New Video Series SHMUP Master

[Aggro Sky]

Hello everyone. I am new to the forums. How I never discovered them sooner is beyond me as I am a huge SHMUP enthusiast!

Perhaps I should have posted this in the "I DID IT" Thread but I figured I would do it here.

I have started a new YouTube series called "SHMUP Master" where I am doing no death runs (or as you call them here, 1CC) on original hardware. No cheating, no emulation, 1 shot on the hardest difficulty. I am going to focus on mostly older SHMUPS from the 8 and 16 bit era. I am also capping my runs in 1080p 30 fps using an Elgato Capture device with a SCART to HDMI converter for the highest quality video possible from older hardware. I noticed that a lot of runs on YouTube are of subpar quality, especially when original hardware is used.

For my first episode I chose "Whip Rush" on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive from 1990. A SHMUP that I found rather difficult but then again, I'm sure there are guys here on the forums that will laugh at me for saying that . The intro to my video is a little sparse but I am planning on improving the production of my videos with each episode I release. Ending with my actual 1CC at the end of the video. I also do commentary explaining how I accomplished it (although I record it after the fact, trying to do it while recording the vid is next to impossible). I also upload my raw, original run with no commentary as well. Below you can find the link to episode 1 of my video series. Any advice or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

SHMUP Master Episode 1: Whip Rush
http://bit.ly/1fKcbwi

[Blackbird]

1 life clear, huh? I wish you luck =). I think you'll find that the added difficulty will make things insanely difficult as you progress towards more modern (and more difficult) games.

Glad to have you on the forums.

[pegboy]

Very cool! What you are doing is something I've been thinking of doing for a very long time. I use a similar setup (Framemeister + El Gato Capture) to capture videos, and all of the runs I do are on original hardware as well, no emulators or cheats or any of that nonsense. I haven't got around to doing commentaries or anything, but I've posted several videos (shameless plug, see my sig lol).

I don't really try for 1 life clears, but always go for 1 credit clears. Deaths, recoveries, and playing on the brink of a game over make the playthroughs more exciting in my opinion.

[Aggro Sky]

1 life clear, huh? I wish you luck =). I think you'll find that the added difficulty will make things insanely difficult as you progress towards more modern (and more difficult) games.

Glad to have you on the forums.

Thanks BlackBird! I am really glad I found this forum because I will no doubt need advice and tips as I progress through these games. My Whip Rush run took me nearly 2 months of practice (about half an hour a night) before I could do it. And even on my final run I feel I got really lucky in a few spots (which I talk about in my video).

But honestly, I feel this is something I can do at the least, every couple months. I am a dedicated guy when it comes to this sort of thing. I had a great time mastering Whip Rush and that game is no cake walk. And my SHMUP skills are getting better as a result so I'm hoping I'll be able to get new videos out with at least semi-regularity.

[Aggro Sky]

Very cool! What you are doing is something I've been thinking of doing for a very long time. I use a similar setup (Framemeister + El Gato Capture) to capture videos, and all of the runs I do are on original hardware as well, no emulators or cheats or any of that nonsense. I haven't got around to doing commentaries or anything, but I've posted several videos (shameless plug, see my sig lol).

I don't really try for 1 life clears, but always go for 1 credit clears. Deaths, recoveries, and playing on the brink of a game over make the playthroughs more exciting in my opinion.

Very cool man. I can respect what you are going for. But I feel I need to go for broke and try and get as close to perfect runs as I can. Especially games like Whip Rush where not many people have done it. Glad to see you are doing something similar

[ptoing]

Just watched the video and found it enjoyable, keep doing it. Good fun.
One thing I noticed is that your capturing hardware, or whatever it may be, applies a kind of sai2x filter to everything that moves. My monitor does this as well if I use it's non-digital inputs. This is a nitpick though, nothing that takes away a lot, plus I am an artist who likes to see his pixels unharmed.

Never heard of the game and gave it a whirl. It does not seem like a super hard game to me, more like a game where you really need to know what is coming and it also gets a lot more difficult if you lose your weapons, with certain enemies becoming impossible to kill with the peashooter and no drones. Still certainly a good effort 1LCing it.

[LordHypnos]

I watched the video, and it was pretty fun. I'll probably check out your future videos. Whip Rush has some pretty sweet music. Then again, that was kinda the bare minimum requirement for shooters back in the 16 bit days
Also liked the like 20 extra lives by the end. That's always cool

I can't speak to the difficulty of Whip Rush, but if you ever want to really challenge yourself, check out Hellfire for the MD. Probably not too expensive, and has pretty fun gameplay, but incredibly high difficulty. It is clearable though. I reckon it's one of the hardest Genesis shmups. I should note: I sure as hell couldn't clear it.

[Aggro Sky]

Just watched the video and found it enjoyable, keep doing it. Good fun.
One thing I noticed is that your capturing hardware, or whatever it may be, applies a kind of sai2x filter to everything that moves. My monitor does this as well if I use it's non-digital inputs. This is a nitpick though, nothing that takes away a lot, plus I am an artist who likes to see his pixels unharmed.

Never heard of the game and gave it a whirl. It does not seem like a super hard game to me, more like a game where you really need to know what is coming and it also gets a lot more difficult if you lose your weapons, with certain enemies becoming impossible to kill with the peashooter and no drones. Still certainly a good effort 1LCing it.

Thanks for watching! And yes, you are correct about the pixels getting slightly blurred. It wasn't intentional on my part. The reason is because I am using an upscaler. I use a SCART from my Gens to an HDMI adapter which upscales it to 1080p on my LCD TV. Sadly, I don't have a tube TV anymore and probably never will again. For me I figure I am bringing these games into the future. I know it bugs some people but I can live with the picture quality which I think is top notch and crystal clear for being original hardware. That was one of my goals with this anyway. To get the kind of picture from original hardware that you never could from a tube TV.

And Whip Rush really is about memorization and mazes. More so than even dodging bullets lol. Your right, that boss on stage 4 is just about impossible if you lose your power ups. I dunno, to me the game was really hard at first, but once I got good there were only certain parts that gave me trouble really. Stage 4 being the major one.

Anyway, I appreciate the advice and the feedback!

[Aggro Sky]

I watched the video, and it was pretty fun. I'll probably check out your future videos. Whip Rush has some pretty sweet music. Then again, that was kinda the bare minimum requirement for shooters back in the 16 bit days
Also liked the like 20 extra lives by the end. That's always cool

I can't speak to the difficulty of Whip Rush, but if you ever want to really challenge yourself, check out Hellfire for the MD. Probably not too expensive, and has pretty fun gameplay, but incredibly high difficulty. It is clearable though. I reckon it's one of the hardest Genesis shmups. I should note: I sure as hell couldn't clear it.

I appreciate the feedback! I have heard of HellFire and have always wanted to try it. Looks like a loose cart goes for around $15 on eBay. Not too bad for a shmup. I will give it a try at some point

[chempop]

I'm looking forward to these vids, and welcome to the forum!

I own Whip Rush, but never got the hang of it. I'm sure to learn some strats from your 1CC.

[Aggro Sky]

I'm looking forward to these vids, and welcome to the forum!

I own Whip Rush, but never got the hang of it. I'm sure to learn some strats from your 1CC.

Thanks so much! I appreciate the feedback!

[DrMattBuckets]

Subscribed!
Looking forward to watching.

[theMot]

Hey hey,

I noticed you are going to have a go at Darius Twin on Snes. I have been playing that a bit lately. I find it extremely boring to be honest, the game is very easy up until the last level when they throw every mid boss at you! It's not so much the last level difficulty that bothers me, just the boring levels before it.

[Aggro Sky]

Subscribed!
Looking forward to watching.

Thanks! And from your Avatar I noticed you like Life Force (or I guess Salamander). My brother and I are practicing what I believe will be the first ever 2 player no death run of that game. (at least there isn't anyone on YouTube who has done it). It won't be done for a while due to us BOTH having to practice at the same time, but it will happen at some point

[Aggro Sky]

Hey hey,

I noticed you are going to have a go at Darius Twin on Snes. I have been playing that a bit lately. I find it extremely boring to be honest, the game is very easy up until the last level when they throw every mid boss at you! It's not so much the last level difficulty that bothers me, just the boring levels before it.

Yeah Darius Twin isn't the greatest shooter ever, but I have an affinity for it. I think it's nostalgia though because I owned it way back in the day.

[Lord Satori]

Is that Forgotten Worlds? Good luck 1CCing that one.

[President_Obama]

Subbed. I hate games (shmups) with speed control options.

[LordHypnos]

Subbed. I hate games (shmups) with speed control options.

I kinda do too. Especially if you have to use them. Damn Recca

[mastermx]

Love the commentary. Looking forward to moar

[DEL]

Looks good.

[Fudoh]

Could you tell us which Scart to HDMI converter you're using ? Possibly with a link to the product ? There are so many and it's always good to know which ones work find with capture boxes like the Elgato.

[pegboy]

How do you get the 1440p video quality in youtube if it's upscaled and captured at 1080p? I'd also like to know which upscaler you are using. Also, how are you doing the voice overs for the commentaries? It's not live right? Is there some software you use for that?

Thanks again!

[broken harbour]

I quite enjoyed that, thank you. Tho I'd personally invest in a little bit better microphone personally, just so it's less scratchy on the ears.

[Aggro Sky]

Subbed. I hate games (shmups) with speed control options.

Thanks! I actually really like speed control options I think it adds a bit of strategy...

[Aggro Sky]

Love the commentary. Looking forward to moar

Thanks! I appreciate it! I am hard at work on my next video....

[Aggro Sky]

Could you tell us which Scart to HDMI converter you're using ? Possibly with a link to the product ? There are so many and it's always good to know which ones work find with capture boxes like the Elgato.

Gladly! here is the link to the one I have: http://www.amazon.com/HDV-8S-Scart-HDMI ... +converter

And here is a link to the guy who turned me onto it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS55pmLIEjA

[Aggro Sky]

How do you get the 1440p video quality in youtube if it's upscaled and captured at 1080p? I'd also like to know which upscaler you are using. Also, how are you doing the voice overs for the commentaries? It's not live right? Is there some software you use for that?

Thanks again!

Ok, I'll do my best to answer these one at a time:

1) First, as I mentioned, I use the Elgato to capture the run using a SCART to HDMI adapter that I referenced in an earlier post. If you scroll up you should see it (this also acts as the upscaler). The Elgato has editing software of it's own but it is very limited in what you can do. I only use it to output my video into MP4 format and capture screen shots if need be. Then I import the video into a real editor.

2) Which brings us to the editor I use. I'm pretty sure the 1440p comes from the video editing software I use to process the video. I used PowerDirector 12 to create my first episode. When I put everything together (audio, intro and run of the game) and repossessed it in PowerDirector, it came out in 1440p. I used the highest bitrate it would allow which is 48500. The video came out at over 7 gigs so it was huge. But I was going for really high quality so I didn't mind.

3) My voice over was not live! lol. That would have been impossible... It was done using PowerDirector 12. You can play the video and just record an audio track right along with it. It's REALLY nice software. Costs about $70 but totally worth it. I'd recommend it even over Adobe Premiere. It's a bit more complex but there is a lot more you can do.

Here is a link to the PowerDirector page: http://www.cyberlink.com/products/power ... Ogod2UoA1A

Hope that answered all your questions and thanks for watching!

[Aggro Sky]

I quite enjoyed that, thank you. Tho I'd personally invest in a little bit better microphone personally, just so it's less scratchy on the ears.

I agree, it is on the list

[pegboy]

Hope that answered all your questions and thanks for watching!

Thanks for answering my questions, I subbed to your channel too!

I've never heard of Whip Rush before so I'm glad you are tackling some of the more obscure games that don't get as much attention. Looking forward to the next video.

[Aggro Sky]

Hope that answered all your questions and thanks for watching!

Thanks for answering my questions, I subbed to your channel too!

I've never heard of Whip Rush before so I'm glad you are tackling some of the more obscure games that don't get as much attention. Looking forward to the next video.

Thanks! Although the next game is a bit more well known....