List of shmups with noticeable differences when playing P2

[nimitz]

A lot of arcade shmups have interesting differences when playing as P2, I thought it would be good to have a definitive list somewhere.

The list will be split in two, the first part is the shmups that are noticeably easier as P2 and the second list will be shmups with differences when playing as P2 that don't necessarily make the games easier.

A lot of games are missing form the current lists, please let me know the ones I forgot

Games that are noticeably easier to survive/score in when playing as Player 2

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Raiden (lower rank)
Salamander 2 (lower rank)
1941 (Better ship)
Gekirindan (better ship, P2-C)
Thunder Dragon 2 (better ship)
Trizeal (Better ship)
ESP Ra.De. (bomb/guard multiplier exploit)

Games with non-superficial differences when playing as Player 2 but aren't necessarily easier

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Ibara (different ship)
Silkworm (different "ship")
Twin Cobra 2 (different weapons)
Sonic Wings (different ships/weapons)
Raiden 2 (player 1 gets more bombs)
Raiden DX (different vertical speed?)
XII Stag (different vertical speed?)
Side Arms (Different weapons)
Dodonpachi (bigger star bonus, no laserbomb chain holding trick)
Strania (Different special attacks?)
Guardian Force (Different weapons)
Deathsmiles (options stay active when bombing, minor score difference)
Ikaruga (differences in spawning positions, sometimes helps sometimes hinders)

[AntiFritz]

Isn't their a glitch with in ketsui with its second player? Something about its rank increasing half as fast so bosses are easier?

[KAI]

Ketsui doesn't have rank.

[AntiFritz]

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 65#p785465

[nimitz]

While there is supposedly a difference in Ketsui difficulty between p1/p2 the actual difference is apparently so minimal that it's completely unnoticeable in-game.

Might need more testing though.

[Kollision]

Side Arms P2 has a different alpha/beta shot pattern, I much prefer that one to the P1. Also the robot sprites are a lot cooler.
I wouldn't say it makes the game easier though.

[DocHauser]

Air Gallet - player 2 starts with the alternate bomb. Doesn't make any difference to the difficulty, since you can switch between bomb types during a game by picking up the green or blue bomb icon.

[1up]

While there is supposedly a difference in Ketsui difficulty between p1/p2 the actual difference is apparently so minimal that it's completely unnoticeable in-game.

Might need more testing though.

In the Ketsui ST thread, Trap15 says, playing normally with 2p rank is 1/7th of usual value. That's a pretty big difference. So if loop 1 max rank is 240, it's only 34,x for 2p. Well, that seems kind of crazy

Didn't know Gekirindan was easier on 2p. Will have to try that out.

edit:
after reading the rest of the ST thread he says that you can cut 1/24th of the rank. So max rank on loop 1 for 2p is 230. Don't know how I understood it as get it to 1/7th instead of cut 1/7th. It's early here and I haven't had my coffee yet

[Vexorg]

Air Gallet - player 2 starts with the alternate bomb. Doesn't make any difference to the difficulty, since you can switch between bomb types during a game by picking up the green or blue bomb icon.

I believe that Raiden 2/DX starts P2 with the alternate bomb type as well.

[BPzeBanshee]

Funny, I recall everyone saying when I came onto the forum and looking into this that it was "the Gekirindan trick" even though it predates Gekirindan by many years.

I've heard of a rumour (which I believe is bullshit) that the main version of Raiden supported in MAME was dumped at a high rank value for the first player and thus playing with the second player makes it considerably easier. I did notice when putting it to the test some bullet patterns not happening the way they should and the initial powerups to appear from powerup ships to be different from how they always seemed to be when using 1P side.

I believe that Raiden 2/DX starts P2 with the alternate bomb type as well.

Raiden II does it; I thought Raiden DX is based on what colour the lightning bolt in the course selection menu is (it flickers between red and yellow) so if you had two players you could just reverse the order so 1P get scatter and 2P get nuclear, but it's been a while since I played it and I'm probably wrong.

[Erppo]

I don't think DDP really belongs in the first category since 1: the effect is so tiny and 2: P1 gets the laser bomb chain holding trick which is way more helpful.

I don't know about rank in Gekirindan but the P2 C-type is stupidly powerful for some mysterious reason.

Raiden DX bombs are independent from the side but the ships have different movement speeds which makes P2 a lot more useful. I don't think this is in Raiden 2 but I'm not really sure.

I remember everyone played P2 in Salamander 2 and I think it was rank related.

[Skykid]

I don't know about rank in Gekirindan but the P2 C-type is stupidly powerful for some mysterious reason.

I was about to chime in with the same thing. It's P2 C-type that's by far the most powerful ship, but I don't think rank is affected at all in Geki.

[Zaarock]

Strania P2 has a different attack if using two swords, but it's not really useful for anything since the dual wield attacks are slower than using a single sword

[Herr Schatten]

Trzeal: Second player gets a different ship which moves faster, but has a narrower (albeit equally strong) laser weapon and a slightly different spread of the vulcan. Overall, I find it a little easier to score and survive with the 2P ship.

[Ruldra]

All weapons in Guardian Force behave differently for the second player.

[Tyjet]

In Deathsmiles (original), bombing in 2P will allow your option to stay on screen maximizing scoring.

[nimitz]

In Deathsmiles (original), bombing in 2P will allow your option to stay on screen maximizing scoring.

Does it add up to a big score difference?

[Tyjet]

In Deathsmiles (original), bombing in 2P will allow your option to stay on screen maximizing scoring.

Does it add up to a big score difference?

I would say no. When you bomb, your option still fires their shot and you can collect items when it hits an enemy. But the amount of score items produce is tiny compared to the other scoring opportunities in the game. I would add it to the "non-superficial differences" list.

[Imhotep]

1941: Counter Attack

the intro introduces the P1 and 2 ships separately, stating the P2 ship as slower, but more powerful. The wingspan is also mentioned to be bigger, maybe the hitbox is different?

Personally, I wouldn't have noticed anything to be differnt between the two ships, but the scores seem to be quite apart:

http://stormoid.com/gamest/1.html

[Skyline]

XII Stag has similar movement changes between 1P and 2P ships as Raiden does, I believe.

[system11]

Obvious one: Silkworm.

[Herr Schatten]

Obvious one: Silkworm.

Same with SWIV, Silkworm's unofficial 'sequel'.

[louisg]

I remember Tyrian having radically different player ships for P1 and P2, and they can combine. Off the top of my head, I don't remember whether there's weaponry or anything you can get for P2 that you can't get for P1, though (you can't tell by this video; there's a shop between levels where you can customize your ship)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhcu3ECpJ_8

[lewisit]

1944: The Loop Master (different ship)

Space Invaders '95 : Attack Of The Lunar Loonies / Akkanvader (different ships)

[Pyongyang]

Blast Wind!

[Kollision]

Obvious one: Silkworm.

Same with SWIV, Silkworm's unofficial 'sequel'.

Same with Super SWIV (Firepower 2000), SWIV's sequel (official/unofficial? I don't know )

[Ixmucane2]

I remember Tyrian having radically different player ships for P1 and P2, and they can combine. Off the top of my head, I don't remember whether there's weaponry or anything you can get for P2 that you can't get for P1, though (you can't tell by this video; there's a shop between levels where you can customize your ship)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhcu3ECpJ_8

It's a special co-op mode, with an extraordinarily rare example of one player acting as pilot and one as gunner; not quite comparable to normal two player modes.

[nimitz]

Does the P2 ship speed in XII Stag make the game easier?

Is the chopper considered better in silkworm/SWIV?

What exactly is the difference in Blast wind?


In 1944: The Loop Master the difference is purely superficial afaik (only a different sprite)

Same with Space Invaders '95, aren't the P2 ships only different sprites that play the same.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Same with Super SWIV (Firepower 2000), SWIV's sequel (official/unofficial? I don't know )

Technically, this is more an example of a shmup where 1P and 2P can't play the same type of ship, same as Futari, DFK, etc. You can switch whether the heli or the jeep is on 1P or 2P side (at least on the SNES version), and they function exactly the same regardless of whether the heli or jeep is 1P or 2P.

The differences between the two are quite large though (the heli actually sucks compared to the jeep due to limited homing/spread weapons, and how useful aiming is in conjunction with the stronger weapons like laser & pulse).

[majik989s]

All of them in the arcade because little children destroy the 1p stick and buttons.