Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Hah, I missed his post there. STOP HAVING FUN GUYS.

His last few posts were, uh, certainly something.

[XoPachi]

Akai Katana Shin is deceptively deep. For years it seemed so much simpler than I thought, but there were some things I've noticed recently that I wasn't understanding and never really looked into. I'm reading the manual and there's a few little things I wasn't aware of like the gold items actually needing to be picked up immediately. I thought them shrinking was just a visual trick to show they're being sucked up and collected by you. But you have to actually grab them as soon as they pop out so you don't lose points. I was wondering why sometimes in stage 1, I'd reach Hiiragi with 30,000,000+ points or 20,000,000 despite not consciously doing anything different. But now that I understand what the difference is, I could likely blow any score I've been reaching in a stage out of the water. (I also like how they really want you to use the Orchid in this game because every image of gameplay in the manual shows either that or Kikyou).

I also really don't know why I didn't expect this from Cave, especially with how long I've had this game, but the hit counter is massively important too. The leniency of it made me think it was just there for flair, but it actually adds to the base value of the gold. It should have been obvious that it adds to either enemy or point item values, like.....duh. So I've been trying to full combo stages in training now and the game is even more fun (and more difficult) keeping this in mind with the other scoring elements. In stage 5, I managed to hit around 12000 before reaching home girl. It makes juggling shot modes more interesting than even DoDonPachi I feel like.

It's wild how this mode was made in what I assume was a panic. They totally and gracefully refreshed this all while porting it to console and localizing it in what could not have possibly been the full 9 months between the two ports. Japanese arcade devs really are built different.

EDIT: And after learning how to actually play the game, I'm immediately getting both extends before stage 4. How about that?

[Ice Beam]

Akai Katana Shin is deceptively deep.

Yes it is. I remember comparing my low-scoring playthroughs to high-scoring ones on youtube and trying to figure out where I went wrong. I still have a ways to go.

It's my favorite Cave game (that I've played so far).

[XoPachi]

Yes it is. I remember comparing my low-scoring playthroughs to high-scoring ones on youtube and trying to figure out where I went wrong. I still have a ways to go.

It's my favorite Cave game (that I've played so far).

There's likely still some little granular things I could be doing for my "best" stages still. I'm really just trying to get a clear though. I do "survival scoring" which is just trying to get my extends as soon as possible and then coast through the remainder of the game.

[To Far Away Times]

It's wild how this mode was made in what I assume was a panic. They totally and gracefully refreshed this all while porting it to console and localizing it in what could not have possibly been the full 9 months between the two ports. Japanese arcade devs really are built different.

Akai Katana Shin elevates a pretty mediocre game into one of CAVE's best.

The sound and power of those Katana's hitting and the point explosion that follows is so satisfying. It terms of how satisfying it is to pull off, I think it might be rivaled only by Crimson Clover's double break.

[XoPachi]

OH you can force revenge bullets in this game with the phantom's laser!!
That opens up a WORLD of new scoring opportunities! I don't know how I missed that. I've been able to get the 2nd extension by the end of stage 3, but now I can see myself definitely reaching that earlier.

What's odd is that this game has so much scoring potential but it's somehow still very easy to understand despite how open ended the scoring is. I don't know how they struck that balance so well.

[wiNteR]

I tried Kokuga after a long time. Number of years ago when I first played it I completed a number of stages for this game and then kind of forgot to play it again. My initial impression of it could probably summed up with a phrases like "experimental" or "doesn't feel like a completed game" etc. Now playing it after a number of years it seems to me that perhaps, even as a somewhat experienced shoot'em up player, I didn't quite understand the game.

Now its true that graphics of the game are quite barebones. However, after playing it after 2 to 3 hours it seems that the game is quite different from traditional autoscrolling shoot'em up games. To be honest, the game even seems to be different from "manual scrolling" or "arena" shoot'em ups [at least the few that I have played] in a number of ways.

It seems that the following things, for example, don't quite make a first good impression of the game:
(a) Graphics are quite basic.
(b) If there is an obstacle between the player and enemy, then the enemies just simply seem to follow a fixed path [the direction corresponding to line joining the enemy and the player]. At least this seems to be the case in the first couple of stages. When I played the game last time, I re-call this fixed behaviour staying the same even in later stages [at least as far as I remember].

At any rate, this does not quite create a good first impression of the game (even if it possibly might not make that much of a difference in practice).

(c) The card system gives access to flashy weapons or abilities. However, I am not quite sure how balanced it is or not. The last time I played it, either the game seemed a bit too easy or a bit too difficult (where the cards had to be used).

=====================

Continuing from the point-(c) above, this time I tried not to use cards. I completed stage-A and stage-B (on normal). Because of the manual scrolling in particular, it seems that the stages can be done while playing quite defensively. And perhaps also because the map and enemy positions are already loaded in full at the beginning, this seems to allow a lot of freedom of movement [which also seems to allow defensive play further]. This in-turn seems to imply that there isn't much in the way of enemies coming from behind etc. [as in some older manual scrolling games].

After that I tried the "boss mode" for both stages [more difficult than bosses on "normal" difficulty]. Completed the boss for stage-A after two or three attempts. After 1.5 hours or so of play I kind of figured out how to get through the stage-B boss [didn't quite do it though but came extremely close]. My first impression is that the boss battles are meant to be the highlight of the game. I also remember playing the "boss mode" for at least some of the stages last time [stage-B in paticular]. However, due to spamming cards it was not difficult to do it without learning the pattern much.

Now I don't know whether the battles in "boss mode" are all meant to be do able without any cards. However, that seems to be my initial impression after playing just stage-A and stage-B in this mode.

I intend to play the game quite gradually. Nevertheless, there are two or three things that seem to be different in this game:
(i) The game emphasizes aiming due to limited shot rate.
(ii) The game also seems to be designed in a way that the player is encouraged not to fire at all for brief periods [at specific points for example]. I noticed this after about playing the stage-B boss for nearly an hour (in "boss mode").
(iii) At least for first couple of battles in boss modes, it seems that whenever the player hits the boss core a revenge laser is fired. Due to laser speed and big hitbox for the player, sometimes it might not be possible to dodge the laser. However, the laser is quite low damage. Due to this if one has to make the choice between getting hit with the "normal attacks" of the boss or the "revenge laser", then it seems better to choose the latter.

=====================

Edit:
I managed to beat the stage-B in boss mode after a few more attempts (without cards).

The post above got a bit long. If the game is intended to be beatable without using cards [which I don't know yet], then here is a reasonable one-line analogy that I can think of about this game that I suppose captures it approximately (in terms of how it plays):
"This game can be thought of as an arena shoot'em up in a similar way that cuphead can be thought of as a platform run and gun."

The point being that the main focus of the game seems to be boss battles. The stages seem to be included for extra playtime etc. but they don't seem to be main focus based on what I have played. But ofc it should be mentioned that this is still a fairly early impression of the game that I have.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I bought some stuff on the Japanese Switch store using a points card and had some leftover points to use up, was poking around with limited hope as to finding something to spend it on, when I noticed Rangerdog, a game I'd had my eye on for a while, was just barely affordable enough to use up the rest of my points!

It's quite a fun game, basically serving as a mix of Darius and Parodius mechanics. You can tell it's an indie release as it's generally more empty with less complexity in the stages than the actual Parodius games, but for the price tag it's really not a bad cute 'em up by any means, a solid 7/10 effort at least. You've got three shot types, one that's a power oriented one that functions sort of like Mambo in Parodius, another one that has Grade Up style powerups that has a really effective spreadshot and homing missiles, and another one with Gradius style trailing options and a wave laser that seems to be the worst of the bunch; its shield hitbox is a bit taller than the rest it seems?

Unlike Parodius where you can freely switch between the Double and Laser equivalents without power loss, each ship has two shots and two missiles (they all have a basic Gradius missile as one of the options), but you power each one up separately. Powering up both can be handy in case you accidentally get the wrong one at a bad time.

Game's pretty fun, and some of the boss weakpoints are pretty unique in how they're handled, that was refreshing.

All in all a nice experience. The Switch version's control mapping sucks with no remapping options, a truly unfortunate thing to lack, but that's my only serious complaint with the game.

[Daytime Waitress]

I bought some stuff on the Japanese Switch store using a points card and had some leftover points to use up, was poking around with limited hope as to finding something to spend it on, when I noticed Rangerdog, a game I'd had my eye on for a while, was just barely affordable enough to use up the rest of my points!

It's quite a fun game, basically serving as a mix of Darius and Parodius mechanics. You can tell it's an indie release as it's generally more empty with less complexity in the stages than the actual Parodius games, but for the price tag it's really not a bad cute 'em up by any means, a solid 7/10 effort at least. You've got three shot types, one that's a power oriented one that functions sort of like Mambo in Parodius, another one that has Grade Up style powerups that has a really effective spreadshot and homing missiles, and another one with Gradius style trailing options and a wave laser that seems to be the worst of the bunch; its shield hitbox is a bit taller than the rest it seems?

Unlike Parodius where you can freely switch between the Double and Laser equivalents without power loss, each ship has two shots and two missiles (they all have a basic Gradius missile as one of the options), but you power each one up separately. Powering up both can be handy in case you accidentally get the wrong one at a bad time.

Game's pretty fun, and some of the boss weakpoints are pretty unique in how they're handled, that was refreshing.

All in all a nice experience. The Switch version's control mapping sucks with no remapping options, a truly unfortunate thing to lack, but that's my only serious complaint with the game.

Thanks for the rec, Roo.
Upon looking up some screens I was initially thrown off because it looked a little too thematically similar to the glacial Proto Corgi, which I gave up on after only a couple of levels because absolutely everything was a bullet sponge.
But digging around I found that this is by the same dude that did Paro Paro, which I found absolutely delightful, so I'll slap it on the wishlist.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Upon looking up some screens I was initially thrown off because it looked a little too thematically similar to the glacial Proto Corgi, which I gave up on after only a couple of levels because absolutely everything was a bullet sponge.

Nah, completely different. Proto Corgi is probably the nicer looking game and has much better music, but the pacing is quite different, and I agree with Proto Corgi feeling way too slow for its own good. The harder difficulty put up a fight from what I remember, but the bullet spongyness might well have been the main reason for that.

My main issue with ProtoCorgi is it's overdesigned. It eventually throws in way too many gimmicks but doesn't seem to really make use of any of them particularly well, and if you stick to just your basic weapons the main shots don't feel like they have enough oomph on their own. The homing weapons also have a really close range lock on reticle, I prefer something like Omega Fighter or Giga Wing where you design the game around one mechanic, and you do a very good job of implementing that mechanic into the gameplay. ProtoCorgi I felt doesn't really do this well, giving you eventually a massive combination:

• Rayforce style homing lockons, but the missiles fire without needing lockons and can hit things, but only at very close range if you're not locked on, locking on only seems to be for accuracy and range purposes?
• Holding a button to change direction like Raiga Strato Fighter or Deathsmiles
• Time slowdown
• A bullet parrying/absorbing button with strict timing like Tavia's melee in Gunbird 2
• A disjointed JoJo's Bizarre Adventure style stand, that disables your main shot while using it but feels straight up worse than many other games where you have a subweapon that launches ranged attack (R-Type Leo, the Harrier's charge shot in Strikers 1999).
• Tapping the shot button instead of holding it fires a powerful shot that uncovers specific secrets, somewhat like Mars Matrix having two different main shots

Sorry, but this is way too much. And none of these were as fun or interesting to use compared to in the games that pioneered their mechanics and had their levels designed around them.

Case in point: the changelog shows lots of rebalancing efforts such as making the tap shot gain piercing properties and bigger size when it hits fruit items, because fruit was blocking it from uncovering secrets. And one Steam reviewer complained about the game because he accidentally changed directions and spent the whole level facing backwards because he couldn't figure out there was a button he needed to hold (not just tap) to switch directions. This is all symptomatic of trying to do too many things at once instead of focusing on a few things and doing them well. Either focus on something as a central gimmick, or make it like ExZeal or Gwangedash, where different shot types have specific gimmicks and the players can use what they're comfortable with, instead of loading the player with all of them at once and having to puzzle out what and where to use all these things.

There's a lot of potential in ProtoCorgi, and seeing you fire B A R K when you tap the shot button is very cute, but it felt needlessly complex. Rangerdog is entirely the opposite of that, a relatively simple but well-executed indie take on a Parodius style game.

[Arino]

Got back to Raiden, I have always loved this game. No matter how crushing it is (I am not a very good player), it always makes me want to try again. It always makes me think the last death could have been avoided somehow. I think this is something the game does very well, also because it is so simple and straight forward. I managed to clear the international version without the checkpoints some time ago so now I want to beat the original JP version.

[Daytime Waitress]

Upon looking up some screens I was initially thrown off because it looked a little too thematically similar to the glacial Proto Corgi, which I gave up on after only a couple of levels because absolutely everything was a bullet sponge.

Nah, completely different. Proto Corgi is probably the nicer looking game and has much better music, but the pacing is quite different, and I agree with Proto Corgi feeling way too slow for its own good. The harder difficulty put up a fight from what I remember, but the bullet spongyness might well have been the main reason for that.

My main issue with ProtoCorgi is it's overdesigned. It eventually throws in way too many gimmicks but doesn't seem to really make use of any of them particularly well, and if you stick to just your basic weapons the main shots don't feel like they have enough oomph on their own. The homing weapons also have a really close range lock on reticle, I prefer something like Omega Fighter or Giga Wing where you design the game around one mechanic, and you do a very good job of implementing that mechanic into the gameplay. ProtoCorgi I felt doesn't really do this well, giving you eventually a massive combination:

• Rayforce style homing lockons, but the missiles fire without needing lockons and can hit things, but only at very close range if you're not locked on, locking on only seems to be for accuracy and range purposes?
• Holding a button to change direction like Raiga Strato Fighter or Deathsmiles
• Time slowdown
• A bullet parrying/absorbing button with strict timing like Tavia's melee in Gunbird 2
• A disjointed JoJo's Bizarre Adventure style stand, that disables your main shot while using it but feels straight up worse than many other games where you have a subweapon that launches ranged attack (R-Type Leo, the Harrier's charge shot in Strikers 1999).
• Tapping the shot button instead of holding it fires a powerful shot that uncovers specific secrets, somewhat like Mars Matrix having two different main shots

Sorry, but this is way too much. And none of these were as fun or interesting to use compared to in the games that pioneered their mechanics and had their levels designed around them.

Case in point: the changelog shows lots of rebalancing efforts such as making the tap shot gain piercing properties and bigger size when it hits fruit items, because fruit was blocking it from uncovering secrets. And one Steam reviewer complained about the game because he accidentally changed directions and spent the whole level facing backwards because he couldn't figure out there was a button he needed to hold (not just tap) to switch directions. This is all symptomatic of trying to do too many things at once instead of focusing on a few things and doing them well. Either focus on something as a central gimmick, or make it like ExZeal or Gwangedash, where different shot types have specific gimmicks and the players can use what they're comfortable with, instead of loading the player with all of them at once and having to puzzle out what and where to use all these things.

There's a lot of potential in ProtoCorgi, and seeing you fire B A R K when you tap the shot button is very cute, but it felt needlessly complex. Rangerdog is entirely the opposite of that, a relatively simple but well-executed indie take on a Parodius style game.

Very much appreciate the succinct breakdown from a much more experienced player, Roo.
For me it went as deep as, "vibes are off".
Something about the game telling me that I was at MAX POWER somewhere along the third stage, but still feeling like everything took a bajillion hits, just didn't sit well with me.
Despite, as you said, the aesthetic being adorable as all get-out and it obviously having a lot of effort put into it.

I'll most likely pick up RangerDoggo sometime in the future, but for now I've got to crack on with either HSZ or Sonic Wings.
I was tantalisingly close with both of them not un-recently, but I had to step back before I got burned out.
Now with a bit of time up my sleeves, I'm looking forward to giving both the effort they deserve.

[Arino]

I bought some stuff on the Japanese Switch store using a points card and had some leftover points to use up, was poking around with limited hope as to finding something to spend it on, when I noticed Rangerdog, a game I'd had my eye on for a while, was just barely affordable enough to use up the rest of my points!

It's quite a fun game, basically serving as a mix of Darius and Parodius mechanics. You can tell it's an indie release as it's generally more empty with less complexity in the stages than the actual Parodius games, but for the price tag it's really not a bad cute 'em up by any means, a solid 7/10 effort at least. You've got three shot types, one that's a power oriented one that functions sort of like Mambo in Parodius, another one that has Grade Up style powerups that has a really effective spreadshot and homing missiles, and another one with Gradius style trailing options and a wave laser that seems to be the worst of the bunch; its shield hitbox is a bit taller than the rest it seems?

Unlike Parodius where you can freely switch between the Double and Laser equivalents without power loss, each ship has two shots and two missiles (they all have a basic Gradius missile as one of the options), but you power each one up separately. Powering up both can be handy in case you accidentally get the wrong one at a bad time.

Game's pretty fun, and some of the boss weakpoints are pretty unique in how they're handled, that was refreshing.

All in all a nice experience. The Switch version's control mapping sucks with no remapping options, a truly unfortunate thing to lack, but that's my only serious complaint with the game.

Thanks for the rec, Roo.
Upon looking up some screens I was initially thrown off because it looked a little too thematically similar to the glacial Proto Corgi, which I gave up on after only a couple of levels because absolutely everything was a bullet sponge.
But digging around I found that this is by the same dude that did Paro Paro, which I found absolutely delightful, so I'll slap it on the wishlist.

Definitely gonna play Rangerdog and Paro Paro.

[el_rika]

[Aceskies]

Akai Katana Shin is deceptively deep. For years it seemed so much simpler than I thought, but there were some things I've noticed recently that I wasn't understanding and never really looked into. I'm reading the manual and there's a few little things I wasn't aware of like the gold items actually needing to be picked up immediately. I thought them shrinking was just a visual trick to show they're being sucked up and collected by you. But you have to actually grab them as soon as they pop out so you don't lose points. I was wondering why sometimes in stage 1, I'd reach Hiiragi with 30,000,000+ points or 20,000,000 despite not consciously doing anything different. But now that I understand what the difference is, I could likely blow any score I've been reaching in a stage out of the water. (I also like how they really want you to use the Orchid in this game because every image of gameplay in the manual shows either that or Kikyou).

I also really don't know why I didn't expect this from Cave, especially with how long I've had this game, but the hit counter is massively important too. The leniency of it made me think it was just there for flair, but it actually adds to the base value of the gold. It should have been obvious that it adds to either enemy or point item values, like.....duh. So I've been trying to full combo stages in training now and the game is even more fun (and more difficult) keeping this in mind with the other scoring elements. In stage 5, I managed to hit around 12000 before reaching home girl. It makes juggling shot modes more interesting than even DoDonPachi I feel like.

It's wild how this mode was made in what I assume was a panic. They totally and gracefully refreshed this all while porting it to console and localizing it in what could not have possibly been the full 9 months between the two ports. Japanese arcade devs really are built different.

EDIT: And after learning how to actually play the game, I'm immediately getting both extends before stage 4. How about that?

It is the only cave game I 1ccd on normal difficulty and the only one I cared about scoring. I found it much more fun than Mushi, DDP Resurrection or Deathsmiles to say some I have played. I am not saying it is better, I just found it much more interesting to me, more statisfying to play. When I beat the game I also got both extends, but it happened to me that I was never skilled enough at the final boss, so I usually lost multiple ships in that fight.

And I also played on Switch version, you would read online that it is unplayable and here I am, a noob of shmups beating it

[Arino]

Been playing the JP version of Raiden (ACA) for a while using the red ship. Fuck it, I'm going back to the no checkpoints version plus blue ship.

[hamfighterx]

The Switch version's control mapping sucks with no remapping options, a truly unfortunate thing to lack, but that's my only serious complaint with the game.

At the very least, Switch does allow you to remap all buttons/sticks on most controllers at the system level and save profiles. Still an annoyance, but at least there's a reasonable workaround.

FWIW, Xbox Series consoles also let you fully remap controls, as does PS5 (Settings > Accessibility > Controllers > Custom Button Assignments for DualSense Wireless Controller).

[BareKnuckleRoo]

At the very least, Switch does allow you to remap all buttons/sticks on most controllers at the system level and save profiles. Still an annoyance, but at least there's a reasonable workaround.

Sadly, it only applies to official Nintendo made joycons and Pro controllers. Use anything made by a third party, and you're out of luck, it just arbitrarily refuses to allow you to use the system-level remapping. ;w; viewtopic.php?p=1489635#p1489635

It still really bothers me that the NES emulator on the Switch uses A and B as opposed to B and Y, it means your thumb can't easily hit both buttons at the same time without twisting your hand awkwardly, unlike an original NES controller where it's more doable. Note to devs: GIVE US DAMN BUILT IN REMAPPING IN YOUR GAMES. (ง •̀ w •́)ง Same goes for deadzone adjustment in games that use analog sticks, it's such a rarity to see a game that lets you tweak the analog deadzone to avoid stick drifting/ghosting.

[Lemnear]

Spoiler

It almost convinced me to buy my first model
But is it me or is it the most difficult of the trilogy?
Some sections are spectacular, maybe it's the best 16 Bit game i've ever seen along with Battle Garegga (is it 16 Bit?)

Spoiler

This is the icon it has in the games list, i thought it had the other one, but i prefer this one



For now RayStorm, little by little, i can do the first 3 stages (and if it's a really nice day also the 4th) with a No Miss.
Stage 5 is hell...but are the lasers on those mine drones random? and the meteors at the beginning?
PS: I hate that all the popcorn enemies try to crash into you...
Not to mention the 6th Boss (Alaric)...probably the hardest of all.

Spoiler

I manage to get to Stage 5 on really inspired days... but that array of cannons is really close when they activate, furthermore that phase in which it accelerates makes the shots practically invisible
I think i avoid many patterns practically by pure luck...

And this:

Spoiler

I'm sorry for Steven but i can't help it, everything about this game intoxicates my synapses.
It's a shame there aren't others like this, with these colors, with all this sea, and with this gameplay.
The remixed music seems to come out of a Sonic game, especially that of Stage 2

EDIT: the only flaw the game has is that it uses the touchpad for the menu in case i want to switch from Beltiana to Alteeno -_-

[repoman]

Valfaris: Mecha Therion. Reviewing it. Seems okay so far. Bit messy visually but has some good mechanics and looks like a smoother out PS1 game but good.

Is a Forgotten Worlds style shoot em up.

[CloudyMusic]

Been out of shmups for a few years now, but I've been slowly dipping my toes back in a little bit recently.

I'm happy to see so many new high-quality releases that I've missed from the past few years. Just ordered the DOJ remake for PS4 and am looking forward to giving it another honest try. Maybe I'll actually make some decent progress this time! Anything's possible!

[ryu]

I forgot R-Type Dimensions doesn't feature save states. The stage select also doesn't let you start at full power.

iirc if you turn on the no-checkpoint infinite life mode
(whatever it's called) you start at full power. A lot of people miss it (including me) because it's hidden in the shameful casual mode, but it's useful for practice.

Nope, infinite life mode also starts me with zero power ups. Maybe they changed it with R-Type Dimensions EX?

But is it me or is it the most difficult of the trilogy?
Some sections are spectacular, maybe it's the best 16 Bit game i've ever seen along with Battle Garegga (is it 16 Bit?)

I thought it was easier than RayStorm, but that might just be because I played the game on Saturn. Its hardware is 32-bit according to wikipedia. But I agree it's one of the best looking 2D games of its time.

[ryu]

I just touched Aleste for the first time in months. My first impression back when I had just gotten the Aleste Collection was that it was completely unplayable...

Apparently I developed superhuman powers since then because the game seems somewhat managable to me now. But it's still a mess.

It's hilarious how unpredictable it is. One moment bullets will just fly in impossible directions. The next you're just sitting there and shooting away at an endless barricade of missiles while enemies spawn next to you and just seem to pass by.

[XoPachi]

Back to playing Batrider. I've been reaching the highway fairly consistently but I keep choking. Which sucks because there's 2 whole ass stages afterwards.

[ryu]

Gave Aleste another shot. There's a spot in stage 1 - and another in stage 2 - where I somehow always end up with suddenly having weapon 1. Although I never even saw the item for it on screen. Overclocking the emulator (Kaiteki mode) solved the problem in stage 1, but the problem occured in stage 2 regardless. Weirdly, I didn't even see the item again although the graphics are much more stable in Kaiteki mode. Is this a memory glitch that happens when there are too many sprites on screen or something?

Really too bad because otherwise the game is surprisingly enjoyable.

[CIT]

Nemesis '90 Kai on X68000
I'm familiar with the MSX original (of which this is a remake), but man, I'm having trouble even defeating the first boss. Is this like Gradius III Arcade level hard, or am I just not used to Gradius games anymore?

[ryu]

Nemesis '90 Kai on X68000
I'm familiar with the MSX original (of which this is a remake), but man, I'm having trouble even defeating the first boss. Is this like Gradius III Arcade level hard, or am I just not used to Gradius games anymore?

I never even knew of those games. Did they never see releases past the home computer originals?

Coincidentally I'm struggling with Gradius II. What's with the sudden shot limit? And why does the movement feel even jankier than it did in the first game?
This is nothing like what I was expecting

[CIT]

I never even knew of those games. Did they never see releases past the home computer originals?

OK, hold on tight, cuz this gets a little bit crazy. There are two home computer Gradius games, the confusingly named Gradius 2 (<— with Arabic "2" as opposed to Roman "II") and Gofer No Yabou: Episode II, known as Nemesis II & III respectively in Europe, both for MSX computers. Neither of which have anything to do with Gradius II: Gofer No Yabou for arcade and many other systems.

The MSX versions of both games are available for PlayStation and Saturn as part of the Konami Antiques MSX Collection, and Gradius 2 was remade twice, once for X68000 as Nemesis '90 Kai, and once for PSP as Gradius 2 Refine Version (on the Salamander Portable pack). Both these remakes kick ass btw.

Coincidentally I'm struggling with Gradius II. What's with the sudden shot limit? And why does the movement feel even jankier than it did in the first game?
This is nothing like what I was expecting.

Not sure what you mean by shot limit, but yeah, the controls are a little jank. Overall though I find the game very manageable and engaging, one of my favorite Gradius games for sure (maybe even my favorite tbh). If you stick with it I'm sure you'll get used to its quirks and find it very enjoyable, if Gradius games in general are your thing.

[XoPachi]

This Crystal Breaker game is gonna be sick. This demo is fun as Hell.

[Sengoku Strider]

DFK on Switch. It's pretty addictive, and I like the visual upgrade it gets over previous games in the series. I will say I think the sound design is pretty weak though. Zako explosions sound like dropping a wet napkin and the focus laser barely makes any sound at all. I like the stage 2 track but the rest of the soundtrack is just kinda there, maybe it'll grow on me over time.

Aktane did a quick start guide that recommended ship B (though he was talking about Black Label and I'm playing 1.5, I just assume it holds true here too)...that was always my favourite in DDP so I've stuck with it but TBH in terms of screen control so far this game seems to favour C more than the other two ships, and more than DDP did as well.

I don't get why people complain so much about the laser wheels, is it an ura route/2nd loop thing? On omote they don't seem lke a standout chalenge compared to some of the massive bullet swarms it throws at you.