Worst ways to die

[mesh control]

The "I thought my barrier was charged" death.
As seen in: Takumi games
With your barrier almost charged, you dash into a barrage of bullets expecting your barrier to be charged by the time you get there. Only to find out, you were a bit too early and your barrier did not deploy.



and whatever the fuck this is.

[RNGmaster]

Game overing after the final boss is pretty harsh. In my experience, though, there's nothing worse than dying before a scoring section in Crimzon Clover, and dying while trying to get the extra life in ESP Ra.De comes pretty close.

[Jeneki]

The spinning flamethrower section towards the end of Exzeal. I remember having a few rage-quits there, lol.

[Zengeku3]

The "But I DID hit bomb!" death.

This very much.

Also.

The "WTF, consistent frame rate will you?" death.
As seen in Mushihimesama Futari.
You are dodging some bullets. There is a lot of them which causes slowdown. A good way into the attack the game suddenly speed up and both you and the bullets gets a lot faster killing you by surprise.

The very same game is also good at the "slow, but inevitable death" - just not very slow. Where you see some bullets slowed due to slowdown and you think you can make the gap but you forget that the slowdown also affects your own movement.

The "Running into a lone bullet" death
As seen in; Many shmups really.
The death where you are pressured by something and really have to get out of the way of something big only to crash into a bullet.

And now for the worst of the very worst;

The "wtf meh stupid clipping patterns" death.
As seen in: Touhou primarily - its a very often tool for difficulty in them.
The death where you die with bombs in stock to an attack that isn't hard to read in the slightest but has very small gaps. You will not die because you failed to follow what was going on but because you accidentally tapped the movement keys a bit too hard.

[ED-057]

Dying while trying to avoid an unwanted weapon/powerup

Or how about this one: playing a Raiden Fighters game, and amongst everything that is happening on the screen I mistake one of the slaves that was flying around randomly of its own will for my ship

[emphatic]

Or how about this one: playing a Raiden Fighters game, and amongst everything that is happening on the screen I mistake one of the slaves that was flying around randomly of its own will for my ship

This is why I never play RF games.

[Nick420]

For me its when you've weaved through a particularly tough pattern but as you are almost free form it the last bullet row is off-scew to the rest and it nails you before you can react grrr. lol

An example of what i mean would be the first pattern of the stage 2 boss in futari 1.5 maniac. Although thats a tame example because the bullets are moving so slow. Strikers series is a bitch for it tho.

[Battletoad]

The "I thought my barrier was charged" death.
As seen in: Takumi games
With your barrier almost charged, you dash into a barrage of bullets expecting your barrier to be charged by the time you get there. Only to find out, you were a bit too early and your barrier did not deploy.

This pretty much. Happened to me way too often. Recharging only takes a few seconds, but these can easily feel like an eternity making you believe the barrier should be ready again. I do have the problem mainly in Mars Matrix though where the "charged" sound is rather inconspicuous.

Also getting an extraordinary good run, dodging greatly and a bit lucky through the patterns and then get hit by a single bullet. This was at least my personal dumbest mistake ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbQ7lBPP7ms

And every death in a checkpoint based shooter where you lose all powerups.

As Kollision mentioned Xexex... I remember the bullets from outside the screen, too. Horrible way to die.

[nZero]

Getting pushed into some bullets while trying to stay out of a section of screen to avoid a particularly disadvantageous powerup or item pickup. I came here to dodge bullets not items! (Still I lie, I actually came to BLOW STUFF UP)

[LeeVanCleef]

When I "zone out" while dodging bullet patterns only to move forward directly into a bullet that I can clearly see. It sounds silly but it seems to happen to me often. It's like I have a death wish.

[ShmupSamurai]

The "I thought my barrier was charged" death.
As seen in: Takumi games
With your barrier almost charged, you dash into a barrage of bullets expecting your barrier to be charged by the time you get there. Only to find out, you were a bit too early and your barrier did not deploy.

Oh man, I do the EXACT same thing in Gigawing....so irritating! It's even worse when I KNOW it's fully charged and press the reflect button, only to have a 2.5 second delay which kills me.

[ChairTax]

Getting pushed into some bullets while trying to stay out of a section of screen to avoid a particularly disadvantageous powerup or item pickup. I came here to dodge bullets not items! (Still I lie, I actually came to BLOW STUFF UP)

I completely agree with this. There's nothing like playing Pink Sweets, trying to avoid that forth weapon power-up and bullets at the same time and dying because the power-up effectively blocked you in. Usually, I'm so in tune with keeping track of my power-ups that I forget that dying is worse than getting the wrong power-up.

[ebarrett]

Honorable mention: failing to suicide in Bakraid.

[RNGmaster]

The "I thought my barrier was charged" death.
As seen in: Takumi games
With your barrier almost charged, you dash into a barrage of bullets expecting your barrier to be charged by the time you get there. Only to find out, you were a bit too early and your barrier did not deploy.

I never had this problem until you mentioned it, but now it's happening all the time. Damn you.

[8 1/2]

Honorable mention: failing to suicide in Bakraid.

Yes, brilliant! I like it all the more since it's a slow death that starts with bravado, "Man, I am SO good at this game," and ends in a whimper.

I'm guilty of this in Garegga most of all. I can make it though 85% of the game on one life, keeping rank low, but always get nervous and start foolishly stockpiling lives as the final stages get near.

[8 1/2]

Doh! Tried to click "edit" and hit "quote."

[Aquas]

Or how about this one: playing a Raiden Fighters game, and amongst everything that is happening on the screen I mistake one of the slaves that was flying around randomly of its own will for my ship

This is why I never play RF games.

Don't be a slave to the slave, bro.

And I'd just like to say this topic is pretty good stuff.
Slowdown related deaths probably piss me off the most, damn you mushi games! They're both guilty!
Also the classic gradual dodge from one side of the screen to the next, only that by the time you get to the other side, you've became trapped by bullets and there's no way out. BOMB!

[BLU]

The "WTF, consistent frame rate will you?" death.
As seen in Mushihimesama Futari.
You are dodging some bullets. There is a lot of them which causes slowdown. A good way into the attack the game suddenly speed up and both you and the bullets gets a lot faster killing you by surprise.

I hate this SO much.

[Deca]

The "I thought my barrier was charged" death.
As seen in: Takumi games
With your barrier almost charged, you dash into a barrage of bullets expecting your barrier to be charged by the time you get there. Only to find out, you were a bit too early and your barrier did not deploy.

This is always a bad one.

Dying with my finger firmly slammed onto the bomb button is always bad.

I...feel like I forgot the main one I was going to post as I was writing this.

Raizing:

Diving to pick up a max-value medal, you crash into something and die. The medal drops, ending your chain; the explosion from your death causes an extend to appear, which you miss because your ship has yet to fully respawn.

That's some Final Destination shit.

[Frederik]

Raizing:

Diving to pick up a max-value medal, you crash into something and die. The medal drops, ending your chain; the explosion from your death causes an extend to appear, which you miss because your ship has yet to fully respawn.

Well put

On the other hand, I vaguely remember that you can die on your last life in Garegga, but your death explosion triggers an extend, and since unlike in Batrider and Bakraid extends in Garegga don´t need to be picked up you actually get the life and can keep playing.

That would be my best way to die.

[Phoenix]

When you got beamed up in Galaga when its your last ship.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

The "bastard bullet" has to be the one that im aflicted with most. Usually in stage 1 where I tend to get really close to the baddies.

The most annoying imo is the "die because im too busy watching the score or chain counter". Having all that info where your ship is, is one of the main reasons I enjoyed Samidare so much. It would be great if Cave did this or even better have a part of your ship or the bullets coming from your ship change colour when you fuck your chain up. Info like chain / shield because its so fluid can be as much as hinderence as help at times

Ive just died this way today while playing crimson clover original. I had 980k (last life) when I started fighting the stage 5 boss, and because its quite tight for giving out points I was too busy watching the score counter, died at 995 grrr

Another bad way to die is in Gradius NES when you destroy the 2nd to last stage boss and you crash into the scenary while the screen is fading out EDIT can anyone think of similar deaths in other shmups?

[RNGmaster]

The "bastard bullet" has to be the one that im aflicted with most. Usually in stage 1 where I tend to get really close to the baddies.

The most annoying imo is the "die because im too busy watching the score or chain counter". Having all that info where your ship is, is one of the main reasons I enjoyed Samidare so much. It would be great if Cave did this or even better have a part of your ship or the bullets coming from your ship change colour when you fuck your chain up. Info like chain / shield because its so fluid can be as much as hinderence as help at times

Ive just died this way today while playing crimson clover original. I had 980k (last life) when I started fighting the stage 5 boss, and because its quite tight for giving out points I was too busy watching the score counter, died at 995 grrr

Another bad way to die is in Gradius NES when you destroy the 2nd to last stage boss and you crash into the scenary while the screen is fading out

Wait, you do mean 980 oku, right? 980,000 is WAY too low.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Wait, you do mean 980 oku, right? 980,000 is WAY too low

yep oku my bad

[Demetori]

I often know that I should move my ship, my brain said move but my fingers don't and I lose a life.

[captpain]

Raizing:

Diving to pick up a max-value medal, you crash into something and die. The medal drops, ending your chain; the explosion from your death causes an extend to appear, which you miss because your ship has yet to fully respawn.

Well put

On the other hand, I vaguely remember that you can die on your last life in Garegga, but your death explosion triggers an extend, and since unlike in Batrider and Bakraid extends in Garegga don´t need to be picked up you actually get the life and can keep playing.

That would be my best way to die.

You're right, and in fact that is sometimes exploited by superplayers to extend on the flamingo trick (or, I'm sure, in other places).

[Deca]

:I