Topic: Arcade SHMUP High Score Thread

@GFoyle I have all of those bar Omega Fighter so any of them except that would work great for me (have a ridiculous number of shmups already so would prefer not to get another unless it's really necessary).

Oh, and congratulations. Hell of a score!

I have to say, even though Alpha Mission wasn't my favourite game, playing it with a bit of competition did still make it enjoyable.

From previous conversations and these answers, it seems it's pretty clear that Gunbird 2 would be most popular choice so let's go with that one. I think it's better get people active and participating with popular title rather than select some more unknown game like Omega Fighter at this point.

1 credit, default difficulty (5), 2 weeks... ready, set, GO!

ps. it would be great if the scores would come from run played during the 2 weeks and not some old score you have achieved... (I have those too)

The next challenge will be Gunbird 2! After Alpha Mission II again a challenging game, but very rewarding once you get the hang of it. This will be default number of lives (3), 0 continues and difficulty level 5. There are no online leaderboards, so please post a screenshot of your highscore. Let's try to use scores that have been achieved during these 2 weeks and not old scores (there is an option to reset the leaderboard).

Gunbird 2 - 3 Lives (default), 0 continues, difficulty level 5 - from today September 22nd until October 8th 23:00 GMT

Which unfortunately still doesn't seem to work because of a bug (I reported this to ZeroDiv a while back). We'll hopefully people will beat their own scores during the challenge..

@GFoyle You can also just use a different profile, or - what I'm doing - use a different three letters for your scores these two weeks.

My current score, by the way, is: 248,600. Anyone else laid down an early marker?

Edit: Make that 258,600.

Congratulations @GFoyle on the win and great choice of game.

I've only ever played Gunbird 2 on default settings with no continues so I won't need to reset my score. My current scoreboard looks like this.

I got 268k today but I could get into the list with that one. Rusty...

edit. 328 600

Mastering the bonus points coin pickup technique may hold the key to getting highscores here. If you can do that consistently (and I can't) I reckon you're looking at an extra 20-50,000 points per level.

I think getting that ability down will be more important even than working out how to make 'red face gem man' appear in each level. Anyone know, by the way, will he only appear once per game? Or can you get him each level if you know the trick?

Once per level, you have to be at the right place at the right time. I haven't yet even tried to learn those places myself.

And yes, chaining coins would give about double the points, but it's freaking hard. I can't consistently time those correctly, which is crucial for chaining bonuses + you need to figure out the safe time to even try it without dying right then or shortly afterwards because you weren't in right position for upcoming threat.

I find Tavia the best for stringing together a coin combo. Her special is great for clearing the areas with lots of coins and gives you enough time to collect a few although it can be difficult to see what you're picking up . Her special is also good for bosses as it gives you enough time to hit them with a close attack or 2. Her only fault I find is she's pretty weak.

The good thing in this game is that the characters are all playable. Tavia, Valpiro and Aine maybe the most popular ones but there are also videos beating the game with good scores for Alucard and Marion. I guess Hei-cob is the only one which is clearly weaker than the rest (or at least most unpopular)

I have tried to play most with Tavia, Valpiro and Aine, but for some reason I have now settled to Aine again (same as in Tengai), which seems to suit my playing style (I hate his bomb though).

Congrats @Gfoyle in the Alpha Mission II challenge! Couldn't get on the leaderboard in high score mode with that one myself. I'm in for Gunbird 2. Good luck all. This challenge will get me back into that one.

@riccyjay

@hybridseed Haha. So close. That'll be some good motivation for me to keep going in that mode.

What an awesome game, by the way. And with its scoring system should be a great one for this thread if we get round to it after it releases in the west.

@GFoyle I don't like Aine's bomb either, but I'm considering giving him more of a go since each bullet he converts to a rose = points. Like most it seems, I'm finding I do best with Tavia so far.

Just realised I don’t actually own GUNBIRD 2 on Switch yet. Think I didn’t jump on it Day 1 as I’ve now already reached that stage of owning far too many games versus time to actually play them on Switch. I think the game then disappeared of the UK eShop.

Anyhow, it is back now and if I can make the time to play it for the challenge I will. Congrats to @GFoyle on his ALPHA MISSION II victory, I didn’t even place 😂

Also thanks to @Corneel for his efforts on getting these arcade challenges back up and running.

Feels like I am getting better

@Zkibu You are also struggling to get past the third level I see. I think I have around 220000 now. After the first level it gets tricky really fast. And those coins... very tempting to pick them up when blinking. But those are also the moments where attention slips and it's easy to get hit by something. @Lroy No problem, it's a lot of fun.

You should be getting near 300k range in first three levels without any coin chaining bonuses or milking.You need to destroy the different parts of the bosses though.

For those who don't know, collecting more than one coin with their max value in a row leads to bonuses. First one is the normal 2k, second 2,5k and third and subsequent are 4k each. Collecting coin with non-max value will break the chain (and chain can continue over levels). A word of warning though, it's super hard as you need to be consistent with getting the max values (and it's not easy to time it right) and trying to figure out safe time to collect without getting hit. I do not recommend it before you know the levels very well as it will otherwise lead to getting destroyed.

I think we will be seeing scores around 200-400k range in this challenge unless somebody who is experienced shmupper or knows the game well in advance participates.

@Corneel excactly. Trying to focus on chaining with the coins disrupts my dodges. Game really tests hand-eye coordination and reflexes.