Annoyed by specific bullet patterns?

kengou · Post by **kengou** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:29 am

Certain bullet patterns in various manic shmups just piss me of. Example: any bullets that travel sideways at you while bullets come at you from the top (for a top-down). Another one I hate is the giant clouds of bullets that fly at you, forcing you to dodge the entire cloud (unless I'm playing Mars Matrix or Giga Wing). Finally, the single fast bullets that get sniped at you from the sides in games like Raiden. All these patterns just annoy me, maybe because I'm not good enough at dealing with them, sometimes they feel unfair when I get hit by them. In any case, what patterns do you just not like for whatever reason? We all know bullet patterns recur in a lot of different games.

Zaarock · Post by **Zaarock** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:01 am

Im sort of annoyed by fast bullet patterns that go in random directions, I cant see where all the bullets directions are and stuff, annoying if there are loads.

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:15 am

In particular:

*The bullet spam from the Phase 1 Tank boss in Raiden Fighters Jet. That boss spews some of the most unfair bullet patterns ever. Even the highly-unbalanced Slave has trouble with this boss.

*Geo-Bite in Strikers 1945 III. That boss has extremely fast attacks. Plus, before it reveals its core, it begins spamming instant lasers.

Battlesmurf · Post by **Battlesmurf** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:20 am

lol..I don't want to offend Garegga lovers...and it's not really patterns but rather some of the bullets themselves (and it's been brought up waay too many times before) but damned if I can't see them for crap sometimes.

Dandy J · Post by **Dandy J** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:48 am

ESPGaluda stage 2 boss, 3rd pattern. You can see it here at 3:20: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STD8bnZK3Zk

Seriously THIS IS THE FUCKING HARDEST SHIT IN THE GAME!!! It's at least twice as hard as the last bosses 3rd form, come-from-behind vertical pattern or the final form's final pattern.

SERIOUSLY

Erinu · Post by **Erinu** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:34 pm

Bullet patterns where you have to zig zag between them

I mean it's like ESP Galuda's final attack pattern

I've also seen them in a few doujin games

It'd be great if they were unique, but they aren't, they're just annoying as shit

Ugh

shoe-sama · Post by **shoe-sama** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 2:33 pm

Daigohji · Post by **Daigohji** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 4:11 pm

The spinning blue roses that Midi's second form shoots out in Ibara really piss me off. It's not even that tight a pattern, but the spinning throws my focus off and it gets worse when she starts spewing smaller, faster roses as well. I've had the game for a year and I still need to Hadou past that pattern.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 5:18 pm

The level 6 boss of Gunbird 2. The 2nd phase after it shoots the centered lasers. It's a screen filling cloud of bullets in all directions and all sizes.

I've watched several replays of how to dodge, but am yet to ever do it myself.

worstplayer · Post by **worstplayer** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:55 pm

I had to register just to reply to this.
I absolutely HATE when bullets change direction in mid-air (not slow steering, instant 90-degree turn) or even better, split.
ABA and some touhou bosses are main offenders.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:06 pm

Dandy J wrote:ESPGaluda stage 2 boss, 3rd pattern. You can see it here at 3:20: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STD8bnZK3Zk

Seriously THIS IS THE FUCKING HARDEST SHIT IN THE GAME!!! It's at least twice as hard as the last bosses 3rd form, come-from-behind vertical pattern or the final form's final pattern.

SERIOUSLY

Really? I don't think i've ever died on this bit, yet I can't 1cc to stage 5... It's strange how some people find some bullet patterns harder than others. I consider origional on Mushihimesama to be harder than ultra simply because I can't dodge fast spam for shit.

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:00 pm

The spiral streams that many bosses in the DDP series do, just pumping bullet after bullet downwards, taking the last patterns of Hibachi in DDP-DOJ as an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_WWLXBI3Qw

When playing DDP, my concentration slips on those patterns way too much. And they are not that original to begin with. Mushihimesama is guilty of doing a lot of this, too IMHO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ5GR6MU ... ed&search=

Esgaluda and Ketsui just have WAY more creative patterns in them. Same goes for Progear and Guwange.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:14 pm

2nd garegga boss, the pattern where he shoots circles of shots in a spiral pattern.. i can never get hru that without bombing

blakhearts streams of shots that move left/right are hard as hell to time properly too..

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:19 pm

Vengeance shots. Can't stand them.

Post by **Icarus** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:27 pm

Twiddle wrote:Vengeance shots. Can't stand them.

Tried Batsugun Special yet? The third loop is especially vicious. Haven't been to the fourth yet, but I'd imagine it to be even harder. -_-;;

sven666 wrote:2nd garegga boss, the pattern where he shoots circles of shots in a spiral pattern.. i can never get hru that without bombing
blakhearts streams of shots that move left/right are hard as hell to time properly too..

Those are easy, as they have a fixed pattern and thus a simple method to avoid them.

The only bullet pattern type I have real difficulty with are overlapping rotary patterns. Think Dodonpachi Daioujou 3rd boss, final pattern, and a couple of patterns from the st4 boss, as an example. You have to be quick to find the gap, and even faster to get through it.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:51 pm

Icarus wrote:
Those are easy, as they have a fixed pattern and thus a simple method to avoid them.

i know that, i can see the solution to them aswell but for some reason i still have a hard time getting thru them

sfried · Post by **sfried** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:39 am

The 90 degree chasing blue bullets from Image Flight. And not only will the bullet head kill you, but also its trail. Seriously, WTF?

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:30 am

Icarus wrote:
Twiddle wrote:Vengeance shots. Can't stand them.
Tried Batsugun Special yet? The third loop is especially vicious. Haven't been to the fourth yet, but I'd imagine it to be even harder. -_-;;

They're the reason why I can't progress at all in the second loop. They always throw me off.

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:56 am

It's wrong to call it a "pattern," but I hate those swarms of "strobing" bullets that Rayforce's second boss and ST7 miniboss fire. They cycle color rapidly, yellow-black-yellow-black... I find them near-impossible to keep track of (I guess that's the point). Not really a problem on stage 2, but getting into the quarter-inch gaps between that ST7 miniboss's near-instant laser barrage is far harder than it would be, after steering through a screenful of those damn things.

Nakano · Post by **Nakano** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:09 am

For me it has to be when the bullets comes from the sides and bottom/top at the same time in various games. I lose track of where all the bullets go and 9 times out of ten I would die, but then again I'm pretty crap at shmups!

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 12:21 pm

worstplayer wrote:...

I just wanted to point out this is the best user name ever.

Oh, and it isn't the bullets I hate, its the walls

Dandy J · Post by **Dandy J** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 12:42 pm

DJ Rectal Prolapse wrote: Really? I don't think i've ever died on this bit, yet I can't 1cc to stage 5... It's strange how some people find some bullet patterns harder than others. I consider origional on Mushihimesama to be harder than ultra simply because I can't dodge fast spam for shit.

Heh, well it fits in perfectly with the topic - 'annoying' bullet patterns. Like, everyone knows there's hard bullet patterns, like final bosses in Cave or Psikyo. But you accept it because they are expected to be hard...but then there's patterns that just stick out to certain people, maybe due to the way they think or the way they react to stuff.

For that specific pattern it's just the way the slightly curved chunks spiral one side to the other with the curtain fire behind them that just throws my brain off sometimes. Is it really harder than those final boss patterns? Nah, but it sure as hell is more annoying!

Just now thought of another one; DoDonpachi DOJ, Stage 2 boss, last part of the 4th pattern, seen here at 2:37: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzyKXgx-0pA. He activates hyper right as it comes out but that one throws me off in the same way, but worse.

Also for the record I also think Mushi Maniac is easier than Original.

Gorecki · Post by **Gorecki** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:09 pm

Vulcan cannons or lasers that cross over to form a grid, and which then swing around the screen forcing you to follow them perfectly. They look great and they must be immensely satisfying to dodge, but I wouldn't know because BLACKHEART KILLS ME EVERY TIME.

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:11 pm

The blue needle spread of Boredom (the Sky stage boss) in Batrider freaks me out very often. And also in that game, all three bosses on the Highway stage have their own arsenal of surprise death weapons. The meanest trick is this one attack where the boss shows up (that green one, forgot the name), starts firing at you like a maniac, and the only chance to survive is to simply not move. Stuff like that IS kinda funny once you realize what´s going on, but only in very small amounts.

Gorecki wrote: immensely satisfying to dodge

That´s a good description of what well programmed patterns do - dodging them FEELS good. So it´s not a matter of how tough a pattern is when judging its quality IMHO. I prefer dodging stuff because I figured out the situation fast enough over surviving out of luck - a feeling of conquering a pattern as opposed to stuff that just seems without system and uncontrollable. I love dodging stuff that makes me feel like a NINJA OF MINDPOWER (which is oh so rare).

stuminator · Post by **stuminator** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:18 pm

Crossinker, Strikers 1945 II - The screen-filling flower petal attack the first form uses and the second form's left-right-bunch of middle spread shot attacks. Unless I'm using the Fockewulf I've never gotten through either of these without bombing.

thesuperkillerxxx · Post by **thesuperkillerxxx** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:46 pm

FrederikJurk wrote: The meanest trick is this one attack where the boss shows up (that green one, forgot the name), starts firing at you like a maniac, and the only chance to survive is to simply not move.

I love Sobut for this one... Just stay in the dead center and push his ass off the damn screen.... wrack up the killer damage, then watch for him to spread his arms. You only have to move a small bit left or right to avoid the "vulcan" pattern.

Seriously, Sobut is a joke.

Post by **Icarus** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:04 pm

The most vicious boss in Batrider is still Envy, by a country mile. Every attack is virtually instant hit, and you need seriously fast reactions to get through without bombing. I very rarely manage it without bombing.

Grubby and Discharge are cakewalks compared to Envy.

Battlesmurf · Post by **Battlesmurf** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:22 pm

That´s a good description of what well programmed patterns do - dodging them FEELS good. So it´s not a matter of how tough a pattern is when judging its quality IMHO. I prefer dodging stuff because I figured out the situation fast enough over surviving out of luck - a feeling of conquering a pattern as opposed to stuff that just seems without system and uncontrollable

Lol..hit the nail on the head. Come over and tell my wife that. "why do you play these games with the pink and baby blue bullets? They make little flowers and stuff...you going foo foo on me?" Was I out of line with "shut up bitch- get back to your Spyro"

We kid, that's for sure- but on a serious note I'd love to get her into shooters..its a great feeling 1cc'ing anything (damn near).

Never_Scurred · Post by **Never_Scurred** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 9:37 pm

YES.

That goddamned thin bullet pattern for the second stage boss on DOJ. URGGGHHHH I can't dodge it for shit!

-Bridget- · Post by **-Bridget-** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 3:47 am

Dandy J wrote:
DJ Rectal Prolapse wrote: Really? I don't think i've ever died on this bit, yet I can't 1cc to stage 5... It's strange how some people find some bullet patterns harder than others. I consider origional on Mushihimesama to be harder than ultra simply because I can't dodge fast spam for shit.
Heh, well it fits in perfectly with the topic - 'annoying' bullet patterns. Like, everyone knows there's hard bullet patterns, like final bosses in Cave or Psikyo. But you accept it because they are expected to be hard...but then there's patterns that just stick out to certain people, maybe due to the way they think or the way they react to stuff.

For that specific pattern it's just the way the slightly curved chunks spiral one side to the other with the curtain fire behind them that just throws my brain off sometimes. Is it really harder than those final boss patterns? Nah, but it sure as hell is more annoying!

Just now thought of another one; DoDonpachi DOJ, Stage 2 boss, last part of the 4th pattern, seen here at 2:37: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzyKXgx-0pA. He activates hyper right as it comes out but that one throws me off in the same way, but worse.

Also for the record I also think Mushi Maniac is easier than Original.

I rather agreed, I actually started with Mushihime on Maniac when I got it.....

And later on, when I figured, well, I havent tried Original, I'll give it a whirl, well.....

Go into the first stage, something just WHIPS a small spray of bullets at me, Im thinking "what in the....", come back, another WHIP, dead again......

I just dont expect really fast attacks in that game.

As for my own most hated patterns, there's a couple types.

First of all is "wave" attacks. Where the boss sends out seperate, curved horizontal lines of bullets, often with stuff within the line shifting position, or they'll then spray additional things at you while you're trying to deal with that.

2nd is the "how in the hell am I supposed to dodge that?" ones. Mushihime is good at this. The bosses in Ultra, there's a number of attacks where they'll do it, and Im like, OK.... where is the safe zone here? What's the pattern? How do I avoid all of these spinning walls of death? And I'll go watch players on Youtube beat those bosses, and they'll do wierd crap like, fly on the side of the boss, fly above it, fly ON it, dodge things in strange ways, generally, and it's like, how the heck was I supposed to figure that out?

Just the 1st boss in Ultra..... the very first attack it uses, which I call the "blur", when I first saw that, my only thought was "HOW THE HELL DO I DO THIS?!?!?!?". NOW, when I do that fight, if I actually get hit by it, it means Im not paying attention..... I know that pattern now, and that attack is actually real easy to deal with.

Also, attacks that really slow things down......... because then while you're dodging, the game will suddenly SPEED BACK UP....... so VERY many times that that's killed me.

And finally, anything at all that the 2nd boss in DOJ does.

Holy CRAP do I hate that thing.