Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[Xyga]

Ah yes I forgot about that it's only the old ones.

There's still benefit in using ShmupMAME and GroovyMAME though.

[Square_Air]

Odd, I was always under the impression that the last version of Shmupmame (4.2) was able to bring the input delay below 3 frames.

3) New input latency lowering method, I managed to fix a few shmups with the new lag removal method described in the previous post (all the other games on the namcos1 drivers are also improved and most games in the namcos2 driver):

1. Mars Matrix
2. Sengoku Ace
3. Sengoku Blade/Tengai
4. Gunbird
5. Strikers 1945
6. Galaga '88
7. Dangerous Seed
8. Dragon Spirit
9. Dragon Saber
10. Ordyne
11. Phelios
12. Blast Off
13. Pistol Daimyo no Bouken

I tried to test the input delay myself, but couldn't figure out how to do it quickly enough and lost interest. The only early Psikyo game I have experience with in Shmupmame 4.2 is Gunbird, and I found it to be quite playable. I know that Garegga has ~3 frames of delay on shmupmame 4.2 and found it to be noticeable while Gunbird seemed fine. Of course, I have no accurate measurements, so take this with a grain of salt.

[ACSeraph]

Been back on the Gradius drugs, with the goal of 1cc-ing every game in the series. First game is finished, so I'm off to learn Gradius II.

[Gamer707b]

Been back on the Gradius drugs, with the goal of 1cc-ing every game in the series. First game is finished, so I'm off to learn Gradius II.

Speaking of Gradius. just curious about the Saturn port with the first 2 Gradius games. Any good? I don't do MAME or PCB. I'm looking at specifically the Saturn game.

[egg_sanwich]

19xx cps2. Haven't messed around with it much before, but having some fun learning the mechanics of the charge shot/bomb. Stuck on stage 5 currently, but making progress - any tips are greatly appreciated.

[ACSeraph]

Been back on the Gradius drugs, with the goal of 1cc-ing every game in the series. First game is finished, so I'm off to learn Gradius II.

Speaking of Gradius. just curious about the Saturn port with the first 2 Gradius games. Any good? I don't do MAME or PCB. I'm looking at specifically the Saturn game.

Don't have a copy myself so I can't say, but I've got Salamander and all the Parodius stuff on my Saturn and they play great. I believe Saturn Gradius has options to increase the width of the play area which is pretty cool. Currently I'm playing via PSP and finding the ports quite good once you change the settings to AC original.

[copy-paster]

19xx cps2. Haven't messed around with it much before, but having some fun learning the mechanics of the charge shot/bomb.

19XX gets more fun once you have separate button for charge and normal shot, worth to trying out.

[BrianC]

I have the Saturn version of the Gradius Deluxe Pack and the ports both seem to accurate.

[Kiken]

Been back on the Gradius drugs, with the goal of 1cc-ing every game in the series. First game is finished, so I'm off to learn Gradius II.

Speaking of Gradius. just curious about the Saturn port with the first 2 Gradius games. Any good? I don't do MAME or PCB. I'm looking at specifically the Saturn game.

The ports are pretty good, although most tend to prefer the PS1 release due to it being more accurate resolution-wise. I also ran into a weird glitch occasionally in Gradius I where the Options will randomly lock in formation (as if they've spontaneously turned into Type 1). By no means a game breaker... just kinda odd.

Recently I started playing Mega CD Sol Feace on Mania. Outside of Wolf Team's atrocious sound design, I don't think I've ever seen any other game on the console suffer from as more flicker as what goes on during the stage 3 boss fight. The game just stop drawing half of the boss attacks and you wind up having to guess where all these lethal green puffballs are. What outstanding game design.

[egg_sanwich]

19xx cps2. Haven't messed around with it much before, but having some fun learning the mechanics of the charge shot/bomb.

19XX gets more fun once you have separate button for charge and normal shot, worth to trying out.

This is true. I have a rapid fire connector on the Jamma edge that I just modified to put normal shot at button c and it makes a world of difference. Not a huge fan of carpal tunnel.

[Kollision]

Outside of Wolf Team's atrocious sound design

What, really?
I always thought of it as one of their best assets.

That said, Sol-Deace > Sol-Feace.
It even comes with less flicker, or at least that's the impression I got back then.

[null1024]

been playing more of Konami's MSX Ultra Pack on Saturn, so I've spent a good chunk of my day playing Salamander [MSX].

never been a Gradius fan because I'm terrible at the series but I decided to stick with this, so I'll keep playing daily for a while to see if maybe I could learn to like them
And I'm dying horribly really early on repeatedly [in particular, right when the screen first starts scrolling down, and then again as the screen starts scrolling right again].
A couple of my deaths are from just sitting close to something and then the chunky 8px scroll hits me, but mostly I'm just overwhelmed really, really quickly.

also, is Twinbee [MSX] supposed to be this hard
Twinbee on NES isn't terribly painful at all, but I'm dying miserably here.

[Durandal]

I'm enjoying Under Defeat HD a lot more than I originally thought I would. I thought it was more or less a simple throwback to ye olde Toaplan games, but it's got some meat to it.

The option system does a lot to mix up the simple act of holding down the fire button, as a well-placed rocket will do massive damage and multiply the score value of everything you destroy with your option by two, which just makes it more satisfying to use. You can angle your helicopter to the left and right, letting you pull off some sick bombing strats.

I think UD's biggest strength is that makes you feel like you're in a helicopter pulling off slick maneuvers, as opposed to a floating hitbox like most shmups. Being able to keep the fire on your target by angling your heli makes you feel a whole lot more maneuverable, and the method of input for changing angles and firing your option adds a feeling of commitment and planning ahead. All shmups without autofire should have a reason to let go of the fire button. Else there is no reason to keep holding it down.

The stage design is exceptionally solid, and so far I'm constantly dying on the ST2 boss, which is just an excellent boss. It's a massive battleship comprising of multiple minor targets in the shape of anti-air guns and turrets, many of which are ripe to blow up with your option. The major flak cannons fire large bullets which dissipate into a hail of bullet streams, and dodging those while moving closer between the gaps before they dissipate, as zakos and minor turrets keep assaulting you from every direction. Misdirection also plays a large role here. Most bosses consist of multiple parts to destroy with your option, which fits in well with the shooting itself.

The visual perspective can take a while getting used to as it is skewed where things at the top of the screen seem further away than normal and vice versa, but I don't think it's a huge deal. The background setpieces are quite nice, especially ST3 when you are fighting at the frontlines as you shift from one battlefront to another while your allies are busy dying for your country. You can blow your allies up if you launch a bomb as well, which is a nice little detail.

The music is also excellent, though I prefer the original soundtrack by Shinji Hosoe instead of Yosuke Yasui's New Order arranges. It just suits the mood better, and there are actually boss themes present in Arcade Mode.

[Xyga]

UD is awesome but I hate dying in that game, that ~1 second delay defore you realize your choppa doesn't respond anymore and then it explodes in your face is pure sadism.

[Stevens]

Under Defeat? I might kind of like that one..

[null1024]

Hyper Duel [Saturn].
It's not worth $500+ like people are asking for it, but it's been a damn cool game from the handful of credits I've played so far.
The transform system is really, really satisfying, and I love the the wild alt-fire modes. The graphics are pretty nice too.

I only played Arcade mode once -- it's a little bit easier than Saturn mode [in particular, the third boss's final attack kind of can't hurt you if you just sit still and fire], but the lack of aiming hold is kind of a pain when in mech form.
Also, I like the brighter, livelier palette of Arcade mode, but the retouched art in Saturn mode is so much better.

[BrianC]

Outside of Wolf Team's atrocious sound design

What, really?
I always thought of it as one of their best assets.

That said, Sol-Deace > Sol-Feace.
It even comes with less flicker, or at least that's the impression I got back then.

My memory is foggy, but I remembered hearing that Sol-Feace did something odd with the soundtrack and that Sol-Deace actually has better music.

[Marc]

Atomic Robo-Kid: Eh, bit of a weird one. Initially seems balls hard until you realise that you can shoot through half of the scenery. It’s just odd, feels like a lumbering version of the amazing Mr Heli, and there really isn’t that much to it, yet I’m finding it all strangely fun, up until the third/fouth level, where it’s habit of forcing you through really tight corridors and throwing a bunch of bullets at you from off-screen gets really irritating. Plus, that main sprite might be the cutest thing ever.

Darius:
OK, I admit to hating this, but in fairness I’ve never put enough time in to properly quantify why. So after an hour on the PS4 version of the original… I’ve changed my opinion slightly. It still looks the part, at least as far as the backdrops and terrain so, but a lot of popcorn enemies still suffer from the bland look that plagues even the most recent one. That soundtrack… I don’t know what you guys are on. I struggled with it for a while until it became apparent that the best approach on the first level it to stay near the front and play pretty aggressively, and once I’d gotten a few power ups the whole thing came together and suddenly I was quite enjoying myself. Before that, it almost felt like some weird JPN/EURO hybrid, non-popcorn simply takes too many hits at base power levels. First level is easy enough, the upward branch (factory) kicks my ass and makes my ears bleed, but the downward path is also pretty manageable, did the level and Electric Fan (?) fell on my first go. Made it around halfway through the zone (down) after that, then took a hit, AND GOT POWERED ALL THE WAY DOWN. Lost my three remaining lives in around two minutes flat, so, unless I’m missing something, I’m looking at a game that’s fun up until the first death, at which point you might as well walk away. Not sure I’ve got time for that sort of shit anymore.

[Shepardus]

In Darius shields are basically your lives. You can take a lot of hits without much consequence, but once you lose a life you're probably close to the end of your credit. You're most vulnerable near the beginning of the game before you've powered up your shield. And yes, in the original Darius staying on the right half of the screen is effective because the screen is so wide they didn't know what to do with all that space.

[wizkid]

Playing what i picked on steam summer sale.
Danmaku Unlimited 2 classic extreme - good game to zone out, since you can soak so many hits if you put all points into lives and defence.
Fire Arrow Plus survivor - a 5 minute game that loops infinitely(in survivor mode), i really like this idea(though haven't cleared first loop yet), any other short shmups that do that? also, very nice mega drive music(supposedly done on real hardware).
Wolflame hard - raiden, but without cheap deaths, still very challenging on difficulties above normal.

[Ruldra]

Wolflame hard - raiden, but without cheap deaths, still very challenging on difficulties above normal.

I got sniped and shot point-blank in the face by enemies too many times to not call the game cheap. Those purple shots are way too fast on hard difficulty and near-instant on insane. I just barely survived hard mode and can't get far at all on insane. Tough game this one.

[wizkid]

^
it may be considered cheap by modern danmaku standards, becouse you can't react 100% of the time, but it's very fair compared to raiden and early toaplan games i played. sniper bullets have very good visiblity and snipers spawn from less frustrating locations than in those. it's also a lot easier to recover and you get lots of extends and bombs.

[horaceappleton]

i'm learning some Battle Garegga scoring with Silver Sword, working off of an F score by Kamui. this game is really fun to come back to. are there any other English-speaking silver sword players?

[BurlyHeart]

Started playing Blue Revolver and it's a lot of fun. Really like the missions. Runs great in vertical on my sideways-plonked macbook.

[Vludi]

^
but it's very fair compared to raiden and early toaplan games i played.

Many Toaplan first loops are fairly easy

[wizkid]

^
but it's very fair compared to raiden and early toaplan games i played.

Many Toaplan first loops are fairly easy

you are probably right, but this is about "fairness". for example the plane in flying shark is awfully slow and with a huge hitbox, as a result the very first wave of enemies can kill me easily, the very first mid-boss(or whatever that tank with a lot of hp is considered) already forces me to bomb or else i'll probably die and loose everything, even if you are at max power, there are still situation where enemies come from behind and instantly shoot at you. sure, if i had enough motivation i'd beat it, possibly even quite fast, i'd just need to memorise these tricky moments, but it's still unfair comapred to what i'm used to, and as a result, quite discouraging. though wolflame got me interested in these types of shmups, so i'll probably give it another shot someday.

[wgogh]

In Fire Shark is indeed very hard to recover. I remember losing all lifes in a row. Good times.
Maybe its time for me to get serious and complete that second loop.

[Vludi]

you are probably right, but this is about "fairness". for example the plane in flying shark is awfully slow and with a huge hitbox, as a result the very first wave of enemies can kill me easily, the very first mid-boss(or whatever that tank with a lot of hp is considered) already forces me to bomb or else i'll probably die and loose everything, even if you are at max power, there are still situation where enemies come from behind and instantly shoot at you. sure, if i had enough motivation i'd beat it, possibly even quite fast, i'd just need to memorise these tricky moments, but it's still unfair comapred to what i'm used to, and as a result, quite discouraging. though wolflame got me interested in these types of shmups, so i'll probably give it another shot someday.

The hitbox and speed are just fine considering the type of game it is, you can pretty much dodge everything just holding left or right. Oh and you don't really have to worry about using bombs, remember every stage you are restocked with 3 bombs (even if you have more than that). Just because the game requires a bit of memorization doesn't mean it's unfair (and it's not that much memorization anyway)

[trap15]

Flying Shark is probably one of the most fair shooting games around, what are you talking about lol. Every checkpoint in the first loop is recoverable (many of them trivially so), the player fire power gets somewhat ridiculous, and you don't have to worry about bombing because you get so many.

[wizkid]

How's getting killed by a massive plane that comes from behind in the water level fair? How is having no power up items whatsoever to help you recover fair? I just played Hishou Zame and Raiden, and the latter is far more fair. Just becouse a game is easy once you memorise all the bullshit, doesn't mean it's fair.