Shmups

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Stanshall
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Re: Shmups

Post by Stanshall »

Totally agree. And also much easier to swap bits and bobs around if you're a relentless tinkerer.
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Stanshall
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Re: Shmups

Post by Stanshall »

KSubzero1000 wrote: July 4th, 2020, 10:43 am
Stanshall wrote: July 4th, 2020, 10:38 am I tried to fit my LS-62-01 and realised that it doesn't work in terms of cabling with my stick.
Hope it works out somehow.
And sure enough, I tried it in my new stick this morning and it's superb. I think it's because the mounting is completely flush on the new one, it's a better height. Maybe because the enclosure is a bit bigger in three dimensions, it also feels like I have more room to get my hand/arm/elbow in just the right position. I even put in the two short throw mods and it still feels great.

I'm sure there's also some subconscious adjustments with my grip but having played a few hours with the LS-40-01 and found it very natural for me, basically perfect, I'm certainly not 'used to' the 62 or anything. It just feels better now. I'm actually going to stick with this for a while because it's so so responsive. It's effortless.

So thanks very much for the suggestion, KSub, I got there in the end!
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Shmups

Post by KSubzero1000 »

First of all, congrats on the new custom stick! Looks wonderfully clean and I'd be interested to know where you bought the custom parts and everything. Love the UFB compatibility, too. Was it difficult to put together?

Stanshall wrote: July 17th, 2020, 11:33 am I'm actually going to stick with this for a while because it's so so responsive. It's effortless.
Very pleased to hear that, mate. The 62's responsiveness is just on another level, isn't it? I think the mounting height will probably be the biggest factor here, that lever really is super short and stubby and if the case is basically skimming even one cm for itself then I imagine it's not gonna work properly. But with the proper grip, the added precision is just off the chart.

Now I'm curious, what do you make of the octagonal gate on the 62? It makes the circular motions even smoother but I never feel like it limits my overall range of movement like I was afraid of.
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Stanshall
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Re: Shmups

Post by Stanshall »

KSubzero1000 wrote: July 17th, 2020, 12:53 pm First of all, congrats on the new custom stick! Looks wonderfully clean and I'd be interested to know where you bought the custom parts and everything. Love the UFB compatibility, too. Was it difficult to put together?
Thanks! It was very straightforward, in fact. The enclosure I got has the mounting feet/screws installed for the Brook UFB and the stick so I didn't need to do anything besides screw them in, snap in the buttons, and wire it up. I got a USB adaptor which they installed for me but would have only been a couple of screws, as well.

I got everything from Blunderbuss Designs: https://www.blunderbuss-designs.co.uk/o ... enclosures

I also got the wiring harness from them so you don't need to daisy chain the ground wires or screw individual wires into the PCB. You just clip the spade connectors onto the buttons, all wires are colour coded and trimmed to the correct lengths, and then the 20-pin plug goes straight into a slot on the PCB. It took about twenty minutes being unnecessarily careful.

Here's the wiring harness: https://www.blunderbuss-designs.co.uk/o ... ng-harness
Now I'm curious, what do you make of the octagonal gate on the 62? It makes the circular motions even smoother but I never feel like it limits my overall range of movement like I was afraid of.
To be honest, I replaced it very quickly with a square gate because I don't like the feel of octagonal. It feels too mechanical and restrictive but I'm also terrible for riding the gate. I would recommend the Kowal short throw mods by the way, there's definitely a little difference. It comes down to preference in the end, of course, but I like it.

I got stick and buttons from: https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/

Really quick and great service.
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Shmups

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Ah, so you didn't have to solder anything? That's pretty cool.

I got my Sanwas from arcadeworld and yeah, it's a nice website. Don't think I've ever heard of Blunderbuss before (nor am I planning on throwing any more money out of the window on arcade sticks for the foreseeable future), but it's good to know of a DYI site out there.

Have you put any buttons on the side of the enclosure, btw? Start/Options, Select/Share, that sort of thing? Or just the eight on top and some blanks on the side?

...An even shorter throw? Heresy! :o
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Stanshall
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Re: Shmups

Post by Stanshall »

KSubzero1000 wrote: July 17th, 2020, 2:55 pm Have you put any buttons on the side of the enclosure, btw? Start/Options, Select/Share, that sort of thing? Or just the eight on top and some blanks on the side?

...An even shorter throw? Heresy! :o
No soldering, a real bonus, especially after buggering up my 360 PCB. This was literally fool-proof.

The other buttons are on the front side, there are six 24mm Seimitsu in the opposite black/red configuration :) They do Options, Share, Touchpad, L3, R3 and Power/Home.

Also, there's no wire visible because I installed a detachable USB port on the front face for storage and/or travel, plus it looks a bit neater.

And yeah, the Kowal mod doesn't actually shorten the shaft at all, but it does reduce the travel. There's basically zero dead zone, maybe a millimeter. Only cost a couple of quid, I think. You can't fit it on certain sticks (not on the LS-40-01) but it's very easy to install on the 62 and does make a little difference!
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Angry_Kurt
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Re: Shmups

Post by Angry_Kurt »

I'm not really sure if it is classed as a schmup or not, but has anyone played a game called Habroxia? I've just picked it up on Vita, I haven't started it yet but I don't really play this genre at all, despite this though I was impressed by the devs other work so wanted to give it a shot.
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Alex79
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Re: Shmups

Post by Alex79 »

Never heard of it to be honest, I'll give it a go this afternoon.
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Stanshall
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Re: Shmups

Post by Stanshall »

Not played that one but I have heard it's got a couple of neat twists to it.

I've been extremely back on my Mushihimesama Futari bullshit. I hadn't played for ages because I broke my 360 stick but since I put together the new one, I've had little interest in anything else!

I always felt my previous PB of 391m on stage one was a bit flukey, and I didn't quite know how or why certain sections came off. Anyway, I've gone back over the last few days and tried to break it down and crack the 400m barrier. After a bit of frustration the first couple of days, I started to chain some break-through moments. It finally just came together and I smashed my PB with 425m. I actually roared with joy when I saw the score rack up.



It's not too far off WR and I also beat my inspiration iconoclast575's best score on YT. I also feel it's pretty repeatable because I actually understand each section now. I am absolutely psyched with this.

But yeah, err, time for stage two... :D
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Stanshall
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Re: Shmups

Post by Stanshall »

Oh shiiiiiiiittttt

Image

I'm done.
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Alex79
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Re: Shmups

Post by Alex79 »

Nice one! (I'm assuming he's a big gun on the Shmup scene?)
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Stanshall
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Re: Shmups

Post by Stanshall »

Yeah, he's one of the top Western arcade game/shmup players. Probably top three for shmups along with Jaimers and Gus.
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Alex79
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Re: Shmups

Post by Alex79 »

I did a quick Google, impressive!

Also, I stumbled across this thread whilst looking. Good lord I'm glad this forum is not the same as that one! When we have a high score contest we rely on people just telling us their score, or at the very most a quick screenshot! Those guys are SRS BSNSS.

https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.p ... 8#p1388776

EDIT: Actually that's a really unfair comment. They're just passionate about what they love, and I'm a bit of a twat for looking at it in any other way. Leaving comment up as a reminder to try harder.
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Stanshall
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Re: Shmups

Post by Stanshall »

No, it's a pretty hardcore place. I attempted to get involved there but it's a pretty stale community, unfortunately. A lot of the guys who are working hard to promote shmups and welcome new players have abandoned it because of the tone there. It's a shame because it's an amazing repository for info and advice.
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Re: Shmups

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I'm trying to make the switch back to stick after a good few years away, and quickly realising that I've got a very loose, very "neutral" grip that is entirely designed around Fighting Games. Great for complex inputs and large, smooth gestures, utterly useless for the kind of directness and precision you need in a shooter.

For those of you who play with an arcade stick, do you find you use a different grip for shmups than for other games? It honestly feels like I'm piloting someone else's hands.
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Stanshall
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Re: Shmups

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PressEscToExit wrote: August 2nd, 2020, 9:32 pm I'm trying to make the switch back to stick after a good few years away, and quickly realising that I've got a very loose, very "neutral" grip that is entirely designed around Fighting Games. Great for complex inputs and large, smooth gestures, utterly useless for the kind of directness and precision you need in a shooter.

For those of you who play with an arcade stick, do you find you use a different grip for shmups than for other games? It honestly feels like I'm piloting someone else's hands.
I'd say the biggest difference is the stick throw itself rather than my grip. I've been playing SFV recently with the Seimitsu LS-62-01 which is absolutely perfect for shmups. Incredibly responsive and tight. For SFV, I'd be inclined to swap the LS-40-01 back in. It's still pretty tight but there's definitely more throw and dead zone which helps with QC/DP motions for shoto characters. The 62 feels great for Tekken, though.

In terms of grip, I would say it's not changed. My shmup grip is to have the ball top on the first knuckle of the first two fingers and use the thumb for support. This works for both tapping and larger sweeping movements. For fighting games, I would probably yank it around a bit more with the longer throw, but not a fundamentally different grip.
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Michiel K
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Re: Shmups

Post by Michiel K »

I've definitely been playing more fighting games than STGs on my sticks so far and these Qanbas are fighting sticks first and foremost. The few times I did play a shoot 'em up I found that I naturally let my middle finger, index finger and thumb rest on top of the balltop and make much shorter movements, kind of like how I would control a subtle analog control driven game like Super Monkey Ball. I'll report back when I get more STG experience with these!
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Re: Shmups

Post by PressEscToExit »

Interesting!

Stick-wise I'm on a Hayabusa, it's a step looser and has a bigger dead zone than the Sanwas I was previously used to, which explains to some degree the surprising loss of fine control. I think I've probably ruined myself with bad habits more than anything else, I'm effectively ignoring the ball top and all of the effort is being generated by my fingers, which is an Utterly Terrible Idea, ergonomically.

Had a bit more success using a sort of "smugly holding a wine glass" grip last night, but I'm definitely going to swap in one of the stiffer Seimitsus at some point in the near future and see how I get on. Thanks, chaps.
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Re: Shmups

Post by HaloFandango »

Stanshall wrote: July 30th, 2020, 1:55 pm Not played that one but I have heard it's got a couple of neat twists to it.

I've been extremely back on my Mushihimesama Futari bullshit. I hadn't played for ages because I broke my 360 stick but since I put together the new one, I've had little interest in anything else!

I always felt my previous PB of 391m on stage one was a bit flukey, and I didn't quite know how or why certain sections came off. Anyway, I've gone back over the last few days and tried to break it down and crack the 400m barrier. After a bit of frustration the first couple of days, I started to chain some break-through moments. It finally just came together and I smashed my PB with 425m. I actually roared with joy when I saw the score rack up.



It's not too far off WR and I also beat my inspiration iconoclast575's best score on YT. I also feel it's pretty repeatable because I actually understand each section now. I am absolutely psyched with this.

But yeah, err, time for stage two... :D
Extreme respect to anyone who can play bullet hell even remotely competently, I was watching the footage and it looks insane.
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Re: Shmups

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