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Post by Xeogred on Nov 7, 2019 21:59:39 GMT -5
Alrighty, I'm going to look into it.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 7, 2019 22:18:36 GMT -5
Yep, Mushihime-Sama sure is a Cave shooter in the style of DoDonPachi. I enjoyed it. Burned up a lot of continues, though. I still don't know quite how to rate shooters that I credit-feed, but this is on the high side. Let's say... 8/10.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 7, 2019 22:46:52 GMT -5
You ready for Ultra mode now?
Maybe it'll keep leveling up if you go back to it. It's the one I keep wanting to play over again.
In fact, I think my goal for the month now is to try out all the Cave shmups I can and then maybe hit up the Compile console games (outside of MUSHA which I've played and enjoy). Then after that, maybe I'll just grind out Mushi and see if I can keep getting better. I can usually get to stage 3 on a single credit now.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 7, 2019 22:58:35 GMT -5
I got to stage 3 only burning one the first time through, but things went downhill from there.
I'm... uh, not going to do Ultra. That's ridiculous. Obviously not impossible, though; it's a matter of understanding shot patterns, where to be, knowing your own hit box, and when to use bombs. In that way, I almost feel like it becomes less a reflex test (although there is some aspect of it there) and more a puzzle-solving endeavor.
Also, I'm pretty sure I'd want a good arcade stick for that. Something I could nudge very carefully to get those minute movements. I'm not sure I can get that very well on a d-pad, at least not consistently.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 9, 2019 17:41:26 GMT -5
45. Gunlock/RayForce (Arcade) 46. Battle Garegga (Arcade) 47. Armed Police Batrider (Arcade) 48. Batsugun Special Version (Arcade) 49. Battle Bakraid (Arcade) 50. DonPachi (Arcade) 51. DoDonPachi (Arcade) 52. DoDonPachi II: Bee Storm (Arcade)
26 minutes, 10 credits.
Here's the weird one... developed by Taiwan company IGS (International Games System). The HCG101 article doesn't really suggest that this is an unofficial game either, but it definitely lacks the polish and balancing of the Cave games I've played so far. It certainly "feels" different and not as good, but was still surprisingly solid. In this one, I don't know if the characters make a difference. I picked Blue and you can't change your character again during the game while using credits, however a simple press of the 4th button makes your guns switch up like the classic Red, Green, and Blue. So you essentially get everything here. Other than that, this is purely in the style of DonPachi and Mushi, just with a different and weirder flavor. Still recommended, just brace for something a little different. It even starts off with a boss fight, apparently a secret one from one of the earlier games.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 10, 2019 15:22:22 GMT -5
45. Gunlock/RayForce (Arcade) 46. Battle Garegga (Arcade) 47. Armed Police Batrider (Arcade) 48. Batsugun Special Version (Arcade) 49. Battle Bakraid (Arcade) 50. DonPachi (Arcade) 51. DoDonPachi (Arcade) 52. DoDonPachi II: Bee Storm (Arcade) 53. Dodonpachi Daioujou (Arcade)
~14 credits, 24 minutes.
Did you think those 90's arcade games were BULLET HELL?
Well it's 2002. Anime girls are now taking over military positions and my theory is that Cave were FURIOUS some Taiwan company got to make the "third" DoDonPachi game... and also sick of the "pro's" from the 90's who mastered all the previous shmups.
What you get from that, is Dodonpachi Daioujou. Pain. The craziest shmup I've played so far, just absolute sheer madness. These were by far some of the toughest boss battles I've seen yet with ludicrous patterns. Among all the insane chaos the levels throw at you, this one seemed to be the beginning of Cave throwing in some "mid boss" type enemies that were in Mushi too, which would release two years from here dropping in 2004. Unlike Mushi, you've also got two enemy beam colors to deal with here as well, pink and blue. It's pure Japanese, so it was a little hard to navigate the Type A and B selections with three choices per. I think they got rid of the Blue ship here and it's just the Red and Green now.
Would be interested on the Sarge verdict. It's absolutely insane, but I still had a lot of fun. Was verbally shocked numerous times throughout this run.
Manabu Namiki (Battle Garegga, Armed Police Batrider, Mushi, etc) did the OST for this one and it's freaking awesome.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 10, 2019 21:48:19 GMT -5
45. Gunlock/RayForce (Arcade) 46. Battle Garegga (Arcade) 47. Armed Police Batrider (Arcade) 48. Batsugun Special Version (Arcade) 49. Battle Bakraid (Arcade) 50. DonPachi (Arcade) 51. DoDonPachi (Arcade) 52. DoDonPachi II: Bee Storm (Arcade) 53. Dodonpachi Daioujou (Arcade) 54. Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi (Arcade)
~12 credits, 25 minutes.
Ketsui came out in 2003, a year after Dodonpachi Daioujou and you can tell it's on the same tech and style, this one is brutal with insane bosses and some of the craziest bullet hell patterns I've seen, when I've seen a lot up to this point. I'll just say what I really dug about Ketsui, was that aesthetically this one felt a lot like Front Mission and Desert Storm material. It had a very thick industrial/military tint to it that was awesome. Once again, the man Manabu Namiki did the OST and it rules. Despite the high difficulty this was another really fun one I'd recommend.
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It seems even Cave may have had a B-team though, or I just finally sampled a few of their games that I wasn't feeling much personally.
ESP Ra.De. (エスプレイド) - Arcade (1998)
Dangun Feveron (弾銃フィーバロン) / Fever SOS - Arcade, PlayStation 4 (1998)
Guwange (ぐわんげ) / Guwange DX - Arcade, Mobile Phones, XBLA (1999)
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 11, 2019 13:15:15 GMT -5
45. Gunlock/RayForce (Arcade) 46. Battle Garegga (Arcade) 47. Armed Police Batrider (Arcade) 48. Batsugun Special Version (Arcade) 49. Battle Bakraid (Arcade) 50. DonPachi (Arcade) 51. DoDonPachi (Arcade) 52. DoDonPachi II: Bee Storm (Arcade) 53. Dodonpachi Daioujou (Arcade) 54. Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi (Arcade) 55. Espgaluda (Arcade)
~19 credits, 34 minutes.
While I couldn't get into ESP Ra.De., this one seems to be a follow up on that style and was pretty awesome. Different from the DonPachi/Mushi mold, so it was nice to get something a bit more unique again in the midst of all this. While this one started off pleasantly easier than some others, once you get to stage 3 and on it was insane. My estimated ~19 credits is a bit higher by several numbers than most others so far, but this was mainly due to this one having 6 stages and the final boss alone had THREE forms with full health bars and all. Plus the final boss can't be cheesed and straight up absorbs any "special" attack. There are no bombs in this one, instead you activate some kind of special mode that turns all enemy fire pink and you can absorb it all to do some kind of powered up piercing attack. While in this mode you seem more powerful in general. Enemies drop "Emeralds" that build up this meter you can use for this mode. There was also some kind of strong beam attack that pulls from another pool that builds up. I really can't explain it very well and it took me a few levels to figure out, but yeah.
In the bottom, those gold bars fill up for the third strong beam attack you can use, so they're depleted here but using that attack. As you can see, it shoots through enemy fire which was cool.
See I have no idea what most of this means as a casual shmup player. But hey I'm having fun, I'll beat all the shmups for us this month.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 11, 2019 13:19:49 GMT -5
I'll beat more before the month is up. Promise. (Bloodstained was just too good, though.)
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 11, 2019 13:43:28 GMT -5
An acceptable distraction.
I'm still feeling no burnout whatsoever. So I will continue to see if I can beat all these Cave games (only a few left) and then possibly move over to the Compile console games.
I also want to get back to Strato Fighter, since it seems really good. Like if Techno Soft were tasked with making an R-Type clone, that's... you know actually fun unlike a lot of the Irem stuff. It'll be nice to get away from this bullet hell stuff for once.
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