Topic: Arcade SHMUP High Score Thread

@Corneel Happy to fund an eShop voucher?

@Moroboshi876 Oh nice! I’ve already got two different stands (one horizontal, one vertical) for my Switch but can see the appeal of the FlipGrip. Hope you get a lot of use from it.

@Lroy Well, I've always been reluctant to buy accessories and additional controllers for my consoles, and tate mode was something I wasn't really interested in, especially because most of the time I use the Switch as a portable, but being able to play vertically on the go, all in my hands, for less than 16 euros shipping included and after seeing an unboxing and the quality of it all... I had to own it.

@Moroboshi876 I'm very close to ordering one myself, lol!

After playing some more Thunder Force IV, I have to say I'm absolutely falling in love with this game. It controls beautiful, has a nice difficulty level that is not too frustrating and the soundtrack... heavenly.

Right now I'm at stage 8 in this weird room with a lot of bad guys and I have no clue how to get out of there alive. Maybe I just need the correct power-up at this point. Stage 5 is the one that is causing me the most trouble however. The part with you hovering above the enemy ship basically requires you to have the mines or something to get through there alive. If you only have the default guns, that bit is hell. With the other guns, it's a breeze.

@Corneel You almost got it! And if we can use all 6 continues we should be able to get far. Right?

@Moroboshi876 All 6 continues can be used... you will need them. However, you do get put back to the beginning of the stage if you use a continue. I don't know how many people are going for this challenge, but I really hope most of us will get to the second half of the game.

@Corneel I hope that too. I've been told it's a more than usually difficult shmup.

Guys, I won't be able to participate in Thunder Force IV challenge.

My left joy-con has the drifting problem, it goes up without touching it, but strangely with Sega Ages games only. Last Summer it happened with Zelda and I sent it to the customer service, and it returned working OK, but now it happens again with these games. It turns menu browsing into a headache, but I can play Out Run because it doesn't affect gameplay (I have a hard time choosing the song though), but in Thunder Force IV it keeps moving the ship upwards and it's unplayable.

I tried the cleaning with cotton trick, but it hasn't solved the problem. So if I can't fix it before the end of the challenge period I won't be able to participate with this particular game.

Hey guys! Not sure why google didn't notify me when you tagged me, but glad to see this is started back up. Edit: Figured out what the deal is with the new format. Looking forward to high scoring again with you guys! I'll start with the Outrun and Aqua Kitty games for now, and perhaps add Thunder Force later on. Bummed I missed out on Pacman!

@bushidosnail Did you ask about the Pinball tourneys? Got an email notification but you may of edited your post. Anyhow, we’ve got a dedicated thread for both these arcade challenges and the pinball competitors over on the Adult Switch Gamers Discord. See @naviandmii forum signature for the link.

Otherwise, just go to PINBALL FX 3 and search tournaments played by friends and you should find us. The active table right now and for the next few days is ADVENTURE LAND. @corneel picked and created this one, so if you have him added, you can even filter active tournaments to created by Corneel. That should bring it up. The password to enter is pikmin. Password (may) change from tournament to tournament. Ok?

Plus: if you have a Pac-man score to submit, i’m sure @corneel can do something with it for an open leaderboard?

@Lroy I did ask, but I figured it out and deleted the post. I'm having a good time with it already! Thanks for the help

I’m just getting started on the challenge, I’ve played a bit on Wildguns but I did put some good time into Outrun. Great game! This is on the 3DS.

@Agent721 21 million points! That's nuts! How did you do it?

Guys, I've been able to fix the drifting problem. It turns out this time it wasn't a dust problem, but I needed to calibrate the sticks, one of those things that almost never solve the problem but they have to tell you just in case, and it worked.

I've been trying Thunder Force IV this morning, and boy, is it difficult. What I don't quite understand is how is the score of the challenge taken into account, because I've reached the third stage, or A third stage. The first four can be played in whatever order you want, so... how can I count my performance and how can I show proof?

Thanks

@Moroboshi876

Thanks! I repeated the same path over & over again and slowly began to memorize the course. Once you know where to break or even downshift, you can go much further. On that ride I didn’t crash once which makes a huge difference. I was breaking a ton over the last two sections of the track.

It’s the first time I beat it on 3DS & I’ve apparently unlocked a modifier mode where the car turns green and breaks better. It looks like other modifications can be added/unlocked too. I think folks were mentioning the Switch version has those as well...glad to see it’s on here too.

@Agent721 Yes, it's based on the 3DS version with some added features. Well, I know it's about memorizing, but no matter how much I play it, I can't do a perfect run in any of the courses. I've beaten it on Mega Drive, but it has to be easier, because I can't beat near arcade-perfect versions like this one. Well, on 3DS I managed to finish course A once. But I haven't been able to get too far on Switch, and I've been playing for hours now, so the "I'm rusty" excuse doesn't work anymore. I memorize parts of it, but sometimes the traffic doesn't appear in the same spot you expected.

I prefer releasing the gas, and only downshift if I go briefly off-road (without crashing), but breaking is something I don't do. Never. It slows me down too much.

@Moroboshi876

I do release the break for most of the early stages but not the latter two on course E as you will go flying. I will also note some of the turning signs are misleading in the later stages as the turns come so quick the signs end up telling you to turn the wrong way.

Traffic is just random luck. Sometimes you get much better traffic than other times. In previous runs I actually got stuck behind 3 cars which were entirely blocking the road, forcing me to go off road slightly or if there’s barriers on the sides of the road, try to barely squeeze between two cars.

Good luck, I’m sure with practice you’ll burst through your current score ceiling.

@bushidosnail Hi! Great to have you join again! It's a shame you missed out on the Pac-man challenge, but I'm sure we'll have many other fun challenges ahead.

@Moroboshi876 Thunder Force IV has a steep learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, getting through the first four levels won't be that difficult. It's one point for completing any of the first four levels, and two points for level five etc. I'm having a blast with it, but it took me more than an hour before I could even finish a level.

The goals for Thunder Force IV are:
1 point - beat one the first four levels
2 points - reach level 5
3 points - reach level 6
4 points - reach level 7
5 points - reach level 7 boss
6 points - reach level 8
7 points - reach level 8 boss
8 points - reach level 9
9 points - reach level 9 boss
10 points - beat the game!

@Corneel Great! Now I understand it. Beat one of the four levels even using up all continues, right? I need all of them to reach the third level for now.

I’m excited to try TF4 tonight as I’m just getting the 8bitdo Megadrive/Genesis reproduction joystick delivered today. My favorite Shmup is R Type and few have mentioned it’s similar, so I’m looking forward to digging in.