Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[copy-paster]

Currently playing Parodius da on nes emulator, and hell it loads amount of lag/slowdown if the characters are fully powered up in each stage.

Is this an emulator issue or just pure slowdown ?

[BIL]

No, it's like that on a real Famicom as well.

[Stevens]

Out at mom's for a few days, I snuck in a little BWR+ on the laptop to get my fix.

[Kollision]

Game is definitely more difficult than raystorm though. No idea how people thought that raystorm was harder.

Raystorm is the tougher one.
You can measure it by the amount of action/1CCs in the high score boards here.

[Shepardus]

I'm willing to bet more people have played Rayforce, though, and of those more have put serious effort into clearing the game, so I don't think you can really judge difficulty by high score board activity. Not that playing the first few stages a couple times is much better of a metric, though.

[pokemon123]

yeah i think so too though now. Raystorm starts out way easier but the later half is harder than rayforce although rayforce is still very tough.

[EmperorIng]

The lack of extends on RayStorm does it for me. I don't know why they didn't have them for such a long game. RayCrisis is super short so three lives is more palatable

[kaicooper]

just played my first Shmup game and finished it

R-Type 1987 MAME

there's still more then 300 Shmups to complete

[Gamer707b]

Now Ive gone back playing Layer Section on my Saturn. This game has to be the prettiest 2D game Ive played. Looking forward to beating it with a few credits. No way am I going for a 1cc.

[LordHypnos]

Been playing Gunbird 2 on and off. I'm definitely starting to figure out how to better deal with certain patterns, but there's a lot of very difficult execution stuff left. I have not started practicing the stage 1-5 boss, but have been practicing the rest of stage 1-5.

[Jonst]

Still grinding doj. I feel more consistent now and have a better scoring strat going, but damn, it's still tough! I'm finding it harder than ketsui... Hopefully I will clear by the end of summer...

[Squire Grooktook]

-Giga Wing

Solid game to me, but doesn't feel too compelling. Scoring is fun, but survival difficulty is too low for the first half of the game IMO. Extremely stringent resources balance it out, but eh I'm not really feeling it. Not my kind of game, although I really love when things heat up on stage 5. There are some fun patterns in the end game, but I don't like the rest tbh.

-RefleX

Finally warming up to this one a bit. Feels like it has the same flaws and the same strengths as Kamui: Once you get the hang of the bullet cancelling/reflecting mechanic, the same tactics tend to annihilate everything. On the other hand, it does feel pretty visceral and has some great outside the box boss fights and setpieces, like Kamui.

Comparing RefleX and Kamui, I think RefleX is a bit more fun for survival, since the reflect is something that you actually have to balance for survival, as opposed to Kamui where the bullet cancelling beam dominates everything on a survival run but requires more finesse when playing for score. Not sure what to make of the scoring in RefleX though yet.

Also, oddly I find the bosses in the first half of the game more fun then the later ones, but find the actual stage portions more fun in the second half. The Enemy Fleet battle after Scorpio is amazing on both fronts though.

-Strikers 1945 and Dragon Blaze

No matter how hard I try, I just can't get into Psyiko games. I give them a few play sessions every few monthes, hoping they'll click, but they just never do. Like them on paper, but find them a total chore to play.

-Dangun Feveron

Much more fun to me then the above. Doesn't start to get super fun till the stage 3 boss and onward though imo.

-G-Darius

Arrrrgh, still didn't want to hook up my ps2 to play my physical copy of TL2, so I tried playing this on a Ps2 Emulator with Taito Legends 2. Not sure if laggy or if the ship just moves too fucking fast, but it still felt really imprecise and annoying, especially after playing Gaiden recently.

Maybe I'll give the ps1 version a try. It's slower, but maybe that will make the game feel smoother and less imprecise. It is the version of the game I fell in love with too, and perhaps the game that made me love shmups to begin with.

[Vurpa]

Just tried Cho Ren Sha 68K for the first time. I think there are some sound issues (idk how it's supposed to sound but it sounds "off" sometimes the sound repeats like a scratched CD or something). Just played a few times but so far a fun game. Missing autofire (idk if there is an option for it?). Graphics and music (when it doesn't do the weird "scratchy" sound) are pretty awesome.

[Squire Grooktook]

^^^You have to play the game in windows 98 compatibility mode to fix the sound issues.

[BIL]

Messed about with Gynoug this evening, first time in a while. Mega Drive B-list favourite that always swipes more time than I planned, before landing firmly back whence it came. Handling, collision and feedback are ace, fundamentally airtight. Stylistically it delivers brisk Konamiesque scrambles with memorably vibrant boss patterns. A good editor could've trimmed this material into a rock-solid little gem, aaand yeah. Thar the rub! :/ Far too much stalling and repetition. A thoroughly likeable shooter, held back from greatness by a lack of concision.

I love how the game buffets the player back as stage 1 ends, as if an ill wind has accompanied the boss BGM and disintegration to black. Actually it's bcos gigantic trainman is about to land the fuck on you if you don't get back! Cute touch!

[Baron Rojo]

Toaplan games basically in MAME

[Squire Grooktook]

Working on a survival clear of Armed Police Batrider Advanced Course with Shorty B.

I think I'm getting pretty close. I think I have Grubby about down (to the point I can no miss/no bomb him or at least lose only one life fairly consistently), but the real challenge now will be getting to Discharge's second form with enough resources to escape the arm sandwich of doom.

[TheScaredPeasant]

Currently playing Truxton and Viewpoint! I play shmups on my YouTube channel, The Scared Peasant..

http://www.youtube.com/thescaredpeasant

[Stevens]

After climbing out of the Skies of Arcadia rabbit hole I took a 2nd loop run for the first time in over a week. Fell a little short of the clear and then spent some time practicing the boss.

Maybe some Fast Striker tonight.

[Jonst]

I feel close to a doj clear... Just gotta stop making those really stupid mistakes on stage 4...

[Lobinden]

Also, oddly I find the bosses in the first half of the game more fun then the later ones, but find the actual stage portions more fun in the second half. The Enemy Fleet battle after Scorpio is amazing on both fronts though.

The 5th stage boss in RefleX (the buster squad) in particular feels really dragged out, since it basically throws the same minute-long pattern at you twice for no apparent reason. I can agree that RefleX's early-game bosses are more fun, especially the Scorpio fight. If you haven't tried out Alltynex Second yet you really should, it's my favorite of the series by far because of how much faster it feels than RefleX and Kamui.


I've been playing a lot of Revolver360 lately. The health system in that game is way too forgiving but the scoring system is just so much fun. I've managed to get into the top 50 on the leaderboards for all three sector dives but the challenges are still kicking my ass.

[BIL]

The 5th stage boss in RefleX (the buster squad) in particular feels really dragged out, since it basically throws the same minute-long pattern at you twice for no apparent reason.

I remember it much the same... customarily superb Siter Skain styling, with the dual infernos of blistering atmospheric reentry and funereally intense BGM, but most of the battle itself was a bit dry.

[OmKol]

Detana Twinbee on Arcade (MAME). Konami, why... http://i.imgur.com/e49jlb0.gif

[CWM]

Detana Twinbee on Arcade (MAME). Konami, why... http://i.imgur.com/e49jlb0.gif

Gives a whole new meaning to "big hitboxes", doesn't it?

[Ikazu-san]

Touhou 11 again.
RESTART MAIDENS!

[Jonst]

Goddamn! got the final boss health down to half way and beat my previous high scores, around 61 mil (doj)... Made the final boss a handful of times now, getting there...

[Squire Grooktook]

-Zenohell

Testing Kaisers game. Not sure if I should say anything about it here, but "it's like Mushihimesama Original, only good" is a pretty good tagline.

-Armed Police Batrider

To avoid addiction destroying my life, I've implemented a "3 credits per day" rule.

Even with that limiter, I'm getting midway through the final stage pretty consistently. I have no missing Grubby down pretty consistently (I think what really clinched it for that boss was to look directly at that purple bullet/grenade thing arms to see when they're firing, rather then attempting to sight read the actual bullet trajectories) . I still absolutely choke on the final boss, even when save state practicing the last two stages. Getting there though.

-Air Gallet

I really like the bosses in this game, fast dodging with a tense big hitbox and tricky to sight read patterns, but the first 3-4 stages feel weirdly empty in comparison to the bosses they contain. It feels like all the difficulty in the game's first half comes from the mini bosses and bosses.

-Sengoku Ace

Weirdly the first Psyiko Game that compels me a bit. I blame the larger bullets and simpler patterns. Feels like you have to use your speed to dodge even when not macro'ing. Has a great presentation too, the river of sunken buddha's is awesomely creepy, and the stage 4 boss jumping onto the floating platform in front of you is imposing as fuck.

The 5th stage boss in RefleX (the buster squad) in particular feels really dragged out, since it basically throws the same minute-long pattern at you twice for no apparent reason.

I remember it much the same... customarily superb Siter Skain styling, with the dual infernos of blistering atmospheric reentry and funereally intense BGM, but most of the battle itself was a bit dry.

It was a bit tense playing it the first time, because the burning re-entry had me thinking "what if the game instant game overs me if I don't kill it fast enough?" adding some tension to the fight, but as it turns out, the fight is just way too long for some reason.

The next few battles, up until the "rebirth" segment, are a bit better, but it they don't have the aggressive creativity of Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Cancer. A plain solid fight or two, but by that point you've mastered the central mechanic enough to not feel too worried about their attacks.

[Stevens]

Keep at it Jonst!

[Jonst]

^ thanks man! Will do... All the elements for the clear are there, as always, it's putting it all together in that one run. I'm joint playing this and sdoj... Which I'll probably move on to next... Although I'm not playing these games as intensely as I was playing at the beginning of the year.

[Stevens]

Threw down with Fast Striker maniac last night. My scoring is shit, but I can make stage 5. I think I can clear it but I definitely have some work to do.