You might have noticed that besides many other things, the Nintendo Switch is becoming quite a treasure trove for shmups both old and new.
Thankfully it seems we're not likely to run out of aliens or evil dictators to shoot down any time soon on Nintendo's current console, so to spice things up Nintendo Life community member OorWullie has decided to organise a community event based around the timed high score challenge modes (also known as 'caravan') - something we're keen to support officially.
We'll let the man himself explain:
With all the great arcade classic shoot-em-ups we have on Switch I thought it would be fun to have a place to show off our high scores and try to beat each others. I was thinking we could have a weekly challenge too, where we pick a specific game and whoever has the highest score on it at the end of the week gets to choose the next one. I've thought up some loose rules to get us started and we'll see how it goes.
For the weekly challenge, I think we should keep it limited to Caravan Mode only, where we have 5 minutes to set as high a score as possible. This should keep things pretty tight and give us all a chance of winning. I'll choose the first game to get things started and whoever is in first place in 7 days from now gets to select the next game. Obviously we won't all have the same games but I'll keep a record of the weekly challenge top scores and include the link on this post, so they are still there to be beaten if you do buy that game in future.
For all time high scores, we can use High Score Mode with the Hamster games. The Psikyo shooters unfortunately don't have a similar mode so it'll just have to be taken from normal play. No shenanigans please.
To have your high score registered it should be accompanied with a screenshot of your place on the Hamster leaderboard. For Psikyo shooters a screenshot of the in-game leaderboard. Try and remember to put your initials or whatever you use instead of AAA like I always do. Also give me a mention when posting your score and screenshot so I know to edit it in.
So if you think you got what it takes to be the best of the Nintendo Life best, head on over to our forum and submit your finest score! This week the challenge is Pulstar's Caravan Mode from stage 1. Also note that we don't take any Billy Mitchell style VHS shenanigans here, so play fair.
Of course, we're not saying you have to play to the sound of Kenny Loggins "Danger Zone"... but we're not expressly forbidding it, either. Good luck, pilots!
Comments 36
I'd join this but it would require me wasting money double dipping as I don't buy them on Switch because I have the real arcade cabinet and the cartridge boards for that instead.
Wow, I didn't expect anything like this to come from it. Got a big smile on my face now haha. Cheers
Great idea @OorWullie ! If one of the weeks ends up being for a game I own I'll dive in.
Wonder if these kind of community events could work with other genres too? We got quite the veriety on Switch with more to come.
Nice way to gather more participants. I don't remember if there have been other articles that "advertise" threads but this one deserves it. I guess it helps that the person who wrote this article is passionate about shoot 'em ups.
I'm not that great at these kind of games and only have Gunbarich which isn't really even shmup but I hope others have fun. I personally hope we get another thread that isn't as restrictive with the game choices.
Sweet!
Sorry, but I only play such music when playing Ace Combat.
Also “Mighty Wings” is the superior track.
As a retrogamer I totally support this kind of events, let's do it (and fail miserably)! As per other posters' suggestions It would be nice to extend this on other "competitive" arcade games... let's try and see
Great idea, shame i'm awful at those games
Wow, we're now official aye? Sweet. Let's hope plenty of folk get involved and that we can keep this going and bring in all genres of arcade games available on Switch 👏
Looks like I'll be needing to purchase Pulstar after all. Thanks OorWullie for creating and Shiryu for highlighting it! Been a big fan of the latter since his YouTube days featuring SNES games.
Haha. I thought that it was an actual Top Gun game that was announced.
@OorWullie
Great idea! I’m onboard!
@OorWullie enjoy Sir, I know it'll be a success, have fun!
Nicely played!
It's a grand idea! Thanks @OorWullie for inviting me to the forum thread. Though I've only just started getting into 'shmups' this'll certainly give me the incentive to get the most out of these games, as I've never been much of a high score chaser before.
Excellent idea! I love shmups, but am terrible at them.
I'd be in but no skyforce reloaded which is THE best shootem up on the Switch.
@mattmayatt Hey, you misspelled RXN -Raijin- on your reply!
No reason to keep this one for Caravan only, I am sure we can set up multiple events, including for new games.
@Shiryu Random Q, know why that games no longer on the eShop? (Least UK's it isnt). Hasn't been available for a long while now but is still in my wishlist.
@XenoShaun Which one? Sometimes games get pulled out of eShop for no given reason only to come back later again with no explanation. Is RXN -Raijin- gone? I am really happy I got it day one, I was afraid I would have to make a Japanese account just to get it.
@Shiryu Yeah RXN has been off the store for a while. I didn't get initially as was quite a high price for my budget at the time.
@XenoShaun Let us hope it returns but if you really want it It is easy to setup a different region account so you can grab it from Japan. The game has English subtitles even on that version.
@OorWullie Count me in whenever Sky Force becomes the weekly challenge! ;D
@Shiryu That's good to know. I've made a few purchases off the JP eShop (Monster Hunter XX and Kaizoku Musou 3), so shouldn't be an issue.
Nice! I may give it a go.
(whispering)...danger zone...
@Shiryu #13 exactly 😂
All I came here for was post something about Archer 😂
I think I haven’t seen that episode yet though, it’s weird to see Sterling give Cyril a high five lol
P.S.: I was sure you’d be the one to propose something like this, I was kinda surprised that it wasn’t you ahahahah
i wish this was a handsome gamer contest...
Nice to see a shmup community forming on NintendoLife.
It's really nice that being a Nintendo fan and being a shmup fan finally fits together after the long time where having a TG16/Saturn/Dreamcast/360 was mandatory to have a healthy selection of shmups on a console.
What an awesome idea! I haven't got Pulstar but I'm definitely in when we hit Blazing Star or Gunbird!
@OorWullie Once again, great idea, thanks for organising this mate!
@oorwullie great idea mate, count me in. I've double dipped on almost every shmup for Switch so far - own them on Saturn Dreamcast playstation etc. already. Now if only they'd release Raiden Project/DX and I might actually get close to winning one time!
Too busy with Pinball FX to join in on this, but this is a great idea. Have fun!
@Ponyfox
Hey, I'm always looking for Sky Force tournament competition.
SW-3673-9514-1801
@Chrismakem @Prof_Yoshtonics Cheers for taking part. I've made a separate thread for the current top 10 as I think it is but am probably missing a couple of names from it. Please let me know if your score should be on there.
https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/nintendo-switch/the_official_nintendolife_arcade_leaderboards
@wasilewski @Jack_Goetz @TheIronChimp Cheers guys. Hope to see you involved soon.
@zipmon Cheers. I started playing Blazing Star again this week and now that I'm more focused on scoring than just beating the game, I'm looking at it a lot differently than before. Brilliant game! I'm sure we won't be waiting long for it to appear as the 'weekly challenge'.
You all can be my wing man any day.
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