Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[Kollision]

{on Darius Gaiden}
Because, lemme tell you man, without that cheat, the boss fights take about 10x longer and the chance of dying increases at that rate as well.

Why not tap A and C during boss fights?
The effects are nearly the same, and wrist damage is not in the loop because you don't need to do it all the time.

[soupbones]

Mushihimesama - Arcade
Akai Katana & Dirt Showdown - X360
FF Theatre Rythme & Pokemon Conquest- 3DS
Gravity Rush - Vita

I clearly need to focus.

[EmperorIng]

{on Darius Gaiden}
Because, lemme tell you man, without that cheat, the boss fights take about 10x longer and the chance of dying increases at that rate as well.

Why not tap A and C during boss fights?
The effects are nearly the same, and wrist damage is not in the loop because you don't need to do it all the time.

never tried that before. I'll have to see how it goes.


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A bit of Dragon Blaze on MAME.

What is this sorcery? No orange bullets? All this weird dragon shot stuff? For that matter, more than three types of attacks? THREE BUTTONS?
WHAT THE HELL AM I PLAYING THIS ISN'T GUNBIRDO

[RNGmaster]

Little-known fact: If you whisper the words Dragon Blaze 3 times in front of a monitor my face will appear. It's not voluntary - whenever somebody mentions the game I just appear. Strange shit.

Kidding aside I am very glad you decided to load it up in MAME. Dragon Blaze needs to be experienced by every serious shmup player. Check my ST if you need help and don't forget to make corrections/request additions.

[null1024]

Man, every time you people mentioned Dragon Blaze, I accidentially reparsed it as Dragon Breed, hehe... :3

Now playing DoDonPachi [MAME]. I dunno if it's this VGA->Composite box or my nephew moving the screen with his ship, but I am dying a lot more than normal. Probably both. I can usually make it to the middle of Stage 4, but here, I'm dying right before the Stage 3 boss! Gah!

[exquisite_torture]

I've been playing Flying Shark all day on my studio computer. No work today. I love that game.

[EmperorIng]

Little-known fact: If you whisper the words Dragon Blaze 3 times in front of a monitor my face will appear. It's not voluntary - whenever somebody mentions the game I just appear. Strange shit.

Kidding aside I am very glad you decided to load it up in MAME. Dragon Blaze needs to be experienced by every serious shmup player. Check my ST if you need help and don't forget to make corrections/request additions.

I've leafed through it once or twice and it does definitely make the mechanics of the game easier to grasp, which is good, because I haven't played a Psikyo game quite like it. I like using Sonia/Sophia/whatever her name is myself (though Rob's a beast).

And I'm also glad there's no coin-chaining because man that pisses me off in GUNBIRDO 2.

[beatsgo]

I modded my Sega Saturn to Japanese Region, so now I can play Sexy Parodius! What a refreshing game to play.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Tried out Metal Black on my Saturn to check if the Action Replay I just bought works and cor blimey, how fucking LOUD this game is. The sound is something else...

[Esupanitix]

Touhou with a side order of MushihimeSama Futari.

[exquisite_torture]

Such flagrant disregard for forum aesthetics. Also, FUCK TOUHOU

[Esupanitix]

Such flagrant disregard for forum aesthetics. Also, FUCK TOUHOU

That's your opinion and I'm okay with that.

[exquisite_torture]

Just kidding mmmmmate.

[Esupanitix]

Just kidding mate.

I didn't really care either way. I just wanted to get the fact that if someone bashes my opinion, I don't really care. Thank you for pointing out that you were kidding, though.

I'm not trying to sound like a prick, if I do.

[exquisite_torture]

OK awesome.

[null1024]

Galactic Attack [Saturn].

Just got a US Virtua Stick in the mail. It is not exactly wonderful. Made it to Area 4 with it before continuing though. But geez, it feels really stiff and odd.

[Hagane]

Gunbird 2. My opinion of it is quickly deteriorating. Fuck lightning fast static boss patterns.

No wonder Psikyo has such a bad reputation when this and Strikers 1945 II are their most played games.

[Esupanitix]

Phantasmagoria Trues. Scoring. Standard. Fuck.

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

Gunbird 2. My opinion of it is quickly deteriorating. Fuck lightning fast static boss patterns.

No wonder Psikyo has such a bad reputation when this and Strikers 1945 II are their most played games.

Psikyo has a bad reputation? news to me. I think I understand where you're coming from though.

Currently I am just discovering the magic of Last Duel. I feel so stupid for being so oblivious to such a gem for so long, it totally reeks of Irem. Also, bunny-hopping to dodge bullets is the manliest thing ever.

[EmperorIng]

For a while I actually didn't like the Psikyo games I had on MAME too much (which were Gunbird, GB2, and Strikers 1945), as I thought the bullets were too fast for any sane doable dodging (like that dragon boss on the penultimate stage of Gunbird... like, how the hell you get through that without dying is beyond me!); however, I admit the Psikyo style has really grown on me. Very pure and no-nonsense, as opposed to Cave shooters which are about as over-the-top as they come.

Of course, there is nonsense in Psikyo games, but I think that has more to do with presentation and aesthetics!

Tried out Metal Black on my Saturn to check if the Action Replay I just bought works and cor blimey, how fucking LOUD this game is. The sound is something else...

Half of the reason to play Metal Black is the jam out to YACK's bitchin' tunes.

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

Half of the reason to play Metal Black is the jam out to YACK's bitchin' tunes.

The other half naturally, is to cry at how wtf the GOOD ending is.
But yes, I can understand how Psikyo wouldn't be to everyone's taste. Their style is not something I could consider abhorrent though. And after having 1cc'd Syvalion, even the random stage order isn't an issue to me anymore!

[EmperorIng]

Half of the reason to play Metal Black is the jam out to YACK's bitchin' tunes.

The other half naturally, is to cry at how wtf the GOOD ending is.

Sweet, beautiful closure.

Taito, the masters of the suspenseful ending.

[Kollision]

What does everyone see in Metal Black's music?
Easily one of the most boring works by Zuntata ever.

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

That's Darius Gaiden's OST you're thinking of. Area 26-10 is pretty much the only tune in Metal Black I didn't care for.

[Hagane]

I LOVE Psikyo, I just don't really like those two games. Way too much dependence on fast static patterns (which often you can't bypass by quick killing) instead of the 99% aimed patterns of Sengoku Blade, Dragon Blaze, Gunbird 1, etc.

[chum]

But dodging fast static patterns makes me feel like I'm so much better than I really am

Isn't that the main beauty of these games?

On a more serious note, The loop definitely has so much more to it than just fast static patterns, with its suicide bullets and faster aimed patterns, and once you get to the point where the first round is trivialized by the amount of memorization you've managed, there's still room for coin optimization. My favourite Psikyo game is still Dragon Blaze, though, although I suck horribly at it (hitbox paranoia)

Me: I've been playing a good dose of Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream (lunatic) which might just be the hardest of the touhous, although it's hard to say due to its randomness. Can't quite reach Yumemi consistently. I have reached her without dying once (and this has happened twice) but it's still not enough to beat her. She's the devil.

Also been getting more into Sexy Parodius. Watching Saucykobold's run was an inspiration. I don't think I'll try to get to reach that level anytime soon, but I'll try to clear the game, at the very least. Maybe with some fancy bell management, maybe not.

[Klatrymadon]

Them's fightin' words, Kollision! Area 26-10 is actually my favourite, too. Still quite sore about Taito removing my upload of the soundtrack from YT.

Currently playing Xevious 3D/G+, having largely given up on getting to the top spot on Gradius Rebirth's Euro leaderboard (I may return to this soon, though). It's a bit good, isn't it?

[Illyrian]

My problem with Dragonblaze is that I'm so busy trying to shotgun and get coins that I stop paying attention to the bullets on screen after a while

[Kollision]

You guys are insane...........
Darius Gaiden's music trumps all over Metal Black's!

[Klatrymadon]

I love Gaiden's soundtrack, but they're both aiming for completely different things. MB's music is often more thematically consistent with the stage designs, too. Ah well, to each their own and all that.

(Man, this place needs a general chat thread.)