Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[Jonst]

Still doj. God fucking damn!!!! I made it to the final boss and got his energy half way down, I was only a couple of thousand points away from making the final extend as well!!!! fuck! Still, I blew away my previous high score. Definite progression though I suppose...

EDIT: I did hit the final extend. I just didn't hear the audio for it!

[GunsRs7]

espgaluda and Pheonix wright trials and tribulations

[OmKol]

More and more Star Force NES.
My strats:
1. Kill as many enemies as you can - for getting less enemies per stage.
2. Kill as late enemies as you can - for getting longer stages = more 1ups per stage.
How to optimize it even more - I don't know.

[ACSeraph]

Haven't been playing much lately as most of my focus has been going towards Xrd and Dark Souls, but I have found some time for G-Darius.

It's on my shmup goals list for this year, along with the other few Darius games I haven't cleared. Something about G has never clicked with me, despite oozing with style. Just hope I can stick with it and see it to the end this time. Currently I can get into stage 4, but always fuck up on Dimension Diver and usually lose my first life there. I'm not sure how to deal with his mine field attack (the mines that look like the ones from Metal Black). The gaps are too small and everything moves too fast for me to avoid the hit. It seems to be RNG though so I haven't figured out any reliable strategy yet.

[Immryr]

Currently been playing a few credits of darius gaiden every day, i feel like I can make this my first ever clear if I keep on with it. My main sticking area so far is zone h. I'm finding I have to bomb in the middle of the zone when it gets really hectic with the big fish and the sniper tanks all filling the screen, and the boss just poops on me if I don't bomb like 3 times. Zone L is easy by comparison. I've got to the boss of zone q a few times, but I am usually low on resources and die.

I also finally got around to playing Jamestown plus on the ps4, which I'm enjoying quite a bit. I haven't found a ship I like other than the main beam one yet, but I feel like the normal shot on it is very underpowered. Is it worth getting used to one of the other ships?

[vector7]

After a long break i started to play crimzon clover again. Already improved my previous record by 700 billions.

[Squire Grooktook]

Currently been playing a few credits of darius gaiden every day, i feel like I can make this my first ever clear if I keep on with it. My main sticking area so far is zone h. I'm finding I have to bomb in the middle of the zone when it gets really hectic with the big fish and the sniper tanks all filling the screen, and the boss just poops on me if I don't bomb like 3 times. Zone L is easy by comparison. I've got to the boss of zone q a few times, but I am usually low on resources and die.

If it helps, I have an annotated 1lc of Darius Gaiden, and one of the zones I go through is H.

Darius Gaiden was also my first 1cc. Wasn't sure if I could do it at first, so I started with a 3 credit rule to kind of test the waters, and once I was making it to the final stage regularly, I was able to trim it down to a 1cc with surprising ease. The 1lc though...now that was a pain, ha ha.

I also finally got around to playing Jamestown plus on the ps4, which I'm enjoying quite a bit. I haven't found a ship I like other than the main beam one yet, but I feel like the normal shot on it is very underpowered. Is it worth getting used to one of the other ships?

The ship that can modify shot direction is pretty high tier IRC.

[OmKol]

Star Force NES.
Died on last stage. Shit.

[KidQuaalude]

DDP II : Bee Storm

This game really has no business being this good.

[ratikal]

Zero Gunner 2 on Dreamcast.

Without a doubt, Psikyo's best title.

[Immryr]

Currently been playing a few credits of darius gaiden every day, i feel like I can make this my first ever clear if I keep on with it. My main sticking area so far is zone h. I'm finding I have to bomb in the middle of the zone when it gets really hectic with the big fish and the sniper tanks all filling the screen, and the boss just poops on me if I don't bomb like 3 times. Zone L is easy by comparison. I've got to the boss of zone q a few times, but I am usually low on resources and die.

If it helps, I have an annotated 1lc of Darius Gaiden, and one of the zones I go through is H.

Darius Gaiden was also my first 1cc. Wasn't sure if I could do it at first, so I started with a 3 credit rule to kind of test the waters, and once I was making it to the final stage regularly, I was able to trim it down to a 1cc with surprising ease. The 1lc though...now that was a pain, ha ha.

I also finally got around to playing Jamestown plus on the ps4, which I'm enjoying quite a bit. I haven't found a ship I like other than the main beam one yet, but I feel like the normal shot on it is very underpowered. Is it worth getting used to one of the other ships?

The ship that can modify shot direction is pretty high tier IRC.

thanks for that.

it feels like the direction changing shot ship makes the beam one completely pointless as even if you just keep your shot pointed forward you get the power of the beams focus shot while keeping fast movement.

[CWM]

One of the "ground" enemies in the stage 5 of Kamui just shot me from behind after having scrolled off screen... As if the same thing happening from the sides wasn't enough.

Why you do this, Siter Skain?

[copy-paster]

G-Darius

Some bosses like G.T, Dual Horn, and The Embryon are awesome and serious stuff to deal with them

[pokemon123]

still DOJ. I think I am close to getting the stage 1 full chain. Actually getting there though has got to be one of the most unfun things ever and i'm never bothering with another DDP game. Hell I might just chain stage 1 and call it good because this game is just way to frustrating for score and it's like a drug where i hate it but can't stop playing it.

Chaining stage 1 would barely be an accomplishment but it might be my best one in my novice shmuping?

[trap15]

Stop chaining and start surviving. Stage 1 is peanuts anyways.

[Shepardus]

Stop chaining and start surviving. Stage 1 is peanuts anyways.

^This. (at least if you're going to be playing DOJ instead of a better game like Battle Bakraid)

Stage 1 isn't worth that much in the grand scheme of things and you'll probably have more fun and score higher if you just learn to survive the later stages and learn partial chains as you see fit (stage 5 has enough enemies that you'll probably accidentally get an okay chain if you use hyper at the start; saving hypers until the latter half of stage 2 is an effective low-level strategy to get a large chain from stage 2). Remember, with many shmups the game is only as fun as you make it for yourself. With Dodonpachi it's the same thing except the game's only as unfun as you make it for yourself.

[Bananamatic]

kusoge brigade already telling the new guy to play shit games

[Kiken]

Gunbird (Saturn port)
Finally started making some headway into the second loop with Yuan Nang.

[copy-paster]

Darius Gaiden : Extra Ver.

This updated version knows everything I want in all Darius aspects. Like playing through all 28 stages in 2P mode, faster auto-fire, and displaying hitboxes.
I played on 2P mode and getting through Zone K and dying after Neon Light Illusion spamming his bullet.

[Jonst]

Still dodonpachi doj. I'm actually learning to love it... Finally! Hitting stage 5 pretty regularly, unfortunately, still making stupid mistakes on stage 3 or 4... Definite progress, since getting better chains. Shame my pad is dying.

[pokemon123]

Still dodonpachi doj. I'm actually learning to love it... Finally! Hitting stage 5 pretty regularly, unfortunately, still making stupid mistakes on stage 3 or 4... Definite progress, since getting better chains. Shame my pad is dying.

same here! I am starting to see the appeal of this game I got a full chain of stage 1 yesterday! Stage 2 actually doesn't seem too bad to chain. Stage 3 is easy till it gets to the midboss : (

I still don't think it's a well designed system but definitely appreciating it more now.

[Jonst]

Yeah, I'm actually enjoying the game now. I've bitched about about it in the past... I'm not really into the scoring system, only bothered with enough chain to score for extends. I'll be happy with a one loop clear. Congrats on your chaining!

[Dumple]

Just cleared Axelay on Hard.

I first played Axelay when I got into SNES emulation and started playing through everything in alphabetical order (until I realized that was madness).

Later, after getting into shmups, I saw the game show up on a few people's 1cc lists and gave it a serious try. And I can totally see why it keeps showing up! It's fairly easy, and also really good. The level design is great - good pacing, good variety (including alternating vert/hori). I like the fact that it rewards routing/memorization without becoming trivial. And it has an especially good soundtrack. Some of the tunes are going onto my work playlist.

I was a little put off by the pseudo-3D effects with mode 7, especially the weird feel of the hitbox when navigating past walls. And there's minor slowdown, although it's nothing compared to the ridiculous slowdown of Super R-Type.

Next 1cc target is...either Double Dealing Character, or Jigoku Kisetsukan on Hard/Hell.

Edit: I lied, next 1cc turned out to be Gigawing

[ratikal]

still DOJ. I think I am close to getting the stage 1 full chain. Actually getting there though has got to be one of the most unfun things ever and i'm never bothering with another DDP game. Hell I might just chain stage 1 and call it good because this game is just way to frustrating for score and it's like a drug where i hate it but can't stop playing it.

Chaining stage 1 would barely be an accomplishment but it might be my best one in my novice shmuping?

When you get it all at once, it'll feel great and then maybe you'll chain stage 2.

[Icarus]

Pink Sweets 1.00 (X360)
Pretty much the only thing I'm playing nowadays that isn't an MMO or a classic city-builder/resource management simulation…
… actually, that's a lie. I'm playing Geometry Wars 3 on iOS as well. :3

[Ikazu-san]

Trying to clear Giga Wing. Keep getting murderkilled by that tetris piece. And there's TLB after that, holy shit.

[Stevens]

Played hooky today and got a few credits in a few games.

UD - Still haven't cleared the 2nd loop again but once again came close.

ZG 2 - Made it to 1-7 and then continued. Only way to practice it since there is no practice mode.

Border Down - Where did this come from? It has been so long but I was regularly getting to stage 3 with no trouble at all. Still not sure I can clear it yet but maybe over the summer..

[Aquas]

Caladrius Blaze: Evolution Mode.

Going for 1cc's with all the characters and using the default configurations (no custom weapon setups yet.)
I really enjoy the character variety and trying all the weapons in the stages. I feel like more people would like this game if they gave it a shot (stg weekly approaching in the upcoming months!)

The gameplay is pretty palatable to all skill levels and the presentation is bad ass consisting of heavy duty mechanical boss designs and a nice variety of stage designs. It's pretty satisfying to use the Fusion mechanic, your weapons get super-powered and it wrecks shit pretty good. It's good fun and also a game that should be approached with scoring in mind because it encourages using all your resources (element shots).

Oh yeah, need 1cc for Maria and Caladrius left.

[Stevens]

Played a few credits of Border Down last night.

Still haven't gotten passed stage 3 on a credit (love the green border boss), but I can hit the stage score for the border up on stages 1 and 2 so there's that.

There is a TON of content in Border Down, which in its own way is still kind of overwhelming even though I have credit fed to the end of 6A in the past. I'm feeling it will be in my regular rotation for the time being.

[Jotamide]

Mushihimesama on the 360. I just love everything about this game.