#ShmupChallenge

[casualcoder]

Being kind of shut in with this Coronavirus lockdown last week I realized I had some extra time and wanted to get into a new shmup.

But feeling extra isolated and in my own head (not an unusual state for me in general) I thought instead of going back to my usual goto and playing under the normal cloak of darkness, might be fun to instead have someone throw me an unexpected game pick + challenge. So, I had this idea for "ShmupChallenge" that goes like this:

• 
  - Nominate someone for a game that you don't think they've played much (or at all) and set out for them a fair challenge.
  - The person receiving the challenge can send a counter-challenge to the challenger, or pass it on to someone else that they would be more comfortable challenging.
  

The experiment turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected!

I nominated Mark_MSX on twitter for a challenge of a 1CC -OR- 20mill score in Espgaluda, while he counter-challenged me for a 1CC in Blue Revolver Hyper Mode.

I announced my completed challenge and posted the video (w/ commentary):
Steven Nikolic (Neon Dagger) -- Blue Revolver Hyper Mode 1CC CHALLENGE COMPLETE
https://youtu.be/KIScaz3zViU

And then Mark promptly completed his challenge mere hours later live on stream (while practically learning how the game plays in real-time, ridiculous!)
Mark_MSX (ElectricUnderground) -- Espgaluda 1CC and 20mill+ Score CHALLENGE COMPLETE
https://youtu.be/UDDbKvxqfwU


If any of you guys have anyone in mind to do this, I would highly recommend challenging one another and posting the results!
If you want you can tag it #ShmupChallenge on twitter so it's easier to keep track of over time.

[MathU]

Twisted Challenges was always my favorite section in Nintendo Power, but it seems like you should probably pick a challenge of moderate to easy difficulty in order for this back-and-forth thing to be interesting. Otherwise you kind of have to know about goals people are already working towards and might finish soon.

[casualcoder]

seems like you should probably pick a challenge of moderate to easy difficulty in order for this back-and-forth thing to be interesting. Otherwise you kind of have to know about goals people are already working towards and might finish soon.

Exactly, that was in the back of my mind when I chose ESP for Mark (noticed he didn't have any plays on his site, so good bet he didn't play much). Mark had no way of knowing I never played BR so that was just a random knock out of the park.

The challenge can be anything really, and at any skill level. It's fun even with beginners to put eachother through paces and make progress. Why not?!

[blossom]

Cute idea, but this community has no chill and doesn't understand there are different skill levels, so I'm sure all you'll see is "hey random person, you should 2-ALL Sengoku Blade in a month!"

[casualcoder]

Cute idea, but this community has no chill and doesn't understand there are different skill levels, so I'm sure all you'll see is "hey random person, you should 2-ALL Sengoku Blade in a month!"

Yeah it's kind of meant to be between people who are already friendly with one another, and then if possible to share it for other's to see. I'm kind of porting the idea over from the FGC, which has this mindset naturally built into it of course.

But you're probably right in your base assumption. I already saw one top player get sent nonsense challenges (or so it seemed). People can do with it whatever they want. I've long since disregarded the jokers and elitists, so there's zero drawback in putting this out there. Certainly was a good call for me already. Hope I see some other challenges, regardless of skill level!