You are currently browsing the monthly archive for March 2019.
I must’ve played Outrun Online Arcade for ~20 hours now and I’m still not quite sure how to optimally shift gears and bring the car up to speed at the start. I did manage to get a 0’57”xxx time on the first stage once, so I must’ve done it pretty well at least once…such a shame I’m not sure what it was and I wasn’t recording at the time. This might be my utter and complete lack of knowledge on anything relating to real cars and how they work shining through here. RPM, whazzat?
It also took me waaaay longer than I care to admit to notice that my gear shift drifting was pretty suboptimal. I used to do it with two clearly seperate button presses, now it’s one smooth, fluid motion as my thumb slides from the Shift Down button to the Shift Up button in a fraction of a second. That simple correction to my technique was enough to shave off quite a bit of time. Now if I could just figure out when to use brake drifting…currently I just always gear shift drift.
My times are improving constantly, which is nice. Seems there’s always something I can either not mess up in or figure out how to do faster. I managed to place as #15 in Goal C and even got a respectable time for Goal D. Milky Way, the final stage of that route, is my least favourite stage in the game. It’s so easy to hit a wall there thanks to the very narrow road. The second corner is the most annoying, it’s a long curve you need to drift and it ends with a sharp corner to the other direction. And because it’s a night level I find it a bit difficult to see where that corner starts, making timing the counter-drift all that more difficult. Luckily my best time on that stage is recorded, I’ll need to study the footage and see if I can find some visual cues on when to do it.
And lastly, I got a confidence boost in multiplayer. I raced one-on-one (catch-up off, collisions on) against someone very close to my own skill level. We did three full runs (he quit during the fourth) and I won two of them. The one I lost was by 0.15 or so seconds. Later when I checked his rankings in Time Attack I found him to be in Top 15 for some routes. Nice.
I received my TvC Fightstick yesterday and thought I’d give my initial impressions of it. (Full disclosure: I am a stock owner, lol.) As for the stick itself, I’m pretty much loving it. I’ve read reviews that said it was light, but it’s heavier than they lead me to believe. The construction feels great, and it has an all-around sense of quality to it that you wouldn’t expect from Mad Catz. A lot of people replace the buttons and stick with japanese arcade Sanwa parts. Perhaps as I become accustomed to the finer points of arcade controls I will decide to upgrade, but at the moment I don’t see any real need.
Anyway, product specifics aside, the real change here is that I’ve switched to arcade-style controls. As I mentioned earlier, I knew my execution would take a huge hit for a while until I got used to it. Well, I am actually quite surprised by the small amount it’s off. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a bit away from being up to par on it, but I’d say I’m playing at maybe 80% capacity right now, which is really not that bad. That being said, it’s pretty damn frustrating to lose to a mediocre player just because you can’t execute a launch (df+C) or a dragon punch. But I definitely see potential for better execution in the long run with the new controls. There’s also something that’s just really fun about playing with arcade controls. Hopefully those launches and DP’s will fall into place quickly.
Also, yesterday I ordered another video game accessory.
Shmup celebration in full steam yeah!
I’m always drifting from one subgenre to another, and in March I’ve covered quite a span of time in the history of shooting games. The oldest ones were Gradius on the NES and Astro Warrior. This version of Gradius is still great to play – a lot easier than the original, but charming and excellent for NES standards. Astro Warrior is just as much fun, I just wish there were more stages than just those ever-looping three.
I also launched myself in the mission of 1-lifeing Darius II on the Saturn. Darius II is one of the reasons I fell in love with the genre, and the Saturn port isn’t as easy as one might think. I’m glad I pulled it off, I think I might try the PS2 version next because, you know, I can’t get enough of Darius.
I’m not really fond of evil labelings such as “euroshmup”, but a few weeks ago a had a teste of what it’s like with X2 on the PS1. It wasn’t the greatest experience ever, but I can’t say it was a disaster either. Does anyone know if the soundtrack was ever released?
One minor and easy achievement this month was Aegis Wing on XBLA. This is the first downloadable game I beat – I know I’m late to the party, but only now I’m getting used to playing games that don’t come in catridges or CDs. In my case, Aegis Wing was mainly used as relaxation during those break spells from Homura and Blue Wish Ressurrection, which I’m still playing and hoping to 1CC soon. I’ll probably be moving to Batsugun on the Saturn afterwards, since I spent a couple of hours getting acquainted with this game a few days ago. And last but not least, I got back to Raiden Trad on the Mega Drive. I feel I needed to face this fear I have of the checkpoints in this game. Nerdy note: I always thought “Raiden Trad” was a cooler name than just plain “Raiden”.
The mission I received for Shmuppreciation Month is Game Tengoku aka The Game Paradise. Wacky, fun and not as difficult as it looks from the pseudo-Psikyo gameplay style. My best score currently stands at 13 M, reaching loop 2-5.
Is this too much shmupping for one month? I don’t think so, in fact 99% of my gaming time is spent on them!
…well, in the 10′s, I suppose.
I’ve been playing a lot of Outrun Online Arcade on XBLA for the last couple of weeks. Haven’t really played an arcade racer since Burnout 2 (still the best Burnout as far as I’m concerned) so it’s a nice change of pace. OOA now also holds the honor of being my first ever driving game where I’ve tried and gotten used to using manual transmission.
When I started playing I thought I’d spend most of my time on Heart Attack mode, but it turns out I’m having a blast playing Time Attack and multiplayer. The two work together rather nicely as I can try out new things in Time Attack and then apply them in multiplayer and I also sometimes get new ideas from other players.
Sadly, it seems the multiplayer community isn’t that strong. Most of my races I’ve won with a large margin, to the point of often DNFing (after the first person crosses the finishline, the remaining players have 10 seconds to get to the goal before the game ends or they just get a “Did Not Finish”) the other players. Luckily I found players in #shmups who also play it and they have given me my most heated races, few of which I’ve uploaded to my Youtube account. I also managed to catch a race with someone who’s in at least Top 15 for all goals in Time Attack, that was pretty…enlightening.
Time Attack is a different beast in the sense that there are some very good times up there and with my current skills, lines and techniques there’s no way for me get even within a second or two on them. So a lot of stuff still to learn. A more immediate goal is to beat nZero’s times, we have a bit of back-and-forth on who’s got the best times going on there. He’s got more of them at the moment. Gotta get to work.
For about the past month and a half I have been obsessed with TvC. I doubt it will surprise anyone to hear that along with this, I have a newfound reverence for fighting games in general. I’ve always been a strong fan of SF2 and many others, but not on the same level. In any case, it surprised me a good deal to learn that I was completely oblivious to (arguably) the final iteration of SF2, that being Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. As far as I knew, Super Street Fighter 2 was the latest and greatest. If you take a look at it the reason can be understood: it never received a port to any mainstream platform. (Note: There are certain bundles and packages, but bare with me here). Hearing a lot about this game, I became very interested in it and, looking at the above hyperlink, I realized what I had to do.
I got the game. For 3DO.
Finally a reason beyond Road Rash to own a 3DO!! The game is awesome. Shocking for a 3DO game, the controls are smooth and responsive as any SF game and the load times are not bad at all. The controller cords are ever so slightly too short for my couch, but thanks to 3DO’s daisy-chained controllers, the game can be played with the 2P controller quite conveniently (score one for horrible design decisions!). Of course, this being 3DO, there has to be one horrible aspect of it. In this case it’s the 3DO controller. You’ll note there are 3 face buttons, 2 shoulder buttons, and…. a start button. Yeah, this is how you have to map the controls for SSF2T and as you can imagine, there are buttons you just don’t use when you’re playing like this. So here it is, 2019, and I’m in the market for a 3rd party 6-button controller. For 3DO.
Been playing some shmups as usual and lately I’ve really been rocking the 360 hard with almost all the good’n's for a NA 360: Mushihimesama Futari, Raiden IV and ESP Galuda II.
I’ve capped off somewhat with Futari at the moment. I’ve moved on from 1.5′s Original mode where I reached 336mil with Palm and have been trying out Black Label’s Original mode. It’s really fantastic. It’s such a treat to get to play it and I was ready to throw down $15 for it. The aesthetic changes are really swanky, the 2nd stage’s icy waters now have a pristine blue hue, stage 3 looks distinctly different, baring a darker forest tune. Then stage 5 set at dusk, it’s really awesome. BL Original mode is even more addicting than 1.5, the stakes and scores are higher… it’s faster, bigger and stronger. The original modes are the most fun I’ve had with any shmup, I have become feverishly greedy for those aura’d gems. My BL Orig score is at 650mil right now, but I would like to come back to it, and 1.5 to improve yet more. I hate to say but I do feel sore about not getting a 1.01 DLC card with my copy, reserving it from Play-Asia. Think I could really appreciate that mode, enjoying Mushi1′s original mode as I did (an Lx3 clear.)
I’ve tried the Arcade mode of ESP Galuda II more than a few times now and it’s pretty fun too. Still haven’t tried any of the other modes but I think I’ll learn to enjoy them. Arcade’s tough! Kind of a slap to the face compared to the original’s difficulty. Wanna go back and clear Galuda I though at some point, nabbing Galuda 2 has made me appreciate the whole ESP series more overall. I enjoy the world(s). My Hi right now is about 54 mil.
Anyhow, NOW I’ve changed my focus to Raiden IV. Damn tough stuff, but an oddly rewarding game. Been running the boss-rush gamut a lot and practicing the latter stages a bunch. I can reach 1-5 in both 360 and Arcade modes so far, but I don’t do many real runs because I know how brutal the game is with memorizing the boss’s patterns and knowing what to expect in the latter stages when things get pretty hairy at times. Without getting to know the stages and bosses, don’t dare to expect to clear it in a random fluke. It’s that kind of game and I embrace the difficulty. Can almost finish the first loop of the boss rush but I’ve got a ways to go yet. I’ll update a bit about my progress. I made a little page of notes about what power-ups to change up at certain points of the game. Tinkering with the idea of switching to Laser for most of one of last space stages… I think it’s the last one. For the most part the Vulcan takes care of business… toothpaste is shit.
Overall, great stuff all around! The 360′s been getting it’s due time. It’s nice to be able to post my scores on the leaderboards. BTW: I have a XBL account now, I’m DJ Aquazition. Add me up!
It’s an honor to be ranked 30th (something) overall in the world for 1.5 Original Mode with Palm! But I will strive to be yet higher! There are some BL Original scores over a billion (one at almsot 4 billion) and I think it’d be crazy to get even half of that. Such depth! Mushi1′s Maniac scoring had a great depth to it, too, as far as scoring huge.
Oh yeah, been playing a bit of the new Lunar remake on the PSP. It’s enjoyable and nostalgia-tastic so far :D… and I’m done.
I hope no one minds me posting like crazy around here. With the amount of hours I’ve been putting into TvC, there’s a lot to talk about. I definitely think this journal improves my game a bit as it “irons out” my thoughts into concise, actionable ideas. For instance, yesterday I was talking about how removing a hit from my experimental Saki combo was well worth the sacrifice as it increased the range of the combo a bit. That got me thinking, there’s got to be a sacrifice I could make in Ippatsuman’s combo so that it wouldn’t be so damn hard.
It took a bit of playing around, but I am happy to say I came up with the appropriate sacrifice! To recap, his combo I’ve been trying is:
[Standard Combo]->Launch->Jump(AA,BB)->Jump(B)->DP->(wait)->Hyper Grab
All I’ve done is removed the double-jump(B) right before the Dragon Punch near the end. This small change has made it so much easier (I would have to estimate at least 10x easier in fact – as in, I can execute it 10 times more often). In exchange for this ease of execution the only drawbacks are:
-The damage is slightly less. Slightly being the key word here. Even though it’s at double-jump height, it’s also only one medium-strength hit near the end of a combo. Very negligible.
-The timing of the hyper grab at the end is very weird now. But not weird enough to make it tremendously difficult.
All in all (these are my extremely loose estimates), my combo is now about 50% more damaging than it was before and about 10x easier to execute than the “ideal”. I haven’t played with it enough to be sure yet, but I think my success rate is a bit over 50% with it (failed attempts are just less damaging, not punishable). By contrast, if I were to execute my ideal combo, it would probably be about 53% more damaging as opposed to 50%… Great sacrifice.
In retrospect, it almost seems foolish that I spent so much time chasing such minor additional gains. But I can’t blame myself. I wanted to maximize my efficiency and I put forth a lot of effort trying to achieve it. Only after a true effort did I come back and make the decision that a slightly less efficient combo was well worth the sacrifice. I’m quite pleased. Of course, this will all disappear in a few days when my fightstick arrives :) Actually though, I’m very glad to have this issue under wraps before it comes.
P.S. It has occurred to me that in my last post I misused the term “mixup”. What I meant to express was just a highly different attack plan.
Needless to say, this post is about Tatsunoko Vs Capcom… I just had a pretty interesting session at it. First, I went into training mode. Lately, I’ve been using training mode for almost nothing at all, but practicing my damn Ippatsuman combo that I may have mentioned here one or twice before. And I don’t regret that, that remains what I see as the next big hurdle in my progress, but it’s important to try out a lot of things in training mode, not just repetition.
So, this time around, I decided to play around with new Saki stuff. Ippatsuman/Saki is my main team, but I hardly ever talk about Saki here. The reason for that is Saki is primarily a zoning character and I feel pretty good with my game with her. She is not a combo machine by any means and so I basically ignored the combos she can do in favor of other skills (again, primarily zoning skills). BUT, needless to say, I want to fully flesh out my game to the highest degree possible, which means continuously learning more and adding (what works) into the game plan. In this case, yeah, Saki is great at zoning, but there are some players who just know how to push the action up close where she sucks, and getting some close-range solutions would definitely flesh her out some more.
I’m really going off on some tangents, but anyway, the point is I played around with some combo ideas with Saki and one of them is really nice. Not only is it pretty decent damage, but it’s actually MUCH easier to pull off than Ippatsuman’s combo (at least in training mode). I repeated it a number of times in training mode, and damn it was easy to pull off. At this point I realized that Ippatsuman’s gotta have one of the most difficult combos ending in hypers in the game. After all, I can pull this off (in a more limited fashion, but still ending in a hyper) with most secondary characters I play, with whom I’ve never even entered training mode (Ryu, Morrigan, Batsu, Soki). It’s because Ippatsuman’s only viable hyper at that point is a 45-degree angle air grab. But I digress again…
The combo goes like this, first you’ve gotta load up some special ammo: 2,2B then at VERY close range you do:
(5,2)A, 5B, 2B, 3C, (jump) B,B (jump) B,B, C(shoots the special ammo, which juggles the opponent), Hyper-45-Degree Particle Beam
So this was great, the only iffy thing about it is that it requires loading up special ammo before hand. While this is not difficult to do, it doesn’t jive with the rest of my keep-away game. It removes my ability to use my regular C shot (until I shoot the special ammo). It’s semi-unsuitable for me to use the way I would most want to use it: in response to a breach of my personal space. It pretty much needs to be loaded up before I decide to go in close-range for the combo. Still, it is a good combo and having a mixup certainly never hurt anyone. It was time to test it out.
So after nailing this down in training mode and finding it very easy, I hopped online and could not have been luckier. I got matched up with a rank novice (absolute button masher, it’s easy to tell) and unlike most novices, he rematched me probly 10 times. Unfortunately, this is not a happy story. Pretty much all I did while I was Saki was load up the special ammo and try to go for it… I’m slightly embarrassed to admit, I did not accomplish it once. The two main reasons for this are (1) she has nearly no range on her jabs (or most of her regular moves) and (2) it does take a while to become natural in an actual fight. First off, towards the end I decided to ditch the 2nd move (5B), although that reduces its damage slightly, it seems well worth the sacrifice as it’s more forgiving with the spacing and even easier to pull off control-wise. I think this is a good move that helps point 1 a bit. Point 2 obviously will take a bit more practice.
So, as it stands, this is basically theory right now. It’s proven that it CAN work, but whether or not it’s viable to become part of my game is still questionable. Again, the main issue is that it requires loading up special ammo beforehand, in anticipation of close-range combat. As Saki, I see little reason for ME to ever initiate close-range combat and if I’m not initiating it, then it’s difficult to predict when it’s coming. On the other hand, it may well be worth it to load up the old special ammo at semi-random times in the game. I can still throw grenades without limitation and it’s good for mixup purposes. Also, I reckon there’s a lot more I can learn to do with the B-shot special ammo, so it might become a much more versatile preparation later on. Time will tell. In the very least, I’ve learned an ok no-hyper combo for her (the combo before the special shot), which is better than nothing when the pressure is on.
I recently discovered that playing Street Fighter Alpha 2 on GGPO is pretty much the best thing. I also discovered that my Internet is pretty much the worst thing. I’m not happy about this.
Turns out learning how to play fighting games is really hard. It’s like learning to play the damn piano or something, except you have to play the piano against other dudes, and they’ve all been playing for fifteen years, and they whip out Rick Wakeman shit on you while you “Three Blind Mice” as furiously as possible hoping it does something (it doesn’t.) I can’t do combos or special moves for shit so my strategy is to pick Chun and attempt to c.MK my opponent into submission. It rarely works, but I can take rounds off of guys from time to time so maybe that’ll turn into actual victories at some point. Right now my biggest obstacle is my shitty Internet: Nobody wants to fight a guy who lags all the time, so my playing time is limited to the very few times of day that my connection behaves itself, and as a result I can’t get many matches in. Unfortunately it’s the only provider in this area, so I’ll just have to stick it out and hope it gets better eventually.
Dan Haigh
Ghegs
[DRZ] OTL-TIW
sikraiken
Alice
victoly
plasm0
Aquas
Raydere
szycag
BDA
bloocloud
Kollision