London Casino Crew meets (RIP the Arcade)

Having a shmupmeet? Want to find one in your area? Come on in here then...
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spadgy
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London Casino Crew meets (RIP the Arcade)

Post by spadgy »

This thread is for London shmuppers old and new to sort out meeting up and playing shmups.

There's the Heart of Gaming Arcade, Loading Cafe and plenty of our nm places in London to meet and play games and talk nonsense. So join in the conversation (no need to read it all - just skip to the end), and let's keep the London shmup scene thriving!

For some history, this thread started out as a place to sort meeting at Casino Arcade in central London. Until 2013, it was a place to hang out, play shmups and chat on a weekly basis for many of us: me, CHI, DEL, JDE, hzt, Rupert H, Skykid, dan76, MX7, aliquantic, mr_m0nks, ravid, kaede, Taylor, mills, Landlord, John and Craig, Mr Hong Kong, George, smraedis, Lordstar and many, many others that visited from all over the world. Whether you know those guys or not, you're welcome to join us to meet up and chat here, so get involved!

And if you want to host something, pick a night to meet up or anything like that, please go for it. The flame still burns, and we need to keep it that way.
EDIT: Original Casino post below for prosperity

So - it's the thread for all of us who frequent The Casino arcade, or who want to drop by to see what the place is about. It's a good friendly place, and great for shmupping with some fellow nerds. If you're ever in London, visit the place, and try and use this thread to meet up with us.

No need to read all the pages, just jump to the end and let everyone know when you'll be heading to Casino.

Here’s a map too, with an arrow. The arcade is a few seconds walk from Goodge Street Tube station, but note that the station and arcade are actually on Tottenham Court Road, rather than on Goodge Street itself.

Turn right as you come out of the station’s only exit, and it’s a few doors down. Next door to a game shop called CEX/Computer Exchange. Most of the decent arcade games are down in the basement.

Image

Shmups In Now (I’ll keep this updated - the list is constantly changing):

Updated November 22nd, 2012
(A sad time many cabs have been removed as of November 18th, 2012. Raiden Fighters Jet, Raiden DX, Esp.Ra.De, Strikers 1945 Plus, R-Type Leo, Mushihimesama and others are now all gone.

Ground floor:
Progear

Basement:
Strikers 1999
And a 39-in-1 with retro shooters/games. Has a four way stick.
Ms Pacman, Galaga, Frogger, Donkey Kong, DK Junior, DK 3, Galaxian, Dig Dug, Crush Roller, Mr Do, Space Invaders, Pacman, Galaga 3, Gyruss, Tank Battalion, 1942, Lady Bug, Burger Time, Mappy, Centipede, Milipede, JR Pacman, Pengo, Phoenix, Time Pilot, Super Cobra, Hustler, Space Panic, Super Breakout, New Rally X, Arkanoid, Qix, Juno First, Xevious, Mr Do's Castle, Moon Cresta, Pinball Action, Scramble and Super Pacman

Also there's many classic beat-‘em-ups in dedicated cabs, plus Tekken 6, Blaz Blue and six linked Street Fighter IV cabs.



And finally, HERE'S THE ORIGINAL FIRST POST FROM THIS THREAD

Hello - I'm always down the Casino Arcade in Tottenham Court Road by Goodge Street tube station, but there are no other Shmupers there when I pop in. If you don't know they have Mushihimesama, Ketsui, Progear, Strikers 1945, 1945+, Gigawing and loads more. 3 - 4 credits for a £1!

Anyone want to meet down there, or is it already happening and I'm missing out?

BTW, my old account here from about 2 years ago got shut I think, as I was inactive for a long while - I used to be Moomin...
Last edited by spadgy on Wed Jul 21, 2010 10:22 pm, edited 14 times in total.
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DEL
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Post by DEL »

Hi, you need to read the six London Meet threads :wink: :!:
London Meets are always held in Goodge.
I've been going to the arcade since 1986.
At the moment I go once a week for Friday Fighter night.
Kaede & I should be down this friday. The Old Mills might make it down too.

Regs, DEL
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spadgy
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Post by spadgy »

Cool - I'm the skinny guy with a skateboard, a SEGA record bag, and a shit load of bad Taito/Rainbow Island/Bubble Bobble tattoos... Easy to spot I think, so say hello!

I'm sometimes there on Fridays. Not this one, but one soon...
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Kaede
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Post by Kaede »

Yes I am there this Friday although I won't be able to stay past 7:30-8ish this time. :(

Maybe we should do a London mini meet though, with enough warning I could dedicate an entire Friday night to it. :)

EDIT: DEL just noticed the avatar! :lol: 8)
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Kaede
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Post by Kaede »

Heading to Casino tonight for a quick blast on Pink Sweets. 8)
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DEL
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Post by DEL »

See you there. You're gonna have a fight on your hands for playing time though. Landlord, Kusogaki and the cylon will be vying for access to the cab all night :!:
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Kaede
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Post by Kaede »

Haha, well maybe I'll just get a quick peek at it. I'm off to a Comedy gig in Soho tonight and have to meet some friends at 7pm.

Next week I should be able to come down for a Friday night sesh.

On a related note, does the Pink Sweets PCB save scores after it's switched off?
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jpj
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Post by jpj »

it does mate yeah :)
and if you wanna play the different modes, do the following after inserting a credit:

harder - hold up
extended (2 loops :lol: ) - hold down
score attack (stage 6 only) - hold A+B
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Post by spadgy »

I had a little dabble with Pink Sweets the day before yesterday (The day before some junkie punched their way through my window while I was in the room in Brixton and made a snatch towards my Saturn shmups, before I scared him off by doing, well, not a lot really. Had to mention what he went for in my police statement, and possibly will have to again in court! 'Radiant Silvergun your Honour". Sorry - just needed to get that off my chest, as I'm still fuming angry)

Anyway - loved Pink Sweets a lot, but rather bewildered by it's scoring...
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Post by jpj »

i could try and help you out :) what sort of stuff do you wanna know?

and re: theft, that's shit mate :evil:
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Post by spadgy »

Nothing got stolen so shit, but nothing lost - it's just made me and my wife think about a move to the countryside for a bit.

I won't bombard you with scoring enquiries just yet, but if I struggle a while longer I'll ask...
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Post by jpj »

i'm not knowledgable on many games, but i share tips if i can :)

bombard away:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... c&start=60
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Skykid
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Will be back to casino in December

Post by Skykid »

Always venturing to casino for some Ketsui and others, probably seen most of you in there at some point, but don't know you at all to say hi.
But Del, I must know you - if you know Ryan Hart, you probably know me.
I'll try to make this fun and cryptic:
I'm ex-computer exchange staff, served between 1999-2002 Rathbone place, when Dominik Andoh was the assistant manager.
Went to Namco Wonderpark religiously (don't care what anyone says about casino, its a dive in comparison - but they have shmups, and I appreciate the dedication in a declining industry) and took part in many tournaments, best of which was the KOF 98 when the Hong Kong Champion triple perfected me. Loved it.
Now Del, I'm not disclosing my name and identity as I might well be completely bloody wrong and barking up the wrong tree - but who are you? There was only one person I know who was sick at all the shmups, including 1ccing Border Down shortly after release.
Could be you?...

:?:
Always outnumbered, never outgunned - No zuo no die

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Re: Will be back to casino in December

Post by freddiebamboo »

Skykid wrote:There was only one person I know who was sick at all the shmups, including 1ccing Border Down shortly after release.
Could be you?...
This has DEL written all over it :lol:
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Post by DEL »

freddie wrote;
This has DEL written all over it
I PM'd Skykid last night :wink:
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Post by Kaede »

Managed to pop down Casino today and played about six credits...

Now I have to say I'm not the biggest fan of Raizing shooters, but having spent a bit of time with the excellent Muchi Muchi Pork! whilst in Tokyo, I was looking forward to giving this game a shot. Unfortunately, I came away feeling a little disappointed by it.

I think the relative pick up and play nature of MMP didn't prepare me for this game at all. The controls seem a little poorly implemented; I had no clue as to what the second button was used for (I think it rotates the options/Rose Hips somehow?) and the ability to switch speeds by hitting two buttons is just clumsy.

The third and fourth choice ships just seemed really unappealing with the fourth ship possesing a god awful 'thunder strike' attack. :x And finally, the charge shot which works in a similar way to the blade attack in Shienryu(?) seemed to take too long to charge to make any decent use of. I guess these charges of being unfriendly to new players can be aimed at pretty much every Raizing style shooter though and I can't judge the game until I really actually start to understand it's gameplay system.

On the positive side, the graphics and sound effects were awesome and the game oozes cutesy shoot 'em up style which I really liked. And thankfully, it was placed in one of the better cabs! (At the expense of Ketsui though. Natch). So I'll definitely be making a few more trips down there to try and get the hang of this game.

Cheers for loaning the game to Casino ill6!
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Post by fuse »

Thought I'd pipe up to pass on my thanks too - popped in last weekend and had a couple of credits on Pink Sweets. Nice one ill6 for the very generous loan of the board :)

Not sure it's my thing per se, but still very nice to see/play one of the new shmups I otherwise wouldn't get to touch. Hoping to catch some of the better guys down there some time to see how it should be played.
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Post by spadgy »

Come to the London meet then Fuse! It's the 1st and 2nd March at Casino, and there's gonna be a whole tonne of talent there. There's a nice chunky thread in the 'Shmupmeets' section...

And while I'm here, massive thanks for the generous loan of the board iLL6. Just like fuse I might have never got a chance to even see this game if it weren't for you...
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Post by fuse »

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... ht=#297235

I'll be there ;)

Shame Ketsui's not there anymore, as I can almost play that (relatively) respectably now there's a copy of it kicking about in the house! Progear might have to take it's place as my one respect-saver :)
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Post by spadgy »

Sorry Fuse! Shows how lame I am with forums - I thought I'd checked thoroughly to see if you were already coming....
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Post by Mills »

Pink Sweets replaces ketsui. played it once and never again. the game is utter shite! Cave should be ashamed of themselfs for allowing this Riazing title to be distributed under their brand name.
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Pink Sweets

Post by thegreathopper »

Mills wrote:Pink Sweets replaces ketsui. played it once and never again. the game is utter shite! Cave should be ashamed of themselfs for allowing this Riazing title to be distributed under their brand name.
Sounds like you did not like it much, I was going to pop down to Casino and give it a try....... now maybe not.
Fight war not wars
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Post by jpj »

Mills wrote:[...] played it once [...]
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Re: Pink Sweets

Post by sven666 »

thegreathopper wrote:
Mills wrote:Pink Sweets replaces ketsui. played it once and never again. the game is utter shite! Cave should be ashamed of themselfs for allowing this Riazing title to be distributed under their brand name.
Sounds like you did not like it much, I was going to pop down to Casino and give it a try....... now maybe not.
aww dont listen to him, hes just grumpy, proboably got sand in his mangina or something ;)
the destruction of everything, is the beginning of something new. your whole world is on fire, and soon, you'll be too..
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spadgy
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Post by spadgy »

Mills wrote:Pink Sweets replaces ketsui. played it once and never again. the game is utter shite! Cave should be ashamed of themselfs for allowing this Riazing title to be distributed under their brand name.
I went in when it first appeared, and was very excited. I admit at first I was pretty disappointed, and I'm still unsure about it after a few plays. I found playing it nice and smooth and fast, but it lacked something; excitement maybe. I think it's perhaps that it's just hard to grasp a sense of what you're doing and how you're supposed to go about it. I know it sounds a really stupid thing to say about shmups, but it I felt lacking in substance.

That, and the controls bewildered the shit out of me...
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Post by jpj »

yeah, it's not really straight forward. without decent super-play vids on the net, it's taken the pink sweets pcb owners on this board a good 12 months to figure out a lot of stuff. and i'm sure there's still some things we don't know.

i like pink sweets (aka Lego Ibara), but then i played the shit out of ibara.

and isn't muchi muchi pork gonna be there for the meet? sounds like a raizing paradise 8) now all you gotta do is take out progear, and put in a souky st-v set-up...!!
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spadgy
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Post by spadgy »

jpj wrote:i like pink sweets (aka Lego Ibara), but then i played the shit out of ibara.

and isn't muchi muchi pork gonna be there for the meet? sounds like a raizing paradise 8) now all you gotta do is take out progear, and put in a souky st-v set-up...!!
Out of interest; why Lego Ibara? Anything to do with the Lego bricks? Or is that just coincidence?

I'd be sad to see Progear leave The Goodge, but as I just bought the game board I guess I'll live if it happens...
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Post by jpj »

pink sweets is the sequel to ibara, and is sometimes called ibara sorekara. i just call it lego ibara cos the 7th stage has lots of lego blocks in it 8)

when you start easing off the bomb and milking stuff for destructable bullets (ie the stage 3 midboss's option pods), and gaining extra extends, it is a lot of fun.
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Post by DEL »

Mills - Why don't you give the game a chance?!
I like it. Just watch me or the Hong Kong Mush player on it, you'll find its a decent game.
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Re: !

Post by MX7 »

DEL wrote:the Hong Kong Mush player
I think I might have seen that guy last time I was up. He had a plastic carrier bag, which he put down by his feet before absolutely destroying mushi. He also did most of it while standing on one leg. Me and my girlfriend were pretty much entranced :shock:
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