Horizontal and Vertical Scrolling Shooters!

Asking me what my top 5 shooting games are, is like asking somebody if they're human. Shikigami no Shiro II, Imperishable Night, Mushihimesama, ESP Galuda.

I prefer vertical over horizontal, but if I had to play a horizontal one I'd choose Pro Gear, by Capcom. It's beautifully created and had it not of been horizontal it'd definitely be in my top 5. I've been forcing myself to pump up the color in my tv just to see smaller bullets in these games.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Man, Rocket Knight Adventures was great. I hated it at the same time for it being so difficult, and the boss music was actually boss music, not just a warped remix of the normal level with some fast paced beats.

Although it doesn't fit the shooting catagory. And if you think Gunbird 2 has alot of bullets, you've clearly been missing out on the CAVE shooters.



There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Megalith Beast

Actually I've played Mushihimesama and I thought it was pretty easy compared to Gunbird 2. There may have been a load more bullets, but it was waaay more predictable.

You couldn't be more wrong. Firstly, Gunbird 2 is a Psikyo shooter. CAVE shooters are deliberately made difficult as they are. The middle of level 3 and onwards in Mushihimesama(yes, I own the game also) becomes quite difficult. Mushihimesama is easier than, say, Dodonpachi Daioujou, but it's still hard. They all are. Gunbird 2 isn't that hard in comparison, except if for if you die on the last level, you're forced to start the level over from the beginning. Which is really annoying.

I had my tv sideways last night, in fact. Playing Mushihimesama in TATE mode(or otherwise known as having your tv sideways) is really fun, but it won't improve your skill by much.

I've found myself not using bombs in these games whatsoever. I'd rather die than use a bomb, and I don't know why. For a long period I forgot about bombs even existing(during my Ikaruga phase) but yeah.

I'm looking to pick up ESP Galuda over the next month or so, just because ESP Ra.De is so awesome. While Mushi is fun, I still can't help but think that there's better games I'm missing out on.



This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Darkcomet72

Mushihimesama has 3 difficulty levels, so it's hard to compare difficulty to a game like Gunbird 2. Default is original, which I think is the easiest of any cave game ever (next to ESPgaluda). Manic is tricky however, but definately doable. Ultra is perhaps the hardest of any cave game ever (cept mabye Ketsui).

Ketsui isn't hard, but playing DOOM in Ketsui is basically impossible. One of my friends owns basically every japanese 2D shooting game ever made, and I think we have both decided that Daioujou is the hardest, even on normal mode.

Disregarding the different difficulty levels in Mushihime, it's pretty solid. Daioujou on the other hand throws you right into it, and it doesn't give up. I always enjoyed ESP Ra.De on my xbox, and still do, mainly because it wasn't something that was impossible or farfetched, it was quite easy. The absorbing scheme which is replacing the bomb scheme in Ra.De is also nice, and gives it a Giga Wing feel.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by MrMonkeyMan

Oh, and don't forget to watch my ESPGaluda video!

Watching now. What is with the time manipulation option, do you get any penalty for slowing bullets down?

I am definitely going to buy ESP Galuda now. I love/d Ra.De and I still play it often on my xbox, so there's no reason why this game isn't going to live up to my own hype.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Darkcomet72

I'm like the only person who think Ikaruga is better than Radiant Silvergun. Even in the music department.

I own both games and trust me, Ikaruga is better. Radiant is sought after and overpriced to hell, though. Just check ebay.

See what I mean?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by NES Oldskooler

I've seen that Ikaruga video before, but I just noticed something. Early on in the video, when one of the ships is being blasted by the huge laser, it presses him up against the wall, but he doesn't die.

You might be getting confused with chapter 3 of Shikigami no Shiro II. The walls in Shikigami will kill you, but not in Ikaruga.

FELIPE NO

So.

I imported ESP Galuda on the 20th of Feb.

It still hasn't arrived.

Not only does this make me want the game about 800 times more, but it's forcing me to watch MMM's videos over and over which just can't be healthy; until it arives.

I hope I made the right purchase. The only other PS2 shooting game I own is Raiden III, and well, that's pretty dull.

How ya doing, buddy?

Oh god, Alien Hominid is terrible.

I mean, worst-games-of-all-time terrible. It's a flash game, and somehow it's on PS2 and xbox now. It's all to promote some artist. I bought this and returned it the next day.

It would be better if the bullets were slower(say, Metal Slug speed) and you didn't go through 20 odd credits per level. I really didn't find that game to be positive in any shape or form.

And much like Metal Slug, it isn't considered a horizontal shooter. But oh well.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

What's up guys. ESP Galuda on the right. This has to be, by far, the best shooting game ever created. I thought Ikaruga was good. I thought Mushihime was good. Hell, I thought Radilgy was good. But no, here's Galuda, topping them all.

So far I've managed to get up to stage 4, but I really need to work on that. Getting the first extend on the first level like MrMonkeyMan did is amazing, except for the fact that I can't do it.

Originally Posted by kuttlas

I don't get it, you don't like AH because it's hard? That's usually what people look for in a shooter, challenge. I thought it was slightly easy myself, like Contra Jr.

Hard as in, unfair. Raiden III is unfair. Mars Matrix is unfair. Giga Wing 2 is unfair. However I wouldn't mix Alien Hominid with those, as it's a flash game ported to consoles(probably to promote the artist and his work).

I just found it all a bit fast. Then again, I'm the type of person who doesn't like using more than a single credit on his games. Bullets in Alien Hominid were quite fast, in comparison to what they are in Metal Slug. Metal Slug is hard(varies on edition) but not Alien Hominid-hard. The game didn't have a level select or anything, even.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I was thinking of, uh, downloading this.

Most Dreamcast shooters(I mean, all) I have already. Some have been a real depressing experience(Trizeal, Chaos Field) but others have been absolutely amazing(Shikigami, Ikaruga). Is Under Defeat like Zero Gunner 2 with the free range of motion which you have with your ship?

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by NoWittyComment

I've been playing Pink Sweets, the sequel to Ibara by Cave, alot lately. Awesome game!

Does it have miniscule bullets like Ibara has?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by MrMonkeyMan

Pink Sweets is nothing like Ibara at all. It looks more like some kind of strange Takumi/Cave/Raizing hybrid if such a thing can exist.

Is it coming out for PS2? I saw a video of somebody entering Hey! arcade in japan, where Ibara and Pink Sweets were, but I don't know how old that video was. Since most games from CAVE appear on the PS2 (aside from the smaller titles like Uo Poko and Mushihime-tama)

Originally Posted by Qwarky

Eh, I've always thought the general opinion of Ra.De is that it's shit hard and the scoring system makes no sense whatsoever.

Killing enemies as soon as they appear is a "scoring system which makes no sense whatsoever"? Ra.De isn't even that hard, I just have trouble dodging tight gaps since the hitbox is larger than the one in Galuda.

I was speaking idiomatically.

In order to get 16x, you have to kill enemies quickly. That's it. The faster you kill enemies, the more enemies you can kill at 16x.

Tapping your main shot, along with your flamethrower shot, and shrouding yourself with your aura really isn't that difficult. I just use a turbo Saturn controller so it automatically does this, and all I need to do is hold A and B.

The P's are your standard stereo-typical powerup icons. Once you reach 200 it counts down, but I have no clue as to why. You don't lose power, that's for sure.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Qwarky

This is why I said you don't seem to know how the system works. The multiplier doesn't work like in Donpachi or DoDonpachi.

Dodonpachi doesn't rely on killing enemies fast. It relies on killing enemies at a certain time so you can chain together a combo and continue to do so throughout the level.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Qwarky

Of course it relies on killing them fast, what the hell are you talking about? =/

No it doesn't, it relies on tapping the shot button and timing. And for the bigger bosses - laser to continue the chain.

Quote:

Just because you need to take care of in which order to shoot the enemies so as not to break the chain, doesn't mean you're not "killing them fast".

It isn't really necessary which order you kill them in, unless you're in a tight position where you're 1) critical of score and 2) only increasing your combo by the enemies which appear on-sight, which is caused by killing them too fast.

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Similarly, of course ESP Ra.De's multiplier system requires you to kill enemies fast, but because of the necessary use of the secondary shot to initiate the multiplier in the first place, that's not all there is to it, and it's an entirely different system.

Like I said, tapping A and B does wonders. Though on a turbo controller, it's much more difficult, as you can't hold down A (since it's rapid) and "focus" when it becomes danmaku.

Annnnnnnnyway, I've been playing Galuda for a couple of hours. I haven't figured out how you obtain that extra life in the third (?) level with the giant ship. It reminds me a lot of the ship in Dodonpachi, which requires you to take out every sector without bombing or dying in order for the bomb to be under the hatch.

So far I'm doing pretty good. It's a shame that the superplay in the game is of tateha, and the only superplay of ageha is on the special dvd. Either way, it's actually possible to get up to level 5 and onwards which is encouraging. Hopefully I'll figure out the level 4 boss' second sequence (where there's these flat turrets planted each side of the rail-way tracks, that you can kill, and which totally throw me off as to whether I'm meant to kill them or not).

I have actually been pinting a bit of Raiden 3 as well. I can't stand the game, and I think mixing orange bullets with orange explosions is the dumbest thing in the world, and having to recollect your powerups at the right color (which essentially makes you die all over again) is pretty annoying, but I dunno, Raiden 3 is a love-hate game.

I guess you could say all shooting games are a love-hate thing.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Qwarky

Are you listening to yourself? Of course it's necessary to kill them in the right order if you want to keep up the chain. If you shoot the wrong enemy before you were supposed to, there'll be a break in enemy pattern and you'll lose the chain.

Take the first part of Daioujou for example. You can kill any of the tanks multiple ways - laser left to right, chip off the rest with shot, or you can chip them all, laser them all, whathaveyou. Like I said, unless you're in a desperate situation where you NEED to kill the next deserving enemy which will appear on the screen next in order to continue your chain, when there's multiple enemies on the screen nobody really cares enough to "destroy them in a certain order."

If you have to kill certain enemies at certain times to earn certain bonuses, shooting games aren't shooting games then. They're gimmicks, where you basically need to premeditate everything and that's no fun at all. It's about blowing shit up, there is no "right" way to play shmups.

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That's like saying killing order is irrelevant in Ikaruga. Sure you can improvise every now and then, but to keep a chain up, you need to follow an order.

Killing order is irrelevant in Ikaruga if you aren't playing for score or chain. People, you know, just play games sometimes? I can chain up to the 4224 guys in chapter 1, but anything past that and I'm done. While Ikaruga is a great game, and I do enjoy playing it in a non-serious manner, I don't think I could really get myself into it.

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And either way this doesn't even matter since the ESP Ra.De scoring system is not merely about killing enemies fast like you claimed.

It is if you use A and B together like I said. Remember what I told you - normal shot tapping and flamethrower tapping at the same time. Then just aura yourself when you're in danger, temporarily if you're just in a tight spot or hold the bomb button down if you want to absorb stuff.

How ya doing, buddy?

If you have the 504 mb .rar of this, then yeah, it's warez, since sites have the game for purchase. If you just have the demo (which is available on ZUN's site) then that's fine.

The touhou shooters aren't freeware, but actual games. Imperishable Night and Flower View are very fun. The only one touhou game I don't like is Shoot the Bullet, which doesn't really feel like a shooting game. I wish there were more danmaku shooters like these available. All I ever see is 2D/3D hybrids like rRootage and the like.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

There is a story, but the dialogue is all in japanese. The dialogue resembles Shikigami no Shiro II's story theme.

And yeah, the girl on the right (Reimu) is from Imperishable Night. Most of the characters seem recycled for whatever reason.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.