Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[EmperorIng]

Played Soukyugurentai for the first time. I think I'll like this game.

It's a very fun game. A small tip: the less you power up your ship, statistically the more bombs you will receive from power-up carriers. If you're lucky you can have 6 or so bombs by stage 2, which makes some tricky sessions a lot more manageable. It's up to you to balance between ship power and the higher likelihood of receiving bombs (your wire-net shots are stronger I think, in any event).

[Icarus]

If you hadn't already noticed, I'm on a Tempest-and-variants kick at the moment.

[w-ring]

I'm playing DDP doj black label, and still can't get to stage 3 boss.

More practice!

[copy-paster]

I'm playing DDP doj black label, and still can't get to stage 3 boss.

More practice!

Do you play for score? If not, don't use the Hyper at st3 boss!

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Played a bit of Geometry Wars 3 Dimensions earlier. Got up to level 50 on the Adventure mode but haven't beaten the boss yet. I have no idea if I'll be able to 3 star all the levels, but I'm going to try. Some of those 2 and even 3 star requirements are pretty high. There's also a few beat the developer score trophies for a few levels, but I haven't gotten any of those yet(Gate Dash feels like total RNG if you'll even get a decent shot at it, then you still have to not screw up the end, and I could probably do the Pacifism Classic one, but not put in the effort yet, haven't tried the other ones).

Wish I had gotten this sooner. Seems to mostly obsolete the second game as well since it has all the modes except for Sequence from that. Though I'm not sure if there's any actual differences between them since I was never good at these games.

[Shepardus]

Still playing Dragon Blaze. Experimenting with other characters has made me realize just how used to Rob I had gotten. His dismounted charge shot, his wide normal shot, even how his sub-shots linger on the screen and kill popcorn enemies without me thinking about them... it's hard to adjust to anyone else. I did get to 1-6 with a score of 860,700 with Quaid without much practice on him, and got to 1-5 (and most of the way through 1-5) with Ian using only dragon shot (that is, not pressing the A button at all), but I still don't have consistent answers for many sections with these characters, namely any section where I rely on Rob's dismounted charge shot.

[cave hermit]

I'm playing a bit of space bomber; despite how goofy and... well... bootleggy it looks, it's pretty fun, and both the scoring and weapon systems are pretty satisfying, whether you're blowing up a big group of enemies for a point bonus, or having a bunch of captured enemies point blank a boss for you.

Last time I played the game about a year or so ago, I didn't really get the point of having captured enemies attack for you over just launching them as bombs for big points, but it seems that if you deploy captured enemies as attackers in the right positions, they're really good for crowd control and quickly taking down bosses (of course this is at the expense of the point bonuses you could get for using them as bombs, so good risk reward mechanic).
Also something about the president's secret sex life.


I'm toying around with the idea of writing a ST for the game, might give me an interesting project to work on...

[Harpuia]

Was gonna focus on Daioujou Black Label, instead allowed Strikers 1945 to consume my life for the past several days. Are Psikyo games usually considered harder than CAVE games? Because the combination of fast bullets, big hitboxes, and randomized stages really makes it hard to feel like I'm making consistent progress compared to other shmups. Either way I just want this game out of the way so I can have at least one Psikyo 1-ALL under my belt.

[Strikers1945guy]

Was gonna focus on Daioujou Black Label, instead allowed Strikers 1945 to consume my life for the past several days. Are Psikyo games usually considered harder than CAVE games? Because the combination of fast bullets, big hitboxes, and randomized stages really makes it hard to feel like I'm making consistent progress compared to other shmups. Either way I just want this game out of the way so I can have at least one Psikyo 1-ALL under my belt.

Just depends what you are used to. Psikyo hit boxes aren't huge but compared to cave they are bigger yes. I much prefer the bigger faster bullets of psikyo to the million small slow cave style patterns but to each their own. Psikyo games, or at least the bullet patters for the bosses need memorization, where some cave stuff in the beginning is slow enough to dodge on reflex if playing for only survival

Keep at it !

[Shepardus]

Was gonna focus on Daioujou Black Label, instead allowed Strikers 1945 to consume my life for the past several days. Are Psikyo games usually considered harder than CAVE games? Because the combination of fast bullets, big hitboxes, and randomized stages really makes it hard to feel like I'm making consistent progress compared to other shmups. Either way I just want this game out of the way so I can have at least one Psikyo 1-ALL under my belt.

The Japanese wiki rates them about on par with typical 2-loop CAVE games (both the 2-ALL ratings and the 1-ALL ratings are in similar ranges), though as Strikers1945guy said, and you've probably realized by now, they're difficult for very different reasons so it really depends on what you're used to. I'm no expert at either style but my impression is that the fast bullets in Psikyo games tend to enforce stricter memorization (as in, you'll die faster and with less warning or time to improvise/bomb if you mess up), but the games are also much shorter than any CAVE game so the memorization isn't as bad as you might think. Ultimately both require pretty heavy memorization to do well but I think the difference lies in what happens when you stray off your route, especially during boss battles.

What ship have you been using in Strikers 1945? Character/ship selection can affect difficulty and playstyle quite drastically in Psikyo games, so you should experiment to see which one suits you the best. I think Bf-109 is the most popular but the P-51 (I think that's what it was called; the one with the bullet-cancelling charge attack) is really useful for cheesing through many boss patterns.

It's probably also worth noting that the later Psikyo games (which does not include the first Strikers 1945, but does include the second) have the same stage order RNG for the first credit each time you boot up the game, effectively acting as a "default" stage order. It's easier to learn the game this way, though if you come across the game in an arcade you probably won't have this luxury. Either way, if you can consistently get past the first few stages the later stages are always in a fixed order.

I'm playing a bit of space bomber; despite how goofy and... well... bootleggy it looks, it's pretty fun, and both the scoring and weapon systems are pretty satisfying, whether you're blowing up a big group of enemies for a point bonus, or having a bunch of captured enemies point blank a boss for you.

I gave Space Bomber a try too. You can definitely see elements of Psikyo's style in it but it plays very differently from Strikers, Gunbird, etc. and is actually quite fun, at least if you're trying to score. I'd be interested in seeing what you have to say in an ST - if you can't think of where to start, just going over the basic mechanics, character differences, and general tactics is a good place to start, then from there you can talk about stage-specific strategies.

Also I usually set my dipswitch settings to Japanese but I think I'm going to leave it in English for this one.

[Harpuia]

The Japanese wiki rates them about on par with typical 2-loop CAVE games (both the 2-ALL ratings and the 1-ALL ratings are in similar ranges), though as Strikers1945guy said, and you've probably realized by now, they're difficult for very different reasons so it really depends on what you're used to. I'm no expert at either style but my impression is that the fast bullets in Psikyo games tend to enforce stricter memorization (as in, you'll die faster and with less warning or time to improvise/bomb if you mess up), but the games are also much shorter than any CAVE game so the memorization isn't as bad as you might think. Ultimately both require pretty heavy memorization to do well but I think the difference lies in what happens when you stray off your route, especially during boss battles.

Yeah, the suddenness of death compared to CAVE games is definitely what throws me off. Save-state practice seems to help but I still have trouble performing consistently well enough to get to the last few stages with enough resources.

What ship have you been using in Strikers 1945? Character/ship selection can affect difficulty and playstyle quite drastically in Psikyo games, so you should experiment to see which one suits you the best. I think Bf-109 is the most popular but the P-51 (I think that's what it was called; the one with the bullet-cancelling charge attack) is really useful for cheesing through many boss patterns.

I've been swapping between the P-38 and BF-109, mainly favoring the P-38 for it's strong main shot and bomb attack. I'll probably give the P-51 more of a chance if it's charge shot is really that useful. I also like the Shinden for it's speed and it's bomb that pretty much deletes boss forms, but I find the charge shot to be a bit useless.

[Aquas]

Assault. Pretty close to 1cc now, which is kind of crazy to me based off of what I thought at the onset. Total boner for this game. A masterpiece of Arcade gaming IMO.

[Zaarock]

Started playing Ibara a few days ago, hooked on it. Nearing 5mil but rarely make it through stage 3. Shooting for a letter score at least?

[Jonst]

Still improving my akai katana scores... Mainly because I'm to lazy to boot up anything else!

[Mills]

Played one full session of Strikers 1945 after approx 10yr absence. 2nd loop is proving to be a nightmare when you are losing fighter lives in quick succession but I think with a little time I could top the western record if I can master my positional play on key high-scoring stages like triggering the bonus train. Would be nice if I could top my 1.9million score.

[iSanada]

Playing ESPgaluda as my main game, with touhou 11 for practice and some hitogata happa, as well as mushihimesama recently because i just bought it to support the steam release, lots of fun

[Squire Grooktook]

I've been playing mostly Mars Matrix and Darius Bust Chronicle Saviors lately. Working on learning some basic chains and the first half of the game in MM, trying to clear most of Arcade Ex mode in the latter.

Both games are so rad. I love the feel of full chaining the first stage in MM. It's so rare that I get so excited for an early game event.

[LordHypnos]

^Yes, Mars Matrix stage 1 does a really good job of being very rewarding to chain, but also easy enough to not be super intimidating. Always glad to see someone else playing it. it's really a tremendously good stage 1.

On topic, I was going to play some more Under Defeat, but then got inspired and started chipping again. Soon, though. Earlier this week I was playing.

[Stevens]

Mars Matrix strangely enough.

Finally made it back to stage 6. Score/XP was nothing to write home about, but at least I'm not total shit at it.

However I think I finally have the stage 4 bosses number. That would go a long way for me as far as clearing it again.

[LordHypnos]

Mars Matrix strangely enough.

Finally made it back to stage 6. Score/XP was nothing to write home about, but at least I'm not total shit at it.

However I think I finally have the stage 4 bosses number. That would go a long way for me as far as clearing it again.

I feel this way about the stage 5 boss. lol. I guess there must be a way to do it better than I do now, because I used to be more consistent with it, but it just seems so RNG and too fast to really react to.

[Zaarock]

Ibara. Tried to practice super high rank Stage 6 to be able to milk final boss like WR route, this is the harder than any STG I've played. (whereas 'normal' rank is quite easy) YGW demonstrating how to break game balance aaa

[Perikles]

I lucidly don't know what's good for my health since I'm playing both Gradius III and a bit of Raiden II.

While either game is tough, I find it interesting how they differ in their specific elaboration of said complicacy. Gradius III eases the player in, I was almost shocked how straightforward and simple the first few stages are. I love how the game rewards smart option placement starting with stage 2, it's just a joy to fiddle around with those little helpers, laying waste on everything. Sure, there are some memorization-heavy moments (like the correct positioning against the third boss), but nothing to be overly worried about. Small mistakes can lead to disasters, of course, but I can't be mad because of that, wouldn't want it to be any other way. It starts to get aggravating with the cube rush and particularly those freaking cell walls before the "fight" with Bacterion. While the former is an endless exercise in patience, luck and some swift movements, I'm at least feeling like I'm improving a little. The latter however... Suffice it to say that I haven't experienced such happy feelings in quite some time while playing a video game. The hitbox from those floating brains is simply colossal, forcing you to poke the Vic's nose into the goo just a tiny bit - not too much, though, else the scrolling will catch up to you. If you try to controlledly shoot the walls you might end up in a situation where there is visibly a little gap, yet you still die somehow. If you shoot too fast and chip away some of the stuff from the next wall it might regenerate a huge chunk later during the worst possible moment. And that final part where you have to stay in between two dyads of those festering tumors while those turrets shoot at you... Jesus Christ! At least the escape sequence is not nearly as bad as I remembered.

Raiden II on the other hand doesn't waste any time. It's definitely much harder than Gradius III as far as brutish difficulty is concerned. Even stage 2 will murder you over and over and over again if you don't know the location of every little tank and sniper in advance. Just tapping, sweeping and improvised dodging on the spot which will get you through most of the first Raiden will not suffice at all. I have the feeling that it'll take me much longer to clear this one compared to Gradius III, but it's kinda refreshing to get wiped out by honest, ruthless bullets. Will see how much time I invest in this one for now, but I'm greatly enjoying myself despite all the suckage.

Will probably play easier games on the sideline as to avoid another burnout on Gradius III. That'd be irremissible.

[Stevens]

I still think that ZG2 is an amazing game. I just wish it had a practice mode or Gunbird 2 style debug menu.

Playing on difficulty 4 made learning the stages a bit more manageable. Which ship you using?

Today I played some UD though. I feel like for a game that is basically a memorizer, the enemies can be pretty damn unpredictable (especially the blue fucks and the EMP cannons in 1-4 ) That being said, I did make a little progress, but I do think I need to start watching some stage videos again to see if I can get some ideas for strategies from them.

Where those blue fucks appear is RNG. When I was refining my path in stage 4 for more points I tried to see if there was a relationship between where your ship is and where they appear. There isn't.

Same with the medium tanks - they appear in the same spots, but which one appears is random. What the EMP's fire seems to be random too, but they seem to prefer bursts if your point blank when they fire.

Playing the same three games you are:D Oh - Gunbird 2 is on its way!

[Bananamatic]

sdoj

[Nameschonvergeben]

IN

[OmKol]

Radiant Silvergun Saturn Mode

[LordHypnos]

Playing on difficulty 4 made learning the stages a bit more manageable. Which ship you using?

Comanche, of course! Most fun ship. Probably not the easiest though
Perhaps next time I'll lower the difficulty to 4 for a bit.

Where those blue fucks appear is RNG. When I was refining my path in stage 4 for more points I tried to see if there was a relationship between where your ship is and where they appear. There isn't.

Same with the medium tanks - they appear in the same spots, but which one appears is random. What the EMP's fire seems to be random too, but they seem to prefer bursts if your point blank when they fire.

This is what I was afraid of Thanks for the tip on the emp cannons, though, that could be helpful.

Playing the same three games you are:D Oh - Gunbird 2 is on its way!

Hahaha, nice. Gunbird 2 is definitely one of my faves, but I will warn you that the DC port has a few annoying traits.

For one thing, the only screen mode that doesn't suck is tate. With the yoko modes you get to choose between wobble vision (you can only see part of the screen at a time, and can scroll it by moving up and down), or the rebalanced vertizontal mode which is not very good, or at least that was my impression. Bullets too fast for a vertizontal, I think

I suppose you could use the hori mode (tate with rotated controls), but that felt super wrong to me, so you pretty much have to tate it. Additionally, while you can trick it to boot into VGA, you get awful slowdown if you do, so you should probably make sure to have a tate-able screen with S-Video input (or composhite, which is how I used to do it). On the plus side, it is actually 240p from what I could tell (unlike Mars Matrix or Giga Wing which can either run 480i or 480p), so it looks pretty nice in lo-res.

On the plus side, it has Morrigan from Darkstalkers as a secret character who I really miss when playing it in MAME, because I much prefer her style, and her melee attack is super strong and wide in spite of not recharging as fast as Marion.

Also worth mentioning that the rank change between different stage placements is really steep compared to Zero Gunner 2.

[Stevens]

Comanche, of course! Most fun ship. Probably not the easiest though
Perhaps next time I'll lower the difficulty to 4 for a bit.

I started with the Hokum, then warmed up to the Comanche but had a lot of trouble with cranes on stage 5. I finally started using the Apache since it allowed me to roll over them with its special attack.

Thing is with the Apache you really have to know where you're going to use its special since it isn't exactly spamable based on how long it takes to charge. I usually start on the 1-3 boss..

The thing I find really interesting with ZG 2 is that you don't have a bomb:D

For one thing, the only screen mode that doesn't suck is tate. With the yoko modes you get to choose between wobble vision (you can only see part of the screen at a time, and can scroll it by moving up and down), or the rebalanced vertizontal mode which is not very good, or at least that was my impression. Bullets too fast for a vertizontal, I think

Hmm..Strikers on the PS 1 has the same screen options - I know exactly what you're talking about! It works pretty well there. I prefer the vertizontal mode oddly enough.

I suppose you could use the hori mode (tate with rotated controls), but that felt super wrong to me, so you pretty much have to tate it. Additionally, while you can trick it to boot into VGA, you get awful slowdown if you do, so you should probably make sure to have a tate-able screen with S-Video input (or composhite, which is how I used to do it). On the plus side, it is actually 240p from what I could tell (unlike Mars Matrix or Giga Wing which can either run 480i or 480p), so it looks pretty nice in lo-res.

Back in September I garbage picked a 24 inch Aiwa flat tube with S Video. At least I'm covered on that front, not sure if I want to tate it though. I'll have to do some research - EDIT - The interwebs says its ok as long as I do a few things. I'll probably try it at some point.

I have to admit - as good as my sprite based DC games looked in VGA with a scanliner they look even better on the CRT. Thanks for the info!

[SMC]

Futari maniac

[LordHypnos]

I started with the Hokum, then warmed up to the Comanche but had a lot of trouble with cranes on stage 5. I finally started using the Apache since it allowed me to roll over them with its special attack.

Thing is with the Apache you really have to know where you're going to use its special since it isn't exactly spamable based on how long it takes to charge. I usually start on the 1-3 boss..

Yeah, that sounds very Psikyo. Maybe I'll give the Apache another chance. Well, I should really just focus on Under Defeat until I get through it But then I might end up getting more into ZG2. It's definitely one of my favorite games that I've played so far.

Hmm..Strikers on the PS 1 has the same screen options - I know exactly what you're talking about! It works pretty well there. I prefer the vertizontal mode oddly enough.

Well, maybe it's better than I remember it. I'd guess GB2 is a little harder than strikers, though, as it's one of Psikyo's hardest (so I've heard) even just the 1-ALL, so that might end up making a difference. Also possible that it's rebalanced better in the PS Strikers

Back in September I garbage picked a 24 inch Aiwa flat tube with S Video. At least I'm covered on that front, not sure if I want to tate it though. I'll have to do some research - EDIT - The interwebs says its ok as long as I do a few things. I'll probably try it at some point.

Nice! The garbage is where I got my PC CRT monitor that I use for everything, though it's a little overly dark, so I might want to replace it sometime. I tate it, and I don't know if it's bad for it or not, but considering that it's nearing the end of its usable life anyway probably, and it was free I'm not going to worry about it.