Silpheed

aka: Silpheed: Super Dogfighter
Moby ID: 167
Included in See Also

Description official descriptions

In Silpheed, the player pilots a spaceship through levels of increasing difficulty, in a pseudo-3D vertically scrolling field, shooting everything in his path. New weapons will become available as he gathers points, and power-ups are sprinkled throughout the levels.

The game is one of the first-ever that used music as a selling point.

Spellings

  • シルフィード - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (PC-88 version)

33 People (25 developers, 8 thanks) · View all

Game design team (Chief designer)
Game design team (Assistant)
Graphics
Sub programer (Demonstration)
Sub programer (Music and opening)
Music composer (Music #1~#4)
Music composer (Music #5~#12)
Voice convert
D.O.S.
Mechanical design
Package illust
Manual illust
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 77% (based on 4 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 47 ratings with 4 reviews)

A good vertically scrolling shooter with a twist.

The Good
Silpheed is a fun shootie, the gameplay is nice and the 3d'ish view is a nice touch. And the intro is terrific (and unusual).

The japanese always did the finest games. :)

The Bad
Well the sounds are a bit drab, and so are some of the graphics too.

The Bottom Line
An interesting Japanese shootie.

DOS · by RmM (68) · 1999

One of the best shooters made for the PC.

The Good
In another review, Mirrorshades2k wrote: "Would have been nice to have some sort of 'code' so that if you get rather far but then have to go eat dinner, you can restart the game and start back on the level you reached." The game has this feature. You can restart the game from the last level played OR from the highest level played.

In another review, RmM wrote: "Well the sounds are a bit drab, and so are some of the graphics too." Personally, it was the best music EVER heard on any video game at the time. Silpheed supported the Roland MT-32 sound system. To quote from the Featured Article Ten of the Best Games You've Ever Played in regards to the sounds of Silpheed: "If you're lucky enough to own an MT-32, your starship-blasting experience will be augmented by some of the most catchy music ever to be heard in a PC action game."

The game rocks, the graphics were decent (as good as you could expect for a fast paced shooter, remember PCs were VERY slow back then), the sound was above and beyond what anyone would expect, the gameplay was superb, and the style of shooter and the style of weapons were both original ideas, and worked well.

The Bad
Nothing. It was a great shooter.

The Bottom Line
A very good PC shooter for its time.

DOS · by Jason Doucette (2) · 2002

Addictive.

The Good
Great music (for the time it was released)! Gameplay is fairly straightforward (shooter), but the variety of locations, weapons, and enemies keep it from getting dull.

The Bad
Would have been nice to have some sort of "code" so that if you get rather far but then have to go eat dinner, you can restart the game and start back on the level you reached. Having to play it out in one sitting can be a bit of a time sponge.

The Bottom Line
A nice mindless diversion.

DOS · by Mirrorshades2k (274) · 2000

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Trivia

OEM release

This game came free with the CMS Game Blaster sound card.

Second release

A second version of Silpheed was released shortly after the initial release that has the following fixes and enhancements: * Text is printed out when Xacalite "speaks" at the beginning of the game so you can finally decipher what he's saying. * The joystick routines were tweaked to make them more compatible with faster machines. * CMS ("Game Blaster") sound board support was added. * The music volume could be controlled through a key combination. * PCjr support added.

Sound and Music

Silpheed supports a variety of sound hardware, but this is for music only. Sound effects are always played through the internal speaker.

There was a later version (3.2) released that specifically supported the IBM PS/1 Audio Card, and is the only DOS version of the game to have support for sampled sound effects and speech. The card supports 3-voice Tandy sound style music, but can work with another music device like the Roland MT-32 with the PS/1 Audio Card being used for sound effects and speech. This version may have been bundled with the PS/1 Audio Card or could be sent away for.

Video modes

Silpheed supports a variety of video hardware, and there are quite a few differences (especially in the colors used, even between different 16 color modes). Here are some of the major changes between video modes: * EGA is in 640x200 resolution, all other modes are in 320x200. * During the opening sequence: In EGA, the opening titles fade in and out against a background of yellow stars. In MCGA/Tandy/PCjr, the opening titles do not fade in/out, and are against a background of cyan stars. * During the opening sequence: In EGA, the wireframe for both the Silpheed and space station are green. In MCGA/Tandy/PCjr, the Silpheed wireframe is green while the space station wireframe is blue. (This may be the only point in the game where the EGA version is more difficult to see clearly.) * On an above planet level or a fortress level: In EGA and MCGA all objects retain their normal colors. In Tandy/PCjr/CGA modes all objects become a solid shade of red. (When pixels overlap a non black pixel in these modes on any level, the color changes. So it looks as if the sprites may have been XOR'd against the background in order to speed up the game with these video cards.) * On an above planet level: In MCGA every other vertical column of pixels in the planet background is missing when compared with the other video modes. * In EGA, each fortress level is a different color. In MCGA/Tandy/PCjr modes, each fortress level is green. * In EGA, the closing credits scroll vertically. In all other video modes, the closing credits are static.

Silpheed includes separate drivers for Tandy 1000 and PCjr graphics modes (which do indeed work only on their respective hardware.) This seems a bit unusual since the Tandy was a clone of the PCjr. It is not clear what differences led to this.

Information also contributed by Great Hierophant, Mirrorshades2k and Servo.

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Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 167
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Eurythmic.

TRS-80 CoCo added by Corn Popper. Apple IIgs added by Eli Tomlinson. PC-88, FM-7 added by Terok Nor.

Additional contributors: Игги Друге, Steven Don, formercontrib, Patrick Bregger.

Game added July 18, 1999. Last modified January 29, 2024.