PCE shooters have lost their magic for me...

[bartre]

YES, yes, Yes, YESSSS!!!, ... yes. Play it.

Damn, the software bible tells me it's on disc! I don't have a duo. But... it seems to have been released on PSN as well, maybe I'll check it out there!

honestly, i'm kinda with you on the whole horizontal thing, i've liked significantly fewer horizontal shmups when compared to vertical.
that said, GATE OF THUNDER!
play it, yo.

[Tatsujin]

I can't believe there are still peeps out there haven't ever play any GoT

[RegalSin]

PCE is shooter king, that was decided since day one.

The PCE is numbaaaa wwwon in everything. Just not the extreme usage of 3d graphics. With that said, all is right in the world. It is soooo
perfect. The only thing that prevented it from being perfect is man
laws, Who really cares, about mans laws. this is what I love about future world. Everybody has a five second attention span.

However in terms of Shooters. The NES also has it's share of creative content
as well.

[soop]

Well, I really like Puzznic.  So there.

[majors]

I liked 'em until like Dodonpachi era, what came after got just worse and worse. also graphically wise, since they had more and more replaced good old handrawn sprites through pre-render cack.

Otomedius and Death Smiles 2 graphics do not hold me, but Mushi and Mars Matrix do. All four have a pre-rendered look IMO so I do not like to blanket-hate on all "pre-render" style games. I'll take every shooter one at a time, give it the love or hate per game, not per company.

Tats -> What about polygon shooters like Gradius V, Strania or Ikaruga? Still like "hand-drawn" games over those?

As a side note, when we bring cabs to conventions. One of the Wedoca crew is a shump-cave-whore, so having $800-$1500 PCB's up and running is neat. A lot of people have never been able to play some of these titles and to play them on real hardware in real Japanese arcade cabinets does have a appeal if not a novelty.

(I can't fathom folks not playing Spriggan!)

[Tatsujin]

polygon shooters (and any kind of 2d hand draw replaceed games) are the worst, IMO (style wise). that stuff gives me the absolutely NOTHING.

I, as well do not dislike all kind of pre-render stuff, there was impressive stuff back in the 90s on inferior hardwares (inferior compared to 32-bit or late arcade stuff), like a sapphire or a rendering ranger, I both like very much.

[Joe Redifer]

Damn it, I've been away from this thread for too long.

Anyway, in Cave games and other bullet hells, how do you determine which pixel is your hit box?  Does it glow or stand out in some way?  It really should.  When I see bullets touch and pass through my ship and I stay alive, I think I must have invincibility turned on or there is a Game Genie plugged in somewhere.  It looks like I am cheating if I don't blow up when a bullet hits my ship.  I also agree about the over-anime-ized style of these games.  I would be interested in games like Otomedius Excellent or whatever the f*ck they're called but unless it is Parodius or Star Parodia I don't want anime characters.

[Arkhan]

Anyway, in Cave games and other bullet hells, how do you determine which pixel is your hit box?  Does it glow or stand out in some way?  It really should.  When I see bullets touch and pass through my ship and I stay alive, I think I must have invincibility turned on or there is a Game Genie plugged in somewhere.  It looks like I am cheating if I don't blow up when a bullet hits my ship. 

Where's your imagination?  Those near-hits are bullets whizzing under/over your ship's wings.

The only way to get good at knowing where your hitbox is, is to play the game and get good at it.  Why should it spoon-feed you and tell you "awww wittle baby, this is where the bullets can't touch.  That's bad touch if it goes there".

Disabled gamers make me LOL.

[Starfighter]

It's easy to look really awesome if both the ship and the bullet have a small hitbox! Many games with small hitboxes have a little point that glows or changes color when the special weapon is used.

[Samurai Ghost]

Anyway, in Cave games and other bullet hells, how do you determine which pixel is your hit box?  Does it glow or stand out in some way?

Well in Espaluga at least you have some kind of glowing crystal on the character for your hitbox.

[Tatsujin]

i just think that the whole bullet-sprayer thing escalated many years ago. make it look as hard as possible, but in fact it isn't. But where's the sense? It jsut feels like playing f*ckin' russian roullete.

[Starfighter]

It looks pretty and is relaxing. Like watching a fish tank!

Seriously, they are pretty hard. Have you tried to 1CC Mushihimesama, Espgaluda, Ketsui, Deathsmiles, the Dodonpachi-games or other bullet hells like that? It's not as easy as one might think.

[Tatsujin]

i don't claim that they are a cake walk, but let me tell you this. when i frist watched a guy playing dodonpachi in the arcades back in 1998, i've thougt that this must be the absolut shooter god on earth. but in fact he wasn't, until i tried it out.

in other words, they can be very challanging, especially when you throw in the whole chain system and stuff, but so was an R-Type, 11 years before that. after dodonpachi it went even crazier. when i got my daioujou, i've first thougt this must be a joke.

i don't say that they're easy, they're just different in play mechnism. but how they have developed, i don't really have to like.

[Necromancer]

Where's your imagination?  Those near-hits are bullets whizzing under/over your ship's wings.

The only way to get good at knowing where your hitbox is, is to play the game and get good at it.  Why should it spoon-feed you and tell you "awww wittle baby, this is where the bullets can't touch.  That's bad touch if it goes there".

Disabled gamers make me LOL.

Don't make excuses for the genre.  The tiny hit box is there for one reason and one reason only: to make it easier to weave around stupid bullet patterns.

[Starfighter]

It's only natural to make the hitbox smaller if the players want more and more intricate bullet patterns.