Please also note that the iDevice version as well as the Windows Phone version of DDPMAX now feature a robot cat that spouts quotes from Dangun Feveron/Fever SOS! While using a weapon set inspired by it! _________________ HeavyViper@Twitter ~~~ HeavyViper@Soundcloud
Blog: Machines That Sing
Oh. For a moment I spasmed and flicked some tabs open to see if the hardware protection for Raiden II / DX had finally, finally, finally been cracked. It has not been.
Joined: 27 Apr 2011 Location: Malkland, Plant World
Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 3:03 am
Also, I no longer have a PS3, so if anyone wants a regular edition Japanese Under Defeat HD I'll ship mine out for a reasonable price. Will probably add that to the new trade thread soon. _________________ Drawing & writing, mostly.
Finally got started on/am being crushed by Eschatos thanks to this thread. Hoho man, the endless mode is probably just what I was looking for in a stg.
Same here! Got myself a copy from the UK since for whatever reason, the game's not out in Germany for another two months.
I'll use probably fine's thread once I have something to say about the game, I'm at least as much dilettante as he was. _________________
Huh. All the author every did is denying by surprise the space you're the most likely to occupy to turn it into a memorization game, the attacks are so fast it doesn't really subverts the vocabulary of the series like other kaizo games _________________ Twitter: @youpi
It's pretty up front about that in the Japanese actually. Game name is 初見殺(kills the first time you see it), the stage name is "Die and memorize STG", etc.
That being said I liked the three bosses and the 1up, plus the bullets that suddenly slow down when they get up in your face. Also nuclear bomb faeries. _________________ twit
Under Defeat has the best sense of height in an STG I've played since Raiden, and I'm going to go ahead and call it THE BEST shooter starring helicopters.
I love how your fire aimed at the ground can be blocked by building if you're too far away from the enemy. I love how you can jink and strafe on multiple angles in an STG. I love how your chopper stays at the same power level the entire game and power ups alter your option pod. I love how the option weapons are all applicable to different playstyles and situations. I love the music I love the aesthetic I love the sensibly designed female pilots I love it I love it I love it I love it I love it I love it.
The exclusive helicopter they put in is stupidly game-breaking, though. I haven't played much of the widescreen arrange mode, but having two auto-firing sidewinder missiles with twice the explosive power of the option pods' missiles turns Arcade mode into a joke. I was dying because I couldn't see bullets through all the smoke, which admittedly is kind of cool but come on, make a separate leaderboard for that beastly thing, sheesh. _________________ HeavyViper@Twitter ~~~ HeavyViper@Soundcloud
Blog: Machines That Sing
Do most touhou fans even play the shooters or shooters at all?
Speaking as someone with far, far, far far far too much exposure to this fanbase...
A minority plays them, and an even smaller minority actually bothers to try to beat them on something other than easy mode and the rest just live vicariously through them. (personally back when I actually played shmups I could nearly clear lunatic on a few of them but became a huge fighting game nerd before I ever finished that.)
I can speak from statistics on the translation downloads that the fighting games are definitely more popular than the shmups, at least in the west, most likely because of the higher production values and are generally easier to just mash your way through.
Nowadays, the franchise is marketed in such a way as to play up character and theme moreso than gameplay, and its fans (and probably enduring popularity) reflect that. There's a reason I'm getting away from it. _________________ twit
I played them when I was "into" touhou. Never bothered with most things else surrounding them except for some music, I still love Shoot the Bullet though.
The exclusive helicopter they put in is stupidly game-breaking, though. I haven't played much of the widescreen arrange mode, but having two auto-firing sidewinder missiles with twice the explosive power of the option pods' missiles turns Arcade mode into a joke. I was dying because I couldn't see bullets through all the smoke, which admittedly is kind of cool but come on, make a separate leaderboard for that beastly thing, sheesh.
From my understanding, the bonus chopper does not get the 2x bonus for enemy destruction from weapon pod usage like the regular chopper does... so while an easier clear, it won't be able to net the same high scores. Also, can you even access the second loop using the new chopper?
Glad to hear you're enjoying UD. It's one of my favourite games and one that I've spent quite a lot of time on. _________________ "Amidst utter chaos lies strict order."
A minority plays them, and an even smaller minority actually bothers to try to beat them on something other than easy mode and the rest just live vicariously through them. (personally back when I actually played shmups I could nearly clear lunatic on a few of them but became a huge fighting game nerd before I ever finished that.)
I think the fact that there's so many of them now keeps me from trying to clear them on anything higher than normal* - mastering any of them individually feels a bit pointless. Which is silly, because it does a lot to keep them fresh when I do step it up, but mastering 6+ shooting games is a big ask.
But yeah, I'd consider myself a fan of the games - I tend to buy them in groups and there's usually one of the group that I really like. I've always been a little confused by people who say they're more interested in the characters/music than the games themselves - I remember this being the attitude even back when Imperishable Night came along, back when I was checking out MotK and discovering there were actually full versions of the games that I could buy. It probably helps that I'm not too immersed in all that - I didn't even know the games had any marketing beyond 2 blog posts a year (and presumably stuff for the fighting games, which I've paid less attention to).
* Ten Desires aside, where I moved up to Hard because that game seriously needs all the help it can get. _________________ making you "lol" if you will
Now that my thumb feels okay I've been playing a little PS2 Gradius III last couple of nights. I'm baby mode-ing so I can open up the extended edit modes. I almost got the needed 1cc but couldn't recover on the last chamber of cell walls leading up to the final boss. Restarted from that checkpoint, cleared, and clutched the speed zone exit on the first try.
There's a couple of bottlenecks that I need to work out but the needed 1cc should be easy, then I want to return to normal.
It's scary how much harder this game is on the easiest mode than it is on SNES on higher settings. First loop anyway. Still feel happy about it considering I haven't played the game in at least 3 years. Somewhat ashamed upon realizing afterwards I had subconsciously pulled strategies I saw in some random youtube plays (the fire stage and cube attack.) I guess after 20 years it's more or less shared knowledge now.
I've been playing Zanac Neo from the PSN PS1 release zanac X zanac, and it is excellent. I've never been able to get into the bullet hell style games but have always been a fan of older shooters, especially those by Compile. For some reason, I'd never even heard of this. I now have a new shmup to play alongside Under Defeat.
What makes Zanac neat is the adaptive difficulty. The enemy waves are procedurally generated based on your current sub weapon and how well you're performing. The cool thing about this is that every game is unique. My main gripe with bullet hell games is the pattern memorization they require, so this is a nice approach. As the difficulty ramps up, the screen can get quite crowded though. Luckily, there are a couple of strategies for dealing with this. For one, 1ups from points are quite plentiful, so chaining combos serve a purpose other than scoring points. Second, item pickups give you brief invulnerability. When it gets hectic I find myself picking up sub weapons I wouldn't normally take just for the invulnerability.
In standard Compile fashion, the levels are long and continues(but not lost lives) take you back to the beginning of the stage. Luckily Zanac Neo has a save feature. I actually like this because it forces me to perfect(somewhat) a level before seeing the next one instead of just spamming continues. It will probably be a while before I manage to clear all 9 levels.
I'm playing this on the vita, and it looks fantastic. I'd definitely recommend playing it on something other than a ps3 due to the input lag ps1 emulation has on that system. Plus, the dpad is excellent on the vita. Unfortunately, you have to have a ps3 to purchase the game. Once bought, it is available on the vita(and I assume psp) via the download list.
Anyway, I love this game. _________________ PSN: TaipeiGamer
I've been playing Zanac Neo from the PSN PS1 release zanac X zanac, and it is excellent. I've never been able to get into the bullet hell style games but have always been a fan of older shooters, especially those by Compile. For some reason, I'd never even heard of this. I now have a new shmup to play alongside Under Defeat.
Well, it was the last thing Compile released before the company simply vanished.
jjsimpso wrote:
What makes Zanac neat is the adaptive difficulty. The enemy waves are procedurally generated based on your current sub weapon and how well you're performing. The cool thing about this is that every game is unique. My main gripe with bullet hell games is the pattern memorization they require, so this is a nice approach. As the difficulty ramps up, the screen can get quite crowded though. Luckily, there are a couple of strategies for dealing with this. For one, 1ups from points are quite plentiful, so chaining combos serve a purpose other than scoring points. Second, item pickups give you brief invulnerability. When it gets hectic I find myself picking up sub weapons I wouldn't normally take just for the invulnerability.
The problem I have with Zanac Neo is that it just hands out extends like candy. It feels kinda awkward when I'm single crediting a game with over 60 lives in stock.
The big thing with Zanac Neo is learning how and when to properly use the charge blast (which you can reabsorb for a much higher auto-fire rate) which can quickly rack up your chain counter as well as clear out massive areas of the screen with the concussive explosions.
jjsimpso wrote:
In standard Compile fashion, the levels are long and continues(but not lost lives) take you back to the beginning of the stage. Luckily Zanac Neo has a save feature. I actually like this because it forces me to perfect(somewhat) a level before seeing the next one instead of just spamming continues. It will probably be a while before I manage to clear all 9 levels.
Anyway, I love this game.
I think when you start to aggressively use the charge blast, you're going to find the game much easier. Then again, once you unlock the FC Custom the game just turns into a cake-walk (can't remember whether it's weapon 5 or 7.. but one of them at max power just destroys everything... even the vast majority of enemy projectiles). _________________ "Amidst utter chaos lies strict order."
So is charge blast what you call it when you long press the "bomb" button? I've mostly been tapping it, because that seemed more effective in my limited experimentation. I've had some success clearing out the screen with a chain of explosions doing that at the right time.
If Zanac Neo gets too easy I can always try the original zanac. That seems much harder, although I've only played it a little. _________________ PSN: TaipeiGamer
According to Silicon Era, Mamoru-kun Was Cursed! is coming to the West. Whether west is Europe or US they don't really say. In fact they don't say anything except that it's coming out. I was about to import this so this is good news. I know it's supposed to be kind of broken when it comes to scoring but it's always seemed really charming to me and I adore the soundtrack.
I honestly can't see this as a good business decision but I am thankful for it.
So I suck at these, but I tried out the 'new' Space invader games on x-bawx since they were on the cheap, and I have to say Infinity Gene is interesting in small doses.
Think it's still on sale for a short while, I don't know when Microsoft's weekly sales turn over. But for a stripped down experience it seemed to offer a few twists, though 'leveling up' seems like a weird choice in this sort of game, but gives hope to the fledgling.
I can see where 'you people', more seasoned vets of these games would find it boring as hell, kind of babies first pew pew, but I think it could be appreciated for turning a few conventions on their head. _________________ Steam: Godamn_Milkman
Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Location: Beneath the Mushroom Kingdom
Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 5:33 pm
i think infinity gene and space invaders extreme are both awesome, though for completely different reasons to more conventional shooting games _________________ http://lunaticobscurity.blogspot.com/ - newest post: Snezhaja Koroleva (Arcade)
http://lunargarbagehell.blogspot.com/ - newest post: Batman: Digital Justice
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