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slowbeef
Mar 15, 2005

Will Harvey hates you, and everything you stand for.
Pillbug
This thread is about shoot-em-ups, or shmups if you're nasty.

Let's Play? Let's Try? Let's All Play? YES!

The only rule on what videos can be posted here is that it must be at least tangentially shmup related. We're here to learn about and play cool, interesting shmups. If you'd like to post a stream of you playing shmups, go nuts. Hell, if you're streaming a new one and you just wanna link your stream (a la the stream thread), use this one too! If you'd like to post trying out a new shmup, feel free. If you'd like to show us a full playthrough of a favorite, the world is your oyster. If someone does a "Let's Try" of a game, and you want to do the full LP, don't let me stop you. Hell if someone posts a cool looking game and all you want to do is try it yourself, record it and go to town!

The only rules are your imagination and also forum rules and what the mods say and all.

2007 Rules Almost Apply

We're here to have fun, it's not a huge deal.

The only criteria I'd have is that there are no deal-breakers (i.e. something that makes the video hard to watch.) Accidentally crop out the score? Your audio is tinny, but not annoyingly so? That's okay. Just dodge them bullets. Or absorb 'em! Whatever!

Look to this post and the subsequent for videos and let's all enjoy shoot-em-ups!

Do I Have To Be Good?

Pfft, I suck at these things. In short, your rule of thumb is "is this video interesting or entertaining on some level?" If you spend the first minute or so exploding, but it showcases the game's difficulty (or is funny to laugh at), that's fine. I guess "don't be lazy" is the only thing.

Samidare, FrickenMoron
Summary: Samidare is a game I've had for a long time, it's a pretty fun if very short shmup where you don't have any kind of bombs, but instead a recharging shield that protects you against all damage and absorbs shots a high powered attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAx80Aj7ZEQ

Astebreed (Let's Try, slowbeef with decafdeliquent, AndyAML, Antlion Alpha, Geop)
Summary: I was gifted this perspective-changing shoot-em-up on Steam, and it's kinda awesome! I clipped the video a little early in the hopes of encouraging you to play it for yourself. Top-down? Horizontal? On-rails a la Starfox? Einhander vibe? All of the above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EpLQwSHq40

Luftrauser, Niggurath
Summary: Released back in March, Luftrauser presents a retro aesthetic with some physics based shooting mechanics with some interesting customization to combine down into a fun arcade shooter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv58FFvZK-w

Silpheed (Let's Play, Guava Moment)
Summary: Silpheed on the Sega CD is also a fairly decent shmup worth checking out, and Game Arts somehow managed to fill the whole game with full-screen FMV footage that doesn't look like heavily compressed garbage. It honestly looks pretty impressive in motion (and for a Sega CD game that's saying something).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UkGKZNMrNE

Beat Hazard (One Off, SourceElement - No Commentary) :siren: Epilepsy Warning! :siren:
Summary: Unlike other twin stick shooters, Beat Hazard's levels are all generated on the fly. The game also uses your own music library to generate the stage hazards. You can also choose the ships you fly in each level, with full workshop support to create your own ships. I'm using the Vic Viper from Gradius here. There's no commentary because there's really not a lot to say about a randomly generated shoot 'em up level. So just sit back and enjoy the music!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtzW_iWLdWE

Shoot the Bullet, Hyper Crab Tank
Summary: Shoot the Bullet is a... different bullet hell game where you don't actually fire bullets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI4OzokB8xk

Thunder Force 3, The Silent Hulk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iVm6Rvm5AI

slowbeef fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Aug 4, 2014

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slowbeef
Mar 15, 2005

Will Harvey hates you, and everything you stand for.
Pillbug
Let's Show Off - For one-offs of games you've played or blind videos of games you're trying.
Aqua Kitty: Milk Mine Defender, bathroomrage
Astebreed, slowbeef
Beat Hazard, Source Element - :siren: Epilepsy Warning! :siren:
Blast Works, Fawf
Cho Ren Sha, AndyAML
Crimzon Clover, Smash Daisaku
eXceed 3rd Jade Penetration Black Package, slowbeef
Hellsinker, slowbeef
Infinity Danger, MarkSoupial
Luftrausers, Niggurath
Pocket Ray: A New Hope, Drastic Actions
Psyche Metal, slowbeef w/ Tie Tuesday, TripleWipe45
Raptor, AnniEhilated
Samidare, FrickenMoron
Shoot The Bullet, Hyper Crab Tank
Sub Burner, Prenton
Symphony, Interrupter Jones; Rite of Spring Cut Full
Twinbee, Obeast
Twinkle Star Sprites, ChorpSaway
Warning Forever, IGgy IGsen

Full Let's Plays
Amnios, Libluini 1 2 3
Jamestown, Highwang: 1 2 3 4 5
Pocky and Rocky, Zain 1
R-Type Delta, Dectilon 1
Silpheed, Guava Moment - Videos: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Thunder Force 3, The Silent Hulk - Videos: 1 2 3
Velocity, Fragger 1-10

Expert Plays
Espgaldua (1cc, scoring), Jaimers
Dodonpachi Saidaioujou, Jaimers
Strikers 1999/1945 III, Jaimers; No Miss
Hellsinker (done right), Reive

:siren: GRADIUS :siren:
Gradius (NES), Freezing Inferno w/ Final Gamer

A Shmup Glossary for those of you who can't decide between STGs, Manic Shooters, Bullet Hells, and Danmakus.

Kaboom Dragoon posted:

That's a fair point, actually. Okay then, here's a brief glossary of the most common terms and phrases you're likely to encounter in this thread. If anything needs further clarification or adding, let me know.

Shmup: short for 'shoot-em-up', a genre consisting of One Lone Ship auto-scrolling forth against endless armies of increasingly complex and elaborate death machines. Pronounced the way it looks. Also known as 'shooters'.

Danmaku: also known as 'bullet hell' or 'curtain shooter', this is a game/genre that is typified by complex patterns of bullets that the player has to weave between while firing back. The word 'danmaku' means 'barrage'.

Vertical shooters: Played top-down with the playfield scrolling from top to bottom. Classic vertical shooters include Raiden, the 194X series and TwinBee. Most bullet hells/danmaku games are vertical shooters, but not all vertical shooters are bullet hells.

Horizontal shooters: A side-view game, where the playfield scrolls from right to left (and sometimes the other way if the designers are feeling sadistic). Generally seen as being slower-paced and more methodical than their counterparts, these tend to be more about surviving waves of enemies, rather than waves of bullets. The genre is typified by games like R-Type, Gradius and Darius.

Touhou: the series that most people think of when they think of bullet hells. Created by a one-man programming team known as Team Shanghai Alice (Or ZUN, as the guy himself is known), the Touhou series arguably revitalized the genre in the eyes of the general public. The series has spawned enough fanwork and fan-made games to fill the Mariana Trench. Basically a Big Deal.

Cave: The other company folks think of when it comes to shmups, Cave are responsible for most of the major shmups of the last decade or so, with games such as the DoDonPachi series, Deathsmiles, Mishihimesama and Ibara. Also dabbled in the MMO market with the Shin Megami Tensei game IMAGINE Online.

Doujin shooters: games made by amateur teams, rather than professional companies, usually sold at Comiket (SDCC for amateur/fan manga artists/writers, programmers, etc). Games are usually limited print runs, only sold at Comiket, but word of mouth (and :filez:) typically helps raise their profile. More than a few large franchises, such as Touhou, have started this way. More and more are steadily making their way West via digital distribution, and several, such as Crimzon Clover, have made their way onto Steam.

Top Screen: the top 20/30% of the playfield. Most high-level players will spend much of their time here, letting them kill enemies, chain combos and look pro as hell with ease.

1CC: One Credit Clear - finishing the game on a single continue/credit. Often a requirement for seeing the secret boss(es)/true final level in modern games.

Loop: When you finish the final stage of a game, many go back to the first stage again, this time on a harder difficulty. Sometimes this only occurs if you've met certain criteria, such as not losing any lives or using any bombs. Again, this is often a requirement for seeing the full game. Also known from the first loop onwards as the 'Ura' loop.

True Boss: a super-secret final boss that usually requires the player to go through an absurd number of hoops to see, let alone defeat. Many players don't consider a game 'beat' until you kill the True Final Boss.

Hitbox: consisting of a handful of pixels, this is the actual part of your sprite that takes damage. Bullets can appear to pass through your ship, but cause no damage until they collide with the hitbox. In modern games, the hitbox is clearly denoted in the very centre of your craft, letting you clearly see judge your room for manoever. In horizontal shooters, this is typically the canopy of your craft.

Bullets: refers to the shots being fired at you, not your own, often in nice, clear neon colours. 90% of the shots on any given screen won't affect you, something that many new players forget or don't realise, leading to many panicked deaths.

Suicide bullet: bullets fired out when an enemy dies. Often the prelude to death for the unsuspecting. Also known as 'revenge bullets'.

Pattern: the way enemy bullets are fired in in bullet hell-style games. Patterns are usually fixed, rather than random, allowing players to learn and eventually weave through these patterns. Touhou games are especially famous for their bullet patterns.

Bomb: your smartbomb. Clears the screen of enemies and often bullets. Usually your only form of defence, it's sometimes the only way to progress without losing a life, also known as 'panic bombing'. Some games will let you expend a bomb when hit ('autobomb'), rather than dying automatically, but this often comes at a penalty, usually to your score multiplier, sometimes locking you out of additional content entirely.

Chain: a method of scoring that increases a score multiplier. This can take the form of constantly destroying enemies or picking up tokens left after killing enemies.

Rank: Occasionally referred to as 'grade', this is a form of dynamic difficulty that reacts to how well the player is doing. Typically, the better the player does, the harder the game gets. Rank can also decrease if the player dies or performs badly. Rank is usually a hidden mechanic, but some games include a visible counter, allowing the player to manipulate it more directly.

Grazing: another scoring method, this relies on the player getting as close as they can to bullets, so that they 'graze' the ship's sprite. Not for the faint of heart as the game encourages what would be suicidal behaviour in most other games.

Milking: deliberately procrastinating on a boss or mini-boss to further increase your score or multiplier. This can be by destroying additional parts of the boss, killing minions or missiles, etc.

Popcorn: typical enemies that die in a single hit, occasionally tossing a bullet your way. No real threat (death will more commonly come at a bullet than a collision), they only exist to increase your score.

Score: The be-all and end-all of your game. This is what you're here for. In all games, the bigger your score, the more attractive you will appear to members of your preferred sexuality and the bigger your penis gets. Even if you're a girl. Typically features enough digits to only be expressed in mathematical notation, and that's if you're not even good at the game.

Easy Mode: Seriously. Don't do it.

slowbeef fucked around with this message at 19:11 on Aug 23, 2014

JamieTheD
Nov 4, 2011

LPer, Reviewer, Mad Welshman

(Yes, that's a self portrait)
I'll see what I can stream/record once I've finished up this month's english assessment, I love me some Shmups!

FreezingInferno
Jul 15, 2010

THERE.
WILL.
BE.
NO.
BATTLE.
HERE!
I am definitely interested in this, and I may even contribute. I'm not the biggest shooter guy but there are a handful of them that really impressed me.

slowbeef
Mar 15, 2005

Will Harvey hates you, and everything you stand for.
Pillbug
Also if you'd like to recommend some that you yourself don't have time to play, let us know - sell us on it with screens, etc. and maybe someone will check it out and make some cool videos. Or at least play cool shoot-em-ups. (But obviously, it's preferred to show, not tell.)

FinalGamer
Aug 30, 2012

So the mystic script says.
Oh I am SO up for this, I will definitely get down to some shmupping tonight.

Green Intern
Dec 29, 2008

Loon, Crazy and Laughable

I don't think I have the capability to record, but I'd be interested in seeing Genetos get some exposure. It's a SHMUP where you "play through the history of the genre" and gain new abilities as you move from Space Invaders all the way to Ikaruga and forward. There's some different customization options too.

Meowywitch
Jan 14, 2010

slowbeef will you ban me have me banned if I post Touhou

Hyper Crab Tank
Feb 10, 2014

The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation
One game that's kinda cool and different is Shoot the Bullet, a.k.a. Touhou 9.5. It's a shmup in which you don't actually fire a single bullet. You take photographs of the boss's bullets (geddit?). Not sure if that qualifies as a shmup, come to think of it. I'd totally do a video, but problem is, 1) Shoot the Bullet is really loving hard 2) It's been a long time since I played it, and 3) I sucked at it then and I probably still do. It's not really a game that's great to watch someone just retrying the same spell cards a million times over, and solo commentary on top of it would be boring and nerdy (I know a shameful amount about Touhou) and consist mainly of expletives.

E: ^^^^ no regrets

slowbeef
Mar 15, 2005

Will Harvey hates you, and everything you stand for.
Pillbug

Volt Catfish posted:

slowbeef will you ban me have me banned if I post Touhou

No, sir, I will not report you. I'm planning on posting eXceed 3rd which is kinda like Capcom's take on Touhou.

HGH
Dec 20, 2011

slowbeef posted:

No, sir, I will not report you. I'm planning on posting eXceed 3rd which is kinda like Capcom's take on Touhou.

Wait, eXceed? You've fallen deep into the anime hole, haven't you? Or rather, the wrong side of the hole.
Who are you and what have you done with the real Slowbeef?

But seriously, that's a fun game. I'm just not a fan of shrill untranslated voice acting in shmups. Also it's not a Capcom game, like Touhou it's a doujin thing. I think Capcom just did the English publishing.

I've had Astebreed in my sights for a while, but I do hear it's pretty drat fun if a bit short.

GarbiTheGlitchress
May 14, 2012

Trains to lift up and protect her friends... and maybe to pick them up and carry them when they are tired :)
Love that this thread was created.

At 2:30 PM EST, I'm going to stream myself playing through Thunder Force 3 on Normal. I've made it to the fourth stage on hard, so hopefully I can beat the game. After I'm finished, I'll post the VOD to my youtube channel.

https://www.twitch.tv/garbanzoguy

EDIT: Beat it, but the game audio was loud for some of the playthrough, so I'll try to fix that before posting the youtube link.

GarbiTheGlitchress fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Jul 29, 2014

Lance Streetman
Feb 20, 2011

A parfait is a dessert, but it is also the French word for perfect.
Since I care too much about story in games, I'm gonna mention that Astebreed is a spiritual successor to Ether Vapor Remaster, and not a sequel. Daniel shows up in Astebreed as a reference to a character in Ether Vapor Remaster, who was actually a pretty chill dude.



Anyways, I'm really bad at shmups but love playing them. Astebreed is pretty cool, and there are a few things you didn't really show off in the video, like EX attacks or Wild Attacks.

iastudent
Apr 22, 2008

This looks to be a pretty cool thread. I might have to contribute something once I have more time.

theshim
May 1, 2012

You think you can defeat ME, Ephraimcopter?!?

You couldn't even beat Assassincopter!!!
Probably going to throw up (possibly literally) some Crimzon Clover and Touhou stuff. Because I hate myself.

slowbeef
Mar 15, 2005

Will Harvey hates you, and everything you stand for.
Pillbug
:siren: To be clear :siren:

You do not have to have much shmup experience, or even be very good, to contribute. I'd really love to see some first time videos too. HelloWinter joined an Ikaruga stream I did and ended up loving the game's visuals, so experiences like that are more than welcome.

NinetySevenA
Feb 10, 2013


Green Intern posted:

I don't think I have the capability to record, but I'd be interested in seeing Genetos get some exposure. It's a SHMUP where you "play through the history of the genre" and gain new abilities as you move from Space Invaders all the way to Ikaruga and forward. There's some different customization options too.

You can record locally with OBS.

https://obsproject.com/

NuclearPotato
Oct 27, 2011

Welp, guess it's now or never if I'm ever going to do an R-Type LP. Better get practicing.

InterrupterJones
Nov 10, 2012

Me and the boys on the way to kill another demon god
I'd be down to post something pertaining to Jamestown once I get back to my rig. I mean as you all know, the best shmups are the ones that throw colonial era history into the mix.

Heatwizard
Nov 6, 2009

I've been trying to get into this genre for a little while; it's like the core of video games. There's something refreshing about just boiling it all down to Man Vs Many Bullets.

If I can fit the video data in my remaining hard drive space, I could do Crimson Clover. I'd show off Hydorah, but I'm bad enough at it that I don't think it'd be entertaining.

Geop
Oct 26, 2007

I'm Tohoutally interested in contributing to this thread eventually!

Highwang
Nov 7, 2013

No Pineapple?
No Thank You!
I have a couple ideas for contributing to this thread myself, namely Sine Mora, Jamestown and Parodius.

I also have a bunch of classic arcade shmups/bullet hells, but some of them are insanely hard.

Green Intern
Dec 29, 2008

Loon, Crazy and Laughable

NinetySevenA posted:

You can record locally with OBS.

https://obsproject.com/

Well cool, I'll check it out. I'll see if I can find the time to do a newbie recording of Genetos.

Kuvo
Oct 27, 2008

Blame it on the misfortune of your bark!
Fun Shoe

Geop posted:

I'm Tohoutally interested in contributing to this thread eventually!

Would you like to guest in my upcoming gal-gun video?

Magnetic North
Dec 15, 2008

Beware the Forest's Mushrooms
This reminds me that there is a shmup I've wanted to LP for a while in various megathreads, but now I think I am finally going to do it.

Something tells me that I might give away which shmup I'm thinking of doing by asking this, but... by any chance, is there a goon fluent in German who'd be able to translate some things for me? (It's mostly audio, so I can't just Google Translate it) The resulting video will be subbed, so even if you're shy, don't worry, you don't have to guest.

slowbeef
Mar 15, 2005

Will Harvey hates you, and everything you stand for.
Pillbug

Magnetic North posted:

Something tells me that I might give away which shmup I'm thinking of doing by asking this, but... by any chance, is there a goon fluent in German who'd be able to translate some things for me?

I have a guess that the translation is here.


Before Lv.1:
"Achtung, Einhander kommt! Drei Sekunden bis Kontakt..."
Translation:
"Warning, Einhander approaching! Three seconds until contact..."


(If that'll suffice, I'll edit this if you want to keep it unspoiled. Looking forward to it!)

gschmidl
Sep 3, 2011

watch with knife hands

Magnetic North posted:

Something tells me that I might give away which shmup I'm thinking of doing by asking this, but... by any chance, is there a goon fluent in German who'd be able to translate some things for me? (It's mostly audio, so I can't just Google Translate it) The resulting video will be subbed, so even if you're shy, don't worry, you don't have to guest.

If you need someone, feel free to ping me.

DoubleNegative
Jan 27, 2010

The most virtuous child in the entire world.
I'm gonna show off some Beat Hazard. Unlike other twin stick shooters, Beat Hazard's levels are all generated on the fly. The game also uses your own music library to generate the stage hazards. You can also choose the ships you fly in each level, with full workshop support to create your own ships. I'm using the Vic Viper from Gradius here.

There's no commentary because there's really not a lot to say about a randomly generated shoot 'em up level. So just sit back and enjoy the music!

Beat Hazard: Perturbator - Electric Dreams

Oh and I want to warn that this game starts off with a gigantic warning about photosensitivity and potentially siezure-inducing graphics. I've turned the effects down as far as they'll go -- which makes the game actually playable -- but if you're epileptic, you probably shouldn't watch the video.

Magnetic North
Dec 15, 2008

Beware the Forest's Mushrooms

Surprisingly enough, no. I'm thinking of a different shmup that includes German.

gschmidl posted:

If you need someone, feel free to ping me.

Awesome, thank you. I will reach out after I have some footage.

Hamsterlady
Jul 8, 2010

Corpse Party, bitches.
I love shmups and I love shameful anime things so maybe I'll play some Deathsmiles or something for this thread. I'm aggressively mediocre at shmups though, so I bring neither expert play nor comical incompetence to the table.

Smash Daisaku
Jul 12, 2008

Last Bet $15 on Player 1
Odds 807.1:1 ($1)
As if I needed any more motivation to work on my Crimzon Clover high score run. I hope to have a good score attack vid to show off at some point!

slowbeef
Mar 15, 2005

Will Harvey hates you, and everything you stand for.
Pillbug

Smash Daisaku posted:

As if I needed any more motivation to work on my Crimzon Clover high score run. I hope to have a good score attack vid to show off at some point!

You know, I've done multiplayer style videos with single-player shmups before a la Hydorah (it's basically a race video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZpByyUMs20

Maybe we could get a multi-stream going with 2-4 other folks and do an elimination style Boost/Arcade/Unlimited Mode thing. Cropping out the UI could make a cool, horizontally oriented video. What's the horizontal resolution of the game screen itself?

I love Crimzon Clover, by the by.

Drastic Actions
Apr 7, 2009

FUCK YOU!
GET PUMPED!
Nap Ghost
Any excuse to stream Harmful Park is a good one for me :toot:

Meowywitch
Jan 14, 2010

I'm probably gonna do a thing of Imperishable Night because it's probably the most accessible Touhou game. Maybe. Yes?

AndyAML
Jul 24, 2006

HEY BASS WHY MUST I FIGHT YOU WE ARE NOT ENEMIES

slowbeef posted:

Maybe we could get a multi-stream going with 2-4 other folks and do an elimination style Boost/Arcade/Unlimited Mode thing. Cropping out the UI could make a cool, horizontally oriented video. What's the horizontal resolution of the game screen itself?
I'd be really interested in doing a Crimzon Clover endurance run. Would we be playing for score or survival?

Hyper Crab Tank
Feb 10, 2014

The 16-bit retro-future of crustacean-based transportation
Personally I think Perfect Cherry Blossom is a better game to get started with. The gameplay is a little bit simpler, yes? No human/youkai focus shifting and crap.

I'm considering streaming/recording Shoot the Bullet, but I'm anxious about solo commentary being boring and awkward.

Smash Daisaku
Jul 12, 2008

Last Bet $15 on Player 1
Odds 807.1:1 ($1)

slowbeef posted:

You know, I've done multiplayer style videos with single-player shmups before a la Hydorah (it's basically a race video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZpByyUMs20

Maybe we could get a multi-stream going with 2-4 other folks and do an elimination style Boost/Arcade/Unlimited Mode thing. Cropping out the UI could make a cool, horizontally oriented video. What's the horizontal resolution of the game screen itself?

I love Crimzon Clover, by the by.

I'd totally be down for this even though my score run would be on Novice. Can't imagine a better way to break myself into Arcade than by dying a whole bunch in front of people.

slowbeef
Mar 15, 2005

Will Harvey hates you, and everything you stand for.
Pillbug

AndyAML posted:

I'd be really interested in doing a Crimzon Clover endurance run. Would we be playing for score or survival?

uhhh

I don't know. I think survival's more interesting for the uninitiated, but Time Attack would make for a more "even" stream. Maybe Time Attack with a death count?

Meowywitch
Jan 14, 2010

Hyper Crab Tank posted:

Personally I think Perfect Cherry Blossom is a better game to get started with. The gameplay is a little bit simpler, yes? No human/youkai focus shifting and crap.

I suppose but I honestly think stage 4 of Cherry Blossom is harder than anything in Imperishable Night :v:

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InterrupterJones
Nov 10, 2012

Me and the boys on the way to kill another demon god

Highwang posted:

I have a couple ideas for contributing to this thread myself, namely Sine Mora, Jamestown and Parodius.

I also have a bunch of classic arcade shmups/bullet hells, but some of them are insanely hard.

Hell if we have enough people show interest, we could have a 4 player run of Jamestown. I've never done the multiplayer personally, but I've always been interested in trying it.

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