The Shmup Thread

[spatular]

19 hours ago, Maf said:

Also I don’t know if this is sacrilege or not but I played Radiant Silvergun about a month ago on Xbox. My understanding is that it is some legendary, all time awesome Shmup. Ooooh it’s not good. I really didn’t like it at all. Too many weapons. 

yeah i mean i like it but dont think its amazing, takes some time to get into it and get used to all the weapons. I like the multiple weapons, but yeah not initially. the arcade mode is super hard unless you chain stuff to power up your weapons, so the saturn mode is better imo (im sure this is on xbox too but not sure what its called) where you keep leveling up weapons over multiple runs, but makes it not a proper shmup for me.

[Maryokutai]

I also played Radiant Silvergun for the first time when they released it on Live Arcade back then and wasn't feeling it. It's really hard and convoluted to get into, which is kind of unique for the genre I think? Was definitely not what I expected after having played Ikaruga a bunch before that.

 

It has the best name ever though.

[mfnick]

I had it back on Saturn years ago. I loved it but I did think it was still overrated and very confusing to start with. It takes a while to get into & I did think it was great but yea, there’s better out there. Especially these days. 

[Maryokutai]

While we're on the topic, I just noticed that Rigid Force Redux is on offer on Xbox Live for a bit over 10 bucks. I don't know how to keep recommending this without overpromising something. It's a small game, it's mostly being made by one person, but I really enjoyed it. It's not flawless, but it channels that classic R-Type feeling (gameplay is quite faster though), has an ace soundtrack, a motivating list of ingame trophies/achievements which unlock nice artworks (as a bonus compared to the Switch version, as you can use them as backgrounds on Xbox).

 

Long story short, I think if you like the genre it's worth a shot at that price. I just bought it a second time.

[Maf]

Hmm. I just had a look but I don’t really like the horizontal ones. I like the hyper fast vertical ones. 

[Maryokutai]

Just play it lying on the side or something.

[Maf]

Genius why didn’t I think of that

 

Mary am I buying this Raiden 4 thing or what. It looks cool, but I dunno.
 

I was looking at those other Switch ones you were recommending on the other page but they got a lot of half naked anime girls in them and I don’t think I can buy those.

[spatular]

got a 1cc on mushi 1.5 original the other day

[Maryokutai]

8 hours ago, Maf said:

they got a lot of half naked anime girls in them and I don’t think I can buy those.

 

There's nothing lewd about Mushihimesama, but I suppose recommending Ghost Blade is a waste of time then.

 

You should totally check out Caladrius Blaze though, that should be right up your alley.

 

[Maf]

It's still pervy! Do I look like a Genshin Impact player? (Don't answer that)

 

I ordered Raiden 4 on Switch. It looks too cool not to get. 

[Maryokutai]

I bought Risk System last Friday on Switch, I think it's been available for a while on PC already. It has a couple of unique ideas that work rather well. By default your ship shoots automatically if an enemy flies through your line of sight. If you graze close to enemies or their bulletts, your ship fires a significantly more powerful array of shots while simultaneously charging a special meter at the bottom of the screen. If it's full, you can activate a powerful bomb-like AOE attack that also damages enemies that aren't in range of your primary weapon (for example a boss firing from the background) while also turning you invincible during the two seconds or so it's active.

It all works surprisingly well in tandem and it's a great feeling drifting closely past enemy fire and blasting through with the powered-up shot.

 

There is one problem though, at least for me, and that's the lack of any kind of difficulty options. There's only one game mode and one difficulty level. There's also no continues -- if you die during a stage you have to start that stage from the beginning. If you die during a boss encounter, you start at the beginning of that fight. It's probably not that big of a deal for pro schmup players, but I've only managed to get to the 4th boss (of 6) and just don't see how I could ever beat him. You can't cheese your way through with endless continues or spamming bombs either since those things aren't available.

 

So fundamentally a good game but definitely targeted towards the hardcore crowd. If you consider yourself good at these game I'd say give it a shot, as like I said the mechanics are really interesting and it plays quite well.

[spatular]

^ yeah i hate checkpoints.

 

deathsmiles 1/2 on switch/ps4 is up for preorder in japan, it's coming out over here at some point apparently.

 

Amazon.co.jp: デススマイルズ I・II - PS4 (【初回特典】ゴシックは魔法乙女 "妄想"インストラクションカード風クリアファイル 同梱) : Video Games

 

edit - oh yeah been playing star hunter on steam (think it's on switch/other stuff too), it's pretty good/alright, based more on bullet canceling, and it's a side scroller.

[Maryokutai]

23 minutes ago, spatular said:

star hunter

 

That's a bad google name, sends you straight to an 90's sci-fi flick with a 3/10 imdb score.

 

I have my eyes on Psyvariar Delta at the moment, it's on sale on Switch and looks pretty nice. Never played it before.

[spatular]

1 hour ago, Maryokutai said:

 

That's a bad google name, sends you straight to an 90's sci-fi flick with a 3/10 imdb score.

 

I have my eyes on Psyvariar Delta at the moment, it's on sale on Switch and looks pretty nice. Never played it before.

 

oh, good point, full name is star hunter dx, that might google better! it's not the best game ever or anything but is decent fun.

 

 

yeah psyvariar was a fiver on the switch, if it still is i might get it too. it's an odd game, you're supposed to roll/wiggle from side to side - the console versions have a roll button but in the arcade youre supposed to wiggle the stick from side to side - while at the same time getting close to enemy bullets, this increases your fire power and levels you up, when you level up youre invincible and are supposed to use this to get close to more bullets to help level up some more - all that's in theory and i find quite hard to do so i end up playing it more like a standard shooter so i've never got on with it too well, but i still like the idea behind it - like it's cool but i've never really been able to play it properly. i think this person is playing it properly, although i'm not 100% sure, it gives you an idea anyway: (edit - oh and any info i have is about the old versions so i'm not sure it'll be exactly the same in this new version)

 

 

[Maryokutai]

Star Hunter looks nice enough, soundtrack seems pretty cool, too.

 

As for Psyvariar it seems I missed my chance as it's 25 bucks again as of today. That's a bit too much without knowing if I'll like it, so I'll hold off until another time.

[spatular]

Ah yeah same here, will leave it see if it goes back down to a fiver.

 

g-darius is up for preorder over here now if anyones intersted, about £20 at the game collection, think im going to give it a go, not sure if its supposed to be any good or not mind.

[spatular]

espgaluda 2 is out now on switch, £15, bargain:

 

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Espgaluda-II-Be-Ascension-The-Third-Bright-Stone-of-Birth--2034787.html#Overview

 

and Crimzon clover switch physical version goes on sale later today apparently, ill probably order one. i don't think these guys are dodgy are they?:

 

https://firstpressgames.com/collections/crimzon-clover-world-explosion

[Maryokutai]

Those first press guys seem to have a genuine facebook and twitter page at least. Never heard of them though, so can't say much more than that.

 

I just found a bit of drama concerning this little game that's coming next Thursday:

 

 

Apparently the developers promisied it would only ever get a limited physical release, which I find weird but can respect. But now there's a digital version coming too. And a re-print to boot in 2022.

 

Drama aside I think it looks good. They went maybe a bit too hard on the scanlines but I might pick that one up. I played some of their games on Dreamcast, they're usually solid shmups.

[spatular]

^ thats cool, good that itll be easier to get hold of. Doesnt look like my sort of thing but might give it a go at some point. Graphics look cool.

 

turns out i ordered a neko navy cat from first press and it still hasnt arrived a year later, they do seem legit though yeah, but i wont be expecting crimzon clover in a hurry!

 

been enjoying espgaluda 2.

[Maryokutai]

Bought Razion EX yesterday and had a quick playthrough (sort of, got to stage 4). It's a bit barebones in terms of features but it's good fun. It doesn't overwhelm you with mechanics either, it's just normal shot, shot with reduced ship speed (which also shows your hitbox, interesting feature to have that as a "passive") and a big beam that goes through walls an deletes bullets. Enemies take just the right amount of damage until they are destroyed which is often the sign of a developer feeling very comfortable in the genre. You can turn off the scanlines but I actually turned them back on after a bit because they're not as distracting as the trailers suggested and make some of the (3D) backgrounds and bosses pop more. It's a very good-looking game actually with an impressive amount of depth to some stages.

 

Not sure about its longevity yet but so far I like it.