Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

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

Post by BurlyHeart »

Playing lots of Drainus, and loving it. Excellent game to pick up for a less-skilled player like myself. Someone mentioned the soundtrack sucked, but I haven't noticed anything untoward. More than passable, though it didn't leave an impression.

Back to Blue Revolver after some years. It's surprising how well one can remember certain patterns. Soundtrack is still one of my favorites, and I would dare say the game is too. A Default difficulty clear eluded me last time...let's try easy again and then go for default once more.

One that was in my library for quite some time, but one I never really played was Jamestown+. Cleared a couple of levels and enjoyed it, despite its reputation. The presentation is top notch. I will say that the gameplay is a little slow/bland for my liking. Maybe it will pick up if I unlock some other ships.

Played some Raiden V properly for the first time on PC last night. I loved IV but the noise surrounding the game and some issues at launch put me off V, I think. Well...I had a lot of fun. More than I expected, and the more I played, the more I enjoyed it. Cool graphics, great music, fun game play. Seems like there is a decent scoring system. The constant chatter and dialogue is obviously annoying. More annoying is the bullet visibilty, which can blend into the background a bit. It's still manageable though. Had a quick glance through the forum, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of strategy guides. Will give YouTube a check later. I know Austin is a fan. It's doubtful I can clear the game, but I'll give it a go and hopefully have some fun in the process.
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To Far Away Times
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by To Far Away Times »

Playing some Touhou 16 and its pretty cool.

Scoring and survival are closly linked and scoring is wild in this game.

You graze bullets until you fill up a meter, then you can unleash a gigawing style reflect attack (although it doesn't actually reflect, it just wipes the bullets away), and depending on how many bullets you wipe away you fill the meter back up. So dense patterns pretty much give you free refills, and you can do it over and over. Speed seems to be the name of the game here, the faster your movement speed the more bullets you can wipe away. Picked Aya and the Autumn power and got to stage 5 right away. Doesn't seem like this one will be too hard.
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Thjodbjorn
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Thjodbjorn »

I've recently discovered the Star Soldier-type games thanks to Raging Blasters, so I've been playing a lot of those after getting a PC-Engine mini. Star Soldier R is especially fun right now. I would like the NES Star Soldier more if I understood the beneath the scenery mechanic. I can't seem to guess what will hide me
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To Far Away Times
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by To Far Away Times »

Trying to play Touhou 15 - Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom and it is so damn hard that I am not having a good time.

I can't dodge anything that game.
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Kiken
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Kiken »

I've been playing Einhaender again... because I'm still determined to single credit this game (it's been a thorn in my side for a while now). I've been killed so many times by SBS ("dodging" back into a last second bullet) or things I can't see (clarity is a major issue in this game, especially for projectiles and enemy physical attacks). I also have a tendency to accidentally destroy my weapon pods by moving too close to a target or a surface (particularly when trying to pointblank with Hedgehog.
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Starfighter
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Starfighter »

I absolutely gave up on a 1CC in Einhänder. :D I practiced for a few weeks but I never even got close. In the end I decided to try and clear it with "at most 5 continues" and that I was able to do. :oops: :lol:
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Mero
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Mero »

Finally started playing my copy of Cotton Rock'n'Roll/Fantasy this week, game over on the final boss with Cotton is my best so far.
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o.pwuaioc
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by o.pwuaioc »

Shienryu this evening. Not gonna TATE my TV until I move again, but it's not all that bad playing it this way.
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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 »

Finally started playing my copy of Cotton Rock'n'Roll/Fantasy

JUST realized this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50ZB3M31jfM
Siontis
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Siontis »

I'm taking a break from Ketsui and having a blast with Espradeeeeee!
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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 »

Up in the crab:

Yurukill: Still chugging along. Stage five was a nice reward. Best train stage since Zero Gunner 2?? Anyway, very cool boss.

In the Hunt: Fired this (long slept-on title) up on the Xbox Saturn emulator. Always assumed it was Metal Slug with a sub. Which it sort of is, but also sort of isn't. Anyway, I'm feeling it much more than I thought I would, and find it's slow, deliberate pacing to be novel and cool.

Bangai-O: Perhaps In the Hunt got me jonesing for more more free-scrolling? I'm not sure. But it's been a minute. My complaints remain the same (I understand they wanted to zoom so far out in order to get as much firepower on the screen as possible. But everything is SO small), but it also remains very, very entertaining (it also occurred to me that a version of this game with Noita-like destructible environments would be WILD. Any indie-devs who happen to be reading this: you're welcome). I even liked the 360 sequel which most people poh-poh'ed, so what do I know?

Mars Matrix: Since I had the DC fired up--and there's been lots of love being thrown at this in the Capcom Stadium 2 thread--I decided to see if time and tide has improved my opinion. It hasn't. Somehow it's even uglier than I remembered (and I remembered it being REALLY ugly). And while it's true I'm not the biggest fan of bullet absorbers--the gimmick isn't really the problem for me--it's everything else. Oh well. I can't say I didn't try...
sunnshiner
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by sunnshiner »

Raiden Fighters 2. I have Raiden Fighters Aces on 360 and never really play it much, I suppose because it looks quite muddy in-game with the scaling and filters and that but when you run it in FB Neo, integer scaled & unfiltered, it looks really good.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Bassa-Bassa »

^Does Final Burn solve the glitches from Mame, though? As far as I know Seibu SPI emulation was quite unfinished, at least not long ago.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by sunnshiner »

Bassa-Bassa wrote:^Does Final Burn solve the glitches from Mame, though? As far as I know Seibu SPI emulation was quite unfinished, at least not long ago.
I've got no idea, sorry, I'm not familiar enough with the way the games are supposed to play or good enough to get far enough in to where any glitches might be. I didn't see or hear anything untoward while I was getting killed though :lol:
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Stevens
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Stevens »

*Opens Door*

*Coughs*

Whoa - been a while. Been lost down in the uh...shmups farm basement.

Crimzon Clover - Badly. But it's so fun I don't care.
Super XYX - Much less badly.
My lord, I have come for you.
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To Far Away Times
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by To Far Away Times »

Bouncing around all sorts of games. Nothing is really sticking.

Maybe I'll go back to Touhou 15.
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BurlyHeart
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BurlyHeart »

Still playing Blue Revolver a few times a week and managed to crack the 50 in Normal. I really should play some Hyper mode, but the idea of dealing with rank kinda scares me. Content with learning the breaks and scoring patterns for now. I honestly don't think there is a shmup I enjoy playing more.

I gave up trying to avoid continues on Zeroranger and playing from the first stage. I've avoided spoilers for years, but I gotta witness this story for myself before I accidentally ruin it for myself.
Story spoilers ahead:
Spoiler
The first loop bosses are amazing. The second loop is really cool. Final Boss is "wow what's going on!?" The whole experience is incredible.

I beat the girl boss after the monk and received a choice to travel to the past. Given the computer continually tried to trick you, I said no and the game ended. I should've hit yes I'm guessing...Will give it another whirl this weekend.
Hell of a game.
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EmperorIng
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by EmperorIng »

Nice to see you're enjoying Zeroranger. Keep on playing and try for that 2all, it's a fun ride.

I have been working on improving my score heavily with Giga Wing 2, though unfortunately my breakthroughs are really, really, really few and far between. It seems like I'm getting worse the more I play. Using Kart/Kingfisher, the slow ship, doesn't really help I suppose, because it can be agony inching your ship into the right position to collect medals.

For fun the other night I started setting up save states to play/score Giga Wing 1 using Isha. It was a little too late to save-state the whole game but I set up about 3 per stage up to stage 5 before I had to get some sleep. I want to try and get a respectable score in that game as well. I was also utilizing the "low rank" exploit that superplayers use, which is killing yourself right at the start of the game. While this seriously impacts your lives stock, it also dramatically lowers all enemy health from thereon out, which might improve your survival chances if you don't have several bombs to fling at the final three bosses (based on what people who have cleared the game both ways have told me).

Why Isha and not the more-popular Ruby? I like being different :mrgreen:
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

While this seriously impacts your lives stock, it also dramatically lowers all enemy health from thereon out
By what % approximately? Have there been any comparison tests done?

I've had some runs where I've died in stage 1 or 2 then said screw it and just went on to 1CC even with my remaining stock when I normally prefer to make it to S4 or 5 without dying... and I can't remember noticing a difference. But I honestly wasn't really paying attention or doing rigorous comparison testing. I'm curious if there's any estimates on how much it affects the game.

I knew of Clover-YMN's superplay that suicides at the start but I thought maybe it was bullet rank reduction or something (not that it seems to have a tremendous impact, there's no real need for rank control I know of).

Does it also matter if you play P1 vs P2? P2 side deals slightly more damage (it's only really noticeable if you're not using reflect on high health targets, if you are using reflect it becomes super difficult to tell there's a difference).
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EmperorIng
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by EmperorIng »

Giga Wing superplayers, like DBS, use P2 + the early death exploit to lower enemy health and deal more damage. It seems like largely comes to bear fruit by the final bosses, who if you arrive without dying (if my buddies are to be believed) their health is increased considerably due to the rank, making them tougher to kill. I can't say what exact percentage of reduction there is but from their messing around the difference is between chucking 2 or 3 bombs at the stage 6 boss at the start of the fight right away to be at the same level of health as they would be using the exploit.

Bullet reduction I think is a myth since like you I can't notice any difference, but then it surely has everything to do with lowering the health on tanky enemies to give you a better shot at survival. Besides, more bullets = more medals so I doubt superplayers would ever do something that would impact bullet density.

I myself am using Isha, player 2, in this attempt. Why not, eh?
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BareKnuckleRoo
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

EmperorIng wrote:but from their messing around the difference is between chucking 2 or 3 bombs at the stage 6 boss at the start of the fight right away to be at the same level of health as they would be using the exploit.
I'm pretty sure the S6 boss transitions when its health his a certain threshold, and its first phase is arguably its easiest with only one difficult attack... does it reduce is overall maximum health and adjust the thresholds accordingly? Or does it just give it a head start?

It's never occurred to me to check, but as a primarily Stuck player I'm pretty familiar with kill timings and I'm looking over the Clover-YMN run and honestly the kill timings on S6 and S7 are exactly what I'd see and expect when I play. The only noteworthy differences come from phases where the player knows exactly the timing when to pointblank for stuff I find way too dangerous (the tentacle phase, the cube phase after its crazy random spray attack).

Sorry I'm highly skeptical here. I know there's a difference between P1 and P2 because I went and tested it and can confirm it (with the S4 midboss appearing to be the best place to test it), but based on what I've watched of runs that suicide at the start, I'm not seeing any real differences in boss health. It's entirely possible there IS a reason for the suicides that they're doing and it's just that's it's for something else rather than lowing boss health... but I don't know what it is in that case and can't recommend suiciding as a survival strategy from personal experience.

Will try to do some runs and test to see if there's any differences in kill timing vs suiciding early compared to not.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Rastan78 »

EmperorIng wrote:Giga Wing superplayers, like DBS, use P2 + the early death exploit to lower enemy health and deal more damage.
Nice replay. It's rare to see DBS runs. He stated that he doesn't believe in sharing knowledge with other players except in special cases, and since retired from competitive shmups when he turned 40.

So we won't ever see his WR runs of Battle Garegga, Raiden Fighters 2, Darius Gaiden, Gun Frontier, Thunder Dragon 2, Strikers II and 1999 etc etc etc.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Rastan78 wrote:Nice replay. It's rare to see DBS runs. He stated that he doesn't believe in sharing knowledge with other players except in special cases
Kind of a shitty attitude. It's not just a knowledge of strats but also execution that counts in this sort of game, and letting the knowledge just die out rather than being there for future generations of gamers who might push the scores higher is a shame.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by To Far Away Times »

BareKnuckleRoo wrote:
Rastan78 wrote:Nice replay. It's rare to see DBS runs. He stated that he doesn't believe in sharing knowledge with other players except in special cases
Kind of a shitty attitude. It's not just a knowledge of strats but also execution that counts in this sort of game, and letting the knowledge just die out rather than being there for future generations of gamers who might push the scores higher is a shame.
Yeah that is super lame. Some of my favorite arcade experiences are getting my ass kicked in fighting games and just asking people what I was doing wrong and they told me what I needed to do to counter it. We kept playing and the "meta game" evolved right in front of us and kept changing. That is what arcades are all about.
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Rastan78
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Rastan78 »

BareKnuckleRoo wrote:
Rastan78 wrote:Nice replay. It's rare to see DBS runs. He stated that he doesn't believe in sharing knowledge with other players except in special cases
Kind of a shitty attitude. It's not just a knowledge of strats but also execution that counts in this sort of game, and letting the knowledge just die out rather than being there for future generations of gamers who might push the scores higher is a shame.
Sure it's hard to make recordings if you play in an arcade setting, but this tweet makes me think there are recordings of some of those runs that haven't been shared with a wider audience:

https://twitter.com/takeomokkun1/status ... 6SwVA&s=19

DBS is the one who reached 15.01 M on the whale route (Darius Gaiden Zone Z'), a score that seems almost impossible.

Surely if the replay exists it wouldn't be the hardest thing in the world to simply upload it. :evil:

But maybe I'm misinterpreting the tweet due to the language barrier?
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Rastan78 wrote:Surely if the replay exists it wouldn't be the hardest thing in the world to simply upload it. :evil:
Nah, it's not about difficulty or lack of tech to do it. It's not the first time super play recordings are known of but haven't seen the light outside of Japanese arcade circles. Sometimes the excuse is copyright, that the arcade explicitly disallows distribution of the recording or something, but I suspect it's due to a significant part that there's an insular culture of keeping the knowledge at within the country where the games, and consequently its arcade culture and many players, originate. Source of cultural pride thing, maybe? Speculation on my part though, you'd have to ask someone who's actually involved in the scene there to get a truly informed take on it.

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

Post by Sengoku Strider »

Japanese speakers tend to skip pronouns/proper nouns regarding sentence subjects, and I don't have the context for that tweet. So with that in mind, this is about the best I can do for a translation:

ダラ外捕鯨1501万のDVDを見させていただきましたが、狂気しかなかった。頭おかしいが最大の賛辞

I was shown the Darius Gaiden whale hunt 15 010 000 [point] DVD but, nothing but madness. [He's] crazy, but greatest of praise [to him].

Without context it's unclear to me exactly what the が、狂気しかなかった means, as in whether the player was acting crazy or something else, so I've just transliterated it here. But the author could also easily be saying:

"I saw the 15 mil Darius Gaiden whale run, just crazy. My mind is boggled, but huge props."

...which sounds more likely, now that I think about it. It's just the 'but' before the comma in the first sentence that makes things unclear; it can also be read as a topic marker and this guy's grammar is a little weird in the first place.

In other words, it's Twitter.
BareKnuckleRoo wrote:
Rastan78 wrote:Surely if the replay exists it wouldn't be the hardest thing in the world to simply upload it. :evil:
Nah, it's not about difficulty or lack of tech to do it. It's not the first time super play recordings are known of but haven't seen the light outside of Japanese arcade circles. Sometimes the excuse is copyright, that the arcade explicitly disallows distribution of the recording or something, but I suspect it's due to a significant part that there's an insular culture of keeping the knowledge at within the country where the games, and consequently its arcade culture and many players, originate. Source of cultural pride thing, maybe? Speculation on my part though, you'd have to ask someone who's actually involved in the scene there to get a truly informed take on it.

Alas.
No, that sounds about right. What you're describing sounds just like how the Mark MSX Dodonpachi score glitch saga went down. They tried to act like he was disrespecting Japanese culture, but TBH I think they were just being THE GAMERS and whining, a phenomenon which transcends national and cultural boundaries.
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Rastan78
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Rastan78 »

Well in this case we can hear straight from the horse's mouth so to speak.

https://twitter.com/dbsqawsedrftgyh/sta ... RpH0w&s=19
The publication or non-publication of techniques and videos is a personal choice.
I support him.
I do not publish patterns.

Knowledge is power, knowledge is treasure.

That's my motto.
I don't show off my "treasure" to an audience.
In exceptional cases, I may be willing to exchange "undisclosed treasures" in transactions with close friends.
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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 »

The publication or non-publication of techniques and videos is a personal choice.
I support him.
I do not publish patterns.

Knowledge is power, knowledge is treasure.

That's my motto.
I don't show off my "treasure" to an audience.
In exceptional cases, I may be willing to exchange "undisclosed treasures" in transactions with close friends.
And the award of 'corniest thing I've read all week (if not month)' goes to...
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Rastan78
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Rastan78 »

m.sniffles.esq wrote:And the award of 'corniest thing I've read all week (if not month)' goes to...
Here's another gem for you.

https://twitter.com/dbsqawsedrftgyh/sta ... mg3zg&s=19
I realized that "pattern" is not a word that gringos would understand.
It's neither a technique nor a glitch. I don't know what to say.
I can only say that it is the movement of my machine itself.
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