Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[maximo310]

Whats up all. Trying to clear Galactic Attack on Saturn. Playing with the Japanese pad btw. I believe this controller is the best for arcade style games. Anyway, been at it for almost a week. I get to the last level boss (stage 7) but I choke. I feel like Im right there.....uh. He just barely escapes defeat. Question for those that may know. You get an extra ship after every 500,000 points, but I noticed that after like 2 or 3 ships , I don't get any extra ships anymore even though Im earning the 500,000. Ive gotten SO much play out of this game, it aint even funny. Im ready to finish it and finally put it away.

There's only 2 extends in the game. In arcade, you get them at 1 million and 2 million points, but for some odd reason, the Saturn version has the extends at 500k and 1 million. If you're hitting the final boss in regular runs, then you should be able to clear the game soon.

[LordHypnos]

Well, I've gotten through the whole stage 3 (of Under Defeat) once without dying before the boss, and have bomb spammed through the boss maybe once without dying, but I've still got a ways to go

[Stevens]

Should the need arise, I know someone who may be able to help you with that..

[LordHypnos]

Should the need arise, I know someone who may be able to help you with that..

...go on...

[Jonst]

Still grinding ketsupachi. I have a good route and strat for everything up to stage 5, I no missed into stage 5 just now, but I just can't get a solid strat down for 5... I did make it to the final boss, but same old story, not quite enough resources to clear (was close though). Any tips will be gratefully received!

[cave hermit]

Been sampling some G-Darius on Taito legends 2; seems really cool, although the backgrounds frequently get so crazy it's kind of hard to separate it from the play field with the bullets and enemies. Will probably be investing more time into it in the future.

Also Queen Fossil's stage is the coolest shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SppRkS_8skg

[pokemon123]

just tried progear, dropped it within first 30 minutes. Man don't think i'll ever get into horizontal shmups. just feels too weird to me.

[Shepardus]

Try rotating Progear so it's displayed vertically and rebind your controls accordingly. Aside from the gems falling sideways, it actually plays surprisingly close to how you'd expect a vertical game to play if you do that.

Been sampling some G-Darius on Taito legends 2; seems really cool, although the backgrounds frequently get so crazy it's kind of hard to separate it from the play field with the bullets and enemies. Will probably be investing more time into it in the future.

Also Queen Fossil's stage is the coolest shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SppRkS_8skg

Yeah the bosses in G-Darius are great, all of them that I've seen have got that great big imposing presence, you really feel their weight. And then you blast them with a screen-filling beam and it feels so good. Queen Fossil's especially awesome though I usually miss it since the upper route's boss (Tripod Sardine) is easier.

[pokemon123]

[quote="Shepardus"]Try rotating Progear so it's displayed vertically and rebind your controls accordingly. Aside from the gems falling sideways, it actually plays surprisingly close to how you'd expect a vertical game to play if you do that.

wow this just made the game so much better

[LordHypnos]

Was working on UD earlier today. I had a brief PM exchange with Stevens for some advice on the 1-3 boss, and so far I've succeeded at it once, so it still needs some more practice, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be the best angle of attack there. Otherwise, the second half of the stage is still troublesome, but I'll just keep try.

[Stevens]

Didn't play a lot today, but I did find time for a quick credit of Futari followed by some AK Shin.

Keep at it Hyp, I'm here to help!

[LordHypnos]

Count me down for two 1-3 quick kill successes today! Thx for the encouragement Stevens!

I felt like I needed a little break from UD, so I played some Triggerheart; the first stage is really hard for me to no miss, now, for some reason (though I did do it a few times). Definitely a bit out of practice (though somehow managed to pull out an all time high)
Also played some Eschatos. At first I was just like "why did I like this game again?" but then the stage 2 boss and stage 3 happened, and I was like "oh yeah, this game kicks ass." I've noticed that this type of stuff happens with a lot of games. Zero Gunner 2 for example. Some games take a few spins before they show their true awesomeness.

[Phexe]

Just got myself an Ultrawide, Finally playing this in a size that doesn't make me squint!

Darius II, Bourbon & Coke! Cheers!





Also, I suck at it haha

[The Armchair General]

Phexe cool setup you've got there but can you please make your pictures smaller. It's taking up too much space on the page.

[Stevens]

Christmas arrived early for me. I have added Espgaluda 2 to my small and humble library of shooters.

Thanks wife:D

Played a few credits of black label based on it being easier. Made stage 2, then 3, then 4. Little to no clue how scoring works just yet.

Off to the stratagy section!

[BrianC]

I have been playing Thunder Force III. That game has some killer tunes.

[Stevens]

Still in a Cave coma.

Espgaluda 2 BL - Stage 6. Comically I thought I finished it after stage 5, put the controller down, and was killed.

360 mode - Haven't spent a ton of time with it and still unsure if scoring, but I made stage 3 boss. EDIT - Figured out some of it.

AK Shin - Stage 5 boss. Would have been stage 6 but I missed launching katanas by a 1/4 second and died.

[Shepardus]

Espgaluda 2 BL - Stage 6. Comically I thought I finished it after stage 5, put the controller down, and was killed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G8oHukH_pE

[Stevens]

Haha. I actually was watching the live stream during that match.

A few years back Sanford Kelly did something similar in a Sagat/C.Viper match but I can't find it.

[Blinge]

Still in a Cave coma.

One of us! One of us!

[Domino]

A lot of Eschatos with a mix of Deltazeal.

[LordHypnos]

Just bought a few cheap XBLIG games: Valkyrius, Chronoblast, Aeternum, and Wisplisp Array of List. Been really especially enjoying Valkyrius, but the others are also good. I was a bit skeptical on the whole warp mechanic at first, but it's not a bad mechanic. I haven't gotten a good feel for how to not warp into getting hit, though, yet. I get that the distance is represented by the circle, but it's not necessarily easy to make sure you've lined up the circle correctly while still paying attention to what's onscreen. Especially in really tight areas like the last phase of the stage 1 boss. Also, is there any reason why you wouldn't want to always be firing both your weapons? because having seperate shot buttons seems odd. And what's with the ship color choice at the beginning? does it do anything, or is it just aesthetic?

As far as Under Defeat goes, I really feel like it's time for me to move on to practicing stage 4 or at least attempt a few full runs, but I'm kinda afraid to...

EDIT: one more thing, after trying to play Chronoblast and Aeternum, I once again realized how bad I am at micrododging / dodging complex patterns.

EDIT 2: Ah, the upgrades have ammunition, so you might want to choose when to fire them. makes sense. Actually a lot less obnoxious than I would expect an ammunition system to be. haha.

[Stevens]

Valkyrius, I was a bit skeptical on the whole warp mechanic at first, but it's not a bad mechanic. I haven't gotten a good feel for how to not warp into getting hit, though, yet. I get that the distance is represented by the circle, but it's not necessarily easy to make sure you've lined up the circle correctly while still paying attention to what's onscreen. Especially in really tight areas like the last phase of the stage 1 boss.

I love that game. The indie title I have easily spent the greatest amount of time with. You will get better at warping with time. Tip - Don't warp too much either. And it can be used to position yourself in anticipation of what is next/cover a lot of ground quickly.

You can finish clear it with the smaller warp diameter, but I still use both.

Also, is there any reason why you wouldn't want to always be firing both your weapons? because having seperate shot buttons seems odd. And what's with the ship color choice at the beginning? does it do anything, or is it just aesthetic?

Nope. Fire away.

If the game has a flaw (fuck you stage 4 boss and your RNG lightning attack) it is that the bullets are all different colors and a particular color ship may help you see things better. (Also fuck the stage 3 mid boss - huge difficulty spike)

As far as Under Defeat goes, I really feel like it's time for me to move on to practicing stage 4 or at least attempt a few full runs, but I'm kinda afraid to...

Do it.

EDIT: one more thing, after trying to play Chronoblast and Aeternum, I once again realized how bad I am at micrododging / dodging complex patterns.

I too am terrible at Chronoblast.

Made stage six again in Esp 2 Black Label. 411 million and I can nab the stage 3 extend with no trouble.

Of course I know perfectly well that when I switch to arcade mode getting that extend is going to be much tougher.

I'm still clueless as how to properly use Zesshikai.

STG4WD posted how each system is similar to Original (Kakusei), Maniac (Zesshikai), and Ultra (Over mode) from Mushi. That mind set has helped me with my approach to the game since I know I can ignore Zesshikai and still score well enough to earn the extends.

[LordHypnos]

^I did actually end up doing a few full runs. After a few st. 1 restarts, I made it to stage 4 again, but apart from doing really well on stage 2 up to the boss (didn't even need to bomb the first battleship), it was not great by any means. Several stupid deaths. I think I have the st. 3 boss quick kill pretty solidly down, though. 10 sirens was a really helpful bit of information. I think I can do better though, by a lot, if I just keep at it though, and remember to bomb when I don't kill things fast enough (as in to deal with the chaos caused by that).

[CloudyMusic]

Finally got a little time to actually sit down and play some shmups for the first time in over a month. Messed around with Mushi Maniac a bit and enjoyed it, but I think any serious work on that will have to wait until I've finished the other stuff I'm working on. Did a credit or two of Garegga and it was just like riding a bike. Probably will spend the next couple weeks playing DBAC once that comes out, with a couple Garegga credits each session in between.

[Jonst]

Just played my best credit of espgaluda 2, smashed my previous high score and made it to the final patterns of the stage 5 boss... Not bad (for me).

[Stevens]

Black Label - 495 million - Stage 6 boss.

No missed everything up to stage 4 boss, died once there. Started stage 6 with one extra life, made the boss and died quick. I need some practice on five's boss, but all in all I only got it a week ago so it is hard not to be happy with said progress.

Still no clue how to properly zetsu, but tbh I'm not concerned with it unless I become obsessed with scoring at some point.

[The Armchair General]

After god knows how long I've finally managed to make a scoring route through Donpachi. Unfortunately, it's not anywhere near 99 mil ......



At least now I can score in the game without looking at Chibari's 99 mil run every 30 seconds

[LordHypnos]

Still attempting full runs of UD, and doing seemingly worse and worse
Also stage 2 is like the most stage 2 stage 2 I've ever played. Keep on dying stupidly, but it's not like I don't know what to do.

Also played some Valkyrius for fun. I ended up getting S- on stage 1 and S+ on stage 2. still can't make it through stage 3 though. midboss is way hard, and end boss is hard enough. That being said, I haven't actually done stage practice on this game.

EDIT: how does scoring and grade work in this game, anyway? Anyone know?

[Stevens]

Nice work General.

Still attempting full runs of UD, and doing seemingly worse and worse
Also stage 2 is like the most stage 2 stage 2 I've ever played. Keep on dying stupidly, but it's not like I don't know what to do.

Meh. I still make mistakes sometimes It's very different than Mars Matrix isn't it?

Also played some Valkyrius for fun. I ended up getting S- on stage 1 and S+ on stage 2. still can't make it through stage 3 though. midboss is way hard, and end boss is hard enough. That being said, I haven't actually done stage practice on this game.

That sword is an asshole, I hate that fucking thing. The two worst parts of that game are that sword and the stage 4 bosses lightning attack. What do they have in common?

They're both RNG.

You basically have to hope the sword decides to start shooting and doesn't come to the bottom of the screen. I kind of hope he fixes some things with the Steam release. Easier stage 3 mid boss would make me buy again.

That said I have a solid stage 3 boss killing method. The core is a sponge and you don't get much of a time bonus, but it works.

Its been a while since I've played so I need to confirm it, but I'll PM later today. For real this time.

EDIT: how does scoring and grade work in this game, anyway? Anyone know?

As a matter of fact..

Kill things. Raise the 100% multiplier at the top of the screen (stops at 200%) and don't die. Grade is based on your score and (*drum roll*) there is a score based extend at 20,000.