Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[eatdogs]

Panorama Cotton repro cart. Pretty awesome game.

[broken harbour]

Life Force on NES.

I've always sucked at Gradius style games, might need the Konami code for this one.

[Kollision]

I'm working my way on Caladrius with Kei.
I can no-miss till stage 4 so far. Practiced stage 5 last night, let's see how I can handle the 5th boss today.

Much respect for soldiering through the game with Kei, it's much harder than using the typical custom Caladrius. Are you going default? I need to get my copy back from my friend who always claims he's going to play it but never gets around to it. I want to dig in and learn default Lilith properly before Blaze hits.

oh yes, full defaults.
I haven't even bothered unlocking Caladrius, I unlocked just the boss rush to practice.
Since we're on it, do you have any particular strategies on the last form of the 5th boss? I can get to it just fine w/o bombing, but then that vampire throws too much hehehe
apart from the random shard storm, the last stage/boss isn't nearly as tough as that part

[ACSeraph]

Since we're on it, do you have any particular strategies on the last form of the 5th boss? I can get to it just fine w/o bombing, but then that vampire throws too much hehehe
apart from the random shard storm, the last stage/boss isn't nearly as tough as that part

I always bomb the opening 'sword grid' twice. You want to wait until the last second before the swirling blue bullets are about to hit you and bomb, then move with them clockwise as the swords deploy again and repeat. After that the blue swirls will remain for a bit and go away but the swords won't come back. During this part quickly get down to the bottom corner of the screen and the next attack will be massive red criss-crossing spreads. They look scary, but it's actually all aimed, so you just do a basic tap dodge across the screen until it ends, exactly the same as the 4th boss' opening attack.

This method using Caladrius will kill the boss before it can even use the red spread, so while I haven't done it with him I'm guessing the boss will die by the end of the spread with Kei. As for a no bomb method of the phase I have no idea, I've never passed the sword grid without bombing.

[LordHypnos]

I was playing Mystic Square, and made it to around the last 1/2 centimeter of health of the TFB then clipped a bullet and lost my last life So much rage!!!

I'm gonna go play Mars Matrix now, I think

[cave hermit]

Just got my copy of Raiden Fighters Aces from Amazon: These games may be the most intense shmups I've ever played, even compared to all the Cave games I own!

[EmperorIng]

Cotton 2 - getting better, and can pull off most of the basic moves without problem (some moves aren't listed in the manual?). Needs a renewed scoreboard.

Guardian Force - need a consistent strategy for Stage B's boss; two misses on a single target is unacceptable. This game also needs a renewed scoreboard to encourage play/competition.

Soukyogurentai - first play in ages, and am rusty. Died too much at DESCENTER (tank boss), and could barely make it to the Oil Fields. Fuck me. Also needs a renewed scoreboard.

I think I know what I'll be making in the High Score Forums this weekend...

[ACSeraph]

Another day, another controller thrown in burning rage at Darius II Saturn. I have enacted a 2 credits a day until you clear it (specifically my preferred arcade course) rule, and it is taking a severe toll on my mental health (and the life expectancy of my saturn controller).

[EmperorIng]

More laser deaths?

While i hate those glitched satellite enemies, the normal arcade rate-of-fire is too slow for my liking compared to the Saturn port's increased shot output.

[ACSeraph]

I totally gave up on stage L in the Saturn version because of the satellites; I don't really think there's any way through it aside from incredibly good luck. But the only alternative (keeping with the Mars and Jupiter stages I learned while playing the AC version) was to take on a Yamato path, which is also pretty much luck, since he loves to just run right into you killing you basically instantly. Since he moves way faster than you there isn't much you can do about it. That fight is badly designed, period. Even in the arcade version it's bad.

When you say autofire increase you mean that code that increases the on screen shot limit? That would definitely make things more reasonable for sure, but I felt like anything that changes the fundamental rules of the game wasn't legit for me personally. I know I wouldn't have been satisfied with it, so I soldiered on and finally achieved the legit clear tonight by the skin of my teeth.

The way I did it was by learning to play with 1/30 autofire. It makes the stages infinitely harder because of the shot limit, basically you have to calculate each and every shot you take, it's impossible to just hold it down. Even just lightly tapping it you end up with a fire rate even slower than the Darius 1 laser. But in return for your effort, it allows you to point blank kill Yamato quickly enough that it's unlikely he will fuck you over. It isn't fun to play that way at all though, I even had to use a really weird control setup with my bombs set to R in order to constantly bomb while also maintaining that slow light tapping shot rhythm. Now that it's finally done with, I'll probly by the Taito Memories version and try to forget the Saturn version exists.

[eatdogs]

Panorama Cotton (genesis repro)
Strike gunner s.t.g.
Metal slug 7
Retro game challenge

I've been on a ds kick lately

[LordHypnos]

Most recently playing Fast Striker 1.5 (DC). made it all the way to stage 4 boss (best music). I wonder when I'll hit a wall?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Made a neat discovery I'm not sure has been mentioned before: in Futari, Reco Abnormal's rapid shot actually has an 'aura' effect with her blue shots if you get in to super close range (the blasts look much bigger) that makes her rapid shot do slightly MORE damage than her laser with a full lock does if you can get directly in front of the enemy. It seems harder to use this effectively than in a game like DoDonPachi though...

[iconoclast]

Got 1.021B in Daioujou (White Label) on MAME just now. I spent some time practicing over the last few days to work off some rust and decided to play a credit on a whim. Not a bad run.

[Wombat]

Truxton, hard as hell. Can't even get passed the first boss yet

[LordHypnos]

@Wombat: Yeah, I can't get past the first boss in Truxton, either. That game's tough. Actually, I haven't tried for a while, so maybe I could now...

I've kept playing Fast Striker, and last night made it to Stage 6. Definately getting better at this. I went back to Mars Matrix once, last week, to make sure I could remember how to do it, and I actually did really well, making it to the Stage 4 boss with 2 lives left (1 lost in Stage 2, 1 in Stage 4). Still can't make it past that motherfucker, though.

[broken harbour]

DFK BL, specifically Ketsupachi mode.

Damn.

Tried a bit of Caladrius too, I need to figure this game out a bit still.

Interesting RPG progression style between stages.

[endoKarb]

Got 1.021B in Daioujou (White Label) on MAME just now. I spent some time practicing over the last few days to work off some rust and decided to play a credit on a whim. Not a bad run.

well done !!!

[ACSeraph]

Nemesis II MSX

This game is so incredibly hellish to play I refuse to believe the developers tried playing it themselves even once.

[EmperorIng]

My copy of Shienryu finally arrived yesterday, so I've been putting in some good time with that.

I like the port's options and features- a good YOKO mode, TATE and horizontal-control TATE if I ever want to flip my TV (ha).

The game itself gets very tough after the first two levels. Though I seem to end up having 9 bombs by the boss of level 2, which I use to cheese out of some tricky dodging. If you don't use it, you lose it.

The game's patterns aren't super inspired, and many bullet patterns are easily dodged. Stage 3's boss is a bad offender, with half of its attacks never hitting you, and having oodles of health to make me feel a bit bored. However, the rest of the game is chock-full of fast aimed bullets. BIL said once that the game reminded him of a sequel/homage to Tatsujin, and in certain parts I certainly see that - except without any of the annoyance or frustration of Tatsujin and Tatsujin Oh. Even so with checkpoints! I don't know if that's a sign of the game being easy (I can get to 1-5 with some easy consistency), but checkpoints are usually such a drag so I don't mind.

[ACSeraph]

Playing Mushihimesama Bug Timer while I boil some eggs.

Best fucking Cave game ever, no contest.

[dink]

Fever SOS & Altered Beast(well...)

[dink]

Nemesis II MSX

This game is so incredibly hellish to play I refuse to believe the developers tried playing it themselves even once.

Right on, I absolutely love the MSX versions of the Gradius/Nemesis (and even Parodius) series

[ACSeraph]

^I love the overclocked Atari 2600 vibe they give off, but those games are ridiculously brutal. I can do pretty decently in the original one, but I can't even get past the first stage in the sequels. The controls seem really off like they are laggy. It's possible they actually are laggy, given that I'm playing them via the Konami MSX Collection PS1 classic from the Japanese PSN. Do those games feel tight on an actual MSX?

On Saturday I had to play MSX Sky Jaguar for the quickening and fell in love almost instantly. Ended up clearing the first loop (reaching the very end of the second). Does anyone even remember that game?

[nekketsu]

I finally got around to playing Progear and now I'm totally infatuated. Such a fun game. I really love the scoring system too, perfect risk/reward dynamic. Also playing some Battle Garegga on the side because it just never gets old.

[LordHypnos]

Was playing Fast Striker. Definately making progress, but I need to play WAY less like shit to be able to clear this mofo. I keep making stupid mistakes / squandering resources. Would have liked a stage practice mode in this one, I think. Still made it to stage 6 like twice today. I've only made it to the final boss once, and I'm not totally sure how to attack it. Or the fifth stage boss, for that matter, but I could probably do alright using only like 1-2 shields, so I'm less worried about that. If I could only get all the extends that I know how to, and not die, I bet I could flail my way through the final boss...

Also was playing Zero Rei, which is an amazingly awesome / adrenaline pumping doujin caravan game for X68000. Managed to make it through 3 bosses before dying / running out of time Might be resurrecting that score thread soon.

[Kiken]

Took a break from Prikura Daisakusen and popped in Game Tengoku. Decided to focus on Arrange mode seeing as I didn't want to bother with a second loop. I really hate the stage 3 boss's patterns in yoko. Everything is so damn bunched up! At least I've managed to find a couple of safe spots against some of the other boss attacks.

[hismit]

Mainly playing RayForce now, I like this game because I wouldn't be pissed when dying with full bombs stocked like many other games lol

Batsugun special version: got trouble in Stage 4 boss . Would spend more time with this game but the horrible music keep me away from playing much.

Fire Barrel: this one is not hard, but I don't like it when I die, I go back to the weakest form T.T (I'm not good at No-Miss play)

[Squire Grooktook]

Currently obsessively practicing the final boss in eXceed 2nd over and over again, trying to get consistent at speed killing and no missing the high scoring sections. I could probably consistently 1lc the rest of the entire game, but the final boss is on a different level and very difficult to get consistent at (at least, when attempting to high score).

[LordHypnos]

So I just bought Metal Torrent for 3DS, after finding out that there was a reasonably modern shmup available for download and I 1LC'd easy mode on first try O_o. Admittedly, I was saved by autobombs a few times. Also it was surprisingly fun. Kinda like a insanely easy version of Mars Matrix. Might be nice for chilling out when I'm getting worked up by real shmups. Also maybe it's good for score play? Beats me. The bullets cancelling to coins or whatever they are is very satisfying

Insane mode looks significantly more reasonable of a challenge though. I like the mechanics in both games, though I wish there were a version of the first mode with a shorter gauge and no autobombs. That'd be cool. The mechanics in insane mode make it feel a bit like Mars Matrix stage 5 (the stage with all the bullet cancelling enemies). I like that they included random modes. Altogether not too bad for a $5 game

Edit: Note that part of the challenge comes from trying to use the shitty 3DS d-pad >_>