Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

Battle Garegga and Batrider. After spending more time with Garegga, it's not quite as boring as it was to me before. I'm also slowly improving my Batrider skills, it's such a kick-ass game, IMO Raizing's best. It's actually quite refreshing spending some time on other shmups other than my beloved Raiden games.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

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!

Checkpoints really are a frustrating and unfun mechanic... but ironically, in the game that makes them optional, it's actually pretty reasonable. Your hitbox is so small and your default movement speed is manageable enough that recovering is probably the easiest of any Gradius game, you've still got plenty ability to dodge (your attack power does take quite the hit though).

The only other game I can think of with checkpoints that lets you disable 'em are the ports of the various Parodius games (they also let you disable Roulette if you want!).

[Softdrink 117]

Have had a weird craving to play Touhou for the last couple days. For a game series I'm not normally a huge fan of, I'm actually having quite a bit of fun with the games for the first time in a long while. Playing Perfect Cherry Blossom and Imperishable Night at the moment, and messing around in Shoot the Bullet, too.

I would normally be practicing Mushihime-sama more, but at the moment I don't have access to my Xbox.

[chempop]

[BIL]

I think the particular moment of orbs > small enemy bullet spam is meant to be bombed

You can just fire constantly while tap-dodging to herd the bullets safely (every single one is aimed directly at you, and the orbs will be shoved away by your shots). I do recommend bombing to new players in my ST to expedite this process and cut down on risk, though. Even if you've not got a bomb ready to wipe out the snipers before they can shoot, a beam combined with bullet herding will work fine.

[Drachenherz]

Holy wowsers, Gradius V really is my cup of tea! Been playing for two hours straight yesterday and didn't even realise how the time was flying by. But I have to admit, I rather suck at it, couldn't reach level 4 on 3 three credits...

But it doesn't matter - I am actually enjoying myself learning the stages - thanks to instant respawn and the mentioned options it isn't as frustrating as other entries in the serious.

Coming from a loooong bullet hell binge, it is like a fresh breeze in my shmupping pastime.

[hermit crab]

XII Stag PS2

Never played it before, very nice game. The PS2 has a pretty good library when you think about it.

[Minzoku]

Somebody just made Cookie Shooter, which is an interesting concept but easily broken with turbo fire

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Somebody just made Cookie Shooter, which is an interesting concept but easily broken with turbo fire

The shift key can be used to slow you down... but the shot button is space? =/ The programmer either has absurdly long fingers, or doesn't know about the z key. Amusing, but somehow I got the game to give me cookies just for sitting in the pause screen... I can literally just leave it and earn cookies for upgrades; that can't be intentional.

[professor ganson]

Strikers 1945 III - might be my least favorite of Psikyo's better games. Not enough charm to compensate for the frustration, and I don't like the specials.

[null1024]

Thunder Force V [PS1].

It's been ages since I've touched this. It is a game that probably should have been designed entirely around Free Range.

[BIL]

^yes - provided the level design was improved, a TF-style shooter (fast, tightly-terrained and heavily armed) with just FR plus maybe a chargeable forward/back shot for balance and variety could've been awesome. It's stylish and dominating enough of a weapon to support a full game - problem is it's in a TF. Being pushed to use FR not for instant boss kills but mere survival could feel kind of like a horizontal take on Souky's web lockon. Not like you can actually play TFV without abusing FR and not get called a bumbling asshole, anyway!

"It's great that you survived that boss's full arsenal of attacks before destroying it Timmy, but I'm afraid we have to kill you now." x1

[PedroMD]

I've been playing Esp.rade these past days. I remember having played it some years ago and not liking it very much, but since I've warmed up to Cave games (meaning I played some, sucked in all of them, but liked them nevertheless) I decided to give this one another go.

Well, I'm enjoying it. Except I want to remember whoever told me this one was an easy clear and kick them in the ear. No matter how much I sucked in other games, at least I could reach st4 unscathed consistently (and then proceed to die in rapid succession) after some days of play, but I'm struggling to get through st3 in this one. I don't even know why I'm finding this game so hard, but the bullets seem to be more spread out than other Cave games or something. I don't know, I'll keep playing until I stop enjoying it. I'm just confused because I hit the inevitable brick wall much earlier than usual, in a supposedly easy clear.

[professor ganson]

Strikers 1945 III - Just found out about the secret ship, X-36. It makes a big difference to have a useful special shot, one that can take out the bigger enemies before they spew out a mess of bullets. I'm getting more into the game the more I play it.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

The other ships have good special shots, the problem is they're not so effective unless you know when to use them because, for the most part, they're stationary (the special attack fires from wherever you used it). The secret ship allows you to sweep anywhere you like with its attack, making it not only strong, but more versatile than the other ships.

The harrier has a pretty good special attack though, a lock-on attack that zips to enemies and pumps 'em full of shots. But it's got its own problems, like its bomb taking a second to actually fire and not giving you any sort of invulnerability (compared to other planes which make you invulnerable the moment you bomb).

I used the Raptor a lot, namely because I was being contrarian and didn't want to go with the secret ship.

[null1024]

R-Type [ZX Spectrum].

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
I haven't even made it to the first boss. Also, FUSE seems to segfault at random when I press the B key on my Saturn controller...

So many situations are super-cramped and I need to do completely different things to get around them here. The super-coarse movement doesn't help.

It is really impressive for the Spectrum though.

[Kollision]

Started playing Cotton 2 a while ago and had a little fun with Galaga 88, but vacation is upon me and I'll have to take a break for at least 3 weeks.... Gonna try to find arcade joints in the wild while travelling through Europe.

[professor ganson]

I was being contrarian and didn't want to go with the secret ship.

I know what you mean. Thanks for noting that the other specials can do the trick of taking out the bigger enemies (that aren't bosses). Now that I'm getting to know the stages, I could probably get by with one of the other ships, provided the special is powerful enough when used effectively. I need to save the bombs for the bosses.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Like this site attests, the X-36 IS the best all around plane though, which is why it's so popular. Good movement speed, massive damage with its main weapon and special weapon, its normal shots have a homing attack, its bomb is useful... It really has no serious disadvantage and excels in all areas.

The other ships all suffer from some disadvantages that offset their strengths, which is why they're less useful.

[ACSeraph]

Was playing Mushihimesama iOS at the Japanese DMV this morning. I'd love to see Cave port more stuff to iOS, they are pretty much the only things on the platform that feel like real professional games to me.

[ZaKa-tokyobassist]

Slacking a bit on my shmups due to GTA V but I was playing a fair amount of Ketsui and R-Type Delta. I still need to figure out Stage 4 in both games.

[criddo91]

Playing Gekirindan for the first time, am liking it but I suck at it at the moment. Might give Final soldier on the PC Engine a go later.

[Softdrink 117]

Almost cleared DOJBL a few minutes ago. Stage 5 boss, made it as far as "Just a couple more shots!", GO with one hyper in stock. /raeg

Then, my internet freaked out on me as I was trying to join #shmups; so for all I know I accidentally posted the same message like a thousand times, and now I can't join back.

And youtube is taking like five hours to upload a 15 minute video...

Suffice to say I'm having an annoying evening.

[hail good sir]

Entire bomb stock of first and last life wasted on an auto bomb. Which is obviously better than outright dying but it still stings of "what if". (This is mushi 360 arrange where you get 1 auto bomb but it uses your entire stock)

[ACSeraph]

Found a copy of Parodius Portable this weekend. I've been playing with the default tuned settings, and really really enjoying it more than I've ever enjoyed Parodius before. But I feel really guilty, because the tuned settings make the game quite a bit easier than the arcade versions...

[Kiken]

Got fed up trying to put a 2-All score for UD HD Arcade mode on the US PS3 leaderboards and switched back to getting messed up in stages 5 and 6 of Exzeal. In order to nail the all clear I'm gonna have to No Miss to stage 6 and then pretty much go with the bomb-bomb-die-repeat strategy for the later half of the level.

[Softdrink 117]

Decided to play more 2hus. Cleared IN normal (Reimu / Yukari, Final A), working on Phantasmagoria of Flower View right now. I forgot how fast-paced this game gets. Lots of fun.

[friedrich]

Mushihime Futari 1.5
Level 3 boss is the limit right now.

[null1024]

Galactic Attack [Saturn].

dunno why I didn't just use MAME, haha

Popped the disc into my laptop, plugged in my Saturn controller, fired up SSF, and away I went.
and I died in the worst ways, what the hell am I doing

I hit bullets that I knew were there. I hit enemies that I had no reason to. At least I remembered all the boss patterns up to Stage 4, so that wasn't an issue.

and I forgot how good this game was, jeez

[To Far Away Times]

Galactic Attack [Saturn].

dunno why I didn't just use MAME, haha

Popped the disc into my laptop, plugged in my Saturn controller, fired up SSF, and away I went.
and I died in the worst ways, what the hell am I doing

I hit bullets that I knew were there. I hit enemies that I had no reason to. At least I remembered all the boss patterns up to Stage 4, so that wasn't an issue.

and I forgot how good this game was, jeez

This game is so much harder that it looks. Dat giant hitbox.