Shooter games

[shadowbringer]

nintendonut: if you try to play it for survival, the game rewards you for using bombs at the right times (they're sometimes used to create a no-bullets hitbox). Not dying much (I got to Phase 1 by dying once, out of its three lives.. I've also unintentionally avoided the difficult Level 45) means you play more

If you try to play for score, the recommended ships are, apparently, Judge Spear (and its slave version -- to use the slaves, hold the bomb button at the game's title screen and then press Start); some (Matsuri) recommend the Fairy (the Miclus slave), others prefer the Ixion (moozooh, apparently), since survival is another part of score
And when you try to play for score, this is where this game.. serves as an example of risk and reward.. please refer to this page for more information

http://web.archive.org/web/20020224150902/alluro95.tripod.com/raiden/rfjsecrets.htm

and to this video (you may need VLC Player to play it) to see, in practice, how RFJ is played for score.. and this is where this game becomes crazy!
http://www.super-play.co.uk/index.php?superplay=2611

[Matsuri]

some (Matsuri) recommend the Fairy (the Miclus slave),

If the Fairy doesn't have a smaller hitbox like it looks like it does, the fact that it's got a tiny sprite sure gives a psychological benefit and illusion of a smaller hitbox.

[Aisha]

Also, I agree that MAME does seem to have some really noticeable input/output/whatever lag.  It's not as bad as, say, pre-patch PCB, but it's still kinda annoying.  Anyone here know of some way to make it better?

If vsync and/or triple buffering are on, try turning them off.

I wonder why some people experience input lag in Mame and/or Touhou and others don't. I've never experienced it in either, for some reason..

[Matsuri]

Also, I agree that MAME does seem to have some really noticeable input/output/whatever lag.  It's not as bad as, say, pre-patch PCB, but it's still kinda annoying.  Anyone here know of some way to make it better?

If vsync and/or triple buffering are on, try turning them off.

I wonder why some people experience input lag in Mame and/or Touhou and others don't. I've never experienced it in either, for some reason..

Yeah, same. I've never had any issues, and I sent Donut an exact copy of my MAME folder, just removing 85% of my roms to decrease filesizes. So the fact that he's having input/lag issues is weird to me. :/

[shadowbringer]

Azinth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTOHnUALJOI#t=5m28s might be of help.. for safety purposes, don't kill the bullet-clearing enemies when there are no/few bullets on the screen; damage them, and then use them when they're near the bottom of the screen..

There will be one last section of these bullet-spraying enemies, where some of them are covered by other of the same kind; I usually make an opening at the right side of the screen, and then reach the big red carrier ship from there

Hope this helps

[Matsuri]

Is that from a Superplay DVD or something? I had no idea Prometheus was involved in the making of one of those. *amazed*

[shadowbringer]

nope, I got it from here: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=23024&start=150   (I've gotten word of Prometheus' score and input file, and then heard that someone has put it on YouTube.. congrats to him for such an achievement and effort)

[LtC]

Also, I agree that MAME does seem to have some really noticeable input/output/whatever lag.  It's not as bad as, say, pre-patch PCB, but it's still kinda annoying.  Anyone here know of some way to make it better?

Most games on MAME have 1-3 (usually 2 frames, Raizing and Psikyo games tend to have 3 or higher sometimes) frames of input lag even with v-sync and other annoyances turned off. DDP for example has 1 frame which isn't too bad, any higher than 2 frames is pretty hard to play for me though.

You can check how many frames each game has by pressing P (to pause the game), then hold shift+ a directional button and press P to advance a frame at the time. You'll see that for the first frame the ship doesn't move in DDP.
There are some games with no input lag though, like Change Air Blade but most of them aren't very good.


Also, I'd recommend anyone who already hasn't to try out Cho Ren Sha 68K (http://www2.tky.3web.ne.jp/~yosshin/my_works/download.html) and Blue Wish resurrection (http://www004.upp.so-net.ne.jp/x_xgameroom/Works/works.html). Both are free, easy and simple for beginners and one of the better shooting games ever made.

For CRS68K the first loop of the game is pretty easy but it gets pretty fun during the second loop, and in the end there's a CAVE like true last boss. Extends are every 1M.

For BWR be sure to get the original version and _not_ the plus version because it isn't as good. The original mode of the game is pretty easy, I suggest just beating it once and then going for the more fun modes (Accel and Hell).

Some other really good PC doujin shmups worth trying out: HELLSINKER, Kamui, PatriotDark (free), Zen-Ichi and StellaVanity (free)

[BoLaD]

Are you kidding me? I never knew you could get 4 lives in Dodonpachi. All this time I've yet to 1cc the game because I can only get the 6 million life one. God damn you Cave and your coin wasting strategies.

[nintendonut888]

Hmm, Giga Wing seems pretty fun. I continued before beating the first boss though...

But yeah I'm starting to get bored of Dodonpachi. The game would be pretty awesome if it were just the first two stages, but the fact is that there's another 4 (11 actually) stages that I do not find fun. The best part about the game is the boss music IMO. It's just so cheesy awesome in how over-the-top it is. Biggest reason I wanted to reach Hibachi actually: Not for the danmaku but for the fact that I really wanted to fight a battle where that music is fitting. And for the 死ぬがよい moe appeal. <3

What exactly is the translation of 死ぬがよい anyway? I've gotten both "you should die" and "dying is good", but I'm not sure which it is. All I can say is that if it's the second then it does not make sense in any context I've seen it in.

[LtC]

Hmm, Giga Wing seems pretty fun. I continued before beating the first boss though...

Biggest reason I wanted to reach Hibachi actually: Not for the danmaku but for the fact that I really wanted to fight a battle where that music is fitting. And for the 死ぬがよい moe appeal. <3

Just play with save states then. Fight Hibachi over and over

And if you like GW, try out Mars Matrix, it's pretty much similar but harder, more awesome and in space.

[nintendonut888]

...Savestates?

How. If I have to use savestates to reach Hibachi I will. Hell, if Anex86 allowed them, I'd use them to set up a rudimentary stage practice for PC-98.

[Matsuri]

And if you like GW, try out Mars Matrix, it's pretty much similar but harder, more awesome and in space.

I gave him Mars Matrix too. It's like I can foresee what you guys want him to try out, it's kinda cool. 

[BoLaD]

You know what I really despise about Dodonpachi? You can't see your hitbox (if you can, please tell me!) the enemies will shoot you when they're almost exiting the screen, the final phase of the final boss, (how the hell are you supposed to see it, let alone react and dodge it?) and the entire stage 5- it's not fun, it's too random, and the bad input lag always makes you die with 5 or 6 bombs in stock.

Also, is there any way to play blue wish ressurection at 60FPS? I seem to only be able to play it at 75- and the game is much harder at that speed.

[KOA]

I'm obsessed with Mars Matrix.

[nintendonut888]

;_;

I found out how to use savestates, but the game says that it cannot work for some reason. Something to do with "anonymous timers" was it? Any help?

[Matsuri]

I didn't even know there were savestates on that version of MAME.  :V

[Aisha]

Save states don't work on newer versions of Mame with some games. Try something like WolfMAME 0.99; moozooh provided a link to it on the previous page.

[nintendonut888]

Similarly, the best part about Donpachi is the narrator guy. That guy is AWESOME, if just for his one line for the stage 2 boss:

OДO: IT'S A...! Heavy artillery barrage. :| Don't panic.

Oh, and I tried Mars Matrix. I dunno, I think I like Giga Wing better. I don't like how you don't get an instant bomb.

[Matsuri]

Yeah, the announcer in DonPachi is pretty awesome.

As for Mars Matrix vs. GigaWing, I have to say I like Mars Matrix better even if it's a total pain in the ass to play at times.

GigaWing 2 is pretty great though. It's not on MAME, but I'm sure you could get it to work on a Dreamcast emulator.

[LtC]

You know what I really despise about Dodonpachi? You can't see your hitbox (if you can, please tell me!) the enemies will shoot you when they're almost exiting the screen, the final phase of the final boss, (how the hell are you supposed to see it, let alone react and dodge it?) and the entire stage 5- it's not fun, it's too random, and the bad input lag always makes you die with 5 or 6 bombs in stock.

Also, is there any way to play blue wish ressurection at 60FPS? I seem to only be able to play it at 75- and the game is much harder at that speed.

-The hitbox is pretty clear point of the ship. It's one of those games with actually pretty clear hitbox without actually showing it.
-So 0.0172seconds is bad input lag? You do realize it's pretty much the same as the delay your screen takes to show the image.
-You can force 60FPS (From screen.txt if I remember correct) or you can change your screen refresh rate to 60FPS, either should work.

[Matsuri]

OH MY GOD YES <33333333333333333333333333333333333333~♪

[Bananamatic]

Now if I had an X360 and enough cash to import anything.....

[Matsuri]

Asada says that this is the test for us-- that if this sells well, it will directly affect the likelihood of other CAVE ports such as ESPGaluda II and Ketsui getting region-free releases.

I'm going to support this cause as much as I can-- and I urge anyone interested to do so as well-- and preorder the Limited Edition as soon as it becomes available. I've been patiently setting money aside for this, so I have enough~!

[BoLaD]

Asada says that this is the test for us-- that if this sells well, it will directly affect the likelihood of other CAVE ports such as ESPGaluda II and Ketsui getting region-free releases.

I'm going to support this cause as much as I can and preorder the Limited Edition as soon as it becomes available. I've been patiently setting money aside for this, so I have enough~!

And then a week before the day of release, the game get's region blocked-just my prediction.

[Matsuri]

I'm going to kick you for being pessimistic. 

The announcement that it might be region-free was made a while back, and they wouldn't pull back now after saying that it definitely will be, what with all of us excited gaijin-folk anticipating it so much.

[KOA]

I might have to buy more than one copy now. :/

[Matsuri]

Limited Edition is available for pre-order on yesasia.

Gonna wait and see what Play-Asia's price is first, though.

[BoLaD]

You know what I really despise about Dodonpachi? You can't see your hitbox (if you can, please tell me!) the enemies will shoot you when they're almost exiting the screen, the final phase of the final boss, (how the hell are you supposed to see it, let alone react and dodge it?) and the entire stage 5- it's not fun, it's too random, and the bad input lag always makes you die with 5 or 6 bombs in stock.

Also, is there any way to play blue wish ressurection at 60FPS? I seem to only be able to play it at 75- and the game is much harder at that speed.

-The hitbox is pretty clear point of the ship. It's one of those games with actually pretty clear hitbox without actually showing it.
-So 0.0172seconds is bad input lag? You do realize it's pretty much the same as the delay your screen takes to show the image.
-You can force 60FPS (From screen.txt if I remember correct) or you can change your screen refresh rate to 60FPS, either should work.

Hmm, must be my computer if I'm getting input delay then, cause I really do feel a delay when I try to use bombs.
Also, thanks for your help with BWR. Playing it at normal speed is much more fun than 75 fps.

[Aisha]

OH MY GOD YES <33333333333333333333333333333333333333~♪

Holy shit. I'm going to buy a copy even though I have no way of playing it. :V