Weekly Online Shmeet #4 (Viewpoint)

[Shatterhand]

We will be playing the arcade version.

Time Remaining: CLOSED

Rankings and Rules

Posting Format:

Your name - Score - Stage - System played on

Last Updated: Dec. 28, 2005 02:33 AM PST

Code: Select all

Game: Viewpoint
Start: Dec. 26, 2005 12PM PST
End: Jan. 2, 2006 12PM PST

Tier I:

1. SiKrAiKeN     - 1,148,240 - ALL - MAME
2. Icarus        - 644,760   - Stage 4 - MAME (Autofire Enabled)

 

Tier II:

1. Edge          - 357'430   - Stage 4 - MAME
2. Skyline       - 311,890   - Stage 3 - MAME
3. Tomtom        - 299,400   - Stage 3
4. Seven Force   - 280,210   - Stage 3 - MAME


Tier III:

1. Punkfox       - 269,990   - Stage 3 - MAME
2. Shatterhand   - 250,350   - Stage 3 - MAME
3. Landshark     - 101,080   - Stage 2 - MAME
4. crithit5000   - 91,010    - Stage 2 - MAME
5. Fighter17     - 84,200    - Stage 2 - Kawaks 
6. Ramus         - 75,270    - Stage 2 - MAME

*Tiers change based on number of people playing.
(more spots will be added if more people participate)

[Tomtom]

Alright, this week I'm just going to focus on not being DEAD LAST. First run, and I got to level 2 for the first time ever! This game is like a slower R-Type where it's much harder to dodge, and as such I'm not too much of a fan of it, but it's better once you beat the first stage. Also, the music is quite rad.



Tomtom - 97,310 - 2

ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, HEY!

[CIT]

Seven Force | 105270 | Level 2 | NGCD

I hate the crab, I hate the crab, I hate the crab....

[Icarus]

I hate isometric shmups.

Icarus - 213,350 - 3



First life to the centipede section, then lost all four spare Extends in very quick succession. Squeaked to the bee boss on my last life, and smashed into the worm that snakes around the screen during the battle >_<#

EDIT: That bee boss on stage3 is really annoying. The worm isn't too bad as it can be destroyed with a well placed homing missile, but the bee's attack patterns give you no room for error.

[Shatterhand]

My 1st go ever at this game (Had played one game of the Mega-Drive version before, and that's all)

Shatterhand - 90,810 - 2 - MAME

The problem here now is that I HAVE to use my Dualshock controller to play this (It's the only controller I own that I can plug to my PC)... it doesn't feel to bad with the dualshock, like Gradius did.. it's better than try to play with a keyboard and have to keep hitting diagonals all the time.

[punkfox]

I probably won't be playing this one too much this week, but I'll toss in a score for the heck of it.

Punkfox - 101,100 - Stage 2 - MAME

[crithit5000]

Alright, this week I'm just going to focus on not being DEAD LAST.

That should not be a problem, as I am really not warming up to this game. AT ALL.

Edited for proof-

crithit5000 - 58,690 - 2 - MAME

Wow, that's bad.

[Icarus]

Make sure you use your special weapons as and when required. Two of the three available can protect you from bullets (the Flame Wall [RED] and the Black Hole [BLUE]) and they are all powerful. The Homing Missile is only good for quick damage, as it is incapable of protecting you from bullets.

It is better to use quick charge attacks than to power up a full beam.

And if you're using MAME, go and find a version of MAME that allows autofire. Trust me, you'll need it. ^_-

I've managed to get the bee boss in stage3 down to it's second form, before getting toasted by the two homing pods >_<;; It's very difficult to dodge in this game.

[landshark]

Make sure you use your special weapons as and when required. Two of the three available can protect you from bullets (the Flame Wall [RED] and the Black Hole [BLUE]) and they are all powerful. The Homing Missile is only good for quick damage, as it is incapable of protecting you from bullets.

It is better to use quick charge attacks than to power up a full beam.

And if you're using MAME, go and find a version of MAME that allows autofire. Trust me, you'll need it. ^_-

I've managed to get the bee boss in stage3 down to it's second form, before getting toasted by the two homing pods >_<;; It's very difficult to dodge in this game.

Wait, were allowing autofire in the comps?

[Tomtom]

Tomtom - 239,800 - 3

And through an absolute fluke, I ever so briefly gain the top spot

The third boss is just...damn. I didn't even get to the second form, but dodging both the diagonal bullet storm and the giant centipede is not an easy task.

Also, this game's music just keeps getting cooler. I love the sax groove in stage 3.

[Shatterhand]

Wait, were allowing autofire in the comps?

I was going to ask the same

[Tomtom]

I don't know. I really don't think it makes too much of a difference in this game, as even with autofire on, using charged shots seems to do more damage, and the autofire with the triple shot isn't much faster than average button mashing anyway.

The crab boss just owned me several times in a row and now I'm wired and won't be able to sleep. Oh well.

EDIT: by the way, I take back everything bad I've said about Viewpoint. This game rocks.

[Skyline]

Skyline - 278,230 - Stage 3 - MAME

Being really addicted to this game a few months ago really payed off there.

[crithit5000]

crithit5000 - 91,010 - 2 - MAME

[Edge]

I haven't played View Point, but in some games Auto fire gives you a really inhuman fire rate. And with this fire rate you can instantly kill some bad ass enemies when you point blank them. So I vote for no auto fire at all. This way we don't have to discuss this for every single game. Also auto fire may not be accessible for everyone.

Well, that's at least my opinion.

[Icarus]

Well, it's either that or end up with RSI.
And my wrists and thumb joints are already in pain from work. -_-;;

[sikraiken]

Well, it's either that or end up with RSI.
And my wrists and thumb joints are already in pain from work. -_-;;

With autofire though, it makes the game a ton easier.

[Icarus]

Well, if the vote is against the usage of autofire, then I withdraw my score and myself from the 4th smeet.
Which gives me a chance to concentrate on Xexex, at least.

[captain ahar]

this'll give me an excuse to boot it up again.

looking forward to it... the bastard.

[punkfox]

Grah, I thought I had the Stage 2 boss....until I saw its last form.

Punkfox - 127,080 - Stage 2 - MAME

[CIT]

Well, since you don't get the option of autofire on Neo Geo I'm going to have to be against its use just for the record. Having said that though, I actually don't think it makes too much difference on this particular game, so for this shmeet I would be fine with it, since it wasn't exactly clear in the beginning whether it is allowed anyway.

For the next shmeets, however, it DEFINITELY has to be made clear right at the outset whether autofire is okay. In games like R-Type for example it makes a HUGE difference.


New Score:

Seven Force | 124830 | Stage 2 | NGCD

Fucking crab, gnnnaaaaaawrrgh!

[Shatterhand]

When I start to press the button too quickly, I end up CHARGING my weapon!!!

I have nothing against using autofire, it doesn't seem to make a big difference in this game really. The fire rate is always slow anyway.

[Icarus]

Very few games have the ability to make me angry. Viewpoint is one of them.

Icarus - 438,690 - 4 - [AUTO]



(I'll denote the use of autofire to save confusion. If auto is disallowed for this smeet, then don't bother entering this score into the table.)

Finally made it past the stage3 boss in one life, and then unprepared for stage4 as usual. Made it to the boss, and managed to destroy two of the four faces, but got killed by some spawned bats that drop suicide bullets. Eventually ended the credit crashing into the large metal containers.

It's remarkable how much of this game is based on safespots and heavy memorisation. Trying to find them will take some time, though. At least the strategy for the stage3 boss is almost sorted.

One other thing, there are star medals dotted about the stages, usually released by destroying certain sets of enemies. I've uncovered 3 in stage3, and there are quite a few in stage4, and the value goes up to 10,000pts. If you can stay alive long enough to get them up to 10k, then you can get a lot of points. Dying resets the values, though, and I haven't seen any in stage1 or 3.

[Shatterhand]

Next week poll is here:

http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6718

[landshark]

bubbles ... the 2nd level boss HAD to be bubbles? Gradius III has ruined bubbles for all games for me.

Landshark - 97,210 - Stage 2 - MAME

[Tomtom]

Tomtom - 245,480 - 3

I hate you, third boss. You can rot in hell with your friends the spaceship and the crab. Someday.

[CIT]

One other thing, there are star medals dotted about the stages, usually released by destroying certain sets of enemies. I've uncovered 3 in stage3, and there are quite a few in stage4, and the value goes up to 10,000pts. If you can stay alive long enough to get them up to 10k, then you can get a lot of points. Dying resets the values, though, and I haven't seen any in stage1 or 3.

You mean stage 1 and 2?

I found one in the middle of stage two. In the "swimming pool" section shoot all of the erraticly jumping fishes and it'll appear.

[Shatterhand]

Shatterhand - 250,350 - Stage 3 - Mame


How come this game has some of the most useful options ever in any game, still it has the most unuseful shield ever?

The crab boss isn't really that hard, after you understand it well. The 2nd form is even easier than the 1st. One thing I didn't manage to do was destroy both of his claws, I always end up killing it before destroying the 2nd claw.

And can we settle down if we should accept autofire here?

[Icarus]

You mean stage 1 and 2?

I found one in the middle of stage two. In the "swimming pool" section shoot all of the erraticly jumping fishes and it'll appear.

Eeep! Typo.

There are three star medals in stage2:

• Right at the beginning of the stage, before the big gold worm, destroy the two purple jellyfish before they escape
• After the big blue goldfish with the exploding mines, destroy the school of fish that appear
• After the school of fish, destroy all the purple jellyfish that appear. They will onlypop up from the water when they bump into the sunken blocks in the floor

These three will put the medals values up to 3,310pts. Not much, but it's a good headstart for stage4 ^_-

Let me know if you find any in stages 1 and 3. I haven't found any yet.

bubbles ... the 2nd level boss HAD to be bubbles? Gradius III has ruined bubbles for all games for me.

The bubbles are easy to dodge. The big ones stop, then move towards your ship's location. When shot, they split into two, which then move in a V-shape. The only problem is that there is often very little space to move. But you can counter this by not shooting the bubbles, and luring them out wide so you can create gaps in the attack to dodge through.

And can we settle down if we should accept autofire here?

Unless the highscore thread I'm entering a score for states explicitly that autofire is disallowed, or there are special circumstances (like Mushi), I've always used autofire to play. To relieve the strain on my already painful wrists, and also because it makes it easier to concentrate on dodging when you don't have to mash buttons to fire.

If autofire is allowed, then feel free to use my version of MAME here:

http://www.featheredwings.net/external/ ... 1u5-bin.7z

It's as easy as setting up a custom button.

[Gemant]

in stage 1 there is 1 star

star value are:

500
1000
3310
5000
10000
33100
50000
81560