So the Touhou 12 Demo came out...

[Sag Ee Mana]

To those unaware its the yukkuris, basically they're an attempted Shift_JIS portraits of the two major characters of the series gone horribly wrong. The joke's gone so far as to create a pseudo-national geographic explanation of them involving various explanations of their existance ect...

I don't mind them as they're just part of the weirdness of fans out there.

And I'm pretty sure there is already a touhou game with those, am I right ?

(you know, like the touhou lemmings, mariari, the RTS one etc etc)

[Schwaltzvald]

the RTS one etc etc)

There is patchcon: Defend the Library with an english patch out recently for it.

[Sag Ee Mana]

There is patchcon: Defend the Library with an english patch out recently for it.

English patch ????

I didn't know, except for the menu my game is japanese :/

Thanks for the news !

Well you seem well informed so do you know if some of the last shmups have english patch ? Or even IaMP or SWR, the fighting games ? I only got a patch for IN, and even if it's only a shmup, I like ZUN work so I'd like to understand the dialogues

[Schwaltzvald]

The most recent of patches on the shmups section are Mof and SA so yes they are out. laMP v1.1 patch has also been released with some fixes since feb 28, 09. SWR along with some other titles are being voted on for the next english patching; including the old PC-98 games. Last I saw SWR is leading in terms of being the next translation patch project.

[The Coop]

Joy. Yet another bullet curtain shmup filled with loli-tastic characters. Haven't both of these trends gone on long enough? I love shmups and all, but I think it's time for another shift in shmup design.

[Schwaltzvald]

Trend or not I've yet to find anything else that provides such a challenge and polished more or less.

However if ya got something coop do share

[Sag Ee Mana]

The most recent of patches on the shmups section are Mof and SA so yes they are out. laMP v1.1 patch has also been released with some fixes since feb 28, 09. SWR along with some other titles are being voted on for the next english patching; including the old PC-98 games. Last I saw SWR is leading in terms of being the next translation patch project.

You're great man ^^

Do you have links or touhou wikia can help me find all of that ?

[Schwaltzvald]

You're great man ^^

Do you have links or touhou wikia can help me find all of that ?

Just make a search for Gensokyo.org or just Gensokyo in general. From the site just look through their posts they ought to give links to the patches.

As for the heavy use of "lolis", if it makes any body feel insecure about playing the games involving them, there's always the Cho Aniki series as it ought to balance out the predominantly feminine cast of the Touhou series.

Last new game I've heard was Zero Chō Aniki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Cho_Aniki

[Sag Ee Mana]

Hey you really made my day !

Cho Aniki has always been the weirdest thing I ever seen and wanted to try but I wasn't able to play it.

Now I can

[The Coop]

Trend or not I've yet to find anything else that provides such a challenge and polished more or less.

However if ya got something coop do share

Have you played Ikaruga, Gradius V, Under Defeat or Border Down? All of them are loli-less, non-bullet curtain shmups, and they're all polished and challenging. This comes from stage designs, enemy placement, and bullets... not just bullets. This is a trend I would like to see expanded upon. Tougher regular enemies, more challenging enemy patterns and stage designs, and attacks from bigger enemies and bosses that do more than just fill the screen with 329 bullets at once (the final boss in Thunder Force V is a good example of what I'm talking about).

Like the shmups in the late 80s and early 90s, you can only push things so far in a formula before you need to go back to the drawing board and come up with new ideas, or even go back and try to enhance older ones. If you don't, things stagnate. I feel that time has been reached, yet the bullet curtains and lolis just keep coming.

When the occasional shmup like Gradius V, or Under Defeat comes around, it's like a breath of fresh air. The problem is, that only happens once in a while. I don't want bullet curtains to vanish altogether, but I'd like to see a broader range of shmup types getting released. It's time for the genre to get an infusion of shmups that feel more like the 80s and early 90s stuff (with new ideas), to sit along side the lolis and bullet curtains. I'd like to see more side scrollers, as they've been way too under represented for quite a while now. I'd like to see companies use their creativity on enemy placement and patterns, and stage layouts that do more than just go straight from A to B with hardly any danger beyond enemies and their bullets. There's more to shmuping than just pretty bullet patterns. Treasure gave the genre a shot in the arm with Ikaruga, so I know it can be done if companies try.

I honestly don't think I'm asking for the impossible here. I just want more variety in my shmuping life. But sadly, I don't see much of a light at the end of the tunnel.

[Sag Ee Mana]

One thing is sure about avoiding obstacles: ZUN will never put anything else than enemies on the screen.

I like a lot Ikaruga, Thunderforce V etc...

Some example funny : R-Type Delta.

Big fan of R-Type saga, I was really suprised to see that in the Delta, the ship CAN HIT the walls without being destroyed !!!

So the Final did the same...

I loved the maze level in R-Type 1 (6th), or the mess on the screen in the level after where a big thing comes slowly from the rear !

Also the Gradius biologic parts are awesome, and the asteroids or green lava levels in Gradius V are something strong too.

So yes, avoiding stuff other than hundreds of bullets is really great.

But, The Coop, something else bothers me now.

ZUN seems to be the only one to look for new challenges in a shmup these days.

Of course, there are the music based games or the remakes of the old games, but I'm still looking for something new.

And this "bullet hell" system allows really interesting patterns.

I advise you to watch on youtube some Lunatic or Extra play. This is not only hundreds of bullets on the screen. This is also a form of Art. Grids, fireworks, geometric forms of all kinds.

Thanks to Schwaltzvald, I was playing again Mountain of Faith 20 minutes ago with the patch, the first boss has a really nice looking attack ondulating on the screen.

You know, sometimes, when I played home, a friend was sitting on my side and says "wow nice pattern", "haha this is really beautiful"... WHILE I WAS SUFFERING xDDD and dying

But anyway : IREM, I miss you ! (and others)

[EDIT: yeah 647, a space-time post. In a Touhou thread. Don't try to understand, it's from my writings ^^]

EDIT II : Hey I'm playing Zero Cho Aniki, it's really funny ! =D And I've never play any Cho Aniki so I'm happy then !

[Schwaltzvald]

Got Ikaruga for the GC way back, Gradius V as a gift two years ago but I haven't heard of "Under Defeat" or "Border Down"; I'll have to check them out . Also I do see what you mean Coop and I do agree that those games are quite refreshing. However as you just said, they only ever come around once in awhile.

I do miss the classic side scroller games like R-type and the Gradius series. Sadly I think the one I have barely touched is the Raiden series but that's only due to availability than me actually getting into it.

Heck I even tried out Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer and enjoyed it despite how much it's an "acquired" taste in terms of shmups. Just that they simply aren't as popular except as a niche genre

I'm with ya Coop on greater/fresher things to come out, however until something does. I simply enjoy whatever comes out that avoids one of my own personal pet peeves, which are titles that provide little challenge or do so purposely.

Unless of course it's a parody or joke game

Also perhaps I should note this, if I can play Quest 64 (THATS RIGHT QUEST 64) 3 or 4 times all the way from the beginning to the end and some how some way find something I liked about it... Maybe I'm in some way far left side of the gaming spectrum that is difficult to turn off.

[Sag Ee Mana]

Just watched a youtube gameplay demo of "Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer".

Wow, this game rocks !

This is PC ?

I'll try to get it, it seems to be like in the same category than Gradius V.

Otherwise, if you want to play good old school shmups, don't forget MAME emulator. There are many masterpieces there !

Ok ok, not legal etc etc but don't count on me to buy a big Neo Geo cartridge today

[The Coop]

Schwaltzvald- Under Defeat and Border Down were Naomi board shmups in the arcade. They got ported to the Dreamcast in fine form, but they were only released in Japan. They're great games though, despite that they aren't the easiest things to acquire these days... cheaply at least.

Sag Ee Mana- Bullet patterns can be fun. I don't deny that. But these days, that's pretty much what shmups seem to rely on for challenge more often than not... bullet patterns made up of a couple hundred bullets/lasers. That's fine and all, but it get monotonous after a while. It's like when people used to complain about how shmups were constantly just one lone spaceship fighting against an armada of sci-fi enemies back in the early 90s. They wanted things changed up from the current norm, and that's what I'd like... change.

...

Maybe Obama can make a shmup for us

Oh, and Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer is on the PC and PS3. The PC version comes with a physical disc and assorted goodies, while the PS3 version is only in downloadable form. The PS3 version had a few tweaks done it to try and make it easier, but frankly, I didn't find it to be all that impossible in the first place (I've beaten it). You can buy the PC version of it for $10 on Play Asia for a limited time, and you get an artbook, soundtrack CD, and a snazzy slip case for it all.

[Sag Ee Mana]

Yeah Play Asia, I like them ^^ (hop, basket)

(Was on liksang before but everyone knows what happened to them huh?)

Thank you for the link !

Your reply makes me realize an important thing :

shmups exist now for the SCORE,like arcade games could you say, because there is a ranking (often "AAA" in my memories )

And Touhou is a BIG example for that because lots of elements are put there only for a "best score" purpose.

Before the 'console/pc' games seemed to be created with more creativity (like RPG, etc etc... this is another discussion ^^), i.e. the programmers didn't aimed at first for a high score game but for an atmosphere, for a really well made game where each level is a specific world, where each music hits us, where each boss makes us shout "WOW !".

OFF TOPIC : http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-9g-49-fr-70-3aht.html <--- WOW

[I-n-j-i-n]

I have a REALLY hard time finding Touhou full versions online for some reason. I think I have only three out of them all and all by really shady download sites..

[Dhsu]

Googling "doujin soft" should get you pretty close.