EP 32 Part 2: Shmups at AGDQ! TUNE IN AND SUPPORT, Jan 8th

[Mark_MSX]

The 10th episode of the show: Full Circle, Aquas Talks STG Weekly, Arcade Memories, Shmups + Speedrunning, and More!, is complete!





Here is the link to the soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/user-306325657

Also, a link to the Google Drive if you prefer to download the episodes that way.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1v-q8h ... 4ELF6ATzF3


If you are a fan of the podcast, or would like to be a guest on the show, please feel free to join the podcast Discord.

https://discord.gg/YXHK2Fp

On today's episode life goes full circle where I have come from being a fan of Aquas's STG Weekly series to having him be a guest on the podcast. We talk about shmups in the arcades, the history and current stage of STG Weekly, the power of nostalgia, as well as the relationship between the shmup community and the speedrunning community. Basically, right now speedrunning is James Franco and shmups are Dave Franco (in terms of popularity).

Check out his twitch:

https://www.twitch.tv/aquas

Check out STG Weekly (if you have been living under a rock and this is the first shmup thread you've stumbled across):

https://www.youtube.com/user/STGWeekly

P.S. The original image I used for the basis of the cover art is by Tarrow100, a japanese artist that I asked permission to use the image from around two years ago. I then redesigned the color and added the other stuff. Here's the link to the original image, in case you were curious and wanted to compare them. https://www.deviantart.com/art/AXELAY-T ... -510972784

[Irim]

Great episode but can i offer that his advice on getting a stick to avoid rsi or whatever is bad advice, the best advice you can actually give is to feel for yourself what is more comfortable and be smart with rest etc, stick specifically gave me rsi whilst pads never have, everyone's a bit different.

On what was said regarding speedrunning growth and so forth I think a massive sociological aspect was completely overlooked, you can see by simply observing the community that there is often a massive element of hedonism, hivemind and shunning of intellectual and physical growth so i believe you're right when you say it has a strong nostalgia driving force but i believe there's a much more serious and troublesome societal/personal failing leading some back to the happy mind spaces of youth for eternity as the cost of everything else as well. Of course for some it's just a passion and hobby but there's clearly a high percentage where it goes beyond that and into the realms of self destruction.

[Bananamatic]

On what was said regarding speedrunning growth and so forth

looking at the pozfest that is gdq makes me glad shmups aren't growing

[Irim]

On what was said regarding speedrunning growth and so forth

looking at the pozfest that is gdq makes me glad shmups aren't growing

Well i'm much more of a quality over quantity type myself and have seen communities before pray for expansion only to suffer as a result. I'd personally prefer to see the arcade community and its factions move in it's own circles aka stunfest than merge with that hub of clearly dysfunctional, broken, militantly ideological to the point of tyranny and often ill people that make up GDQs hub of participants and "culture" which whether they like it or not and i can post a list has literally scared away many of it's actually good, interesting, well spoken, respectable and appealing runners of the past (adam_aks a good example).

GDQ has become a creche for deranged manchildren and it'd be a damn shame if shmups committed the same brand of suicide just to expand in numbers on paper.

[Mark_MSX]

On what was said regarding speedrunning growth and so forth

looking at the pozfest that is gdq makes me glad shmups aren't growing

Well i'm much more of a quality over quantity type myself and have seen communities before pray for expansion only to suffer as a result. I'd personally prefer to see the arcade community and its factions move in it's own circles aka stunfest than merge with that hub of clearly dysfunctional, broken, militantly ideological to the point of tyranny and often ill people that make up GDQs hub of participants and "culture" which whether they like it or not and i can post a list has literally scared away many of it's actually good, interesting, well spoken, respectable and appealing runners of the past (adam_aks a good example).

GDQ has become a creche for deranged manchildren and it'd be a damn shame if shmups committed the same brand of suicide just to expand in numbers on paper.

Hi man,

Thanks for the feedback! I can see where you're coming from. I have also heard some stories about a bunch of issues within the speedrunning community and GDQ and stuff like that. Part of me wonders if much of it stems from the speedrunning community exploding so quickly. As far as the culture of the shmup community, I agree completely that I wouldn't want to see our community become as dysfunctional, for sure.

Maybe it didn't come across completely in the episode, but what my hope is for the relationship between the speedrunning and shmup community isn't for us to merge together, or anything like that. But instead, for the genre of shmups themselves and what makes them so awesome to have more exposure in general, as I feel the genre is underapprecaited by the wider gaming community. I highly doubt that the majority of the speedrunning community will ever take an interest in playing shmups (or other skill-based genres). However, I do think that there is a pocket of individuals within the FGC and speedrunning community (such as myself 4 years ago) who are well-adjusted and will be great members of the shmup community, if they only had some more exposure to it.

[Mark_MSX]

The 11th episode of the show: Bring Arcades Back! Interview With EXA Arcadia CEO, is complete!





Here is the link to the soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/user-306325657

Also, a link to the Google Drive if you prefer to download the episodes that way.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1v-q8h ... 4ELF6ATzF3


If you are a fan of the podcast, or would like to be a guest on the show, please feel free to join the podcast Discord.

https://discord.gg/YXHK2Fp

On today's episode, I am very happy to have the opportunity to speak with the CEO of EXA Arcadia about the platform, its hardware, the arcade scene today, and how EXA could revitalize arcades on a global level. Big thanks to the CEO of EXA to take the time to talk to me, a host of a humble but passionate podcast. He definitely wins homie award of the year! After this interview I am more excited than ever about the potential of EXA and can't wait to get my hands on one.

Also, in deference to my awesome audience, I will provide a list of tracks I used in this episode:

Intro song = Canal Fleet (arranged) from Ketsui
2nd song = Stage 3A (Arranged) from DDP Ressurection
3rd song = Stage 4 (Xbox 360 Arranged) from DOJ Black Label Extra
Final song = Name Entry (Xbox 360 Arranged) from DOJ Black Label Extra

Follow the EXA Twitter:

https://twitter.com/exaarcadia?lang=en

P.S. The original image I used for the basis of the cover art is by Tarrow100, a japanese artist that I asked permission to use the image from around two years ago. I then redesigned the color and added the other stuff. Here's the link to the original image, in case you were curious and wanted to compare them. https://www.deviantart.com/art/AXELAY-T ... -510972784

[Mantrox]

Awsome, looking forward to hear this one.

I really would love if Shou made a book about his arcade collecting exploits and game company relation stories.
Maybe in a decade or two, who knows...

Thanks for the episode.

[Mark_MSX]

Awsome, looking forward to hear this one.

I really would love if Shou made a book about his arcade collecting exploits and game company relation stories.
Maybe in a decade or two, who knows...

Thanks for the episode.

That would be an interesting read for sure. I d buy it. I think you will enjoy the episode

[Bananamatic]

"touhou characters have no widespread appeal"
this man is gonna get dabbed on

[Mark_MSX]

"touhou characters have no widespread appeal"
this man is gonna get dabbed on

I definitely would love to see a touhou release on EXA. Maybe a mashup of all the different games with improved visuals, or something. It sounds like exa is open to the idea of a touhou release, as long as it isn't a straight port.

[pmp]

I think this is the best one yet. The quality in the second (first?) also sounded fine to me.

[Shou]

Awsome, looking forward to hear this one.

I really would love if Shou made a book about his arcade collecting exploits and game company relation stories.
Maybe in a decade or two, who knows...

Thanks for the episode.

I'm open to doing a non-recorded Q&A session of this at CAX

[Mark_MSX]

I think this is the best one yet. The quality in the second (first?) also sounded fine to me.

Very glad to hear it! I am proud of how this episode turned out! My philosophy behind the interview was to go beyond just the standard questions that mainstream media will often cover, and dig into the larger purpose of the project and why it matters to the gaming community. Hopefully I came close to that goal haha.

I definitely was impressed with what I heard and I think the EXA team sound like the real deal.

[Bananamatic]

how come windows has inherent 3 frames of lag when many games were measured at 1f

[Mark_MSX]

how come windows has inherent 3 frames of lag when many games were measured at 1f

As I understand things, the 3 frames are a baseline for everything you do on windows. So, when a game is measured at 1 frame, that is 1 frame in addition to the base 3 frames. Though it could be possible that windows 7 might have less input lag, since you can disable aero.

[Bananamatic]

there's no way in hell there are 3 frames by default on top of that
consoles have roughly the same delay and there's no way sf5 actually had 11 frames of lag except no one bothered to tell you and they told you it's 8 instead

[Mark_MSX]

there's no way in hell there are 3 frames by default on top of that
consoles have roughly the same delay and there's no way sf5 actually had 11 frames of lag except no one bothered to tell you and they told you it's 8 instead

What it sounded like from the interview was that both consoles and pc have some inherent input lag, due to their operating systems, which was estimated to be around 3 frames. So the way that it would work with sf5 is that the console or pc would introduce 3 frames of lag and then the game would introduce 5, which would then total to 8 frames, not 11.

But, like you say, I could be mistaken about the whole thing. This isn t the sort of topic I am interested in getting heated about, so sorry if I offended you.

[Bananamatic]

maybe they assumed vsync on and other stuff
then no game goes below 3 frames from what I've seen

[Mantrox]

Awsome, looking forward to hear this one.

I really would love if Shou made a book about his arcade collecting exploits and game company relation stories.
Maybe in a decade or two, who knows...

Thanks for the episode.

I'm open to doing a non-recorded Q&A session of this at CAX

That would be great for any atendee.
I know it's a sensitive issue since, naming names in some of those stories could eventually have repercussions but, if it can't be recorded i won't be able to hear it >.<

Well, the book option is always there, who knows...

[Mark_MSX]

maybe they assumed vsync on and other stuff
then no game goes below 3 frames from what I've seen

Very true. I m sure they re counting v sync and stuff like that.

[Mark_MSX]

The 12th episode of the show: Bullet Heaven + Electric Underground = Legendary Interview, is complete!





Here is the link to the soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/user-306325657

Also, a link to the Google Drive if you prefer to download the episodes that way.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1v-q8h ... 4ELF6ATzF3


If you are a fan of the podcast, or would like to be a guest on the show, please feel free to join the podcast Discord.

https://discord.gg/YXHK2Fp

On today's episode I am joined by Ser Flash of Studio Mudprints. Ser Flash is the creator of the famous Bullet Heaven shmup review series on YouTube. It is the longest running shmup review series on Youtube and is still going strong. On today's episode, we talk about the history behind Bullet Heaven, the challenges it has faced, the current state of shmup reviews, personal highlights, and the future of the channel.

A huge thanks to Ser Flash for being super cool and coming on the podcast!

Track listing:

1, 2, and 3, are all tracks from Ser Flash's Ghostblade HD arranged soundtrack (which I believe is unreleased).

The forth song is "Go on a Mission" from Under Defeat HD
The fifth song is "Don't Look Back" from Under Defeat HD
and the final song is "8-bit Soul, 4 bits Left" from Ser Flash's "Where the Air is Thin" album.

Check out Bullet Heaven:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc2aNk ... yT4ZtSUloA

Check out Ser Flash's bandcamp:

https://smpmusicproductions.bandcamp.com/

P.S. The original image I used for the basis of the cover art is by Tarrow100, a japanese artist that I asked permission to use the image from around two years ago. I then redesigned the color and added the other stuff. Here's the link to the original image, in case you were curious and wanted to compare them. https://www.deviantart.com/art/AXELAY-T ... -510972784

[Mark_MSX]

The 13th episode of the show: The New Blood (Part I), Shmup eSports, Competition, and Engagement, is complete!





Here is the link to the soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/user-306325657

Also, a link to the Google Drive if you prefer to download the episodes that way.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1v-q8h ... 4ELF6ATzF3


If you are a fan of the podcast, or would like to be a guest on the show, please feel free to join the podcast Discord.

https://discord.gg/YXHK2Fp

On this week's episode I am joined by long time listener, first time caller Mr. McCormo. This interview ended up being split into 2 parts, this is the first of the pair. We discuss the possibility of shmups fitting into an eSports format, competitiveness in the shmup scene, and I go on about my idea for revising how we currently record scores.

Also, a new nest of birds was built over where I record, and they weigh in on the conversation.

If you want to check out a more detailed explanation on my score keeping idea and the community's reaction to it, check out this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=63002

Music:

1st song = Kame house, from Dragonball Wave
2nd song=Spaceflight by Efence
3rd song=Kid Goku, from Dragonball Wave
4th Song= 40's by Axian
5th Song= Snake Way, from Dragonball Wave

P.S. The original image I used for the basis of the cover art is by Tarrow100, a japanese artist that I asked permission to use the image from around two years ago. I then redesigned the color and added the other stuff. Here's the link to the original image, in case you were curious and wanted to compare them. https://www.deviantart.com/art/AXELAY-T ... -510972784

[Mark_MSX]

The 14th episode of the show: The French Connection, Gekko of Shmup Em' All and the French Shmup Scene, is complete!





Here is the link to the soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/user-306325657

Also, a link to the Google Drive if you prefer to download the episodes that way.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1v-q8h ... 4ELF6ATzF3


If you are a fan of the podcast, or would like to be a guest on the show, please feel free to join the podcast Discord.

https://discord.gg/YXHK2Fp

On today's episode I get to talk with Gekko of the awesome Shmup em' All podcast. We talk the French shmup scene, arcades, stunfest, the documentary, and the upcoming Ketsui port. Huge thanks to Gekko for breaking the language barrier and coming on the show. The skies above know that my pet cat has a better chance of clearing Garegga than I do speaking French for an hour.

P.S. The original image I used for the basis of the cover art is by Tarrow100, a japanese artist that I asked permission to use the image from around two years ago. I then redesigned the color and added the other stuff. Here's the link to the original image, in case you were curious and wanted to compare them. https://www.deviantart.com/art/AXELAY-T ... -510972784

[Mantrox]

Ops..

[Mantrox]

For a second I thought your cat died.
I'm gonna listen to this one later today.

[Mark_MSX]

For a second I thought your cat died.
I'm gonna listen to this one later today.

Haha I can understand that. Cat is happy and doing well (just sucks at Garegga). Thank you for listening!

[Mark_MSX]

The 15th episode of the show: Moe or Not to Moe? Shmup Visual Design with Comic Book Artist Jay Shy, is complete!





Here is the link to the soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/user-306325657

Also, a link to the Google Drive if you prefer to download the episodes that way.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1v-q8h ... 4ELF6ATzF3


If you are a fan of the podcast, or would like to be a guest on the show, please feel free to join the podcast Discord.

https://discord.gg/YXHK2Fp

On this week's episode I get the opportunity to talk with an awesome guest, Jay Shy! He is a professional comic book artist and we sit down and have a discussion about overall shmup visual design, anime, as well as specific art styles like cyber punk and moe. I also get to learn more about Jay's experience entering the shmup community and hear his thoughts on how we can make the scene more welcoming.

Check out his YouTube Channel!

https://www.youtube.com/user/shinmegamitalks/videos

[Mark_MSX]

The 16th episode of the show: Eye of the Beholder, The Biology of Seeing Shmups, is complete!





Here is the link to the soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/user-306325657

Also, a link to the Google Drive if you prefer to download the episodes that way.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1v-q8h ... 4ELF6ATzF3


If you are a fan of the podcast, or would like to be a guest on the show, please feel free to join the podcast Discord.

https://discord.gg/YXHK2Fp

Mr. McCormo is back for part 2 of his interview!

In this follow up we go deep into some pretty technical and possibly divisive topics. We talk about welcoming new players into the scene, emulation versus ports, the merits of arcade sticks, digital versus analog display, the meaning of pixel response time, 240p vs 480i, and the biology behind how we look at shmups when we play.

McCormo has written an article on the subject of seeing shmups:

https://dunpachi.com/2018/10/11/saccade ... nd-shmups/

Check out his other articles on the website too

P.S. The original image I used for the basis of the cover art is by Tarrow100, a japanese artist that I asked permission to use the image from around two years ago. I then redesigned the color and added the other stuff. Here's the link to the original image, in case you were curious and wanted to compare them. https://www.deviantart.com/art/AXELAY-T ... -510972784

[Zen]

Dear Mark,


Could you please get Dr. McCormo, further to his research on "Saccades, Perception, and Shmups", to (totally unbiased like) prove correct my suspicions,
regarding Testosterone and the "Hyper Male Brain", as it pertains to variations in visual perception.

This will put to rest, once and for all, that I genuinely do suffer "Garegga Blindness", thus proving that all farmers scoring higher than me on that accursed shmup, are actually "girly-men".
Ta.

Your pal in science,

Zen.

[Mark_MSX]

Absolutely!

In the mean time, top shmup researchers have shown that turning on pink bullets is a helpful cure for Garegga Blindness.