Anyone ever play shmups without shooting?

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:32 am

I don't remember if I posted this or not - and no this is not a trolling post.

Does anyone ever screw around and see how far they can get without shooting or bombing. Just pure dodging?

I do this occasionally with Psikyo games, usually making it to 1-3, occasionally 1-4. Today I got to 1-5 in Strikers 1999 where the bosses "I'm pissed off" phase ripped me to shreds.

The occassional cave game is fun too.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:34 am

I tried doing the "dot eater" thing in Ikaruga once...that's the only game I can think of which includes something specifically to encourage a more "pacifist" mindset, heh heh.

Axon · Post by **Axon** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:41 am

Did you do this with Gunbird 2? If so, did you use melee attacks for the bosses or is there some secret timer?

Limbrooke · Post by **Limbrooke** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:45 am

Yeah, Ikaruga is an easy pick after playing for a while. Just battling time, not chains.
Other games it gets a bit messy if you don't shoot a little here and there so nothing else really comes to mind.

superhitachi4 · Post by **superhitachi4** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:49 am

Yeah, I play without shooting once in a while. Think I posted about it before once.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:00 am

There's a "no shooting" video of ESPGaluda stage 1 (maybe even 2) floating about on the internet.

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:24 am

Just once I'd hope one of the more recent shmup devs would put in a pacifist bonus awarded only by going through the game in one credit without shooting , meleeing, or bombing.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:58 am

I think it should be easy with Psyvariar 2, given that the game encourages you to buzz bullets.

BBH · Post by **BBH** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:58 am

BulletMagnet wrote:I tried doing the "dot eater" thing in Ikaruga once...that's the only game I can think of which includes something specifically to encourage a more "pacifist" mindset, heh heh.

Night Striker. they even call it "Pacifist Bonus".

(I don't care if it's a "rail shooter", it's still a fucking awesome game)

Kamakazie · Post by **Kamakazie** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 7:24 am

Only ever tried this with Robotron and Geometry Wars Retro Evolved because you can get XBL Achievements this way

Edge · Post by **Edge** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:22 am

I do this from time to time. Tried this in many horizontal ones but also quite often in Giga Wing. I think it is a lot of fun. I also start to do this when I really messed up my game (lost two lifes in the beginning) i sometimes continue to play without shooting or anything just dodging. Till I die, that's way more enjoyable than suiciding.

And yeah, some games can be played pretty well without shooting.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 10:34 am

yeah i usually do it when i screw up my run on something, stop shooting and try some crazy dodgeing instead, id like to think it helps my skills but who knows...

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:11 am

http://www.super-play.co.uk/index.php?c ... &gameid=53

Pick the "No points 1cc" one. A complete run with no shooting, no reflecting, no bombing. Absolutely great!

Ko.oS · Post by **Ko.oS** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:35 pm

actually the guy in that vid shoots a little and drops bombs every now and then as well, he scored 0 points becus he didnt pick up any medals, etc. -. anyway, thats the replay with limi right? if someone got the romi one go ahead and upload it (i would do it myself but the cdr w/ the vid went kaputt long time ago)

on topic: no firing mode is quite fun, but most of the time only during boss battles (to observe patterns, timing them out, etc).

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:39 pm

In Recca your score increases while not shooting.

Eps · Post by **Eps** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:31 pm

Nanostray for the DS has a 'Valor Bonus' that decreases with every shot you fire from your main weapon, though you can use the (limited-ammo) secondary weapons without decreasing it, which is how you deal with the bosses.

sjewkestheloon · Post by **sjewkestheloon** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:04 pm

i've also always played a lot of psikyo with no shooting to observe boss patterns and to see which enemies need to be removed first.

i think i'll pop off now however to have a few goes on gwg without shooting, purely with reflecting shots, and see if i can get some scores going. this might be a fun high score topic infact.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 7:27 pm

Axon wrote:Did you do this with Gunbird 2? If so, did you use melee attacks for the bosses or is there some secret timer?

I don't recall if I've played Gunbird 2 without shooting. But most (all?) Psikyo games have timeouts on the bosses. You just have to outlast them.

With some of there more recent games (Strikers 1999 / Dragon Blaze), the bosses go insane if you do not kill them at or before the tech bonus.

I'm not sure I can ever survive the pissed-off 1-5 boss without shooting. There is just so much shit on the screen.

Dale · Post by **Dale** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:57 pm

In Vulgus all the time.

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:13 pm

Argh, how can you live with this? Posting the same threads over and over again, week after week?

malcolm · Post by **malcolm** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:37 am

BBH wrote:
BulletMagnet wrote:I tried doing the "dot eater" thing in Ikaruga once...that's the only game I can think of which includes something specifically to encourage a more "pacifist" mindset, heh heh.
Night Striker. they even call it "Pacifist Bonus".

(I don't care if it's a "rail shooter", it's still a fucking awesome game)

I just played Night Striker for the first time tonight. Yes it is an awesome fucking game.

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 2:14 am

Strangely enough I've gone further in Psyvariar without shooting a single shot and just Buzzing than anything I normally do.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 3:04 am

A couple of the scores for Gradius V were submitted on the official ranking. Unfortunately there are destructible walls that kill you no matter what

SamIAm · Post by **SamIAm** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 5:37 am

You know, playing without shooting is a really good way to get to know a shmup you are trying to do especially well at. It let's you know the full extent of enemy and bullet behaviors, and you'll often uncover new options for strategies that you didn't know before. I'd recommend it to anyone.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 6:07 pm

Axon wrote:Did you do this with Gunbird 2? If so, did you use melee attacks for the bosses or is there some secret timer?

I tried a few no-shoot games of Gunbird 2 last night. The bosses definitely time out.

The tank boss was a bastard. Made my way to the 1-3 boss after a few games.

The bosses overall are easier in Gunbird 2 because the suicide spray is relatively easy to dodge where in Strikers 3 it is near impossible (though I may have worked out a way to dodge it now).

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:56 pm

BBH wrote:
BulletMagnet wrote:I tried doing the "dot eater" thing in Ikaruga once...that's the only game I can think of which includes something specifically to encourage a more "pacifist" mindset, heh heh.
Night Striker. they even call it "Pacifist Bonus".

(I don't care if it's a "rail shooter", it's still a fucking awesome game)

Night Striker is the ONLY game I'll try to play Pacifist-style.

On any shmup, I'll come out ready to wipe out whatever I see. Thunder Force II has some sort of pacifist bonus in its horizontal stages also. I don't like this in a shmup since it just doesn't seem right.

J-Manic · Post by **J-Manic** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:38 pm

Actually, I do this quite often just for fun. I mostly try to do it with manic shmups (which is tough!), like DDP, Giga Wing, Gunbird 2, etc. Sometimes I'll try it out in games like Layer Section, Thunder Force V, Gradius V, etc. It doesn't last that long though.

But it sure is fun to train your bullet dodging skills! Especially in Ikaruga. Bullet absorbing is mucho fun!

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 2:18 am

Sometimes it's best not to go with guns blazing. Some shmups have enemies that explode into bullets when destroyed.

A classic example is good ole Asteroids. If you play that shmup shooting chaoticaly, you'll have too many little asteroids cluttering the screen.