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Shoot the Core! - Gaf Shoot ‘em Up (aka Shooter/SHMUP) Reference Thread

Biker19

Banned
Hopefully, someone will make a ton of Shoot-Em-Up games for PS4, especially as it's region free & developer friendly.

While Xbox 360 does have many of them, most of them happens to be region locked.
 

gunstarhero

Member
Well, I finally did it and purchased an Armed Police Batrider PCB for my NAC! Got my hands on a JPN B version, mint condition board with the instructions art.

This game is well worth the hype - it's really amazing.

The graphic detail is unreal - might be the best sprite work I've ever seen in a shooter. So much going on, and it all has an awesome vibe to it. It's colorful without being "cute" - and everything has a ton of character to it.

For those unfamiliar with the game - it's sort of like an "Raizing Allstars" - with playable characters and bosses from Battle Garegga, Dimahoo, etc, as well as a ton of new entries. Being able to play this game as Golden Bat (from Battle Garegga) is fucking awesome.

Tons of secrets are plentiful. I accidentally discovered a hidden boss from Dimahoo in Stage 2 yesterday and was blown away. After researching some more, it seems Raizing really went all out for this one and hid a to of content here.

Anyway - this has been on my list for quite some time and wanted to share.

So glad it lived up to the hype. See below for some pics:


zIjWqGcl.jpg


2v7W0ZO.jpg


wiWkZMT.jpg
 

SOME-MIST

Member
Well, I finally did it and purchased an Armed Police Batrider PCB for my NAC! Got my hands on a JPN B version, mint condition board with the instructions art.

This game is well worth the hype - it's really amazing.

The graphic detail is unreal - might be the best sprite work I've ever seen in a shooter. So much going on, and it all has an awesome vibe to it. It's colorful without being "cute" - and everything has a ton of character to it.

For those unfamiliar with the game - it's sort of like an "Raizing Allstars" - with playable characters and bosses from Battle Garegga, Dimahoo, etc, as well as a ton of new entries. Being able to play this game as Golden Bat (from Battle Garegga) is fucking awesome.

Tons of secrets are plentiful. I accidentally discovered a hidden boss from Dimahoo in Stage 2 yesterday and was blown away. After researching some more, it seems Raizing really went all out for this one and hid a to of content here.

Anyway - this has been on my list for quite some time and wanted to share.

So glad it lived up to the hype. See below for some pics:
congrats :) APB is one of my personal favorite boards. easy course and normal course are really fun clears, and advanced course is quite the challenge
 

SOME-MIST

Member
snagged a Strikers 1999 board which arrived yesterday. first real venture into Psikyo. I'm planning on snagging the 1945 collection and zero gunner 2 per thread recommendations too. I just couldn't pass up the cheap price of the 1999 board :)

box arrived yesterday severely damaged and I didn't feel like dealing with an unboxing video until I was about to go to bed. luckily, the board wasn't damaged and booted perfectly. got 1 credit in and had a blast. the ship speed kind of threw me off (it almost felt like there was input lag even though I've never experienced noticeable lag on my XM29. only got through 2 stages, but I had a blast. hope to get some more playtime and hopefully some pics later today.
 

Aizo

Banned
Do all of you already have Saidaioujou, or is anyone else picking up the platinum version this month? I beat the first DoDonPachi today in preparation for it.
 

SOME-MIST

Member
Speaking of Psikyo, goddamn do they have a cool logo.

Psikyo-logo.png
actually thought the exact same thing when I saw it boot for the first time. definitely one of the better shmup company logos.

Do all of you already have Saidaioujou, or is anyone else picking up the platinum version this month? I beat the first DoDonPachi today in preparation for it.
have it and oddly I haven't sunk that much time into it other than 1CCing the easier mode. I need to spend more time with it as it was a lot of fun.
 

japtor

Member
snagged a Strikers 1999 board which arrived yesterday. first real venture into Psikyo. I'm planning on snagging the 1945 collection and zero gunner 2 per thread recommendations too. I just couldn't pass up the cheap price of the 1999 board :)

box arrived yesterday severely damaged and I didn't feel like dealing with an unboxing video until I was about to go to bed. luckily, the board wasn't damaged and booted perfectly. got 1 credit in and had a blast. the ship speed kind of threw me off (it almost felt like there was input lag even though I've never experienced noticeable lag on my XM29. only got through 2 stages, but I had a blast. hope to get some more playtime and hopefully some pics later today.
If you don't know the trick, there's another plane if you go to the random select and hit up or down. It's pretty much like Morrigan in the Dreamcast version of Gunbird 2.
Do all of you already have Saidaioujou, or is anyone else picking up the platinum version this month? I beat the first DoDonPachi today in preparation for it.
Got it when it first came out, and just put it back in the cab recently. Still love it, still as brutal as I remember.
 

Mr.McFist

Member
Is there any word yet if Bullet Soul Infinite Burst is going to be region free? I was thinking about preordering but only have a PAL console.
 

gunstarhero

Member
snagged a Strikers 1999 board which arrived yesterday. first real venture into Psikyo. I'm planning on snagging the 1945 collection and zero gunner 2 per thread recommendations too. I just couldn't pass up the cheap price of the 1999 board :)

box arrived yesterday severely damaged and I didn't feel like dealing with an unboxing video until I was about to go to bed. luckily, the board wasn't damaged and booted perfectly. got 1 credit in and had a blast. the ship speed kind of threw me off (it almost felt like there was input lag even though I've never experienced noticeable lag on my XM29. only got through 2 stages, but I had a blast. hope to get some more playtime and hopefully some pics later today.

Ah man - I miss my Strikers collection (had all 3 PCBs at some point - traded them for different games over time).

I miss 1999 the most - the secret transforming jet was a blast to play and by far my favorite ship in the game. Best part about 99' is the instant kill spots on each boss - some are tough to pull off, but very satisfying and worth the risk imo. Such a great game - not sure what I was thinking when I sold it. :p
 

Slermy

Member
No infos yet :-(

Should be cheap enough so even if it is minor it will make a solid game worthwile. Plus, use of PS3 arcade sticks!

(personally, hoping for slightly snappier load times)

Thanks for the info. Guess I'll just have to wait and see (my arcade stick is 360).
 

mdsfx

Member
Any impressions on Danmaku Unlimited 2 which released today on Steam?

From what I just played on my lunch break, I love it. Simple, but fantastic visuals, 2 main modes, multiple difficulty levels, and very fun bullet patterns.

The only issue right now is that some controllers are not yet compatible. The devs are working on it apparently.

Can't wait to get home to play more of this.
 
So I went to the 5pb Bullet Soul: Infinite Burst tonight and there was a roundtable with some of the shooting devs: M2, Moss, Qute and Triangle Service.

The bottom line that was of these four devs, nobody was going to stop making shooters. After a long talk, each company gave a summary of their plans from here on out.

Moss:
PS3 Caladrius and Raiden: Overkill for now. But next-gen just started, so looking towards that.

Qute:
Discount version of Ginga Force coming soon. Next-gen tech offers console-oriented shooters more options than previously available, so working on next project with that in mind.

Triangle Service:
Ge-sen Love coming out in April, otherwise lots of shooter ideas and will continue to put out games.

M2:
Fantasy Zone remake for 3DS just came out. Hiroshi Iuchi (creator of Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun) currently is on-staff and worked on Afterburner 3D remake for 3DS. Thinks it would be interesting to get Iuchi and Manabu Namiki on a project. (Crowd oohs and aahs) "I want to do it, but if we do, give us a lot of time to work on it"

5pb also indicated their interest in continuing to make shooters.
So it seems that even if CAVE and Grev are out of the game at present, the four above will carry the torch for the time being.
 

Tain

Member
That M2 blurb is exciting even if M2 doesn't necessarily want it to be, lol.

I haven't picked up Ginga Force yet and I'd totally get a discounted version.
 

gunstarhero

Member
So I went to the 5pb Bullet Soul: Infinite Burst tonight and there was a roundtable with some of the shooting devs: M2, Moss, Qute and Triangle Service.

The bottom line that was of these four devs, nobody was going to stop making shooters. After a long talk, each company gave a summary of their plans from here on out.

Moss:
PS3 Caladrius and Raiden: Overkill for now. But next-gen just started, so looking towards that.

Qute:
Discount version of Ginga Force coming soon. Next-gen tech offers console-oriented shooters more options than previously available, so working on next project with that in mind.

Triangle Service:
Ge-sen Love coming out in April, otherwise lots of shooter ideas and will continue to put out games.

M2:
Fantasy Zone remake for 3DS just came out. Hiroshi Iuchi (creator of Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun) currently is on-staff and worked on Afterburner 3D remake for 3DS. Thinks it would be interesting to get Iuchi and Manabu Namiki on a project. (Crowd oohs and aahs) "I want to do it, but if we do, give us a lot of time to work on it"

5pb also indicated their interest in continuing to make shooters.
So it seems that even if CAVE and Grev are out of the game at present, the four above will carry the torch for the time being.

That's awesome to hear! I was worried we would need to rely on the indie scene for shooters next gen, but it's great to know some of the experts are sticking around!

BTW - that's not a diss on indie devs AT ALL - Luftrausers might be my GOTY for 2014. :)
 

Slermy

Member
Thanks for the tidbits adversesolutions!

I know very little about Ge-sen Love, haven't heard about region locking one way or the other.
 

Aizo

Banned
I wasn't impressed by the Crimson Clover demo for PC, but I had a lot of fun playing it on a cab today. It is one loud game.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
Steel Empire port/remake is great as well! Probably may favorite shooter release this year.

Have not gotten to try the new G.rev Gamecenter game since I got pushed out to a place with no internet and AmiAmi cancelled my order ;-(
 

old

Member
I've played like 15 or 20 shmups over the years. Every one of them could be beaten in like 30 minutes. Is there any reason why shmups are so short?
 

Water

Member
I've played like 15 or 20 shmups over the years. Every one of them could be beaten in like 30 minutes. Is there any reason why shmups are so short?
Originally they had to be, due to being arcade games.

Many of the usual design decisions in shmups require that the games be short. They are intense, exhausting, and hard. Because the chance of making mistakes accumulates over time, and also because it's hard to concentrate for a long time in one go, just making the game longer would make the game much, much harder. Very few would be able to beat the game. And when you fail at a late point in the game, you'd then have to play a very long time before getting to try that section again, adding frustration and slowing down player's progress. Reducing the difficulty level would again allow players a reasonable shot of beating the game, but water down the experience.

The first shoot'em up I've beaten is 25 minutes long (in the mode I played in), and it took me at least 15-20 hours of play before I beat it for the first time. Increase the length substantially from 25 minutes, and the total time required to see the game through once would go through the roof. Replayability would decrease as well. I'm much more likely to replay a game and perhaps try scoring if it's 25 minutes instead of 3 hours.
 
I've played like 15 or 20 shmups over the years. Every one of them could be beaten in like 30 minutes. Is there any reason why shmups are so short?
It's more accurate to state these games are designed to be beatable in a single credit. I think very few would consider brute forcing through a game with infinite continues and deaths numbering in the hundreds truly "beating" the game.
 

SOME-MIST

Member
I've played like 15 or 20 shmups over the years. Every one of them could be beaten in like 30 minutes. Is there any reason why shmups are so short?

took me probably 4 months of on and off play time to 1 credit clear mushihimesama futari black label maniac.

took me longer to 1-ALL Progear.

as mentioned - it's mostly about 1 credit clearing the game as opposed to credit feeding and bomb spamming. If you play them "correctly" the games have an insane amount of replayability... especially when you learn how to score and you start competing on leaderboards.
 

japtor

Member
Yeah I think the main factors would be 1CCing, scoring, and general replayability. 1CCs are hard enough to get with 20-30 minute long games, and even if you can't do it there's still progress in how far you can get on one credit, and score to play for. It basically becomes a matter of going for as perfect a run as you can pull off, and that can take a lot of tries. The longer the game is the more arduous it is to replay.

Not a shmup but an extremely compressed example of this sort of mentality is Super Hexagon. When starting out most people only last a few seconds, and since the games are so short (and always a challenge) you can replay a crapload without it being a big deal. Eventually you can get to the minute markers (kind of a 1CC equivalent) and keep playing for a maximum time beyond that just to compete with others or best your own time.
 

luka

Loves Robotech S1
There's also the fact that no arcade operator wants someone sitting there playing through a 3 hour game on a single credit keeping everyone else off the machine. That's a lot of wasted time and money.

Gradius V is exceptionally long for a shooter and probably wouldn't last long in any arcade. I've never known anyone who has actually played beyond the 2nd loop because it's such a ridiculous time sink.
 
I can't think of any STGs coming to the current gen consoles. Gen 7 is still getting all the support, which makes sense since the install base in much higher.
 

linid0t

Member
Here's a pic of my setup:

qKC3vpA.jpg


From top to bottom I have Sin and Punishment 64 on WiiU gamepad, Knights in the Nightmare on Vita, Ikaruga DC on a tated ancient CRT (wood frame looks pretty nice), Kokuga on my 3DSXL, and Sin and Punishment Star Successor.

5wDMjBu.jpg


Ikaruga PC looks pretty nice as well, too bad it's not a perfect port...
 

AmyS

Member
So looking forward to the NA PSN release of Raiden IV Overkill on PS3 later this month.

And after reading this, I gotta try to find a copy of The Raiden Project for PS1, if possible.


udGhA4O.jpg


lrEqoCE.jpg
 

system11

Member
So looking forward to the NA PSN release of Raiden IV Overkill on PS3 later this month.

Appears to be NA only, Moss really do hate Europe and love their region locking / licensing model.

Is it possible to download and play US PSN content on a EU PS3 somehow? I've never needed to try before.
 

AmyS

Member
The hugeness

my eyes

O_O

But, Raiden is fucking awesome, so I'll allow it.

Thanks.

I'm having trouble with imgur, for whatever reason it will no longer actually resize an image even after upload / edit / resize / save, it doesn't take. Anyone else experience the same problem?

--Ah nevermind, it seems to work okay now, reduced image size.
 

Coda

Member
wii system transfer?
that's one of the most appealing things about the wii u imo

Ahh yeah, just forgot they added a Wii U gamepad screen support too. Kind of a shame you need an additional controller though. Better than nothing I guess.
 

Yasawas

Member
Is it possible to download and play US PSN content on a EU PS3 somehow? I've never needed to try before.

Aye, just make a US account if you don't have one and buy some PSN credit from Amazon.com. I did it a month or so ago and it was pretty painless.
 
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