Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[blackoak]

Gunbird 2, glad I repurchased the pcb. With the reco autofire/remapping pcb its a joy to play now! My taste for Psikyo is growing... reminds me I need to finish translating that Psikyo x Capcom interview here.

[VHS-porn]

Also playing Gunbird 2, but I'm wondering if I should enable autofire too, in general is that viewed as ok ? If so I'll try a few other games with it.

[trap15]

Autofire is generally accepted as OK for almost every STG (I actually can't think of any where it's not). There are some games I think are better without though (Flying Shark comes to mind).

[CIT]

I'm playing Gradius III on SNES. I had forgotten how easy it is, got the the final stage's walkers on my second try.

I like the game though, trying to trigger all the bonus stages is really fun.

[Kiken]

Been flipping back and forth between Bullet Soul ver B and DDP DFK (1.5 and Black Label).

Could Loop be any more over powered than she is? She better be in the sequel.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Finally got some time to sit down and play some Espgaluda II. Just picked up the 360 port, looks and sounds lovely. I just realized I've been referring to the zetsushikai mechanic as 'zesshikai' for a while now, oops.

Asagi's kakusei mode damage is ridiculous, but it's tough to get used to her being the only character with less spread when in kakusei mode. Both Ageha and Tateha have wideshot options to quickly clear enemies if need be, whereas Asagi's kakusei laser only summons her alter-ego images when you connect with the laser, and her shot needs you to sweep in order to cover the screen, which is tricky with her movement speed.

I just nomissed nobombed stage 5 up to Seseri the first time I got to it, felt a lot easier than even stage 4 was. Then Seseri wiped me. I wish I were better at getting the 1up, but I only get it about 50% of my runs, if that. Omake unlocks on a 1CC of arcade/360, right?

[trap15]

I just realized I've been referring to the zetsushikai mechanic as 'zesshikai' for a while now, oops.

They're both correct, really.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Really? The score display specifically lists it as zetsushikai.

[trap15]

Yes, they're different romanizations for the same kanji "絶死界". It's actually more common to see that romanized to zesshikai, from my experience. Most people would pronounce it as zesshikai as well, I believe. I forget what the rule is called (thinking rendaku, not sure), but there are some neat little kanji rules that make pronouncing things like this less painful, and that's why you get zesshikai.

[z0mbie90]

With new PC I tried out Ibara for the first time. I been wanting to try the game for a long time, and I can say Im not disappointed.
It's not easy, real punishing. And I guess it not emulated 100% with no slowdown or anything. Just wish CAVE could release it on home consoles. (by home consoles I mean modern PS3/360 or something, PS2 version seem to go for insane prices and also seen that alot of people think its a bad port)

[ACSeraph]

Bought Darius R for GBA. Absolutely hate it. Controls sluggishly, the screen is zoomed in way too far so you're always getting sniped by shit you can't even see, and the post death recovery makes Gradius look fair. Total waste of money.

[Kiken]

Popped the DC rev of Ikaruga in and started re-learning my chains. Figure that two months ought to be enough time to get ready for Magfest.. been meaning to put a decent score on Majors' cab.

[ACSeraph]

More Darius R on GBA, because I spent my hard earned money on it dammit! Just no-miss cleared it. Dafuq is up with the first stage being the hardest stage in the game?! Garbage...

[Kollision]

Started to learn Shikigami No Shiro II.
Not quite comfortable with the gameplay in Cotton 2, but still trying.

[spadgy]

Autofire is generally accepted as OK for almost every STG (I actually can't think of any where it's not). There are some games I think are better without though (Flying Shark comes to mind).

I agree. Most of the time it's fine. Maybe not if you were playing in a live competition? There's the odd game it screws, like Twin Eagle where it sends the rank silly, but it's generally accepted. I use it whenever possible, because years of gaming and skateboarding falls mean without autofire my wrist hurts considerably within a minute of playing; I'd rather use autofire and maximise how long into my life I can play arcade games than go without.

Most (I think) scoreboards on this forum let you mark autofire/non-autofire, so you can always submit scores safe in the knowledge you're being open about autofire use.

I would say the occasional game is spoilt if you push auto fire so fast it makes the game too easy, but that's rare, and easy enough to avoid.

Skykid has also made the interesting point before that some Cave games (he and I were discussing the original Mushi) may even be easier without auto fire, in that using one button for tap and hold encourages you to play in a more natural rhythm of the games (sorry if I've miscommunicated your point there Skykid; it was a chat down the arcade about 4 years ago!)

[dunpeal2064]

Back on the Futari drug.

Trying to break 300m in Original (Best so far was a 212m shit run)

Also playing Ultra.

[CIT]

Well, I just beat Blazeon (SNES), a tough and excruciatingly slow yet oddly fascinating Irem-wannabe with lotsa memorization and HR Giger inspired designs as well as a truly awesome OST.

Final boss didn't look to happy:



End score:



I'd like to check out the PCB to compare, but it seems very hard to find.

[EmperorIng]

The only game where people raise a stink about auto-fire that I know of around here is Darius Gaiden, and I flip flop back and forth on that. I generally play without it, to decrease my chance of actually beating the game!

I was playing last night, and as usual, I get to one of the last bosses before it all goes south. All of the DG final bosses are next to impossible! Especially without the autofire cheat, lol.

EDIT: of course, right after I type that, I 1CC the game...

[yorgje]

RIGHT now the shmup I'm playing is really lewd
More broadly speaking I am playing the shmup most in tune with the Nipponese spirit, yes you guessed it, the one and only glorious leader's enterprise Phantasmagoria of Flower View!

[iconoclast]

Got another 300+ billion overflow in training mode with C-L. I got really lucky with my first one, I had to do lots of grinding to figure out the exact timing for the final recharge in order to get the hang of it. I think there's still one more optimization I can make, but overall I feel like I finally have a complete understanding of this damn stage. edit: Got another 500 billion overflow with the aforementioned optimization.

Too bad Cave turned the overflow off in Score Attack. Going to have to play offline if I want to do it on a real credit.

[Captain]

∀kashicverse - Malicious Wake

The best way to describe this game is holy shit.

[dunpeal2064]

Futanari 1.5 Original

Managed a 243m 2 life clear. Still shit, I messed up on the lanterns and died before Larsa.

Still trying Ultra

[ACSeraph]

Futanari 1.5 Original

D:


Been playing Metal Black, love it but its just too much for me. I'm not sure I can ever see myself getting the clear.

[littlenando]

Jamestown

[Softdrink 117]

Started playing SDOJ again for the first time since the port was released. I stopped playing it after the first day because it felt awkward and laggy; apparently the patch made a big difference (or maybe at the time I had things set up differently, who knows). Either way, I'm really enjoying playing this again. Made it to the stage 4 boss (Type-A/Arcade/Auto ON) on my second credit; might try for a 1CC. We'll see where it goes.

[spadgy]

I'm a minute away from playing DeltaZeal/G-Stream G2020 for the first time. Very keen on this one.

[the allett]

I'm a minute away from playing DeltaZeal/G-Stream G2020 for the first time. Very keen on this one.

You can't go wrong with this one mate

[ACSeraph]

I'm a minute away from playing DeltaZeal/G-Stream G2020 for the first time. Very keen on this one.

Nice. Before my recent Darius addiction began that was all I was playing (aside from Caladrius AC of course)

[iconoclast]

Cracked 1 trillion in training mode.

I still want to practice a few sections a little more, but I think I'll start trying to do this on a real credit soon.
although it's not like there's any difference - the first 4 stages are worthless

[ratikal]

Cracked 1 trillion in training mode.

I still want to practice a few sections a little more, but I think I'll start trying to do this on a real credit soon.
although it's not like there's any difference - the first 4 stages are worthless

Are you going to do score attack? The score is fixed by default in score attack.