Topic: Arcade SHMUP High Score Thread

The Nintendolife Leaderboards

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.

There is a 2nd leaderboard underneath the weekly challenge one which will remain open to be challenged at any time. For further details please refer to the Leaderboard thread.

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.

I've copied some names of those who I know like playing shoot-em-ups, I got them from the comments under shooter reviews and also those who commented in the 'Best SHMUP' thread. Also not forgetting the resident retro reviewer Dave Fear and of course Damo. Apologies if I've missed anyone but you're more than welcome to enter too. Hopefully there will be a few of us taking part at least. It's gives us a good excuse to play our shooters more and maybe even make us a little better at them in the process. Hope to see you all here.

First game of the Weekly Challenge

Pulstar

Rules - Caravan Mode, must be started from stage 1

My high score

Mr Mustard - 137, 680

Currently 10th place on all time leaderboard

To be the one who gets to choose next week's weekly challenge your score must be submitted by the 15th of February 11.59pm UK time. Any high scores submitted after will be added to the games Caravan Mode All Time Top 5

Eligible games

Aero Fighters 2
Aero Fighters 3
Alpha Mission 2
Blazing Star
Last Resort
Pulstar
Shock Troopers 1&2 (why not? )
Zed Blade
Dragons Blaze
Gunbarich
Gunbird
Samurai Aces
Strikers 1945 I & II
Tengai
Zero Gunner 2-

Modern Shooters
Danmaku Unlimited 3
Sky Force Reloaded
Steredenn: Binary Stars

New releases will be added once available. Samurai Aces releases next week and we know Sol Divide and R-type is on the way. I own every retro shoot-em-up released so far and I'll buy any new release within days of it appearing on the Eshop,so at the least there will always be one person to challenge

@Lroy @NinChocolate @samuelvictor @KIRO @wasilewski @MeloMan @EmirParkreiner @joey302 @tanookisuit @Shiryu @trikxy @ONLYUSEmeFEET @FX102A @Agent721 @HauntedNostril @JasmineDragon @JayJ @meppi @masterLEON @CptProtonX
@Megal0maniac @daveisbored @CroRock @SuperWeird @Bart_T @pbb76 @bluedogrulez @RetroGamerAndrew @RR529 @scubydo @Jack_Goetz @Damo @SnowSilence @gcunit @Krull @Ralizah @Curlynob

Oh yes! This is fantastic stuff. Expect me to be bringing up the rear with my low-scores but it will be a blast all the same.

Just need to post to watch topic.

Anyone linked above: please feel free to add me as a friend on your Switch 🍻

Great plan!

I bet my scores will be lower than yours.

Hm, something to work on this weekend

Cheers for the replies. I think for the all time high scores we should just submit whichever ones we think are decent for any of the eligible games and then go from there. If anyone knows of a website we can use to store our scores and is simple to edit that would be great. I can just leave the link for it in my first post.

If this idea takes off and we form a merry band, I'd love to see it expand to include all arcade releases on Switch regardless of genre. For example, we could include games in the Namco Museum which has a very good high-score leaderboard if I recall correctly? Or we could include games like METAL SLUG etc.

Anyway, had a quick go on PULSTAR in Caravan mode. My score is currently 26th. I'll have to use my phone to take a pic of my Switch once I am happy with the final score I manage later in the week. I know you can take screenshots on the Switch itself but no idea how to then get these onto here, lol!

Braw Idea! I don’t have too many and I suck somewhat but will join in. Fun idea.

Neat idea, but I doubt I'll win at this lol. I love these games and I can do pretty well but the people who master these games always amaze me.

@Lroy I'd like to see some pinball competition happening, myself.

@samuelvictor Hey, don't let that stop you from playing! I can't be good at every game Case in point, I think I've only played Pulstar a grand total of an hour and change years ago, half on MVS and half on MAME. So I'm basically starting from scratch again. But, I don't have much going on this weekend, so I can't wait to dig in!

BE ATTITUDE FOR GAINS!

@OorWullie hey mate thanks for the mention, that's a great idea! As long as arcade shooters are involved you can count me in (*)
Grats on your 10th place btw... I feel a little rusty right now, if you look way down below you will find me in the mid-thirty ranks with a measly 60k-ish score.... Definitely need to get back to my workout

@Lroy I LOVE your suggestion, because of (*).

I took a crack at this last night... and did spectacularly badly
Will try again when I get a chance and hopefully be able to post something a bit more respectable.

@masterLEON Yeah, Pinball would be cool. To my shame, I've barely touched PINBALL FX 3 since downloading it. Need that extra push of friendly competition/sense of playing it along with other people to get me to play it I think ☺️

I think you can grab them right from the SD card, which of course involves removing it from Switch & reading it on PC... and being the lazy ass that I am I know I'll end up taking a snapshot myself

@RetroGamerAndrew Considering some fella on this forum is having issues with his SD card having removed it from the Switch, I'll be leaving mine exactly where it is.

Really love the idea. It gives a bit of extra incentive to play the games even more and get deeper into them, just like in the arcades back in the day.
I've just joined a similar thing for pinball tables on another board, but I don't know it they will be able to get enough interest. Once I get a decent score, I'll be sure to grab a screenshot and post it here.

I'd love to to games for old systems as well. Crazy Taxi on Dreamcast and Sega Rally on Sega Saturn come to mind.

I would love to compete as well but the only game out of the eligible games I have is Gunbarich. Maybe there could be some kind of challenge thread that includes all kinds of games, old and new? Get highest score, be fastest, beat level without dying, etc.

@Lroy They put their SD card inside a phone which apparently formatted the card so it could be used on the phone. You should have no problems using the SD card with PC and copying the images from there. I've done it many times with both Switch and 3DS and also used the same method to transfer files to bigger card.

@meppi It'd be awesome if Crazy Taxi showed up on the Switch. But in all good faith, I'd have to bow out of the competition because of reasons

This was 9 years ago. I was...pudgier back then >_<