Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Just got this while running Mission 3 on practice. Gem counter can be ignored as for practice purposes, I only bought Fortuners and Rooty, the only 2 doll types I plan to use for that stage. The bombs used were 1 on the midboss and 1 during the boss in order to switch to Rooty.




That score is from only Mission 3 with pretty much a great boss milk. Points gained would be higher in an actual run as you have to build gem value in practice. Now I need to actually not screw up the earlier stages(which is easy enough), then not screw up the Mission 3 boss or later stuff. And now I've got yet another stage to reset a full run on if I ever die accidentally. I should have at least 100 million after Mission 2 in a run, so 500 millions going into Mission 4 would be a good goal, then hopefully not die too much on Mission 4 then not screw up too badly on Mission 5, and should be an easy 800+ million.

[Meseki]

Different Solo Voyage clears work for unlocking dolls in Hitogata Happa; I just unlocked Lovers and Fortuner that way.
I can see how Fortuner is great for stages now (though less so for bosses); hitting in front and behind simultaneously is pretty useful with auto-collect, especially since she has forward range unlike Peco. The wheel is pretty useful on Mission 3 as well.
And Lovers is really useful for Mission 4: she can quickly destroy the first two bosses, somewhat quickly get rid of the cubes to milk the third boss (a bit slower than Peco can, I think, but with less worry of hitting other cubes unintentionally), reasonably destroy both of the parts of the wings on the fourth boss (along with her Mana Action of slowing time being helpful for surviving some patterns), and can get tick points off of the flames of the thrusters of the fifth boss (along with destroying things quickly). Her power also means I won't have to sacrifice as many Clovers to deal damage.
Both are expensive though, so I have to be careful of how many I get.

Does the Mission 3 boss have a really long (or no) hard-coded time limit? I know I'm not being fully optimal yet (I'm still hitting the boss some while milking it), but my best in Practice is 55 million, so going really far past the boss timer is the only way I can imagine getting that much score.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Once you hit error mode, the boss health pretty much drains a bit over time until the boss actually times out. The only way to extend the milk would be to minimize damage done to the boss, but I can't seem to keep enough mana going to Rooty without at least destroying the stuff on the sides. I tried it as well on Nobilmente since I have the stage unlocked in practice and still had to destroy stuff. Maybe there's enough going on there in Allemande(probably misspelled that) to not have to destroy the parts on the side first, and definitely on Doomsday you don't have to(got the idea of milking that from a Doomsday vid).

As for the timeout stuff(on Euridice at least since I haven't tried them out on higher modes)

Mission 1's boss timeout is dodgeable, but doesn't seem worth the risk.

Mission 2's timeout spawns stuff close to you that will probably kill you, plus it's not a milkable phase. Mission 2 boss does have a trick that you can do with Fortuner. On the first phase, destroy the left shell and cannon then the right shell and cannon. after that, circle around the boss a few times and use Fortuner's attack(the part that hits behind her) to destroy the other cannon. This will provoke the boss to shoot a huge wall at you. Go back to the bottom and let the wall get close to hitting you, then use Fortuner's mana action to cancel a path through it. Get close to the remaining enemy in the phase, wait until it starts the next wall, then quickly bomb it for a huge bullet cancel into gems.


Mission 3's timeout is completely undodgeable, so the only way to survive it is to have Rooty doing her mana action while her options destroy stuff for gems to get enough mana to stay in the mana action. The Rooty milk requires your options to be pointed left and right so that you don't damage the boss. I haven't been able to manage that good a Mission 3 in a full run yet as I still tend to die on the boss.

Mission 4 also isn't worth dragging out the timer for, so only Mission 3 is profitable to timeout. If you're going to drag out Mission 4 at any point, make it at the one that's similar to Black Heart using Platina to milk the grenades from the sides. I don't plan to drag out mission 4 like that because it's too easy to die to that thing and it might not spam grenades.

[Ikazu-san]

Now learning to play Garrega with fiddly touch controls (tm). Also getting homing options.

We rank now.

[LordHypnos]

I currently feel like someone who did not sleep well and played Mars Matrix for 5 hours even though he knows he should have walked away three hours ago.

And other than discovering I can get equally as far with either ship today was a total bust.

I feel dejected, probably because I could have done other things with that time, but I know the truth is some time off is what I need.

At least till sometime tomorrow:D

I pretty much know the exact feeling. minus the part about finding out that I can make it as far with the red ship as the blue ship, that one never happened to me

[Kaleb Parham]

I'm switching between R-Type 3 on emulator and my game, well, if that counts lol.

[Stevens]

I pretty much know the exact feeling. minus the part about finding out that I can make it as far with the red ship as the blue ship, that one never happened to me

Scoring is much harder with mosquito one, but I definitely wondered if getting the clear would be easier.

I spent an hour last night practicing stage 6. I did manage a few no miss runs to the boss which is encouraging, but most of the time I had a miss on average. I'm getting better at the first form, no missed that part a few times. Second form isn't bad at all, but the rose will take me a bit more. I know what to do, but I have to put it into practice. The last form is easy.

I'm picking up Fast Striker on Friday. After MM I'm going to split time between that and Raiden IV.

[Jonst]

^ fast striker is really fun! Good choice man. Shouldn't be too hard to clear after mm. I've come close a number of times, always die to the final form of the final boss. Have to get that one out if the way once and for all at some point.

[LordHypnos]

I pretty much know the exact feeling. minus the part about finding out that I can make it as far with the red ship as the blue ship, that one never happened to me

Scoring is much harder with mosquito one, but I definitely wondered if getting the clear would be easier.

I spent an hour last night practicing stage 6. I did manage a few no miss runs to the boss which is encouraging, but most of the time I had a miss on average. I'm getting better at the first form, no missed that part a few times. Second form isn't bad at all, but the rose will take me a bit more. I know what to do, but I have to put it into practice. The last form is easy.

The big problem for me is that I can't get the red ship's shot powered up high enough fast enough, which is to do with chaining being more difficult, of course. Maybe I ought to try it again though. If I could even get powered up to like level 5, it might be enough. I think a fully powered red ship is by far the best though. I believe it's as powerful as the blue ship, then, but covers much larger range. The slow movement speed helps with micrododging, as well.

If you care to give me details on where you're having problems, I might be able to give you a play by play of how I usually get past that part. I have pretty good consistency on the sixth stage, in general, though the rose is real freakin' hard the way that I do it, and I don't think there's an easier way on the Dreamcast version. I think I've gotten better, but back when I first cleared I was still only no missing the rose like 30% of the time (maybe even less!).

I'm picking up Fast Striker on Friday. After MM I'm going to split time between that and Raiden IV.

^ fast striker is really fun! Good choice man. Shouldn't be too hard to clear after mm. I've come close a number of times, always die to the final form of the final boss. Have to get that one out if the way once and for all at some point.

Yeah, I quite like Fast Striker, as well. I really ought to get back to it. I definitely made it to the final boss a few times.

[Jonst]

Yeah man, it's a great game... I got so sick of getting to the final boss and not clearing time after time, I just gave up with it. Having said that, I think i stopped and played and cleared espgaluda instead, which would have been 2 years ago! (Time flies). Must go back to it, I'm sure I could do it now.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Whip Rush on Genesis.

[Stevens]

The big problem for me is that I can't get the red ship's shot powered up high enough fast enough, which is to do with chaining being more difficult, of course. Maybe I ought to try it again though. If I could even get powered up to like level 5, it might be enough. I think a fully powered red ship is by far the best though. I believe it's as powerful as the blue ship, then, but covers much larger range. The slow movement speed helps with micrododging, as well.

The whole switching to the red ship happened pretty organically. I had gotten so frustrated a few days ago I figured "pick the red ship, no expectations" and as it turned out my routes worked for the red ship as well and I was hitting level 7 on stage 4.

I played more yesterday morning both on stage 6 and full runs. I hit level 7 by the fountain a few times with the red ship, although more often I get it on level 4. My 2nd and third highest scores are now over 500 million with the red ship.

I reached stage 6 with THREE ships in reserve on one run (naturally I shit the bed:), and two in reserve once or twice. In practicing though I had a few no miss runs on stage 6, a few no miss on the boss till the rose. So I know I can do it I just have to do it all in the same run. I did manage a 2 CC quite accidentally:D

Certain things are easier with mosquito 1 as you can still deal damage while being further out of harms way. Boss 4's whip attack for instance.

If you care to give me details on where you're having problems, I might be able to give you a play by play of how I usually get past that part. I have pretty good consistency on the sixth stage, in general, though the rose is real freakin' hard the way that I do it, and I don't think there's an easier way on the Dreamcast version. I think I've gotten better, but back when I first cleared I was still only no missing the rose like 30% of the time (maybe even less!).

You've already helped a shit ton with your strat on the 1st form of the last boss.

As far as the rose I have been trying it you're way as it seems to make the most sense. I tried some quick shield stuff in practice but that idea was quickly shelved.
I am either going to have to get better at the pattern or get there with 2 ships in reserve. I get there with 2 ships in reserve and I am pretty confident I can clear it.

After the shit storm that was Monday it has been a better week.

^ fast striker is really fun! Good choice man. Shouldn't be too hard to clear after mm. I've come close a number of times, always die to the final form of the final boss. Have to get that one out if the way once and for all at some point.

Yeah, I quite like Fast Striker, as well. I really ought to get back to it. I definitely made it to the final boss a few times.[/quote]

I am looking forward to it as my reward for clearing MM. LH used to try and sell me on it when we had a shmup thread on CGR forums:D

[Jonst]

Yeah man, fast striker is solid. Haha! I'm doing that now, treating myself to something if I clear a game!

...I have to admit, I do have a thing for dc euro shmups.

[LordHypnos]

...I have to admit, I do have a thing for dc euro shmups.

Well, it's, at least, less euroey than Sturmwind and less poorly programmed than Neo XYX. Also the core concept of "bullet hell game but with elemental master style bidirectional firing, and bullet soaking shields instead of bombs" is kind of cool. Not to mention the fact that it has pretty cool environmental hazards or whatever (I especially like the laser things in stage 3), but you only lose all of your shields instead of actually dying when you touch things that aren't bullets (unless you're out of shields). Also good music, but very euroey. Also, I do like Sturmwind, in spite of the euroiness.

Yeah, I started trying to warm up to Fast Striker again, since you guys were mentioning it. Am I ready for a game with no practice mode??? Even though it's a fairly easy one. Well, for the time being, I think it'll be a while til I'm back to where I was in terms of skills. I think I did remember how to get 100% of bonuses in stage 1 again, at least.

Other things I've been playing recently: Hydorah (Locamalito) and Vulgus (Capcom). What do people think of locamalito games, btw? I've been enjoying all 3 of the ones I tried.

[Jonst]

I also really enjoyed sturmwind and dux 1.5 for that matter. Despite the criticisms levelled against them, I certainly enjoyed having little to no stress playing them!

[Shepardus]

Other things I've been playing recently: Hydorah (Locamalito) and Vulgus (Capcom). What do people think of locamalito games, btw? I've been enjoying all 3 of the ones I tried.

They're pretty good, you can feel the love he puts into his games. Hydorah's probably the most polished of them, which is to be expected considering he spent much longer on that game than the others.

Decided a day or two ago to try playing Kamui, and now I regret that I didn't play it earlier, because it is really damn good, probably one of my favorites. Everything about it feels just right, and there's a nice rhythm to the attacks and a brisk pace that kind of reminds me of Cho Ren Sha 68k. It takes a lot of the cool parts of Rayforce without the awkwardly slow movement speed and weak firepower that frustrates me every time I try to play Rayforce. I've also got a soft spot for giant lightning cannons, and Kamui does that really well too, making it powerful but balanced.

Also still trying to get that 1cc in Batrider, though I haven't had a whole lot of time to practice in the past week. I've just started experimenting with switching my stage order to put Sewer System before Sky High, not to get Sobut instead of Blunt (I'm actually more consistent at Blunt) but so I can use some of the bomb fragments from Sewer System in Sky High, which I've given up on doing consistently without bombs, instead of letting them collect and ending up with maximum bombs going into Airport and/or Highway. So far it seems to be working well as long as I can actually press the bomb button in time, though I definitely need more practice with Sobut (and Grubby and Discharge, for that matter).

[Squire Grooktook]

It takes a lot of the cool parts of Rayforce without the awkwardly slow movement speed and weak firepower that frustrates me every time I try to play Rayforce.

Pretty sure the move speed in Kamui is actually slower than in Rayforce. Same goes for the default fire power, though Kamui lets you boost it with with the Beam katana, whereas in Rayforce there's a lot more emphasis on getting up close for the homing laser.

Rayforce ship is actually pretty fast. I think people just get the illusion of it being slower due to the way the screen scrolls left and right. Try moving around in any place where screen movement is locked (say, after beating the stage 2 boss) and it'll seem a lot faster.

Kamui is great though.

[Shepardus]

You're probably right about that, I admit I really suck at RayForce so part of it is me just needing to get better at the game. I keep missing powerups and dying which makes my shot a lot weaker than it should be; when I actually do decently it feels better, though the lack of any spread still trips me up. Also like you said Kamui's beam katana lets you feel powerful in regulated doses even though the basic shot is actually pretty low-power (and it's just so satisfying).

I haven't compared the movement speeds but now that I think about it you really don't move that fast in Kamui, it's just the game has a faster overall pace than RayForce, at least in the first few stages of both, with the rate at which it sends enemies and how you don't have to individually target enemies with the lock-on lasers, which makes it easier for me to enjoy Kamui. That said, RayForce is a game I really want to like, so I'm probably going to keep practicing it from time to time until it doesn't feel awkward to me.

[juonryu2nd]

I totally love Kamui and RefleX and I've finished them in a decent time, Rayforce however eats me alive. Not sure if I can ever 1cc that one.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Broke 900 million in Hitogata Happa Euridice earlier and uploaded the replay to Restart Syndrome. I think I'm done with main game Euridice now as I don't have replays for higher scores to see where I'm losing out on points(though I definitely know of some). I'm definitely not necessarily done with Euridice in general though as I plan to improve on some of my Solo Voyage run scores now that I know some more tricks as well as my Destiny 13 score.


26 bomb attacks, 3 dolls lost for 29 total deaths during the run. Obviously, I'm probably not using enough bomb attacks, but I don't have a route for them. Bombed Mission 2 midboss for some reason instead of milking the first part a bit. Didn't go for the bomb kill on the final part of the midboss because I was worried I'd die while trying it because I just don't feel comfortable getting close on that pattern, plus I'd have to wait for it to charge anyway due to my stupid decision to bomb the first part, so maybe it would have timed out.

I also don't use Zone of Control as much as I probably should be, but not sure how many points I lost on that. Due to the high penalty for dying(if it's not a bomb), I was going for a minimal miss run, so I didn't want to risk too many ZoCs.

I'm probably not using Sikkim as much as I should be preferring the much easier/safer Fortuner instead. Both have valid reasons to be used in score runs as both have auto-collect and Fortuner's mana action cancels stuff into gems while Sikkim's spawns extra bullets that can kill you(that get canceled into gems if they're in a ZoC, which I do take advantage of in mission 1).

Could milk Mission 3's midboss a bit more, but I was going for a safe run, so I didn't do too much of that.

Mission 3 boss milk seems as perfect as I can get it, since on Euridice you seem to need to destroy the things on the side before you get enough things to destroy for gems.

The third boss in Mission 4, you should only be destroying the dark blue boxes since they seem to damage it less. I accidentally got rid of some clear ones.

No Platina milking on the boss after that because it's RNG if it uses the Grenades a lot, and I didn't want to risk dying too much cause I wanted a safe run. Each grenade is 400 points, so not sure how many points I lose out on there.

[Stevens]

I'm at the point now where any run could be the one I clear Mars Matrix. There isn't any particular part where I am unsure of my approach. I just need to throw together a really solid run. I know I can do this. EDIT - The game continues to make me its bitch.

Picked up Fast Striker today. Initial thoughts-

It's simple. Not sure what game I'll try to clear next, but you can bet it isn't going to be any more complicated than Fast Striker. Could be Raiden IV too.

The hit boxes are deceptively small on both your ship and enemy fire. A few times I thought I should have died for certain but nope.

I love the muted backgrounds. They work here, and it makes it easy to see threats. I also love the animation on the bigger enemies.

Lastly - THAT MUSIC.

Threw a few credits in after aforementioned bitch making. Can get to stage 5. I may have FS cleared before MM.

[broken harbour]

Tried Game Tengoku last night, it's far more brutal than the cutesie exterior would suggest, and the 2nd pilot makes the most annoying sound known to man when picking up medals. Also I think stage 3 is basically a Raystorm parody, but way harder than Raystorm.

[LordHypnos]

I'm at the point now where any run could be the one I clear Mars Matrix. There isn't any particular part where I am unsure of my approach. I just need to throw together a really solid run. I know I can do this. EDIT - The game continues to make me its bitch.

Picked up Fast Striker today. Initial thoughts-

It's simple. Not sure what game I'll try to clear next, but you can bet it isn't going to be any more complicated than Fast Striker. Could be Raiden IV too.

The hit boxes are deceptively small on both your ship and enemy fire. A few times I thought I should have died for certain but nope.

I love the muted backgrounds. They work here, and it makes it easy to see threats. I also love the animation on the bigger enemies.

Lastly - THAT MUSIC.

Threw a few credits in after aforementioned bitch making. Can get to stage 5. I may have FS cleared before MM.

I pretty much agree with you on all of your observations of Fast Striker. I've been playing it again, and here are my notes:
I've been having way too much trouble getting a clean run of the first stage, IDK why, it's super easy -_-;
Apart from that, I've been regaining some of my skills, but I can't seem to remember how to trigger the extends in stages 3 and 4 (Used to always be able to, at least in stage 3).

I've been impressed by how much the game moves me around the screen. I tend to think of it as more of a micrododging type game, but there are a few spots, especially when rank is maxed out, where I have to move in large swaths avoiding (often suicide) bullets at the same time. Pretty fun. I also really like stage 3 when rank is maxed out. It's super intense the way you have to avoid the laser hazard while there are also enemies firing bullets. And for the secrets you need to actually destroy a lot of the enemies, adding to the intensity (not to mention that you really need to make sure you're using the backshot to do so, which is pretty fun). Also when rank is maxed out you have to dodge their suicide bullets, too. I've only made it to stage 5 so far, although I did beat my old stage 6 score somehow. I still have a lot of remembering to do about how to tackle certain enemies and bosses, though.

As far as clearing Mars Matrix or FS first goes, you may find that the final boss in FS will take enough practicing (which you'll only be able to do after playing through all the stages, because no practice mode) to make MM the first clear in spite of its much much higher difficulty. Then again, maybe there's some kind of safespot I don't know about.

[DEL]

Currently playing my copy of Brikinger Ironclad

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IRONCLAD-Chot ... 1445997128

Better than I remember it, although unweighted (Boss battle heavy and sparse on the stages).

[Stevens]

Fast Striker stuffs

Whoa. You weren't kidding about the last bosses, huge difficulty spike.

What do mean extends on stages 3 and 4? There are other ways to earn more ships other than points?

I've spent some time with maniac also. I quite like it.. A bit harder to earn shields but I already figured out that if you max out your rank every enemy drops the little mascot which fills your meter really fast.

[Jonst]

^ I'm a bit rusty on fast striker but I think the stage 4 extend has something to do with the 4 larger enemy's just before the mid boss (you have to kill them all) it's easy to let one escape and not get it.

[cicada88]

I've been playing Gun-Nac here and there the past couple of days. I used to think this game was mediocre at best but then I turned ricochet bullets on.

[Jonst]

Still progear. Another day, another almost clear on the plus side my scoring is much better 13 mil today and always make stage 5 and most of the time get to volvlox. Had it not been for a couple of stupid mistakes, would've cleared easily...

[broken harbour]

I've been playing Gun-Nac here and there the past couple of days. I used to think this game was mediocre at best but then I turned ricochet bullets on.

When I saw YouTube videos of Gun Nac I thought I'd hate it, but the first time I played It, 2 hours went by as if it were 15 minutes. Like all Compile shmups I've tried, it's super addictive.

[Stevens]

Still progear. Another day, another almost clear on the plus side my scoring is much better 13 mil today and always make stage 5 and most of the time get to volvlox. Had it not been for a couple of stupid mistakes, would've cleared easily...

You'll get it!

You were right about the Fast Striker extend on stage 4, but I haven't figured out the one on stage 3 yet. Glad I picked it up, I really hope they get Ghost Blade right.

I'm taking a less is more approach with Mars Matrix. I been getting unreasonably frustrated with it lately after extended play sessions. I figured out this morning that no good will come at this point from playing longer than an hour.

I played 4 or 5 credits earlier switching between the 2 ships, and after the hour was up I stopped. Good session - and more importantly no frustration.

Four of those credits turned into runs where I set myself up nicely (stage 6 with two ships in reserve) but just couldn't get it done. There was one run I no missed stage 5 in its entirety, which would have been great if it wasn't my last ship:) I did break 630 million with the red ship, which is just a bit less than my high with the blue ship.

The clear will come, I just need to remember when to walk away.