Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[Stevens]

Snip.

I fucking love this game

In other news, I checked my money, and am only about 60 pink-digit-scores away from the background graphics

You feeling better?

Was out of town over the weekend (Pinball Wizard arcade in New Hampshire), but I'm looking forward to playing MM after work today. Even though I haven't gotten the clear yet I am already thinking about elite mode...

[S_Fang]

Yesterday, I played "Mushihimesama Futari Black Label" on the MAME, and it was very fun and thrilling, despite being on Original Mode and an "easier" (I prefer fair and not obnoxious) version of Futari.
I manage to finish the first level with Reco and Palm in no miss, only to credit feeding from Level 3, but most of the deaths were caused by my distraction and lack of pratical knowledge (I watched videos earlier). Also, I really loved playing the game with Palm: I love that adorable cutie, he hits like a freight train at top speed when fully upgraded.

I have to try God Mode, some day.

[pokemon123]

I think sh3 games don't emulate slowdown on cave games making it much harder to play on mame. Probably just going to get it for xbox later.

Been playing armed police batrider. Sadly couldn't get garegga or bakraid to work. apb is incredibly fun and I love destroying cars in manhattan for some reason.

[Shepardus]

I think sh3 games don't emulate slowdown on cave games making it much harder to play on mame. Probably just going to get it for xbox later.

Yup, that's correct. You can experiment with the provided "blitter delay" value in the options, but even that leaves much to be desired in terms of accuracy. I don't bother with it at all since my computer slows down enough on its own without having to simulate slowdown. Sure, it's not accurate at all but at least it's playable. Futari's Stage 3 boss, however, was quite a pain since I think it slows down a lot less on my computer than it's supposed to, making it feel much harder than anything in Stage 4.

[Bananamatic]

it also has huge input lag
don't even bother, just buy the port which is like $30 now

[S_Fang]

When CAVE will decide to port the Mushihimesama's Series on the damn PC or Android already!? Lucky guys with iOS and X360 can pull the bargain, whenever the people with MAME has to wait for a better version to emulate those properly.
Well, better being content of what I can get.

[pegboy]

Working on Super Nova (aka Darius Force) for the SNES. I think it's a much better game than Darius Twin, a lot more variety in the stages, way more cool bosses, and different ships/weapons. Great game.

[LordHypnos]

Got Life Force, recently, on 3DS, and it's really enjoyable, overall, but after like an hour of trying not to make any stupid mistakes that power you down in the first stage only to make one in the second stage, you get a little tired of the Gradius Syndrome. Also the walls are sometimes obnoxious.

Played a bit of Mars Matrix, too, today, and managed to get a +808 chain on stage 1 once (in score attack mode) . Also had a 2cc run where all my deaths were in the 2nd and 5th stages, which is a pretty good sign, but I can't quite scrape together the consistency needed to pull off the 1cc.

Finally got to try Eschatos the other day (which I have, now) on a friend's 360, and it was really fun even though I only made it as far as area 10 on normal mode. Gonna get my own Xbox 360 one of these days...

You feeling better?

This is from a while ago, but yes. At the time that I posted that I was feeling quite a bit better, and still am. Thanks!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Finally got to try Eschatos the other day (which I have, now) on a friend's 360, and it was really fun even though I only made it as far as area 10 on normal mode.

Eschatos is fun, but the real meat of the game is in Judgement Silversword and Cardinal Sins, IMO.

[MJR]

Pulstar on Neo Geo MVS. I tried it with Mame on keyboard years ago, and deemed the difficulty too offputting.
Now trying it on my cab with a proper joystick, and it's just pure enjoyment - the difficulty seems just right!

[Stevens]

Still working on Mars Matrix.

Getting passed the 4th stage with more regularity although I have only reached 6 that one time. Edit - Made it to 6 again.

Getting very comfortable with stage 4 and beating the boss by his 3rd phase which is great cause it used to take me much longer. Field of death isn't even remotely as hard as I used to find it and I'm almost comfortable the all the train car patterns. Meaning I can see the openings, but it isn't 100% in actual practice just yet Granted I'm not playing for score, which definitely helps a lot.

I did manage to reach the "whirling disk of death" on stage 6 - Got here on 2 credits today. And then it murderered me. It was so bad I had to add an extra er.

I finally picked up Raiden IV. I should have bought it a long time ago.

I changed the difficulty back to arcade and played a few credits. Not sure if I prefer laser with homing or spread with rockets. I don't even know if there is a difference, but bigger enemies seem to die faster with the laser. Reached 1-3 a couple of times.

I can already tell I will probably spend a lot of time with it. I can see why you guys are excited about the possibility of a new one.

[null1024]

Resogun [Vita].

it's not terribly pretty on the Vita
But it's still a fun game. I think it might still be on sale right now [for $3]?

[Biggu Bossu]

I've dived back into Garegga recently. I'm fiddling with the dip switches to... uhh... practice better...
But seriously, I'm enjoying the game much more right now. It's set to 5 lives, extend at every 20k, and no continues, which allowed me to get better at it. I recently defeated Black Heart and all three preceding bosses without dying, which feels awesome. Black Heart is my favorite boss fight right now. I'll try to reach and defeat it with default settings next.

I've come to appreciate the real bullet version of Garegga more. Round, shiny bullets are more visible but they don't imply direction, which makes it more difficult to determine where they're gonna go. Also I actually love how the real bullets look. They feel like they belong right in Garegga's world. Also I noticed that the real bullet version has more pronounced explosions, with a lot more debris flying around. As an explosion aficionado, I have to prefer that version, which, while a little more difficult and hard to read, feels more fun.

Usually I try to control rank by avoiding as much powerups as possible, except for medals, bomb fragments, big main shots. I get the homing options at the beginning, which bumps the rank up considerably but allows me to stay alive far longer. Once I reach the flying platforms at the cloud stage, however, I say screw this and pick up everything.

[dex]

rfj making my forearm muscles tense up

[Zeomare]

for me its Resogun for the PS4 and Vita and Super Stardust HD and Caladrius Blaze for the PS3 I am having a lot of fun on all of them. i picked up the two PSN games as part of the Flash sale for $3.00 each worth every penny

[CloudyMusic]

Taking a short break from this weekend's Futari practice with some Ketsui savestate practice in MAME. Once I got all of my savestates set up properly, it's crazy how fun it became; I can practice all of the stuff I need to work on, with no downtime or repeated slogs through easy parts at all. Even though I own the console port, I'll probably only ever practice in MAME from now on. Consider me fully converted to the church of Prometheus.

[Anesthetize]

I'm playing too many shmups right now to really make much improvement on any of them. Among them are: Raiden Fighters Jet, Shikigami 2 (and 3), SDOJ, Giga Wing 2, Gradius Rebirth, Battle Bakraid, and EspGaluda.

So, in the interest of giving myself a little bit of focus, I have an idea. Would someone be so kind as to issue me a challenge? Preferably something reasonable for a player of my (lack of) skill level. To give some context, my only 1CCs are Futari BL Orig, Deathsmiles 1 & 2, Batrider normal, and Crimzon Clover original (doujin). So something along the lines of clearing a game --one of the above or something else I could get access to easily (NA PS2, 360, Wii, and PC with MAME) -- or obtaining a certain score in a game.

I don't know, just an idea. Anyone feel like playing along?

Edit: Another game I've wanted to play more of lately is Sengoku Blade. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like one of the more approachable Psikyo shooters.

[Shepardus]

So, in the interest of giving myself a little bit of focus, I have an idea. Would someone be so kind as to issue me a challenge?

Howabout clearing Batrider Advanced Course, seeing as you've already cleared the Normal course? Use any team you want, I've heard that solo Shorty-C makes for relatively easy survival runs. I myself have gotten up to Grubby with her.

[ACSeraph]

Try Darius Gaiden Auto-on ABDHLQV

It's awesome and not difficult, while also not being condescendingly easy either. I beat it auto-off on Saturn without any save states in about 2 weeks of a couple credits per day.

[Cata]

Just picked up Caladrius Blaze from a booth at MAGFest this past weekend. Really excited to finally get to play this game when I get off work

[ACSeraph]

Caladrius Blaze

Don't forget to check out the guide

[dannnnn]

So, in the interest of giving myself a little bit of focus, I have an idea. Would someone be so kind as to issue me a challenge? Preferably something reasonable for a player of my (lack of) skill level. To give some context, my only 1CCs are Futari BL Orig, Deathsmiles 1 & 2, Batrider normal, and Crimzon Clover original (doujin). So something along the lines of clearing a game --one of the above or something else I could get access to easily (NA PS2, 360, Wii, and PC with MAME) -- or obtaining a certain score in a game.

Go for a 6b score in SDOJ Shot, that would get you in the top ten on here at least. Here's a good replay to help.

[Anesthetize]

Thanks for the suggestions so far everybody!

Howabout clearing Batrider Advanced Course, seeing as you've already cleared the Normal course? Use any team you want, I've heard that solo Shorty-C makes for relatively easy survival runs. I myself have gotten up to Grubby with her.

Whew, it's been several years since I've played Batrider, so I'd basically be starting from scratch. Would be a good reason to pick the game up again though, because I definitely remember liking it a lot. How much harder is the Advance Course compared to Normal? Is the overall difficulty harder, or just extra stages?

Try Darius Gaiden Auto-on ABDHLQV

It's awesome and not difficult, while also not being condescendingly easy either. I beat it auto-off on Saturn without any save states in about 2 weeks of a couple credits per day.

Funny that you suggest Darius Gaiden, as the Taito Legends 2 for PS2 arrived at my door just this afternoon! Will definitely be popping it in this week.

Go for a 6b score in SDOJ Shot, that would get you in the top ten on here at least. Here's a good replay to help.

I think this one might have to be more of a long term goal, as I haven't come close to even 1CCing SDOJ yet. Granted, I haven't actually devoted serious practice to it yet, so it might be more obtainable than I think once I get a little more into the game.

Keep 'em coming! I'll pick one of the suggestions in the next day or two and really go for it.

Edit: I can move this to another thread if that would be more appropriate, so I don't clog this one.

[Shepardus]

Thanks for the suggestions so far everybody!

Howabout clearing Batrider Advanced Course, seeing as you've already cleared the Normal course? Use any team you want, I've heard that solo Shorty-C makes for relatively easy survival runs. I myself have gotten up to Grubby with her.

Whew, it's been several years since I've played Batrider, so I'd basically be starting from scratch. Would be a good reason to pick the game up again though, because I definitely remember liking it a lot. How much harder is the Advance Course compared to Normal? Is the overall difficulty harder, or just extra stages?

The rank starts a bit higher than in Normal (as in a bit more difficult), but not by much. Other than that the only difference is the extra stages.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Barrage Tribe, just 1CC'd normal. It's a fun doujin that uses a graze system as its primary scoring mechanic. You graze ("Scratch") shots to build a meter, then you spend the meter to cancel bullets with a bomb attack. The gimmick is that you can bomb multiple times in a row if you want, with the score you receive for that meter being increased massively if you bomb three times in a row, but every time you bomb, the meter requires a lot more graze to recharge.

Basically, bombing once during bosses is handy for survival and quick recharging, bombing three times is best for score but puts you in a dangerously long recharge time.

The problem is that unlike a game like Giga Wing whose Reflect Force recharges at a fixed rate over time, the mechanic in Barrage Tribe doesn't mesh well with the controls. You have to get dangerously close to dense bullet fire to recharge your Scratch meter, but there's no slowdown/Laser button, and your ship has a fairly fast default movement speed. There's also no emergency backup bombs in case you get caught by a boss attack with an empty meter (the yellow hitbox in the middle of the ship is fairly small though). You also have to play much riskier with the meter, using triple bombs to get the most out of your score, which leaves huge windows between Scratch charges.

Not quite perfect, would have benefitted a lot from a slowdown button to control your ship speed more precisely, but still quite fun. There's a total of 4 extends as far as I can tell (2 score, 2 stage).

[Cata]

Caladrius Blaze

Don't forget to check out the guide

Will do! Right now I'm really hittin hard on trying to 1cc Mushihimesama Original on Original Mode so I probably won't take this game as seriously right off that bat but it will be great knowing the mechanics of the game going in. How brutal is a 1cc in it? I'd like to know because if its fairly easy I may end up going for that next

[ACSeraph]

Depends entirely on what character and weapon Set you use. With some of the default Characters (no custom weapons) like Alex it's pretty brutal, but the game is really easy if you use one of the two op shields that are available. My recommendation is that you don't go straight for the easy route with the shields (particularly try to not use Sophia's) or I don't think you will get much out of the game.

[ProjectAKo]

Working on Super Nova (aka Darius Force) for the SNES. I think it's a much better game than Darius Twin, a lot more variety in the stages, way more cool bosses, and different ships/weapons. Great game.

Hell yeah I loved that game. Megalopros is the coolest final boss.

[dspoonrt]

I've been starting to spend more time with Ikaruga for GameCube, making some decent progress.

[trap15]

Playing Gun Frontier again. Been working on this the past few weeks, now I'm able to get to Stage 5 fairly consistently. Stage 5's a massive hurdle though, it'll probably be a while before I can clear it. Exciting though, I really like this game and want to finally clear it so I can move on to no-miss. I'll start seriously trying for score sooner or later, but only on no-miss; checkpoint milking feels super dirty.