Topic: Arcade SHMUP High Score Thread

Just had a few runs on BLAZING STAR. My current best score is 609, 430. That puts me at 126th on the Global Leaderboards. Well off the pace but never mind. Still good fun.

@Lroy I don't care if you need to steal money:

STEREDENN: BINARY STARS
DANMAKU 3 UNLIMITED

Both are mandatory. Same goes for everyone on this thread. If you must really pick just a single one, STEREDENN: BINARY STARS offers more content.

@Lroy This should help you out with the user transfer stuff:
http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_...
You could probably do what I do and wait for the next challenge game announcement. If I don't have to buy the game, then I put it on the wishlist. Also because I'm preparing to drop some cash on the Wii Shop before it closes.

@wasilewski @GrailUK It's horrible I already screwed myself over because I managed to finish off the 1st stage with 743k. What's worse, I did that while missing one of the Lucky panels! The timing is so hard to duplicate


The other method with the event item, I don't see the point because they're not worth as much points as destroying enemies with a high multiplier. Or at least, not in the 1st Stage. Milking the 1st boss is a maybe, it's probably better to do on a regular run since it looks like there's a lot of points in the rest of Stage 2.

@Shiryu Ha! Ha! I'll see what I can do. Both are already on the wishlist and will be purchased somewhere down the line but was thinking of picking up one of the above four mentioned asap before I go on a casual game buying ban for a while.

@masterleon I've been very lucky with the game challenges to date. I already owned every game. Plus, this is good fun and I think even during my ban I might be able to find the odd £6, £7 that these arcade challenge games tend to cost. We'll see. I can always sit out a week if I just can't rustle any more cash 👍

@masterLEON @grailUK Thank you for the reassurance regarding the system transfer.

Oh, I'm an idiot. Just read the manual. The event item effect only applies to regular / rapid shots. DOH!!!

Really enjoying my time with Blazing Star. I know I've got a big score in me with this one, it's just getting the timing right with the charge shot. If you're a bit off with one wave of enemies it can really throw you off with the next lot.If only it had a stage select like Pulstar to practice the 2nd stage.At least losing a life doesn't ruin your attempt like in Pulstar.

As for Steredenn, man is it tough going. Quite possibly the toughest shooter I've ever played. Some of the enemies are unbelievably aggressive. Can't stop playing it though, super addictive. Really love how it looks too.

@Lroy I'll be getting Danmaku on Tuesday,going to buy it with my gold coin balance. I'll give you my opinion on which one I would recommend you to buy out of that and Steredenn. How you getting on with SkyForce and Enter the Gungeon? SkyForce really gets going once you get past the initial grind and have a few stages opened up with the next difficulty levels. It's nice to have a modern shooter like that and Steredenn to go along with the classics.

Danmaku looks great, I’m going to wait for some reviews and then pick it up based on those.

Aero Fighter 3 is out on Thursday too!

@OorWullie I've already bought STEREDENN. Much like SKY FORCE RELOADED, I had trepidations with it being a modern shooter - preferring as I do, older arcade shoot 'em ups but once again I have been really pleasantly surprised. I am very much enjoying both SKYFORCE RELOADED and STEREDENN: BINARY STARS. Both are proving a not inconsiderable challenge but I can see myself going back to do runs on both for the foreseeable future. 👍

Alas, means DANMAKU will have to wait on the wishlist for now. I will pick up AERO FIGHTERS 3 and STAR FORCE further down the line. Most likely when they get picked for this weekly challenge 😉

ENTER THE GUNGEON is definitely going to be a real test for me. Some of my intital conerns about whether I would get on with it remain. It is fun and it does make me want to put in the time to get better at it. I've only done half a dozen or so runs and died on the first boss. A sort of bird that turns into Sylvester Stallone like muscle man. I've no idea what I'm doing with items and weapons and pick ups in general but I've at least managed to customise the controls now to my liking. Will keep at it.

I played Star Force on MAME and the screen seemed to scroll a bit quicker than a typical shooter and I felt weird playing it. Did anyone else find this?

@Lroy You'll find the more you play Enter the Gungeon the further you'll get nearly every run. There's a lot more depth to the game than first appears. I just searched online for any parts I wasn't sure of, I would never have figured out some of the stuff myself. Once you get a good understanding of how it all works though it can get seriously addictive. It's all about trying to get that little bit further than you did on the last run and leaning from the mistakes you made on the way. Maybe on your next run you'll find better weapons, better chests,there will be better items in the shop or bigger money drops. Or maybe not, maybe the next run will be really stingy and give you rubbish pick ups but with the odds stacked against you, you somehow manage to hang on and make it to the next floor where things start to turn in your favour. It's the not knowing how it's going to go that kept me coming back.

@wasilewski Interesting that you mention this. I was reading an article recently which was discussing STAR FORCE in relation to Namco's earlier XEVIOUS and they specify that Tekhan made STAR FORCE quicker as part of a desire to take the scrolling vertical shooter template, practically invented by XEVIOUS, and make it their own. For example, STAR FORCE is very clearly set in space whereas XEVIOUS, a much slower scrolling shooter, seems to take place on an earth-like planet. Mad to think, games like XEVIOUS and its subsequent peers like STAR FORCE really brought the concept of boss-fights into video games.

As to how the game plays in your MAME set-up - whether it is scrolling too quickly etc. - might be worth looking at some Switch gameplay of Hamster's STAR FORCE. See how it compares to what you were experiencing?

@OorWullie Yes, I appreciate it is a game I just need to put some time and effort into. That ENTER THE GUNGEON thread you linked me too is providing some helpful reading 👍

What are you referring too? Should I be keeping an eye out for a specific item then? I just try and hoover everying I can see dropped by enemies on the screen in a mad chaotic dash.

Hence my lowly score ☺️

@Lroy Yeah, Gungeon can take a bit to really get into. It's quite hard early one, but like Oorwullie said, the more you play, the better you'll get and the easier the first couple of rounds will seem to become.
It's really old school in that regard.
Couldn't really recommend any of those named shooters over the other as they are all really great, so you can't really go wrong with any of them.

Saw you playing Puyo Puyo Tetris last night and tried to join in but couldn't see any room you were in.
Ended up joining another person who seemed to be looking for someone to play against without much success.
Was really rusty at first and lost 2 games, then got somewhat into the groove again and destroyed the poor guy/girl for an hour or so. Not that I'm any good at it really. It's all in the reflexes.

I'd say if you want to play some Tetris sometime, send me a message, but we can't do that yet on out Switch . Hopefully we'll see that option in an update soon.

Oh and would you mind linking to that Star Force article?

@Lroy yes good idea I will check out some Switch gameplay. It would be nice if you could download demos of these games and play the first level or play for 3 minutes, just to get a taster.

@meppi64 Yeah, the wife and I were having a little go of PUYO PUYO TETRIS last night. I saw you online so tried to join you. I've never even logged in online on the game yet and had no idea what I was doing. I clicked join friend but the room just seemed empty. Happy to try and get a few matches in one evening this week if you like?

As for that article. It was in that Hardcore Gaming 101's book I bought recently: Shoot em Ups volume 1. I'll see if they have something similar on their website.

Every game should have a demo in this day and age. Hence why I use MAME ans FINAL BURN ALPHA for 'try before you buy' purposes 😉

@meppi64 There doesn't seem to be the same article on their site (well, after a very quick search for STAR FORCE at any rate). Here's a link to the book anyhow: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/books/hg101-presents-the-gui...

Basically, I was referring to some points and observations made in their entry on STAR FORCE in this book. Specific comparisons and differences made to XEVIOUS but also recognising how important Namco's game was in establishing the foundations of vertical scrolling shooters. This book is a great read.