Rank outranks game settings in shmups.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:05 pm

I performed an experiment a while back and played Strikers 1945 plus on MVS and Parodius deluxe on the Saturn.

On defaults I tended to get wasted pretty quickly, especially parodius. On 1945 plus I can get to level 5 if I pray to God.

So I put both games on the easiest setting possible. MVS setting 1, Parodius 9 lives and on easy.

Believe me it makes absolutely no difference. Because its quite easy you will stroll through the first level or levels, but by level 3, because of rank its even worse than defaults. Each stream of bullets is 2 seconds longer than before, bosses turn into evil bullet spraying MF's. It gets to the point where you witness slowdown you never seen before

.

So the conclusion in these games is, rank is king.

D · Post by D » Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:08 pm

The Rank spanks you for choosing easy difficulty.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 1:48 pm

D wrote:The Rank spanks you for being a gigantic pussy

Fixed

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:08 pm

Hold your horses

I've played both games for years in search of the 1cc on both games. It was just an experiement to see if I could beat the game on th easiest setting. Because I can't do that aren't I wasting my time on the harder settings?

I don't know anyone who can do it personally, so i'm not that concerned. I've 1cc'd bust a move again and Gradius so far

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:20 pm

hehe.. this reminds me of that retarded "why dont you try hard" topic, good times!

rank rules btw..

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:41 pm

I was just pulling your chain, Richie. I know you're a respectable guy.
Bust A Move... is that Puzzle Bobble? That whole name-raping thing lost me a while ago. If you did, mass props. You should make a vid.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:24 pm

It is puzzle bobble 2 without the X.

Video, damn.. I've only done it 3 or 4 times out of maybe 100+ tries, however the pyramid system of levels it uses, I always tried for different routes, so maybe I can do the easiest route.

Don't know how to make videos. I Think MAME has a feature right?

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:04 pm

Rank is rank (in the pejorative sense), but I love it all the same.

Richie, don't you live in St. Louis? I swear I bought Toaplan Shooting from you when you were here in the States.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:08 pm

I lived in O'Fallon St louis for a while. Maybe a year and a half. Evansvile Indiana before that, for 4 years.

I offloaded quite a bit of stuff during that time. So your memory serves you correct. I am now in the UK.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:11 pm

neorichieb1971 wrote: I am now in the UK.

traitor!

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:18 pm

Trust me, i'll be back, but considering whats going on the other thread I'll probably be put on death row

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:42 pm

see 2% increase/decrease in game difficulty increasing electronic penis by 50%

Actually in some games the rank changes are more drastic. In Super Contra Very Hard gives you second loop difficulty and the same setting in any of the RF games sets the minimum rank to 60% of max while Easy maxes out the rank at that point. In certain games the difficulty doesn't change much if at all on the "harder" settings (Cave games are known for this)

You also have to take to account the differences between regions. In Mars Matrix the difficulty scale among the stages is changed for US and Japan (US 4 is harder than Japan 4 in later stages) and Asia versions of RF have slowed rank while the US versions keep the rank speed of the Japan version but Miclus take all of a third of a second to uncover.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:36 pm

re: Strikers, most psikyo games are actually pitifully easy on the lowest difficulty. 1945+, aside from being more difficult than the rest of the series to begin with, is also on MVS. Seems like the difficulty setting doesn't do much on most MVS games, at least in my experience.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:51 pm

Question: What is the easiest route?

neorichieb1971 wrote:Trust me, i'll be back, but considering whats going on the other thread I'll probably be put on death row

Do you still have a visa? I understand you are divorced. Not sure how that works.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:09 pm

Bust a move is a cheating game. Sometimes you lose by default because the balls selected at random are the ones you don't want.

You understand the upside down pyramid right. You start by choosing A or B, then work your way up. A bit like the routes in Outrun.

Levels 8 and 16 are always the tough ones, but a couple of the level 16's are actually quite easy. I believe if your route goes through L and K (both level 16) you will have easy passage. If you choose the others, good luck.

I am a permanent resident of the USA. Just because you get divorced, it has no bearing on your right to stay in the country. My card expires 2012.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:04 pm

it290 wrote:re: Strikers, most psikyo games are actually pitifully easy on the lowest difficulty. 1945+, aside from being more difficult than the rest of the series to begin with, is also on MVS. Seems like the difficulty setting doesn't do much on most MVS games, at least in my experience.

try playing fatal fury 2 on level 1 then on level 7, then come back here with the same opinion...

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:42 pm

Strikers 1945+ starts out stupidly easy on setting 1.

However, by level 2, the rank is kicking in to the point where the end boss takes longer to beat than on level 4 setting.

1945+ is the only game i've played that I cannot reach the score to get an extra life (600000).

On Bust a move, again I did not see hardly any difference in challenge. I think I should try it on an SNK game like Metal slug.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 12:02 am

try playing fatal fury 2 on level 1 then on level 7, then come back here with the same opinion... Smile

I was thinking more along the lines of Art of Fighting 2... being able to defeat 1 opponent vs. 0 isn't that big of a difference IMHO.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:36 am

Does Gradius III have ranking? It always seems to kick my ass around the bubble stage when i haven't died and have full weaponry. After that though i can breeze right on through.

Strangley enough III is the one i've played the least despite it being one of the best.

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 4:31 am

circuitface wrote:Does Gradius III have ranking? It always seems to kick my ass around the bubble stage when i haven't died and have full weaponry. After that though i can breeze right on through.

Strangley enough III is the one i've played the least despite it being one of the best.

It sure seems to. On defaults, the rank does seem to start awfully high compared to the first two though.

Lasers are better than the Double shot on the bubble stage, esp. with the trigger held down.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 1:34 am

neorichieb1971 wrote: 1945+ is the only game i've played that I cannot reach the score to get an extra life (600000).

Want to make it harder? Are you playing on the bios that only gives you 1 extra life?