Shmups

[phillv85]

Was surprised to see Shikigami no Shiro 2 for Switch go up for pre-order on Play-Asia and Amazon JP recently.

[spatular]

 

^ thanks for the heads up!

 

had that cotton game (rock and roll/fantasy) on switch so my arms been twisted to give it a go, quite nice and fun till the blocks/lasers stage then all hell brakes loose and i've no idea what's going on, think i'll have to watch a replay or something to try and see what to do there.

 

 

played a bit of akai katana too, was fun but not sure i'll play it much more it as i've already played the 360 version.

[ImmaculateClump]

6 hours ago, spatular said:

quite nice and fun till the blocks/lasers stage then all hell brakes loose and i've no idea what's going on

 

Haha. Yeah, I hate it. You can skip one stage, or at least you can when you unlock one extra stage. I always don't bother with that one. I've got my strategy down, but I always still seem to get a laser in the face.

It's the only stage that does that obstacle, memorising bullshit, so it won't be too hard to get a handle on.
It'll be worth getting good at that stage because you can get a ton of points out of that boss and I love the "meeeeeh" noise it makes.

 

When I'm playing as fine, I like to get the harder stages out the way first. I do "Ancient Ruins" early because that snail boss at high rank can be a bit of a cunt.
"Blue Sky" and "Twilight" can be a bit tricksy, and then I can chill out and enjoy the easier stages.

 

Remember to dodge all the tea at the end of the stages for the secret bonus!

 

This looks fun. Forest Fire. Dodge the clouds and burn things.

 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2242220/Forest_Fire/

 

demo on itch - https://chuteapps.itch.io/forest-fire

 

 

[spatular]

3 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

Remember to dodge all the tea at the end of the stages for the secret bonus!

 

thanks for the tips! had no idea about that one, i'll give it a try

[ImmaculateClump]

Akai Katana has had a patch - https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2076220/view/5973495552988466759

 

Quote

// Added game mode name subtitle at main menu.
// Fixed a graphics of objects near the edge of the screen were blurred.
// Fixed rank disp at friend ranking.
// Fixed replay edit feature not available.

 

They got rid of the horrible blurry filter. Nice chunkified pixels now - https://i.imgur.com/uRycTSC.jpg

No mention of the laser knockback. Hopefully they're still looking into that.

[ImmaculateClump]

Phew! Managed to 1cc Cotton Rock n Roll with fine.

 

 

I think you have to just try and survive and let the bosses timer run out with that character since you can't really damage them enough with your weapons.

I've beaten it with cotton, appli, tacoot, luffee and fine now.

I think tacoot was the easiest but you don't unlock that character until you beat the game with cotton so probably best to choose cotton for your first 1cc. I think you're allowed to continue, you still get the unlocks.

Dunno whether to do the other characters on normal or move up to hard mode next.

[Klatrymadon]

Nice work! You bang out the clears like nobody's business. I'm lagging way behind - my daughter was born last June and I haven't really had any shmup achievements since then. Very close to a 1CC with Cotton, but it's taking a bit longer than I'd anticipated.

 

Kawase might be an interesting one for you to try next. Her lure can be used to reel in enemies for a 'bazooka' attack which can be fired in 8 directions, but it's trickier to use for scoring than just blasting everything with magic. Her main shot seems less powerful, too, but maybe I just need to spend more time with her. One of the more 'advanced' picks, anyway!

[ImmaculateClump]

Oh god, yeah, that'll do it. I spent a lot of time bringing up my nephew when he was little. I used to sneak in an hour of shmupping when he'd conk out for his nap halfway through the day, but he's all grown up and at school and playing with his mates now so I've got more time to fritter away on trivial pursuits.

 

Got my first cotton rock n roll 1cc 3 hours in, you'll be there in no time.

 

Congrats on the squelcher! I hope it's not taking too much out of you.
I remember Frank Skinner on the radio saying "it's a conspiracy, everyone's always gushing about how great it is having kids but they never tell you about those moments when you've finally got them to sleep and you're standing half alive with your eyes squeezed tight shut and your head pressed hard against the cooker hood"

 

Oh, that character does sound interesting. I'll give her a go next. I did have a quick try as her the other day but I didn't realise she had a lure.

[geldra]

Liking the look of the pixel art of Graze Counter (due on Switch soon) but please tell me you can turn the Japanese schoolgirl portraits off. Jesus. 

[ImmaculateClump]

 

[ImmaculateClump]

Got to the final boss of fantasy zone with 4 lives.
Still didn't make it. Fuck this guy and all they blue tossers in his belly.

 

 

I can see what people mean about Black Bird being a tribute to this now. I'd never played it before.

[Dig Dug]

4 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

Got to the final boss of fantasy zone with 4 lives.
Still didn't make it. Fuck this guy and all they blue tossers in his belly.

16ton weight is your friend here.

[Qazimod]

Ooh, I didn't know that a new Graze Counter was out soon. I might have to add it to the list as next week will be kind of busy for releases for me, but I went back to the original recently and it's still very moreish.

 

On 14/01/2023 at 11:00, geldra said:

Liking the look of the pixel art of Graze Counter (due on Switch soon) but please tell me you can turn the Japanese schoolgirl portraits off. Jesus. 

 

I know that in the original the most you had to deal with was a portrait on the character select and then a tiny box portrait in the corner during gameplay...

[ImmaculateClump]

55 minutes ago, Dig Dug said:

16ton weight is your friend here.

 

Thanks, Dig Dug! I'll give that a try next time.

 

10 minutes ago, Qazimod said:

Ooh, I didn't know that a new Graze Counter was out soon.

 

I don't want to be a debbie downer does dallas, but I don't think it's too much more than a remake of the original in the game maker engine, so might be best not to get too excited if you've already played it.

Looking at the store page, it has 2 extra stages, an extra difficulty mode and 16 ships rather than the originals 8.

[ImmaculateClump]

1 hour ago, Dig Dug said:

16ton weight is your friend here.

 

Hahaha. Bonk!

 

https://streamable.com/m8d1ne

 

Man, that is such a hateful last boss. The rest of the game is so chill and then they put such nasty memorisation right at the end. Dirty business. It's good fun but I don't think I want to meet that boss again. Got to 2-4 in the end.

Does anyone know, are there just 2 loops or does it loop forever?

 

[Sel Feena]

Everyone’s got different levels of tolerance for this stuff, but it really is just those anime portraits there, nothing else going on. I’d say games like Caladrius Blaze and DDP SDOJ are far more egregious

[ImmaculateClump]

I bought myself a mister as a belated christmas present since I didn't get anything exciting this year.
I'm loving it! I wish I'd bought myself one sooner, especially since they were a lot cheaper when I was originally eyeing them up!

 

I associate 60hz with laggy consoles, but this is nippy as anything. I've set the usb polling rate to 1000Hz and the vsync_adjust setting to 2, but honestly, it felt great before that straight off the bat.

 

I was trying zed blade on the neo geo. That is really good, the music is amazing, feels pure 90s and really works for shmups and the game looks great.

Then I tried varth which has really comfy slowdown. It just kept going and going though. I died on stage 17 after half an hour and looked it up and the damn thing has 30 stages!

 

Played scramble on the vectrex as well for old times sake. That was my first 1cc back in the day when I was a nipper.
It only takes 3 minutes and then it loops. It won't be the best version of the game and it's pretty easy, but it was fun to revisit it.

[geldra]

How do people “do/cope with” complex Bullet patterns? Obvs thinking of Cave stuff mostly. Is it just repetition of specific sections/patterns and having a strategy for each or do you have a general strategy (like sticking close to certain bullets in a formation) and then fly by the seat of your pants? 
 

 

[ImmaculateClump]

Yeah, I have to just keep at it until a strategy comes together for some patterns in the harder cave games. Especially later bosses. Some of them are too fast and complex to just be ad-libbed.

I don't practise or use save states. I just play for fun and it all comes naturally.

Some are easier than others, but every time you encounter that pattern you get better at dodging it.

Playing lots of shmups helps, your skill of subconsciously reading patterns gets much better, and chances are you'll have mastered similar patterns in other games.

You get much quicker at mastering patterns the more games you play.

 

Some people like Jaimers will use save states or practice modes and practise each boss until they've mastered it and then do a full run when they think they're ready.
That's definitely the most efficient way, but it's never sounded like fun to me. More like rehearsing your lines for a play than having fun playing a game.

[strawdonkey]

With the caveat that I am not good enough for proper high-level play - I do basically exactly what Clump says above. Just play a load of the games that I'm having fun playing and then you'll slowly see your transferrable skills grow.

 

Also play a Touhou game or two even if you're not strictly "into" Touhou because those games have fucking loads of bullets

[spatular]

sometimes i haven't got a clue with complicated bullet patterns and always die in the same place, then see a replay and find its all an optical illusion and you can just tap slowly to one side to dodge it. i don't watch replays that often but this tells me i should watch them more.

 

with faster patterns i think it helps to look further up the screen.

 

but yeah i agree with the above, if you're enjoying it and play more you'll get better 

 

not about complicated bullet patterns but i think it helps to stick to the same size screen and keep sitting the same distance away.

[spatular]

16 hours ago, Sel Feena said:

I’d say games like Caladrius Blaze and  are far more egregious

 

that's a massive jump in dodgyness levels going on there!

[geldra]

Thanks @ImmaculateClump, @strawdonkey, @spatular.  
 

I was asking the question after Clump’s (great) vid just up there about Bullet patterns and also watching MarkMSX’s review of Mushihimesama and its pretty hypnotic patterns in its ultra and maniac modes got me thinking (about how people cope).

 

I have another question, if you’re dealing with a pattern, do you line yourself up against anything (background or point on the enemy) at the start? 

 

Props to the people like Jaimers et al who drill the patterns, I’d totally struggle to memorise all of the different bosses and setups.  But I guess that’s the flattery of putting a video out of your best run, you don’t see the hundreds of fuck ups that went into it. Like any performance I guess. 
 

Good tip about keeping the same setup @spatular

[Dig Dug]

19 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

I was trying zed blade on the neo geo. That is really good, the music is amazing, feels pure 90s and really works for shmups and the game looks great.

I tried so very hard to 1CC that but the rank became too brutal for me and I ended up rage quitting on the second to last level.

[ImmaculateClump]

Yeah, it definitely starts to get hairy later on. I got to stage 5, but the game started to properly fight back around there.
I'll shove it on now and then, see if I can get a bit further.

 

3 hours ago, geldra said:

I have another question, if you’re dealing with a pattern, do you line yourself up against anything (background or point on the enemy) at the start?

 

Ha, yes, now that you mention it. I don't line myself up against the background but I will position myself somewhere in relation to the enemy, usually just right over one side of the screen so I've got a lot of room to dodge.

 

This is just the first boss of futari black label maniac as an example, but I tend to only have decent strategies for the first 3 or so bosses in cave games because they're the ones I've played the most, it's usually just trouser shitted flailing from then on out.

 

https://streamable.com/j763rj

 

I put myself around about the dinosaurs cheek and that's a good place to start for microtapping across the screen and dodging those first patterns.
The next pattern you just have to misdirect the firebreath right and left and you shouldn't have to dodge the little bullets if you give yourself enough room, and on the last one you point blank his stupid big nose to mine golden bogies and do loads of damage, didn't get many on that run, don't think I was close enough, and then wait until the screen is filled with bullets before you kill him to get lots of gems.

 

You figure out and build your own strategies as you play, it's really good fun experimenting and finding a way to make seemingly impossible patterns easier to deal with.

Getting to a final boss you've never seen before with a couple of bombs and desperately trying to ad-lib insane patterns is another kind of fun that probably knocks years off your life!

[geldra]

Awesome, cheers for that @ImmaculateClump.

 

Also +10 for golden bogies.
 

Anyone bothered by the rerelease of Raiden 3 (xMikado wotsit)?

[Sel Feena]

I’ve ended up going backwards with this series! First V, then IV x Mikado, and now I’m looking forward to this. I’d love to know if there’s some in-universe explanation for all the fairies lol

[ImmaculateClump]

5 hours ago, Dig Dug said:

I tried so very hard to 1CC that but the rank became too brutal for me and I ended up rage quitting on the second to last level.

 

Oh, I discovered the autofire! That makes a big difference. Got to stage 7 that time. I'm finding choosing the slowest ship good for those precise dodges later on, though I'm worried that'll come back to bite me on the arse on the last stage.
I'm going wave, homing, wave for the weapon loadout. Is that what you choose?

 

 

Everything other than wave felt underpowered without the autofire, but I might try the 3way next time now that I'm using it. See how that goes.

[Klatrymadon]

First Normal mode 1CC with Tacoot!

 

Piece of piss, really - especially after I realised towards the end of the run that I hadn't even been using her bullet-cancelling wand-throws. The last boss couldn't touch me with anything but its red lasers, which are easy to memorise. Time to raise my game and clear it with Kawase!

 

Zed Blade is one of my faves, but have you discovered its incredibly stupid secret? (Try shooting the floor or non-destructible parts of bosses.)

 

 

[ImmaculateClump]

Congrats! I remember throwing the wand once and I didn't like it so I never did it again. I never realised it cancelled bullets! I'll have to try that character again. I just assumed it was for doing more damage to the bosses while keeping at a safe distance.

 

31 minutes ago, Klatrymadon said:

Zed Blade is one of my faves, but have you discovered its incredibly stupid secret? (Try shooting the floor or non-destructible parts of bosses.)

 

Uh-oh! Does your score keep ticking up? I remember that happening in Bike Banditz, I was shooting the walls as much as possible