Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[rCadeGaming]

Beat Bari-Arm the other day. The level 5 boss was easy once I played it again and figured out a strategy. The difficulty serious spiked in the level 7 though (final level.)

What to play next...

[ACSeraph]

Friend of mine brought me a copy of Double Dealing Character back from Tokyo. Seems pretty fun so far, but I always play Touhou too riskily running to the top of stages to collect all the powerups and end up dead. I really need to concentrate on learning to stages before running up there blindly, but I just see all those powerups and can't help myself... Not sure if I'll stick with it long enough to get the 1cc, but I'm entertained for now. Just need a tate mod...

[Crafty+Mech]

Raiden Fighters Jet on the Xbox 360... makes me want to pick up the actual pcb. Unfortunately it is also the most $$ board of the series!

[ACSeraph]

Spent some time with double dealing character again tonight and made it to stage 5. Dat last attack... awesome...

Really enjoying this game, I think I like it a bit more than the other Touhous I've played. Might shoot for the clear after all. Probly won't be too hard at any rate since Reimu A is a beast.

[Ebbo]

Ginga Force

Cleared Story Mode on Normal and just started Hard. While it has been fun I can't shake off the feeling that something about this game just doesn't feel quite right. The challenge at times can feel very overwhelming and some of the boss patterns are just ridiculous. On the other hand the game often just chucks extends at your face like there is no tomorrow. I end up dying quite a lot but it doesn't seem to matter much either survival or scoring wise. The main and sub weapon fuel cauges seem a bit pointless as well since there isn't much need to adjust your weapon usage.

That being said the game is still really fun to play and definitely has its charms. There is something about the breakneck pace that just feels satisfying, even if I end dying several times in a row.

[crackfox]

Playing Batrider on MAME.
Haven't played any shmups for around 2 years....
Just getting back into them...
Also a bit of Ketsui.... still kicks my ass but really good fun!!!

[KAI]

Akai Katana Shin. Reached the last boss and I only played around 5 credits.
I still don't get how the scoring works.

[blackoak]

Ginga Force

Cleared Story Mode on Normal and just started Hard. While it has been fun I can't shake off the feeling that something about this game just doesn't feel quite right.

Yeah, I agree. I think the lack of hardware slowdown has something to do with it, as well as the reliance on the shield mechanic. The game was still pretty fun, but I didn't get that adrenaline thrill you get from an arcade shmup. I hated the (second to last?) battleship stage too. I applaud the effort to try new things with shmups though, and don't really regret buying it.

My recent shmup time has been greatly curtailed by a new (short-term) job, but I've mainly been playing Ibara, Rayforce, and Mushi Maniac. Not making too much progress in any of them, but I'm enjoying them all--Ibara the least. Whatever the distinct charm of this game is compared with Battle Garegga, I'm yet to discover it. I really need to sit down and watch some replays, I guess...

[ratikal]

Playing SDOJ trying to get an actual good stage 5 chain down...

[nasty_wolverine]

Akai Katana Shin. Reached the last boss and I only played around 5 credits.
I still don't get how the scoring works.

Easy, collect green orbs to charge special meter, blue orbs for swords, unleash swords on maximum number of enemies possible for maximum time, rinse and repeat, and dont drop chain...

[Eaglet]

Whatever the distinct charm of this game is compared with Battle Garegga, I'm yet to discover it.

ボンバー！
ボンバー！
ボンバー！
照準展開！
波動ガン！

[Bonus!]

I've been playing a lot of DDP SDOJ lately. I think it's the first time I got really hooked on a shmup. In fact, I repeatedly found myself completely losing track of time, realizing that I had not played about an hour but more like three.

[trap15]

ボンバー！
ボンバー！
ボンバー！
照準展開！
波動ガン！

The greatest game of all time.

[null1024]

Mushihimesama Futari Black Label [Arcade].
aaaa, the throw on that stick is super far
And then I made some stupid mistakes and didn't get to see the third boss. Only put in one credit, was running low on coins.

Mad Planets [Arcade]
Apparently, I can only do well if I play with my arms crossed -- right hand on spinner, left hand on joystick. Got to the 9th round, with the first 5 being perfects.

[Kiken]

Gave UD HD and UD HD+ another try. Ugh.... I fail to see what G.Rev were aiming for with either mode. Awful enemy placement made worse by cramped vertical space. The whole Rank Gauge system in + seems completely arbitrary (annnnnnnnnnnd.. we're going to slow down the level right here and throw a bunch of bonus copters at you)... also, could this mode possibly throw more bombs at the player? Really, if you're just going to flood the player's bomb stock, why not have the bombs function differently?

Back to Arcade Mode I go.

[KAI]

ボンバー！
ボンバー！
ボンバー！
照準展開！
波動ガン！

You forgot the aura kill.

[Eaglet]

You forgot the aura kill.

照準展開！

Covers both.

[NeoStrayCat]

Another "Kong BOTD game", that's really hilariously wacky or silly in hindsight. Although plays kinda like Gradius with just limited "beam" shots. And yes, its quite a mouthful (no pun intended) (and very short)...

Robot Dinosaurs That Shoot Beams When They Roar!

[EmperorIng]

-A little bit of practice in Gekirindan (both MAME and PS2... it seems a bit harder to see things in the PS2 port due to the scaling on the TV screen) to get a higher score on the leaderboards (maybe even a 1CC?)

But mainly,

-Darius II (Saturn port). Using the autofire code makes quick work of the bosses, and improves my score by several hundreds of thousands over using MAME. Though the disadvantage remains of not being able to make things out very clearly on the Saturn port and thus dying to hard-to-see bullets or stupidly ramming my awkward, giant Silver Hawk into a wall. Still though, I am close to 1CCing the game if I can get a reliable strategy down for making it through the Earth and Mars stages without dying.

I'm glad all the silly debate over autofire in Darius Gaiden never bled over into the other games of the series.

I recently purchased the Saturn port of Metal Black, so I probably will be devoting more time to that in the near future. Already really like the game, so I sort of just wanted to play it on the TV with a port without troubles (looking at you Taito Legends 2).

[EmperorIng]

Sorry for the double post, but as a [self] update, my copy of Metal Black came in - lightning fast, I might add - so I've been plunking away at it for the last few days.

I managed 300K on my latest run, getting up to the giant battleship boss on stage 4. A lot better than I thought I'd do! I would guess since I've played and credit-fed the hell out of this game in MAME in the past, I -sorta- know what's happening; though, as anyone can attest, this game is certainly full of very cheap deaths (stage 2 in particular is a heavy offender).

[hermit crab]

Played Fast Striker today for the first time in a while. Maniac mode.

Gameplay was actually more fun than I remembered, great game. Great music too. Gfx were worse than I remembered but whatever, who has time to pay too much attention to them anyway.

Broken chain.

[BIL]

though, as anyone can attest, this game is certainly full of very cheap deaths (stage 2 in particular is a heavy offender).

In what way? Can't think of any notable cheap shots in there. Unless you mean enemies appearing from the left, but the stage immediately gives notice that the left screen edge is unsafe, as it will be for the game's remainder.

I think MB's alleged "cheapness" above and beyond the typical arcade STG is down to misunderstanding its unusually counter-offense geared ship, rather than anything in its stage designs.

[EmperorIng]

The beginning and the end of stage 2 in particular can easily box you in. The end more so with the rockets in conjunction with the fish-like enemies.

As well, there is the part where the row of enemies leave those large colored orbs in front of you, followed by a row of enemies leaving a bullet spam.

[BIL]

Being attacked on two fronts in a relatively slow, unidirectionally-firing ship is certainly hard, but it's a far cry from certain quarter-munching death. Even ignoring bombing, there's enough leeway to improvise through both of those scenarios.

Or not, of course! But I equate cheapness with getting mugged by an instant laser fired from offscreen, or Door B concealing an inescapable trash compactor.

[Crafty+Mech]

Still trying to climb the Xbox Live leader boards for Raiden Fighters Jet. Who is h8trfistinator ? He has the top spot for every mode, every ship, etc... the King of RFJ by a wide margin.

I've managed #2 for several ships in Normal mode, but the gulf between the #1 spot is enormous!

[hail good sir]

Just came super close to clearing Mushi 360 arrange. Felt great since it's something I never thought I would be able to do, without the ps2 style auto bombs. 2 more bombs and I think I could of had it... now I want to keep playing but I have to study for a test tomorrow. Fuck.

I'm really getting comfortable with the LS-58 I started playing with a month or two ago and the difference is amazing.

[null1024]

Dangun Feveron [Arcade/MAME]

oh what the hell is up with me
Absolutely atrocious runs, siiiiigh. No reason I should die before the stage 2 boss.

[Drachenherz]

Gradius V...

Yeah, loving the instant respawn and that you get to keep your options!

[EmperorIng]

Being attacked on two fronts in a relatively slow, unidirectionally-firing ship is certainly hard, but it's a far cry from certain quarter-munching death. Even ignoring bombing, there's enough leeway to improvise through both of those scenarios.

Or not, of course! But I equate cheapness with getting mugged by an instant laser fired from offscreen, or Door B concealing an inescapable trash compactor.

I think the particular moment of orbs > small enemy bullet spam is meant to be bombed, but in my case cheapness still constitutes the possibility of failure even if sound tactics are deployed, which I feel at this early stage Metal Black seems to employ.

The other day I had my second time reaching Amazo (with a total of 340K), so at least there's some improvement.

Gradius V...

Yeah, loving the instant respawn and that you get to keep your options!

An excellent addition - it's especially nice that they kept the checkpoints in for purists who want to play the game with more frustration. As you might be able to tell, I am not sure if I count myself amongst that group yet!

[KAI]

Satazius. Don't like the music so much.