Co-op

[Obiwanshinobi]

Not really a new topic, but this time I'm curious as to what shmups actually worked for you and Some Other Person™ whilst played this way. It's not about ideas; it's about experience. Lists, then.

For sure:

Raiden III (PC, where you can let one player use both fighters' bombs),
Guardian Force (even with the benefit of inventory - screen wobble - it's all the merrier when you can't resist medal chaining while The Other Guy™ "bomb" spams like hell).

Sort of:

Gradius V. Sort of, because it was a very brief run and The Other Guy™ didn't really get the hang of powering up.

On a side note, I think in Raiden III there's no separate credit pool for each player. In Guardian Force, even credit feeding through makes for something of a competition as credits can't be shared even if you want to. Since mere survival is easier in co-op, I think competitive qualities of Guardian Force are a part of the designer's plan.

So, what have you tried in co-op that was any fun?

[Jeneki]

Giga Wing is tag-team shmupping at its best. One player uses reflect to cover the other player while they recharge.

I think Air Buster had some kind of attack that went between both player's ships, if they both use the buster at the same time. Might be a different game though.

Related to The Other Guy™ doing Other Guy™ stuff, games with rank. Thanks for dying/bombing so much! Ask Zerst about his Ibara clear when The Other Guy™ was credit feeding.

[KAI]

Pinksweets, same as Giga Wing.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Yay, Ibara! So them infinite continues in the PS2 port serve a purpose.
Now, this is just an idea, but maybe Sonic Wings Special gets funny in co-op. Mao Mao's time-stopping bombs coupled with IL-102's wicked point-blanking... I also find the idea behind Strike Gunner S.T.G. intriguing. The mysterious combined weapons - not something I can easily check out by myself.

[AntiFritz]

Pinksweets, same as Giga Wing.

How does rank work with co-op? Does it raise twice as quickly?

[EmperorIng]

Darius Gaiden is always fun with co-op, though between two people, power-up competition can strip away civility very quickly.

Giga Wing and Giga Wing 2 are a whole mess of fun with another person, though survival at that point is moot as it just becomes one gigantic bomb-spam. Still, constantly triggering volcanons is as fun with two people as it is with one.

Under Defeat actually turned out to be fun with a second player, diverting bullets and attention, allowing you to divide and conquer the screen. It made the bosses much more bearable as one player would divert the fire (or take out ancillary targets) while the other focused on boss removal. Though this sometimes became problematic when the main part of the boss (the turret of the st4 boss, or the chassis cannon of the st5 boss) would target my pal instead of me.

I think Darius Gaiden though wins because the game itself is just a joy to play. But I am biased! My friends and I know DG very thoroughly by now, so it's gotten better the more we've played it.

[ciox]

I haven't played any coop in a very long time, I used to play Final Mission on the NES with a pal and some bio-shmup on the Megadrive or SNES (it was a bastard clone of some kind so I legit don't know), in both of those games it was the life-borrowing mechanic that I remember the most. When you're all out of lives, hit start to borrow a life and piss off your partner.


I would quite like to play Psyvariar in co-op, bullets are actually deactivated for both players when one player grazes them, at this point it suddenly becomes obvious why some bosses are designed like this:

[Captain]

Apparently, when both of your shots (or maybe just lasers) hit eachother in Raiden, they combine to become stronger.

I also find the idea behind Strike Gunner S.T.G. intriguing. The mysterious combined weapons - not something I can easily check out by myself.

I'm willing to experiment with this, just tell me how to actually combine the weapons.

[Zaarock]

Blazing Star has these weird mini-challenge items if you play it two player, stuff like dodge all items or don't kill enemies etc. for scoring bonuses.

Strania/Side Vower has really good netcode (desyncs on strania TLB or any boss in vower if connection is bad though) and is pretty fun in coop to just play through while messing around with the weapon combinations.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Apparently, when both of your shots (or maybe just lasers) hit eachother in Raiden, they combine to become stronger.

Sounds half compelling, half awkward.

I'm willing to experiment with this, just tell me how to actually combine the weapons.

All I know is this:

It's a forest, and that game was awesome if I remember correctly. In two player mode, the two ships can lock together to increase firepower!

I have no idea whether it's about the arcade version, or the SNES one.

[Captain]

I will see what I can do.

[jasoncslaughter]

I generally don't play well with others, but most of my friends don't play video games at all, so I usually feel like I'm dragging someone through the levels. My wife and I do pretty well on Dodonpachi, but that's because she's played the game quite a bit.

I did have a lot of fun playing co-op on Mars Matrix once at a party. My wife thought it would be funny to get one of our friends to play without explaining the controls. We were in the 3rd level before he realized he didn't have to dodge all the bullets and called me an asshole. Good times.

[Captain]

The glorious combined STG ships!


Apparently weapons cannot be combined after all, what a letdown.
The main weapon's power increases however.

[KAI]

How does rank work with co-op? Does it raise twice as quickly?

Not sure, but that would be awesome.

The Twinbee series has combined attacks too.

[colour_thief]

Strania has been a favourite at the Waterloo shmupmeets. It pretty fun playing for a 1CC. You can plan for both players to have complementary weapons in stock, and hold fire while the other player cashes in to squeeze out more extends.

Futari looks like it could be pretty crazy with people who know what they're doing. (Not me yet, I should fix that.)

[Obiwanshinobi]

Apparently weapons cannot be combined after all, what a letdown.
The main weapon's power increases however.

Considering that it's a game about weaponry and co-op first and foremost (everything else is shockingly austere for the year 1991), I'm all the more impressed by the number of versions. I guess if you wanted SNES co-op shmupping, it was about as good as you could get.

I did have a lot of fun playing co-op on Mars Matrix once at a party. My wife thought it would be funny to get one of our friends to play without explaining the controls. We were in the 3rd level before he realized he didn't have to dodge all the bullets and called me an asshole. Good times.

I must admit I'm mostly after this kind of stories. Didn't play Takumi shooters much, but always found their gimmicks fun to discover by myself.
Anybody knows if Trizeal in co-op slowns down terribly on DC and PS2 alike?

[camredfield]

Don't know if it's too obvious, but...

Twinkle Star Sprites!

God that games is fun with another person, especially when you have a fell dorm mate who kicks ass in the game but will continue to play with you until your to their competency and it really turns strategic.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Twinkle Star Sprites is all competition. Good fun, but hardly co-op.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Gradius V. Sort of, because it was a very brief run and The Other Guy™ didn't really get the hang of powering up.

I remember having a lot of fun with a friend playing this. The only problem is if he died mid-stage, it was easy to accidentally grab his Multiples and leave him underpowered since you could only have a max of 4, split between the two of you.

Futari looks like it could be pretty crazy with people who know what they're doing. (Not me yet, I should fix that.)

A lot of people complain about Cave's side-to-side screen scrolling in co-op. I don't find it a major issue, though. Futari's fun to play duo (and you only get some of the stage dialogue if both characters are onscreen), and if you're playing Maniac or God modes, the multiplier system lets you break the scoring system by having only one person do the cashing in while having the other nab the constant x9999/x30000 gems that show up.

Esprade and Galuda work better for co-op because the bomb/kakusei are easier to use in tandem for protection purposes.

[powersoul]

Deathsmiles coop was a lot more of trolling (read as griefing) than cooperative play. You might know all the patterns, but it all changes when Some Other Guy moves to the upper or lower reaches of the screen to dodge bullets: the entire bullet pattern moves with him! A safe spot or route suddenly turned hell as you have no window to react.

Shared bombing... Expected. As for power up, it only takes one of the two players to lead the coop play on when to power up to maximize the fever mode. In fact, you could have the other player leech crowns off the one who is already at max fever and powers into fever mode once the first player runs out.