Topic: Arcade SHMUP High Score Thread

Finally broke 1M in Ikaruga and I still have no idea what I'm doing lol! I usually get to the first boss with barely over 100K, but somehow I got a max chain early and had 250K+ after the first wave of enemies and the "ideal is high" text box. I've got a lot to learn obviously. I watched the videos of @OorWullie and the overall #1 (just the 1st 2 levels, don't want the rest of the game spoiled) it's a really handy feature for new players like me. I also really need to stop making the noob mistake of changing polarities right after firing off homing lasers, revenge bullets get me every time. Great game, totally lives up to the hype and the legacy of Treasure.

@OorWullie Yeah, that's a great race at the top. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get there, but I did have my best overall first and second stage, giving me a little more of a cushion for third place.

I'm surprised just how much I'm playing this again and again. I always loved the game, but I'm in a completely new zone of focus trying to improve my score. This is becoming my most addictive challenge yet, passing the Danmaku Unlimited challenge which I poured a lot of time into.

@CaffeinatedGamer I'm surprised how much I'm loving it myself. I feared the challenge would be too much for my average gaming skills. I know from stage 3 it probably will be but the first 2 stages I'm fairly comfortable with,at least until the 2nd boss. I just need to focus on building a large combo on stage 2. I managed to score 1.75m on stage 1 last night,if I can increase that to 2 million and then hit 1 million on stage 2 I'll be happy with my performance on this challenge.

It's such a satisfying game to play and you can feel yourself getting better and more confident with every run.

@mauhlin12 Watching those 2 replays back to back ,the contrast in skill on display must have been amusing. From bang average to skills from another dimension.

@OorWullie The overall #1 player kills the 2nd boss in like 10 seconds. Takes out both weak points in a single cycle. I'm just... "how???" Amazing skill. I did get a new high score right after watching your run so it was definitely helpful.

I have finally beaten the 2nd boss for the first time without credit feeding. Thanks to @riccyjay. I watched your replay and learned a lot from your patient approach. I improved my record about 1 million points, currently sitting in third place with 3190060 points. What a brilliant game.

I'm gonna jump back into Ikaruga, if I can put down the excellent Korg app.. but like @OorWullie said, I feel my average gaming skillz won't be enough to compete with you guys...

Maybe I'll have a look through some of your replays, kind of think my 1 million run was a fluke, I must be bottom of this group now! As usual though, if I can get somewhere in the middle I'll be happy!

@hybridseed Noticed you'd been 'playing' that Korg 'game a lot. Are you a musician then? You use it to make your own music? Correct?

@Lroy A musician I am not! But music is a passion of mine, as well as gaming, and over the years I've bought different music creation software for games consoles, Music 2000 on PS2, Beaterator on PSP, the Korg apps for 3ds and now Korg Gadget for Switch.

They've got better over the years but imo Gadget is easily the best, very powerful software, I made several drum and bass tracks on Korg M01D on 3ds and made a mix, but that software and/or my ability to maximize it's potential was limited.. I can get a much 'fuller' sound out of Gadget..

So yes, I do use it to make my own music, but I'm far from professional, it's a combination of my 2 favourite things in life, music and gaming..

My aim is over the next few months to create 9 or 10 tracks and put out a mix of some hard as nails, techno influenced, technoid and neuro drum and bass.. I don't want it to take over my gaming time but it's so addictive when I create something that sounds good, (in my head anyway!), I need to keep going with it!

@meppi64 Some great games you listed there.. If I was a millionaire I try to collect them all! You mentioned Ketsui in there, I have a DS game- Ketsui Death Label I think it's called?!?

Amazing Japan only STG ><

Didn't realize shmups were a thing on Xbox in Japan, thought they only sold about 15 consoles out there!

@hybridseed I got Ketsui on DS as well.
Sadly it's pretty much just a boss rush instead of the full game. Still great fun though. And the price seems to have skyrocketed.

Oh the 360 was the shoot em up system last gen, hands down.
The whole reason why I actually even bought a 360 in 2011 was to be able to play the region free games. I waited till I was sure the hardware itself was up to snuff, as the older models were all of questionably design and kept breaking down.
Even though I already owned Mushihimesama Futari since 2009. lol
And 2 copies of the European version of Death Smiles a year before buying the actual system. Still can't believe they released them over here for just €22 brand new, so I bought 2 copies instead.
Dodonpachi Resurrection Deluxe Edition was only 35€ here at launch as well, which is pretty crazy considering everything you get in the packings, even without the Death Label DLC.

360 sales in Japan were actually not too bad. Not great either, but at 1.6 million it's still pretty good for a not so mainstream system there. At least not as bad as the 95.000 that the One sold so far... :-/

I just took a quick picture of all my physical Japanese STG games.

But there are quite a few XBLA releases as well that shouldn't be missed.
Some that spring to mind:
Radiant Silvergun
Ikaruga
Raystorm HD
Bangaio
Trigger Heart Excelsia

Like I said before, I can wholeheartedly recommend a 360 only for the shoot em ups.
It's only rivalled by the Sega Saturn and PC-Engine I think.

A Japanese system is optimal since you can play all of them on there, but it's a bit more pricey due to the importing hassles and such. I've got 2 myself.
But on a EU or US 360, there's still plenty of fun to be had with some games that were released locally, as well as a bunch of Japanese exclusives that were region free.

I borrowed the rest of the list from the chumps.com post from years ago.
Keep in mind, this one is based of the USA system/store.

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>
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)

Disc Based North American Releases:
Akai Katana (NTSC-U)
Deathsmiles (NTSC-U)
Otomedius Excellent (NTSC-U)
Raiden Fighter Aces (NTSC-U)
Raiden IV (NTSC-U)
WarTech: Senko No Ronde (NTSC-U)

Games On Demand North American Store:
Akai Katana
Bullet Soul
Bullet Soul Infinite Burst
Caladrius
Deathsmiles NA
Deathsmiles IIX
Otomedius Excellent
Raiden Fighter Aces
Raiden IV
Shooting Love 200x
Under Defeat HD:DE

XBox Live Arcade:
1942 Joint Strike
Bangai-O HD
Galaga
Galaga Legions
Galaga Legions DX
Guwange
Ikaruga
Omega Five
R-Type Dimentions
Radiant Silvergun
Raystorm HD
Revolver 360
Sine Mora
Strania - The Stella Machina
KOF: Sky Stage
Trigger Heart Exelica
Trouble Witches Neo
Xevious

XBox Live Indie Games:
Aeternum
Aqua Kitty
Broken Pearl
Chronoblast
Game-Type
M.A.C.E.
Ninja STG
Pester
Platypus
Prismatic Solid
Score Rush
Shoot 1Up
SKH Resurrection
Snops Attack! Zombie Defense
Steam and Metal
Twin Tiger Shark
Valkyrius
Vampire Rage

Region Free/No IP Lock downloads:
(EU Marketplace)
Dodonpachi Resurrection
Dodonpachi Resurrection 1.51
Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu Black Label

(HK Marketplace)
Ginga Force

(JP Marketplace)
Dodonpachi Saidaioujou
Ginga Force
Mushi Mushi Pork & Pink Sweets
Shooting Love 10th Anniversary

Region free/IP Locked (must use a VPN to download to US Xbox 360)
Eschatos (HK Marketplace)
Espgaluda II Black Label (HK Marketplace)

@meppi64 Wow, that photo is a thing of real beauty. Did you pick up the Cave Shooting Collection? Or find all their ones individually?

@Zkibu Glad I could be of some help. Taking part in this competition has actually really helped me as well. Watched a few replays myself and it's really interesting to see how other people approach things.

Man, I thought my most recent score would stay top for more than just a few hours, though! 17k in it.Less than a single max chain. Damn, that is tight. Don't know if I've got much more in me. Stage three is just a killer. Even starting from there on the level select I don't get more than a couple hundred thousand before dying. Will keep trying though!

My Switch shoot 'em up and arcade collection. The newly released Gridd Retroenhanced takes it to 64. I'm going to end up with more shoot em up and arcade games on Switch than any of my past consoles entire game collection. I think I had something like 90 games on Wii,which was by far my biggest collection before the Switch arrived.

That's awesome! Imagine I own most of these as well. How did you manage to edit out all the other game icons?

Well, both actually, because I'm a little on the crazy side.
And also really concerned with preservation so I wanted to be sure that I got all of those extra modes and DLC on disc in case anything ever went wrong with my hardware, or they were no longer downloadable from XBLA or something.
The disc also includes Guwange for instance, which was download only, as well as a bunch of wallpapers and profile pictures for your account.

The packaging in the box white box looks a lot less pretty, but it's just as effective when it comes to the games themselves:

Oh, and I was mistaken about the music CDs, those actually came with the special editions of the separate game releases. The boxes in the big white box are actual DVDs of super plays and such:

The only Cave game that is missing from the 360 collection in the box is Dodonpachi Saidaioujou since it was the last released Cave shooter which came out after the boxset was done.
That's this one, for which I also got the limited edition:

@OorWullie
Speaking of a thing of beauty. I couldn't have imagined that the Switch was going to turn out like this at all, even in my wildest dreams.

@meppi64 Yeah, my bro is a long time Xbox gamer and I've lost count of how many times he's had to send his console in for repair😑

And I had no idea there were so many shmups released for the system, I would love to buy all the games in your picture! I also thought that the 360 was straight region locked, didn't realize some games were region free, I may ask my bro if he has a spare 360 that I can steal from him!

I don't get why some of the games are IP locked too, licencing issues I guess, like how the west has only recently got a Gundam game!

Out of your list there's a few I have on ps3 -

1942 Joint Strike
Galaga Legions DX
Raystorm HD

I have Sine Mora for Switch and Bangai-O on DS!

@OorWullie great collection, you must have most of the ACA titles!?!

@hybridseed
1942 Joint Strike was kind of a stinker, wasn't it? I got it on 360 when it came out and was so disappointed, especially since I loved the original from the first day I laid my eyes on the arcade cabinet.

Ah, Bagaio Spirits. That's actually one of my all-time favourite DS games.
We should somehow get everyone here to buy Bangaio Spirits (and a DS if needed ), to get some score attacks going for it. Then make our own levels, share them and do it all over again.
I think I still have a bunch of "official" DLC levels on my cart from several developers.

My best guess for those IP locks on 360 games is that they expected the games to be picked up by a western publisher, and thus blocked us from buying the import.
Just like how Dodonpachi Resurrection works on any 360 besides the Japanese ones. Bit of protecting a market from buying cheaper import versions... :-/

The 360 games that I recommend you get as soon as possible are:
Dodonpachi Resurrection (Daifukkatsu) (PAL version is region free)
Akai Katana (one of my favourite side scrolling shooters, even though I vastly prefer vertical ones overall) (has a PAL and USA release)
Mushihami-Sama Futari (absolutely brilliant)
Espgaluda II Black Label (not the limited edition with the faceplate though as that one is region locked. The platinum collection version should be fine as it plays on JP and EU systems, although USA systems haven't been tested...)
Mushi Mushi Pork & Pink Sweets (bare-bones port compared to the others as it's a straight port, no HD remaster or anything, but Much Much Pork alone makes up for this as it's absolutely madness and a brilliant game without question)
Bullet Soul Infinite Burst (the original Bullet Souls is a bit different but fantastic as well. Probably best to pick this one up first through)
If you're on a US 360, Raiden Fighter Aces is a must as it was released only in Japan and the US, not Europe.
This one is region locked as well, so in Europe, we're screwed, unless we import a system from overseas. I went with a Japanese one since that one got me to play all the shoot em ups, even though Raiden Fighters is super expensive in Japan compared to the US.

Eschatos looks like a real budget shooter, but somehow it's a truly fantastic game in a less than impressive coat of paint.
I wouldn't pick up Otomedius to be honest. Coming from all the Parodius games, this one is a big let down. I'd keep this one as one of your last pickups if you ever get to it.

Guwange is fantastic also, but only on XBLA. Like Much Much Pork, it's a straight port.

Dodonpachi Saidaioujou is very good overall, but really brutal and a little messy.
So I would go for Dodonpachi Resurrection over this one any day.

A great resource to look up these games is Studio Mudprints on Youtube.
I think they reviewed pretty much all of these games by this point, so if you'd like to look up some more gameplay and impression before picking some up, certainly check out this channel:

@OorWullie that collection looks really smart 😃 Noticed you've been playing GRIDD, how is it? So tempted by it but heard the camera is a bit of an acquired taste. Also... hows Space Dave? Dont remember seeing any reviews despite being out a while.

The third boss in Ikaruga is .... fun 😳

@meppi64 I have the same concerns as you about buying digital, hardware break down and the inability to redownload in the future, so I only buy digital if there is no physical option...

And since we're all sharing our gaming love on here- I'm a huge collector and importer, got more items around the house, in cupboards packed away.. I really need a gaming room/man cave😉

Sorry, I couldn't get the second pic to be vertical!

@hybridseed Yep, I'm in the same boat.

If I had my way, every single game would get a physical release.
That way, we wouldn't be in the situation where we now won't see all those great Williams/Bally pinball tables again on Switch, or any other systems for that matter.
If it got a physical release the day it came out digitally, I would be able to go to a store and pick up an additional 4 copies, just to be sure I'm set for the rest of my life.