your longest practice session ever?

mirkvid · Post by **mirkvid** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:38 pm

hey guys, i have only 1 final this semester and 2 full days off of school and work following it. i was thinking about catching up on some shmups by having an epic session (like at least 4 hours, maybe up to 6!) of either Batrider, Raiden Fighters 2 or Esprade (also trying to get my $ worth from these pcbs).

has anybody here ever sat down with a game for a long period of time and seen a big improvement? it may sound boring or tedious to some, but i really need to do some shooting.

i'll update my progress if i do this. hopefully i can finally 1cc that damned Batrider!

anyway, tell us about your epic shmup sessions!

stanski · Post by **stanski** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:43 pm

I played giga wing for about 10 hours once, improving my score from about 40 trillion to 100 trillion in the process.

Non-related to shmupping, but on my most recent single segment speedrun of sonic 2, I played the game for about 14 hours doing attempts and got a ridiculously good improvement (improved my own record from 18:54 to 18:12 when i didn't think i could improve my own run by more than 15 seconds).

RGC · Post by **RGC** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:50 pm

After approx. 2 hours I get bored of just about any shooter and find myself moving onto something else (often accompanied by drinking). Rarely do I play for longer than an hour at a time. I've made plans in the past to spend "an entire day" practicing all the levels on Mushi, for example. But again, after around 2 hours I have to switch to something different. My gaming ability takes a nosedive around that point anyway.

My favourite sessions are the ones where I rotate through 2 or 3 games, occasionally beating my best score on one of them. That'll explain my overall low ranking I guess...

shoe-sama · Post by **shoe-sama** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:59 pm

i played viper phase 1 for like 50 hours during stgt07

all of that was concentrated into monday saturday sunday i believe

Necronopticous · Post by **Necronopticous** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 8:10 pm

If I practice for more than a couple of hours I just find myself getting frustrated and doing worse as more time passes. I start dying on easy sections at the beginning and such because I'm just not as focused as I was the first few runs.

My longest is probably less than four hours, and I can't really see ever going longer than that on a single game unless I was practicing with friends and taking turns. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who would play a shmup with me for that long.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 8:44 pm

when i was in japan i did several 6-10hour sessions in the arcades there.. awesome!

at home.. who knows what the longest have been, definetly longer.

usually i dont improve my score beyond the first two runs, but my stability and confidence in patterns and such definetly does.

Shion · Post by **Shion** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 9:11 pm

I can only play computer games for a long time straight. When I play too long on my PS2 or cab, my fingers start to hurt

I should consider building a better control panel though.

I've played full days on some computer shmups back a while ago though

with breaks for food and piss (I fail, I know real pro's piss in empty bottles

).

drboom · Post by **drboom** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 10:33 pm

Whatever I'm playing, my second run is always the best. More than an hour and I have to move onto something else.

elfhentaifan · Post by **elfhentaifan** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 11:42 pm

referring to shmups my best hardcore training was 5 hours Ibara in one piece.
I really felt like 3 cans of coffee after that.

overkill55 · Post by **overkill55** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:28 am

I find that playing for awhile and then taking a large enough break and then coming back to the game really help, must be different for everyone though

kccttzj · Post by **kccttzj** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:58 am

overkill55 wrote:I find that playing for awhile and then taking a large enough break and then coming back to the game really help, must be different for everyone though

That's what works best for me too. It depends on a lot of different things though. If it's a new game to me, I can play for hours because there's so much room for improvement. If it's something I've already played a lot, chances are I'm not going to improve as easily, so I get more frustrated and don't play as long (if I'm playing for score).

I think the longest session I had was with Gradius V. I played that game ALL day when it came out. Unfortunately, I don't have that much free time anymore.

henry dark · Post by **henry dark** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:39 am

The most I ever managed on Dodonpachi was 30 minutes and I felt quite proud of myself for that.

Any longer than an hour on a game and I start to get bored (or in DDP's case, very very frustrated).

The only exception I've ever found to this is Espgaluda.

viniciusvbf · Post by **viniciusvbf** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 2:32 am

shoe-sama wrote:i played viper phase 1 for like 50 hours during stgt07

all of that was concentrated into monday saturday sunday i believe

I feel bad for you

I played for about 15 hours and almost killed myself

overkill55 · Post by **overkill55** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:08 am

I played it for like 5 hours and did kill myself

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:17 am

I find that playing for awhile and then taking a large enough break and then coming back to the game really help, must be different for everyone though

Yeah, exactly. I'll play for maybe 3-5 hours, then take a break for a couple of days. Once I come back I'm usually much, much better than before I left.

-Bridget- · Post by **-Bridget-** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:36 am

Due to certain circumstances, I tend to have absolutely silly amounts of free time, so, depending on the game, my mood, and other stuff, I can play these for quite long periods indeed.

Most notable was Giga Wing a few weeks ago.... I'd gotten close to finally beating it earlier in the day, so I wanted to finally 1cc it, AND get it recorded into a replay.

Five hours of swearing later, lol, I finally had what I wanted

I can do this with Cave's games alot, or Psikyo's. Or with Shikigami.

I intend on FINALLY ordering Shikigami no Shiro 3 for my PC soon, and likely when that comes in, that'll be the only thing I do aaaaaaaalllllllllll day, lol.

Ozymandiaz1260 · Post by **Ozymandiaz1260** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:50 am

There are certain games I can play until I pass out, like a couple years ago I was at a LAN party with some friends and we played Quake III for more than thirty hours straight with no sleep only taking breaks a few minutes at a time for small snacks and copious amounts overly caffeinated beverages... but when it comes to shmups I really can't play a single game for more than forty five minutes or so without getting either extremely bored or extremely frustrated with how ridiculously difficult the scoring system is...

Pirate1019 · Post by **Pirate1019** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:53 am

The longest I have played was probably a 4 or 5 hour session when I first got Ikaruga. It was only that long because it was the first shooter I bought. Aside from that it's maybe an hour and 15 minutes tops before I stop to check and see if anything interesting has happened here.

mirkvid · Post by **mirkvid** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:50 am

progress report:
played raiden fighters 2 for about an hour and a half today, (im pretty new at this one) with breaks after every 2 restarts and finally beat my high score by about 100k. i keep hitting a wall at level 3, but almost cleared it today. my final exam got moved to wednesday, so i'll do my epic practice day later in the week. it'll be a neat experiment. if i can get to lvl 4 with only 1 death i'll be happy.

current high for rf2: 3902000 (continues are for bitches)

charlie chong · Post by **charlie chong** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 11:02 am

i only stick to one game at a time(usually for about a month or 2)
usually play for quite a few hours on the weekdays(i have little breaks for cups of tea and joints tho) on the weekends tho i can seriously rack up the hours(play all day if i aint got shit to do) but i always take little breaks and stretch out my legs ,eat etc... i often find myself getting my best scores either at the beginning of a session or right at the end!!!

DEL · Post by **DEL** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:25 pm

5 hours per credit is the most I tend to stand (on the older multi-loopers).

--------------
shoe-sama wrote:

i played viper phase 1 for like 50 hours during stgt07

all of that was concentrated into monday saturday sunday i believe

viniciusvbf wrote;

I feel bad for you
I played for about 15 hours and almost killed myself

^STG put in some silly hours on that too.

My definition of Self-Harm.

Fu · Post by Fu » Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:31 pm

I don't understand, practice session in one time (without stop) or playing time on a game ?
For my playing time it was 100 hours on DoDonPachi for reaching 45 million. I should kill me a long time ago.

Aquas · Post by **Aquas** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:06 pm

Around when I first got Mushihime-sama, I practiced it on a tate'd TV on the floor for about half of a day... about 6 hours more or less... I saw a substancial improvement, I would play stages, and then look at replays, then play stages, etc, trying to emulate the greatness.

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:30 pm

Fu wrote:practice session in one time (without stop)

That.

I hardly play longer than half an hour, the most was maybe two hours on Batrider, and recently almost no shmupping at all.

hermosaguy · Post by **hermosaguy** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:44 pm

For me since I play with Neo Geo pads, its till I'm comfortable. I can never play a certain way...sometimes my elbows are resting on my legs or on the chair. When I've found my 'comfy' zone then I start to get serious!

Gorecki · Post by **Gorecki** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:52 pm

I'll play until I meet a particularly annoying death, at which point the controller bounces off the wall and the game is shut down rather forcibly. So about 30 minutes a time basically.

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:32 am

Necronopticous wrote:If I practice for more than a couple of hours I just find myself getting frustrated and doing worse as more time passes. I start dying on easy sections at the beginning and such because I'm just not as focused as I was the first few runs.

overkill55 wrote:I find that playing for awhile and then taking a large enough break and then coming back to the game really help, must be different for everyone though

I definitely relate to these two responses, having spent this evening chipping away at Under Defeat's first loop. I really have to make an effort to not screw up a game's early stages, after I've played more than two hours straight (even if I'm making good progress on later, harder areas). I find myself increasingly suffering irritating avoidable deaths, and switching the game off soon after. I definitely notice any progress I've made more the next day, when I can approach the game's initial 90% with a lot more enthusiasm.

I guess this is the root of my bad habit for dropping a game that's teetering on the brink of being 1CCd! Sometimes I find just concentrating for a shooter's full duration harder than the actual playing itself.

JacobXScum · Post by **JacobXScum** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 10:29 pm

I can't play any shooter for more than an hour or two. They're great games, in small doeses, you know. My longest gaming session ever is 22 hours. I spent 22 straight hours playing Megaman X3. I got pretty good at it too.

indstr · Post by **indstr** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 11:51 am

i've only been playing shmups at any serious level over the past 3 months or so. so far i usually attempt cave games with 3 credits .... dodonpachi, i can usually get to the 4th level before i run out of my 3 credits. tonight i decided i would use savestates in finalburn alpha to practice the bosses and levels 2 through 4 with no bombs, and restarting at the beginning of the level/boss every time i died.. i did this for about 3 hours straight, and then started the game over from the beginning and got all the way to level 5 on my first credit

no bombs helped me get a waaaay better feeling for the hitbox, and basically i reloaded level 3 a bunch of times and just messed around at the beginning, intentionally trying to weave through the narrowest bullet gaps i could, it helped a LOT, i only spent about 1/2 as long practicing level 4 as i did level 3

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 12:40 pm

I can't really play any shooter for more than 2 hours max. Then I just start sucking. The second or third runs of a day are usually the best.