The Self-Introduction Thread

This is the main shmups forum. Chat about shmups in here - keep it on-topic please!
KayBur
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by KayBur »

Hey! I am newbie. My name is Kay, I'm 29 years old. I work as an engineer, and in my free time I am fond of technology, computer games, films. Also interested in handmade. I recently started to master the skills of making furniture with my own hands. Already made a couple of benches and 3 bookshelves. I tried to decorate each product, processed the wood with high quality so that the products would serve for a long time.
BrushHog
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by BrushHog »

Hello, just registered, though I’ve been lurking for about a year now.

My name is Max and I’m about to turn 32. I’ve been into Shmups for about as long as I’ve been into video games. First one I played was Solar Striker on the Gameboy. It was always a peripheral interest for me until I met Ikaruga on the GameCube and fell in love with the idea of chasing high scores and practicing and so on so forth.

Never played a Cave game but have always watched the scene and planned on getting into them at some point. Being an audiophile/videophile I’ve held out waiting for access to some sort of “ideal” way to play these games. As if.

Anyway, beyond Shmups and video games in general I’m also quite a cinephile and more than anything I’m a food nerd. Be it food history, technique, recipes, or the science behind it, I love good food and learning about it in anyway I can. I’m a chef by trade and have aspirations to open a SHMUP themed arcade/bar/restaurant with candy cabs and legit PCBs. Currently accepting business name ideas.
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BareKnuckleRoo
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Wow, great to see a lot of new folks join recently!
PatmanQC wrote:I have been an avid videogamer Since the late 70s and never stopped even after I lost my hands and feet.
"She's Nubs" is one of my fave NOFX songs. :lol:

Yeah, we're really fortunate that nowadays there's lots of software and hardware out there that's readily adaptable for use as custom, accessible controls, and arcade controls being pretty easily customizable so you can operate them with an adaptive setup, being a quadruple amputee isn't necessarily a reason to stop gaming! It'd even be doable on an actual arcade cabinet, with sit-down cabinets being potentially playable in a wheelchair even, and external buttons/joystick separate to the cab such as foot operated buttons would be totally reasonable and relatively easy to implement.

I remember seeing your Ninja Warriors video recently, great stuff! Welcome. :P
BrushHog wrote:Never played a Cave game but have always watched the scene and planned on getting into them at some point. Being an audiophile/videophile I’ve held out waiting for access to some sort of “ideal” way to play these games. As if.
This seems an unfortunate reason to deny yourself the opportunity to play them. There's plenty of game games with great ports (Espgaluda and DOJ's PS2 ports, the Xbox 360 ports of Futari, Ketsui, Akai Katana, DS, and so on, the Steam ports of Mushihimesama, DS, Daifukkatsu, the recent ports of Dangun Feveron and ESP.Ra.De). Emulation also works very well for them nowadays and honestly Donpachi is never going to have good audio quality, as fun as the game is.
BrushHog
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by BrushHog »

BareKnuckleRoo wrote:This seems an unfortunate reason to deny yourself the opportunity to play them. There's plenty of game games with great ports (Espgaluda and DOJ's PS2 ports, the Xbox 360 ports of Futari, Ketsui, Akai Katana, DS, and so on, the Steam ports of Mushihimesama, DS, Daifukkatsu, the recent ports of Dangun Feveron and ESP.Ra.De). Emulation also works very well for them nowadays and honestly Donpachi is never going to have good audio quality, as fun as the game is.
Silly and unfortunate, yes. I went ahead and grabbed Dangun Feveron on my Xbone and have been having a blast playing it. Heard it’s an easier one as far as Cave games go so I thought it would a better choice than Guwange.
vondruhei
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Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2021 9:10 am

Hi to all Shumps fans !

Post by vondruhei »

Hello everyone !
I am french so pardon my english if not always perfect :lol:
I mainly plays Shmups on Arcade (Atomiswave SD), PC-Engine and on the Switch.
Cool forum ! Cheers !
TraceyBlack
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Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2021 10:15 am

Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by TraceyBlack »

Hi, I also play Shmups on Arcade, there are a lot of interesting things on this forum!!
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jbrochu1985
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by jbrochu1985 »

hi ! i'm the new guy in this forum. I like shmup and i have candy cab (Konami Windy II)

living in Canada Québec and i know IRL SnakeGrunger and Liquidus0

Twitch streamer (in french) in RGB <3 only on original console and candy cab

if you want follow my channel: https://www.twitch.tv/johnnygretis/
sunnshine
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by sunnshine »

Hello everyone. I've just registered although I've been a lurker for a while. I love a good shoot (and beat) 'em up- I grew up on R-Type and Nemesis in the arcades and on the Speccy 48K, had a Mega Drive, Saturn, PS1, DC and now have a modded 360 but play mostly through emulators on a pc.
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Eyvah_Ehyeh
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by Eyvah_Ehyeh »

I just realized that I actually have an old profile here, but yeah I was a sporadic visiter on these forums, nothing compared to my daily escapades to the then active swedish shmup forums stgfan where I probably had posts in the thousands and at least all of them were very probably cringey, but seeing as how I still make very little sense these days, and still have no respect for following the topic at hand (or the "red thread", as we would say in Sweden) - *throws up hands in Tim Rogers*.

My biggest wish for shmups in the future are that I want them to include more procedurally generated content, and also that I would like to see more endless modes (with a bunch of extends), and, perhaps, even (temporary) upgrades of some kind. Yes, I'm a euro whore at heart. I mean PARSEC47 is my favorite shmup of all time because it gets most things right, but noiz2sa is one of my favorite shmups of all times because it basically gets the aforementioned endless mode in combination with extends at regular intervals right, but the bullet patterns in themselves can hardly be considered good, and yet I keep returning to it over the memorization of specific routes in most other shmups. I mean I hate certain things about Geometry Wars (those damn snakes) but for the very same reason as noiz2sa, it gets me going, so imagine caveish shmups but with that endless experience. Why is this sooo not a thing? I mean it's not like "arcade games" have no history of endless modes, and I don't quite get how it's become the new standard to have three lives and two extends, I mean it's not *clearly* an improvement, just something different.

Oh well, maybe in 10-15 years when I've left and returned to this place again. :P
Creamy Goodness
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by Creamy Goodness »

38 years old and I first was introduced to shmups playing games like 1943 and R-Type back in the late 80's early 90's. I honestly hated the genre back then. Thought their graphics and gameplay came off as kind of bland relative to the beat 'em ups and fighting games of the day. Then there was the merciless difficulty. Only shmup I owned back in the day was the definitive euroshmup X2 (Japanese version). Recently started getting back into retro gaming and especially retro game music. Watching retro game shows on Youtube the topic of shmups wpuld come up a lot which started peaking my curiosity with their soundtracks really drawing me in. Now that I understand that strategies and end goals of the games I have grown to absolutely love the genre. Also helps with having a family and career I have games I can pickup for 20 minutes and put down to do other things when needed.
Winnipesaukee
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Re: Hello everyone, just wanted to say hi and introduce myse

Post by Winnipesaukee »

PatmanQC wrote:I just stumbled across this forum and since I'm a big fan of the genre I wanted to register and participate. I have been an avid videogamer Since the late 70s and never stopped even after I lost my hands and feet. I do have a history of documentary channel on YouTube that I started about three years ago so perhaps some of you have recognized some of the videos I've done.

Thanks for having me.
I definitely look forward to every time you upload a new video. Happy little games!

I have loved shoot 'em ups ever since I played Super R-Type, which was a favorite rental my brother and I used to play when we were younger.
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Gooders5000
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by Gooders5000 »

Hi, only just saw this thread so figured it'd only be polite to say hello!

I've been gaming all my life (36 years), my earliest memory is watching my Father play the ZX Spectrum.

I have always liked R-Type but mostly for the art style if I'm honest, and I've only fully delved into shmups this year after a big NES and arcade brawler binge, I kind of crave the simpler more joyous days of gaming these days. I played Puzzle Bobble for a week straight after I finished The Last Of Us 2 as I was so disturbed by it, and I have sort of moved away from modern stuff since.

I'm currently playing a lot of NES and PC Engine, as well as a bit of later Toaplan and earlier Raizing arcade stuff.

I've found myself on this forum multiple times after googling random stuff, and recently posted on the hardware board about arcade stick levers.

It's nice to see such an active forum, reminds me of the glory days of the internet before social media and reddit took over everything!

Peace.
JsP209
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Joined: Wed May 19, 2021 10:59 am

Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by JsP209 »

I turned 40 this year and am beginning to feel incredibly old.

Other than feeling old I just re-discovered shmups and have been lurking for a long time so thought I would register here. I don't pretend to be any good at any of these games so feel free to ridicule me at every opportunity I don't really have a platform of choice I just pick
the games up when I see them go into sales.

I seem to favour hori shooters and struggle more with verts for some reason wierd I know but there you go.
Fingolfin
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by Fingolfin »

Hwaet!

Hello and a 1000 thank yous to all here!

Very poor player on account of LOFT (lack of fucking talent): mediocre manual dexterity, weak fine and coarse motor skills; however, if duration of service is a measurement of devotion, passion, commitment, quarters spent I’m a bona fide lifelong Star Commander (i.e. old dude ;) )

“Old Star Raiders never die, they only go to Mars....”
Atari 400/800 Caverns of Mars commercial release, COMPUTE! July 1982 review (not a great game even by 8 bit Atari 400/800 standards and certainly not when compared with original Atari 8 bit Star Raiders but a cool review)

https://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/ ... F_MARS.php

Favorite shooters growin up BITD
Arcade:
Missile Command, Tempest, Centipede, Galaxian, Robotron: 2084,
Blaster & Raiden/Raiden II

400/800:
Star Raiders, Blue Max, Shamus & Any/all shooters by Imagic

“I’m gunna put on my good old Donpachi overalls,
I’m gunna go out in the good old Donpachi fields,
I’m gunna dig up some good old Donpachi CAVE-sent mana,
Then I’m gunna play like a good old Donpachi maniac...
until my good old eyes, ears and fingers bleed....”

— penned back 2019 after some fermentation/distillation following discovery of Donpachi & Dodonpachi on MAME in 2017

fingolfin switch
FINGOLFIN1969 steam
Fingolfin1969 us psn
mithrandir j 360
owsleyiii us 360
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Haddock
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by Haddock »

Hi everyone!

Dutch guy here, 29 years old. Longtime lurker to keep up with the latest shmup news and discussions, but never was all that active playing them unless they happened to cross my path on Steam/switch/whatever console I happen to have. However the last month I have been playing Ikaruga non-stop after finally playing it despite knowing about it for years like basically the whole gaming industry knows it about lol. My journey of discovering the dreamcast console has lead me to seek out more shmups for it besides Ikaruga, so any advice on toptier shmups on that system are always welcome.

I also own a Saturn and PS4 and I'm looking to get my hands dirty with Ketsui as Cave is a company that seems to held in high regard, but for some reason just looking at their games they seem a little too formulaic to me (no physical obstacles, just total bullet hell with a different scoring system and art style..).

I look forward to become more active within this scene as my interest in these games grows. They really are deep games, and I cannot believe I only just now started to see that.
deaconblues1138
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by deaconblues1138 »

Hi there! Getting back into retro gaming. This seems like a great place, especially for hardware discussion. Thanks for having me!
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LordHypnos
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by LordHypnos »

Haddock wrote:so any advice on toptier shmups on [Dreamcast] are always welcome.
My absolute favorite is Mars Matrix, though it's definitely a somewhat divisive one. In some ways it's the opposite of Radiant Silvergun, as it uses 1 button instead of 6 (thought 4 weapons, still :shock: DC version also has auto-fire buttons you can map), and has a very flexible scoring system (medal chaining, but you have some control over where to put the medals), it also has a very short (18ish minute) run time. However, fundamentally it is a strategic game that's all about knowing where to use different weapons and knowing how long to activate the shield for to make sure that it's recharged by the next time you use it. I wonder how expensive this one is these days? When I got it it was like $40-$50, but it seems like the last few cheaper shmups have all shot up since then.

As for other games, I actually really like the DC library, even if not every game is among my favorites. It seems like at the time developers were really trying to stand out by including some novel mechanic. They also mostly feel very "modern," with shorter run times, small hitboxes, often complex scoring mechanics, and often reduced (or non-existent) penalty for running into enemies as compared to bullets. There are no CAVE games, which is unfortunate given their popularity at the time. Some historically popular titles include Under Defeat, Border Down, Zero Gunner 2 (Psikyo's last ever game, I think, a multi-directional shooter), Gunbird 2 (this one has some cool enhancements, but also probably more lag than most other titles on the system), Shikigami no Shiro 2, Giga Wing (which also has relatively high lag, I believe), and Giga Wing 2.

It might also be worth looking at some of the more niche ones though, like the Milestone games (Radirgy and Karous have scoring systems heavily influenced by caravan games, while Chaos Field is basically a boss rush game, AFAICT). These all have great music and complex weapon systems. Triggerheart Exelica is possibly the most gimmicky game with its tractor beam mechanic (I really liked this one, though I played the XBLA version). Trizeal is one that some people really like. I haven't played it extensively myself (and when I did it was the remix version on Shooting Love on the 360). There were also ports of Bangaioh, Twinkle Star Sprites, and Psyvariar 2 that I am not very familiar with. Of the indie games that I've played, I think Fast Striker was my favorite. Sturmwind was also pretty fun, albeit perhaps overly easy. I would have liked Neo XYX, but it was too hard for me without any way to practice stages, and there were a few annoying bugs (mostly the rapidfire pause button :lol: ). There are a lot of these that I haven't played.

Probably my top recommendations would be: Mars Matrix, Giga Wing 2, Gunbird 2 (probably only if you have a very low latency display and some way to display standard definition on it, though), Zero Gunner 2, Triggerheart. This should come with the caveat that I haven't extensively played some of the games, and probably have somewhat unusual taste.
YouTube | Restart Syndrome | 1cclist | Go Play Mars Matrix
Solunas wrote:How to Takumi your scoring system
1) Create Scoring System
2) Make it a multiplier for your actual score
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Eyvah_Ehyeh
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by Eyvah_Ehyeh »

Haddock wrote:so any advice on toptier shmups on that system are always welcome.
Technically noiz2sa is on dreamcast, although it's very far removed from say Ikaruga, and this post is mostly me spreading the gospel of Kenta Cho's shmups (such as parsec47, which is on PC). :P

Anyway - welcome. :)
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BIL
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by BIL »

Badass username, Haddock. :cool:
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LordHypnos
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by LordHypnos »

Eyvah_Ehyeh wrote: Technically noiz2sa is on dreamcast
True! I really wish that guy (Chui?) had ported some more of his games to the Dreamcast. It's still pretty cool, though. Apparently he did it as a demo for using SDL on the system.
YouTube | Restart Syndrome | 1cclist | Go Play Mars Matrix
Solunas wrote:How to Takumi your scoring system
1) Create Scoring System
2) Make it a multiplier for your actual score
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Haddock
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by Haddock »

LordHypnos wrote: Great write up about DC shmups that I will refer back to a lot.
Thank you for your big write up! I've made some lists per console right now (those that I own) and for the DC it seems the games - as you said - are quite diverse compared to other console generations. Not all of them are classics but mores cult classics. Mars Matrix looks absolutely intense though O_O Definitely intrigued by the mechanics from what I have watched so far, one to put on a future shopping list for sure! Same goes for Karous and Radirgy, those look pretty cool to me. Border Down has an interesting concept too...Noted. 8)

For now I'm set to 1CC Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga since I have those. Although to be honest Ikaruga's novelty is wearing thin on me.. the game is of course well known compared to others, and I like everything about it except playing it?! Radiant Silvergun is much more exciting for me, despite being perhaps even more rigid in it's changing system it somehow feels less like a chore. Weird how that works.

Since I own a PS4 and the lads in another topic have shown me the wonders of a company called M2 I have ordered my very first Cave game aswell: Ketsui :D Still debating with myself wether to get Battle Garegga on PS4 or for the Saturn. Main point for me is the fact that with the Saturn I can play it on my PVM monitor which would look gorgeous. Is the PS4 port considered superior? I'm aware it has many options and gadgets, but the Saturn version is pretty much arcade perfect no? Price wise the PS4 port isn't that much cheaper either nowadays (thanks Ebay scalpers..).
BIL wrote:Badass username, Haddock. :cool:
Thanks! It's funny because it's a funny reference to my Dutch name (a pun) amongst other things 8)
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wht11
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by wht11 »

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bladesymphony
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by bladesymphony »

Hi there! I am new to the site, and got obsessed with arcade and arcade inspired titles back in May 2020. I've 1CC'd/1-ALL'd a solid amount of titles since then and wanted to find a community dedicated to shoot 'em ups and other arcade titles. Glad to meet everyone!
If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.
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Redfox
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by Redfox »

I don't know if anyone reads this but Hi!

I'm not new to shmups or this site (I followed it unregistered for a long time but finally decided to make an account after catching myself reading it at work LOL).

Anyway I love shooters, been a fan since renting Rtype 3 and Space Megaforce as a kid back in the 90's on SNES. Years later (around 2002ish) I Discovered CAVE games by accident thanks to MAME. Ended up buying all the region free 360 Cave games as they came out, love those games. Still cherish my copy of Saidoujou on there (even if it's got some issues).

A few days ago I finally bought and tried Crisis Wing and boy do I love that game Pieslice really did well with it!

Lastly, I live in South FL, I'm near Arcade Odyssey, great arcade. Actually has Dai ou Jou Black Label in a blast city, all very proper and good. Wonderful to play a cave game on location for real.

All I got to say :)
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Some-Mist
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by Some-Mist »

Redfox wrote:Wonderful to play a cave game on location for real.
might sound lame but doing that was what got me to do a much deeper dive on the genre in the first place - I definitely understand that feeling.

welcome all!
a creature... half solid half gas
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—dash
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by —dash »

Long time lurker, first time poster

I'm finally sinking my teeth into the genre and I'm grinding out DoDonPachi 1All, then on to Mushi 1All, and then of course the ever-legendary M a r s M a t r i x : H y p e r S o l i d S h o o t i n g

I've got me an arcade stick and I'm ready to game :mrgreen:
Bobbes
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by Bobbes »

Hi, i am 37 years old and just got into shmups a few month ago. I ended up with nearly every famous shmup on switch and ps4 (including all the m2-ports) and 2 arcade sticks (1 for switch and 1 for ps4 :P ). I have had different consoles and PC since the early 90s, but never had any interest in the shmup genre. Two things brought me recently into shmups:
a) Crimzon Clover World Explosion on switch and the high review scores in online magazines
b) the youtube channel "the electric underground", which i follow and watch every new video. The guy definitly knows what he is talking about... (already seen him in the forum). Most in depth info about shmups i know.

Yesterday i just bought "Sorcerer Striker" (M2 Port, PS4 japanese psn) & Dangun Fevron (M2 Port, PS4 US psn). It is alwas that "that is the last game i buy for the next months, i swear it.... and then *klack* just another buy, many will know it... :lol: So much to play, so much to learn, so much to shoot....
dlxmax
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by dlxmax »

I came here for the RGB mods, but my wife loves shmups and are the only kind of game we play together!
If only I could rotate the 65" tv...hmmm
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DNNR
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by DNNR »

Hello, I started an account to check up the latest news in Shmups and to see if I can make some deals in the trade forum. I used to play shmups on different formats, from NES and Mega Drive to Dreamcast and PS2. My impressions is that this is an overall good community. Thanks from Sweden.
Shadow_Zero
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Re: The Self-Introduction Thread

Post by Shadow_Zero »

Hiya! I've been on so many forums through the years (though a lot of them have disappeared), but somehow never ended up on Shmups ;D
Occasionally I spend my limited time (working dad and all) on my retro game hobbies, where I seem to spend more time on collecting, repairing, modding and reading than actually playing XD

Googling for various info Shmups seems to pop up more and more, so here I am! Currently on a quest for a 'new' CRT, and reading on (service menu) calibration and stuff.

I'm from the Netherlands and also a big football (soccer) and heavy metal fan.
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