The BIG thread of Shmup grievances.

[LordHypnos]

How is that final stage 2 boss attack even dodgeable!?

Take a deep breath...

Don't think of the stage 2 boss as the tower on the battleship, think of it as the entire battleship.

When I play and the alarm sounds as far as I am concerned the boss fight is starting.

The battleship is broken up into 4 sections:

The starboard side
The back
Port side to the front
And finally the tower

The key (especially in the 360 version) is the tower is a LIVE target from the first time you pass it. You should be able to rocket it at least twice (once on the first pass and then on final approach) before its life bar is displayed. That with hammering the shit out of it with your gun and by the time its bar is displayed it should be either gone or almost gone.

Figure out the timing and you'll marvel at how easy it is!

If you would like me to go into more detail I would be happy to! Let me know and good luck!

So you can rocket it from the starboard side, as well? Or do you mean when you're scrolling by it on the port side on the way to the front? Either way, that's very useful to know, thanks!
I'm sure I'll get the hang of it with some more practice.

[Stevens]

So you can rocket it from the starboard side, as well? Or do you mean when you're scrolling by it on the port side on the way to the front? Either way, that's very useful to know, thanks!
I'm sure I'll get the hang of it with some more practice.

I've no doubt:D

Whoops. Sorry for the confusion. only on the port side on the way to the front.

In the DC version the target is active as you pass it on the port side until the 5th helicopter appears on the screen. It becomes active again as you approach it.

Fun little Easter egg - You will see the planes from the back of the ship take off if you don't destroy them. It is pretty cool.

I don't know how true the story that goes with it is, but it is sound logically:

The theory (not mine originally) is that since the small battleship in stage 2 does not split in half the giant boss battleship shouldn't either, not without a little help. Someone came up with a story that it is supposed to be a group of German saboteurs escaping in those planes. They plant the bombs that split the ship in half.

I don't care if it's true. I pretend that is what happens.

A youtube comment:

Supposedly, the dialogue stated when they fly away is "Thanks for letting me off of this thing!" in German or something. See, you alone didn't sink Mauser - apparently a bunch of Empire sabotage teams planted bombs on the thing to make it...well, sink better. Which explains why the battlecruiser Kalashnikov didn't crack in two when you destroyed everything on it. Unfortunately, in this video you so happened to destroy their only way off. It's okay though, presumably they got hailed as martyrs.

[LordHypnos]

So you can rocket it from the starboard side, as well? Or do you mean when you're scrolling by it on the port side on the way to the front? Either way, that's very useful to know, thanks!
I'm sure I'll get the hang of it with some more practice.

I've no doubt:D

Whoops. Sorry for the confusion. only on the port side on the way to the front.

In the DC version the target is active as you pass it on the port side until the 5th helicopter appears on the screen. It becomes active again as you approach it.

Fun little Easter egg - You will see the planes from the back of the ship take off if you don't destroy them. It is pretty cool.

I don't know how true the story that goes with it is, but it is sound logically:

The theory (not mine originally) is that since the small battleship in stage 2 does not split in half the giant boss battleship shouldn't either, not without a little help. Someone came up with a story that it is supposed to be a group of German saboteurs escaping in those planes. They plant the bombs that split the ship in half.

I don't care if it's true. I pretend that is what happens.

A youtube comment:

Supposedly, the dialogue stated when they fly away is "Thanks for letting me off of this thing!" in German or something. See, you alone didn't sink Mauser - apparently a bunch of Empire sabotage teams planted bombs on the thing to make it...well, sink better. Which explains why the battlecruiser Kalashnikov didn't crack in two when you destroyed everything on it. Unfortunately, in this video you so happened to destroy their only way off. It's okay though, presumably they got hailed as martyrs.

Alright, that's good to know. Also, definitely cool trivia! Little details like that are always fun.

[CloudyMusic]

this shit D:

[Blinge]

hah. trying to focus on a shmup when you've recently argued with your missus.
fucking forget it

[Stevens]

hah. trying to focus on a shmup when you've recently argued with your missus.
fucking forget it

Impossible.

[endoKarb]

more doj black nonsense:

Just entered 2-3 with 3 full lives and still game overed without reaching 2-4. I don't know what the fuck is wrong with me...

On the bright side, I managed to enter the loop by satisfying the "no more than 2 lives lost" requirement, which I thought was pretty cool.

I actually wanted to restart after missing a bee in stage 2, but I said fuck it let's try anyway. Missed soon after in stage 4, but by some miracle I still managed losing only another life.
The final fight was pretty intense, I had to perfectly dodge the last pattern all the way to end or I'd have been screwed. Thankfully I had practiced that just in case, even though I always bomb it in regular runs.

[pokemon123]

more doj black nonsense:

Just entered 2-3 with 3 full lives and still game overed without reaching 2-4. I don't know what the fuck is wrong with me...

On the bright side, I managed to enter the loop by satisfying the "no more than 2 lives lost" requirement, which I thought was pretty cool.

I actually wanted to restart after missing a bee in stage 2, but I said fuck it let's try anyway. Missed soon after in stage 4, but by some miracle I still managed losing only another life.
The final fight was pretty intense, I had to perfectly dodge the last pattern all the way to end or I'd have been screwed. Thankfully I had practiced that just in case, even though I always bomb it in regular runs.

way off topic but are you playing on mame? If so do you know how I might be able to get the bees to spawn properly?

to at least be sort of on topic pink sweets why you so hard?!

[pestro87]

this shit D:

Haha, oh man, that was crazy close! I've had similar experiences in Garegga with that 1-up. Something that is quite BS in Garegga is when Mad Ball (1 and 2) refuses to move down into that sweet spot where you can land a bomb on him for massive points. I've had really good credits with Golden Bat and then Mad Ball 1/2 just refuses to co-operate. It's even worse with Golden Bat (compared to Gain) because you need to suicide and then use the invincibility to bomb the center of Mad Ball so sometimes I've suicided and am about to drop the bomb and then Mad Ball starts moving up... D:

[BareKnuckleRoo]

way off topic but are you playing on mame? If so do you know how I might be able to get the bees to spawn properly?

DOJ has no emulation issues with bee spawning. I play it with MAMEPlus with no problems. In any version of DDP, you need to hit the bee with the tip of your laser to make it appear. You can reveal bee locations by firing shot over them which causes the bee item to flash, but to actually make it collectable, all you need to do is fire the laser so the beam's tip touches the bee item.

[pokemon123]

way off topic but are you playing on mame? If so do you know how I might be able to get the bees to spawn properly?

DOJ has no emulation issues with bee spawning. I play it with MAMEPlus with no problems. In any version of DDP, you need to hit the bee with the tip of your laser to make it appear. You can reveal bee locations by firing shot over them which causes the bee item to flash, but to actually make it collectable, all you need to do is fire the laser so the beam's tip touches the bee item.

weird. Can't get that to happen. I hold down laser but the bee item still remains gray and I can't collect it. I will try another version of MAME and get back to you.


EDIT: seems it was my version of MAME. Tried the latest version and everything is working perfectly!

[Obscura]

It's not "holding down" laser. It's aiming laser so that the tip of it shoots the bee while it's moving upwards. You have to get directly under the bee then press laser.

[Shepardus]

In case you didn't know you have to hit the bee with the tip of your laser, not just any part of the laser. So you may need to stop firing or switch to shot, then go back to laser while under them.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I just ran into the weirdest bug in DOJ WL - I was fighting the final boss, hyper item showed up onscreen, I used a laserbomb and managed to get the hyper item just before invulnerability ran out, pressed the hyper button and heard the activation sound effect and immediately died (does collision invulnerability not apply to hypering?).

I used a continue (bleh I'll watch the ending) - the actual bug was that I could not longer use bombs when I respawned! Not that it mattered as I'd gameovered...

[iconoclast]

After you use a bomb, you have to wait until you're vulnerable again before using a hyper in DOJWL. Otherwise you won't have any invincibility.

[Shepardus]

this shit D:

Almost as bad a feeling as when you do too little damage and you're frantically trying to finish it off as it slowly scrolls out of the screen.

[CloudyMusic]

this shit D:

Almost as bad a feeling as when you do too little damage and you're frantically trying to finish it off as it slowly scrolls out of the screen.

I've done plenty of both!

[Shepardus]

THESE DAMN BULLETS.



I'm pretty sure the hitbox for these is a lot smaller than their sprite (just the bright part?), so they don't form as continuous a line as they seem to. Now in most games I wouldn't mind, but this is Battle Bakraid we're talking about, I need to run into something and do so quickly, and whenever I try to commit suicide on these bullets I manage to weave back and forth through them three or four times before my chain timer expires and I'm left staring incredulously at my newfound superplayer-tier dodging skills.

Of course, when I actually need to survive they never fail to wall me into a corner and kill me. Thanks Yagawa.

[Icarus]

Bakraid: the game where it's impossible to kill yourself on purpose at critical moments. :V

[Squire Grooktook]

My preference in general is that if you can miss a bullet while intentionally trying to run into it, the hitbox (or the bullet) is a little too small.

[copy-paster]

I have 4 words about Gunbird 2 and Sexy Parodius :

Cute Characters, Brutal Game

[Blinge]

Dual Horn in G darius. how the hell do you avoid the fleet of missles/ships/prawns whatever they are.. they get launched, followed by circular exploding mines that effectively block the left part of the screen.

[ACSeraph]

Dual Horn in G darius. how the hell do you avoid the fleet of missles/ships/prawns whatever they are.. they get launched, followed by circular exploding mines that effectively block the left part of the screen.

Man I wanna go get pissed at G Darius but thanks to you I'm too busy getting pissed at Dark Souls >_>

[copy-paster]

R-Type stage 5 and R-Type II stage 4 always gets me raped for good until now, especially the bosses

[CloudyMusic]

when all of your powerups vanish into the ether just before a boss

[Shepardus]

when all of your powerups vanish into the ether just before a boss

That's happened to me twice before, both times in the same part of the game (the big transport plane before Black Heart). I'm guessing it's a bug with that specific section.

[pokemon123]

gah growing more pessimistic about these games each day . Frustrated with the fact that i can't seem to find one game to sit down with and try to clear and then i'm frustrated by the fact that i can't do well which is stupid i know :/ i also think i should just stop trying to score in general. I thought it was the game I was playing at first (DOJ) but i tried other games and don't enjoy it. Just keep on constantly dying. The whole idea of routing isn't fun to me but maybe that's because i have no idea how to route in any game?

The good thing about DDP was that at least i could just look up a superplay and just copy their route but when i try ketsui or garegga or something i understand the scoring system but i'm not sure how to actually form routes to get a score.

bleh sorry for a dumb rant again.

EDIT: so i just went ahead and did the dumbest thing deleted all my MAME games except garegga, I will learn this game no matter what it takes although I still don't know how to route lol.

[Shepardus]

I didn't play any shmups seriously for score for over half a decade, Battle Bakraid's probably the first I've really prioritized scoring over survival in.

You route Garegga by familiarizing yourself with playing the stages for survival and incorporating individual tricks as you feel like it (the first obvious one is bombing the birds in stage 2). In my experience it's quite a natural process compared to many other games. Don't worry about rank until you can get to at least the turret wall in stage 6, maybe even later (I didn't bother managing my rank until I was struggling with Black Heart mk.II).

[Immryr]

Why oh why can you not speed up darius gaiden's ridiculous 20 second continue countdown!?!

[Obscura]

when all of your powerups vanish into the ether just before a boss

That's happened to me twice before, both times in the same part of the game (the big transport plane before Black Heart). I'm guessing it's a bug with that specific section.

Isn't it just the sprite limit causing it to happen? Pretty sure I've seen it at more places than just Slayer, although Slayer's millions of rotating cannons and shrapnel and debris push the sprite limit like not much else.