Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[Noid]

^Not an easy task even on Normal

I assume you play custom?

Nope, just playing with default ships and settings.

I have tried some custom and they definitely make things extremely easy haha.

[Squire Grooktook]

Made it to the final boss of Dangun Feveron, died on the first pattern lol.

[SMC]

Practicing some Mushihimesama Original mode.
Trying to milk nanabushes and getting shot in the face a lot as a result.

[Stevens]

SDOJ 1.5 Laser:

Things I have learned so far -

I can chain and no miss stage 1 in its entirety. The bosses last pattern used to eat me alive, not anymore.

There is little reason to hyper on stage 1. My best score run (A little over 3,000,000,000) I didn't hyper until sometime in stage 2.

I am scoring well enough to earn the 1st extend somewhere on stage 2 or early in stage 3.

Stage 2 I can no miss. Need some more practice on the boss.

Stage 3 I still need a better path.

On my best run I hyper'ed with a level 7 and as it ended my meter recharged and I hit it again, and then that one ended followed by another recharge. It was very visceral.

[EmperorIng]

Rabio Lepus Special

Good game. While I feel it a little cheap in spots - items dropping through the floor; walls hurt you, but ceilings and floors do not - it's got a lot going for it. Power-ups are essentially nonexistant, outside of a ribbon that increases the rate of your shot and homing missiles that you collect. The rabbit punch maneuver seems a little underwhelming, and I rarely use it, though I've seen arcade replays where it demolishes bosses in seconds flat. The PC-Engine port favors missiles+ribbon combos instead. Despite only having a straight-forward shot and a large hitbox, the game is manageable (mostly!). I think it would have been bogged down if it had included more attack options, considering one of them already felt dangerously close to superfluity.

It seems a little luck-based when an invincibility tanuki can let you cruise through a chunk of any stage. The game is pretty difficult, though if you get the ribbon powerup, your missile attacks destroy bosses in no time (sort of Psikyo-like, eh, Nakamura?). I really like that despite the cutesy ship, the victory screens, and the ghost midboss, the enemy sprites and environments are all serious, sometimes bordering on the grotesque.

I haven't cleared the first loop yet (I can get to the mammoth boss on stage 4 out of 6; st5 is a glorified midboss rush), but it's shaping up to be a worthwhile endeavor from an early Video-System.

EDIT: Two days later, I made the clear. Feeling: satisfied.

[Noid]

Gonna play some Shutshimi on PS4 tonight.

[Cee]

Just got the 1 credit clear in hard mode on satazius now im working on insane.

[Stevens]

SDOJ - Got the timing down on the stage 1 mid boss hyper. Hitting it pretty consistently.

Stage 2 - I'm still spending resources on the bosses 2nd pattern. I'll find a way.

Stage 3 - Reached the boss for my furthest run yet. Still a lot of work to do here.

Naturally I haven't touched the last two stages yet. Soon..

[Jonst]

^ nice one Stevens!

Meanwhile, life is getting in the way of my doj practice...

[Stevens]

Thanks Jonst. Hope everything is OK on your end.

Stage 2 boss is still kind of a dick, but I'm still working on it. Better though is stage 3 - I've taken a more aggressive approach through the 1st half of the stage and mid boss and it is starting to come together.

I think I'll reach stage 4 sometime this week.

[Jonst]

Yeah man, not too bad. So close to a doj clear but I'm finding it a chore... But I've come this far, so I'll plod on. I'm not hitting it as hard as I did with ketsui but I'll get there at some point. I'm either too tired or my heart isn't in it recently.

Good to hear your back on cave, surprising choice of game though... all good though man, I'll enjoy following your progress!
_________________
"Just fire and forget" 1cc List

[Stevens]

Good to hear your back on cave, surprising choice of game though... all good though man, I'll enjoy following your progress!

SDOJ was actually the 1st Cave game I owned. I wanted a DDP game I could play (PS2 was at mom's at the time) so it was just a question of what was on the 360 and region free.

When I bought it I had no clue I wasn't even remotely ready to handle it. Holy shit that game was so far above my skill level when I bought it, it basically beat me into the fetal position.

A few weeks back I popped it in and started playing 360 mode and figured if I'm going to get a Cave clear it will be 360 mode. Then I figured since I've cleared novice shot and laser (I don't count those for me), I would go for novice expert and THAT would be my 1st legit clear.

Then bananamatic suggested since I was going to do novice expert I might as well go for 1.5, and here I am.

Earlier today I said I would reach stage 4 this week, but as it turns out I reached it earlier today. I still have a lot of work on stage 3 though..

I never thought I would be able to make a dent in SDOJ 1.5, yet a year later here I am.

[city41]

Made it to the final boss of Dangun Feveron, died on the first pattern lol.

Nice, that's an impressive feat. Them bullets be fast!!


I'm currently just toying around with a handful of shmups before I return to trying to 1cc galuda some more ... Super R-Type, ESP Rade, Super Star Soldier and even a little Dangun.

[Squire Grooktook]

Made it to the final boss of Dangun Feveron, died on the first pattern lol.

Nice, that's an impressive feat. Them bullets be fast!!


I'm currently just toying around with a handful of shmups before I return to trying to 1cc galuda some more ... Super R-Type, ESP Rade, Super Star Soldier and even a little Dangun.

Thanks! I actually cleared it yesterday. Right now I'm working on a Speed 4 scoring clear. Currently at 4 million points.

[CWM]

No missed the first five stages of Strikers 1945 II. Was having a very tough time adjusting to this game after spending the past two months with Cave, but it seems like I'm past the major hurdle now. Still, the random order of the first four stages makes targeted practice more difficult than it should be. I'm almost relieved to be able to practice the fixed later stages, even if the difficulty is higher.

[Lord Satori]

I've been playing Tyrian again lately. It's a shame that Tyrian 2000's episode 5 is so pitiful. I think if they wanted to add new content for the new millennium they should have gone all out or not at all.

[Jonst]

@ Stevens, s'all good man! The game is brutal and I'm glad you've moved up to 1.5. It will take work but I believe you have the skills for a clear, I'm rooting for you! I've only ever made half way into stage 5 with no resources... I enjoy it but I've never really worked on it as such but I'll go back to it at some point...

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Futari Ultra is hard. ._. You have to basically do completely new routes compared to God because of the much faster and denser shots, and weaker shot types. I still can't get past Stage 1 without bombing multiple times, but then Stage 1 is also a lot harder than 2, 3, and 4 are.

[Bananamatic]

Futari Ultra is hard. ._. You have to basically do completely new routes compared to God because of the much faster and denser shots, and weaker shot types. I still can't get past Stage 1 without bombing multiple times, but then Stage 1 is also a lot harder than 2, 3, and 4 are.

st3 second half is hell on ultra and the st4 moths are also way harder than most things in 1
not even going to mention icicles if you're trying to score

in st1 you just gotta figure out what to speedkill because if one of those small lizards get a spread shot off you could be pretty much screwed

[copy-paster]

The SFC port of Parodius Da!, and I still can't beat it. At least the game didn't have crazy rank system like the arcade version did and more enjoyable.

[EmperorIng]

No missed the first five stages of Strikers 1945 II. Was having a very tough time adjusting to this game after spending the past two months with Cave, but it seems like I'm past the major hurdle now. Still, the random order of the first four stages makes targeted practice more difficult than it should be. I'm almost relieved to be able to practice the fixed later stages, even if the difficulty is higher.

I really like the random order. In a sense getting a hard boss on an earlier level (like the Iron Casket) is a good opportunity to grasp the basics of a pattern without being visually overwhelmed by the triple bullet count they would shoot out on a higher rank. It allows you to improve the fundamentals of dodging as opposed to just memorizing stage layouts (though knowing when large tough enemies appear and planning accordingly is essential in any Psikyo game).

I just did a personal best in Strikers 1945 II the other day, making it to 1-6 on the PS1 port. Yeah yeah, it loses TATE and offers "rebalanced" difficulty (which I am glad they did because without out it the game would be cheap with offscreen enemies), but it's still very damn hard, and there's a scoreboard for the PS1 version anyhow, so who cares?

Usually 1-4 is my limit; I waste far too many bombs panicking my way out of situations. I don't even know how you are supposed to survive 1-6 - 1-8 ...

[pegboy]

No missed the first five stages of Strikers 1945 II. Was having a very tough time adjusting to this game after spending the past two months with Cave, but it seems like I'm past the major hurdle now. Still, the random order of the first four stages makes targeted practice more difficult than it should be. I'm almost relieved to be able to practice the fixed later stages, even if the difficulty is higher.

I really like the random order. In a sense getting a hard boss on an earlier level (like the Iron Casket) is a good opportunity to grasp the basics of a pattern without being visually overwhelmed by the triple bullet count they would shoot out on a higher rank. It allows you to improve the fundamentals of dodging as opposed to just memorizing stage layouts (though knowing when large tough enemies appear and planning accordingly is essential in any Psikyo game).

I just did a personal best in Strikers 1945 II the other day, making it to 1-6 on the PS1 port. Yeah yeah, it loses TATE and offers "rebalanced" difficulty (which I am glad they did because without out it the game would be cheap with offscreen enemies), but it's still very damn hard, and there's a scoreboard for the PS1 version anyhow, so who cares?

Usually 1-4 is my limit; I waste far too many bombs panicking my way out of situations. I don't even know how you are supposed to survive 1-6 - 1-8 ...

You should try the Japanese PS1 version of Strikers 1945 II, it has Tate and the correct arcade difficulty.

[EmperorIng]

Eh, I have MAME if I want an arcade-perfect Strikers II. I'm pretty happy with the ultra-cheap Strikers PS1 port, all things told.

[CWM]

No missed the first five stages of Strikers 1945 II. Was having a very tough time adjusting to this game after spending the past two months with Cave, but it seems like I'm past the major hurdle now. Still, the random order of the first four stages makes targeted practice more difficult than it should be. I'm almost relieved to be able to practice the fixed later stages, even if the difficulty is higher.

I really like the random order. In a sense getting a hard boss on an earlier level (like the Iron Casket) is a good opportunity to grasp the basics of a pattern without being visually overwhelmed by the triple bullet count they would shoot out on a higher rank. It allows you to improve the fundamentals of dodging as opposed to just memorizing stage layouts (though knowing when large tough enemies appear and planning accordingly is essential in any Psikyo game).

I just did a personal best in Strikers 1945 II the other day, making it to 1-6 on the PS1 port. Yeah yeah, it loses TATE and offers "rebalanced" difficulty (which I am glad they did because without out it the game would be cheap with offscreen enemies), but it's still very damn hard, and there's a scoreboard for the PS1 version anyhow, so who cares?

Usually 1-4 is my limit; I waste far too many bombs panicking my way out of situations. I don't even know how you are supposed to survive 1-6 - 1-8 ...

I just think the random order introduces too many changes. It doesn't just affect bullet count or speed, but also major enemy spawns, how particular boss attacks need to be handled, as well as their order - compare the desert stage boss in his 1-3 and 1-4 incarnations, for example. The sea and desert stages are notably easier as well, so getting them later lowers the difficulty of the whole run.

In general, though, one thing I like about the game is that there's no huge difficulty spikes. The later stages aren't massively harder than the early ones once you have an idea what to do. The main thing that kills me are random bullets from popcorn in places I don't expect them. Everything else is very consistent and can be done the same way every time.

[pegboy]

No missed the first five stages of Strikers 1945 II. Was having a very tough time adjusting to this game after spending the past two months with Cave, but it seems like I'm past the major hurdle now. Still, the random order of the first four stages makes targeted practice more difficult than it should be. I'm almost relieved to be able to practice the fixed later stages, even if the difficulty is higher.

I really like the random order. In a sense getting a hard boss on an earlier level (like the Iron Casket) is a good opportunity to grasp the basics of a pattern without being visually overwhelmed by the triple bullet count they would shoot out on a higher rank. It allows you to improve the fundamentals of dodging as opposed to just memorizing stage layouts (though knowing when large tough enemies appear and planning accordingly is essential in any Psikyo game).

I just did a personal best in Strikers 1945 II the other day, making it to 1-6 on the PS1 port. Yeah yeah, it loses TATE and offers "rebalanced" difficulty (which I am glad they did because without out it the game would be cheap with offscreen enemies), but it's still very damn hard, and there's a scoreboard for the PS1 version anyhow, so who cares?

Usually 1-4 is my limit; I waste far too many bombs panicking my way out of situations. I don't even know how you are supposed to survive 1-6 - 1-8 ...

I just think the random order introduces too many changes. It doesn't just affect bullet count or speed, but also major enemy spawns, how particular boss attacks need to be handled, as well as their order - compare the desert stage boss in his 1-3 and 1-4 incarnations, for example. The sea and desert stages are notably easier as well, so getting them later lowers the difficulty of the whole run.

In general, though, one thing I like about the game is that there's no huge difficulty spikes. The later stages aren't massively harder than the early ones once you have an idea what to do. The main thing that kills me are random bullets from popcorn in places I don't expect them. Everything else is very consistent and can be done the same way every time.

No huge difficulty spikes? Guess you haven't played loop 2 yet

But I kind of like the randomness of 1-4. In order to practice I just made some save-states for 1-4 for all 4 stages and practiced all the hardest forms of those bosses.

[null1024]

Touhou 15 [PC].

it's actually been forever since I've played a recent 2hu
Pretty nifty. I am getting hit by things I have zero right to though

also, one of the second boss's spellcards is really fucking with my eyes, I actually can't stand to look at it

[Squire Grooktook]

-Dragon Blaze.

Made it to stage 7 on one credit for the first time.

Overall, I've warmed up to this game a lot, though I still don't like a lot of things about Psyiko's design style.

What I like:

+Dragon Shot is a unique hook. Fun melee mechanic with a lot of nuance, and being able to position it as a gun turret is also really creative and fun.
+Boss patterns in a bullet hell game that actually require to use your speed to your advantage, macro dodging slow dense shit whilst normal dodging fast not-so-dense shit.
+Level design actually feels like it has nuance compared to most Psyiko games (IMO, Strikers stages put me to sleep), with lots of places to use the main mechanic strategicly and fairly varied enemy waves.
+Very strong character variety. All have unique fighting style springing from a variety of unique options. I can't decide whether Rob feels more like a barbarian with his heavy hitting D-Shots, or a Wizard with his difficult to set up but powerful and fast recharging magic attacks.

What I don't like:

-No RNG in boss patterns as usual. Reaction and improvisation are my favorite parts of action games, and Psyiko severely lacks in this department. Overall the challenges are mostly too pure execution based for my taste.
-Boss patterns aren't "intuitive". Ie macro dodging them with your speed is very fun, but often times it requires a precise positioning beforehand and a deep understanding of the route. Makes them feel very unfun when first learning the game IMO.
-I dislike the scoring system. I can see encouraging the player to melee stuff a lot as part of scoring, but I don't like the idea of doing it all the time, because then you're just mastering one mode of combat. I've heard people compare the system to Ketsui, and I'd say I prefer Ketsui because you have to master close range pre-empting and macro'ing, and long range micro dodging. Better variety. Also similar to how I prefer Rayforce's scoring system over Soukyugurentai: Rayforce forces you to master both your shots, while Souky just wants you to using homing all the time.
-Aesthetic complaints aren't a big deal to me, but the music is super forgettable and the environments colorless and bland. I do like the character designs and ending cutscenes though.

Overall I think I'd put it on my top 25, but not top 10. Personal taste, I can see why people love it though.


-Dangun Feveron

Hit 4.9 million. Definitely getting there.

I was using Type C for a while, but I think I'm going to switch back to Type B. Type C is higher scoring overall IIRC, but from my experience it requires a much tighter and more technical route (much like the Missile weapon) then what I currently intend to try for. With Type B, I sacrifice some points on stage 1 and 2, but I get much higher scores on average in stage 3-5.

Also man, the stage 3 boss is a masterpiece. If you were to ask me what my ideal bullet hell pattern is, I think I could confidently point to the stage 3 bosses final attack and say "pretty much that".

[JBC]

Say what you will about Thunder Force VI, but that attract mode music is serenity incarnate.

[CWM]

Strikers 1945 II may become the first game I give up on clearing after playing seriously. I just don't get it. Whole game feels like it has input lag, but I know it doesn't. Ship feels slow and unwieldy, yet still fast enough to make micrododging really awkward. Popcorn seems to shoot semi-random bullets which kill me with perfect regularity. Bullets have large hitboxes so it's possible to tapdodge with the right timing and still get hit. And for some reason, I find later stages easier than the earlier ones.

I think this game might be impossible. #FullPlank

[EmperorIng]

That's the first time I've heard a complaint that a bullet's hitbox is too large, lol.* No weaving through harmless marshmallows in Strikers.


*Wait, that complaint is thrown out against Darius Twin, but in that the hitboxes are actually larger than the bullets themselves...