Shmup Related Questions That Don't Deserve a Thread

[Blinge]

It's a poster, with a fictional subject.
as far as i'm aware posters aren't gendered.. love as you please

[antares]

OK, here's something weird I want to ask: Always when I look at my Mushi Futari poster I think of Palm as a girl (with boyish looks maybe). It's strange that he is supposed to be a boy, feels just wrong. Anyone else ever had that thought?

Sounds to me like you're in love, but refuse to accept it.

Haha, good answer

[mastermx]

I just tested metal Slug 3. It does, continuing doesn't clear your score. You can effectively rack up a decent score even if you credit feed.

Yeah you're right. The Steam version doesn't though. Maybe some of the other ports don't as well.

Finally managed to get ms3 on steam recently. Really liking this port. And you were right, continuing on steam version resets your score. Competing on the online leader boards is so fun.

[CStarFlare]

the fuck is going on in Stella Vanity?

Is there a guide somewhere? It seems like a promising game but I can't quite work out how I'm supposed to be playing it.

[BulletMagnet]

There were about a million revisions of the thing, apparently, so the rules have changed quite a few times...there is a thread or two floating around in the Strategy forum, though I'd have to comb through it to put anything coherent together. I'm tempted to try to construct a "proper" ST for it once I finish my current Racketboy project, though I'd need considerable help to do it, since even the game's official site is incomplete...

[Blarget2]

Back when I was about 8-10, there was a proto-shmup I played all the time. It was basically a Galaga rip-off with still images that resemble something in the background of Bejewelled and had enemies that looked like 3d models that have been rendered into sprites. The Boss was a huge flying saucer thing. The enemies looked like Klingon ships. Does anyone have an idea?

[LordHypnos]

Anyone who has ordered games from Rancor's site / japan in general and are located in the upper midwest: How long do these typically take to arrive in the upper midwest? I have never lost a package yet from USPS, but I can't help but worry. Also do they typically keep them at the post office or leave them at the door / in the mailbox or whatever, or does it depend?

[shishio74]

Does anybody know anything about BlackArt? I'm tempted to pull the trigger on this (pun not really intended), but I can't find much on it. Playism.jp seems to have a few things I might look into, but this one just looks kind of insane. Anyone have any experience with it?

Thanks in advance!

[Pretas]

Not a question, but a small observation.

Armed Police Batrider
All Points Bulletin
APB

Considering the game's police theme, this has to have been deliberate.

[Doctor Butler]

Gradius or R-Type?

---------------GO!

[Mako]

So I bought my first console shmup - "dodonpachi saidaioujou" for the 360 - and for the life of me can't figure out how to rotate the display in-game for a TATE set-up. I toggled some setting in the game's display menu, but I still had those gaudy side graphics (with a crappy, tiny main screen). I just want the main game display to occupy the entire tv screen sideways. T.T
Also, is there an online english version of the manual?

[amdiggywhut]

I toggled some setting in the game's display menu, but I still had those gaudy side graphics (with a crappy, tiny main screen)

I'm at work, so I can't check it on my console, but I'm pretty sure you need to set "Wide Mode" to Off. I'll check back on this thread later on but I'm pretty sure someone will have answered your question by then.

[nasty_wolverine]

So I bought my first console shmup - "dodonpachi saidaioujou" for the 360 - and for the life of me can't figure out how to rotate the display in-game for a TATE set-up. I toggled some setting in the game's display menu, but I still had those gaudy side graphics (with a crappy, tiny main screen). I just want the main game display to occupy the entire tv screen sideways. T.T
Also, is there an online english version of the manual?

its should be under options, screen settings, rotate...

[Mako]

So I bought my first console shmup - "dodonpachi saidaioujou" for the 360 - and for the life of me can't figure out how to rotate the display in-game for a TATE set-up. I toggled some setting in the game's display menu, but I still had those gaudy side graphics (with a crappy, tiny main screen). I just want the main game display to occupy the entire tv screen sideways. T.T
Also, is there an online english version of the manual?

its should be under options, screen settings, rotate...

I turned Wide mode off and I'm still getting the screen to rotate, but it's super tiny and in the in the middle. (With all the graphics around it.)

[nasty_wolverine]

So I bought my first console shmup - "dodonpachi saidaioujou" for the 360 - and for the life of me can't figure out how to rotate the display in-game for a TATE set-up. I toggled some setting in the game's display menu, but I still had those gaudy side graphics (with a crappy, tiny main screen). I just want the main game display to occupy the entire tv screen sideways. T.T
Also, is there an online english version of the manual?

its should be under options, screen settings, rotate...

I turned Wide mode off and I'm still getting the screen to rotate, but it's super tiny and in the in the middle. (With all the graphics around it.)

you need to go deeper, somewhere in there are zoom functions.

[CloudyMusic]

Be forewarned that playing 3:4 tate is a pain in the ass in SDOJ. You have to turn Wide Mode off to be able to expand the gameplay window to full screen, but then the menus get cut off on the top and bottom. You'll need to switch Wide Mode on to use the menus (or memorize the order of the menu items), and turn it back off to play the game.

[Mako]

you need to go deeper, somewhere in there are zoom functions.

I played with the zoom, but wasn't sure if that was the thing i needed. If that the only way to expand it, then yeah. I guess I found it.
Thanks for the help!

[Shatterhand]

To TATE or not to TATE?

I have a 32" tv that I use for everything including vertical shooters, it works out at about (unTATE'd) 16" x 11" (depending on the game). I bought a 27" with the intention of TATEing it but once I did it was basically the same aspect ratio 16" x 11". Ive seen a lot of people that prefer to have a smaller screen thats TATE'd rather than a normal one even though the ratio is the same. Can anyone shed some light on this? Do some just prefer the screen to be that shape with no increase in size? What the best size (when TATE'd) to play shmups on your opinion?

Thanks

On newer consoles like the X360, PS3 and stuff, if you don't tate you don't lose anything on gameplay. I personally have no problem playing shmups on those consoles using my 42' TV which I can't tate.

In the other hand, games in older consoles (Dreamcast, Sega Saturn, PS2, etc) suffer *a lot* if you don't tate.. the ratio is *not* the same, so you either have vertical scrolling to compensate (Gunbird on Saturn), Squished graphics (Shienryu) or you just have a crammed gameplay area with enemies firing too close at you, or different level design to compensate.

If you, like me, still play games on older consoles, you will want to tate.

[LordHypnos]

my experience with letterboxed modes on Dreamcast is that the later ones that I've tried preserve everything just fine, but the earlier ones (Gunbird 2 comes to mind here) you pretty much have to tate. With GB2, you have scrolling zoomed in letterbox mode (so the screen scrolls as you move up and down) which is pretty much unplayable, and the nonscrolling zoomed in letterbox mode which is "rebalanced" and feels super cheap.

Mars Matrix, on the other hand, is vertizontal, so no problems there. Also has a lot of screen options.

[Shatterhand]

I find the first gunbird on Sega Saturn with the wooble mode incredibly playable.

Everything else I tried playing like that was awful.

[LordHypnos]

I find the first gunbird on Sega Saturn with the wooble mode incredibly playable.

Everything else I tried playing like that was awful.

I guess they must have done an unusually good job on it

A question from me, unrelated to the above:
Can anyone explain to me in idiot terms how I'm supposed to configure autofire settings in shmupmame?

[DestroyTheCore]

What makes the PS2 port of Mushihimesama so infamous on this forum (other than the low resolution)?

[Shatterhand]

Gradius or R-Type?

---------------GO!

R-Type over Gradius
Gradius 2 = R-Type 2
R-Type 3 over Gradius 3
Gradius Gaiden over R-Type Delta
Gradius V over R-Type Final.

I guess its a draw. Though Gradius V and Gradius Gaiden crush its rivals (Gradius Gaiden is godly good while R-Type Delta is pretty god. Gradius V is superb and R-Type Final... blergh), while R-Type 3 just barely beats Gradius 3. I think I could handle the victory to Gradius.

[Kollision]

What makes the PS2 port of Mushihimesama so infamous on this forum (other than the low resolution)?

unhappy people who need to get laid?

[BulletMagnet]

What makes the PS2 port of Mushihimesama so infamous on this forum (other than the low resolution)?

The resolution wasn't the problem people had with the visuals, rather the fact that they were upscaled and filtered and thus looked blurry on many displays. Other than that, the game was missing a fair deal of slowdown if memory serves, the "training" mode was quite lackluster compared to the ones found in DOJ and Galuda, and the "arrange" mode wasn't anything to get excited about either (though Cave decided to bring it back on the 360 port, with a few adjustments). It's not unplayable or anything, but especially following up the excellent ports that Arika did on the system it was somewhat disappointing.

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

I never understood the "Dead Point" bonus in Raiden Fighters 2, can anyone shed some light on this?

[nZero]

All current speculation and investigation efforts:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=22846
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=47678

[ACSeraph]

What makes the PS2 port of Mushihimesama so infamous on this forum (other than the low resolution)?

the game was missing a fair deal of slowdown if memory serves, the "training" mode was quite lackluster compared to the ones found in DOJ and Galuda, and the "arrange" mode wasn't anything to get excited about either (though Cave decided to bring it back on the 360 port, with a few adjustments).

Yeah the slowdown is probly the main issue with it. Gotta disagree on the arrange mode though, it's pretty damn good fun if you ask me. But the 360 port pretty much makes the PS2 version totally obsolete.

[LordHypnos]

I guess they must have done an unusually good job on it

A question from me, unrelated to the above:
Can anyone explain to me in idiot terms how I'm supposed to configure autofire settings in shmupmame?

Nevermind, figured it out. Also saw that autopiercing was added to Mars Matrix in Shmupmame. awesome! It's a little harder to use than in the DC port, because the A button doesn't override the B button, but I've kinda gotten used to that. I will eventually play Mars Matrix with no autopiercing, but I am not yet ready for it.

[BulletMagnet]

Gotta disagree on the arrange mode though, it's pretty damn good fun if you ask me.

It's not terrible or anything (at the very least it gives lesser players a shot at seeing the entire game, at least until True Aki purples the heck out of them), but its differences from the "normal" game don't really add up to much aside from reduced difficulty: "okay, have an autobomb, two extra options, and a weapon switch...and everything else is pretty much exactly the same!" Definitely in the running for Cave's laziest arrange mode/revision.