It's funny. Look at Tatsujin reviews on the web, and every bit of text basically boils down to "It's motherfuckin' HARD" and is accompanied by a screen cap showing the game's famous skull bomb. Of course, there is good reason for the ubiquity of these whiny complaints and skeletal blasts: Tatsujin, especially in its PCE incarnation, is indeed very difficult; and the only recourse for unskilled babies who hope to survive it is bombing away.
But there will always be goofballs who like to puff themselves up and spit out the oft-heard, seldom true "I like a good challenge" line. Well, look: if you're thinking about obtaining Tatsujin for the sake of playing it and not just to add a somewhat rare and expensive HuCard to your collection, then be honest with yourself. If you're driven to hollering by Super Star Soldier's "intensity," or if you're pained by Nexzr's "rigorous" memorization requirements, then Tatsujin is out of your league. In fact, unless you're as tough and as good as the Duomazov brothers (which is highly unlikely, since the Duomazovs are stout crazy bearded men who honed their Turbo skills while serving long sentences in the Siberian stockades), then chances are you aren't hard enough to make it anywhere in this game, and you should keep to the safe confines of the Soldier/Gunhed quadrants.
It's not that Tatsujin will constantly wallop you. Segment-by-segment examination of the trek reveals many stretches that non-Duomazovs can get through, provided that they remember to watch out for enemies who attack from behind (cheap bastards whom Tatsujin employs many of).
The main sources of trouble are the mini-boss bands. They send plenty of projectiles your way, and said projectiles hurtle across space at speeds that make them almost unavoidable. And since there are typically four or five mid-stage demons to deal with at once, there isn't a whole lot of room for doing much evading anyway. The giant bosses don't even need to bring friends along to present similar problems (but the assholes are often aided by small henchmen and cannons, anyway). Hope is not allowed here.
Still, live long enough to power up your weapons and you may actually begin to feel a little confident. The blue lightning gun produces a cool-looking pyramid of obliteration when strengthened to its max, allowing for easy progress through strips populated by standard enemies. It proves inadequate against most of the dreaded mini-bosses, as it's rather weak and tends to lock in on fools you have no desire to target. But such battles are what the full-fire green energy weapon is for.
Of course, even if you're skilled and fortunate enough to build up a weapon to its optimal capabilities, odds are still slim that you'll be able to maintain that level of firepower for long. Sure, after a long while, you'll develop a feel for the stages, and you'll be able to remember which weapons to use at which points, and you'll know exactly when to expect cheap ass-rammers to sneak up on your tail. You'll realize that defeating the mini-lords and end-bosses comes down to doing as much damage as you can before they launch their assaults and then baiting them into blowing their entire bullet load at one spot of the screen that you'll quickly vacate. But you're going to have to maintain that level of unwavering concentration, and maintain that perfect timing, as the game comes at you with cheap enemies and fast-moving bullet storms over and over and over again. And if you stumble for just one instant, say farewell to your built-up speed and mighty armament.
The safe, economical thing to do if you're considering a high-cost purchase of PCE Tatsujin is to acquire and play the much cheaper Genesis rendition, Truxton, before making a decision. Sure, the PCE version is better, with nicer-sounding music and a larger playfield to work with. But Truxton presents a package similar enough to give you a good idea of whether or not you'll enjoy its HuCard counterpart. It's significantly easier, too, so if it happens to kick your ass, do yourself a favor, save some money and avoid a great deal of pain: stay away from the rough side of town and don't buy Tatsujin.
You'll be cruising along and thinking to yourself, "What's that guy talking about? This isn't hard!"
Seconds later, the mini-bosses will crush you.
Sure, you can try the ol' skull-bomb baby method of damaging them... and watch in horror as they sidestep the attack. These guys really don't fuck around.
Neither do their large end-of-level allies.
The game has a few tricks up its sleeve aside from enemies moving in from behind. If you're going to destroy these "bulbs," you'd better be ready to dodge the super-fast spread bullets that they release.
Memorize the locations of the cheap tricks and traps, and you'll be able to breeze through the boss-free segments with full-power lightning...
...but the emerald energy weapon represents your best shot at rockin' the tough guys.
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