Shmup of the Month Club 2014 (Completed)

[mjmjr25]

Ok, I still don't understand actual scoring though. I mean, yes, kill big enemies to get a multiplier going...but i'm going to kill them anyways? I mean, is the only strategy to kill big enemies in succession (again, i'm doing that anyways?). I'm really struggling to understand here - can someone please elaborate with more detail.

I can clear normal at will now - but my hi is still 4.8 mil. Going for medals tonight i'm geting 4.0-4.5 mil. Ignoring medals and trying to actively string together large enemies i'm getting about 3.5-4.0 mil.

[noiseredux]

someone correct me if I'm off

I *think* it goes like this:

You obviously wanna kill stuff before it kills you. But, best way to think about it is don't get killed before you kill stuff, if that makes sense.

So there's chaining of metals. This applies to metals (shiny), metals (flickering), bees, golden eggs and sparkling eggs.

Sparkling eggs only happen if you hold down C (or "unused button") at the right time on the right stage. (I might be wrong on this though).

Bees happen only when sub-bosses sparkle and you're score has an even number in the 3rd integer (meaning you can have it be 33,200,000 or 15,450,000 but not 12,300,000). If they sparkle and you HOLD shot for long enough then you should hear a chime. When the chime happens wait (3) seconds (or count to "3 Mississippi") and then hold the stick hard left which opens up the alternate 'sparkling bee path.'

Sparkling bees chain differently. Whereas most stuff chains 4x, 8x, 16x, 32x, 64x, and so on, the sparkling bees do a weird algorithm. I haven't actually confirmed this yet, but I'm *pretty* sure it's something like 4x, 9x, 19x, 37x, 69x and so on. (If you want to help me confirm, keep the Calculator program open on your desktop and play this in MAME with a screen small enough to fit on your desktop. Like this:

Now the other thing is this: chaining enemies. Small enemies go 10x, 25x, 50x, 100x, (then 100x 5x) until maxing at 100x. But here's the real meat and potatoes: You wanna miss (literally let the enemy off the screen) every 17 times. If you do so then the 100x will still display as 100x but will tally as 1,000x secretly. It's hidden, but will tally at end stage as long as you meet 3 conditions:

1. Don't die on boss.
2. Don't bomb on boss.
3. Don't shoot the boss's 2nd form on the left side of the screen.

But milking bosses is important. You gotta do it the right way. The best way to do it is not do it wrong. Shooting him in the mouth is wrong. Shooting him on the right side FIRST is wrong. Shooting him when he's re-positioning himself is wrong. Shooting him when he's shooting his homing gun is wrong. Shooting him when his bullets go double-speed (or quad-speed, but not triple-speed) is wrong. And of course shooting him as he transitions from 2nd to 3rd form is fucking stupid and you should just restart your run or save-state.

Mid-bosses are different though, as are larger enemies. Mid-bosses you MUST shoot only left side, while larger bosses you have to only shoot if you suspect a hidden sparkly egg is hidden by their sprite otherwise just dodge their attacks and let them leave the screen. They won't count against your chain but any bullets they shoot will so absorb those.

The fairness of Autofire, I'm still not sure of. Maybe we should take a vote on that?

[mjmjr25]

I love you.

[ExedExes]

*SNIP*

So I take it you're still having trouble getting this to work in MAME? PM me back, I want to get you up and running.

[Chempop]

Ok, I still don't understand actual scoring though.

Invisible timer. if you input those two "cheats" I mentioned, you'll hear the bleeps and bloops in addition to seeing the points from each enemy so you'll know how long you have to keep the multiplier going.

Also, don't forget about the sparkling eggs.

[dunpeal2064]

Holy shit Brad

[DocHauser]

I *think* it goes like this:

You could have just wrote 'Yagawa' and it would have explained things just as well.

[dsheinem]

*SNIP*

So I take it you're still having trouble getting this to work in MAME? PM me back, I want to get you up and running.

Mine won't run in MAME either. Not sure why, as I have all I need...

[dunpeal2064]

What is happening when you try to load the rom? Or, is it not even passing audit?

Maybe the version of Mame you are using is looking for the game under a different name? Check your rom name against what you see when auditing the game.

Also, make sure its the Unlimited rom, since that is the parent rom.

[mjmjr25]

The input command to have the multiplier sound and entire score display are upside-down dragon punches in each direction (right, up, right-up+shoot, and left, up, left-up+shoot). It might only work in unlimited mode.
.

Yeah, I can get this working, but not consistently. It is extremely helpful. Is there a way to get it to stay on, or even do it before a run starts? Doing it at the beginning of a run I get a pointless death half the time.