Customizable vehicles/characters in shmups

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:17 pm

What do you prefer out of these two:

One vehicle/character with many options, like speed, weapon, secondary weapon etc

Many different vehicles/characters, each with it's own speed, weapon, secondary weapon etc.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:18 pm

Second.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:28 pm

I dislike speed power-ups. Either give me a ship with a nice speed or give me a choice at the start that includes a ship with a nice speed.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 7:12 pm

As long as I have enough options to accommodate several different play styles I don't much mind how they do it...of course, there are many games I enjoy which only give you a single craft and that's it, but I always like it when you've got some variety (and separate score tables for each, if applicable).

Post by **undamned** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:07 pm

BulletMagnet wrote:As long as I have enough options to accommodate several different play styles I don't much mind how they do it.

Word.
-ud

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:11 pm

Many different vehicles/characters, each with it's own speed, weapon, secondary weapon

+1

It keeps the game fresh. Especially if the game is well balanced (unlike Strikers 1999 for example)

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:15 pm

What difference is there besides a cosmetic one?

Enhasa · Post by **Enhasa** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 9:56 pm

professor ganson wrote:I dislike speed power-ups. Either give me a ship with a nice speed or give me a choice at the start that includes a ship with a nice speed.

Or a ship that can change speeds on the fly.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 9:59 pm

Enhasa wrote:
professor ganson wrote:I dislike speed power-ups. Either give me a ship with a nice speed or give me a choice at the start that includes a ship with a nice speed.
Or a ship that can change speeds on the fly.

True. Speedup powerups are the less modern and more nasty powerup icon. When Starfish remade Steel Empire for GBA, they retained all the old powerups, save for the speedup one. Great improvement!

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 10:13 pm

professor ganson wrote:I dislike speed power-ups. Either give me a ship with a nice speed or give me a choice at the start that includes a ship with a nice speed.

Same here. Gradius is a bad offender, but Truxton is worse in my view since you NEED to keep picking up the speed items (@ 5000 pts. each) or else your score takes a drubbing.

In the 3D games space, ship speed-up items are the equivalent of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, a game where you continually have to test your jumps because all your abilities improve throughout the game, making a mockery of the player's attempts to familiarize themselves with the controls.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 10:18 pm

Ed Oscuro wrote:Same here. Gradius is a bad offender, but Truxton is worse in my view since you NEED to keep picking up the speed items (@ 5000 pts. each) or else your score takes a drubbing.

When Gradius is Gradius (ie when it comes with a powerup bar) the speed issue isn't that bad, as you can manage which powerups to get.

Much worse: R-Type, Xexex, Salamander, Salamander 2... true speedup icons.

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:54 am

Zebra Airforce wrote:What difference is there besides a cosmetic one?

None in a gameplay sense, but presentation wise it could mean a huge difference.

Iaspis · Post by **Iaspis** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:02 pm

Ed Oscuro wrote:Gradius is a bad offender, but Truxton is worse in my view since you NEED to keep picking up the speed items (@ 5000 pts. each) or else your score takes a drubbing.

Think of it as a bonus for going hyperspace

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:35 pm

320x240 wrote:
Zebra Airforce wrote:What difference is there besides a cosmetic one?
None in a gameplay sense, but presentation wise it could mean a huge difference.

The difference is obvious. The powerupped ship can be reverted to its barebone form during play. While the ship selection, once you've chosen your craft, doesn't add much to the rest of the game (assuming you don't pick any powerup in this hypothetical game).

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:08 pm

Turrican wrote:The difference is obvious. The powerupped ship can be reverted to its barebone form during play.

I was responding to the topic.

320x240 wrote:None in a gameplay sense, but presentation wise it could mean a huge difference.

In that case, I prefer being able to select them myself. I like to know what I'm getting into, rather than sifting through a bunch of ships I don't like to find the best one.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:40 pm

Zebra Airforce wrote:
Turrican wrote:The difference is obvious. The powerupped ship can be reverted to its barebone form during play.
I was responding to the topic.

D'oh. Pardon my retardness.

shoe-sama · Post by **shoe-sama** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:52 pm

Enhasa wrote:
professor ganson wrote:I dislike speed power-ups. Either give me a ship with a nice speed or give me a choice at the start that includes a ship with a nice speed.
Or a ship that can change speeds on the fly.

I suppose that's why they call it...

LIGHTENING FORCE
it makes perfect sense now

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:05 pm

D'oh. Pardon my retardness

Don't worry about it, pal

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:07 pm

Turrican wrote:D'oh. Pardon my retardness.

You brought up an important and related point though - in-game changes.

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:01 am

I know it's just asthetic, but I like having a choice of multiple ships. Four ships to choose from in Gradius Gaiden somehow feels better than having four configs for one ship in Gradius II, even though there's really no difference.

Maybe the same thinking is why fighting games have characters instead of just stick figures with varying proportions and movesets.

Marcel1CC · Post by **Marcel1CC** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 5:54 am

defently the second!