''Last Hope'' is a single-player horizontally

scrolling shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character m ...

for the

Neo Geo AES The , stylized as NEO•GEO, is a video game platform released in 1990 by Japanese game company SNK Corporation. It was initially released in two ROM cartridge-based formats: an arcade system board (Multi Video System; MVS) and a home video gam ...

Neo Geo CD The is a home video game console produced by SNK Corporation, released on September 9, 1994. The system is the same platform as the cartridge-based Neo Geo released four years earlier, but converted to the cheaper CD media format which reta ...

, and

Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...

systems. It was developed by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

developer NG:Dev.Team in 2006. While the Neo Geo version was self-published, the

version was released by RedSpotGames in January 2007 as an unlicensed title. In 2009 the

version received a reprint in the form of a director's cut called ''Last Hope: Pink Bullets'' which addressed several gameplay-related issues. A

Neo Geo The , stylized as NEO•GEO, is a video game platform released in 1990 by Japanese game company SNK Corporation. It was initially released in two ROM cartridge-based formats: an arcade system board (Multi Video System; MVS) and a home video gam ...

version of ''Pink Bullets'' was released in February 2011.

Plot

An evil empire from another galaxy is heading towards Earth. Barely 24 hours beforehand, they had penetrated the last line of defense in Earth's galaxy, the Arsion Laser Belt. Millions of innocent people perished in outer space colonies, and 70% of Earth's fleet was destroyed during first contact. Intelligence reports six days until their arrival. As conventional weapons cannot stop them, the last hope is in the playable pilot's hands: the Z-42 Warpstar. The pilot's mission is to warp into the enemy's territories and destroy their leader before they reach Earth.

Development

Release

July 10, 2006: NG:Dev.Team produced 60 Units of the game for

and sold it directly via their website. January 30, 2007: RedSpotGames published 2500 Units of the game (500 copies were reserved for sale with the Limited Edition). May 3, 2007: The Limited Edition of ''Last Hope'' was released with 500 vinyl-styled compact discs containing the soundtrack. November 19, 2007: NG:Dev.Team produced 500 units for

. September 4, 2009: NG:Dev.Team produced 1000 Units of ''Last Hope: Pink Bullets,'' which were distributed Internationally by RedSpotGames. As a response to criticism regarding the game's difficulty, NG:Dev.Team released an updated version titled ''Last Hope: Pink Bullets'' for the

on September 19, 2009, with a

version releasing on February 21, 2011. This edition features improved on-screen visibility in comparison to its first print due to the titular pink bullets, as well as various other features to make for a more accessible gameplay experience with an emphasis on scoring. Since only 60 copies of the

version were ever produced, and were only available for purchase directly from NG:Dev.Team, this is an extremely rare and collectible title. Due to the low availability and high cost of producing the cartridges, the game was sold for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

550 (around $730). In contrast, the

version sells for $40, and the "Limited Edition" with bundled soundtrack CD was sold for $80. Van Basilco and

Play-Asia Playasia is an online retailer of entertainment products from Asia. The website sells import games, DVDs, music, CDs, gadgets, groceries, books, gaming console accessories, cables and toys. Playasia is based in Hong Kong and caters to the Asia ...

were the only online stores approved to sell ''Last Hope'' for the

. The Limited Edition was limited to only 500 units and is already a highly sought after item. It sold out 5 days after the release day and currently prices up to $259.

Reception

Comparisons were drawn to "old school" shooters like ''

R-Type is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and released by Irem in 1987 and the first game in the ''R-Type'' series. The player controls a star ship, the R-9 "Arrowhead", in its efforts to destroy the Bydo, a powerful a ...

'' and ''

Gradius is a series of shooter ( shoot'em up) video games, introduced in 1985, developed and published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper. ...

'', but especially of '' Pulstar'', with its "tactical"

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game. The term applies to both video games and Tabletop game, tabletop games. Gameplay is the connection between the player and the game, the player's overcoming of challenges, and t ...

and

pre-rendered Pre-rendering is the process in which video footage is not rendered in real-time by the hardware that is outputting or playing back the video. Instead, the video is a recording of footage that was previously rendered on different equipment (typ ...

backgrounds and sprites. The game has been criticized for featuring very hard to distinguish enemy-bullets which are almost the same color as explosions/debris. Some reviewers have commended ''Last Hope'' as technically impressive for Neo Geo standards, while others focus criticism on gameplay issues. The

version of this game features higher visibility due to pink colored bullets, which are better to distinguish between explosions/debris. In response to the criticism, ''Last Hope: Pink Bullets'' was released in 2009 for

. The ratings range from 54% (MAN!AC,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

) to 80% (GamesTM, UK) or second best score "good" (PC Action,

)

References

External links