Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[Raytrace]

played some Axelay (SNES) - very interesting use of sprite distortions in the first stage

[MrChiggins]

Been playing Ketsui for 2-3 months. The longest I've ever focused on a single shmup. Right now I'm at Omote 2-3 with 130 mil woopwoop!

If I weren't so in love with Ketsui I would've signed up for trap15's weekly tournaments. Shit looks fuuuuuunnnnnn!

[finisherr]

I bought Akai Katana not too long ago but I haven't really been playing it. I've turned into some sort of super casual STG fan or something but lately I've been running Ketsui every now and then. Ketsui is a really, really fun game.

[KyoKusagani1999]

Deathsmiles 1.1 Arrange, Xbox 360.
I Used to Wonder what Good comes from Suicide Bullets...
Until this game shared it's scoring with me

[gameoverDude]

Dragon Saber's stage 5 boss continues to annoy me in its 2nd form- maybe it should've been the final boss. After that, the boss difficulty starts to get progressively easier the further I go from there. Boss 6 is a step down, boss 7 is about nada. The final boss' hunter boomerangs cancel out easily with a charge shot followed by regular fire.

I have an easier time with the last boss, honestly. Stage 7's is just a little harder than the first.

I'm sure there's some kind of rank in play- I one lifed it to the end of stage 5 and saw more enemies in the last bit at the water.

My latest first credit score is 183600 in Area 6.

[EmperorIng]

On normal difficulty, I "once more" conquered the bubble stage in Gradius III. Wait Mode was set to 2, and everything was at default. I say "once more" because now I think the first time I finished the stage I was actually playing on "Very Easy" because that one time was a hell of a lot easier and less stressful than this time.

It felt pretty damn good, and there was one hell of an adrenaline rush as just barely made it through the latter half of the stage without dying.

Stage 3, the volcano though, killed me pretty damn quickly. I had four options at that point, with the laser weapon, and then gave myself the shield. Should shield usage be discouraged? Or is rank manipulation in this game really a futile effort?

I can't beat the stage consistently yet, though. Too many x-factors liable to kill me, and if I am not in the exact correct spot, I feel, I am as good as dead. Thank God for slowdown.

[beatsgo]

Gradius III. Feel better that I can pass the bubble stage more easily, but I swear I can't figure out the right placement, option formation, and timing in the beginning section of stage 3.

[Drum]

Played Front Line (1982, Taito). It's pretty bad, honestly, but it's a vertically scrolling twin stick shooter where you can hop in and out of tanks like Ikari Warriors. Ikari Warriors is a straight rip of this game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOpYN3vWmHw
Judging by the amount of vids on youtube, it's pretty well known but I had no idea it existed.

[EmperorIng]

Gradius III. Feel better that I can pass the bubble stage more easily, but I swear I can't figure out the right placement, option formation, and timing in the beginning section of stage 3.

those little rocket pods and their spread-shots overwhelm you very quickly.

Maybe Type B, because its missiles block bullets?

[wuuds]

Playing Battle Bakraid for the first time. Brilliant! For now I'm just testing it out but soon I'd like to set some goals for myself (like not dying all the time for starters..)

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

Made it to the boss rush with Type 4 on Gradius II, and passed the high speed stage on my first try during that same run, which was pretty cool. I'd rather try clearing this with Type 2 to make things more interesting but clearing stage 4 is waaaaaay more of a hassle than it needs to be thanks to being vertically handicapped.

[trap15]

(like not dying all the time for starters..)

But dying is over half of the scoring system

If you're looking for any tips, I'm huge into Bakraid, so let me know if you want any tricks and what-not

[wuuds]

Thanks Trap15 I finally understand what you mean after looking at the strategy section here on the forums. All a bit overwhelming but I like the idea of learning that system. Seems like the game has a ton on offer from the few things I've read about it.

I think I'll take you up on that offer for advice. I want to do well at this game and stick to it. I want to learn it inside out!

[EmperorIng]

I wonder what it says that it took me weeks to actually make it to Gradius III's stage 3, but it took a solid day of practice to get to Gradius IV's stage 3.

On that note, why the fuck did they decide to do another fucking bubble stage?

[Drum]

Beats me, crystal stages are sooooo much better.

[hermit crab]

Bullet Soul.

Fun game. And the name entry screen music loop is beautiful.

[beatsgo]

Again Gradius III, but this time I made it half way through Stage 3 with Type 2. I feel accomplished! Now I have to figure out how to not crash into the upper wall after that maze :/

[-SD-]

DDP Maximum on the iPad. I'm so close to beating 4B but the boss gets me every time.

[wuuds]

Metal Torrent on the 3DS
Chaining bliss!

[Kollision]

Died on the last boss of PSP Strike Witches during a recent trip.
Trying to find time to properly learn R-Type II, but work is killing me.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Just had my best & worst Futari 1.5 run. Got to stage 4 with a huge multiplier playing as Reco Normal (who I actually don't use much), and kept it all the way to the boss for the first time (I keep screwing up stage 4 normally), getting the extends earlier than I've ever done and cranking the multiplier to 36000+. Had a silly early death on the stage 4 boss to an easy pattern, but otherwise boss fight went well.

Proceed to die 3 times in stage 5, all of 'em before the midboss (two of 'em were near the beginning, too). Gameover beside the 1up building. Saying I choked hard would be a huge understatement.

[KidQuaalude]

Black Widow on Mame. Killer robotron style twin-stick colour vector game.

[AweOfShe]

Recently just moved to BC, and as I was doing some exploring of my new area, I found an Arcade place at the mall.
The only shmup they had was Raiden IV though. Decided to give it a go, since I didn't grab the 360 version yet. Man, I suck terribly at the game. Had a blast with it though. I definitely need to pick up a copy of it.

At home, all I've been playing was Mushihimesama HD. I don't have a wireless network adapter for my 360 though, so I won't be able to get that update (Everything's wireless at my place ).

[ChainsawGuitarSP]

Uh, wow I was at that mall just the day before yesterday.
Didn't feel like playing Raiden though, but when I'm out there again I'll have to look for you so we can get farther with teamwork!

[Aquas]

Just had my best & worst Futari 1.5 run. Got to stage 4 with a huge multiplier playing as Reco Normal (who I actually don't use much), and kept it all the way to the boss for the first time (I keep screwing up stage 4 normally), getting the extends earlier than I've ever done and cranking the multiplier to 36000+. Had a silly early death on the stage 4 boss to an easy pattern, but otherwise boss fight went well.

Proceed to die 3 times in stage 5, all of 'em before the midboss (two of 'em were near the beginning, too). Gameover beside the 1up building. Saying I choked hard would be a huge understatement.

EVERYTHING rides on that last stage, unfortunately. Practice, practice, practice mode. The best you can do is try to keep your counter high for the destruction of the two huge dragons (for their points). After that, I recommend bombing your heart out lest you lose a couple lives on the home stretch. Also I haven't messed with this tactic much but I think it would be a decent idea to throw a bomb to kill the big red dragon crab thing by the 1up if you're struggling on getting a few of the lanterns or killing him in general. If you throw the bomb early you can damage him AND avoid the 1up building. I can't count how many times I've died trying to get all the lanterns. But I was probably using Abn. Reco or Abn Palm as those are my favorites. Bombing there, however, may destroy a couple of the lanterns and I dooon't think they count as multiplied if bombed.

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

I'm playing Espgaluda 2. I've messed with it briefly before but never made a serious clear effort because of getting sidetracked into other games, mainly because of my dislike of the "Zesshikai" mode. I can never tell where the bullets will be so high scoring is just out. This game has more dream levels than Inception. Luckily it's possible to clear it without digging too deep into the bullet spawn game. It is refreshing though to play something that I get clearly better at every day after playing SDOJ for a long time which was the opposite, slowest improvements I have ever had with that one.

[Drum]

Tactician (1982, Konami, arcade). Real clever & interesting space invaders-style game. Recommended.

[AweOfShe]

Uh, wow I was at that mall just the day before yesterday.
Didn't feel like playing Raiden though, but when I'm out there again I'll have to look for you so we can get farther with teamwork!

Haha, I'm down, but I think I'll get some practice in so I don't completely embarrass myself. I credit-fed the hell out of it when I played it.
You at CHQ's often? (I think that's what the place was called). I'll definitely be around there more often once I land myself a job, and get some more expendable income.

[hermit crab]

Playing Twin Cobra.

Bullet Soul got me in the mood for some Fire Shark but MAME doesn't support it so I went with this instead.

This game is HARDCORE. Sure it doesn't shoot curtains of (easy to dodge) bullets at you like so-called manic shooters but those pesky enemies are really out to get you and they both aim their shots and come at you kamikaze-style. And there's no tiny hitbox, every hit counts. Bombs are pretty weak and so is your gun most of the time because power ups are hard to get but easy to lose.

(A large part of the difficulty comes from it really being a two player game and the enemy patterns being designed with that in mind. But, like most things in life, it's best when done alone.)

TOAPLAN 4 EVER !!!

[Klatrymadon]

Set up a US account on XBLA last week. Tried out Aegis Wing today. 1CC'd it and topped my leaderboard during my first wee session. Rubbish!