When people see you playing a shmup...

[Turrican]

I mostly get the first "OMG" reaction. I play with friends about my same age, so they do know the genre, and often are willing to a 2player session. However, they don't practice much so even my average skills do wow them.

[Koa Zo]

I either get the "what's that?.. Teris?..", or the "OMG, those graphics suck!"
Then when I mention that "Its a new game for Dreamcast.", I'll get corrected - "They don't make games for Dreamcast anymore".

[Gopher's Ambition]

I thought the "wave hands in front of screen" would get a few more votes. Whenever I play in an arcade (rarely happens), it always seems like there's some jerks there that are just standing there because they have nothing better to do, who decide it would be a riot to waste someone's money

Even worse is little brats with neglectful parents... can't exactly smack em away w/o getting sued.

[Klatrymadon]

Then when I mention that "Its a new game for Dreamcast.", I'll get corrected - "They don't make games for Dreamcast anymore".

Naturally.

[xaer0knight]

most of the time its just a couple close friends that see my play Ikaruga and Chaos Field for GC/DC and they are intimidated by the SHMUPS... they usally write them off as too hard or geez thats insane. usally my friends like to watch no partake in the games...

Often i like to go to GameCrazy, boot up Ikaruga, and play a couple stages.. ive been called a freak to your awesome.

[ResOGlas]

People usually say "Oh man, Why is your TV on it's side!?".

[Skyline]

People usually say "Oh man, Why is your TV on it's side!?".

Heh.

I think I'm the only person in my city that has a dedicated vertical television.

[FRO]

I'll throw another vote in for the #1 response. Generally the people that see me play are my wife and/or a couple friends, but only 1 of my friends in the last few months has played shmups with me, let alone sat & watched. I showed him GigaWing & DonPachi he was pretty amazed at all the bullet storms. We had a blast w/ Raiden 2 though. Funny thing was, I was going through stage after stage (Raiden Project) on a couple lives, & he was credit feeding. I think I reached stage 5 or 6 on a single credit, & he had wasted the rest of the credits & couldn't get past stage 3 or 4.

[elvis]

They get easily intimidated when I ask them to try.

For me it's a three phase thing:

1) Why are you playing these crap 2D games?

2) Oh crap, how did you dodge all that?

3) No way I'm playing that, it looks way too hard.

[J-Manic]

People usually say "Oh man, Why is your TV on it's side!?".

Yup, same here.

[ghibli99]

For me it's a three phase thing:

1) Why are you playing these crap 2D games?

2) Oh crap, how did you dodge all that?

3) No way I'm playing that, it looks way too hard.

Although my friends are smart enough to not insult 2D games in my presence (I've been known to go on hour-long coma-inducing diatribes on 2D vs. 3D), I'll also get 2), usually followed by 3). Seeing the bullet storms is enough to scare away 90% of my friends. The other 10% are bomb-happy credit feeders.

[Neon]

Often i like to go to GameCrazy, boot up Ikaruga, and play a couple stages.. ive been called a freak to your awesome.

How do you do this? I've never seen a gamestore that lets people bring in games to play.

Ganelon had a great response. Virtua Fighter 4 has better multiplayer than any shmup. That or SS Bomberman for the win when there's more than just me here. Puyo Puyo Sun also has great multiplayer with handicaps for the less skilled.

[dai jou bu]

Or Chu-Chu Rocket! for random insanity. Seriously, some people just burst out laughing for no apparent reason while playing this game.

But we're digressing though.

[kccttzj]

Often i like to go to GameCrazy, boot up Ikaruga, and play a couple stages.. ive been called a freak to your awesome.

How do you do this? I've never seen a gamestore that lets people bring in games to play.

Maybe they had a used copy they let him play? It really depends on the people you know. I've let people bring in monitors and consoles to work before when there was a big gathering even though I'm not supposed to.

I thought the "wave hands in front of screen" would get a few more votes. Whenever I play in an arcade (rarely happens), it always seems like there's some jerks there that are just standing there because they have nothing better to do, who decide it would be a riot to waste someone's money

Even worse is little brats with neglectful parents... can't exactly smack em away w/o getting sued.

I could probably vote for that too. I've had that happen more than a few times. I don't mind that as much though, since it's usually people I know. I HATE when I go to the arcade and there's nobody there, but inevitably, someone walks in and stands so close to you that they're brushing up against you and they start talking to you. Watch all you want (even though it does kind of make me nervous), but seriously, you don't have to be standing right there. Kids drive me nuts too. They're always more likely to start playing with the buttons on the other side and jumping around screaming.

[NTSC-J]

Back home when people saw me playing shooters they'd comment on my amazing skills, but ever since I started going to Japanese arcades it's a whole different environment. I draw at best a crowd of a few people and they watch silently until I goof up, then they walk away. Stupid gaijins can't dodge right.

Sometimes there's a crowd of 15 or so watching guys tear up Ketsui and ESPGaluda II, but no one says a thing during or afterwards. I've yet to see anyone enter their initials, even after looping Ketsui or DDP. They just get up and walk away like it was just another day. I know I'd be pumping my fist in the air and telling the cabinet "I'm too real for you!" if I ever pulled off those scores.

[Macaw]

Back home when people saw me playing shooters they'd comment on my amazing skills, but ever since I started going to Japanese arcades it's a whole different environment. I draw at best a crowd of a few people and they watch silently until I goof up, then they walk away. Stupid gaijins can't dodge right.

Similarly, people call me amazing when I beat the 1st boss in Raiden 2 at an arcade, heh.

[DEL]

Kaneda wrote;

Sometimes there's a crowd of 15 or so watching guys tear up Ketsui and ESPGaluda II, but no one says a thing during or afterwards. I've yet to see anyone enter their initials, even after looping Ketsui or DDP. They just get up and walk away like it was just another day. I know I'd be pumping my fist in the air and telling the cabinet "I'm too real for you!" if I ever pulled off those scores.

^This confirms what icycalm has been saying for a long time now. Its extremely weird behaviour for me to get my head around

[DC906270]

Kaneda wrote;
Quote:
Sometimes there's a crowd of 15 or so watching guys tear up Ketsui and ESPGaluda II, but no one says a thing during or afterwards. I've yet to see anyone enter their initials, even after looping Ketsui or DDP. They just get up and walk away like it was just another day. I know I'd be pumping my fist in the air and telling the cabinet "I'm too real for you!" if I ever pulled off those scores.


^This confirms what icycalm has been saying for a long time now. Its extremely weird behaviour for me to get my head around

maybe these players are that good that they are disappointed even with (to you) amazing scores. how'd you know they werent there yesterday, and bettered that score x2 [/quote]

[NTSC-J]

maybe these players are that good that they are disappointed even with (to you) amazing scores. how'd you know they werent there yesterday, and bettered that score x2

Yea that's absolutely what it is. I watched a guy slaughter Ketsui, then he ran into a bullet and just got up and left the arcade. Seems a bit pretentious to me considering its just video games, but if it isn't perfect in Japan it isn't any good.

As for the lack of excitement, it's a characteristic of the culture. Subways are famously silent and Americans are notorious for disturbing the peace with their loud yacking, although people do talk on the trains, just not many at a time and not very loudly. If you watch old pro-wrestling events in Japan the audience is dead silent, whereas Smackdown! aired in the US is a madhouse. Nowadays its a bit different, I went to a MMA event and the audience got into it, but nothing like the WCW.

Just don't expect any standing ovations if you clear the first round of Strikers 1945 III at a Japanese arcade.

[Klatrymadon]

Are you chaps referring to a small cabal of really talented players sitting in silence, or does a good chunk of the population still play shooters in the arcades (seemingly at a high level)?

I think I'd do well to stay away from Japan's arcades. I'd be constantly admonished by scenester pricks for *gasp* trying to shake a few hands.

[visuatrox]

They usually say something like "is that game old, the graphics have jaggies"

[Sundance]

I woulda added a 6th option: "What's the point of That game. You just keep shooting and avoiding things.... loox boring!" I've heard that from friends that just don't get it. Its like when i had two 1979 Jeeps and i talked about rockcrawling and 4-wheeling and some people just couldn't understand it..thus the bumper sticker (its a jeep thing) We need a shmup bumper sticker "Its a shmup thing!

[roker]

Well, as you know, I get to do most of my playing in arcades and its rare for anyone to watch my runs nowadays.
In the old days I got the odd crowd watching me with comments like; "Break-out the popcorn, we're in for a long haul!"
But not now. Even when my local arcade is packed with 60 beat'em up/VS headz, they all remain transfixed on their own thing.

As I've said before, 2D shooters have always been underground, but now they're really underground!
Blame it on people blindly following fashion like sheep, blame it on the industry, whatever...

I don't quit what I like[/i]

I'm sure you were referring to fighting games

and I happen to believe that shmups genre has more life than the fighting game genre

barely anything comes out anymore for 2D (mainly SNK) while 3D has it's old staples

[Eps]

I often find that fighting game fans understand what we're about far more than anyone else. Serious fighting game fans (specially fans of 2D fighters) have far more in common with us shoot-'em-up fans than virtually all other gamers.

[dai jou bu]

Well, fighters and shmups are both technical.

[LoneSage]

Since there's only one shmup (S1945 Plus) in town, there aren't many people when I play it. There was this one person who watched me play it and asked me "How do you do that?".

If anything, the crowds are at fighters. Even though it's broken to hell, by the time I had won 14 consecutive matches against people at SVC Chaos, there was a little group watching the matches.

[Ko.oS]

oi vey.

what do people say when you play STGs

well, the few friends i have are all busy playing daddy these days, but acquantancies, boyfriends, grandpas, the cousin's mother in law, the nephew's stepsister (I hate her), and the neighbour's chi-wawa usually react like this. In Order -


- when i play Shienryu >> "LOL!! is that ole shitty Raiden!???"

- when i play Batsugun >> "WHOAA!!! look at all that firepower!! how much AMMO do you have left!???"

- when i play U-Defeat >> "see?! thats why the dreamcast died -- ALL THIS 16-BIT SPACE INVADERS CRAP KILLED IT OFF!!!"

- when i play GodPanic >> "jesus christ, nekkid girls!! japanese are weirdos!!"

- when i play ChoAniki >> "aw, man, this game is sooooooo GHEY. I bet your mom is a fag!"

- when i play Fever On >> barks, growls, then raises left leg and pisses all over the cab . . .


o wait, I dont have a cab.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

maybe these players are that good that they are disappointed even with (to you) amazing scores. how'd you know they werent there yesterday, and bettered that score x2

Yea that's absolutely what it is. I watched a guy slaughter Ketsui, then he ran into a bullet and just got up and left the arcade. Seems a bit pretentious to me considering its just video games, but if it isn't perfect in Japan it isn't any good.

As for the lack of excitement, it's a characteristic of the culture. Subways are famously silent and Americans are notorious for disturbing the peace with their loud yacking, although people do talk on the trains, just not many at a time and not very loudly. If you watch old pro-wrestling events in Japan the audience is dead silent, whereas Smackdown! aired in the US is a madhouse. Nowadays its a bit different, I went to a MMA event and the audience got into it, but nothing like the WCW.

Just don't expect any standing ovations if you clear the first round of Strikers 1945 III at a Japanese arcade.

For NTSC-J,

When I was in Japan back in early 2000 mainly for the Spring 2000 TGS, I rode the Japanese subway system a number of times. One day while riding the J-subway, the silence was oddlly weird...for no reason at all I busted out laughing my head off silly. I noticed that the Japanese public was wondering WTF I was laughing for. I got some stares and some slight smiles here & there from the Japanese public for the spontenious "laughing episode".

There was another time when I rode the J-subway system and this young teen gal came on board, plopped down on the seat across from me and was fast asleep. Within a minute or so, she literally "konked out" and sleeping deeply -- taking a "Power Nap" (I bet that one could've went up to her, shook her and she still wouldn't have woken up...she was THAT "dead" tired). As if by magic, she woke up and got off at her scheduled stop. I always wondered just how the Japanese public know when to get off at their scheduled stop even if in a "deep" sleep mode when riding the Japanese subway system. It's one of the great Japanese mysteries that us Westerners will never solve. ^_~

That would be "Strikers 1999" if playing at a Japanese game center (as they are called in Japan instead of what the USA refers to as "arcades"). "Strikers 1945 III" is what's listed as the official arcade title for the International & USA Bios versions of Strikers 1999 arcade PCB courtesy of Psikyo themselves.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[IlMrm]

Just don't expect any standing ovations if you clear the first round of Strikers 1945 III at a Japanese arcade.

Every Strikers 1999 machine I saw there had a 3 million+ ALL in the overall high score.

[D]

Re: When people see you playing a shmup...

They see a naked man with his boots on holding a controller sitting down on a coach in slow-motion, slow-motion because it's traumatizing to see.