Shockman Thread (Shocking Secrets Revealed!?!)

[EmperorIng]

I'm playing some Shubibinman 2 now that I scored a cheap JPN copy in a lot.

While I like the graphics (some great boss designs!), having three slow auto-scrolling sections in the first three levels has a way of killing my enthusiasm right off the bat. What were they thinking with that lousy sewer level? That players wouldn't mind doing the same thing, except duller and longer, a third time? 

I am also not a fan of how weak and small your normal shot seems to be. It rarely hits small enemies, who don't seem to die in less than 3 hits anyhow. it leaves you always charging your shot, which wears on the thumb (and subjects you to that annoying SHUBI! scream every time). Is there something I'm missing with the attacks? I doubt it. Mega Man games feel like the bullets are faster, larger, and do more damage to speed the pace of the game up. Here it feels much more haphazard. The one-life rule doesn't feel like it adds much outside of the annoyance of returning to the title-screen to try again.

I feel like I've gotten halfway through (made it to fighting the rival dude robot), and I'd like to like this game more than I am. 

Is the first game even worth vouching for? It seems even slower than the second. If the third weren't so lacking in challenge, it'd be one of the best games evar.

EDIT: I'll have to take some of lukester's tips into consideration when it comes to the game. Maybe that will make things a -little- better.