/vr/ - Retro Games

If anyone is playing until they get a good score before they upload, don't worry about it and just send what you've got. The more scores are on the board, the more people may be inspired to try, and you can still update your score with a better one later.

>>6210230
Good to see you, fug. Yeah, they drop a ton of bombs when they're close to death it seems, so I try to fly up as close as I can to penetrate the bullshit, but I also end up getting hit often.

>CURRENT BOARDS
>2 MINUTE
626100 - fug
625500- Character O
>5 MINUTE
880100 - Character O

Killing enemies and enemy waves quickly is also critical. There are at least a couple enemies worth 40k a piece that seem to only show up if you have dealt with the previous waves fast enough, along with a miniboss that will give you I think 60k or 80k if you destroy it before it leaves.

>CURRENT BOARDS
>2 MINUTE
597600- Character O
>5 MINUTE
880100 - Character O

Oh, forgot to make a strategy post.

Final Soldier carries over a lot of ideas from Star Soldier, including a focus on terrain destruction and secret bonuses. It even still has the eyes that you'll get an 80k bonus for destroying simultaneously, along with the bonus tiles (Bs in this case instead of Zs) that increase in value with each one you shoot. This time around, there are golden orbs that can be picked up for extra score if you destroy the glowing circles on the ground, along with a powerup that lets you use a bomb with the I button.

Don't forget that you can adjust your ship's speed with the select button - the three chevrons at the top right show you what speed you're currently at.

>CURRENT BOARDS
>2 MINUTE
516100 - Character O
>5 MINUTE
880100 - Character O

Whoops, I had forgotten to sage. Anyone new seeing this thread, disregard it and click the post here >>6209351. Sorry for clogging up the front page.

Here's the new thread:
>>6209351

Here's my proof.

ROLL UP AND PLAY SOME SHMUPS MOTHERFUCKERS

The 4chan Caravan is a score attack competition based around caravan shmups: shooting games that are designed to last 2-5 minutes. The caravan will select a shmup, and for one week, everyone can compete and submit their scores to get themselves on the leaderboards. There's no limit on submissions, so post a score the moment you've got one. Can you claw your way to the top?

For our second edition, we'll be playing Hudson's 1991 Final Soldier for the PC Engine. This was the seventh game in Hudson's annual National Caravan competition, and is the third entry in the Soldier series. We'll use the normal release, which you can get here: https://archive.org/download/2019_06_10_pcengine/NEC%20-%20PC%20Engine%20-%20TurboGrafx%2016%20%2820190610-062703%29/Final%20Soldier%20%28Japan%29%20%28En%29.zip

When you submit your score, post a screenshot of either the time over screen or the high score screen from the main menu to go with it. For convenience's sake, quote the OP and format your post to have the category and score first and then your name, like so:

2 MINUTE
100000 - Anonymous

The current deadline is February 24. Good luck!

>CURRENT BOARDS
>2 MINUTE
508300 - Character O
>5 MINUTE
880100 - Character O

Alright, I have some preliminary scores for Final Soldier, so I'll start up the new thread and link it here. See you guys there!

>>6209108
I took at look at Dangun while I was trying to find another game. I do love disco, but there's only a 3 minute caravan rather than a 3 and 5 minute, and I'd prefer to have that kind of variety so people (well, especially me) don't get bored just running a single 3 minute game, even if most people were content with only running a 3 minute. Not to mention Dangun is a Cave game and looks hard as fucking shit. I'd like this to be a more open, amateur hour competition rather than something for the core shmuppers, (particularly because I'm not one of them).

But if you're interested, I'd be open to someone running parallel boards for other games they want to see run. I'd certainly at least give DF a shot, even if I'd just get smoked.

3 people have voted so far and all three are for Final Soldier, and it only took two or three people to show interest when I started this, so that sounds like a consensus to me.

>>6208183
There's also Super Star Soldier on the Turbo that's got autofire by default. All of the Soldier games are part of the same series (though Soldier Blade was almost not), so there's a common DNA through them.

>>6208163
I also admit that I don't know much about shmups in general - I'm pretty much an outsider to them beyond watching Xoxak reviews and what I've been picking up doing research for this. I'd be a little out of my element trying to find a good game and stage for it. But that is a good idea.

>>6208163
Found Soldier Force here. Ran it through Virus Total, came up clean.

https://doujingravity-remaster.blogspot.com/2016/11/soldier-force.html

>>6208146
I really wanted to find other stuff that wasn't so Star Soldier oriented, but Hudson really dominated the field for caravan/score attack shooters, and Star Soldier was what they iterated on the most. Naxat also had their own series of caravan shmups (Recca being one of them), but they're for expert players, and may be a little much for our demographic.

I actually was considering Warning Forever as a choice too, but I figured it might be too weird for people, even if it's really easy to hop into.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UkMrpUCw6o

What will we play in the next 4CC? You decide!

I've narrowed down the options to 3 choices, each indicative of a different era or philosophy of shmupping. Your choices are:

1. Hector 87 (NES, 1987): The third of the Hudson Caravan series, Hector plays the most differently compared to the other games on the list: it not only has a Xevious-style bomb, but a health system rather than lives: there are certain enemies that can let you regain health, but once you're out, the game is over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CYTF6uO_6Q

2. Final Soldier (PC Engine, 1991): The seventh Hudson Caravan game, Final Soldier still has the blood of Star Soldier pumping through its veins, including its secret bonuses and focus on destroying terrain and enemy waves. But this is a much more modern (and manic) approach to the idea, with customizable weapon loadouts and no more flying under shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzBzUY4AyU4

3. Soldier Force (PC, 2006 (shhh!)): For all you guys who just cannot get enough Star Soldier, this is a doujin version of the original, but with far, far more features: no less than 4 different ships, 7 different caravan levels to choose from, more powerups, and a super meter that lets you overdrive your ship after destroying enough objects and enemies. Also, autofire is standard and the timer doesn't keep going after you kill a boss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2nY5X6iD58

Voting ends whenever it seems like there's enough info for me to decide. Make your voice heard!
https://strawpoll.com/ex5sg1xk

>>6207212
I've been using that thread and a page on Hudson caravans as a guide.

I suspect people wouldn't be too happy with two old school NES shooters in a row, especially one that seems as slow as Hector. At the same time, people started to like Star Soldier more as time went on, so maybe. I've been looking at TurboGrafx games (if only because I've never actually played TG16 stuff before), and Soldier Blade seems like it'd be up the alley - it has an easy and normal mode. I'll probably put it up to a vote to see.

I gave Recca a try to see if it'd be a good fit, but that shit is fucking hard. I suspect it'll just alienate most people. The search continues!

>>6204765
I'm not really into proper shmups either, to be honest. But I do like arcade games and scoring systems enough that I figured my interests were pretty strongly shmup adjacent, which partly inspired me to try this. Glad you liked it.

TIME! Put down your controllers and lift your hands away from the table! The 4chan Caravan Star Soldier competition is officially over. After one week of discovery, determination and dueling on the charts, we have our winners.

In the 2 minute category, first place goes to shmupg gang, who held the top spot at the beginning, became slowly overtaken by the pack, but dramatically struck back and decisively reclaimed his throne. Trailing a mere 1900 points away is cave owns bitch, who also displayed valiant effort during the entire contest and held the the top spot, if only for a moment. Third is NLM, who came, swiped the top spot, and left as silently as he came.

In the unfortunately unpopular five minute category, shmupg gang held an uncontested first, as few rose to challenge him. I tried to close the gap, but tried as I might, I just didn't have the time, skill, or patience to make a dent. Jarpig places himself squarely in third.

Among the finger blistering tests of endurance in the Rapid Measurement, we had a sudden and shockingly high showing from an anonymous player claiming a record of nearly 12 presses per second! He holds that lead across all three boards - nearly 11 presses per second across 20 and slightly over 10 presses per second across 30. In the 10 second category, Cave owns bitch takes second place in the 10 second using his keyboard and Doctor Oo Ling gained third by having his controller on the table. In the 20 second category, Denim took a respectable third after me, but it was only the anonymous masher and me in the 30 second category.

That does it for Star Soldier for this trip of the 4chan Caravan! It took a little while to have people warm up to its "charms", but in the end, it proved its case of being a classic. Thanks to the 16 players who came out. I'll have to do a little research to see what the next game the van will have in its cabin next time, but feel free to make suggestions.

Thanks for playing! See you next mission!

>>6204193
Thanks for being honest, I guess. I'll remove it from the board.
>>6204460
Having those sorts of hidden bonuses was just the design of the time. Sega's Astro Blaster had a whole 25 secret objectives for score bonuses. I'd say the most finicky bonus are the eyes because it's surprisingly easy to end up losing sync with the spread because of enemies flying around, causing one eye to be blown up first. Everything else is just kinda "if you know it, you'll do it."

Final hour, gentlemen. I was gonna try to get another 5 minute score, but I'm gonna take a nap instead.

>CURRENT BOARDS:
>2 MINUTE
352700 - shmupg gang
350800 - Cave owns bitch
348900 - NLM
346800 - Character O
344600 - jarpig
256300 - 4N0N
256200 - fug
251200 - EGG
205900 - Ricardo
121900 - Denim
42700 - Feetsies
27500 - shmup master
>5 MINUTE
910400 - shmupg gang
804000 - Character O
624000 - jarpig
227500 - Ricardo
>RAPID MEASUREMENT: 10 SECS
116 - Anonymous
112 - Cave owns bitch
96 - Doctor Oo Ling
88 - higgins.jpg
87 - Character O
82 - Kirb
79 - Denim
>RAPID MEASUREMENT: 20 SECS
214 - anon with bad mashing
162 - Character O
159 - Denim
>RAPID MEASUREMENT: 30 SECS
313 - anon with bad mashing
245 - Character O

>>6203136
Nothing stopping you from running your own thread and tables. Be the change you want to see in the world.

>>6202760
I was thinking about putting a couple or so games up to a vote, but I have to do some research to see what would be good choices. I'm thinking either a later NES shmup like Recca or a PC engine game like Final Soldier. I want something that's in a sweet spot where shmuppers will be interested but newbies won't be discouraged. Stay tuned for a straw poll when I've looked around enough.

THE BOARDS WILL BE CLOSED (or at least, I'm gonna stop updating them) ON FEBRUARY 15TH AT 12 PM EASTERN. SHMUP NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE.