Easy shmups

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 10:29 am

I agree on skipping the baby games. Ikaruga is hard if you play it for score, but I nearly 1cc'ed it maybe two years ago, and I am still suffering in DoDonpachi.

The ZUN games are pretty and well-made, but I wouldn`t recommend them as starters since I never seemed to get better in other shmups based on my progress in ZUN games. They are very special games - most other shooters don`t have such a great amount of fixed patterns in them; for instance, learning to hoard bullets is essential in almost any modern shmup.

rRootage and Noiz2Sa are great for learning recognizing and dodging complicated, slow barrage patterns (rRootage) and quick, precise tap dodges and bullet-hoarding (Noiz2Sa). While they might not be very exciting in the long term, they train your coordination without being frustrating or combined with complicated scoring. Warning Forever is another great freeware game (just google it).

The main shmups that made me progress very fast were DoDonpachi, Battle Bakraid and Gunbird 2. And to progress you should become consistent at some point - switching shmups too often might be counter-productive; try to focus on games you really like and try to play them regulary. Twenty minutes each day is better then six hours once a week IMHO.

NTSC-J · Post by **NTSC-J** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:45 am

Play the absolute hardest ones you can find first. It's like running for 10 miles on the top of Everest before a marathon: it may hurt now, but when you go back down it'll all seem so much easier.

Therefore, get a JPS2, dai ou jou, go to simulation mode and select stage 2-5. Put on your goggles, pop in the eye drops, and you're good to go.

Or if that breaks you too fast, play Takumi shooters. I found that getting significant increases in score every play was very encouraging and made me want to keep playing (i just increased my high by 800 million points! that's like more than the world record for dodonpachi, i kick ass!) Giga Wing 2 and Mars Matrix were the first shooters I ever beat on one coin because of this.

ktg · Post by **ktg** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 12:29 pm

NTSC-J wrote: Therefore, get a JPS2, dai ou jou, go to simulation mode and select stage 2-5. Put on your goggles, pop in the eye drops, and you're good to go.

Who needs to skip to 2-5 in order to be raped? I can only get past the 2nd boss in about 15% of my runs.

NTSC-J · Post by **NTSC-J** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 12:37 pm

Sounds like you need to go to sim mode, max out rank and take on the 2-2 boss. After a few hours of that you'll be cut out of wood.

Limbrooke · Post by **Limbrooke** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 12:59 pm

Solar Striker for Game Boy seemed pretty easy on the first play.

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:31 pm

NTSC-J wrote:Sounds like you need to go to sim mode, max out rank and take on the 2-2 boss. After a few hours of that you'll be cut out of wood.

DOJ is the shooter version of Fight Club.

Post by **Icarus** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 5:22 pm

Acid King wrote:DOJ is the shooter version of Fight Club.

The first rule of Shooter Club is: YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT SHOOTER CLUB.

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 5:26 pm

Icarus wrote:
Acid King wrote:DOJ is the shooter version of Fight Club.
The first rule of Shooter Club is: YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT SHOOTER CLUB.

What's the second rule?

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 5:30 pm

Serious suggestion: Instead of Image Fight, try starting on Raiden Fighters Jet. It's much shorter than the first, but it's much harder to break 100m than it is to break 45m on one loop of RF.

Also, RFJ has the same fucking theme as Image Fight!

The bullet hitboxes aren't misleading and your hitbox is pretty easy to spot.

Post by **Icarus** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 5:31 pm

Damocles wrote:What's the second rule?

The second rule of Shooter Club is:
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT SHOOTER CLUB.

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 5:31 pm

I thought that was "never use more than one credit per serious run"

ohhh shit that leaves out a bunch of people who post here and not in strategy/hiscore

Pirate1019 · Post by **Pirate1019** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 5:48 pm

Icarus wrote:
Damocles wrote:What's the second rule?
The second rule of Shooter Club is:
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT SHOOTER CLUB.

Yes...we don't want the riff-raff getting in now do we?.

Monkey_Man · Post by **Monkey_Man** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 2:07 am

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm getting all the games and seeing what I like.

I have a problem though. I get random lag with MAME. It's not framerate or anything, but once in a while, the keyboard will just seem to completely die, or all of the movements will just lag up (it'll be moving around according to the buttons I hit five seconds ago, and I won't have my hands on the keyboard and it'll still be moving around and shooting). It's not the keyboard, since I don't have this problem outside of MAME. Any possible causes?

Stormwatch · Post by **Stormwatch** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 2:20 am

Pirate1019 wrote:Yes...we don't want the riff-raff getting in now do we?.

Let's do the time warp again!

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 3:17 am

Icarus wrote:
Damocles wrote:What's the second rule?
The second rule of Shooter Club is:
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT SHOOTER CLUB.

I thought that was the first rule.

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 3:18 am

Monkey_Man wrote:Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm getting all the games and seeing what I like.

I have a problem though. I get random lag with MAME. It's not framerate or anything, but once in a while, the keyboard will just seem to completely die, or all of the movements will just lag up (it'll be moving around according to the buttons I hit five seconds ago, and I won't have my hands on the keyboard and it'll still be moving around and shooting). It's not the keyboard, since I don't have this problem outside of MAME. Any possible causes?

You might try using standard command-line Mame if you are currently using Mame32. I have had this problem on and off for a few years.

Pirate1019 · Post by **Pirate1019** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 4:06 am

Damocles wrote:
Icarus wrote:
Damocles wrote:What's the second rule?
The second rule of Shooter Club is:
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT SHOOTER CLUB.
I thought that was the first rule.

Well, I think that it's about the only rule Shooter Club really needs. Well, scratch that...

Rule three: DO NOT BE AN ASSHAT.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 4:26 am

Rule four: GAREGGA'S RANK SUCKS.

Rule five: SILVERGUN IS OVERRATED.

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 4:32 am

Specineff wrote:Rule four: GAREGGA'S RANK SUCKS.

the game would be pretty generic tbqh if it weren't for that

Pirate1019 · Post by **Pirate1019** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 4:48 am

Rule Six: Shoot the core!

It had to come up eventually.

Gorecki · Post by **Gorecki** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 8:25 am

Rule 7: Be Attitude for Gains

Also, I've found that if someone messages me on MSN, it can sometimes knock out my controls in MAME. Several of my WORLD RECORD scores have been demolished in this manner.

Kaiser · Post by **Kaiser** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 8:28 am

Rule eight:Raizing games are MUST TO PLAY!

Heh joking around with rules

Vincere · Post by **Vincere** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:46 am

IMO, being good with a game is at least reaching the last level, no matter what the score is. If you can access the last level, you've time enough for scoring.

The most easy shmup I've played is Marchen Adventure Cotton 100% on SFC.

Gorecki · Post by **Gorecki** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 12:23 pm

Steel Dragon EX is pathetically easy, and as a result boring.

I've been playing shmups for about a year now, and the games that have helped me improve the most are:

RRootage (this helps in getting a feel for hitboxes)
Batrider Advance Course (the bosses in this unleash their patterns in a semi-random fashion, so it keeps you on your toes. Also a good game for learning rank control techniques)
Dragon Blaze (forces you to explore the entire screen rather than stick rigidly near the bottom)

Other games though I have never been able to improve at without constant, uninterrupted practice. Dodonpachi and Mars Matrix in particular, these seem to demand dedication rather than general experience.

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 12:46 pm

Vincere wrote:The most easy shmup I've played is Marchen Adventure Cotton 100% on SFC.

Is it the same that was re-released for PS1? The game is really easy - with the exception of the last boss. I got there on my first try, but couldn't beat it despite having several extra lives left.

Gorecki wrote:Steel Dragon EX is pathetically easy, and as a result boring.

You're playing it the wrong way, then. It's like playing Ikaruga without chaining or Psyvariar without bullet grazing. You're supposed to play the game for score. Survival shouldn't be your main focus. It becomes very challenging that way (and quite a bit of fun, imo). Check bloodflowers's review for details.

Gorecki · Post by **Gorecki** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 1:07 pm

Herr Schatten wrote:You're playing it the wrong way, then. It's like playing Ikaruga without chaining or Psyvariar without bullet grazing. You're supposed to play the game for score. Survival shouldn't be your main focus. It becomes very challenging that way (and quite a bit of fun, imo). Check bloodflowers's review for details.

Yeah I got the impression it was quite score-centric, but the game itself seemed lacking and slightly unfinished, and as a result I couldn't really be bothered to put any time into working it out. Maybe I should give it a second look.

SuperGrafx · Post by **SuperGrafx** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 1:22 pm

Gradius III on SNES is ridiculously easy (though the speed-up maze section near the end can cause you to lose a life if you don't concentrate) thanks to its massive slowdown. But I always enjoyed this game...it's relaxing in a way to sort of zone out while letting your shooter instincts take over. Almost meditative in a way, thanks to the fantastic visuals and cool music.

PFG 9000 · Post by **PFG 9000** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 2:39 pm

Damocles wrote:
Icarus wrote:
Damocles wrote:What's the second rule?
The second rule of Shooter Club is:
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT SHOOTER CLUB.
I thought that was the first rule.

Somebody hasn't seen Fight Club.

Post by **Icarus** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 2:46 pm

PFG 9000 wrote:Somebody hasn't seen Fight Club.

Quite a few haven't by the looks of it.

jpolz · Post by **jpolz** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 3:17 pm

Blazing Lazers/Gunhead is pretty easy for the first 5 stages, then it picks up nicely towards the end.