Shmup Related Questions That Don't Deserve a Thread

[xxx1993]

Are there any credits in Strania? If so, do they extend? And can you not continue if you lose against the true final boss?

[ardiel]

To what extent can one de-waifu-ize DDP Resurrection? Disable backgrounds, voices, etc.. I want to support PC shmup releases but the emphasis on anime girls... I don't like it.

You can change the wallpapers to generic ones. You don't really notice the bosses as being anime girls that much when you're actually playing since half the time they're in ship mode and the other half they're covered in bullets. The voices can be annoying though.

[xxx1993]

Well, if credits do extend, then what's the point of not having to continue against the final boss?

[trap15]

To make it so you can't see the ending unless you're actually good at the game.

[xxx1993]

I've seen the final boss battle.

[Durandal]

I've seen the final boss battle.

There's a TRUE final boss battle if you don't continue.

[xxx1993]

Wait, you saying I can only fight Yosemite in Strania if I don't continue?

[Durandal]

Wait, you saying I can only fight Yosemite in Strania if I don't continue?

There's the battle against him in his giga mecha which you can reach with or without continuing, and the last phase of the duel between you and him in the Vower homeworld if you don't continue at all
Same goes for the Vower Side DLC

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Isn't there also a difficulty requirement for Strania's TLB fight? I seem to recall you needed to play on Hard difficulty, and he didn't show up on Normal.

[Durandal]

Isn't there also a difficulty requirement for Strania's TLB fight? I seem to recall you needed to play on Hard difficulty, and he didn't show up on Normal.

Oh yeah, the TLB only shows up when going for a 1cc on Hard.

[xxx1993]

I thought you could only fight Yosemite by playing on Hard or Expert, no one told me you had to beat it without continuing.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Try credit feeding it on Hard and if the TLB doesn't show up, there's your answer.

[NTSC-J]

I thought you could only fight Yosemite by playing on Hard or Expert, no one told me you had to beat it without continuing.

One thing you could do is have someone who's good at the game beat it for you, but in order to say you've beaten it, try the following:

- Have them pass the controller to you in-between stages when the score is tallied up or during cutscenes
- Lightly place your hand over theirs during the game (not too hard, you don't want to mess them up)
- Offer them tips and strategies during the game, such as "Great job!" and "You can do it!"

I know it's not exactly the same, but this should be about equivalent to just credit-feeding through.

[reckon luck]

To what extent can one de-waifu-ize DDP Resurrection? Disable backgrounds, voices, etc.. I want to support PC shmup releases but the emphasis on anime girls... I don't like it.

You can change the wallpapers to generic ones. You don't really notice the bosses as being anime girls that much when you're actually playing since half the time they're in ship mode and the other half they're covered in bullets. The voices can be annoying though.

Picked this up in the current sale. Changed the background, voice volume to 0, it's all good.

[xxx1993]

I thought you could only fight Yosemite by playing on Hard or Expert, no one told me you had to beat it without continuing.

One thing you could do is have someone who's good at the game beat it for you, but in order to say you've beaten it, try the following:

- Have them pass the controller to you in-between stages when the score is tallied up or during cutscenes
- Lightly place your hand over theirs during the game (not too hard, you don't want to mess them up)
- Offer them tips and strategies during the game, such as "Great job!" and "You can do it!"

I know it's not exactly the same, but this should be about equivalent to just credit-feeding through.

If I did have a friend, maybe.

[CloudyMusic]

Use it as motivation. Work towards achieving your goals.

[ardiel]

How can I train my brain to be better at shmups?

I've been playing for years and I still have this one problem that never improves, and that is my brain cannot fully comprehend what's going on at certain points. I just can't register all these different dangers at the same time and end up running into something because I can't see it. It's like my senses just start shutting down.

Complicated dense patterns: ok.
Five different kinds of bullets with different shapes, colors, directions and speeds: not ok.

[egg_sanwich]

How can I train my brain to be better at shmups?

I've been playing for years and I still have this one problem that never improves, and that is my brain cannot fully comprehend what's going on at certain points. I just can't register all these different dangers at the same time and end up running into something because I can't see it. It's like my senses just start shutting down.

Complicated dense patterns: ok.
Five different kinds of bullets with different shapes, colors, directions and speeds: not ok.

It's no different than training your body to be good at anything else - practice. Memorization means you won't run into things you can't see, because you already know they are there. I don't think there are any shortcuts unfortunately.

[Shepardus]

Practice and simplify to the point where you're not parsing all the different threats individually, you're just avoiding them because that's what you do. You don't think about all the different muscles you contract and relax when you move your hands and fingers, you just see it as pressing a button. It should be the same sort of thing with the things you do in the game.

[ardiel]

How am I supposed to practice? What does that mean?

Just playing is obviously not enough because I've been doing that with zero improvement.

Most things like sports or instruments have methods of practice which are more than "do the thing over and over"

[Shepardus]

Depends on what you're having trouble with. Most practice for sports and musical instruments boils down to identifying what you're having trouble with, and repeating an exercise that isolates that deficiency so you can focus your attention on it. Take advantage of savestates and different difficulty settings if you can. For Dragon Blaze I practiced some patterns in slow motion so I could learn the motions at a pace where I could keep up (there's a flag you can pass in MAME to do this), and increased the speed as I got more familiar.

[AxelMill]

According to your description of the problem you have, it can be easily solved by buying DariusBurst Chronicle Saviours (or getting the PSP or Android/iOS version) and fighting the boss called "Great Thing" about ten to one hundred times a day.
...unless it's exactly the game you're having trouble with.

[ardiel]

Well the problem is being able to see everything. Literally. Like some stuff becomes invisible to me. I can't learn how to avoid it if I can't see it.

According to your description of the problem you have, it can be easily solved by buying DariusBurst Chronicle Saviours (or getting the PSP or Android/iOS version) and fighting the boss called "Great Thing" about ten to one hundred times a day.
...unless it's exactly the game you're having trouble with.

I have that game and that boss doesn't seem particularly troubling, as opposed to things like the last stage of Daifukkatsu, or some of the stuff in Crimzon Clover or Ketsui. Or some of the nonsense in the Touhou games.

Edit:
Also in Daifukkatsu I usually do ok until the last stage where I end up losing the extends I've earned and face the boss with like two lives. I pretty much expect to die at least twice to the laser things.

[AxelMill]

Wait, you're having trouble with DFK's final boss with two lives to spare? Got you covered.
I have this very deep strategy called "bomb and laser inside of her". Bear with me: when you bomb, you're invincible, right? Well, nothing stops you from moving your ship inside the boss (or above, however you want to describe it) and shoot your laser. The laser deals much, much more damage if you point blank. As soon as the bomb runs out, move away and repeat, unless she's about to change phase. It's the final boss, so, unless you care about scoring, you have no reason to not waste them.
You shoule be able to kill her in 5 or 6 bombs, so in a "full" life. Try it in practice mode like I did, it works wonders.

It's almost cheating, I know.

[ardiel]

Wait, you're having trouble with DFK's final boss with two lives to spare? Got you covered.
I have this very deep strategy called "bomb and laser inside of her". Bear with me: when you bomb, you're invincible, right? Well, nothing stops you from moving your ship inside the boss (or above, however you want to describe it) and shoot your laser. The laser deals much, much more damage if you point blank. As soon as the bomb runs out, move away and repeat, unless she's about to change phase. It's the final boss, so, unless you care about scoring, you have no reason to not waste them.
You shoule be able to kill her in 5 or 6 bombs, so in a "full" life. Try it in practice mode like I did, it works wonders.

It's almost cheating, I know.

The boss is fine. Getting past the BS to get to her is harder.

But yeah, I knew about the point blank technique. Thanks though.

[Shepardus]

Well the problem is being able to see everything. Literally. Like some stuff becomes invisible to me. I can't learn how to avoid it if I can't see it.

Take comfort in the fact that you're far from the first person to lament their inability to notice easily-dodged bullets. I don't think any great shmup player is paying attention to all the bullets. Most of them aren't any better at multitasking than any average person. The trick isn't to see all the bullets, it's about seeing only the ones that matter. If you find yourself getting killed by "stray bullets" a lot, it's not enough to resolve to pay more attention to those, there's usually also something you're paying attention to that doesn't warrant that attention. Or your route needs adjusting so there isn't the threat of stray bullets.

You can try to move in such a way that you're not dealing with multiple threats at once. To take a simple example, on Utsuho's last spell in Subterranean Animism there are bullets radiating outwards from the center as well as bullets getting sucked towards the center, but you can stop moving vertically to let yourself get sucked in with the bullets moving inwards, which allows you to dodge the outwards-moving bullets without paying attention to the inwards-moving ones. Then move back to dodge the inwards-moving bullets without any threat from the outwards-moving bullets. Rinse and repeat. It's been a while since I played DFK but I think you can do something similar with the laser wheels to avoid dodging multiple wheels at the same time, or bullets and lasers at the same time. For many other patterns with bullets moving in different directions you can move along with one group while dodging the other group, then take on the first group on your own terms. Even when the bullets are all moving in the same general direction you can usually group them and get past each group proactively rather than reactively so you can stop paying attention to them.

[ardiel]

Well the problem is being able to see everything. Literally. Like some stuff becomes invisible to me. I can't learn how to avoid it if I can't see it.

Take comfort in the fact that you're far from the first person to lament their inability to notice easily-dodged bullets. I don't think any great shmup player is paying attention to all the bullets. Most of them aren't any better at multitasking than any average person. The trick isn't to see all the bullets, it's about seeing only the ones that matter. If you find yourself getting killed by "stray bullets" a lot, it's not enough to resolve to pay more attention to those, there's usually also something you're paying attention to that doesn't warrant that attention. Or your route needs adjusting so there isn't the threat of stray bullets.

You can try to move in such a way that you're not dealing with multiple threats at once. To take a simple example, on Utsuho's last spell in Subterranean Animism there are bullets radiating outwards from the center as well as bullets getting sucked towards the center, but you can stop moving vertically to let yourself get sucked in with the bullets moving inwards, which allows you to dodge the outwards-moving bullets without paying attention to the inwards-moving ones. Then move back to dodge the inwards-moving bullets without any threat from the outwards-moving bullets. Rinse and repeat. It's been a while since I played DFK but I think you can do something similar with the laser wheels to avoid dodging multiple wheels at the same time, or bullets and lasers at the same time. For many other patterns with bullets moving in different directions you can move along with one group while dodging the other group, then take on the first group on your own terms. Even when the bullets are all moving in the same general direction you can usually group them and get past each group proactively rather than reactively so you can stop paying attention to them.

Sounds good, thanks. Do you know any games that are meant for training? I have Moedan but it seems too easy, but maybe I just haven't played the right cards since I haven't played all of them. All the ones I played were kind of ridiculously easy though.

[Shepardus]

There's a program called YGS2000 (just Google for this, I don't think there's an official site/download still around) that lets you practice dodging a bunch of different patterns with adjustable difficulty, including many from well-known CAVE games up to Mushihimesama. There's also Danmaku Simulation 296 which has a bunch of "lessons" teaching different techniques (all in Japanese, but it comes with a demo playthrough of each lesson so there's still value in it if you don't know Japanese). I like rRootage and parsec47 too, since they've got lots of encounters with a wide range of difficulties. parsec47 puts you in a series of randomly generated stages with mechanics and speed heavily inspired by Dangun Feveron. rRootage puts you against series of bosses, with modes for "normal" danmaku ship style, Psyvariar-style, Ikaruga-style, and Giga Wing-style. Most of the bosses in rRootage are fixed but the far-right column of levels is randomly generated.

[Zombi 6]

Any one know if in hishou zame the longer you survive the faster the bullets get?. At a few seconds in level 3 when not losing any 1ups or bombing I could swear the fire rate from enemys goes up

[trap15]

Yes hishouzame has survival rank.