Japanese top shmup player infos

[Frederik]

Now that I have a quite nice collection of shmup replays on my harddrive, can anyone give some information about the whole shmup player scene in japan?

For instance, what does abbrevations like Clover-TAC mean? Do they have sort of "clans" there? Do they make contests? How are top players approached when there are official replay DVDs of certain games released? I have the impression that some guys have to be some sort of all-round talents, while others concentrate on one game.

Maybe someone can give me a rundown of the best players? I guess this would be a lot easier if I could understand japanese (I don`t even have a font for that so the pages are all just ??? ????? ???? RANDOM STUFF ??? ??? 3.5 ???? ?????? CLEVER CAT MUSTARD UNDERWORLD ????? ).

Thanks in advance!

[agony]

(I don`t even have a font for that so the pages are all just ??? ????? ???? RANDOM STUFF ??? ??? 3.5 ???? ?????? CLEVER CAT MUSTARD UNDERWORLD ????? ).

just install japanese language support under windows

irgendwo bei regionale einstellungen, unterstuetzung fuer asiatische bla

[sven666]

(I don`t even have a font for that so the pages are all just ??? ????? ???? RANDOM STUFF ??? ??? 3.5 ???? ?????? CLEVER CAT MUSTARD UNDERWORLD ????? ).

just install japanese language support under windows

irgendwo bei regionale einstellungen, unterstuetzung fuer asiatische bla

ummm.. my windows fell off a truck

is there a way to get japanese fonts by using firefox or something that doesnt involve having an original windows CD...?

[agony]

(I don`t even have a font for that so the pages are all just ??? ????? ???? RANDOM STUFF ??? ??? 3.5 ???? ?????? CLEVER CAT MUSTARD UNDERWORLD ????? ).

just install japanese language support under windows

irgendwo bei regionale einstellungen, unterstuetzung fuer asiatische bla

ummm.. my windows fell off a truck

is there a way to get japanese fonts by using firefox or something that doesnt involve having an original windows CD...?

try to go with the IE to a japanese page like amazon.co.jp and hope that the IE is asking you if he should download the font pack, or get the IE install package and do a custom installation there should be something like japanese and so on.

and if I remind correctly is FF using this font too.

an other way is to install Microsoft Office there is a asian language setting too (the world is so easy with Microsoft Products )

[Icarus]

To make this easier, I'll list all your questions first:

1) For instance, what does abbrevations like Clover-TAC mean?
2) Do they have sort of "clans" there?
3) Do they make contests?
4) How are top players approached when there are official replay DVDs of certain games released?
5) I have the impression that some guys have to be some sort of all-round talents, while others concentrate on one game.
6) Maybe someone can give me a rundown of the best players?

1) TAC is his player initials, Clover is the team that he belongs to.

2) Yes they do. Most teams are made up of a small number of players who get together and share information, watch each other play, offer advice during observations and so on. Much like our two resident shmup teams, Cowboy (international) and AST (primarily Italian). Grab an issue of Arcadia and you'll no doubt see a lot of players listed with the [clan]-[initials] system or a variant of.

3) Contests are usually either organised by magazines - Arcadia being the main one in Japan - or by major arcades. They are usually done to support new releases, to provide on-going competition, or to restart interest in a particular game.

4) Through high-score listings in gaming magazines. The top listed players are the ones usually approached (obviously).

5) Most, if not all players concentrate on one particular game or a game style - for example, the owner of the Viper Phase One record, is also an accomplished Raiden Fighters series player. TAC is an expert Cave player. T3-CYR-WIZ is a master Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga player. Players will usually select a game style that they particularly enjoy, and work on mastering it, rather than mixing and matching through a lot of games like we tend to do.

6) A few are: Clover-TAC, Clover-YMN, DAB.S, Laos, T3-CYR-WIZ, SYO, DXP-Yoshidaya, Archer (ARC), KMT, SWY, KDK-ASK, ISO...

And no, I'm not making any of those up. ^_-

[Plasmo]

does anyone know how much money (roughly) they get for lets say a replay on an INH dvd?

[Frederik]

Thank you Icarus for this - once again - delightfully detailed information. And its nice how you other guys explain how I install those fonts, but I couldn`t read them anyway, so it`s nothing more than a cosmetic change for me.

How many of you understand japanese anyways?

[Frederik]

does anyone know how much money (roughly) they get for lets say a replay on an INH dvd?

Adding to that question, do those players make a living from shmupping?

[GaijinPunch]

Probably not a whole lot. Quite often the player in those videos is actually a winner of a contest. The recent ESPGaluda II DVD was, and I assume Mushi was too, but don't know. I figure they get 20-30,000 yen for their time.

It's also not just shooting games. Fighting games (and I assume other old school arcade genres) also have "famous players" that make appearances in Arcadia. An old employee of Sega Gigo told me they do get a small guarantee for appearances in magazines. 10-20,000 yen.

[ArrogantBastard]

Archer (ARC)

I don't mean to nitpick and all, but isn't Archer's initials usually ACR?

For example:

[zlk]

Probably not a whole lot. Quite often the player in those videos is actually a winner of a contest. The recent ESPGaluda II DVD was, and I assume Mushi was too, but don't know. I figure they get 20-30,000 yen for their time.

$200-$300 for a superplay? I think that price is a bit low. A player could make a replay, sell it himself on yahoo.jp, and clear way more than that if they wanted to. If it only costs $300 to hire a player to make a replay, someone get me in contact with LAOS-長田仙人. I would pay him way more than that to make donpachi, mushihime tama, and batrider videos.

[GaijinPunch]

Well, I'm not quoting, but I was quoted a price for an interview with a famous VF player, and it was pretty cheap.

If they wanted to make their own DVD, they'd have to pay licensing. Sure, there are doujin DVDs out there, but I don't think the players are that involved with them.

EDIT: ESPGaluda II might not've been a contest. At the back of the booklet, it shows a whiteboard the two used to calculate the best ways to score. I think they were hired.

[Icarus]

I don't mean to nitpick and all, but isn't Archer's initials usually ACR?

I'm probably confusing the Japanese player ACR (Archer) with the Western player ARC again -_-;;

Thank you Icarus for this - once again - delightfully detailed information. How many of you understand japanese anyways?

You're welcome. ^_-

And I understand a bit of Japanese, been self-teaching myself for a while with books, audio tapes, and practicing translating manga and anime as a hobby.

[ArrogantBastard]

I'm probably confusing the Japanese player ACR (Archer) with the Western player ARC again -_-;;

[EOJ]

T3-CYR-WIZ is a master Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga player. Players will usually select a game style that they particularly enjoy, and work on mastering it, rather than mixing and matching through a lot of games like we tend to do.

Well, WIZ also holds world records in Dragon Blaze, Battle Garegga, and Shikigami II. That's good amount of 'mixing and matching' of play styles.

[Rastan78]

Yeah, some of the top shmup players are able to compete at a high level not only across a (extremely) wide variety of shmups from different makers but across genres such as puzzle, fighting, beat-em-up, mahjong etc. After all these guys more or less spend their entire youth in the arcades. TAC for example is a master of other games including Ikaruga, Dimahoo and Tetris. LAOS had records for Rainbow Islands and some Mahjong game I think. The whole gaming clan thing also crosses over genres to almost every type of game going.

Somewhere I came across a Japanese page that had different players ranked into tiers. IIRC the top tier had only three players and it was ISO, LAOS and one other guy. Next down was guys like Yusemi and DAB.S and so on. Interesting stuff, I'll try to find the link again.

[GaijinPunch]

I thnk even though certain players are assocaited with being the best of a given game, a lot of them jump around. There was a Progear Superplay DVD on Yahoo Japan (might be the 2-loop video floating about on the net) that was done by Futabishi, the Type-B Ketsui DVD player. TAC, perhaps not the best player, was very skilled at Ibara, yet he's only "famous" for the ESP* games. I heard him mention he played a lot of Ikaruga as well.

[Valgar]

You mean Type-A Ketsui.

TAC got 31m in Ikaruga and had the high score in Arcadia for a month. This happens to be the same month that WIZ broke his arm (seriously).

[Icarus]

Well, WIZ also holds world records in Dragon Blaze, Battle Garegga, and Shikigami II. That's good amount of 'mixing and matching' of play styles.

That might be true, but most players hold WRs in a select few game styles, concentrating on those particular games, while gaining top level scores in others. It's only the best of the best that are able to branch out into other styles. Your point is valid though. ^_-

However, last time I heard, WIZ no longer held the overall WR for Garegga, I think he lost out to another Gain player with a 20.7mil record last year.

It's when the players change their handles that it starts to get confusing. I didn't realise T3-CYR-WIZ and T3-Kamui (the Gain player on the Garegga DVD) were the same player up until recently.

To be honest, we all know about the achievements of the Japanese top players. I'm more interested in the achievements of the Western side of the planet, and what we can do to close the gap. I'd love to see a Western player with a shmup WR one day.

[NTSC-J]

Our own BBH has the WR in Shock Troopers, that's pretty cool.

[jpj-]

battle garegga scores:
http://www.aiva.emuita.it/gamest.php?pag=B

on a side note, i found out recently that "SOF" (from players like SOF-WTN, and SOF-Kou-MI etc) stands for Soldiers of Fortune.

does anyone know what the certain team name accronyms stand for at all.................? at the end of the ddp doj superplay dvd, the credits list some one as being part of "Team Stray Dogs" (LAOS?).

[Rastan78]

I'm more interested in the achievements of the Western side of the planet, and what we can do to close the gap. I'd love to see a Western player with a shmup WR one day.

When you look at the relative lack of activity in our scoring and strategy forums compared to the chat section, you can see that a lot would have to change. While competition isn't absolutely necessary, the more players we have gunning for higher scores and contributing to strategy discussion the better. Even if you're at 15th place and your goal is just to make the top 10, having something to reach for can make playing more fun and keep you going.

As many people who are here posting that are fanatical about shmups there are just not that many posts in a lot of the score threads. There is plenty of focus on whether Ibara has a perfect port or not but the truth is only a few people will invest all that much time and thought in any given title. I feel like overall there is a bit too much focus here on the fluff and not that much on gameplay, beginner or advanced.

Just brainstorming here, but it would be interesting to see if we could come up with some kind of incentive based scoring competition. Kind of like the Konami GV thing where the winner gets a t-shirt, game or DVD or something.

Just thinking out loud, but what if you could enter a contest on the forum with an actual prize? We could all Paypal a trusted forum member 5 or 10 bucks which would go towards the prize depending on the level of interest. The more entrants, the lower the entry fee could be. Let's take Ibara for example. You could have a contest where at the end of a deadline, the player with the highest score gets the new DVD upon release.

[cigsthecat]

Let's take Ibara for example. You could have a contest where at the end of a deadline, the player with the highest score gets the new DVD upon release.

Sounds like a plan.

We actually did something just like that a while back- Shapermc held a weekly contest with 8 bit shooters, and the cumulative highest scorers received prizes. It was fun and encouraged some heated competition.

[jpj-]

seconded.

although i think the money aspect would make people more apprehensive. and i have to admit, most of the strategy threads are waffle spread over 5-10 pages. why isn't there more definitive FAQS, such as valgar's ketsui thread? but anyway, i think that's a great idea.

[Rastan78]

I think the way to handle the money would be to have an entry deadline. Then when you know how many people are going to enter just divide that into the cost of the prize for your entry fee. Also there would be a set minimum number of entrants for the contest to be a green light just to make sure the potential entry fee will not be too high.

As far as the trust factor goes, I don't think anyone here that has been posting 1 year plus would want to ruin their reputation here by nabbing everyone's money. I could think of a lot better scams to make a couple bucks.

Hmm, at first I was just thinking out loud, but I might actually try to host this.

[Valgar]

I was going to set up a contest for the COWBOY website this summer but whatever.

[jpj-]

no, i just meant people might not want to *pay* to enter a score competition on a game they know they aren't that great at... besides, why not have a high score competition just for the sake of it.

[Rastan78]

Yeah, some people would just think, "I suck so why enter?" but that sort of defeats the whole purpose of competition anyway. It's all about learning and improving. Of course only one person actually gets the prize, but everyone benefits from the increased competition and interaction.

[jpj-]

but that's just an opinion... me paypaling someone doesn't improve my scores. yes competition is good. bringing in as many people as possible is also good. but alienating people by asking them for an "entry fee"........................

[Rastan78]

Not really sure what you're trying to say. The entry fee would purely be to help cover the cost of the prize, nothing else. We already have a high score thread that's open to everyone.

@Valgar: What kind of competition did you have in mind? This is more of a brainstorm at this point, so I wouldn't necessarily count out your own idea.

Edit - broke off this thread here to avoid taking things any further OT.