Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

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Jonst
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Jonst »

^ yeah, despite playing a load of far better shmups recently, I've really been having fun with it!
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durias
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by durias »

Gradius (NES) on Switch using classic controllers because I'm ab 80's kid.
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EmperorIng
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by EmperorIng »

My first ESPGaluda practice since the holidays. I got very angry losing dumb lives to st3 and st4 bosses, plus st5. I somehow made it past Seseri but died before triggering the 14mill extend. I guess I can consider that pretty good but I was bummed about not making it to the last boss.

"What's that? He doesn't trigger the 14m extend until stage 5?"

Yeah yeah yeah I know about the multipliers and shit. But I am not going to make rank, or my life harder than it needs to be.
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BareKnuckleRoo
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

If you're not doing it yet, it's really helpful to crank up the Kakusei Over (the meter that fills up when you are in Kakusei but are out of gems - it fills faster when you stop shooting). The easiest place to do this is on the Stage 1 boss. Unlike Espgaluda II, when you die it resets, but so long as you avoid dying, a higher Kakusei Over level produces more green gems normally, so you have an easier time generating Kakusei. The disadvantage is that you have to react quicker and shift back if you accidentally run out of gems but that's manageable.

Easiest place and best place to go into Kakusei Over to max out the rank early as far as I know is against the Stage 1 boss.
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professor ganson
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by professor ganson »

My current duo of hu-cards:

Override
Violent Soldier

These are really impressive so far!
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Stevens
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Stevens »

Ketsui

Stage one I'm averaging 13 - 14 million (my pb is 14 and change).

I went back to stage two to iron out some problem spots. Specifically the getting max popcorn after the mid boss and routing the 2nd half of the stage up to the boss. I noticed that sometimes I could get through, but other times I would tend to die at the same spot. That was something I needed to fix.
Depending on the timing of the mid boss I usually get out of stage two with anywhere between 28 - 34 million.

After spending some time routing the 1st half of stage three I actually earned the 2nd score extend while fighting the mid boss. I don't see that happening in an actual run just yet, but it is nice to know the potential is there.

Played a full credit after that and made it just passed the stage four mid boss. Still haven't put any real time into learning four yet, especially the latter half.
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OmKol
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by OmKol »

DOJ WL, day 134. I've tried some full runs and I've reached 2-3. 2-ALL seems like a very doable task for me now.
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EmperorIng
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by EmperorIng »

BareKnuckleRoo wrote:If you're not doing it yet, it's really helpful to crank up the Kakusei Over (the meter that fills up when you are in Kakusei but are out of gems - it fills faster when you stop shooting). The easiest place to do this is on the Stage 1 boss. Unlike Espgaluda II, when you die it resets, but so long as you avoid dying, a higher Kakusei Over level produces more green gems normally, so you have an easier time generating Kakusei. The disadvantage is that you have to react quicker and shift back if you accidentally run out of gems but that's manageable.

Easiest place and best place to go into Kakusei Over to max out the rank early as far as I know is against the Stage 1 boss.
I actually didn't know this - I must have misread the information in the threads on the Strategy forum. I've sparingly put some of the work into practice, though doing so seems to make rank/bullet speed increase. A small upside: if it does increase rank it makes Stage 2 a little less dull and boring (Truth be told I'm usually on autopilot until stage 4 at this point, with the exception of the st3 boss's penultimate attack).

Thanks for the tip! It's been a few days since I've practiced so I should try again so as not to lose my muscle memory.
OmKol wrote:DOJ WL, day 134. I've tried some full runs and I've reached 2-3. 2-ALL seems like a very doable task for me now.
Wow, impressive, especially with WL. Are you using A-EX or some variant?
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by OmKol »

EmperorIng wrote:
OmKol wrote:DOJ WL, day 134. I've tried some full runs and I've reached 2-3. 2-ALL seems like a very doable task for me now.
Wow, impressive, especially with WL. Are you using A-EX or some variant?
A-EX. Btw just cleared 2-5 with Hibachi on a recent practice run.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Ajora »

I'm chipping away very, very slowly at Crimzon Clover on Original mode. It seems to me that a lot of the difficulty comes from knowing which enemies to kill with lock-on shots, and getting a feel for how much health those enemies have (so that you don't preemptively kill them with regular shots). This is going to take awhile.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by durias »

Strikers 1945 II on my new HORI stick for Nintendo Switch affectionately renamed the Luigi Board.
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maximo310
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by maximo310 »

Cleared all modes of wangan sensou (w/ a little bit of score here or there). Still a lot of optimization to be done w/ routing your "air-hopping"
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Marc
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Marc »

Remember enjoying Thunderforce III many many years ago so picked up IV on Switch. NOT my bag at all. Visuals are horrible, it's actually kind of difficult to tell what can and can't kill you at times.
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OmKol
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by OmKol »

DOJ WL, day 149. 2-ALL can happen anytime.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by el_rika »

Having fun with Espgaluda 2 (ios). Touch controls make the game a different experience, but just as addictive :lol: Working on finding the best routes for survival and scoring. It's a tough game to do right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbZLaKTtUgI
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wgogh
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by wgogh »

I don't know If that count as a game, but I got a bit into Dezaemon Plus, the PSX version of the shmup creator. Although the title is jp-only, it has minimal japanese text and really doesn't need any translation. Looks like most of the neat stuff you can do with it is with the graphics and music. The soundtrack is done in a similar fashion as in Mario Paint, for those who are familiar with it. Even if you don't have the patience to compose a full musical sheet, you can throw some simple chords and let the autodrum do the rest. You can set the autodrum to different styles and moods, which works pretty well, and the drum pattern can change after maybe two compasses. You can manually make your own drum pattern, but the game doesn't play two notes at the same time (or I don't know how). By now, I've been trying to recreate Psycho Killer just for fun, before I can think of a stupid shooter to make.

Had some fun with the default games. They're virtually the same aside graphics and music, and don't do a good job showing off Dezaemon's capacity. After messing with the sample games for a while you'll notice the same weapons, same boss attack etc.
INFERNO was made in Dezaemon Plus and it's really impressive, but I don't know how one could play it now.
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Despatche
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Despatche »

Espgaluda. Glad to be taking something seriously for a change! If I care enough, I might actually have something decent to show for it.
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Obscura
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Obscura »

Blue Revolver. Normal mode was a really easy clear, but Hyper is smashing me. Dunno why this game has such an "easy" reputation; those patterns are really vicious at high rank, and you don't get enough lives to really control it.

Gave Caladrius Blaze a shot too, since I usually Moss's work, but I bounced off of this HARD and just got a refund instead. Weird because usually I love me some weapon gimmicks, but CB just didn't feel good to play for some reason.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Gamer707b »

Marc wrote:Remember enjoying Thunderforce III many many years ago so picked up IV on Switch. NOT my bag at all. Visuals are horrible, it's actually kind of difficult to tell what can and can't kill you at times.
I had the exact opposite reaction when I picked it up a couple months ago on my Genesis.. I think its one of the prettiest and slickest looking 16 bit shooters ever made. IMO a timeless game that just doesn't age.
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Despatche
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Despatche »

Thunder Force IV is pretty solid for a console game. Shame the scoring's busted, though. I don't think Gold Pack/Switch ever fixed that...
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by davyK »

DDP:SDOJ on 360.

Novice mode - red ship with laser - auto bomb on - getting to level 4. :oops:

If I perservere with arcade mode I can get to level 3 (sometimes). Novice mode is very good with this game though - it isn't the walkover that novice Futari is.
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Marc
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Marc »

davyK wrote:DDP:SDOJ on 360.

Novice mode - red ship with laser - auto bomb on - getting to level 4. :oops:

If I perservere with arcade mode I can get to level 3 (sometimes). Novice mode is very good with this game though - it isn't the walkover that novice Futari is.
I might have to try that myself - to be honest it's a game I find do demoralizingly difficult I've very rarely been back to it.
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CIT
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by CIT »

I've been messing around a bit with the Mega Drive port of Kyuukyoku Tiger. It's basically like playing the arcade version with the top half of the screen cut off. Feels pretty cramped and enemies with point blank you (from behind, no less) or kamikaze you at every opportunity. Frustrating as hell, but I still think it's a nice port. Really keeps you at the edge of your seat from the first stage. :shock:
Graphics are nicely detailed as well, and the sound is excellent, probably the best of all home versions! Much more oomph than the original arcade release.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by nesrulz »

DDP DOJ Tamashii (M.A.M.E. 0.203).

Nice game version and good emulation.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by durias »

Rival Megagun
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Marc
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Marc »

I tried again with Darius last night, it's one classic shmup I've just never been able to get into. It's just the feel of it, to me, is... off. It feels like a game essentially designed to be 1-lifed, although recovery is certainly possible it feels almost Euroshmup in that once you're reduced back to base power level it's simply no fun tryng to kill anything that isn't popcorn. I don't understand why, with all that beautiful backdrop art, all the enemies are so small and grey. The back half of the play area seems almost useless for anything that isn't a boss fight, because of the speed shots travel at it seems like you need the be playing in the last third wherever possible to keep up a decent rate of fire. Spent a good hour trying to get into it, made it to the third boss, but just not feeling it. Probably try once more tonight just to see if I can get it to click. I was playing Extra by the way, is there any reason not to?
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Kollision »

Marc wrote:I was playing Extra by the way, is there any reason not to?
I'm playing the heck out of vanilla Darius, so that when I move to Extra I might have a clear notion of what has actually been changed.
That said, everyone says Extra is the definitve Darius iteration - if only for the final bonus you get for each spare life, as in all other entries in the series.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by bottino »

I'm back to basics with Hishozame.

There's some nasty artillery in this game and it really makes you feel like battling against impossible odds.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by durias »

Devil Engine on Nintendo Switch
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Squire Grooktook »

bottino wrote:I'm back to basics with Hishozame.

There's some nasty artillery in this game and it really makes you feel like battling against impossible odds.
Very chunky, savage game. I love it, one of the few times I'll pardon a slow move speed.
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