How important are rumble packs when shmupping on Dreamcast?

durias · Post by **durias** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 9:47 pm

What do you think? And how about VMUs?

P_HAT · Post by **P_HAT** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 9:57 pm

rumble suck, never use it.

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:07 pm

Rumble? For shmups? Whu?

Do any DC shmups use the rumble feature anyway?

PROMETHEUS · Post by **PROMETHEUS** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:14 pm

If this feature does exist on some shmup, it's probably very unimportant anyway.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:16 pm

Ikaruga and Border Down (break beam) use it. So does Psyvariar 2 to indicate level up status.

lewisit · Post by **lewisit** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:36 pm

@rumble packs

in Giga Wing I & II a little jerk signals when the reflect-feature is available again - i like that hint

in games where there is no "real" use for rumble (i.e. where it's only there for some kind of dramatic effect) i switch it off

@VMUs

Ikaruga shows the number of chains on the display (but i never had the nerve to check my status this way during gameplay)

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 7:28 am

About as useful as rumble on a candy cab.

lewisit · Post by **lewisit** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 9:09 am

iatneH wrote:[...] rumble on a candy cab.

there are candy cabs with a rumble-function?

didn't know that...

i thought this gimmick was limited to "special cabs" with controllers like steering wheels, fishing rots, etc.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 4:36 pm

rumble packs are to arcade gaming as a glass of diarrhea is to eating a steak dinner.

durias · Post by **durias** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 8:49 pm

GREAT info. Thanks to all!

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 12:03 pm

lewisit wrote: there are candy cabs with a rumble-function?

didn't know that...

No, there aren't. iatneH's way of saying it is not useful.

lewisit · Post by **lewisit** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 12:13 pm

ahhh... i see...

sometimes my school-english isn't good enough to understand everything as it's meant

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 5:56 pm

Just the thing I need to decrease accuracy (well, it won't, but it's the idea)

...to be honest I had a period where I liked using rumble; on systems where it's on by default I won't turn it off, but I don't turn it on when using my 360 pad on PC

icepick · Post by **icepick** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 8:46 pm

The first thing that I thought of when I saw this topic was Under Defeat; I really like how that game uses the vibration function [to dramatic effect]. It might be silly, but I do feel that it adds to the ambience of the game.

In other games, where they'll feel obligated to turn it on all the way for three seconds as the boss explodes, it gets kind of old and annoying. It works well when mostly when used sparingly and to accentuate aspects of the game, which isn't often I suppose.

I also like how the rumble feature is used in Giga Wing; It could be seen as cheating, since it's in addition to the standard aural and visual indicator present in the arcade format... but I don't think that it gives any significant advantage, and honestly I don't miss it when I'm not using it.

As for VMUs; I hardly ever keep memory cards (or save) when I'm playing scroll shooting games, so I don't think about it much. I record my scores on a notepad and only occasionally save game settings (button config, display orientation) since I don't like unlocking continues (for when playing with friends, most will think nothing of having to continue periodically).