Topic: Arcade SHMUP High Score Thread

@Daftbomb

I think Dragon Blaze is a lot better game. I have tried to get into Zero Gunner 2, but it's definitely not one of my favorites from the Psikyo shooters, far from it. It's not bad, but IMO there is better shooters for switch out there... Dragon Blaze is super hard though, but good thing there is that it has kinda infinite possibilities to get better score as it's kinda impossible to max it out.

As for Ikaruga, I'm going to skip this challenge. I just don't have the time/don't want to put that effort now to this what it would require to do well.

@Daftbomb A couple of the ACA titles that I have and enjoy very much are Shock Troopers, Last Resort and Blazing Star, so many great titles to choose from!

@GFoyle I like both Dragon Blaze and Zero Gunner 2, probably prefer Zero Gunner as the difficulty is far less intense than most other Psikyo games..

@GFoyle @hybridseed thanks both for your suggestions. Curious what everyones favourite retro shooter so far is (obviously not counting the legendary Ikaruga which deserves an accolade all to itself)

@Daftbomb For me it has to be Strikers 1945... It's Bullet Hell Heaven😂

@Daftbomb I know the feeling about counting ships at night! I have a couple of problem areas on stage 2 and I keep on running through them in my head trying to work out ways to keep the combo going.

As for other games, I love both Dragon Blaze and Zero Gunner 2 (and Gunbird - with Gunbird 2 supposedly coming this month...). However, most of Psikyo's Switch re-releases have a bit of a problem when it comes to highscore chasing in that no matter what your settings were, they record all highscores in one table. Which is fine if you only ever play with standard settings, but if you ever add extra lives or want to work your way up to higher difficulties from easy, you're going to end up with a very skewed table.

For that reason, I'd recommend Zero Gunner 2 for score chasing. I don't remember exactly how its tables are set up, but I think it has different ones per difficulty and only records your score on the standard three life setting. Plus, I think it's bloody awesome. Movement takes a bit of getting used to, but once you're over that it becomes a really interesting mechanic that, for me, sets it apart in a good way from anything else. It also features the most comically bad water effects I've seen in a game ever.

One other I'd recommend for score chasing would be ACA's Aero Fighter 2. Decent enough shmup, although not as good as any of Psikyo's efforts, but its online tables, caravan mode and high score mode make it a good option. Someone else mentioned Blazing Star, and I'd definitely second that as among the best sidescrollers available.

@Daftbomb My favourite 2 are Tengai and the original Strikers 1945,love everything about them.The difficulty is spot on with them too, challenging but not overly so. Dragon Blaze is amazing but man is it tough. I'm not sure I've ever played a tougher shooter than that bad boy. Like @riccyjay says though the leaderboards aren't great. The original Strikers 1945 does have its own leaderboard for each difficulty level though,unlike Tengai and Dragon Blaze. I can't remember if Gunbird and Samurai Aces do. Those are another 2 I'd highly recommend though as they're great fun to play. I just reset my leaderboard on them all and only go for single credit runs now.

As for Neo Geo shooters ,Pulstar ,Aero Fighters 2 and Blazing Star are the best I think. Pulstar is especially good. We have open leaderboards for those so if you do purchase any of them there will be scores for you to chase.

If I was to recommend just 3,I'd say go for

Tengai
Strikers 1945
Pulstar

Yeah, it's a bit annoying that the leaderboards in most psikyo games aren't separate for each difficulty, but I don't think it's that big of deal, you can reset your scores after doing the initial practicing with easier difficulties. Though, I don't think using the easier difficulties for practicing is a very good idea as you might pick up habits, which do not work in normal difficulty (I wish these games would have some better options for practicing, like choosing levels or even having restore points like Hamster ports do).

Thanks for the recommendations folks, starting to doubt id have the time to devote to another game - ikaruga has truly sunk its claws into me 😖

Just got my first 80 chain! Pretty chuffed with that, though I see the bar has been set yet again on the tourney leaderboards... really need one of those quick reset buttons to abuse

EDIT: @Riccyjay damn that was a close one, just edged out in front by a tiny bit, this is great fun playing with you all

Gonna try this once more.
If anyone wants a Steam code for Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, let me know as I have a code I won't use myself.
This isn't a temporary early look code, it's the full game.

@meppi64 I was about to buy it a couple of days ago since I play quite a lot on Steam (especially since I don't have my Switch back yet.....) so if you don't have any use for it I'll gladly take it, but let me know how can I repay you.

Should anyone be looking for some SHMUP recommendations I have an ever-growing list on my Steam curator page (https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27678348-RetroGaming-Caf%C3%A9/list/16853/)
Unfortunately it's written in Italian, but I think it could be of some use anyway

@RetroGamerAndrew
Don't worry, I don't want anything in return. I just didn't want to post in in another topic since I'd rather give it to someone in our little group, even though I've been absent for a while now...

Could you give me an email address to send the code to. Once I have it, you can edit it out again so you don't get any spam from possible lurkers.

As for STG recommendations, there are just so many.

The ones that come to mind for me are:
Batsugun (Arcade/Saturn)
Layer Section/RayForce/Layer Section (Arcade/Saturn/PS2 in a Taito Legends pack)
ESP Ra.De (Arcade only sadly enough)
Raiden 2 and DX (Arcade/PSone)
Raiden Fighters Series (Arcade/360 Japan/USA only)
Super Aleste (Super Nintendo)
Tatsujin/Truxton (Arcade/Mega Drive/PC-Engine)
Dodonpachi (Arcade/Saturn/PSone/360 Japan as an unlockable in Instant Brain)
Mars Matrix (Arcade/Dreamcast)
GigaWing (especially the first one) (Arcade/Saturn)
Strikers Series (Arcade/Saturn/PSone/PS2/NeoGeo/PSP/Switch)
Bullet Soul Infinite Burst (360 Japan/USA only. It's region free though)
Progear no Arashi (Arcade only)
Dangun Feveron (Arcade/PS4/Xbox One Japan/USA only)
DoDonPachi DaiOuJou (Arcade/PS2 Japan)
Eschatos (360)
Summer Carnival '92 Alzadick (PC-Engine)
Final Soldier (PC-Engine)
Gate of Thunder (PC-Engine)
Winds of Thunder/Lords of Thunder (PC-Engine)
Gunhed/Blazing Lasers (PC-Engine)
Summer Carnival 93: Nexzr (PC-Engine)
Soldier Blade (PC-Engine)
Super Star Soldier (PC-Engine)
Xevious: Fardraut Saga (brilliant forgotten Xevious game!) (PC-Engine)

And way too many great ones I'm forgetting right now.
Not to mention the whole Cave STG collection on Xbox 360:

If you got the money and the willpower to grab a 360, preferably Japanese one so you can play all of them as well as hunt down one of those white Cave Shooting Collection boxes, don't sleep on it.
It's an absolute treasure trove of shoot em ups right there. Not to mention nearly a dozen other fantastic Japanese STG releases from other companies will then be available to you.

If hunting down a Japanese 360 is a bit too much to ask, you can play quite a bit of them on a European or US system as well since several releases were region free:

Disc Based Region Free Shmups:
Bullet Soul (J)
Bullet Soul Infinite Burst (J)
Dodonpachi Resurrection Deluxe Ed (PAL) <does not work on NTS-J console>
Dodonpachi Saidaioujou (J)
Eschatos (J)
Espgaluda II Black Label (J) <standard edition is region free, not the limited editions I think and certainly not the re-release>
Game Center Love Plus Pengo (J)
Ginga Force (J)
Mushi Mushi Pork & Pink Sweets (J)
Mushihami-Sama Futari Ver 1.5 (J)
Shooting Love 10th Anniversary (J)

And you also have Akai Katana and Death Smiles 1 released in Europe as well by Rising Star games.

Edit. Oh and if anyone decides to go for a Japanese 360 for all the Cave games, be sure to pick up that big box instead of the separate releases. The packaging might not be as pretty since there are 5 or 6 discs in one box, alongside a ton of boxed audio CDs, but it does include a DLC disc as well with all the extra modes, including the "Ketsuipachi" mode for Dodonpachie Daifukkatsu Black Label which was limited to the first prints of the game and can't be bought on XBLA and finding working code cards today is pretty much impossible.
This mode transforms the game with a ruleset similar to Ketsui, so it ends up playing very differently and almost like a totally different game actually.

That's what is so great about these 360 releases, as well as the Steam releases of the ones that have come out I think.
Almost each game comes with several different modes which change up the gameplay significantly and gives you a totally different way to tackle the game. either with a whole new power up system, different enemy attack patterns, new bullet cancel mechanics, and so much more.
So it ends up being like 3-8 games in one most of the time.

Look at Dodonpachi Saidaioujou for instance. You get 360 1.5 mode, which is the HD version of the regular arcade games, but more refined and tuned.
1.51 which has an incredibly fun bullet cancel mechanic, Arrange A, Arrange B, Black Label (super hard), Black Label Arrange and Novice Mode.
On top if this, in certain modes you can switch up the game even further by chosing certain ships or power options, which do much more than just give you a different shot pattern.
So you end up with like 24 different Dodonpachi games in one when all is said and done.

So the big box is certainly worth it to get all the DLC on an install disc.

edit:
borrowed this from the Degica blog post:

Normal 1.5: This is the original arcade game, but refined and expanded for maximum enjoyment and challenge. Additions include a new ship, two more score digits (for those of you who just score too darn high), and more.
Normal 1.51: Try a different scoring system and control schemes in this Cave Matsuri special version. This rare version of the game originally appeared in 2010 at CAVE’s yearly festival known as Cave Matsuri. Ooo, how exclusive!
Arrange A (ver L): A newly arranged mode with unique mechanics and a powerful ship borrowed from DDP Blissful Death. In addition, you’ll get more even more of the DoDonPachi story from this mode. No promises on if they’ll explain what’s up with all the bees, though.
Arrange B (ver B): Play single stages in this very different and highly customisable mode. The game will learn how you play and challenge you appropriately. Just don’t call it “Skynet”.
Novice: A crash course in bullet hell for newcomers! This is the Normal 1.5 mode, but less difficult. We won’t look down on you. Everybody starts somewhere!
Black Label: A new, powerful method of attack and a new final boss await! The new attack comes with a price: Red Mode. Red Mode makes the game more difficult, but can be very beneficial for your score. Beware the Red menace.
Black Label Arrange: Control the Tigerschwert ship from KETSUI in the first official international release for this mode that combines KETSUI and Black Label! Two great tastes that taste great together.
Black Label Novice: Experience Black Label with less difficulty! Ain’t no shame in practice. From what I hear, it “makes perfect”… We’ll see about that.

@meppi64 thank you mate, much appreciated. I owe you one.

@RetroGamerAndrew Hmm, weird. Just got an automated reply that the email address doesn't exist and the message bounced back.

@meppi64 sorry, seems like phone grammar corrector got in the way... I've just edited my previous post!

@RetroGamerAndrew
Ah, I think that one worked.
You can edit out the address now.

Really hope you enjoy the game. It looks like a real future classic.
I've backed the kickstarter for the Switch, Vita and Xbox One version, so I'll be getting this 8-bit version on all of them sometime soon I think.

I honestly think I'm playing one of the best games I've ever played.

Just noticed the change again at the top,man that's tight.Less than 17k,that's crazy. Were in for some contest over the next week and a bit!

@meppi64 got it... Thank you! I'm sure it will be a blast. I'll report back

@OorWullie Yep, its an amazing game, became my favourite game ever when I had it on GC. Its beautifully made and just so addictive.

Love that i have two of my most loved games on the switch (the other being Binding of Isaac)

@meppi64 thats quite a comprehensive list there, I recognise the Cave ones for sure, since they went absent on iOS itd be amazing to have at least one Cave on Switch.

@RetroGamerAndrew You're welcome. Glad to be able to make someone happy with it.

@Daftbomb yeah, I got all of them on my iPad still, since it's an old iPad 3 that can't run the 64-bit updates.
It's actually the thing that made me stop buying iOS games. Well, that and all my issues of NGamer disappearing. iOS just doesn't give you any assurances that you will keep your games when the publisher takes them off the store, it's basically a gamble and you can throw lots of money away.
I'd rather buy a PC and lots of steam games instead even though I'm not a PC gamer at all.

So I go the other extreme and import all kinds of consoles to be able to play all my favourite games.