Official Shmup Thread!

[leeperry]

well, I've got a Dremel mini-drill and I ain't afraid of using it

 
I kinda like the idea of keeping the unit black and white and using this one: http://www.blog.thaichaiguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/lagi-ikaruga.jpg
 
It brings a tiny touch of color and looks great, I'm not sure whether its resolution could warrant a 40cm width, though.

 

[Softdrink 117]

Quote:

well, I've got a Dremel mini-drill and I ain't afraid of using it

 
I kinda like the idea of keeping the unit black and white and using this one: http://www.blog.thaichaiguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/lagi-ikaruga.jpg
 
It brings a tiny touch of color and looks great, I'm not sure whether its resolution could warrant a 40cm width, though.

How would you arrange the panel though? It might obscure the illustration, which would sort of defeat the point.
 
And as for resolution-- probably not. But with a bit of filler you could probably get close.
 

 

[leeperry]

not sure yet, I've asked the seller if he had a template available.
 
BTW: http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/attributes_brands.html

Shmups (short for shoot’em ups like 1942 and Gradius) tend to prefer a smaller deadzone for quicker movements and are not sensitive to split-second wrong movements, Seimitsu LS-32 most commonly recommended for them.

 
I think I'll get my parts from akihabarashop.jp coz US shops always seem to have a part missing and european ones are terribly expensive.
 
Apparently the LS32 became so famous thanks to its round gate: http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/restrictors.html

 

[Softdrink 117]

Quote:

not sure yet, I've asked the seller if he had a template available.
 
BTW: http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/attributes_brands.html
 
I think I'll get my parts from akihabarashop.jp coz US shops always seem to have a part missing and european ones are terribly expensive.
 
Apparently the LS32 became so famous thanks to its round gate: http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/restrictors.html

Yep, I've read the entire Slagcoin site already. It was hard to choose between the LS-32 and the LS-58, but a lot of activity on the Shoryouken (sp?) forums was in favor of the 58 over the 32. So I figured I should at least try it out, since I have the money to do a little trial and error right now. Plus the smoke balltop and shaft that came with the LS-58 look REALLY COOL.
 
And Focus Attack worked fine for me-- they just don't include items not normally found with the stick. So in the case of the LS-58, that would be the alternate mounting plates and the octo gate. They seem to be out of stock of the LS-32 at the moment though.
 

 

[leeperry]

I wonder what a round gate would do in shmups? but there isn't any available for the LS58 apparently?
 
Yep, I'm tired of googling up...it looks like focus attack is the only US seller for the LS58 

 

[MorbidToaster]

I like round gates for schmups. If you have a steady hand they feel more...precise to me. Teeny itty bitty movements. 
 
Comes down to preference though. I think an Octogate is best for fighters (for me), but so many fighting fans use square gates. 

 

[daisangen]

CAVE and LS-32 addict reporting in. I play all the ports released for Japanese Xbox 360.
 
I got started with various Touhou games but scoring in them seriously sucks and ZUN's games are pretty much the same every time.

 

[leeperry]

Well, I've received my full Sanwa arcade stick....the square JLF is a major no-go! But I realize that slapping an octo gate on it doesn't really help w/ the huge dead zone and mostly boils down to polishing a turd.
 
I think I will order a LS58 + octo gate, a JLF octo gate and some Seimitsu springs....not sure about that last part yet, but this stock JLF is unplayable in shmups for me and Seimitsu only offer an octo gate for the LS56 and LS58 I think. I don't wanna go square or round, I just really love the octo gate feeling...but I want a stiff and highly responsive stick, w/ the JLF I'm forced to take the inertia of the stick in account. I prolly could get used to it, but meh.
 
I'm not geeky enough to care about the colors of the buttons or the artwork, but I want a non-sluggish stick 

 

[daisangen]

Agreed, JLF has way too much dead zone and throw.

 

[leeperry]

I wonder how/why/who they bribed to make JLF become the industry standard...anyway, this thread echoes my feelings: http://shoryuken.com/forum/index.php?threads/sanwa-jlf-w-octagonal-gate-bad.45901/
 
Now to decide whether I should order LS56 and/or LS58...apparently LS56 is slightly stiffer and LS58 is its improved counterpart. But for instance I found the HAPP bats way too stiff and their throw way too short when using them on a Tekken cabinet ages ago. I want an in-between.
 
PS: OMG, pure poison!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QytcbzZmXaI

 

[Softdrink 117]

Sorry for the late reply, been out of town and away from internet.
 
After using the JLF extensively, I have to agree. I find myself compensating for the dead zone way too much for practical use in shmups. Admittedly it's a huge improvement over an xbox pad or normal keyboard, and I find myself able to move with precision that I would never have thought possible until now. But the timing is off.
 
However, keep in mind that the JLF is mostly an industry standard due to fighting games. I've been playing a lot of BlazBlue on my stick lately, and I have to admit that although the deadzone is lame for shmups and precision work, it can actually be a huge blessing when doing move inputs in fighters. It's very intuitive and makes some otherwise very cumbersome moves stupidly easy to do simply because it isn't as sensitive as a d-pad or (I would guess) a more sensitive stick.
 
I'm still waiting on my LS58 mounting plates and octo gate... SIGH. They should be here tomorrow. Then I can finally compare.
 
Nice to hear from you daisangen. I agree that Touhou's scoring sucks (with the possible exception of Perfect Cherry Blossom, which has a ridiculously unintuitive but very interesting system), and that although they're awesome games they do feel like rehashes of each other after a while.
 
CAVE's shooters always feel unique to me. Something about the way the patterns are designed is just so different from anything else I've played. The scoring mechanics are a plus, too.
 
And MorbidToaster, I take it you use an LS-32 then? I don't think there are circle gates available for the 56/58 series, and although there is one for the JLF it's of questionable utility. I'd be interested to try an LS-32 myself... but we'll see how I like the 58. I'm spending more on this stick than I had anticipated.

 

[MorbidToaster]

I've owned a few sticks over the years and preferred Octo for fighters and Round for schmups. My 2 favorite sticks were custom jobs done by Arcade in a Box (who I think is out of buisness now).
 
Quote:

 
And MorbidToaster, I take it you use an LS-32 then? I don't think there are circle gates available for the 56/58 series, and although there is one for the JLF it's of questionable utility. I'd be interested to try an LS-32 myself... but we'll see how I like the 58. I'm spending more on this stick than I had anticipated.

 
 

 

[ZenErik]

Here is my physical release shmup collection. It'll grow a little bit this year with releases like Mushihimesama HD as well as me picking up a few other shmups but probably not by much.
 
 
Focusing more on RPGs, fighters, rhythm games, puzzle games, and just primarily imports all around this year.
 
Xbox 360 shmups: This portion will only grow. none of these games would I ever consider cutting. I however WOULD consider swapping some of them out for LE's.

 
Doujin shmups: 

 
Others: Yea, my shmup collection outside of 360 and PC is pretty bare

 
Rail shooters + arena shooters: Child of Eden is an all time favorite of mine.

 

[Roller]

ZenErik, which shmups do you consider to be the best for the PSX?

 

[ZenErik]

Considering I do not own any PS1 shmups, that is hard for me to say. A lot of PS1 shmups are also on the Saturn and often superior on the Saturn... Someone on the shmups forum can probably help you out a lot  better with PS1 shmups. The only one I recall that I really want to play and have not already is Harmful Park.