After dicking about with that Darius cart on the Megadrive to see if I could get it working (even wedged the cart in against the connectors using some card in case the slot was too loose for it), I spent some time with Zero Wing, MUSHA and Space Invaders 91. Haven't spent any time with the old MD in a long time. Zero Wing is very nice. It has a really nice clean unfussy look and manages to be harder than it should be with a minimum of bullets on screen. Some of the later levels have large sprites getting chucked about and there is very little in the way of slowdown. Impressive stuff.

MUSHA is a repro I picked up for £20 a few years ago and I haven't spent anywhere near enough time with it. Plenty going on. SI91 is a guilty pleasure of mine - it throws some nice ideas into the classic SI gameplay and I like it quite a bit.

Heh. DFK is a monster of a game. Its the pinnacle of manic. I don't know why Cave bothered with background graphics! So much content in the ports too. Crazy number of ways to play.

No I bought it because I prefer original tracks and not arranged.  I must have bought it.  There's one of those CD spines inside (I tend to keep them).

Did I ever post a picture of the DDP ship I built a few months ago?

Time flies!

I remember being in my final term of final year at uni when it came out on GC. Had a 24” Panasonic TV in my flat (shared with friends) which I used to rotate on its side! Glorious times.

So, after a lot of flitting about I'm starting to play regularly again.

Got back on the Layer Section treadmill last night and things weren't as bad as they could have been. Since beating this game using the Saturn port's 4 credits I've decided to adapt a strategy of setting a target of 3 credits and moving toward the 1CC that way.  Was getting to mid way of level 6 on 1 credit (7 level game) when I was playing regularly.

I've got back into Mushihimesama too this last week or so after getting the Novice 1CC last year. Playing on Normal now and got a level 4 run last night (it's a 5 level game). I know what to do in the first 3 levels so there is no reason why I shouldn't be no missing them or getting to level 4 for 1 life loss at most. Just need more practice. Level 4 introduces some enemies with rather nasty bullet spreads and the final section prior to the boss consists of a series of large snake like enemies that need taken out by destroying their tail section - it's not unlike the laser wheel section of DFK though not as nasty. As is usual with Cave, things crank up during level 3 with the last couple of levels being where the meat of the action is at and require really tight routing. Levels 4 and 5 will require some focus using practice mode if I'm to make any progress.

Playing 2 games is an experiment that may not work (I might find myself reaching for Mushi's bombs in Layer Section for example). I'm going to see how that goes. I'm hoping playing 2 games will keep things fresh for me.

Nice!

Cave could print money if they released more of those models covering all their DDP games and Ketsui alone.

This has me imagining a set of Parodius character models.

Aw yeah.

Nice little Mushi run to the level 4 boss tonight. Had a life spare too. Bollocksed it up of course.

Getting back into the swing of Layer Section too. Almost getting to level 6 with my first credit. Wasting my 2nd credit and then getting into the final level with 1 or 2 lives of the last credit.  Level 6 is key to this 1CC.

Ok, couldn’t resist. Bought Sol Cresta. It’s alright so far. Formation changes and docking is a bit fiddly but might get used to it. No idea if there is an optimum scoring technique or mechanic yet. Just seems to be old school “just shoot everything” style rather than any complex systems.

Why did I not know Tempest 4000 was on Steam?

Bought. Splendid. I'm an original Tempest and T2K lover although the interia in this will take a bit of getting used to. The Inertia in the original was grand as it had a spinner - using the stick or a dpad is a different proposition altogether. Still, I like to throw money at Minter once in a while. Reminds me I have the XBL version of Space Giraffe.

Ok...a brake eh?  Spinner would be nice. Surprised Minter didn't build it in.

Nope. I did too and liked it.