Shmup of the Month Club 2014 (Completed)

[Nyukki]

Nyukki - 2,372,660 - Sabre Tiger [A] - Round 5 - MAME

Credit fed this game on the weekend just to see all the levels, got my ass kicked. But yesterday somehow had total tunnel vision, so focused, was weaving in and out of crazy patterns, got an extend (I think first time I ever got an extend in a shmup!). Really pleased with my score and how far I managed to get. Hopefully with practice I can get the 1cc!

I noticed when my options were maxed out that they would all fly together right in front of the enemies' faces and blast them like crazy, which made things a lot easier. Is that only the case with Sabre Tiger? Are there any ships that are considered for novices or experts in this game?

[mjmjr25]

Flame Viper is the most powerful ship, particularly w/ C or S option (button 3, or Start). Sabre Tiger and the last ship, spacing the name right now, are nearly equal power-wise.

I think the ship yr using is best for a novice, good power and adequate speed.

The option is a special - i've gotten it a few times, i'm not sure what triggers it though - it may be getting the option color shield so many times in a row or something - i'll have to research it, but yes, it sure is helpful.

[ExedExes]

ExedExes - 1,858,270 - Hammer Shark [C] - Round 5

I still don't understand the scoring, only because I need to figure out what is a "large" enemy that will trigger the multiplier.

I also understand that boss milking is in play in this game. That is why I am trying to stay away from ships that are too powerful and constantly firing so I won't get that charge-aura shot activated by accident. On the Shmups forum, one guy can get 11 million from Axebeak on Round 1 alone. That's nuts.

Medaling, I can get 10K now. Just need to see the 100Ks. I'm liking this Hammer Shark, but of course I got 5 more ships to try.

[mjmjr25]

4,800,620 - mjmjr25 - Flame Viper (A) - Round 6 (boss) - PCB

I actually didn't clear it this run, but my score was 1/2 a million higher due to getting the 10K by the early part of round 3 and keeping it active through round 6. Sorta exciting to actually get on the scoreboard of this PCB - it took almost a week, but i'm on there. Now for the top spot

[Nyukki]

^Do you know who DBS is/was? Crazy to think some wicked little shmup kid completely dominated that cab and all that's left of his/her legacy are three letters... Deep!

[mjmjr25]

Previous board owner was el chuddo on shmups forums and those are his initials. He played the heck out it and made it a really cool box w/copy arts and strips before passing along to me. I won't move it along until the top 5 scores are mine, so...could be awhile.

[dunpeal2064]

I also understand that boss milking is in play in this game. That is why I am trying to stay away from ships that are too powerful and constantly firing so I won't get that charge-aura shot activated by accident. On the Shmups forum, one guy can get 11 million from Axebeak on Round 1 alone. That's nuts.

Its not so much boss milking, although it looks similar to boss milking in something like Garegga. What he is doing to get the 11m is killing the smaller parts of the boss (which count as large enemies) at such precise timing, that he kills the boss with a x64 active.

Its actually pretty difficult, you have to bomb at the right time, so that you don't lose the chain, and you have to suicide to pause the chain. I haven't been able to do it yet.

[mjmjr25]

...ok then. I'm doing something wrong entirely. I'm only chaining medals and strings of enemies - zero focus on boss parts or "large enemies".

Is there a multiplier meter somewhere? What is the strategy?

[dunpeal2064]

Yeah, its confusing!

There are basically two scoring systems. Medals, which work normally, and chaining large enemies together, which ups a multiplier (I think it goes x2, x4, x8, x16, x32, x64, someone correct me if I'm off). That multiplier is applied to everything you kill, and is attacked to a chain timer (think Ketsui, but instead of pointblanking with Shot, you are killing large enemies).

If you have medals maxed out at 10k, you will instead get 100k medals while a chain is active. Even with the 100k medals, though, it seems you still get by far the largest part of your score by killing a boss with x64 multiplier

To add time to the chain, you have to kill another large enemy. Bombing will stop the chain from dropping until the bomb ends, but it will lower your timer to 1 (which is very low, like 1/100 a second), so you want to have a large enemy to kill after you drop the bomb, but before it ends, as that will jump the timer back up. Suiciding pauses the timer from when you die, to just about when your invincibility frames from death run out. So, you can plan your suicides to extend the chain (A suicide and 3 bombs are used to patch together the chainable enemies through both phases of the first boss, to get the x64 kill and net 11m)

As for how to display the timer... yes, how do we do this? I know you can make that information visible, but I have not figured it out yet. I read that you "Hold C and press Up any time during the game" to turn this info on, but I haven't been able to get this information to stay on screen

[Chempop]

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.

Enjoy playing this one guys, it's such a fun romp! The cloud stage (boss rush) is one of the most fun segments in any shmup, but I highly recommend advanced course because the 2 stages after that are REALLY cool.

Dunpeal is correct about the scoring, the medals are practically a distraction from the real method which is the chaining. To give an idea, you can score more on the first stage utilizing the multiplier than ignoring it and clearing advance course.

If you are just trying to get far I highly recommend minimizing your options and powerups in addition to avoiding killing enemies with the multiplier (medal chaining might help for a few 1-ups though).