Psikyo....what coulda been..

[evil_ash_xero]

You know, I have given Psikyo a lot of grief on these forums. I didn't really care for their graphics, gameplay, and what upset me the most was the similarity amongst their games.

However, recently I have gotten into Dragon Blaze, which I think is a fine game(thanks to a few little additions to the Psikyo style), Gunbird 2(not as impressed with this one, but it's fun..stupid last boss though). And now i've been getting into Zero Gunner 2. It's only real problem is those short ass Psikyo stages, but the game is actually unique amongst Psikyo games, and *gasp* shmups at large. They needed to drop that second form mech thing though, at this point.

I noticed that these are some of their laters games. Dragon Blaze and Zero Gunner 2, which I think were going in the right direction, stand out to me as a sign that they were improving and looking at some of their peers games and getting a little inspiration. Too bad they went under after that, as I think they were getting kinda good at this point.

[Momijitsuki]

I dunno. I consider Gunbird 2 to be one of my very favorite shmups.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I like Psikyo. The original Zero Gunner is playable on Model 2 Emulator by the way.

[Skykid]

My favourite Psikyo shmup is Sengoku Ace - love the style.

[emphatic]

I have to go with Zero Gunner 2 as well.

[clp]

I love psikyo although i didnt at first but after alot of practice i found there games to be kick ass from every aspect , dont think i could pick one i dont really like .I dont understand the hate either that psikyo gets , probs just cave fanboy hate and lets face it most of them on here cant score even in the games they praise so much .

[ChurchOfSolipsism]

I come back to Gunbird 2 and Dragon Blaze on a regular basis. They're good games, but not as refined as Cave's games by a long shot. Problem for me is the difficulty gets really insane quite suddenly, there's almost no transition, and they're basically memorizers (it's impossible to get past most of the later bosses bullet spreads by just reacting quickly), which doesn't necessarily mix that well with bullet hell. Also, the hitboxes are very difficult to guess.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I come back to Gunbird 2 and Dragon Blaze on a regular basis. They're good games, but not as refined as Cave's games by a long shot. Problem for me is the difficulty gets really insane quite suddenly, there's almost no transition, and they're basically memorizers (it's impossible to get past most of the later bosses bullet spreads by just reacting quickly), which doesn't necessarily mix that well with bullet hell. Also, the hitboxes are very difficult to guess.

Im not an expert in either, but Dragon Blaze seems more refined than Dangun Feveron to me, and I'm crazy about Dangun Feveron. Neither feels like a bullet hell if you ask me. Don't see much similarity between Cave and Psikyo games bar those two.

[clp]

I come back to Gunbird 2 and Dragon Blaze on a regular basis. They're good games, but not as refined as Cave's games by a long shot. Problem for me is the difficulty gets really insane quite suddenly, there's almost no transition, and they're basically memorizers (it's impossible to get past most of the later bosses bullet spreads by just reacting quickly), which doesn't necessarily mix that well with bullet hell. Also, the hitboxes are very difficult to guess.

1 how are they not as refined?
2 They have controllable rank .
3 Every shmup ever is a memorizer but aye you cant fluke through with psikyo you have to LEARN it .
4 What makes psikyo hitboxes any harder to judge than esprades or guwange for example?

[yyr]

It's not a "real" shmup, but Gun Spike/Cannon Spike is one of my all-time favorites.

[Pirate1019]

probs just cave fanboy hate and lets face it most of them on here cant score even in the games they praise so much .

Or people just don't like games with a pedigree for really fast bullets.

[Necronopticous]

No love for Strikers '99?

[Dragoforce]

Psikyo games always scare the crap out of me for some reason. I think it got something to do with the bullets. There are tons of them and unlike most manic shmups the majority of the are aimed at the player. My respect for Psikyo is so well rooted that I consider my 1-loop clear of Strikers 1945 during STGT to be one of my greatest shmup achievements.

A little OT, but does anyone know the connection between Video System and Psikyo. I've read that some people that worked on the Sonic wings series later started to work at Psikyo, does anyone know anything more?

[Square King]

The hitbox in Psikyo games always seems huge to me...probably because I haven't spent much time on Psikyo titles. I probably play Strikers III/1999 and Dragon Blaze the most, but I'm usually stuck on Toaplan/Cave/Raizing when I do mame.

[DAY]

Yeah, I also have a love/hate relationship with Psikyo shmups. Really love Dragon blaze, but I get the feeling some of them look and feel very much similar. Like Sengoku aces and gunbird.

[Obiwanshinobi]

The hitbox in Psikyo games always seems huge to me...

This is exactly what kept me playing Sengoku Ace for hours after the game lured me with its loveable presentation. The old-fashioned, large hitbox felt just right and fair.
Also, I like how Psikyo games usually don't have this "we're gonna screw you" intimidating phase preceding each major attack in bullet hells; they just throw it at you without fucking about.
In fact, I feel like giving it a go right now, when I really should be doing something else...

[azinth]

Gunbird 2, S1999, and Dragon Blaze are all awesome, in fact Gunbird 2 is probably what really got me into arcade shmups in the first place. I like the scoring systems they began implementing from Gunbird 2 onward(coin chaining, technical bonuses, etc.). Even if they were still really simplistic, I think they added a lot to the games.

The large hitboxes in Psikyo games never really bothered me that much really. Their patterns don't require you to do extremely tight dodging all that often, at least not if you're approaching them the right way.

[Rob]

Didn't you already make this thread?

lol @ Dragon Blaze being "kinda good".

lol @ HUGE Psikyo hitboxes.

Back to the Death Smiles II pre-order thread pronto.

[Dale]

My only real complaint against Psikyo is how the panic bombs don't protect you. You could argue that Cyvern Wings out Psikyo'd, Psikyo in that regard. Dangun Feveron(my favorite Cave shmup oddly enough) also fared much better in this area. Psikyo almost got panic bomb's right in Dragon Blaze.

[Rob]

My only real complaint against Psikyo is how the panic bombs don't protect you.

Some do and some don't (and are more powerful).

[The Eidolon]

My only real complaint against Psikyo is how the panic bombs don't protect you.

Some do and some don't (and are more powerful).

Yeah, but the ones with the bombs that help me to survive always seem to have
my least favorite shot pattern or secondary weapon. I wish they would let
you pick a bomb type separate from the shot type...

Anyway, I love Psikyo games. They seemed impossible to me at first, but it's
a glorious feeling when one finds out that some of those crazy/fast shot
patterns are in fact survivable.

[FIL]

Haters gonna hate.

[clp]

My respect for Psikyo is so well rooted that I consider my 1-loop clear of Strikers 1945 during STGT to be one of my greatest shmup achievements.

And so you should be pleased strikers 1945 1 is the only strikers i cant clear the first loop on its easily the most difficult i find .

[evil_ash_xero]

Didn't you already make this thread?

lol @ Dragon Blaze being "kinda good".

lol @ HUGE Psikyo hitboxes.

Back to the Death Smiles II pre-order thread pronto.

I challenge you to a sword fight.

[third_strike]

they're basically memorizers

How is possible play any shmups without memorization??
Cool!

[professor ganson]

As much as I like a number of Cave games, I personally don't find them near as addictive as Psikyo games. Each year I find myself spending significant time on at least one Psikyo game. The only Cave game that has a similar addictive quality for me is Ibara, though I haven't played Pork or Pink.

[Dale]

they're basically memorizers

How is possible play any shmups without memorization??
Cool!

Some games can be more or less of a memorizer. I wouldn't say Psikyo games are pure memorizers though in comparison to older console hori's. They are somewhat forgiving on the actions of your first play through. Older arcade games might be even less of memorizers as with skill you can have a very good first run like I had in Vulgus and a few 86 and back games I've played. You can play a lot of newer Cave games and have great success on your first run if you've practice that style of shmup and have a good amount of general skill, I notice with a lot of the better general players on here. Having a really forgiving hit box also helps you get it out of spots where you'd be dead in Raiden.

Practice and memorizing all are very helpful especially on harder games but that's not all that goes into most shmups. For example I've left a shmup for awhile and gotten better, for example this one time after playing a shit ton of non-Danmuku shmups I was able to make it to stage 6 in GB2 without playing it for weeks.

Edit:I'd only been to stg5 prevy.

[captpain]

Even the super-fast Psikyo late patterns are not totally memorizers because they are almost always pretty intuitive as to what you need to be doing with the joystick.

[wiNteR]

No love for Strikers '99?

Well it's surely a game that I plan to play some time in future. I like to give games a few credits and see what aspects I like or dislike. In my personal ranking it would be in top three psikyo games. For me, these are the pros(+), cons(-) and neutral points(+/-) for the game.

+ Beautiful graphics. First I really disliked some of the plastic models. But once I got past that and looked at some of the background and the well designed enemy models, they just look very well done.

+ Awesome psikyo stage-6 as one would expect. Gotta love how the satellite boss enters the screen. Small things like this add personality to a game.

+ It is a good addition how you can completely control your charged shot. And this control is more important than the previous game because of lack of pop-corn enemies in this game. A lot of enemies seem to take some hits before going down. I miss the super shot though.

+/- Lacks the slower net patterns of previous game. I do not consider this necessarily as a negative though

- Last two stages seem to be rushed. It really is a shame that quality goes down drastically in last two stages.

- Medal Chain reward seems to be minimal? I mean only 200 extra points for a 2000 medal? This mean for a medal chain of 10 you earn score for only one extra medal?

- The ship balance seems off. The secret ship seems way powerful than the rest. The balance seems to be best in Strikers Plus. It is still sort of a speculation though.

- The secret ship can't do finer movements. It leads to unintended deaths sometimes.

[third_strike]

After memorize you get the power of presage the future (this is one nice and very useful power, at least for me).
Cool!