These are my Shmup confessions...

[hail good sir]

I think that Ikaruga is the greatest video game that has or ever will be made, and it really is 100% memorization and repetition. Anyone can do it.

I also get sad every single time I watch the final moments of the game, and I'm sure I've seen it like 200 times over 5 years.

[Acid_Rain]

I own an arcade stick but I still use my xbox360 d-pad to fly around.

[iconoclast]

I think that Ikaruga is the greatest video game that has or ever will be made, and it really is 100% memorization and repetition. Anyone can do it.

this applies to almost every shump ever

[hail good sir]

I started to write a long thing disagreeing with you but now that I really thought about it I think you're right. If you want to do a REALLY good full run at "high tier play" you pretty much have to get to the point of being able to do it while daydreaming, and then waiting for "that one time" to come together.

I guess it's just that there is no lower to middle ground in that game, that made me say that, if you want to get to say, 5 or 10 million, you need to get studying.

[CptRansom]

I hate games with overly-complicated (in my opinion) scoring (Galuda 2, Mushi Maniac/Ultra, Deathsmiles, etc.)
I hate looping games to the point that I refuse to play a looping game outside of tournaments/events (which sucks, because I'd like to get into DOJ/DFK/Ketsui but the thought of playing two loops in the [very, very distant] future just UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH).
I hate milking (MMP/DFKBL/etc) as well as slowly destroying boss parts (Garegga/Bakraid/Batrider/Ibara/etc).
I hate point-blanking but mostly because I'm just fucking bad at it.
I'm not a big fan of all-or-nothing scoring (DDP/DOJ/DFK come most readily to mind) but I recognize that it's just because I suck and get discouraged easily.
Mars Matrix is the shit but I can't seem to bring myself around to going back for the counterstop.
I tried really hard to get into Touhou but I'm just not a fan. At least I can say I tried.
I don't like sticks and greatly prefer pads.
I think SDOJ 360 Mode is the best mode in the game as long as voices are turned way, way down.

My "personal statement" from an OT thread: I get frustrated with games incredibly fast which almost always leads to me giving up after a few days and switching games. Then I get frustrated because I don't stick to any one game long enough to ever get good at these games. Then I get frustrated because I'm completely aware of this fault and never seem to fix it. The longest I've ever spent on a single STG is a month and a half for Mars Matrix, followed by 360 Mode for SDOJ at two weeks, followed by seven days for PCB Lunatic. Any other score or clear I've done is within 2-3 days because I just get burned out/angry too fast. I lack discipline, and I've been told several times, "The skill is there. You just really need to start actually trying." I've got serious respect for people who are able to stick to games despite the frustration and slow progress regardless of their scores.

Starting to wonder if maybe I should just quit altogether. I like dodgin' boolitz and shootin' things, but I'm stymied on a scoring system that doesn't make me want to hit things. Meh.

[KAI]

What about playing racing games?

[CptRansom]

What about playing racing games?

Nah, I should probably just quit being a pussy and knock these two things off:

I suck and get discouraged easily.

[Vyxx]

- Ibara is by far the greatest STG ever made.
- Ibara Kuro, while fun, sucks compared to the original Ibara.
- The best Psikyo series by far is the Gunburd series trap15 what are you smoking man
- Dimahoo is beyond awesome
- The best Donpachi game is Daioujou
- Ketsui is completely mediocre EXCEPT for the boss fights which are awesome
- Guwange is cave'a worst game
- Dangun Feveron is awesome when playing just for survival
- The best Strikers 1945 game is the original
- Progear & Deathsmiles really are bad games >_>
- the hitbox in Esprade is fine you guy are all crazy

[zeroroute]

Never 1cced anything in my life.
I hate like checkpoint systems.
I credit feed sometimes.
I hate environmental hazards.
I should stop criticizing ZUN's art style, since he can draw way better than me.

[japanesesuperplayer]

I'm terrible at horizontal scrolling games. I play Touhou sometimes because it has cute girls. I think I have a crush on a Touhou girl but girls can't love girls. I really like using Reco Abnormal. I think that Reco is way too lewd and needs to put on some panties. I think it's pretty hot when she makes noises after grabbing a power up. I think that one shmup with the yaoi and the guy named after a girl is overrated.

[AntiFritz]

I think that one shmup with the yaoi and the guy named after a girl is overrated.

For the longest time I couldn't figure out if Alice was male or female.

[KAI]

アリス＝ブラックバーン
男　23歳

"He" is a reverse trap.

[Bananamatic]

I like laser wheels on the second loop, they are really fun

[Skykid]

- DOJ is the greatest danmaku of all time, the harmony and essence of genius coding at work. It's a bedfellow of Battle Garegga.

- Espgaluda II and Ketsui share second place on the Cave roster.

- I'm irritated by people who discovered shmups through 2hu, since it's more than likely they got into it for the loli nerdgasm.

- I think Crimson Clover is better than several recent Cave titles.

- I'm getting a little bored with Cave games and find myself veering towards obscure and unique classics.

- Deathsmiles is one of the worst shmups I've ever played, and Cave's poorest game. Disjointed, overlong, and with a useless scoring system.

- I'm no way near as combative in real life as I am on the forum. I actually think about most people here rather affectionately, with disagreements and infractions simply part of the fun.

- The above doesn't count for Friendly. I don't like colourless people.

- I once did drugs and tried to play Espgaluda. I didn't sleep for two days after.

- Progear is a hugely underrated Hori.

- People who don't like Guwange don't know how to appreciate the versatility of STG's in both mechanical and artistic terms, and probably only have eyes for the patently bland (or 'moe').

- People who don't like Ketsui need to be held down while the game kicks them in the balls. "Are you ready?"

[casualcoder]

- My first shmup love was Raiden Project (cool homing laser and subby explosions!) but now I can't stand it, or any other Raiden game.

- Despite giving me my respect for current shmups, I never really got into dodonpachi games. Too cold and industrial.

- Deathsmiles was the game that got me onto this generation of shmups.

- I think Deathsmiles is an incredibly deep game and my favorite.

- I still haven't played Deathsmiles II

- I swear by using my seimitsu, so much that I ignore games that can't use it.

- The only reason I don't play a particular shmup is I'm too lazy To swap out the disks

- I'm still a responsible person so I can only devote a few hours a week to full-shmup.

[RoninBuddha]

- When online, i'm a huge advocate of seimitsu parts for shmup play. in real life, i could care less, i secretly like playing with Sanwa JLF's.

- I feel that Yagawa games are only hard because its hard to see shit.

- I think most Treasure games are shit, too gimmicky and complicated, Ikaruga is a rare instance where they got lazy, but it worked out the best.

- PsikyoZZZZZZZZZ

[ACSeraph]

- I think Crimson Clover is better than several recent Cave titles.

I agree with this 1000%, in fact I like CC better than any cave game I have played. That's no strike against Cave though, CC is just fucking awesome.

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

Not only is the SDOJ port inccurate, no Cave port has ever been accurate especially in regard to slowdown and neither has emulation, nor will any of them ever be. Not even simple shit like slowdown and graphic limits on Esprade and Progear are anywhere near remotely accurate.

I won't build a recording setup to prove it, I will simply shit on your face.

I started an 80s punk rock band called DTPA. Dr. Trouserplank's Army.

[Cagar]

- I think Crimson Clover is better than several recent Cave titles.

I agree with this 1000%, in fact I like CC better than any cave game I have played. That's no strike against Cave though, CC is just fucking awesome.

Ah yeah, I forgot one:

-If I could choose between new cave-game or PC port of CC nesica version, i'd choose CC.

[Ghegs]

• I've said it before, and I still think CAVE's games, and most danmaku shmups, are utterly boring. Not boring in the "this is so easy it's dull"-sense, of course.
• Convoluted scoring systems are also dumb. I prefer it when the scoring system is simple in rules but complex in planning and execution.
• I think loops are a lazy way for developers to artificially increase a shmup's playing time.
• My shmup-playing has decreased a lot over the years, but I try to at least play some doujin every now and then.

[chempop]

I have vowed a sacred oath to never play a Touhou for as long as I'm alive.

I firmly believe that practicing with save states is a form of cheating (I even feel like I'm cheating using restart or stage select).

Since I started using an octagonal-gate I am vastly more in control of my ship/character (I blame the first 5 years of my heavy shmupping failures on the dysfunctional dreamcast pad).

Roughly 3/4 of my 1-all/1cc are cave games, I find them substantially easier than practically every other arcade STG developer (Ibara and ESPrade took me about 5 hours each to clear - Gigawing 1+2, Mars Matrix, Garegga, Gunbird2, etc I've spent YEARS and COUNTLESS hours and still unable to clear them)

When I went to japan in 2002 I watched some DDP players in Tokyo but was too timid to try the game myself so I played Ikaruga and Shikigami no Shiro instead (my buddy also caught a live lobster in a UFO catcher machine that I carried around all day in a plastic bag, we ate it that night).

[Hagane]

Oh, a let's troll thread, it's been a while.

- The best Psikyo games are Dragon Blaze and Sengoku Blade, because they are the most refined games of their particular style. S1945 II is the worst, a soulless silly Raiden wannabe. S1999 did a much better job in general. Gunbird 1 is also much better than 2, which is also a hybrid with a personality disorder.

- Cave's games are overcomplicated and badly designed most of the time. They muddle things so much they need to patch their stuff constantly, and gave birth to a bunch of blind fans that believe that you absolutely need arcane gimmicks in every game or completely detach scoring from survival to have depth and good game design. Their best games are usually the most straightforward ones: Dangun Feveron, Ketsui and Progear, and most Cave fans hate 2 out of those 3 because only one comes in an overpriced PCB that was inaccessible to most for a long while.

- The main reason why Cave fans hate Touhou is because ZUN managed to pull off that kind of scoring style much more successfully than Cave. In every regard Touhou one-ups most of Cave's output, except graphics (because ZUN does everything himself, not because Cave games look any good with their ugly pre rendered graphics). The rest of the people who hate on the games never really put any time on any of them or understand them at all and just blast them because it's the cool thing to do, or hate on the games because they hate the stereotypical fan. If you complain about lolis in Touhou (a series that never sexualized its characters in game) but like Cave, you are silly.

- Yagawa's games are a mess, and they only end up playing decently unintentionally. Other than Batrider and Garegga (which has a lot of problems too), he hasn't done anything truly great in his career. They are all overlong with silly design decisions and often boring milking.

- People who complain about savestates or practice put silly arbitrary barriers to their progress, usually out of envy of the good players who do use those methods because even if they savestated/practiced they would never beat a Prometheus or TiH player. They put Japanese players in a pedestal as a counterpoint, but then are surprised when they learn how many hours those guys play. Be humble and accept when someone is better than you. No excuses.

- Under Defeat is a poor man's Zero Gunner 2. G.Rev games in general are solid and correct, but ultimately forgettable.

- Dimahoo is great.

- Seibu Kaihatsu probably was the most consistently good STG developer ever.

Phew, I feel much better now.

[ptoing]

...nor will any of them ever be. Not even simple shit like slowdown and graphic limits on Esprade and Progear are anywhere near remotely accurate.

People will never be able to fly.
People will never land on the moon.
Cancer is always a death sentence.
Aids as well.
And so on.

All that is needed is more effort put in to properly replicate the PCB hardware and more processing power on the emulation side. Never say never, least about obviously doable stuff like this.

[KAI]

I think all the people on this forum are unable to reach a consensus about what is shit and what is not.

[ptoing]

I think all the people on this forum are unable to reach a consensus about what is shit and what is not.

What's with using size=1 bullshit?

Obviously not everyone will agree what is good and what is not, esp when it comes to matters which are largely subjective such as music, art, games and so on. This does not just go for the people on this board, this goes for humanity as a whole.

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

Everyone here has really terrible opinions compared to mine. I'm constantly surprised by your terribility which is off the scale. For everyone here who has a different opinion on shooting games than me, especially if you don't like Cave games, I hope Tom Cruise dresses back up as Les Grossman and comes to your house and snaps your dick off with his meat paw. Then he breaks your entire game collection with a series of punches and replaces it with a mint sealed Sine Mora.

I don't want you to bleed out because then you wouldn't have time for Sine Mora so you should go to the hospital and have them sew your sack to your stomach. You can't have your dick back and once you go snap it never grows back.

I hope every time you play Sine Mora you get the Euro shmup piano dropped on your head.

[hail good sir]

Jokes on you my copy of Ikaruga is digital! booya

[oboewan42]

I absolutely abhor milking. I'll destroy individual parts of a boss for score, yes, but if you give me a weapon and a boss, that weapon is going to be on that boss until that boss is dead.
I barely play a game for more than a credit or so at a time, which is probably why my only 1CC worth noting is the first loop of Batsugun Special. It's because there are so many awesome shmups out there and I want to play all of them.
I like Touhou but have never beaten one on Normal (though that might be because I haven't seriously played one in... damn, how long has it been again?)
I don't like Guwange. Ketsui is cool but I don't really see what's so ZOMFGAWESOME about it.
I've never beaten the second stage of Ketsui. (partially because I get really into the whole point-blanking thing)
Futari is my favorite CAVE game by a long shot. Akai Katana is my least favorite, also by a long shot.
I tried Hellsinker once, and I honestly truly hate it. Probably because I never figured out how to play, but then again, I have no desire to whatsoever. I think it's pretentious crap, that's (in the words of Bonnie from Red Dead Redemption) "deliberately obscure as a substitute for having a personality". There are few things I abhor more than something that's obtuse for the sake of being obtuse.
I can probably have more fun with a little-known kusoge than a masterpiece. That's why I love finding undiscovered shmups.
R-Type Leo is my favorite in the series by a long shot.
Raiden DX is probably the best shooting game of all time. And I haven't really touched anything other than Alpha course.
Raiden Fighters was a lot more fun before I learned how to play.
I am really, really bad at memorization.
I like horizontal shmups but have yet to meet one that liked me back.
I hate it whenever people describe a game as an "easy clear" because all too often, for whatever reason, I find those particular games disproportionately difficult. (examples: Espgaluda, Thunderforce III, Compile games)
I play MAME shmups more than the ones I actually own legally.
I don't know how to Yagawa.
I find Sine Mora to be tolerable.
I always, always, always, always, always have a problem with forgetting to bomb.
I usually play for the clear rather than score... more importantly, though, I just think shmups are fun. I suck and I don't really care.
One of my favorite parts of the shmup community is the fact that you don't have to worry about unpopular opinions, because everyone hates everything. There are no sacred cows. You can come in and say "KETSUI SUCKS GAREGGA SUCKS RAIDEN SUCKS" and half the forum would probably agree with you. And that's awesome.

[monouchi]

I think garegga is overrated and I go for the looks.

[Deca]

I still haven't bothered to actually learn anything past 1-4 in DDP.

I've owned a legit copy of Crimzon Clover since it came out and probably have less than 5 hours on it.