Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[copy-paster]

examples for Konami shmups that are harder in the West?

Xexex overseas version.

[Aggro Sky]

To post about the original topic, I am playing HyperZone on the SNES. That qualifies as a SHMUP right?

[EmperorIng]

Practicing Soukyugurentai. Finally made it to the final boss on a single credit and on a good run can no-miss up to stage 1-5. The last two levels are extremely hard though, and the panning camera seems to contain a penchant for making bullets harder to dodge than they need to be (see: Stage 3 boss, DESCENTER*). I sooo want to clear this game (and at least see the second loop), and have tried on-and-off for years... Often times, watching replays, it looks as if the strategy for the quick-and-easy clear is to hoard bombs and well, BOMBS AWAY.

*Love the Engrish boss names the Saturn original gives. All of them are so melodramatic... FULL WING BOMBER CRAFT "GAMBITER"... JUMBO AIR ATTACK VEHICLE "DESCENTER"... VICTIMIZER, PERILDAWN... all so appropriately... Raizing.

[Vludi]

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?

Nemesis looks easier at first because of the recoveries, but the rank goes crazy much earlier than in Gradius, with more aggressive enemies, faster bullets and more enemy spawn from hatchers. This is very noticeable on the first level lasers before the core, and then the core itself. You are right about Gradius III, guess they had some mercy for that one.

So far I only know about those and Xexex, gonna have to try the other shooters to see if there are differences, but in other genres it wasn't rare that the Japan version was much easier (Haunted Castle, GI Joe, all their beat 'em ups etc)

[TMallu]

Arcade Archives SALAMANDER on PS4.

[OmKol]

Touhou 14.3. I did 10-4 no item clear. It was so surprisingly for me I even forgot to save replay but at least I have a livestream recording.

[trap15]

Gunnail, the satisfaction of seeing the huge x100 is so fuckin' good. Easily a top 10 game for me.

[Gamer683441]

Took a shooter break for a bit but just started playing Gaiares on the Genny and got a bit past the middle of stage 3. So far its the furthest I've gotten. Hard as nails, but I'm loving each bit of progress I make.

[Squire Grooktook]

Aside from continued Biometal and Garegga credits, I've been putting some time into Tatsujin.

Mostly was inspired to play it after reading Perikles commentary where he notes that high speed is not only beneficial to score, but also the most advantageous way to play. This is a big plus to me. I love fast movement, but only when it's implemented organically and is genuinely effective against the games challenges, rather than being simply forced and making easier challenges harder due to loss of precision (which feels awful to me).

The game does this fairly well. There's lots of opportunities to macro, even as the game frequently works to keep some stray bullets close to you. Patterns have a simple elegance to them, mostly combinations of spreads, rings, and clusters of (poorly) aimed shots that work together with the busy movement of enemies and the chunky player hitbox to keep you alert and on the edge at all times. It's a good game. There also seems to be a little more emphasis on actual dodging, as opposed to the characteristic Toaplan point blank tank sniper spacing games.

Not without flaws of course. Some sections go on a bit too long, there's a bit of dead air here and there, and the difficulty can fluctuate between satisfyingly nervy and "just there". I also think the molasses slow power up rate is horrendous even by the standards of typical checkpoint stuff. Regardless, the severity of these issues is minor compared to how noticeable they are in other games. I'm just nitpicking as I always do.

Fun stuff. Will spend more time with this.

[Perikles]

I love fast movement, but only when it's implemented organically and is genuinely effective against the games challenges, rather than being simply forced and making easier challenges harder due to loss of precision (which feels awful to me).

Hellfire and Slap Fight are two more Toaplan games that seem to be designed around playing with maximum speed (and Tatsujin Ou). It can be a wee bit tricky in Hellfire since you might crash into obstacles at first, it's really intuitive after a little while, though. Slap Fight is all about blazing across the entire screen, trying to eliminate small tanks everywhere while misleading several fast clouds of bullets. Higher loops get outright frantic (the MD port has a highly durable shield that makes things considerably easier, loops 6-8 of the console-exclusive Special mode are still pretty challenging in spite of the shield), you would probably enjoy it.

My favourite high speed shmup is Salamander 2, of course. The second loop is simply outstanding, the combination of random (it might not be actually random, but no one seems to know how it works exactly, at least) power-up distribution, excessive enemy aggression (including mean suicide bullets) and terrain demands the utmost concentration. Sometimes you can use the entire screen to dodge patterns altogether, occasionally you have to be really careful to not collide into the walls of a narrow shaft, oftentimes you have to think quick how you want to react to this particular swarm of suicide bullets. Beautiful.

On the obscurer side of things, Cyber Core is also a game where you want to be extremely fast. Pretty unbalanced game overall (the last stage is ten times harder than everything before it; power-ups are definitely completely random in this one), yet still a lot of fun. It's obviously inspired by Dragon Spirit/Saber and although it lacks the polish of those it's one of the better "console" shooters for the HuCard (can't comment on the X68000 version). Neat insectoid theme, too!

[Gamer683441]

Hey perikles. being that you know a bunch about 16-bit shooters, why don't you do a comprehensive youtube video of the subject. Also as a side note, sprechen sie Deutsch, nicht war?

[atheistgod1999]

Turns out my PC can run Dodonpachi in MAME without a hiccup. Guess I should play that. I have a PS3 fightstick I'm using.

[BIL]

I'm so proud of you （＾ω´ ）

[Shepardus]

Nice! Is this the first "bullet hell" game you've played? If you haven't done so already, do yourself a favor and go to the service menu (in MAME, hold F2 after starting the game) and turn on C button auto fire, which will allow you to hold the C button in place of tapping A.

[copy-paster]

turn on C button auto fire, which will allow you to hold the C button in place of tapping A.

I don't need autofire; I can actually button-mash faster than the highest setting on the NES Advantage without tiring out my thumb.

[trap15]

DDP's C button behaves differently from mashing A. Also mashing A is no better than just tapping at a decent rate in DDP.

[davyK]

Played some Pink Sweets over the weekend (360). Have owned it for some time for but have tended to play Muchi Muchi Pork as I was put off by the reported difficulty and mountainous rank , but , enjoying it so far. Playing it on v1.01 and I've also toyed with arrange mode which is very enjoyable too.

[Shoryukev]

I'm currently playing Thunder Force III on my Sega Genesis. I'm a total n00b when it comes to shmups, but holy cow this game has the fun factor cranked up to 10!

[chempop]

Taking a break from Guwange and Dogyuun, still can't clear either. Reached the final pattern in Guwange a few dozen times now, argh, maybe the 360 port is missing slowdown there Can get to stage 9 boss in Dogyuun, so pretty close, but still no dice.

Popped in Ibara and DDP, games I can just play casually and have fun with. Cleared Ibara with all 8 ship types playing for mostly survival (an A.5 million tops, but mostly 6-9mill range). DDP I've never been great with A-L, and I still can't chain for shit, but I did make it to 2-4 boss again (previous times had been with C-S), tried to freeze the boss but I still haven't figured out that trick.

Hooked up my genesis for the first tie in ages, maybe play some Wings of Wor and Thunderforce 3.

I'm currently playing Thunder Force III on my Sega Genesis. I'm a total n00b when it comes to shmups, but holy cow this game has the fun factor cranked up to 10!

Fun Factor only goes up to 5 bro.

[Shoryukev]

Fun Factor only goes up to 5 bro.

Like I said, I'm a n00b when it comes to shmups LOL. Seeing that picture brings back a lot of memories!

[wgogh]

Fun Factor only goes up to 5 bro.

Like I said, I'm a n00b when it comes to shmups LOL. Seeing that picture brings back a lot of memories!

I've came to this forum more to learn, since I still have little to share. So I'm kind of new in shmups as well (starting only this year). There's a thread called "Full Extent of The Jam" that helped me to understand many aspects, also, articles gave me knowledge about the titles and companies.
So far, I've made some small achievements and tried many games. Also, playing with a keyboard (Prometheus style). I can say for sure that it became one of my favorite genres

[ryu]

I'm surprised that Thunder Force IV has rank. Is it the only game in the series with that mechanic? I've played all the other games except the first one, and the way I remember it it's not a thing in this series. Maybe I'm remembering wrong though.

[pegboy]

I haven't been playing much but I'm starting to get into Strikers 1945 III. I have to say that this is the best game in the series, they've refined everything to perfection. I'm also not really sure how this is considered easier than part II, it seems much harder to me but I guess that could just be a lack of familiarity compared to part II.

[Perikles]

It took longer than several clears, but I finally managed to beat Gokujou Parodius' Special Stage for the first time (at full rank)! While this doesn't mean anything yet (I need to get much more consistent before considering doing full runs) I'm still pleased that I found a way. There are so many pitfalls everywhere (you have to kill the very first enemies in a certain rhythm so that the power-up capsules don't overlap in a bad pattern; several capsules in the beginning are roulette capsules; bells will return a suicide bullet if you destroy them...), it's quite harrowing. I'll probably turn this game into a longer project so that I can make sure to get a result I'm satisfied with. Several parts need much work, and I haven't even looked into purple bell juggling as of now. I can say with certainty, however, that there's no realistic way for me to beat the Special Stage with auto, one speed-up is simply not enough to dodge all the stuff the game throws at you. Not being able to store away bells is a colossal detriment as well.

[null1024]

Still playing RayForce.

Ass fucking damnit, I'm going nowhere and it's annoying -- I've actually memorized huge swaths of the first half of the game at this point, I just gotta stop getting hit in the stupidest ways.

[Squire Grooktook]

Rayforce is a perfectly brutal game. Just easy enough to feel palatable to the average shmup veteran, just sadistic enough to make sure every victory is a struggle.

Don't underestimate it.

[copy-paster]

Well I haven't really got much enjoying of Rayforce tbh, will boot up the game again someday.

Still playing Thunder Dragon 2, stage 5 and 7 is the section I practiced more because too many enemies came form behind.

[Leandro]

Just bought Mushihimesama and Deathsmiles on Steam shmups sale... Loved both games, running smooth as butter and nice sound. I'm loving it

[G3n3raL86]

I got from the Steam Sales Deathsmiles, ESCHATOS and Crimzon Clover: World Ignition.

I tried Deathsmiles and i really liked it, but I wanted to play ESCHATOS, since the demo hooked me badly and i have to say that it's one of the best shmups i've ever played!

I'll give Crimzon clover a try at a later time.

[Alex25]

Dragon Blaze