Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[ryu]

I did it. I beat the last boss of Hishouzame.

And got shot down on the same frame.

[m.sniffles.esq]

And got shot down on the same frame

Wait, there was another game where the boss death animation wouldn't cancel remaining bullets of the field. Arrrgggh! I can't think what it was (but I can remember it almost caused me to rip a controller in half with my teeth)

[ryu]

Well, Hishouzame is special anyways since the stage continues scrolling during boss fights and eventually has you encounter regular enemies. I dodged the bosses last shot, but got had by popcorn lol

[locoBro1196]

Well, Hishouzame is special anyways since the stage continues scrolling during boss fights and eventually has you encounter regular enemies. I dodged the bosses last shot, but got had by popcorn lol

oh no. I remember I suffered a lot through that part too, just when you are arriving to the beach. I had to practice that a lot through save states, I recall just tap-tap from left to right ended up working quite ok, need to be super careful. Good luck! so close.

[locoBro1196]

I had been eyeing Gunnail for a while so today I pulled the trigger on the ACA release for Switch. I don't regret spending EUR 7, but I still can't decide whether I like this game or not.
The multiplier mechanics are fun and the stages are just the right length, which I really appreciate.

But still, the following are some of the annoyances I found with this game:

- The tanks!! (land and sea). I can't believe I hate those more than I hate Toaplan's tanks. At least I can see the latter coming. Which bring me to the next point.
- I hate that you cannot see the whole of the screen, you need to move to the right or left so that the screen will show completely after scrolling to the relevant side. That hides A LOT of enemies, very poor design choice and it kind of breaks the game for me, even if you commit to memorizing the stage layouts.
- Once you are powered up, it's really difficult to monitor your own hitbox. Bad design for the power ups' colors and size. I spend a lot of time just eyeballing my ship to make sure I don't get hit. And I know I should not be doing this with any shmup.
- Not a biggie, but what's the deal with the score not resetting to 0 after continuing? I've never understood why an arcade game would do that.

I can make it to stage 5 (out of 8 ) but I don't think I have it in me to put much more time on this game.

What's the consensus here on Gunnail?

[BIL]

What's the consensus here on Gunnail?

I love it, but it's got the same legacy issues as Same1P, Trigon, and Raiden. Bad camera tracking, devious enemy placement, and Fast Aimed Shots™ is a punishing arrangement you just have to deal with in these games. Hishouzame minus its masterful restraint. Same2P, Thunder Dragon 2, and Sonic Wings had the far better approach to creating tougher STGs in the same vein, with their locked horizontal pan.

A very similar case in Obada-san's Ikari and Dogosoken (locked, beautiful) versus the finale Guevara (free pan, absolute nightmare). Guevara's last two stages, despite being the most technical by far, are a breeze compared to the blind-panning fuckery of the preceding three. It's exacerbated by your avatar needing to be pushing the screen edge before it'll move. Gunnail and Trigon do this, too; Raiden at least has the panning start well before you're near the incoming edge.

But yeah, that aside; great stage designs, several excellent bosses too, and the gritty mid-tech future war style w/jackboot funk bass is my jam. It's the kind of STG you can't really recommend without hefty caveats, but anyone familiar with its ilk will know exactly what to expect going in.

- Not a biggie, but what's the deal with the score not resetting to 0 after continuing? I've never understood why an arcade game would do that.

Can't recall offhand, but doesn't it add the telltale 1pt of shame? Lots of arcade games from Capcom's 1941 onward just add a "1" for every continue, so when you see famous superplayer "AAA" rocking up with 56,546,309 pts, you know he got owned. Again!

EDIT: yep, there it is.

[Nahar]

I tried Battle Bakraid today because I'll be playing it live on Retrobarcelona... my god, what a nice little treat I got!

[nesrulz]

DoDonPachi Resurrection (Steam). Great game with tons of quality mods. This game is underrated.

[Mills]

Whatever I can on Android smartphone content. Recently tried Dodonpachi which was arcade perfect but the controls are terrible with using joypad instead of touchscreen.

[ryu]

I forgot R-Type Dimensions doesn't feature save states. The stage select also doesn't let you start at full power. Let's see how long I can last.

Hishouzame is more fun now that I don't have to worry about clearing it so much anymore. Might play it for a while longer on the side because grinding R-Type seems like a pain right now

[Arino]

I had been eyeing Gunnail for a while so today I pulled the trigger on the ACA release for Switch. I don't regret spending EUR 7, but I still can't decide whether I like this game or not.
The multiplier mechanics are fun and the stages are just the right length, which I really appreciate.

But still, the following are some of the annoyances I found with this game:

- The tanks!! (land and sea). I can't believe I hate those more than I hate Toaplan's tanks. At least I can see the latter coming. Which bring me to the next point.
- I hate that you cannot see the whole of the screen, you need to move to the right or left so that the screen will show completely after scrolling to the relevant side. That hides A LOT of enemies, very poor design choice and it kind of breaks the game for me, even if you commit to memorizing the stage layouts.
- Once you are powered up, it's really difficult to monitor your own hitbox. Bad design for the power ups' colors and size. I spend a lot of time just eyeballing my ship to make sure I don't get hit. And I know I should not be doing this with any shmup.
- Not a biggie, but what's the deal with the score not resetting to 0 after continuing? I've never understood why an arcade game would do that.

I can make it to stage 5 (out of 8 ) but I don't think I have it in me to put much more time on this game.

What's the consensus here on Gunnail?

Everything you listed is actually part of a lot of games Not saying you have to like it, just that it's nothing uncommon (;

Playing Tiger-Heli. Idk, there is something about this game, I really like it. All those early/mid 80s games are just so raw, I dig it. Always wanted to take a closer look at all those games. Including Williams, Gottlieb, Atari...

[Steven]

Tiger-Heli fucking rocks hardcore. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar. It also is one of the most ridiculously tightly designed games you'll ever play.

[Arino]

tightly designed

Sorry I think I know what you mean but I'm not sure. What do you mean by this?

[ryu]

My Hishouzame run this morning was a lot of fun and put me into the mood to order the Tiger collection. Tiger-Heli doesn't look like a fun game to me though, but I guess I'll soon know.

I'm having a difficult time getting into R-Type. The first three stages are just really boring. Wish I had the means to practice from stage 4 onwards with a full loadout.

[locoBro1196]

I'm still attempting a 1CC on Switch's Giga Wing Score Attack mode. After countless stupid deaths in stages 5-6, I'm certainly losing hope I'll be able to accomplish this before the end of the week.
Time to make one last push before moving on to something else.

[Arino]

My Hishouzame run this morning was a lot of fun and put me into the mood to order the Tiger collection. Tiger-Heli doesn't look like a fun game to me though, but I guess I'll soon know.

I'm having a difficult time getting into R-Type. The first three stages are just really boring. Wish I had the means to practice from stage 4 onwards with a full loadout.

TH and KKK Tiger are both super amazing and out of this world. Not sure about Get Star

[Ice Beam]

FUCKING KYUUKYOKU TIGER REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE made it to level 9.

Recovering in level 8 is rough. There's nothing like watching your lives tick down as you get side sniped by sneaky tanks, bum rushed by boats, and kamikaze'd by helicopters. "It's a puzzle you figure out", it's more like I'm being punished for my gaming sins (which I think involves trading U.N. Squadron for Bart's Nightmare). I'm just glad the boss is easier compared to the previous monsters.

Also, special approbation to Steven for his Mikado run of this game, as watching his level 8 recovery was helpful.

[Steven]

tightly designed

Sorry I think I know what you mean but I'm not sure. What do you mean by this?

The game design is so perfect that if you changed any single aspect of the game you'd completely ruin it.

TH and KKK Tiger are both super amazing and out of this world. Not sure about Get Star

Get Star is cool. Guardian sucks though. They really messed up the balance on it, probably intentionally.

FUCKING KYUUKYOKU TIGER REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE made it to level 9.

Recovering in level 8 is rough. There's nothing like watching your lives tick down as you get side sniped by sneaky tanks, bum rushed by boats, and kamikaze'd by helicopters. "It's a puzzle you figure out", it's more like I'm being punished for my gaming sins (which I think involves trading U.N. Squadron for Bart's Nightmare). I'm just glad the boss is easier compared to the previous monsters.

Also, special approbation to Steven for his Mikado run of this game, as watching his level 8 recovery was helpful.

That's how that stage is. It's the hardest one in the game. For the past few months I have been thinking about doing another Kyuukyoku Tiger stream at Mikado specifically to teach no-autofire recoveries because nobody seems to know how to do them, but I'm not sure if I'll do it, mostly because I'd end up having to intentionally die a lot and would probably have to spend a lot of money on continues to show off all of the recovery strategies.

I also can't recover against the stage 10 boss. I know how to do it, but it's so difficult that I haven't been able to do it. It's easier to just restart the whole game and try again.

The other reason is that it's hot as fuck outside and I don't want to go outside for any reason at all if I can avoid it. I was at MCAGCC Twentynine Palms from June to August once and that was a much nicer experience than Tokyo summers.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Get Star is cool. Guardian sucks though. They really messed up the balance on it, probably intentionally.

Seconding this. Get Star is hilariously fun.