Public Service Announcement: How to enjoy Viper Phase 1

[Ruldra]

When it comes to Viper Phase 1, I often see this kind of comment about it:

Viper Phase 1's 100%-goal sucks all the fun out of the game!

This game seems to have an ill-reputation around here solely because of that. This is something I'd like to address.

First, let's see how the usual shmups forum member plays VP1:

Completes the first stage...99%? Crap. RESET
Completes the first stage...98%? Fuck. RESET
Gets careless and is hit by a stray bullet. Shit! RESET
Watch a small enemy ship fly away...Goddamit! RESET
Yeah, I think I got them all...99%!? Argh! RESET

--20 resets later--

YES! 100% on stage 1! Now it's on!

--Watch in despair as he dies with a full bomb stock on stage 2--

Finally, his credit ends either on the stage 2 boss or somewhere on stage 3. Yeah, after that, he won't have nice things to say about the game.

Here's something that people might not realize: Viper Phase 1 is pretty tough to survive. The ship is slow and the hitbox is huge. There are no score extends or 1UPs. So you really need to know your way around before you even begin to think about scoring. Plenty of people try to play for score right off the bat, but here it'll lead only to frustration.

And when you decide to ignore that annoying destruction percentage and play for survival, you'll actually find yourself enjoying the game a lot more.

By the time you can reliably make it to the final stages, you'll have enough experience to nail those 100%s far more often than before. And even if you don't, even if you get 99%s all over the place, your score will still be much higher than the typical run mentioned above.

So, in short, walk before you run. Play for survival first, get good at it, then play for score. You'll find yourself much less frustrated.

Thanks for reading.

[ACSeraph]

^Good advice for shmups in general actually, not just VP1

[EmperorIng]

I stand by my statement, which is why I said that aforesaid fun-sucking exclusively rests within its score system (this after all implies that there is fun to be sucked out of the game). It's decent shootin' otherwise.

[Jeneki]

I've got a working route for stage 1, and get 100% over half the time now.

I would agree though, that survival to at least stage 5 is more important. There are just an absurd amount of medals and bonuses throughout stage 4.

[Kollision]

The problem isn't so much playing the game with that mindset from the get-go.
It's actually forcing the player to play the game under pressure, as in the 1-week span of an STGT.

This totally forces many people to inadvertently follow the routine Ruldra described, and in consequence a great number of people end up hating the game afterwards...

[Dave_K.]

This is why I prefer the original version over the NV. Original version is much harder / survival based, you will no longer be focusing on 100% as they are not possible with the limited fire options.

[Erppo]

The broader issue is why people obsess over things like that when they can't even clear the game yet. It's not limited to only this game. Getting further is just as much "playing for score" as trying to optimize the first stages, and usually it's even a lot better way of doing it.

Especially in something like a tournament where you want results quickly the described approach is a horrible idea.

[Despatche]

the described approach isn't a terrible idea. you get like no points just for trying to survival it through the game; may as well figure a few stages out. the real problem is all the cognitive dissonance in peoples' heads that makes them do things like trying to ace a tournament while hating the concept of "scoring" as well as the concept of "getting better".

the fear of 100% is a joke in comparison to all the other crap you have to do on top of it, and when you notice that it really just comes down to stage 1.

This is why I prefer the original version over the NV. Original version is much harder / survival based, you will no longer be focusing on 100% as they are not possible with the limited fire options.

which means the scoring was broken. as an aside, psikyo did that much better.