Shmups

[spatular]

^ Ghost blade HD right? I seem to remember quite enjoying it, its a decent but not amazing bullet hell game. The original dreamcast/non HD version is supposed to be rubbish so make sure its not that version i guess.

[Dig Dug]

Ghost Blade just made me wonder why I wasn’t just playing DoDonPachi instead.

[englishbob]

Shit, just realised I preordered Dangun from Limited Run Games but I've no idea if this game will actually work on the PS5? Does anyone know? (Ketsui and ESP seem OK)

[Jonster]

I've got the digital version of Dangun and it works perfectly well on PS5.

[englishbob]

Nice - thanks. 

 

Does anyone know if Cotton Reboot runs on the PS5? I've pre-ordered that one too. Cheers

[ImmaculateClump]

On 05/05/2021 at 18:30, Pockets said:

Are Sturmwind and Ghost Blade worth getting on Xbox?

 

Sturmwind I didn't get on with at all, someone on another forum convinced me try it again recently and I still came up empty handed, but I will stick up for ghost blade.

 

I think ghost blade proves that a half decent scoring mechanic can save an otherwise also-ran in the genre.

It's very "that'll do" with enemies sometimes just raining from the sky and most of the bosses having all of like two uninteresting patterns.

It's very bargain bin, but it's very laid back, quite a relaxing game and a great in for bullet hell newbies, I think.

 

You fly around the screen clearing out all the popcorn enemies so that you can fly in nice and close (but not too close mind, or it won't trigger!) to the bigger enemies so you can kill them at point blank and scoop up all the lovely stars they drop. Rinse and repeat.

So it's all about clearing the way so you can get up close to the bigger enemies, don't die and don't bomb.

 

Worth the price of admission for the caravan stage alone, I think.

It's fun and relaxing to play and that makes up for any of it's failings, I reckon.

 

  

On 06/05/2021 at 00:28, Dig Dug said:

Ghost Blade just made me wonder why I wasn’t just playing DoDonPachi instead.

 

A fair comment. At least the chaining isn't as strict in ghost blade!

[ImmaculateClump]

Fuuuuck!
Double KO on the final boss in Zenohell.
You have got to be kidding me!

Well, I can safely say that I'm close to the 1cc there

Man, this is easily the hardest game in the series and it's the first one!

 

 

I had my first astrazeneca a couple of days ago and I don't think I'm quite ready to be playing shmups again yet, that's given me a right headache!

[Marlowe]

I'm struggling to get past the first stage boss of Raiden Project on PS1 - I've had 5 or 6 attempts. 

 

I'm a shmup novice, but I did play a bit of Cave stuff on MAME a few years ago and could get as far as Stage 4 on DonPachi on a single credit, so I'd like to think I'm not entirely useless. Aside from being rusty, I think what's throwing me with this is that I'm playing with an arcade stick for the first time, which feels great but does seem to have a learning curve when it comes to judging those small movements. The hitbox also seems bigger on this compared to DonPachi, which may be a factor. I'll keep at it. 

[ImmaculateClump]

Yeah, arcade stick took me a good 3 months before I was as good as I had been with a pad and then almost a year I think before I started seeing better results.

Worth it though!

 

The raiden games are no joke. I'd maybe play more forgiving games while you're learning stick so it's less frustrating when you make mistakes.

My big problem was that I was forever hitting the diagonals by accident.

 

Something chill with autobomb would be great. Have you played blue wish resurrection plus? - https://www.vector.co.jp/download/file/winnt/game/fh452584.html

[Oh Danny Boy]

On 05/05/2021 at 18:30, Pockets said:

Are Sturmwind and Ghost Blade worth getting on Xbox?

I like both games. I’m no hardcore shmup fan, I do prefer the simpler systems and find the more complex ones difficult to engage with. If you’re looking for an easy going and very fun shmup then Ghost blade is recommend, an excellent game to get non shmup playing friends or kids into the genre too. Ghost blade is very impressive on the DC, same with Sturmwind so you would lose that feeling when playing on modern hardware. Sturmwind is a favourite of mine, I dig the Lovecraftian sci fi vibe, can be rock hard but is pretty fair. I’m sure both a pretty cheap so worth picking up.

[Marlowe]

19 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

Yeah, arcade stick took me a good 3 months before I was as good as I had been with a pad and then almost a year I think before I started seeing better results.

Worth it though!

 

The raiden games are no joke. I'd maybe play more forgiving games while you're learning stick so it's less frustrating when you make mistakes.

My big problem was that I was forever hitting the diagonals by accident.

 

Something chill with autobomb would be great. Have you played blue wish resurrection plus? - https://www.vector.co.jp/download/file/winnt/game/fh452584.html

 

I made it to Stage 2 with all 3 lives preserved, and then proceeded to lose them all without even getting to the boss. Still progress at least.

 

I haven't played Blue Wish, or any PC stuff in fact. Looks good though. I'm focusing on old consoles (PS1 and PS2 to start) playing through a CRT set up, which perhaps limits me as far as more forgiving options go!

[ImmaculateClump]

 

4 hours ago, Marlowe said:

I'm focusing on old consoles (PS1 and PS2 to start) playing through a CRT set up, which perhaps limits me as far as more forgiving options go!

 

Espgaluda on ps2 is pretty chill for the most part.

That last boss though. Jeeeez!

[phillv85]

5 minutes ago, ImmaculateClump said:

 

 

Espgaluda on ps2 is pretty chill for the most part.

That last boss though. Jeeeez!

I’ve been at that boss so many times I think I’ve got a mental block on it now. I fall apart at that last pattern every single time. I must try and 1CC it before it’s time for me to sell on all my arcade stuff.

[ImmaculateClump]

Yeah, I might make that my next goal too after the zenohell 1cc.
Me and that game have got unfinished business!

[geldra]

I think we need to have a chat about what “chill” is these days. 
 

Maybe Level 3 is my max for all shooters. 

[geldra]

Nabbed Raiden IV (Switch). God damn that game is brutal. And ugly. They really can’t capture the charm of the pixel originals can they? 

[Count Buffalos]

It’s a terrible game. 

[MattyP]

Really enjoying R-Type Final 2. Great visuals and feels just well right. Return to form for me. Still rubbish at it though...

[geldra]

Still trying to chip away at Progear. L4 (upward scrolling level) is just absolute brutality. Haven’t made it to the boss even once. 
 

I’ve listened to the argument various peeps about save states and using them to get to know a level better but something in my head says it’s just not cricket and that you have to start from the start every time. It’s probably why I don’t ever 1CC games. That and the fact that I’m shit. 

[spatular]

^ progear stage 4 is really hard imo. i've nver made it past the boss. i rarely use save states but when i have they've been really helpful for learning/improving at stuff. do you ever credit feed through stuff? i think that helps too, in preparation for what's to come, i do that quite often because i like to see the rest of the game.

[geldra]

9 hours ago, spatular said:

^ progear stage 4 is really hard imo. i've nver made it past the boss. i rarely use save states but when i have they've been really helpful for learning/improving at stuff. do you ever credit feed through stuff? i think that helps too, in preparation for what's to come, i do that quite often because i like to see the rest of the game.

Y’know what, no I don’t. I probably should. 
 

I’m totally trying to do it “properly” but in reality there is no such thing is there?  You do what you need to to improve. 
 

Though, I do feel like I’m improving generally over the first 3 stages by rinsing and repeating (stage 3 especially, which is quite a ramp in difficulty). 

[ImmaculateClump]

On 16/05/2021 at 18:37, geldra said:

I’ve listened to the argument various peeps about save states and using them to get to know a level better but something in my head says it’s just not cricket and that you have to start from the start every time.

 

Yeah, I'm the same as you, Geldra.

I know that the 100% sane and efficient way to git gud is to credit feed to the end.
To just keep doing that every time you play until eventually you do it all on one coin.

Maybe use save states to practise the tricky parts.

 

If you're having fun, you're doing it right.

 

I discovered a secret in Zenohell today, if you kill the stage 3 midbosses together they both drop an extend!

This will definitely help!

It's coming. Hopefully get some time to play tomorrow!

[spatular]

3 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

If you're having fun, you're doing it right.

 

yeah definitely that's the main thing!

 

there's a feature in the recent M2 ports, it's definitely in ketsui, not sure which others, where it saves the positions you die at when you're playing normally, then when you go to this mode it makes all your deaths into mini challenges. it's really good for improving and stuff without it seeming like a chore. save state practice seems like a chore to me which is why i barely ever do it. while i think credit freeding is good fun - explains why i do that quite a lot.

[ImmaculateClump]

Yeah, that's a brilliant idea, like going back to the drawing board and learning from your mistakes, trying different ways to get out of the quandary you found yourself in.

 

Games like Blue Revolver and Mechanical Star Astra have little challenge modes where they're designed to teach new players the fundamentals and more advanced techniques.

 

There was one on the MSA demo that teaches you this technique, you know when there are loads of aimed bullets and you micro tap, micro tap, micro tap and then to make a gap in the wall of bullets, you'll do a big swooping macro dodge so that you can leave a gap in the wall, then you can fly through and start micro tapping in the other direction?

 

I remember doing that one and thinking "fuck, this is something I figured out embarrassingly late"
Maybe if I'd played that challenge early on it'd have saved me lots of flailing!

[ImmaculateClump]

Yes!

 

 

Shame that I didn't beat my score. It was such a scrappy, sloppy run, dying at weird moments.
Glad the first clear is down though, that's gonna give me lots more confidence.

 

Man, that was definitely the hardest normal clear of any of the grybanser fox games!

Brilliant fun! Stage design is great.

That's definitely the hardest game I've completed this year.

[ImmaculateClump]

Pissed on my score today. For my first time playing the EX stage I was pretty impressed with how long I lasted! It's rock solid!

 

 

  

On 27/04/2021 at 20:47, ImmaculateClump said:

XCUTE(me) - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1597240/XCUTEme/

 

This is, surprisingly, not terrible! I'm quite enjoying my time with it.

 

You have a blue and a red shot and the enemies are blue and red and you match the colour of shot to enemy and they drop sparkly things which you collect to build your special weapon gauge, use your special weapons to turn bullets into more sparkly things. Rinse and repeat.

 

I thought I was gonna get the blind clear the other day but the end boss ripped me to bits.

s'alright.

 

Also, I got a new chat up line for when the clubs reopen!

 

 

[ImmaculateClump]

Just got a blind clear on this free doujin game today!

 

Sengoku Youkai Daikassen

 

I had a big grin on my face all the way through.
It's a pretty shameless akai katana rip off, but done like a cute 'em up.

Also officially better than guwange since it has two spidercats, not just one.

 

 

My new favourite thing. Gonna try and blitz my score later.

[ImmaculateClump]

Oh shit, try the guys other game, it's even better!

 

Maho shoe

 

 

This is much tighter. You can see how far he's come from the last game!

 

Collecting the medals will build your "1 up" gauge along the top of the screen.
you get an extra life when that's full.
This is also tied to scoring since at the end of the game you get a bonus for how many lives you have left.

 

Keep shooting baddies until you fill the gauge on the left. This gauge determines how long you can spend as the second character. Then you can switch to the more powerful character, and stay as her until the gauge on the left nearly runs out if you like, but the idea is to fill up the gauge on the right and then switch back to the first character before that gauge on the left runs out completely and when you do that, you shoot a big purple gem and that'll give you loads of medals when it hits enemies.

 

Here's an example, you can see that I haven't bothered staying as the second character for hardly any time at all here as I want to cash out against this big enemy. As you can see, you can also fill up the gauge on the right as the first character once you've built up the one on the left..

 

https://streamable.com/2me528

 

Gauges may fill quicker the closer you are to enemies, not sure.

 

Really good fun!

 

Your score to beat!

 

[ImmaculateClump]

Wow, this is fantastic!
Just a one stage demo so far but it's really promising!

 

Second Legacy

 

 

I think the idea is to point blank a few popcorn enemies and then use the focus shot to get blue gems which build up the gauge.

 

Then you press hyper and anything you hit with the focus shot drops lots of stars.

 

Then just before the gauge runs out you press hyper again and that gives you a powerful laser just as the hyper is ending.

Feels amazing!

Not too keen on the bullet wobble, but I did get used to it really quick.

 

Your score to beat - 2,022,635,117

 

https://streamable.com/mq3g36

[ImmaculateClump]

Cleared this game called Hishou Ayu last night.

 

I like how it's nice and chill but the bullets are still quite fast.
It's very simple mechanically and the bullet patterns are pretty simple too, but it's nice and nippy and good fun!

 

Not entirely sure on the scoring, but you can hold up to three hypers which makes your shot more powerful for like 30 seconds or something and when you start off the hyper you cancel bullets in a small radius around you, so I think it's all about hypering as much as possible and keeping your chain going.

 

After you beat the game you unlock hard mode which I had a quick try of, the bullets get faster and it feels great! Once you've ran through normal, you know all the simple patterns so hard mode sort of makes it way more fun and exciting without adding too much to the difficulty.
Hoping to get a chance to play through that mode tonight.

 

You get to fight a frog, if that helps sell it.

 

 

There's your score to beat - 4,425,150

 

I actually scored better on my first go where I died on the last stage!
Ignore the hi-score at the top of the screen, that's not mine, it's the devs. He updated and uploaded the game and forgot to clear his scores I think!