Shmups

[merrychan]

I've never clicked with DOJ (faves are RSG and Battle Garegga), it's great but the need to smart bomb out of deaths frustrates me.

 

However the OST is absolutely incredible 

11 hours ago, Triple A said:

M2 x DOJ??!!

Merry Christmas to us!

Blinding news.  Namiki’s best soundtrack, I can’t wait for whatever new arranged option they drop in too.

 

[ImmaculateClump]

Is that who I think it is? Do you have hair like a dandelion that's on it's 3rd "he loves me not"? Merry christmas!
I've not gotten into doj yet either, but I'm gonna properly dive into this release headfirst.

 

Aw man, so close to getting the zetsu (purple) clear today in akai katana.
Thought it was gonna be a christmas miracle, but it wasn't to be.
Boss had a slither of health left. Not my last life, but the one before, I died with 3 bombs in stock. I would have sailed through if I was being more cautious

I really love this mode. All I played was shin on the 360, but this one is great fun for scoring, and way easier to get your head around.

 

[ImmaculateClump]

Yay! Beat Zetsu mode.

 

 

Annoying that it's just under my best score.

Still, first clear out the way, I can't start pushing for score a lot more now.

 

[Qazimod]

Project RS3 isn't dead! It's just Project UBSN... https://www.gematsu.com/2022/12/ubusuna-first-key-visual-prologue-and-player-aircraft-details-and-artwork

 

Quote

M2 has released the first key visual, prologue, and player aircraft details and artwork for Ubusuna, the upcoming shoot ’em up from Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga creator Hiroshi Iuchi. A 14-minute “Soundtrack EP” video was also released.

 

 

Spoiler

Prologue

Genhō-no-kuni—a peaceful republic that has worshipped the divine bird Hōō as its presiding deity from time immemorial.

Chief Mishinagi governs the country on a principle of pacifism, with three Wingbearers—the defenders of the land and chosen holders of the divine relics Hōu-kesshō—at his service.

 

However, for the past eight years the country has seen repeated aggressions, purportedly by the forces of its neighboring country.

The Wingbearers Gashujō, Shinogami, and Amakaze have only narrowly been able to hold their ground against their opposer’s military technology of heretofore unseen refinement, such as high-mobility weaponry and aerial fleets.

 

The attacks, in truth, have been instigated by the military of Genhō, in a plot to induce political upheaval.

 

Finding its recent activities suspicious, Mishinagi launches a covert investigation, but is assassinated by its Intelligence Agency shortly thereafter.

 

The news of his death triggers public outrage; the citizens of Genhō have tolerated the neighboring country’s aggressions out of their respect for the pacifist doctrine, but now their resentment and their disillusionment with the weak-kneed government erupt, causing further turmoil on both sides of the border.

 

In the absence of a Chief, Parliament is left to address the chaos—but its members are divided into those who advocate delegating more power to the military, and those strongly opposed to this idea.

 

Furthermore, it labels the members of the opposition as traitors, and starts taking them into custody on its own authority.

 

Now with the pro-military faction prevailing, Parliament declares Gashujō, who is the leader of the Wingbearers and a younger brother to Mishinagi, to be a Possessor of Higher Knowledge, and elects him as new Chief.

 

Unaware that he is being manipulated, Gashujō makes a speech to the public, and succeeds in temporarily quelling down the civil unrest.

 

Still, Parliament and the public keep pressing him for a quick resolution to the border conflicts, which leaves him no choice but to give increased power to the military.

 

Meanwhile Shinogami and Amakaze, who are still under the false accusation, infiltrate the official residence of the Chief, in the hope of contacting Gashujō to plead their innocence. But the Intelligence Agency quickly detects their plan.

 

Sensing that they have been discovered, the two Wingbearers hasten to evacuate the site. To fight off the pursuers, they activate their Hōu-kesshō and enter the air combat mode—.

 

Hou-kesshō

In the distant past, a crystalline object that held great power descended from the sky. It was named Ubusuna, and Hōu-kesshō derive from this mysterious object.

 

Like many cultures, Genhō has its own myths of world creation and of salvation. They sometime mention Ubusuna—but it is unknown how much, if any, of them are based on historical facts.

 

To the present day, Hou-kesshō have been passed down through generations of Wingbearers.

 

As the extent of their power is revealed orally by Wingbearers to the succeeding Wingbearers only, for the rest of the world much of their nature is shrouded in mystery.

 

Today, Hou-kesshō are seen almost exclusively in times of emergency, used defensively in their air combat mode.

 

The key to their activation is an ancient relic shaped like a feather of the Hōō.

 

In the hands of a Wingbearer, the Feather can conjure an annular device called Kinkoji into the air.

 

When the Wingbearer dives through the Kinkoji, flight equipment outfitted with powerful weapons is transferred upon them.

 

There are three extant Hou-kesshō, each entrusted to Gashujo, Shinogami, Amakaze—the three incumbent Wingbearers.

 

Shown here are TYPE-1, the Hou-kesshō held by Shinogami (PLAYER-1), and TYPE-2, which is held by Amakaze (PLAYER-2).

 

—TYPE-1

 

 

—TYPE-2

 

 

 

 

[spatular]

On 24/12/2022 at 11:07, ImmaculateClump said:

Z-Warp

nice one got this.

 

also hazelnut hex on switch as it's £2

 

congrats on the akai katana clear too!

[ImmaculateClump]

Oh yeah, Z-warp is loads of fun!

 

Managed to beat arcade mode today in Akai Katana. That's all the modes down now.
Arcade has some delicious slowdown, and I really like how it's one stage shorter.
I'm not sure which mode is the most fun. They're all really good in their own way.

 

 

[Qazimod]

New trailer for Ray'z Arcade Chronology:

 

 

[Benny]

I was wondering why there was no anime pedo weeb nonsense and then realised it's because it's a collection of old shmups.

[ImmaculateClump]

Haha Gunvein was doing so well until the very last minute when they fumbled the ball with the cover art/character select.

 

Got some better scores for arcade and zetsu modes in Akai Katana

Think I might go back to shin now and see if I can improve that.

 

[PikaStu]

It’s been a wee while since I last played Battle Garegga, but I fired it up on the Xbox tonight. I really love it, definitely up there with the best of Raizing and Cave. 
 

I was playing “premium” mode with the pink enemy bullets, but still had some deaths where I didn’t see what hit me (probably more my fault than the game’s). 
 

It’s very approachable and forgiving for someone as ham fisted as me, with auto bombs going off when you get hit, and the ability to farm more bombs, which led me to getting to the boss rush at the end of stage 5 on a single credit. 
 

Soukyugurentai has been my favourite shmup for many years, but I think this accessible version of Garegga is possibly a more enjoyable game.

[immortaljellyfish]

14 hours ago, ImmaculateClump said:

Haha Gunvein was doing so well until the very last minute when they fumbled the ball with the cover art/character select.

 

Got some better scores for arcade and zetsu modes in Akai Katana

Think I might go back to shin now and see if I can improve that.

 

 

Am I being dumb? I could only differentiate between two modes on Akai Katana, one of which was what was called Slash on 360 and the other I'm sure was Arcade. What on earth is Zetsu? I'm being dumb, aren't I?

[mwaawm]

Hopefully when this arrives in the west there will be more than a handful of copies available. 

 

https://www.taito.co.jp/rayzarcadechronology/

[spatular]

4 hours ago, mwaawm said:

Hopefully when this arrives in the west there will be more than a handful of copies available. 

 

https://www.taito.co.jp/rayzarcadechronology/

 

https://www.strictlylimitedgames.com/en-gb/collections/ray-z-arcade-chronology

 

some versions on there. not sure if it's getting a more widespresd release

[ImmaculateClump]

10 hours ago, immortaljellyfish said:

Am I being dumb? I could only differentiate between two modes on Akai Katana, one of which was what was called Slash on 360 and the other I'm sure was Arcade. What on earth is Zetsu? I'm being dumb, aren't I?

 

No, you're not being dumb. As usual with cave releases, it's hard to know where to start since there are so many obscurely named arranges and whatnot.

 

Zetsu is like a souped up version of the arcade mode with a 16:9 display.
Most people play that mode instead of the arcade mode, considering it to be more or less the arcade mode but refined and improved, but the slowdown in arcade is said to be really good in this port, much closer to the pcb than the 360 version, and honestly the arcade mode feels different enough for it to be fun to play on it's own, I think.

I like how different it feels balanced for 4:3, the extra slowdown is delicious, and since it's one stage less, it feels shorter, even though they're more or less the same length when you factor in all the juicy slowdown.

 

There are novice modes for arcade and shin, but not for zetsu.

They forgot to translate the names of the modes, so in this new port, the default mode "shin/slash", which most people play and you'll see first when you load the game up is red, "arcade/origin" is turquoise, and "zetsu/climax" is purple.

[immortaljellyfish]

22 minutes ago, ImmaculateClump said:

There are novice modes for arcade and shin, but not for zetsu.

They forgot to translate the names of the modes, so in this new port, the default mode "shin/slash", which most people play and you'll see first when you load the game up is red, "arcade/origin" is turquoise, and "zetsu/climax" is purple.

 

Jesus, I was missing a whole mode through that little misunderstanding. I genuinely thought one of the 360 modes was missing. Dear me kids, never get old!

 

Thanks dude x

[Gloomy Andy]

So I've decided to actually play some of the Cave shmups I've got on Switch. 

I've never really played any Cave games before but have the following:

 

Dodonpachi Resurrection 

Espgaluda II

Mushihimesama

ESP Ra De Psi

 

I had a quick blast of Dodonpachi earlier and was totally baffled by novice, normal, arrange, various black labels. 

Had a lovely time blasting stuff, collecting shinys and watching numbers get bigger - even with playing with joycons and coping with the dreaded drift. 

 

So what should I start with?

Either what mode for Dodonpachi or what game? I kinda want to stick to just one game to begin with, I don't get much gaming time so would rather find the time to learn one of the above rather than flit across lots. 

I've got a basic arcade stick so will try to play with that when I can.

I've not played many shmups and definitely am not an expert so please keep that in mind. 

 

Help me @ImmaculateClump, @strawdonkey and others, you're my only hope. 

[phillv85]

I’d say start with DDP on Novice mode using strong style or ESP Ra De playing on Super Easy Mode if you’ve not spent much time with bullet hell games before.

[Triple A]

Got the Ray series CE - dat concert Blu-ray!  Tamayo Kawamoto can do no wrong in my eyes (ears?).

[Triple A]

35 minutes ago, Gloomy Andy said:

So I've decided to actually play some of the Cave shmups I've got on Switch. 

I've never really played any Cave games before but have the following:

 

Dodonpachi Resurrection 

Espgaluda II

Mushihimesama

ESP Ra De Psi

 

I had a quick blast of Dodonpachi earlier and was totally baffled by novice, normal, arrange, various black labels. 

Had a lovely time blasting stuff, collecting shinys and watching numbers get bigger - even with playing with joycons and coping with the dreaded drift. 

 

So what should I start with?

Either what mode for Dodonpachi or what game? I kinda want to stick to just one game to begin with, I don't get much gaming time so would rather find the time to learn one of the above rather than flit across lots. 

I've got a basic arcade stick so will try to play with that when I can.

I've not played many shmups and definitely am not an expert so please keep that in mind. 

 

Help me @ImmaculateClump, @strawdonkey and others, you're my only hope. 

Start with Mushi in original mode and go from there.

[geldra]

10 hours ago, spatular said:

 

https://www.strictlylimitedgames.com/en-gb/collections/ray-z-arcade-chronology

 

some versions on there. not sure if it's getting a more widespresd release

Is this version better than the Japanese release because wasn’t there some kind of weird preorder deadline to get the prototype version of an unreleased “Ray” game that is just included as standard on the Euro release?

[spatular]

21 minutes ago, geldra said:

Is this version better than the Japanese release because wasn’t there some kind of weird preorder deadline to get the prototype version of an unreleased “Ray” game that is just included as standard on the Euro release?

i was a bit confused by it all but yeah i read that somewhere too

[spatular]

2 hours ago, Gloomy Andy said:

 

Dodonpachi Resurrection 

Espgaluda II

Mushihimesama

ESP Ra De Psi

 

Had a lovely time blasting stuff, collecting shinys and watching numbers get bigger

i think those all have novice/easy modes, so imo start with whichever you like the look of, if youre enjoying dodonpachi might as well stick with that, see how you get on with the novice mode first, but if youre not enjoying it try a different mode or something else. 
 

if you play dodonpachi i think you want the strong? ship, with autobombs - oh yeah like phillv85 says

[ImmaculateClump]

Yeah, I can only echo what's been said, it's all good advice.
Best to just go with the game you're drawn to and start with the novice mode.

 

A good thing to remember is that you're never wasting time playing any of these games. Every run, no matter how well you do or how badly you fuck up, you're exercising your shmup muscle and discovering new things, teaching yourself new strategies through play.

 

These are all skills that are transferable to every other game in the genre. No credit is a wasted credit, even if you crash and burn, you'll be learning from your mistakes. Don't be downhearted if you're not playing like jaimers straight off the bat. Everyone in this thread was dogshit when they started. They kept playing because they were having fun.
So long as you're having fun, you're doing it right.

 

That gunvein tutorial video spatula posted might be worth a watch, especially the bit about misleading aimed bullets and creating gaps for yourself to dodge through.

 

 

That's something that you figure out yourself later on, but if you know that from the off, it's a pretty good weapon to have in your arsenal early doors.

 

If you want to watch a video and feel prepped before diving in, groovy shmup homie Aktane has a quick tutorial that might be helpful.

 

 

and Shmup Junkie has a longer one

 

 

[Benny]

I almost couldn't complete the tutorial in the Gunvein demo - it took several attempts just to lead the enemy bullets to that little satellite

 

I'm definitely not a fan of bullet hell shmups. I don't feel like I'm playing a game so much as just threading a loop around a particularly torturous copper wire. Let alone going for a high score.

 

ZeroRanger is much more my kind of thing. Even Cho Ren Sha, despite that being a bit bullet hell at times. Just not keen on the screenfulls at all times aesthetic, as I generally also find it quite ugly and samey to look at in all these games too.

[ImmaculateClump]

I do really like all kinds of shmups, but I'd say I'm the opposite to you, I much prefer bullet hells if given a choice.

Old school shmups tend to be littered with gotcha traps and bits that you have to just play over and over again until you memorise them.

 

Bullet hells, especially doujin games, are often way easier to play for survival. A lot of them can be ad-libbed blind and you'll get your 1cc first time on your reactions and quick strategising alone, then the difficulty comes from exploiting the scoring mechanics.

 

I do enjoy old school games when I play them, but as someone who doesn't credit feed and always starts from the beginning of the game (my brain was just shaped that way growing up in the 80s, when you died you started again, anything else felt like cheating), I know it's gonna take some banging my head against a brick wall before I get through.

 

Have you played Eschatos? I think that rides the line nicely like cho ren sha did, and mushihimesama original I don't consider bullet hell until you go up to maniac mode.

Natsuki Chronicles is a great modern old school game that doesn't take the piss with any gotcha bullshit, that's on sale at the minute on steam and ps4 as well I think. Andro Dunos 2 as well, that was good.

[Sel Feena]

I’ll also add the Danmaku Unlimited games to the list as well, imo very approachable and good difficulty curves

[Benny]

Watched the trailer for Eschatos... Ew no. While I imagine it might be good to play, my God that's one ugly looking game.

 

I never really liked the move to 3D in shmups in the Saturn/PlayStation era either. I thought nearly all of them were uninspiring looking at the time. Some serious detail and artistic flare was lost in the generational shift visually that didn't affect other genres as much.  I like my complex pixel art.

 

Basically ZeroRanger. It's amazing.

[ImmaculateClump]

Haha, it is ugly, though the sickly plasticky purple and yellow b-movie aesthetic does grow on you. It feels like a proper cinematic journey, and honestly it's qute's masterpiece, one of the best old school style games going.

 

Yeah pixel art for the win, though the low poly stuff like g-darius does have a certain charm.

 

Yeah, ZeroRanger is good, though I personally don't think it properly gets going until the second loop, though the arrange mode they added is brilliant.

 

Have you played Black Bird? That only really becomes bullet hell during the final boss, and it looks and sounds amazing!

[geldra]

1 hour ago, Benny said:

Watched the trailer for Eschatos... Ew no. While I imagine it might be good to play, my God that's one ugly looking game.

 

I never really liked the move to 3D in shmups in the Saturn/PlayStation era either. I thought nearly all of them were uninspiring looking at the time. Some serious detail and artistic flare was lost in the generational shift visually that didn't affect other genres as much.  I like my complex pixel art.

 

Basically ZeroRanger. It's amazing.

I hear ya, you’re a Judgement Silversword guy. 

[Benny]

I might have to pick my top 5 shmup visuals. I'll come back...