Shmup of the Month Club 2012

[ninjainspandex]

haha how is playing on mame any different?

[mjmjr25]

I think MAME is on a PC or something, dunno.

Not wanting to sidetrack too much w/my own opinions on rips / burns. You have a legit disc, play the legit disc.

You also have an impressive SAT-J collection developing, buy a physical copy.

Burns, imnsho, should be used (if ever) when another option isn't feasible. You have two better options, as outlined above.

I played the TL 2 US version just now, it is a little hiccuppy compared to SAT-J, but not bad and an easy adjustment. In fact i'll be playing primarily PS2 US for the convenience of playing in my bedroom.

[ninjainspandex]

i should of bought it when rancor was selling it on his site for $40 w/ spinecard guess ill be doing it on taito legends

[mjmjr25]

Just played the (3) versions I have.

Hmmm, I really didn't see much difference TL2 US vs JP. Could it be attributed to the JP-version-must be-better-snobbery-factor?

SAT-J ran a wee bit smoother, but boy, I wouldn't see any reason to create separate score tables on these 3 versions.

I can't comment on PC version of TL2.

I thought the PS2 graphics through component were slightly crisper than the SAT-J through S-video. Made the backgrounds, particularly stage 1 ground / mountains, much more defined.

[dsheinem]

mjm I don't know how you couldn't notice an incredible speed and control difference on the PS2 version. It is literally like playing with a cord tethered to the ship, dragging it in the direction you don't want to go. I felt like I was fighting with it the whole time, whereas it was as fluid as anything on MAME.

[brunoafh]

61,390 - brunoafh - Stage 2 - Saturn

Here's a meh score from me for now, just did a few runs and here's what I came up with. I don't think I've ever beaten the 4th stage of this game but I know I can muster more than that. As far as scoring goes, just seems like the general rule is to blow up as much as possible. You also get a couple points for picking up the power ups even if you're at max energy so there's that too. Lastly the weird little intermission stages, you get an extra bonus if you destroy every enemy.

Stage 2 is a dick.

[mjmjr25]

mjm I don't know how you couldn't notice an incredible speed and control difference on the PS2 version. It is literally like playing with a cord tethered to the ship, dragging it in the direction you don't want to go. I felt like I was fighting with it the whole time, whereas it was as fluid as anything on MAME.

I didn't have that - at all, dunno. I know exactly what your talking about though, because G-Darius for PS1 does that on my PS3. Herky Jerky, delayed response, etc and I was fully expecting the same thing to be the case here, but it just wasn't, for me.

It could be a PS2 model that has a hard time? I'm using a white slim? It could be that your controller stick/d-pad was being pushed in one direction or another when you powered up so it was reading it wrong. I really don't know what to say - I just didn't have anything like that.

I can download the MAME rom and see, it's possible your MAME rom is faster than the SAT/PS2 versions. I just watched 1/2 a dozen MAME youtube vids and it looks exactly what i'm experiencing on PS2-US.

[ExedExes]

TL2-PC is perfect, as I said it compares exactly to MAME on this PC anyway.

I'll agree with Bruno on Stage 2. If I can make it past the small miniboss with my lives (and my sanity) intact, the real boss is a piece of cake! Just those damn big rockets, and those enemies that come from BOTH sides with their diagonal shots that are messing me up now.

Also, notice a slight Darius influence on that name entry screen? As I said on my writeup, this was close to being Darius III!

[mjmjr25]

Ok, done testing and time to play.

EDITED (new score):

Stage 1 - So...50K isn't max afterall. I got 50,190 this last run on stage 1. Bonus stage I got all 5 w/16secs left, so 5K for kills, 10K for perfect bonus, and 16K for each second remaining - entered stage 2 with 81,190. When the frogs come, don't use the beam, use your regular shot (don't hold down for turbo, you actually shoot faster if you tap / tap / tap). Use that reg shot just above the ground and you'll get every frog. Save your beam for the boss. When he starts his beam, release yours immediately (fully maxed out of course), you can take him out with one reflected beam "ball".

Stage 2 - Made boss w/all lives intact. It does get hairy there with the large rockets and other ships coming in both directions. If you stay toward center of screen you should have sufficient time to dodge. Boss on that stage got me - first time seeing him and wasn't prepared for those interconnecting lazers that bounce from ball to ball. EDIT: He's much easier second time around, he takes a bit to kill, but he's not terribly aggressive. Also, this last run, I didn't use a beam until it gets hairy at the end. So it was maxed out and then when they come from both directions, release your bomb and it does that "all over the screen thing for 8 seconds" - you can take out the majority of that wave.

Stage 3 - I like the look of this stage better than the first 2. Only made about 20 seconds into the level though.

Since you can cancel bullets on most of the larger enemies and bosses, stay aggressive and go for quick kills.

160,110 - mjmjr25 - stage 3 - PS2-US

[mjmjr25]

ALERT: This post is not meant to offend anyone - just a suggestion.

Not sure how everyone is doing on this game, but i'm hitting stage 3 boss now on my 5th run.

One of two things will happen, this will be an ALL within the week, or it is going to get very hard soon and i'm going to Max on stage 4 boss or something.

Since this game has very little scoring to it, it leaves little to do with it for the purposes of a hi-score thread once you've maxed your survival point - I think most of us will be sorta maxed / bored with it soon. (Again, my opinion, please share yours).

Would there be a significant majority of support for adding GEKIRINDAN as "Co-SotM"?

It is available on the exact same formats (PS2 / PC TL 2, SAT-JP, Arcade and MAME).