Desert War/Wangan Sensou

[maximo310]

One of NMK's last games, which received a limited-arcade release in 1995. It also has a great heli-piledriver scoring system that is sure to give it some great replayability.
I'll divide scores by Beginner, Average, and Expert courses.

Beginner Course: Operation Crazy Horse

R=RANK & SCORE & PLAYER & STAGE & AUTOFIRE & PLATFORM & REPLAY/IMAGE R=1. & 3,801,500 & maximo & ALL & Yes & MAME 0.168 & [url=https://youtu.be/z9y-LrfVBqQ]Video[/url] R=2. & 2,803,700 & Verticen &ALL & Yes & ShmupMAME V4.2 & [url=https://youtu.be/26YsiudQoBI]Video[/url] R=3. & 2,632,100 & Dumple & ALL & No & MAME 0.209 & [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZfyxF6zq2g]Video[/url] R=4. & 2,532,300 & kuze & ALL & No & PCB & [url=https://i.imgur.com/IpmOnEt.jpg]Image[/url]

Average Course: Operation Sandstorm

R=RANK & SCORE & PLAYER & STAGE & AUTOFIRE & PLATFORM & REPLAY/IMAGE R=1. & 4,077,500 & 729 & ALL & Yes & PCB & [url=https://i.imgur.com/NyydOyGl.jpg]Image[/url] R=2. & 4,032,100 & maximo & ALL & Yes & ARCADE 0.220 & [url=https://youtu.be/L48Xui8GlG8]Video[/url] R=3. & 3,809,600 & Verticen & ALL & Yes & ShmupMAME V4.2 & [url=https://youtu.be/C7cEqELfEA4]Video[/url] R=4. & 3,541,000 & kuze & ALL & Yes & PCB & [url=https://i.imgur.com/10NWGzM.jpg]Image[/url] R=5. & 3,318,200 & Dumple & ALL & No & MAME 0.209 & [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6Gik7vAsPY]Video[/url]

Expert Course: Operation Bloody Rose

R=RANK & SCORE & PLAYER & STAGE & AUTOFIRE & PLATFORM & REPLAY/IMAGE R=1. & 10,090,200 & maximo & ALL & Yes & MAMEUIFX 0.168 & [url=https://i.imgur.com/k9c4f2cl.png]Image[/url] R=2. & 9,277,600 & 729 & ALL & Yes & MAME 0.239 & [url=https://i.imgur.com/9qhH7RJ.png]Image[/url] R=3. & 8,677,400 & kuze & ALL & Yes & PCB & [url=https://i.imgur.com/zW6OjPZ.png]Image[/url] R=4. & 8,644,300 & Dumple & ALL & No & MAME 0.209 & [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apMuA1IpB1E]Video[/url]

[maximo310]

maximo - 2,870,300 - ALL - Autofire(30hz)-MAMEUIFX 0.168


maximo - 3,647,900 - ALL - Autofire(30hz)-MAMEUIFX 0.168

Spent a little bit of time w/ these courses.

Edit:
maximo - 8,810,400 -ALL - Autofire(30hz)-MAMEUIFX 0.168

shitty expert clear; lol'd at getting another armor repair after the clear bonus being so high ( 5 million)

[maximo310]

Expert:
maximo- 10,090,200-ALL - Autofire(30hz)- ARCADE 0.195

-Cobbled a half-decent run by milking a few key spots ( train stations in stg1, hangars in stg 2, warehouses in stg 4, and warehouses+tanks in stg 5). Still got hit by the final boss near the end, and I need to figure out how to get the armor repair to consistently appear in stage 3. My route in stage 2 can also be improved by keeping the 10k bonus. One of these days....

[Dumple]

A great snack-size game. I played it safe, to the point that I was low on fuel at several points...but that helped manage the amount of chaos on screen at once.

Beginner course:
Dumple - 2,632,100 - ALL - no autofire - MAME 0.209
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZfyxF6zq2g

Average course:
Dumple - 3,318,200 - ALL - no autofire - MAME 0.209
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6Gik7vAsPY

Expert course:
Dumple - 8,644,300 - ALL - no autofire - MAME 0.209
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apMuA1IpB1E

[maximo310]

Sorry 'bout the late update; improved slightly on my end:

Beginner:
maximo - 3,801,500 - ALL - Autofire(30hz)-MAMEUIFX 0.168
https://youtu.be/z9y-LrfVBqQ
Average:
maximo - 3,968,100 - ALL - Autofire(30hz)-ARCADE 0.220
https://youtu.be/O-RRmmkf0Ws

Edit (5/31/20)
Average:
maximo - 4,032,100 - ALL - Autofire(30hz) - ARCADE 0.220
https://youtu.be/L48Xui8GlG8

Finally broke 4 mil, a better stage 4 should net another 200-300k.

[kuze]

Beginner Course:
kuze - 2,532,300 - ALL - No Autofire - PCB



Average Course:
kuze - 3,541,000 - ALL - Autofire - PCB

[kuze]

Expert:
kuze - 8,677,400 - ALL - Autofire - PCB

Finally got the 1CC clear on expert!

[729]

Spent these last two~ weeks playing in passing and I genuinely enjoy this game.

Expert Course Clear:
729 - 9,277,600 - ALL - Autofire (says 29hz in the plugin menu) - MAME 0.239

Spoiler

My previous Expert Course Clear:
729 - 8,576,600 - ALL - Autofire (30hz) - ShmupMAME V4.2

Spoiler

Average Course Clear (when I was learning the game):
729 - 3,485,000 - ALL - Autofire (30hz) - ShmupMAME V4.2

Spoiler

[Verticen]

Beginner:
Verticen - 2,803,700 - ALL - Autofire (30hz, joystick hardware) - ShmupMAME V4.2
https://youtu.be/26YsiudQoBI

Average:
Verticen - 3,809,600 - ALL - Autofire (30,60hz, joystick hardware) - ShmupMAME V4.2
https://youtu.be/C7cEqELfEA4

[729]

It's been quite a while since I last played this game, but I managed to pick up a PCB after waiting around.

Average Course Clear:
729 - 4,077,500 - ALL - Autofire (30hz via. RECO V4) - PCB

Spoiler

Setup

Spoiler

Throughout the Average Course run, I did a lot of pilediver as much as I could in the first (piledive the boats in the beginning, then mid level far right side, there's two buildings that are super close together, you can just spam pilediver; mini boss I dived two times then killed, then played the level start to finish) and second levels (trees and buildings, played the level start to finish without caring about the bonus). Third level I sped through it to get the time bonus and I tried to pilediver the buildings and tanks if possible. Last level I played it from start to finish and pilediver the metal crates and whatever buildings were around. I lost two armor at the very end because I didn't know where the enemies were placed, normally I would just speed clear and ignore the other half of the level.

Will try to do Expert Course again, but I have to remember what I even did in my old run.