Kyukyoku Tiger (Twin Cobra)

[EmperorIng]

Congrats! All I've made progress on is the easier PCE port. I'd love to get the arcade clear one day.

[mycophobia]

put 3 or 4 hours into this game, may as well make my inaugural entry

Kyukyoku Tiger
mycophobia - 889780 - 116 - Yes - MAME

[mycophobia]

Big PB:

Kyukyoku Tiger
mycophobia - 1,515,680 - 188 - Yes - MAME

[SAM]

PC-Engine Kyukyoku Tiger
SAM - 1,780,250 - 1-10 - Yes - PCE

[NMS]

Just got this clear:

Kyukyoku Tiger
NMS - 2,452,210 - 285 - Yes - ShmupMAME v4.2

[Steven]

Practicing Twin Cobra a little. It's definitely way easier than Kyuukyoku Tiger since removal of checkpoints lets you clumsily stumble your way through everything while spamming bombs. I'll probably turn the autofire on next time, but it's honestly not too bad without it. Also first PS4 score. Yay, I guess.

Twin Cobra arcade
Steven - 1,020,300 - 150 - No - 1P side - PS4

https://imgur.com/a/RiaMVMX

[Steven]

Autofire on = score increases by over 40% without any additional practice at all. Should probably have the clear in the near future.

Twin Cobra arcade
Steven - 1,442,790 - 187 - Yes - 1P side - PS4

https://imgur.com/a/cyGmRi4

[Steven]

What was supposed to be a nice relaxing late-night Kyuukyoku Tiger before bed suddenly turned into OH SHIT I'VE NEVER GOTTEN THIS FAR BEFORE!, so here it is.

Kyuukyoku Tiger arcade
Steven - 1,621,730 - 156 - Yes - Switch

https://imgur.com/a/h6f0hKe

[Steven]

Put a credit in, got a shameful game over, restarted, and broke my previous score by a decent amount while also getting further.

Kyuukyoku Tiger arcade
Steven - 1,749,870 - 176 - Yes - PS4

https://imgur.com/a/2Bt3qzt

[drboom]

Finally got a pcb of Kyukyoku Tiger after playing Twin Cobra for years and man, it's awesome. Feels like the right way to play the game. Got to relearn the loop again. I have a few hours into it and this is my best so far:

drboom - 1,390,940 - 177 - Yes - PCB

[SPM]

Kyukyoku Tiger (Arcade)
SPM - 2,771,460 - 287 - Yes - MAME

Spoiler

Got the clear!
I think I'll try to improve it once I get my hands on the M2 port!
(I'm addicted to checkpoint recoveries in this game, they're really well done)

[Despatche]

Congrats all! Wonder if I'd somehow play slightly better with the M2 port...

[drboom]

*updated score*
Got my repaired pcb back and working on the loop, but this is a good enough improvement to post up:
drboom - 2,506,410 - 240 - Yes - PCB

Made it to the last boss of the loop and took a death to the turrets and hadn’t learned the checkpoint before the boss at all so I couldn’t get enough strength to beat it. I must have burned through 15 lives trying. It did occur to me with one life left that I should quickly suicide a few times to move further back in the stage so I could power up more but obviously was too late.

I agree wholeheartedly about the checkpoint recoveries - so much fun to learn. So hard to recover at points, but it’s like a mini game on its own. Much harder than Twin Cobra but so much more fun overall.

[MJR]

When I bought the M2 release for switch, it was the first time I actually played this game. I noticed immediately how many of my favourite shooters back in the day had been stealing from this game.

My god this is a *good* game. Feels impenetrable at start, but you keep getting better and better the more you play. I can't believe that I actually made it to Stage five!!!!! The playability on this is phenomenal. Makes many of the modern game feel like they were designed by chimps.

And yes, I love checkpoints in this game. Twin Cobra is almost too easy for me.

MJR - 744,970 - 102 - Yes - Switch (M2)

[drboom]

Finally! Got the loop on Kyukyoku Tiger (and quite a few stages after!). First time clearing the loop and first time successfully using the safe spot for the last boss. Super happy with this score, not sure if I am gonna try and push it up any further. Took no deaths up to stage 8 and then lost quite a few working on the recovery and I thought the run was lost. Kept at it though and was rewarded with my first clear of the Japanese version of this Toaplan classic.

drboom - 3,142,940 - 318 - Yes - PCB
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eoK-HE ... sp=sharing

[Steven]

Good shit. I keep getting demolished on stage 5. It usually isn't even by the boss but rather the Otakebi things and/or the tanks in the field before it. Stages 6 and 7 are easier than 5, too, so if I can finally no miss through stage 5 I hope to finally get the clear, hopefully by the end of this month/year. Played today for the first time in a while and it seems I forgot what to do on stages 6 and 7, though, so I'll need to remember what to do on those and put in some decent practice on 5, 8, 9, and 10 to do it. I hate that stage 7 boss, though; I just let that thing time out because destroying the little connector thingy just makes it even harder.

[SPM]

GGs!! And yeah I agree Steven. Worst boss in the game! I prefer to kill that bastard though:
Pointblank + 1 bomb to get rid of the left part and then time out and kill the right part is really consistent.
I find that easier than timing out the whole boss, and more satisfying.

BTW every time I see this thread I need to put a credit into this game. It's awesome!

[drboom]

Thanks for the GG! And yeah - I use the same strategy on that boss - break the left half with shot and one bomb and then dodge the firing from the second half, maybe using a bomb or two if you get trapped. I think stage 5 is a big hurdle and progress comes more evenly after that. 6-9 all require some dedication to learn the checkpoints and I spent more time learning those than I did fighting the final boss in practice runs.

[Steven]

Hell yeah, be attitude for gains really does work! I've made more progress in the past day than I have since I started playing this game off and on in, what, January or something? No missed through the stage 5 boss for the first time... only to get hit on the way out by a shot it fired moments before its death. Shameful.

Kyuukyoku Tiger arcade
Steven - 1,867,190 - 176 - Yes - PS4

Spoiler

I didn't actually make physical "progress" since I game overed in exactly the same spot as last time, but my score somehow went up by a significant amount, and, more importantly, I can now finally, after almost a year, reliably clear stage 5, as I have finally figured out both the Otakebi field and the boss. I have been practicing the super old-fashioned way: no save states, no Youtube, almost no Arcade Challenge, and no replays, just a single coin and with the continue DIP switch disabled just in case. Basically the single worst way to practice (yes, I read The Full Extent of the Jam, and I know I'm doing it wrong), but I think I might do some serious training for the last few stages so I can get to the stage 10 boss powered up enough to abuse the safe spot.

Thanks for the stage 7 boss trick, though; that really helps. I also found a spot to actually pick up the Yellow Cross intentionally on stage 5, as well, and it's useful, relatively safe, and very consistent.

While I am here, yes, this game is fucking awesome and I love it even though I am super terrible at it.

[Steven]

Stage 9 now. This is going to happen.

Kyuukyoku Tiger arcade
Steven - 1,988,230 - 201 - Yes - PS4

Spoiler

[drboom]

Yeah man! You got it for sure. GL!!

[Steven]

Thanks, I certainly hope so. Recovering at any point on stage 8 is already difficult, but the beginning of stage 9 with no powerups is ridiculously hard, so I will have to either no miss that entire section or route it perfectly for recovery.

[Steven]

Fukkatsu Tiger

Kyuukyoku Tiger arcade
Steven - 2,111,220 - 199 - Yes - PS4

Spoiler

[Steven]

Daifukkatsu Tiger

Kyuukyoku Tiger arcade
Steven - 2,791,530 - 261 - Yes - PS4

Spoiler

Holy shit FINALLY! That sure took long enough.

Replay: https://youtu.be/3_Aqg_q_Nkk

[SPM]

Congrats Steven "Determination" Tiger! I had no doubts!

[Steven]

Thanks! I still can't believe how few people have posted clear scores; I believe this makes 5 of us, once the table gets updated again, although I know BIL has a clear on PS1 from back in the day. Ketsui Tiger indeed... It kind of makes me sad that not many people really play this, as it's easily one of the top 5 best games Toaplan ever made, even with the weapon balance issues.

Since it came up earlier in the thread, I checked my replay and the M2 gadget says that the final boss is at area 240, so anything after that is a clear. Loop 2 is super scary, with bullet speed on 2-1 being about the same as what you'll see on Same! Same! Same! 1P version's stage 4 or 5. "You've had your fun, now get the hell off the cabinet!" or something.

I am not done with this game yet, though; I am thinking about going for the #1 spot since it's not that far from what I have, but I have to practice more and ensure that clearing the game this one time wasn't just luck. I might put up the replay once I get my PS5 tomorrow since apparently that can record at 60FPS, unlike the PS4, so it should hopefully look pretty nice, but we'll see.

I also have a new Twin Cobra score to post, but I need to go check the screenshot to see what it is and it's not a great score. I kind of don't like that game after playing Kyuukyoku Tiger so much, but I made it to stage 9 or 10 the other day about 2 hours after getting the Kyuukyoku Tiger clear, so I'll probably get the clear on Twin Cobra soon and then drop it forever unless friends come over and want to play it or something. Kyuukyoku Tiger is a way better game and a way more fun game than Twin Cobra is.

[BIL]

Congrats on a tough and iconic clear! Inspiring stuff, you make me want to postpone my dreams of taking on Same3 and record a KT 1ALL for posterity. I didn't know PS5 has 60fps capture, that would come in handy. Was mulling over a capture card and not really relishing the thought of researching them tbh.

[Steven]

Thanks man! This is probably my first big clear, unless you want to count Same! 2P version from a few months ago, but that game is way easier than Kyuukyoku Tiger.

I'm looking at going for either Same! 1P or Tatsujin Ou this year, but I'll do Hellfire and Zero Wing along the way once either M2 releases their versions of those or Bitwave fixes their Zero Wing. Fire Shark is on the pile as well, and probably what I will go for next, but that game gets pretty damn scary at the halfway point; it's definitely harder than the Japanese 2P version. Item table is quite different, too, so it's a very different experience from the Japanese 2P version.

I'll check out the PS5's recording ability tomorrow and see how it goes; I haven't posted any of my PS4 replays since the recording quality on that system is very low and nobody wants to see 30FPS capture. Too late to salvage my Same! 2P replay since only the main versions' replays are saved, but I will try it on the Kyuukyoku Tiger replay for sure.

[Erppo]

Thanks! I still can't believe how few people have posted clear scores; I believe this makes 5 of us, once the table gets updated again, although I know BIL has a clear on PS1 from back in the day. Ketsui Tiger indeed... It kind of makes me sad that not many people really play this, as it's easily one of the top 5 best games Toaplan ever made, even with the weapon balance issues.

I played the port a while ago. Would also pick this one as a favourite along with Same after having spent some time with several of their games now.

Kyuukyoku Tiger arcade
Erppo - 8,231,280 - 801 - Yes - PS4

Spoiler

[SPM]

Awesome score! We can all say goodbye to the top spot now Steven!

I'd still want to get a 1.5-All (361+) at some point though, but that's it