Topic: Arcade SHMUP High Score Thread

@OorWullie

Thanks for doing the weekly scores but I don’t think you saw my last score posted on Friday for Strikers 1945. Please update at your convenience, I posted a regular and 1CC score.

Thanks!

@Agent721 Yeah sorry about that . I haven't been at home the last couple of nights ,just got back earlier. Going to make up the leaderboard after I've had my dinner.

@OorWullie

I finally played properly Metal Slug. Watched some videos and browsed about 20 pages back and found some good tips which greatly improved my gameplay.

@OorWullie

No worries!

Just updated the final leaderboard for Strikers 1945. Apologies for being later than normal with this one. I've been catching up with friends before I head back to Thailand.Finally booked my flights today ,flying on the 11th which is a bit further away than I'd hoped to go but it was by far the cheapest date.

Anyway ,I've been out the loop a little the last few days. I've been playing and struggling with Dragons Blaze. I probably should get playing some Sengoku 3 and try to better my score. I'm really not sure how the end of stage bonus score is handed out.When I set my high score I had lost a life and didn't have full health,other times I've finished the stage with both lives intact and no slower than my best runs.Ive broken 150k 4 times now and each time felt like I could have done a lot better.

@Zkibu Added your Metal Slug score to the open leaderboard.Well played!

@Wasilewski Added your score to the Danmaku Unlimited 3 leaderboard,also well played

I'm giving Sengoku 3 a go this week. Right now i'm somewhere in the 30s on the leaderboard; haven't quite cracked 100k yet, but only made a couple runs so far. What characters have y'all been focusing on to maximize scores?

@the_shpydar
I think you'll crack 100k if you just beat the level (China) in time. I have currently about 125K points and I am using Kagetsura but I think that more top players are using Kongoh.

@OorWullie No worries!

Balls! Just had the old spamming 'B' score hadn't registered balls-up happen. My best score so far too: 77, 800. Would have put me just behind @bushido at 50th/51st on Global Leaderboards.

Oh well, will try again.

EDIT All is well, I closed the game and restarted it. Managed to top my score and it registered.

I'm currently at 84, 600 and 42nd on the Global Leaderboard.

I can't seem to finish the China Level boss off in time. Will keep at it.

EDIT AGAIN Now up to 36th with a score of 88, 400. Still haven't managed to defeat the boss though, lol!

@OorWullie thanks buddy!

I noticed you mention Dragon Blaze - I bought it last week and only played it a few times because I'm really into Danmaku Unlimited 3 at the minute. Grazing long chains of bullets is so satisfying.

@masterLEON I have Namco Museum, I'll sit out this week as I don't have Sengoku 3. Have fun everyone!

Some tips for what they're worth.

The first wave of enemies are your best chance of racking up a huge combo. I've managed to rack up a combo of 35 from them. This earns a nice little bonus at the end of the first stage.

You should be clearing the first section in no more than 80 seconds. Take 90 seconds and you'll struggle to get started on the 2nd stage. I've managed it in 70 seconds before with a score of 41k.

The boss can be taken down in 30 seconds but you have to stop him from doing his triple jump thing. When I set my high score I had taken him down with over a minute left on the clock.

For me,Japan is the best stage to choose next. Italy takes too long to get going .

As for what gives you the 20k or 40k stage bonus ,I have no idea. It doesn't seem to be remaining lives/health/time or combo. I really have no idea. I've reached the end of stage with a minute remaining ,both lives intact and half a bar of health with a 20+ combo and was only awarded 20k.

This is just an idea, but does anyone think it's worth having a new, 1 credit challenge for Tengai and Strikers 1945 at some stage? Maybe when we run out of games? Might be fun, we could keep the existing leaderboards as well. I'd love to change the settings on my Switch to 1 credit, but I'd never beat the existing scores, either on here or on my Switch!

As I said, just a thought, and I'm very grateful for these challenges as they;ve made me learn games I never would've otherwise

@monkeyspasm Definitely.As soon as I have a chance I'm going to make a 1 credit open leaderboard for those. Some have already submitted scores but I've kind of lost track. I've reset my leaderboard for Strikers 1945 already.

Dragon Blaze is frustrating me. I absolutely love the game but man is it tough. I've been sticking to 1 credit and normal difficulty but I can't make it past the 2nd boss. I'm so tempted to lower the difficulty but I can't bring myself to do it. 148k is my best score on it so far.

That's brilliant, thank you @Oorwullie

I'm the same, Dragon Blaze is superb but so tough. There's a lot to scoring, with the extra mechanic of separating the dragon as well as charging shots.

I love Psikyo shooters. At first they seem unfair if you're used to bullet hell games with small hitboxes, but after playing a while (and this is only based on playing since these challenges!), you realise it pays to play aggressively, and bombing is actively encouraged. What I also love is learning the traits of the different characters you can play as. These games are much deeper than you think at first glance, with tons of replay value!

Having said all that, I'm rubbish haha. But having tons of fun!

I mounted a TV in my games room on a 360 degree rotating bracket just for these games

I noted the fact that the Switch has reportedly been hacked with interest. Usually, I'd be excited at getting emulators to run on it, but honestly, now I'd rather support the likes of Hamster and Zerodiv in their efforts. I've had these games for years on a MAME cab, but I've only grown to love them since buying them on Switch. £6 a pop for absolute classics with plenty of options is fine by me.

@OorWullie I don't know what triggers them, but I get extra enemies sometimes on the China stage. Probably because I'm trying to drag out the combos. In any case, I still don't see myself touching your score. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Dragon Blaze as the next challenge, hint, hint.

@monkeyspasm I think when we get commercial emulators (HAMSTER) or even remasters (ZeorDiv) that run great, and is backed and supported by the original companies or IP holders, that's when we really start appreciating these games that we wouldn't be able to play in their original forms otherwise. And then we don't mind plunking down the cash for them...and all of a sudden you have 10-50+ of these in your library.

@Zkibu Thanks.

I managed to really boost my score tonight, i'm i think just one or two spots below you as of last check (somewhere around #13 or so with close to 125k? I forget exactly at the moment).

I find using Falcon works best for me, i'm just able to his combos with him quicker. Kongoh for me moves too slowly for my style of play, but i get why people would use him.

If i can shave off some time here and there (especially for the China boss), i should be able to get even higher. With the boss i often end up either running out of time or getting killed by rushing and getting sloppy (which obviously tanks the whole run since no end-level bonus).

I've added the current standings to the leaderboard thread minus 1 name.

,"Stevie" followed by Japanese letters.I forget your NL name sorry.Please let me know or if someone can remind me

@OorWullie LOL, my couple of test runs to get the feel of the game ended up in the list (last) . Unfortunately I don't think I have time to play this week to do well in this game at all.

Those who have played both, Sengoku 3 and Wulverblade, what did you think of Wulverblade? I have had that for a while and I though it was great and I personally like it much more than Sengoku 3 (which, based on very short amount of playing time, seems good as well).

As for Dragon Blaze, it's though and definitely different from other Psikyo shmups I have played. Kinda combines Psikyo with Cave, with hard parts from both. I have done some test runs to get the feel, but it feels quite intimidating to try to learn "quickly". Hit-box is quite small in that one, but unlike DU3, it's not clearly shown to player as bright spot. Not sure why this is different from other Psikyo/Zerodiv Shmups, but the score resets on each continue, which means 1cc is the only thing which works if playing for score (multiple credits only if you want to get to later stage for practice or just want to play the game for fun and see all the stages...)

@OorWullie It's @hybridseed