Shmups

[Spoonman]

I am addicted to doing this:

 

https://i.imgur.com/xcHlxRJ.gifv

 

 

[Sane]

Which game is that?

[ImmaculateClump]

SDOJ

 

Yeah, turning scary bullets into shiny things is what gets me out of bed in the morning.

[ImmaculateClump]

1cc'ed that "Touhou Kikamu ~ Elegant Impermanence of Sakura" on normal today.

Not as fun as the blue devil game, I don't think, normal was a bit tame, but it's early doors. I'll try and do hard mode soon, I think the scoring will grow on me.

 

There are some little enemies you can only kill with your focus shot, and I think you have to leave them alive and then wait for them to come close to these bigger enemies which have an aura and once they're close, you shoot the little enemies and they drop bullets and then you kill the big enemies and all those bullets that were in the big enemies aura get turned into blue gems which are for score. Or I think you can just kill the big enemy and you won't get the points for the little enemies bullets, but it will get rid of them.

I think that's the general idea, so there's lots of time where you don't want to be shooting.

 

Some people were talking about milestone games in one of the discords so i downloaded the milestone shooting collection 2 for dolphin, gonna play some radirgy noa next, I think!

I really liked that game on the 360 and never really played it too much.

[ImmaculateClump]

On 28/06/2021 at 11:19, Spoonman said:

I am addicted to doing this:

 

https://i.imgur.com/xcHlxRJ.gifv

 

We should start an instagram account called "shmup porn"

 

https://i.imgur.com/wOZKS9O.gifv

[ImmaculateClump]

Super Glitter Rush, might be alright - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1338020/Super_Glitter_Rush/

 

 

[Spoonman]

That looks like good fun!

[ImmaculateClump]

Yeah, it's canny! Just a boss rush thing, not sure how much replay value it'll have once you've beat everyone, but it's fun working out the breaks and beating your time and chains.

 

It got a hotfix today which includes the line.

"Fixed a problem that prevented you from getting 3 stars at level 8."

 

Hmmmm. My daffy brain wouldn't let me move on to the next boss before getting three stars the other day, so I wasted a good twenty minutes of my life playing tennis with an avocado!

 

Something the Assault Shell guy has been working on - https://streamable.com/e54rgz

 

I'm starting to think that he might be some sort of genius. He just threw this together seemingly overnight, he says stage 1 is already done!

Assault Shell is fucking aces by the way, don't sleep on that one. Currently 30% off. The void arrange mode is lots of fun - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1432970/ASSAULT_SHELL/

 

 

30-09! That's my birthday!

 

Degica guy hinting at more cave PC ports? - https://steamcommunity.com/app/464450/discussions/0/2281582783360890329/?ctp=4#c3053986162866730693

 

edit: somebody made this in one of the shmup discords if anyone can be bothered filling it in!

 

 

I'll make a text version so it's less effort to fill in. You can just quote that.

 

Favourite shmup of all time -

Best scoring system -

Favourite art style -

"I'll clear it some day" -

Big personal impact -

Best weapon -

Best euroshmup -

You hate, but everyone likes -

Underatted -

Overrated -

"Why do I like this?" -

"A lot of bangers on this one!" -

That atmosphere... -

Bad day cure -

Favourite ship/character -

After work relaxation -

Biggest Letdown -

"Back in the day" game -

"Not the best, but having fun." -

Criminally Overlooked -

Masochistic shmup -

Favourite franchise -

Indie pick -

Not usually my thing, but... -

[ImmaculateClump]

On 25/06/2021 at 19:37, Marlew said:

 

This is some shite from looking at their feed. Some in-arcade appearance of some idols or whatever plus Ikeda. Hoped it would be DOJ and Futari announcement like in my fucking dream last night. 

 

Not blaming you, just quoting! 

 

It's happening now, you never know. Maybe something will be announced.

 

 

edit: Meh, it was fuck all. Never mind.

[Spoonman]

 

The girl is Maria from DDP SDOJ.

[ImmaculateClump]

Nice one, Spoonman! I didn't think anyone here would bother their arses!

Ooft, euroshmups denied!

I tried to do it before but it was making my head hurt. I'll try again later.

 

Got all the stars in that Super glitter rush game. Aye, it's nice and all, but there's really not much replay value once you've gotten all the stars.

3 hours and you're done. It's 2 quid though. No regrets. Good fun.

[phillv85]

5 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

Favourite shmup of all time - Deathsmiles

Best scoring system - Deathsmiles

Favourite art style - Mushi Futari

"I'll clear it some day" - Espgaluda

Big personal impact - DoDonPachi Dai Fukkatsu

Best weapon - DoDonPachi SDOJ 360 mode Hyper

Best euroshmup - Raptor: Call of the Shadows

You hate, but everyone likes - Ikaruga

Underrated - Shienryu (a.k.a Gekioh, Steel Dragon)

Overrated - Radiant Silvergun

"Why do I like this?" - Gunbird - literally got no better at it in about a decade

"A lot of bangers on this one!" - Battle Garegga and it's constant need to bomb

That atmosphere... - Deathsmiles IIX

Bad day cure - Star Parodier

Favourite ship/character - DoDonPachi type B/Rosa from Deathsmiles and DSII

After work relaxation - Coryoon

Biggest Letdown - R-Type Final, just found it very boring.

"Back in the day" game - Raptor: Call of the Shadows

"Not the best, but having fun." - Parodius Da!

Criminally Overlooked - Gigawing probably doesn't get the recognition it deserves

Masochistic shmup - Ibara

Favourite franchise - DoDonPachi

Indie pick - Crimson Clover (started as an indie at least i think, if not then Ghost Blade on DC).

Not usually my thing, but... - Empire of Steel

 

Edit: I read it as bangers in this one, not on  

 

I didn't see Spoons before this, but we have a lot in common!

[Marlew]

6 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

I'll make a text version so it's less effort to fill in. You can just quote that.

 

Favourite shmup of all time - DOJ

Best scoring system - Futari God Mode 

Favourite art style - Mushi

"I'll clear it some day" - DOJ

Big personal impact - DOJ

Best weapon - DFK Hyper 

Best euroshmup - Schildmaid DX

You hate, but everyone likes - ZeroRanger 

Underrated - Muchi Muchi Pork 

Overrated - Gradius 

"Why do I like this?" - Darius II

"A lot of bangers on this one!" - Battle Garegga 

That atmosphere... - Battle Garegga 

Bad day cure - Dangun Feveron

Favourite ship/character - Normal Reco 

After work relaxation - DOJ X

Biggest Letdown - Rolling Gunner Overpower

"Back in the day" game - 1942 

"Not the best, but having fun." - Espgaluda 2 Black Label 

Criminally Overlooked - Missile Dancer 

Masochistic shmup - Ikaruga 

Favourite franchise - Dodonpachi 

Indie pick - Schildmaid DX

Not usually my thing, but... - We Are Doomed

 

[ImmaculateClump]

This is actually quite hard to do but I decided in the end to not think too long and hard about it and just go with my gut mostly since it's not set in stone and my answers are bound to change anyway.
I mean there are so many contenders for "best scoring system", for example, so I just went with a game that stood out, felt like a blast to score in and the scoring was so entwined with survival and so intuitive that it just felt natural and you were doing it straight away.

Favourite shmup of all time - Blue Revolver
Best scoring system - Exceed 3rd - Jade Penetrate Black Package
Favourite art style - Black Bird
"I'll clear it some day" - Muchi Muchi Pork
Big personal impact - Guwange
Best weapon - Gloryhammer from steredenn
Best euroshmup - Dezatopia? Does that count? it's got a healthbar and a shop. What more do you want?
You hate, but everyone likes - Ikaruga, touhou*, r-type
Underatted - The Hurricane of The Varstray
Overrated - Hellsinker
"Why do I like this?" - Skycat
"A lot of bangers on this one!" - Bullet Soul: Infinite Burst
That atmosphere... - the garden stages on the Mushi games! The Radirgy games makes me feel weird, like a long bad schoolday with a chemical hangover, but I like it.
Bad day cure - Jet Buster
Favourite ship/character - Beakyfuzzblob from Black Bird

 

After work relaxation - Batsugun Special first loop
Biggest Letdown - Can't think of anything, Boss 101, I suppose. I was really looking forward to that for a long time and it was gash when it came out.
"Back in the day" game - Scramble on the Vectrex
"Not the best, but having fun." - XCUTE(me) is a good recent example
Criminally Overlooked - Dokingan
Masochistic shmup - Aero Chimera
Favourite franchise - The zeno trilogy, just to be different!
Indie pick - Neko Navy
Not usually my thing, but... - Satazius, most recently. Proper oldschool, lots of gotcha deathtraps, but I had a blast 1cc'ing it.

*Touhou is a weird one because I hate the official games I've tried and the whole "oo me waifu" crowd make my skin crawl, but I love games that are inspired by it and even some fan games. I think zun must just have a special sauce that makes his games so fucking boring!

That was fun! It's hard to answer some of the questions, I thought.

[phillv85]

Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet was in with a shout for my biggest letdown. Everyone seemed to be wanking themselves daft over it pre-release and there was a bit of a physical release shooter drought on PS4 at the time so I bought the special edition. Needless to say I wasn't impressed.

[Spoonman]

Anyone here play Rival Megagun?

 

I played Progear for the first time today, really like it.

[ImmaculateClump]

It was aaaalright.
Could have been a lot better, but it was great fun while it lasted.
It died after less than a week, you just couldn't find anyone to fight with for love nor money.

 

I remember the lads from Degica trying to get people playing and saying "our social media lad is gonna be on there, come and fight him!" and I was free so I went on and the degica guy was literally the only other guy playing.

 

He was utter dogshit, as the people who work in PR usually are, so I kept politely leaving after each game, trying to get matched with someone else and the game just kept throwing us together.
I had to just turn it off in the end as it felt like straight up bullying, like I was following him around the school demanding more dinner money!

 

I remember having this epic 10 minute long match with this one guy who I didn't recognise the name of. I still have the video, "mq7145". That was so intense and really showed how fun the game could be when two players are evenly matched. I was very surprised that I won in the end! You know when you can't shake the feeling that someone might have just let you win because the match was never going to end?

 

There are still people keeping the pc version alive with various discord servers you can jump into to set up games, but that always seemed like more effort than it was worth to me. I didn't enjoy playing that much. I can play something single player and not have to jump through any hoops or feel like a baddy if I have to drop everything.

 

There's an updated version on the Exa, so hopefully it'll have it's day in the arcade once everyone is allowed to deep tongue kiss the postman again.

 

Progear was the first bullet hell game I played in mame, I think. I suppose that should have been my "big impact" game on that questionnaire thing!

I think guwange was the one that got my brain using cogs it never knew existed and properly tickled me giddy though, so I went with that.

[ImmaculateClump]

Hmmmm, I picked up Rangok Skies during the sale and there's more to it than first meets the eye, I think.

 

It's quite an easy 1cc, but playing again, I realised that there's this mechanic where when you go into focus fire, you cancel the bullets around you into green gems which are worth bonus points.
This is on a cooldown, but it's pretty generous.

 

It looks like the point of the game for scoring might be to not use focus as much as you can and save it so you can use that mechanic to cancel as many bullets as you can.

Game is pretty fun, I have to say!

 

Underestimated this one, I think. Will give it some more time and see how playing like that bumps my score up!

 

It's very flashy and fun and an easy clear when played for survival, but with hidden depths. Gets a thumbs up so far!

[Camel]

Is that Cotton Guardian Saturn Force Cotton Tribute Saturn Tribute game coming to the west does anybody know?

[Spoonman]

Progear is good fun. I really like the firing of one's plane, weird as that sounds. Extremely satisfying barrage.

 

I held out on getting it for Switch as I have an insane backlog as it is, and the "bundle" nature of the Capcom thing isn't realyl my style. So, now it's on MiSTer, I actually have what I intended... the Astro City set up for vertical shooting (I could rotate it but it could be a year or two until I have anyone around to play a vs fighter on, and I don't really play fighters any more), and the 20" CRT for hori shmups. It's a brilliant setup. I cannot stress how much better games look on the low-res CRT than on the 4K LCD sat next to it, but I will do take some photos if for nothing more than to remember this time in my life.

 

I'll probably stream some more MiSTer stuff soon:

 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1076777318

[ImmaculateClump]

1 hour ago, Camel said:

Is that Cotton Guardian Saturn Force Cotton Tribute Saturn Tribute game coming to the west does anybody know?

 

They're encouraging us western lot to import if we're wanting the physical

 

 

https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=コットン+ガーディアンフォース+サターントリビュート&i=videogames

[Spoonman]

Preface: apologies in advance for an absolute barrage of text from something of a mental diarrhoea.

 

For cotton I guess it "makes sense" for me to get the Switch version as I have Reboot on that (plot twist, I haven't opened it yet). Thinking I will get it to support the genre and I love these games in general. I was bloody weird and bought ESPrade on Switch digitally, then scooped up a physical in some crazy haul, but should have instead bought the PS4 port, really. However, it's coming to MiSTer and I already have the beta there. Nuts. Just one game, and all that mess!

 

Perhaps it is because my PS4 is 5 years old and potentially near end of life/"an old system" but if the games work on the PS5 just as well then perhaps I should migrate over. I love the idea of the flip grip, but it's honestly just for when I don't want to be using my phone, never for a "proper run". In the same thread, the PS4 is in the living room as the "main console" and i sit back in a comfy chair and game on that. I could/should honestly play more shmups on it. I have Dangun Feveron, and should get ketsui and garegga too. For whatever reason, I do not see it as the proper shmup machine any longer. Probably because I have a fucking Astro City in the next room, I bet. So, proper runs are done on the Astro City, the switch for 95% handheld and rarely used on the big screen at present, though I have my home office monitor on a nice arm that can be rotated.

 

I'm back to that situation of "it was good in '96 because I only had my saturn and one controller" but in truth my mate had a PS1 and a neighbour the N64 so we were covered on all fronts. 

 

I like the M2 ports the best with all those gadgets and all the fun modes to try and work through and all that. Good times. Adds a lot more to a game than simply espradej.zip or whatever MAME runs. Obviously I can hook up the M2 stuff to CRTs and the like, but the filters are nice enough and if I treat the games as a "practice mode" then actually I don't *want* to get that all wired up to the cab. Hell, I played some Dangun over the weekend with a bloody Dualshock 4 because I couldn't be arsed getting my arcade stick out. 

 

It was quite easy 10 years ago; the 360 was the only viable choice for the platform, really. Now, I've gone and got myself a switch and even though I know there could be a whole extra frame of lag, there's something so nice about having these games on a tiny little screen in TATE mode, that can be hooked up to a big screen easily and used with a stick. 

 

I guess, I could get ESPrade on PS4 and "complete" the game/get lots of trophies and then sell it on. But I know I won't. I still have my PS3 games. I really want Ketsui though, and haven't played Garegga properly, so that's a great double pack. 

 

On the flip side, at least I play all these games. Cotton *will* be opened before long, it's just in my queue. Though I have something of a collection/hoard going on, things are indeed plucked from shelves and streamed to my near-affiliate* Twitch on a weekly basis.

 

/end

 

*fuckinglol

[ImmaculateClump]

You need one of those people that come into the houses of the cash-rich, time-poor to simplify and streamline their lives for a fee.

 

They come in, throw out the 5 wardrobes full of Armani and leave just 6 outfits.
Declutter the entertainment wing, make off with the 100" oled and leave them with a 19" alba.

 

I'll come round yours if you like, free of charge. Get that annoying arcade cabinet in a big lorry, you'll never see it again.
Tiny little raspberry pi under your telly with a wireless pad. Sorted.

I'll just put a curated collection of 30 games on there so you don't get choice paralysis.

 

Yeah, the M2 ports are godly. As much as I don't mind inaccuracies, it's so nice to know that you're in safe hands and the slowdown etc is pretty much bang on as close as you're gonna get shy of paying through the nose for ailing pcb's.

Always shake my head when I see people complaining about the price of their games.

[ImmaculateClump]

Cam aaaan! Got 3rd on the "master" leaderboard on Rangok Skies!

 

There's a separate leaderboard for people who manage to clear the game without dying once, I'll have to try and play more cautiously to get on that.

Yeah, this game is good fun. Ignore the haters.

 

Beat it with all the different characters now, I think I like "astra" best so far because her shot is so weak that you have more scoring potential without having to let off your main shot.

 

There's an "insane" mode that I really want to unlock. Maybe you have to finish the game without dying.

 

Still half price for a little while longer if anyone's interested - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1262140/Rangok_Skies/

 

That oled update then, any of you switch folk getting that?

[Camel]

What’s the consensus on The Game Paradise? I’ve had it on Saturn for a while but find it really hard to get into. I love the theme and the look of the whole thing but I find it a bit clunky and frustrating to play. Just me?

[phillv85]

11 minutes ago, Camel said:

What’s the consensus on The Game Paradise? I’ve had it on Saturn for a while but find it really hard to get into. I love the theme and the look of the whole thing but I find it a bit clunky and frustrating to play. Just me?

Nope, not just you. I got it recently and it’s hard as fuck for me to get into. Doesn’t help I’m currently playing vertically on a 14” screen, but I manage plenty of other shooters alright on it.

[phillv85]

Play-Asia currently have free shipping deals on, and have the seemingly Korean-only physical release of Caladrius Blaze for Switch in stock

[ImmaculateClump]

Yeah, I'd agree with you both on that one. Very rigid, I'd say. Proper oldschool.
I didn't have a lot of fun with it.
I'll have to fire it up soon and try again, but yeah, it asks a lot of you and doesn't give much back, I don't think.

[spatular]

game paradise is game tengoku right? i played that quite a lot last year becasue i entered a score competition thing, i was pretty rubish at it and didn't like it at all at first, watched some videos and learnt how to chain egg plants a bit and enjoyed it a bit more, but was still rubbish at it and probably wouldn't have stuck with it if it wasn't for the competition so don't think it's great or anything just maybe not as bad as i first thought. don't think i'd recommend it but then it's not my sort of game in the first place.

 

1cc'd mushi 1.5 original the other day, i guess that's the easiest mode (well except novice) as i'm getting no where near on the others.

 

got assault shell in the steam sale too going to give that a go now.

 

(also thought caladrius was rubbish, but didn't give it much of a chance mind)

[Camel]

Two things have allowed me to enjoy The Game Paradise/Tengoku (yep that's the one) a bit more this evening. 1) discovering the rapid-fire button 2) switching to ship #2 (the little red plane). I'll have to look into this egg plant chaining, thanks.