Shmup Related Questions That Don't Deserve a Thread

[ACSeraph]

Just tried out arranged, it was really awesome. I think I like it better than the main game. Made it to stage 4 on 1 credit, but I kept getting pushed to the corner unable to work my way back over to what was shooting at me before I died. Just gotta practice I guess. The stage 3 boss final barrage was amazing... I need more.

[Skykid]

Just tried out arranged, it was really awesome. I think I like it better than the main game. Made it to stage 4 on 1 credit, but I kept getting pushed to the corner unable to work my way back over to what was shooting at me before I died. Just gotta practice I guess. The stage 3 boss final barrage was amazing... I need more.

Bullet herd. Try positioning yourself a third of the way up the screen or slightly higher, and allow the bullets to come at you at an angle, then sweep across to the other side and repeat. You'll get the hang of it.

[emphatic]

Anyone else not like the Super Ball in Outzone. I always seem to die when I pick it up.

Glad I'm not the only one...

Are you holding shot or tapping? It makes a world of difference.

[jepjepjep]

Holding down autofire . I actually played a bit more and figured out that you have to tap it rhythmically to keep shooting forward. With the autofire setup it wouldn't shoot consistently so I had to rely on ramming enemies. I'm at 90%, almost there!

[emphatic]

Holding down autofire . I actually played a bit more and figured out that you have to tap it rhythmically to keep shooting forward. With the autofire setup it wouldn't shoot consistently so I had to rely on ramming enemies. I'm at 90%, almost there!

Just use bombs whenever you are in trouble. You'll need to be real quick about it though.

[jepjepjep]

I usually die with 8-10 bombs in stock. I need to play less Cave.

[trap15]

I don't play with autofire.... I don't like the super ball because I can't angle my shot. I guess that's why I use the free shot thing almost all the time

[ACSeraph]

Looked for a review on here but I didn't see one so I'll just ask. Is the PS1 version of Dodonpachi a decent version of the game?

[BulletMagnet]

Short Answer: It looks and sounds better than the Saturn version, but you need to select your craft in the Options menu before starting, the speed is by default too fast (you need to hit pause and turn "Wait" to On every time you play), and even then supposedly the timing for certain chains is still off (though I'm not good enough at chaining to verify this myself).

Shorter Answer: The fact that you asked indicates that you need to read this thread.

[ACSeraph]

Yeah it was really more a question of it being a decent version of the arcade game, which the links in that thread would suggest it isn't and neither is the Saturn one. I saw it recently at a game store near me, but it was pricy and I didn't want to spend the cash if it wasn't a really good port of the game. Thanks for the info.

Id like to read some reviews of these games including older ports before I buy them that are written by expert players, but there actually aren't as many reviews on here as I expected. Hell I'd write some myself, I've got plenty of experience writing reviews, but I don't feel like I'm qualified to write reviews for shmups, at least not yet. I don't really trust other sites for info on my shmups, are there any sites, especially with large review archives I can trust?

[Erppo]

Here's a review you can trust.

[ACSeraph]

I was literally just coming in here to post that I found that review. I guess the main site has more reviews than the forum. I will try to be less derp in the future.

[Uzumakijl]

I have a copy of DFK (Resurrection) on the mail so i have a few questions.

How do i buy Black Label from NA?, Can i buy it from a web browser while using a proxy? or is there a safer workaround that doesn't involves making a new XBL account

[Squire Grooktook]

Finally 1cc'd Dodonpachi! I can't believe how easy it was. I remember when I first stumbled upon bullet hell like, 4 or 5 years ago. And playing Dodonpachi obsessively, thinking it was impossible to clear the game on less then 4 credits, and now after not playing it seriously for 4 years, I come back and clear it fairly easy. What fun!

[trap15]

You mean 1-all, I hope?

[CloudyMusic]

I have a copy of DFK (Resurrection) on the mail so i have a few questions.

How do i buy Black Label from NA?, Can i buy it from a web browser while using a proxy? or is there a safer workaround that doesn't involves making a new XBL account

Making a European Xbox Live account is really easy; you can find tutorials for doing it if you just Google around for it. In essence, it just involves supplying a fake address (don't worry, it's not ever used for anything). From that point, all you'd need is some way to get EU Microsoft Points onto your account. I had a friend in the UK buy a retail points card for me and send me the code, but there are other ways, I'm sure.

From that point, all you need to do is sign onto the EU account, add the points, and purchase/download the DLC. You can then play it on all of your other accounts on that console, including your NA account, with no issues.

[Uzumakijl]

Oh bummer, Seems somewhat complicated, i'm not really a fan of not having all my purchases in one place but i'll make the exception for this, Thanks for the reply.

Now just to get a point card for cheap... Amazon shipping is too expensive.

[Squire Grooktook]

You mean 1-all, I hope?

Yeah but HOLY HELL what is this doing in this thread? I could have sworn I put it in the "I DID IT" thread. I must have been tired lol.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

Can anyone tell me how the "Formula" ship operates in DBAC? I read something about it has short range weapons but I really dont know what that means and there don't seem to be any gameplay vids around. Thanks.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

How many times can the Gradius games be looped? What happens when the score turns over? Do the games start screwing up like pac-man or donkey kong after so many loops?

[trap15]

They loop infinitely, to my knowledge there is no kill screen, and I don't think you'll ever get the score to roll over It probably does counterstop at a point, but the records usually only go up to a limit and then are just something like 10,000,000+α.

[Obscura]

So, can some folks name some good semi bullet-hells along the lines of Batsugun, Dragon Blaze, or the Raizing Bat trilogy?

In particular, I'm looking for games that don't have patterns of a "lol, here's a tiny gap your hitbox can barely squeze through variety, can your controller tap accurately enough to get you through it?" like most, but still have high bullet counts. Aimed shots that use a "pick nearest angle" instead of a "pixel-aim everything" are preferred, as are games don't use a Raiden-like weapon system.

[Squire Grooktook]

"lol, here's a tiny gap your hitbox can barely squeze through variety, can your controller tap accurately enough to get you through it?"

That doesn't really sound like most bullet hell shooters tbh.

Anyway you might like Gradius V, Strania, anything by Raizing, anything by Psikyo.

Most Gradius games get pretty bullet heavy, especially on harder loops and difficulties. Darius Gaiden and G-Darius are pretty bullet heavy as well. Rayforce fits the "pick nearest angle" thing.

[nuskool]

On the 360 version of Dai Ou Jou can someone tell me what the popups say when you first load the game. Thanks

[Skykid]

Bump for hygiene and cleanliness. Use this thread for simple one post Q&A's.

[Obscura]

So, does anyone know for certain what the various factors are in Garegga Flamingo bombing?

I've seen my pointgain from that trick vary by about 800,000 points on consecutive runs, where I'm doing everything seemingly the same. The strategy thread only has a bunch of "well, we think this is how this works, but we don't really know...".

[trap15]

The general consensus is:

* Multiple flamingos can be hit at once, and the points stack for them. Therefore, hitting clusters of them is worth more than a single one.
* How much damage you do to the keep influences how many points each flamingo is worth per hit.

[Obscura]

Hmm..

Does position on the screen matter? I find that when I bomb the keep when it comes on the screen, go down and collect the bomb fragments from the turrets, and then go bomb the flamingos I get fewer points than when I grab all of the bomb fragments first, bomb the keep when it's lower on the screen, and then bomb the flamingos.

[oboewan42]

Anyone who speaks Japanese care to translate this?



It's from the hidden options menu in Super Star Soldier. There are four difficulty settings: "Poor Body", "Official Level" (default), "Go Go Enemys", and this.

(BTW, to get to the hidden menu, turn on the console while holding Run+Select, release those two buttons, then press Left II Up II Right II Down II Left I Up I Right I Down I (I+II)x8 (I+Select)x8.)

[Skykid]

Hmm..

Does position on the screen matter? I find that when I bomb the keep when it comes on the screen, go down and collect the bomb fragments from the turrets, and then go bomb the flamingos I get fewer points than when I grab all of the bomb fragments first, bomb the keep when it's lower on the screen, and then bomb the flamingos.

Your second method is best. The strength of the bomb counts towards faster points build iirc. That's the way I always do it anyway, and keep bombing until you're completely spent.