#sub rebellion

[bunnygirlskull]

I uploaded two games up to archive and im super proud of it bc they werent available before

Sub Rebellion

Ace Combat 4:Shattered Skies

Both were big games in my childhood and i tracked both down and uploaded them for everyone to enjoy and so theyll always be available through archive.org

[oldgamemags]

Sub Rebellion ‘PlayStation 2′

[adventseven]

Sub Rebellion: An Underwater Adventure that Swam under the Radar

 It’s no surprise to anyone who plays and collects older games that prices have been on the rise across the board. While the cost of buying older games has been steadily climbing for around a decade now, the pandemic forced many people to turn to hobbies they could enjoy while shut inside their homes, dramatically increasing the demand on the supply of old discs and cartridges and causing prices to jump—in some cases, even double. Some of us with a love for old games but a limited budget for obtaining them have had to turn away from the established classics and start digging through the bargain bin, in search of those less-famous games that might hold just as much fun for $15 instead of $150.

And it just so happens that Racjin’s Sub Rebellion (known as U: Underwater Unit in Japan) is such a game. Released to little fanfare in the states for a mere $10 new (if what I’m reading on the internet is correct), it went more or less overlooked by well… everybody. A far cry from the lesser-known studio’s charming chibi graphics from games like Snowboard Kids, Final Fantasy Explorers, or their remake of Saga 2 on the Nintendo DS, Sub Rebellion puts you behind the wheel of a powerful experimental submarine. In the not-so-distant future, the world has suffered a cataclysmic earthquake, sinking the majority of dry land into the ocean.

With human society in shambles, new forces have arisen to battle for control of the seas. Your sub is the last-ditch hope of the Allied Forces, who are desperately losing the war against an evil empire.

While the story holds some interest for me, it’s told almost entirely through text dumps at the beginning and end of each level. So for those who’d prefer to just get right to shooting torpedoes, it’s generally easy to skip without much consequence.

Dive, Fight, and Explore

The core gameplay feels something like a cross between Starfox and Ecco: Defender of the Future. You’ll explore underwater environments all over the globe, fighting enemy subs but also searching for buried treasure left behind by an ancient civilization. Maneuvering your sub feels great and really gives you the sensation of underwater movement. You can steer the sub forward easily, but also quickly rise or dive through use of the shoulder buttons, which is invaluable when trying to escape enemy torpedoes. At some points in the game, you’ll need to surface to defeat foes in the air or on dry land, where your sub will transform and gain alternate forms of attack. While you start out with only a basic set of weapons, finding hidden artifacts will allow you to unlock custom parts for your sub. You can pick between a variety of different guns and torpedoes, but also shields and engines that will change what kind of damage you’re resistant to and how your sub handles. Generally speaking, the newer items will be better, but most of the unlocked gear will have a niche use even later in the game.

When not in battle, you can use the sub’s radar to search for hidden foes or buried treasure. Pressing the button sends out a ping that displays a wireframe of everything in view, allowing you to see through walls and identify foes deep in murky waters. This is one of the more charming aspects of the game to me—even though it’s a small mechanic, it’s not something I’ve seen done before, and I found it very useful and even fun to ping the area around me and see what lies around a turn.

Always a Fresh Catch

While the core gameplay never changes, Sub Rebellion does a great job of never getting stale. Every mission is a little bit different, and you’ll fight in a wide variety of oceanic environments, from deep trenches, to tropical shallows, to ice-covered arctic waters and more. Boss fights are also widely varied. You might find yourself in a dogfight with another agile sub, shooting down a giant warplane straight out of some shoot-‘em-up, or struggling to survive against a giant monster. To me this variety is really what makes the game stand out—no part of the game feels like padding, and no two missions feel the same, meaning I never got bored of what I was doing. The music in the game is also quite varied, and well used. Dreamy tracks that encapsulate what it’s like to explore a long-abandoned underwater ruin and harsh electronic tracks that prepare you for a hopeless-seeming battle all fit the mood of every moment in the game. Oceans of Fun

I’d love to make this review seem less like an ad by coming up with something bad to say about the game, but the truth is that I really have no major complaints. I loved this game from start to finish, and I think I’m really likely to sit down and play through it again in the future. I think for some people, the lack of cutscenes and all the story being delivered through text dumps might rub them the wrong way. Others might balk at the slower-paced combat compared to similar games. But me? I wouldn’t change a thing.

For those of you who have played all the PS2 classics and are looking for something worth your time that won’t cost you a fortune, I can’t recommend Sub Rebellion highly enough. The game masterfully balances it’s combat and explorations and manages to keep showing you something new with each and every level you play. It’s a real shame Racjin never made anything else quite like this; I would pick up a sequel in a heartbeat. For now though, I think I’ll likely have plenty of fun revisiting this great title every few years or so.

- Edward

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[demoban]

Release: PlayPlay 2 Vol. 4 2002 April (PCPX-96625) and PlayStation Index PlayStation 2 Official Soft Catalog 2002 April (PCPX-96626)

Download Link

One more PlayPlay 2 disc for the ages until I go out and track down the remainder. Unlike Volume 0, which I uploaded earlier tonight, this actually has a good amount of playable demos for a pretty diverse range of games. The other main highlight is probably the developer interview for Tekken 4, although I personally appreciate the weird life advice that the title screen dispenses as soon as you turn this on. Check below for a full content listing.

PlayPlay 2 Volume 4 Publication Date: April 2002

Playable Demos: -Wangan Midnight -Sub Rebellion -Maximo -Way of the Samurai -Space Channel 5: Part 2 -Kanshisha: Surveillance -Otostaz

Movies: -Armored Core 3 -Atelier Judie: The Alchemist of Gramnad -Dynasty Tactics -Auto Modellista -Air Ranger 2 -World Rally Championship -Le Mans 24 Hours -Sakatsuku 2002 -Boku no Natsuyasumi 2

Memory Card Data: -(Various games)

Close Up: -Tekken 4 Developer Interview -Yuichi Yonemori Profile

Special: -Popolocrois: Hajimari no Bouken

CM Collection: -Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny -Virtual Fighter 4 -Gran Turismo Concept

Information: -Contact information for various PlayStation Club related matters.

Also included in this is the April 2002 edition of the PlayStation Index, which is essentially a software catalog of PlayStation games released up until that point. Its inclusion is the reason why the archive is much bigger than normal by PS2 standards. Though I bundled them together into one archive for the sake of personal convenience, if there’s demand for it, I’ll try to split it out into two separate archives, one for each disc, instead.

Enjoy!

-Pepsi

[weirdunclegamer]

First playthrough of Sub Rebellion... Complete!

I feel like it’s been a while since I wrote about something pretty obscure... though that’s mostly just because I’ve been blocked for writing on a lack of motivation for a while but NEVERMIND THAT.  I found this game at a Goodwill without knowing anything about it or even having heard about it!  That’s the kind of gamer I am, what we once dubbed in my stream as being a “bargain bin hipster”.  I kind of want to copyright that...

Sub Rebellion is an action submarine game for the PS2 made in 2002 by a company called Metro3D.  They do not exist anymore, having filed for bankruptcy in 2004, and selling off the European branch in 2006.  They made a healthy but not large amount of games, and Sub Rebellion has no page on Wikipedia so this is all I’ve got other then the publisher Irem.  I love Irem.  I hate that I’ve seen more then one reviewer video on YT making fun of not knowing who they are... THEY MADE R-TYPE PEOPLE, C’MON!  Ahem... anyway, Irem publishing the game has me speculating something though... something I’ll expand upon in the next paragraph!

When I was a kid there was a deli close-ish to where I lived (now no longer a deli) and in that deli was an arcade cabinet.  Like many gamers my age I have a fondness for the old glory days of the arcades, and proper upright cabinets.  I’m also a fan of shmups, so their prolific presence in the arcade scene worked out quite well for me.  Including the cabinet in the mentioned deli.  It was an interesting submarine themed shmup called In The Hunt, and it was made by... yes you probably guessed by now... Irem! When I found Sub Rebellion in the thrift store I was my usual vaguely interested self until I really caught a look at the submarine on the case cover, which seemed oddly familiar...  When I noticed the Irem logo, that old arcade game came to my memory and it all clicked.  The sub on the cover, at least to me, bore quite a design resemblance to the one in In The Hunt.  And playing through the game, there does feel to be a similar thematic change scenery in this PS2 game as in that arcade title... though perhaps I’m projecting a tad.  At the very least it turned out to be an interesting coincidence of fate, and had me wandering Wikipedia articles about long gone game developers and publishers... so that was fun.

Where ITH was a horizontal shmup, SR is a 3D submarine... shooter I suppose.  It’s definitely not trying to be a “sim”, and would therefore be more commonly thought of as being an “arcade” take on the concept.  Which is fitting really.  You’re explained to be more or less a mercenary, hired by a resistance group looking to take back what remains of a flooded earth from an evil corporate military nation... type... thing.  It’s a pretty simple set up for a mechanized water world scenario, and starts getting wonderfully video game silly when an ancient civilizations long dormant giant stone guardians start waking up to defend the pillaging of their ancient artifacts.  Also that civilization came from space originally and the last boss is an underwater laser firing pyramid... so yah, it gets pretty great.

The gameplay is alright, you definitely have to wrestle with it a bit to get used to it, and if you’re the type to have issues with the addition of being able to ascend and descend along with your forward/backward and turning movement, it could be a bit too frustrating, but stick it out and you’ll click eventually.  Aside from moving the sub around, you have a forward vulcan weapon, holding the button to charge will allow you to lock on (think Star Fox) and fire your torpedoes.  As well you can bring a single special weapon with limited uses.  There’s also surfacing in about half the stages, and when surfaced you having a different vulcan and missiles on charge.  All of these weapons have many types you’ll unlock over the course of the game and can buy from an intermission shop.  While I didn’t find it terribly common, there were times when I would switch my main torpedo between a couple different end game ones to fit the situation, and I do like having multiple choices for combat rather then just one best choice all the time.  Also lots of different paint jobs to buy for the sub, I stuck with ancient civilization gold after unlocking it though.

The stages are pretty straight forward affairs, and due to the nature of a submarine setting, the game can feel a bit repetitive and slow if you’re used to a more fast paced flashy experience.  I’ll admit even I did drag my feet playing through this one at times... not helped by a tightly timed stage with multiple heavy opponents, and an always bitterness inducing escort mission stage... But on the whole it isn’t that bad, the maps are all different each stage, new enemies will keep getting added, and the bosses are big and unique from the cannon fodder.  No deep sea three headed dragon like in ITH this time though... a bit of a shame.  But underwater alien laser pyramid, so I totally forgive them on that front.

Like many of these lesser known titles I talk about, if you’re like me then you were probably sold as soon as I mentioned the pyramid.  Heck maybe you were even sold after I talked about In The Hunt.  I can see this one meshing with a wider audience then some other things I’ve written about though, it’s got the benefit of being a bit silly, and not trying to be a sub sim, instead going for an action game approach.  I can recommend this one to more people then usual.  But hey if you want something even more arcadian you can always get a legitimate copy of ITH really easy these days by getting the digital Irem Arcade Collection.  I got mine off Amazon of all places.  It also has the oft forgotten R-Type Leo!  ..I really miss Irem...  Anyway, happy gaming!

[lunaticobscurity]

even as civilisation crumbles around us, there are still obscure videogames, and the world’s greatest obscure videogames blog marches on, with a post about a sadly overlooked 3D action game from the late, lamented irem. go and read about it!

and like always, it would be greatly appreciated if you could show your support by reblogging this post and/or subscribing on patreon. also, i’m at 999 tumblr followers, so it’d be nice if i could get that elusive fourth digit too! :D