Am I playing Senko no Ronde correctly?

[dark]

I really want to like Senko no Ronde, I love the graphics and music. Its kind of like VOOT or the vs mode in Zone of Enders, but with a Powerstone style camera, and that concept is appealing too. But I'm not sure if I'm playing the game right because the controls seem highly limited.

I'm emulating the naomi version. It seems I can do 1 melee attack, and at a distance I can do two weak bullet attacks? And I can go into boss mode and do one or two boss attacks. Is that it? Is there more than one kind of melee attack? Are there special moves a la street fighter? Are there throws? I would have thought there would be more moves in the game.

I've heard the game described as a cross between a fighting game and a shmup, but my early impressions are that its only a surface presentation of either genre. It doesn't feel like a complicated fighting game, and it doesn't feel much like a shmup other than maybe dodging bullets in boss mode when that is possible.

[kid aphex]

Strange game.
The only winning move is not to play.

[mojilove]

There are command inputs like Street Fighter, and you also have a dash and guard button. Your attacks can do different things depending on whether you are dashing while you execute them or not.

Here's a tutorial video with the basics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFqNpClDPns
And here's a ST from this forum if you prefer reading viewtopic.php?t=10142

It doesn't have 3 punches and 3 kicks like a SF game, but still.

[m.sniffles.esq]

I've heard the game described as a cross between a fighting game and a shmup, but my early impressions are that its only a surface presentation of either genre. It doesn't feel like a complicated fighting game, and it doesn't feel much like a shmup other than maybe dodging bullets in boss mode when that is possible.

It basically (and weirdly) moves to a standard top-down shmup in it's final stage.

Like every g.rev title up to this point, it definitely took a bit to click. Though, I ended pretty much loving it (like every g.rev title up to this point). Although with Senko, a lot of it was putting preconceived notions aside on how a game like this should play, and just accepting how this game played. If that makes any sense...

Edit: Also--for what it's worth--I greatly preferred playing using the arcade stick/3-button method rather than the controller/multi-button method as explained in the above linked strategy guide. Movement felt better using the stick, and I thought the controls were more intuitive using the more simplistic button layout.

[dark]

Thanks Mojilove, those links were very helpful to understand some of the subtler game mechanics.