Most every shmup has it's times between the highpoints that need to be "filled".
But would you rather have bulletpatterns to keep you busy (less shooting involved, more dodging) or have wave after wave of popcorn enemies (needing shooting to kill and occasional dodging).
A "both" option is purposely exluded here to make people choose.
Popcorn for me. Popcorn can also add more scoring opportunities depending on the score system. You can just snooze through them with fire button held down or try to max your points from them depending on how you feel. I guess more bullets would give you more scoring opportunity if it was based on scraping, though.
Seriously, both. You can't have popcorn without bullet patterns in a manic game. In older-style games you can, which is perfectly enjoyable, but you need some heavier enemies in between the popcorns to distract you; otherwise the popcorns will never get a shot off and you won't have to dodge anything.
I do like games with tons of kamikaze enemies, Flying Shark style, though. Perfect dodging and shooting without a lot of bullets.
We here shall not rest until we have made a drawing-room of your shaft, and if you do not all finally go down to your doom in patent-leather shoes, then you shall not go at all.
it290 wrote:Seriously, both. You can't have popcorn without bullet patterns in a manic game. In older-style games you can, which is perfectly enjoyable, but you need some heavier enemies in between the popcorns to distract you; otherwise the popcorns will never get a shot off and you won't have to dodge anything.
He did mention it was "inbetween the high points" .. not an entire game made of popcorn enemies. Although there is a thread about a game exactly like that hanging around right now
Can't choose between the two, really. Love them both in the same way. Sometimes it's good to have your shmup a real blasting experience and sometimes it's good to have it almost puzzlegam-ish.
p.s. bullet patterns suck ass except at bosses. I like Psikyo's style, where you get bullet patterns at times they make sense.
Guess it depends on how you define 'bullet pattern'. For me all those things that get tossed at you during Psikyo's stages are bullet patterns (particularly in the later games). They also rarely have a bunch of popcorn on screen without any more durable targets simultaneously.
We here shall not rest until we have made a drawing-room of your shaft, and if you do not all finally go down to your doom in patent-leather shoes, then you shall not go at all.
it290 wrote:Guess it depends on how you define 'bullet pattern'. For me all those things that get tossed at you during Psikyo's stages are bullet patterns (particularly in the later games). They also rarely have a bunch of popcorn on screen without any more durable targets simultaneously.
Good point, especially with the durable targets part.
I think one common feature of most good shmups is that you have to prioritize your targets. Not that you can't get 100% shooting percentage, but rather that you might want to decide what to go after for some other reason - chaining isn't one of my favorites, but getting enemies before they disappear is good by me.
I chose popcorn enemies but I would like both. The enemies should come in interesting patterns though and not just float down the screen (take note non-Japanese developers).
I agree with Ed Oscuro on the 'making sense' part. The main point is that every game should establish certain laws that work towards creating a believable secondary world for the player.
Popcorn enemies are great, but they also give me the cheap shots that really kill me in the end. But bullet patterns are out there, telling me "move or die". Basically, it's both.
So I guess I'll go with bullet patterns, because popcorn enemies should possess them, and because these are the things you play the games to dodge.
