Shmup superstitions/weird habits

[linko9]

For some reason, when I play DDP, whenever I beat a boss, I move to the part of the screen that you get snapped to on the stage clear screen, so as to avoid being automatically moved. I wouldn't call it a superstition, but it's a strange habit nonetheless. I thought it would be interesting to see what other superstitions/habits people have when playing shmups.

[8 1/2]

I have a bit of a superstition, more a ritual I suppose,where I like to be playing a long RPG during the same time I'm practicing a new shmup. Switching my gametime between tedious grinding and furious shmupping always seems to sharpen my focus and help me to appreciate the patterns and freedom of movement. Right now I'm hoarding Dragon Age and waiting to begin on it until Futari arrives at the end of the month.

[captpain]

Every time I clear a stage in DOJ, I sacrifice a goat.

[Udderdude]

For some reason, when I play DDP, whenever I beat a boss, I move to the part of the screen that you get snapped to on the stage clear screen, so as to avoid being automatically moved. I wouldn't call it a superstition, but it's a strange habit nonetheless. I thought it would be interesting to see what other superstitions/habits people have when playing shmups.

Why would you do that? Making the game drag your ass back to where it wants you to be is hilarious.

Well, I think it is, anyway. >_>

[Ruldra]

I let go of the shot button when I know enemies are not coming. Sometimes I only shoot when enemies are on-screen, but this often leads to stupid deaths.

[Necronopticous]

For some reason, when I play DDP, whenever I beat a boss, I move to the part of the screen that you get snapped to on the stage clear screen, so as to avoid being automatically moved.

I do the same thing in quite a few games--Also, for games which show your ship flying off the top of the screen after each stage, I will habitually go up to the very top of the screen after the boss. Most of the weird little habits I have involve tapping, though. Sometimes I will tap out a song rhythm on the fire button as I play, or tap with different fingers alternatively. It feels like I'm upping the cool when I'm playing well in an arcade.

[sunburstbasser]

It depends on the game, but I have little things I do in many. Any game that has Gradius-style trailing options, I WILL try to make patterns with (I know all of you have done that before!). I also make the shields chase me around when I get them in Gradius. Space Megaforce with its 7 or so options is LOTS of fun!

If I have a standard blue shot in Gate of Thunder and the options, I'll sit on the left side of the screen and press and release Left to make waves in my bullets.

[SFKhoa]

I like to tap the shot button to the rhythm of the BGM.

[RGC]

For some reason, when I play DDP, whenever I beat a boss, I move to the part of the screen that you get snapped to on the stage clear screen, so as to avoid being automatically moved. I wouldn't call it a superstition, but it's a strange habit nonetheless. I thought it would be interesting to see what other superstitions/habits people have when playing shmups.

I do the same with Mushihemesama, attempting to find the exact pixel location before it tries to move me there (quite difficult with S-type). Probably just a control obsession thing, exacerbated by not being able to control the game where it actually matters.

[Sasupoika]

Point blank enemy for maximum damage!
I have died so many times because of that.

[iatneH]

I have just mostly idle actions when there is a lull in the action.

I will fly around in figure-8s, or wiggle the stick, or move in a single direction and then back with jerky movements (looks especially strange in Shikagami no shiro). If it is 2-players, I may fly circles around my partner as long as he stays still....

On the PS2 version of Ibara, I liked to hide my ship under the "Loading" graphic. I cannot do that anymore now that I have a PCB.

I have the complete opposite habit for games that force your ship to a certain location - I try to get as far away as possible to see if I can make weird stuff happen, like the clipping glitch at the end of the Chapter 3 introduction in Ikaruga.

[Rozyrg]

Most shooters give me 'Bomb fear' for some reason. Unless it's an older game where the enemies are fast and unpredictable enough for me to feel justified using them consistently, I don't... at all.

I feel like I have to save them for the precise moment before I'm going to die; but that usually just means I die instead.

[cools]

Most shooters give me 'Bomb fear' for some reason. Unless it's an older game where the enemies are fast and unpredictable enough for me to feel justified using them consistently, I don't... at all.

I feel like I have to save them for the precise moment before I'm going to die; but that usually just means I die instead.

This. Playing Raiden DX for a few months, then playing ooh, ANYTHING else is a pain. "Must not bomb and lose my massive guts bonus"

[Gespenst]

Trying to graze the bullet in Viper Phase 1 (considering the ship hitbox is very small?) and other non-danmaku shumps after playing Garegga and Batrider.

[Runefaust]

I love playing with the dissappearing status bar in Progear

[DMC]

On the PS2 version of Ibara, I liked to hide my ship under the "Loading" graphic. I cannot do that anymore now that I have a PCB.

lol, I always did the same. But I think I shot bullets meanwhile so they "appeared" to come from nowhere.

Ketsui Death Label, Extra mode, I always make patterns with the two shots/movement before the enemies arrives.

But these are not superstitions, in my case. They're rather signs of impatience, 2000ms of torture before the fun part begins.

[jonny5]

I like to tap the shot button to the rhythm of the BGM.

i do that too sometimes...galuda especially

[third_strike]

I have the weird habit of crash in bullets accidentally. Believe me this happen in several shmups
Cool!

[Jockel]

+1 for the point blank crowd

i end up point blanking in almost every game i can.

[jonny5]

+1 for the point blank crowd

i end up point blanking in almost every game i can.

+1....

[honorless]

I only play shooters at night.

This thread made me realize it. I think I'll try and break that habit over the weekend.

[saucykobold]

When beaming a boss in G-Darius, I usually point-blank it. This has no effect on damage.

[Rozyrg]

I like to tap the shot button to the rhythm of the BGM.

i do that too sometimes...galuda especially

I do that with just about every game.

[emphatic]

I "have" to tap the bomb button between stages in Ketsui (counting silently to twenty), often loosing a bomb as the bonus count is quicker than my tapping.

+1 on placing my aircraft at the "correct" pixel between stages. Especially when playing Flying Shark or Twin Cobra.

A signature move for me is to obsessively scratch my face/nose if I have a good run and things get intense. I know it's a bad idea yet still do it.

[AraraSPAMWitch]

A signature move for me is to obsessively scratch my face/nose if I have a good run and things get intense. I know it's a bad idea yet still do it.

I often do a quick nose scratch after I beat a boss or when I'm really focusing in a fighting game. I dunno why, I often touch my face when I'm intently concentrating on something.

An obnoxious shmup habit I have is bobbing my head to the music when I'm feeling confident. Not when I'm necessarily doing well, and not even when I necessarily like the music, just when I'm having really good feelings about a run. I just get really pumped up that way, but if there are people around and I notice myself doing it, I always stop myself because whenever I see other people do that I get pissed off. My old roommate used to do that when we played Magical Drop, and it made me want to punch him it looked so corny.

[shadowbringer]

- did i die or make some sort of mistake at the first stages that cripples my score now, or later? Restart. (sometimes I would restart if my score at a certain point wasn't good enough, for example, if I didn't get the 8x multiplier at the tanks on the RFJ's first stage)
- did I play well on the first stages, but mess up on certain points that I could've scored nicely if I didn't, therefore affecting negatively the intended score for later stages? Restart. Added bonus for further wasted effort after getting past the first stages.
- do I not like certain aspects of a game's scoring mechanics, yet everytime I play a game, I must try to follow them? Check. (Can I ignore them and still try to play the game? I think I can, sometimes, yet I feel disappointed with myself, feel that such a run won't be much of an accomplishment, no matter how well it goes, and think of the many points that I would be missing if I believe that these aren't currently out of my range)
- +1 to the team that tries to move their ships to the place that the game drags you to (I'd do that even on the MegaMan series :p), or at the top of the screen, as I'd think that doing so would save me time
- +1 to the team that sometimes tries to hide their ships behind the captions at the beginning of stages (don't remember doing so before boss fights)

sometimes, I shoot even when there aren't enemies on the screen, however, in certain cases where enemy chaining is involved (but not limited to), I avoid doing so. (still, I'd like if Raiden 2 had auto-fire, whenever I played it with the purple laser, I'd get tired of pressing the shot button by stage 2)

[Shocky]

After destroying bosses, after the explosions, I like to celebrate a bit by pointlessly shooting (which caused me to always miss the special bonus in Omega Fighter, argh) and flying around the screen, usually mocking the dead boss by flying over where they used to be - and in some games I've found hidden bonus stages this way, to my amazement

[lgb]

I'll usually fire or move around a bit when I know nothing is going to happen.

trying to avoid playing for score completely always ends up bad.

restarting after dying when you know you really should not have.

[Keade]

I also like to hide my ship (when it's safe), especially hide it behind bosses explosions in Ikaruga

I also do the "repeating some of the ship actions" (go left / go right for instance, or shoot) following the background music' or some famous tune's rythm.

I do those in shmups as well as other genres, though.

[Battletoad]

I also often tap the shotbutton to the rhythm of the music.

In Zero Gunner 2 (at least in some stages) I rotate my helicopter straight to the top or bottom of the screen before a boss introduction sequence is shown. That doesn´t really make sense since you are positioned in a fixed position and angle at the beginning of the boss fight, but I´m doing it anyway.

In Gunbird 2 I sometimes end up throwing a bomb to be able to collect a powerup or another bomb. Sounds stupid and probably is stupid, too.
But those bombs and powerups are really awkward in GB2. I do understand that they don´t fly to the very bottom of the screen, but just in the upper half of the screen?? What the hell... That´s often no problem, but sometimes you really can hardly collect them, especially in the later stages.