Grind Stormer (V V)

[UD2]

Absolutely agreed, V-V is much easier than GS. I believe GS actually shipped first, which lends credence to the idea that it wasn't quite finished when they rolled it out. One interesting tidbit is that English "V-Five" title screen graphics are buried in the Japanese graphics ROM, indicating they might have planned on exporting the updated version later on but never got around to it.

[ave]

Cheers guys, appreciate the information. I played V-V a little more now, and Grindstormer does indeed feel easier at first, but not once the difficulty is increasing in stage 3 all the weapon change items start really getting into your way. And while I didn't miss it by stage 3, I suspect I'll also start missing the restoreable shield in later stages if Batsugun Special experience is any indication.

I'll continue with VV now and it's a real blast - love the music (I never did before) and the hardcore sound effects. Stage 3 boss is very challenging, but seems doable. Stage 3 is a noticeable spike in difficulty, so I'm looking forward to what lies ahead in stages 4-6... I hope I can at least clear the first loop. I cannot believe I hardly touched the PCB for all those years that I owned it... sometimes a game doesn't feel right until you reached a certain point in your gaming life, I guess. Hah

[Steven]

Yeah, V-V is way better than Grind Stormer. V-V is also one of the better Toaplan games and my favourite IKD game. I have been thinking about getting the PCB for about a year now. Awesome game.

I believe GS actually shipped first

I may be able to look into this. No promises, but I will see what I can do.

[UD2]

Stage 3 boss is very challenging, but seems doable. Stage 3 is a noticeable spike in difficulty, so I'm looking forward to what lies ahead in stages 4-6... I hope I can at least clear the first loop.

If you use missiles and position the pods inside its body, it goes down really fast. The stage 4 boss on the other hand took me a while to get the hang of (although a similar tip applies to the first phase). The first loop isn't too bad once you have a good understanding of how to handle the tricky sections, you can do it!

I may be able to look into this. No promises, but I will see what I can do.

That would be cool, thanks! GS has a 1992 copyright date and does not contain a V-V-like mode, while V-V has has a 1993 copyright and includes bomber mode, so it seems like a pretty logical conclusion.

[ave]

I have been playing a bit more over the past few evenings and reached the stage 5 boss for the first time.

V-V
AVE - 1,342,890 - ?% - PCB
screenshot

I practiced stage 6 quite a bit, but I'm still a little unsure how to beat the stage 5 boss with full power ups. The fact that this guy creates tons of bullets and that my full-power shot pretty much inevitably hits the pods isn't easy to navigate given I have no interest in milking this boss like they do in the replays. I am thinking about just switching to SHOT mode and trying to tackle him while avoiding the pods. Or just go in and try to survive while generating bullets?

Also does anyone know if there are more conditions to the bonus life in stage 5 than just destroying all parts of the midboss? I thought I read somewhere that I need to keep something alive earlier on, but I can no longer find where I read it. In the superplay nothing is kept alive and the extend appears anyways, in another superplay it doesn't appear.

[UD2]

I have been playing a bit more over the past few evenings and reached the stage 5 boss for the first time.

V-V
AVE - 1,342,890 - ?% - PCB
screenshot

I practiced stage 6 quite a bit, but I'm still a little unsure how to beat the stage 5 boss with full power ups. The fact that this guy creates tons of bullets and that my full-power shot pretty much inevitably hits the pods isn't easy to navigate given I have no interest in milking this boss like they do in the replays. I am thinking about just switching to SHOT mode and trying to tackle him while avoiding the pods. Or just go in and try to survive while generating bullets?

Also does anyone know if there are more conditions to the bonus life in stage 5 than just destroying all parts of the midboss? I thought I read somewhere that I need to keep something alive earlier on, but I can no longer find where I read it. In the superplay nothing is kept alive and the extend appears anyways, in another superplay it doesn't appear.

For the stage 5 boss, switching to shot is absolutely the easiest way to deal with it. Homing makes it ridiculously hard and missiles (while good for milking) will still make the fight more difficult than it needs to be.

For the stage 5 extend, keep the yellow box in stage 3 alive (it has tons of HP so this shouldn't be too tough), then destroy the top left turret to spawn an extend. I don't believe you have to destroy any of the others (but it doesn't hurt). IIRC in the MD port, the box in stage 3 spawns a 1UP when destroyed, but that's exclusive to the port.

Good job on making it past the stage 4 boss! Getting past it consistently (especially with powerups, since it's pretty rank-dependent) was a wall for me for quite some time.

BTW, if you aren't already doing this, I'd avoid reaching the final power-up level until stage 6. Second-to-top is fine before then and will make the rank much more manageable.

[ave]

For the stage 5 boss, switching to shot is absolutely the easiest way to deal with it. Homing makes it ridiculously hard and missiles (while good for milking) will still make the fight more difficult than it needs to be.

For the stage 5 extend, keep the yellow box in stage 3 alive (it has tons of HP so this shouldn't be too tough), then destroy the top left turret to spawn an extend. I don't believe you have to destroy any of the others (but it doesn't hurt). IIRC in the MD port, the box in stage 3 spawns a 1UP when destroyed, but that's exclusive to the port.

Cheers for both of these tips, I had the impression the box had to be in the same stage as the extend. Leaving the box in stage 3 alive is super easy, that worked very well.

Good job on making it past the stage 4 boss! Getting past it consistently (especially with powerups, since it's pretty rank-dependent) was a wall for me for quite some time.

Cheers! I haven't gotten far into the game many times yet, but I managed one time yesterday to get to the final (stage 6) boss, with the first miss only appearing at the stage 6 mid-boss (I expected it, as I hadn't practiced him on max rank yet).
I then continued to lose all of my 5 remaining lives trying to beat the final boss, and one time I almost did it (using SHOT)... only to find out upon using a continue that it would have been MUCH MUCH easier if only I had used MISSILE, with low power up, after dying... missiles were way more effective against the regenerating "snakes" at the end Anyways, I'll get there again and then I'll be prepared

BTW, if you aren't already doing this, I'd avoid reaching the final power-up level until stage 6. Second-to-top is fine before then and will make the rank much more manageable.

Thanks, yes, I have been topping up the final power up only after the stage 5 midboss (following the superplay strategy). Maybe I should try waiting even longer.

It's really such a fun game so far, I cannot believe I've always discounted it as so much inferior to Batsugun. As much as I love Batsugun (one of my eternal alltime evergreen shooters), I also really like V-V now
My last score was 2.4mil, I hope I can clear the game and have a proper score to post soon

[ave]

Clear

V-V
ave - 2,827,310 - 107% - PCB
screenshot

Made it no-miss all the way to the "max power" icon in stage 6, past the midboss. Then tried my strategy of tackling the final boss with MISSILE, and it works quite wonderfully after I managed to tone down my nervousness

Unfortunately the absence of a bonus means this score is not moving me up the ranking anywhere ^^ I think I'll try Grindstormer and the MD port for now, but eventually want to return to the VV PCB and hunt the perfect first loop

[UD2]

Clear

V-V
ave - 2,827,310 - 107% - PCB
screenshot

Made it no-miss all the way to the "max power" icon in stage 6, past the midboss. Then tried my strategy of tackling the final boss with MISSILE, and it works quite wonderfully after I managed to tone down my nervousness

Unfortunately the absence of a bonus means this score is not moving me up the ranking anywhere ^^ I think I'll try Grindstormer and the MD port for now, but eventually want to return to the VV PCB and hunt the perfect first loop

Congrats! If you can no-miss all the way to that part of stage 6, the PERFECT bonus isn't too far off. Curious to hear what you think of Grind Stormer, I didn't really like it despite loving V-V.

[third_strike]

V-V
Third_strike - 32,582,430 - ALL - ShmupMAME 4.2

I have a big problem visualizing the ship when the shield is off and this, combined with the strange hitbox feeling, causes me great difficulties. Reading the latest discussions in this topic was very important and very inspiring for me. Thanks guys for help!

Edit:
V-V Bomber version
Third_strike - 4,028,980 - 122% - ShmupMAME 4.2

I was curious about bomb version then put a credit to and had some luck. Revenge bullets behave differently in the second loop compared to the regular version.

[Despatche]

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Glad to see the recent interest in this game.

[third_strike]

Played again to try record an INP
Third_strike - 32,754,130 - ALL - ShmupMAME 4.2


I hope to play Bomber ver. in future.

[UD2]

Played again to try record an INP
Third_strike - 32,754,130 - ALL - ShmupMAME 4.2

Amazing! Getting that SUPER PERFECT bonus on loop 2 must have been rough. Good luck on BOMBER VER!

[Mero]

Here's my meagre effort.

V-V
Mero - 2,499,680 - 98% - Astro City Mini V

Third_strike - 32,754,130 - ALL - ShmupMAME 4.2

Good job on the 2-ALL!

[third_strike]

Thanks guys!

Amazing! Getting that SUPER PERFECT bonus on loop 2 must have been rough.

2-3 was my main problem. This stage is more annoying than last stages.

Edit:
I've been pretty busy since the end of last year, but I still try to play at least half an hour a day (I play usually one loop) It's not enough to do anything great, but it's enough to make me relax. I usually only play one loop, but this time I got to the end with great luck. I am happy!

V-V Bomber version
Third_strike - 10,711,520 - ALL - ShmupMAME 4.2 (Lx1)

Revenge bullets do patterns in second loop of this game is close to procedural for me.

Edit:
Third_strike - 12,517,580 - ALL - ShmupMAME 4.2 (Lx2)

NO miss up to 2-5 midboss.

[EmperorIng]

man, awesome work! Both on the normal version and bomber version.

[third_strike]

man, awesome work! Both on the normal version and bomber version.

Thanks! I'm going to keep it slow and steady. I wasn't expecting to end up with so many lives now, but I had some luck. Lost one live in 2-5 just after midboss.

Third_strike - 15,086,300- ALL - ShmupMAME 4.2 (Lx5)
I have learned a lot from this game. I am very grateful to it.