Oh wow, I’ve been wanting to play this forever.
Weird that Livewire would delist the other games and bring this over though, I thought they had a licensing issue?
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Tonight’s Sunday Night Shmup is Battle Garegga.
I modestly improved my high score from 2,589,770 to 2,592,350. This is not playing according to the rank requirements, mind you. Someday I’ll dive into the game’s rank and 1cc it proper, but seeing how far I can get on one credit (stage 5, clouds) while playing with max weapons for ultimate destruction is just too fun. Wild Snail is my favorite ship by far, the piercing spread shot is great for taking apart bosses quickly and the flamethrower special makes it much easier to get an extend from the flamingoes in stage 2.
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This week’s Arcade Archives release is the first ever home port of Viper Phase 1!
Played the arcade cabinet once many years ago while on a trip, great game. This has been one of my most wanted shmups for ACA and have been waiting for it ever since Hamster first announced they were adding Seibu Keihatsu titles. Instant purchase. It will also include both the “new” and “old” PCB versions.
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Sunday night shmuppin’ is my favorite time of the week.
Been spending time with my recently acquired DOJ, which is just brutal, but fair. Have played the PS2 for years, finding the arcade very faithful as it was common knowledge, but never really got far in that because playing in a 20 inch CRT somehow killed the inmersion. Should get a 25 or 29 inch CRT for console stuff.
Anyway I can’t chain for shit in DDP games, managed to clear the first games and DFK 1.5 ignoring score, but to clear a loop of DOJ will prove to be quite the challenge.
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I noticed the geometry looks off on that monitor in this image. Does the board run at an off-spec refresh rate or something causing the issue? Other pics of your Astro City don’t have that.
the reason I ask is that I noticed that mister’s CAVE arcade cores sometimes do this to one of my PVMS that otherwise has good geometry. The issue gets fixed when I force the core to run in 60hz rather than its native 57hz
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I played a lot of the Switch version of Viper Phase 1 this past weekend and put up some long play scores but mostly focused on Caravan. I still haven’t 100%ed the first level but I did get a 99. I usually have one enemy slip through in the first 60 seconds. It’s difficult to hit everything.
It’s an excellent game. The Raiden Fighters games coming after this is obvious in inspiration. The difference between Old and New is pronounced too, making them feel like different games.
I feel like I had played this in the States despite it never getting a US release. Maybe at Galloping Ghost?
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Happens to me too, the original refresh rate makes my CRT all jittery. I’m loathe to play them in 60hz as it’s not the correct speed unfortunately
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Most Nanao chassis develop geometry issues over time, none of my monitors are the exception. Doesn’t bother me much during gameplay really. It seems the issue is exacerbated on games lower than 59 Hz refresh rate indeed.
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Enjoying some Viper Phase 1 on the Switch tonight. Great game overall and you can really feel some of Raiden Fighter’s DNA in it.
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It’s pretty dang great isn’t it? Absolutely a warm up for Raiden Fighters and the RF games re-use some of those weapons and weapon effects for sure.
I will certainly get back to it when the Holidays settle a little. My score has probably sunk down the boards in the last week or so.
I’m playing the US Switch release but I think all the leaderboards are global by platform?
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Wow, had no idea this had released yet! Buying now, was originally just waiting for Dodonpachi Saidaioujou to hit the European eShops.
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This week’s ACA is another previously un-ported rare shmup, Banpresto’s Super Space Fortress Macross. However, due to Harmony Gold’s infamously tight grip on the Western rights to the original Macross due to the Robotech IP, you will need to purchase it from either the Japanese eShop or Japanese PSN store. It’s also almost twice more than other ACA titles at 1500 yen due to the IP. Fortunately, creating a Japanese account is easy on both Switch and PS and stores like Play Asia offer downloadable points cards for both. Huzzah for region free shooting featuring a classic anime IP and a beloved j-pop idol fueling the outcome of an intergalactic war!
I used the Steam sale to complete the Toaplan set released by Bitwave Games. If you haven’t played any of these, they’ve got a really nice consistent wrapper around them with leaderboards that have a lot of variety. They play great on PC or Steam Deck.
There were some games in there I had never played like Fixeight, Outzone and Vimana. They sell it in one big package now, or you can pick and choose. If you do go that route, you will get discounts on packages with games you don’t have later if you get things on sale.
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Got Toaplan Arcade volumes 3 and 4 for Evercade and now have all of the currently released Toaplan Evercade carts. Btw, “shout out” to CastleMania games for canceling my order for Toaplan Arcade volume 3 back in November with zero explanation and zero response to my repeated support e-mails asking for an answer. Fortunately I was able to eventually get it through Amazon along with volume 4.
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A bit late on these two:
Now available from Project Egg on Switch, the MSX version of Zanac:
And last week’s Arcade Archives release was Final Star Force:
Tonight’s game is Ketsui. Been playing this on and off for years, not making strides. Recently went back to the PS4 version, trying out the challenge modes have helped me improve my games. Now I constantly get to mid stage 5, losing lots of lives with unused bombs in the process. I think if I keep at it I can clear a loop in a month or two of practice.
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Curious what you’re using for an autofire circuit, care to share?
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