Topic: Arcade SHMUP High Score Thread

@OorWullie I must be confused with the mode I usually play, which is the kind of story mode where you can save your progress. Thanks.

@OorWullie Another recommendation for AQUA KITTY UDX, i’m going to end up caving and buying it soon ☺️

@Moroboshi876 I had WILD GUNS RELOADED on my radar ever since it was announced and couldn’t hit buy fast enough as soon as it was put on sale. It is tons of fun albeit very hard. Got the original SNES one on my SNES Classic too.

However, I totally understand it is not an impulse purchase at full price.

@Moroboshi876 @oorwullie By the way fellas, remember we are doing weekly PINBALL FX3 tournaments as well. The current one only has two days left and is on the FISH TALES table.

Both the game and that table are completely free. So you may as well dive in. I think you need to have @corneel added (imagine you both already have) as he created the tournament.

@meppi is absolutely killing it - he wiped the floor with us in the first challenge and is doing so again in this one.

@Lroy I don't know how the tournaments work. So I can find them if the creator is one of my added friends?

@Moroboshi876 Yes. In the main menu screen, click on the tournament tab (the menu is a bit cluttered with stuff I appreciate). Then one of the filter options should be Created By: you want to change this to friend and then hit apply. This will then bring up any tournaments created by someone on your friends list. You should then be able to click on that tournament and enter a password (optionally created by the tournament creator) - I think the password for this current FISH TALES tournament is pikmin - that correct @corneel ? Then it should be simply a case of playing the table and uploading your score.

It’s a lot easier than it sounds.

EDIT: made password case sensitive as advised by @corneel below

@Lroy That is almost 100% correct. It is without the capital, so just pikmin. Don't really know if that makes a difference. @Moroboshi876 You are in my friends list, so you should be able to join. And you definitely should join our (hopefully) weekly Pinball sessions. It is tons of fun. And I'm not even in last place on this table, so I couldn't be happier at the moment. Only two more days on this tournament, so be quick!

@Oorwullie The Dreadnought mode is a nice addition to the game and I did finish a couple of those already. The later stages are increasing in difficulty fast. I'll try to do some runs for the third stage just for fun.

There have been two small changes to the challenges.

First one is in Out Run. After you finish a complete route, apparently you get new parts for you car. This tune-up is not allowed during this challenge, just to not give anyone an advantage. Tune-ups can be switched of in the menu. It will also change the color of your car. So use the red Ferrari and you are fine.

Second is in Thunder Force IV. Two versions of the game exist and there are actually some small differences between both. So for this challenge we will use the Japanese version. This is slightly more difficult that the international version, but this is how it is originally intended to be.

First scores are already on the leaderboards of Out Run and Aqua Kitty!

By the way, I'm trying Out Run on Switch for the first time and in top of noticing I'm rusty (I had managed to beat Course A on 3DS and all 5 on Mega Drive) I can't see my score in the rankings. It just says No Data.

Anyway it's separated in courses. Do we just take a screenshot when the in-game ranking appears?

@Corneel A second place here...

@Moroboshi876 Preferably the moment that shows your parked red Ferrari and the crowd. This should also show the highscore. But for now this is fine, I have added it to the leaderboard.

Edit: Or the moment 'game over' appears on screen

@Corneel So you have to finish the course... I didn't recall seeing it in the requirements, but if it's one, then take me down and I'll post when (if) I achieve it.

@Moroboshi876 Again apologies for creating confusion. Finishing the route is absolutely not a requirement for this challenge. The moment 'game over' appears on screen is also perfect. That's probably how it will be for me anyway since I have yet to pass the second stage.

It's been a while since I've been on this thread. Recently I got 4th in All Time on Moon Patrol's Caravan Mode. I think I can also pull something out of me for Danmaku Unlimited's Open High Score.

As for future challenges, may I recommend Astebreed?

@Corneel No need to apologize! So the screen I posted is OK? Or would it be better to take the screenshot the moment the timer reaches zero?

Next time preferably when the timer reaches zero

Well, today I almost finished course A. It's something I'm going to pull off at some point, because I could on 3DS. The courses B to E are my personal challenge, but A should be feasible.

Anyway, I embed here the screenshots, one of the Game Over screen and one where people can see my initials with the score.

I’ve posted my modest current progress of all four challenge games with photos over on the relevant thread on the Adult Switch Gamers Discord. Wish it was as easy to post pics here.

Anyhow, my scores (for now) are:
AQUA KITTY UDX - Arcade Challenge Mode - 37, 627
For the extra Dreadnought mode - 104: 06: 61. Not sure how we are measuring the score on this bonus suggested by @oorwullie ? I’ve just taken this number from the in-game leaderboards.

WILD GUNS RELOADED: 176, 160.

OUTRUN: 3472040 (Stage 2)

THUNDER FORCE IV: Boss of first level (no matter order I select, I haven’t worked out how to damage and kill any of the first four level bosses)

My scores so far

Outrun - 5615550 - 3rd stage
Aqua Kitty UDX - Arcade - 41,289 - 10th stage
Dreadnought - 104:39:90

I don't understand how the timer works for Dreadnought. I got a total time of 32 seconds something after the 4 kitty's bonus was deducted. But my time is 104 seconds. Even with the kitty added on the time's don't match up. Any ideas?

You're beating my Dreadnought time by a ball hair @Lroy . I felt like I done it extremely quick so that's a good time. I've no idea how @Corneel beat it by 20 seconds. I must be missing something? The person at the top of the leaderboard done it in 8 seconds. Don't understand that?

As for Thunderforce IV, the boss at the end of the cloud stage has a little orb near the bottom of its body you need to shoot. It doesn't appear for a while though. There's 3 stages to it, the first 2 are mostly about trying to avoid getting hit. First stage, just shoot the end of tail from both sides, it'll eventually disappear then come at you again in its new form. Avoid the tail by staying in the top left region, after a while the orb begins to glow. Just keep shooting that and eventually it'll fall. Watch out for the orb shooting out. If you're not powered up it's very difficult and takes ages. That seems to be key to this game, get to the boss fully powered up to stand any chance. Take a hit on the way and you might as well restart.

@OorWullie Nice scores! Thanks for the info regarding TF IV. Finding that game a bit off-putting due to the high difficulty straight out the gate. I'll try and look up some game-play of how to inflict damage on the boss, so I can better visualise what you kindly described for me. Thank you. Lovely to be chatting with you again about games. Been far too long.