Am I going Crazy?!? Mushihimesama Futari advice

[Cultstorm]

OK guys, I need some serious advice. I've been working on Mushihimesama Futari on the Xbox 360 for over a month. I have literally put over 50 hours into the 3rd level alone and have never been able to clear it without dying or bombing. My 360 is installed in an arcade cabinet from Recroom Masters. It has a joystick wired up to it and is using a Vizio 1080i TV with it.

You guys suggested using MAME to practice the third level so I could use save states. But you warned me there would be no slowdown and it would make the game much harder.

I got MAME installed with the low latency input on. I'm using an Xbox 1 controller and my 24in computer monitor.

I booted up the rom.... and I just killed it. I i beat the 3rd stage on my first try... even without any slowdown. The game feels like 3 times easier. It's not running any slower. It just feels like I have better control of my character. I can dodge much easier. I feel like my skill jumped through the roof.

What's going on? Is it lag on the TV connected to the 360? Is it using a joystick instead of a controller.?

Yes, I have game mode on the TV and it's enabled

Please help me figure out what's going on.

[Kiken]

OK guys, I need some serious advice. I've been working on Mushihimesama Futari on the Xbox 360 for over a month. I have literally put over 50 hours into the 3rd level alone and have never been able to clear it without dying or bombing. My 360 is installed in an arcade cabinet from Recroom Masters. It has a joystick wired up to it and is using a Vizio 1080i TV with it.

You guys suggested using MAME to practice the third level so I could use save states. But you warned me there would be no slowdown and it would make the game much harder.

I got MAME installed with the low latency input on. I'm using an Xbox 1 controller and my 24in computer monitor.

I booted up the rom.... and I just killed it. I i beat the 3rd stage on my first try... even without any slowdown. The game feels like 3 times easier. It's not running any slower. It just feels like I have better control of my character. I can dodge much easier. I feel like my skill jumped through the roof.

What's going on? Is it lag on the TV connected to the 360? Is it using a joystick instead of a controller.?

Yes, I have game mode on the TV and it's enabled

Please help me figure out what's going on.

What resolution setting are you using on your 360? What video cables are you using? Does your TV support 720p?

[Cultstorm]

It never occurred to me to change the video settings on the 360. I'm using a standard HDMI 1.0 cable.

The TV is autodetecting 1080i from the 360.

I did a latency test between my computer monitor and the TV that's in the arcade cabinet.

The TV has input latency that's 33ms behind the computer monitor. The monitor has 11ms of latency. So.... that's 44ms of latency total.

That has to be what's messing me up...

[WarpZone]

I mean, it's probably all three things?

Personally I grew up with d-pads and no matter how great a joystick is considered to be it's hard to surpass 25 years of d-pad muscle memory.

I also find 360 Futari's slowdown unusually 'jerky' in places and sometimes eat a bullet when it speeds up.

[Kiken]

It never occurred to me to change the video settings on the 360. I'm using a standard HDMI 1.0 cable.

The TV is autodetecting 1080i from the 360.

I did a latency test between my computer monitor and the TV that's in the arcade cabinet.

The TV has input latency that's 33ms behind the computer monitor. The monitor has 11ms of latency. So.... that's 44ms of latency total.

That has to be what's messing me up...

What other resolutions does your TV support? Try running 720p or 1360p if your TV supports those and try again. Does your TV support VGA? I've found on my older model Vizio that it has the least latency when running through VGA.

[To Far Away Times]

Some times things just line up right in that stage but most times I'd get shut down hard.

The third stage in Mushi Futari is a wall. I think its actually harder than the two stages that come after. You need a route if you want to no miss/no bomb it. I've flailed my way through it when everything seemed to line up just right but I've never had much success in replicating it. You should be able to no miss no bomb (or maybe 1 bomb) the first two stages without too much trouble, so I would plan to use 2-3 bombs preemptively on stage 3 in the most troublesome sections. If you play your cards right and end stage 3 with no deaths and having used all your bombs, you'd have more the enough resources for the rest of the game.

[Cultstorm]

Some times things just line up right in that stage but most times I'd get shut down hard.

The third stage in Mushi Futari is a wall. I think its actually harder than the two stages that come after. You need a route if you want to no miss/no bomb it. I've flailed my way through it when everything seemed to line up just right but I've never had much success in replicating it. You should be able to no miss no bomb (or maybe 1 bomb) the first two stages without too much trouble, so I would plan to use 2-3 bombs preemptively on stage 3 in the most troublesome sections. If you play your cards right and end stage 3 with no deaths and having used all your bombs, you'd have more the enough resources for the rest of the game

Thanks for the advice. I have already routed it all out. On PC, can no miss no bomb it 9/10 attempts. On the TV, the input lag is just too bad.

I went ahead and ordered a new monitor to throw into my cabinet. It should reduce everything from 5 frames of input down to the minimum.

[el_rika]

Are we talking Original? Maniac? Ultra? (v. 1.5 right?)

In any case, use my settings from the Cv1000 mame accuracy topic (remember that Palm needs a higher CPU clock than Reco).
If we're talking survival only, level 3 is just a little bit harder than 2 (original, maniac), with lots of bullets cancelling opportunities.

In a bad day, i personally use 2 bombs - depending on how i get cornered by the big bugs before the boss, and last boss pattern is a mandatory bomb for me.

[Cultstorm]

Right now, I'm just working on normal before moving on to Maniac. I'm not going to bother with Ultra most likely.

[el_rika]

Right now, I'm just working on normal before moving on to Maniac. I'm not going to bother with Ultra most likely.

Maniac in Futari 1.5 (BL as well) is absolutely amazing. One of the most satisfying experiences in the genre. Ultra is simply impossible. I've seen of course those videos of people clearing it, but it feels like robots playing, not humans

[To Far Away Times]

Hmmm... Maybe I need to revisit Maniac. Futari is my favorite shmup, and I cleared Maniac in Black Label but I always thought Original (in both 1.5 and Black Label) was the meat and potatoes of the game.

Original mode treats the game as a fast paced manic style shmup and in that field it is, IMO unrivaled with it's slick audio/visual presentation and phenomenal stage design. Maniac turns the game into a bullet hell, and while it is still quite good, it lacks a little bit of that je ne sais quoi. I don't think it's neccisarily a cut above the best bullet hell shmups.

[Kiken]

Hmmm... Maybe I need to revisit Maniac. Futari is my favorite shmup, and I cleared Maniac in Black Label but I always thought Original (in both 1.5 and Black Label) was the meat and potatoes of the game.

Original mode treats the game as a fast paced manic style shmup and in that field it is, IMO unrivaled with it's slick audio/visual presentation and phenomenal stage design. Maniac turns the game into a bullet hell, and while it is still quite good, it lacks a little bit of that je ne sais quoi. I don't think it's neccisarily a cut above the best bullet hell shmups.

Mushi Futari ver 1.5 Maniac is one of Cave's most balanced and well designed games. It has a flexible and dynamic scoring system eclipsed only by ESPGaluda II. In comparison, Black Label Maniac comes across as excessive nonsense (it's just God Mode with less crazy patterns).

That said, if you're enjoying Original Mode, then keep playing that.