shmups where the method to a top score isn't fully known

[Erppo]

Already mentioned, but V-V is one of the more mysterious ones I know of. The difference to known techniques might not seem that big at first, but a huge part of the scores is free score from the massive bonuses and stuff you will always kill. The score gained past that is very small in comparison, and an increase of ~7 million on top of that is enormous. There must be either some still unknown bonus, some weird bug abuse, or milking in gigantic amounts.

[Captain]

time powerup-collection.

destroy all those things that soak up your shots like a tank.

dont die.

[jpj]

BIL, apologies if this is old news but seen a 534k video here: http://www.youtube.com/user/khex74957495w a 582k vid here: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm20590630 a 632k vid here i don't know if these are any use?

[Ruldra]

Did anyone ever figure out that scoring glitch in the japanese version of Esp Ra De?

[trap15]

Already mentioned, but V-V is one of the more mysterious ones I know of.

I was discussing stuff with sikraiken a few months ago and the subject eventually came to V-V. He said that the bosses have a different amount of life depending on the current weapon you have (like, they don't just take the same time with a more powerful weapon, they literally have a different starting life value). So what he did was to find the most optimal weapon for each boss to get the most tick points. I posed to him that it might be possible to start the battle with a weapon that gives the boss the most life, then switch to a weapon that deals the least damage, and he said he didn't think of that. So maybe that's what it is?

[BIL]

a 632k vid here

Thanks, I'd not seen that one! Will give it a look.

[MathU]

Chaos Field's world record Ifumi score has always been a complete mystery to me. I really wish there was video of it out there. I have absolutely no idea how someone can get a one-hundred-million-point higher score with her than HAL--whom I thought was by far the best character for scoring and the game was practically designed around. It's gotta be some sort of glitch. It's just gotta.

[Captain]

a 632k vid here

Thanks, I'd not seen that one! Will give it a look.

Judging by the sheer milkage of the final boss, I expected another ending.

Learned too many things about MB that I didn't know from that vid.

[Limbrooke]

a 625k* vid here

Thanks, I'd not seen that one! Will give it a look.

Judging by the sheer milkage of the final boss, I expected another ending.

Learned too many things about MB that I didn't know from that vid.

It's an old and straight forward clip for what is an overall good run. Even more points could be gleaned from the final boss, the only issue is time.

[DocHauser]

I'm curious about Gekirindan, as most of the scoring seems to be from not dying and not bombing. I cleared it with just under 1.5m and I remember watching a no-miss no-bomb replay by Smraedis where he ends up with over 1.6 million, but the WR is over 2.4 million, so there are clearly lots more points to be had somewhere...

[ratikal]

A counterstop in Batsugun Special isn't exactly mysterious, but getting it after 7 bombs during Loop 4 Jupiter is. http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm591495 hits the counterstop by that point, where for me in practice, I would only reach it by the final stage bomb thingies.

He also gets 29M by the second loop (http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm591254), which I was only able to manage maybe 24M. This was getting the stage 2 bonus, effectively milking the stage 3 piggies, bombing and dying twice on Jupiter, getting the stage 5 platform bonus, and then bombing the circle thingies 4 times.

What is this guy doing?

[Icarus]

He also gets 29M by the second loop (http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm591254), which I was only able to manage maybe 24M. This was getting the stage 2 bonus, effectively milking the stage 3 piggies, bombing and dying twice on Jupiter, getting the stage 5 platform bonus, and then bombing the circle thingies 4 times.
What is this guy doing?

I've had 26.3mil after the first loop, and that was with an 11-bomb, two suicide route. Notably, I didn't have any bombs for the row of pigs after the platform in st5, and a set of discs that can be bombed before the boss.
Loop one is generally bomb and life conservation, anyway, since you can generate bombs more easily in later loops.

[M.Knight]

Chaos Field's world record Ifumi score has always been a complete mystery to me. I really wish there was video of it out there. I have absolutely no idea how someone can get a one-hundred-million-point higher score with her than HAL--whom I thought was by far the best character for scoring and the game was practically designed around. It's gotta be some sort of glitch. It's just gotta.

I feel the same, thanks for reminding me about this one.
The Hal WR run can be seen on YT ( http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEF4E6B2D5CB0B6C8 ) and I really don't know how Ifumi could perform more efficient tricks than Hal's ones. I also believe it is a glitch but it is strange that it seems to be very badly documented.

On the other hand, VTF-INO did not chain the entire stage 2, started its stage 4 chain late, and chained a few bosses in Order Field so maybe the Ifumi player got some points there.

[ciox]

Chaos Field's world record Ifumi score has always been a complete mystery to me. I really wish there was video of it out there. I have absolutely no idea how someone can get a one-hundred-million-point higher score with her than HAL--whom I thought was by far the best character for scoring and the game was practically designed around. It's gotta be some sort of glitch. It's just gotta.

That and the Battle Bakraid WR are what keep me up at night.
It's weird because the main bullet-canceling ability is the key and Ifumi's circling options never seemed that great, they kinda let a lot of bullets leak through.

[RNGmaster]

Sapz was really confused about a screenshot of S99 floating around with a score 200k higher than the recorded WR - turns out that the player had a friend feeding credits and suiciding so he could grab extra max power and bomb bonuses

Sometimes the answer isn't what you think it is.

I want to live in a world where all top scores are recorded and in the public domain. And it's not out of some silly Twin Galaxies-style paranoia where I doubt their legitimacy, but just so that future generations can marvel at what these players have done.

Not being able to witness WTN's record DDP run is like if the Mona Lisa had been drawn on the sands of a beach.

fucking poetry

[chum]

Come to Touhou

[PROMETHEUS]

pulstar 6+ mill (no miss clear gets you about 1.5 mill, where do you get the extra 5 mill?)

I heard from Arcade Extreme I think one of the "secret" techniques to increase score is that you need to die @the same time that you kill the last boss (you get hit, then your projectile kills the boss), this way you get points instantly when boss dies but your own death animation completes and the game does reset @start of final boss which you can then kill again even with no powerups. Multiplies the boss value (pretty big) by potentially as many lives you can have, don't remember how much that's worth though.

[ACSeraph]

pulstar 6+ mill (no miss clear gets you about 1.5 mill, where do you get the extra 5 mill?)

I heard from Arcade Extreme I think one of the "secret" techniques to increase score is that you need to die @the same time that you kill the last boss (you get hit, then your projectile kills the boss), this way you get points instantly when boss dies but your own death animation completes and the game does reset @start of final boss which you can then kill again even with no powerups. Multiplies the boss value (pretty big) by potentially as many lives you have, don't remember how much that's worth though.

Holy shit that's genius! Are there any other games you know of where this strategy works?

[PROMETHEUS]

I have no idea.. maybe it works in Blazing Star? xD
no that's stupid in blazing star you don't reset @start of boss if you die there

[CStarFlare]

IIRC Splatterhouse has that same feature(?). It's one of the main differences between the Japanese WR and the recent Twin Galaxies WR - Twin Galaxies considered the double KO to be glitch abuse and disallowed it.

[ACSeraph]

Twin Galaxies considered the double KO to be glitch abuse and disallowed it.

wtf kinda scrub rule is that. Sorry, special move cancels in SFII are also a glitch, guess those aren't legit either. Oh, and throwing is for pussies.

[trap15]

Welcome to Twin Galaxies.

[Ed Oscuro]

Scrubland, USA

Heh, maybe their name should be Score Scrubbers.

[Emuser]

fuckin Twin Galaxies man...Just pick one of us to walk into the place, or one of us to have runs recorded on a VHS tape while someone else is camcording us at the same time if they don't have the games under their roof. Pretty sure that "Scrublordimus Maximus", whoever it may be that volunteers, would pretty much own every Twin Galaxies record even with half assed runs where the player is smashed out of their mind. Amazing that they still hold any sort of relevancy in any light...perhaps just so they can be laughed at I would assume.

[Icarus]

pulstar 6+ mill (no miss clear gets you about 1.5 mill, where do you get the extra 5 mill?)

I heard from Arcade Extreme I think one of the "secret" techniques to increase score is that you need to die @the same time that you kill the last boss (you get hit, then your projectile kills the boss), this way you get points instantly when boss dies but your own death animation completes and the game does reset @start of final boss which you can then kill again even with no powerups. Multiplies the boss value (pretty big) by potentially as many lives you have, don't remember how much that's worth though.

Holy shit that's genius! Are there any other games you know of where this strategy works?

Varth.

[Gemant]

PULSTAR.

1. in this game there are advanced technique and multiple ways for short leeching. 3.000 points + obtained in a location... 4.000 points + in other location etc. are very important, because you have need of all points possible BEFORE of the last battle with final Boss. Before the last Boss, in my best score, I had 1.100.000 pts, but I suppose that the top japanese player has maybe 1.500.000 or more. With 1.100.000 I see the Boss with 7 lives in stock.

2. you must have "NO MISS" (no lives lost for all stages 1~8) until the last Boss.

3. the secret is in last Boss area. Last Boss have 3 shapes. You must destroy the first and the second shape without problems. Third shape have 3 steps (pattern 1, pattern 2, and suicide attack. Suicide attack have the same effect of the Pyramids in View Point, Boss tail you to kill and is impossible escape.

During pattern 1, if you destroy last Boss and you at the same time you win 50.000 pts. and you can repeat again the battle with last boss. This is DOUBLE K.O. system. But exist also SUPER DOUBLE K.O.

During pattern 2 (this pattern is very difficult and is necessary skill and is very long, some minuts) destroy last Boss and you at the same time and score increase of 150.000 pts. You must use always SUPER DOUBLE K.O. system.

SUPER DOUBLE K.O. work at the end of pattern 2 only, some seconds before of suicide attack from Boss.

You must survive for all time!!

You win a life 200.000 pts every. With double K.O. you win 150.000 pts only, but when you destroy the first 2 shape of the last boss, your score increase a little, so, for each live sacrifice you have more of 150.000.

Because you have already many lives in stock, and you can win other lives with double K.O., you can continue to sacrifice many times, but not forever, because after many try, the lives finished.

Top score was performed with SUPER DOUBLE K.O. x 34 times = 5.100.000 pts with this pattern.

5.100.000 + 1.500.000 (scorer before the last boss) = 6.600.000 pts.

The real problem is made SUPER DOUBLE K.O. because Boss not have a energy bar on the screen, you must count a perfect number of hits / damage, and when you are sure 100% that Boss is near to dead, you must use suicide / double K.O.

ALL this, is super ultra difficult.

In my top score I made 1 normal double K.O. and 1 SUPER DOUBLE K.O. 150.000 pts. THAT'S ALL.

[jpj]

that's very interesting about gekirindan and chaos field. i also noticed that the top radirgy score (still by TZW-ART?) is now about 60 mill higher than his score on the INH dvd, i'm guessing there's another spot to do mass item cancelling like st3 boss..? i do actually miss that game

regarding donpachi, i presumed that the big increase in score from WTN is that he's holding the MAXIMUM bomb bonus through the entire 2nd loop, but looking at the previous arcadia record by LAOS he had 59 mill with type A, and 27 mill after the first loop. whenever i've watched replays from our players they usually score maybe 15+ mill 1st loop (no-miss and no-bomb), and 20-25 by the end of 2nd loop. so presumably to get 27+ mill by the end of the 1st loop there's also a lot chaining involved...??? i don't know the game well enough, but would be interested in hearing other people's thoughts on this one

i wish i hadn't started this thread now, i'm getting bugged by games i don't even play regarding metal black's bonus rounds, i see you get a player bonus, time bonus, and perfect bonus. the player bonus always seems to be 5k and then 10k, is that just based on no deaths? most people seem to get about 15k on the 1st bonus round and 30k time bonus on the 2nd bonus round, i guess if you got really lucky on both you could potentially get an extra 25k right there. (i haven't played this game before but as a proto-border down it looks kinda funky )

(edit: i had read these details in the thread linked, but thanks again Gemant for the detailed explanation, much appreciated )

[Gemant]

DONPACHI 84m by SOF WTN is 1 miss.

The old score 72m+ was:

capacity until loop 2-3, 1st loop 36.390.00 (3.000.000 miss in stage 1-4).

About the 84m top score, i think:

first iphotesis:

72m+3m (miss in old replay)+5m (capacity 2-4) + 4m for better play and chain in all stages. 1 miss in loop 2-5, so it is -5.000.000 pts for capacity bonus and -1.000.000 pts for miss life. Theory max score with no miss: 90m.

second hypothesis:

72m+3m (miss in old replay)+5m (capacity 2-4) +5m (capacity 2-5) -1m for various mistake = 84m

[Gemant]

other shooting with secrets unknown:

Prehistoric Isle 2
Wangan Sensou

[Gemant]

I have no idea.. maybe it works in Blazing Star? xD
no that's stupid in blazing star you don't reset @start of boss if you die there

Blazing Star not have suicide pattern. In future maybe other ships will be banned for infinite pattern (after Peplos maybe also Aryustailm have).