Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[LordHypnos]

You're making better progress than me. Hyper is such a pain. I usually end my run by level 3, but sometimes I make it to level 4. Not counting all the ragequits on the second stage.

Well, I'm glad I'm not alone at least. I thought I was going crazy. What weapon / device combination are you using? I'm doing Mae / Power / Cluster Missile. I feel like the cluster missile does not make things easier though there are some pretty fun scoring things that you can do with it that you maybe can't with other weapons, particularly where you start a chain with it and then it kills enough enemies to max out the chain then all the hits it gets starting at 8 will be worth x64. That being said, I don't think my score is very good either, lol.

A lot of the time though cluster missile means that you have to look up near the top of the screen to aim which often leads to not seeing the bullets near your ship and running into them. Then there's a few RNG places that make it even harder. Some of them probably only affect the cluster missile like those stupid groups of three enemies in stage 4 that randomly choose to be further apart from eachother sometimes than other times. I can't really blame most of my sucking on RNG, though.

ragequits on the second stage.

so true

[mycophobia]

I no-missed to the stage 4 boss in Tatsujin, and it didn't feel like a fluke. I have a clear no-miss route to stage 5, and through credit feeding stage 5 is just beginning to come together too. I have a good feeling about this game, it's just hard to grind on (one credit to stage 5 + credit feeding to end = 50 minutes x_x).

[EmperorIng]

Yeah, those marathon games can be really draining. It's not fun playing Gradius 3 for 25 minutes only to die on stage 4 and essentially find out you wasted your time.

Speaking of which, I've been so burnt out getting pissed at Gradius III that I needed to play something less agonizingly broken* to calm down. Went ahead and 1CC'd Thunder Force V again - haven't picked up the game since I last cleared it years ago now. Died a bunch on the final boss as per usual. Does the Saturn version have an unlockable ship a la the Rynex or something? I can't remember. I do know you need to beat Hard to unlock Mania, which I haven't done yet.

You're making better progress than me. Hyper is such a pain. I usually end my run by level 3, but sometimes I make it to level 4. Not counting all the ragequits on the second stage.

Well, I'm glad I'm not alone at least. I thought I was going crazy. What weapon / device combination are you using? I'm doing Mae / Power / Cluster Missile. I feel like the cluster missile does not make things easier though there are some pretty fun scoring things that you can do with it that you maybe can't with other weapons, particularly where you start a chain with it and then it kills enough enemies to max out the chain then all the hits it gets starting at 8 will be worth x64. That being said, I don't think my score is very good either, lol.

I use Mae/Power/Laser. While the laser is pretty slow, I'm a creature of habit with big-ol' forward-firing lasers, and the high damage output seems ideal. I remember the dev (danbo?) saying that a lot of players preferred the barrier weapon (can't remember its name), but that one never "clicked" with me. Given the relative health of popcorn in the game, I don't know if any other loadout aside from Power is worth it.

[LordHypnos]

I use Mae/Power/Laser. While the laser is pretty slow, I'm a creature of habit with big-ol' forward-firing lasers, and the high damage output seems ideal. I remember the dev (danbo?) saying that a lot of players preferred the barrier weapon (can't remember its name), but that one never "clicked" with me. Given the relative health of popcorn in the game, I don't know if any other loadout aside from Power is worth it.

I've seen a few non power replays. At least Val Wide (which is narrower than Mae Wide which is kind of ridiculous). Worth mentioning that our forum's (and probably outside of the forum too, but IDK) champ, Marus, uses Mae Trace (gradius style options), and it sounded like he found it to be better than whatever loadout he was using before. Also he uses hyper laser. Just looking at the shmups high score thread it looks like hyper laser and arc caster are the most popular, IIRC, and hyper laser is probably better for scoring. Cluster missile is interesting, but frustrating. Actually another nice thing about it is that it seems to go through ammo pretty slowly compared to some others, but I'm not sure if it's the best on that front. I really haven't done much weapon experimentation.

[Marc]

Gokujyou Parodius. Finishes the first loop with the stick-man, and got annihilated on the special stage - as in lost a six life cushion.
Lost the last life on that wall of tiles after the bubbles.
Only real difficulty I have now is with the space stage that throws the waves of popcorn. First time I reached it I sailed through it to the extent that I thought it was some kind of joke stage. Hit it a couple of times yesterday and rank was on overdrive - it was throwing so many bullets around that everything on screen was flickering, which combined with those spinning tile things really messed with my vision. Lost two lives recovering there.
Great game, though it makes me sad I no longer have a Saturn as I'm guessing that doesn't slow and flicker quite this badly.
Jikkyo worth playing?

[Stevens]

Still at Under Defeat and recently have started to consider a no option clear.

I messed with it a little the other day. First stage was not too different, but by the first battleship on stage two it was apparent it would be a far different play through. I wound up making it to the stage three mid boss.

Haven't gone back to it yet, but I do think it's possible.

[LordHypnos]

Still at Under Defeat and recently have started to consider a no option clear.

I messed with it a little the other day. First stage was not too different, but by the first battleship on stage two it was apparent it would be a far different play through. I wound up making it to the stage three mid boss.

Haven't gone back to it yet, but I do think it's possible.

Would definitely make the bosses pretty intense, that's for sure. It'd be even worse than when you accidentally pick up vulcan before fighting one.

[Stevens]

Haven't played since the weekend.

Died once on 2-4, start 2-5 with two bombs and a ship in reserve.

No problem I got this, just keep your cool. I let the tanks pass and I eat a bullet from one of the heavy copters. FUCK. Then the giant plane flies on screen, I drop the option, move a second too slow, and my fucking credit is over.

Sweet Fucking Christ.

Is there any good I can salvage from this run? This one stung.

- NM 1st loop and lost my 1st life on 2-4
- I'm rarely playing and I reached 2-5 for the third time in two weeks

The Bad

- Dying at the heavy copters AGAIN (my PB run, today, and my last run to 2-5 all ended there) has forced me to re think my plan through that section.
- Dying on the four engine plane?! WHAT THE FUCK? That shit should never happen, especially in a survival run.

[LordHypnos]

^That seems to be the way so often. Do everything right up to a point then just fuck up miserably, somewhere you shouldn't.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

It's still incredible to just be able to loop Under Defeat. That game is really stingy with resources for a 2 loop game, so I can definitely see how a run would go from success to failure in a few seconds time.

[Stevens]

It's still incredible to just be able to loop Under Defeat. That game is really stingy with resources for a 2 loop game, so I can definitely see how a run would go from success to failure in a few seconds time.

^That seems to be the way so often. Do everything right up to a point then just fuck up miserably, somewhere you shouldn't.

Last time I was reaching 2-5 this often I got my HS but quit going for the ALL when I moved on to something else. Despite the earlier credit I am having more fun playing it than ever.

On a side note Roo - You gave me the idea to play UD without using the option. Thanks.

[LordHypnos]

Still practicing blue revolver. Mostly been practicing stage 5. Just grinding on hopes of getting more consistent with my route. Also decided to take a break to play some Mars Matrix. Worked on trying to optimize stage 4 a bit and trying to not use auto pierce. Found some promising stuff, but still needs tweaking to actually work. Only working on the very first battleship for now.

[Stevens]

I know about the shield delay, but does using auto pierce do more dps? I could never get manual to fire quite as fast.

[LordHypnos]

I know about the shield delay, but does using auto pierce do more dps? I could never get manual to fire quite as fast.

i think the Dreamcast auto setting fires faster than you could manually, though I'm not 100% might just be that timing is really difficult to get perfectly.

I kind of want to figure out a non auto route for mm so i can eventually get the ac countertop. i think that i could probably pull off everything other than stage 4 already (though the execution required will be higher). Besides that, my stage 4 chain seems really suboptimal, so i was hoping i could kill two birds with one stone by learning a new route for the stage that either doesn't require auto, or more likely can be done with or without auto reliably, and creates a lot more golden cubes to add to the chain. Actually, i might decide to improve stage 5 first because i can probably get more experience from improving stage 5 than stage 4.

First, though, i have to get blue revolver hyper mode cleared. Which reminds me. There's a gauge across the top of the screen in b*r that i wasn't sure what it tracks, but i think it might be the rank. If so, that will be helpful, i think.

[CloudyMusic]

First, though, i have to get blue revolver hyper mode cleared. Which reminds me. There's a gauge across the top of the screen in b*r that i wasn't sure what it tracks, but i think it might be the rank. If so, that will be helpful, i think.

Yeah, it's rank by default. You can also set it to show your special weapon ammo instead, which is mostly useful on Parallel (and Normal?) where the rank is fixed.

[LordHypnos]

Yeah, it's rank by default. You can also set it to show your special weapon ammo instead, which is mostly useful on Parallel (and Normal?) where the rank is fixed.

Ah, nice. I think there's rank in normal it just maxes out at like 3 or something. The one weird thing is that when you play practice mode and start at rank 5 (haven't checked what happens in a real run yet) the rank actually drops gradually then goes down to 4 then starts climbing back up to 5 again. Maybe it doesn't drop as fast if you're getting a lot of x64s and breaks, or something, Haven't really figured out the particulars yet.

[Tokyo-J]

Danmaku Unlimited 3 and Dragon Blaze when my daughter is not busy hogging the Switch playing Splatoon 2. Crimson Clover , Pro Gear , DDP SDOJ , Strikers 1999 , Zero Gunner 2 , and Blazing Star on the Arcade Cabinets.

[mycophobia]

decided to switch from Tatsujin to Truxton and I made it to the last checkpoint before the final boss with eight lives. I lost every one of them lol. I still don't have a solid route for the popcorn barrage right before the boss cuz I have to use all my bombs on the minibosses right before it. it took me two more credits to clear, so I believe the 1CC is imminent. just need that magic run

[crazyrexz]

playing silk worm, and fixeight, slowly enjoying the stages

[Klatrymadon]

Been hammering Darius Extra for the last couple of weeks. The remaining lives contribute so much to your score that in spite of this version's clampdown on milking techniques I reckon I can break 10m with a bit more work. Grab the extends in zones M and X (these do a lot of the heavy lifting), don't die, don't miss too many high-value waves and you should be all set. I think Extra is the better version overall, especially for score-play. It cuts out the things that could make the original one a slog and encourages a more risk-taking, aggressive style.

I'm also practicing Darius II (two-screen version), and Grand Octopus is griefing the fuck out of me. The mini-octos he throws out are probably the most temperamental obstacle to deal with in the game. The trick is to herd them up and off the screen and ignore the big guy, but half the time they'll just fire behind themselves/back down at you, so it's always an unpredictable fight. Still, almost there!

[mycophobia]

alright so for the checkpoint right before the final boss on Truxton, if I can just keep one of the big ships from the miniboss section alive indefinitely and avoid his bullets then I don't have to suffer the brunt of the popcorn barrage; I feel like this is my best bet. I only have to use two bombs to kill the first one and leave the second one just barely alive, so I can then use the remaining bomb to hobble to the last checkpoint, die (probably), and then clear the game on my next life. The final boss isn't too tough; just survive three cycles and bomb him twice and he goes down easy.

[MJR]

I am playing Raiden DX pcb again. I discovered, to my horror, that I have been playing the board on "hard" settings ever since I bought it. Now I turned it into "normal" and it's just a breeze. It is going to be very interesting what kind of high scores I will get.

[XoPachi]

Trying to understand Dimahoo. I'll be honest....I don't understand any Raizing game. I just play them and things happen on screen. And then I see other people play them and it's like I got the wrong game or something.

[Squire Grooktook]

Battle Garegga on PS4...

...hoo boy, the rankograph is an eye opener. I've been playing the game wrong this whole fucking time.

Me, on the first 5 stages: Since I'm ahead, I'll just kill myself twice in a row to bring rank extra low!!

Actual results, exposed by rankograph: the first death is enough to lower rank to a big 0, and succeeding deaths actually hurt your attempt to control rank by depriving you of resources you could have used to control it later.

My entire strategy and understanding of the game has been turned on its head, holy shit.

Also did M2 kill the fucking Earth Crisis milk? Holy shit you glorious madmen!

[Shepardus]

Battle Garegga on PS4...

...hoo boy, the rankograph is an eye opener. I've been playing the game wrong this whole fucking time.

Me, on the first 5 stages: Since I'm ahead, I'll just kill myself twice in a row to bring rank extra low!!

Actual results, exposed by rankograph: the first death is enough to lower rank to a big 0, and succeeding deaths actually hurt your attempt to control rank by depriving you of resources you could have used to control it later.

My entire strategy and understanding of the game has been turned on its head, holy shit.

Also did M2 kill the fucking Earth Crisis milk? Holy shit you glorious madmen!

I think I cleared the entire game without ever intentionally killing myself, except a few rare occasions when I had maximum lives (in which case dying barely lowers rank so it's more for the bomb fragments). I figured that all my unintentional deaths would be enough to control rank, and they were for the most part.

I don't think M2 changed the Earth Crisis milk, at least not in the arcade mode (I don't know how the arrange mode plays). Searching around on YouTube, I still see Kamui milking that.

[CloudyMusic]

Nothing has changed in Arcade Mode. The milk depends on you leaving one of the small round turrets in the center alive so the core never activates, though, and it's pretty easy to kill them all accidentally if you're not specifically paying attention to it.

[Shepardus]

Played through and cleared the Cambria Sword demo twice today (and two more failed attempts yesterday). Perhaps the most fitting description I can come up with is "unreasonably epic." It's so extravagant in multiple ways, from the explosive arsenal to the pounding metal soundtrack, from the massive bosses to the ridiculously long stages (seriously, this game makes Tatsujin Ou look like a Psikyo game, the two-stage demo is already 15-20 minutes and the full game's 10 stages clocks in at over three hours), that even the janky bits seem forgivable. The stages have a tendency to drag, which isn't surprising for a game this long, but that impression's based on the first two stages, and I view it as methodically paced rather than lightning fast anyway. Something about the graphics makes me think of old Windows games (probably the colors), but it looks better in motion thanks to surprisingly good animation (mainly on the bosses) and all the effects (did I mention that the boss death explosions are the most ridiculously over-the-top I've seen in ages?).

I'm strongly considering picking up the full game, but there's something I didn't really understand about it, and that's the weapon system. I only saw a handful of primary weapons and about the same number of secondary weapons. Each of the primary weapons has a regular fire and a charge attack mode, and at least one of them I've seen has a bit of nuance beyond that (after releasing the charge attack of the missile weapon, you can either let the missile fly into its target or press fire again to split it into four homing missiles). But I've seen mention of dozens of weapons and random "rare" weapons, and the videos I've seen include weapons I didn't see in my own experience. I'm not sure if I missed something or if they're not all available in the demo... probably both.

Also, this is another game created using StgBuilder, which was also used for Mecha Ritz, Kaikan, Kirisame Blade, and a bunch of others. Seems like a neat tool judging by what people have created with it, pity there isn't much about it here, probably because it's all in Japanese.

[Marc]

Messing around with Dragon Blaze on Switch, nice. Though the charge shot doesn't seem to be working properly for some reason. Seems to work until I hit full power, then refuses full stop, unless that's how it's supposed to be? Still, I like.

[mycophobia]

Truxton is down to a 2CC. just need to not lose like six lives like an idiot at the end of stage 4

[Stevens]

Truxton is down to a 2CC. just need to not lose like six lives like an idiot at the end of stage 4

Almost there.