December Together Retro: Shmuptacular

[Nemoide]

Well, I beat Touhou Koumakyou ~ The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil on Normal. I had previously only beaten it on Easy, so that's an improvement. I did continue, so I didn't get the extra boss and still ended up with a bad ending. I don't care, this game doesn't really do it for me. IDK if continuing at the extra stage is allowed to get a good ending, but I SUSPECT I'd be able to get that far with only a bit more practice. Playing the game on Hard/Lunatic, really helped me develop skills fast (I haven't been playing THAT much).

Touhou fandom continues to baffle me. The character designs are really ugly to look at, the dialog is minimal, and the gameplay just feels like really basic bullet-hell.
A little over 2 years ago, I went to a panel of "Touhou 101" at an anime convention and it was the worst panel I've ever been to. The host just showed a clip of EVERY game, including spinoffs, which were around 25 different titles (too many for anyone not deeply familiar with the series to keep straight). Then he showed us a near-unwatchable 20-minute American YouTube cartoon made with Flash and text-to-speech software that assumed you knew who all the characters are for any of the jokes to make sense.

ANYWAY, next up: Touhou Youyoumu ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom!

[pierrot]

I've never really seen the appeal to the whole Touhou thing, either. Has some pretty bullet patterns, but yeah. They still don't feel as elegant as a lot of Cave/Raizing spreads.


I actually made some time for shmups last night. I went at Gradius a couple times, and was doing fantastically well, until I took a bad death toward the end of Stage 4, then recovered to get to the boss, but had the bone-headed idea to change my regular shot to double, and pretty swiftly died after that. Wasn't able to recover again. Made it back to the fourth stage on the second attempt, but it was a much rockier run, with a really terrible death just before the boss of Stage 2 that really hurt my momentum. Still, I was almost able to get back to the Stage 4 boss, but didn't quite make it. I mention getting to the Stage 4 boss so much because that's basically the point at which a run should have no real issues getting up to the last stage, since that boss is pretty easy, Stage 5 is basically a cake walk, and usually it's possible to get powered up enough to just steam roll Stage 6 without any issues. Although I was doing really well last night, it wasn't to be.

I also threw in Cotton Boomerang, which I haven't played since it was part of the shmup of the month rotation. I just did one attempt, but made it fairly far into the fourth stage, when I had never been past the stage 3 boss on one credit before. My score was nowhere near my high score from those four or five years ago, but I was still a little surprised to make it that far on a "first" attempt. Still a really great game. I enjoy it quite a bit, and it feels like a bit of an extra hidden gem, these days.

Finally, and because I have so much trouble just focusing on a single shmup, as I probably should, I also played a little bit of the Sega Ages release of Fantasy Zone on the Saturn. Didn't get too far, though. I've never really been able to git gud at Fantasy Zone, even though I do enjoy its style and sensibilities. Cute game, but not one I can really bring myself to spend much time playing.

[noiseredux]

I keep getting shut down on the fourth boss battle in Space Invaders Extreme. It's kind of annoying actually. Although after I rage-quit last night, I think I figured out in my head how to get past him. So I'll try again.

[Tanooki]

I got myself back into the PCE game the other day, have a working system once more. Now I just need to fire up my HuCards or the Everdrive and take a shot at this.

[noiseredux]

Still slowly playing Space Invaders Extreme... not really loving it, though. It's a fine game, but I'm not a very shmuppy mood lately. In fairness, when it comes to shmups I tend to gravitate toward bullethells anyway. Don't get me wrong, I really think the 'modern-retro' visual style is cool; the music is really good, and the game is cool overall as a modern throwback. Buttt, I don't know. It's not really clicking with me personally. Part of that is that I've gotten stuck at the fourth boss, and I hate that I keep getting bounced back to replay the fourth level over again. (Also, I'm not really a fan of those bonus levels - I actively try to avoid the ship that brings you to them just because I find them kind of meh). In some ways this sort of bums me out as I've noticed a bit of a change in my tastes over the past year. Or actually, it's not really my "tastes" so much as my PATIENCE. It's weird. I'm finding myself a lot more compelled by more slowburn, relaxing games lately. (Except for Overwatch - although the past few months I've probably watched Overwatch more than I've played it, haha). Anyway, I'm rambling here. I'm just not sure if this is a temporary shift in mood/interest, or if I'm growing out of really being able to enjoy the arcade style games that I once truly loved.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I played some Blazing Lazers the other nights and whoa boy this one is goooooood. Perfectly-paced action and I love the constant stream of power-ups. Just wish I was better at it, but I'll keep plugging away.

[alienjesus]

I played some Blazing Lazers the other nights and whoa boy this one is goooooood. Perfectly-paced action and I love the constant stream of power-ups. Just wish I was better at it, but I'll keep plugging away.

Do you know about the 'gold lives' power ups? Those made the game go from almost beatable to beatable for me.

[MrPopo]

Oh yeah, understanding how that system works is crucial for making it through. There's enough shit flying out that you're going to need those instant respawn lives.

[Tanooki]

I'm thinking I either need to go everdrive, or crack open what I really own. I do have shooter choices. The popular Blazing Lasers (as GunHed) I have.

There's also 1943 Kai, (technically) Afterburner, Detana Twinbee, Dragon Spirit, Fantasy Zone, Galaga 88, Gradius, Parodius, and Super Star Soldier too.

[CFFJR]

I finally sat down with Robo Aleste for a bit. I was doin' fine up until stage 3, where I kept dying like a punk to the boss. When I finally killed him, I took my hand off the controller to take a drink, only to die to his death explosion, which I was not expecting at all.

I don't think it's a particularly hard game so far (certainly easier than MUSHA), so much as I particularly suck, at least today. It's definitely as fun as any other Compile shooter though, so I quite like it.

I'll keep at it.