What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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Volteccer_Jack
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Volteccer_Jack »

null1024 wrote:Also, AFAIK, isn't the handling really different in the AX "home port" on the disc than on the actual cabinet? Like, the actual movement values? I think I remember hearing that somewhere, but like, I could also be 200% wrong.
They're similar enough that it would be easy for a casual player not to notice, but AX does indeed have different physics from GX. The main AX-exclusive technique is turbo drifting, which works on the same principle as snaking in GX except that you don't need to snake and can maintain one continuous drift:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VXMxX3eJdw
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BrianC
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BrianC »

Volteccer_Jack wrote:
null1024 wrote:Also, AFAIK, isn't the handling really different in the AX "home port" on the disc than on the actual cabinet? Like, the actual movement values? I think I remember hearing that somewhere, but like, I could also be 200% wrong.
They're similar enough that it would be easy for a casual player not to notice, but AX does indeed have different physics from GX. The main AX-exclusive technique is turbo drifting, which works on the same principle as snaking in GX except that you don't need to snake and can maintain one continuous drift:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VXMxX3eJdw
I wasn't talking about GX. I was referring to the hidden AX version hidden on the GX Gamecube disc, which may still be different from the actual AC version.

Edit: More info at The Cutting Room Floor. Some AX features are unlockable via cheat device, but the physics are still different from the actual AC version.
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Volteccer_Jack
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Volteccer_Jack »

You can use cheat devices to access AX game modes in GX, but it still is just running GX with the normal GX racing mechanics.
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BrianC
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BrianC »

Volteccer_Jack wrote:You can use cheat devices to access AX game modes in GX, but it still is just running GX with the normal GX racing mechanics.
Except that it's separate from the main game and has AX assets like the screens showing instructions related to the arcade cabinet. Anyway, point that it's different was already proven.
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BIL
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BIL »

ACA Tetris Teh Grand Master. Image To invoke Super Hans, "That crack is really moreish" :lol: :cool:
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vol.2
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by vol.2 »

Whoever made the Google Doodle today rules. Especially love the mid-90s JRPG pause music.
Gamer707b
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Gamer707b »

Went back to PS4 Spyro Trilogy. Trying to get a 100%. Been a bit in the platform mood lately.
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mycophobia
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by mycophobia »

BIL wrote:ACA Tetris Teh Grand Master. Image To invoke Super Hans, "That crack is really moreish" :lol: :cool:
hell yeah brother. saw you on the leaderboards day-of, along with a couple other shmups folks
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BIL
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BIL »

You put a killer score up, congrats! It's so rad to finally see this for myself. I knew it'd be superb on its rep here and related circles, but holy fuck. Here's hoping Mihara gets to go ahead with his new game, or at least get TGM2 and 3 on ACA as well.
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Sumez
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Sumez »

I made three GM runs in ACA TGM1 before I was able to actually submit one to the leaderboard, and it was a crappy time. Current situations in my personal life is making it very difficult to get even 15 uninterrupted minutes for a video game.

One run ended in the game just freezing, and another I accidentally pushed the start button trying to skip through the credits (as you can in TGM2, not sure tgm1 even does it, it's just an old habit), and it ended the score attempt with no way to resume even though the game was already finished!

Either way when I put up the score I was #30 worldwide, its probably closer to #500 at this point :P
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Immryr
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Immryr »

I've been playing TGM too. having fun with it, although i suck. i'm more used to the modern tetris games, mainly from playing puyo puyo tetris with my girlfriend - although we exclusively play the mode that switches between tetris and puyo puyo. even after playing this one for a couple of hours i still keep trying to hold a piece.....

i'm no where near getting a clear so far, i think S1 is as far as i've got.
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Lander
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Lander »

Beedleoop, budabing, vooweep, badoop... Audio design that puts most games to shame, there's something wonderully compulsive about those TGM piece noises :D
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BIL
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BIL »

Lander wrote:Beedleoop, budabing, vooweep, badoop... Audio design that puts most games to shame, there's something wonderully compulsive about those TGM piece noises :D
A delightful moment when I realised each piece has its own sound - you can sense the 1UP cheer in a long-awaited four-bar's jingle, as well as the grey neutrality of the four-square's *woomp* :mrgreen:
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Lander
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Lander »

Immryr wrote:I've been playing TGM too. having fun with it, although i suck. i'm more used to the modern tetris games, mainly from playing puyo puyo tetris with my girlfriend - although we exclusively play the mode that switches between tetris and puyo puyo. even after playing this one for a couple of hours i still keep trying to hold a piece.....

i'm no where near getting a clear so far, i think S1 is as far as i've got.
Ah, good to know I'm not alone in my GM scrublitude :) my experience has all been with 3, but transitioning from PPT's Regulation Approved™ versus-first Super Rotation System to the solo-pro Arika Rotation System is certainly tricky when you're dialed in to pull off flashy T-Spins and Double Triple Cannon setups.

I sort of miss the style of building ahead and collapsing a big structure to nothing with a couple of well-planned pieces, but the hyper-fundamental GM approach is so satisfying when muscle memory and game speed are in sync. Plus, there's still cool tech to be had in things like doing a zangief rotation input to slot a piece in before the lock.
BIL wrote:A delightful moment when I realised each piece has its own sound - you can sense the 1UP cheer in a long-awaited four-bar's jingle, as well as the grey neutrality of the four-square's *woomp* :mrgreen:
On-the-nose PPT anthropomorphizations aside, I dig the idea that the pieces have their own personality. Similar to the way Nintendo considers the Donkey Kong banana to be a fully-qualified character :)

Not to mention that those characteristic sounds are critical once the speed ramps up and leaves your ocular system in a merciless keep-up struggle. A cracking example of arcade developers pushing players to their physical limits.
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Sumez
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Sumez »

Lander wrote:Beedleoop, budabing, vooweep, badoop... Audio design that puts most games to shame, there's something wonderully compulsive about those TGM piece noises :D
It's so fucking iconic, I love being in a room where a TGM game is being played. That piece noise followed by the sound of a clicky Sanwa joystick very decidedly locking the piece in place the same second it appears.
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BEAMLORD
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BEAMLORD »

Super Cyborg, off the back of Shmup Junkie's recent run 'n gun video.

Obviously in thrall to Contra. A nice little halfway house between OG Contra and Contra 3, taking its cues mainly from the former with reasonably straight platforming and the lack of any hanging from rails or choppers, whilst borrowing the stand 'n shoot mechanic from the latter. I like it, although I'd say its maybe lacking a little volatility on its hardest difficulty ("Normal"), at least until the final stage. I'm not sure if it loops or unlocks a higher difficulty on completion.

Why oh why, though, did they include a top-down stage, à la Super C? I understand the game is basically homage, but c'mon - its not just me that can live without those stages, surely? I don't mind the stage boss, though. Reminiscent of something from Outzone.

Still, having fun with it.
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vol.2
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by vol.2 »

Nice Faxanadu avatar. One of my favorite childhood games.
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BEAMLORD
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BEAMLORD »

Cheers. First time I saw that shop keeper I was like, fuck me, it's Bill Murray :mrgreen:
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vol.2
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by vol.2 »

:lol:

What a grumpy sob. Love some Murray.
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BareKnuckleRoo
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Marc wrote:
Air Master Burst wrote:I have been doing runs of this delightful Outrun tribute called Slipstream.
I've tried, but I find manual drifting sluggish as hell, while auto just makes the game feel really uninvolving. It's the way the car has to steer completely out 9f the previous drift before starting another, rather than just snapping like Outrun 2 - makes S bends a nightmare.
This was my experience with the game too. I've been playing Slipstream, and while it's pretty fun and nice to have a 4 player racer, Slipstream is a poor man's Outrun 2 / 2 SP. It's not actually that bad as a fairly casual arcade racer when using automatic drifting. It feels snappy enough, and the track design's visibility issues (the camera that doesn't remain horizontally centered, the lack of turn signs, the REALLY aggressive turns) don't impact the game. Automatic drifting is, however, far easier to control, to the extent it feels like cheating.

Manual drifting however is awful to control compared to Outrun 2 / 2 SP. If you take a turn too fast in the 3D Outrun games, you can brake long and hard to adjust speed, and you'll still get a reliable drift using the brake. Not so in Slipstream, where you absolutely have to do a quick tap of the brake in order to get a drift going. Try to brake during the drift to adjust your speed, and the drift will end! And yeah, for rapid S turns where you quickly change direction, it's FAR harder to reliably do it. Outrun allowed you to simply steer one direction to the next when currently drifting, or easily brake and swap directions, whereas Slipstream demands that quick tap.

The slipstreaming also sucks compared to Outrun 2SP. Instead of it only triggering when going straight and not currently drifting, it can trigger when you're in a turn. This sounds good, until you realize that unlike Outrun's gradual, linear speed boost, Slipstream's speed boost is a sudden jerk upwards in speed that will mess with your steering in the middle of a turn! It also doesn't help that the indicator is positioned as far away from where your eyes would want to be, namely in the bottom right of the screen as opposed to the top center like in Outrun 2SP (a far more sensible spot).

I also feel like the rewind feature acts as a crutch to an extent and allows the dev to excuse a lot of the underlying problems. It's an amusing game when you just play with automatic drifting and don't worry about taking the game too seriously. It's meant to be a game that cashes in heavily on nostalgia after all. However, it's got too many design issues to ultimately topple the greats of Outrun, Hang-On, etc.

edit:

Even using automatic drifting, the handling feels really stiff even when playing one of the cars with high handling stats. There are a lot of 2D racers with far snappier movement out there, and it feels like in Slipstream it takes forever to turn from one direction to the other by comparison, which is especially cruel given how fast some of the turns come without warning due to the visual designs.

edit: Made the mistake of coming back to try this, deleted it. Handling really does suck in this. Handling is not analog like in Outrun 2, but the digital controls are not remotely as snappy as playing Rad Racer or Outrun in MAME with the paddle and pedals set high using digital controls. In fact handling and braking both feel downright sluggish. It's just not an enjoyable experience.
Last edited by BareKnuckleRoo on Sat Jul 15, 2023 6:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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MOSQUITO FIGHTER
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by MOSQUITO FIGHTER »

Contra Returns for mobile. I can't believe that something like this exists. I was surprised that it actually has the classic Contra gameplay.

I think the game is extremely ugly looking. It's one of the few games I can think of that just instantly give me a headache in no time at all. Like fifteen minutes in and I already have a headache. Only this game and VR games do that to me. The character art is kind of cool.

The controls are really difficult to manage. If it had an option for bluetooth controllers I probably would give it more time. I was kind of getting into it anyway.

I get the distinct impression that the game does not want you to succeed without purchasing stuff. Between that and the sloppy control method this game quickly becomes a decent challenge.

I'd imagine that the higher levels of this game play out like an RPG meets Contra type situation where you are just stand there shooting some gun you've paid to level up at enemies with fat health bars while you take a lot of hits. It has a pvp mode that play like Mario 3 versus mode but with Contra. I could only get into one match and it was obvious that the other player couldn't move hardly at all. The Challenge mode was kicking my ass too. It's a legit challenge trying to 1cc the level with slop controls. It's so frustrating because I know that I could complete these level no problem if it let you use a controller.

I'd say it's actually a decent challenge and it's sort of fun to try to advance in the game without buying anything. I'd say it's probably best to avoid this one. I don't really know how I feel about this one but at the end of the day it isn't good. But I'll probably be playing it a little bit here and there anyway.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Creamy Goodness »

Playing Donkey Kong Country 3. I've only ever played thr first DKC and I gotta say that one blows 3 out the water. Way too many gimmick stages and even worse so many cheap unavoidable deaths in the later stages. It is a decent game, but far from great.
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Volteccer_Jack
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Volteccer_Jack »

potentially hot take: DKC2 is the only good one
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Stevens
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Stevens »

I bought Slipstream a while
back. My opinion echoes Roo.

Refunded it.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Steven »

Looks like I'm not going to waste my time with Slipsteam, then, as I was interested in it, but if it ultimately doesn't play that well, I guess I will just continue to play Out Run on Switch.
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Sumez
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Sumez »

Volteccer_Jack wrote:potentially hot take: DKC2 is the only good one
I think DKC3 is alright, but 2 is so much better than 1 it's ridiculous. It's a genuinely great game.
Tropical Freeze is great too if you want to count the new ones...
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Creamy Goodness »

I'm playing DKC 3 because reading around it seems to be easier than 2 and I was looking for a more casual game to play. It may be easier, but the challenge it has is really frustrating.

The original DKC is still one of my favorite games of all time though.
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Sir Ilpalazzo
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Sir Ilpalazzo »

DKC2 is probably the easiest in the series, and definitely the best of the SNES ones (it's the only one I would call very solidly good; both 1 and 3 are flawed - 1 is frequently sloppy and its level design feels undercooked; 3 just has outright boring levels and uninteresting stage gimmicks for most of its runtime).

If you really liked 1, you should absolutely jump into 2.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by neorichieb1971 »

Ocarina of time. First time since I bought it at release. I bought a beat up USA version with crappy label and replaced the ROM into my Japanese copy which is mint. I've been doing that to a few N64 games as well, buying USA versions which crappy labels and slotting in the USA rom into my mint Japanese cart. Seems to be going well.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by sunnshiner »

I'm having a laugh with X-Men:COTA and Marvel Super Heroes on (emulated) Saturn again (I had them both BITD but no memory cart for MSH :( ), they're a little less 10p-munchy than the arcade versions and they bring back soooo many memories. When I first played COTA at home I was blown away by the graphics and they're still brilliant today.
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