Shmups

[ImmaculateClump]

3 hours ago, spatular said:

not really sure i'm getting the hang of it, seems more down to luck

 

The hitboxes are very forgiving, the caravan stages are short, lots of i-frames available when bombing, hypering, and picking up the golden fragments, and there's no real penalty for dying as you're back on the screen almost instantly, so yeah, no reason not to chance your arm and go for those fun risky dodges.
That run I did of score rush 3, I lost all my lives and still managed to beat my previous score.

Just push as hard as you can, speed kill everything, and get to the end as soon as possible so you can rinse the chests for gold.

 

Once you get a feel for the stages, which enemies are coming next, and in what formations, what their patterns are like, you'll be preemptively positioning yourself ready to kill them and dodge their bullets, it'll all get tighter and tighter every time you play.

 

3 hours ago, spatular said:

am getting a little better at the main game though got to the last boss twice now but am still really bad at the last boss.

 

Yeah, the last boss is a bugger. You get confident with his patterns quite quick though, most of them are knowing when to move and when to keep still. That last one is a bastard but so long as you keep shifting and weaving in between the bullets of the static pattern, away from that aimed spear of bullets he shoots, you've got a chance.

[geldra]

9 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

I wonder how well it stands up. I remember having great fun with it at the time.

 

Terra Flame out now on steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1921840/Terra_Flame/

Still great if the PCE version is anything to go by.  Remember it being on the front of CVG and lusting after the Amiga version (I had a C64… but I don’t think I actually ever had Mr Heli)

 

In other news:  Metal Black is out on Arcade Archives. Haven’t ever played it. I’m aware of it being a bit gloomy and officially/unofficially Gun Frontier 2. 
 

 

[ImmaculateClump]

I'll have to fire up mr heli in mame when i get the chance. I remember it being nice and chill at first and then the difficulty suddenly shooting up!

 

Been keeping an eye on this guys upcoming game, Orchid Glitter

 

 

his older game, Senli 307 which started out as a mobile game came to steam today. 4 buttons, accelerate, decelerate, and move left and right, I'm not sure I like the look of that, the new one looks much better.

[Klatrymadon]

Metal Black is one of my favourite games. It's fair to say that it's a relatively quiet, sombre experience on the whole, but it has lots of really arresting and experimental visuals which (in conjuction with YACK's magnum opus) give it these wonderful spikes of intensity and urgency.

 

A lot of western players seem to write it off as being 'unfair' and 'random', but once you understand the capabilities of your ship you realise you've pretty much always got the upper hand. Check out BIL's excellent guide if you do struggle: https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=30872

[ImmaculateClump]

It looks a bit slow and memo heavy. Is it?

I'll have to fire it up in mame sometime.

 

Iaspis beat my score on caravan 1 so I returned the favour.
I'm gonna try and stay at the top of all the caravan leaderboards, just keep swatting away the flies until jaimers or someone decides to school me and get double my score or something

 

1,577,855 - https://streamable.com/2oll1c

[Klatrymadon]

Yeah, it's quite memo-heavy, but the main shot is also effectively a shield - at a decent power level it will protect 75% of your ship from any unexpected collisions (unless you're attacked directly from behind, which is rare). Apart from the first stage, it isn't really slow at all - there's always a new obstacle or threat about to enter the screen. The pacing and difficulty level just feel very 'comfy' to me, neither excessively taxing nor sedate...

[ImmaculateClump]

Sounds good! I'll fire it up when I'm in between games and give it a go.

[Klatrymadon]

Another thing to consider are the autofire options in the port. MB has a weird decreasing autofire rate, which you keep at a good clip by pumping the shot button every second or so. But the port offers continuous 15hz, 20hz and 30hz autofire. I managed to screw up my first run anyway, but if you have even a vague knowledge of the stage layouts, 30hz autofire makes the whole game a piece of piss. Just melts through everything before anything has a chance to become a problem, including the st4 bubbles that can usually really slow you down. I thought working back up to the 1CC would take a while but it feels about two runs away...

[Let us measure]

I picked up Metal Black on a whim last night after wondering where that Darius CS dlc ship came from, and being in the mood for a Taito shmup from playing Night Striker on the MD Mini, so glad to see it being talked about so favourably here! 

 

That guide is great @Klatrymadon, thanks for posting. With scraping though, does this mean that your L3 or above beam can destroy enemies directly above or below you? Is that how it works? 

[Klatrymadon]

Yeah, that's it! It even gives some coverage at lower levels, I think - whenever I pull up underneath the missiles at the start of level 2, they always die.

 

Attacking above and below you becomes really important from stage 3 onward. There are loads of enemies that approach from the left edge of the screen but can be taken out before they fire with some careful positioning. 

[Let us measure]

OK, brilliant. Looking forward to diving back in this afternoon! 

[phillv85]

Drainus is available physically on Strictly Limited Games. There's a 15% discount as well for the new few hours.

[ImmaculateClump]

Komodo are having a sale. Here are the shmups - https://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort_by=Released_DESC&term=komodo&tags=4255&supportedlang=english&specials=1&ndl=1

 

Eschatos - https://store.steampowered.com/sub/79117/

Mushi - https://store.steampowered.com/sub/83631/

Crimzon Clover - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1718160/Crimzon_Clover_World_EXplosion/

DFK - https://store.steampowered.com/app/464450/DoDonPachi_Resurrection/

[phillv85]

That's a lot of shmup for your money in any of those releases.

[Let us measure]

On 18/11/2022 at 22:57, Klatrymadon said:

Another thing to consider are the autofire options in the port. MB has a weird decreasing autofire rate, which you keep at a good clip by pumping the shot button every second or so. But the port offers continuous 15hz, 20hz and 30hz autofire. I managed to screw up my first run anyway, but if you have even a vague knowledge of the stage layouts, 30hz autofire makes the whole game a piece of piss. Just melts through everything before anything has a chance to become a problem, including the st4 bubbles that can usually really slow you down. I thought working back up to the 1CC would take a while but it feels about two runs away...

 

I've just turned on the 30hz autofire and it feels like cheating! (gonna keep it on tho obvs)

 

It doesn't seem to affect participation in the online leaderboards funnily enough, so I'm just going to assume that everyone in the table has it to 30hz by default. Can now make it to the third level in one credit - onwards and upwards.

[ImmaculateClump]

The bitwave toaplan games have been pushed back to 2023

 

 

https://store.steampowered.com/franchise/toaplan

They'll also be available on gog, if you prefer - https://www.gog.com/en/games?developers=bitwave-games

 

I've got a really good feeling about these guys from everything I've been reading. Fingers crossed!

 

Gunvein is so good. I haven't played anything else since I got it If some of you are waiting for the console release, you're gonna love it!

[Benny]

On 06/11/2022 at 20:33, PikaStu said:

One of my favourite YouTubers Shmup Junkie has just released his video on Konami shmups. It’s a good 2hrs 45 mins long, so put the kettle on and get comfy!

 

 

 

 

Watching that video is kind of depressing considering what Konami have become.

 

By the looks of that pedobait anime girls game right at the end it seemed like he was being generous - it looked awful. The static backgrounds, flat visuals, half ass-edness of it all and just how icky it was. Jesus.

 

Compare it to Parodius where there's real care, exuberance, humour and craft oozing from it. And something like Sexy Parodius manages to be cheeky and funny and packed with character without seeming quite as icky as something like that last game...

 

I just don't understand why stuff like that last game seems to infect some modern shmups. Konami clearly decided that was all that was needed and fuck putting any effort into anything else about the presentation. Looked like absolute gash.

 

I might have to play Warning Forever to wash out my eyes.

 

[mwaawm]

7 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

The bitwave toaplan games have been pushed back to 2023

 

 

https://store.steampowered.com/franchise/toaplan

They'll also be available on gog, if you prefer - https://www.gog.com/en/games?developers=bitwave-games

 

I've got a really good feeling about these guys from everything I've been reading. Fingers crossed!

 

Gunvein is so good. I haven't played anything else since I got it If some of you are waiting for the console release, you're gonna love it!

 

 

They make no mention of switch versions 😤

[Qazimod]

A Telenet shooter collection is trying to find support with crowdfunding - the collection will include Granada, Avenger, Gaiares and Psychic Storm.

 

https://www.makuake.com/project/telenet-revival/

 

[ImmaculateClump]

17 hours ago, mwaawm said:

They make no mention of switch versions 😤

 

M2 are doing their thing on consoles, I think there's another toaplan game due soon from them.

Does ShmupJunkie know something we don't? If so, there might be a truxton double pack from them next.

 

 

It's a shame they're so snowed under because if they had the time and resources to make those funky arranges for the toaplan games like they did with ketsui and dangun etc, I'd be all over the console versions.

As it is, pc is my platform of choice and I reckon these bitwave games will be ultra-nippy so I'll probably end up just sticking with those.

[phillv85]

M2 work wonders with whatever they get. If they can give Truxton 2 a Super Easy mode which can actually be finished by a normal human I'll be over the moon. 

[spatular]

still playing gunvein, only just starting to get used to that first boss surprise fast attack after around 30 hours.

[ImmaculateClump]

Which one do you mean? The red bullets that come out dead fast down the middle of the screen?
On expert, it comes out in a spread and you don't get much room to dodge the other bullets. I keep making the mistake of going up past that line of bullets above me and thinking I'll have enough room there. I need to stop doing that.

 

[spatular]

7 minutes ago, ImmaculateClump said:

Which one do you mean? The red bullets that come out dead fast down the middle of the screen?

 

yeah that's the one, it always catches me out, i recon it's the fastest pattern in the game.

[ImmaculateClump]

Yeah, the first boss is a big hurdle on expert. The others are all intuitive after you've got a handle on intense, and doable first time, but those fast bullets on the first boss definitely keep you on your toes. You don't get much room to move at all.

[MattyP]

Heads up...Konami Arcade Classics currently on sale in the Xbox sale for £3. Think I now have this on every platform Makes a nice addition to the Atari 50 collection. My Xbox is slowly becoming my retro box of choice... What with this lot, the Atari collection, Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun!

[strawdonkey]

I sold a random trading card on Steam for about £3.50 so treated myself to Hellsinker since it's on sale. Man that game is a trip, I have no idea what I'm doing and pretty sure I just got my face punched off by the final boss. Feels like there's about four shmups' worth of mechanics crammed into one game.

[immortaljellyfish]

21 hours ago, strawdonkey said:

I sold a random trading card on Steam for about £3.50 so treated myself to Hellsinker since it's on sale. Man that game is a trip, I have no idea what I'm doing and pretty sure I just got my face punched off by the final boss. Feels like there's about four shmups' worth of mechanics crammed into one game.

Every now and then I think "yeah, I'm gonna fucking finally figure that game out" and... nope, I have indeed not yet figured that game out.

[ImmaculateClump]

Haha, same.
Wilfully abstruse to a fault. I respect the dev for going all out and doing his thing, and I imagine the people that get right into it, nothing else compares, but when you just want to sit down and shoot some aliens, it's a fucking headache.
I mean when you need a fucking glossary to get to the pissing options screen!
Stella? Just call it rank mate, like every other cunt.
Every time I thought I was getting a handle on it, it'd throw me another curve ball.
I just moved on in the end. I wasn't having fun.

I tell myself that I'll give it another chance one day, but I won't. I played for 5.7 hours, beat the whatever the false tutorial game is at the start, they probably call it "half sequence order with fries" or something. I think the last time I played there was some bloody puzzle thing happened where the screen was full of numbers and I had to shoot different ones and I was just like "get this out of my fucking life"

[spatular]

^ that game is on my steam watchlist thing for getting at some point, think it's going to be moved to the bottom of the list.

 

also got the 1cc on gunvein  medium difficulty, with the middle ship, ~4.2m. think i'll stick with it and try a different ship, or do more of the mission mode.