Topic: Arcade SHMUP High Score Thread

@Zkibu Thunder Force IV is already in there. There are two voting questions. One for highscore and one for survival. Thunder Force IV is part of the survival vote.

I'll try to mix up the list every month.

@Corneel Just added my votes for next set of challenges. Nice one mate 👍

@Corneel Sure, I´m joining this great challenge. I bought Aero Fighters 2 and Metal Slug. Today I have improved my score in AF2 - 783800, fifth place on the leaderboards.

@Tatanak Great to have you join us again! And off to a good start with that amazing high-score.

@Tatanak wow, amazing score!

I'm not getting anywhere near your scores, guys, but I'll participate in the challenges anyway, because I'm excited about it. Problem is I'm trying to focus more as a 2019 resolution, and I'm currently playing Dragon Quest Builders and want to finish Chapter 2 before I switch to other games. Chapter's boss is the only thing left, and after that I was planning to spend 2-3 weeks playing arcade games, so it will be the time to take part on these challenges.

@RetroGamerAndrew Thanks! I was lucky. I defeated Australian stage 6 boss with my last life and got to the second bonus stage. Now I´m playing Metal Slug, I´m able to get to the last boss but I have not defeated him yet.

I started today and got to 250K in Aero Fighters 2. Obviously I will be last in NL ranking, but I aim to get in World's Top 100. For an unexperienced player like me it would be something. Now I'm 238th I think.

It's nice to see some familiar nicknames in the Top 50, guys.

I'm really enjoying this Aero Fighters 2 challenge, it's really different from playing the arcade mode, because I'm under the pressure of having one credit only and trying to do it the best I can, and it's helping me getting better (I hope this reflects on the arcade mode later).

For now I'm about 350k and placed 115th in the World.

By the way, is there any restriction about which character we can use? Because I notice differences in my performance depending on the character. I do especially better with characters that once powered-up have homing missiles.

@Moroboshi876

hadn’t read your most recent post above

Use the Ninja Pilot Ship, make sure you collect the coins/collectibles as soon as they appear at the highest point up the screen as you can. And be sure to he fully powered weapon wise going into the bonus stage. You can score big in that stage. As a guide, you can achieve a score starting with a 9 by the end of the very first level (Japan).

Also, if you get Paris second. Let the game screen progress all the way to the in-game leaderboard and the game reset screen auto-pops up. Select reset and you should now get a different order of levels. Japan is al always first.

Good luck, you can crack the Top 100.

@Lroy Thanks for the advise (I don't know if it was you, but I already read the one of getting the score items as soon as possible in order to receive 10,000 for each of them, and it really helps). I usually end the first level 90,000+, but didn't know every time the second stage is different! I thought it depended on the character, and yes, I try to use a different one each time.

But is Paris supposed to be very difficult for you to give that advise?

Anyway, I'm glad to know this challenge allows to use any character.

The Bonus Stage is a blast, although it bothers me that if you get killed you really lose a life, unlike what usually happens in bonus stages in other games, that you just lose the chance to keep getting points and return to a normal stage.

Moroboshi876 You are making great progress already. Should be seeing you pop up in the top 100 leaderboard soon. The one credit pressure is exactly what makes these challenges great. You really get to know the game, instead of just credit feeding your way through it.

No restrictions in what plane you use. Whatever suits you best and get the best results with.
Edit - Lroy was faster in replying to your question

@Corneel Thanks! By the way, I can't browse through the leaderboards, I just can see my page and the top one, but not the ones in the middle or after mine. What am I doing wrong?

@Moroboshi876 You are not doing anything wrong. The view of the leaderboard is limited. You can just browse the top 100 and see your own score and the people around you.

@Moroboshi876 The levels get more difficult as you go. E.g. the game increases the difficulty. So for example, Jungle level has some collectibles which increase score and are more easy to collect if you get the Jungle earlier in the sequence. Whereas Paris has viewer opportunities for points and is therefore preferable later in the order. Not game changing but just something we noticed when doing the Caravan challenge way back and now again for this High-Score challenge.

I’m a mere novice myself as @tanaka and @Gfoyle and @RetrogamerAndrew have HUGE scores, so i’ll bow to their greater wisdom on how else to improve your score.

Ninja or F14 are best bets to get decent score if you aren't experience in the game. I think you can do well with other's too, but you would need to get much further in the game (F15 has powerful powered up main shot, which helps killing bigger enemies, bosses and such much faster, has fastest speed but is not a good as others in the bonus stages which give you a lot of points).

@tatanak you have really good score, how far did you got, I presume Mexico? I will try to get close to your score still, but I have my doubts will I beat it. I just need to get my run together and get pass Australia boss, then I should get closer to the score because of that second bonus stage between Australia and Mexico.

59th. Definitely Cindy and Ellen.

@GFoyle Yes, I got to Mexico. I played with Hien FS-X plane, it was great in bonus stages.
@Moroboshi876 Great progress!

@Moroboshi876 Nice one buddy!

I see someone added me to the leaderboard (thanks), although I just said 59th. But the score is correct, my username is Toni (here it's a male name despite the i) and my initials are TRR.