Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

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Flobeamer1922
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Flobeamer1922 »

Recently, I’ve been playing Galaga to try and score 2 million points (my current best is 1.5m). Sometime this month, I want to set aside one or two days to go for 10 million on Vimana, as I enjoy that game quite a bit (having 3-ALL’d it twice), and I think that would be a great milestone to achieve. I’ve also been learning both Truxton II and ESP Ra.De. lately, and I definitely want to put plenty of time into both over the next few days.
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ACSeraph
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by ACSeraph »

Been lazy recently and not playing STGs, perpetually procrastinating the the last clear I need on Darius Cozmic Collection. So last night I decided to dig in and get the Darius Force clear done, since I finished everything else. I cleared this one a few years back on original hardware, but going back to it I'm surprised I had the patience to learn it without save states :lol:

I remember someone saying they felt Darius Force's vibe was more R-Type than Darius, and coming back to it after having put real effort into the R-Type series I have to agree. I actually really like Force, but it's a more strategic and strictly routed game than almost any other in the series. To clarify, it's much easier than Darius II, but somehow gives even less flexibility in routing. It's interesting because the mechanics that let you switch between bombs and lasers, and power up when using only shot or only laser end up giving the player a lot of strategic options. The stages however are designed with very specific intent, so the result is more of a puzzle game where you have to figure out the intended strategy. It's very R-Type, but with a distinct Darius flavor that I love, and I think the game deserves more fanfare than it gets.
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Stanshall
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Stanshall »

I've been playing Aka to Blue on my Android tablet and really enjoying it. It's another Cave game, basically, so it feels very very familiar but the bomb mechanic is cool and seems like something that should already exist. The tumbling surge of medals feels great when you time it right. I hope that EXA reaches the UK (Arcade Club, please?) so I can give Type-R a go on a cabinet. Touch controls are fine but something is missing from a tactile point of view.

On a similar note, I've also been playing Gothic wa Mahou Otome the Cave mobile grindy Deathsmiles vert. In terms of the pure gameplay, I think it's fantastic, really satisfying and spectacular. Explosions feel great, the pace and patterns feel just right to me. Very good game, sadly marooned on mobile. I would love a port, Lord knows the eShop is crammed with shit mobile ports. Why not this one?

Anyway, good to keep my hand in with shmups during a pretty busy time and plenty of working away from home (and stick!).
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mycophobia
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by mycophobia »

mycophobia wrote:Currently going for:

Truxton 2 1-ALL (current best is stage 6 beginning)
keep losing lives to stage 3 boss. I'm still on the fence on whether I want to time him out (kind of tough for me) or just bomb him and take a death somewhere in stage 4 (cuz the boss there is really really hard without bombs). even bombing him to death at max rank is tough though.

Image Fight (J) 2-ALL (current best is 2-1)
second loop is brutal. All I've done so far is died in 2-1 and been unable to recover. But really I need to stop dying so much in loop 1 before I'm too concerned with progress in loop 2 tbh.

MD Same! Same! Same! No-miss hard difficulty 2-ALL (current best is hard difficulty 2-ALL, um, not no-miss)
mostly chill game with some really tough recoveries, especially in the later stages (last one in stage 8 is hugely rage inducing).

going on vacation next week but maybe I can get one of these before the year's over? whatever the case I'm having fun, great games
dropped two of these lol. Image Fight loop 2's checkpoints are too brutal and I'm so fuckin done putting hours into Truxton 2, just run after run of game overing mid-stage 5. However I am going to be picking up Kyukyoku Tiger, which is a very fun and fair game.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Licorice »

mycophobia wrote:MD Same! Same! Same! No-miss hard difficulty 2-ALL (current best is hard difficulty 2-ALL, um, not no-miss) mostly chill game with some really tough recoveries, especially in the later stages (last one in stage 8 is hugely rage inducing).
I'm playing Same! Same! Same! (MD) right now too. But on normal.

The stage 8 boss recovery is indeed rage inducing.

I burned through my credits on it. I even made a save state and can't figure it out.

Any tips?

EDIT: I seem to have something safe enough, which I got to by flailing around randomly, which is take out the first row of small turrets on the left, then float above the middle turrets near the top of the screen (this is a safe spot), then bomb when the ship finishes scrolling in, then hug top edge left, top edge right, then bomb when the main turret comes in.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by travie_64 »

I've been playing DoDonPachi Blissful Death on my iPhone recently until I get my Xbox 360 back to California.
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mycophobia
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by mycophobia »

Licorice wrote:
mycophobia wrote:MD Same! Same! Same! No-miss hard difficulty 2-ALL (current best is hard difficulty 2-ALL, um, not no-miss) mostly chill game with some really tough recoveries, especially in the later stages (last one in stage 8 is hugely rage inducing).
I'm playing Same! Same! Same! (MD) right now too. But on normal.

The stage 8 boss recovery is indeed rage inducing.

I burned through my credits on it. I even made a save state and can't figure it out.

Any tips?

EDIT: I seem to have something safe enough, which I got to by flailing around randomly, which is take out the first row of small turrets on the left, then float above the middle turrets near the top of the screen (this is a safe spot), then bomb when the ship finishes scrolling in, then hug top edge left, top edge right, then bomb when the main turret comes in.
this might only work on hard but when you respawn you can just hold the fire button down and not move until the ship comes into view. like everything misses you lol. but when the ship comes in I try to keep the far right turrets barely offscreen and bomb until the ship slows down, after which i hang out on the far left side. i don't even try to kill the boss, i just do my best to dodge until it scrolls off. its a fuckin hard checkpoint and i rarely get thru it without losing my credit.

what you put in your edit sounds very interesting though, about staying above the middle turrets at the top of the screen. I'll give that a try next time I die there
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BurlyHeart »

Picked up Zeroranger again after a long absence, and finally no missed through the first two stages. Did pretty well on the third stage too. A 1cc is a long way off though, I fear.
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Licorice
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Licorice »

@mycophobia, where would you put hard mode in the difficulty rankings? Perikles gave normal a 10.

I am using these rankings to incrementally improve my skills, so I would appreciate any insight.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by mycophobia »

as a really rough estimate I'd say a 1-ALL of MD Same! on hard is about the same as a Same 2P 1-ALL maybe? Hard is a relatively big step up; I remember clearing Easy and Normal in a couple of attempts each but it took a little over a week (maybe 15 hours of playtime total) to clear Hard iirc.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Gamer707b »

Doing some Battle Garegga on PS4. Been playing on pad since I bought the game, but just remembered I have a perfectly good Hori stick in the garage. Im loving playing BG on a stick.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Buffi »

Trying to get a survival 1cc in Ibara, and I'm so fucking close...
Managed to die 5 seconds before the last boss with 4 hadous in stock. This should have been a 1cc, and I'm a bit angry now...
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by lilmanjs »

Last thing I was playing was the VASARA Collection. I didn't try out the new mode, but I had a blast enjoying the original 2 games. $10 for the xbox one version didn't feel like a waste of money to me!
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Queen Charlene »

the last couple days, i've been enjoying the usual DFK practice sessions, and i've started playing an indie SHMUP called Super Galaxy Squadron EX Turbo, which was on sale for like $2 or something completely asinine like that. the game is really hooking me though, i don't know what i was expecting but i feel like the game is actually really incredible. i've been enjoying arcade runs alongside playing the endless mode, which i wish was included in more STGs nowadays lol. there's a lot of ship variety, i'm still trying to figure out which one is my favorite.

aside from that, i've actually been digging back into the DOS-era SHMUPs again by playing through Raptor: Call of the Shadows. it's definitely a much different kind of game than the others as it's less focused on chaining, bullet dodging, etc... and is a lot more just "survive, earn money, spend it on upgrades so you can try not to die so quickly in later stages". it's pretty rudimentary, nothing really mindblowing or anything like that, but i've been enjoying the game quite a bit again even if i can see all of its flaws nowadays.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by ACSeraph »

Raptor was one of my absolute favorite PC games as a kid. I think maybe our version was shareware? I barely rember the game now and I haven't played it in over 20 years, but I definitely credit that one (and Captain Skyhawk) for fostering my love of Shmups at an early age. I'm sure those games are actually pretty rough, but I'd love to revisit them someday.

I finished up clearing every Darius Cozmic Collection game before the new year, so I'm playing some other stuff I bought during the new year's sales, EDF Wing Diver, Fast Striker, and Dimension Drive.

EDF is a guilty pleasure game, I got really into it but it's definitely not good. I think EDF fans would appreciate it though, because it really feels like EDF, jank and all.

Fast Striker seems good if a bit bland. Most of NGDT's games feel that way to me, but I like it well enough. Those graphics are awesome for an MVS title. I just wish the game had an autofire button.

I haven't played much yet but Dimension Drive is really interesting. I'm not big on the campaign structure, I hope an arcade mode unlocks later, but mechanically the game is really original and well conceived.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Queen Charlene »

ACSeraph wrote:Raptor was one of my absolute favorite PC games as a kid. I think maybe our version was shareware? I barely rember the game now and I haven't played it in over 20 years, but I definitely credit that one (and Captain Skyhawk) for fostering my love of Shmups at an early age. I'm sure those games are actually pretty rough, but I'd love to revisit them someday.
yeah, my memories were the shareware version of Raptor alongside Galactix, which were my 2 gaming obsessions during the DOS era. the shareware chapter is pretty solid through and through, despite how rudimentary it is. the later sectors get pretty fuckin' brutal though; enemies are really tough and it's clear you're supposed to play the other sectors with a decked-out ship and at least 1-2 phase shields on deck lol.

i feel like with the loadout of the lock-on laser + disruptor/twin laser, maybe some dumbfire missiles on the side, and both the micro-missile and blaster extensions to your main gun, and the game really starts to feel like you can actually route out a path to minimal damage and maximum carnage. i'm on the last 3 waves of the outer sector and i really feel like i'm getting pushed to an insane challenge now. and i'm only playing on Veteran difficulty :lol:

i definitely recommend at least giving it at spin, you can get it pretty cheap on GOG/Steam (DotEmu emulation tho) and it's not that hard to find via other means. at worst, the music is fantastic and the explosion sounds are really satisfying. great art too.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by XoPachi »

I'm playing Devil Blade, Shigatake's spiffy new shooter he's got in the works. This is a real treasure he's got going on here. https://youtu.be/aolXhwkJi94
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by Shelcoof »

XoPachi wrote:I'm playing Devil Blade, Shigatake's spiffy new shooter he's got in the works. This is a real treasure he's got going on here. https://youtu.be/aolXhwkJi94
Reminds me of Technosoft :shock:
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

1.2 billion score in Rolling Gunner. Stage 5 was a disaster though, and Stage 6 didn't fare much better. YouTube
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by CStarFlare »

Nice one! I've been aiming for the 1cc lately too - made it to the stage 6 boss a few times so it's mostly a matter of not choking. Hope to join that club before Over Power gets into my hands!
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

I got to try Over Power this weekend. It has a nice additional soundtrack which you can choose to use in the original version.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by EmperorIng »

I've played a bit more of Rolling Gunner the last two days. This time I've been trying to clear Casual mode (wish they called it something else to protect my fragile ego).

First attempt last night got a new PB, with 120 million at the stage 6 boss. This morning, on my subway commute, I get a new PB, dying to the TLB with I think 130 million or 1.3 billion (need to recheck). I should be able to get the clear soon, especially since a bouncing subway is not a great environment for micro-dodging.

This doesn't make me feel better that I haven't made it out of stage 3 on Normal. :oops:

edit: 130 million, lol.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Stage 3 is a significant bump in difficulty from the previous levels. You've got quite dangerous popcorn enemies coming from around you, those turrets on the ships which need to be dealt with quickly before they overwhelm you, and two fairly challenging midboss fights.

My recommendations: you can move under the midbosses to wide dodge some of their attacks. Also make sure to use your bombs manually; never waste them as an autobomb if you can. Your regular bombs last a long time, do plenty of damage, and allow you to get in close on bosses during the bomb to recharge your Power Up meter. It goes without saying obviously, but don't be afraid to be aggressive about bombing.

If you have to use Power Up on a boss to cancel bullets, don't be afraid of the high rank. You can get a second quick cancel if you Limiter Release as soon as the red meter is ready, and then it will run out almost as soon as bullets start to reach you. Or, if you collected a lot of red meter and worry you're going to be hit, unlike Crimzon Clover's Double Break you can freely bomb out of it. So it's totally valid strats on something scary you can't handle yet to Power Up -> Limiter (if you have it) -> Bomb without risking any dodges. You'll get a lot of extra damage vs playing risky and autobombing, and can refill Power Up a bit if you get in close during the bomb, and immediately put a stop to the high rank speed from being in Power Up/Limiter Release.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by ACSeraph »

Been getting more and more into Fast Striker. I think I'm enjoying this one the best of all the NGDT games I've tried. I mentioned earlier it feels bland, but vanilla might be a better term. The game just feels really clean and complete with a nice sense of intensity all the way to the credit roll and a wonderful 1cc plz (bitch) when you get your first clear using the allotted 4 credits. I can currently make it into the final stage, so hopefully I'm able to get the 1cc soon. I haven't tried or been compelled to try the score play so I can't comment there, but this game is great for a simple clear.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

I hit 1.6 billion in Rolling Gunner and cleared the game. At least, I thought I had cleared the game, when suddenly the TLB shows up for the first time in Original difficulty and curbstomps me with my limited resources (1 life, 1 bomb left).

I've been informed by moglar that the TLB appears in Original if rank is at 16 or higher when you beat the final boss. Oops.

So now I'm left feeling unsatisfied unless I make a push to kill the TLB. I gotta get to the final boss with way more resources in stock.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by EmperorIng »

Don't feel down; I got to the TLB on Casual yesterday and proceeded to blow it.

You must get a LOT more points in original, because my TLB score is only 130 million... Either I suck at reading numbers, I am playing the game horribly wrong in terms of medal collection, or Casual gives you far less in terms of score.

Anyhow, I just made a score thread, so feel free to contribute!
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Novice and Casual do not have the Rank meter, and so score way less. The only thing that affects medal value is the size of them when you collect them.

Original and Expert have a smaller number under the Power Up meter that affects medal value (goes up to 10000 per medal in Power Up, doubled when in Limiter Release). All score is then further multiplied by Rank bonus (the multiplier value shown beneath your current Rank). To score well, you want to crank the Rank as high as possible and score lots of big cash-ins using your Power Up/hyper/whatever it's called. Expert scores more due to more bullets to cancel to medals which then drives rank up faster.

My best Casual clear is only slightly higher in score than my best Novice clear. I'd estimate at most you could get 350 Million - 400 Million in the mode with insane amounts of pointblanking assuming you're some kind of robot that can stay in front of bosses constantly. My current best for Casual is 220 million I think? Original can probably score well over 3 billion potentially assuming a perfect no-miss, no-bomb run with tons of cancelling or something. The impact the multiplier bonus you get from Rank is substantial and crucial to high scoring.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by EmperorIng »

Ah, I wasn't sure if there was still a rank meter in those modes (I was trying to find them while in play, but couldn't). That would make sense especially if the rank adds a multiplier to the proceedings. IIRC my best Original score (to stage 3) was already 250 million.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Yeah, there's no rank meter as far as scoring goes, and as far as I can tell there's no "hidden" rank mechanic either; difficulty in Novice and Casual is same all throughout the game (with temporary increases in difficulty when in Power Up and Limiter Release).

Your score thread appears to have a typo? I was told it's Rank 16 is the requirement for the TLB, not Rank 15, but I've never seen what happens if you clear the final boss with exactly Rank 15 so I could be wrong.
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Re: Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

Post by EmperorIng »

I was going off of discussions in the various topics that seemed to mention rank 15 (guigui I believe). I guess I'll believe moglar on this and change it until shown otherwise.
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