Shmup Ticker: What are you playing RIGHT NOW?

[The_Fix]

After screwing around for a couple days it's time to fly to the leaden sky and stab and stomp some face.

I'm going to get my letter grade in Garegga.
I haven't played in years and last night I was getting sick tick points, I'm ready.
I do need to bone up a bit on the boss fights but I'm already at 8.7M.
I hope this takes longer than a week.

[To Far Away Times]

Played a bit of Thundercross with save states. Just dropping a save state at the beginning of the stage and at each boss, and it only took me an hour or so to go through it with a save scrubbing "no miss."

Seems like a pretty easy game. Will practice it up a bit and go for a 1CC.

[To Far Away Times]

That was fast... got the no miss 1-ALL through the first loop. Excellent game.

[XoPachi]

If I ever needed a reason to get serious about clearing a game, this is it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyGS_9TNA-Y

[Jared]

I've been trying to remind myself of games I had on NES. I somehow completely forgotten about the excellent shmup Captain Skyhawk. Even when thinking about shmups on the NES in the past, I never ever recalled that one. Playing it again, I was digging up ancient (1990) memories.

The title alone didn't remind me I guess, had to scroll past this pic:



As for the reviews, Aurang is obviously correct :

http://www.shmups.com/reviews/captskyhawk/index.html

It's for sure weird, jumps between some different perspectives. But I'm loving it, definitely never beat it, curious when I'll catch up to where I left off (on mission 4 of 9 right now)

[durias]

Steredenn on Switch!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I've been trying to remind myself of games I had on NES. I somehow completely forgotten about the excellent shmup Captain Skyhawk.

Good luck. I never beat it as a kid, and never bothered to revisit it. It's quite the brutally tough game.

[XoPachi]

Going for the EX Retro clear in Gana Blade. I assumed it was just hard mode without the shop. But it's a fair bit tougher. More bullets and your special is disabled. I feel like I would have gotten it just now but I kept mistiming dodges on the stage 4 boss setting myself up to get blown out of the sky the next stage.

This game is fun on my 8BitDo M30. I don't get to use this often but it seemed perfect for this game.

[mac]

Currently playing through Cotton Rock'n'Roll, Akai Katana Shin and BLUE REVOLVER!

Almost got a 1cc on Akai

[Lemnear]

Giga Wing low-difficult 1CC attempt. Partially using the shield-less guide of BareKnuckleRoo (for the first 2 stages).
I've bomb rushed the final boss (Stage 6), with intentional suicide to get more bombs. And it worked! then...secret "Stage 7" began...i wasn't prepared for that, i didn't even know that it exists...and the boss killed me with a ridicolously fast attack (green shots)
WTF!!!
Playing with Ruby//Carmine.

PS: i think that i'm playing also DariusBurst CS/AC... since may? Is nearly infinite .

[To Far Away Times]

Giga Wing's Stage 6 is a good bit easier than Stage 5 and Stage 7.

If I remember right it is 100% static, and if you memorize the patterns and time your reflects you don't have to do too much difficult dodging.

I grinded this boss with save states and this was the route I came up with.

[XoPachi]

Ibara suddenly doesn't want to be picked up in the same MAME I've been using untouched for 11 years. I really wanted to play it so I got it's PS2 port in an emulator and man this immediately is just not as good as what I had in MAME. It's blurrier and the analog movement reads as digital inputs for some reason in this godforsaken emulator. I had that problem with Ratchet Deadlocked as well. Never liked where PS2 emulation has been which is why I don't fuck with it. Always some goofy problem I don't have in anything else. Was trying to see if maybe I could finally understand this goddamn game but I'm...not doing this. lol

I will say that it sounds better on PS2 than I remember in MAME. The explosions stand out way more than I recall.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Giga Wing's Stage 6 is a good bit easier than Stage 5 and Stage 7.

If I remember right it is 100% static, and if you memorize the patterns and time your reflects you don't have to do too much difficult dodging.

Yeah, you're right, Stage 6 is pretty much static. I'm not sure if the giant spray attack the cube thing at the end fires is technically static where you have to dodge the blue circles and the orange bullets you can shoot down, but pretty much everything else is static and slow enough to be learnable with reflecting and bombing.

Stage 5 is quite a bit more harrowing as most of the enemies fire high speed shots at you. Once you have the stage memorized and know where the giant golden enemies appear as well as the tanks on the ground, it's significantly easier as you can cut down a LOT of the dodging by simply speedkilling enemies, but until then it's quite tough.

Stage 7 is very nasty, consisting of a 4 phase fight. The first phase against the medallion itself starts immediately with a spray of sniper attacks, the most dangerous attack it uses. Everything after that is more manageable and it dies easily enough by getting in its face and quickly killing the small medals it summons.

The second phase against the Stranger again starts with its toughest attack, wide spreads that cover the screen. Survive that and it moves slowly, firing big dense barrages you can reflect back at it (if you dawdle too long it'll use an attack that fires a gigantic laser at it but you have to deliberately not damage it to let it live that long).

Third phase against the stranger is where it alternates between firing a series of sniper shots you can dodge, followed by a static pattern of fast blue shots that flood the screen. There's two static patterns, depending on if it's moving left to right or right to left. This is the hardest phase of the entire fight due to the speed of the blue shots, but note that one of the patterns is FAR easier than the other, and you'll dodge it all by hiding in the bottom left corner. It always starts by firing a few blue bullets, then its sniper shots, and then always starts with the MUCH harder pattern. Reflect/Bomb it, evade the next set of green sniper shots, and then hide in the bottom left corner. This is the pattern I actually timed out when I did it no-Reflect with Stuck/Widerstand, because the last phase is way too hard without Reflect or Bombs. I was struggling to get to the final phase with bombs remaining, and only after I got the 1CC did I discover Ruby actually can hit the Stranger with all of her shots despite how small he looks, so she tears through the TLB like a hot knife through butter and has the easiest Stage 7 fight.

Fourth phase is the last one where it fills the screen with super dense shots that you're meant to reflect back. It's actually not too hard to hide in the corner and let your meter recharge, the tricky part after it reaches the left or right side of the screen, it stops firing its dense barrage, waits a second, then fires a super high speed aimed line of sniper shots that's meant to catch you if you're still in the middle of the dense barrage. This phase is arguably the easiest one as it's really not tricky to learn the timing of when to reflect, and watching the boss to see when it stops firing and gets ready to try and snipe you.

Playing with Ruby//Carmine.

Good luck! Note that Ruby/Carmine arguably has the toughest 1CC, mostly because her stage order is quite a bit more difficult than the others (she's the only character with the lava level as Stage 3, the hardest of the first three stages, putting it at the maximum difficulty). Her thin shots also make it tricky when you don't know where the enemies appear, whereas Stuck's massively powerful and wide spread attacks rip through most of the game, particularly the Stage 5 and 6 bosses where the aoe explosions can hit the boss and multiple bits the boss summons at the same time. Technically, Stuck has the hardest Stage 7 fight I think due to him having the weakest main shot (it seems to deal less damage than Sinnosuke's if neither are hitting with their spreadshots), but that really only applies if you're trying to beat it without using Reflect. The Stage 7 boss throws plenty of bullets to reflect back at it, so even Stuck gets a respectable kill time against it when playing normally.

[Lemnear]

Playing with Ruby//Carmine.

Good luck! Note that Ruby/Carmine arguably has the toughest 1CC, mostly because her stage order is quite a bit more difficult than the others (she's the only character with the lava level as Stage 3, the hardest of the first three stages, putting it at the maximum difficulty). Her thin shots also make it tricky when you don't know where the enemies appear, whereas Stuck's massively powerful and wide spread attacks rip through most of the game, particularly the Stage 5 and 6 bosses where the aoe explosions can hit the boss and multiple bits the boss summons at the same time. Technically, Stuck has the hardest Stage 7 fight I think due to him having the weakest main shot (it seems to deal less damage than Sinnosuke's if neither are hitting with their spreadshots), but that really only applies if you're trying to beat it without using Reflect. The Stage 7 boss throws plenty of bullets to reflect back at it, so even Stuck gets a respectable kill time against it when playing normally.

oh...is exactly where i panicked and starts to spam shields.
I always prefer the fastest ship, probably because i can recorrect my trajectory, i think that a slower one requires more memorization (in every smhups).
Also i prefer straight-shot in vertical shooters and weirdly spread-shot in horizzontals...idk i like how i must play to hit all the enemies in a never ending flowing movement.
ALSO i like ships with the highest damage...so Ruby/Carmine is my perfect prototype ship.

I don't think that i can replicate your manouver vs the Stranger even with the shield is the kind of stuff which i strugle most...should try with Stuck more.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I always prefer the fastest ship, probably because i can recorrect my trajectory

ALSO i like ships with the highest damage...so Ruby/Carmine is my perfect prototype ship.

Stuck/Widerstand is actually the strongest ship in the game, by a fairly substantial margin. If you're hitting with his main shot + both cannonballs, he deals more total damage than Ruby does. He's also the only character with an aoe shot that hits all enemies in the cannonball blast, meaning the total damage he's doing skyrockets any time multiple enemies are getting hit by a cannonball. The only time Stuck's damage suffers is against small, single targets, but this rarely comes into play. Namely against the last form of the Stage 6 boss, and the Stranger in Stage 7 (his cannonballs are great vs the medallion for killing the miniature medallions).

Ruby only beats his damage output for taking down small targets, assuming she can get all her shots lined up, and in bosses with multiple weakspots + a medallion core, taking down those weakspots first generally really helps. If Stuck is hitting with his main shot + one cannonball at close range, his damage is actually comparable to Ruby's.

Stuck is also the 2nd fastest in the game, with Isha then Sinnosuke being the two slowest characters.

[RUOK]

I've been grinding the usual cave things, but also a little indie game called Nullschwert. It has some dope patterns to work with.

[XoPachi]

Playing SDOJ and sometimes I have to stop and really parse the minutia of these games. Anyone ever stop to think how goofy this looks?



My friends are kind of "normies" so when they see me play these, their jaws drop at the visuals. But when I look at a frame of this, yeah. That's fucking ridiculous. Do you see how BIG those damn missiles are? If you shot one of those into a populated town IRL, that's a declaration of war and 1000 people are probably dying. This ship is shooting volleys of four at once rapidly. They're longer than the goddamn ship itself!

The stuff that goes on in these games is kind of funny when just taking a step back and applying some of it to real life. Are the side shots fucking laser missiles?

[null1024]

I absolutely adore the stream of concentrated mega-death your ship puts out in Cave games, especially at max powerup state. It just feels good.

Yeah, it really is super goofy and I absolutely wonder where the dozens of missiles you're putting out every second are even coming from, but this is a genre where your one ship goes and solos entire armies of tanks and mega-machines and what have you.
Gotta have some kind of edge, you know?

Also, where do they even go when off screen? Just imagine them even hitting the ground at some point, turning that section of ground into not-ground.
Hell, imagine all the rest following suit, just completely evaporating the landscape, lmao.

[Starfighter]

Mushihimesama. Previously I've only had the PS2 port - which I don't mind, I've been happily playing it on and off for years. But now that I got it on Steam I figured I'd give it a "serious" go. I want a 1CC!

[Nugs]

Mushihimesama. Previously I've only had the PS2 port - which I don't mind, I've been happily playing it on and off for years. But now that I got it on Steam I figured I'd give it a "serious" go. I want a 1CC!

Same, I've been playing it on and off since the PS2 port but never seriously. Thought it was time to go for a 1cc.
I've never really looked at ver 1.5 before this week and didn't realise how much easier it was than 1.0.
I think it took 5 runs to 1cc.

[Starfighter]

I think it took 5 runs to 1cc.

*smiles in "two long training sessions in and not even consistently reaching the last stage yet"*

Edit: I'm not complaining though, that's my playstyle! A good long period of self-doubt, then the usual dance of "fast progress followed by weirdly sloppy failures, the battle against nerves, more progress, then a very unimpressive 1CC with no lives no bombs left". It's how I roll.

Edit 2: Oh! Oh... I just discovered supershot. Well this changes things. I'm now frequently arriving at stage 5, perhaps I should concentrate on that one in the training mode for a while. Things are looking good!

[XoPachi]

Playing the Xydonia demo.......................



ono

I absolutely adore the stream of concentrated mega-death your ship puts out in Cave games, especially at max powerup state. It just feels good.

Yeah, it really is super goofy and I absolutely wonder where the dozens of missiles you're putting out every second are even coming from, but this is a genre where your one ship goes and solos entire armies of tanks and mega-machines and what have you.
Gotta have some kind of edge, you know? :lol:

Also, where do they even go when off screen? Just imagine them even hitting the ground at some point, turning that section of ground into not-ground.
Hell, imagine all the rest following suit, just completely evaporating the landscape, lmao. :P

These ships existing are a war crime. No wonder shit like Hibachi exists in this universe. But it does kill me that the shots aren't even the powerful damage option of the two firing modes. You have to wonder what these goddamn enemies are made of that can withstand more than 1 second of this firepower. I love video games.

[Nugs]

I think it took 5 runs to 1cc.

*smiles in "two long training sessions in and not even consistently reaching the last stage yet"*

Edit: I'm not complaining though, that's my playstyle! A good long period of self-doubt, then the usual dance of "fast progress followed by weirdly sloppy failures, the battle against nerves, more progress, then a very unimpressive 1CC with no lives no bombs left". It's how I roll.

Edit 2: Oh! Oh... I just discovered supershot. Well this changes things. I'm now frequently arriving at stage 5, perhaps I should concentrate on that one in the training mode for a while. Things are looking good!

It wasn't an impressive 1CC, and I've played 1.0 a fair bit and still don't consistently get to stage 5.
1.5 just felt so much more natural for my playstyle.
I just looked up what the supershot is. I'll have to give that a try.

[Starfighter]

Mushihimesama progress. I went in to the final boss with no bombs or lives left and during practice I've managed to beat it with two bombs, obviously I wasn't going to make it. And I didn't, but:



What an unfortunate time to die.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

and during practice I've managed to beat it with two bombs, obviously I wasn't going to make it

Ah, but that just means you were wrong, and you could very well have made it! The nice thing about shmups where everything is dodgeable is that you don't need to give up even if you've run out of resources as there's always the chance you'll be able to make a miracle happen.

The nice thing is if you can get the boss down to a few pixels of health left it means you're about at the point where you're gonna clear, you just need to grind out runs until it happens!

[Starfighter]

I love your mindset and agree fully! And I'm having fun as heck, it really is one of my favorite shmups. Easily top three!

Also: Going in to a situation with no bombs or lives left for some reason doesn't make me nervous, it does the opposite and make me play more relaxed. Like I have nothing to lose, or something. Do you know the feeling? Risky dodging goes from "nope, I'm using a bomb" to "eh, why not".

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Oh yeah, you definitely feel like you can make more aggressive dodges when your back's up against the wall, especially if you're mentally prepared for it!

I remember I was at one of colour_thief's meets playing Espgaluda, the run went REALLY badly and I barely made it to the last phase of the final boss with no lives, gems, or bombs left. The person sitting next to me turned to watch folks playing Tetris cause they'd assume I'd gameover there... but it turns out it's like one of the easiest phases of the final boss for me, I find it fairly slow and the gaps pretty large, so I surprised 'em by getting the 1cc. ^w^

[To Far Away Times]

Mushihimesama progress. I went in to the final boss with no bombs or lives left and during practice I've managed to beat it with two bombs, obviously I wasn't going to make it. And I didn't, but:



What an unfortunate time to die.

Sometimes you have to go through heartbreak before getting the clear.

[Starfighter]

I remember I was at one of colour_thief's meets playing Espgaluda, the run went REALLY badly and I barely made it to the last phase of the final boss with no lives, gems, or bombs left. The person sitting next to me turned to watch folks playing Tetris cause they'd assume I'd gameover there... but it turns out it's like one of the easiest phases of the final boss for me, I find it fairly slow and the gaps pretty large, so I surprised 'em by getting the 1cc. ^w^

Oooh, that's nice. And color me jealous, because that final pattern on the final boss is absolutely where all my runs ended when I tried to 1CC it a while back. I couldn't for the life of me get through it and I never had lives to spare. Still haven't got a 1CC in that one, and it's also in my personal top three.

Sometimes you have to go through heartbreak before getting the clear.

Omg!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Someone on Youtube told me there's a secret ending to Drainus but was kinda vague about what they'd done to trigger it, so I spent a bunch of hours replaying it and trying to 1CC it doing various things, only for them to tell me this morning they remembered buying everything in the game when they did it, which means it wasn't a 1CC requirement (kinda important to know). Turns out you just have to replay a cleared save file until you buy everything then play the last stage again: viewtopic.php?p=1538564#p1538564 :\

Good thing I had a save file where I was messing grinding out buying all upgrades then stopped because I got bored. I only had about 25 energy tanks left to go, haha.