Topic: Arcade SHMUP High Score Thread

Think this is about as good as I'm gonna get on Aqua Kitty before the deadline. Cleared a couple of stages on TFIV, but honestly just wasn't digging this one. The real surprise was how much I ended up enjoying Outrun, and am going to keep working on my score a little bit before times up.

@BushidoSnail Too bad Thunder Force IV didn't click with you, although you are not the only one to say so during this challenge. Looking forward to find out if you are able to beat your current Out Run highscore.

Also a friendly reminder to everyone that the current set of challenges ends tomorrow at 23:59 CET. Be sure to post your scores or improvements before that time.

Check the current standings here.
And the highscores for Out Run and Aqua Kitty here.

Thunder Force IV IMO is a flawed masterpiece. It definitely has it's problems, but the stage, enemy design is epic and really creative.

When I bought on Switch, I hadn't ever played it and after those initial runs I really didn't see why it has been so praised and highly thought of. I felt I'm always dying to some cheap, unfair death, which I didn't have any time to react to was especially something I didn't like. Eventually it started to click, especially during this challenge and the main reason was that I started to remember the stages better, where the enemies come and learn some better tactics in different situations. Suddenly it didn't feel that hard at all and it came even more easier when I started to use save points in practicing, which speed up the memorisation process a lot.

So I hope even with some initial dislike or disappointment, some of you give the game a real change at a later date as I believe it starts to click after you get past the initial steep learning curve.

Oh and I really like the fact that the difference stages are not too different what comes to difficulty, even that last full stages are not much harder than the early ones after you start learn them (just remember to use those save points for that practicing!). This is very uncommon in shmups, which usually get more and more difficult very quickly.

Oh and if some of you didn't notice, if you go to the rankings from main menu, you can watch the replays of the top scores and learn a lot, get ideas etc.

@GFoyle I'm sure you're right, but I'm not going to make it on time for this challenge, so today I'll be trying some more Out Run and tonight I'm staying late in order to attack Aqua Kitty, a game I had played before, but not arcade mode, and this changes a lot, because I had never played with the 1 life limit.

In Out Run I'm unable to finish any course, at least for now. I did it on 3DS, but this version has to be even closer to the arcade somehow, because I can't. I keep crashing stupidly and restarting after making a stupid mistake in parts you already mastered is tiresome, but best case scenario I lose because I just play it safe when I'm in stage 3 or 4, and running slower punishes you anyway because you lose seconds, it's just you don't see it as painfully as when you see your car crash.

It's been fun to take part in these challenges one month more, anyway. But it hurts when you abandon other games to focus on these ones and the results are so bad.

Yeah, just remember this is just for fun and idea for 4 different games, 1 month was to make it flexible and free enough that people wouldn't have huge pressure only to play challenge game during the period. Of course if you decide to play all 4 or even 3 and want to do good, then it will take time. I suggest selecting maybe in 1 or 2 per challenge if you feel that you don't have enough time playing other games or feeling pressure, which might kill the fun at some point.

I have been focusing mostly on TF4 during this challenge, other games I have been playing really casually, enough to get some result, but not aiming for top. Even TF4 haven't been that super serious during these weeks.

Outrun... that freaking random traffic gets me every time. Not huge fan as I think that element plays too big of a part in doing well.

@GFoyle I think you're right. Next time I'll stick to 2 games tops. I feel the pressure otherwise.

Out Run is a game I love, despite not being really good at it. Of course I don't have hundreds of hours of experience, but a couple dozens maybe. Anyway yes, a traffic that is not that random, but sometimes it is, hurts a lot. It's good for the variety, but can destroy a good run in a matter of seconds.

I think the random is okay for casual play, but from score chaining point of view it sucks as I feel it dimishes the skill factor too much. Of course you need to play the game well to finish in any case, but getting bad traffic in bad spots multiple time can mean you won't finish at all (let say all lanes are taken in some difficult turn, you don't much options to slow down and wait or overtake offroad if there is no obstacles there (which hurts your score). Was it 1mil extra for every second left in the end? Even one such random bad traffic means huge difference in score the very least even if you manage to the end.

But anyway, good driving/playing anybody who managed to finish it even once! Even without traffic it's not very easy...

btw. it's pretty much 1:1 with the arcade version I think, I just tried the original arcade version last weekend and the difference was only the fact that it has a wheel and pedals

@GFoyle And the lack of Ferrari's logo LOL

But yes, even when I managed to finish the A course on 3DS, and they said it was the arcade version (even Switch version is supposed to be based on 3DS's), whenever I tried the arcade version I found it harder. Saturn version, which was at that time the most faithful console port according to a lot of people, felt harder than 3D Out Run.

I think the 3ds was done by M2 as the Switch version and if anybody can replicate arcade version, it's them. I would think 3ds is pretty much same as the Switch version in terms of difficulty. The traffic has so huge effect on difficulty that it can be really hard to tell whether some version is more difficult than another.

@GFoyle I must be rustier than I thought, then LOL

I've beaten it twice now, but can't seem to finish by more than a second or two so I'll submit this before I forget.

@bushidosnail Nicely done! I’ve put the least amount of time into OUTRUN and TFIV for this challenge and it shows. Can’t finish OUTRUN and haven’t even beaten a boss in TFIV, lol!

Fortunately, I’ve had a blast playing WILD GUNS RELOADED although I’ve not managed to get very far following the designated path. Actually, got further picking random order. AQUA KITTY UDX has been a real discovery for me. Played that one the most over this challenge and intend to keep on with it even after the competition ends.

Aqua Kitty's score was arcade normal, right? In leaderboards it's combined always, I can't change it.

I embed my current hi score anyway

@Lroy Thanks! I skipped Wild Guns because I discovered this a few weeks into it already and didn't think I'd have enough time for all 4, but it looks like a lot of fun. I enjoyed Aqua Kitty a lot as well, but for some reason Outrun just really let me sort of zen out and relax weaving in and out of traffic. After playing so much Forza Horizon and such I scoffed at the idea of a simple arcade racer but I'm super glad I gave it a go.

I'm not going to have time tomorrow, so this is final for Aqua Kitty...

Wild Guns Reloaded - armored train boss

Thunder Force IV - stage 6

@corneel Posted my scores along with photos over on the Arcade Competitions thread on Adult Switch Gamers Discord. Will edit this post, probably tomorrow, adding in the scores and photos here. Okay?

——

OUTRUN.

AQUA KITTY.

WILD GUNS.

THUNDERFORCE IV. No where. Barely played it and didn’t defeat a single boss, lol!

My finals scores:
Thunder Force 4: Stage 9 end boss with 2 credits (1 credit to stage 9, almost to the boss)
Aqua Kitty: 80 777
Wild Guns: Second stage boss (didn't get into this early enough to get anywhere really)
Outrun: 56 270 070 (bad...)

Pics posted on discord. TF4 was by far the favourite game of the bunch. Really got into it during the challenge and it was my main focus all the time. Still I didn't play it as much as I have some games in the past challenges.

@Corneel I think I didn't take a screenshot of it, but the first day I did defeat a boss and even two of the first four in TFIV. I believe that's a point

@Lroy Or you could do it same like @GFoyle and just post your result here and the pictures on Discord. That is maybe a bit less work for you

@Moroboshi876 That certainly is a point! Let me gather all the results and I'll post the final results soon.