Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

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EmperorIng
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by EmperorIng »

Been trying in vain to 1CC ZeroRanger. I got the final boss down to 4 little bits of health and fucked up. This was after several HOURS of run attempts and checkpoint practice last night. I was so mad it was hard to fall asleep. That fucking 2-3 train segment makes me lose so many hits. I use Type-B with the drill, but even then it's difficult to tell with the screen so cluttered where I can move without getting hit.

My end-of-year goals are to try to 1CC both ZeroRanger and ESPGaluda. I've been on and off savestate practicing ESPGaluda. A lot of bosses I used to think were impossible have gotten manageable. Particularly stage 4's train boss, and a few of the forms of the final boss. Now, the final form with the healing power still feels insurmountable. Anyone manage to beat it?

Getting through to stage 5 without losing lives is definitely a hang-up. It's easy to lose focus or get trapped at the st4 midboss, or during Seseri's second attack in st5.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Ajora »

I'm playing Musha Aleste on hard mode. As far as the genre goes, its difficulty isn't too severe, though that one miniboss on the final level that shoots all the seeker missiles at you is a major pain to deal with.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by EmperorIng »

Well, now that I am halfway to my goal above (ZeroRanger cleared). I guess it's now time to practice ESPGaluda runs exclusively! Then I'll treat myself to something more relaxing, like Game Tengoku. :wink:

If I'm lucky, I'll get to my average of... 6 1cc's a year. That's pretty lousy! In 2016 I cleared 16 shmups, even if half of that number were easier console games.
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Jonst
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Jonst »

Espgaluda 2. It seems I still remember how to play it and can even still get the hidden extend. I don't know if I'm playing it seriously yet though.
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Kollision
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Kollision »

Slowly chipping away at KOF Sky Stage...
Got a full chain in stage 4 for the first time last night, and boss 4A is almost worked out.
Will have to interrupt practice till next year, hopefully muscle memory will make its magic in the meantime. :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Stevens »

A little more Chaos Field.

Finally wrapped my head around scoring and have been doing a fair bit better (by my standards:).

Fill meter, switch to chaos field when you know lots of bullets are coming, spam wing layer (on top of whatever is spitting bullets) and lock on, raise combo. Obviously the real trick is having a high combo when the enemy dies. I'll get better at that, but in the meantime it is nice to see some progress even if it is just a little.
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mycophobia
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by mycophobia »

playing Truxton II on easy. when I 1-ALL it I'll move up to normal. Was going to go for the 2-ALL on Tatsujin but I don't think I have the patience; learning a second loop just isn't as much fun as learning a new game, for me.

anyways I think stage 5 is going to be a sticking point. lotsa enemy spawns to memorize
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Sir Ilpalazzo
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Sir Ilpalazzo »

Thunder Cross. Seems like a fairly easy clear; I got to the final stage after only a few hours. Will need to memorize stage 4 better if I'm going to beat the game though.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by durias »

Rival Megagun for Nintendo Switch
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by OmKol »

DOJ WL, day 131. Right before holidays I've checked my skill - easily can clear loop 1 but instantly got nervous on loop 2. I think I can get used to this with time. And now I can clear every stage from loop 2 quickly enough. I'm going to have a break during some events. Merry Christmas everyone! See ya in 2019!
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by EmperorIng »

durias wrote:Rival Megagun for Nintendo Switch
How is this? Looks neat, though I imagine it's hard to find players online.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by durias »

EmperorIng wrote:
durias wrote:Rival Megagun for Nintendo Switch
How is this? Looks neat, though I imagine it's hard to find players online.
It's amazing. Highly recommended. Haven't tried online play yet--been playing player v player locally.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by durias »

Rival Megagun for Nintendo Switch
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by durias »

I can't stop playing Rival Megagun (Nintendo Switch). One of the funniest games I've played in awhile and it's cheap! 8)
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Jonst »

I was making progress on espgaluda 2 recently, so I guess I was starting to try and play seriously, but I was very lucky to unexpectedly receive a ps4 for Christmas ... played ketsui deathtiny finally. Very fun, cleared it on my 3rd or 4th try. I might try to score properly next time.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BurlyHeart »

Went back to Super Hydorah and seen that my saved game had been erased. This is not the first time it's happened, and it's rather annoying as I find the game quite challenging. Made a back up on a USB this time.

Completed Ketsui Deathiny on Super Easy and had a blast. Feels smoother than the ps3 version. The music is something else, and I could feel the excitement levels rising as soon as I re-heard it. I've no chance of 1cc-ing the game on normal, but I'll chip away at it and see what I can do.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by EmperorIng »

I've now made it to Jakou the Jack-off a few times on my ESPGaluda practice, using Tateha. The year is running out... will I make it at the home stretch?

Even with all the practice, it seems like the safest strategy to make it through is to at least have 3 lives by the time the final phase of the last boss - though in practice I've done it with only losing one life! The final phase feels like it's partially down to luck whether or not my hitbox squeezes through some of the gaps. It is such a pain in the ass.

I'll usually lose a life by stage 4 or 5 if I'm not careful (I'm not), and have only beaten Seseri without losing any lives once or twice. That means about 4 lives to get through stage 5-2, which realistically means not dying during the Alice spam (not always guaranteed) and trying to get through all the prior phases of Jakou without dying (this is VERY hard to do, almost impossible for me). Current sticking points:

1) first phase's final attack, when the machine has all four wings blown off. I try to survive as long as possible without using resources, and finish it early with a charged bomb
2) Fem-Jakou's first attack, with the alternating spiral waves of bullets. This is really fucking hard, even if it's just tap-dodging. Very confusing to look at.
3) Combined-Jakou's first phase. For the most part it's not so bad, but getting out of the way of the final spread without using a bomb is very risky, especially since by that time I don't have many gems left. It's the side detritus falling the way that gets me.
4) Combo's penultimate phase, before the gem battle. I try to bomb liberally once I'm cornered by the twin spread to end it as quick as I can, because I can't trust the deceptively dumb hitboxes on some of the larger puffy bullets.

This just feels like almost too much to learn and master before my self-imposed goal.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by munchiaz »

I got muchi muchi pork / pink sweets for xmas, so I've been playing muchi muchi. I havent had a chance to really sit down and play it proper though.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Stevens »

When I haven't been pretending to be an outlaw I've been playing Ketsui (arcade mode).

Doesn't matter how much time passes - whenever I start playing any Cave title for the first time I become allergic to bombing. Then I remind myself to stop dying with bombs in stock and voila' - instant progress.

I can nmnb stage one and I have managed it on stage two maybe twice. Typically I will bomb this pattern - https://youtu.be/ZDNCqb7QRwQ?t=349, but have been practicing without.

Close to breaking through to stage four, even if stage three still looks like shit.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by durias »

STRIKERS 1945 II for Nintendo Switch (because Metal Jesus Rocks put i in his top ten Switch shmups. (i.e. https://youtu.be/jxISX0lCAOI)
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Stevens »

Still Ketsui arcade, have broken through to stage four:D

My progress read by Mario:

Stage one and two not a so bad anymore. Stage three look a little less like a dog shit - look a like high end shit. On the up side my score is improving - finally earned both score extends. The 1 UP on three's mid boss going to take some practice.
Last edited by Stevens on Mon Dec 31, 2018 10:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by mycophobia »

mycophobia wrote:playing Truxton II on easy. when I 1-ALL it I'll move up to normal. Was going to go for the 2-ALL on Tatsujin but I don't think I have the patience; learning a second loop just isn't as much fun as learning a new game, for me.

anyways I think stage 5 is going to be a sticking point. lotsa enemy spawns to memorize
stage 5 continues to be an absolute motherfucker, but i'm learning. i seem to be able to consistently get the two bonus 1 ups there, which is nice. made it well into stage 6 on one of my games but have yet to repeat that.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Jonst »

Stevens wrote:Still Ketsui arcade, have broken through to stage four:D

My progress read by Mario:

Stage one and two not a so bad anymore. Stage three look a little less like a dog shit - look a like high end shit. On the up side my score is improving - finally earned both score extends. The 1 UP on three's mid boss going to take some practice.
The stage 3 midboss extend isn't actually that bad to get. Just make sure you've taken out all turrets and when it starts to go crazy, hang out in the middle to bottom right hand side of the screen. It's not as hard to dodge as you think!
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by professor ganson »

durias wrote:STRIKERS 1945 II for Nintendo Switch (because Metal Jesus Rocks put i in his top ten Switch shmups. (i.e. https://youtu.be/jxISX0lCAOI)
Thanks for sharing this video, which I really enjoyed. I love how much Psikyo they included. And I guess I've been mispronouncing "Psikyo" my whole life, so that was a revelation. Dragon Blaze as an honorable mention would seem like a slight, but they actually acknowledge that the dragon shot mechanic is an improvement over Gunbird 2, which was pretty high on the list.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Just 1CC'd RollingGunner (or is it Rolling Gunner? the game files and artwork appear to have it without a space).

Fantastic game - the quality of the production values is reminiscent of Crimzon Clover: World Ignition. I'm trying to decide which shot type I prefer between the narrow and speedy shot or the balanced shot type - speed's pretty helpful in several cases, but there are also some slow and tight patterns which are easier with a slower move speed.

Casual Difficulty is a good Novice mode for players who aren't good at shmups but still want to enjoy the game. It's an easy 1CC on your first try though for anyone experienced with arcade difficulty ships as autobombs cost only 1 bomb (for a vastly shorter bomb), and the bullets are all relatively slow due to the lack of a rank system.

Original Difficulty is a blast and is a fairly tricky clear, with the rank mechanic making it similar to Mushihimesama Futari Black Label's difficulty in the sense that it's much easier to go for a 1CC than to play for score. To score well you have to earn medals in hyper/double hyper which also raises the rank. Higher rank gives a multiplier bonus to scoring and that really cranks up the scores while also making the game much more difficult. However, you get lots of powerful, long duration manual bombs to use, which also lower the rank considerably, so as you get better at the game and use fewer bombs you get to score better and keep rank higher. It's also less punishing than Crimzon Clover is in terms of risky scoring, as you can freely bomb out of double hyper.

Enemies are quite nasty though, with lots of stuff popping out all around you at a pace that's on par with or sometimes even more frantic than Progear or Deathsmiles (which both have easy to use lockon shots or direction switching, whereas you have to manually move the ship around to aim). It's a lot of fun to control once you get the hang of it (the focus shot tends to be your go to weapon, and I rarely stay in rapid shot mode for long).

The item based extend is relatively easy to get, and the score extends are easily obtained as well so nothing weird going on in terms of survival. There's also some fantastic encounters that show up, and some of the between stage cutscenes are pretty badass too. Really glad I picked up the physical release, I hope this game gets a digital release so more folks get to see it played.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by professor ganson »

Been playing a couple PC Engine hu-cards:

Xevious Fardraut
Formation Armed F

I'm probably going to move on to some other shmups in the next couple days. As much as I like these games, the cheap deaths are a bit of a drag. The second stage of Armed F has a narrow gap that you're supposed to squeeze through in a timely fashion and I get stuck there too often. Xevious Fardraut is less frustrating-- I might go back to it soon.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Ajora »

I'm playing Area 88 (otherwise known as UN Squadron). Easy and normal mode were no problem for me, but hard mode is another story. The temporary autofire design decision is baffling and annoying, but I've enabled autofire on Joytokey as a means of circumventing it. The bonus stages are boring and tedious. It also takes way too long to save up for the final ship. Other than all that, the game is terrific.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Stevens »

Still Ketsui arcade.

Have routes down to the tune of 50 million by the end of stage three. Which is getting further and further away from looking like shit and starting to resemble something that looks like I have an idea of what I'm doing.

Haven't spent much time on stage four. The opening is rough, mid boss is OK, but after that its the shit stage three used to look like. Currently zero idea how to proceed after the mid boss.

For now.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Jonst »

I've actually been enjoying ghost blade hd. Finally, it doesn't feel embarrassing to play anymore.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by NeoStrayCat »

Jonst wrote:I've actually been enjoying ghost blade hd. Finally, it doesn't feel embarrassing to play anymore.
Ditto, I've been on a Ghost Blade kick recently, so much that I have it on all current gen systems (minus WiiU and DC versions, of course).

And a few random STG's to play here and there.
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