I Wanna Get It On With Jahbulon : The Shmups/STG Thread - The Bear and Badger

davyK

What you are going for there @Dubs must be in the mix for the toughest clears around?

hylian_elf

Dubs is not human. He Am Robot.

Dubs

A robot probably would've have figured it out by now.

davyK wrote:

What you are going for there @Dubs must be in the mix for the toughest clears around?

Couldn't say, having played just a handful of shmups, but it wouldn't surprise me. The no-miss, no-bomb requirement can be frustrating but definitely adds to the allure. I'll keep going, it's pretty much my chill out game at this point.

davyK

There are some modes in Futari that would be there too, and the 1.0 version of Pink Sweets is supposed to be a killer 1CC even just for survival because of the way the rank can go crazy in it. A 2-ALL of DOJ and SDOJ are probably up there too.....Ura loop or otherwise!!

The daddy is probably Death mode on the DOJ PS2 port. It consists of a 2 loop boss rush set at loop 2 and then loop2+

The 2nd loop has to be 1-lifed and bombs heal the bosses or something like that. Bonkers.

I think only one person has ever done it and it took him 7 years.

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/dodonpachi-daioujou/

davyK

Lost a life on the level 2 boss on my first game tonight. I usually reset if I do that but I kept at it. Broke 1.5m. It could have been so much better..almost every life loss was a stupid mistake.

Used all 4 credits in a later run and got to the last level. That's a first too.

Screen shot because why not?

davyK

Hitting the old rank problem now.

Got to level 4 tonight with only 1 life loss. Level 3 was noticeably more difficult - the game cranks up the bullet speed.

Level 4 tonight really spanked my arse bad. I'm getting >1m on the level 3 boss. If I no-miss to there it means I have 5 lives. Have only managed that once. Even with a life loss the rank is noticeable. The rank didn't seem to drop a lot when I lost a life - not noticeably. So I'll probably not progress for a while now until I can handle level 4 at the increased rank.

Missing bombs in this game....have been playing too many games with bombs recently and it takes some getting used to.

This being an older game the hit box is bigger than usual. I'm still trying to figure out exactly where it is but it doesn't seem to do me any favours - that's for sure.

Most shots are aimed so tap dodging, misdirection and bullet herding is key. But the sprite sizes in this game are large so it feels pretty cramped at times. That and the old school hit box are really where the challenge comes from.

I should really spend a bit of time to see if I can figure out the hit box.

davyK

Starting to get to the level 5 boss now on 1 credit. Busted 1.6m If I can take this boss down I'll be looking at busting 2m next.

Re hitbox - looks like the wings can be touched without losing a life. This boss has a toothpaste laser attack and there's a slight random element to it. Has touched the wings a few times.

I had this bugger down to his final phase before crapping out.

davyK

Swapped hands with a drunken monkey today....

Screen punching form.

I forgot to mention that there is no 1up at 1.5m so it looks like you get 2x1ups - 500,000 and 1m and that's your lot for the 7 levels.

Dubs

Started Ura (2nd loop) from a save-state this evening and managed to clear it, first time I've managed that. Still a long way to go but it's nice to know it's possible.

nick_md

Save scrub

Dubs

I need all the help I can get. I've got 550 hours on the clock and I still can't complete it!

nick_md

You can do it m8, I believe in you :flex:

(Was also gently ribbing

)

cockbeard

nick_md wrote:

Great stuff Davy, feel bad for not engaging more in the thread because this is one of my favourite genres (although I rarely if ever play them...or anything, anymore). Happy to cheer on from the sidelines though, you can do it mate

^ right there

Would love to play more often but am such a lazy twat

hylian_elf

550 HOURS?! Wow.

Dubs

Probably should've chosen a more useful lockdown project tbh.

davyK

2nd Ura loop of Ketsui is a ridonkulous challenge level.

Anyhoo still beating myself up with Layer Section. I've really hit a wall. Still haven't got to level 6 on 1 credit yet. Feel like I'm going backwards sometimes.

cockbeard wrote:

Would love to play more often but am such a lazy twat

This genre needs real dedication. Shoot. Dodge. Die. Repeat.

Was watching some playthrough videos of the game. Watching someone milk the later bosses is slightly depressing!!

The lock on combo seems to have more to it than meets the eye. On a good day I'm >800K after level 2 - the top tier guys have 2m on the clock half way through level 2..... No real milking either at that point - just smart use of the lock on combos. It seems the order of the enemies makes a difference to the combo multiplier.

Of course that puts the rank through the roof but the top players don't seem to have any issues - they no-death the game to the final boss and then milk it until they are down to their last life (no lives bonus on clearing the game).

davyK

How brilliant is this image?

God I miss proper arcades.

davyK

Hanging tough with Layer Section. Still can't get to level 6 on 1 credit. But I'm starting to get some routes down now in level 3 and 4 which should help with my consistency.

davyK

Latest shmups.com poll on best ever. Usual suspects but nice to see ZeroRanger feature as the relative new kid.

Darius Gaiden benefiting from the recent M2 port I suspect.

I've never got the R-Type love. I like it and appreciate its influence but don't see it as a top 25.

It's a tiny bit depressing reading this list though. We need a new Cave or similar - and that isn't going to happen. I don't have the heart to start dredging through indie efforts but I suppose that is where the action is going to be.

01. Ketsui ~Kizuna Jigoku Tachi~ (ARC/360/PS3/PS4)
02. Battle Garegga (ARC/SAT/PS4/XB1)
03. DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou / Black Label (ARC/360/etc.)
04. Mushihimesama Futari / 1.5 / Black Label (ARC/360)
05. Ikaruga (ARC/DC/GC/360/PC/SWI)
06. Crimzon Clover / World Ignition / etc. (PC/etc.)
07. DoDonPachi (ARC/SAT/PSX)
08. Armed Police Batrider (ARC)
09. Radiant Silvergun (ARC/SAT/360)
10. Darius Gaiden (ARC/SAT/PSX/PS2/etc.)
11. Gradius V (PS2)
12. ZeroRanger (PC)
13. Dangun Feveron / Fever SOS (ARC/PS4/XB1)
14. Mushihimesama / 1.5 (ARC/PS2/360/PC)
15. R-Type (ARC/PCE/PSX/etc.)
16. ESP Ra.De. / Psi (ARC/PS4/SWI)
17. Gradius Gaiden (PSX/PSP)
18. ESPGaluda / Arrange (ARC/PS2)
19. Gunbird 2 (ARC/DC/SWI)
20. RayForce / Layer Section / etc. (ARC/PS2/SAT/etc.)
21. Mars Matrix (ARC/DC)
22. G-Darius (ARC/PS2/PSX)
23. Deathsmiles / Mega Black Label (ARC/360)
24. Cho Ren Sha 68K (PC/X68)
25. Strikers 1945 II (ARC/SAT/PSX/PS2/SWI)

davyK

I credit fed to the final boss of Layer Section yesterday. Level 7 looks to be a real nightmare. It's quite different in structure from levels 1 - 6 and feels like a real credit gobbler. A bit cheap actually - slightly disappointing. However I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

I might switch to MAME and avail of save states since the Saturn port doesn't even have a level select for practicing.

davyK

Hmmm.......save states are glitchy with this game..... of course they are. But it sort of works OK.

Tell you what though - going by the MAME experience the Saturn port is damn accurate. Has better music too (I presume it's been remixed for CD audio). The original music in MAME sounds fine too - would have been nice to have the option to choose in the port.

The emulation has a bug in level 3 with the mid level boss' laser. I may have a look around for a later ROMset.

davyK

shmupArch to the rescue. Plays this with faultless save states. No level 3 mid-boss bug either.

Have created save states for levels 2 to 5 so I can start caning this game with focussed practice now. Think I have the level 5 boss sussed out now - just need to get there on 1 credit to get that monkey off my back.

The arcade version has 1ups at 1m and 2m - but that seems to be the only difference with the Saturn port.

davyK

Haven't spent much time on this. Harumph.

The arrival of Mario 3D World hasn't helped as it's such a joyous game.

Trying to beat a shmup is very much a mental game. Sometimes there's almost a fear of going back to it - especially if you finished the last session on a high as you don't want to lose that.

Daft. I suspect that says more about me than about the games though. Heh.

davyK

Got shmupArch to recognise my 360 stick so got some focussed level 5 practice in this evening using the save states I created last week using the pad. Will take a night or two to get back into the swing.

davyK

Flirted with a bit of Caladrius today - took a break from Layer Section. This was digital only in Europe sadly but I picked it up anyhow when it appeared a few years ago. I never spent a huge amount of time with it.

It's a rather nice game - better than I remember it. I suspect there's a bit more depth to it than playing it casually.

acemuzzy

Hmm, not convinced by this one, but still...

davyK

Echoes of GW3 there.

davyK

Some more focussed practice on levels 4 and 5 of Layer Section on shmupArch. The arcade version feels a bit tougher but that's possibly because my save states are with no-miss so the rank will be maxxed out. Good training for returning to the Saturn version this weekend though.

There is some debate at shmups.com as to whether the default NORMAL level of the Saturn port is the same as the arcade game. The port has a few levels about that - some say NORMAL + 1 is arcade level but there really isn't much in it to be honest.

The Saturn version has a remixed soundtrack but I'm liking the arcade game's one too. Pity the port doesn't let you select which you can have.

davyK

Got to lvl 5 boss with 2 lives on Saturn. Then the bastard cheated.....the initial laser attack went wider than normal and pranged me....didn't recover.

Would have, could have , should have.....

davyK

Gnnnnnnnn......did it again. Got to level 5 boss and even nudged my high score up by a few thousand. I need to dig in. Still too many daft mistakes in level 4.

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