Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Started practicing Stage 3 a little on Mushihimesama as well as throwing in some Stage 3 Boss and Stage 5 boss practice

I'm obviously nowhere near getting to Stage 5 boss, but it's not a bad idea to start practicing it.

Stage 3 boss and Stage 5 boss in Ultra is horrible. It's tough to dodge all that stuff and get the right amount of damage in. I have not even beaten Aki once in training mode yet. Really suck at getting the timing right for damage.


Of course, I do need to keep practicing the first 2 stages as well to stay in practice, but I'm focusing more on Stages 3 and 4 at the moment.

[LordHypnos]

Mars Matrix update:
Had another good run in the first 3 stages that kinda went to shit starting in stage 4. Still had 2.9 million experience at game over on the stage 5 boss though. Was over 3 mill on the stage 6 boss after a continue. Making some progress on stage 4 improvements, but still not very consistent. Not even all that consistent on stage 2 improvements.

[davyK]

Dreamcast Gigawing.

Got to level 5 with 2 lives left! Go me! Blew up pathetically though!!!

Using the score attack mode to get more familiar with levels 4 and 5.

[Stevens]

Spent a quiet holiday with the Mrs. (she worked most of the day), and found some time to get in some Under Defeat and Mars Matrix.

[Shepardus]

Playing some stuff on the Gradius Collection for PSP. Mostly Gradius Gaiden, which I'm finding to be very good fun. Nice homages to the older games while expanding the concepts and throwing in twists of its own. Definitely the most approachable Gradius I've played too - checkpoint recovery is pretty easy thanks to a generous supply of powerup capsules and the weapon bar editing (which may even be too generous). So far I've made it up to stage 6. With a bit more familiarity I'm sure a 1-ALL is achievable.

I've also been playing a bit of Gradius III with the difficulty turned to the easiest and hitbox size turned to small. Much more fun than the normal arcade difficulty if you ask me, by virtue of actually being able to get somewhere in the game. Checkpoints are still mean but at least seem doable. I got up to the stage 6 boss once but died really stupidly there, a real disappointment since I wanted to play through the fire stage.

I'm still playing Parodius Da! for some unfathomable reason, currently focusing on Vic Viper and Pentarou. Double shot is surprisingly useful, more so than in the Gradius games. Unlike Gradius where both the forward and upward shots need to leave the screen or hit something before another shot can be fired, in Parodius the two directions have independent projectile limits, so the upward shot won't limit the forward shot and vice versa. Stage 5 boss still gives me trouble but I've been practicing stocking up on at least one blue bell before the boss fight, so in case I get trapped I can bomb to get out. It's still not foolproof but it helps.

[copy-paster]

Playing some stuff on the Gradius Collection for PSP. Mostly Gradius Gaiden, which I'm finding to be very good fun. Nice homages to the older games while expanding the concepts and throwing in twists of its own. Definitely the most approachable Gradius I've played too - checkpoint recovery is pretty easy thanks to a generous supply of powerup capsules and the weapon bar editing (which may even be too generous). So far I've made it up to stage 6. With a bit more familiarity I'm sure a 1-ALL is achievable.

Because the game is released on consoles, no wonder those two features are implemented, for a "home-play".

GG is even more fun if you crank the difficulty to "Very Hard" with default bar, it's pretty much arcade experience.

[null1024]

G-Darius [PS2].

played on Taito Legends 2 since the PS1 version is supposed to be in a near constant state of slowdown from what I've heard
And hot damn, I forgot how damn cool this game is. Like, wow.

[LordHypnos]

Still Mars Matrix, but I've moved on to trying to learn Rob's stage 3 route for gains. I've only gotten about half way through it, and I can't seem to get quite as much experience. Nonetheless, I managed to chain from his route to my own a few times, and got 1.5 million exp total a couple times, and 1.8 million once (I kept the chain going for a long time). The chains were around +1700 to +1800 (maybe a little more on that 1.8 run). I'm usually very satisfied when I get 1.8 million from the first 3 stages combined, so this has a lot of potential. I'm definitely having turoble with one part specifically though.

[LordHypnos]

Getting a little better on stage 3. Have successfully chained through the gold cube waterfall a few times, still not very consistent, though. I did manage to break +2000 chain, as well, and managed to get 1.9 million a couple times in score attack, and 1.7-1.8 a few times. Still have not managed to succeed at stage 3 in a full run, though. Hopefully I'll be able to improve my consistency.

[Stevens]

Damn. You're doing really well LH. I'm on a short hiatus - I'n the middle of rebuilding my stick, but should have it finished no later than Monday or Tuesday. Leading up I was playing a fair amount of UD, with a little MM on the side.

My full runs in UD are decent. I'm either clearing the 1st loop and doing poorly on the 2nd, or just falling short of a clear. Been practicing random stages - I would like to get back to the point where most credits would have me see at least 2-2. I don't think I'm that far off.

[LordHypnos]

^Hey, thanks! Good luck with your UD goals.

Current update for me is an ALL with 3.6 million experience and 1.7 trillion points. I know I can improve that in not too much time, either (though it was a pretty amazing run where I didn't die at all until the final form of the stage 5 boss).

[Aquas]

Muchi Muchi Pork! Go play it / buy it before the price of the double pack MMP/PS port gets out of hand. (Currently ~$130+)

Such an amazing game that I'm glad I took a real second glance at.

[MaXXX]

Going for the Ketsui 1ALL. Currently reaching stage 5 and getting the 2nd extend in stage 4 ( I know you can get it by stage 2 but it doesn't really matter for the 1ALL)

[Ayanami]

Been a long time since I have been here. Started playing again.

Muchi Muchi Pork/Pink Sweets

Fun games!

[LordHypnos]

Was doing kinda poorly for the past few days, but did pretty well today. Had a clear run with 3.7 million exp and 1.7 trillion points. Had a non clear run with 3.9 million and 1.8 trillion. This nodes well, but am clearly not there yet.

[Stevens]

Random MM credit and I made it to stage six.

If I didn't eat a random bullet on three I would have been in good shape. Died once on boss four, once on five's final form and crapped out on six. Nothing new or great score wise, but I had level seven at the waterfall.

[CaptainAhab]

Playing some Jamestown and Crimzon Clover World Ignition!

[Shepardus]

• Parodius Da! - Still playing this game casually (by which I mean I'm still too lazy to set up savestates or seriously practice). Having played stage 8 with all the characters a fair amount now, I think despite Octopus's myriad of other advantages, he's the weakest character for stage 8, since his two-way missiles aren't well-suited for the stage's geometry. Vic Viper and Pentarou's missiles are great at descending the steps near the start of the stage, and double is good for taking out enemies on the ceiling while sticking close to the ground to take out the jellyfish spawners there. With some careful positioning double can also be used to shoot up the steps when they go upwards. Twinbee's rocket punch makes quick work of the jellyfish spawners and the three-way shot provides double's advantages except both upwards and downwards. Octopus, however, has limited coverage in stage 8 thanks to the reduced mobility underwater. Taking out the jellyfish spawners requires that you either blast away at them with your ripple laser, falling behind with enemies on the ceiling because you don't have double, or try to get above them and make your missiles hit without the jellyfish getting in the way. Octopus can't really shoot up or down the steps either, and instead has to get in close quarters to align some missiles or tailgun shots with the enemies.
• Crimzon Clover: World Ignition - As satisfying as ever.
• REVOLVER360 RE:ACTOR - After a long time of owning this game but barely touching it, I got more comfortable with the rotation mechanic (including binding the rotation keys to space and shift) and cleared the game. It's very forgiving for survival, but I still need to get much more comfortable with the rotation if I want to get a good score and not come so close to dying. Challenge mode is nice for learning the game, helped me a lot with learning techniques and mechanics. Love the look of this game (yes I know it's more blue than SDOJ, but it's a nice blue) and the gameplay is pretty solid, I just wish it had more stages...
• ring^-27 - After years of having this game, I finally sat down with it long enough to figure out how scoring works, and now I feel like I can appreciate it more. Might see if I can get some decent scores - I've already blown way past my previous PB as well as the score I got two years ago when I 1CC'd Anchor mode on Easy. It's crazy and I'm not sure its balance really holds up, but it'll be interesting figuring out and maybe filling up the (very empty) score thread here.

[DEL]

Been playing my Sega SONIC BOOM pcb.
Headbutting the 2nd form of the Last Boss over and over. At the moment I kinda figure you've gotta 1 Life the last stage collecting all extra bombs and then saturate the Last Boss's 2nd form with 6 bombs and a little luck avoiding the almost point-blank spreads
It'll come though.

[Shoryukev]

Thunderforce III - Sega Genesis

I am incredibly terrible at shmups, but this one always keeps me coming back. The music is fantastic, the graphical representation is excellent, and overall game design is just flat out fun.

[copy-paster]

Crimzon Clover World Ignition

First time playing. It's so good that I put it on my top 10 shumps now, perhaps I should playing novice mode first for "learning' the game.

[Jonst]

After a near miss of nearly selling it, I decided to spend some time with hyper duel. I'm glad I did, I'm really enjoying it!

[null1024]

R-Type Final [PS2].
You know how Delta is gripping and exciting from the very get go and you're just like "oh fuck this is cool" all the way in?
What the hell is this? I didn't expect Delta, but I kind of expected something... exciting? Interesting?

I'm falling asleep, and I'm on the first stage. It's just tedious as fuck. The midboss is fought in slo-mo and it's one of the least exciting things I've encountered in a shmup.
Got to the first boss and then died because I haven't memorized it yet and it hit me from the back like twice.

Am I missing something, or is this game just going to be dull as fuck?

[Squire Grooktook]

It's been discussed many times.

General consensus: It's overall pretty bland, though it does have its moments here and there.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

Gun Frontier.
I wrote it off as bland and somewhat boring several years ago.
Now I'm a bit better and somehow enjoying it.
Still working to get past the third level.

I do kind of like the theme. Aside from those brown shots that come out of a few enemies and blend with the backgrounds.
I sometimes like to take a break from the flash of recent titles and play a older shmup from the golden era.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

DoDonPachi Resurrection (Steam). I am so bad at the game now since I haven't played in a while. Getting hit a lot and barely looped the game.

Haven't hit training mode or watched any replays at the moment, just hunting some of the easier achievements before practicing up again.

[OmKol]

Judgement Silversword (Steam), Normal difficulty. Wow, this game can destroy me in the end even with 10 lives in stock. At least I can practice those bastards. Incredibly fun.

[Marc]

Just realised that the Japanese version 9f Typhoon is infinitely more fun than the US one. What the fuck were Konami doing back in the 80's?

[Pixel_Outlaw]

Twin Hawk (Arcade) for the first time.
Is Twin Hawk even a game? It's like a sniper tank perversion.

You know, when shmups actually have *only* competent enemy gunners, they aren't all that fun.
I guess I like shmups where the enemy pilots are Star Wars storm troopers shooting neon colored NERF footballs aimlessly.

[LordHypnos]

Dropped off a bit on my MM play because I felt like I needed a little break in order to get better. Had a few more good runs in the past two weeks including one where I finally broke 1.8 trillion points. If you care to read details, I posted some in the score thread