RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

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hail good sir
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RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by hail good sir »

I was wondering if anyone knows of a video(that is NOT from the xbox360 version) or steam replay that has a fairly simple/safe way of doing the bonus balls at the end of chapter 3, even if it's just like, only chaining 1 of the color sets and that's it, just something to get a few points and move on, nothing super-pro tier like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A4zKfyFAIk

I am used to the 360 version which has a weird bugged version of that section that is very easy to chain and now that I'm trying to play the real-enough steam version again I have a hard time even wrapping my head around practicing it.
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Plasmo
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by Plasmo »

You know that you are basically invincible at the very sides of the screen? No enemy can crash into you there.

If you want to be super save, just camp there and shoot an enemy once in a while.
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Xer Xian
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by Xer Xian »

If you want to take home some points, it's not that hard to fully chain the first black wave and some of the following whites. Then you can just take cover at the corners as Plasmo suggested.

Unfortunately, there's no easy from-beginning-to-end strategy that I know of for the arcade version - it's either mad improvisation, a partial execution of the optimal strat, or going for the standard full clearing of the enemy waves as in the video you linked. There are certainly other strats, but they are sub-optimal and quite difficult as well - example: https://youtu.be/pMYU92IwYlg?t=10m58s (fantastic run btw, watch it in full).

That said, I don't think the altered Ch3 bonus section in the XBLA version is a bug, I would say it was deliberate game design choice (along with the other differences, except maybe the Ch2 boss vulnerability). Maybe the changes were implemented to floor experienced players and create a more level playing field, who knows.

---

Can I hijack for a moment this discussion and ask players of both the arcade or DC version and the Steam version, if the latter (Steam) version is 100% arcade-perfect gameplay-wise (minus maybe some slowdown difference)? Plasmo, can I ask you? (hi Plasmo :) )
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powerfuran
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by powerfuran »

I can't believe Xer is posting here in 2017 :) How's it going?

I have just downloaded the Steam demo and, from the feel of it, to me it looks pretty much arcade perfect, but I can base my comparison on stage1 only. Judging from what I have seen from youtube videos it looks to me the other stages are very close to the arcade version but with no slowdowns. In fact it looks closer to the gamecube version. Gonna buy the full game shortly.
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Xer Xian
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by Xer Xian »

Well, I can't believe I got a reply from you, so we're even :o

I've quickly sampled some vid and it seems to be ok, but you can never be sure without actually playing it. I remember KTR tried to adapt a strategy for the XBLA 4-2 section to the arcade version for 238 total chains and failed because the enemy placement was ultimately different in the two versions. Things like that are hard to spot just by watching vids, that's why I directly asked a good player (Plasmo). But you are equally qualified to answer of course! :mrgreen:
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Shepardus
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by Shepardus »

I've heard that there's some collision box difference that prevents people from point-blanking the big enemies in stage 5 as closely as they could in the arcade version, ultimately resulting in one fewer chain due to slower kill speed. Someone more experienced than me can confirm/deny.
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Xer Xian
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by Xer Xian »

That was definitely the case in the XBLA version, but I don't know if it applies to the Steam version. I've just watched a superplay on youtube (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jrAJTFy33Co), and while the player isn't quick enough to trigger the 7th bad guy, its placement near the enemies seems pretty much as close as you can get to me. Lower 4-2 is also perfect, and while he misses one or two chains in upper 4-2 (did I get the lower/upper thing inverted? Can't remember), I don't think there's anything wrong with it either (but I'm not familiar with the 237th chain pattern). Other chapters look perfectly fine as well. Of course I could be wrong since I'm just going by a replay inspection, but I'm now 99% positive that the Steam version is arcade-perfect, slowdowns excepted.

Sorry for going off-topic hail good sir, and thanks everyone.
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ciox
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by ciox »

Many patches came out just to adjust the balance closer to the arcade/DC version, and the feedback of japanese players is what the patches were based around so it's indeed very close, sa suisai is the best player on the leaderboards and his replays are quite impressive.

Nice to see an oldschool Ikaruga player around here, there's not players left or talking about the game much. I kinda hit a wall around 21m points so lately I've been trying to find unusual (and likely intended) ways to chain to squeeze more fun out of the game, stuff like this which is not exactly optimal but close https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1tUhspheew
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Xer Xian
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by Xer Xian »

Yeah it looks like Ika doesn't get much love around here, but after toying around with a few other shmups, I can see why that is so. I love Ikaruga, but there's really not much bullet dodging in the game (save maybe for hard mode), the polarity and score systems can be perceived as a bit gimmick-y, and the ship is also quite slow (your video is an excellent demo of this - you have to zigzag to reach the screen sides more quickly). This stuff has already been analysed with way more detail, and I have not much to add to the discussion. Also, the game is now 15+ years old, everyone and their mother has already played it in one (or more) of its several version, and japanese have already pretty much destroyed it, so there are really few incentives to play anymore.

But hey, if you like the game you can still have fun with it even solo :) Cave games may have arranged modes and different labels and whatnot, but Ika has three difficulties and two different modes, and all of the 6 combinations are pretty much a game in itself! No one has even dared to do anything with Prototype easy, you can have fun trying that :mrgreen:
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Plasmo
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by Plasmo »

Good to see some of the Ikaruga old schoolers over here! :D
Xer Xian wrote:No one has even dared to do anything with Prototype easy, you can have fun trying that
Don't forget about Sprocket's excellent work on easy Proto!

Chapter 1 - 3,912,940 (124 chain)
Chapter 2 - 6,101,500 (201 chain)
Chapter 3 - 6,766,540 (225 chain)
Chapter 4 - 6,836,900 (203 chain)
Chapter 5 - 5,086,860 (95 chain)
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Xer Xian
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by Xer Xian »

Thanks Plasmo, I had totally forgotten about Sprocket! I should have known better before posting that, I remember people going after the craziest feats back when Ika.co.uk was running - things like monochrome full chapters or the silly monthly competitions :lol:
Dot eater and 2P (both 1P double-play and actual 2P) are covered too, what is left? Most likely Proto hard mode only.. well that's for the better, it means that Ikaruga did get lots of love after all :)

Edit: i think it's worthwhile pointing out that thanks to (I think) a french guy, sometime ago Ikaruga got TAS'ed in a 2P 50 million Hard mode run, and it simply redefines the concept of awesomeness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF2UwcIZ-DI
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Xer Xian
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by Xer Xian »

Xer Xian wrote:Of course I could be wrong since I'm just going by a replay inspection, but I'm now 99% positive that the Steam version is arcade-perfect, slowdowns excepted.
Well, yesterday I finally got around to playing the Steam version of Ikaruga, and while no one will care, I wanted to rectify this - it is not 1:1 with the Naomi version. There is some difference here and there in terms of enemy/bullets position and homing missile behaviour, but pretty much all of them are negligible. Also, you won't be able to spot them unless you already have a few hundreds of hours of play in your bag (and even then, I am not sure). Heck, you may be able to realize that the releases in the 3-1 section must be more accurately timed in the Steam version vs the Naomi one lest you may break your chain easily.

A pretty noticeable difference for the seasoned player is the fact that in the Steam version the double-shot and the homing missiles do a slightly quicker job of killing enemies clusters/groups, which is nice in many sections (mainly the Ch3 bonus enemies and 5-1).

Edit: Please note that I spoke for Normal Arcade mode only, Easy Arcade specialist Powerfuran has hinted at more serious problems for that mode. Let's see if he chimes in here..
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powerfuran
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by powerfuran »

The hijacking continues :oops:

Another (minor) difference is that when you finish one chapter, any unused homing stock does not carry over to the next chapter.
This does not happen in the arcade/DC/GC versions. Not an issue becuase it does not affect gameplay and, also think about practice mode where you start a chapter without any homing stock of course, but still it is a difference. I don't know if this was mentioned earlier.
Edit: Please note that I spoke for Normal Arcade mode only, Easy Arcade specialist Powerfuran has hinted at more serious problems for that mode. Let's see if he chimes in here..
I am of the opinion that it is impossible to get 91 chain in Easy chapter 5. The timing to trigger the last 4 chains in the arcade/DC/GC versions is strict but it is doable. There is no chapter 5 replay with 91 chains by the top easy players on steam that makes me wonder, if they are not able to do it then it might be impossible. So far I have not been able to get more than 87 chains on steam. Still investigating on this.
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powerfuran
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by powerfuran »

powerfuran wrote:
I am of the opinion that it is impossible to get 91 chain in Easy chapter 5. The timing to trigger the last 4 chains in the arcade/DC/GC versions is strict but it is doable. There is no chapter 5 replay with 91 chains by the top easy players on steam that makes me wonder, if they are not able to do it then it might be impossible. So far I have not been able to get more than 87 chains on steam. Still investigating on this.
OK this has now been confirmed to me by GMR, one of the top easy players in Japan right now. Only 87 chains available in easy chapter 5 on Steam :( well that's a bummer but overall it' just a 110K loss approximately, I still love this version.
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Xer Xian
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga chapter 3 bonus balls

Post by Xer Xian »

Thanks for sharing Powerfuran! I wonder what's wrong with 5-1 Easy. This also got me curious about 5-1 on Hard - is it still possible to get 122c on Steam? For what it's worth, I spent half a day trying, to no avail (if anyone cares, a crappy vid can be downloaded from here - this strat did net me a couple of 122c on GC back in the day, but it's no good on Steam).

Well, I agree it's not a huge issue anyway (especially 122c on Hard Mode - even if they're really unobtainable on Steam, they're so ridiculously difficult to get on Naomi/DC/GC that no one would go for them on a full run). Personally I'm more bugged by the altered trajectory of a couple of enemies on 2-1 and different timings of the releases on 3-1 (both on Normal Mode at least). Still, I agree with you - Ika on Steam is damn nice :)
Xer Xian wrote:in the Steam version the double-shot and the homing missiles do a slightly quicker job of killing enemies clusters/groups, which is nice in many sections (mainly the Ch3 bonus enemies and 5-1)
After some more playing, I must say I was wrong here. I was led to believe that by different video/sound effects wrt to the DC version, a couple of coincidences and a few instances where there really is a difference (especially the 78th chain in 3-1 - this is, 100% guaranteed, much easier to trigger on Steam). But it cannot be generalized to the whole game.

And yeah, sorry for the prolonged thread hijacking - no more from me, I promise :)
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