Shmup Related Questions That Don't Deserve a Thread

[Lemnear]

hey has anyone tried Exo-Calibre?

[BEAMLORD]

In Battle Garegga, is it possible to pull off the scoring trick against Mad Ball with Golden Bat's Weapon/bomb? Try as I might, I just can't penetrate his ring.

[jpd66]

In Battle Garegga, is it possible to pull off the scoring trick against Mad Ball with Golden Bat's Weapon/bomb? Try as I might, I just can't penetrate his ring.

Yep, it’s not as easy as using, say, Gain’s or Bornham’s bomb, but it can be done without too much trouble. Basically, you want to wait for Mad Ball to open his outer turret ring during the first phase of the fight. As it’s opening, suicide into the outer ring, damaging the outer ring and gaining a few seconds of invincibility. If you time it right, you can maneuver into the space on top of him, while invincible, and detonate his bomb to destroy the outer ring. There are a few more particular details, but that’s the basic gist of it.

I spent a lot of time over the last couple of years learning about the ins and outs of Garegga. It’s more complex than what I usually gravitate toward, but I made an exception with this game because its complexity seemed pretty damn interesting. And I’m glad that I put in the time to study the game in-depth, because the amount of enjoyment that I’ve gotten in return has been immense. Totally worth the effort.

The strategy guide found in the strategy sub-forum by Icarus is a very helpful, exhaustive source of info about all things Garegga. Also the Garegga page on Shmups Wiki is great, as it mostly pulls from the strategy guide by Icarus, from what I understand. And if you’re in the mood for video, Icarus also did an excellent, super-long video with Eaglet and Plasmo some years ago, breaking down Garegga exhaustively. Here is a link to the section of that video where they talk about the Mad Ball scoring trick with the Wild Snail ships:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz1kXyXOz ... AAlc8ueATH
It’s nice to be able to see some gameplay footage to illustrate the concept.

Possibly more than you wanted to hear, but there you go!

[BEAMLORD]

Possibly more than you wanted to hear, but there you go!

Not at all, thanks for your reply. How could I not have guessed that death was the answer?

I have read Icarus' guide - what a great resource, and a feat of dedicated STG inquiry. I was unaware of the video, though. That section makes it all quite clear. I've been used to going into Stage 3 with 2 lives in stock, and suiciding before either the score extend or the stage extend, but guess I'll need to prepare for going in with no lives if I want that points boost.

I'm fairly new to Garrega. It never ceases to amaze me what good old-fashioned book learning can do for you when getting to grips with a new shmup, especially one as initially imposing and inscrutable as Garegga. Even this can be parsed into practical, manageable chunks.

[jpd66]

I’m fairly new to Garrega. It never ceases to amaze me what good old-fashioned book learning can do for you when getting to grips with a new shmup, especially one as initially imposing and inscrutable as Garegga. Even this can be parsed into practical, manageable chunks.

Yeah, a little bit of focused learning can go a long way, I agree. Admittedly, Garegga requires more study than most shmups. For me, it’s been worth it, completely. I can’t think of another shmup that’s gotten its hooks into me like this game. Since I started playing it around two years ago, it’s been my most played shmup by far, and it’s not even close. There have been weeks-long stretches where I haven’t wanted to play anything else. It’s just so damn interesting to play once you’ve come to grips with how it works. Not to mention how cool its aesthetics are, both visually and aurally. And although it takes more work to get into than most shmups, I honestly think that its reputation for being overly difficult to understand is a little overblown. Anyway, good luck with your runs!

[blazinglazers69]

I'm experimenting a little with R-Type II. I prefer the R-Types Playstation port since it allows you turn down the sound effects, which I find very abrasive, and has built-in autofire. Does the US version of R-Types correspond to the World Version of R-Type II or the Japanese version? Also, does the Japanese version of R-Types correspond to the Japanese arcade version of R-Type II? Just curious how these ports compare to the arcade versions. I've heard the Japanese arcade version is harder than the World version.

[AGermanArtist]

What is considered the best X68000 emulator now?

XM86 TypeG
There's a HDD image for it with pretty much everthing on it, categorised by genre/sub genre.

[AGermanArtist]

I'm being that guy. I'm trying to find a fairly recent (last 5 yrs) horizontal STG game. It's like a modern neo geo game featuring a fairly large guy/mech with a minigun iirc, graphics are quite impressive for an indie. Don't know if it's available on Steam. Visually similar to Ando Dunos 2. It looks sort of like a Team Ladybug game.

[BulletMagnet]

Maybe this? Or possibly this one?

[AGermanArtist]

Got Valfaris, thanks for having a look. It's neither. I should say it's a lot like a modern Forgotten Worlds. But single player and I don't think the gun rotates. IIRC he's flying with an LMG/Minigun.

[KMH]

Got Valfaris, thanks for having a look. It's neither. I should say it's a lot like a modern Forgotten Worlds. But single player and I don't think the gun rotates. IIRC he's flying with an LMG/Minigun.

Battle Traverse

Doesn't look too similar to AD2 though

[AGermanArtist]

Boom. That's it. Thank you.

edit : wow 2015. Didn't realise it's 10 yrs old.

Doesn't look too similar to AD2 though

Yeah, you're right. I got AD2 confused with Rolling Gunner.

[LordHypnos]

Is the Stage 4 boss of Giga Wing actually a troll who always throws the hardest to dodge pattern at you after you just used the shield, or am I just unlucky?

EDIT: further investigation reveals that it is not such a troll, but I would like to know if the patterns are RNG or not.

[LordHypnos]

Not exclusively a shmup related question, but do custom controller configuration files in MAME (.cfg) screw with input recordings (.inp)? I ask because it looks like the batch file that ships with wolfMAME clears these before starting recording (in addition to a few other files).

[Lord British]

Mostly shmup related and apologies for the dummyness of the question but...

Can having Launchbox/Big Box running cause additional input lag? I've noticed that Dreamcast emulation is really laggy whereas it used to be nice and crisp. Nothing has changed with the hardware I use. I'm stumped

('scuse the bump but I don't see a lot here on LB)

Just got Launchbox set up last night and some games are running choppier, including R-Type and R-Type 2 to my surprise while some beat-em ups like Alien VS Predator and Ninja Baseball Batman ran fine to my memory. I'm running MAME 139 through LB, and I remember the games playing just fine on M139 alone. I still have to spend more time going through it though, and I'll mention I'm using a low-end laptop so maybe it can't handle the busy LB UI (I have all the images uploaded and everything).

[sunnshiner]

Mostly shmup related and apologies for the dummyness of the question but...

Can having Launchbox/Big Box running cause additional input lag? I've noticed that Dreamcast emulation is really laggy whereas it used to be nice and crisp. Nothing has changed with the hardware I use. I'm stumped

('scuse the bump but I don't see a lot here on LB)

Just got Launchbox set up last night and some games are running choppier, including R-Type and R-Type 2 to my surprise while some beat-em ups like Alien VS Predator and Ninja Baseball Batman ran fine to my memory. I'm running MAME 139 through LB, and I remember the games playing just fine on M139 alone. I still have to spend more time going through it though, and I'll mention I'm using a low-end laptop so maybe it can't handle the busy LB UI (I have all the images uploaded and everything).

Yeah, I've given up on Launchbox now and am just using the standalone emulators where possible. I've got a decent enough PC (it'll run PS3 and XB360 stuff ok) yet it struggles with Dreamcast games when Launchbox is running. Meh. That said, I'm blaming LB, it might be an issue with the Retroarch core. I should probably give it another go.

I use Final Burn Neo rather than MAME for arcade games though, that runs the games I play nicely.

[Lord British]

Mostly shmup related and apologies for the dummyness of the question but...

Can having Launchbox/Big Box running cause additional input lag? I've noticed that Dreamcast emulation is really laggy whereas it used to be nice and crisp. Nothing has changed with the hardware I use. I'm stumped

('scuse the bump but I don't see a lot here on LB)

Just got Launchbox set up last night and some games are running choppier, including R-Type and R-Type 2 to my surprise while some beat-em ups like Alien VS Predator and Ninja Baseball Batman ran fine to my memory. I'm running MAME 139 through LB, and I remember the games playing just fine on M139 alone. I still have to spend more time going through it though, and I'll mention I'm using a low-end laptop so maybe it can't handle the busy LB UI (I have all the images uploaded and everything).

Yeah, I've given up on Launchbox now and am just using the standalone emulators where possible. I've got a decent enough PC (it'll run PS3 and XB360 stuff ok) yet it struggles with Dreamcast games when Launchbox is running. Meh. That said, I'm blaming LB, it might be an issue with the Retroarch core. I should probably give it another go.

I use Final Burn Neo rather than MAME for arcade games though, that runs the games I play nicely.

Actually I did a major fix in the MAME 139 ini file under VIDEO OPTIONS and changed the video line to d3d. THAT seemed to fix everything, and now I run my emulators through LaunchBox and everything is performing properly. Just wanted to clarify to my previous post. Basically I'm just using LaunchBox as one big favorites list, I only have a couple hundred games in there at a time.

Thanks for the reco, I'll likely to FBN next.

[aak]

What does this "Roulette: Disp" setting in Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius do?

[aak]

Also in the Saturn version there's an "Ikari" option that I have no idea what it does, it's on by default

[BulletMagnet]

Just a guess, but maybe with "disp" on, the powerups that set off a roulette when you pick them up are visually distinct from the normal ones, instead of a surprise like usual?

A quick google tell me "ikari" means "fury" or something like that...maybe something to do with the rank?

Assuming you have the manual maybe you could let an image translator have a go at it and cross your fingers.

[aak]

Based on machine translating the manual, I think Ikari is some kind of attack in co-op mode. Roulette Disp makes the Roulette capsules purple.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I've tried the Saturn version briefly, but I'm honestly more familiar with the SNES one. From what I remember, Roulette: Disp stands for Display; powerups that will trigger a roulette visibly appear with a pinkish-purple core to them so you can avoid picking them up. It's actually possible to memorize where they appear from what I remember in the SNES version as all the roulette powerups appear at fixed locations and aren't like a randomized thing, so once you learn where they are this doesn't change things too much from playing on defaults. Just remember where the roulette ones show up and don't grab any of the powerups there.

Ikari does indeed mean "fury" or "anger". In this context, if I remember rightly, if one player shoots another you generate these kind of special sparkly shots that basically generate a super shot by shooting your friends. There's some other games where getting close to each other lets you make a super shot, or unleashing a charge shot at the same time lets you do a coop charge shot (in Raiden Fighters Jet I think it actually bullet cancels?). The option I don't think changes anything in single player.

The roulette function also has an option in the Saturn version to change it to a slot machine which appears to be much more forgiving and less likely to suddenly depower you? I haven't tried it much. The basic roulette on defaults is a LOT faster than the SNES version though, so Saturn is the tougher version.

[aak]

Roulette is faster and there's no slowdown, but the extra horizontal resolution on the Saturn version actually does make it slightly easier than the SNES and PS1 versions in certain spots. Most notably the giant Hikaru boss, you can avoid the hair flip and missile attacks by just staying at the left-side of the screen rather than having to move to the top-left or bottom-left.

[1000Eyes]

There's a sale for the first Castle of Shikigami on Steam. Is the port good?

[Sturmvogel Prime]

hey has anyone tried Exo-Calibre?

I gave it a try. Is a basic shmup that carries a few Twinbee influences with an interesting dash-like feature, along with great visuals. Joseph Calabro knows how to pull a Konami on the indie scene.
Actually, I'm writing a review about it which I'll post soon in the forum.

[water_kooler]

I've been psikyo about Konami shmups lately. This seems like the right place to spam a tier list. All games are the emulated arcades unless otherwise stated. With all due respect...

Konami shmups tier list

S-
Gradius II

A-
Gradius Gaiden (PS1)
Life Force (Japan version)

B-
Salamander 2
Gradius V (PS2)
Gradius III (SNES)

C-
Thunder Cross (Japan version)
Parodius Da!
Xexex
Gokujou Parodius

D-
Sexy Parodius
Gradius
Thunder Cross II
Gyruss
Axelay (SNES, first shmup I can remember)

The rest of Konami shmups are left unranked, as I haven't played them. Using emulators and a real SNES.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I've been psikyo about Konami shmups lately. This seems like the right place to spam a tier list. All games are the emulated arcades unless otherwise stated. With all due respect...

Konami shmups tier list

S-
Gradius II

A-
Gradius Gaiden (PS1)
Life Force (Japan version)

B-
Salamander 2
Gradius V (PS2)
Gradius III (SNES)

C-
Thunder Cross (Japan version)
Parodius Da!
Xexex
Gokujou Parodius

D-
Sexy Parodius
Gradius
Thunder Cross II
Gyruss
Axelay (SNES, first shmup I can remember)

The rest of Konami shmups are left unranked, as I haven't played them. Using emulators and a real SNES.

About the Gyruss arcade game hailing from 1983, it was sold & distributed in the USA by arcade game manufacturer, Centuri (and licensed to Centuri from Konami). What was cool about Gyruss in the American arcades was, it was presented in true stereo sound (which was a "big deal" novelty unto itself as most standalone upright arcade game titles were presented in "mono-phonic output" at best back in the early 1980s). Plus the fact of trying to reach Earth on just one quarter alone was enough incentive to actually do it -- it's regarded as an arcade classic stg in it's own right. Here's a YT vid on it (not my YT vid): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQuvc2weuZ0

I was so dissappointed with the NES port of Gyruss from Ultra Games circa 1989 (aka Konami) as it really wasn't the arcade port of Gyruss that I really wanted to play on the NES but it was better than no Gyruss port at all in retrospect nowadays). At least the GBA port of "Konami's 80s Arcade Gallery" has the 100% faithful "spot-on" arcade port of Gyruss to play on "the go" which is an acceptable consolation as it is.

Considering that the actual Centuri Gyruss arcade pcb itself is non-jamma compatible to begin with, I use a "Konami Gyruss to jamma" adapter to play on a candy cab or supergun setup to get my Gyruss fix -- it doesn't get any better than that, folks. Gen-Xers wouldn't rate Gyruss with a lackluster and paltry "D-" rating as it'd be higher up in the ratings factor alone in terms of graphics, gameplay, game mechanics and early 1980s arcade gaming revival going on in the 21st century these days.

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Even Centuri's Gyruss arcade game cab was featured in an episode of the American nationally syndicated "Starcade" arcade game competition show shown on the TV airwaves stateside back in 1983-1984 with gameshow host, Geoff Edwards, was quite something to behold/watch in it's entirety with it's overall 30 minute episodic format/presentation. It was cool to watch an episode of Starcade on Saturday mornings back in the early 1980s arcade game craze/fad going at that particular point in time. It was during the "Golden Age of Arcade Games" era that the almighty quarter was considered the "gold choice" to coin-up/credit-up a serious arcade gaming session (as it was an expensive hobby to begin with).
----------

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[water_kooler]

Horizontal shooters, most from the 90s. Gyruss doesn't belong on the list, my mistake. From what I can tell, Konami was ahead of their time with Gyruss and Juno First. Most impressive graphics from that period. I, Robot from Atari might be a contender. Gyruss is mentioned many times on the forum. Juno First I heard about from a homebrew 2600 game.

Konami produced so many, knowing where to start is difficult. Life Force, Parodius Da! and Gradius II are favorites. I usually judge based on the style of graphics, music and sound effects.

[aak]

Has there ever been an attempt to make a Gradius V romhack that allows you to skip the cutscenes?

[Creamy Goodness]

Has anybody been able to get the Mushi Futari Black Label DLC to work in Xenia. I tried with the Canary version I have from about a year and a half ago with no luck. Even tried a rip of the game and DLC that supposedly fixed the issue with no luck. Is there a particular version of Xenia where it does work or any tricks I can do to get it to work?