TRP-STGT 2015 Conversation Week 1: Sand Scorpion

[trap15]

Sand Scorpion (FACE/Sankindou, 1992)

Who ever heard of blue scorpions?

Playing week ends Sunday, 22 November, 2015 at 22:00 GMT

Dynamic scoreboard at http://daifukkat.su/stgt/2015/

Tournament main thread: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=55370
Score submission thread: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=55666

RULES

MAME or PCB. MAME set is named sandscrp.
Autofire is allowed.
1 credit only.

DIP SWITCH/CONFIGURATION SETTINGS
Default settings, except:

• Difficulty should be set to Normal.

Discuss the game, strategy, and such here, not the score submission thread.

[Eaglet]

[beatsgo]

So first question: what's a blue scorpion?

[EmperorIng]

FACE really loved those square waves, didn't they?

EDIT: @beatsgo It's like a deadlier Miclus.

[Shepardus]

So much for 9 stages. At least I got the company right when I was practicing Nostradamus yesterday.

Edit: MAME says it defaulted to Normal difficulty, nothing I need to change then?

[copy-paster]

Oh so this is the start....

Haven't played the game, and yes every games during the tournament I'll set autofire to ON.

[trap15]

Edit: MAME says it defaulted to Normal difficulty, nothing I need to change then?

Correct! Just want people with PCB to make sure, since it's not "all-off" DIPs.

[Bananamatic]

It's shit, right?

[CptRansom]

Spoiler

Yep.

[ED-057]

Spoiler

It's shit, right?

Yep.

Lol.

Whoa, can I get a spoiler alert here?

[CptRansom]

Fixed, sorry.

[Perikles]

Are there any relevant differences between the two ships à la Raiden? Or is it merely a cosmetic matter?

[The Armchair General]

Does anyone know if this game actually has a scoring system? Or is its scoring system just "Don't f*cking die!".

[Ikazu-san]

Wait, "one credit" as in "can't practice this"?

[EmperorIng]

Wait, "one credit" as in "can't practice this"?

Your score can only be based on a one-credit play; practice as much as you want. This ain't the Death March.

It's shit, right?

Yep.

Whoa, can I get a spoiler alert here?

Woah, you gotta spoiler that.

[Shepardus]

Wait, "one credit" as in "can't practice this"?

One credit as in don't credit feed, not as in one chance.

Does anyone know if this game actually has a scoring system? Or is its scoring system just "Don't f*cking die!".

There are some hidden medals but I think it's mostly about getting further and not dying/bombing. The ranking in this tournament is based on stage before score, anyway.

Are there any relevant differences between the two ships à la Raiden? Or is it merely a cosmetic matter?

The movement speeds seem to be the same at least.

Also, what the hell is with the slowdown in this game?

[DKA_Darius]

This game looks like RAIDEN

[Perikles]

This game looks like RAIDEN

But it plays more akin to an arcade re-imagination of the SFC port of Raiden, sadly.

[EmperorIng]

It amazes me that, despite setting the autofire at its highest speed, it takes so many shots to reveal a scorpion medal - during which a popcorn enemy with too much health will side-swipe your ultra-large hitbox. Unless there is some tally I'm unaware of, it sure seems like an awful lot of risk for 500-1000 points.

[Perikles]

[...] ultra-large hitbox.

As much as I love the agonizingly long boss fights already I have to grudgingly concede that the hitbox is very fair. Otherwise it'd be impossible to dodge those dense patterns.

[gimebe]

Collect multiple power-ups of the same color to power up your weapon. Scorpions might also have something to do with it, but I'm not sure.

At max power the blue shot covers the whole screen and kills stuff pretty quickly, which makes it a lot more nice and it also PBs the scorpion hideouts better. There's also a 1-up hidden on stage 3 at the left side - not everything seems to be scorpions.

[ED-057]

Actually, I love this game, if only for one reason. After you take a hit, while your craft is emitting plumes of smoke, but before it finally explodes, you can bomb. That's right. Get hit by a bullet, and THEN bomb. Awesome.

[ProjectAKo]

that last boss music though

[trap15]

Difficulty should be set to Normal.
I was just told that ShmupMAME 4.2 does NOT default to Normal, so PLEASE double-check.

[Heavy Viper]

I kinda like this! I keep cracking up once I hit the mid-point of Stage 3 though, since the game suddenly turns into Ssssssssaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnndddddddd Sssssssssccccccoooooooorrrrrppppiiiiiiiooooonnnnnnn.

[Shepardus]

The first stage is so much harder than the second because you have no power -_______-

[trap15]

A couple handy Quick Tips (tm) for everyone:

Always use blue weapon; the other two are uselessly garbage.

Don't power up past the first level of 5-way shot; beyond that your shot becomes less effective due to spread.

Always use M missiles, H missiles don't really home and are weaker.

Bomb liberally and preemptively, they're offensive bombs. You may have to spend a bit of time figuring out where to bomb, but they're quite strong and cover a very large area.

[ProjectAKo]

2-2 boss did this once



Now he's just standing there twirling. Maybe I killed him on a bad frame

[Captain]

Best of luck to everyone, but especially my comrades.

Question: Does my run/score still count if i set it to the hardest difficulty anyway?

[copy-paster]

Wait, "one credit" as in "can't practice this"?

Hahah, the Death Roulette syndrome still stuck in my mind.

Well I'll download it later, too many works.