Worst boss attacks you've ever seen in a shmup?

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xxx1993

Worst boss attacks you've ever seen in a shmup?

Post by xxx1993 »

I was just playing Einhander today. That game, along with Border Down and Sol Cresta, have great final bosses, as I mentioned in a previous topic. Unfortunately, what nearly makes them go down the shitter is for Hyperion from Einhander, when it uses those annoying ass blue projectiles that slowly home in on you. I was fighting Hyperion and when it launched those stupid blue things at me I accidentally flew into one of them and lost a life. The green things it launches are an annoyance as well. The worst thing is that when you die against Hyperion, the battle is completely ruined because it makes you restart without Hyperion's awesome intro and you become lightly armed as a result. For the Stage 6C/CD boss in Border Down, when it flies in different directions of the screen, leaving behind a trail of bullets on each side, and for Mandler from Sol Cresta, when it does that Emperor Palpatine-like lightning attack that fires in four directions and is very unpredictable to dodge. Seriously, what is it with shmups that have awesome final bosses yet is nearly ruined with that one attack?
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XoPachi
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Re: Worst boss attacks you've ever seen in a shmup?

Post by XoPachi »

The whole of Sine Mora was just awful attack sequences.
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PerishedFraud ឵឵
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Re: Worst boss attacks you've ever seen in a shmup?

Post by PerishedFraud ឵឵ »

Ah, another lovely xxx thread.

But sure, I'll oblige. I fucking hate Sphinx from Ketsui. In particular the attack where it fires those containers to the edges of the screen. I have more issues with this attack than some of doom's stuff.
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SPM
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Re: Worst boss attacks you've ever seen in a shmup?

Post by SPM »

Aki's last attack stops people from even trying Ultra/Arrange clears in Mushi (myself included, it puts me off).

Hibachi's washing machines are just too fast and dense.

There are well known strats for them, but I just can't be bothered. I don't like TLBs with a huge difficulty spike that turns them into a chore/annoyance rather than a reward. At least not yet, maybe I'm not ready.
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mycophobia
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Re: Worst boss attacks you've ever seen in a shmup?

Post by mycophobia »

all doj bosses. fuck those guys
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copy-paster
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Re: Worst boss attacks you've ever seen in a shmup?

Post by copy-paster »

Some of Raizing bosses are the worst due to high amount of RNG/literal casino attack. Take example of Black Heart 2 and Discharge, or the junk boss/st5 boss from Mahou Daisakusen they can be either the easiest or the most impossible shit you've ever fought depending what the bosses feel.
SPM wrote:I don't like TLBs with a huge difficulty spike that turns them into a chore/annoyance rather than a reward. At least not yet, maybe I'm not ready.
Raiden DX's TLB is one of the opposite, all you need is just one or two bombs, fully pointblank him with bombspam and dead boss in less than 5 seconds. You could kill him quickly without bombs but you must fire the weakpoint at perfect range and using nuclear missiles.
xxx1993

Re: Worst boss attacks you've ever seen in a shmup?

Post by xxx1993 »

The Chapter 3 boss and final boss's attacks in Ikaruga piss me off. In particular, for Chapter 3, when it starts firing those laser beams and speeds up, and the final boss's second form, when it has those things that follow you and leave behind a red and blue trail in the process.
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Re: Worst boss attacks you've ever seen in a shmup?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Not a commercial game, but there's a freeware christmas-themed shmup about alcoholism called Barfer Sickmess, and the final boss in the sequel uses RNG to pick its attacks. It's got like 6 different attacks it'll use, sometimes twice in a row, but two of them are literally undodgeable and have no safespot (the snowfall attack was actually in the first game but it at least has a safespot at the top left).

It's a very silly game in general due to the reliance of RNG for basic powerups.
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Re: Worst boss attacks you've ever seen in a shmup?

Post by ZPScissors »

The final attack of Touhou 18's Extra boss is both just another variation of her non-spells and way too easy for an Extra stage final.
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BrianC
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Re: Worst boss attacks you've ever seen in a shmup?

Post by BrianC »

Any bosses with joke attacks similar to Tap Man on Psych? Closest I can think of is the first boss in trouble shooter where the first boss does nothing at first but laugh at you, though he comes back and attacks right after his first defeat.
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The Coop
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Re: Worst boss attacks you've ever seen in a shmup?

Post by The Coop »

Pretty much anything in Broken Thunder... but especially the final boss. The attacks are just unplanned chaos.
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Re: Worst boss attacks you've ever seen in a shmup?

Post by Jonpachi »

Night Raid on Playstation. I generally love Takumi, but the patterns in NR are mostly just random clumps of bullets coming at you like a bully throwing rocks. There's nothing really done with purpose or or level-design intent. It's just a mess.
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Re: Worst boss attacks you've ever seen in a shmup?

Post by Shatterhand »

BrianC wrote:Any bosses with joke attacks similar to Tap Man on Psych? Closest I can think of is the first boss in trouble shooter where the first boss does nothing at first but laugh at you, though he comes back and attacks right after his first defeat.
There's a boss in Gokujyou Parodius that shoots power-ups at you. It was pretty funny the first time I saw it.
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