The Self-Introduction Thread

[whoozwah]

hello all.

I normally lurk but do post very occasionally. I have never introduced myself before now though. I am whoozwah and I will play pretty much anything as long as it has the capacity to silence my mind. That's my favorite part about really intense shmups. Everything in the world kinda goes away including your thoughts and the only thing that concerns you are the neon colored bullets.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Hello.

Serial lurker for a while, having found this place reading up on "post mortem" Dreamcast shmups. I didn't know it was still going, then I ran into an interesting "discussion" about something called DUX.

I prefer the style of shmups I grew up playing, like Flying Shark and Raiden, rather than more modern bullet hell ones. I like the idea of not being an exceptional player around here, having spent my life as the only person I know who's any good at shmups!

[K.B.]

bleh.

[rocketassistedkea]

Hi;0) Well...I'm an artist, who loves shmups....and have only just joined this site.

I wasn't going to introduce myself, as I see the person before me has admitted to being a troll... and I didn't want to hurt his feelings.
But you know what? I've seen sooo many people on here being rude [a couple to me, many to others], that I've decided to introduce myself...and have a rant about what pisses me off....on here; as I didn't want to clog up anyone's thread, and start a flame-war.
Anyways, there are two things that irk me, these being;

1) Trolls. Why do they do it? I mean, trolling is like putting a big sticker on your forehead that says; "I am a total dork, probably hideous, with unbelievably poor social skills...who just likes to spread bad-karma, as I have no-life; and the world pisses me off".
From the 'karma' standpoint there are three types of people in the world, these being;

a) karma generators, people who create good-karma. If it wasn't being diminished all the time by type 'c'; karma in the world, might actually increase. People like this are gold...but also hate confrontation; and are very easy to scare off. You know the type. Always helping others. If you upset them...they'll just quietly dissappear....leaving only type 'b' and 'c'.

b)People like myself, who just try not to lower the world's karma...simply be being nice and polite;0) Untill given reasonable cause not to be.

c) Trolls/people who deliberately spread bad-karma. Dorks. Probably never touched by a girl. Smell like feet.

2) The second thing, which I've noticed a bit of on here, can be summed up thus. I used to hang with a herd of hippies for ten years...who were so repulsed by war...they knew NOTHING about it-far less even than your average uninterested person. BUT...that didn't stop them for reserving their STRONGEST MOST FERAL opinions about the matter they were most ignorant about. Self-rightous...they had no respect for anyone, but themselves. Certainly, they had no respect for things like 'knowledge' or 'university'. Others quickly realised the hypocrisy too...and that group's long since dissolved. You don't see too many 30 or 40 yr old hippies.
Now, with that metaphor in mind, most people would offer an opinion on i.e; medical science...but wouldn't defend it as being equal to the opinion of a doctor. They would be moderate, polite, and flexible. The funni thing about art...is everyone has an opinion about it. Now I love hearing people's opinions...so long as they're not fanatical. But then there are the FOOLS, who have no background/training; yet think their opinions are somehow sacred. They're not. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone SHOULD have an opinion. Not everyone's is worth listening to. Considering these people are ignorant, self-rightous and fanatical..."art is all about not giving a fuck, yeea"; they could be considered just another form of 'troll'. I think the two are related. Disrespectful. Ignorant. Self rightous. Losers.

Anyways. If all that sounds a bit aggressive, forgive me. We've just had a big earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand today, 146 dead, at least 50 still trapped in crushed buildings. Everyone's going to know someone who died. Our beautiful city's a bit of a mess. I'm simply not in a mood to take prisoners, is all.

Anyways. I've said my piece; hopefully that's the only time I'll ever feel the need to say anything like that;0) If someone pisses me off hugely; I can just direct them here;0) Everyone's thread thus remains safe.
I love shmups, as does everyone else on here. People get pretty passionate, and not everyone's going to agree. But you know what? I'm a member of another nerdy pastime; building scale model ships...and the people there, on sites like: 'modelwarships.com', without exception are ALWAYS friendly/polite, and respectful. I'd like to see this site become/remain something like that;0)

I hope to have nice, reasoned debates with some of you soon;0)

P.S; the Kea's a type of Alpine parrot, native to NZ.

[stryc9]

Mate welcome to the forums and I pray your loved ones remain safe during the quake activity.

[rocketassistedkea]

Thanks. Sheesh...what a rant; sorry about that! Just kind of snapped, ya know.
Everyone I know's o.k...but only 8 of 145 [+50] names have been released. We had an even bigger quake in Sep '10 [50 kms out], which weakened everything...but no fatalities; as it happened at 4am. This was lunchtime, with people at work. It was also shallow-making the concussive effect stronger [like one of those magnetic torpedos, that explode deep under the keel-breaking the back of a cruiser in one go...youtube; 'destroyer torpedo', to see what I'm on about [and a bit of shipwreck porn].
The 6.5 'aftershock' [actually the strongest recorded ground-shaking in NZ] was a direct hit on our harbour-under the Port Hills, which, the theory goes-being rock; focussed the concussive force [already amplified]; into the CBD, A third of which will have to go. A shame, as it's full of old, historic buildings. We'll rebuild...but it'll never look the same.

Guess I should explain my rant, a bit.
Even if not interested in the slightestl in ships, check out the forum; 'modelwarships.com'-or even; 'steelnavy.com'...you won't find a single example of rudeness.
Why the contrast, between there and here?
I have a theory on that.

Anyone who's read; 'The Great Gatsby', will somewhat remember the first page, where the narrator tells how the world's split into two types of people; careful and careless. Careless people; always leave a trail of debrie behind them [physical, metaphorical and emotional]-which they expect others to clean up, and are only really interested in their own selfish existance.
To build, say, a 1/350 WW2 battleship...takes about 400 hrs, and you won't finish a destroyer in under a hundred...this naturally makes scake shipwrights carefull by nature. 1 mistake [i.e, dropping the built-up hull]; can cost you everything, you know?
A contrasting, somewhat careless sub-culture, in this city at least...are boyracers; who are generally disrespectful, and pump their sound pollution and other shit all over the place. There's been a big crackdown on them lately, due to public anger...they just don't seem to care about anyone but themselves. Their hideous pimped-out rides, they think are 'beautiful' too [and their awlful music]...which goes some way to proving aesthetic taste...has some relation to IQ. There are probably some exceptions, of course...but exceptions don't make the rule.
Anyway.
Shmuppers as a whole, are nowhere near that bad, and are quite a diverse bunch, I'm sure...but the instantly-gratifying nature of the the shmup, the way it offers a potent shot of pure gameplay, injected straight into the forehead, that can be fully enjoyed and appreciated in only 10 minutes....will naturally attract some careless arsewipes.
That's the theory.

Anyway...rant is now officially over, it's out of my system;0) Thanks for please be enjoying it, yesplease, come again soon;0)

Z

[RNGmaster]

Wait, where did you get the idea that we're a rude bunch? You're reading way too far into things, man. We shmuppers don't agree about everything, but despite the sometimes grating nature of your posts I don't think there's a single person here who hates you.

What I'd like is to see you stop with the nice reasoned debates - those generally don't do much in the long run - and start playing some shmups. That's what we're here for, right?
Go play Mars Matrix.
Scratch that, go play Crimzon Clover. Obey Yotsubane, God of Bullets

[chempop]

1) Trolls. Why do they do it?

Most of the trolling used to be friendly and sarcastic for fun and to break-in the newbs. More recently there has been an influx of people who are "know it all's", and they get trolled a bit for being a tad new to the way things work here.

One thing that is not really tolerated is useless topics, so use the search engine and post in the proper threads.

Sorry to hear about the earthquake.

[neon guide]

Seeing as I finally registered, I thought I should post here for the first time.

Lurked here on and off since about 2005, as I have drifted in and out of shmup playing over the years. First shmup experience for me was R-type on the amiga, followed by Empire of Steel and Thunderforce 4 on the mega drive. The saturn has been my console of choice for the longest time, but im just too poor to build up a decent collection.
Im currently playing - Crimzon Clover, Kingdom Grandprix, Soukyugurentai and Shienryu Explosion!

[slk486]

Hi!

As is customary, this is just a quick introduction

Been a novice shmup fan for about 20 years, never really being very good at them or playing very much. Recently though, I find myself more and more interested in the finer pleasures of shmupping and have been reading, watching and playing a lot more.

Currently struggling to get some time on the games I've been collecting for the past 2 years, just trying to get a general feel of the land, and flexing the reflexes - erm.. I mean slowflexes. Still trying to build up a decent collection.

Favorite shmup consoles Genesis/Mega Drive, Saturn and Dreamcast.

[enjirube]

Hi guys,

Just wanted to introduce myself. Enjirube here. Living out in Japan and I have recently fallen into Cave mania. I have been playing DoDonPachi, DoDonpachi Daioujou, DoDonpachi Daifukkatsu 1.5, Guwange recently. 1cc on DDP recently. Working on Guwange XD

Looking at picking up the special Espgaluda 2 package from Amazon Japan soon along with the Ketsui Special pack (expensive even in Japan)

よろしく

エンジルベ

(moved to self-introduction thread, shmupsforumへようこそ /mod)

[xris]

Well allright! Lookit what we have here, a couple new volunteers! Tie up your boots kiddies, 'cause you have some civilizations to invade! Remember always move forward, and use the lock on function to the full extent of the jam. Whether you have been lurking in the corner, or knocked on the front door, it's good that you have introduced yourself, now you can join the party. But, these are turbulent times, your wallet is going to file a restraining order on you. The only thing you can do to prevent it is to look around, take the time to learn what interests you, and what you are looking for in this hobby. There is rumors of a competitive uprising that can be fallowed in the strategy and score sections. If it's general advise and info, try the main chat thread. The commissary is available world wide through the sales section. Off topic can be where all of the general scuttle-but of life goes down. So, study hard, there is allot to learn as you get your feet wet. When you are ready, we'll be waiting in the deep end.

[koleslaw54]

Hey everybody. The name's Cole. I was just dropping in to check out some of the sick hi-scores that everyone's been posting (apparently I suck at shmups). I haven't played any of the more new school shmups, so it'll be good to get some recommendations and see what's been happening in this genre since Ikaruga.

[Anesthetize]

Hey everybody. The name's Cole. I was just dropping in to check out some of the sick hi-scores that everyone's been posting (apparently I suck at shmups). I haven't played any of the more new school shmups, so it'll be good to get some recommendations and see what's been happening in this genre since Ikaruga.

Hey, welcome! I'm right next door to ya in Columbia, SC. Definitely check out Cave's shmups for a taste of 'new school' (bullet hell). Plenty are available on the xbox 360 now. My favorite is Mushihimesama Futari.

And don't worry, I suck too. But it's still fun.

[Drachenherz]

Mr. Anesthetize, please don't tell the people that you suck. Because that makes me suck even harder...

Come on, you allready 1cc'ed Mushihimesama Futari Black Label, got a decent score. And you 1cc'ed the Pork in arrange mode.

If you'd suck, you wouldn't be able to do that, would you?

Ah, and yes, velkom to all ze newcomerz. I'm kinda new myzelf.

Also, let's vote for this thread to become a sticky!!!!

[Kollision]

let's vote for this thread to become a sticky!!!!

+1

I wonder why this hasn't happened yet.

[cmonig]

Hello all,

I just joined today and want to introduce myself.

I know shooters since my C64 and old arcade days, with R-Type being my favorite.
I rather recently discovered those "bullet hell" shooters in an arcade.
The Game was "Progear" by Cave, which is rather old I believe?
Anyhow it captured me and drained my pockets.
What fun to play!

I'm glad there are still companies around that produce them.
I plan now to get a console to play some of the modern ones.

I find this forum quite informative and fun to read.

[tinotormed]

Forgot to tell this before but here it is anyway.

I was a long time fan of shoot 'em ups. I know because I sucked back then. But after beginning to look on how Japanese shooters look like, I start to get my hands on the joystick or keyboard.

I play some shooters on every console but with emulation, but I really do NOT use every crap out of it except making it run on a proper speed and scanlines to make it look like it's own engine.

My first 1cc is Coryoon. I already 1-coined it many times with a score record of 76 million, letting me get to enter my quest for shmup supremacy from recording videos to making some 1cc runs to etc.

Later on, I would also tackle some PC Doujin shmups. I was actually having a hard time at Touhou because I was playing on Easy and I suck at the higher difficulties, until I 1cc-ed Imperishable Night on Normal for the first time! I know, it was a CLOSE CALL!

Oh, and don't forget that I am also a fanatic not just on shmups but also on Doom and Command and Conquer!

[goji]

Hi, let's take the time to introduce myself.

My name's "goji" (real one is "Vincent"), also known on french forums (Neogeofans, Shmup'em all, Gamoover...) as "gojirien" or "goji'".

I like videogames since I'm 7 years old, it started with the amstrad cpc6128. Finally, I could afford to buy a neogeo aes, a very long time dream, in late 2007. That's when it really began. Then I fell in love with arcade games and especially cave's danmakus (my wallet didn't love that at all ).

I'm here to share this passion, it's that simple !

[Alcon]

Hi all,

I've been playing games on and off since the mid 80's, the golden age of arcades + the C64.

Have had most consoles over the years, but wasn't specifically a Shmup player, would try anything but got increasingly bored of games using every button on the pad and an hour to learn the controls. I'm happiest with a joystick and 2/3 buttons. Rez on the PS2 was probably one of the last games I played lots.

About 3 years ago I bought an arcade cab which came with Twin Cobra (which I had never played before), the next few PCBs I bought included Detana Twin Bee, and Flying Shark, (as well as Commando and Mercs), & finally managed to get hold of Slap Fight, a game I've loved since I first played it back in the day. First I got a bootleg Slap Fight, then a few months later an original Alcon.

Vert shooters are the perfect games to play in cabs, and I've been playing Slap Fight / Alcon so much over the past year or so, and can now get to area 255 (run up to last boss on the 3rd loop). I found this forum when looking for highscores and tips.

I'll be taping some run throughs and highscores shortly.

Cheers!

D

[AleFillman1]

Wassssuppp. Just joined today and already getting great responses for my question. The names Ale and I am into Shmups and Fighting Games the most I would say out of all video game genres. Favorite shooter is Contra on the old NES. If you wanna play some games and have a PS3 my name on there is: AleFillman1. Maybe some new Hard Corps: Uprising ? Good to find this place. Cheers everyone.

[Korszca]

Bumping this old thread again.

Been lurking here for a while, finally decided to sign up. Name's Brian, been playing shmups ever since I started gaming. Sadly in the eastern US/NYC area it's been getting harder and harder to find any shmups scene, but always up for anything.

[MrRoguelike]

Morning everyone. I was really into shmups a few years ago, then the fighting game scene in my town started building up and that stole pretty much all of my focus. Recently got a 360 and my brother started pointing out the indie shooters that are available....and I think the addiction is back lol.
Gamewise I'm willing to try just about anything, though true bullet hell still gives me a bit of pause lol. Anyway, that's about all for an intro look forward to getting to know everyone.

[daigle]

Greetings and salutations

I guess this is my re-introduction registered here about a year ago all excited to become a part of these boards and then my entire life pretty much went to shit. Had to dump all my shmup games and import systems to get myself back on track. I can happily say now that Ive put myself back together and am now in a stable life situation and been able to return to the genre I love. All of my old classics are now gone but I at least got another Japanese 360 and ready to rock n roll.

First game I ever played :1942
Favorite game: Espgaluda
1cc'ed games: NONE (but working on it)

[shaolin242]

Hi guys

Im Brendan and im an Australian who lives in Dubai. The Shmup scene here is TINY. ive only just started getting into Cave games (as they are the ones i actually like) - for my X360 i purchased:

- Guwange
- Deathsmiles
- Espgaluda II
- M Futari 1.5
- Muchi Muchi Pork/Pink Sweets

I also recently got a supergun (Pics below) with M Futari 1.5, Ibara, DDP and Espgaluda - ill attach some pics of my supergun setup



my new Supergun Arcade Setup with Cave PCBs



Happ stick and Supergun

[Chef_Raekwon]

Hey guys! I'm adrian aka Raekwon aka Spliff, I most post on Somethingawful forums, if you read the games section and read the retro game thread then you seen me on there. But I'm a big SHMUP fan, I think my SHMUP fandom rivals my Fighting game fandom since their like my 2 favorite genres now with JRPGs and RPGs in general are now a distant third.

Some of my fave SHMUPS at the moment: Anything by CAVE pretty much( Guwange, Death Smiles, DonPanchi, love the Raiden series, ThunderForce series ( recently just got II,III,and IV aka Lightening Force) and many other games! I'd have to say my first ever SHMUP I ever played was Xevious, i dont know if i had it for the Atari 5600 or NES i was really young. But I remember playing Xevious with my dad when i was 3 back in 88/89.

But glad to be on these forums!

[xris]

Oh, my. Quite a few new recruits. Take your seats, we'll make this quick.
After the continuing threat of alien invasion in the 1970's, the world's current batch of fighter pilots weren't strong willed enough to defend the Earth from the onslaught. One look at the enemy, and they fell apart under the pressure of the unknown. Fearing the end was near, a brave scientist working in conjunction with the noble Japanese SDF, decided that it would be possible to desensitize, train, and recruit new pilots all at once using training simulations. The first of these, now known as Space Invaders, went public in an act of desperation.
As the war raged on, the alien technologies grew in strength and complexity. New training methods were needed, but much of that is covered in the documentary, The Last Starfighter.
That brings us to you, the few that are either brave enough, or just plain suicidal enough, to step forward, and say "I'm willing to give it a shot"!
Much of the daily debriefing takes place here, please check in other buildings if you are looking for hardware schematics, and instruction manuals for your simulators. The records of past battles, and the heroes that flew them, can be found in the deceptively named High Score building.
So, train hard, keep you gear in good shape, and remember, some of you may need to suicide to keep rank down!


Really, glad to see allot of people are using this to introduce themselves! Hopefully, you're cool, and we are happy to have you on board!

[Dave_K.]

Welcome shaolin242, nice supergun setup you got there.

[Tanukitsune]

I've been lurking for a few weeks, so I thought it was about time I introduced myself!

I'm a fan of shmups, all arcade-like games actually. I guess my love of shmups began with the Parodius, it was re-awoken when I got a PSP and imported all the shmup collections I knew of and now that the first Cave game has come out in Europe I can safely say I'm still a shmup lover!

I tend to like my shmup with a variety of powerups or ships and I tend to like cute, colorful or just plain strange ones like the previously mentioned Parodius Saga, Cotton, Ordyne, Keio Flying Squadron...

I'm pretty new to the bullet hell genre, before playing Deathsmiles the only bullet hell games I played where in the Gundemonium Collection on PSN. I don't really consider it a bullet hell game unless your hitbox is tiny?

I'm the kind of person who is really that into beating a shmup in one credit, I probably have 1CCed some non-bullet hell games liked the Parodius games, but with my backlog I can't really afford perfection on every game...

Anyway, I recently took the plunge and got a JPN PSN account and have access to a ton of shmups, so I'm hoping I'll be pretty active here! :3

[Wonderbanana]

Oh, my. Quite a few new recruits. Take your seats, we'll make this quick.
After the continuing threat of alien invasion in the 1970's, the world's current batch of fighter pilots weren't strong willed enough to defend the Earth from the onslaught. One look at the enemy, and they fell apart under the pressure of the unknown. Fearing the end was near, a brave scientist working in conjunction with the noble Japanese SDF, decided that it would be possible to desensitize, train, and recruit new pilots all at once using training simulations. The first of these, now known as Space Invaders, went public in an act of desperation.
As the war raged on, the alien technologies grew in strength and complexity. New training methods were needed, but much of that is covered in the documentary, The Last Starfighter.
That brings us to you, the few that are either brave enough, or just plain suicidal enough, to step forward, and say "I'm willing to give it a shot"!
Much of the daily debriefing takes place here, please check in other buildings if you are looking for hardware schematics, and instruction manuals for your simulators. The records of past battles, and the heroes that flew them, can be found in the deceptively named High Score building.
So, train hard, keep you gear in good shape, and remember, some of you may need to suicide to keep rank down!


Really, glad to see allot of people are using this to introduce themselves! Hopefully, you're cool, and we are happy to have you on board!

Awesome post!

A big hello to all the newcomers too