Weekly Online Shmeet #3 (Gradius)

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Tomtom
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Post by Tomtom »

Tomtom - 209,300 - 1-4

I 1-lifed all the way to the mini volcanoes, died and couldn't recover. It's quite difficult to get through that onslaught with only the pea shooter.
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Edge
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Post by Edge »

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Edge - 365'300 - 1-7

You know what is the worst spot to recover from a death... I mean bedides the obvious level 7. For me the worst spot is the end of level 4. >_<
At my last tries, I have died a lot there... and almost every time it ended with Game Over.


@Icarus:
I'dd appreciate it, if you would compete. Even if you are way better than anyone else than. More people competing is more fun and better rivals are more encouraging. ;)
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Shatterhand
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Post by Shatterhand »

Shatterhand - 377,400 - 1-7 - MAME

Managed to 1-life up until 1-7 , and then proceeded to lose al my lives

Level 1-4 and Level 1-7 are obviously the hardest levels in the game (At least in loop 1). Everthing else is very easy, though 1-4 is getting easier and easier for me (Now I can even 1-life it! :) )

1-7 is just fucking impossible for me. I was playing with save states to practice in that level, and even saving and backtracking all the time I just CANT BEAT THIS GODDAMN level. I don't know how I'll be able to do it in just one sitting, no saving.

In that hi-score run, I was so pissed off about losing ALL MY GODDAMN lives at the same spot, that in the last life I just didn't pick any power ups.. not even a speed-up, I just said 'Fuck it, let's see how I can do without power-ups".... and then I reched the furthest I had ever reached in that level, heh :)

BTW, I have screenshots for all my hi-scores (Even the Donpachi ones), if anyone feels I have to post them ,let me know (Not that they are good anyway :))
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Icarus
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Post by Icarus »

You need Double for stage4 and stage7, guaranteed. Laser for everything else. Double is required because you need to be able to attack both the floor and the ceiling at once.

In stage7, make use of all of the safespots you can. Turrets cannot fire past their horizontal level, so you can often stay under a group of turrets and let Double or Missile take care of them. Also, make sure you destroy the enemy-generating domes as quickly as possible, or you'll be overwhelmed by bullets.

One word about rank: getting all four Options dramatically increases enemy resilience and bullet speed. I have a replay captured of a 1st loop 1LC using 3 Options throughout the entire loop. With 4 Options it get far harder to destroy anything (most notably the dancing umbrellas in stage4 before the boss).
Edge wrote:You know what is the worst spot to recover from a death... I mean bedides the obvious level 7. For me the worst spot is the end of level 4. >_<
At my last tries, I have died a lot there... and almost every time it ended with Game Over.
For me, the worst stage to die in is stage5, with the raspberries. Being stuck without a speedup in that stage means you'll lose a lot of lives very quickly (I lost about 5 in quick succession in 2-5).
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landshark
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Post by landshark »

Icarus - I just realized you said milk the 1-7 boss. How on earth could you milk the brain?
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Icarus
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Post by Icarus »

Well you see, you grab a teat, and then you gently squeeze until grey matter starts to come out, which you then collect in a bucket...

... yeah, yeah. I meant the stage6 boss ^_- (I can't count properly at 5am in the morning ^_-)
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Shatterhand
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Post by Shatterhand »

Icarus wrote:You need Double for stage4 and stage7, guaranteed. Laser for everything else. Double is required because you need to be able to attack both the floor and the ceiling at once.

In stage7, make use of all of the safespots you can. Turrets cannot fire past their horizontal level, so you can often stay under a group of turrets and let Double or Missile take care of them. Also, make sure you destroy the enemy-generating domes as quickly as possible, or you'll be overwhelmed by bullets.

One word about rank: getting all four Options dramatically increases enemy resilience and bullet speed. I have a replay captured of a 1st loop 1LC using 3 Options throughout the entire loop. With 4 Options it get far harder to destroy anything (most notably the dancing umbrellas in stage4 before the boss).
Edge wrote:You know what is the worst spot to recover from a death... I mean bedides the obvious level 7. For me the worst spot is the end of level 4. >_<
At my last tries, I have died a lot there... and almost every time it ended with Game Over.
For me, the worst stage to die in is stage5, with the raspberries. Being stuck without a speedup in that stage means you'll lose a lot of lives very quickly (I lost about 5 in quick succession in 2-5).
Strange, I don't find recovering in level 5 that difficult... I just play cowadrly without any power ups for sure, but I find it pretty easy to destroy the arms with just my pea shooter, and let the "raspberries" just go away.

I managed to reach 1-7 with the 4 options, but then it doesn't make one single difference, as I die there, and then I lose all my other lives in succession. The only real difficult level before that is 1-4 (Which isn't even THAT hard), everything else I can do easily now, but 1-7 just destroys me.
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landshark
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Post by landshark »

Icarus wrote:Well you see, you grab a teat, and then you gently squeeze until grey matter starts to come out, which you then collect in a bucket...

... yeah, yeah. I meant the stage6 boss ^_- (I can't count properly at 5am in the morning ^_-)
/me goes looking for a brain teat.
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Shatterhand
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Post by Shatterhand »

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I managed to loop the game! But when I was happily losing all my lifes at 2-1, the power quickly went off, reseting my computer!


GODDAMN NOOOOOOOO (bang head against the wall).

I didn't even noted my score, it was something around the 400k , I guess.

And I only lost 1 life at 1-7! After playing the level so many times with a save state, I figured out some stuff.... I actually do NOT need Double here, there are some spots where all I need to do is stay at a certain position with my options, and just keep the finger on the fire button, and the lasers will just kill everything... I only need to move at a few points in the level.

Even the generators are easy with this config.. I can easily destroy every enemy with my laser and options... I then died in something that resembled Space Manbow's level 2 boss (I was trapped inside a cage or something, which was sending "walls of lasers", so I had less space to move). After I died there, I think I was sent AHEAD in the level... after that I all had to do was kill those 2 arms before the brain, and then the brain itself.

ANd then 2-1 came... and there I was, dying with a smile in the face, when POW, my computer resets.. GODDAMN.

But I think I can do it again. But now only tomorrow, I am freaking tired of Gradius for today :) (Nothing like having a full free day :) )
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landshark
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Post by landshark »

1-7 is very doable with lasers. There is a way to position your options so you really don't even have to do anything for most of the level if you have enough speedups (and 4 options). I'm guessing with return bullets it may not work so well on the later loops.
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Icarus
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Post by Icarus »

Edge wrote:@Icarus:
I'dd appreciate it, if you would compete. Even if you are way better than anyone else than. More people competing is more fun and better rivals are more encouraging. ;)
Alright then. If you insist. ^_-

Icarus - 739,900 - 2-7 - Saturn

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No Missed the first loop (with 3 Options), lost the first life at the start of 2-1, took the second life to 2-5, lost about five lives in quick succession. Recovered enough to make it through 2-6 unscathed with two Options, Laser and Missile, then promptly fumbled the whole game by crashing into disappearing scenery >_<

Ended at the start of 2-7. So close to the 2-ALL as well. (Story of my life.)

This is replay verified, and the replay will be made available upon request.

One tip for the loopers: arm yourselves with two Speedups and a Laser right from the start. Worry about Options, Missile and Shield later. If you are not armed with Laser from the get go, kiss your lives goodbye. A piercing weapon is a requirement in the 2nd loop. ^_-
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AWJ
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Post by AWJ »

Another shitty 3rd-tier score. And Gradius is one of the shmups I consider myself relatively good at...

AWJ - 248,500 - 1-4 - MAME

All my best-scoring games have followed the same pattern: One-lifing up to stage 4 (the large round ships at the end of stage 3 are very lucrative if you've one-lifed up to that point and have a fully powered up ship that can destroy them en masse) then dying at what may be the worst recovery point in the game: Right before the inverted volcano. Since there are absolutely no sources of powerups between the respawn point and the volcano, one has to somehow get past the volcano with no speedups. I don't see how it can be done...

I think I'm going to try suiciding at the start of stage 4 in order to drop the rank while retaining some opportunity to power up before the gauntlet that is the middle of stage 4,,,
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MSZ
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Post by MSZ »

Very impressive, Icarus. And its very lucky for you that tviks still haven't found this thread yet... :shock:

While I'm at it, don't even try to touch MY Gradius hi-score thread. :D
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MSZ
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Post by MSZ »

Very impressive, Icarus. And its very lucky for you that tviks still haven't found this thread yet... :shock:

While I'm at it, don't even try to touch MY Gradius hi-score thread. :D
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Ramus
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Post by Ramus »

Updated.
My Collection
Currently playing: Research (sigh)
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Edge
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Post by Edge »

Nice score, Icarus. :)
So the 2nd loop is the last one? I don't like unlimited loops anyway...

Here's my new score:

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Edge - 415'000 - 2-1 - Mame

1LC 1st Loop (Using 4 options and shield). The rank really gets insane sometimes, never tried to hold it down.
Maybe I should try out that 3 options strategy...

Lost one life in the first stage of the 2nd loop. And couldn't really recover once. :?

Shatterhand wrote:
(I was trapped inside a cage or something, which was sending "walls of lasers", so I had less space to move)
I hate that thing, so I always hide above it. If you have missiles and at least one option you can kill all the enemies when you position your options at the left.
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Shatterhand
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Post by Shatterhand »

Thanx for the tip, but I just figured out I could hide above it before reading this :) Thanx anyway.

Shatterhand - 511900 - 2-2 - MAME

Now 1 life the 1st loop is easy to me... I managed to reach 2-2 3 times, and I always lose a life in that mini boss (I just move at random desperately there... I mean, I have to dodge that stuff and DODGE THE SUICIDE bullets...... ... hmm.. just had an idea now, maybe I should try to just dodge them, not kill them... )

After that, I just lose all the remaining lives in the turrets before the mini boss. The same thing happened 3 times, heh.

One thing that really helped me was to stop playing with the Dual Shock 2 controller and just stick with the keyboard. The Keyboard gives me a much more precise control than the Dualshock controller, I can manage to squeeze my Vic Viper around tight spot between bullets with the keyboard, but while using the Dual Shock, I always end up moving a little bit more than I wanted to.

I wish I had an arcade stick...

Hmm.. I noticed with this score, I am in 2nd place, being in the Tier 1 for THE FIRST TIME!!! :) YAHOO! :)

Watch out Icarus, I am coming after you! :)
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Icarus
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Post by Icarus »

Edge wrote:So the 2nd loop is the last one? I don't like unlimited loops anyway...
Nope, the game loops infinitely. I've just never actually registered a 2-ALL on any game. Ever. I've been so close the past couple of weeks that it's starting to get irritating.
Shatterhand wrote:Hmm.. I noticed with this score, I am in 2nd place, being in the Tier 1 for THE FIRST TIME!!! :) YAHOO! :)
Watch out Icarus, I am coming after you! :)
Well done! ^_^
And bring it on! ^_-

(I might see if I can make it to the third loop. I was planning on playing Gradius Gaiden tonight, but I think I can sideline that for a few days ^_-)
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benstylus
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Post by benstylus »

benstylus - 216000 - 1-4 - Saturn (deleted save data first to make sure it was default)
You're arguing for a universe with fewer waffles in it. I'm prepared to call that cowardice.
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landshark
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Post by landshark »

Man, I'm not sure I can play these competitions anymore. I have to stop playing Gradius now because I get too frustrated while playing. I have been repeatedly dying in level 1 and 2.

In level 1 it's always from a rock enema. And in level 2 it's because I smack the beak of my ship into a platform.

It's even more frustrating because this game isn't that hard.
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Shatterhand
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Post by Shatterhand »

So play something else :)

When I start to suck too much, I just stop playing, before I get too frustrated.

This last 2 days I had lots of free time (oohh, thanx end of year :D), so I spent a lot of time in Gradius.

Even then, sometimes I would just keep dying on level 1 or 2 too, so when this happens, I just go play something else.. (I've been playing GBC Metal Gear Solid lately, so it's a good game to switch, as it doesn't need any twitch skills :D), or just go do something else - Like play with my dogs (REAL dogs, not Nintendogs or something silly like that :D )

And cmon mate, you had great scores in both Donpachi and Cyvern, not to mention you have the 3rd best score here. Another good tip that I use myself: don't let it get too serious. If I ever manage to be in 1st place at any week, I surely will go YAAHOO, but it's not like I really need that. For me this competition is giving me something new to play every week, something to focus (gamewise), and having fun with friends. Don't do it for the competition, do it just because it's fun to play like that :)
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ArrogantBastard
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Post by ArrogantBastard »

ArrogantBastard - 413,370 - 2-4 - MAME
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landshark
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Post by landshark »

Shatterhand wrote:So play something else :)
I did. I went and played some Gunbird 2 ;)
When I start to suck too much, I just stop playing, before I get too frustrated.
Yeah, I haven't learned how to do that yet.
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Icarus
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Post by Icarus »

It's definitely not a good idea to continue a session if you start to get angry or frustrated, as it can impair your judgement and cause you to make more mistakes. When you are calm and focused is when you make progress.

Before the end of the second meet (Cyvern), I was getting really annoyed at silly mistakes and the aggravating stage4 boss constantly ending promising credits. So I powered off and spent the rest of the evening watching films on DVD, and when I wen't back to Cyvern (1am GMT, several hours after meet end), the first credit I played I broke 14mil.

Never underestimate how much benefit a good rest and a calm mentality can provide to your shmupping ^_-

Lately I've been playing a lot of Animal Crossing DS. When a shmup starts to make my blood boil, escaping to a more serene environment works wonders.
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Edge
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Post by Edge »

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Edge - 422'800 - 2-1 - Mame

Couldn't play at the christmas days, but I'll try some good Gradius runs now.
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Shatterhand
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Post by Shatterhand »

No more scores for this
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Shatterhand
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Post by Shatterhand »

I'm sorry, I just fixed the table... I missed last ArrogantBastard's score...


Now I think everything is right :)
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