Shmup of the Month Club 2012

[ExedExes]

All right, new score



179,680 - ExedExes - Stage 3 - TL2-PC

Not even a phone call in the middle of my game could stop a run like this (except doing the real thing with no pause)

There IS no autofire, the longer you hold the button the slower your rate of fire gets. Constant taps will keep it fast.

Ok, and now to various opinions -

Yeah sometimes the games aren't too focused on score. Still really fun to play and talk about them regardless.

That's how I feel. This is structured just like a Together Retro game would be, and not even all the choices are successful or active there either. Look at Soul Calibur back in February, not much activity there, but still a good thread, and also even Wolf3D, nobody else was playing but me because I had about 4-6 posts in a row that were *just* me posting my progress for days. Most people gave up after the first episode. Nobody switched games or complained there. Not every game is gonna generate tons of excitement, but don't forget Dimahoo didn't have exactly any/many ports. Taito Legends 2 is a great buy and definitely will get more people in. I wouldn't judge so quickly after 2 days either. I'd also prefer not to spread myself too thin over more than 1 game because I also got Command & Conquer to do on the regular TR and that's gonna eat up a lot of my non-shmup time.

I agree with Hash keeping the clean and simple format too. This is a game in which everyone will improve on. Look at me on day #2, and I'm itching to give it another try.

Don't forget many members also have real-life goings on. There won't be many of us playing every shmup every night. EDIT: I also saw something about some sort of summer challenge that's got 33 pages already, I'm sure a lot of members are concentrating on that now too.

There *WILL* be talk as long as Hash keeps it up with those scores - and I know the rest of us will do better too.

Finally, what's up with the rail on spaceship shmups? So the only good months were Dragon Blaze and Dimahoo? Ok well it's gonna be a bad year for ya

Carry on with MB fellow shmup fans.

[jepjepjep]

I just gave Metal Black a quick spin. It sure has a different feel. Anyone else reminded of Magician Lord when those frogs start hopping at you in Level 1? I was shuddering inside hoping that they wouldn't grow bigger .


I have an idea. If everyone loses interest in MB halfway through the month, how about adding Border Down or Darius Gaiden as co-shmups of the month. These are all pretty closely related.

[hashiriya1]

I have to be honest here... I hate Metal Black. This is a perfect example of developers thinking shmups are just a spaceship shooting stuff. It's so boring and ugly and unimaginative. I don't even think I'm gonna stick with it. It's like I can't even make myself like it enough to try.

I think most, if not all, shoot-em-ups from 1991 were very simple. I agree the game isn't pretty to look at, but it can be fun and challenging for pure survival.



Anyhoo, afternoon run:

206,460 - hashiriya1 - Stage 3 - SATURN-J







Useless trivia:

In the Tokyo stage (first stage) the lone building towards the beginning with the big TV screen which says "AUDIO GLDA" is a spoof of a famous building in Tokyo called "Studio Alta" in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. I tried to search for the meaning of "GLDA", but came up empty. I thought it was in some relation to Zuntata but there was nothing.

[brunoafh]

@hashiriya1

Dude that's awesome. I remember the very first time I played Metal Black, I got distracted by that weird ass movie screen and got destroyed by the building right there. First time I gave it a run for the club today, same exact thing happened again, cracked me up. So yeah thanks for that post and shedding some light on the subject, that part always stuck out to me and I was wondering if it was just completely random or if there was some kind of story behind it.

[hashiriya1]

I think they put that in there to let people know it's supposed to be Tokyo. The Studio Alta building is also in the first stage of Sonic Wings Special. Keep an eye out!

[noiseredux]

that is weird, and I too was distracted by it on my first play.

[ExedExes]

I have an idea. If everyone loses interest in MB halfway through the month, how about adding Border Down or Darius Gaiden as co-shmups of the month. These are all pretty closely related.

Darius Gaiden already has a high score thread.
More people just need to give MB a try, and for the various reasons I listed above they may not be doing it right away, being as it's only the 2nd day of the month, the other TR game in Command & Conquer, and that popular summer challenge thread.

Useless trivia:

In the Tokyo stage (first stage) the lone building towards the beginning with the big TV screen which says "AUDIO GLDA" is a spoof of a famous building in Tokyo called "Studio Alta" in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. I tried to search for the meaning of "GLDA", but came up empty. I thought it was in some relation to Zuntata but there was nothing

Not surprising seeing as this was a Gun Frontier development team project. In the original GF, there is also a movie screen showing random images, and even one from a game also on TL2, DonDokoDon!

Plus, thanks for not beating us all into domination (yet), I know 200K is a score I can get and it will be the case once I learn Stage 3. The beginning is quite brutal, but I noticed another Darius element, the weird looking cylinder in space that reminds me of Zone E (F?) of Darius Gaiden. I know DG was released later, but perhaps the GF development members finally got the game they wanted to make in DG?

Lots of undiscovered history in MB, and I'd love to keep finding more.

[jepjepjep]

Here's a first score for me:

164,780 - JEP - Stage 3 - mame

[o.pwuaioc]

I'm not beating the high score yet, but it is getting easier with each play through. Here's my high score for this evening (stage 2, Saturn):



I don't mind this game at all, and I'm not seeing where the hate is coming from. It's no DonPachi, but it's a solid title. I think the "molecule" and no power-up thing is interesting.

[ExedExes]

182,220 - ExedExes - Stage 3 - TL2-PC

Further into Stage 3.

Good scores, all those who submitted too! Keep them coming.