Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[trap15]

GG Aleste 2 is amazing, I've only played it once but I was totally blown away. Really need to get back to it.

[Slaz]

Last weeks I've been playing Dodonpachi Saidaioujou and Mushihimesama Futari, as well as some Touhou 14 every now and then.

Training for an Arcade HD 1cc in SDOJ, and a Maniac 1cc in Mushihimesama Futari. Both are going well so far yet I do have trouble on the latter stages in both games.

[Immryr]

I've been flip flopping between a few games recently. Rayforce, touhou 6, kamui, image fight and crimson clover. sucking at all of them.

[LordHypnos]

Yesterday, I bought the Humble Bundle with Alltynex trilogy and Revolver 360 Re:Actor. Naturally, Revolver 360 didn't run at all (too shitty computer), but the Alltynex games do. Not bad for $7.00! I haven't tried any of the other games, yet.

Ended up playing a good bit of RefleX, though I think I've only made it past 3 bosses so far (can't remember which area). The lack of feedback for getting hit was kind of annoying at first, but I got a bit more used to it. The main hard thing is that, compared to Mars Matrix, or Samidare, you don't get any temporary invincibility after shielding (Samidare doesn't have much), so I keep hitting things right after releasing the shield. Also, the shield seems to not protect against enemy contact, which I really wish they hadn't put into the game to start with -_- Why does nobody remove enemy contact damage!?

The shield, otherwise, works more like Samidare because you can keep using it until the gauge is all the way used up rather than having to wait for a recharge like in MM. Seems like it might have more gauge than Samidare, but I'm not sure. Also you can recharge faster by not firing, which I'll have to get used to as well.

One more thing that I noticed was the fact that there are lots and lots of homing lasers, which I normally hate, but if you reflect them they home in on your opponents which is awesome. Scoring seems to be enemy chaining, but it has to be initiated with the reflect shield, and the more of the hits are enemy bullets, the higher your multiplier goes up to like x64. Cool, but could also be frustrating. Homing lasers are really useful for this, though, because you can kill multiple enemies with them, and aiming the non-homing bullets is tough.

Will probably throw RefleX into the rotation along with Fast Striker, Mars Matrix, and whatever else I end up playing.

Srry for the wordy post, BTW. I probably need a blog or something.

[arcadehero]

In repairing my CF-to-USB loader, I grabbed a bunch of stuff for my Atari 800XL. In addition to playing that slightly enhanced version of River Raid, I came across this amazing title (amazing for the hardware) which was made for a coding content not long ago called X:8. This video doesn't do it complete justice since they use dithering effects which work really well on a CRT. Also this video is a little older, the final version has less brown and more grey/silver. Either way, great effort for the hardware, could use some tweaks such as letting you shoot those turrets but it is fun to play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqHRpvRuR98

[mastermx]

Haven't been on this forum for a while. I also brought the humble Japanese bundle. I already had reflex, but wanted to complete the altynex collection.

For the most part I've been playing revolver360 and I'm loving it. I had a couple runs on arcade and been mostly playing the challenge mode which gets you accustomed to the mechanics and teaches you scoring. It is so fun. All shmups should have a mode like this, especially if it has brand new mechanics. From what I can tell this game is all about scoring, and I love it, I think that survival comes after scoring. I know some people would say that all shmups are all about scoring, but revolver360 completely relies on it because survival doesn't seem that hard. And there's something amazingly satisfying about this game. Looks like I have another PC shmup to add to my Crimzon Clover/Ikaruga sessions. It's a nice change since I absolutely suck at scoring in Crimzon Clover no matter how hard I try. Will figure it out eventually.

[Bonus!]

After some absence from shmups, I'm playing the doujin release of CC again. On Original, with Type I, I can reliably no-miss stage 3, the boss not so much (no-missed it rarely), stage 4 needs a bit more work, but the stage 4 boss seems very manageable, quite often no-miss or lose one life. Also, I got a large part of stage 5 down, but the boss seems like a bit of a headache.

[LordHypnos]

Back to Fast Striker again (RefleX, I will destroy you some other time )
However, forget everything I said about getting the stage 3 and 4 extends, earlier. I can't seem to get the 3rd stage one anymore Although it does seem to be inextricably linked to one of the secrets in the stage, I just have no idea how to trigger that secret. I did trigger the 4th stage one without 3/3 in the 3rd stage, though, so we can lay that silly idea aside.

Also: pretty sure the way that the last 2 secrets work in stage 2 is that you get 1 secret + tech bonus for the first 3 planes, then 1 secret for the last 3 planes. It's super intense staying alive for that long, especially considering you have to dodge unfocused a lot to avoid killing the boss early. Badass. I managed it with no hits and one shield once

[fenyxofshadows]

At the moment I'm playing mostly Android ports of whatever I can get my hands on.
I'm training for DDP DFK 1.5's Ura loop on Hard (Hard on Android/iOS matches the standard arcade difficulty)
I've also been trying out Strikers 1945-3's port; it's pretty decent, though I wish autofire was toggleable.

[Immryr]

pretty sure it's hell difficulty which is the standard arcade mode.

[Stevens]

Fast Striker. Last boss down to 10%.

Might have cleared it if I got the 1-up on stage 4.

[Biggu Bossu]

After I found out that Batrider boots up with high rank and that starting the game through service mode lowers the rank I decided to give it a go. BAM I got to stage 6 on my first try, and even got through the wall midboss. Feels great, man. It's fascinating to actually see how they set the game to "fucking impossible" by default.
Also Yagawa really overdid the randomness in Batrider. I mean randomized boss attack phases is already pushing it but the stage order itself?? Considering there are some huge medal fields on some stages and how easily medals affect score that's a terrible design decision. Say if I begin at the airport at stage 2, I'll not be able to get max value medals when I bomb the staircases and fuselage. So if I go and try to build up medal value there anyway, I'll waste tons of potentially valuable medals. But if I go through the sewer stage first, I'll be able get max value medals by the time I arrive at the crates right before the boss.

[CloudyMusic]

I mean randomized boss attack phases is already pushing it but the stage order itself?? Considering there are some huge medal fields on some stages and how easily medals affect score that's a terrible design decision. Say if I begin at the airport at stage 2, I'll not be able to get max value medals when I bomb the staircases and fuselage. So if I go and try to build up medal value there anyway, I'll waste tons of potentially valuable medals. But if I go through the sewer stage first, I'll be able get max value medals by the time I arrive at the crates right before the boss.

Stage Edit is allowed on our high score boards for that reason, thankfully.

[Biggu Bossu]

I mean randomized boss attack phases is already pushing it but the stage order itself?? Considering there are some huge medal fields on some stages and how easily medals affect score that's a terrible design decision. Say if I begin at the airport at stage 2, I'll not be able to get max value medals when I bomb the staircases and fuselage. So if I go and try to build up medal value there anyway, I'll waste tons of potentially valuable medals. But if I go through the sewer stage first, I'll be able get max value medals by the time I arrive at the crates right before the boss.

Stage Edit is allowed on our high score boards for that reason, thankfully.

All that time I've been lurking and I didn't check the high score boards! Allowing stage edit makes sense, of course.

I can only imagine the frustration the game must've given to those who attempted to play for score the first time it was released at the arcades, though! I recently had the opportunity to play Garegga at a Japanese arcade, and to my surprise it had stage edit enabled! I can only assume they did the same thing for Batrider too, considering there's no default stage order.

[trap15]

Garegga has a default stage order, and generally that's what everyone plays because there's no real reason to do any other order.

[Stevens]

Fast Striker.

Came this close to the clear. Reached the final pattern on the last boss (the reactor looking thing). 1 more shield would have done it..

Scored a hair under 4 billion.

After I get the clear on original I do want to spend some time with maniac, especially considering I only picked it up two weeks ago. I am enjoying it, but definitely want to get my $'s worth!

[jcfoster]

I'm starting to get back to progressing on Futari BL Original, after not touching it for about five months. Got to stage 4 or the first time a couple nights ago, and I'm getting a bit more reliable at no-missing the first two stages. As long as I don't try too aggressively to score, I can see myself clearing soon once I get used to the jump in speed at stage 4.

[davyK]

Mushi Futari Original - have switched to Abormal Palm and now consistently getting to level 4 with enough lives to make a dent in it. It's only been 14 months now!!!!

[zlk]

I am playing Trizeal. The music is great! Unfortunately if you die in the wrong place recovering can be difficult. I tried to get into Ikaruga but wasn't having a good time. Might go back to it later.

[Obscura]

Bought Raiden III on Steam out of curiosity.

Dunno why it gets so much hate; I played it for about three hours after buying it, and didn't really want to stop then. Seems great to me; like classic Raiden with slightly less aggravating recoveries.

[Ikazu-san]

Just discovered bootlegged Garegga. Always max power, always search/homing options, more bombs and 2 hit shield per life. Also rank is weird and you can change your plane with a press of a button.

[nesrulz]

DODONPACHI RESURRECTION for Android. Great game/port.

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=53251

[Bonus!]

CC Doujin practice is paying off. In practice mode I can no-miss or one-miss everything up to the stage 5 boss. That one, though, is a bit of a head ache. I'm getting the hang of almost all its patterns, except for the second phase where it shoots out a myriad of pink bullets in chains of four.

[Shepardus]

not again ;_;

Most of my time in Batrider recently has been savestate practicing Grubby and Discharge. I'm feeling more comfortable with Grubby than I used to, but Discharge is still a pain. The fact that I destroyed my rank from extends this run didn't help matters either, so it was pretty much bombspamming until I ran out. I swear I've been getting worse at the first few stages too - most of my runs end within the first three stages, and this was one of the few that made it farther than that.

Edit:
COME ON, THIS TIME I HAD THREE BOMBS LEFT AND LOW RANK


Edit 2:
Okay this is seriously depressing ;_;

Edit 3:

I HAD MAX BOMBS AND DIDN'T GET TO USE ANY OF THEM.

I get it Lord Yagawa, you want me to practice Discharge more ;_;

Edit 4:

3(?) unused bombs, NMNB'd Discharge up to this point. This is like some sort of cruel joke that's gone on way too long.

[MrSalamander]

Chimera Beast.
Anyone wanna try ?

[Stevens]

Fast Striker Maniac. Last week I got a 7 CC. Today I trimmed it to a 4 CC and like the 7 CC reached stage 5 before continuing.

Also I lied to you Jonst, I started messing around with AK this afternoon. I guess I couldn't wait.

Initial thoughts:

- Blue ship.

- I love the art style - but you knew this.

- Zetsu is really accessible. Spent a few hours with it, reached the stage 4 boss on my last credit, and am pretty comfortable with the mechanics.

- Slash mode. My eyes! So many things on screen. I like the mechanics of this one even more than zetsu, but can see why you suggested it to start.

More tomorrow!

[Jonst]

^

[trap15]

Aw yiss, another Akai Katana fan Personally I think Zetsu is a lot more interesting, but Slash is certainly an eye pleaser.

[ACSeraph]

Bought a Raiden Fighters PCB (my first pcb purchase!) so I'm trying to learn a basic survival clear with Judge Spear Slave while I wait for it to arrive. I usually play the actual judge spear, but this game is pretty punishing so I think I'll start small and then move away from the slave when I'm more comfortable with the basic survival clear. I've got a solid plan at the moment up until boss 6, but I haven't really practiced the boss or final stage yet.

Just out of curiosity, during trpSTGT we were required to play the Japanese version. What exactly is the difference between the US and JP versions?

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Japanese Version

2 seconds to reveal a Miclus
1 loop
Suicide both slaves to reduce rank

US Version

0.3(IIRC) seconds to reveal a miclus
2 loops (Second loop should be just the Expert Mode of the Japanese version where there's suicide bullets)
Only need to suicide 1 slave to reduce rank.


Asia Version

Same as the US except for miclus time which is the same as the Japanese.