CAPCOM and CAVE, and to date, it's still Cave's only horizontal-scrolling shmup. The first thing you notice about Progear are the graphics. Simply put, the game is beautiful and one of the best-looking shmups ever.
The colourful hand-drawn sprites and backgrounds are fantastic, and packed with superb detail. When the stage 1 boss approaches, it scares all the birds out of the trees as it rumbles into view, and at the start of stage 2, you can see shoals of tiny fish swimming around in the water. There are loads more excellent touches like this and the art style is also wonderful. The game's setting is the "Invention" era of the early 20th Century, so steam trains, tanks, bi-planes, zepplins etc are the order of the day.
Title Screen
Attract Mode
A choice of two pilots with different styles are available - "Gambler" or "Militant". The Gambler pilot shoots a wide spread of bullets, but has slower manouvering speed than the Militant, who shoots a more straight stream of bullets.
Gambler
Militant
Along with a choice of pilot, there's also a choice of 3 different gunners with varying shooting styles. (See Gameplay section for more info)
Chain
Nail
Rivet
Some screenshots of the take-off sequence and the first stage.
GAMEPLAY
If you're familiar with the vertical-scrolling Cave shmups, you'll know what to expect. Despite being a hori, Progear plays very similar to their other games.
As usual, two shooting methods are available - "Fighter" style is when you continually tap the A button. With this method your firepower is directed infront of you and the gunner does nothing. However, hold the button down and the gunner will help you out with more firepower and automatically lock-on to enemy targets. The disadvantage of using the "Gunner" style is that your plane moves more slowly which makes bullet-weaving harder.
Progear also features an elaborate jewel system for score-building. When enemies are destroyed, any bullets in their immediate vicinity are transformed into diamond rings (if the enemy was shot using "Fighting" style), or gem stones when the "Gunner" style was used to perform the kill.
The key to good scoring is to use the Fighting style to build up the ring level (Amethyst > Ruby > Emerald > Diamond), then use the Gunner style to reap the rewards because the high-level gem stones are worth a lot more points than the rings. Choosing the right moment to switch styles is crucial though since the ring level will reset back to the small amethyst once a "harvest" has been obtained.
The system is explained better here - Scoring Techniques.
If you're a fan of Cave's games, then you've gotta check it out as it's one of their best. An English version is available, but it lacks the voice acting and is said to be easier.
Comment