Shmup with randomly bullets?

[nesrulz]

Is there a shmup where the bullets and enemies go randomly, not always the same paths?

So a game that is played entirely on reflexes.

[Squire Grooktook]

While I can't think of many shmups that are completely random. There are certainly many shmups where a random element seems to have been a concious design choice. A few examples:

Gradius II and IV (a lot of the stage hazards like crystals/bubbles/volcanoes/etc. are random. The suicide bullets on higher loops are random also I believe)
Eschatos (A few static points here and there but otherwise almost every enemy has at least one rng factor)
Touhou (Most of the games have a lot of rng patterns on bosses)
Cho Ren Sha 68k (not so much on normal, but hard mode the rng suicide lasers are completely random and very much change the way you play. The TLB is also very random)

These games still benefit from planning and memorization, so it's not completely reaction nirvana, but it should give you the "oh shit" and random dodging moments you're looking for.

PS: I haven't played them, but I'm told Ibara and Pink Sweets are very random. Could someone confirm this? I thought they were non static in that they were rank based, not random.

[ptoing]

Can not vouch for the Gradius games, have not played them much.

But I do not think that Eschatos actually is very random.
And very sure that CRS68K is either, at least not in any real way. The seed seems to be the same always.

[Squire Grooktook]

But I do not think that Eschatos actually is very random.

Mostly in regards to random spawn points on many enemies (the designer said that zakos with random spawn points was a part of his idea for the game from the beginning), a few random hazards (crystal maze), and some of the enemies movement patterns a bit (the teleport guys I think). It's not rng hell or anything, but it's got a fair amount of random dodging at some points I think.

And very sure that CRS68K is either, at least not in any real way. The seed seems to be the same always.

Have you played on hard mode? The purple suicide lasers are different every time. Pretty sure it's as rng as you could hope for, I certainly couldn't find any way to manipulate them.

Normal mode is pretty static though.

*edit* I see I forgot to add hard mode to my original post about the suicide lasers. My mistake.

[ptoing]

Yeah, that makes sense in Eschatos.

In CRS, go start a game on hard, move all the way to the left and keep shooting. Then when the next 4 enemies come in move over and shoot them as fast as you can, staying at the bottom of the screen. Get yourself killed and then do this again and you will see that the game always starts with the same seed. Not really random, so the playingfield is level, but it feels random enough.

[Squire Grooktook]

Yeah, that makes sense in Eschatos.

In CRS, go start a game on hard, move all the way to the left and keep shooting. Then when the next 4 enemies come in move over and shoot them as fast as you can, staying at the bottom of the screen. Get yourself killed and then do this again and you will see that the game always starts with the same seed. Not really random, so the playingfield is level, but it feels random enough.

Yeah. The same thing applies to a lot of games where the rng is based on player positioning and other such factors, but it might as well be random (after all, nothing in computer games is truly random right now), since I doubt even the best players could possibly play the whole game on the pixel and frame perfect route that would be needed to completely control that seed value from start to finish. That's pretty much the realm of TAS only strats.

[ptoing]

Yeah, I see what you mean. Tho I think the planer the playing field, the better. And as such having stuff that is a controlled form of random is preferable (if true random or a more random option was possible), as long as it feels random enough.

[SuperDeadite]

Zanac, Zanac FDS/FC, Zanac EX, and Aleste all have the AI system. Where the game attacks you based on your sub-weapon and how aggressive your being. So it's not really random, but the AI is quite simple, so it still feels random in what triggers what. You'll never get the same exact enemy waves twice, though there is a lot of similarity.

[Kollision]

Under Defeat
Rayforce
Raystorm

May the laser force be with you.

[KAI]

MILESTONE.

[glitch]

aa mujou setsuna has a random mode.

PS: I haven't played them, but I'm told Ibara and Pink Sweets are very random. Could someone confirm this? I thought they were non static in that they were rank based, not random.

yeah, what items appear from ground (and maybe other?) targets is pretty random.
what stuff you get from the trains on stage 3 in ibara can kinda make or break a high-level run, iirc.