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Dr Seedyman

By Dr Seedyman
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Benny

Benny

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, Yasawas said:

I'm working my way through the Mega Drive Mini II trying to complete everything and there are some shmups on there, hooray! I know Thunder Force IV a bit from the SEGA AGES release and want to save it since it's so pretty and slick basically everything else on the console is a step down, are any of the others especially recommended? I have this fear of a lot of MD shooters of them just being brutal and I need to build up to it. Elemental Master seems interesting.

 

- Elemental Master

- Granada

- Hellfire

- Robo Aleste

- SILPHEED

- Thunder Force IV

- Truxton

- Viewpoint 

 

 

add MUSHA to that.

 

EDIT oh I see it's out of what's on the Mini.

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spatular

spatular

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, ImmaculateClump said:

Akai Katana out now!

 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2076220/Akai_Katana_Shin/


nice one! need to avoid getting it though as made an order for a physical version on console.

 

17 minutes ago, Yasawas said:

I have this fear of a lot of MD shooters of them just being brutal and I need to build up to it.

 

- Truxton

- Viewpoint

 


i dont know much about megadrive games so wouldnt be able to recommend any particularly. Did notice though some of the megadrive versions are easier than the arcade versions on the mini arcade machines, i think its those 2 in the quote. Still really hard mind, truxton i could barely get anywhere on the arcade one, maybe half way through the first level, on the md one i could get a bit further anyway.

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Wintermute

Wintermute

Posted
Posted
26 minutes ago, Yasawas said:

I'm working my way through the Mega Drive Mini II trying to complete everything and there are some shmups on there, hooray! I know Thunder Force IV a bit from the SEGA AGES release and want to save it since it's so pretty and slick basically everything else on the console is a step down, are any of the others especially recommended? I have this fear of a lot of MD shooters of them just being brutal and I need to build up to it. Elemental Master seems interesting.

 

- Elemental Master

- Granada

- Hellfire

- Robo Aleste

- SILPHEED

- Thunder Force IV

- Truxton

- Viewpoint 

 

 

It's a crying shame there's no Gaiares on there, but Truxton is great! It's responsible for the loss of a lot of pocket money over the years. Also: Skull bombs.

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Yasawas

Yasawas

Posted
Posted
26 minutes ago, spatular said:

truxton i could barely get anywhere on the arcade one, maybe half way through the first level, on the md one i could get a bit further anyway.

 

Yeah, this one is especially intimidating in my mind but it might be talk of the arcade version that's influenced me. I think I read the PC Engine version was tougher too although I have no notion why. It's jarring because I think the name sounds like a camp 70's kid's TV show with a big talking truck like Thomas the Tank Engine or something, not quite as fearsome as the Japanese title.

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ImmaculateClump

ImmaculateClump

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Yasawas said:

I think the name sounds like a camp 70's kid's TV show with a big talking truck like Thomas the Tank Engine or something

 

Haha. Now that you mention it :D

 

1 hour ago, PikaStu said:

Akai Katana is out on consoles tomorrow, yeah?

You’d have thought they’d have it listen on the respective stores, saying it was coming tomorrow?! Unless it’s not coming to the Uk…?!

 

They say it's coming on the 15th and there's been no talk about it only being on japanese stores. It should turn up sometimes tomorrow in the uk.

This page on gematsu mentions that it's "launching digitally worldwide" - https://www.gematsu.com/2022/12/this-weeks-japanese-game-releases-crisis-core-final-fantasy-vii-reunion-akai-katana-shin-more

 

If you have a japanese account on your console of choice, it's up to buy now.

 

https://store-jp.nintendo.com/list/software/70010000051331.html

https://store.playstation.com/ja-jp/product/JP1091-CUSA32859_00-CC00000000001AKS

https://www.xbox.com/ja-jp/games/store/赤い刀-真/9n8vdj5xx7jp

 

PC port is great, really responsive at 280hz with vsync off. This bodes well for the console versions, it should be just as nippy as the deathsmiles double pack was.

I'm no expert but there's slowdown and it's happening when you'd expect it to.
Very happy, I forgot how much fun this was!

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Alshie

Alshie

Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

it should be just as nippy as the deathsmiles double pack was


is the double pack different from the single games? I ask as I picked up deathsmiles 1 yesterday from fanatical for about £5. The double pack was much dearer but I assumed they were the same - just packaged. Is it actually meaningfully different?

 

 

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PikaStu

PikaStu

Posted
Posted

For Akai Katana, my heart says Switch but my head says SeriesX. I have Cave titles on both platforms(and PC but let’s not go there), which isn’t great for my OCD. It the past, Switch shmups appear to have an extra frame or two of lag, but Akai Katana on the go would be cool.

First world problems and all that…

 

I’m surprised there’s no reviews by Electric Underground / Shmup Junkie / Shmups on Switch already?!

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ImmaculateClump

ImmaculateClump

Posted
Posted

I hear you man, for me, I wish everything would just come out on pc, I have a ps4 cluttering up my desk solely for m2 releases :D

 

Mark was saying that he was making a video about the port, I don't know which system he's going with. I imagine switch as that's what most of his viewers are interested in.

I think shmupjunkies next video will be about gunvein, or at least include a segment on it. He said he was playing it for his next video.

 

Like Dreamer coming to switch next year - https://www.wakuwakugames.com/post/『コスモドリーマー』発売開始！そして-。

 

Best game of 2022. Don't sleep on this one, switch lads! and don't forget to buy cosmo dreamer! - https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Cosmo-Dreamer-2309028.html

 

1 hour ago, Alshie said:

is the double pack different from the single games? I ask as I picked up deathsmiles 1 yesterday from fanatical for about £5. The double pack was much dearer but I assumed they were the same - just packaged. Is it actually meaningfully different?

 

The double pack has lower input lag and much better slowdown accuracy across all modes. MBL has pretty much no slowdown in the port done by cave. and in the double pack you get deathsmiles ii, which is great fun!

The first port is still great though. You still got a bargain.

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PikaStu

PikaStu

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, ImmaculateClump said:

 

 

Best game of 2022. Don't sleep on this one, switch lads! and don't forget to buy cosmo dreamer! - https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Cosmo-Dreamer-2309028.html

 

.

I saw the Shmups on Switch review last night, for £7.29 it would be rude not to!

 

https://youtu.be/vTOiTCx22tc

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Alshie

Alshie

Posted
Posted
56 minutes ago, ImmaculateClump said:

 

 

The double pack has lower input lag and much better slowdown accuracy across all modes. MBL has pretty much no slowdown in the port done by cave. and in the double pack you get deathsmiles ii, which is great fun!

The first port is still great though. You still got a bargain.


Good to know, thanks! I’ll keep an eye out for the double pack in future. Happy enough with a mildly worse port for a fiver tho!

 

Fanatical have a few Cave games on sale just now around the £5 mark. 

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Sel Feena

Sel Feena

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, geldra said:

Calling Dearhsmiles lovers!  What’s the attraction?  I’m aware that people who get it, love it. I don’t think I get it. What’s the deal? 

The overall aesthetic is a huge draw for me, with an absolute banger of a soundtrack

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ImmaculateClump

ImmaculateClump

Posted
Posted

Agreed! I've ran out of likes for today.

 

1 hour ago, geldra said:

Calling Dearhsmiles lovers!  What’s the attraction?  I’m aware that people who get it, love it. I don’t think I get it. What’s the deal? 

 

Shmup + technicolor horror aesthetic = win.
The unfortunate paedo baiting character designs aside, it's caves best looking game for my money. The backgrounds and the enemies all look gorgeous.
The scoring where you have to use different shot types for different enemies, tapping at times with swarms of popcorn, lasering some enemies and then locking on to others is great fun.

 

Players of all skill levels can play the same mode since you get to choose the difficulty of the stages and you can choose not to enter death mode by not choose rank 3 more than 4 times.

 

Hypering is really fun, loads of items flying about, trying to let the skulls hit the ground before they break, scooping up shiny golden crowns, eating bullets with your familiar.
That long final stage in the castle is just glorious.
Plus you get to fight a cow! and the final boss is called tyranosatan!

 

Do you have the double pack? You might find it easier to get into the games playing the second one first. It's brilliant fun, and you get to fight santa! Perfect for this time of year. Try playing as follett, I like that character best, nice slower speed and the familiar positioning is intuitive, it's like the way the turret moves in rolling gunner.

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ImmaculateClump

ImmaculateClump

Posted
Posted

Got an Akai Katana Shin clear tonight. The score wasn't too hot as I was playing pretty cautiously, but I'll try for something better next time.

Replays work :huh: I wasn't expecting that!

 

XLOsqDa.jpg

 

"JayLab" on one of the shmup discords wrote some good tips. I've never seen the systems described so concisely and clearly.

Turns out I had been playing it right, which was a relief :D


"For new guys, the basic gameplay loop in shin is something like this:

You have 2 resources, steel orbs and energy. You need energy for phantom mode, orbs for making katanas.

Stockpile orbs by pointblanking enemies with shot, gain energy by pointblanking enemies with focus

Enter phantom mode and use focus shot to fire off the steel orbs & forge katanas (based on # of enemies and bullets hit by the orbs)

Then, fire the katanas to cancel bullets & damage enemies, which generates score items.

 

Things to know:

Value of score items depletes very quickly so you need to collect them fast (ie. Follow the katanas in)

When in phantom mode enemies generate revenge bullets when destroyed by focus shot, which is good for setting up big katana cancels

You can angle the katanas with your movement.

Theres also a ddp-esque chain counter that you increment by hitting stuff with your wide shot. This is a score multiplier.

Most common ship choice is type-b (kikyou & botan) due to high rate of item generation while pointblanking"

 

I'd add to that, when you're in guy mode (phantom), the red lasers can't hurt you, and also I think you get autobomb when in guy mode.

Game is so much fun. I wish I knew my score on 360 as I don't know whether I've beaten it or not

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ImmaculateClump

ImmaculateClump

Posted
Posted

Yeah, you won't notice any tearing with vsync off at higher refresh rates, although you won't notice as big gains as if you were playing games that weren't locked at 60fps, it'll be smoother and there will be lower input lag.

 

This is from an old blurbusters article

 

    Increasing refresh rate lowers lag at the same frame rate
    Increasing refresh rate lowers lag variability (tighter min/avg/max)
    Increasing frame rate lowers lag at the same refresh rate
    Increasing frame rate lowers lag variability (tighter min/avg/max)
    Doing all 4 of the above is the best-of-all-worlds for competitive players. Higher Hz and higher fps


My monitor died about a year ago and I bought the asus VG279QM. Very happy with it. 1.7ms lag.

 

On sale at overclockers at the minute - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-tuf-gaming-vg279qm-27-1920x1080-ips-280hz-1ms-hdr400-freesync-g-sync-compatible-gaming-monitor-mo-0aq-as.html

 

https://www.aperturegrille.com/reviews/ASUSVG279QM/

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/asus/vg279qm

 

 

It has bad input lag at 60hz, so it's no good for consoles but if you're just using it for your pc, you'll never go below the max refresh rate anyway.

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ImmaculateClump

ImmaculateClump

Posted
Posted

Haha :D

Yeah, I've still got my trusty old lg LG W2363D that I use for consoles. It has a "thru" mode that really works and gives almost zero input lag at 60hz. - https://3dvision-blog.com/2698-review-of-the-23-lg-w2363d-120hz-full-hd-3d-gaming-monitor/

 

That thing is still going strong after 11 years! I remember when I bought it, it felt flimsy as anything, I thought "this isn't gonna last five minutes!" Cost me 128 quid. Bargain!

 

edit: Slightly better score. Hopefully I can keep pushing it up higher!

 

M8ONI87.jpg

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geldra

geldra

Posted
Posted
18 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

Agreed! I've ran out of likes for today.

 

 

Shmup + technicolor horror aesthetic = win.
The unfortunate paedo baiting character designs aside, it's caves best looking game for my money. The backgrounds and the enemies all look gorgeous.
The scoring where you have to use different shot types for different enemies, tapping at times with swarms of popcorn, lasering some enemies and then locking on to others is great fun.

 

Players of all skill levels can play the same mode since you get to choose the difficulty of the stages and you can choose not to enter death mode by not choose rank 3 more than 4 times.

 

Hypering is really fun, loads of items flying about, trying to let the skulls hit the ground before they break, scooping up shiny golden crowns, eating bullets with your familiar.
That long final stage in the castle is just glorious.
Plus you get to fight a cow! and the final boss is called tyranosatan!

 

Do you have the double pack? You might find it easier to get into the games playing the second one first. It's brilliant fun, and you get to fight santa! Perfect for this time of year. Try playing as follett, I like that character best, nice slower speed and the familiar positioning is intuitive, it's like the way the turret moves in rolling gunner.


I do have the double pack yeah. I mean I LIKE it, but I don’t love it like a lot of people seem to. 
 

Gotta take task with it being Cave’s best looker n’all!  I think it looks pretty scrappy (but maybe that’s just a lack of scanline filter for some crazy reason). Dodonpachi and Esprade are the obvious best looking Cave games. 

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