Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[m.sniffles.esq]

Karous' easy mode is obviously made for kids or those with disabilities, just so you know (which I personally thought was cool, but a lot of people frothed about for weird reasons)

Milestone in general... is different. But I (eventually) came around to it. Put it this way, if you're someone who thinks "bomb = last resort" it's almost like you have to rewire your brain to get what they're all about.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I'll definitely keep an eye on that one, looks fantastic; bit of an Akai Katana vibe to its hori treatment, and I do enjoy a nice clever option/force-a-like.

Unsurprising, given a former CAVE dev was involved in making it who'd also worked on AK and Deathsmiles II!

Donpachi: Beating both loops is incredibly hard, but the first loop is relatively easy to clear due to your ship's relative strength and the sheer number of bombs you get.

Man, I've been casually practicing OG Diddley-P since I joined!

Though it does feel tractable if given a proper drilling; I can clear most of the stages deathless in isolation and remember a respectable amount of bee icons, but am still a fair ways off from stitching it all together.

I wouldn't say it's a braindead clear, but relative to other shmups it's quite approachable. It's the easiest CAVE game by a fair margin in my opinion if you're only beating loop 1 thanks to the ridiculous number of bombs you get. JP version gives you # bombs back at end of stage equal to stage #, every 3 bombs used ups max stock by 1, stage 3 has extra bombs if you destroy the boats after they stop moving forward, it's just a lot of resources. Laser bombs melt a lot of bosses quite fiercely, and if you've made sure to enable C button rapid fire in the options that also handles stages quite nicely. Type B's rapid shot with C button autofire enabled is stronger than the laser is on any non boss enemies and melts stages nicely.

[Steven]

Karous on easy is probably the most famous one, though. Of every game in which it is possible to achieve both a victory state and a game over state, this is almost guaranteed to be the easiest ever made.

After seeking out M. Knight's Ennui Challenge Run, this suggestion gets the:
Letter of the Law Award

Probably high time I gave Milestone a serious look, in fact, as a midpoint between classic Compile shooting and modern Compile Heart idol lampoonerie. They seem quite beloved by the people who know, if quirkily intimidating to those who've yet to join that number

Karous is a weird edgelord game for people with severe chuunibyou. It's also pretty cool, even outside of its status as the last officially licensed Dreamcast game, although I still have absolutely no idea how to play it. I do know that you're supposed to bomb a lot (I think...), which is good, but I'm not sure what to do with the sword and shot for scoring. Because of this, I never cleared it (on normal lol) because I never felt like I was playing the game properly, which led to an odd disconnect between me and the game, but I would like to figure it out eventually and do so.

[m.sniffles.esq]

I do know that you're supposed to bomb a lot (I think...)

You are.
As I said above, it took a bit of a brain re-wiring to fully jibe with it, as using bomb as a panic button was so ingrained.

I mean, I was like everyone else and said "eh, whatever. It's gray Radirgy" and went back to playing Under Defeat. But there was something so alien about it that intrigued me that I keep go back to it (come to think of it, that same sense of alien intrigue kept me coming back the Xevious when I was nine) that I eventually began to figure it out.

[Lander]

I ended up jumping into Radirgy following the Milestone talk. Certainly not braindead easy (one of many where 'easy' is 'arcade easy', so why not challenge yourself with regulation settings anyway? ) but is a fun change-up from conventional STG mechanics.

Got to the point where I can reach St3 fairly consistently on one credit with spreadshot or laser types + fast speed, and milk the multiplier system up to x16 during lengthy 'big enemy' waves. That aspect reminds me a bit of SDOJ, with its Hypa- Hypa- Hypa- Hypa System Ready procs in the last stage; overwhelming on the surface, but actually an opportunity for the player to invuln-abuse their way through lengthy sections once they figure out the mechanical implications of bufferable bombs.

Some rewiring was definitely needed; the triumverate of Shot / Sword / Shield is a lot to parse at first, but leaning on the sword for its meter-reward seems to be the order of the day, with shot acting as a screen-sweeper or pointer-blanker damage mechanism when things get too hectic or tanky. Shield seems mostly useful for multiplier abuse and defending particularly nasty boss patterns, since its multiplier tick doubles during bomb and is otherwise fairly meager versus using the sword to refill and go again.

And something about the contemporary style is just appealing. The email dialogue is kind of weird; they seem to repeat themselves a lot within each window, even across characters, though I assume that's a diagetic thing stemming from all the technology in Tokyo going crazy (and am already to the point of mashing past it.)

The core idea is as unbelievable as any other teen mecha pilot conceit, but its focus on light tone and character are fun; bit surprised to find out that KAI's avatar is the main character seeing as nerd friend Aita is essentially the series mascot, but the designs are likeable.

JP version gives you # bombs back at end of stage equal to stage #, every 3 bombs used ups max stock by 1, stage 3 has extra bombs if you destroy the boats after they stop moving forward, it's just a lot of resources. Laser bombs melt a lot of bosses quite fiercely, and if you've made sure to enable C button rapid fire in the options that also handles stages quite nicely. Type B's rapid shot with C button autofire enabled is stronger than the laser is on any non boss enemies and melts stages nicely.

The bomb refill seems so crazy in retrospect; I see why it went away, but is a nice way for the designer to shake the player by the shoulders and shout USE THEM.
Good to know about Type B as well - I've been favouring A because the big rapid shot is a nice comfort blanket, but that's probably not top tier reasoning for the series that popularized giant phallic lasers.

Karous is a weird edgelord game for people with severe chuunibyou. It's also pretty cool, even outside of its status as the last officially licensed Dreamcast game, although I still have absolutely no idea how to play it.

Ha, yeah - the heaven-and-earth fascism vibes playing out in the background of M. Knight's run raised an eyebrow or two. Gives the sense that it wants to be an Ikaruga and have towering philosophical themes underpinning the arty visual, but is a bit too absorbed in greetings fellow ubermensch to land it.

I mean, I was like everyone else and said "eh, whatever. It's gray Radirgy" and went back to playing Under Defeat. But there was something so alien about it that intrigued me that I keep go back to it (come to think of it, that same sense of alien intrigue kept me coming back the Xevious when I was nine) that I eventually began to figure it out.

Is Karous very different beyond the addition of EXP? I saw a summary to the effect of "like Radirgy with a unique three-letter-acronym bomb system", but the first impression didn't look all that dissimilar.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Is Karous very different beyond the addition of EXP? I saw a summary to the effect of "like Radirgy with a unique three-letter-acronym bomb system", but the first impression didn't look all that dissimilar.

Oh, even after playing it, I didn't think it was that dissimilar. In fact, it's really not that dissimilar. Buuuuut, Radirgy for all of it's charm and unabashed dorkiness, is a bit of a mess game-wise. Karous feels like a more streamlined and focused version of what Radirgy is going for, and I think it's ultimately better. Some (many) disagree. You can paint a landscape via a giant Italian fresco or a Flemish miniature, neither are wrong. But in this case, I appreciate the miniature more.

[M.Knight]

Welcome to the world of fun, Lander, and hope you'll enjoy your stay
Yeah there's a focus on using swords and shields and other somewhat unconventional tools, and it's part of what makes the games so enjoyable to play. It ain't just pissing forward and sometimes pissing in a different color.

To answer your question, Karous is relatively similar to Radirgy in terms of core design philosophy, but there's still some differences. The level-up system is definitely one, and the drastic buffs to the weapons when reaching the last threshold change the way you treat encounters and especially late-game bosses as they assume you have a shield that can reflect almost anything you throw at it. There's a lot more back-and-forth of throwing massive clouds of bullets that you reflect, which you couldn't really do in Radirgy. The basic scoring system also doesn't make you fight to keep the multiplier active, but instead you try to optimize level-ups since that's the multiplier. Thankfully it still implies lots of bomb use as that can help gaining experience. Also there's almost no ground targets in Karous, whereas Radirgy has you build up ground target kills through the whole game for survival and scoring payoffs.

I like both games but prefer Radirgy in the end since the fresh colorful aesthetics and urban environments are more my jam and the Karous level up system pushes me to use shot a bit more than I would want to boost my multiplier. Karous' look and universe are definitely dark, though I dunno if I ever associated them with fascism. More like Linkin Park FF Stranger of Paradise Jack kinda vibes lol. That said, I think the Karous story involves genocide or ethnic war at least oops

[AkitaRonin]

Got a little Steam funds card from a friend for my birthday, so could snatch one more game on the sale! For testing, it's currently my 6th game, which for now exceeds my 5 STG installed at the same time limit, but oh well!

So I got Rolling Gunner and holy crap, does it feel good! I LOVED the level design, really squeezing the potential of the whole rolling option thing. Enemies coming from every side of the screen in very different formations, it makes for an incredibly dynamic game. I also can't remember any other horizontal game using ground enemies like this, so similar to vertical level design. Very interesting.
The visuals got me because the bosses really remind me of Cave. Personally, I think the game is GORGEOUS, and the PS1 cutscenes are delightful, truly a feast. Could use a little more modes, if you ask me, but who cares when the game is so solid. Working towards an Original Casual 1cc. Novice I got in 1 try, my Easy Modo days are truly getting behind me, and that feels fun.

Ah, just for curiosity's sake, my "5" current games that I'm playing are:
Eschatos
Radiant Silvergun
ZeroRanger
Danmaku Unlimited 3
∀kashicverse -Malicious Wake- (what a weird game)

Yep, I was refering to Dunmaku Unlimited 3. Sorry about the poor abbreviation, I guess that is not the correct acronym for the game. I know this game is held in high regard by many expert shmupers. But I just could not get into it. I gave it a second go, and had he same bored feeling. I don't want to knock the game, because it is obvious a good game, just not for me.

I feel you, from name to aesthetic, it does feel kind of generic, doesn't it? Though I feel 3 has more personality than 2 by leaps and bounds, with the little Ikaruga text inserts at the beginning of game and Stage 5
I do like it a good deal and it's currently on my rotation. I personally love the boss patterns (very interesting to see Touhou boss design in a traditional coat of paint), but currently, can't seem to close an Easy run to save my life, Stage 5 and the final boss eat me. Getting there though!!

Interesting, it's certainly got the doujin charm to it. Though for good and bad - I can tell getting it to run on my weird nerd computer is going to be a challenge: After considerable triage, it fills 1/4 of the screen, runs at 2x speed, and the lynchpin config.exe steadfastly refuses to run!

Though I did manage to clear St1 under those conditions without dropping credit, which is something

That is lowkey hilarious!! HAHA
It worked perfectly on my 2017 note, but now that I'm using a 2024 one, it still works very good, but the sprites are a little glitched, so I think it's one of those every computer will treat the game differently situation
I think the game is fantastic, if you get to run it good, give it a go for sure!!

Karous on easy is probably the most famous one, though. Of every game in which it is possible to achieve both a victory state and a game over state, this is almost guaranteed to be the easiest ever made.

Even before entering the forum, I always keep the Japanese STG Wiki difficulty rank open so I could see games and start from the bottom. Karous was, of course, deep at the bottom and I tried it. Tbh, I couldn't understand the game at all, and if what sniffles say it's true, that easy is meant for kids and disabled people, I got to have a second look at the game at a higher difficulty, I guess. The visuals fascinate me, but I just couldn't "get" the game when trying...

[m.sniffles.esq]

Granted the last time I looked at Karous on easy was when my nephew was six (so 11-12 years ago) But if memory serves, it's three stages where you can just do pretty much whatever and clear them (he had no problem, and I wouldn't call him an incredibly gifted six-year-old). And while the mechanics of the game are there, it's not like you need to utilize them to be successful.

Now that I have a minute, I will give a Karous tutorial in three easy steps

• Killing things (with whatever) makes blue meter go up and allows you to activate bomb (high pitched rising sound with ring when it's ready)

• Activating bomb will make you invincible to most things. And while it doesn't destroy enemies it does leave a curious yellow squiggle on them (hmmmm....)

• Killing squiggled enemies make multiplier rise PLUS whatever you end up killing them with (sword/shot/shield) will send exp points to THAT weapon, eventually making it stronger and a having the ability to do new, bitching things

And... that's it.
Hellsinker it ain't. But those are the basics of what's going on. As you get into the groove a bit, it starts to become like a very fast puzzle game. As it's not just about surviving every wave (although, you do have to do that), and blowing motherfuckers up (you do that too), but more getting the most benefit out of every wave.

[Steven]

Even before entering the forum, I always keep the Japanese STG Wiki difficulty rank open so I could see games and start from the bottom. Karous was, of course, deep at the bottom and I tried it. Tbh, I couldn't understand the game at all, and if what sniffles say it's true, that easy is meant for kids and disabled people, I got to have a second look at the game at a higher difficulty, I guess. The visuals fascinate me, but I just couldn't "get" the game when trying...

The only thing you need to do to clear Karous on easy is to put a credit in and press start. That's literally it. It's a no miss no bomb no movement no shot no sword no player no anything clear. If there is any game easier than that that is still possible to both beat and game over on, I definitely want to see it.

[AkitaRonin]

The only thing you need to do to clear Karous on easy is to put a credit in and press start. That's literally it. It's a no miss no bomb no movement no shot no sword no player no anything clear. If there is any game easier than that that is still possible to both beat and game over on, I definitely want to see it.

Yeah, I booted the game, chose easy and then proceeded to get completely baffled as the stage went on
"...Where are the bullets? Wait, can I even die? What is happening?"
I never thought I see a shooting game in which the enemies... well, don't do enemy things. It's so alien to the foundations of the genre I got so confused I almost got scared HAHA
Definitely will take a look again at some point, and read some good stuff about Radirgy in the forum.

[DrTrouserPlank]

Ketsui has for me devolved into the usual state that most cave games do. I've hit the limit of what is possible. No amount of practice is going to make the tiny margins required any more reasonable. You'd probably need twice as many lives to get clears with any consistency. It's completely unreasonable in every sense. Good luck performing thousands of pinpoint accurate movements on a handful of lives. You will find ways to get hit by different bullets every time you play, even ones that have never hit you before. It's the same as every other cave game really. Absolutely stupid when the goal is to 1cc it because it's just not possible, and no amount of practice will change that.

I actually feel like practice is very over-rated since you hit the limit of what is consistently doable long before you eventually get bored and give up after wasting dozens more hours on something and making no consistent or tangible progress.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

[I'd] probably need twice as many lives to get clears with any consistency.

It's completely unreasonable [for me] in every sense.

[*I] will find ways to get hit by different bullets every time [*I] play, even ones that have never hit [me] before.

I actually feel like practice is very over-rated since [*I] hit the limit of what is consistently doable long before [*I] eventually get bored and give up

Oh, ye of little faith! You just gotta believe in yourself; not doing so will guarantee no progress ever gets made.

You've also never submitted any recordings of yourself playing either so it's hard for people to see what's going wrong and suggest actual solutions to your playstyle.

[To Far Away Times]

Plank, have you ever given Mushihimesama or Deathsmiles a serious go? I think you'd find those way easier than Ketsui. Trying to 1CC Ketsui first is like learning to run before you walk.

If you play either of those two games for an hour a day, every day for two weeks you'd have the 1CC in the bag before then, I can pretty much guarantee it.

[Steven]

You could at least attempt playing games made by a developer that makes easier games. Fortunately, making a list of devs that make easier games than CAVE is extremely easy because it's literally everybody (& Knuckles).

[copy-paster]

R-Type III: The Third Lightning

2-ALL goal because the first loop is easy and consistent and there's actually one spot to milking 1UPs just before the final boss, pretty broken. St1 is probably the worst st1 I've ever played in any shmup unfortunately doesn't really live up with the cool and mouthful title, worse than Final 1 even but the rest of the stages are pretty action-packed and this game was my very first entry in the series so there's a bit of honor/nostalgia involved. NEVER EVER use the Round Force because all the shot types are weak and you'll barely kill anything in the loops without strict hyper usage in right situation.

[Steven]

R-Type III stage 1 is pretty bad. At least it's got some decent music that would benefit greatly from not being compressed as hell to fit inside a probably very tiny ROM size as was typical of its time. Apparently there is a GBA version of this that I didn't know existed until now. That's probably a uniquely horrible experience.

[DrTrouserPlank]

Plank, have you ever given Mushihimesama or Deathsmiles a serious go? I think you'd find those way easier than Ketsui. Trying to 1CC Ketsui first is like learning to run before you walk.

If you play either of those two games for an hour a day, every day for two weeks you'd have the 1CC in the bag before then, I can pretty much guarantee it.

Yeah deathsmiles has no way to practice the only bit of the game that is difficult (the last stage and boss). The last stage is too long and the last boss is horseshit and you can't practice him. The final stage practice mode doesn't even allow you to continue, so it's horrendously inefficient. Other than that, I would have beaten that game.

Mushi I did try when it released on the 360. I can't remember why I didn't finish it, but I think it's just a case of margins too small, not enough lives, generally a one in a thousand chance of a run ever working out. It's not a difficult game in terms of what you need to dodge, but so few lives to dodge so much.... it's just a probability at that point.

I honestly don't think there is anything in ketsui that is any worse than most of cave's games. I don't think ketsui is harder than Futari for example and people pretend like that is a free clear which it definitely isn't.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I honestly don't think there is anything in ketsui that is any worse than most of cave's games. I don't think ketsui is harder than Futari for example and people pretend like that is a free clear which it definitely isn't.

Unfortunately, Ketsui is rather objectively the harder of the two games for various reasons:

• The shot types both use a lock on shot that requires hitting with a somewhat thin beam that doesn't travel the full length of the screen and doesn't lock on all gunpods instantly. In Futari, you've got shot types that don't require lockons, and with Palm Abnormal, all the lockons shoot out instantly and fill the screen with very high powered shots that can hit multiple different enemies easily any time you're scoring hits.

• Ketsui uses many types of rotating bullet patterns that also sometimes exhibit dynamic bullet speeds with acceleration, slowing then speeding up, curving in difficult to manage ways, and so on. Futari uses far less complex bullet dynamics generally, and many patterns can be dodged by simply tap dodging to the side.

• Ketsui's stages are much more difficult, in part due to not having many large enemies that cancel bullets when destroyed. Futari has a lot of this in stages, with Stage 4 in particular considered to be a bit of a breather.

• Getting the 1ups in Ketsui, particularly the stage 3 one, is much harder than the item in Futari. Futari's item is in Stage 5, which is fairly late for a CAVE game, but this is offset by the rest of the game tending to be more manageable. The extra 1up item in Ketsui doesn't really offset the extremely high difficulty from the final stage and final boss.

[Lander]

Recent findings: Thunder Cross is not Gate of Thunder. Elemental Master is Elemental Master, but is not Magician Lord. Much fun, research ongoing.

Welcome to the world of fun, Lander, and hope you'll enjoy your stay

Cheers so far it's been most entertaining!

To answer your question, Karous is relatively similar to Radirgy in terms of core design philosophy, but there's still some differences.

I gave Karous a few runs over the weekend, and wow - it really is drastically different. Making each of the three weapons equally viable in its own right is a really elegant design progression from Radirgy's more fixed utility; where the latter has well-defined loops for the player to discover and execute, the former is a lot more free-form, handing over the tools and tasking the player with crafting their own optimal approach.

It's been a lot of fun doing shot-only / sword-only / shield-only test runs to figure out where each is best applied; probably upped my Radirgy game too, since the faster shield startup and greater mechanical reliance on it make learning the deeper nuances easier.

Though that said, I feel both enclose a similar core of controlled chaos:
Radirgy vents it more selectively, throwing huge enemy waves into the back half of specific stages that let the player park at top-screen and shred out lengthy x16s from the safety of back-to-back ABSnet. While Karous feels a lot more evenly balanced to start, but escalates into a consistent all die immediately proposition you get a weapon or two to Lv50. Sword especially - the 3-combo's raw power versus part-dense targets makes it tricky to go back to leveling the other two once momentum is established.

Right now, I think I'd give Radirgy the award for candor, and Karous the one for pure mechanical design.

Hellsinker it ain't. But those are the basics of what's going on. As you get into the groove a bit, it starts to become like a very fast puzzle game. As it's not just about surviving every wave (although, you do have to do that), and blowing motherfuckers up (you do that too), but more getting the most benefit out of every wave.

The 'waste not want not' angle is a really nice treatment on caravan shooting. Does a great job of pushing the player toward it too - those squiggles are incredibly helpful for matching hurtboxes with the appropriate hitboxes on short time.

Karous' look and universe are definitely dark, though I dunno if I ever associated them with fascism. More like Linkin Park FF Stranger of Paradise Jack kinda vibes lol. That said, I think the Karous story involves genocide or ethnic war at least oops

Yeah - my initial read was coloured by a few key randomized(?) dialogue pop-ins to the effect of These filth dare approach us!? whereas in practice the tone is familiar all-over-the-place Milestone with a touch of grim. Quite adorable how 12yo Karous totally goes to pieces whenever a boss shows up

Though as with Radirgy, the Eva-style [PROP COMEDY] opener text flashes [FITTY MEN] are untranslated in [POCKET SAND] Ultimate Shooting Collection, so I may never know what it really means

Must get back to SoP - didn't quite click the first time, but my jaw is still recovering from the earbud scene not being cheeky trailer-cutter trickery!

"...Where are the bullets? Wait, can I even die? What is happening?"

I had a similar response on first blush morally, are they still bullets if every last one can be shot down, or are the baddies actually firing smaller baddies at you?

Apparently there is a GBA version of this that I didn't know existed until now. That's probably a uniquely horrible experience.

Yes.

[To Far Away Times]

Plank, have you ever given Mushihimesama or Deathsmiles a serious go? I think you'd find those way easier than Ketsui. Trying to 1CC Ketsui first is like learning to run before you walk.

If you play either of those two games for an hour a day, every day for two weeks you'd have the 1CC in the bag before then, I can pretty much guarantee it.

Yeah deathsmiles has no way to practice the only bit of the game that is difficult (the last stage and boss). The last stage is too long and the last boss is horseshit and you can't practice him. The final stage practice mode doesn't even allow you to continue, so it's horrendously inefficient. Other than that, I would have beaten that game.

With Deathsmiles you can bypass the final boss. By no bombing Jitterbug you get a 2 life cake. If you can arrive at Jitterbug with a couple lives remaining then the game is pretty much over. With a 2 up cake immediately before the final boss (and assuming you ended the Jitterbug fight with no lives remaining) you’re working with at minimum 9 bombs and 2 deaths on the final boss. That’s basically three bombs and a death per life bar segment. You don’t have to memorize the final boss, you can just bomb anything remotely dangerous.

[AkitaRonin]

I've been "exploring" ∀kashicverse -Malicious Wake-

What a weird game

It's like Radiant Silvergun + Sol Cresta on crack, with a big dose of, Idk, Suda51 storytelling. I've been curious about it ever since seeing it described in an Electric Underground video simply as "a very mysterious game", and on God, so it is. Honestly, I don't even want to 1cc this one, I only want to unlock more of those cryptic documents to understand a little more of this world's incredibly obtuse storytelling. Very Japanese, very much my kind of stuff. Doing one run per day, trying to unlock one document per day, and actually improving at the very weird gameplay, but yeah, the rare case of an STG in which I'm more interested in what's around it than the gameplay itself. What a weird little artifact

I had a similar response on first blush morally, are they still bullets if every last one can be shot down, or are the baddies actually firing smaller baddies at you?

That is a lowkey hilarious image, honestly. What a weird easy mode HAHA

Yeah deathsmiles has no way to practice the only bit of the game that is difficult (the last stage and boss). The last stage is too long and the last boss is horseshit and you can't practice him. The final stage practice mode doesn't even allow you to continue, so it's horrendously inefficient. Other than that, I would have beaten that game.

Mushi I did try when it released on the 360. I can't remember why I didn't finish it, but I think it's just a case of margins too small, not enough lives, generally a one in a thousand chance of a run ever working out. It's not a difficult game in terms of what you need to dodge, but so few lives to dodge so much.... it's just a probability at that point.

I honestly don't think there is anything in ketsui that is any worse than most of cave's games. I don't think ketsui is harder than Futari for example and people pretend like that is a free clear which it definitely isn't.

I've been here in the forum for a very short time, so let me ask this and guarantee to you I am being completely earnest in this question and without an ounce of malice or antagonizing energy, I swear

But do you enjoy CAVE games, Plank?

Seeing your posts here about Ketsui and your views on these other two games, I get the feeling you think these games are not fun at all, just unfair overall. When I try to get my Mushi Original 1CC (working on it!), honestly I feel every time I want to try one more time, I always want to get right into it. I never thought there were too few lives or anything, I just have a lot of fun with it. Reading your experiences, it seems like you truly don't have an enjoyment trying to play these games, and I'm sorry if I am overstepping any boundaries here and it's not your experience at all

I don't have to tell you this because you have been here a much longer time than I have, but the magic thing about the STG genre (well, any genre, but discovering STGs this year has given me this endless feeling) is that there are so many variations and styles. Maybe CAVE is not for you? Again, sorry if I'm overstepping, but that would obviously be super okay. Maybe one day when I try more seriously to 1cc CAVE games I'll feel like you, but Idk, for now all I feel is fun, and if not, is there really a point?

[DrTrouserPlank]

Having managed to get a bit of practice on jitterbug I can safely say there is no way that shit is getting no bombed. You'd lose more than 2 lives committing to that so it's not worth it. Tyranofucker is also pretty bad; you are going to get hit at some point for sure. The canyon stage is an absolute joke, but that's cave and suicide bullets I guess. Absolute aids.

Last stage plus the bosses are pretty difficult when taken as a whole. Utterly unbalanced and like they are content from an entirely different game when compared to the rest of it. You'd need to no miss everything up to the final stage to stand any chance which is extremely unlikely and would take hours just to get a run in contention.

[EmperorIng]

>complaining about Deathsmiles difficulty

I thought British people were supposed to be smart

[DrTrouserPlank]

>complaining about Deathsmiles difficulty

I thought British people were supposed to be smart

Smart enough to not kid myself that I'm going to clear it.

[Blinge]

>complaining about Deathsmiles difficulty

I thought British people were supposed to be smart

what a strange and incredibly flawed thing to say

Anyway, on the topic of brits not being smart, i'm trying to learn and beat Raiden.
I'm using (set 1) on shmupmame 4.2. the same mame i've been using on and off for a decade. is this advisable?

man the game is destroying me. the stage 5 boss is horrendous. I'm trying to do the switch to laser quick-kill but the powerup flies off screen just as the boss music starts.

[Jack Emerson]

A few posts up I mentioned I am playing Raiden III on Steam, and I spoke highly of it. It seems like it could be a good game but it consistently crashes after level 4. Every time. I am past my refund time limit on steam, and I may contact the developer to see if they have any ideas. I saw that people have posted the same exact issue on the steam forum about a year ago. Shame, it is a good game. And I would enjoy being able to continue playing it.

[Gamer707b]

After playing bullet hells, specifically Esparade, for so long, I am happy to go back to the classic stuff. Got Super Star Soldier on the PC-Engine as a B-Day present a week ago and I had a go today. Miss the 16-bit classics. Love the look and overall style. Also, they copied a lot of the gameplay from Compile, which is a good thing.

[Marc]

Well I took Toaplan 4 on Evercade for a spin yesterday, shmup wise I'm underwhelmed. Grind Stormer is.... yeah. Pig ugly, the music counts as actual assault against my ears, and there are long stretches with pretty much nothing happening. It feels like a half-finished Cave proto.

Doyguun - meh. Why does the tractor beam point out of my ass? Why are two of four weapons almost identical? Why are there (almost) no SFX? What's going on? Why does this, again, feel as though it was rushed out? Not for me this one. Cool bosses though, I guess.

[AkitaRonin]

After playing bullet hells, specifically Esparade, for so long, I am happy to go back to the classic stuff. Got Super Star Soldier on the PC-Engine as a B-Day present a week ago and I had a go today. Miss the 16-bit classics. Love the look and overall style. Also, they copied a lot of the gameplay from Compile, which is a good thing.

I gotta get into the Star Soldier series at some point, I'm really curious to do so!! Only played the first game in passing after playing a fair deal of the endlessly charming Star Parodier!!
You are so right, it's very Compile coded. That speed don't lie