Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[Zaarock]

Battle Garegga and HellSinker.

Starting to learn garegga, pretty fun. I really like playing the faster ships like gain and miyamoto, probably going to stick with gain ABC.

Improving in hellsinker playing a credit a day, just got 10,000 in the first three stages which surprised me. Ruined the run with some deaths on seg5 and 6 and amusingly somehow got the LV1 last boss to show up instead of the TLB. I'll have to watch the replay at some point to make sure what happened. Looks like with some small route improvements and no deaths before shrine of farewell I should break 100,000 spirits at some point which is cool.

[MadSteelDarkness]

BULLET SOUL

Love this game to pieces. Was it much worse pre-patch? I recall a distinctly lukewarm response 'round these parts when it was first released.

[Kollision]

BULLET SOUL

Love this game to pieces. Was it much worse pre-patch? I recall a distinctly lukewarm response 'round these parts when it was first released.

I like the game very much as well.

[zendor118]

ESP Ra De.... it's currently kicking me in the butt with the difficulty compared to RFA and Progear!

[KAI]

Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire

IT'S DANGEROUS FOR YOU TO COME._

So true, I'm totally hooked to this game right now.

[EmperorIng]

ESP Ra De.... it's currently kicking me in the butt with the difficulty compared to RFA and Progear!

If you fight that Helicopter boss anywhere but stage 1, you are in for a world of hurt.

[stryc9]

BULLET SOUL

Love this game to pieces. Was it much worse pre-patch? I recall a distinctly lukewarm response 'round these parts when it was first released.

I like the game very much as well.

Not too sure what the patch did, actually. Do you guys play Version B?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

If you fight that Helicopter boss anywhere but stage 1, you are in for a world of hurt.

I find the heli significantly easier than the tank in the Mall stage.

[MadSteelDarkness]

@ stric9

360 version 1.02

I thought i heard there was a patch put out not long ago that fixed/added...things? I could have been misinformed, of course.

So to answer your question, i have no idea

[chum]

If you fight that Helicopter boss anywhere but stage 1, you are in for a world of hurt.

I find the heli significantly easier than the tank in the Mall stage.

Yeah that thing has actually killed me even on stage 1. Copter is the easiest as stage 3 imo. It's not like you should be saving your bombs, anyway.

[Kollision]

BULLET SOUL

Love this game to pieces. Was it much worse pre-patch? I recall a distinctly lukewarm response 'round these parts when it was first released.

I like the game very much as well.

Not too sure what the patch did, actually. Do you guys play Version B?

I played vanilla (version A).
I think I played after all patches (if any) were applied - IIRC I was hammering it hard during Christmas last year.

As for DLC, I don't usually buy them.

[Klatrymadon]

Playing Flying Shark for a wee competition on another forum. I love how brutal it is. Tanks sniping the fuck out of you seconds into the first level. I don't remember it being harder than Raiden, but the bullets certainly seem faster. Can get to about stage 5 at the moment - might try for a 1CC.

[AttObl]

Shikigami no Shiro.

Daejeong Kim, despite having an unwieldy Shikigami attack, is quickly becoming my favorite character to use for scoring, since his Shikigami attack not only kills enemies in close range, but the tension multipliers increase, especially when he has to deal with many enemies converging on him.

I can't play Fumiko Odette Vanstein well, though. Her Shikigami attack annoys me, since I have to stop and aim the cursor.

[oboewan42]

Darius.

All of them.

[Softdrink 117]

Garegga!

Finally taking the time to not-suck as much at this game. Having a LOT of fun with it. Been on a huge Raizing kick recently, and got my first Raizing 1CCs not too long ago (Bakraid Normal, Batrider Training, Batrider Normal). This just keeps up the trend, apparently.

Also been fooling around with Mushi Matsuri 1.5, Ketsui, and Pork on the side.

[Never_Scurred]

Playing Mushi HD, but just casually and mostly for 1.5.

[Obscura]

Just broke 6 million for the first time in Garegga!

Still can't beat Black Heart Mk. 1. That stupid attack where he comes right over you and fries you in his afterburners is killing me loads, as is the fucking sweeping vulcan.

[Kiken]

Still working on the first loop no miss in Gradius 5.. got closer today, lost only two lives in stage 7 (died once stupidly at Beacon and then later cornered myself at the end of the maze section). Stage 7 is most certainly the problem... but I feel I'm becoming more comfortable with the level's layout.

[BIL]

Super Aleste, finally picked up a cart. Wow, the two suicide bullet modes (slow mass drifts and fast barrages) are excellent. Both force you to really think about what and when you shoot, and also create a perfect avenue for Compile's trademark invincibility hopping. Classy soundtrack too, and holy crap were Compile beast coders. Feels more MD than SFC with the amount of onscreen activity in these modes.

[Kiken]

One step closer to the Gradius V no miss run... got through the first loop with only a single death (in stage 6 during the vertical descent, of all places)... but I did finally manage to no miss all of stage 7 for the first time. Definitely figured out some better tactics for dealing with Beacon and the maze portion of the level. Now to just put it all together.

[chempop]

I'm mostly dicking around, not playing anything too seriously right now.
Enjoying:

Slap Fight - megadrive
Twinkle Tale - megadrive
Gigawing 2 - dc
Mars Matrix - dc
Cyvern - glazed boot

Those Takumi games kick my ass for some reason.

[Aquas]

Playing Flying Shark for a wee competition on another forum. I love how brutal it is. Tanks sniping the fuck out of you seconds into the first level. I don't remember it being harder than Raiden, but the bullets certainly seem faster. Can get to about stage 5 at the moment - might try for a 1CC.

You got this, man! I like to throw a bomb at the beginning of stage 5. Also, those red carts that give you bombs after blowing them up. If you pick up that bomb before destroying another red cart, you'll get another bomb item to show up. I won't be able to accurately explain it, but experiment and you'll see! Especially useful for the big train gun section.

I've been practicing Ketsui and Dangun Feveron. And I recently got my first 1cc with the Panzer and in Dangun, too. But I need more practice to perform the same on PCB! Would like to see the loop in Ketsui and getting to the TLB in Dangun would be bad ass. Kickass games. Dangun needs more love for anyone who likes fast bullets.

Taking a break from Guwange. When I come back to it it'll be fresh and fun again cause I'm casual and play the game for fun. Noooot!! Milking the Catspider is serious business.

[NeoStrayCat]

Another Kong shmup BotD game, "Boss Battle", lol. :3

[Obscura]

Just played Radirgy for the first time.

I "like" (note for the slow: I don't actually like it) how they don't even make a pretense that about half of the game's patterns are dodgable. Don't have a bullet cancel handy because an enemy escaped during your last one, so you didn't get the "whole formation bonus"? You lose, lol.

Fucking cancel-em-ups.

[oboewan42]

Bee Storm! Or, as I like to call it, "DoDonPsyvariar". I can't believe that, according to Google, I'm the first person to ever refer to it by that name.

Anyways, this game rocks and you all should play it. It is quite possibly the most fun I've had playing a shooter in ages. Not even lying. Almost wish they hadn't put the DDP name on it, because I think the game gets an undeserved bad rap. It's flawed, yes, but it is also amazing.

Make sure to pick Energy type for maximum lulz! I don't even know why they put Bomb type in the game.

[EmperorIng]

I tried out Guwange for the first time the other day on MAME (and credit-fed to the end last night). How the fuck does this game even work?

My first impressions are:

-life bar is probably implemented as a concession to the confusing shikigami subweapon, though I'm not complaining
-I'm not sure if I am a fan of the whole "stand still while your subweapon moves around the screen attacking stuff" mechanic; it feels like too often the screen is cluttered and I'm not sure what's going on, leading to death. Isn't Shin Akai Katana the same way?

Cool-looking game though. Love the music.

[lmagus]

Ketsui.

Having the most fun playing a game in many years.
Will probably be my second arcade 1cc if I keep practicing and decide not to go back to DaiOuJou...

I killed Evaccaneer with two bombs yesterday on a stage practice, seemed impossible first time I faced him.
Stage 4 Boss and Stage 5 are what give me most trouble right now.

Does anyone else find the transformer (st 4boss) harder than Evaccaneer?

[Giest118]

Does anyone else find the transformer (st 4boss) harder than Evaccaneer?

Evaccaneer isn't that hard; the real barrier to a 1cc is stage 5 itself.

I've been futzing about with Touhou games and fangames lately.

[dunpeal2064]

I've been playing Ketsui for most of the night. Finally beat my old high score, only to find out screen shots aren't working for me in mame

[7711]

I've been stuck on Ketsui since yesterday (couldn't manage to get it working before that). God I'd love to complete this game... The controls are seriously out of this world, it feels soooo goood.