TRP-STGT 2017 Conversation Week 5: Macross II Medium Course

[trap15]

Macross II (Medium Course) (NMK, 1993)

An aggressive score attack game.

Playing week ends Sunday, 14 January, 2018 at 22:00 GMT

Dynamic scoreboard at http://daifukkat.su/stgt/2017/

Tournament main thread: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=61125
Score submission thread: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=61596

RULES

MAME or PCB. MAME set is named macross2.
Autofire is allowed. You may not use MAME cheats for this, only external autofire.
1 credit only, no continues.
Select the Medium course.

DIP SWITCH/CONFIGURATION SETTINGS
Default settings.

Discuss the game, strategy, and such here, not the score submission thread.

[Despatche]

It's a cool sorta-Caravan thingy, except you play three stages in a row. I think there's a secret fourth stage that's the same for all three routes or something like that.

[Perikles]

I think there's a secret fourth stage that's the same for all three routes or something like that.

Indeed it is. All you have to do is fulfill the score requirement for each of the first three stages. Interestingly enough, the third stage in Medium Course is one of the hardest stages (if not the hardest) to complete, even when considering Expert. Stage 2 on the other hand is one of the easiest ones, it's a bit weird.

[Shepardus]

It wouldn't be TRP-STGT without an NMK game, of course.

[Perikles]

It wouldn't be TRP-STGT without an NMK game, of course.

While I'm certainly not complaining about the game - and the fact that we got two horizontals in this tournament, no less -, I have to confess I'm baffled that we still haven't seen Acrobat Mission or Eight Forces. I know trap wants us to play them, he's probably trying to conserve some material for later STGTs.

[CptRansom]

no space helicopters this game is bullshit

[Despatche]

Might be better to describe this as "Thunder Dragon 2, but horizontal". Sounds more appealing.

[copy-paster]

Have no idea how to fulfill the score on third stage, the slow moving ship makes harder to get all the medals.

Also dat continue and game over screen makes me jump for real.

[Kyper]

Looks like you'll want to use 2P side again as it's the faster ship

[Shepardus]

You could fit this entire game in the waits before Gekirindan's bosses.

[trap15]

For what it's worth, the different shot types have different movement speed, so use Fighter for greater speed. Gerwalk is mostly crap, but useful in some spots.

[Shepardus]

Been playing this a bit, game seems pretty fun so far. Probably the most fun scoring of the tournament so far. Getting hit really sucks, though, despite there being infinite lives. Also, 3 frames of input lag in MAME.

[ED-057]

That score entry screen is my new desktop background image

[Heavy Viper]

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

Best of luck, all. ( '')7

[Shepardus]

This game would be pretty fun if I could get more than 10-15 seconds into it without feeling compelled to reset!

[Ikazu-san]

I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing, but it looks cool.

[EmperorIng]

Is the second ship really faster? It doesn't seem like it, but maybe I am switching between Valkryie and Gerwalt too much.

Also, which Macross is this game based on?

[Vanguard]

Is the second ship really faster? It doesn't seem like it, but maybe I am switching between Valkryie and Gerwalt too much.

Also, which Macross is this game based on?

Yeah, I'd be interested in knowing what the exact differences are. It looks like the game is based on this. Serbee and Necks are probably supposed to be Silvie and Nexx.

Edit:

Just did some quick testing. By setting up both players to use the same inputs it's clear that Necks is distinctly faster than Serbee. His gerwalk form is the exact same speed as her fighter form (and her gerwalk form is even slower) so it's not a small difference. My testing on their attack power was less rigorous, but it does seem that their fighter forms both do the same damage. Unless she has some huge hidden advantage, Serbee is trash.

Edit 2:

Interestingly, they've been balanced with each other in versus mode. I believe they both move at Necks's single player speed.

[EmperorIng]

How on earth are you supposed to win on stage 4? Is it only through getting absolutely every bonus red enemy? Milking the final boss's minions?

I'm sick of that smug ugly face on the Game Over screen. ;_;

[trap15]

You have to get a lot of the in-stage bonuses, and there's a few bonuses on the boss himself that are worth a huge amount of points. I did a clear this morning that just barely cleared and still got several bonuses, there's just a ridiculous number of them. The destroyable flashing bullet secrets are really not too hard and worth a lot (the boss's tentacle shoots these twice!)

[EmperorIng]

Thanks for the tips - I also didn't realize at the time how important the medal chains were. If you lose your chain on stage 3 or 4, you can almost kiss the prospect of winning those stages goodbye. At least dying at the last boss doesn't do anything to your medal chain (or rather there are no more to collect so it doesn't matter!). Maybe a bit more practice and I can break 3 million. I tend to bomb at least once during that final corridor because it is just so chaotic.

And hey, woo hoo, this game became my fortieth shootemup clear! Easy or hard I'll take 'em all!
(mostly easy)

[egg_sanwich]

Thanks for the tips - I also didn't realize at the time how important the medal chains were. If you lose your chain on stage 3 or 4, you can almost kiss the prospect of winning those stages goodbye. At least dying at the last boss doesn't do anything to your medal chain (or rather there are no more to collect so it doesn't matter!). Maybe a bit more practice and I can break 3 million. I tend to bomb at least once during that final corridor because it is just so chaotic.

How do the medal chains work? Is it just the rectangle shaped ones that max at 10k points?

Also, any tips on how to get the bonuses on the st 3 boss? I’m struggling to get through that stage.

[EmperorIng]

Yeah, it's just those. Sometimes killing enemy waves fast enough can trigger a number of them, like in Stage 3 (at least I THINK that's how they are triggered). You can get to 10,000 easily on the first stage: if you kill waves quickly, towards the end of the woods area there will be an item-carrier enemy that will cruise along the bottom before shooting up. Wherever it dies, as it falls it leaves a trail of chainable medals. Kill it towards the top to reap the rewards!

I don't know of any bonuses on the boss itself. I tend to bomb it as soon as the top is visible and speed-kill it.

You have to essentially no-miss the third stage and get a lot of its bonuses. Off the top of my head:

1) the speeder enemies that swoop in from the back - they don't kill you on collision so don't worry about dodging
2) the two red enemies that drop destructible bullets downward - hang towards the bottom to get both of their 20K bonuses
3) squadrons of red enemies killed before they exit. The toughest bunch come in four from the back of the screen - I sometimes panic bomb here if I can't reach them in time
4) some red squads die without giving bonuses - I assume I kill them too soon (they probably release destructible missiles or bullets)
5) the hidden Minmay's in the sky, as well as the medals
6) speedkilling the midboss makes more waves trigger more quickly (this applies to all stages)

[copy-paster]

I'm sick of that smug ugly face on the Game Over screen. ;_;

Awarded as the most fucked up game over screen ever! srsly this make me genuinely jump when I first saw that robot stare blank at you with screeching sound.

Really liking this one so far, second best NMK game after TD2. Would love to see a 'survival mode' in this game (lives system, more tense enemy behavior and boss fight).

[Vanguard]

4) some red squads die without giving bonuses - I assume I kill them too soon (they probably release destructible missiles or bullets)

Yeah, there's a part of stage 3 where a bunch of red enemies come in one at a time, and the way to get the bonus is to wait for them to fire and destroy all of their missiles. They're worth 10k each. I think every red enemy mech is involved in a bonus. Some of the purple ones turn red too if you wait for a bit.

[Square_Air]

Might just have to revive that Saddest moments in shmups thread for this leaning tower of Pisa replica destruction. The idea of future children being unaware of Galileo tossing a basketball off the roof has been the primary cause of me awakening in a cold sweat during the middle of the night lately. Absolutely tragic.

[EmperorIng]

In the Macross future children are only taught to lust after Minmay.

[Shepardus]

Barely got a clear on this. IMO the most fun game this tournament, best NMK game I've played after Thunder Dragon 2. There are a couple things that bug me (some of the collision hitboxes seem a bit wonky, I wish the ship were a tiny bit faster or the regular waves a tiny bit slower) but they're pretty minor and don't detract much from what's overall a pretty neat game. Just wish I had more time to play it this week - ironically the game I most wanted to play came on the week I had the least time to do so.

[Nifty]

Yeah if there's one game in NMK's library I've always thought would have a wider appeal, it's this one. Very easy to pick up, exemplary of everything great about their 90's design style while having more meat to it than a caravan. Hopefully it'll catch on some more now that enough people have actually tried it :V