Shmups (Shoot 'Em Ups) |OT| THE FULL EXTENT OF THE JAM

[Triple Da G.O.D!]

The demo for Layer Section & Galactic Attack is also on the Japanese eShop as well for those who want to give it a go.

Weblinks for those who need it.

Layer Section & Galactic Attack (JP PSN)

Layer Section & Galactic Attack (JP eShop)

 

[FinFunnels]

So I bought Capcom Arcade Stadium on sale, which shooters should I be playing? There's a lot of them!

Also it may be sacrilegious but I'm playing vertical shooters horizontally :x

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Progear and Giga Wing!

My monitor is very large, so I find playing with it horizontal to be more comfortable. If I rotate it and play in TATE mode I have trouble tracking everything on screen unless I step way back.

 

[Mr. Virus]

So I bought Capcom Arcade Stadium on sale, which shooters should I be playing? There's a lot of them!

Also it may be sacrilegious but I'm playing vertical shooters horizontally :x

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The pack 3 ones are all pretty solid. Varth and 1941 are worth picking up as well.

 

[twentytwo22]

Any recommendations for a game that's challenging but not "overwhelming"? I don't like it when the entire screen gets filled with effects and I can't see what's happening

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Most Cave games have a novice mode. They aren't a total walk in the park, but they aren't overwhelming. Great place to start.

 

[mrbogus]

All these collaborations between City Connection and Square Enix (they run Taito).

Here's to hoping we get some non-Saturn ports out of it. Like Magical Chase for PC-Engine/Turbografx-16 (Square owns the property these days).

 

[Spook & Spell]

Curious about Layer Section / Galactic Attack input lag?

Found this on SHMUPS:


Only 3 frames on PS4. Goddamn.

 

[Dash Kappei]

Curious about Layer Section / Galactic Attack input lag?

Found this on SHMUPS:


Only 3 frames on PS4. Goddamn.

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It sucks that the Switch is always laggier than PS4 because the former is my de-facto shmup machine. Regarding LS, I knew it because it felt good (Switch), it sucks that Guardian Force still has 8+ frames of input latency after the patch, since modder (?) Daifukkat.su released a patch to cut down 2 frames on the ST-V rom of GF (which afaik has up to 7 frames lag thanks to sloppy coding)

 

[Spook & Spell]

It sucks that the Switch is always laggier than PS4 because the former is my de-facto shmup machine. Regarding LS, I knew it because it felt good (Switch), it sucks that Guardian Force still has 8+ frames of input latency after the patch, since modder (?) Daifukkat.su released a patch to cut down 2 frames on the ST-V rom of GF (which afaik has up to 7 frames lag thanks to sloppy coding)

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It is a shame. Cotton and GF had to die so that these games could benefit.

I'm most excited about the possibility of owning/playing the best version of Elevator Action Returns again. Layer Section is a very pleasant bonus.

 

[clippa]

Z-Warp, the new game from Panda Indie Studio is out on all consoles.
It's really good fun!

Z-Warp PS4 & PS5

Retrieve the black box

store.playstation.com

Buy Z-Warp | Xbox

Blast off into the darkest corners of space to retrieve the black box of a lost experimental spacecraft! In the Year 21XX, a starship capable of space-time warping was constructed and launched, only to be lost to the unknown depths of space on its maiden voyage. When a distress signal is...

www.xbox.com

Z-Warp

Blast off into the darkest corners of space to retrieve the black box of a lost experimental spacecraft!

www.nintendo.co.uk

 

[Noisepurge]

oh yeah, and Eschatos is now also out on PS4 at least

 

[sixteen-bit]

Silver Lining never fails to get me hype

 

[Deleted member 9305]

Yeah, Yousuke Yasui is sooooo good. Ginga Force and especially Natsuki Chronicles got amazing soundtracks too.

 

[sixteen-bit]

 

[Dash Kappei]

Z-Warp, the new game from Panda Indie Studio is out on all consoles.
It's really good fun!

Z-Warp PS4 & PS5

Retrieve the black box

store.playstation.com

Buy Z-Warp | Xbox

Blast off into the darkest corners of space to retrieve the black box of a lost experimental spacecraft! In the Year 21XX, a starship capable of space-time warping was constructed and launched, only to be lost to the unknown depths of space on its maiden voyage. When a distress signal is...

www.xbox.com

Z-Warp

Blast off into the darkest corners of space to retrieve the black box of a lost experimental spacecraft!

www.nintendo.co.uk

Click to shrink...

Wait, I didn't buy it because going by the description on eShop it seemed like there weren't proper levels, but endless waves (I need my shmups to have a set number of levels lol)

 

[clippa]

Yeah, this one isn't procedurally generated, though his previous game "Void Gore" was.

It's great! Best game he's made I reckon. The scoring is a lot of fun. Killing enemies keeps your chain going but so does collecting the skulls so it's not a good idea just to grab them as soon as they appear.
The multiplier you have when you get to the boss, that's locked in and you keep that through the whole boss fight. The last stage is a bugger to chain, but getting into that last boss fight with a decent multiplier, if you beat the TLB, you'll be laughing.

Leaderboards seem a bit buggy, my score only seems to update like a quarter of the time.

 

[clippa]

Had a really good run of Z-Warp the other day.



Thinking of how I could push my score further, I tried to milk some of the bosses, and my god, it's a big problem.



Apparently the dev knows about this and is looking into fixing it.

Steam page is up for Endless Shirafu's new game

STG has reached a new frontier! 2D bullet-hell sci-fi action shooter with mouse control and multiple buttons!

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[Noisepurge]

Z-Warp is really cool, love the infinite bomb mechanic and the badass soundtrack

 

[clippa]

Yeah, it's great! The dev just commented on one of my youtube videos. Looks like they're gonna leave the console versions as is and release the game on steam with the milking fixed.

"Hey hey, to address this - doing stuff on console is complicated and patching is always monitored. A patch that resets leaderboards has a high chance of not getting through, and it would take weeks anyway. Enough for people to spend countless hours exploiting the score. In the end it's probably better to learn from my mistakes and move on, instead of potentially infuriating who already put their time into the game. This also means that the game will get a steam release, with fixed scoring :)"

 

[Dash Kappei]

Dang, just bought the game on Switch, that makes me not want to put any time into highscore chasing :( Shit like that is always a bummer imo.

 

[Cthulhu_Steev]

The superb Gaplus has been added to Arcade Archives (US PSN) today.

 

[EinhanderSequel]

I've started compiling a list of upcoming shmups because I couldn't find a one stop good resource that already existed. It's still a work in progress and I'm sure I'm missing a lot, so please let me know if there are any missing games that you're aware of and I will be happy to add them.

Upcoming Shmups

docs.google.com

 

[Skittles]

>me 10m into eschatos
"Is this goat'd?"

 

[FinFunnels]

I've started compiling a list of upcoming shmups because I couldn't find a one stop good resource that already existed. It's still a work in progress and I'm sure I'm missing a lot, so please let me know if there are any missing games that you're aware of and I will be happy to add them.

Upcoming Shmups

docs.google.com

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Awesome list!

FWIW, Castle of Shikigami 2 is already out on Steam at least. I bought it a few months ago.

 

[EinhanderSequel]

Awesome list!

FWIW, Castle of Shikigami 2 is already out on Steam at least. I bought it a few months ago.

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Thank you! I've removed Steam from that entry now. The Switch version should still be somewhere on the horizon though.

How is the Steam version of Castle of Shikigami 2, btw? I never played the original and know nothing about it other than that it had "amazing" voice acting back in the day.

 

[FinFunnels]

Thank you! I've removed Steam from that entry now. The Switch version should still be somewhere on the horizon though.

How is the Steam version of Castle of Shikigami 2, btw? I never played the original and know nothing about it other than that it had "amazing" voice acting back in the day.

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The voice acting is fine, it's the translation that was "amazing" lol. But the Steam version has a new, much better translation.

It's a good shmup and still holds up pretty well. The only thing that kind of annoys me is you don't have unlimited credits from the start. You unlock more credits for roughly every hour you spend playing the game.

I also have to hand it to Degica for good support of the game. They listened to fan feedback and released a lot of patches for it.

 

[MrNewVegas]

I've started compiling a list of upcoming shmups because I couldn't find a one stop good resource that already existed. It's still a work in progress and I'm sure I'm missing a lot, so please let me know if there are any missing games that you're aware of and I will be happy to add them.

Upcoming Shmups

docs.google.com

Click to shrink...

This is amazing! Thanks so much for your hard work!

Any chance you have an invite to the shmup junkies discord?

 

[EinhanderSequel]

That all sounds promising. I plan on picking it up when it eventually hits the Switch. I hope all those patched improvements are included at launch

 

[Dash Kappei]

Dezatopia is on sale on the eShop, does anyone know if they've updated it with proper online leaderboards?

 

[Deleted member 9305]

Mecha Ritz: Steel Rondo2.0 was demo'd at TOKYO SANDBOX '22 ... to be released this summer

 

[Orioto]

Did you guys learned about shmup creator ? It's early yet pretty amazing already!
Maybe it should have its own thread i don't know

 

[Defunkled]

Any word on the street about this new Layer Section/Galactic Attack port on PS4/Switch? I made the mistake of buying that horribly laggy Cotton 2 & Boomerang collection at release and this is from the same line.

 

[Spook & Spell]

Any word on the street about this new Layer Section/Galactic Attack port on PS4/Switch? I made the mistake of buying that horribly laggy Cotton 2 & Boomerang collection at release and this is from the same line.

Click to shrink...

Initial testing showed 3 frames of input lag, but that source appeared to have been testing only on the menu. In-game tests for the PS4 version are closer to 6 frames. Not great, but considerably better than Cotton2&B.

Here's a video discussing the demo's latency:


A pinned comment explains why he was experiencing different latency during his testing.

And yes these are City Connection ports.

 

[Defunkled]

Initial testing showed 3 frames of input lag, but that source appeared to have been testing only on the menu. In-game tests for the PS4 version are closer to 6 frames. Not great, but considerably better than Cotton2&B.

Here's a video discussing the demo's latency:


A pinned comment explains why he was experiencing different latency during his testing.

And yes these are City Connection ports.

Click to shrink...

Thank you! Dang, 6 frames is still pretty rough.

 

[Silius]

Thank you! Dang, 6 frames is still pretty rough.

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There also seems to be audio issues as well. City Connection just announced that patch is coming in June for various things. Doesn't mention delay or audio issues in the update either.

Edit- good summary on steam reviews.

"I really wanted this port to be great, as I've played the game extensively throughout the years on MAME and my physical Saturn copy.

Good things about the port:
- Has a 30hz super rapid shot option (which must be enabled in options). This increases your main shot damage and will help players get much further into the game.
- A stage select option with stage, shot lvl, laser lvl, and rank options. Although I would have preferred if the rank numbers correlated to their stage counterparts to help with practicing strategies similar to an actual run.
- Button remapping for controllers
-Ok scanline option

However, the current state of this port has a lot of issues:
- terrible audio stutter, music will just slow down & become distorted at times, even with v-sync on & no frame rate drops.
- sound effects play repeatedly, and are sometimes delayed. This is incredibly annoying to listen to while playing and makes it pretty unbearable for people listening to the game on streams.
- control feels somewhat sluggish at best. It felt very difficult to execute many 7/8-chain strategies that I can do consistently on the original arcade version.
- online ranking submission didn't work even if the option to record your score is on. Online leaderboards are also not separated by internal/external autofire, and only include scores of their respective platform.
- Only has 1 save state which is laughable.
-No keyboard support, which makes no sense considering the emulator it is based on (SSF) supports keyboard mapping.

At its MSRP of $30, I would hard pass on this S-Tribute port. Every other port I've played runs more consistently & doesn't have the weird audio issues I experienced here. I hope that City Connection can patch this version and reduce the input lag, because I don't think that any of their S-Tribute releases have been good so far, and they don't reflect the quality of the chosen titles."

 

[Defunkled]

There also seems to be audio issues as well. City Connection just announced that patch is coming in June for various things. Doesn't mention delay or audio issues in the update either.

Edit- good summary on steam reviews.

"I really wanted this port to be great, as I've played the game extensively throughout the years on MAME and my physical Saturn copy.

Good things about the port:
- Has a 30hz super rapid shot option (which must be enabled in options). This increases your main shot damage and will help players get much further into the game.
- A stage select option with stage, shot lvl, laser lvl, and rank options. Although I would have preferred if the rank numbers correlated to their stage counterparts to help with practicing strategies similar to an actual run.
- Button remapping for controllers
-Ok scanline option

However, the current state of this port has a lot of issues:
- terrible audio stutter, music will just slow down & become distorted at times, even with v-sync on & no frame rate drops.
- sound effects play repeatedly, and are sometimes delayed. This is incredibly annoying to listen to while playing and makes it pretty unbearable for people listening to the game on streams.
- control feels somewhat sluggish at best. It felt very difficult to execute many 7/8-chain strategies that I can do consistently on the original arcade version.
- online ranking submission didn't work even if the option to record your score is on. Online leaderboards are also not separated by internal/external autofire, and only include scores of their respective platform.
- Only has 1 save state which is laughable.
-No keyboard support, which makes no sense considering the emulator it is based on (SSF) supports keyboard mapping.

At its MSRP of $30, I would hard pass on this S-Tribute port. Every other port I've played runs more consistently & doesn't have the weird audio issues I experienced here. I hope that City Connection can patch this version and reduce the input lag, because I don't think that any of their S-Tribute releases have been good so far, and they don't reflect the quality of the chosen titles."

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Wow that's pretty damning. I'm definitely gonna wait for either a comprehensive patch or deep discount…what a bummer.

 

[Spook & Spell]

Yeah, definitely not worth $30. I'm hoping they have things sorted by the time EAR comes around, because that's the real get here if it pans out alright.

 

[Noisepurge]

I enjoyed playing it. Was at least an easy platinum trophy :D I'm not that sensitive to input lag and have never played it before so have no point of reference.

 

[EinhanderSequel]

Looks like they are planning a patch or Layer Section & Galactic Attack for June. Though unfortunately it doesn't look like it's expected to address all the issues Silius noted above. But it sounds like it should fix the leaderboard separating autofire

Layer Section & Galactic Attack S-Tribute - Game & Product Info │ S-Tribute x TAITO Official Site

S-Tribute x TAITO series : Layer Section & Galactic Attack S-Tribute to be released on April 28. 2022 on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.

city-connection.co.jp

 

[Agent Unknown]

Here is video someone posted of Layer Section dropping audio intermittently. $30 for this? Yeah, will just stick with my Saturn copy, really tired of this shoddy output from City Connection:

 

[Spook & Spell]

Here is video someone posted of Layer Section audio dropping intermittently. $30 for this? Yeah, will just stick with my Saturn copy, really tired of this shoddy output from City Connection:

Click to shrink...

🫠 I want to die.

 

[Aurica]

Should I be worried about Deathsmiles I & II, then?

 

[Agent Unknown]

So I downloaded the Switch demo for Layer Section, the input lag isn't too bad so far but it's definitely noticeable (please bear in mind I'm not great at noticing input lag levels, usually it has to be really bad like Mega Man Legacy Collection). There is only one scanline option but it's a nice, even effect for what it is. I didn't experience any audio glitches like that post above but the demo only features the first area and boss.

Here are a few complaints which will keep me from buying this: I play shmups on my Switch in TATE mode whenever I can. So after playing it briefly in TV mode I set up my Hori stand. I tried using my left joy con in "NES" orientation which I prefer when playing shmups in TATE/tabletop mode, the game won't let you do that, you have to either use both your Joycons in dual mode or use a Pro Controller. I also have a Flip Grip but it'd be nice to have full controller options when choosing table top mode.

Now the worst part in regards to this. The game's screen display menu only has two display options, "Normal" or "Large." Normal is far too small for TATE obviously so I changed to "Large" and the display is still far too small and takes up the very center of the screen. Most other vertical arcade shmup ports on Switch which offer TATE (for example Livewire's Cave ports or Hamster's many vertical arcade titles) will also allow you adjust and expand the vertical/horizontal size percentage when the screen is flipped while still maintaining the games proper aspect without stretching it (this still means you get some black bars on the top and bottom but that can't be helped due to the Switch's 16:9 ratio and at least with the aforementioned additional display settings you can still get a lot more viewing real estate which is really nice and the entire point of TATE to begin with). Meanwhile, this is what you get from City Connection, the "Large" display option in TATE mode:

So…..what is the point of bothering to play this game outside of TV mode? Unless there are extra display customization options in the "Extra Option" menu? But that menu isn't available in the demo so no idea unless someone who owns the full game can further confirm.

 

[Spook & Spell]

Should I be worried about Deathsmiles I & II, then?

Click to shrink...

That actually turned out alright.

 

[Noisepurge]

So I downloaded the Switch demo for Layer Section, the input lag isn't too bad so far but it's definitely noticeable (please bear in mind I'm not great at noticing input lag levels, usually it has to be really bad like Mega Man Legacy Collection). There is only one scanline option but it's a nice, even effect for what it is. I didn't experience any audio glitches like that post above but the demo only features the first area and boss.

Here are a few complaints which will keep me from buying this: I play shmups on my Switch in TATE mode whenever I can. So after playing it briefly in TV mode I set up my Hori stand. I tried using my left joy con in "NES" orientation which I prefer when playing shmups in TATE/tabletop mode, the game won't let you do that, you have to either use both your Joycons in dual mode or use a Pro Controller. I also have a Flip Grip but it'd be nice to have full controller options when choosing table top mode.

Now the worst part in regards to this. The game's screen display menu only has two display options, "Normal" or "Large." Normal is far too small for TATE obviously so I changed to "Large" and the display is still far too small and takes up the very center of the screen. Most other vertical arcade shmup ports on Switch which offer TATE (for example Livewire's Cave ports or Hamster's many vertical arcade titles) will also allow you adjust and expand the vertical/horizontal size percentage when the screen is flipped while still maintaining the games proper aspect without stretching it (this still means you get some black bars on the top and bottom but that can't be helped due to the Switch's 16:9 ratio and at least with the aforementioned additional display settings you can still get a lot more viewing real estate which is really nice and the entire point of TATE to begin with). Meanwhile, this is what you get from City Connection, the "Large" display option in TATE mode:

So…..what is the point of bothering to play this game outside of TV mode? Unless there are extra display customization options in the "Extra Option" menu? But that menu isn't available in the demo so no idea unless someone who owns the full game can further confirm.

Click to shrink...

Arcade mode has more of a vertical screen size. If you play the "consumer" mode it's more made to just fit a 4:3 tv screen in landscape.

 

[OnanieBomb]

I think I'm gonna get the electric underground t to support the channel. Not a fan of all his content or viewpoints, but he's the best shmup channel going and just an endless resource of knowledge.

I decided it's time to finally get into Darius so I got the arcade collection on switch. Between the 3 screen viewpoint and the most insane extreme rumble I've ever experienced, it's comically unplayable on portable.

I feel like having a 65" tv is going to pay dividends on this triple ultra widescreen madness and I hope the subwoofer woofs like a god damn Sunn O))) performance

 

[Lakeside]

Should I be worried about Deathsmiles I & II, then?

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Slowdown on II was messed up unless they fixed it. I think yet another port is in progress, while so many unpowered games languish.

 

[Agent Unknown]

Arcade mode has more of a vertical screen size. If you play the "consumer" mode it's more made to just fit a 4:3 tv screen in landscape.

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Thanks, I adjusted it and now TATE looks proper:

Has anyone here run into the audio glitch on the Switch version? Even though I have it on Saturn I might actually get it now since it's on sale just to have a copy to play when I'm traveling. I also currently have about $3.50 worth of Gold points in my eShop account which would cut down the price even more.

 

[ScOULaris]

Yeah I just tried the Layer Section demo and was gonna guess six frames of input lag. Looks like I was right. What a shame.

 

[Timu]

Yeah I just tried the Layer Section demo and was gonna guess six frames of input lag. Looks like I was right. What a shame.

Click to shrink...

For a shmup that's pretty rough.

 

[ScOULaris]

For a shmup that's pretty rough.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, it doesn't pass muster for me. Four frames is the absolute maximum I can tolerate if I'm paying money for a shmup port on Switch.