Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[To Far Away Times]

I fired up a quick credit of Blue Wish Resurrection Plus for the first time today in probably 15 years. I discovered this one pretty early in my shmup journey, and I remember it took me a little while to get the hang of it.

Upon revisiting it, I thought it would probably take me a few credits to relearn some of the patterns and such. But nope, plowed right through it with a bunch of resources to spare. I guess we all get better with time.

[To Far Away Times]

Played a few hours of Angel At Dusk tonight. Oooohhh, I like this.

This game pulls from all sorts of influences. Sometimes it’s Mushihimesama, and sometimes it’s R-Type. But it also really feels like it’s own thing too.

[neorichieb1971]

Rayman 3 PS2.

Going through a few games that are supposedly impressive on PS2. Considering its a PAL version with 60hz progressive scan option and it looks pretty nice for a PS2 title. I'm only 2 hours in at the moment.

[davyK]

The Caverns of Mars remake on Steam is a lot of fun with powerups and destructable scenery added to the original game. Nice arcade mode and a set of missions to clear, leaderboards etc.

It's really good old school fun.

[Stevens]

Played a few hours of Angel At Dusk tonight. Oooohhh, I like this.

This game pulls from all sorts of influences. Sometimes it’s Mushihimesama, and sometimes it’s R-Type. But it also really feels like it’s own thing too.

This is the 2nd time in the last ten minutes someone has mentioned Angel At Dusk. Time to check it out..

Me? Under Defeat and Lilac 0.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Played a few hours of Angel At Dusk tonight. Oooohhh, I like this.

This game pulls from all sorts of influences. Sometimes it’s Mushihimesama, and sometimes it’s R-Type. But it also really feels like it’s own thing too.

This is the 2nd time in the last ten minutes someone has mentioned Angel At Dusk. Time to check it out..

Me? Under Defeat and Lilac 0.

The Steam port of "Angel at Dusk" has online leaderboard support from the get-go whereas with the Switch port, it's available to play on that venerable gaming platform as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Stevens]

Angel's aesthetic just isn't my thing at all. Can't be into all of them..

[XoPachi]

Loop 6 in Providence.

[ForeverGnomed]

Just did a first-time 1CC of Dodonpachi Resurrection last night - posted in the "I DID IT!" topic about it I convinced myself yesterday was the day, and went cool as a cucumber and managed to pull it off (just barely - no ship stock or bombs left by the last shot to the boss! - following the same trend of two previous 1CCs of Dodonpachi and Mushihimesama Futari BL this month, haha).

ESP.Ra.De is the next 1CC goal. But I may do a little breather in between and purchase either Under Defeat HD or Mecha Ritz on Switch to casually play. Or just rest my dang eyes and play nothing for a week

[guigui]

Just did a first-time 1CC of Dodonpachi Resurrection last night

Same here. Then I did it again a couple times, tried to get more bees with Ura Route, and accessed the second loop (regular, not URA). Survived for about 20 second in 2-1, now is time to give up I think !

[ForeverGnomed]

Just did a first-time 1CC of Dodonpachi Resurrection last night

Same here. Then I did it again a couple times, tried to get more bees with Ura Route, and accessed the second loop (regular, not URA). Survived for about 20 second in 2-1, now is time to give up I think !

Hahah - I don't know... Sounds like the seed has been set and you'll be back I can't imagine second-looping any game yet - that's some serious dedication but whew, THAT's probably a great dopamine hit for a second in time

[To Far Away Times]

I played a few hours of Andro Dunos II this past weekend.

I want to like it because it’s kind of like Thunderforce on the surface, but Andro Dunos is just kinda okay in everything it does and it’s not all that exciting.

It’s solid but there is absolutely no je ne sais quoi to keep me coming back. The game has good fundamentals but it’s like a C grade in everything it sets out to do. Music, visuals, level design, etc.

[guigui]

Just did a first-time 1CC of Dodonpachi Resurrection last night

Same here. Then I did it again a couple times, tried to get more bees with Ura Route, and accessed the second loop (regular, not URA). Survived for about 20 second in 2-1, now is time to give up I think !

Hahah - I don't know... Sounds like the seed has been set and you'll be back I can't imagine second-looping any game yet - that's some serious dedication but whew, THAT's probably a great dopamine hit for a second in time

Actually, triggering the 2nd loop in DDP DFK is not much harder than getting a 1-ALL. What you need to do is to get 35 bees, among the 45 the game gives (9 per stage).

To achieve this, you have to make sure you trigger the URA route at the beginning of stage 1 ; because the URA route does give those 9 bees per
stage, while the normal route only gives 7 bees per stage.

Then you collect 35 bees, clear, and the 2nd loop triggers. Not much harder than regular clear for 2, maybe 3 reasons :
* learning where bees are is not hard : just play some credits in Novice mode where all bees are uncovered.
* collecting bees while they are green, or flashing, gives a good boost to your hyper meter. So collecting more bees means having more hypers, means easier time. A lot of time you can actually refill hyper meter before hyper is over. Also note that the best strategy to collect bees when they are green is to uncover them with laser when you're over them : they always appear green and you instantly collect them.
* maybe it is just me, but I find the stage 5 midbosses to be actually easier in the URA route (if you can maintain it up to stage 5) than in normal route.

Of course all of this is just to trigger the 2nd loop. Clearing it is indeed a whole other league.

[davyK]

Picked up Batsugun for Steam (not the s-tribute version) - is under £5 at the minute. Nice port and enjoying it so far. Seems to follow that usual pattern of 5 level shmups - sits up and bites back in level 3.


What I find pleasing about its presentation is that the menus have the same look and feel as the game does - has that old school pixelly look to it - makes it feel like an old school console port (even though the save states are created and loaded using the function keys on the keyboard!)

[To Far Away Times]

There’s something about Batsugun’s sprite work that I really like. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I love the way it looks. I think it’s the colors and the shading. It really pops.

[Lemnear]

I played a few hours of Andro Dunos II this past weekend.

I want to like it because it’s kind of like Thunderforce on the surface, but Andro Dunos is just kinda okay in everything it does and it’s not all that exciting.

It’s solid but there is absolutely no je ne sais quoi to keep me coming back. The game has good fundamentals but it’s like a C grade in everything it sets out to do. Music, visuals, level design, etc.

You confirmed the impression the game gave me, and I had the same impression just watching the trailer.

There’s something about Batsugun’s sprite work that I really like. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I love the way it looks. I think it’s the colors and the shading. It really pops.

I love the design of Batsugun, the colors, everything is so vibrant! I wish there were more games like this but there aren't that many after all...

[Acid]

Going back and forth between Virtua Fighter REVO and Wanted Dead. I'll get back to shmupping eventually.

[Starfighter]

Still playing DOJ and I've completely hit a wall. My positioning is always way off and I end up dying on all sorts of avoidable shots. I've managed to one-life each stage by itself, but as soon as I try to link two of them together I mess up. This isn't anything new per se, I feel somewhat overwhelmed at times before reaching consistency in any shmup. But this is something rougher, every single training session ends with my heart racing and the feeling of inadequacy. I've spent 24 hours actively practicing this game now and I feel absolutely no where near a 1CC, my latest sessions have actually ended with me feeling... sad? I feel tired and old. This game is just so relentless. And at the same time I feel like I've spent too much time with it to just give up at this point. Oh well, I need some sleep. New day tomorrow!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Still playing DOJ and I've completely hit a wall.

Throw up some footage of your 1cc attempts. In an arcade you'd be able to see other players play live and learn from them and chat strategy, might as well do the same thing online. There might be some suggestions for dealing with stuff that'd make certain sections a lot easier. My biggest advice for a 1CC is to lean hard on the shot, far more than the laser, as its width is massive and the damage more than sufficient for any non boss targets. I find I use shot for 90% of the stages for survival runs. Laser is handy for score chaining of course.

[Starfighter]

Still playing DOJ and I've completely hit a wall.

Throw up some footage of your 1cc attempts.

I'm on my phone at the moment and the PS App only allows me to download short video clips, but here's a bit from my latest practice. I end up dying at something really silly, as usual.

https://youtu.be/88FE9qPJPqo

I'll upload a longer video later with more to go on as to what I should focus on improving.

[Creamy Goodness]

Still playing DOJ and I've completely hit a wall. My positioning is always way off and I end up dying on all sorts of avoidable shots. I've managed to one-life each stage by itself, but as soon as I try to link two of them together I mess up. This isn't anything new per se, I feel somewhat overwhelmed at times before reaching consistency in any shmup. But this is something rougher, every single training session ends with my heart racing and the feeling of inadequacy. I've spent 24 hours actively practicing this game now and I feel absolutely no where near a 1CC, my latest sessions have actually ended with me feeling... sad? I feel tired and old. This game is just so relentless. And at the same time I feel like I've spent too much time with it to just give up at this point. Oh well, I need some sleep. New day tomorrow!

DOJ is brutal. No shame in having trouble on it. But the wall does suck. I have hit a wall as well with Espgaluda. This is considered an "easy" game which to a degree it is. The only majorly difficult part that people talk about is the last boss which is kinda true. But really most of the bosses are dicks to some degree and that is where most of my deaths occur. Best I have done is made it to the last boss with 3 lives and proceeded to get smoked.

[To Far Away Times]

Still playing DOJ and I've completely hit a wall.

Throw up some footage of your 1cc attempts. In an arcade you'd be able to see other players play live and learn from them and chat strategy, might as well do the same thing online. There might be some suggestions for dealing with stuff that'd make certain sections a lot easier. My biggest advice for a 1CC is to lean hard on the shot, far more than the laser, as its width is massive and the damage more than sufficient for any non boss targets. I find I use shot for 90% of the stages for survival runs. Laser is handy for score chaining of course.

This. Use the B ship and use the Shot everywhere there aren't tanky enemies/bosses. Easy to remember; B-S.

The other thing would recommend is routing the stages for survival play, up through stage 4. Route them like it's a static R-Type style memorization game. Aim for a first death no earlier than the stage 3 boss. Then bomb spam the final stage like it's regular DDP. But it's pretty normal to hit a temporary wall, DOJ is fucking hard. You can do it though. Just take a day or two and get back to it fresh. A lot of times you have to sleep on something to really retain it.

[Starfighter]

Okay so I've figured out two of my biggest weaknesses in DOJ. 1) I haven't practiced the later stages with nerves*. During practice I can do them with one life (well, I always lose at least one life to the stage 5 boss), when I get there after doing the first three stages I die constantly on everything. 2) I'm not anywhere near efficient enough regarding scoring. I'm like barely halfway to the second extend at mid-5. My last run ended at the fireball midboss on stage 5 with around 30k. I try to do things I know gives a score boost (all bees on stage one, picking bees on stage 2 when I have a chain (which in my case is mostly around 50 because I thoroughly suck at chaining), doing the hyper through the street leading up to the boss (which gives people online like a 1200 chain while I've gotten 660 at best)).

* = I can't help but to get nervous when something is at stake. If I die then I have to play stage 1 through 3 again and I'm so fed up with them that it makes me really nervous. I don't want to spend another ten minutes doing something I don't think is fun anymore, please don't give me bad RNG during the rail section I just can't do the first part of the game agai- *dies on a stray bullet*

[Starfighter]

I died at the last boss with 49,6 million in score. If I just did a little better leading up to it I'd get the second score extend and with it a bunch of bombs (since I'm playing B-S) and I would definitely have made it, it's pretty much guaranteed by just spamming bombs in that case. As I was dodging patterns I thought "come on, let's hear that extend sound, please, pleeeeeeaaaaaase" and then I died.

It's a nice confidence boost to be so incredibly close, but I'd sure prefer it if I did it that time. I mean I was 20 seconds away from my goal. *smiles politely while wanting to play anything but this game at this point*

Edit: I'll upload the run soon so you guys have more to go on in terms of my mistakes/areas of improvement. I bet it's riddled with "you could've reached 50 by just nudging left that one time" moments because I had given up for the day, I thought "I don't care about that second extend, I'll just play it my way and get a low score 1CC let's go" and just ignored lots of point items and opportunities out of some sort of childish spite.

Edit 2: Nope, I didn't get the whole run. I went "save the last 15 minutes" feeling sure the run didn't take more than that, but the video starts at stage three and I have turned off the console now.

[To Far Away Times]

There’s a section in stage two that is very lucrative to use your hyper in. If you do that and do a little bit of chaining in stage 1 (which you’re probably already doing if you’ve played stage 1 a million times) I think you should have enough points to the second score extend with survival play.

[Starfighter]

There’s a section in stage two that is very lucrative to use your hyper in. If you do that and do a little bit of chaining in stage 1 (which you’re probably already doing if you’ve played stage 1 a million times) I think you should have enough points to the second score extend with survival play.

If you're talking about the "street" (section just before the boss) I actually managed to reach 900 on there in the failed run - since I somehow had hyper level 3 there (didn't remember using any hypers prior to that area though... huh, must be losing my mind)! Is there another one I'm not aware of?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Yeah, using your hypers after the S2 midboss and scoring there usually will net you enough to get both score extends by S5. It looks like you're playing well and it's just a matter of practicing more, though I do notice you go high up on the screen a lot more than I'd feel comfortable with! If you're gunning for a 1CC being more conservative with how high up you go and being willing to bomb or hyper to avoid getting herded to the top of the screen may help.

[Starfighter]

The more I try to stay at the bottom using bombs the less bombs I have when I need them it feels like, so I take a lot of risks... I tried some more early game chaining but I can't even chain the first half of the first stage (even though I've played it a million times like To Far Away Times said - each and every time I've ignored the chaining). I think if I took time to learn how to properly chain the first stage completely and then nail the hyper portion on S2 then I have a real chance since I'll reach the second extend, but... I've never enjoyed chaining as a mechanic so I don't really want to? I think I've reached a crossroads where I either force myself to play DOJ the way it's meant to be played (It is somewhat strict, isn't it? At least for a Cave game?) because that will help me in the long run or I respectfully part ways with it.

Knowing myself I'll probably spend a few more credits where I change nothing about my approach and build up a low-key frustration that gets in the way of me feeling open to re-learn the game. Resigning with grace isn't my jam.

Edit: The chaining videos by Juju Kenobi are great, I'm guessing people know about these?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Every time I play DOJ I suck at chaining and still get the extends without issues. One large chain in the second half of S2 will do it, as will using hyper on a boss or two and getting a large hitcount for the end of stage bonus. It actually doesn't take much to hit the S5 extend. Even if you're not scoring well you should get it early or halfway into S5, where you can use it for the final boss, so don't sweat trying to chain if you're only doing it for the extends.

[Starfighter]

I managed to get a 300 chain on S1 and had enough hypers to pull off the section after the midboss on S2, I didn't know collecting the bees during that part was crucial. After doing this I had 25 million going into S3. Now I'm practicing doing this consistently.

After doing this, however, I got the second extend only moments before the S5 boss - which makes me wonder why I'm still on the very edge of not getting the second extend. Nevertheless happy to have bumped my early score up from 470 points and a potato to 25 million. Also, the game seems somewhat easier when trying to chain? I mean, not that I'm maintaining chains for very long, but merely trying to pull them off somehow makes me not worry so much about survival.

Edit: I put out a savestate between S2 and S3, after my 25 million start, and started a few practice runs from there. I actually managed to reach the S5 boss and bomb-cheese it after a few failed attempts so now I know I can do it if everything goes my way. Now I just have to have the perseverance to keep playing until things go my way again during a live run while also trying to keep my nerves (my greatest enemy) in check.