The BIG thread of Shmup grievances.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Use the Score Attack Mode to practice the 2 Mission Stages in OverKill Mode. You can select them there, but not in Overkill Mode itself.

[Blinge]

Use the Score Attack Mode to practice the 2 Mission Stages in OverKill Mode. You can select them there, but not in Overkill Mode itself.

Ah cheers mate, I'd never have thought to look in there.

[zaphod]

Huge score bonuses that require you to break your thumb to obtain or cheat with rapid fire. (star force i'm looking at you here)

Games that no one can single life clear without doing a pacifist run (i'm looking at you, garegga!) I will retract all criticism of the game if i see someone single life clearing without letting enemies survive to lower rank. I'm not sure 100% kills is possible, or i'd demand that, but for me to stop saying the game is evil, every enemy that you would have killed if it didn't make rank raise too much needs to die.

TL:dr; Play Garegga. kill everything. don't die. Don't use tool assistance. post video of it. i retract every complaint i ever made about garegga.

[Erppo]

Jeez it's not so unusual.

[Shepardus]

Jeez it's not so unusual.

Impressive run, I knew that sddkaede was a beast but didn't know he managed to NMNB Garegga.

Here's another no-miss (but not no-bomb) run, with Grasshopper: part 1, part 2

He does skip killing some tanks in stage 1, but frankly even if he had killed them the difference in rank would be miniscule, just a couple seconds of extra shooting in a 25+ minute game. He doesn't even skip killing the planes that don't even fire at you at the end of stages 2 and 3 and at the beginning of stage 5, like sddkaede does.

[Ikazu-san]

I am very very SAD. Because Cave can't make their mobile games properly.

[Jonst]

Fast striker. I have it all memorised, it's not a very hard game. I can make it to the final boss every time... Yet I feel like this is the most fucking unfair game I've ever played! I just get killed by something stupid/different every single run. By the final stage, it's safest to barely shoot anything or you get killed by a super fast point blank suicide bullet. It's fucking ridiculous, this shouldn't be giving me this much trouble.

[Stevens]

Fast striker. I have it all memorised, it's not a very hard game. I can make it to the final boss every time... Yet I feel like this is the most fucking unfair game I've ever played! I just get killed by something stupid/different every single run. By the final stage, it's safest to barely shoot anything or you get killed by a super fast point blank suicide bullet. It's fucking ridiculous, this shouldn't be giving me this much trouble.

Those devil rank bullets

[Jonst]

Fast striker continues to piss me off. The final boss just feels different every time I get there. I made it there with 4 lives in stock tonight, lost every life back to fucking back! Couldn't have used the shield because it was stuff I didn't expect to die on.

[Shepardus]

Isn't Taito HEY in Akihabara supposed to have a very good selection of CAVE and other shmups (example footage)? I believe Matmouse (the arcade with the stream on Ustream that SPS and others are often broadcast on) is in Kawasaki.

[ACSeraph]

Do you happen to know any place with a good selection of shmups in/around Tokyo?

How in the hell did you miss Taito Hey!? It's on Akiba's main strip With a massive picture of a Silverhawk dueling the Iron fossil on the building's wall.





There are tons of others of course, hell, Club Sega has various shmups on rotation, even Super Potato's tiny retrocade has DDP as a permanent fixture. And let's not forget the incredible selection over at Amusement Tower:





Also since you were in Kawasaki, the amazing Hong Kong slums arcade Kawasaki Warehouse is absolutely a must (not the greatest selection of shmups, but you can play things here you will find nowhere else).

Don't waste your second trip.

[Elixir]

A different kind of grievance here. So I was in the Tokyo area in the past 2 weeks for business. I didn't particularly do my research before going, but I hit up dozens of arcades ranging from tiny mom and pop shacks to huge gaming complexes, around quiet residential areas in Yokohama, Kawasaki etc., and also crowded downtown Tokyo neighborhoods and Akihabara. In all my search, I found a grand total of "one" DDP SDOJ cab, and absolutely no other shooter of any kind. WTF? No wonder Cave and friends aren't doing very well.

Do you happen to know any place with a good selection of shmups in/around Tokyo? I'll be back there again, and "get on a high score board in Japan" is on my bucket list.

http://www19.atwiki.jp/karishooterwiki/pages/81.html
http://www19.atwiki.jp/karishooterwiki/pages/14.html

[SMC]

Chaining + Powerups that bounce around randomly

[Durandal]

Enemies that sneak up on you from behind, especially during bossfights.
Fucking Raiden.

[mamboFoxtrot]

Me always trying to be a damn hero instead of just bombing when things get too dicey. I seriously wonder how many games I could've beaten by now if I didn't lose 10+ bombs every run hoping for miracles.


Playing Mushihimesama, there is one and exactly one thing I don't like about the game, and that's the Option power-ups, and how long they take to change (I'd also probably hate the shot pick-ups if I felt any compulsion to use something other than M-Power). Sometimes you get enough time to get what you want, but other times you're looking at probably having to evade bullet patterns while also evading the pick-up and/or keeping an eye on it for when it changes to what you do want.
It's the worst on Arrange mode where all the shot power-ups are replaced with yet more Option pick-ups! >:(

[LordHypnos]

Me always trying to be a damn hero instead of just bombing when things get too dicey. I seriously wonder how many games I could've beaten by now if I didn't lose 10+ bombs every run hoping for miracles.

Couldn't agree more with that feel. I'm sure that I could clear the majority of my "easy" games if I just let myself bomb all the time. I've been getting a little better with this since my shmup hiatus ended, but still suck.

Yet another reason why Mars Matrix is great.

[pegboy]

When the developers change the size of the player's hitbox from one version of the game to another (port). Why in the fuck would they do this? I might be done playing any fucking consoles ports after seeing shit like this. I guess that's a good lesson to just stick with MAME and nothing else. What a load of shit.

[ACSeraph]

^I'm interested to hear what games are known to have this issue.

Only one that comes to mind for me is the Gradius Collection games having an option for a smaller hitbox, but you can turn it off.

[pegboy]

Strikers 1945 II for the PS1. I know this version has a larger hitbox than the arcade version and I found this out the hard way. I fucking lost the best run I've ever had playing that port because a safe spot in the arcade version was no longer a safe spot due to the increased hitbox. Lost a life deep into the second loop (2-6) that would never happen playing the arcade/MAME version. I knew from playing the PS1 version that the hitbox "felt" bigger (specifically the bottom part of the plane) but I was never really able to verify it until now.

You are basically required to bomb the section right after the 2-6 midboss (part with all the guys that pop out of the water and spam bullets at you) in order to survive in the PS1 port, wheres in the arcade version the entire barrage is easily avoidable using the lower left or right corner. There might be more places like this (I'm wondering if the Stage 7 boss in loop 2 might also have a similar issue where a safe spot no longer works).

There's also some other weird issues where a certain enemy in stage 5 will attack you like crazy in the PS1 port but does absolutely nothing in MAME and just sits there (the tank that is sitting on top of a building about 1/2 way through the stage).

I also have the PS2 version and I'm not sure if it applies to that but I'm probably not going to spend the time to find that out.

[Durandal]

If there was one change I could make to the Raiden formula, it would be to stop the weapon/missile pick-ups from changing types when you are in their close proximity. I don't want to upgrade my current weapon, only for the pick-up to change types just as I'm about to pick it up.

[ACSeraph]

^Agree totally, it's pretty much the one single thing I despise about classic Raiden and similar games. Raiden IV fixes this though, since the pickups have a clear timer and can be "locked" if you stop firing. Probably the single best improvement IV brought to the series if you ask me.

[Obscura]

^Agree totally, it's pretty much the one single thing I despise about classic Raiden and similar games. Raiden IV fixes this though, since the pickups have a clear timer and can be "locked" if you stop firing. Probably the single best improvement IV brought to the series if you ask me.

Too bad that the "lock" + vacuum is actually really bad because it interferes with the charge missile mechanic.

[Blinge]

You know what fucks me off about MamePlus? the confirm screen on exit.

If I quit mame, it's usually because I'm pounding the Esc key into a crater with my fist. I want that program fucking closed and out of my sight, but now I have to step back and press enter and feel silly.
Cheers, gunnail.

[Shepardus]

I've always had the confirmation dialog disabled. The option in mame.ini is confirm_quit (set to 0).

[KoopaTGR]

Playing so many old-school shmups without bombs (i.e. Gradius) has totally hampered my ability to panic-bomb

[Durandal]

dying right before the very moment you pressed the bomb button
I wish there was a mechanic that allows you to avoid death or just give you more invincibility frames when you respawn, whenever you bomb during the death animation of your ship

[LordHypnos]

^Don't some Touhou games have a thing where you don't die if you hit bomb button as your die or maybe even some frames afterward?

[Chaos]

yes, at least Touhou 6-15 have deathbombing that saves your life if you bomb immediately after dying. the window depends on game, character, and sometimes other things

[SMC]

The mushi boss theme sounds much better on PCB/PS2 than 360/PC. The synth chords are way too bright now.

[mamboFoxtrot]

J.B. 5th's voice. He almost sounds like Cartman.
"PEH-WEH EEHHP!!"