Shmups

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Stanshall
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Re: Shmups

Post by Stanshall »

I put a few hours into Crimzon Clover when my laptop was still in its relative prime, absolutely fantastic game. So chaotic and flashy, really up my street. I'm sure I'd get more out of it now because I wasn't even really into shmups at the time, just at the very start of exploring. I really don't understand why it's not been ported to consoles!

It really is a piece of shit now, though. Takes about twenty minutes to boot up and hangs whenever I try to shutdown. I have to hard reset by holding down the power. The keyboard often doesn't work or about half the keys malfunction. It's really got one foot in the grave, unfortunately. The day will come, though, I'm sure and I'll get tooled up. To be honest, if work didn't give me a quality laptop, I would have already bought one.

It would literally be for playing PC shmups, though, the best of which (bar three or four) I have elsewhere. Mushi, DFK BL and Deathsmiles I have on 360. It's just BWR, ZeroRanger and CC, really, which is why I can't justify it - yet!
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Shmups

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Stanshall wrote: July 10th, 2019, 9:10 pm It would literally be for playing PC shmups, though, the best of which (bar three or four) I have elsewhere. Mushi, DFK BL and Deathsmiles I have on 360. It's just BWR, ZeroRanger and CC, really, which is why I can't justify it - yet!
Makes perfect sense, and honestly, it's nice to see some sensible purchasing decisions and solid impulse control finally in this thread! :lol:

I hope you won't forget about BWR and Eden's Aegis when you have the opportunity to play them again. Along with the other two dozens of games I've recommended over the years which you've all managed to smoothly ignore one after the other! :P

You know what, if we lived closer to one another, I would probably offer to meet up somewhere and bring my shitty laptop with me so we can have a nice evening in full DOUBLE BREAK MODE, but hey. Life is cruel like that.
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Shmups

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clippa wrote: July 10th, 2019, 10:29 pm unless you're planning on dabbling in cosplay
...Where do I send my donation for the Stanshall Smough cosplay? :lol:
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hazeredmist
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Re: Shmups

Post by hazeredmist »

Well done Ksub!

Bravo to clippa too. It’s hard quitting vices that are harmful to you, sounds like it’s going well!
Stanshall wrote: July 10th, 2019, 8:58 pm Bravo, KSub. I'm now very much the outsider since I've rejected the seedy underbelly of PC gaming, but it's funny how I still really enjoy reading the chat. Glad you've found another avenue!
Hell no you are not becoming an outsider at all!! A few Steam games being bantered about doesn’t mean the consoles are getting thrown on the slag heap (much as clippa night support that ;)) - I’m still all over shmups on my Switch and soon I intend to put the Rolling Gunner work into attempting a 1cc on Novice.

We’ll see how that goes, it was inspiring to see Ratso managed to nearly do that on his first go. I’ve been distracted with so many shmups at my disposal suddenly, but game focus is coming back once I settle a bit for sure. I really would like at least one 1cc on something, at any difficulty, and it feels like it *might* be achievable this way. It’s so cool reading about you guys getting them.

I do really enjoy Rolling Gunner and my tactic has been to play through the higher modes - Casual and Normal - several times, in the hope that when I go back to Novice it seems easy? It could work, right?
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Stanshall
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Re: Shmups

Post by Stanshall »

@KSub

Ouch! Send it to the morgue because I am DEAD.

Smough, I tell you...

I can't claim to be Ornstein, but I'd say...hmmm...Black Iron Tarkus would be fair.
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hazeredmist
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Re: Shmups

Post by hazeredmist »

Absolutely! Don’t forget your Venom is why I’ve even contemplated PC gaming as it’s shifted my weird perception of what the platform is. It’s a real eye opener. Having great games available whatever the platform is the most important thing. Much as I love the hardware itself.
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Re: Shmups

Post by hazeredmist »

First attempt at a 1cc on Novice on Rolling Gunner last night as I couldn't sleep. Went OK, I used two credits - one shortly into Stage 6 and another on the end boss, moments before finishing it off. A few stupid errors elsewhere in the game I can definitely stamp out contributed to starting Stage 6 with less bombs and lives than I realistically need to do this. I'll keep at it.

If you do 1cc it, is there a different end to the game? Ratso said there was an "extra boss"...
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hazeredmist
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Re: Shmups

Post by hazeredmist »

clippa wrote: July 11th, 2019, 10:04 amit's always there when I play.
Fixed:
clippa wrote: July 11th, 2019, 10:04 ammaybe you're just shit?
:D
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hazeredmist
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Re: Shmups

Post by hazeredmist »

I need to know how to get that boss... So it's there when you aren't getting a 1cc? I've finished this game multiple times on Novice, Casual and Normal and have never had anything other than one end boss followed by credits... Hmm.
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Shmups

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hazeredmist wrote: July 11th, 2019, 10:25 am I need to know how to get that boss... So it's there when you aren't getting a 1cc? I've finished this game multiple times on Novice, Casual and Normal and have never had anything other than one end boss followed by credits... Hmm.
Yeah, I had a quick lookie and it's surprisingly difficult to find any concrete info as to what the TLB requirements are in this game... The only two pieces of info I could find is that he might not appear on Novice at all and that his trigger might be rank related.

Maybe try playing on Casual while maximizing your rank and see how that goes?


EDIT: Man, ever since I started looking up anything shmup-related, I keep stumbling upon clippa's bazillion different accounts all over the internet. This time it was him complaining to the RG devs on twitter and demanding a Steam release. :lol:
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hazeredmist
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Re: Shmups

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...but I'm sure Ratso said he got to the extra boss on the first difficulty level which is Novice? If he got that far on one credit on Casual on his first go, the man is an absolute God at shmups, however much he may deny it :D
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Shmups

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hazeredmist wrote: July 11th, 2019, 10:47 am ...but I'm sure Ratso said he got to the extra boss on the first difficulty level which is Novice?
In that case, forget I said anything! :oops:
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hazeredmist
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Re: Shmups

Post by hazeredmist »

I could be wrong though mate! Info on this stuff online is very sparse indeed. Which is cool in a way, in other ways it makes me sad Rolling Gunner isn't more widely played despite it's reception...
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James
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Re: Shmups

Post by James »

Yeah, I think you're fine with that, clippa.
I sent upwards of a dozen Tweets to TT Games and Warner Bros, asking for LEGO Harry Potter Collection on Xbox One. That's demanding. ;-)
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Stanshall
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Re: Shmups

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I'm pretty sure TLB in Rolling Gunner only appears on a 1CC, even on Novice.

I say pretty sure, I actually mean I have no idea beyond one run.
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Re: Shmups

Post by ratsoalbion »

“Hellsinker. Steam page spotted, "coming soon" via Henteko Doujin“

https://twitter.com/shmups/status/11413 ... 83808?s=21
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Michiel K
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Re: Shmups

Post by Michiel K »

I’m inching closer on Futari BL Original, but it’s so hard to get consistent runs for me.

Sometimes I feel like the better I become and the more knowledge I gain about the game, the worse I start playing. A false sense of confidence makes me die in parts that I absolutely shouldn’t die in, flying into stuff all nonchalant like. :|

Oh well, this isht takes time and dedication and that is what I'll give to it. Would be great to finally get the 1cc.
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hazeredmist
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Re: Shmups

Post by hazeredmist »

I feel your pain...

Just got to the boss on Rolling Gunner, it’s going well but I notice I’m on my last life and last bomb, I get hit and Continue? flashes up... I swear I hit the boss for half a second more and he was gone, roll end credits. I was a few away from 1cc on Novice. Or at least attending a tea party with “TLB” if that comes next on this. Jesus Christ.

Exhilarating though and I’m pretty sure I can do it now. Like you Michiel, I could point to several stupid life / bomb losses on the run which if erased would have led to a very different end. Hey ho, we will be back!
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Michiel K
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Re: Shmups

Post by Michiel K »

Definitely, man! The exhilaration is off the charts!
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Shmups

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Michiel K wrote: July 9th, 2019, 9:33 pm I'm thinking about this and I'm starting to lean to the idea that the genre of the 2D shooter will never become as big as some of its fans would want to, because shooting games have actually evolved into the likes of Space Harrier, Ace Combat, Doom, Half-Life, Gears of War, etc.

The 2D shooter, shoot 'em up or SHMUP remains something very archaic, with at the very least one foot deeply rooted in tradition. It can't move on from this and will remain there, whether you love it or hate it.

I'm still trying to work out why 2D platformers are only affected to a much lesser extent, though. Maybe because the 3D platformer hasn't become as succesful and ubiquitous as the 3D shooter?
Just to go back to this if you don't mind, I think it's the combination of two factors:


1. Like you said, 3D platformers have not established themselves in the same way that 3D shooters have. Everybody loves and recognizes the brilliance of 3D Mario, but other games/series in the genre are struggling to be viewed as any sort of competition and/or alternative to it. One of the reasons why 3D Mario is so successful is because they completely nail the feel of the player character's movement across a 3D plane. The player is always in complete control of the situation which makes the difficult sections rarely feel 'cheap', something that other 3D platformers made by less experienced developers are having trouble replicating (Psychonauts, etc...). 2D platformers on the other hand are much more fluid and immediately understandable.


2. 2D platformers are uniquely well-suited to genre crossovers. Their basic premise (of controlling a character moving across a gravity-based 2D plane and overcoming various obstacles, usually towards some sort of pre-determined goal) can be adopted in a multitude of different ways: They can be pure dexterity-based platformers with combat systems based on physical contact (Super Mario World), and they can be full-on action games with combat systems based on more elaborate shooter elements (Metal Slug, Bleed). They can adopt major adventure and/or RPG elements (Super Metroid, Castlevania: SotN), they can opt for a more minimalist presentation style and greater focus on narrative immersion (Limbo), and they can combine the two to great effect (Hollow Knight). And then there is the massive sub-genre of puzzle-platformers that has become so incredibly popular in recent years (Braid, Fez, Thomas Was Alone, etc...).

The same cannot be said for shmups, however. Aside from a handful of games introducing some small puzzle elements or rudimentary grinding mechanics, almost all shmups I can think of are pure undiluted action games through and through. I'm struggling to even imagine what the Super Metroid or Thomas Was Alone shmup equivalents would look and play like.


So yeah, I don't see 2D platformers ever fade into obscurity as long as they continue to offer such a wide variety of different experiences without facing any real competition from their 3D counterparts. Shmups on the other hand are all more or less competing for the same niche and the attention of the same (comparatively small) group of players.
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