Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

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

Post by Nahar »

Starfighter wrote:I haven't had a lot of time to play shmups over the holidays but I've put a few credits into Samurai Aces on Switch. I like it even if I feel the bullets are faster than the ships to a point that it's almost a bit annoying. Anyway, I made it to stage 5 or 6 after a few tries, I wonder if a 1CC is possible without too much practice? Time will tell!
I played this game a bit before getting my 1CC in Andro Dunos 2 on december. The 1CC doesn't looks that hard, but the game has some annoying quirks as you pointed.
Nugs
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Nugs »

Akai Katana Shin.
Have got the hang of scoring just enough to get both extends and can get to stage 6 boss which somehow still feels a long way off a 1cc.
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BydoR9
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BydoR9 »

Newbie here!

Played Progear quite a bit (Switch) yesterday. I couldn't be bothered to set up a second controller to adjust the gunner position though.

It doesn't feel laggy to me using my F500 Elite either (I'm sure it's probably 4 to 5 frames).

Afterwards I stuck on the Megadrive Mini 2 for some classic Truxton action with the corrected music.
Been playing R-Type since 1987 - Still can't get past level four!
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Starfighter
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Starfighter »

BydoR9 wrote:It doesn't feel laggy to me using my F500 Elite either (I'm sure it's probably 4 to 5 frames).
4 to 5 frames would be fine for me as well, I can't really feel any latency when it's 4 frames or under. 5-6 frames is "noticable but workable" for me while 7+ would be my "no thank you" zone. :)

I'm still playing Samurai Aces (I really like it for what it is) but I haven't put more than maybe twenty minutes into it since my last post. There's other games stealing my play time at the moment!
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XoPachi
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by XoPachi »

I got a Switch Lite as a gift recently.
I already have a normal Switch but, the Lite just feels way better to play on. Darius Gaiden is a dream on this and it's my favorite next to Mega Man ZX to play on this thing. I was sad that this thing is shockingly totally locked down so homebrew is basically impossible. But I'm getting so much use out of it just playing insane amounts of Darius on it. It's so perfectly suited to exactly this device and I'm playing it so much more than already did when I got Cozmic Arcade.

This thing's perfect for classic side scrollers. c:
Creamy Goodness
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Creamy Goodness »

Playing Bullet Soul now. Thought I would steamroll it based on how people said it was so easy, but I am having some trouble with it. The boss fights go on forever and the third stage boss is where the trouble starts. My most recent bullet hell clear is DDP Resurrection and I would say it is noticably more difficult than that.
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ACSeraph
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by ACSeraph »

Creamy Goodness wrote:Playing Bullet Soul now. Thought I would steamroll it based on how people said it was so easy, but I am having some trouble with it. The boss fights go on forever and the third stage boss is where the trouble starts. My most recent bullet hell clear is DDP Resurrection and I would say it is noticably more difficult than that.
Bullet Soul being "easy" is mostly an issue of bad pacing in the original release. It does actually get challenging enough to require some practice from stage 3 boss onwards, but it's mind-numbingly easy prior to that. I highly recommend playing Infinite Burst's burst mode over vanilla if you have access to it. It's a much more satisfying and balanced experience.

-----

As for me, I haven't been playing shmups quite like I used to. Darius of course, that's a staple of my gaming diet, but little else. Been back into DBAC+ event mode. The new courses they added in there are incredible.
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Sengoku Strider
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Sengoku Strider »

Taking my first serious crack at G-Darius HD since it arrived. First impressions are: wow, this game is freaking fantastic. I've never had anyone be able to explain what was special about it, but it's like a mashup of Gaiares & Gley Lancer, with the variety of options the enemy capture mechanic provides. The devs really leaned into the 3D aspect for the boss fights, and the result is the most creative fights I've seen in the series. And the weird underwater fish choir space opera music is in fine form here.
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m.sniffles.esq
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by m.sniffles.esq »

I've never had anyone be able to explain what was special about it

In the defense of anyone, it's kind of indescribable.
I really, really, really miss the days where the goal seemed to be not to deliver what the player expected, but to deliver what the player didn't expect.

Nowadays, it seems if that's attempted (in pretty much any media), it's met with 'Uh, I'm not sure I understand it. Why didn't they just make something normal?'

Even looking at the RNG thread depressed me. 'Man, when I'm having a good run, then something surprises me?? Makes me want to chuck the game...'
Steven
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Steven »

You can never go wrong with some super trippy Darius music. You'd have a hard time convincing me that the composers for this series were not using some sort of illegal drugs or something, but since I have always liked Darius music I am not complaining!
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NeoStrayCat
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by NeoStrayCat »

Graze Counter GM, the updated version of the original with more stuff. And its also on consoles too outside of PC/Steam.
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davyK
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by davyK »

Futari on 360. Original Mode.

I last played this years ago and could never deal with level 3 properly. Returning to it after 1CCing Mushi Original and level 3 has lost its fear factor for me.

Getting deep into level 4 on most runs. Scored over 90m to tonight....20m more than I ever did - just after 3 hrs of play over 3 nights.
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Stevens
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Stevens »

Just deleted everything on my Zero Ranger file. Wanted to experience it fresh.
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Lander
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Lander »

Blew through Totsugeki! Ponkotsu Tank - a simple but fun gameboy push-scroller with one-way turret rotation.
Dead easy, but an interesting curiosity on account of being made by HAL.
Plenty of signature explosions, it might as well be a Kirby gaiden game starring the cannon baddie.

Of particular note is the goofy setting: cartoony Japan, but if the industrial revolution was run by slapstick comedians.
In this world, intuitive design is a myth, and Gundam are programmed to pratfall :lol:
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Aceskies
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Aceskies »

I was doing a near perfect run in Akai Katana and fucked up really hard in the last stage, losing all lives there. I almost cried.
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Starfighter
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Starfighter »

Samurai Aces and it's starting to get to me. I've come to the point where I can no miss evey stage and boss separately with ease, but every time I try going for the 1CC I screw up something. Running in to one single stray bullet, letting a midboss reach it's second pattern (often overwhelmingly fast/chaotic bullets) or something like that. The fact that I haven't gotten the 1CC already, when I feel like I should have, makes me get nerves where I really shouldn't. :D
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davyK
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by davyK »

Starfighter wrote:Samurai Aces and it's starting to get to me. I've come to the point where I can no miss evey stage and boss separately with ease, but every time I try going for the 1CC I screw up something. Running in to one single stray bullet, letting a midboss reach it's second pattern (often overwhelmingly fast/chaotic bullets) or something like that. The fact that I haven't gotten the 1CC already, when I feel like I should have, makes me get nerves where I really shouldn't. :D

I know the feeling - I got to the same point as you did....

I gave up .... I was just getting too annoyed with it.



But I will return to it one day.
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jehu
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by jehu »

Confession. I had a major retroactive "do not cast pearls before swine" revelation feat. yours truly as swine.

I picked up Psyvariar Delta several years ago, and the game did not click with me. I wrote it off as a pretty jank mid-tier DC-era barren 3D backgrounds early 2000s nostalgia tickler. The slick presentation of the reboot was probably better than the game deserved, I thought.

I was a dolt.

The formula finally clicked with me, and now that I know what I actually have...

Psyvariar Delta is an insanely nice package. One of the best STG rereleases of the generation by City Connection. You have three variations on the game, two of them - Revision and Delta - are gaming-crack masterpieces. Delta itself, the new arrange, is a very thoughtful take on the original game. Not to mention the inclusion of four OST arranges, including a great remix of Cybattler's OST with fantastic tracks by Watanabe and others (what a fucking unlikely and awesome thing to have commissioned). Not to mention that Blanche, the DLC ship, makes for a great entry point into the series for beginners. And, yes, the presentation - the intro clip, the menus, the settings options, the gadgets - are all very slick and actually useful.

Never too late to repent for a dumb opinion.
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BIL
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BIL »

From what I've seen here over the years, when Psyvariars click, they click hard. :smile: Spartanly-adorned, technique-fixated, infinitely challenging score attacks. Buzzing and body-ramming through stages wreathed in burning plasma, riding the line between invincibility and oblivion as the CPU dispassionately machineguns LVLUP-LVLUP-LVLUP, what can initially seem puzzlingly short and simple conceals blistering heights of unadulterated hardcore; dicing death with the kind of mortal intensity that slows the perception of time. Delta's a good'un, indeed!
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Rastan78
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Rastan78 »

Psyvariar 2 is great as well. Don't sleep on that one. I might put it in my 3rd favorite spot for Naomi shmups after Shiki 2 and Border Down.
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BrianC
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BrianC »

I like how Cotton Rock 'n Roll has a Psyvariar based caracter (Ria). Does the series proud!
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Starfighter
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Starfighter »

Nice to see some Psyvariar love! Psyvariar Complete Edition (Medium Unit and Revision) on PS2 was my second shmup purchase ever and therefore commands a special place in my heart. It also made me get Psyvariar 2 on DC soon after. Good stuff!
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Sturmvogel Prime »

Going after the achievements in Graze Counter GM is one nice challenge for those who are looking for a bullet grazing hell.
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Starfighter
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Starfighter »

davyK wrote:I know the feeling - I got to the same point as you did....

I gave up .... I was just getting too annoyed with it.

But I will return to it one day.
I beat it yesterday! Woooh! :) There's two things I learned that made it happen:

1. There's a ton of safespots in the later parts of the game, to the point where it almost feels like cheesing. This video by Buzzy shows most of them.

2. An average (or slightly below average in my case) player only need three bombs to make the two last levels almost completely risk free, so when playing for survival; use a bomb everytime you feel uncomfortable, there's no need to stock up.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Steven »

I was advised to try Dangun Feveron, so I bought it on PS4 with Mahou Daisakusen. Dangun Feveron has some crazy fast bullets! Was definitely not expecting them to be that fast! I kind of like this game, but the music volume seems extremely low for some reason, even when I put it at 100% in the settings.
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Nahar
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Nahar »

This week I'll take a break from my ZeroRanger 1CC try to play some Zero Wing with some friends from a telegram spanish retrogaming group!
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Lethe
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Lethe »

Steven wrote:Dangun Feveron has some crazy fast bullets! Was definitely not expecting them to be that fast!
It's got rank speed too, which is a questionable difficulty increase, but will make you wonder why so many other things are slow afterwards.

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

Post by Steven »

Lethe wrote:
Steven wrote:Dangun Feveron has some crazy fast bullets! Was definitely not expecting them to be that fast!
It's got rank speed too, which is a questionable difficulty increase, but will make you wonder why so many other things are slow afterwards.

Image
lol yeah this game is stupidly fast. I was absolutely not ready for how fast this game is at all, but I kind of like it this way. Not much to think about, either; set speed to max and speedkill everything and pick up the cyborgs. Generally I tend to like games significantly more as I play them more, so this game is off to a great start. I just wish the music was louder.
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BIL
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BIL »

Dangun is a masterpiece. I'd also mention Dragon Blaze for perfectly-integrated scoring - shotgunning large targets with the Dragon Shot is lucrative, survival-imperative, and damn good fun, a hearty triad - but it's Psikyo on 11, meaning harshly memo-intensive stages and bosses from st3 onward, and a loop from hell. But if you're on the right side of that dividing line, it'll last you forever. SYO's Quaid run is a thing of beauty, for the love of God don't watch those World of Longplays TASes. :lol:
Steven
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Steven »

Yeah, I've had Dragon Blaze on the Steam wish list for a few months now. I'm planning on trying a lot of stuff that I typically don't play this year, starting with CAVE, and Psikyo is on the list as well.
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