Graham

Will try my best to get it scanned tonight, but as I mentioned, I have a business dinner so will probably get home sometime between 11pm and midnight and may be more than a little drunk Graham

Be sure to let us all know how the subs are Keith. I gave up on the series around episode 24 and gave all my individual discs away. However, I've been hearing that the ending is pretty good, so if the subs on the box set are an improvement I may just buy it. Graham

No it's not! Graham

Thought it was 10 turrets per ship. I like that stage. Graham

Nah, probably takes about 30 minutes from start-up to shut-down. My home PC is old, worn and tired. But still, that's 30 minutes I could be playing the PS2 game, hah! Plus it takes time to wake up the hamster that runs the treadmill which powers my PC. He's old and fat and doesn't run very fast these days. You think I'm joking, don't you? Graham

Hmm.....despite them being shown in that downloadable movie, it seems like the chances of the YF-19, YF-21, SV-51 & VF-0 actually being in the game now are pretty slim. Perhaps they were pulled at the last minute. I'm guessing that if the Macross game sells well, then hopefully Bandai/Sega-AM2 will release a second game, perhaps being based on Macross Plus and/or macross Zero. Graham

Heh, heh, ended up playing the Macross PS2 game until midnight last night, was too tired to scan pic, went to bed and watched some of the Animego Macross DVDs, fell asleep. Will try to scan it tonight (Tuesday), but I have a business dinner so might get home late and drunk. Tomorrow night (Wednesday) is my birthday and my wife is taking me out for dinner, so won't be able to scan it then. Thursday night, I have my Arnis class and usually don't get home until mdnight, so will be too tired then. Worst case, I will scan the pic Friday night. Graham

Started playing through the TV missions for the second time last night. Must be getting a bit better, cus at least now I'm getting a 'B' grade all the time instead of the 'D' grade I got the first time I played through. Also, have to say initially I was very disappointed with the performance of the GBP-1S Armored Valk. However, last night I tried it in free mode on the Mars Sara Base mission and it rocks. I absolutely wiped out Kamjin, the other two Glaugs and all the Regults in a very short time and got an 'S' grade (my first one), which gave me the card for Hikaru's VF-1J! Graham

Guys, the new December 2003 issue of Dengeki Hobby magazine has some good pics of the upcoming 1/48 VF-1J Hikaru Super Valk, including a pic with the canopy open. It looks like the cockpit interior has received at least a partial resculpt. The seat headrest seems to have been resculpted and Hikaru now has a joystick between his legs (no lewd coments please)! However, the rest of the cockpit interior seems to be identical to the DYRL Valks. I'm a bit disappointed that they did not add the TV version HUD The TV Hikaru pilot looks like nicely sculpted. His right hand is on the central joystick and his left fist hand positioned horizontally as if holding the throttle on the left side of the cockpit. I can't tell from the photos if he is made of ABS plastic or the rubber-like material like the Low Vis pilot. I'll try to scan the pics tonight , but don't count on it, as tearing myself away from the new Macross PS2 game will be very difficult Graham

Nied, very well written. That's pretty much how I see it as well. Graham

Looks like the first of the two PS2 Macross game guide books is already out. See here. I'm going to see if I can pick it up tonight on the way home from work. The second book is scheduled for a November release. Graham

when in gerwalk mode hold down the the brake (its triangle) and you will fly backwards slow at first then it will pick up speed btw its amasing what you can learn fron the tutorial and i dont speak or understand japanese Heh, heh. I went through the tutorial twice and it is pretty good, but guess I just didn't pick up on the brake function. Graham

A real classic, one of the best OVAs ever made. Graham

I like to launch my RMS-1 in fighter mode, then fly away from the target and use the d-pad to change to action view so I can see my fighter flying away from the exploding Zentradi ship. BTW, how do you fly backwards in Gerwalk mode? Graham

The VB-6 was used by the VFX Ravens special forces squadron in 2050. I'm not sure what date it first entered service. Graham

I would have wanted to be a Monster pilot or gunner, I don't remember any of them get destroyed Isn't the VB-6 in service in 2040????? That would be an effective ground unit I've just been rewatching my AnimEigo box set and although I don't remember which episode it is in, I'm sure there is an episode somewhere in the first half of the series, where you do see a Monster being destroyed. Can anybody help out which ep it is? Graham

We had a similar survey on the old forums. IIRC, the average age of MWers was 26-29. As for me, I'll be 34 in a few days. Graham

Nah even if it's terrible, I still want to try it just for the sake of comparison against VF-X2, and the Macross PS2 game. Graham

I was just thinking that perhaps the reason we don't see any new Destoids in Macross 7, is because it is a colony fleet which spends most of it's time in space and Destroids are not much use in space based combat, except as static defensive gun turrents On the other hand, an offensive fleet whose mission was planetary invasion/rebellion suppression, might well feature Destroids as part of the ground invasion force. I think of all the branches of the UN Military, probably the most likely to still have Destroids by the 2040s' would be the UN Marines. This could explain why no Destoids were seen at New Edwards on the planet Eden in Macross Plus, as New Eden was probably purely a UN Spacy and/or UN Air Force base. Whether or not any new Destroids are made post-Space War 1 is a good question for Kawamori, next time he attends an Anime Expo. Personally, I would not have liked to have been a Destroid Pliot during Space War 1. Life expectancy was probably measured in seconds, not minutes Graham

Just wondering, does anybody bother using the standard missiles (AAM-1) in the Macross game? I hardly use them at all and prefer to stick to the micro-missiles as they seem to lock on quicker and fire larger salvos. Also, aren't the RMS-1 reaction missiles great? Graham

Are you into any other video games? Considering that the PS2 has one of the largest library of titles you have a lot to choose from. Personally I've been playing a LOT of Madden 2004 and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. BTW....if you're into Arcade Flight Sims then look no further than Ace Combat 4. I'll be playing a lot more PS2 when Macross comes in....... Although I've owned a lot of different consoles (bought mainly to play Macross games), I don't really consider myself an avid gamer. However, when I picked up my PS2 on Saturday, I did buy a few other games as well, namely: Ace Combat 4, Armored Core 3, & Devil May Cry. I'm not into sport games, RPGs, FPS, racing or fighting games or games with cute characters. The only type of games I like are flying and Mecha games and some action/shooting type games. Graham

I tend to agree that just because we don't see Destroids in M+ and M7, doesn't automatically mean there are no Destroids being used by the 2040s'. However, the evidence does seem to point that way We all know that the Destroids relative lack of mobility makes them easy targets against faster airborne mecha. So perhaps the heavier attack type VFs like the VB-6 and VA-3 have taken the place of Destroids. Graham

No, I haven't tried battlecry yet, so I can't compare the two. I only just got my PS2 this Saturday. Graham

Thanks Murphy, I'll try that out tonight. Also, anybody know a way to do the classic quick decelerate and reverse thrust Gerwalk move. Graham

Yay, got the game and a PS2 on Saturday. Only been able to spend a couple of hours playing it so far though First impressions. Graphically, the game is gorgeous. BGM and SFX are also great. Gameplay is pretty good and it's great actually being able to land on the capital ships. I've only played through the TV missions so far. Got an 'A' grade on one stage and some 'B's, 'C's and mostly 'D's on the rest! Guess I need more practice. I gotta say though besides trying to getter a better grade, the game is not that challenging. On my first playthrough, I only died twice, one the first time I fought Kamjin on Mars and the second time fighting the Quel-Quallie with the GBP-1S. Once you are used to the controls, it's pretty difficult to die though. Now for some complaints. Firstly the controls. I've only tried contol option A so far and I'm not that happy with it in Battroid and Gerwalk modes. As you have to use both joysticks to control movement, trying to press the thrust, missile and gunpod buttons while at the same time controlling two joysticks really needs three hands. I would have been much happier, if the gunpod and missiles had been controlled by R1 or R2 instead. Ideally, the game should have had an option to let you map the controls. Also, how do you make the battroid roll? I've done it a few times, by accident, but I've no idea how. Next compalint. I dislike the lack of any type of speed gauge. A simple speed bar, speed display in numbers or percentage display ala VF-X2 would have been better. Also, although there is an increase thrust button, there is no decrease thrust!!!! I still haven't figured out how to tell where the enemy missiles are. I actually prefered the method used in VF-X2, where the enemy missiles were bracketed, making them easy to track and shoot or avaoid. My impressions are that it is a good Macross game, probaby the best so far and certainly better than the dismal M3, whose only saving grace was the awesome into movie and song. As a stand alone game for non-Macross fans it probably only rates fair. Like many Japanese games based on a anime franchise, the developers could have taken that extra step and added more features to increase the replay value and make a much better game. Here's what I thing\k the game needed to take it from just 'good' to 'great': - 1) Add a two-player split screen mode. 2) Add a mission generator, with the ability to choose different arenas and multiple enemys. 3) Increase the playing area size. 4) Add more missions. Graham