Shmup superstitions/weird habits

[nash87]

I bomb at the exact frame i get hit, it irritates me to know end because i think a higher power is responsible for it, but only because it happens so much. Sometimes every single death in an entire run will consist of those deaths.

I also think that things are easier to dodge on the left side of the screen as opposed to the right

weird, right?

[Gespenst]

Dunno whether it counts: Sometimes, I press the bomb button when in the same time a bullet hit me

[null1024]

When I play Cave shmups, I used to have a habit of moving the ship to the position on the screen where it would be moved the most. Also, I have a habit of constantly rolling my fingers [pressing R, D, L in that order, over and over] across the arrow keys [I play on a keyboard, if I ever get a cab, I'm wiring up a keyboard into the panel... ^_^] if there's nothing much on screen.

[J-Manic]

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.

I do this as well. Like, I'm concerving my bullets as if they're going to run out or something.

I also have a habit of starting out every boss fight with a bomb. It's automatic.

[BrightSuzaku]

I need to get out of this habit of nervously flying my ship around in little circles when there are no enemies on screen, because often I'm left unready for their shots. As I memorize stages, this becomes less common. But, usually my ships "dance" on screen.

I have a rather neurotic habit of trying to defeat EVERY enemy in a stage. I also tend to restart stages if I die an incredibly stupid and horribly avoidable death, as a result I tend to go through a stage so many times I get worn out and sick of it.

I hum stage music sometimes, if it's that catchy. Raiden IV, Stage 5 does this, and I tend to hum or time myself to the beat of Stage 2. I could possibly be that nerd dancing to classic pre-V Gradius tunes... BUT IT'S SO BOUNCY AND DANCEABLE, YOU KNOW?

I loooove Espagluda's soundtrack, especially Stage 3. Problem is, I don't own nor have ever played the game, so... yeah. But I love that stage's music, I have it on my iPod, and play it in plenty of non-shmup games to boost my concentration. There was a "whack-a-mole"-like mini-game in one of the Jak and Daxter games, and my best friend was failing it horribly. So I just slipped on my headphones, fired up the Stage 3 music, and then began whacking moles like an overly accurate madman... to the tune of the music. Yeah, seriously. It was fun.

In some games, I accidentally run into a bullet instead of a power-up. This is strangest when the bullet and said powerup not only look completely different, but are kinda far apart from one another. Actually, this has happened at least once in any game I've played.

It has less to do with being shot while going to a powerup (normal), and more about being shot by heading into the freaking bullet (abnormal).

EDIT: methodical shooters taught me NEVER to run into walls, or anything that even looks like an obstruction. Weirdly enough, this has translated into danmaku, and similar games, where I fly around things that are, ahem, below my ship. And sometimes, thsoe things that look like walls on the sides of the screens aren't even walls! I nearly die with surprise every time I learn this is the case, and die subsequently because my shock prevented me from dodging a "stray" bullet.

[emphatic]

Sometimes when I have a crowd (not so much now when actual arcades are basically extinct) I trash talk the bosses. Even hard ones.

[BrightSuzaku]

Ooooh, trash talking the bosses is always fun! You can still do this if you make Youtube videos of yourself playing... not so much replay recordings, but movies of actual gameplay, of course.

[monkeyman]

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.

Me too, always save bombs for some point in the future when I'll absolutely need them let alone the fact that I don't have the skill to avoid all the bullets already on screen and so never survive long enough to face this hypothetical no win situation. Also I keep forgetting most games give bombs back when you die. (this hoarding mentality carries over to RPGs, even though I'm on the last boss and can't possibly use the items afterwards, I'll retry the fight 30 times before thinking to use that stock of health potions and 1 use attack items I've been saving for that very situation)

Oddly the few times I do remember to break out of that cycle, i get bomb happy and set off a screen filling death cloud at even weakest enemies, thus meaning I don't have any bombs left when bullet spitting boss of doom rears it's ugly head.

Some day I'll find a happy middle ground - just not today.

[Lordstar]

I alwyas use the 2p side unless its an MVS game and then i kinda have to use the 1p side. not sure why i just tend to sit on the right. But on puzzles i prefer to be 1p, fighters I can swap but my prefrence would be to 2p because most other people prefer 1P its one of the few games im kinda drawn to play on the 2player side

[null1024]

I alwyas use the 2p side unless its an MVS game and then i kinda have to use the 1p side. not sure why i just tend to sit on the right. But on puzzles i prefer to be 1p, fighters I can swap but my prefrence would be to 2p because most other people prefer 1P its one of the few games im kinda drawn to play on the 2player side

This doesn't seem to be so weird. I do this if I'm at a cab because the 2p controls are usually in better shape than the 1p ones [I say usually, because one time, the 2p controls in VF1 were totally hosed, whereas the 1p ones were just fine]. Granted, I'm almost never at a cab, but...

[SFKhoa]

I'm the same for using 2P controls when I'm in the arcades. Usually, 1P controls are complete ass and I'm pretty much forced to use the other set of controls.