Strikers 1945 III / Strikers 1999

[Enhasa]

Enhasa - 865,200 - 1-7 - X-36

Man, I thought I was kinda hot shit with that score, but it's near the very bottom. This is clearly the game for manly men only.

Edit: Ok lol, just saw the 20-place truncation rule.

[Necronopticous]

Welcome to the scoreboard!

865k is a hot score, but I know you can do even better. Keep 'em coming.

[Battletoad]

Here we go.
Battletoad - 1,060,600 - 2-1 - X-36

This time I got the Technical Bonus on stage 7 (just with extensive bombing...), but missed it on stage 4. With a bit luck I could get 1.1 million just from the 1st loop. That´s my last goal (for now) with the X-36.

[Battletoad]

Most probably some time will pass until I continue playing this game. So here´s my Harrier score that I reached back then:
Battletoad - 898,900 - 1-8 - AV-8 Harrier

To be continued... My recent successes in the 2nd loop from Zero Gunner 2 also give me a little hope for the loop in Strikers 1999.

[clp]

Why cant this game be in stgt
clp - 976,800 - 2-1 - AV-8 Harrier

[CRI]

CRI - 881,800 - 1-8 - X-36

[Necronopticous]

[clp]

2-3 ripped me a new one .

clp - 1,337,200 - 2-3 - X-36

[CRI]

new score:

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X-36 
13 | CRI                |    1,004,400       |    1-8 
Coin Chain: 05

CRI - 941,500 - 1-8 - X-36
Coin Chain: 08

never played the game with more then one credit for now so this was the first time i have seen that stage 8 boss 2nd form.
really had no clue what to do so there was some panic dodging.
really fun to play a game that way after 2 weeks STGT.

[Necronopticous]

Great improvements, guys. Don't let that second loop scare you.

[CRI]

Don't let that second loop scare you.

will try... even though the fast suicide bullets look a bit scary.

cleared the 1st loop for the first time today and with a new max. coin chain.

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X-36 
14 | CRI                |    1,053,900       |    2-1 
Coin Chain: 18

missed the techbonus at st.4.
next techbonus i'm aiming for is stage 6. (seems to be the easiest after the first 4 stages)

[A_Civilian]

It's a really old run, haven't found many chances at playing on a cabinet.

Having the tank stage for 4th is terrible with the freaking helicopters that shoot those fast fat bullets.
Having the water stage for 4th is WORSE because of those medium-sized planes.

CIV - 821,400 - 1-7 - F-4 Phantom [because the X-36's too fast for me to handle, though this one's only a bit slower...]

Screen

Anyway, no plan for Stage 7th's boss. Stage 6...is it strange if I find the mosquito easier to deal with than the twin flies?

[Necronopticous]

Updated. Sorry about that.

It is strange if you prefer Geobite. That guy is a motherfucker.

[tinotormed]

Aaaaggghhh, I wonder why that Chaos Queen keeps backfiring "love notes" at me?



tinotormed - 1,003,600 - 2-1 - X-36

[Necronopticous]

Welcome to the board!

Awesome first submission. Don't stop there!

[austere]

Posting for medal:

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TOM - 1,031,300 - X-36 - 1-8

[Necronopticous]

Added. Keep 'em coming.

[spadgy]

Is the X-36 table capped at 20?

If not here's my rather meagre debut:

spadgy - 671,900 - X-36 - 1-7

[Necronopticous]

The boards are capped at 20, but I certainly still encourage you to post your progress. Keep it up!

[azinth]

Azinth - 1,074,500 - X-36 - 1-8

Blech, choked at the last boss for about the billionth time. Tiny score increase too, but it brings me up a few spaces so whatever

[Necronopticous]

Never give up. Trust your instincts.

[CRI]

EDIT:

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X-36 
10 | CRI                |    1,201,100       |    2-2 

died after a few seconds at st. 2-2 but damn i finally beat 2-1.

OLD SCORE X-36
10 | CRI | 1,141,600 | 2-1

[Necronopticous]

Great score, man. Welcome to the top 10. Keep going.

Which level did you get for 2-1 on that run?

[CRI]

thanks.
got russia: heavy armory for 2-1 on that run. (hardest stage for me from the first 4 stages)
for 2-2 i got japan which is the 2nd hardest stage for me from the first 4.

i would rank the stages like this: (only stages not bosses)

<easy>
australia
USA
japan
russia
<hard>

btw:
any tips for stage 5&8 boss?
i have problems with the pattern you can see at 07:52-07:56 & 13:53-13:57 at the ASP superplay.

[Necronopticous]

Wow...Your first time through 2-1 and you got Russia? Highly commendable. Everything about that stage is a pain in the ass, especially if you're going for the loop 2 tech bonuses. I have nightmares about loop 2 Ground Skater.

I didn't even really have to reference the ASP superplay to know what patterns you were referring to, because they're such problem spots. Certainly two of the most brutal patterns in the game.

For the Green Bender pattern, my strategy is to position myself just left of center at the very bottom of the screen and tap to the right as he's beginning to fire--once the firing has started, the tapping should always get you past the first ring since it seems to be directly aimed at you. The following rings generally seem to be skewed slightly so you'll generally have to keep moving, but the more you move the more the pattern is skewed, so you want to avoid long directional holds and stick mostly to taps. Personally, I tap to the right pretty much all though the pattern, and adjust the amount with the flow of the pattern. It is one of those patterns that is far too fast to impulse dodge (with high rank) but requires some impulse adjustment since there is no real trick or safe spot. Once you've been through it many times with the same movement pattern your brain and muscles will get the feel for how much you need to tap to get through each ring, and which rings you'll dodge without having to pay attention to. The most important thing to watch out for while dodging this pattern is the bullets in the rings that are not spaced out as much as the others. There is generally only one or two spots at the front of each ring that have this problem...they're very easy to notice, and you'll generally only have one launched directly at you about half way through the barrage. Do not try to squeeze in the small space between those two bullets, tap a little further to get into the space on the right with a normal gap. This is usually the only place in the pattern where I hold a direction for more than a small tap, but be careful because if you go too far the following ring will be heavily skewed and throw you off.

This is definitely a pattern worthy of being a dedicated bombing spot unless you're really serious about taking on the second loop, or nailing the no-bomb/no-miss first loop. In that case, never bomb here, even when you're sure you'll die, just stick to one basic movement strategy and take note of exactly why it didn't work each time and adjust accordingly until you start making it through. I can get it 95% of the time now, even after coming back to the game from a long-ish hiatus, and you'll be pleased to know that it's exactly the same on the second loop (if you're at max rank).

Luckily, the Chaos Queen pattern you're stuck on actually does have a trick to it. It's hard to explain in words since there is so many bullets, but if you watch the ASP video very closely you can see him do it, so that should help you out. There is a sort of safe spot through almost all of this pattern (all if you position it just right) but it is based on the initial trajectory of the pattern, rather than being a static spot on the screen. To get into the spot, you'll want to position yourself directly under him just before the pattern begins and watch for the first two sets of double-bullets that are shot directly at you...The first set is two bullets overlapping slightly, and the second is close behind and slightly more spread out (not overlapping, but hardly enough room to fit between). Dodge the first set to the right, and ease yourself into a position where the right bullet of the second set will just miss you on your left...you'll want to be as close to it as possible, with it practically grazing the left side of your ship (not quite as hard as it might sound). If you freeze in that position, nearly the entire pattern will miss you. You might have to cut away from the final aimed bullet or two at the very end, but that's usually dead simple to see and perform after a couple of goes.

Hopefully this helps you out. Are you getting serious about loop 2? I might have to start playing again with some new competition.

[CRI]

thanks for that awesome reply.
with your help i can see now the save spot at the chaos queen pattern and i'm starting to no bomb that part.
i will try what i can do to the loop but don't expect competition soon.
first i need to no miss the 1st loop, learn the 1-7 and some 2nd loop techbonus (australia thanatos don't look that hard), get the highscore on my pcb,..... and maybe then i can think about a 2-all and a score like yours.

[Sapz]

SPZ - 1,035,500 - X-36 - 2-1

This game is a lot of fun. Pretty much bombspammed through 1-8, but nice to clear the first loop.

[Necronopticous]

Hey Sapz, good to see you here. Great score, man. Don't stop there.

CRI: How's it going?

[RealBout c.f.]

RealBout c.f. - 1,107,000 - 2-1 - X-36

I didn't play any shmups for years, but somehow the interest came back. It's terrible after such a long break, eye/hand coordination has to be learned again and bullet patterns that weren't a problem are very overwhelming now.
Back then I ignored the X-36 because I had played the comparable Pancake in the other games and liked a few ships in 1999 much more. However, this game always felt like unfinished business, so I started playing it again, this time with the X-36 exclusively.
I am not really satisfied yet, but the first loop works quite well now, all I really have to do is to learn the seventh boss and simply become more consistent.

Does anyone know how to dodge the pattern of the sixth boss' second phase (the two "flies")? I assumed that it is necessary to stay aligned to the lower part and dodge the pattern made up of small bullets and the bigger ones will also miss automatically, but I am not sure, sometimes it works and some times it does not.

My goal is to reach the Top 10 here, but I don't know how far I can really get in the second loop because it is still nearly unplayably hard for me.

[Necronopticous]

RealBout,

Great to see you back! The effects of a long hiatus from a game like this are really interesting. I can definitely relate to the degradation of skill that you speak of, but sometimes nothing is better for improvement than a break. Oftentimes I'll find that after I overcome the initial hurdle of warming back up and readjusting my muscle memory to a game I haven't played in a long time, I'll begin to do better than ever before. Some of my greatest achievements in the shmup community have been made after a year+ break from a game. I hope you will stick with Strikers '99 and make your mark in the top 10 as you mentioned. Hell, you're so close already, go for the top 5!

As for the Cross Blade pattern you asked about, I'm going to assume you're talking about the pattern just after the split occurs. The reason your strategy seems to work sometimes and fail others is that this pattern is completely dependent on the horizontal position the boss is in when you cause him to split into two--after the split both parts will start moving left and stay perfectly lined up for you making the pattern a breeze to dodge by doing exactly as you said in your post. The problem is that once they reach the edge of the screen they will start moving in the other direction independently of one another and screw the alignment of the pattern up completely, making it nearly impossible to dodge consistently. The trick, then, is to come up with a strategy to cause them to split on the very edge (preferably the right edge) every time, so you have enough time to kill the guy up front before they get to the other side of the screen. Difference in rank makes the amount of damage it takes vary wildly, which is why in my runs I do everything in my power to maintain max rank until this point.