|
I'll see what I can stream/record once I've finished up this month's english assessment, I love me some Shmups!
|
#
¿
Jul 29, 2014 18:28
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 21:39 |
|
|
Welp, I've got some Torus Trooper footage encoding right now, shall post it later today... Hope my fellow Goons aren't too attached to their eyes. 
JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Aug 3, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Aug 3, 2014 05:11
|
|
|
 EPILEPSY WARNING (ALSO EYEBALL MELTING WARNING), THIS GAME IS VECTORS THAT GO REAL FAST Let's Show Off Torus Trooper Okay, time for Torus Trooper! As I half-assedly explain, it's an infinite bullet-hell by a dude named "Saba", with very simple controls: Hold forward to go fast. Push left and right to not hit bullets and die. Hold Z to shoot poo poo so the things shooting at you die instead of you. Hold X then let it go to get combo by destroying bullets and enemies who would otherwise make you die. When you die, you lose 15 seconds on the clock. When you get a certain distance and/or score a certain amount of points, you get points. When you kill a mini-boss who might make you die, you get 15 or 30 seconds, depending, and when you kill a boss, who might make you die, you get 30 or 45 seconds. Try not to die, even though it's inevitable. It's a free game, and you can get it here, among other places. JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 14:56 on Aug 5, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Aug 3, 2014 17:31
|
|
|
Prenton posted:Come listen to a man tripping over the words "Shoot-em-up Construction Kit" repeatedly because he doesn't know how "SEUCK" is meant to be pronounced Funny nobody but an old fart like me seemed to notice the big name involved in this one, Jon Hare, who, gor-bless him, is still active in the retro community. You may not be intimately familiar with this chap, but he was basically lead designer on some of the best games of the Amiga/ST period. Oh, and let's not forget he basically designed SEUCK. Anyways, gonna see if I can record some RRootage for the thread today, along with any other odd little shooters I find in my directory (I used to collect the things.) PS - Slowbeef, I'd be real grateful if Torus Trooper got added to the "Show Off" category.  EDIT: But first, I'm going to show off some old-school ST stuff... Starting with Xenon 1 and 2. JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Aug 16, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2014 13:59
|
|
|
Let's Show Off Xenon 1 (Bitmap Brothers, 1988) Text Link Xenon 1 was the first game released by the famous Bitmap Brothers, and, while it looks pretty dated today, it (and the sequel) are pretty good shows for the philosophy of western shooter design in the Amiga/ST generation, albeit in different ways. Bitmap Brothers games, in particular, are known for two things. Firstly, their easily identifiable sprite-work (good metals, rocks, and dirt, all in plentiful supply), and secondly, for all their games being hard as balls. In Xenon 1's case, this is mostly due to the Sentinels, bosses of each area, the "G" Powerup (makes you lose all your powerups except extra-balls), and collisions really hurting. Reviews of this game were mostly positive, although just three years later, it was considered dated in the visual sense (Not, you'll note, in the gameplay sense. That took a bit longer.) Couple of things I don't mention in video: - While the side extras (W) are great for most things, you can have three of the following-type option-balls, which seriously helps against finicky bosses like the first Sentinel if you can aim right. Guess who can't... - Sentinels have functional invulnerability for their first pattern loop. Shoot anyway, it'll make you feel better. - This run actually got me about a third to halfway through the entire game. Master it, and it's short. - Bitmap Brothers was more than two folks... Apologies for that.
JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Aug 16, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2014 18:13
|
|
|
gschmidl posted:Aw yeah. Xenon 2 Megablast was my first "shmup" (even if many people don't consider it one) back in the 80s. Still know that PC speaker music inside out. Yeah, I've got a recording of Xenon 2, ready for editing, but sad to say, I had to cheat to even get to the first boss. Considering I beat that game first time when I got it on PC way back when, I... Wasn't particularly chuffed at this. Also, anyone who doesn't consider it a shmup can die in a fire, because it has a ship, it has powerups, it has bullets, and it has coin-gobbling design. It even has a shop!
|
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2014 21:02
|
|
|
Cheez posted:Looks suspiciously like it's lifting elements directly from R-Type (the side option things in function and appearance) and Gradius (the boss), and those are just the most immediately recognizable elements. Cheez, that honestly wouldn't surprise me, because that's often a first-game thing for devs, and because western shmups didn't have a metric fuckton of innovation. The ones we remember for changing up the formula really are the rare examples. However, the one relationship between this and Big Core Mk. 1 is: You have to shoot the middle bit and it's protected, how annoying. That's it. Big Core had, afaik, different patterns, and a different look (not ovoid, no armour directly over the central core, different plating patterns.) As to the side options, they are balls. When you make the decision to have balls as your option things, you don't have a whole lot of choices. R-Type side options are half-covered and pulse, Xenon options are covered, and don't. Gradius bucked the trend, badboy that it was, and had stars.  Four Shields... One Shield. If you wanted to go the whole hog with this, you could say that metal stages with pipes are derivative of Uridium, or a number of shooters of the period, the tank is reminiscent of the Uridium ship... The side stages have obstacles reminiscent of Gradius... Basically, you're very possibly reading too much into things. Not saying it's not possible. Just saying it's probably not a direct ripoff. JamieTheD fucked around with this message at 23:20 on Aug 16, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2014 22:14
|
|
|
I was weak in the end, and used trainers (for shame)... But Let's Show Off Xenon 2: MEGABLAST Text Link Xenon 2, the second game by the Bitmap Brothers, was, naturally, also a vertical scrolling shmup, but it had differences. Shops. Being able to scroll back down the screen voluntarily (not always for a great distance, but usually enough to get you out of the DEAD ENDS OF DEATH... Providing you weren't blindsided by an enemy coming from behind), and, unlike its predecessor, it had guns. Lots of guns. Shame I don't get to show most of them off, but there are mines, homing shots, piercing missiles, standard shots (and powerups), and, by the last level, your ship is going to end up looking something like this. Bitmap Brothers would continue their Dick Moves, Shops, and Loadsa Guns philosophy through most of their catalogue, from Xenon 2, all the way up to The Chaos Engine (the arguable exceptions being Magic Pockets, which was almost universally panned, and Speedball, which was more about punching guys and taking their ball.) If these levels don't grab you, then just GIS Xenon 2 and see some of the other bosses. Xenon 2 was a fine game.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 17, 2014 01:16
|
|
|
anilEhilated posted:Welp, I remember having played Xenon 2 as a kid and having forgotten what it's called. One of the bosses is a giant gecko, right? Yup, believe he's level 3 or 5, can't remember which. I know that you want the side shot as early as you can humanly get it (something I cocked up), and you never want to sell your rear shot... Especially because you have two levels in a row with automatic back-scrolling... geri_khan posted:Xeonon 2 has the most awesomely-useless powerup ever - Super Nashwan Power. You buy it in the shops and it gives you every weapon upgrade in the game... for about fifteen seconds. Fun fact: It also apparently heals you up. But mostly, it's awesome and useless. Hence why I've never actually bought it. I played Cadaver and Gods before I played Xenon 2, so I knew some of the Bitmap Bros naughty tricks. hirvox posted:One of the main dick moves in Xenon 2 is that enemies can sometimes come from the sides or from the rear. But unlike in R-Type, you cannot just detach your Force equivalent and reattach it to the other end. Instead, you have to sell your old powerups beforehand and buy new ones. And if you were thinking that the Advice item might warn you about this.. remember that you cannot return to the sell screen afterwards, so you might not have money to buy the powerup you need. And you definitely won't have enough money if you try to power through those sections with suboptimal weaponry. Even worse, note that you can't actually see your credit value in level. This is because credits only last until the shop. That's right, when you couldn't afford something? It's because you didn't kill enough dudes and collect those sweet, sweet credit bubbles. I'm not even gonna pretend that the Bitmap Brothers' idea of difficulty design was anything but whacked: Gods had enemies and spikes warp out of nowhere, and again, what weapons you got really mattered (along with what arc type powerup you had. That was pretty mean), Magic Pockets had destructible walls that weren't too distinguishable from the terrain, and a weapon that was too bloody slow to charge... The only games I would say the design definitely feels right, difficulty wise, are Speedball (because it's a violent sports game, so yes, it's hard) and Cadaver (because it's a solo dungeon crawl.)
|
|
#
¿
Aug 17, 2014 13:23
|
|
.
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 21:39 |
|
|
 ... Did I just watch Dragonball Z, the Shmup? Because seriously, that boss fight was so full of dramatic yelling, I think my ears are bleeding...
|
|
#
¿
Aug 19, 2014 23:39
|
|