Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

The Darius series has this great pick-up-and-play quality and a straightforwardness that I really like; it doesn't muck things up with overly convoluted chaining systems and bullet canceling, but focuses on classic, challenging gameplay.

Considering the series debuted in 1986, I don't see why you'd expect anything BUT simplicity. That being said, Darius Burst does have enemy chaining stacked on top of beam dueling as part of its scoring system, but it's remarkably flexible in comparison. Plus, most of your score comes from boss milking anyway, just as it always has.

[iconoclast]

I so don't know how to score in Deathsmiles. I'm getting to the final boss and if I'm lucky I get the first score extend right beforehand; I just don't seem to know how to use the Power Up effectively. Do I want to get the counter to 1000, get enough point items to max out the +value then powerup to cash in on all of them or something? Gah.

1. Increase your counter to 1000
2. Power up
3. Kill each enemy with the correct shot type so they'll produce as many crowns as possible
4. Let the crowns drop to the ground, which causes them to splinter into multiple skulls
5. Pick up the skulls

Every item adds the same amount of points to your +value when you're powered up, so it's more beneficial to wait for the crowns to break apart into skulls before you absorb them.

[Marc]

I was playing IO for the C64 today and yesterday, a recommendation my mate Herr Schatten gave to me eons back and I had never tried it out.

The game is masochist hard. My first 3 plays of it didn't last more than 30 seconds (The first 2 lives I played I died in less than 5 seconds). But after you get the hang of it, it becomes highly addicting. It's pure memorization stuff, but there's some fun on this.

I am reaching level 2 with some comfort now.

Jesus I haven't played that in years but I remember it being a right bastard. There was another along the same lines, Phobia I think, though that was a tad easier. Relatively speaking.

[eypyeash]

EmperorIng said:

There's a used game shop I frequent that has a good selection of Vectrex (!) games, reasonably priced. Cartridge only, though. But it has about every worth-while game: Scramble, Berzerk, Solar Quest, Cosmic Chasm, Rip Off, Pole Position, HyperChase, Clean Sweep, Armor Attack, and -get this!- a copy of Star Castle!

Wait... Berzerk? How much?

I was surprised Akai Katana made it to the US, and picked it up about immediately after seeing it on the shelves. I think I put it in for about 20 minutes before I had to dedicate some time to the girlfriend, and left it alone...

...until NOW! Five months later, that's what I'm playing. I didn't really understand what I was doing before, but thanks to achievements, they provide a great guiding hand to figuring the thing out. I recently moved across the country, so as I popped the game in, the girlfriend gave me a call for our evening chat. THERE'S A BLOCK OF INSTRUCTION AS AN ATTRACT MODE!

That's exactly what I need for something as complicated as this one. It isn't actually that bad after a little practice, and soon I saw it was better to go into Phantom's Attack mode to create suicide bullets for as long as possible, then launch katanas through them to get a nice pile of score items. But before this, I figured it was just a weird, darker, updated version of Progear. I guess I may still consider it that, but it doesn't matter much. It got my attention for sure. I wound up with a little over half the achievements in two hours, so I may set it aside for awhile.

Next on the list:
SineMora

Anyone ever messed with WarTech? It was terrible in some ways, but a lot of interesting ideas were in there.

Background info: I'm new to the boards, but been a long-time collector of SHMUPs. Not that I'm any good at them. I've never 1cc'd anything but Contra 3. Unfortunately, most of my collecting was before my legal-drinking-age shenanigans, and I sold almost everything to keep the liquor flowing (on top of letting my bills pile up, but lesson learned and we're all better now, kthx). I was pleased to own an MVS 4-slot with the trusty old Metal Slug 3, but my favorite was Space Bomber, which I retrofitted into an Atomic Punk cab. Then I went crazy with Saturn SHMUPs after I got a great deal on ebay... Gen1 Saturn with DonPachi, DoDonPachi, and a few other imports for something like 50 bucks.

And now all that remains of that collection is Assault Suit Leynos 2.

So now I'm rebuilding, but I'm starting current and working backwards. I'm pretty sure I've got all the region-free stuff for 360 since I just ordered Eschatos. MuchiMuchiPork/PinkSweets is irritating as hell, though I think it's still slightly better than Otomedius.

[EmperorIng]

Nice collection, eypeash. I wish I had gotten a Saturn with DP and DDP for that price; I had to pay $50 for the Saturn alone!

The shop has two copies of Berzerk, I believe, for about $12 each. Not a bad deal; however, the complete set usually runs about $20 or so so take it or leave it, y'know?

And welcome!

[PedroMD]

Instead of trying to sleep, I spent the night trying to 1CC Darius Burst. Which I'm glad I did, as I actually managed to do a no miss run (on the easiest path, but still). It's an easier game than most, but it took me a while to get used to the ship's enormous hitbox, after playing so many shmups with tiny pixel-sized ones. Lost a lot of shields trying to dodge between tight-packed bullets, or even into bullets. I'll try some other paths now, or just play around in Burst mode, since it's so much fun.
Also, this game got me really interested in the series, simple as it seems to be. I'll have to check the others soon. I guess I should start looking for Gaiden and G Darius, as EmperorIng mentioned last page?

[O. Van Bruce]

I just got to stage 5 on a random run on ProGear... without getting the first extend. Damm, I don't get this scoring system...

[KidQuaalude]

Truth be told I'm sort of considering, or rather, toying with the idea of getting myself a vectrex arcade system, and one of the titles on my must-get list would be Scramble.

Do it! You will not regret buying a Vectrex. It's such a beautiful, unique machine with a small but very playable library of games and it's one system that will never really be properly emulated due to the nature of the analog vector display and the overlays.
If you are a fan of Time Pilot or Defender, you owe it to yourself to pick up the magnificent homebrew games "Protector" and "Vector Pilot".

Also 'a little bird told me' that there will be some new shmups appearing soon for the Vectrex

[Illyrian]

I just got to stage 5 on a random run on ProGear... without getting the first extend. Damm, I don't get this scoring system...

Basically, kill stuff with shot for a while. Then wait till a big enemy appears on screen and laser it. Repeat the process. That is a major simplification of the scoring system but will at least get you 2 score extends before the end.

Or just download the 270 million replay from Superplay and watch the first few levels of that.

[chempop]

Been a few years since I've played any Futari 1.5 maniac. Always bothered me that I haven't cleared it so last night I decided to pop it in, ouch, was getting my ass handed to me left and right, eventually got to the stage 4 boss. My first credit today was a lot better though, made to to Larsa's final form and completely botched it with 2 bombs in stock, oh well.

Not including 2nd loops and Ultra modes, I've always found Futari1.5 Maniac one of the most difficult cave titles, at least for me. Not trying to echo a certain trouserplank member, but man this game taunts me in my sleep. At least I can post a decent score over 250 mil.

[RNGmaster]

Or just download the 270 million replay from Superplay and watch the first few levels of that.

Autofire is a necessity for scoring, so turn on C button auto next time you play

[Ed Oscuro]

Buh, what's going on with the first rail tank in Raiden Fighters (stage four)? According to RF Emporium, I should be able to hover over the turret for that part to autodestruct...no joy though.

[BPzeBanshee]

Buh, what's going on with the first rail tank in Raiden Fighters (stage four)? According to RF Emporium, I should be able to hover over the turret for that part to autodestruct...no joy though.

I'm no expert but maybe wobble around it a bit? I find the spot in the Airportish stage (with helicopter boss) where you 'hover' over one of the last planes to get fairies is more like wanking than 'hovering', and likewise in Sim Stage 5 of JET you 'stroke' the moving crane thing.

[EmperorIng]

I didn't play it yet, but I decided on a whim to pick up Chaos Field for the GC yesterday, since I found a complete copy on ebay for like $8.

It'll be my first introduction to Milestone shmups : D

[Obscura]

My gaming ADD kicked in, so I spent some time with Shoot the Bullet.

It's been a long time since.any game has humbled me that hard. It took me about four hours just to get through the first three levels. Holy crap, I suck at this.

[Acid_Rain]

Just played some credits of Giga Wang on the DC. Oh my god. This game really kicks my ass.

Now back on some DDP Resurrection. First attempts on playing on a proper stick. Still performing horrible

[null1024]

DoDonPachi [PS1].

Running this on my PSP. Would be nice to hold in TATE, the screen is effing tiny in YOKO. Also, PSP-1000 d-pad makes things interesting [read: taped a nickel to it so diagonals would come out at all, but it's still not as responsive as I'd like...].

[jepjepjep]

I've been playing Mahou Daisakusen but I have a feeling I'm going to play some Ibara tonight.

[vitor]

Super Crossfire

>dat electronia

HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG

As if the game by itself wasn't brilliant enough

[trap15]

Battle Bakraid, gearing up for Frenetic's shmupmeet! Yeahhhh!

Also just finally got the Normal 1cc. Why did it take me so long

[blackoak]

Raiden DX (inspired by the enthusiasm in other thread) and TFII on x68000. I wish the spread shot wasn't the same color as the bullets in Raiden DX... I almost survive longer with the other lasers just because of visibility.

I always considered the Thunder Force series to be pretty relaxed, but good god is TFII on the x68 harder. Really fun so far though. Wish I had a keyboard for this x68000 so I could see the maps for the overhead screen. The only thing I've ever disliked about those stages is wandering in circles to find the last base.

[Marc]

Well despite having cleared the cache, deleting save data and uninstalling the game, MMP still defaults to 1.00 every time I boot it. Gotten used to the slightly faster drain on the lard meter so its no big deal, but it still bugs me. ST3 is giving me grief at the moment.

[jepjepjep]

Battle Bakraid, gearing up for Frenetic's shmupmeet! Yeahhhh!

Also just finally got the Normal 1cc. Why did it take me so long

I had the same experience with Bakraid. I thought the normal course would be as easy as batrider, but it took me a lot more tries to clear.

[trap15]

I think the real reason it took so long is that I love to play aggressively for score, so I end up with no life stock and then accidentally die

[null1024]

DoDonPachi [PS1].

Fiddled with the settings, noticed there was a ghetto-TATE option [so, TATE w/ YOKO controls], now I can play in TATE on my PSP by tilting the thing. Works pretty well actually. Screen is still effing tiny, but so much better than before.

Also, why the hell does it default to wait off? I mean, FUCK. Stage 3 alone has a crazy difficulty spike with wait off, lots of those patterns look like they wouldn't have been kept in if the board didn't slow down a bit. Sure, you just need to pause and change it, but it'd be nice if there was a setting in the options menu to select which you'd like as default.


On an unrelated note, I should get back into playing Mars Matrix. Effing love that game, but I'm so bad at it. Like, "die in the middle of stage 2" bad. Blaaaaaaaah.
I think it's a much better game than any of the Giga Wing games too.

[BPzeBanshee]

Raiden DX (inspired by the enthusiasm in other thread) and TFII on x68000. I wish the spread shot wasn't the same color as the bullets in Raiden DX... I almost survive longer with the other lasers just because of visibility.

I always considered the Thunder Force series to be pretty relaxed, but good god is TFII on the x68 harder. Really fun so far though. Wish I had a keyboard for this x68000 so I could see the maps for the overhead screen. The only thing I've ever disliked about those stages is wandering in circles to find the last base.

Me too.

I've actually enjoyed playing Raiden DX in MESS of all things. The emulation for it is pretty broken for most games but DX is fine...if you don't mind 'emulated' slowdown on boss explosions and lack of memory card support. Better fullscreen/rotation handling than the standalones any day though. Shame Raiden Project doesn't work.

[BIL]

Nabbed a copy of PS1 Sonic Wangs Special for CHEEP and have been enjoying it. Now I can finally print out and pin up that poster for the cancelled arcade version without feeling like a poseur.

[StoofooEsq]

Fired up Raiden Fighters at random, not having played any of the games for months. This somehow led me to playing all of the Raiden Fighters series for at least 5 straight hours, with Raiden Fighters Jet taking up the most of that time.

Guess I was just in a mood for something with a lot of scoring tricks. I'll stick with these for a while, with some Espgaluda on the side.

[moh]

DoDonPachi [PS1].

Fiddled with the settings, noticed there was a ghetto-TATE option [so, TATE w/ YOKO controls], now I can play in TATE on my PSP by tilting the thing. Works pretty well actually. Screen is still effing tiny, but so much better than before.

Also, why the hell does it default to wait off? I mean, FUCK. Stage 3 alone has a crazy difficulty spike with wait off, lots of those patterns look like they wouldn't have been kept in if the board didn't slow down a bit. Sure, you just need to pause and change it, but it'd be nice if there was a setting in the options menu to select which you'd like as default.


On an unrelated note, I should get back into playing Mars Matrix. Effing love that game, but I'm so bad at it. Like, "die in the middle of stage 2" bad. Blaaaaaaaah.
I think it's a much better game than any of the Giga Wing games too.

LOL i was trying to decide between buying a mars matrix cps2 board and a giga wing cps2 board.

ended up going with mars matrix

[chempop]

Is the 1-button system in cps2 MM a pain to get used to?