Most infuriating cause of death.

[Frederik]

SnS 2 is the only game I've found in which turning off wait makes it more playable.

QFT!

[Zeether]

Too much stuff happening onscreen is one case. Sometimes there is so much cool stuff onscreen or some really awesome effects that make you take your eyes off the action for a second and BOOM-you're dead.

[JoshF]

you know the ones, where the boss fires the fairly aimed yet very wide spread, or the curved arc spreads. specifically when several waves come out at a time, or when the bullets speed up. that is my major cause of death.

This is especially annoying in Psikyo games. In fact, I don't think any Psikyo game ever had complex bullet patterns, just that damn three bullet spread coming at the speed of light.

[bVork]

Getting rammed is my least favourite type death. There's nothing less fun than having so many ships onscreen that dodging them is impossible, or having ships that are so strong that you can't destroy them before they reach you. Sigma Star Saga was particularly awful about that.

Pointblanking isn't so much an issue for me, as long as the game is consistent about the distance where it will let enemies take shots at you.

[Alec]

I voted for random mistakes because I make a shit load of them. I would have voted for the invisible bullets option, but ever since I found the red ball option in battle garegga, I haven't been bothered by those as much.

[J-Manic]

Collisions with enemies and the backgrounds pisses me off the most. That's why I'm not a fan of the Gradius series.

[Ed Oscuro]

Collisions with enemies and the backgrounds pisses me off the most. That's why I'm not a fan of the Gradius series.

I also hate it when there isn't a happy speed. Seriously, how the hell are you supposed to control the VV in Galaxies? Too few speed ups and you get dusted; too many and you impact all the time. I especially hate the sections where you have to wait for tunnels to align - tedious mode 7 effects ahoy!

Slightly better (but still infuriating) are the floating islands in the second stage of V Five (Grind Stormer). I almost remember to get out of the way of the island that comes out of the bottom of the screen in time...

And that reminds me - I hate enemies placed on the other side of a barrier, waiting for a chance to scorch you as soon as you run around. There's a few places like that in OutZone (not a spaceship shooter but who gives a damn), and of course the one in Grind Stormer again (two enemies hiding on the far side of two islands).

[Kuik]

Voted outside distractions...it's infuriating to get into the zone, which usually takes me a half an hour or so of playing and warming up, to suddenly have the phone ring off the hook or someone knock on the door, or someone yell at me and need me RIGHT THAT SECOND.

Once I hit that pause button, I'm pretty much done. There's no getting back into that trance, and resuming just means eating horrible death from whatever I'm dodging at the time. After that, I'm usually too pissed to have any chance of getting back on my feet.

[ArcticXC]

Somewhat offtopic, as this isn't really a cause of death, but for me the most infuriating deaths are when you die when one more bullet would have killed the boss. :/

Voted for ramming though. It was between that and random deaths. Nothing like having a great run going then somehow dying on a part you have never had a problem with. Except of course having a enemy pop out of nowhere and just slam into you. Curse you Super Star Soldier!

[Blade]

Fast bullets, especially the kind that change speed from suicide bullets, depending on where the explosion is.

[Cranky]

I voted random mistakes but really.....that's the same thing as lack of skill.

[RippleScythe]

Oh man I'm so glad I found this thread, I tried to make a Master of Weapon Mega Drive video just now to put it on YouTube and I was pissed off at Invincible bullets, enemies that come from behind, giant mid bosses that just move back and forth back and forth leaving you guessing where they're going to fire their super death laser.

I honestly don't know what the hell has happened to me lately with shmups. Maybe I've been a little too ambitious after watching all those "Xavier Institute Graduates" on YouTube aceing those danmaku shmups.

[chtimi-CLA]

point-blanking the 1-3 DOJ boss in hyper at the beginning of the fight and hitting it. DOJ bosses hitbox are very strict.
this also happens to me at the 1-2 boss sometimes..

[dave4shmups]

Collisions with enemies and the backgrounds pisses me off the most. That's why I'm not a fan of the Gradius series.

I also hate it when there isn't a happy speed. Seriously, how the hell are you supposed to control the VV in Galaxies? Too few speed ups and you get dusted; too many and you impact all the time. I especially hate the sections where you have to wait for tunnels to align - tedious mode 7 effects ahoy!

Slightly better (but still infuriating) are the floating islands in the second stage of V Five (Grind Stormer). I almost remember to get out of the way of the island that comes out of the bottom of the screen in time...

And that reminds me - I hate enemies placed on the other side of a barrier, waiting for a chance to scorch you as soon as you run around. There's a few places like that in OutZone (not a spaceship shooter but who gives a damn), and of course the one in Grind Stormer again (two enemies hiding on the far side of two islands).

I actually have a lot more speed issues with Gradius V; maybe it's just the Dualshock2, but it feels like you need to speed up like 5 times before the VV will move fast enough.

I definately do not like blurry backgrounds and hard to see bullets; another issue that I have with certain parts of V.

[Rob]

just that damn three bullet spread coming at the speed of light.

Psikyo made a few games after Sengoku Ace, check 'em out.

[Ed Oscuro]

I actually have a lot more speed issues with Gradius V; maybe it's just the Dualshock2, but it feels like you need to speed up like 5 times before the VV will move fast enough.

I haven't played that game, but I probably would have that problem as well.

[RippleScythe]

Gradius Galaxies: Dying by being either too slow or too fast. Speed powerups suck in this game.

Definitely my least favorite thing about R-Type Leo and Gradius Galaxies/Generation...why the hell do we NEED speed powerups? Sigh...I'd rather have a designed-in speed, or selectable speed, and be done with it.

Preach on! That also mixes what I"m about to bring up next:

Not getting the power ups you want.

When I play Twinbee games (especially Detana! Twinbee), I'm fucking HUNGRY for some speed ups, and its hard as hell enough to get blue speed bells because you might mistakenly hit it when blasting a row of enemies that fly in front of it, or it's even worse when you have Twinbee options because they can get multiple hits thus constantly changing bell colors.

[Cyarc]

I have trouble with small bullets in the midst of large bullets. I seem to be able to get by the big ones fine but then BAM a small one just seems to come out of no where and hit me. I also have problems with hitting the bomb button a split second after I die.

[RippleScythe]

Ah yes, how bout suicide bullets and indestructible small objects all on one screen. Extremely dangeous in shooters with lots of slowdown, some of them become invisible with frame drops.

[stuminator]

Getting rammed by enemies that appear from the back is the worst for me. I'm cruising through the last stage of Truxton, wasting everything with the fully powered lightning gun, only to lose it all because of some damn ship that appears right on top of me...

[SFKhoa]

This is what I hate. [Quick sketch]

[Pirate1019]

This is what I hate. [Quick sketch]

Yeah, that's pretty terrible. I get that often.

[ghibli99]

I voted for fast bullets, just because I tend to lose patience w/ shooters that flail them at you so fast that you don't have time to react, and basically have to know they're coming in order to dodge/navigate them. And even then, sometimes they get you (especially pre-small hitbox shooters that exhibit this). However, I'll still play them to death...

[Arznei]

Most infuriating cause of death.

● itch

[MovingTarget]

haha, yea that happens to me a lot. Like when rolling sleeves up/down, scratching the itch which only happens when 1 life has lasted a little too long, changing sitting position, getting smoke in my eyes! happens when I leave the cig in my mouth but get too engrossed in the game to move my hands

[No_not_like_Quake]

In manics... bullets sometimes suprise me if they are solitary or don't come in clusters or patterns... or bullets shaped like this ll ... I think I've managed to fit in between that tiny space in the ll in Battle Bakraid before.

[Ed Oscuro]

Most infuriating cause of death.

● itch

Rarely die that way. I've had my headphones fall off and stuff and slap 'em back on before anybody gets me.

getting smoke in my eyes! happens when I leave the cig in my mouth but get too engrossed in the game to move my hands

Now I am always going to imagine you as your avatar...

[MovingTarget]

hahaha

Its from a fantastic film, that is johnny depp btw.

[kccttzj]

I experience all of these annoying deaths quite often, so it's hard to say what's worst. I'd probably go with high speed bullets. I'll be doing fine, and then all of a sudden bullets come out of nowhere, and I die. I guess I could blame that on lack of skill though.

I love homing bullets/lasers though. I don't even care if they kill me. I just have fun trying to dodge them.

Gradius Galaxies: Dying by being either too slow or too fast. Speed powerups suck in this game.

Definitely my least favorite thing about R-Type Leo and Gradius Galaxies/Generation...why the hell do we NEED speed powerups? Sigh...I'd rather have a designed-in speed, or selectable speed, and be done with it.

I played it so much, I think I've just adjusted to the speed. It can be annoying though. The WORST part of that game is when you lose all your speed-ups on the speed level. When you die and restart at this one spot I swear you might as well just turn the game off. I have no clue how you can even get past it if you die. There's so many times I get to that part of the game without having died yet and lose all my lives on it.

[Ozymandiaz1260]

I hate it when I'm trying to keep a combo going (like in dodonpachi or a medal combo in garegga) and I just fly sideways right into a bullet because I'm looking at my chain meter or I'm looking at the top of the screen where my bullets need to be instead of looking where I'm actually going.