Being a person of limited shmupping skills i recently decided to pick up a megadrive and some old school shmups to see if playing some earlier examples may aid in my practise. well immediate results! although i know it's far from the most difficult of megadrive horis, i last night 1cc'd arrow flash and very nearly one lifed the git. very satisfying although the last boss was a right pushover even considering i had no powerups at all. i'll probably run through it a few more times to go for a one life but i'm pretty much done with it now.
what i want is a kind of difficulty rating of some megadrive shmups of a similar or slightly higher difficulty level to have a blast on. i also own thunder force 4 which i've played a bit of but it certainly punishes at times. i plan on spending some time with this to see what i can do but i'm looking for the next game and suggestions would be appreciated.
i also just wanted to shout about 1ccing something other than shienryu explosion
Sly Cherry Chunks wrote:Gynoug and Bio Hazard Battle are essential.
Quoted for truth.
Thunderforce III is pretty easy, and it's also another must-have. Elemental Master is on a similar level. Zero Wing is a fun shmup that doesn't get difficult until the penultimate stage. (The last two stages and the final boss are rock hard, though.)
I've never played Arrow Flash myself, but if it's as easy as you say it is, I'd recommend Insector X. The MD/Genesis version is not too hard to 1CC, just keep in mind that once you power up all the way, the rank jumps through the roof! From tranquill hori, right to suicide bullets galore.
Fire Shark. It's not super easy but it is very fair and rewarding to play. I haven't cleared the game in one credit yet (it has quite a few stages), but it's pretty easy to just pop in and get pretty far on your first try, and comfortable to play even when you haven't played for a while. The gameplay will keep you coming back for more, too.
We here shall not rest until we have made a drawing-room of your shaft, and if you do not all finally go down to your doom in patent-leather shoes, then you shall not go at all.
Damn, I tried to 1CC Arrow Flash but couldn't. I suck too much, and once I lose that first life and the power ups, my whole game goes straight to Hell. Plus it wasn't all that fun :)
IatneH: seriously all you need to do is 1 life to the final stage and most of the time a loss of life is pure bad luck rather than anything specifically your fault. i died once on the last stage and was left on the final boss with a pea shooter but i still dropped the gimp in a few seconds. dying can really bugger up your game though.
got to the fifth stage on tfIV last night and it was pretty funny. not really concentrating and finding it reasonably managable only to fly bang into the bullet sprays of the first ships... it seemed almost manic! i need to fit a new stick into my controller as it is too sloppy feeling and not up to precise movements as i found out.
^That part can be very disorientating. The 'hyperspace' background makes it very difficult to judge the direction of the enemy bullets, especially when you're moving up and down the screen.
Diabollokus wrote:Yeah definetly recommend gynoug, possibly the most grotesque shmup ever made, stage 5 has to been seen to be believed.
Fire Shark fun as is thunder force 3
Eliminate Down, Gaiares and kyouko tiger will punish you severly.
Stick with tf4 man best shmup on the system.
Agreed with Dliminate Down, Gaiares, and Twin Cobra (Kyouko Tiger), those games are really, really hard! I just got the Japanese import version of Gaiares for cheap and it's not a catwalk by a long shot.
Keep playing and Gaiares won't seem like much; it's nearly all memorization. Kyukyoku Tiger now on the other hand is much more evil and uses the cheap strategy of boring the player enough to make them make stupid mistakes and quit.
Ganelon wrote:Keep playing and Gaiares won't seem like much; it's nearly all memorization. Kyukyoku Tiger now on the other hand is much more evil and uses the cheap strategy of boring the player enough to make them make stupid mistakes and quit.
Put it on hard!
Anything Toaplan. Fire Shark, V-V, Twin Hawk. They're hugely influential so if you want to get better at modern shooters...Wardner is another Toaplan must-have though not a shmup.
Heh, play Raiden DX, Garegga, and DDP in that order, it's like a history lesson...
Yeah, I think Undeadline is really cool. Especially if you like creepy Ghouls-N-Ghosts/Castlevania type games you'll like it.
The difficulty is absolutely insane, but the good thing is that the levels are selectable, so it's not so frustrating. Each level is very unique with a different theme, different enemies, etc.
Best I ever did was clear 3 bosses, I think. All in all there's 6 stages + final stage though, hehehe. ^^
that really makes me want undeadline. i do love to be humiliatingly punished by a game now and then, although i usually just stick in a psikyo shmup on very hard for that...
cheers for the responses i'll be looking out for those and i eventually intend to collect all the megadrive shmups in good condition as a source of pure gaming. the no matter what i choose to play elsewhere i will always have a large pool of 2d fun at my disposal.
and collecting megadrive will stop me from spending all of my money on a saturn and the big titles that follow...
