Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[Jonst]

^ nowhere near. I can't even make stage 5 anymore...

Thanks man. I'm not sure whether to carry on or move on yet. I suspect I'm just being really lazy/half-arsed.

[atheistgod1999]

So I just started playing BioMetal (on hard mode of course) now that I've finished all the other games I was playing and got my manual in the mail. I think it's pretty cool. I'm tired, but I was able to get up to the second stage boss without dying. I keep my vulcan bullets and avoid getting the laser and wide powerups. I get the homing missiles. I'll play more tomorrow.

[Harpuia]

I've played around with Biometal a little and I couldn't really get into it. The weapons all feel weak, and I find the shield mechanic boring because you can keep it on for such a long time compared to a game like mars matrix, where you have to pick out and plan the right time to use the reflector. I've only gotten up to the second stage though, so maybe it picks up, but I didn't really get a good first impression of it.

[BIL]

I've only gotten up to the second stage though

There's your problem. st3 and everything after will address your issues with the shield, comprehensively. It's mere luxury before then. The weapons are generally a tad weak, but they're meant to complement the huge destructive potential of the shield.

It's a marvelously violent example of a guard mechanic shooter once you're using the shield as a weapon first, refuge second. Think Captain America busting up Nazis. ;3

[Despatche]

If you want to play the worst versions of those games im certainly not going to stop you. To me its a waste of time when the real versions are easily playable in mame. Most of those ports shouldnt be allowed on here for scoring purposes though.

I already explained the situation well enough in the other thread, and would like to add the following: the Thunder Force Gold Packs are specifically not supposed to be accurate. No, I don't know why Thunder Force AC counterstops now. It sounds like a bug. It's also an exception.

Maybe you need to put your "arcade perfect" elitism (such anger simply because something's changed, regardless of the implications... elitism is all it possibly could be) aside for a second and seriously consider each change? I don't really want to track a million slightly different versions of the game either, but banning them is going to do no good.

It's a shame everyone worships that silly DDP writeup, mostly because it's got PROM's name on it. He also completely dismisses every change simply by virtue of being different, but worst of all he's talking about DDP, an already somewhat busted game. I guess it's ever so slightly different because he happens to actually be good at the game, but... not really.

If I were some great shmups player, I'd still be pretty foolish for saying such things. DDP is nowhere near perfect; that's why DOJ exists. It's legitimately heartbreaking when I realized that the people who are supposed to be good at these games, the people I looked up to, are apparently less likely to understand just what they're doing, and then I felt like I had to "make up" for them... but I can't, I fundamentally suck at life as well as playing some video game. Of course, even though it's really basic research half the time and I'd be saying the exact same things no matter my skill level, they somehow have less meaning simply because I can't get 70% of the world record or whatever, even when I wouldn't be talking about a game I'm good at. God damn it.

[Bananamatic]

y u mad tho

[Squire Grooktook]

1cc'd Abadox today.

Alright game. I kinda file it in the same folder as Thunder Cross, in that there's not a ton particularly memorable about it, and the experience is mostly soured by the final stage being frustratingly difficult due to poor design, after an otherwise breezy game.

The final stage is almost really fun, sadly. Its got some vicious homing enemies who'll chase you around at high speed. Could have been really manic and enjoyable, and at points it is. Problem is, they spawn in really cheap places that you have to memorize to have a non-luck based chance. At the same time, there's no telegraphed rng or anything to keep you on your toes. So basically, you need to not have it memorized to get that chasy action, at which point its incredibly unfair and annoying. Once you memorize it, it becomes "fair", but you don' get any chasy action, and instead you just hug walls and refrain from shooting certain enemies to avoid spawning the homing suicide bullets. It's a lose/lose and a classic example of squandered level design.

Also the fact that enemy collisions ignore your shields is kinda really dumb. Especially in the last stage where the flame enemies are likely to spawn on top of you if your in the wrong spot.

Aside from that annoying last stage, the rest of the game is okay. Fairly solid environmental hazard based shooting, but fairly sterile with not a lot going on. No real clever rng dodging, execution is your only enemy. Bosses are not particularly irritating, but also banal in their lack of any kind of design.

I give it a 6/10, 7/10 if generous. I felt nice at the end for saving the girl from being a horrible medusa statue decorating a flesh monster forever.

[WelshMegalodon]

Having had a chance to play Super Darius, II, Gaiden, and G, I find myself most partial to the original, despite G coming across as the more interesting game. Must be the music...

It's probably not fair to blame blocky FX-1B graphics for making everything hard to see, but I do get that impression with G. And I really should have listened to everyone here when they brought up slowdown on the PS1 - coupled with the occasional absence of music, it somehow makes the game even weirder.

[Gamer683441]

Just picked up Thunder Force 3 a week ago so been playing that and some Darius Gaiden. I am going to take a shmup break though , as Im feeling burned out on them now.

[BrianC]

I give it a 6/10, 7/10 if generous. I felt nice at the end for saving the girl from being a horrible medusa statue decorating a flesh monster forever.

Are you playing the NES or FC version? The girl has a lot more clothing in the NES version.

[wgogh]

Battle Bakraid.

Still managing to lose all lives in the last stage. I found a thread about the scoring mechanics, wich was useful, but I still cant reproduce everything there.
I've already planned a different strategy and choose a OPTION formation for each stage. With a little research, I discovery that bombing increases the rank. Weird.
Anyway, I'm really diggin

[ryu]

Either my shmupping skills have deteriorated beyond believe or Thunderforce IV is incredibly overrated.

Played it a few hours some months back, and now tried it again on a way bigger monitor. Thought that might get me into the mood, but my experience was the exact same shitfest it was when I played it a while ago. Sub bosses and bosses are damage sponges that take forever to shoot down and the whole game feels kind of crammy. Like enemies always pop up right around me to instantly fly into me or snipe me in the face.

I just can't get warm with this one at all.

[BIL]

TFIV is a bit touchy at first - not only are enemies quick and surroundings often tight, but the hitbox is basically the whole ship. Not much wriggle room. As far as enemy HP, though, make sure your weapons are producing a red hitspark. If it's blue you're not actually hitting anything vulnerable - Gargoyle (Strite boss)'s recessed weak point is infamously hard to hit, particularly with Blade's large projectiles. (the red/blue spark thing applies to at least TFIII and Elemental Master, too).

Like in a lot of shooters, both issues should recede with a bit of familiarity - getting killed less often means more time with bigger guns, and more dead enemies. There's definitely an initial entry barrier to TFIV despite it being far from the absolute hardest game in the long run.

[Squire Grooktook]

I give it a 6/10, 7/10 if generous. I felt nice at the end for saving the girl from being a horrible medusa statue decorating a flesh monster forever.

Are you playing the NES or FC version? The girl has a lot more clothing in the NES version.

NES version yeah. I know about the censorship, but I generally only get JP roms if there's some genuine gameplay differences.

Working on Battle Garegga and Biometal hard 1lc right now mostly.

[ryu]

As far as enemy HP, though, make sure your weapons are producing a red hitspark. If it's blue you're not actually hitting anything vulnerable.

Thanks for the tip. I'll make sure to pay attention to it next time I get to play.

Technical issues prevented me from doing so yesterday.

[BrianC]

NES version yeah. I know about the censorship, but I generally only get JP roms if there's some genuine gameplay differences.

I'm mostly the same way with games, though if the games are similar or the same between regions, I usually go for the cheaper version. I did get Highway Star for the different 3D (though I don't have the Famicom 3D glasses) and double dipped on Rolling Thunder (which is very similar, but has much better music for the JP version), though. I also have Duck Hunt FC since it came with the gun (I just use the NES to FC adapter to play the other NES lightgun games on FC, which, in most cases, are either identical to the FC or exclusive to the US).

I have been playing 3D Fantasy Zone lately. A deceptively hard game, despite the cute graphics and I like it that way!

[copy-paster]

And I really should have listened to everyone here when they brought up slowdown on the PS1 - coupled with the occasional absence of music, it somehow makes the game even weirder.

Regarding of that, you may be interested about my post that was posted on the emulation thread.

[WelshMegalodon]

Oh yes, I saw that. Unfortunately, I left plugin hell for Mednafen long ago, and in any case, one ought to remember how G-Darius ran on a PS1, right down to the slowdown. Making an effort to replicate both the strengths and weaknesses of a console is what will help preserve it in the long run. Thanks, though.

[copy-paster]

Played the first four stage of Thunder Dragon 2, Amazing.

The graphics looks dated for a 1993 game but the gameplay is smooth and fast, the music is awesome especially the stage 2 tune. Would play this game more with 20hz autofire.

[Shepardus]

If you play on the P2 side you have built-in 60Hz autofire and a faster ship, albeit with a narrower shot.

[trap15]

Are you blind or just not looking? The graphics are incredibly detailed and well polished, definitely on par at least for 93.

[copy-paster]

If you play on the P2 side you have built-in 60Hz autofire and a faster ship, albeit with a narrower shot.

Thanks for the info! Will try it soon.

Are you blind or just not looking? The graphics are incredibly detailed and well polished, definitely on par at least for 93.

The graphics is detailed of course, imo it's fitting for a 88-92's game, But that doesn't matter!

[Xyga]

Are you blind or just not looking? The graphics are incredibly detailed and well polished, definitely on par at least for 93.

The graphics is detailed of course, imo it's fitting for a 88-92's game, But that doesn't matter!

NMK's choice of tones put some of their games like the two TD and GunNail in the "looking particularily atrocious when upscaled and filtered on flat panels".
Kind of like the prerendered stuff.

EDIT: btw I think Gun & Frontier deserves to be in that category too. I've compared MAME integer/lcd to Saturn/crt once, it was night and day.
Games with graphics/tones like the Toaplan/1st gen Cave for instance are much, much easier to upscale and filter without killing the style too much.

[The Armchair General]

Still playing Donpachi. I've put in a handful of type B scoring credits. Last night I managed to get a run with a score of 23.2 mil that died on 2-5. So close to my goal of 23.5 mil! ;_;

[Perikles]

I've been playing a small handful of fixed shooters lately and I'm also always interested in the portfolio of Konami games, so I innocently tried out Battlantis. I can honestly say that this - for me & so far - is the hardest classic shmup out there. Even the second stage requires near-perfect aim and movement, and the sixth stage (I made a savestate at the beginning at each stage to even get that far - "far" in this context means about five minutes into the game if you were able to beat the previous stages without dying) took me forever. About everything in this game works against you: there are swarms of enemies out there, some of them extremely fast, many plenty resistive, others fly in erratic patterns. If just one enemy manages to climb the castle walls you're automatically dead. There are battlements in every stage (just like the blocks in Space Invaders) which pretty much only block your sight and are highly resilient. Every stage has a deadly boss, the guy in the sixth stage throws boomerangs that come back even after they've gone off-screen, covering absurd amount of space in the process. Your own dude is slow as hell, but has a humongous hitbox as compensation. You can't rely on auto-fire since you shoot in bursts and if you waste even one shot at times it's all over. You can't exactly move and shoot at the same time, there's an ever-so-slight delay after shooting. There are enemies in the background that carry around arks which drop power-ups that are essential, but it's random whether they spawn on the left or the right - if one of those knight enemies is in your line of sight and tanks the hits you won't be able to get the power-up and die. If you die you have to start a stage all over again.

What a ridiculous game. It apparently even consists of two loops. I highly recommend just checking it out for five or ten minutes, that will be more than enough to see how vile it is.

[pegboy]

I just played it. Credit fed (no savestates) and made it to the boomerang guy before getting a game over and it wouldn't let me continue anymore. How many stages are there?

[Perikles]

16 per loop. I'm also feeling a bit bad about myself that you made it to stage 6 this quickly, but I suppose this sub-genre was never my forte. Any chance you might 2-ALL it?

[Vludi]

Are there regional differences? Konami games from that era tend to be easier on the japanese version.

[pegboy]

16 per loop. I'm also feeling a bit bad about myself that you made it to stage 6 this quickly, but I suppose this sub-genre was never my forte. Any chance you might 2-ALL it?

I made it to stage 6 but that was with using like 10 continues or however many it gives you lol. I do agree that the game is cheap as hell, stage 2 is a massive step up from 1.i cant imagine devoting the kind of time it would require to clear the first loop let alone 2 haha.

[Perikles]

Are there regional differences? Konami games from that era tend to be easier on the japanese version.

I've only tested the Japanese version; the Japanese wiki seems to think a 1-ALL of the World version is harder, no such remark for a 2-ALL. Do you have some examples for Konami shmups that are harder in the West? I know they tinkered with quite a few other Konami arcade games to turn them into quarter-munchers in the West, but in the shmup realm they sometimes even did the opposite. Recoveries in Nemesis are easier than in Gradius and even the Western version of Gradius III lets you keep a handful of power-ups after a death although most checkpoints are still impossible. The US (?) version of Thunder Cross is vastly different than the original version, but what else is there?

I do agree that the game is cheap as hell, stage 2 is a massive step up from 1.

There are those games where you know several seconds in advance that you're dead, but Battlantis really takes it to another extreme. Miss the ark in a stage and you're done for! Fail to kill one gargoyle and prepare to die! Be on the wrong side of the screen when those running barbarians appear and get ready to be slaughtered!