Shooting Game Tournament 2006

Post by **Shatterhand** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:47 pm

ParegoricKid wrote:
Shatterhand wrote:Space Manbow doesn't have any score system, other than "Who kills more enemies have the better score"

Also, I think the game may loop infinitely, though it gets harder. The game is harder than the Gradius I, ,and no one managed to finish the 2nd loop of Gradius in the Ramus shmeet... I dunno if anyone would be able to do it in Space Manbow (I never even tried the 2nd loop, maybe the game ends there, but I doubt it)

Other than that, I think it would be an awesome choice.
Man I looove Space manbow and it is a real hiden gem!

It doesn't loop infinitely Shatterhand, I finished it several times, there's just the end sequence and credits and that's it. Space Manbow would be awesome, it's one of my alltime oldschool faves.

What? I am nearly sure Space Manbow loops after you watch the credits rolling.... am I getting crazy? I have a clear image in my memory of the 1st level showing up after the ending......

Goddamn, I think I'll give it a go later at home to make sure...

In any way, infinite looping or not, in spite of the simple score system. I personally think it would be a great pick. Shame many people will go "OMG BIG H1TB0XXX" or something

.

For me, in this competion, that's how I rate how much fun I had with the games so far

Dragon Blaze > Star Force > Armed Police Batrider > Blazing Star

and even Blazing Star I enjoyed a lot

.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 6:28 pm

The Coop wrote: Wasn't Rob the one who didn't like Raizing shmups not too long ago, before "Butwider" got him interested in checking out other shmups from them? A lot of folks like Raizing shmups, and at the time, he didn't seem to.

Batrider would certainly have been on the list! See my proto-Raizing poll list.

I don't like Raizing shooters. Batrider gave me false hope.

Smraedis wrote:Mars Matrix for Cave week please!

This is probably the sixth or seventh person to say this now, clearly the people demand it!

(Please note this is a joke and I'm looking forward to playing an actual Cave game for score.)

ParegoricKid · Post by **ParegoricKid** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 6:50 pm

My bad, you're right Shatterhand. Somehow I mixed it up, so the clear picture in your memory is not an illusion

I still had an old save on my MSX emu and went from there. After the credits and end sequence it does loop and gets much tougher! Only played the first level again thoo, I doubt one can play trough the hole game twice.
Probably it goes on and on, so you're right there.

Space Manbow is such a great shooter. For sure some would dislike it and write it off as too old or whatever but I think it would find it's fair share of new fans once people gave it a try and got into it.

The leveldesign and gameplay is awesome and manoeuvring trough it is quite a task at some stages till you find a way to succeed. Gotta love the colorful surroundings and the sound. Better than R-Type imo, this is one of my very first Shmups I fell in love with besides Nemesis. And you all know the saying, first love never really dies...

Post by **Shatterhand** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:12 pm

Yeah, I think Space Manbow is better than R-Type, Gradius, Pulstar and many other horizontal shmups. If it was released as an arcade game, I am pretty sure it would be today rated as classic as R-Type or Gradius.

And like you said and I've said before, I doubt anyone will be able to beat 2 loops of the game in a week.

Zigfried the Trizealot · Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:32 pm

I think a "hidden gem" is a game from a company that is either
a) relatively small (Giga Wing 2)
b) long deceased (Batsugun)
c) not a dedicated "shooter" company (Gun.Smoke)
d) primarily known for a different series of shooters (Hyper Duel)

Someone earlier made a comment about truly "quality" games being sacrificed to meet the theme, and that's a good point. The focus should be on picking gems, not on fitting a concept of "hidden" that will vary from person to person. When the themes were initially being discussed, I thought (hoped) that this week would be where the likes of Toaplan, Taito, Seibu Kaihatsu, and Takumi -- companies that are otherwise not represented in the tourney -- would duke it out. Or even better, I hoped that it might be a chance for console games (of which there actually ARE many hidden gems) to take center stage, since the rest of the tournament is heavily MAME-centric.

That being said, as long as the games are interesting to play, I'll be happy. Just no Star Force, please.

//Zig

howmuchkeefe · Post by **howmuchkeefe** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:40 pm

I think a "hidden gem" is a game from a company that is either
a) relatively small (Giga Wing 2)
b) long deceased (Batsugun)
c) not a dedicated "shooter" company (Gun.Smoke)
d) primarily known for a different series of shooters (Hyper Duel)

I wouldn't mind it if Giga Wing, Mars Matrix or Gun.Smoke ended up on the Hidden Gems poll, either.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:47 pm

howmuchkeefe wrote:
I think a "hidden gem" is a game from a company that is either
a) relatively small (Giga Wing 2)
b) long deceased (Batsugun)
c) not a dedicated "shooter" company (Gun.Smoke)
d) primarily known for a different series of shooters (Hyper Duel)
I wouldn't mind it if Giga Wing, Mars Matrix or Gun.Smoke ended up on the Hidden Gems poll, either.

Even though Gun.Smoke is about as hidden as R-Type

howmuchkeefe · Post by **howmuchkeefe** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:53 pm

Hey now, I don't remember saying why I wouldn't mind!

Zigfried the Trizealot · Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:00 am

That's kind of my point -- I think we're focusing too much on "hidden" and not enough on "gem".

That being said, I humbly propose Mars Matrix.

//Zig

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:17 am

One problem with Mars Matrix. The arcade version and DC port have different scoring, and seeing as how we've been MAME-centric so far, it'd undoubtedly have to be the arcade's... and I've heard some people can possibly max that out, which could result in a tie.

Giga Wing wouldn't be a bad substitution.

Zigfried the Trizealot · Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:19 am

Hm. Okay then. I humbly support Giga Wing.

//Zig

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:19 am

Rob wrote:One problem with Mars Matrix. The arcade version and DC port have different scoring, and seeing as how we've been MAME-centric so far, it'd undoubtedly have to be the arcade's... and I've heard some people can possibly max that out, which could result in a tie.

Giga Wing wouldn't be a bad substitution.

How similar are the arcade and DC versions? I've never gotten to play the arcade release, but I own the DC one.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:24 am

GIGA WING! GIGA WING! GIGA WING! GIGA WING! GIGA WING! GIGA WING!

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:28 am

The Coop wrote: How similar are the arcade and DC versions? I've never gotten to play the arcade release, but I own the DC one.

There are plenty of differences (music, control set-up, score, extras), all in DC's favor. Try it out in MAME, it feels kind of weird after playing so much of the DC port.

Edge · Post by **Edge** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:30 am

As much as I'd love to play Giga Wing in this tournament, as it is among my favorite shmups. I don't think it fits the theme too well. Which was considered to consist of shmups which aren't well known by everyone. So that the chosen game would be something new to the majority of the players joining.

If you are suggesting we should change the theme of the week. I don't agree with you there. I think it's no good idea to change the themes in the middle of the competition. Otherwise a debatte would be appearing about every theme: Like why doing a Psikyo Week, hell why doing a Cave Week? Cave games are played enough for score and have enough support, let's do another developer... and so on. I think we should stay with the themes we have chosen in the beginning.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:58 am

I said we should do a Takumi week, but the damage is done. *sigh*

Actually it'd be kind of boring to play two weeks of stuff I'm somewhat familiar with already. I skipped 3 days or so of DB, the other games keep me working.

I really want to play something 16-bit and cartoonish. Coryoon.

Zigfried the Trizealot · Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:03 am

Coryoon would be a cool one. I've always wanted to play it, but never have... and it's supposed to be great!

//Zig

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:03 am

Anyone played this?: http://www.classicgaming.com/shmups/rev ... index.html

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:14 am

Edge wrote:If you are suggesting we should change the theme of the week. I don't agree with you there. I think it's no good idea to change the themes in the middle of the competition. Otherwise a debatte would be appearing about every theme: Like why doing a Psikyo Week, hell why doing a Cave Week? Cave games are played enough for score and have enough support, let's do another developer... and so on. I think we should stay with the themes we have chosen in the beginning.

Agreed, and you won't see me complaining about hidden gem week, even if I probably won't be able to compete because it will be emulation only. Since my favorite game was played in this tournament, I have no place complaining whatsoever.

Rob wrote:Anyone played this?: http://www.classicgaming.com/shmups/rev ... index.html

Promising looking.

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:16 am

Edge wrote:As much as I'd love to play Giga Wing in this tournament, as it is among my favorite shmups. I don't think it fits the theme too well. Which was considered to consist of shmups which aren't well known by everyone. So that the chosen game would be something new to the majority of the players joining.

Eh, this is kind of the point of was making, I don't think it's quite a good idea to find those games "no one" has played for the simple fact, once people actually start playing them, everyone finds out they are fundamentally flawed and bad for a tournament setting.

freddiebamboo · Post by **freddiebamboo** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:18 am

Rob wrote:Anyone played this?: http://www.classicgaming.com/shmups/rev ... index.html

Just played it there. It's different, quite platformy, but has a strange charm. I think amongst the dross that has been suggested here it deserve to make the shortlist.

Pro-Tip - The continue counter goes down faster if you press B

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:53 am

mystic riders
-OMG BIO METAL SHIELD MECHANISM!! The broom works in nearly the exact way, about the same size. It attacks, it defends (clears bullets).
-scoring: low-medium. It looks like you score mainly by red crystals from enemies, but there are lots of enemies that are easy to miss.
-difficulty: hard. Credits zipping by.
-opinion: 8/10 (keeper)

nebulas ray
-Terribly annoying voices.
-Occasional disorienting Rayforce-ish background effect.
-scoring: low. Exactly like Raiden 1.
-difficulty: low-medium
-opinion: 5/10 (drop - boring, simplistic... best thing are the graphics)

eco fighters
-multi-direction kind of like Forgotten Worlds' pod or Bio Hazard Battle
-nice graphics
-scoring: low. Like Mystic Riders' crystals, except less to get, enemies not as plentiful. Hit a string of enemies for 1 bonus, a la Darius.
-difficulty: medium?
-opinion: 6-7/10 (decent, doesn't really add much to the pool)

cybattler
-multi-direction vert + close range slashing
-pretty frantic
-lifebar
-scoring: low. Shoot down percentage, a decent amount to miss. Boss timer bonus.
-difficulty: kind of annoying by the 4th boss
-opinion: 7/10 (possibly a little sloppy due to the lifebar, but pretty cool)

omega fighter
-seemed alright, I guess

-scoring: something!

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 8:38 am

thundercross 2
-whoever suggested this hates us all
-way too slow to get to any real action (if people thought Blazing Star was boring, and they did)
-most absent scoring system yet
-DROP

vasara
I really don't get the appeal of the scoring systems in these, or like how the characters bounce around everything, but it has a scoring system! Wahoo!

Air Gallet is such a masterpiece next to most of this stuff. This or Mystic Riders please.

mulletgeezer · Post by **mulletgeezer** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:05 am

It was me that suggested Thundercross 2 in retaliation to Icarus suggesting the original Thundercross

I think it's a good game but it's too easy and I agree it wouldn't be a good choice for the week.

I'm disgusted people were trying to get the incredibly well known Giga Wing in as a hidden gem, playing Takumi stuff clearly rots your brain. Proof, if it were needed, that Edge is the best person to choose which games get shortlisted each week.

I've played Mystic Riders in the past, i'd call it a hidden mediocrity.

And what about x68000 games? Surely somebody has played them? That scorpius really does sound like the kind of thing we're looking for, if the review is to be believed.

Post by **Icarus** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:57 am

The only problem I see with X68k games is the extremely-annoying-to-set-up emulator.
That and one or two games don't seem to run properly.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:11 pm

Is Air Zonk sufficiently hidden? I would love the chance to play this one finally.

freddiebamboo · Post by **freddiebamboo** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:07 pm

Is Vasara 1 better than Vasara 2?

mulletgeezer · Post by **mulletgeezer** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:11 pm

It's well hidden and quite good i think but isn't it another really easy one? Ease of play/Lack of scoring system would take out most PCE titles from serious contention, even many that have selectable difficulty. There are a few CDROM games that might work but I think Aldynes is the only Hu-card game that might fit the bill, i've only played it a couple of times though so I could well be dead wrong.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:18 pm

The amount of dramah around this week's poll is superb!

(And please stick it to games with proper scoring systems. Cute and/or good, survival-based games may be too straightforward, unless we're talking about Rolling Thunder-like difficulty. So no, no R-type or Icarus gets killed by the poll's end, ok?! You heard me! -__-; ).

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:21 pm

Rob wrote:
(Please note this is a joke and I'm looking forward to playing an actual Cave game for score.)

O_O