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Post by Xeogred on Nov 4, 2019 12:31:46 GMT -5
45. Gunlock/RayForce (Arcade) 46. Battle Garegga (Arcade)
30 minutes, 50-70+ lives
Knocked out Battle Garegga. I've known of this game for awhile now from one of my local friends who's really into arcade shmups and the composer for this one did Mushihimesama, and much more: This one is lighter on the sci-fi but I don't mind, those 90 vibes are just way too dang good. Here you get four ships with different secondary attacks. I stuck with two ships, one did napalm which is kind of a classic bomb / screen clearing attack and the other ship I liked had a barrage of homing missiles, though it was trickier to use since there's a bit of a delay when you use it. These special attacks clear out enemy fire and debris. A lot of enemies and destructible objects drop a missile icon for these attacks, so you can stack it quite a bit. Difficulty was surprisingly pleasant initially, got through the first two levels with only one death or so. But as you can see with my tally there... it ramped it dramatically and shifted into some bullet hell territory. Highly recommended though, if only for the killer OST and the majestic 1996 vibes.
- If anyone has recommendations for easily emulated 90's arcade shmups let me know. Think I'm going to hit up Raiga - Strato Fighter next.
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 4, 2019 17:35:51 GMT -5
45. Gunlock/RayForce (Arcade) 46. Battle Garegga (Arcade)
47. Armed Police Batrider (Arcade) - Standard 5 mode. ~8 continues? 17min
48. Batsugun Special Version (Arcade) - 5 continues. 20min 49. Battle Bakraid (Arcade) - 5 continues. 17min
1998
1993
1999
Well as they say... shmups start to blend in sometimes. There is some direct lineage between some of these, it's still funny though.
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Post by ShakeWell on Nov 4, 2019 20:08:40 GMT -5
Oh, no. Sarge just hipped me to this being this month's thing and I just recently got a Neo-Geo MVS board and supergun, so... this derails a lot of my other plans, probably, is what I'm saying. Time to warm up Captain Tomaday!
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 4, 2019 20:21:40 GMT -5
50. DonPachi (Arcade)
27 minutes, 9 credits.
If this was the beginning of Cave shmups back in 1995, well they were pretty much masters right out of the gate. I've mentioned that Mushihimesama is my favorite arcade/bullet hell shmup and the rock solid mechanics seem to be locked down from their early beginnings here in DonPachi. You have three different ships to choose from that each have a different shot/spread type. In these games, mashing the fire button is a normal spread shot, while holding down fire makes you move slower while shooting a narrowed and more powerful piercing beam of sorts. You get the classic bombs, some of the later games have auto-bombs (I know DonPachi Resurrection had this), but not here. Unless it's in the dip switches. Power ups and bombs are scarce to pickup, maybe a dozen power ups per level. However it's really easy to recover from being hit and get most of your power ups back for that fully charged up shot. The Cave games to me somehow land in this perfect soft spot of not being too bare bones, yet hardly overwhelming throwing a bunch of junk at you. This gives you all the time to focus on the enemy fire and levels themselves.
It's hard to put into words, you just have to play some of the titles I played today and then play a Cave shooter to follow up with. This simply "felt" the best of them all by far and ALL enemy fire is PINK, so you know exactly what to look for and it ends up feeling more balanced. I don't feel like I was cheated when I get hit in their games, usually. I see where my error was instead. Those other games I played earlier today feel a lot more chaotic in ways, whereas with this and some of the other later Cave games I've played, it feels like I could really sit down and learn these better than other shmups. There's just something about how balanced, fair, and good they play and feel. I was very impressed to see how this one holds up for 1995. Cave's got the seal of quality and I'm starting to really see why they're held in such high regard.
It's about time I hit up more Cave games. I've got the follow up DonDonPachi, Progear, Guwange, and two Ibara games to hit up. I own DoDonPachi Resurrection on Steam, haven't played that one too much yet. It seems harder than Mushihimesama to me.
DonPachi gets a high recommendation from me.
On a random note, I actually think I prefer playing arcade shmups with a joystick over a d-pad. Maybe I should configure my Xbox One controller for MAME next time I play some more.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 4, 2019 21:20:54 GMT -5
ShakeWell : I'm still thinking about a setup, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to take your advice and do a supergun instead of a Neo Geo AES or consolized Neo Geo. Seems like it would be a lot more versatile, especially if I decide to go tracking down some JAMMA boards... like TMNT, which I wish I'd bought years ago. Speaking of TMNT, I noticed when I was in Walmart for the first time in six months that they had those mini-arcade cabinets. I know they're just emulation, but dang, the nostalgia was strong. Also, I remembered the name Captain Tomaday, but I didn't realize it was a shmup, or that you were an anthropomorphic tomato? Very interesting looking game there. Xeogred : I know it seems easier for me to mash using a joystick setup than a gamepad, so that might be worth it. Later shmups, though, were nice to give you some good auto-fire options; you don't have to press it nearly as quickly. Also, yes, DonPachi (and DoDonPachi) rock. I love the alternate laser fire; it just feels so satisfying to mow down stuff using it.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 4, 2019 22:05:33 GMT -5
Battle Bakraid was a pretty fun, if short, shooter from Eighting. I know them mostly from their work on Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Apparently Eighting is more the distribution arm and Raizing is the dev arm, though. And it was staffed by former Toaplan and Compile employees? I can see that. Plus, the lead dev of this (Shinobu Yagawa) is now at Cave. Anyway, I suspect this is part of the same series as Battle Garegga, especially since Yagawa also helmed this one. You can edit your team and choose to fly three different ships as you burn through your lives. Definitely an interesting way to spice things up. Your bombs give invincibility, but don't actually hit all enemies on screen; good placement seems to be mandatory. Also, there looks to be some sort of ammo system going on? I didn't quite figure that out. There's also an advanced course that's longer, so maybe I should have just jumped into that, given that I was credit-feeding anyway... Regardless, I liked this one. It felt really nice to play, and it had some really nice tunes as well. I'll give it a 7.5/10. Xeogred: Which did you prefer of Battle Garegga, Battle Bakraid, and Armed Police Batrider?
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Post by Xeogred on Nov 4, 2019 22:19:34 GMT -5
Sarge : Yeah, Armed Police Batrider is part of that arm of games too. Bakraid, Batrider, and Garegga all have that same ammo styled power up system. I couldn't quite figure it out either other than, I'm guess you needed at least 20 some missiles to use the special, though I think anything under that you could still use. But over some X amount, I'm not sure.
Garegga was the most chaotic of these to me. It got hard to see what was going on and what can hit you, which is a little frustrating. A lot of the bullets and missiles easily blend in with the backgrounds...
I think I liked Armed Police Batrider a lot out of that bunch, though it was on the harder side like Garegga. The different thing about Batrider though is that you pick a "team" of three characters and they're all like different ships and weapons... so later on when you're getting mowed down and having to constantly shift through the characters per death, it got a little weird. This one had a really fun vibe though.
I messed with some of the DonPachi sequels and yeah, eventually they have three buttons like Mushi. One button is rapid fire as if you were mashing (while not holding it down for the attack form change), so that's pretty nice. Kind of interesting how the third game DoDonPachi II: Bee Storm was developed by IGS, some Taiwanese company and not Cave. So I'm guessing it's an unofficial installment, but it might be worth a look.
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Post by anayo on Nov 5, 2019 16:07:29 GMT -5
20) SqoonDetailed thoughts and impressions coming soon. Sqoon is a 1986 NES title. This is very apparent, as it feels closer to an Atari-era high score arcade game than the likes of Duck Tales, Contra, or Super Mario 2. You pilot a submarine on a flooded Earth which has been invaded by aquatic aliens. Your fuel is constantly running out. To replenish it, you must rescue hostages, harkening back to the arcade game Defender. Then you have to deposit the hostages in a floating island which approaches you when you’ve collected 9 hostages, or when the floating island just feels like appearing. This creates a satisfying gameplay loop of shooting underwater aliens, managing your fuel level, and dropping off hostages when it’s opportune to do so. Sqoon’s weak point is that it doesn’t take long to see everything the game has to offer. The stages repeat the exact same scenery over and over, just with different enemies. The rhythm of shooting flying enemies and bombing targets on the ground feels like the arcade game Scramble. Once you beat all the stages, it loops back to stage one, just like the original Donkey Kong arcade. I decided to just become proficient enough to loop through it once, then consider it beaten thereafter. Despite its simple underpinnings, Sqoon really engaged me. The shooting action is quite frantic and it can be addictive if you try to appreciate what it has to offer. It’s worth playing.
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Post by Sarge on Nov 5, 2019 21:21:09 GMT -5
I "beat" Gun.Smoke on NES. It was pretty fun overall. I kinda dig the ability to shoot to the sides as well as forward; in fact, I tended to use those more, rarely shooting straight ahead. Anyway, save states were abused. Not liberally, but they were abused. Finding wanted posters might get annoying, but you can also buy them (provided you live long enough). You basically fight the last fight twice, but as long as you've bought a decent weapon (get the "Mag Num"!), it's quite doable. I'd probably give the game a 6/10. Maybe a smidge higher. It's not the upper tier at all, but you can definitely spend your time with worse games. anayo: I saw where Jeremy Parish covered Sqoon in his "NES Works" series. It looked pretty interesting, actually! Glad you were able to get through it.
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Post by Ex on Nov 6, 2019 16:40:10 GMT -5
Man you guys are tearing through this so fast I can't even keep up! Nice job everybody.
I am hoping, provided my day job allows, that I can beat an arcade shmup either tomorrow or Friday. Ideally I'd like to finish one for each day. We'll see how it goes.
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