I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

[BulletMagnet]

Picked up Omega Fighter on sale recently; tried it years ago in MAME and remember being impressed by it, but man, this thing is a lot meaner than I recall.

As ahead of its time as the proximity-based scoring is, your slow movement speed and cruelly unforgiving hitbox make exploiting it a suicide mission without very strict memorization. I do appreciate that your shots' hit area and high fire rate are generous enough to pick off popcorn coming in at certain odd angles, but even then it's easy to be kamikaze'd by speedy baddies...which encourages you to constantly keep the fire button held down, which makes scoring (and extending) even tougher. The complete power-down and short invincibility time after death serve as icing on the cake.

The "Special" version's more generous extend rate makes things more manageable and the stages certainly don't overstay their welcome, but as much as I wish I could add it to the embarrassingly short "in some distant dimension I might have a chance at 1CCing this" list, methinks it's much more likely to steal my proverbial lunch money in perpetuity. A shame, as it does have major elements in it that appeal to me much more than most of its peers at the time.

[BIL]

Omega Fighter/Special's zako were broken in MAME until fairly recently, might explain the perceived difficulty jump.

[BulletMagnet]

I vaguely remember reading that a while back and not paying much attention; joke's on me, 'cuz now Hamster's comin' for your ass. Or three or four bucks in PSN credit, they're not picky.

[Johnpv]

Has there been any update on when Raiden is supposed to release?

[Marc]

Picked up Omega Fighter on sale recently; tried it years ago in MAME and remember being impressed by it, but man, this thing is a lot meaner than I recall.

As ahead of its time as the proximity-based scoring is, your slow movement speed and cruelly unforgiving hitbox make exploiting it a suicide mission without very strict memorization. I do appreciate that your shots' hit area and high fire rate are generous enough to pick off popcorn coming in at certain odd angles, but even then it's easy to be kamikaze'd by speedy baddies...which encourages you to constantly keep the fire button held down, which makes scoring (and extending) even tougher. The complete power-down and short invincibility time after death serve as icing on the cake.

The "Special" version's more generous extend rate makes things more manageable and the stages certainly don't overstay their welcome, but as much as I wish I could add it to the embarrassingly short "in some distant dimension I might have a chance at 1CCing this" list, methinks it's much more likely to steal my proverbial lunch money in perpetuity. A shame, as it does have major elements in it that appeal to me much more than most of its peers at the time.

I love the laser, it's crazy powerful at top level, but the short fie distance means that if you don't know exactly what's coming up....
Starts kicking my ass by mid-ST3, though I can scrape through to 4 more often than not. It's pretty generous with bombs.

[steveovig]

Is there a trick to better scores in Zed Blade? It seems like the online scores are way higher for Caravan than I'm getting. I'm getting like 200k and some of the higher scores are 900k or more.

[Jeneki]

In Omega Fighter, if you've holding shot, you can let enemies fly into the side of your ship and they'll die. Makes 10x quite a bit easier to get.

Is there a trick to better scores in Zed Blade? It seems like the online scores are way higher for Caravan than I'm getting. I'm getting like 200k and some of the higher scores are 900k or more.

You need the correct ship type, shot types, and (unfortunately) the correct order of powerups to maximize score in the first stage. If powerups are still random in Caravan, the vast majority of runs just won't have enough score potential and will need to be tossed out. Otherwise the usual "plant the ship into the ground so your bullets instantly disappear" as you can see in various videos.

[Sumez]

Omega Fighter is a fantastic game, probably my favourite shooter of the 80s.

Assuming the "Special" version is just a rom swap, I really should try to upgrade my PCB, I want to give that one a try.

[BIL]

Has there been any update on when Raiden is supposed to release?

Nope - seems very up in the air ATM, with Markham, Quarth and Halley's Comet all being total (albeit welcome!) surprises. I'm guessing it's the fallout from 2020.

Lots of good stuff scheduled. Raiden, Rabio Lepus, Thunder Dragon, Darwin 4078, Guevara (been wanting this forever - the TRVE & HONEST Ikari III )... and for non-STGs, Mizubaku Daibouken and infamous meme factory Trio Teh Punch, which is actually alright imo.

[Marc]

I took one look at the screenshots for Halley's Comet, and went 'nah'. Then I looked o here and found a few positive words, and I'm glad I did. Absolutely loving it, simple but murderously addictive, and some decent firepower in there for it's age. Good stuff.

Though walk I did walk into the front room wondering who was playing a Final Fantasy game because of the soundtrack at one point...

[cave hermit]

So I think that the arcade archives version of X-multiply might actually be adding a bit of input latency, I just tried X-multiply in groovymame, and the ship felt perfectly responsive there.

Of course, the arcade archives version is still a much more convenient option compared to getting a crt, a dedicated desktop with a specific gpu, configuring drivers, etc.

[BloodHawk]

I just saw that Thunder Cross came out on the eShop. Looks to have multiple versions too according to the description:

Multiple versions of the game are included, such as the "OLD Japanese Version" and the "NEW Japanese Version," which have different difficulty levels, as well as the "European Version," and the rearranged "North American Version."

[Jeneki]

I wonder what was up with Thunder Cross. I got it off Japan psn years ago but still not available in western regions.

[BIL]

ACA Cybattler, out tomorrow. Was hoping for this one, especially after the Psyvariar Delta cameo DLC. <3 mecha STGs.

[Tarma]

Never heard of this one, but looks good - looks like it has some Toaplan influences in the graphics.

[CRP]

ACA Cybattler, out tomorrow. :

play video here starts at around 1.15.00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_0NhW0KnC8

[Ghegs]

ACA Cybattler, out tomorrow. Was hoping for this one, especially after the Psyvariar Delta cameo DLC. <3 mecha STGs.

Oh dang, that's nice. Maybe I can sell the PCB now...

[BIL]

^ Always got good vibes from this one, and you and trap and other mainstays' posts on it, but god damn - where were Jaleco hiding this team? I've been slowly gaining an appreciation of their Mega System output, but if you told me this was a lost Tecno Soft PCB, I'd believe it. Scintillating pace, precision and style.

Never heard of this one, but looks good - looks like it has some Toaplan influences in the graphics.

It's so fuckin rad. Like Shock Troopers' strafe/slash via Hyper Duel's blazing largesse, with ASValken's bravura style.

Strafing BATTLE TRAINS on the moon

Spoiler

WHERES ME SHOOTA

Spoiler

Blind buy with no regrets, except it kept me up late.



Heaven Is Here Inside My Soul

[Marc]

That looks really nice, but I'm not a fan of multi-directional aiming in shooters - is it like that throughout or just for certain weapons?

[EmperorIng]

Cybattler is a shoot-to-lock-in-place type of game.

[BIL]

That looks really nice, but I'm not a fan of multi-directional aiming in shooters - is it like that throughout or just for certain weapons?

It's an autoscrolling Shock Troopers, pretty much. Eight-way [shot], hold button to strafe. Besides hosing crowds / focusing fire, it's also great for zoning something you want to [slash]. I like putting autofire on sword, for that buzzsawing Winds of Thunder feel. The vast majority of enemies and obstacles do no contact damage, merely buffeting you, facilitating ninja assassination technique.

Besides targeted kills, even the free-way slash is great for cutting free of crowds, leaving trails of haplessly bisected enemy mechs in your wake. Stage and pattern design is patently tailored for eight-way attack, made clear when the first boss rockets up your six not once, but twice, at the stage's opening and climax. Fixed vertical shot would work about as well here as in Shock Troopers or Ikari, TOTAL EIGHT-WAY WAR



Hamster ur thumbnail game still improvin', I approve Helps that this game's mecha design is pretty goddamn strong ofc

[Firehawke]

You're definitely selling me on giving this one a try. Might want to look at it in MAME briefly first, but it looks pretty good from what I've seen here.

I wish they'd put Gradius 3 levels of effort into all of their titles, but I'm glad they at least did for that one since it desperately needed it. (Still a bit miffed that the PSP version of Gradius 3 doesn't have Extra Edit..)

[Jeneki]

Holy shit why have I not played Cybattler before now. This game makes a great first impression. So much stylish awesomeness and fun as hell.

[Marc]

It's definitely stylish, but the combination of scrolling and 8-way action makes my brain fry

[SPM]

This one looks really fun. Added to the wish list!

Anyone else getting "too many" shmups on their console to the point of lacking time to play them all?

[dmk1198]

This one looks really fun. Added to the wish list!

Anyone else getting "too many" shmups on their console to the point of lacking time to play them all?

Yep lol

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

[BrianC]

I went for the PS4 version this time and bought SNK vs. Capcom MotM using coins on switch. Emulation seems solid. Glad to see these games made available again.

[BIL]

Anyone else getting "too many" shmups on their console to the point of lacking time to play them all?

Genre working as intended. A little STG goes a long way, the hard stuff

Does that look like a Silver Hawk cameo to anyone else, in the background of the Sikamas II battle? (Mother Hawk I suppose, if you take its scale literally)



"Non Aggression Zone" my ass! Eat rockets and die you bastard, this one's for Proco!

[trap15]

BIL your scanlines are killing me it's vertical game, so the lines should go up. And they should only have one per pixel, not two

Cybattler's the greatest, the last boss fight is so crazy cool and fun. Picked it up on PS4 the other day but haven't gotten to it yet.

[BIL]

Apologies, I never use 'em. Paranoid WRT image processing lag on my grandma's Maury TV.



Any better? Although as always Hamster pair scanlines with mayo filter.

EDIT: well I use 'em in M2's Super Contra, because it's the only way to get a decently-sized yoko image. Still gives me the willies though! >_>