New member looking for tips!

[Coburn]

Hi everyone!

I am a new member on the forum, but I´ve been lurking around from time to time over the years unregisterd to learn and read about different games. I´ve been collecting games for several years and different kinds of shooters have allways been high on my list when looking for new games to add to the collection. I have casually played all my shooters and enjoyed them alot, but allways wondered how it would be possible to 1cc or even finish some of the games at all before the continues ran out. Yeah I know, im not very good Sometimes it feel like Im getting to old and my refelxes are to slow now days.

Over the years I´ve come to have a rather big collection of shooters for many different systems, starting from the NES all the way up to the most recent consoles. At the moment I think the saturn is my favorite console for shooters with games like DoDonpachi, Layer section, Radiant silvergun and Hyper duel to name a few.

So the reason why I decided to register and become more active here was that I finaly wanted to learn more and get better, and understand the scoring systems and so on. But what I am most interested in is how you train? Is it enough to just play over and over to get better or do you set different goals? I dont feel that I am getting much better by blindly doing a stage over and over. Do you guys watch youtube clips of other guys playing to learn how to handle situations or how do you go about it?

Please share me some tips and ideas.

[Erppo]

I personally think it's best to start simply by learning the basic skills by playing whatever with a simple survival goal. Playing lots of different games is good at this point since you're not trying to learn one particular game but instead building the fundamental play skills. You don't really need to focus on (game specific) strategies either since you just want to learn how to move comfortably and read and dodge bullets.

When you get to the point where you can clear games of average difficulty, you should try picking one game you really like and try to learn it better. Figure out how to score well, find out what other people are doing, come up with a proper game plan and stuff like that.

[Eaglet]

+1 on Erppo.

I think the most deciding factor if you want to get really good is that you genuinely enjoy what you're doing.
Long term motivation and dedication is what is recquired to obtain mastery so burning out quickly is the worst thing you could do.

[Coburn]

Thanks for your answers. Yes I have casually played different shooters for a while now and enjoyed it alot, I think I am ready to dig deeper and take it a bit further with one game, the question is how to begin and with what game I know it depend on what I like playing ofcourse. I read a post a while back where Mushihimesama Futari was suggested as a "starting" game as it was not too hard, but I must say I found it extremly hard but also very fun.

[LordHypnos]

In my limited experience, I've found that the best way to get better is to challenge yourself. What I've mostly done is play a game until I hit a wall and stop due to frustration, but I feel like I only actually got better after going full shmup with Mars Matrix for a few weeks (after finally breaking through a wall) and clearing it. In recent times I've only felt like I've marginally improved when trying to learn how to get through a stage that's killing me, e.g. with Omega Fighter and Under Defeat, and maybe a little with Samidare, and otherwise not at all.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that "memorizing a game" is actually how you get better. Naturally any one game is going to teach you some skills and not others, but if you just play 100 games and only ever get to stage 2 in any of them you're not going to improve. early stages are always super easy (some exceptions obviously exist to this rule), easy modes are also easy and don't teach you much.

I'd recommend finding some game that you still want to play after it repeatedly hands your ass to you and try to clear it / score to a certain level on it if you really want to get better

IMHO, only, of course

[CloudyMusic]

I read a post a while back where Mushihimesama Futari was suggested as a "starting" game as it was not too hard, but I must say I found it extremly hard but also very fun.

Probably every game is going to seem really hard when you're brand new, even the ones that are "easy," but just keep at it and it'll start to fall into place soon enough.

I'll second everything said in this thread so far.

[Some-Mist]

learning/mastering a game can be a daunting task. there's a whole bunch of ways you can learn how to play, and there's actually a guide "the full extent of the jam" by prometheus which is one way to go about it.

people tend to learn to play for survival first then move onto scoring.. but with CAVE games I feel like scoring and survival go hand in hand. I usually go to the strategy forums on here to look up scoring methods... that way I can work on getting "extends" to further increase my chance of making it through the end. playing for score can be a double edged sword tho... since often times it forces you to be more aggressive and make moves that will put you in a risky situation. So I try to find a happy medium.

those guides might also help you find item-based 1-UPs that you didn't know existed - like the one in the 5th stage of mushihimesama futari.

I also usually just play 1 credit over and over again which can be frowned on... since by the time I can clear the game I've mastered stages 1-2, I'm familiar with 3-4, and I totally wing stage 5 and bomb spam the last boss.

this is also coming from a mediocre player with a half-dozen to a dozen clears since 2010. might be worth waiting to have one of the better players chime in on strategy implementation.

[Strikers1945guy]

Pick a few old school games to get yourself familiar with just playing for survival. If one really clicks with you you can always learn to score as well. Try Hishozame (Sky Shark) or somethjng basic, yet fun and challenging.

[emphatic]

Pick two games you really like that are different from each other, then play only those games for a month. If you get tired of one game, focus on the other then switch when concentration dwindles.

Always play full runs even if you get killed early in stage one, even if you get angry.

This should help a lot, I played arcade games like this in my teens and got skilled fast.

[Shepardus]

Play Cho Ren Sha 68k.

I usually just play single credit runs, which leads to me optimizing the first few stages a lot more than the last few, and hopefully using the resources I get early on to push through the parts I'm not good at. I tend to drift from game to game a lot and only really focus on one when I feel like I'm getting close to a clear. I also rarely use savestates and reference videos unless I'm really having trouble with a specific section (I don't have anything against using them, I just don't bother). When it comes to scoring, however, such practice techniques are critical.

[ACSeraph]

Your overall "shmup skills" will simply improve over time as you pursue clears and scores.

I think it's important to pick a single game and swear that you will defeat it or die trying. A lot of shmupping, especially when you are new, is sheer willpower and determination. I would ignore "good beginner games" entirely and pick something you think is awesome. Trust me, anything can be cleared (unless it's a broken game not worth playing).

As for more detail on how to learn a game exactly. I think the most important thing is not restarting your credits completely repeatedly. You should learn each game one stage at a time, learning to beat them with no deaths, and no bombs where possible. If you get to a part that you absolutely can't pass without a bomb, then bomb there and take note of it. Try to get a feel for how many bombs you will have total throughout the game, and pre-plan their uses. In general I never panic bomb, especially when learning a game.

Practicing stage by stage is really easy in certain games. In cave stuff you can actually do stage restarts, so usually I'll play until I'm killed and then restart that stage, doing it over and over until I clear without dying. I usually call it quits after learning one or two new stages, because your brain can only process so much information. Be happy with your results for the day, and sleep on it. You'll be even better at it the next day. If you can use mame and save states, the stage learning process can also go really smoothly, as you can practice very small difficult points in rapid succession and then try for full stage clears.

Also keep in mind that for the most part, shmups are not cleared via physical dexterity, they are cleared via planning. You need to create a route, not "learn to dodge". Learning to dodge is actually just learning how to deal with specific things in order to craft that route. In other words, you aren't learning to "bullet herd" on reaction, you are learning that "bullet herding" is required to pass this specific point of the game. As you work to clear more and more games, you will encounter more and more different types of common patterns, and eventually the answers to difficult situations will come more easily to you. Initially watching videos will help you discover routing strategies you may not have thought of on your own, but over time you will gain the necessary skill set to trail-blaze your own routes, and it's very rewarding.

So tl;dr:

Pick a game, swear to yourself you will clear it or die, learn savestates (specific trouble points) -> single stage no miss (routing) -> full game runs (until you hit the clear). After this point, if you still thirst for more, take it to the next level by mastering the scoring system and a scoring route. This is more or less how I play shmups.

[Eaglet]

An addendum;

Once you've picked a game that you really like and want to focus on; adopt a proper practice mentality!
This means analyzing your own planning and routing, experimenting with different setups for different portions and whenever something goes wrong; try to figure out what went wrong and why!
Don't play on pure routine, but rather actively try to improve every part of your playing. If you fail at something, ask yourself why you failed and what you could've done to prevent it from happening again or at least decrease the chances of it happening again. Try to decrease your routes' risk for failure every run you play (discovering how some boss patterns can be macro- instead of micro dodged for an example).
And of course, whenever you hit a snag, seek out the strategy threads! If you can't find a solution to your problem; ask. There's a lot of collective knowledge in this community.