Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[To Far Away Times]

I don't know that I'd classify Cuphead as a shmup, but Mrs. To Far Away Times and I recently bought it and played through a few levels. Pretty fun stuff.

The game has a bit of cross over appeal for her with the art style. I didn't think I catch her playing a run and gun or shmup any time soon.

[Marc]

Picked up Sonic Wings 3 on sale for Switch last night. I like. Seems relatively manageable as well.

[G3n3raL86]

Taking a break from Trouble Witches Origin and i'm into the Hurricane of Varstray: Collateral Damage and man, it's as frantic as i remember it when i was playing the demo back then. Arguably one of the best vertical ones i've played.

P.S.: Got the 51th position at Novice today after lots of deaths. I wonder what's going on at Standard difficulty...

[Sengoku Strider]

R-Type III & Gunbird for Saturn just arrived. Going to be a fun weekend.

[EmperorIng]

Nice. Can you tate your TV for Gunbird? It's the only way (and why I haven't gotten it for Saturn!).

I'm playing a lot of Castle Shikigami and Sisters Royale, being on my Alfa System kick. I feel like I should try to return to Giga Wing 2 before the year is out; it's been months since i was pushing personal bests in the game...

[Sengoku Strider]

Nice. Can you tate your TV for Gunbird? It's the only way (and why I haven't gotten it for Saturn!).

I have a rotatable low latency monitor and a Saturn SCART cable, but still need to make an OSSC happen.

[Stevens]

After years of waffling I purchased Garegga on the PS 4 after a few beers.

The one thing I changed immediately was the color of the bullets. My old ass eyes appreciate this option immensely, yellow works fantastically.

Played some premium, some arcade, some custom with no rank.

[copy-paster]

After years of waffling I purchased Garegga on the PS 4 after a few beers.

The one thing I changed immediately was the color of the bullets. My old ass eyes appreciate this option immensely, yellow works fantastically.

Played some premium, some arcade, some custom with no rank.

Looks like we're playing the same game at the same moment.

My goal is to clear BG until the end of the year

[Stevens]

When did you start BG and how is your progress coming along?

I've been switching back and forth still. I've gotten as far as stage 6 in premium, in arcade I've gotten to the end of 5.

[Matsunaga]

After just learning that Battle Garegga is on PS4 2 weeks ago, and then ordering a PS4 arcade stick and receiving it today, I am playing Garegga. They really went all out on this version, it’s spectacular. I got to Blackheart 1 after playing for a little bit, which I’ve only been able to do on the Saturn version in the past. The input lag on the MAME version makes the game much tougher than it should be. I guess I’ll be buying Ketsui and DF soon.

[Marc]

Trigon. I suck so badly at this game it's untrue. Made it just past where you get the first option in level 3, got splattered. Still can't do the second boss without bombing at least once. Don't know what it is, but this game kicks my ass so hard it's not even funny.

[BIL]

Trigon is nails-hard even in its first loop, though actually pretty generous WRT bombs - their provision and effectiveness alike. Treating them less as desperate last resorts, more mighty Yagawa-style SPECIAL WEAPONs for cleaving through deadly boss attacks will help you break it open. Here's my current st2 boss tack, and something a bit further in, to illustrate.

Gotta ration 'em out wisely ofc. Choose your own adventure.

[copy-paster]

When did you start BG and how is your progress coming along?

I've been switching back and forth still. I've gotten as far as stage 6 in premium, in arcade I've gotten to the end of 5.

Arcade original.

[Stevens]

You're close. That's like any credit now.

[durias]

Rolling Gunner (Switch)

[dmk1198]

198X has a fun shmup game
Maybe my first 1cc lol
Enjoyed that!

Sent from my Redmi Note 8T using Tapatalk

[Infamous2150]

Decided to pickup some titles in my library that I don't really play.

Mushihimesama - Trying to 1cc on normal but god damn its brutal (for me anyway) best ive done is late stage 3. Need some more practice.

Dariusburst CS - Also trying to 1cc arcade. ADH route. Seems more do-able than mushi.

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Rolling Gunner (Switch)

Are you enjoying Rolling Gunner? What difficulty mode are you working on?

Mushihimesama - Trying to 1cc on normal but god damn its brutal (for me anyway) best ive done is late stage 3. Need some more practice.

It's pretty tough. Tougher than the sequel I think, because Mushi Futari 1.5 has much stronger shot types to use, relatively speaking.

[Stevens]

Super Star Soldier, Soldier Blade, Nexzr.

[Sengoku Strider]

Nexzr.

I watched the ShmupJunkie video on this yesterday, I've never played it but it look amazing.

[Stevens]

I also watched it.

Then proceeded to download RetroArch and all the Roms: )

[Marc]

Picked up Game Tengoku for Switch while on sale.
Never like this one on Saturn, but I quite enjoyed what I played last night. New characters are quite entertaining, and mostly removed my one aggravation with the original, which was that the player always felt a little under-powered to begin with. Made it to mid ST3 where some mini-boss thing spewed a load of green shit out and lost me every life. I'm struggling to think of the last time I made it past halfway in a shooter actually, though it might help if I didn't flit around without every properly settling on one game to practise.

[Sengoku Strider]

Picked up Game Tengoku for Switch while on sale.
Never like this one on Saturn, but I quite enjoyed what I played last night. New characters are quite entertaining, and mostly removed my one aggravation with the original, which was that the player always felt a little under-powered to begin with. Made it to mid ST3 where some mini-boss thing spewed a load of green shit out and lost me every life. I'm struggling to think of the last time I made it past halfway in a shooter actually, though it might help if I didn't flit around without every properly settling on one game to practise.

I ordered the physical on Switch...not sure when it'll ever materialize.

[EmperorIng]

You can hide horizontally with the midboss on stage 3 in Game Tengoku; the pattern is totally static and doesn't track you. That large ship gave me a lot of trouble bitd too!

I ordered the physical on Switch...not sure when it'll ever materialize.

Never, by my indication. Just like my Radirgy Swag.

[Sengoku Strider]

You can hide horizontally with the midboss on stage 3 in Game Tengoku; the pattern is totally static and doesn't track you. That large ship gave me a lot of trouble bitd too!

I ordered the physical on Switch...not sure when it'll ever materialize.

Never, by my indication. Just like my Radirgy Swag.

I knew they took their time with stuff before ordering. I just put it out of my mind figuring it'll come when it comes. If Cotton Reboot & R-Type Final 2 ship first I'll start to get concerned though.

[Stevens]

Super Star Soldier, Nexzr, Soldier Blade

Stage 5.

[To Far Away Times]

Super Star Soldier, Nexzr, Soldier Blade

Stage 5.

All cool games.

I like the audio/visual presentation of Super Star Soldier quite a bit. It's one of the most impressive Hu-Card games. There's some pretty bad game balance and design decisions (the final boss is basically unbeatable if you lose your weapon.) but the presentation is so strong I think the good outweighs the bad.

I went into Soldier Blade completely blind and I was surprised how I liked it. One of the best of the best games on the system, no doubt about it.

[Gamer707b]

Played a few credits of Battle Garegga and Esprade on ps4.

[Stevens]

Super Star Soldier, Nexzr, Soldier Blade

Stage 5.

All cool games.

I like the audio/visual presentation of Super Star Soldier quite a bit. It's one of the most impressive Hu-Card games. There's some pretty bad game balance and design decisions (the final boss is basically unbeatable if you lose your weapon.) but the presentation is so strong I think the good outweighs the bad.

I went into Soldier Blade completely blind and I was surprised how I liked it. One of the best of the best games on the system, no doubt about it.

Nexzr was the game that convinced me that I needed to suck it up and become familiar with RetroArch. Once I got that running (was easy) I did a little research and decided I needed SSS and SB too: )

I didn't get the shooter bug until my mid 30's (basically my time here at the farm) and during that time have spent little to no time at all pursuing games pre 1995. ShmupJunkie helped open my eyes to what I had been missing. Even amongst newer games I have always gravitated towards the less complex - give me two buttons and maybe three weapons to choose from and I'm good. Now I only need to worry about ONE button - even better.

Lastly there is something magical about 8/16 bit graphics accompanied by CD quality audio.

They truly are fantastic games and I feel worthy of far more attention then they seem to get.

[To Far Away Times]

Yeah I definitely have a soft spot for the old stuff.

The 16-Bit aesthetic is my jam. On the subject of PC Engine games I'd also highly recommend Gate of Thunder, Spriggan, and Sapphire.

Sapphire feels very modern for a PC Engine game. It's hard as nails and even has a cool scoring system. Spriggan is one of Compile's very best games and feels pretty similar to the three games you mentioned. Gate of Thunder is like a long lost Thunderforce III sequel. Oh also, Blazing Lazers is a great game if you can tolerate the bullet wobble. Its like a proto-Soldier Blade. Quite a good game in its own right.

The PC Engine absolutely rocks for original shmup games!