Topic: Arcade SHMUP High Score Thread

@DashKappei hehe
I might give it another try tomorrow, but the whole 15 ruined runs kinda put me off.
Not from the game or the competition as a whole, but certainly from this run. lol
Probably a good idea for the Psykio games to take them as regular playthroughs with standard rules.
1 credit and 3 lives and that's it. Would be best to keep track of what ship is used with the runs though as that can make quite a bit of difference.
Then again, I'm pretty sure I prefer playing with some ships that aren't as good, but I love them because of their specials, like in Strikers.
The Spit Fire in Strikers I and the Shinden in Strikers II because of their slow missiles as they come on contact with enemies.
Bought Oxenfree as well for 5€ but haven't tried it yet.
Might have to do just that as I've been fighting bouts of insomnia for a couple of months now.

I've updated the current leaderboards. The link is in my profile signature.

I'm now getting Paris all the time too. Just as I'm starting to really improve too. I'll give it a few more goes. I'll be happy if I pass 400k.

Just noticed our thread has 6,000 views. There might only be 15 of us taking part over the last 2 weeks but we've got a big audience it seems haha.

I think the Caravan Mode servers are doing something to make us always get Paris!

Finally broke 400k with a score of 406,400. I got New York 2nd then the Jungle 4th. I stupidly missed the 10k bonus points twice thinking I'd collected them when I hadn't so I know I can do better. I'm going to give it a break for now and come back to it later tonight or tomorrow for a final push.

Just a small update on the joystick posts from last week.
Got my Mayflash adapter in today (https://www.amazon.co.uk/MAGIC-NS-Wireless-Controller-Adapter-NINTENDO/dp/B07413R4HS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519227429&sr=8-1&keywords=Mayflash)
After a bit of fiddling, everything seems to work perfectly.
Didn't realise at first that I needed to put it into Switch mode. (holding the little button down for at least 3 seconds to get a different light, and getting it on the red one)

Plugged in my Hori VLX (http://stores.horiusa.com/real-arcade-pro-4-premium-vlx-for-playstation-4/), which sadly seems to be out of stock everywhere now, and only being sold at ridiculous prices it seems.
It might not help me get better scores, but I just love using this stick so much.
It's buttery smooth. Don't know how to explain exactly, but the feeling just makes me happy.
So glad I got one when they were normally priced.

@meppi64 Just had a wee look at that stick, it looks the business. I can't believe how big it is though,it's a beast.

@OorWullie Oh yeah, it's a real monster. And a heavy one at that. lol
Luckily the bottom is padded so it isn't uncomfortable to keep on your lap for extended periods of time.

Should be super easy to mod in case any buttons of the stick should give out over time.
It flips up like an actual arcade cabinet so everything is easily accessible and replacing parts is basically plug and play.

@meppi64 man that's a sick arcade stick for sure! Mayflash adapter is a real godsend: it literally saved me at least a couple hundreds of bucks for a new set of controllers/sticks.

Well I'm not the only one then I always feel so dumb when i do it...

@RetroGamerAndrew
I wish I knew about it before spending another 120€ on the Hori Switch stick to be honest.
Not that it's not a good stick, far from it. But if I have the choice I vastly prefer the feel of the Vewlix one.
Then again, I might end up modding the regular one with Sanwa parts somewhere down the road.
For now, it's back in the box though.

And you never know, a future update might break the adapter compatibility somehow, so I'm not gonna sell the Switch stick just in case.

Oh, also. I'd love to do a Neo Turf Masters tourney on here one day!

Neo Turf Masters would be great. I'm alright at it up to a certain point then the old Scottish bottle kicks in and I collapse.

@meppi64 Thinks "Oh, that doesn't seem so b-" (sees picture with the hands) "Oh, that's huge!" Lol!

I might consider a Mayflash Adapter down the line when I get a PS4 and XB1. Right now, I don't mind having separate sticks for separate systems. Space may soon be an issue, though.

Righty, I've had a nice break from Paris. I'll try my luck tomorrow evening. One...last...try...

Thought I'd have bettered my current score by now but perhaps it's not to be. Stepped away from the game past couple of days to do other things but still tried a run here and there (Paris a regular sight, lol!)

But nevertheless, I have had some Jungle Level 2 and New York Level 4 and still can't seem to improve my score? Wish I had the ability to record my runs and then have a way to actually see what I did differently on my best run from what I am doing now. Not even sure what my preferred pilot is, lol!

Travelling tomorrow so might not get a chance for a final push. Slightly gutted I couldn't break into the top 10 of the Global Leaderboards as was my personal goal on this occasion. But have enjoyed this week's challenge all of the same.

Well done to the two chaps who have now passed my score, pushing me out to 5th on our NL Community rankings. And well played to all who are taking part. Whilst there might only be a half dozen or so of us posting in here. There definitely seems to be more folk actually playing the game and placing scores on the Global Leaderboards. Don't be shy gents, let us know you're taking part.

@masterLEON Yeah, it's 60cm wide and I don't know how much it weighs actually, but it's quite hefty.
For the casing, they used a lot more metal as well and not just for the bottom plate like they usually do for stability only. Got it for €250 as it was priced down from 350 in a local store.
They figured no one was crazy enough to buy such a pricey arcade stick. Well they were wrong!

Tried this evening to get a good run on Aero Fighters after a couple of days of not playing it.
Finished up Picross S and perfected every puzzle after 50 hours total, so it's about time Picross S2 magically appeared on Switch as I'm forced to go back to my 3DS for my nightly fix now...

Didn't have any luck with Aero Fighters. Had one run where I was over 370.000 after stage 3, so that was looking rather good. Yet, what pops up as level 4? Paris... Always Paris.
So it's even worse than I thought. You have to get a perfect run, which only happens once in a blue moon and then make sure you don't make any mistakes during that one go.
The RNG element sucked all the fun out of this one for me.

I'm not done with the game overall, but I won't be playing this mode much in the future, that's for sure.
Went into the regular score attack and what do I get on my first run? Paris pops up as the 5th level.
Pretty sure the game is having a laugh at my expense right there.

458,100
http://ibb.co/fcmTDH
...I hated myself for this, and hate this game for what it does to me.

I think I need to force-cycle the stages again, the points are starting to flatten out for me. I've been trying roughly the same strategy with all the planes. With the exception of Mao Mao (whose time stop helps me get the near simultaneous bonuses in the Jungle and New York stages), Silver (who's so strong but so slow that I just try to speed run the stages), and Steve (who can't do enough damage to be effective at all in a caravan mode). Maybe New York>Jungle is the better way to go instead of Jungle>New York?

I would like to confirm that @masterLEON nailed it! I emailed Hamster to see if there was anything that could be done about the stage select. They had this to say.

Hello,thank you for your mail.
And sorry for inconvenience.

This title changes the location after stage 2, depending on the timing of "Add Credits" operation.
In CARAVAN MODE, "Add Credits" is performed at the same timing every time, so the same stage configuration will be used each time.
If you restart after doing name entry after game over, the random number may change and the stage configuration may change.
Please try to restart after name entry after game over.

Nice to get some insight in to the game.

@masterLEON I really tried to like Silver and Steve but the first, while really good for boss fights, is just way too slow (and this means there's no way you can get a good score in level 3); on the opposite side, the second lacks firepower and has minimal shooting spread (the missiles from maxed-out weapons aren't quite as effective as both the F14 ones and the ninjas's shurikens).
All things considered I'm still rating the 2 women (F14) as the best plane, closely followed by the Ninja (which is more noob-friendly, but a little on the weak side).