Compulsive restarting

[Drum]

This is why all shmups need regenerating health bars.

[Aquas]

Just had a frustrating restart syndrome session with Futari 1.5 original mode in score attack. If I make it to stage 3, I'll accept the death. Two deaths in a row? Hell no. In the end I could only do one successful run for that session. Probably 6 restarts in total. Anger and restlessness breeds failure.

[null1024]

My restart habits vary loads between games:

Mars Matrix: Restart if I've died twice and don't have level 3 weapons. This one is pretty loose,
DP: [almost] Never restart.
DDP: Restart if I die before stage 2. 96% of the time.
Dangun Feveron: Never restart. If I restarted, I'd never see the second level :PPP
R-Type [and the like]: Never restart, that's too much work, you're asking me to go even farther back?!
DOJ: Never restart. Ever. See above.
ESPRa.De: Restart unless I've gotten fairly far.
Every Touhou game ever: Restart if died like an idiot before 2nd level. Luckily, Touhou gives you loads of lives, so I generally don't restart too much. Except in 12.8, because it is hard as balls [to me at least ;_;]. It's like StB/DS, but in actual stage form. I mean, FUCK. Constant restarts then.

Note that if I die within ~20 seconds of starting up, I'll restart.

[CptRansom]

Mars Matrix: Restart if I die before stage 3; restart if I finish stage 1 with fewer than ~3.2 billion points.
DDP: Restart if I die before stage 3 boss.
Raiden IV: Restart if I die before stage 3.
Futari: Restart if I die before stage 3.
Deathsmiles/MBL: Restart if I die in the first four stages or so (level 3).
DOJ: Never restart (because I'd never get past stage 1 otherwise).
RFJ: Restart if I don't get gold medals by end of stage 1.
Hellsinker: Never restart.
Gradius Gaiden: Restart if I die before stage 4.
Raiden DX: Restart if I die in stage 1.

These are the only games I've put more than 5-10 credits into in the last few months. Writing this out helped me realize that stage 3 is pretty much the bane of my existence in EVERY GAME EVER. Interesting. I should probably knock that shit off.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

It might be worth just playing the credit out (or continue play half the time and restart the other) if your constantly restarting and you dont do much praticing of stages 3 and above, especially if you dont have a pratice mode or save states.

I think mixing it up help you atleast enjoy the game abit more plus can help getting past that mental barrier when it gets frustrating after dieing 10 times in a row.

Also memorisers like gradius and xexex are well worth playing out the credit as getting back to full power is challenging and fun all in itself.

[Icarus]

Chronic restart syndrome is the worst affliction to have if you're looking to improve your shooting game play. Break the habit now, otherwise it'll end up sucking the fun out of the game.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Im playing samidare, its a perfectionist restarters nightmare

[captpain]

If you expect every credit to be your best, you're screwed. Learn something from every single attempt. Don't restart -- instead, figure out how to deal with the situation you've gotten yourself into, and learn how to avoid what you've just done. Instantly restarting negates any potential positive.

[Thjodbjorn]

I think I broke myself of the habit, since it was still pretty new.

Basically, I got pretty good at stage 1, but it doesn't matter too much when I fall apart midway through stage 2.

How many of you use practice mode when available? Stage 3 in Futari kills me pretty consistently. I seem to be addicted to score attack, though.

[Aquas]

How many of you use practice mode when available? Stage 3 in Futari kills me pretty consistently. I seem to be addicted to score attack, though.

Probably 80% of the time specifically with Futari. And very often with other games if a practice mode exists. It's key. Anyway, I still have fun in practice mode. But legit runs are still satisfying in their own right.

[ncp]

Instead of restarting when I make a mistake, I stop firing and see how far I can get firing 0 shots during a stage. It's more fun that way. That said, in DDP my runs are pretty much dead if I die or bomb before the Boss in 1-5

[Matskat]

What a great topic for a thread...

When I first got BIG TIME into Cave shooters, after watching the pro's scoring runs, I'd compulsivelt restart..

Like Espgaluda....if I fucked up scoring the first level, I'd restart.
Dodonpachi - If I broke my chain before the midbodd on level1 I'd restart (which is a bitch on MAME)
Deathsmiles, sometimes I'd restart as far as the third level (in my case Volcano Level 3) if I got hit.

I'm still trying to get better at panic-bombing instead of restarting - I'd almost rather play through my credit and bomb than start over, and over and over.

Playing Ibara is a good way to get over it because in my case I KNOW I'm gonna fuck up and die!

I still suck and can;t 1cc a single game, but whatever - It's a blast. Got my highest Espgaluda score today 15+ million @ end of Stage 3 - then I die 4 times fast HA!

Great thread though - thought I was the only one...

[SkeevyStoner]

I think that is why they made the restart button, just for that reason.

[Danza]

Yeah, I restart pretty compulsively depending on the game.

If I die on the first stage of MushiFutari 1.5 Original (usually because I have played it so many times I just blast through it without concentrating and make stupid mistakes) I restart, or if I mess up the scoring in a stupid way, and sometimes on the second stage (final pattern on the second form of the boss always screws me for some reason). If stupid stuff happens on the third stage I may restart. First stage death on Ketsui or under 600 chips by midboss is a restart too. Uhhhg.

Haha, yeah. Restarting DDP if I don't chain to the midboss on stage 1.. I got so annoyed the other night my pad came close to going through a window. I really have to stop this habit.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Restarting in DDP nearly broke the game for me, I did so much better and had allot more fun when i learned to stop restarting everytime i made a mistake

[Kaiser]

Chronic restart syndrome is the worst affliction to have if you're looking to improve your shooting game play. Break the habit now, otherwise it'll end up sucking the fun out of the game.

Dear Icarus. THIS just doesn't apply to shmups but generally, all arcade games to 1cc! Let me put a major example. I was trying to 1cc Knights of the round for 3 months now. I GOT up to final stage on 1 coin with tons of restarting however. By that point, the game got frustrating/absolutely NOT FUN for me. That was until I started FINISHING my credits and credit-feeding.

Here's a good tip. Credit feed on every run you fail AND USE a credit use ranking system.

1 coin - Game mastered (at least survival wise)
2-3 coins - You're close!
4-5 coins - You're pretty good at it now!
6-?? coins - You need some practice but don't let it make you down because at least you try!

PS. I'm still trying to 1cc said game ^_~. Of course some savestate helps but DON'T use it all the time.

EDIT: You should also restrict your credits, for example if you have 7 credits and finish the game with 5, LIMIT the number to 5 and so on.

[Thjodbjorn]

When I first got BIG TIME into Cave shooters, after watching the pro's scoring runs, I'd compulsivelt restart..

Like Espgaluda....if I fucked up scoring the first level, I'd restart.
Dodonpachi - If I broke my chain before the midbodd on level1 I'd restart (which is a bitch on MAME)
Deathsmiles, sometimes I'd restart as far as the third level (in my case Volcano Level 3) if I got hit.

I'm still trying to get better at panic-bombing instead of restarting - I'd almost rather play through my credit and bomb than start over, and over and over.

Learning to bomb is for some reason very difficult for me! I have become a little better at it, but still...

A friend gave me a few tips... for the replays, he suggested that I really only watch the ones that are as close to me on the boards as possible, as they'll be easier for me to incorporate and understand what I see.

For bombing, I can't remember the exact "lesson", but it involved basically using the first bomb willy-nilly, if a ship/monster even looks at me funny. Then being more reserved with the 2nd and 3rd one.

Here's a good tip. Credit feed on every run you fail AND USE a credit use ranking system.

1 coin - Game mastered (at least survival wise)
2-3 coins - You're close!
4-5 coins - You're pretty good at it now!
6-?? coins - You need some practice but don't let it make you down because at least you try!

PS. I'm still trying to 1cc said game ^_~. Of course some savestate helps but DON'T use it all the time.

EDIT: You should also restrict your credits, for example if you have 7 credits and finish the game with 5, LIMIT the number to 5 and so on.

Very nice ideas... I had imposed a 3 credit limit on myself arbitrarily, but the system you gave definitely seems to have some merit.

I am somewhat addicted to score attack modes, but I will have to start doing this, as what happens is as soon as I break past my last difficult spot, I get absolutely MURDERED by unfamiliarity.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Here's a good tip. Credit feed on every run you fail AND USE a credit use ranking system.

1 coin - Game mastered (at least survival wise)
2-3 coins - You're close!
4-5 coins - You're pretty good at it now!
6-?? coins - You need some practice but don't let it make you down because at least you try!

PS. I'm still trying to 1cc said game ^_~. Of course some savestate helps but DON'T use it all the time.

EDIT: You should also restrict your credits, for example if you have 7 credits and finish the game with 5, LIMIT the number to 5 and so on.

You forgot to add this at the end

50+ Coins - youre playing Mars matrix and you totally suck at it

Ive never used so many continues as i did on my first playthrough of MM arcade

[esreveR]

I don't have issues with restarting shmups, but I do have this weird issue with getting to the third, fourth, or fifth stage and then saying, "I'm bored, let's play something else".

Maybe it's just me, but it's one of the reasons why I need savestate support (Other than sprite/model/texture ripping).

[CptRansom]

If you're bored by the third stage, you might need adderall more than save-state practice.

My problem with credit-feeding is that after I hit continue for the first time, I tend to completely stop caring/trying, so it's not like I'm learning anything anyways.

[esreveR]

If you're bored by the third stage, you might need adderall more than save-state practice.

Already take it. By prescription, of course.

By the way, I use savestates more often to continue games I got bored of two days earlier than for practice. That or I just leave the emulator paused for two days using hibernate states. But the latter can be risky.

[flux]

I get restart syndrome with most shmups (especially the older Gradius games because you just lost all of your powerups if you died). I've been trying to stop myself from restarting, though. Not only does seeing the loading screens and select your ship screens get monotonous, but I usually end up making more mistakes early on because it feels like I'm trying to hurry through the first couple of stages.
I usually to get this horribly with music games, though. One great or combo break usually meant restarting.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

If you're bored by the third stage, you might need adderall more than save-state practice.

Already take it. By prescription, of course.

By the way, I use savestates more often to continue games I got bored of two days earlier than for practice. That or I just leave the emulator paused for two days using hibernate states. But the latter can be risky.

I have to be carefull with my save state praticing as drilling a stage over and over again (same as replay stage 1 with restartitis) can suck all the fun out of a shmup. Atm for MAME stgs instead of just drilling one stage (unless theres one section i need to get right) ill just use save states to skip the earlly stages that im already familiar with and play on from there. I find pratice to be allot more enjoyable this way cos i want to have fun while im playing and not been too much of a obsessive who only playing to win.

[Shuurin]

I think the STGT'10 has caused me to restart far more often than before. As I need to get a good start to score anything on that list of games. Before I use to only restart if I died on the first stage of any game, or in DOJ as I was trying to practice chaining the first stage almost exclusively for a bit. I'm over trying to perfect chain DOJ, but I haven't come to hate the game at all.

[kernow]

Quite often when I die on the first stage it gets you over that tension knowing its going to happen anyway, you can then enjoy the rest of your credit knowing you've already died or whatever. I find on Ibara sometimes I do better after I've died early on, mainly due to lowering rank etc and all that. Some good advice in this thread though, constant restarting does indeed suck the fun out of a game.

[Dave_K.]

I have to be carefull with my save state praticing as drilling a stage over and over again (same as replay stage 1 with restartitis) can suck all the fun out of a shmup.

I agree, compulsive restarting with save states is just as bad, and actually desensitizes you to bombing in tight spaces, leading to even more "stupid deaths" and fun being sucked out of the game. More justification that playing through each credit, and even credit feeding to get to later stages is the best kind of practice, and what is commonly done in Japanese arcades.

[njiska]

Oh man did I do this like crazy with RF2. Just didn't seem worth continuing if i couldn't at least unlock the 100k medal mode on the first stage.

[Danbo]

i dont really have the time or focus these days to shmup for hours trying to get in the right frame of mind so i just have a coffee, sit down, play one credit no matter what, and see it through. i especially like games with long stage transition screens and lots of stars because it means i can drink more coffee, i hope this helps

[Shuurin]

I especially like games with long stage transition screens and lots of stars because it means i can drink more coffee.

You and me both .