Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[copy-paster]

I am trying to get somewhere in Life Force, this is the 1st time in many years I have attempted to seriously beat a shooter and so far it is kicking my ass.

Good luck for beat the game, NES Life Force is one of easiest games in the series.

The stage 4 enemies coming up from the bottom were the biggest obstacle to me in clearing Life Force

I don't remember there are enemies coming from the bottom, unless you mention the arcade version.

[Stevens]

Still Esp 2. My scoring is shit, but it's good enough to get both extends by stage 3. I think I can have it on 2 though.

I've been keeping my sessions short of late. Seem to benefit from it.

[OmKol]

Touhou 12 (UFO), Hard. Wow, it really hurts. I guess I would spend a really huge amount of time in practice mode.
Also Steam Hearts on Sega Saturn. It can be a really intense and fun game, but too huge lifebar and too many bombs, almost blind 1CC on Hard. Also too much story lol.

[Kiken]

Was recently working on a 2-loop clear of Super R-Type. Got back to the point where I could no-miss the first loop (set to Normal), but there's so much random bullshit on Hard that the game becomes highly unpredictable (the stage 1 boss can be a right pain in the ass.. along with the stage 4 boss). Furthest I've made it was the stage 2-6 boss (Recycler... that obnoxious 3-pieced asshole). Considering what a fluster-cluck stage 7 is on Normal, I really can't imagine what it's like on Hard with the increased enemy aggression. On Normal, I've only been able to perform a successful stage 7 recovery twice. Strangely, the game does have an extend cap... (seems it maxes at 6 lives... first at 40k, second at 80k, third at 160k and the fourth at 320k).

The game is starting to wear thin, so I'll switch gears to Thunder Spirits for the time being (another half-assed SFC "arcade port").

The lack of Blast Processing™... it stings.

[EmperorIng]

Well, I guess you and Perikles can swap stories about clearing horrendous SFC shmups, though.

===

Something not horrendous: Radiant Silvergun. Picking off bosses 100% one after another can be a pain in the ass when you play over and over again. But man, this game really sucks you in - it feels a lot more engaging than Ikaruga, if only for the non-stop boss assault, use of colors, and slightly more dynamic stage design. Though on that last point: you can still feel the puzzle-oriented nature of the stages, like Ikaruga.

I still haven't figured out if it's better to focus on 100% killing bosses + secret bonus chains (3 red, 1 blue + yellows), or focusing solely on red enemies. I've thus far been focusing on the former; I am happy the game gives you a bit of leeway about how to level up weapons (red chains, secret bonuses, Merry Dogs, 100% bosses).

[Shepardus]

It's actually one red, one blue, and one yellow, then keep killing yellow enemies to extend the chain. Whether that's better than going for red exclusively depends on the substage and how many red and yellow enemies it has. Either way you want to 100% the bosses as much as you can since they don't have colors and the chain resets between substages.

[pegboy]

Was recently working on a 2-loop clear of Super R-Type. Got back to the point where I could no-miss the first loop (set to Normal), but there's so much random bullshit on Hard that the game becomes highly unpredictable (the stage 1 boss can be a right pain in the ass.. along with the stage 4 boss). Furthest I've made it was the stage 2-6 boss (Recycler... that obnoxious 3-pieced asshole). Considering what a fluster-cluck stage 7 is on Normal, I really can't imagine what it's like on Hard with the increased enemy aggression. On Normal, I've only been able to perform a successful stage 7 recovery twice. Strangely, the game does have an extend cap... (seems it maxes at 6 lives... first at 40k, second at 80k, third at 160k and the fourth at 320k).

The game is starting to wear thin, so I'll switch gears to Thunder Spirits for the time being (another half-assed SFC "arcade port").

The lack of Blast Processing™... it stings.

Have you tried playing loop 2 on hard (aka pro difficulty)? That is pure hell. If you die on stage 2-6 or 2-7 you might as well reset and laugh off the 45 minutes you just wasted. A Super R-Type 2-ALL starting on hard is the hardest SNES clear I've done. The second hardest was Strike Gunner STG on level 4 difficulty.

Thunderspirits is fun and very easy, although you should just play Thunder Force AC instead

[Kiken]

Have you tried playing loop 2 on hard (aka pro difficulty)? That is pure hell. If you die on stage 2-6 or 2-7 you might as well reset and laugh off the 45 minutes you just wasted. A Super R-Type 2-ALL starting on hard is the hardest SNES clear I've done. The second hardest was Strike Gunner STG on level 4 difficulty.

Thunderspirits is fun and very easy, although you should just play Thunder Force AC instead

Nope. Never finished standard Hard, and given how lackluster the game tends to be, I'm just not that enamored to care.

What the game does well is what Irem are known for: really detailed sprite-work, which does shine here... although, this game could have easily been done on the MD (minus some colour). The only SFC/SNES special mode usage is the still-screen pixel scale-outs during transitions from the stages to the boss rooms (which were clearly used to cover up their unfamiliarity with how to allocate large "sprites" actively into memory during play on the SFC). The whole game never uses more than a single layer of parallax and there's no alpha channel.. nor is there any rotation or scaling. Clearly, Irem sought to fix all of these omissions by jamming copious amounts of graphical special effects into R-Type III, thus making it boring for a completely different set of reasons (but how bout dat awesome take-off sequence though).

Thunder Spirits shouldn't take me very long... and yeah, I already spent time with TF AC in TF GP2 on Saturn. This is mainly about giving my SFC some attention.

[Oniros]

After months of not playing jack, today I credit-fed Ketsuipachi and SDOJ to relax a little.

[Squire Grooktook]

I'm sorry but creditfeeding is still a sin, regardless of circumstances.

I'm going to have to ask you to hand over you shmupper card.

[BIL]

(but how bout dat awesome take-off sequence though).

Oh hell yeah.

Spoiler

Gameplay-integrated takeoff cinema is one of the genre's underrated art forms, imo!

Spoiler

[Squire Grooktook]

That brain/organ (?) in the R9 though.

Legendary blink and you'll miss it detail, look forward to seeing that every time, even though I'm never quite sure if it is what I think it is.

[BIL]

I played III after Delta, whose CG intro (chilly and concise, I dig it) curiously, ominously nestles the dread name "Bydo" amongst its ship data - so that aspect of III's takeoff was like a missing puzzle piece, haha.

Brr, it's like the R13's fate was a reunion of sorts.

[Squire Grooktook]

^^^Also love the incredibly fleeting glimpse of the womb in Delta's intro, after the previous two comparatively sterile war clips.

Sometimes less is more.

[Kiken]

I played III after Delta, whose CG intro (chilly and concise, I dig it) curiously, ominously nestles the dread name "Bydo" amongst its ship data - so that aspect of III's takeoff was like a missing puzzle piece, haha.

Irem use the "Bydo Rating" system as a somewhat cryptic measure of the ships' overall destructive capacity.

[BIL]

Aha - it's a unit of measurement, makes sense! I wonder if the R9aII being lowest-rated is Delta's version of III's "Ace Pilot Only" warning, for the standard force... and it makes some karmic sense the highest-rated ship (R13) is also the Bad End route.

[Squire Grooktook]

Nice incorporation of lore (Final states that the rating is also the amount of "integration" and usage of Bydo cells in the ships system) and gameplay, if that's true.

[BIL]

Pretty horrifying notion, going behind enemy lines and destroying the core only to discover, moments from being home free, your ship's power has made it your coffin. I vaguely recall a review commenting that the R13's charge shot was too weak to bust through the dimensional border, but this makes it sound like the other ships escaped for a lack of raw Bydo-resonant power.

[G3n3raL86]

I bought 2 very good smhups from Steam (both Astro Port games): Steel Strider and WITCH-BOT MEGLILO.

Steel Strider is an AWESOME side-scrolling shooting game! I had a blast with it, since we don't get many Contra-like games like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDvgLvr4Vgo

WITCH-BOT MEGLILO on the other is a beautiful vertical cute'em up game. Beautiful characters and overall artstyle. May look simple to the eye, but it's damn charming:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x8DcJ2uSq4

Oh yeah, i'd appreciate the fact if someone can pintpoint me to moar modern 2D side-scrolling shmups like Steel Strider (no the usual titles like Metal Slug though.)

[BIL]

I bought 2 very good smhups from Steam (both Astro Port games): Steel Strider and Witch-bot Meglilio.

Steel Strider is an AWESOME side-scrolling shooting game! I had a blast with it, since we don't get many Contra-like games like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDvgLvr4Vgo

Do give its predecessor Gigantic Army a look, if you haven't already. Big Astro Port fan here, myself.

[G3n3raL86]

I bought 2 very good smhups from Steam (both Astro Port games): Steel Strider and Witch-bot Meglilio.

Steel Strider is an AWESOME side-scrolling shooting game! I had a blast with it, since we don't get many Contra-like games like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDvgLvr4Vgo

Do give its predecessor Gigantic Army a look, if you haven't already. Big Astro Port fan here, myself.

I was between this and Steel Strider, but i've been reading a lot complaints about the time limit and other issues, so i went with the latter.

[Super Laydock]

Oh yeah, i'd appreciate the fact if someone can pintpoint me to moar modern 2D side-scrolling shmups like Steel Strider (no the usual titles like Metal Slug though.)

side-scrolling-shooters is the more appropriate term, here.
*nitpicking*

[BIL]

I was between this and Steel Strider, but i've been reading a lot complaints about the time limit and other issues, so i went with the latter.

Huh, that's odd. Time limit's pretty easy to ignore in GA, unless you're going for high scores - then it's critical, as is avoiding damage and destroying lots of stuff. Besides packing one helluva visceral punch, it's also one of the few sidescrolling action games with naturally compelling scoreplay, imo.

Anyway, can't go wrong with either game really.

[G3n3raL86]

I was between this and Steel Strider, but i've been reading a lot complaints about the time limit and other issues, so i went with the latter.

Huh, that's odd. Time limit's pretty easy to ignore in GA, unless you're going for high scores - then it's critical, as is avoiding damage and destroying lots of stuff. Besides packing one helluva visceral punch, it's also one of the few sidescrolling action games with naturally compelling scoreplay, imo.

Anyway, can't go wrong with either game really.

Well, all of these nagatives were from people with only 0.3 hrs. of gameplay, so i'm not taking them into account tbh. I'll definitely look into it, but i need to focus into Steel Strider for a couple of playthroughs more for the time being

[Squire Grooktook]

Gigantic Army is probably one of the greatest side scrollers of all time. Not just doujin: I'm counting all side scrollers here. Top 5 or at least top 10 material.

Don't listen to the scrubs on steam, it's a masterpiece and every cool person owes it to themselves to pick it up yo

[Kiken]

Thunder Force AC (Saturn)

After performing No Miss runs of TF3 and TS at Mania difficulty, I've started playing TFAC at Mania as well... and fuck me... Stage 1: not so tough, pretty straightforward. Stage 2: there are a handful of really dangerous spots in the stage (and you have to be really careful around the bosses). Stage 3: soooooo many enemies coming from all sides of the screen and all of them with a tonne of HP.. plus the first available Shield doesn't spawn until 3/4's the way through the stage. This is proving to be a nightmare to navigate... and even for practice purposes, one death and you may as well restart due to how underpowered you'll be.

[KaiserFoxHD]

For me it's Ketsui.
I've been trying to 1CC this game for weeks. I think I'm about to throw in the towel.

[Jonst]

For me it's Ketsui.
I've been trying to 1CC this game for weeks. I think I'm about to throw in the towel.

Ketsui took me a couple of months to 1cc. Stick with it! It'll make you feel real despair. But it's such an awesome game.

As for me, I'm still playing ibara (for the best part of this year) still can only manage up to the stage 5 boss on a good run.

[Stevens]

Moved on from SDOJ?

I'm back to Mars Matrix.

[Jonst]

Well, I was bouncing between sdoj and ibara (for about a year it seems)... I just can't progress beyond certain points in either game. I love ibara but burning out on it. I would move on to something else but can't decide what. At this point, it feels like I'll never clear anything again.