Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[daigle]

Playing that SDOJ like many probably are, practicing stage 4 on 360 shot mode over and over (i am not good at this game) mid boss giving me fits. Watched a few replays got a few ideas, but it usually comes down to me choking. Funny thing is, on the rare occasions I make it to the end boss he gives me no issues, maybe just save a high level hyper for the mid? thoughts?

[ACSeraph]

^

If all you care about is survival you should just save hypers and only use them when you get hit by something or are forced to bomb to get yourself back up to 10,000 energy. If you do that you'll have a hyper ready almost anytime you get hit and since even a level 1 hyper gives you back about 2000 energy you can pretty much stay at 10,000 through the entire game.

[daigle]

thanks, able to beat 4 consistently now using your advice. Was able to do a run all the way up to about half way through 5. Gonna need to hit that stage hard in practice tomorrow some of those patterns are a little crazy, any tips for the bosses/sub bosses?

[ACSeraph]

^

Stage 5 is actually a little rough compared to the rest of it. Mostly keep going by my previous advice, but if you get hit before the midboss rather than hyper right away maybe save it for until you get there and hyper when things get hairy to clear the screen and hopefully kill the midboss before things get dangerous again. In the latter half of the stage focus on the big bullet canceling enemies and you should be fine. For the final boss the only advice I really have is to learn the patterns in practice mode. There no easy way to beat her. Main thing to know is she has 3 forms, the 1st is hard, second is harder, and third is cake. In the second form there's a pattern where she stays at the top of the screen and slow criss crossing lines of bullets go across the screen. You can point blank her with your normal laser the entire time here and let off level 1 hypers as they come to recharge all your energy. You should be able to let off at least 2 just during that one attack and charge back about 6000 energy.

As for me I just rage quit from playing Parodius Da! on Saturn. I have a major love hate relationship with Gradius and Friends due to the take all your powerups away and send you back to the now impossible to complete checkpoint system. It ruins for me what I otherwise see as godly games. But despite the major major flaw I really want to play them, and always end up pissed off and gradius-cock-blocked in the end.

[daigle]

Thank you, yeah after a bit of practice I can make it to her without getting touched, but those first two forms are pretty dam dicey. Seems weird that the final form is so easy though, i continued during practice mode just to see how Id do against the third form and it was pretty easy. Gonna try your tip for the second form to see if i can pass through that quick enough to not get destroyed.

I have gradius 1 donwloaded to my 3ds, I always make it really far and then make one stupid mistake and lose all my power ups, such a love hate with those games.

[ACSeraph]

Yeah I don't get whats up with the 3rd phase honestly. I really enjoy the fight up to that point, but the last phase is so easy that you feel dissatisfied when it finally ends. Really wish they had beefed it up a bit. The ending kinda makes up for it though, it's definitely my favorite Cave ending.

[Marc]

Flying Shark is proving to be an arse. By the third stage proper there are quite a few enemies from behind, and they're not shy about sniping you. I've got the first two down 99% of the time, and keep meaning to make a save state, but I feel like a dirty cheat every time I reach for the button, so I guess I'll keep plugging away one credit at a time.

[Mortificator]

In one of the interviews GP translated, Uemura said Flying Shark and Kyukyoku Tiger were designed to be learned with continues, so don't feel bad about sticking more credits in.

[Aquas]

Ketsui, Pink Sweets... mostly Ketsui. Reaching for the 2-ALL (omote) and 200M+ at the moment... gonna happen.

[Rex Cavalier]

Solid State Survivor, got Normal 1cc on 7th run(I think), now to try hard!

Edit: Why hello there suicide bullet land

[Master O]

Solid State Survivor, got Normal 1cc on 7th run(I think), now to try hard!

Edit: Why hello there suicide bullet land

Solid State Survivor is also an album and song by legendary Japanese synthpop group "Yellow Magic Orchestra."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A1Wmlna77E

I assume that game takes its name from this very famous album.

[BIL]

Been weeding through the lesser-loved outskirts of the MD's shooter repertoire looking for possible new additions to my library. Decided to give X-Dazedly Ray a go. I was expecting an utter travesty from its rep, but it's really just a pedestrian Gradius clone with that musty but not entirely unpleasant semi-SMS feeling also shared by Assault Suit Leynos and Shadow Blasters. Certainly nothing I'd pursue, though.

[CHI]

Working on Batsugun Special Version...
This crt is not doing any justice, need to find another one

[spadgy]

Back into SDOJ, and I've finally found 'my mode'. It's the Laser version of Xbox 360 mode. I don't know why I'd not tried it before!

[blackoak]

I've been busy moving the last couple weeks, so not much time for shmups. Just got things initially set back up, playing some Dragon Blaze and SDOJ 1.5. Dragon Blaze feels much more manageable this time around (using Quaid). Seems I'll really need to learn some of those technical bonuses if I want to reliably get the score extend.

Despite my complaining about SDOJ, the execution is pretty fun once you memorize the zako swarms/large enemy locations. Thank goodness for practice mode. By stage 4 and 5, I find that being in that right place is an absolute must (in the same way that being aggressive with dragon shot in DB is a must). I've been thinking about SDOJ's stages in comparison to DDP and DOJ a lot. I guess I prefer a stage layout where memorization and placement *helps* you survive, but doesn't feel absolutely critical in the way it does here in SDOJ. Still a rush though and a fun challenge in its own right.

[MadSteelDarkness]

Started gettin' burnt out on SDOJ, so i put it to the side for now.

Going back to some old faves i haven't played in years, mostly Mahou Daisakusen and Truxton II.

[chempop]

Playing Gradius Deluxe Pack on Saturn, still finding GII rather difficult and extremely unforgiving after checkpoints. Just finally made it to stage 8 for the first time, man this game is long.

[ACSeraph]

^ I hear you on unforgiving. I've been addicted to the Gradius series for the past month and it's been rough. I play Otomedius to cool off when I get frustrated. I Ordered a Saturn copy of Salamander Deluxe Pack last night. Do the Saturn ports have autofire?

[7711]

Raiden III. This game is gaving me such a hard time... maybe I'm just not playing the right way...

[EmperorIng]

I Ordered a Saturn copy of Salamander Deluxe Pack last night. Do the Saturn ports have autofire?

All the Konami Sega Saturn games have configurations for rapid fire and rapid missile.

I always map both to the same button because, newb that I am, I don't know a situation where you wouldn't want to fire both at the same time.

[spadgy]

Raiden III. This game is gaving me such a hard time... maybe I'm just not playing the right way...

The right way is double play!

Being a touch more sincere, I do feel the enemy arrangements and bullet patterns in Raiden III are designed with a heavy leaning towards double play strategies. Do give it a go! The first five credits will seem insane, and then it starts to click.

And then you can submit your scores over here on this very forum!

[MrRange]

I am currently playing Gun Frontier on the Saturn.

It's an odd shooter, but I am enjoying it.

[Kiken]

Since they reset the leaderboards for Under Defeat HD, I'm playing Arcade mode again.

[Genesis Knight]

Blast Wind with the Racketboy guys.

[beatsgo]

Playing some Gradius III, Raiden, and Batrider recently. Batrider is really growing on me, surprise how many ways you can score in this game!

[ACSeraph]

Salamander Deluxe Pack just came. Salamander 1 is making me rage. I think the general design of it is superior to the Gradius series, but a lot of things also feel really unpolished. Is it even possible to beat the stage two boss without a speedup? It seems like it moves faster than you can possibly move around it! Did the developers even try to play it? Salamander is teaching me to majorly hate the concept of speed powerups. It didn't bother me as much in Gradius because it's easy to get them but in Salamander they are rare and you get fucked way too easily it you die in a bad spot.

[EmperorIng]

There are two speed-ups in level 1, and one in level 3 - i never made it far into level 5, but i think there's one there.

You only need one speed power-up in the game for optimal play, otherwise you are too fast. The game is difficult though. Life Force is more balanced, but I like the instant respawns and instant-powerups of Salamander. The Stage 4 boss is still primarily luck-based, it seems to me, though.

[Mero]

For the stasge 4 Salamander boss, the first credit you play just make sure you beat him, even if it's a shit credit and you die once or twice, then on every credit you play after that the boss will be really easy and will hardly fire any balls out.

[BIL]

The Stage 4 boss is still primarily luck-based, it seems to me, though.

There are a couple of ways I know of to consistently no-miss ol' Blue Balls. One is a timeout safespot in the lower-right which is easy to get yourself killed using, since you have to be at the very limit of hitting the wall.

The other, far better one is to stick the ship's nose into the middle core's recess so the majority of the orbs will be confined to the top of the screen. It takes some practice, since going too far in will kill you and not far enough won't trap the orbs, but it's nowhere near as unforgiving as the lower-right safespot. By the time I'm forced to move away using this method, the middle core is dead and there's hardly any orbs to dodge while killing the other two. Both discussed here.

You can also play a credit, junk it, then start another and the fourth boss won't shoot at all, but yuck @ doing that.

[Mero]

You can also play a credit, junk it, then start another and the fourth boss won't shoot at all, but yuck @ doing that.

Haha, yeah I did try out those safe spots back when I was playing the game but I always seemed to keep killing myself so I did it the cheesy way instead. It's worth pointing out that the boss will be nullified in the second loop as well if you can get that far (and presumably all loops after that).