Topic: Arcade SHMUP High Score Thread

Mmmmkay... I think I'm done with PULSTAR, tried again for an hour to improve, but maybe I was pushing myself too hard and died too many times and had to restart over and over (and over). So 148330 will be my definitive score, let's stop before burning out . Had some real fun playing this little game
But tbh, I just can't wait to see what game the winner will choose for the next round!

I broke 150k so I'm happy. Well done Mr Leon. You really are the master!

There's been some really impressive scores reached and some movement near the top. I've been playing it a lot today and several times have had a near perfect first stage only to collapse on the 2nd and fall short of my own score. I did actually just beat it there though but only by a few hundred points. Here is the leaderboard as it currently stands with just over 18 hours left to play.

1 - @masterLEON 170,350
2 - @Qualitybeats 166,510
3 - @meppi64 162,070
4 - @GrailUK 154,710
5 - @RetroGamerAndrew 148, 330
6 - @DashKappei 143,970
7 - @Lroy 138,750
8 - Myself 138,310
9 - @Agent721 136,290
10 - @CroRock 124,280
11 - @SeanyP 109,780
12 - @Shiryu 56,040
13 - @daveisbored 51,210

Please let me know if you have taken part and should be on the leaderboard.

The suspense is killing me @masterLeon what is gonna be the next game? Lol!

Can't wait to see the next choice! So many classics to choose from...

How would people feel about running an arcade shmup weekly challenge alongside another classic arcade game from a different genre? Or would two games in the same week be overkill?

@OorWullie Oh my, I picked up the game on Tuesday but didn't even finished the first level, it was just a test run! Unsure I will have time to do a proper session, but there will always be other weeks...

I don't know, maybe it would be a little too much? Speaking for myself, I'd rather like not to split focus on more than 1 game per week (even if I'm not super-competitive)

@RetroGamerAndrew Y'know what. I agree with ya

So are the winners then open to pick a non-shmup arcade game then? Or are we doing shooters exclusively to begin with?

I'm cool with doing one game a week and happy to buy and play anything.

As long as it's an arcade and it has a good score tracking system I'm perfectly fine! Do you have something specific in mind?

@masterLEON Wow!
I spend 2 days working in the garden and playing a bit of Pinball and Picross and look what happens in the meanwhile! lol
Incredible score!
Well today is the last day, right? So I'm gonna give it another try, but I honestly don't see myself breaking 170000, or even get near it. Worth a go though.

@RetroGamerAndrew Me? Nah, no specific game in mind. Just excited to get playing these various types of arcade games for these community challenges. I own loads of 'em on Switch so be ace to get more play out of them, lol!

@meppi64 Good luck buddy. I'm gonna have one last push this evening to try and break 140, 000 but no luck last time I tried.

Mightily impressed with these high scores folks have got. Superb stuff 👏

@OorWullie Kept not getting around to this, but I just tried again and improved a bit:

@Lroy Yeah you too!

I was expecting the score to be bettered, but not immediately by this much.
Not sure what I'm actually supposed to try to get up there at this point, really.

And yeah, I'm fine with anything really when it comes to the next game.
If I end up choosing, it would probably be one that I played tons if the passt already as you'd normally go for a favourite. And I must say, I enjoy playing something different in a special way like this, so I'll remain silent on the picks.

Hmm, something strange happened that I hadn't seen before.
When killing the first boss I somehow ended up with a score of 75.000 which was really surprising to me as I didn't do anything special. Just tried to play as effectively as possible and even missed one target that I could get by bombing, but didn't do.
Normally I end up with 65-68.000 or so by the end of the level. Wonder what made that happen...

Anyway, not the top score (yet ), but getting closer.

Thanks, everyone! It's awesome seeing everybody keen on pushing themselves further and further, it's starting to feel like the old arcade days! And it spurred me on a bit, too! So thanks again for the motivation!

But if you can, keep at it! With this, and every other game after, we'll be able to look back at this flood of scores and say, "I remember when we did that, good times!" And people who happen to give the Caravan a try will see these scores, and see the same names. That's what we call a legacy!

@OorWullie Yeah man, I know what you mean. It probably would have been ages until I would even have had the motivation to pick up Pulstar, seeing as I didn't get it on launch week. Probably the majority of us here, too. But, we have you to thank for setting this up! And more games will get the attention they deserve, even if they're 20+ years old.

@Qualitybeats Video will be up later today, before I go to work.

@RetroGamerAndrew I restarted for every little nitpick, not just deaths, for 3 hours yesterday. Probably saw the 2nd stage a total of 5 times in that period. Shortly after I said, "Ah, whatever happens, happens." I end up getting my score, lol. Sometimes it helps to take a step back, or loosen up the restrictions we put on ourselves, at times like this.

@Lroy If I'm still on top by the end, I'd still be undecided. I do feel like a vertical shooter for sure, though.

@meppi64 75000 after the 1st boss, that's a feat! That deserves a hand...or arm

@masterLEON
I really have no idea how that came about either.
All I can think of is that I must have destroyed something perhaps by bombing, that I keep missing otherwise. But then again, I think I played that run very conservatively which means, just go for the enemies, take them out asap, no crazy things about leaving certain weapons behind or anything like that.
Couldn't do it again after that. Always hit 68 and something. One time I hit just over 70 and still didn't know what I had done differently.

All I can think off is killing the snake thing that comes out of the boss super quick, or perhaps shooting down extra arms of the guys in the corridor before the boss, but I don't even think that was it.
In cases such as this, I wish we had a record function of 30 minutes like the PS4, just to see what might have popped that.

Then again, I might just be overthinking all this like you said. Trying to go for something that's not there and just play and see what happens. lol