Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[nesrulz]

I finally tried BG a little more seriously...
How good this game is! Damn.

Interactive shmup techno!
Of course, headphones are required.

OS: Linux
Emulator: Mednafen - Sega Saturn

[DEL]

Currently playing Dariusburst EX+ Event Mode and AC missions. A whole new game really, with new stages, new BGMs. Plus many of the missions are tough.
One problem though. The AC 2nd Iron Fossil Cup mission glitches for me. Even though I complete it with a near WR score, it doesn't let me input my name or put a completion medal on the mission....Strange.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

EDIT: WHERE can I get this game's soundtrack? I cannot find it. :l

All of the background music is in the game folder in OGG format if I remember correctly. They're not compressed within a data file or anything, and I think they are named with the original song titles (there's some freeware music in there, I remember the artist name being listed in at least some of the filenames).

[Starfighter]

Crisis Wing. Great pixelart, great music. I'm struggling a bit with the endurance side of things but it's fun none the less.

[XoPachi]

Playing Fast Striker and it will definitely not be for long. This game kind of immediately sucks.
It doesn't feel good with dpad, analog, or my joystick, no auto fire, and it is REALLY hard to see shit with these disorienting backgrounds.

(Poor GenzoMan is cursed. I only ever see his art in mediocre games when he's not doing YuGioh.)

[ashiteru73]

Played DoDonPachi today...again. This is probably my 8 times giving it another try. The more i play it the less i seem to hate it and the more i seem to enjoy. Might just wanna stick with retro shmups/touhou though...

[davyK]

Layer Section (Saturn)

Have managed to get to level 6 a few times on 1 credit. Great old game this.

[Sengoku Strider]

Sōkyūgurentai is back in the rotation. Every time I start it up I just think "man, this game is so good...why did I ever put this down?" Then that dumb third boss starts clobbering me and I remember. I end up having to brute force my way past it every dang time, so by the point that I hit stage 5 my resources are spent and I'm entering my initials.

Played DoDonPachi today...again. This is probably my 8 times giving it another try. The more i play it the less i seem to hate it and the more i seem to enjoy. Might just wanna stick with retro shmups/touhou though...

Which platform are you playing it on?

[ashiteru73]

Sōkyūgurentai is back in the rotation. Every time I start it up I just think "man, this game is so good...why did I ever put this down?" Then that dumb third boss starts clobbering me and I remember. I end up having to brute force my way past it every dang time, so by the point that I hit stage 5 my resources are spent and I'm entering my initials.

Played DoDonPachi today...again. This is probably my 8 times giving it another try. The more i play it the less i seem to hate it and the more i seem to enjoy. Might just wanna stick with retro shmups/touhou though...

Which platform are you playing it on?

Vanilla retroarch, like i spent 20 hours and some headaches learning it, so might as well put it to good use.

Edit: also using FBneo core

[Marc]

Picked up Soldner X 2 on sale. Only had a few games last night, and wasn't really in the mood because full of a cold, but man. It seems like some properly Commodore Amiga, Euroshmup bag of shit.

[EmperorIng]

seems like both Soldner games have always had that reputation. I remember looking at how the main shot looks in video and being like "this is not for me."

I myself have been obsessed with Alfa System shmups for what seems like 8 or so months now. I've been playing a lot of Castle Shikigami 1, pushing my score further and further with a few other players (a fun thing to do collectively).

I managed to get a big PB last night and a 1cc as well, and am coming within spitting distance of a personal goal of 3 billion. I recorded the run as well for posterity's sake (watch it here), even though I know I will have a better one soon enough.

[BrushHog]

Been playing Radiant Silvergun recently and just got Dangun Feveron. Both on the Xbone. Working towards a 1cc in each. I feel like I may need a third one going as well, so I’ll probably grab the M2 Aleste collection on Switch.

[Eyvah_Ehyeh]

Browsing to see what I've missed for the last ten years, but actually playing ABA Games/Kenta Chois rRootage and Noiz2sa. ^^; With a 360 Controller (for the first time), would you believe it.

[XoPachi]

R-Type 3 owns.
This game is so radical. SNES's answer to Thunder Force 4 and man did it step up fiercely. Wonder why they distanced themselves from this game's style. I appreciate what Delta started, but that gloomy vibe kind of just took over entirely.

[To Far Away Times]

I love R-Type 3. The lava maze is the stuff of legends. The game gets considerably easier after that.

Great visuals, sound effects, and music too. Probably the best shmup on the system.

[XoPachi]

This stage 4 boss in Mushi is a problem. The last stage, Aki included, is a complete non issue for me on Maniac, but one specific boss pattern and those fucking cicadas always get me. If I can just confidently deal with those and ensure I don't mess up the 1up in stage 3, I can for sure get a clear of this game finally.

I love R-Type 3. The lava maze is the stuff of legends. The game gets considerably easier after that.

Great visuals, sound effects, and music too. Probably the best shmup on the system.

I think that's safe to say honestly. Lot of SNES STG's are held back in weird ways compared to it's competitors of the time. That was the only game didn't exactly suffer from anything on the console. And it was an original exclusive so that's extra points.

[To Far Away Times]

I love R-Type 3. The lava maze is the stuff of legends. The game gets considerably easier after that.

Great visuals, sound effects, and music too. Probably the best shmup on the system.

I think that's safe to say honestly. Lot of SNES STG's are held back in weird ways compared to it's competitors of the time. That was the only game didn't exactly suffer from anything on the console. And it was an original exclusive so that's extra points.

The only other SNES shmup I would put in that orbit is Axelay, which I love as well. R-Type 3 is definately a better game though.

The rest of the SNES shmup library is kinda forgettable. Gradius III and Space Megaforce are solid but not spectacular. Super R-Type doesn't come anywhere near R-Type III, never been a fan of Area88/U.N. Squadron, the SNES Darius games are okay but clearly surpassed by the Genesis version of Segaia/Darius II. Thunder Spirits is clearly surpassed by the Genesis and arcade versions of Thunderforce III. Raiden Trad on SNES is terrible. I think that's about it for the well known shooters on the system unless I forgot something.

[LordHypnos]

Jumping around a bit between trying to relearn Mars Matrix and some more casual play of Demonizer, Giga Wing, Omega Fighter, and a few others. Made it to S5 of Giga Wing for the first time in a single credit (with Ruby).

Anyone know if the item pickups in Omega Fighter are random? Sometimes I get a bunch of slow-down items, other times I don't.

[BrianC]

The rest of the SNES shmup library is kinda forgettable. Gradius III and Space Megaforce are solid but not spectacular. Super R-Type doesn't come anywhere near R-Type III, never been a fan of Area88/U.N. Squadron, the SNES Darius games are okay but clearly surpassed by the Genesis version of Segaia/Darius II. Thunder Spirits is clearly surpassed by the Genesis and arcade versions of Thunderforce III. Raiden Trad on SNES is terrible. I think that's about it for the well known shooters on the system unless I forgot something.

Well known games that didn't reach the US? Macross Scramble(d) Valkilly, Parodius, and Pop 'n Twin Bee?

[pegboy]

Don't forget about Sonic Wings/Aerofighters either. It's the closest thing you are going to get to 16-bit Psikyo besides the Neo Geo games I guess.

[Mortificator]

Ibara Kuro, so fun. Finally did well enough to make it to Dr. Rose and got her second form down to half health, tried to finish her off with a hado gun... and had a Hibachi moment when I found out she can neutralize them.

In between working on that, I've been replaying the Darius series and adjacent games. Border Down seems to be clicking with me in a way it didn't when I tried it years ago, though I haven't made it past stage 3 yet.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Anyone know if the item pickups in Omega Fighter are random? Sometimes I get a bunch of slow-down items, other times I don't.

As far as I can tell they're RNG. The only way to manipulate what you get would be TAS from a blank NVRAM state where your inputs are frame-consistent I'd imagine. I've had runs where I get one of those max power infinity items in stage run which I suspect are just rare RNG (which are bad because they make your current weapon way overspecialized). Fortunately 1UPs are not RNG, and you also get the gold fullscreen clear powerups as you get x10 multiplier kills (let popcorn smack into you from the left and right, your shot is wider than ship hitbox is).

Good luck with Giga Wing! It's generally a lot more forgiving resource-wise than Mars Matrix is, especially since bombing will immediately recharge your reflect meter.

[Stevens]

Whoa - A Lord Hypnos sighting!

[LordHypnos]

Was reminded of Ring^-27, which I found the demo version of a while back. I really liked it, though it feels pretty challenging, for sure. So I bought the full version (it's quite cheap). Seems like there are a lot more shot types available, which is nice. It's possible the difficulty is tweaked up a bit compared to the demo that I had.

Whoa - A Lord Hypnos sighting!

Nice to see that you're still around!

As far as I can tell they're RNG. The only way to manipulate what you get would be TAS from a blank NVRAM state where your inputs are frame-consistent I'd imagine. I've had runs where I get one of those max power infinity items in stage run which I suspect are just rare RNG (which are bad because they make your current weapon way overspecialized). Fortunately 1UPs are not RNG, and you also get the gold fullscreen clear powerups as you get x10 multiplier kills

This is good to know. I guess I will not count on being able to get the slowdown items at any particular time

let popcorn smack into you from the left and right, your shot is wider than ship hitbox is

I did figure this out, and it's something that really makes this game feel good by the standards of a late 80s arcade game. I wonder if this is the first game to do something like, I think people call it "aura" in a lot of more modern games?

Good luck with Giga Wing! It's generally a lot more forgiving resource-wise than Mars Matrix is, especially since bombing will immediately recharge your reflect meter.

It definitely is this, though remembering to actually bail myself out with bombs has been something of a challenge so far (I've never been great at this). However, that's pretty much the entire way that I managed to get to S5. I figure I'm a pretty big Takumi fan (I really liked Giga Wing 2 as well as MM), so it's about time I gave the original GW some time, even though I prefer some things about MM and GW2, such as the (absence of) enemy collisions and the shorter game length as well as more intense early stages.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I wonder if this is the first game to do something like, I think people call it "aura" in a lot of more modern games?

With its full autofire, pointblank scoring, time slowdown items, it's definitely super modern for a game made in its era.

Aura is generally a term used to refer to the field around your ship when using the laser in Dodonpachi where you deal about double the damage and where popcorn generally die immediately upon touching it, preventing ramming deaths. Shot auras usually are visibly separate from the shots themselves, though some games may have pointblanking bonuses where the shot looks visibly different when hitting within the pointblank range (Reco Abnormal/Reco BL at pointblank with rapid shot, Solid State Survivor pointblanking).

I guess it's something to a precursor to that where you're encouraged to get pointblank kills, albeit not because your shot deals more damage up close but simply because you get your x10 multiplier kills that way.

more intense early stages.

You're getting the most intense early stages possible too by picking the character with the hardest stage order.

[LordHypnos]

Aura is generally a term used to refer to the field around your ship when using the laser in Dodonpachi where you deal about double the damage and where popcorn generally die immediately upon touching it, preventing ramming deaths. Shot auras usually are visibly separate from the shots themselves, though some games may have pointblanking bonuses where the shot looks visibly different when hitting within the pointblank range (Reco Abnormal/Reco BL at pointblank with rapid shot, Solid State Survivor pointblanking).

So perhaps Aura isn't quite the right term, but the shot hitbox definitely extends beyond where it's visible and protects the sides of the ship at least. I feel like it might even extend to the back of the ship.

Definitely an interesting game that was ahead of its time, in any case.

You're getting the most intense early stages possible too by picking the character with the hardest stage order.

Yeah, for the longest time I was trying to play Isha, because of the easier stage order, and I know Stuck is generally considered the strongest partially due to his stage order, but I do really like Ruby's shot and movement speed. Hahaha. Hopefully I'm not shooting myself in the foot too badly this way.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Ruby's fine, nothing you can't handle. You may want to use a bomb or two on S3 you wouldn't otherwise need with the other characters though. S3 lava stage midboss's second attack in particular is a terror to handle without reflecting or bombing it and you need to dodge it if you're scoring as Ruby since the first and third attack are far more lucrative to reflect back.

Stuck and Isha are about even as far as easy stage order, with Sinnosuke being in the middle. The thing that really makes Stuck the best is he's the only ship in the game with a piercing shot, where the cannonball blasts hit real hard on bunched up targets. Whether it's a crowd of popcorn or multiple big enemies, everything in the blast takes full damage. Most of the bosses in the game have multiple parts you can hit at the same time with the blasts (the train stage boss's various cannons, the S5 boss's wings, the S6 boss's cannons), and Stuck can get in close to rip stuff to shreds any time he reflects. Even on smaller stuff that he's less effective at like the TLB you can hit with the main gun + one cannonball with every reflect, which still deals considerable damage. Stuck also has the second highest movement speed, further playing to his aggressive close range mechanics, and his shots are both powerful and wide, letting you mow down all sorts of enemies.

If there's a downside to Stuck, it's that you need to button mash faster than the others to avoid his gunpods moving around unintentionally, and his main shot appears to deal less damage than Sinnosuke's main shot (despite Sinnosuke firing in spurts) so if you're not hitting with a cannonball your damage output takes a hit. You also have to get used to the way the cannonballs fire sporadically, instead of as a continuous barrage, making sure a popcorn enemy doesn't slip through to ram you between shots.

Sinnosuke is decent, flooding the screen with wideshots, but is slow. It's hard to really pointblank during the reflect since you move slowly getting in and out. Isha's probably the worst character for straight up killing stuff since her main shot is noticeably weaker than Ruby's, her missile damage isn't too impressive and can't be easily beefed up with pointblanking due to the pods being behind her, and she's the second slowest in the game. Isha's not "bad" per say, as you can still beat the game handily with her (reflecting is just that good), but she's probably the worst of the 4 in terms of shot type usefulness.

tl;dr Stuck is bestest

[To Far Away Times]

Yeah, Stuck is really good. The cannon balls travel far enough that you'll almost always hit what you need to as long as you aren't hugging the bottom edge of the screen. And his cannon balls rip stuff to shreds. Its also a spread shot of sorts. He's definitely the strongest character for survival play.

I switched to him when I just couldn't quite get over a difficult section with Ruby and I was surprised just how much stronger he is. It was a noticeable and immediate improvement.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I tried playing Darius Twin for the first time in a while because I couldn't remember why I hadn't played through it and got a very rude reminder on S1 when I'm getting smacked by popcorn enemies flying across the screen. It's a game where you really gotta learn what enemies appear where because collisions appear to be the primary threat. Very annoying when it's from behind, I suppose I am spoiled by games with warnings on where enemies show up. Played a few credits, didn't even make it to S1 boss. Brutal.

I missed that Kiken got that 1cc of Giga Wing they were working on, congrats!

[Mortificator]

Darius Force is stupid like that too, enemies just sail in from behind or below with no warning. That game has checkpoints and resets your attack to the lowest level on death too. It's a shame, since Force at least has an identity and some good boss designs. Twin is just dull.

Yeah, Stuck is really good. The cannon balls travel far enough that you'll almost always hit what you need to as long as you aren't hugging the bottom edge of the screen. And his cannon balls rip stuff to shreds. Its also a spread shot of sorts. He's definitely the strongest character for survival play.

I switched to him when I just couldn't quite get over a difficult section with Ruby and I was surprised just how much stronger he is. It was a noticeable and immediate improvement.

Back when I was learning the game I tried the characters and also settled on Ruby... then eventually switched to Stuck to get the 1CC.