The History of Xevious - arcade console documentary
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- čas přidán 17. 09. 2022
- The history of Namco's phenomenal shooter. Big thanks to Daniel from Slopes Game Room for providing some voiceover in this video.
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Great video, with solid research!
I was the Xevious champion in Brazil, during the period I played (1984-6), according to the technicians who distributed the machines across the country. I played in an arcade in the city of Lages (SC).
Some fond memories:
- Played the same game for up to 13 hours (when the arcade closed...);
- It reached the limit of points that the game counted: 9.999.990;
- My Souvalous record (accumulated extra ships) was 72;
- When crossing the entire map became easy (we called it “turning the tables”), I started to cross it without shooting a single shot or bomb, just dodging enemy shots;
- I once went through the entire territory (loop the map) with the same ship;
Thanks, PatmanQC!
Thanks, Mr. Endo!
Thanks, Xevious civilization!
Thanks
That is some fantastic playing my friend.
Kudos.
Do you have videos of you playing? That would be very exciting to watch!!
Hi, @@ZEBASS! Unfortunately not, because in that period (1084-1986), we didn't have personal cameras like we do today.
A massive thanks for letting me be a part of this one! Great video as always mate
The gratitude is all mine. Thanks again
My two fav game reviewers in one vid!
Without reading the video summary I heard the voice and thought "SLOPES 😁" two of my fave game historians in one video...👏👏👏
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries Solvalou, are you saying it correctly?
Whenever I feel compelled to redo my mame setup, this is one of the core games I install along with Burgertime, TMNT, Space Harrier, and Ms. Pac Man.
All classic games
I believe Xevious was included on one of those Jakks joystick Pac-Man games back in the mid 2000s. It was fun to tinker around with.
That's a possibility, didn't think about that
It was & I has. No complaints
indeed! the ms pac man one, also had pole position, mappy, and Galaga
I live in Japan, and there's a retro arcade I visit that has Xevious and Xevious Arrangement on one machine. Thanks as always, PTQC.
Very cool! Thanks for the nice words
One of the classics - your arcade game history videos are great.
Thanks a lot, glad you enjoy them
Masanobu Endō, in my personal opinion, was the Rembrandt of video game character design. And Xevious is my favorite shoot-em-up of all time. I mean, the best of its kind, ever!
It is absoolutely fantastic
Your videos bring back memories of me and my late brother growing up. We hung out a lot on arcades as kids. Keep it up!
Thanks for sharing
I always loved the "metalic" look to everything with such simple graphics.
I agree, it still holds up today
Grew up playing this...MEMORIES!
Excellent
An underrated classic
Started playing this in '84 in the uni arcade and it became my all-time favourite arcade game. I couldn't quite play indefinitely but did loop the map a few times. Pretty sure I knew where all the citadels (sol towers) were, definitely more than documented on the net.
I own a bootleg arcade PCB (Xevios by Watson) and the Namco Classics Vol 1 PCB which contains Xevious, Super Xevious and Xevious Arrangement.
I wrote the original MAME driver for Namco Classics Vol 1 PCB specifically for this game! Currently RE'ing the arcade ROM but the code is very data-driven and after a point it's very difficult to decypher. There's an unreleased arcade-perfect Jaguar port and I was hoping to make a Neo Geo port based on my RE. Some day.
WOW !... I'm impressed ! I don't think I've ever looped the map ! Furthest I ever got was just maybe a minute after the 2nd Andor Genesis mothership when all those Brag Zakato and Crystals rain down on me.
.. And I thought I was doing well at the time !
@@paulwalsh2344 Follow-up from my previous comment; the RE is finished and also transcode to 68K for Neo Geo and Amiga (also Super Xevious too, since the code base is only slightly different). In Xevious there are a total of 46 Sol Towers, however a 'bug' in the game means only 45 appear. It's hard to know whether I knew where *all* of them were, I suspect there were 1 or 2 that I didn't know of. In any case, significantly more than were documented on the net previously. There is a more recent CZcams video that shows where all 45 towers are.
You are a hero. Just trying to learn Xevious now, as my casual-only play allows me to reach maybe area 8-13 on average. Would you recommend going for "low difficulty" runs when practicing getting our first loop?
@@ZEBASS Definitely. Xevious is IMHO a perfect mixture of memory and reflexes. The memory aspect lets you be in a better position to destroy the ground-based objects earlier, which ultimately decreases the number of bullets being fired at you. Learn not only where they are located, but also how each of the grobda (tanks) move. You should also discover & memorise the locations of all 4 flags and all 45 Sol Towers, because the latter are worth big points and allow you to accumulate more bonus ships for your score. And once you learn how to avoid the large exploding bombs that precede the latter Andor Geneses, you should never be killed by them again. Good luck!
@@markmcdougall3594 Thanks for the detailed response, Mark, appreciate it! Now that we're here: may I ask how do you keep the game's rank low? I think there are certain enemies you need to shoot down in order to do that? And also not destroying every flying enemy as well? I've heard mentions of that across video,s but still haven't found a good resource where I can read the specific info.
Fantastic documentary again as always, Patman, and cool to hear the narration by Slopes!
Thanks a lot, it was nice of him to do it :-)
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries you know that Xevious has an Atari 7800 port. Right?
@@DarkPitTheFallenAngel I said at the end of the video I would be doing a separate video on all Of the conversions
I love your videos. They are truly wonderful and a joy to watch.
Thank you so much!
Strange I remember playing Solvalou as a young kid in the US. There was one in the arcade at the Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas. I remember it being a big sit down cabinet and I was very impressed by its 3d graphics. I asking my dad what the game was called as I couldn't pronounce Solvalou. I distinctly remember him saying "Solvalou its the ship from Xevious". He would have know this as he was fan of Xevious and had bought me a copy for the NES.
I played Solvalou in the US as a kid, too. I was very excited about VR and simulators in their infancy, and that game to me was a good early attempt. It definitely was not a Japan-exclusive game, it was in my local arcade (Northwoods Mall - Charleston, SC)
I also remember the release dates of games as being much earlier than they actually are.
There may be some Mandela effect going on here.
@@midnightkitty8172 For me, the Mandela effect was that there was no in-game music, only weird sound effects. I was only 2 years old when Xevious was released, I never saw it in the arcade, and I never played the NES version; so I had no idea why the updated 3D version was called Solvalou.
I also played Solvalou in the US. Specifically at that arcade they had at Golf Mill mall in Niles, IL.
I wasn't very good at it.
@@superpaul79 Your skill level is not the issue; these machines are designed and programmed to gather quarters for their creators and the people who buy the cabinets, and that's about it.
I watched a short documentary made by programmers / technicians working for Atari and they said: ' You have to screw the player a little bit, but not so hard that they won't want to play anymore.'
Something like that, it was a free disc I got on the outside of a box of cereal years ago that had a collection of games plus these interviews with the creators.
Similar to what the gentleman has here:
czcams.com/video/Z8Y24vXFPxA/video.html&ab_channel=CanadianRetroThings
I love Xevious! My first experience with this game was on the 7800 and I was not even aware of the fact that it was an arcade port! Another excellent video!
Thanks a ton
I always loved Xevious, especially the design of the world map and the various enemy sprites, not to mention the hidden enemies/flags. It's almost up there with Dragon Spirit, my favorite vertical scrolling shooter.
Gotta admit, I do not understand the immense, enduring popularity of Galaga. Gyruss, which was essentially the same game, was superior in almost every way IMHO. But my favorite "enemies in formation" vertical shooter was Solarian II on the 90's era Mac. It was just so weird.
Gyruss is essentially the same game as Galaga!?! Never heard that viewpoint before... interesting...
@@markmcdougall3594Gyrus is Galaga plus Tempest.
I prefer Galaga.
Hardest part of any day is seeing a PatmanQC video on your timeline and having to wait to watch it.
Looking forward to the conversions!
How nice of you to say :-) thank you
This thing was ahead of it's time for 82' Amazing game... still enjoyable today
I agree
Xevious, this is a good one!
Hope you enjoy it
then Capcom copied there homework with exed exes.
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries Oh, I will!
One of my faves.
One of mine as well
And here we go with another jewel! Great documentary Patman!! Keep on the memories alive! We really need it! 😀
Excellent, I hope you enjoy it. Thanks
ABSOLUTELY superb video again maestro
When XEVIOUS came out I hunted it after school at various riding-distance locations & still clearly remember each!' always preferred the loudest one as the sound of shooting the Hal-slabs is just too good
There are several hidden bonuses in the water you know. . . .
Your new LRLRLYXRBA startup version also tops
🗿🗿✌️
4 hidden in the water... at least one was shown in the video. Each one is most likely to be in a certain position too which you discover via trial-and-error.
You could always tell an arcade had Xevious as soon as you walked in because they would usually have the sound Cranked way up on the machine. Thanks for the nice words!
I first played this at a holiday camp I went to as a kid circa 1986. I always loved the stylised, clean, minimalist aesthetic of the graphics and thought the game to be very unique as shooters went. Even 4 years after its release it still looked good next to newer games, IMO.
I liked it so much I asked my parents to get me the C64 version when it came out, but the less said about that the better! 😭
Thanks once again for a great video. Xevious was a good choice! 😊
Thanks for sharing your memories and the nice words. Glad you enjoyed it
Great video! I first tried this a year ago and got hooked trying to discover every sol tower. It's become one of my fav shmups, top 25 material! (and without nostalgia involved) :D
Almost didn't play it because of its outdated presentation (particularly the looks of the main shot and the "OST") but I'm so glad I gave it a chance (^.^)
Thank you, it's well worth it considering the game is 40 years old And still holds up
There's a web site documenting some of the sol towers, but it's definitely not all of them!
@@markmcdougall3594 Yeah I think I know that website. It looks like it was complete some time ago but most pics have disappeared. I have a video on my channel with timestamps for every sol tower anyway. Did I say I got hooked? XD
@@SPM_STG Nice!!! Now I have something to do tonight... go through your video and see how it compares to what I discovered in the past (if my memory will serve me). Just a quick preview of your video and it seems there's one in Area 2 that I didn't know about!
One of the things I was going to do with my RE'ing when done was produce a map with the locations of all the sol towers...
EDIT: Ah, I just saw the map you linked on your video page showing every location. Wow, never seen that before!
@@markmcdougall3594 Yeah that was the map I used to find the last towers I was missing! (It's not 100% accurate for the arcade version but close enough)
I love the story of this game, which you don't often say about a space shooter from the 1980s!
Thousands of years ago there was a massive advanced civilization, yeah, the Atari promotional video mentioned in PAtman's vid covered that, but the game had a limited language made for it. "Xevious" means "fourth" in that language, and the Xevious fleet is from ( you guessed it ) the fourth of 7 colonies made in deep space to survive the ice age. Your ship is a gift from a defector from the colonies, and your player character, the pilot, is actually an archaologist who discovered remnants of this civilization in Peru. The GAMP briefly mentioned during the talk of ports and sequels is the Genetic Artificial Matrix Producer, a machine that created a race of superhuman servants for the civilization, and by extension, Gamps are also the term used for it's vat-grown minions. Somewhere in this history there was a Gamp revolt before the ice age.
A lot of this could be found in the manual to Xevious 3DG+ on PlayStation, as well as online.
The later game looks almost exactly like another game I use to love playing: Slap Fight where you gained extensions to your ships sides giving you extra fire powers.
Slap Fight was another good shmup of that era. The power-up mechanism was taken from Gradius.
Yes I think it was called alcon Here in the states or vice versa
You could always hear this game in the background at Panama Bowling when I was a kid.
Yes, the sound was usually cranked up :-)
played it in on the Microsoft arcade compilation years ago.
never made it to the big ship tho.
it had namco classics like mappy
etc.
That was one of the earliest examples of license to retro game compilations on the PC
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries it had like mappy,pacman, an
some of the namco games.
Simply briilliant - the research, the delivery, the perfect length - and ofcourse an interesting game. Thank you for your videos.🙏
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much
One of the most important things about Xevious was the sound design.
The way the note progression of the music is interrupted by player shots and other effects created a feeling that the players inputs were creating the games music in real time.
This effect inspired other game designers in the creation of their music-focused games.
One well known example is Rez, Tetsuya Mizuguchi mentions how he was inspired by Xevious in some of the game commentary extras.
Fantastic, thanks for the info
Xevious was my favorite game on my 7800. The good Ole days!
Absolutely
Another fantastic retrospective. Thanks, Patman!
Thanks again!
I played the NES version a lot growing up. It’s one of those games you can just play for hours.
I put a lot of quarters into this game back in the day
then Capcom tried to copy it with
exed exes.
You and me both
love you PatMan. Always look forward tp your drops.
Thank you my friend, I appreciate that
Awesome video as always Patman! Can't wait for the video on the xevious home ports. Love your content.
Thanks a lot!
Nice!.. Xevious was one of my favorite games as a kid. I think the background "music" is still stuck in my head.
Yes sir, although there was only one track so maybe that's why
I played one of the later xevious at someone’s home in the early 90s in Germany on some kind of home computer. I remember the game to be very close to the pc engine version you showed. I was always looking for the game to play it again, because it was amazing at the time. I found out about xevious but it wasn’t the version I played. This video is the first time I saw the game again since 30 years. Thank you so much!
Absolutely, thank you so much for watching
Hey, cool. The bacura enemies show up in some of the Tales games, and I never knew they came from Xevious.
Excellent, thanks for the info
Really great documentary on Xevious! I really enjoyed this. 👍
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks
Another great video! I didn't know about the sequels, and didn't know about the later games having 2 player coop. That just makes the game that much better! I know you mentioned having a separate video for the conversions, but I definitely love the 3DS version with 3D!!! An amazing way to play, and an amazing sense of 3D. If only they did a version of the later one's so you could have local wireless coop. That would definitely be the definitive version. The PS1 version looks great, but rather pricey these days, and with the PS3 version being de-listed (that version looks great too!), I've unfortunately missed out on that as well (another big CON for digital-only!). I'll definitely keep an eye out for those though. I definitely appreciate all the effort you put into these videos. Jam packed with information and I'm always learning something new (if only my wallet could keep up)! Keep up the great content!
Apparently you can download the PS3 version (Namco Museum Essentials) and either install it on a hacked PS3 or run it in an emulator. I've downloaded it but yet to try either.
Thanks a lot, I appreciate that. It is terrible about the game being delisted because it really is good and worth a play if your fan of Xevious. Maybe it will get rereleased in the future
Yes! One of my favorite games of all time. Keep up the good work as always.
Thanks! Will do!
Hey, thanks a lot for your videos. This one in particular inspired me to start my own channel and talk about games I love, such as Xevious
Glad to hear it!
I played this game for the very first time 1 day before this video went up! What a nice coincidence! It was on a multi-game cabinet at a bowling alley, and it also had all of the Galaga games and a bunch of other stuff I hadn't played before. Real nice find out in the wild. Anyway, your videos are always top notch, Patman! I appreciate you!
Excellent, glad you enjoyed the content. Thank you
So loved this game in the arcades back in the day.
Nice, Slopes Game Room in the mix too, champion!
Keep busting those cool videos.
Thanks a lot!
The background music always reminds me of the Starcade Tv game show.
Love your work!
Thanks a lot
Loved the sounds in this one
Great video. Even though I grew up mostly in the era of 16bits consoles, I was always fascinated by Xevious peculiar aesthetics and atmosphere.
Such an incredible video and just wow.
Thanks :-)
Thanks for another video!
Thanks for watching
Another good one Patman.
Thank you
WOW !... This was a fantastic documentary on a fantastic game ! My absolute favorite from the Arcade era of the late 70's to early 80's.
I always have to think a bit about what games round out my top 10 video arcade games are... EXCEPT for Xevious which automatically always, ALWAYS immediately get's #1 !
The first jingle that plays when you start Xevious up, specifically the slowed version that plays on the plug-and-play system, is the first thing I ever heard in any video game ever.
When I hear it now, I unironically have a 10 minute flashback to the old days playing in my mom’s room
What a cool memory, thanks for sharing
Pacmanqc great work Sir thank you
Thank you so much
Wow, that Slope's voice over was unexpected! But, hello you. (Joking, I know that's yet a different guy.)
Yes, he was nice enough to do it
Xevious is such a simple but fantastic game. One of the top 10 arcade titles for me, my first experience with it was the NES version included in Star Fox Assault.
Fantastic video that makes justice for one of the most important shooters
Thank you very much
Capcom even had there own version called exed exes.
lots of game companies tried to copy it.
but none could match the original.
Thanks for another video. I recently got this game in an arcade collection for my Xbox One. I haven't played it yet thought but I am looking forward to it!
It's a lot of fun and still holds up 40 years later
This game is awesome
Yes it is
Haha - was waiting for the c64 version....I'll wait for the conversion vid...great work man!
Thank you
Doing all the greats!
Finally Patman, one of my favorite shmups back in the good old 80s. I used to spend all my pocket money on this machine. Go gen X.
Hope you enjoyed it
THX a LOT !
Thank you for watching
Hey wow I thought I was a Xevious superfan knowing everything but I learned some things here. Thanks for this!
Glad you enjoyed! Thanks
This was such a wonderful in depth history of this wonderful game, only told best by Mr.PatmanQC.
I have come across it in my M.A.M.E library, but after hearing about its marvelous backstory, it will be one of the games that I will surely check out, when I start playing around with M.A.M.E again. 😁☝️
How nice of you to say, appreciate the extremely nice words. You should definitely check it out if your fan of shooters. Cheers
Many thanks for a fascinating video. I absolutely loved this game when first coming across it in the early 80's in an arcade in my hometown. I was never sure of the purpose of the 'powerup' your ship seems to temporarily receive part way through in the form of the spinning diamonds that hover in front of the salvolou (shown in 12:20 in this video). It at least seems to have a purpose in one of the remakes. I was aware of some of the sequels/remakes but not all. That PS3 exclusive looks awesome! Such a shame it can no longer be played as I'd love to have a go at it. Looking forward to seeing your video on the home conversions of this.
Thank you, with any luck they'll rerelease Xevious on the PlayStation network at some point
I absolutely love your videos . So much detail that I even watch the ones with games that I wasn't a huge fan of back in the day . I gotta have you make a bumper for my tiny channel one day . I just want a " Happy Little Videos " at the start of my videos . Lol . That would be AWESOME !!!!
That is a awesome complement, thank you so much. I'll record something for you :-)
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries That is so cool . Thank you !!!!
I had no idea it ran this deep. I played it on those joystick 🕹️ plug ins i remember finding at a Walmart back then. I never remembered the name but the mirror squares are so iconic.
Oh absolutely
Sounding GREAT, hoping you're on the mend. (Scramble was AMAZING)
I am on the mend and not 100% yet but thanks for asking
Awesome! I love this game!
It's so good!
I fell in love with Xevious when I got it for my Atari 7800. This was an amazing documentary!
Thanks a lot!
Thanks!
Great video
Thanks
Interesting thing I have noticed was that the Souvalou's bomb cursor flashes red when over an enemy or the hidden towers of sol, which have to be bombed twice for a big bonus.
Yes I thought I mentioned that but apparently not
In that lone horizontal river slightly left of centre, in the water near the first inlet,,,,
@@dotcomDan I think you're talking about the bonus flag?!? The cursor doesn't flash over those, only the sol towers.
Great game, and one of my favourites as a kid.. still play it on MAME to this day!
One of my favorites as well
Great video. Like the game, would love to see a Patch or a new version with pink bullets. Those pesky white bullets are hard to see on the background
Thanks, yes that would definitely make life a lot easier :-)
One of my favorite arcade games, Xevious.
It was a classic shooter that's for sure
Great! I always look for coop games. Did not know that.
Check it out
fantastic video..keep up
Thank you, I will
One of the most important games ever made that a lot of people in the west forget about when discussing truly influential titles. Vertical shoot'em ups as we would come to know them today all owe their existence to Xevious and it's massive popularity in Japan. Clones of this game lead to new ideas and refinements that shaped the genre.
Well said
Oh man, really looking forward to the roundup of all the ports!
Coming soon
Xevious is my favourite arcade game of all time.
There is something so magical about the arcade game
Xevious is devious.
LOL
Nice, Patman! Some nice versions and sequels came along that I didn't know about. I've gotta give the 3-D versions a try. How 'bout dat music!? The background music was so iconic that it was used regularly on the TV show Starcade.
Thanks, that was one of my favorite shows growing up
I love this iconic, genre starting game.
I sadly don't like Galaga but I would play with fun cousins (at least during childhood).
God bless and thank you sir Endi-san.
Thank you very much for watching
Nice little Easter egg there with Snopes! I immediately recognized that voice.
Good call!
scramble was a blast !
Xevious 3DG on PS1 also has the bonus of being able to play Xevious, Super Xevious and Xevious Arrangement as they are on the disc too.
Thanks for the video. I own an original arcade Xevious full-size cabinet
Very cool!
The version of this game on the sharp Super MZ (mz-2500) was a thing to be hold!
LOL I just watched that clip with Macho Man Randy Savage and Mean Gene where Randy is going on about how 'the cream rises to the top'.
Speaking honestly, Xevious was one of the games I didn't like, mainly because I'm not that good at games ( but love to play them )
Thanks Patman for another great and comprehensive review~!
Thanks kitty, hope you are doing well
I started playing this game in 1984 along with Super Xevious I got so good at Xevius $1 dollar would last me 5 hours 👍 👍 I remember
Super Mario sitting right next to Xevious I never played Mario Xevious all day long and that's what I liked about the PlayStation 1 they released a lot of space shooters like Xevious if course the PS1 had better graphics but the feel of the later shooters still kinda felt like Xevious and that's what I liked about the 90s Space shooters
The music to Xevious. So snappy and upbeat. And the sounds, glassy pinging off the rotating tiles. The game sounds hot. Second behind Space Harrier.
Yes it is, more classic videogame music from the early 80s
very cool you collabed with slopes
Yes, he was nice enough to do it
I am proud of you by not saying that "other term" used in the Shooter games.
Keep up the great work!!!
Thanks a lot
Loved this game so much, thank you. 6.5K views and only ~720 likes? *shakes head*
10% or under is about the average for some odd reason. It doesn't take much to click the thumbs up button considering the time and effort I put into each one of these. Thanks for the comments :-)
Love it when pat and daniel collab.
Thanks. Then be sure and check out one of slopes upcoming videos :-)
@@PatmanQC-Arcade-Documentaries i watch all of his videos also.
The sharp and realistic graphics really caught my attention when I first came across it in a Chucky Cheese.
Same here although we didn't get Chucky cheese until the mid-90s. We had showbiz pizza