Castle Shikigami was released in PAL land via an el-cheapo release called Mobile Light Force with horrific cover art and a 50Hz butcher job.

It wasn't the prettiest game in the world and 60Hz helps a little but not a lot. It's still an enjoyable game but the sequel has far better graphics. This is blocky looking in places - the gold coins that you gather are particularly rough looking. It isn't without charm but not one for its looks. I ordered this one by mistake actually - thinking I had order #2 but that one is in the post too.

Still a splendid little game though - plenty of characters to play with that make a difference. And real scope for scoring.

More Raiden III pain. Feck sake. Shikigami shaped distractions haven't helped these past days - esp. as those games are all dense slow bullet clouds. It's amazing how it puts you out of kilter when you go back.

Those games are safely on the shelf. Need to ignore the fact that I now know about Gods Remastered , not buy that on Steam, and get on with Raiden III.     This is where my weakness kicks in - getting distracted with other games.

Almost beat me to the punch there, Davy.  Finally got my 2-ALL on Ketsui.  I did it!  Still just a survival run with a rubbish score but I'm really glad to finally get it, and I'm especially pleased with 2-4 as that boss is usually a three-bomber.  Wish I'd been able to put in a better performance on the final stage and boss but I wasn't about to risk it when I had enough bombs to guarantee a clear.  Taking a break for now, got other stuff to play but maybe the Ura loop can be next year's project.

Thank you my friend!  Sounds like it's only a matter of time with Raiden.  You know you can do everything required but are just waiting for the stars to align.

This. Fucking. Game.

Hit Boss Rush and took out the final boss with a life to spare but can I do it in a run?

Can I fuck.

And props to Dubs.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.



Got to level 7 with all lives. No bombs in stock. Played a blinder on the level 6 boss - just threw caution to the wind and 1 bombed it - allowed me to get to half way through level 7 before I lost a life and down to 4. A couple of daft nervy mistakes but enough to fall over the line with my last life!

I have replays of level 6 and 7. I need to ghetto record those and post them. 

Just rewatched level 7- forgot I picked up the troll green laser that is a nightmare to manage but I got through the foothills of the level with it.

Two stupid losses on the boss - just plain nerves - I was bombing like a loon too even though the rank had dropped. Still. Got it.

FUCKING AYYYY!

I knew you could do it, Davy! Much props and seriously happy for you

I always put AAA in unless I top the chart. Lets me track my score progress.

I went back to playing on Normal - the bullet speed becomes mental at about level 4 out of 7. It becomes an exercise in pure memory with abuse of safe spots and point blanking. I don't mind a bit of that in games but this is just overload. Not really to my tastes.

The game has a score attack mode that tracks isolated level runs. That can be fun. I have cranked it up to Arcade level which is the default + 1 (even the devs must have realised its mental speed) and I can clear a few levels at that - but the boss fights become ridiculous. Expert runs show what is needed and I can't track the bullets moving at that point it's so fast. The PS2 port has 2 levels of difficulty above that!!

shmups.com accept high score submissions at Easy which speaks volumes - even though most over there play it at arcade level - simply beyond my comprehension.

There's a double mode you play with a standard pad which is great fun - controlling 2 ships at once but I can't take that seriously at my skill level.

I'll probably dip in from time to time on score attack and boss rush but I'm done with full runs of this.

The game is worth > £100 on the market but even so I don't want to part with it. Maybe if I got the JP version I'd sell it but I like keeping copies of shooters.

Congrats Davy, has been a lot of fun reading your posts about you progress!

Great work Davy!

hahah

Davy, you the man!