Compulsive restarting

[Thjodbjorn]

I tried to search for a topic on this, so I apologize if I'm beating a dead horse.

Anyways, this week I started being able to beat stage 1 of Mushi Futari (1.5 original) without bombing or losing a life.

Since that, I find that if I die during that first stage, I feel the need to restart. It reminds me of my old F-Zero on the SNES days after goofing up a turn.

I'm trying to train myself to use a bomb more effectively when I think I am about to get hit. But from what I've read about the scoring, it sounds like I'd be better off dying once than bombing once?

Also, is this restart compulsion more of a beginner thing that I will hopefully get over as I get better at this type of game?

[lgb]

if you know how to work a stage almost perfectly and you die or bomb somewhere you shouldn't, restart

[Acid King]

I think everyone gets restart fever at one time or another, especially when playing for score and you're trying to get a perfect run. I'd say resist the urge to restart until you're more comfortable with the game. If you're only just able to beat the first level without bombing or dying, you're better off not restarting otherwise it's going to take longer to learn the second stage.

[clp]

It kinda depends on the game but yeh i think most ppl restart if they mess up to early on , i tend to develop a point in my mind in a game where i says if i loose a life before that point il restart .It is good to carry on though and see how far you get ive had runs before xiistag is a good example lost all lives by stage 3 went on to 1 cc the game ! its just how it goes somtimes.

[Thjodbjorn]

If you're only just able to beat the first level without bombing or dying, you're better off not restarting otherwise it's going to take longer to learn the second stage.

That's a very good point, and one I'll have to keep in mind.

[Aliquantic]

I'm very guilty of restarting too (occasionally going as far as restarting on stage 3) whenever I just screw up, so I can definitely relate I've been playing for some months now and it seems to be getting worse too as I'm more confident in my skills, so I'm more annoyed when I have a stupid death very early on...

It helps a bit to think you're in a real arcade, and most of the time you just wouldn't walk away without finishing your credit just after one death! That, or play a game like Battle Garegga, where dying isn't such a bad thing at all

[Acid King]

The other thing to consider is that dying on the first stage of Futari really isn't going to hurt your score that much. The penalty for dying is a loss of 1/3 of your overall counter, which in the first stage is at most a loss of 2000. The impact that will have on your score is relatively minor compared to dying later in the game where you might lose 10,000 to 30,000.

[Kollision]

In general, fucking up in any Cave 1st stage is reason for a restart.

Seriously though, it depends on the game. Some of them just discourage doing it.
Take Xexex on MAME, for example. Restarting is really annoying, you have to wait a lot to start a new credit.

Mars Matrix on the other hand... I remember it was a restart fest if I couldn't get a certain EXP level by the 1st boss (maybe 180 mil? can't remember exactly)... Hahaha
Good thing is that the DC version is just perfect. No loading times anywhere, instant restart available!

[PsychoGun]

Don't ever restart if you only die once, unless you're top score needs perfection to beat.

I remember the first Futari 1CC I ever got I had no lives left at the start of the 4th stage and it was looking grim, and then I hit the extra life on the last stage and it was all good.

[Skykid]

Dying lowers rank. You should take advantage of that.

[Dave_K.]

If I die early on in the game, I consider the rest of the game a practice challenge (how far can I get with only x lives remaining). Its a waste of time to continue restarting stage 1, rather you should just be practicing the other levels first before going for a full scoring or 1CC run.

I think one of the biggest challenges of getting better at shmups is not loosing your ability to bomb in tight situations. At first its a fear/instinct thing because you don't know the patterns, but later on you have so much confidence, you don't even consider bombing since you loose points, and this is where messing up really gets aggravating and not fun (typically leading to restarts).

[apple arcade]

If I die in the first stage of death smiles (for me, forsest lvl 3) then I'll restart.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Compulsive restarting isn't fun if you ask me, therefore it's not what I play games for. Also, in some shmups recovering after losing a life is among the most exciting moments. Last but not least, the ultimate goal of playing arcade games is to get the most out of each credit.

[ookitarepanda]

I've definitely been guilty of this, trying to get the correct moves and getting the exact right points, whether it be powering up or collecting bees... It sucks a lot on DFK, where you auto-bomb when you're hit; when you try to kill yourself rather than restart the entire pcb, it takes quite a while with all of those autobombs.

[emphatic]

I try only using restart when I die on the first stage. So what if I only have 15 million on stage 1 of Ketsui, it's an OK average. Unless I'm really working on scoring tactics that is. I remember playing ESPGALUDA's first stage over and over (PS2 port in the cabinet) until I finally broke 3 million pts.

[njiska]

If you're only just able to beat the first level without bombing or dying, you're better off not restarting otherwise it's going to take longer to learn the second stage.

That's a very good point, and one I'll have to keep in mind.

I'm pretty much the same. I pretty consistently restart if i die on Stage 1, but only because i know it like the back of my hand and it's Stage 3, not two that I need to practice. Plus I'd like to keep rank on the later stages as high as possible because that's where it should be in my scoring runs.

[chempop]

It really depends on what my goal is wih the individual game, but I used to think that I'd only be able to 1CC Futari if I no missed up until stage 5, but my first all clear was chalk full of stupid deaths (stage 3, I hate you) and on the brink of restarting early on.

If you are practicing a game it can be useful, just like level select in training mode, but getting completely addicted to restarting is probably more harmful than helpful in the long run.

[ROBOTRON]

When I'm playing for score on SHATTER for PS3 unless you start of well you'll never get to top spots.

I am proud tom say I'm 7th overall on SHATTER for PS3:

http://www.shattergame.com/

Go to top of page click leader boards and I'm in the top 10 (ROBOTRON44) 7th overall in the world.

moo.

[StoofooEsq]

Oftentimes, I would restart only if I make a stupid mistake and die on Stage 1. But it's a habit that can be detrimental to any sort of run (survival/learning/scoring), something I realized when I once restarted in a DDP run due to having my first death in Stage 4. I'm mostly of that habit now, restarting only for testing out different scoring techniques for individual stages or control tests.

I think one of the biggest challenges of getting better at shmups is not loosing your ability to bomb in tight situations. At first its a fear/instinct thing because you don't know the patterns, but later on you have so much confidence, you don't even consider bombing since you loose points, and this is where messing up really gets aggravating and not fun (typically leading to restarts).

Yeah, that's the next habit I need to get rid of: Anti-Bomb Pride. This is made worse in games like DoDonPachi (and Progear, sort of) where there's a "MAXIMUM" multiplier for grabbing a Bomb icon with a full stock of Bombs, which is lost when using one or dying. It's even more trivial than compulsive restarting, since the only penalty (in this case) would be losing the multiplier.

[JohnnyK98]

Oh boy, I'm glad you made this topic. This makes me feel much better! After restarting so many times though you just lose patience and get mad and end up dying in the easiest of parts.

I can pass the first stage of Mushihimesama Futari with out a hitch, but the second stage is tricky! Especially with those little jellyfish. They really MESS me up. I've been training SO much too... I can get lucky and not die in the level but I'd have to use my bombs. I've tried looking at the leaderboards for some hints & tips but I can't seem to access them...

[toaplan_shmupfan]

I've done that with a couple of games (restarting when I messed up early) and what solved it for me was just playing on no matter how early I lost the first turn. If that meant that time I did not progress as far on a single credit as I did before, so what, I'd play as far as I could on a single credit. If that meant I would 2cc or 3cc a game I could previously 1cc if I wanted to play on, so what, that gaming session just became a 2cc or 3cc gaming session.

[Subterranean Sun]

That depends on which game you are playing. For example: when I'm playing DDP, I will restart whenever I died in the first 3 stages; but if I'm playing futari ultra... Well, I will never make it to stage 2 if I restart when I die in stage 1.
Also, there are some shmups which death will totally screw up your score (FUCK YOU, CRIMZON CLOVER!). If you are playing one of them, then compulsive restarting is okay.

[Thjodbjorn]

Last night I didn't die or use a bomb on Futari (only had time to play one game), and I narrowly missed my high-score by completely borking early in stage 3. I think that kind of drives home the need to learn stage 2 and 3 better.

EDIT: On stage one, I didn't bomb/die, I meant.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

I think it depends on the game and how good u r at playing it. For me if i was new to the game restarting isnt worth it since i can still make use of my remaining lives by praticing or testing out strategies. If on the other hand i was very familiar with the game having praticed lots previously and was close to a 1CC or highscore which an early death greatly reduces the chances of achieving the goal, I would restart.

If i found myself restarting too much then maybe i should go back to praticing. Pratice doesnt require no restarts at all in my book, only full runs do.

[cools]

I don't restart. I like how with a PCB you're forced to live the last couple of lives and go through the Game Over screen before being able to start again. Games with instant restart allow for perfectionist play, and I couldn't deal with this kind of behaviour on games that are more than a few minutes long.

[fogelmir]

Two Words: Radiant Silvergun

[microcosm]

Hydorah is particularly bad for me in this regard. The first stage is so trivial that I feel compelled to get the Perfect (collecting all 15 power-ups) every time, and will thump the Escape key whenever I miss one.

I certainly don't need the double shot (10 green power-ups) to survive at that point, and the excessive restarting makes me too frustrated to do well in later stages.

[innerpattern]

I start up games and just continually quit and restart, I don't even try to play the game, I just like restarting. I'm a compulsive restarter. somebody help...

[sirmax]

I restart whenever I play for score and feel that I could've done way better, but I do this only as long as I'm in one of the first two or three stages. When I'm playing for fun, I don't restart.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

If you have a serious shmup session going on and that certain bullet hits your hitbox right on the nose, is it time to restart or just continue playing with your remaining lives? If you decide to continue, then it becomes a casual shmup session indeed.

Even the best shmup masters will encounter the situation of "diminshing returns" when it comes to 1CC or 1Life CC such a shmup title. Then it's back to square one with a fresh new shmup session to try again. This is where it can become quite tedious/punishing. This type of "dimishing returns" situation applies to all genres besides the shmup genre indeed.

On my Klax PCB 1CC session back in 1994 at a local arcade which lasted for over two & a half hours of solid gameplaying (with absolutely no breaks or pauses in between), I have to admit that I came pretty close to not completing said Klax Wave 100 by just mere milliseconds of being faster than the CPU (especially on my very last tile drop as registered by four out of five drops lit up on the drop meter). Of course, the goal was to score a minimum of 250,000 points on Wave 100 -- any extra points above that required goal is just free bonus points for the taking. Talk about ratcheting up the insanity factor, especially if playing on a Fast Tile Wave session. It's all about split-timing decisions and going with the tile flow that the CPU spits out. Believe it or not, no two Klax games are the same due to the randomness of the CPU tile generator -- that's a given. Playing with a dedicated 4-way digital joystick setup really forces you to learn how to play Klax properly compared to playing it with an 8-way digital joystick setup -- it's possible to screw up big time if playing Klax PCB with an 8-way joystick setup indeed.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~