The OCR shmup-thread!

[EC2151]

Just ordered sexy parodius. Found a copy for $40 and thought "well that's the cheapest I've ever seen it so why not??"

I assume I will be in for a rip-roaring good time.

Because ANY Konami shooter has to be better than Gradius III. Ugggh.

I did a test run of Darius 1 today to see how far i could get, and i got to the sixth stage before losing my first credit. Mainly because the later stages of Darius are overly cheap and kind of crappy. : /

Of course I still had my autofire option on when I died so I messed up inputting my name which is just dandy. I tried for a while to do Darius "pure" with no autofire, but after enough cramps in my fingers I said fuck it.

I went the entirely upper route, trying to get to Great Thing (or as close as possible), and avoided powering up to the laser until after beating Fatty Glutton (because that son of a bitch is a fucking cheap cock-sucker)... I felt I did pretty well, all things considered.

Playing a bit of GUNBIRDO TEW (GB 2, heh) here and there, and I feel it's like the Saturday morning anime of shootemups - bright, cheery, and all-around pleasant. It's why I've always liked the Gunbird games most out of the Psykio games I've played. I mean, no need to pick favorites since Psykio is all-around quality, amirite? ;p

[Psydotek]

Favorite schmup: Space Megaforce (a.k.a. Super Aleste)

Favorite recent schmup: Jamestown

First schmup: Life Force

I still play Space Megaforce and Ikaruga every couple of months depending on how much time I have. Currently, I have UN Squadron loaded into my Super Nintendo...

I bought a used Dreamcast just so I could play Giga Wing...

Honestly, I'm not really that good at schmups, I just think that they're one of the purest forms of gaming still around these days.

[drake7707]

Anyone played or heard of Really Big Sky (http://bossbaddie.co.uk/bigsky/) ?

I've played it for a few hours and like the intensity, reminds me a lot of hard arcade shmups.

As for my favorite, probably Tyrian

[Schwaltzvald]

ANY Konami shooter has to be better than Gradius III.

So does that mean you'll still pass on Gradius V..?

For shame!

was not bad; the SNES port at least. Plus there's always the

[EC2151]

It's not that I pass on Gradius V; it's that I don't have a PS2 at this point in time anymore. My older brother took it with him because he wants to not play games on it apparently. (my hyperbole, but that's what it SEEMS like)

I like Treasure, and I like G.Rev a whole lot (I'm hoping G.Rev's newest game for the 3DS gets localized, and I would love to get their XBLA releases, Strania: The Stella Machina and Under Defeat HD), so I think i'd like Gradius V. Just no means (or money, at least right now) to play it.

And the arcade version of Gradius III is what made me so damn frustrated - the game is way too damn hard for its own good. The SNES is better in the sense that it's far easier, but Gradius III is too unforgiving for its own good. And credit limits? Come on, fuck that. Shit was annoying in the 80s and its still annoying (like Darius 1's "If you lose all your lives to the last boss we won't let you enter another credit you go straight to the game over screen mister!).

[Evilhead]

I dunno, credit feeding pretty much kills the fun of any game for me, although I agree that any limitations are pretty lame. If I have to continue more than a couple times I usually reset the game, and if I'm really serious about scores I'll reset after one death if I'm not at least past the third level or so.

I've been on a huge shooter buying binge these days. Literally, it's hardly a day that goes by that I don't get a new shooter in the mail... Just trying to get all the games I want before I leave Japan, but I'm just realizing how many dozens of shmups I've gotten in the last few months and the fact that I've barely scratched the surface on a pretty big chunk of them. Really looking forward to my copy of Battle Garegga getting here though!

Also, any of you guys have a permanent tate (vertical) TV set-up at your house? I've got a enough Saturn shooters with tate mode to think about doing it but I don't want to bust any TVs in the process. They are a pain to throw away!!

[EC2151]

I just picked up Thunder Force V for the Saturn. It was a little pricey ($50) but I figured to myself that the PS1 version usually went for $40, and that the version I saw on amazon was about thirty dollars less than it usually is, so I snagged it.

I'm looking forward to playing it - even though I have yet to beat any Thunder Force game! Of the ones I've played, I'd say that Thunder Force III is my favorite. I like IV, but the whole "levels are larger than the screen" stuff always kills me, because i hate not being able to see the whole level come at me, and have things out of sight. It is annoying. I'm pretty sure it only happens on certain levels (the space ruins and desert levels if I recall) but I don't like that style very much.

I see Raiden IV on the 360 for $23. Can anyone tell me if it's worth the trouble to convince my older brother to get it for my birthday? I haven't played too much of the Raiden games (though one of the Raidens was one of the first shmups I played, years ago- still love that purple seeking laser), but it looks like fun and the music sounds fantastic.

EDIT:

TFV is pretty cool, and it came in faster than I thought. The music for the first stage is a kickin' remix of the forest level music in Thunder Force III.

So far so good, though I am getting my ass handed to me. That's to be expected my first time playing it!