Does anyone still play shooters cooperatively?

[Never_Scurred]

Just curious about this.
Last night, me and a friend of mine tried playing thorugh a Ibara and DDP DOJ together and it was not very fun at all. It almost seemed pointless for there to be a two player option. This changed somewhat when we fired up Batrider and Bakraid. Two player is much more fun with those games. Plus, I haven't seen any two player superplays in awhile.

[Ozymandiaz1260]

Only if the game has a separate scoreboard for it, like Raiden.

[Acid King]

I think the problem is that unless you're playing with someone that plays shooters somewhat competently, it's going to be boring. Your partner is just going to be dying and bombing and continuing.

[dmauro]

I've had a lot of fun playing Mushi on Ultra with a friend. He picks video games up pretty quickly, and I could never handle Ultra very well myself anyways, so the fun came in sharing those "Oh shit!" moments when the boss spits out a curtain of bullets and it suddenly becomes a game of chicken to see who will bomb first.

[gabe]

I think the problem is that unless you're playing with someone that plays shooters somewhat competently, it's going to be boring. Your partner is just going to be dying and bombing and continuing.

Agreed.

I would play co-op shmups if I had friends who were into them. Instead, they see me playing and make comments like "hey, is it 1987 again?"

We play Mario Kart instead.

[iatneH]

I am rather uncooperative even when playing with a relatively competent friend.

Ibara is fine in 2P IMO. KingBuzzo has saved my medal chain on more than one occasion. espgaluda is the tough one to play. I have a habit of exiting kakusei mode without warning, suddenly speeding up the bullets for my unlucky partner.

[Udderdude]

It's only really worth it if you have a shared score. 99% of shmups don't do this, though. 2p is just a forgotten side..

[freddiebamboo]

From a post by IlMrm in the Strikers III hi score thread;

The two player ALL on YouTube is pretty fun to watch.

Link is in the quote text for extra stealth.

[Battlesmurf]

Just curious about this.
Last night, me and a friend of mine tried playing thorugh a Ibara and DDP DOJ together and it was not very fun at all. It almost seemed pointless for there to be a two player option. This changed somewhat when we fired up Batrider and Bakraid. Two player is much more fun with those games. Plus, I haven't seen any two player superplays in awhile.

Had something similar. Some of my closest friends couldn't give a crap about bullet blanket shooties- the older and slightly less manic stuff doesn't seem to overwhelm them as much. DOJ and the like seem to scare people- not to mention that faking out the bullets and such doesn't work with 2 people when you have them bringing the 'wave' over to your side.

[Ghegs]

I think it might be fun, after the players figure out proper co-op tactics and not just play it like a single-player game with an extra distraction. Takes more time and effort, obviously.

Something like Gradius V that allows the players to take more specified roles (one player doing the heavy hitting with flamer while the other player does crowd control with sweeping lasers, for example) would be cool to see.

[emphatic]

Take Twin Hawk as a great example of a fun 2 player shmup. ESPGaluda on the other hand is pointless. More so if you're both good at it.

Emph

[Klatrymadon]

I managed to get a housemate to play G-Darius with me pretty consistently for about a month, last year. We had a good laugh and eventually he was familiar enough with the bosses for us to single-credit a couple of routes.

I think the later Darius games are excellent ones for foisting on unsuspecting friends, hehe. I've found people's attention is usually initially held by how bonkers they are, so their charm and depth are given that essential time to really shine through...

[MX7]

Something like Gradius V that allows the players to take more specified roles (one player doing the heavy hitting with flamer while the other player does crowd control with sweeping lasers, for example) would be cool to see.

Gradius V is a 2 player game. What is a long, boring methodical slog through the 1P experience becomes a taut, exciting and tactical game when played with two players. I believe it was built specifically as a co op game. It's a lot like Gunstar Heroes. Pointless as a one player game, awesome as a cooperative one.

[Jockel]

I think the problem is that unless you're playing with someone that plays shooters somewhat competently, it's going to be boring. Your partner is just going to be dying and bombing and continuing.

+1

[Ruldra]

Gradius V is a 2 player game. What is a long, boring methodical slog through the 1P experience becomes a taut, exciting and tactical game when played with two players.

Not when the other player sucks and he's only waiting for you to die so he can steal your options

[Udderdude]

Gradius V is a 2 player game. What is a long, boring methodical slog through the 1P experience becomes a taut, exciting and tactical game when played with two players.

Not when the other player sucks and he's only waiting for you to die so he can steal your options

Evil >:O

[Elixir]

My friend and I dislike playing shmups together, we just usually hit up some fighters instead.

I'm all for cooperative Pacman though. I don't think any of the ones for 360 thought of this..

[tommyb]

My friend and I play shmups together, but not cooperatively. One of us will go, and then the other will attempt to beat his score.

[nash87]

I used to play raiden fighter jet co-op with a fellow employee back when i worked at an arcade. We usually chose to take a vs perspective on it and would try to kill each other by hovering over one another or initiating the team attack with out the other persons consent. We almost got a 1cc once, but the true bosses patterns are way to unpredictable on 2 player

[RackGaki]

Hard enough finding a second player to go through these games with you at all, let alone someone who is good at the shmup you happen to be playing.

[RoninBuddha]

me and my sister have 'perfected'* our own game plan in ikaruga (even our distribution of chains on first 3 levels).

*i use the term loosely

[Arvandor]

I really hate playing most shooters cooperatively.

Ikaruga, however, always seems to be a lot of fun to play with someone else.

[Dave_K.]

It almost seemed pointless for there to be a two player option.

Not if you are into Dual Play (single player playing both ships at the same time) re: ikaruga, raiden, ...

[Taylor]

Modern shmups aren't really made with this in mind and trying to play them two player just creates problems. You have no complementary abilities, streaming bullets doesn’t work and makes sections borderline impossible, you grab each others power ups (particularly annoying if you die next to someone and the game spits your Power Up/Option collectables straight into them) – it all points to taking turns being the most fun way to play.

Maybe a more serious two-player option is something developers could consider and would help make them a bit more accessible. People could introduce their friends to them easier and people would be more willing to experiment in the arcade. Fighting games are completely separate entities but the human interaction is the bedrock of the (stronger) community.

A joint score system and hiscore table, patterns that take into account two players and Game Over'd players reviving with 1 life if one player hits the next stage would at the very least be a nice start.