Shmup Related Questions That Don't Deserve a Thread

[Lemnear]

In actuality, seems it didn't have many chances to ever get a home port, to begin with. If my friend's speculation elsewhere is on point (and rarely it isn't), this would be another of those Exarcadia releases without formal license from all the parties which takes advantage of the legal limbo this IP may be in. In other words, your ordinary company of Japanese gentlemen wouldn't have ever touched this.

What do you mean? They can do it even with "partial rights"?
So all those games lost in limbo like those of KANEKO or Seta "could" get a porting? Who do you mean by "ordinary company of Japanese gentlemen"?

[jehu]

In actuality, seems it didn't have many chances to ever get a home port, to begin with. If my friend's speculation elsewhere is on point (and rarely it isn't), this would be another of those Exarcadia releases without formal license from all the parties which takes advantage of the legal limbo this IP may be in. In other words, your ordinary company of Japanese gentlemen wouldn't have ever touched this.

What do you mean? They can do it even with "partial rights"?
So all those games lost in limbo like those of KANEKO or Seta "could" get a porting? Who do you mean by "ordinary company of Japanese gentlemen"?

Oh man, you really don't know, do you? Listen, I hate to make this so public, but someone has to speak truth to power against these guys.

There's three characters you really have to know as concerns the exA Arcadia STG team: there's codename MOF, codename Trap15, and codename ShouTime.

In his heyday, MOF went by Moffit Motherfucker - and he didn't earn that moniker wining and dining old ladies, let me tell you. Word is that he's the one who set up the exA protection racket, which is the primary way the company makes money.

Codename trap15 is some kind of lascivious sex pervert. Public details are scant, but you can infer some key details on the basis of the codename alone. He spent some time on this forum doing some seemingly upstanding work, but it's all a front - don't miss the real face for the mask.

And ShouTime is the head of command - a killer, but hires out most of his muscle these days. He hoards a trove of rare, one-of-a-kind PCBs like an Arabian prince jealously guarding the prodigious beauty of his harem from the vulgarities of the outside world. He earned his name through his famous catchphrase 'Show Time!' which he'd shout at the beginning of all the snuff films he directed in the late 80s. Disgusting that this guy is still out there operating.

Japanese authorities caught on to straight cash extortion and money laundering strategies in Japan long ago, so the company's found a way to compel the arcades and other businesses in their purview to buy every release to remain in good standing. If you've ever wondered why so many arcades are willing to buy glorified $2000 romhacks or $500 variants of NES games, now you know. It's so brazenly obvious, for Christ's sake.

So no, not 'an ordinary company of Japanese gentleman' by any stretch.

[Bassa-Bassa]

In actuality, seems it didn't have many chances to ever get a home port, to begin with. If my friend's speculation elsewhere is on point (and rarely it isn't), this would be another of those Exarcadia releases without formal license from all the parties which takes advantage of the legal limbo this IP may be in. In other words, your ordinary company of Japanese gentlemen wouldn't have ever touched this.

What do you mean? They can do it even with "partial rights"?
So all those games lost in limbo like those of KANEKO or Seta "could" get a porting? Who do you mean by "ordinary company of Japanese gentlemen"?

Kaneko, it's more a matter of not knowing who holds the IPs currently, I think. Seta's IPs do have known ownership. Air Gallet's situation seems to be different, as the IP supposedly belonged to two different companies of which Banpresto (Bandai Namco) may not have claimed the rights in time and Exarcadia is taking advantage of that thanks to current Japanese laws. Or something.

[Steven]

Is it normal for Batsugun's high score table thing to say stage 4 if you died on stage 5? Playing on red dot PCB, so I'm not sure what's up with that.

Edit: it did it again. I guess this is just how this game is. Weird.

Edit 2: ALL get, so whatever.

[Lemnear]

In actuality, seems it didn't have many chances to ever get a home port, to begin with. If my friend's speculation elsewhere is on point (and rarely it isn't), this would be another of those Exarcadia releases without formal license from all the parties which takes advantage of the legal limbo this IP may be in. In other words, your ordinary company of Japanese gentlemen wouldn't have ever touched this.

What do you mean? They can do it even with "partial rights"?
So all those games lost in limbo like those of KANEKO or Seta "could" get a porting? Who do you mean by "ordinary company of Japanese gentlemen"?

Oh man, you really don't know, do you? Listen, I hate to make this so public, but someone has to speak truth to power against these guys.

There's three characters you really have to know as concerns the exA Arcadia STG team: there's codename MOF, codename Trap15, and codename ShouTime.

In his heyday, MOF went by Moffit Motherfucker - and he didn't earn that moniker wining and dining old ladies, let me tell you. Word is that he's the one who set up the exA protection racket, which is the primary way the company makes money.

Codename trap15 is some kind of lascivious sex pervert. Public details are scant, but you can infer some key details on the basis of the codename alone. He spent some time on this forum doing some seemingly upstanding work, but it's all a front - don't miss the real face for the mask.

And ShouTime is the head of command - a killer, but hires out most of his muscle these days. He hoards a trove of rare, one-of-a-kind PCBs like an Arabian prince jealously guarding the prodigious beauty of his harem from the vulgarities of the outside world. He earned his name through his famous catchphrase 'Show Time!' which he'd shout at the beginning of all the snuff films he directed in the late 80s. Disgusting that this guy is still out there operating.

Japanese authorities caught on to straight cash extortion and money laundering strategies in Japan long ago, so the company's found a way to compel the arcades and other businesses in their purview to buy every release to remain in good standing. If you've ever wondered why so many arcades are willing to buy glorified $2000 romhacks or $500 variants of NES games, now you know. It's so brazenly obvious, for Christ's sake.

So no, not 'an ordinary company of Japanese gentleman' by any stretch.

Um...no I didn't know °^°
Ah...I only knew Trap15 by reputation (and yes the name immediately gave me that vibe...). However I also read that he was very respected in the community and that he is a very skilled player.
I never read MOF before...and I looked for some posts on Shou and on another forum someone accuses him of being a scammer (the topic was about Exa, so I suppose it's the same Shou since he was doing some sort of technical assistance).
What absurd stuff ....but this explains why their line-up is so sought after, otherwise certain games couldn't be explained.
This bothers me a bit because now I know that they are people who KNOW what the SHMUPS community wants and could segregate games behind their cabinets...

[jehu]

I’m sorry, I should clarify that the above was a joke

There’s an oddly pervasive sensationalist discourse about the exA team that I thought would be funny to parody. They’re evil incarnate, brokering shady underground deals, ruining the whole scene, fucking your mother behind your father’s back etc.

Don’t believe everything you read online!

[Lemnear]

I’m sorry, I should clarify that the above was a joke

There’s an oddly pervasive sensationalist discourse about the exA team that I thought would be funny to parody. They’re evil incarnate, brokering shady underground deals, ruining the whole scene, fucking your mother behind your father’s back etc.

Don’t believe everything you read online!

Well it wasn't very believable...at least until I actually found some comments against Shou from EXA around the internet LOL (pretty heavy stuff by the way, people who were literally defrauded, denied patch releases, ignored warranty seals etc.).
Also they sued both MAME and CAVE...how despicable can you be?
So it's not that different from reality in short...screw them since they relegated to the oblivion of a dying market games that were already niche!

[XoPachi]

So what is Lander actually from? I've only seen him in Zanac but I'm aware he's in other stuff from Compile. Is Rio from something else by them too for that matter?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

So what is Lander actually from? I've only seen him in Zanac but I'm aware he's in other stuff from Compile. Is Rio from something else by them too for that matter?

The Lander character appears in the classic Famicom/NES stg title of "Gun-nac" (that was developed by Compile) as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[XoPachi]

The Lander character appears in the classic Famicom/NES stg title of "Gun-nac" (that was developed by Compile) as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

But he appears in Zanac which came out 5 years prior.
I'm wondering what he's originally from.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

But he appears in Zanac which came out 5 years prior.
I'm wondering what he's originally from.

He appears a year before Zanac in "Final Justice" for the MSX: https://youtu.be/4tmjMa8lTmQ?t=424

Might have earlier appearances, not sure.

[Lemnear]

An audio test, a 3x Loop of a crappy B.G.M., I would have preferred it to sound like Thunder Dragon 1 but oh well.

https://whyp.it/tracks/277332/bgm-test?token=G8CR8

[Steven]

What is considered the best X68000 emulator now?

[Klatrymadon]

Just impulse-bought Under Defeat on the Euro PS4 store despite already owning the Japanese version (and the Steam version). Does this kind of regional 'support' register with anybody relevant, in a way that would influence future decisions to bring further ports over, or is it entirely misplaced?

[twotone8]

Mushihimesama Futari for 360.

Does anyone else have trouble pausing the game?
It works fine if I keep the 'FrameDelay' setting to '2V (PCB)', but if I have it set to anything lower than that I have to press the start button multiple times to get the game to pause or to use a continue.

Oddly, if I have a second controller connected I can use that 2nd controller to pause just fine. Is this normal?

edit:
Finally, after hunting around one last time, i've found a solution. I'm using an RGH'd 360 and there was a setting in Aurora that I had to tweak:
-Go to futari in the game select coverflow menu
-Press Y to open the details menu
-Put your cursor on the Play icon
-Tap left twice to get to Settings
-Press A to enter
-Enable "Settings Override"

Now the start button is working to pause the game. Whew. This has been bugging me on and off for a while now.

[Steven]

I really thought I'd asked this question before, but I searched for it just now and couldn't find anything.

Are there any games that have simultaneous multiplayer with checkpoints other than Tatsujin Ou? This can't be the only game in the entire genre to have checkpoints while playing multiplayer, right? You only get sent back to a checkpoint if both players die within a very short span of time, but it's a very interesting and unusual design choice and I really want to see if there are any other games that do this.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I honestly can't think of any off the top of my head. Did the first Tatsujin game do that too or was it just Tatsujin Ou?

I think even Progear's loop disables checkpoints in multiplayer, though it's not normally possible to see it in multiplayer as multiplayer disables the loop in all CAVE games except Donpachi (you can loop the game in single player then start a second player at the beginning of loop 2, that's the only way to play the loop multiplayer in most of their games).

[Steven]

Tatsujin doesn't have simultaneous multiplayer, so it's just Ou that does that. It's a super weird design choice that I've never seen anywhere else.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I actually did think of a game that does this: the NES version of Battletoads. Dying during the racing levels like Turbo Tunnels' speed bike section forces both players back to the checkpoint!

[Jack Emerson]

I am playing Mushihimesama on steam, and recently got the Ver 1.5 as a DLC. I notice that there is significant slow down on 1.5 compared to the Normal game. I have a pretty weak computer, so I am wondering if it my computer has reached its limits, or they purposely put in slowdown to make it easier? Thoughts?

[stellar_light]

I am playing Mushihimesama on steam, and recently got the Ver 1.5 as a DLC. I notice that there is significant slow down on 1.5 compared to the Normal game. I have a pretty weak computer, so I am wondering if it my computer has reached its limits, or they purposely put in slowdown to make it easier? Thoughts?

Are you playing the regular 1.5 modes or the MAX variants? I don't remember how much different Original 1.0 vs Original 1.5 are in terms of slowdown, but Original MAX for example lets you treat the focus shot effectively like a manual slowdown button which can end up adding several extra minutes to the run.

[Jack Emerson]

I am playing 1.5 Normal (not Mania or Ultra).
Does focus slow down the whole game or just movement speed?

[stellar_light]

When I mention that quirk of the Focus shot it's not like an intended, programmed mechanic for clarity--it's just that in 1.5 Original specifically the Focus shot happens to generate a large amount of extra slowdown (different from having the slower movement speed which is intentional), especially on MAX Mode. The specifics aren't entirely clear to me but if you play Stage 3 in training mode as an example, holding Focus the entire time will give you different slowdown than holding Rapid Shot the entire time. I don't believe that slowdown exists to the same extent in 1.0 Original, 1.5 is likely laggier in general. (I'm using M-Shot for reference since the supershot glitch is patched in 1.5, I don't know how much more it differs depending on the shot type)

I tried a quick test where I played through the start of Stage 3 up to destroying the first giant wing on the right and timed how long it took on 1.5 Original (not MAX) when I was only holding shot the entire time vs only holding focus, using M-Shot and the same power level/formation type. The rapid shot test took ~75 seconds, whereas when I was only holding focus it took ~90 seconds. Not rigorous by any means and I don't know if there was some other variable I didn't account for which may have influenced it, but it should give a rough idea of what I'm talking about with this.

[LordHypnos]

What is considered the best X68000 emulator now?

I don’t know what the best is, but you can use mame for it with some extra settings and a bios rom and get to have the familiarity of mame’s user interface. It seemed to work fine when I was using it recently

[Firehawke]

What is considered the best X68000 emulator now?

I don’t know what the best is, but you can use mame for it with some extra settings and a bios rom and get to have the familiarity of mame’s user interface. It seemed to work fine when I was using it recently

MAME is still pretty incomplete. A lot of stuff *will* play, but not perfectly. Just keep that in mind so you won't be too surprised when things break in weird ways.

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

I really thought I'd asked this question before, but I searched for it just now and couldn't find anything.

Are there any games that have simultaneous multiplayer with checkpoints other than Tatsujin Ou? This can't be the only game in the entire genre to have checkpoints while playing multiplayer, right? You only get sent back to a checkpoint if both players die within a very short span of time, but it's a very interesting and unusual design choice and I really want to see if there are any other games that do this.

Forgotten Worlds

[Jack Emerson]

When I mention that quirk of the Focus shot it's not like an intended, programmed mechanic for clarity--it's just that in 1.5 Original specifically the Focus shot happens to generate a large amount of extra slowdown (different from having the slower movement speed which is intentional), especially on MAX Mode. The specifics aren't entirely clear to me but if you play Stage 3 in training mode as an example, holding Focus the entire time will give you different slowdown than holding Rapid Shot the entire time. I don't believe that slowdown exists to the same extent in 1.0 Original, 1.5 is likely laggier in general. (I'm using M-Shot for reference since the supershot glitch is patched in 1.5, I don't know how much more it differs depending on the shot type)

I tried a quick test where I played through the start of Stage 3 up to destroying the first giant wing on the right and timed how long it took on 1.5 Original (not MAX) when I was only holding shot the entire time vs only holding focus, using M-Shot and the same power level/formation type. The rapid shot test took ~75 seconds, whereas when I was only holding focus it took ~90 seconds. Not rigorous by any means and I don't know if there was some other variable I didn't account for which may have influenced it, but it should give a rough idea of what I'm talking about with this.

Yep, you got it exacatly. Everything seemed normal until stage 3 (and I use M), then it slowed down massively (similar to your test, but I did not cruch the numbers). I went back to 1.0 and it did not have comparable slowdown in stage 3. So, it sounds like a glich/feature in the game and not my comptuer, which gives me some releif that my system is playing the game as it should. Thanks for the anaylsis.

[stellar_light]

No problem! It's unfortunate that 1.5 isn't talked about nearly as much as the main game because it's definitely got some interesting quirks to it.

[Jack Emerson]

No problem! It's unfortunate that 1.5 isn't talked about nearly as much as the main game because it's definitely got some interesting quirks to it.

It feels like 1.5 is broken. By that I mean the slow down/focus is not consistent. Sometimes it slows the action, and sometimes it doesn’t. I guess it is just part of the game.

[1000Eyes]

Besides the very obvious stuff, like the Hadou Gun and the option setup, is there a major difference between how Garegga and Ibara plays? I loved Garegga and want to play more like it, especially in how each stage has a different extend/scoring/rank management consideration (stage 2's medals and flamingoes makes it an early point trove, stage 3's slow midboss dismantle, etc.). I wonder if Ibara is just as deep with that? I hear stuff like you are not supposed to score too much when playing for survival by limiting bombing and stuff like that, which makes me hesitate cause I loved that aspect in BG.

Tl;DR: What's the ideal way of playing Ibara?