Shooting Game Tournament 2006

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 1:35 am

Rob wrote:Doujin shooters could probably fit in hidden gem week, surely... Since many people ignore them.

Next year I think we ought to have a week set aside for doujins exculsively.

Edge · Post by **Edge** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 10:13 pm

So for next week?
So which poll system did you like more, the public poll or the poll in an extra thread?

I probably will do it like this week, but this time I'll try to host the choices early on Saturday that everyone gets the chance to vote...

DJ Incompetent, would you like to handle the poll thread next week too?

BTW:
For the duration of the tournament would it be ok to sticky this thread? I link all related topics (results, polls, scoreboards) on my first post. So this thread also works like an index.

Thanks

Post by **Ghegs** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 11:04 pm

Edge wrote:BTW:
For the duration of the tournament would it be ok to sticky this thread? I link all related topics (results, polls, scoreboards) on my first post. So this thread also works like an index.

So it is written, so it is done.

DJ Incompetent · Post by **DJ Incompetent** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 3:39 am

Yeah I'll take on the poll. Since early Saturday to you is Friday night to me, can you get your PM'd game list to me Wednesday or mid-Thursday so I can gather the pics and research for summaries without the time crisis?

@tourney participants
I haven't heard any real complaints against our last voting method. The only thing I can think of that may require your input at this point (assuming we reuse Raizing week's polling style) is how would you like me to report how the official results are reflected against the unofficial public polling results:

(A) I only drop subtle hints at where the major inaccuracies in the unofficial poll are (This is what I did last week)
(B) I give to-the-number updates on how the official results are panning out during the voting period
(C) no hints. no numbers. You're left wondering what the official numbers are to the very end unless you feel like counting it yourself...or Rob counts them for you

This isn't a big enough deal to make a poll thread to ask this question, so as you pass by here to nominate the games you do or whatever, feel free to simply add an unrelated "(A)" "(B)" or "(C)" somewhere in your post to indicate your preference.

If there's overwhelming response in favor of B or C, I'll use them.

My APB rank down yet? Ahhh, it is....back to work.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 3:49 am

For the upcoming Retro Week, I nominate Stargate (1981) and Satan's Hollow (1982).

ill6 · Post by **ill6** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:59 am

I did not understand why there was an unnofficial poll and an official poll; can't we just have one mechanism?

DJ Incompetent · Post by **DJ Incompetent** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 12:53 pm

We could. I figured people would like it if they could just enter the thread, hit the 'view results' button and at least see a loose ball-park estimate on where the votes are going without any need to count. Besides, I found it much entertaining to see how false votes in the unofficial public poll were being cast.

It's not like the unofficial poll is a mechanism that's actually being used for relevance and it's just as easy to ignore.

So guys, should I take out that public poll for the unofficial votes?

ill6 · Post by **ill6** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 2:38 pm

For my money there has been small quatities of confusion over the voting mechanism, confusion over the end date and confusion over starting the vote... The less confusion the better for people of very little brain like me! We don't need to vote over all these mechanisms as long as its clear.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 3:49 pm

ill6 wrote:confusion over the voting mechanism, confusion over the end date and confusion over starting the vote...

1. post vote in thread
2. 11:59 AM GMT (switch board clock in profile)

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 4:52 pm

I Think we have nominated like 900 different games for the retro week, hehe.

Doesn't Stargate controls like Defender?

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 4:57 pm

I nominate Gun.Smoke because it's awesome and on Capcom Classics Collection, which I own. It's over 20 years old, so I think that counts as retro.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 5:11 pm

Rob wrote:I nominate Gun.Smoke because it's awesome and on Capcom Classics Collection, which I own. It's over 20 years old, so I think that counts as retro.

Seconded. I haven't played this much, but I really love it. Brilliant game.
I'm also thinking highly of Xevious lately-- much better than I had originally supposed, even if the ship speed is a bit slow for my taste.

Sword · Post by **Sword** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 5:19 pm

Rob wrote:I nominate Gun.Smoke because it's awesome and on Capcom Classics Collection, which I own. It's over 20 years old, so I think that counts as retro.

I'd like to nominate Section Z for similar reasons.
(Gun.smoke is fantastic too, but i found it a bit too difficult to really enjoy playing it

)

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 5:34 pm

Anything on that collection would be cool, but G.S is clearly pick of the retro litter. I think it embodies the touted retro "twitch gameplay" better than anything. Doesn't take long to pick up in intensity, doesn't feel cheap, very simplistic patterns. Little ways to score some extra points too.

GUN.SMOKE on the poll pleease. Capcom also needs a nod, so this is one way to do it without it being too widely played.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 6:08 pm

Shatterhand wrote:I Think we have nominated like 900 different games for the retro week, hehe.

Doesn't Stargate controls like Defender?

Indeed it does, but it has more weapons at your disposal, more enemy types, special stages every 5th and 10th stage, and various bonus mechanisms. It's also on a half dozen different retro compilations for systems like the Genesis, SNES, PS1, Dreamcast, Saturn, PS2, XBox and whatnot, so chances are people either already own it, or they can find it quick and cheaply.

Post by **Ghegs** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 6:32 pm

Sword wrote:
Rob wrote:I nominate Gun.Smoke because it's awesome and on Capcom Classics Collection, which I own. It's over 20 years old, so I think that counts as retro.
I'd like to nominate Section Z for similar reasons.

Now here are some excellent ideas. Section Z's a personal favourite, it has ways to increase score (hidden items and the spinning signs) and I almost managed to 1CC it once. 'Course, that was with autofire.

I just pray we can stay away from the numerous Space Invader- and Galaga-likes (and Xevious) because those are booooooooring.

(OMG teh heresy)

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 6:37 pm

i nominate Outzone for retroweek.. because its awesome!

btw.. there were two polls??

ed Varth would be awesome as well

DEL · Post by **DEL** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:36 pm

RE: Retroweek choice - What is the cut-off year for a retro game in this Tournament; is it 1989? Or earlier?

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:46 pm

Ghegs wrote:I just pray we can stay away from the numerous Space Invader- and Galaga-likes (and Xevious) because those are booooooooring

Try Xevious in tate with Xevious 3D/G+ before you call it boring. The game is freaking hectic and stressful, not boring. I think it holds up in a way that the original Space Invaders and Galaga do not. An absolute classic that gets ignored because of crap conversions that are annoying and slow-paced.
Part of the problem, though, is that there are too many versions and so many are crap. I'm not sure Xevious will work for that reason.

Post by **Ghegs** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:31 pm

professor ganson wrote:
Ghegs wrote:I just pray we can stay away from the numerous Space Invader- and Galaga-likes (and Xevious) because those are booooooooring
Try Xevious in tate with Xevious 3D/G+ before you call it boring. The game is freaking hectic and stressful, not boring.

I have 3D/G+ and I still stand by my statement.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:39 pm

Stargate - I vote against it for the same reasons I told choosing Dropzone over defender - basically, you can't replicate Stargate controls at home.

Xevious - I'm leaning towards this one, actually.

Gun.Smoke - err, no, please. Unnecessary complicated in controls, I'd pick Knightmare over it any day.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:48 pm

Turrican wrote: Gun.Smoke - err, no, please. Unnecessary complicated in controls, I'd pick Knightmare over it any day.

Shoot left, shoot forward, shoot right. That's all you really need. It's not complicated.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 8:53 pm

Turrican wrote:Stargate - I vote against it for the same reasons I told choosing Dropzone over defender - basically, you can't replicate Stargate controls at home.

Not to sound argumentative, but I don't feel this is a reason to exclude it. Virtually no arcade game's controls are replicated perfectly at home unless you own an arcade cabinet/stick. They're always being adjusted in one form another, be it because of button layout, or the shift from arcade stick to D-pad at the very least. I've never had any problems with Stargate on the retro packs I own, and MAME can be set up to control just like it does on said retro packs (left/right on D-pad instead of a reverse button).

And Rob, is Gun Smoke even a shmup?

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 9:04 pm

The Coop wrote: And Rob, is Gun Smoke even a shmup?

Yes. Why do you ask?

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 9:21 pm

Gunsmoke is most definatly a shmup. Auto scroll and all that jazz. The NES one is a bit different with the shops and wanted posters added, but it's still a shmup.

Is it too late to join a team? I'm most interested in Retro Week. I would like to request The Dreadnaught Factor for the Intellivision.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 9:44 pm

BrianC wrote:Is it too late to join a team?

Way too late I'm afraid. The deadline was a number of weeks ago.

But there's always next year.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 10:17 pm

Ghegs wrote:
professor ganson wrote:
Ghegs wrote:I just pray we can stay away from the numerous Space Invader- and Galaga-likes (and Xevious) because those are booooooooring
Try Xevious in tate with Xevious 3D/G+ before you call it boring. The game is freaking hectic and stressful, not boring.
I have 3D/G+ and I still stand by my statement.

I can understand that Xevious does not quicken the pulse in quite the way that Mars Matrix or Gunbird 2 do. And I think I like Gun.Smoke a bit better, as far as games from that time go. I guess my main objection is to the suggestion (not explicitly stated) that Xevious is boring in the way that Space Invaders and Galaga are, i.e. lack of enemy variety, overly simplistic patterns, not many interesting scoring opportunities, etc. Also, later bosses in Xevious are quite challenging. And the bullets get quite fast, especially given your ship speed. The art design is much more interesting than I originally thought. But most of all, I suppose I like how the scoring opportunities with the offensive bomb often require one to take risks. Is there a vertical shmup from that time with as much variety and demand for strategy? I guess it seems ahead of its time to me. (Image Fight requires a ton of strategy for survival; I don't think of it as so much score oriented. Also, isn't it later?)

Smraedis · Post by **Smraedis** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 10:31 pm

Xevious goes on for too long

I don't mind it as a game though, it must have been good when it came out too.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:01 pm

nZero wrote:Is Galaga 88 broken in any meaningful way?

This is galactic dancing!

No, it's not broken!

And I wholeheartedly support a nomination for Galaga '88!

I am a bit rusty, but just thinking about this makes me want to dance again!

Big plus: It's available in Mame and for PC-Engine, so non Mame-ers like Professor Ganson can play now too!

Galaga '88 FTW!

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:26 pm

I would like to suggest Starforce as a candidate for retro week. Thanks. ^^