Shmup of the Month Club 2012

[mjmjr25]

I just watched a random video on youtube, 3 minutes.

Here's the thing - of all the guys talking strategy, most guys do it differently. The video I watched - the guy played stage 1 and didn't go to overdrive the entire run - ended up with 1.3 million and got the ALL with over 50million.

Other guys say to do overdrive the entire first stage, some say just to the midboss. Some say to go Kasukei everytime you hit 100, 200, 300...etc.

There is no set way to play this game. You can score and score well whether bullets are blue, purple, or red. It's just a matter of consistency in playstyle. You can earn gold with blue bullets as well - once your gems hit 500, every kill becomes gold instead of gems, so that is a style you can use and never even use Kasukei mode.

So, here is what I think the videos would show you:

-Be aggressive, the closer and more direct the kill, the more gems, thus more points and more fuel for Kasukei mode.
-When in Kasukei, let the screen fill with bullets before killing the enemy (and canceling the bullets). Try to plan for spots where multiple big enemies are coming at once.
-Learn patterns, particularly on stage 3 and beyond - if you do watch a superplay, watch level 3 - that board can be very hard and score 1million points, or it can be an absolutel cakewalk to farm, all depends on meeting trains as they enter, and then 1/2 way through, weaving back and forth properly through the waves of bugs. My first runs, I corner-buried and the bugs killed me along w/all the big stationary enemies. Now that I see the pattern, it is the easiest weave back and forth while tap-shooting and you build gems FAST, then blast the big enemies after each session of 4-5 bug waves.

[noiseredux]

-Be aggressive, the closer and more direct the kill, the more gems,

Actually it seems to me that it's not being close that causes more gems, but rather how close to the top of the screen they are when you kill them.

[mjmjr25]

-Be aggressive, the closer and more direct the kill, the more gems,

Actually it seems to me that it's not being close that causes more gems, but rather how close to the top of the screen they are when you kill them.

Umm, could be, dunno? The clip I saw, and now "try" to emulate, the guy basically lived in the top 1/3 of the screen, and new where every enemy was entering - was there to meet and greet, and mostly kill them before they got a shot off...and his gem counter was at 500 FAST.

[dunpeal2064]

You are right noise, being in the top half nets you more gems. A higher Over level adds more bonus gems

Its pretty awesome that there are so many ways to try to tackle this game

[pierrot]

is it worth getting the NTSC-J DVD that came with the PS2 version fired up?

I have this DVD too, but not sure how to watch it

Why wouldn't you just watch it in the PS2...?

[noiseredux]

I have a US PS2 and disc swap to play imports. I don't think you can disc-swap and then put in an import DVD.

[hashiriya1]

I'm hitting about 1.5 to 1.7 mil on Stage 1. I haven't even touched Stage 2 yet. My goal for Stage 1 is 2.5 million, then I'll move onto Stage 2. I just need to work on my Kakusei timing.

I watched the DVD. Yeah, I'm not gonna play on that guy's level!

[pierrot]

I have a US PS2 and disc swap to play imports. I don't think you can disc-swap and then put in an import DVD.

Oh, gotcha. My bad.
It might be possible for you to flash the disk drive on the computer you're using to make it region free, but I don't know how much work you would want to go through just to watch the DVD.

[mjmjr25]

Your averaging 1.5-1.7, hash? That is really good. I'm averaging 1million.

Can you describe your run? As in, do you play in overdrive the whole run? Do you not play in overdrive at all? If both, when are you switching?

I hit stage 5 boss today - score was sorta meh, sorta run where if I had a reset button, I would've reset, only had 2.1 mil through stage 2.

Stage 4 boss is a trip - but managed him with no hits - pretty much luck considering only second time I faced him. For those who haven't tried him yet...it's nuts. Won't say what he does...but it's a trip.

[dsheinem]

I just watched a random video on youtube, 3 minutes.

can you share which one?