Shmup Related Questions That Don't Deserve a Thread

[XoPachi]

Are there any other STG's besides SuperNova with Metroid-esque escape sequences? I suppose auto scrolling can't make it quite that, but the vibe is what matters here.

[TransatlanticFoe]

The entire of stage 4 in Exzeal plays out like an escape sequence, placing barriers in your way and speeding up until eventually you need to rush through some gates before they close. Lose a life and you just move on to the next stage.

[BIL]

Are there any other STG's besides SuperNova with Metroid-esque escape sequences? I suppose auto scrolling can't make it quite that, but the vibe is what matters here.

Salamander and Gradius III both have these at their endgames, in rather cruel memoriser modes both. At least I remember Salamander's being pretty unforgiving, although blind play can just about blunder through on respawns. I saw one dude get screwed out of his Gradius III 1ALL by its.

Koutetsu Teikoku/Steel Empire (MD) has an interesting and very playable one midway through its second stage, a mine tunnel escape with lots of debris before the boss (a killer excavator/tank monstrosity) shows up.

HAL's Air Fortress (FC) is 50/50 between hori STG and a kind of Section Z-lite. Each individual stage's Air Fortress has to be escaped after you destroy the core, pretty intense atmosphere; the lights flicker, the screen judders, the elevators and other machinery break down. Definitely worth a look, aesthetically. It plays just fine too IIRC, nothing first-rate but more than decent.

[BEAMLORD]

Could make a case for that stage in R-Type 3 that makes you do the whole thing backwards. That son of a bitch.

[locoBro1196]

calling on Battle Bakraid gurus.

I've been putting quite a bit of time on this one recently and got a few questions.

I was playing around with the dip switches on the "USA Unlimited version" in MAME and stupid me accidentally reset the EEPROM.
I lost access to all additional ships so instead chose to just continue playing the "Japan Unlimited version", which I thought would be pretty much the same thing.

Aside from the way the life extends are delivered (instant in JP, must grab the item drop in USA), I could swear that at some point in time, and under circumstances I do not recall at all, I got the life extend drop item not at the 2.000.000 point mark, but at 1.500.000 points. I remember clearly thinking "oh well thank God, that certainly will make things much simpler" as I've never hit the 4 million mark, but could consistently hit 3 million for double life extend.

However, I was never able to replicate that on all my subsequent playthroughs.

Is there any setting, or button combination that would make this happen at all? Are there any other key differences between both versions?

Edit: This was in the Normal course, but I don't remember what ship I was using. I also tried to find related info in the forum but couldn't locate anything about this specifically.

[Sengoku Strider]

Has anyone put together a project to port any Konami shooters to the Mega Drive? The lack of Gradius and R-Type always felt like the big holes in the library to me, but the latter is at least being addressed.

[jpd66]

So I’ve got a beginner’s question regarding Battle Garegga. Can you lower your auto-fire rate at any point after you’ve raised it from the base level? I feel like I’ve read somewhere that you can’t do this. I’m playing on the M2 port, and I can’t seem to do it. Recently, I’ve been reading/watching strategy content related to this game, and there have been a couple of instances in the discussion that led me to believe that this is actually possible. But I can’t seem to figure out how to do it on the M2 port, so I assume that you can’t?

[BIL]

So I’ve got a beginner’s question regarding Battle Garegga. Can you lower your auto-fire rate at any point after you’ve raised it from the base level?

Nope, the autofire rate increase is permanent for the rest of the current credit. Like the Saturn port before it, one thing Rev2016 does facilitate is increasing to a set frequency and no higher, via the variable autofire. Guessing this is doable in MAME/other emulators as well, probably even on hardware if you've got the kind of hardcore setup seen at HEY! arcade.

[jpd66]

Ah, ok. That’s what I figured. Thanks for the confirmation.

[Basil]

Another curiosity: will shmups run at 120fps? (if some don't already exist) or will they remain at 60fps for other "technical-gameplay-wise" reasons?

Qute's two newest published games (Natsuki Chronicles and Ginga Force) support higher refresh rates. I was able to configure the settings up to 144Hz, but that's as fast as my monitor goes. It's a smooth visual experience, especially so with a lot of fast-moving bullets on screen. However, I found it a bit uncanny when I first switched it on. It's probably because I'm so used to looking at things moving at 60fps from the mountain of titles I've played designed for that framerate. I'd say it's nice to have, but I could live without it. Since most standard displays support 60Hz, I'd image that will likely remain the target for most gamedev outfits in the genre.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Qute's release of Judgement Silversword also plays really well on a 144 hz monitor. The native refresh rate of the Wonderswan Color was higher than 60 hz, and actually ran at 75.4 hz, so it looks closer to the original experience when played at 144 hz vs playing it at 60 hz.

[Steven]

GInga Force is weird because it gives you the option of selecting refresh rates higher than 60Hz in the options but the game itself never actually goes above 60Hz if you do.

[Lemnear]

Qute's release of Judgement Silversword also plays really well on a 144 hz monitor. The native refresh rate of the Wonderswan Color was higher than 60 hz, and actually ran at 75.4 hz, so it looks closer to the original experience when played at 144 hz vs playing it at 60 hz.

Interesting.
How many ports are there that don't run at their original fps/Hz ??? (for whatever reason).

[Bassa-Bassa]

I wonder why they went with 4:3 for 1944 in the first place? Also it's weird how there are no credits and they left it a mystery who did the development. Wouldn't you want to flaunt the fact that you had developers like them involved? And you would never guess that bc they didn't work with Capcom or Raizing (except Uemura doing sound programming on Bakraid I think) Would be cool to hear more about the history of the game eventually if that all comes out.

I may be wrong, but 1944 being part of that STG genre revival Capcom wanted those years, which ideally would have echoed in the home market specially with classic, well-known franchises like the 1942 series, I find it quite clear they had this factor in mind (despite the game not getting in the end a home port due to how the previous games from the campaign -and the game itself in the arcades- performed). And vertical monitor games always were an issue for home systems, even after tate option had become commonplace - how many potential consumers could use it or how many liked their games displayed in a window. So more than likely, it was a Capcom dictation which could also be seen before on Giga Wing and Mars Matrix (I'd mention even Progear) and only Great Mahou Daisakusen evaded for being Raizing's own franchise.

I don't find too weird getting no actual credits in a Capcom game, either. Even promo materials barely mention Eighting/Raizing, unlike all the other co-authored STG releases from the campaign. I'd even believe that Capcom itself didn't even know that Yuge and Uemura were on board and Raizing preferred to keep it for themselves, it's not like their popularity back then would sell a game.

I think I saw something about this as well, and I think Progear might have also been a part of the project. I don't remember where I saw this, though. Too bad Loop Master never got released on the Dreamcast or whatever, but it's on the MiSTer now, and that's good enough for me.

Progear was indeed part of the project. Gunspike and the DC version of Gunbird 2 from Psikyo also were. Other than Taito and Konami for obvious reasons, basically all the relevant STG developers still active took part in the silent campaign. A shame it was a bit too late for Seibu, it seems - we could have got yet another swang song from them.

The campaign was not so silent after all. A friend of mine reminded me this weekend that it even got a name and a logo with Mars Matrix:

On the subject, as it seems not everybody knew about this, from Arcadia Mag:

https://shmuplations.com/capcompartnership/

[XoPachi]

What are the stipulations for fighting uh....super Aki, I guess, in Mushi 1? Please tell me it's not simply reaching and beating him on one credit. I'm actually not trying to fight him when I go for this Maniac 1cc attempt (again).
Why is the stage 4 boss harder than standard Aki??

[BareKnuckleRoo]

How many ports are there that don't run at their original fps/Hz ??? (for whatever reason).

There are lots of arcade games that ran at weird framerates and not like a nice 59.94 or 60 fps that's close to what computer screens display nowadays. The Raiden Fighters Aces game for Xbox 360 for instance runs at 60 FPS but the original arcade PCBs are actually 54 FPS, so the game provides a few options to pick how to run the game. To quote colour_thief:

The original arcade PCB was 54 fps and the port only outputs 59.94 fps. Your options are:

1. Speed up the same game engine by ~6 fps. Motion is smooth but everything is harder to dodge... This is sort of like playing a Cave game without slowdown, except it's always missing.

2. Duplicate every ~9th frame. (54/9) * 10 = 60. But this means the action pauses for 1 frame every 9 frames. It's jittery, the scrolling backgrounds and bullets don't move evenly.

3. Blend every ~9th frame. This still has all the problems of 2. basically.

The only way to get truly faithful motion is to output an integer multiple of 54 fps.

Speeding up to 60 FPS looks the best but obviously makes the already difficult games even harder than intended. The frame blending option I think looks and plays the best and doesn't have as much jitter as the option that duplicates the frames.

What are the stipulations for fighting uh....super Aki, I guess, in Mushi 1?

I'm not sure what you mean by super Aki, but I think you're referring to his TLB form that appears in 1.0 Ultra, 1.5 Ultra, and in Arrange mode where he hops on a much smaller beetle and starts spewing bullets like crazy, is immune to bombs, etc. He appears when you're 1ccing those modes and does not, to my knowledge, have any other special conditions to trigger him.

The reason you're thinking he appears in Maniac difficulty I believe might be because you've seen him appear in Arrange Mode which I think is largely based on Maniac patterns except with Ultra Aki as a TLB.

[XoPachi]

I'm not sure what you mean by super Aki, but I think you're referring to his TLB form that appears in 1.0 Ultra, 1.5 Ultra, and in Arrange mode where he hops on a much smaller beetle and starts spewing bullets like crazy, is immune to bombs, etc. He appears when you're 1ccing those modes and does not, to my knowledge, have any other special conditions to trigger him.

The reason you're thinking he appears in Maniac difficulty I believe might be because you've seen him appear in Arrange Mode which I think is largely based on Maniac patterns except with Ultra Aki as a TLB.

Oh thank you, GOD. I'm not built for Cave TLB's except maybe Hivac.

[To Far Away Times]

What is MAME doing for something like R-Type, then? I think that game ran at 55 fps. I always assumed it was a blend up to 60 fps, but is it speeding the game up by default?

[Lethe]

What is MAME doing for something like R-Type, then? I think that game ran at 55 fps. I always assumed it was a blend up to 60 fps, but is it speeding the game up by default?

It uses the frame doubling approach, so correct speed but with judder. The "synchronized refresh" option lets your display sync to the game instead.
The judder becomes obvious if you're looking for it, but IMO there are always bigger fish to fry even on a 55Hz game.

[Steven]

Yesterday I did some research on Saturn Soukyuugurentai revisions, but I wasn't able to find much at all. There are three versions of Soukyuugurentai on Saturn: the original, which was in production seemingly for only about two weeks, a newer revision that replaced it, and finally Otokuyou was released just over 10 months after the original release.

Does anyone know what the differences between the original release and the revision are?

[BulletMagnet]

I think it was mostly bug fixes and the like - IIRC the original release does some weird stuff when you use an import device to play it - though I believe they also added an extra sound test menu with music from some other Raizing games as well.

[SavagePencil]

I think it was mostly bug fixes and the like - IIRC the original release does some weird stuff when you use an import device to play it - though I believe they also added an extra sound test menu with music from some other Raizing games as well.

The original definitely has garbled graphics when played on a US system, but I’m not sure if that’s due to being played through an import device or simply when the system language is set to non-Japanese.

Revisions after the original have a Battle Garregga demo.

Per https://segaretro.org/Soukyugurentai#Te ... nformation , it looks like there was a second version of the original with the exact same byte count, but it’s not clear if the hashes are different.

[Nahar]

How much time do you put on one full-focused training session?

I just played one hour straight of Progear and I'm really drained out, so I wanted to know about other's experiences!

[davyK]

I think it was mostly bug fixes and the like - IIRC the original release does some weird stuff when you use an import device to play it - though I believe they also added an extra sound test menu with music from some other Raizing games as well.

The original definitely has garbled graphics when played on a US system, but I’m not sure if that’s due to being played through an import device or simply when the system language is set to non-Japanese.

Revisions after the original have a Battle Garregga demo.

Per https://segaretro.org/Soukyugurentai#Te ... nformation , it looks like there was a second version of the original with the exact same byte count, but it’s not clear if the hashes are different.

Was something related to the region setting of the console - made some text become garbled I believe. That and the playable level 1 of Garegga are the differences I am aware of. Called Soukyugurentai Otokoyu. It's the version I have and it has some nice content/artwork to look at if you put the disc into a PC for browsing.

I copied it onto my webspace. If you extract the RAR into a folder there's a copy of a website to browse as part of the content.
https://www.davykelly.com/omake/soukyug ... /OMAKE.rar

[locoBro1196]

How much time do you put on one full-focused training session?

I just played one hour straight of Progear and I'm really drained out, so I wanted to know about other's experiences!

This really depends on the game, but when I do full-focused training sessions they usually go either way:

A) Train for a specific stage that is giving me issues -> i.e. Batsugun, Battle Bakraid, etc, just ignoring the rest of the game. I'll probably train for 25-30 minutes until I'm ready to go for a full run at my PB or 1CC.
B) Train for large chunk of the game -> i.e. Mushi and Futari stages 3-5, DDP 4-6, or what I'm doing these days, Giga Wing 4-7...usually this goes on for longer (1~2 hours) and it can be far more frustrating as my OCD kicks in when I make a mistake in the later stages, making me reach for the restart button (restart syndrome) almost immediately. Typically after such sessions I'm left exhausted and asking myself why I voluntarily go through this.

Obviously I prefer A but when I finally achieve a 1CC in a game in B category, it feels far more rewarding (as well as a relief..).

I like Progear, but that's a bit out of reach for me right now. Good luck!

[Nahar]

Thanks Locobro!

[locoBro1196]

Thanks Locobro!

You are welcome! Side note, I had no idea you are the one behind DDLG, I follow you on Twitter. I will sign up for the matamarcianos competition too

[Nahar]

Thanks Locobro!

You are welcome! Side note, I had no idea you are the one behind DDLG, I follow you on Twitter. I will sign up for the matamarcianos competition too

I have no idea who are you on Twitter either... ahahaha.

I hope you enjoy matamarcianos' competition and my podcast, also hehe.

[Technicolor]

so I'm getting DDP reconfigured on a new device, and I'm suddenly having trouble setting up the autofire function in MAME where I didn't before. Apparently if you set the autofire on the same button as a non-autofire key, it'll never register as letting go of the input-- meaning that holding my shot autofire button still results in a laser. Are there any solutions for this, short of switching to another emulator?

[Steven]

Every arcade DonPachi game has internal autofire on the C button.