Topic: Arcade SHMUP High Score Thread

@GrailUK mine was from the exact opposite... And I feel that if I can get Jungle->NY I could improve more than a few 10k on my current best!

I think we are overtaxing Hamster servers. :x
Paris... Paris is ruining our week. :x

Ok I'm definitely out of it, too much RNG involved. It takes me forever to get a single correct sequence and when I get it I'm not focused anymore so I'll end up playing my Z-game. I'll go play something else untill next contest

I'm happy to keep at it until the usual Thursday deadline. Any chance of a current community rankings like we did half-way through last time?

However, if the majority feel like this one has run its course, we could always bring the deadline for this one forward? Maybe end it midnight tonight or tomorrow? And then get the next game picked?

If we need a new system to pick the next game as a one off due to this, perhaps we knock up a shortlist of 3 games and all vote. The most popular choice being the next challenge?

Just ideas. Feel free to ignore. I'm still enjoying playing AERO FIGHTERS 2 but appreciate it has become a grind in this specific respect due to random level order.

We may end up facing a similar issue with some of the Psikyo shooters as aren't they also based around some random level order system?

@Lroy just my opinion, I'm going to calm down a bit because I think I'm overdoing, and the fact I can't reliably and consistently train myself on the only sequence that could lead to the best scores just takes away much of my enthusiasm. Maybe I'll do a couple of runs here and there, it's like a lottery anyway. It's a pity, don't know how many other psykyo games involve randomized stage order but I agree we must address this problem. Furthermore I think that playing on a common ground is the only way to create a fair competition. Just my 2c anyway, feel free to discuss!

@RetroGamerAndrew Cool, understand your frustration.

Happy to go with the majority. Do we carry on as is until usual end of Thurs for this one or would most people like us to call it a day early and get the next game picked?

Don't get me wrong, I love the game. As a competition though, it not very balanced. I don't mind going till Thursday. I must confess when I picked Aero Fighters 2, I had no idea about the disparity of the scores possible between Paris and basically all the other stages! So I apologise for my choice. Hope it hasn't made people weary of this awesome thread.

@GrailUK Not at all. I'm loving this thread and have really enjoyed putting more time into AERO FIGHTERS 2. It was a great pick and we needed to discover this 'random level' element sooner rather than later and take that into consideration for future games. Like Meppi said earlier, we can get round it by picking another mode or something.

So nothing but positivity from me.

@GrailUK love the game to be honest, it's just that the level randomization doesn't work well with the caravan formula! I'm perfectly fine, let's go on till the deadline: I don't think I'll force too much, I'll do a couple of runs to take a break from my other games (just grabbed Bayonetta 1& 2!) to see if I can improve. Didn't mean to be negative btw

Phew, now where is Mr OorWullie with the scores on the doors?

I was playing for a while tonight and kept getting Paris so I gave up. I even closed and restarted the game a few times but still I got Paris as the second level!

Well, here's the best I can do I think -

I fortunately managed to lock myself in on the Jungle>NY rotation, I wish I had more time to play this week, though. We'll see how it goes.

@wasilweski Have you tried killing off your planes on Paris until the game over screen comes up, then resetting when the caravan menu pops up by itself? It does help cycle the stage rotation. And you can lock the stage rotation you want by resetting before the game over screen comes up or finishing the whole 5 minutes (like what we've been doing all along when we get Paris).

@GrailUK It's cool, I don't think anyone would have known except for the other high scorers that played the caravan before us.

I'm done. Not sure how to get a higher score based on time and what I've been doing. My runs have nearly been perfect based on level progression and even bonus pickups and I still can't figure out how to best this score without a scientific-method. Which sucks. Chasing scores up leaderboards is only fun when the skill-ceiling is the thing holding your score back, not specific methods and lucky-draws and so on, IMO. So, unless I get inspired to reinstall AF2 - yes, I was THAT much done with this run, I uninstalled it - and give it a few final takes... My score stands at 447,900

http://ibb.co/hVJ6hc

My next thought is on the next game pick, and I was wondering what stops us from picking ANY game with a leaderboard or scoring mechanic? I'm beginning to want to define the "rules" of what we've started doing here more. Ideas?

I don't think I've had Paris any more frequent than the other stages and when I do get it, it's more often than not on the 4th stage.

I played 5 rounds earlier and each time the Jungle was stage 2. 4 of they 5 times I made it to the 4th stage which was New York each time. Now it might have just been pure luck that they kept arriving in that order however I did use a different pilot each time. I'm not sure what difference that would make but it seems to be working for me. I was going to use just 2 pilots but when I saw the stages coming in that order I kept selecting a new one each time and it worked.

I'll make up a current leaderboard asap.

Tried again last night and had Jungle-NY progression right from the start. It was worth a try, eventually I managed to reach 6th place with 470k-something score, just behind fellow @GrailUK.

I did some research on Psykyo SHMUPS and, as I suspected, it turns out that in each game the first few levels are randomly generated. This applies to Strikers 1945, Strikers 1945 II, Gunbird, Samurai Aces and Zero Gunner 2, and it is something we should definitely need to take into account in our competition.

Managed to break 480k... Made some mistakes in the lvl2 jungle but did a great level 3 (which is where the big score it's at). Can't see a chance to come up with a better score tho. Let's see

@RetroGamerAndrew Pew pew! Splendid work mate

I'm up for any genre of game, preferably not 1v1 fighter though as I'm crap at those. I'm not sure what beat em ups would be like for scoring? For the Psikyo shooters we would just need to do a 1 continue run, we wouldn't have the 5 minute limit but lasting more than 5 minutes on any Psikyo shooter other than Zero Gunner 2 is a challenge in itself.

I mean, I think I've played a couple hours total while the Switch says "more than 5 hours", just think of all the time we all wasted because of the RNG 😡 and it sucks coz I LOVE AERO FIGHTERS 2 (3 not as much, also it's too difficult).
Caravan mode I usually don't care for, but for these challenges it's a great idea because it gives everyone a chance to compete and have fun with a short 5 minutes run where you get to play until the end to score high and not struggling to just survive: going for 1cc, second loops etc. takes a much bigger time commitment and you'd get the vast majority who would get stuck after stage 4 or 5 and these games don't have a practice mode to select any stage you've beaten before.
Of course I hope we find a good middle ground coz I love Psykio shmups and especially Gunbird (and 2).

Btw, a good candidate and great game I need to play more could be SHOCK TROOPERS (not 2nd squad, bleah!).
Of course we also have Metal Slug and many more.

Well, I concede to @meppi64 lol
Tried a couple runs to see if I could score at least those 1000 points more to jump over him but it ain't my night haha
Back to Golf Story/FIFA18/DOOM with a pinch of Oxenfree in the bed to put me to sleep... I don't like the game but at least is good for my insomnia 🤣