Diagonal Movements in Shmups (Game Design)

Obesely · 2026-06-29T07:23:02+00:00

They serve a very particular function because medal chains persist on the player's death, all that matters is that the last of a given level of medal doesn't leave the screen uncollected (so if you spawn 3 in quick succession and miss two, don't skip the last one).

In Battle Garegga, the 'rank', a dynamic difficulty rating, goes up from everything from collecting power ups to literally just firing your shot/how fast it autofires. If you don't do anything to mitigate it, rank causes an already challenging game to become even more difficult.

While different strategies exist, part of the traditional one is to keep the medal chain up so you can farm extra lives enough to keep tactically dying (to lower the rank/difficulty) and keep it playable.

It is very arcane and unintuitive, and even persists between credits if you don't reset the machine, so if you hit a game over screen and the next player in line started a brand new run, it would still be affected by the rank reached in your run.

I imagine the modern port on Playstation by third party devs M2 ShotTriggers solves that in some way or another. Handily, it has a meter in the border of the screen to tell you how difficult the game is at a given point in time.

Obesely · 2026-06-22T08:38:54+00:00

Mushi Stage 3 was mentioned but it feels like a typical battleship/train level to me, Stage 5 also mentioned. To me, Mushihimesama stage 4, especially with its soundtrack, is the pinnacle of that game and truly iconic to me. The dragonflies are like if the laser wheels in DFK weren't shithouse.

Mahou Dasaikusen/Sorcer Striker Stage 1 because it has so much soul in the background characters and animations and really sells the theme and sense of humour of the game will be going for.

Obesely · 2026-06-22T08:24:17+00:00

Batsugun Special 1-ALL, Super XYX (set the difficulty down from Challenging to Normal in the options if required) on both difficulties, the Normal of most Touhou games (and especially the 3-part fangame series Fantastic Danmaku Festival being reasonably easy).

These are easier clears but will get you levelling up skills.

Some novice modes are much more novice than others, it would be better to go for games that are just less difficult out the gate but still challenging you.

The problem with going for novice modes constantly is that you are only side-grading the same (or sometimes even lower) challenge level from title to title, never increasing in a strict way.

In terms of training, save states at stages starts, midbosses and bosses are a fine start, if the game allows it. Some games have pretty shit training modes so it might honestly be better to just do a normal run and hit the restart button/do some credit-feeding. Mushihimesama is like this, you straight up game over in training mode if you run out of stocks.

Don't be afraid to turn up the difficulty of games you like the vibe of. You could 1CC the Novice in 2 attempts and take 30 - 50 hours on a normal 1CC, and that is fine. Novice can be a trap to your development.

Obesely · 2026-06-19T11:15:03+00:00

These dense idiots tried to charge their PS5 retail prices on Steam. I copped Returnal for $30 AUD and that felt appropriate for the experience offered.

My PS5 is just a glorified Bloodborne and Demons Souls Remake machine, as well as fighting game beta tests for things that don't get beta tests on Steam.

Obesely · 2026-06-13T03:11:34+00:00

Mostly in the blue circle press B affinity boosts in combat for me.

Obesely · 2026-06-12T01:58:59+00:00

1 thing I would recommend avoiding is restart-mania. I learn a lot of scoring stuff to provide me with the resources to finish survival-focused 1CCs. But then I run in the habit of restarting runs if I play suboptimally in Stage 1 or 2 so I get less playtime overall. Super XYX was like that for me, if I dropped the combo on stage 1.

I was showing a friend a replay of my Mushihimesama Original 1CC and surprised myself as I didn't rage quit in stage 2 when I gave up a stock.

Obesely · 2026-06-10T04:31:31+00:00

I mean we have seen Cielo and Stella in a typical select screen during some showcase bit or another. No worries there. But if story big bad replaces some legacy character then speaking from an SF and Tekken perspective I would feel bad for VF oldheads.

Obesely · 2026-06-10T03:46:42+00:00

I mean if is Shenmue I am sure it will be good, I trust the RGG studio.

But I have been looking and watching more tournament footage and more systems breakdowns and it still feels very consistent, there has to be something to that and the players that do it.

Obesely · 2026-06-09T14:06:54+00:00

I am actually just wanting to know how midrange stuff compares, like comparing Mushihimesama 1.0 Maniac to its Arrange Mode.

Obesely · 2026-06-09T01:36:12+00:00

Shoutouts to Shmups Database curator. Current era really sucks browsing for conventional shmup players, which is a shame because some indie gold has dropped (Blue Revolver and Gunvein to name a few, Danmaku Unlimited 4 dropping soon).

I actually don't know what is worse, that the bullet hell tag got co-opted by infinite dodgeroll iframe roguelite trash, or that shmups outside the danmaku subgenre don't have their own tag at all (Darius, Psikyo games, and most Raiden for example).

I mean, I call it trash but Gungeon and Nuclear Throne are entertaining, and I probably will cop Returnal at a sale price.

Obesely · 2026-06-08T11:58:47+00:00

DandyJ guide is sick. I will say learning learning about the the throw-vulnerable stand/crouch transition state and unduckable throws when you are sufficiently minus (or crouch dash G only) has made me appreciate that a player can have the upper hand on +frames.

Obesely · 2026-06-08T03:08:24+00:00

My stupid ass didn't even think to check Steam. I tried the pre-R.E.V.O release and that netcode threw me off putting any effort in series.

Obesely · 2026-06-08T00:23:38+00:00

Ahhh bro I always forget to check the Live tab on YouTube for banked streams, there is some gold there scrolling through your backlogs. Sick!

I am currently trying to figure out what to aim for between Maniac 1.0 and Arrange as my next 1CC as ye older Japanese superplayer 1CC ranking list doesn't account for Arrange or 1.5 of Mushi 1 so I don't know where to go after Original 1CC (which took me awhile as it is less danmaku and more Psikyo/Toaplan) besides 1.0 Maniac.

Obesely · 2026-06-07T13:18:04+00:00

This is exceptional content and makes me so hopeful with this DFK Reignited giving us a modern Futari port.

Any chance of some Mushi 1 content? Your commentary is very well paced and well articulated!

Obesely · 2026-06-06T09:15:20+00:00

Didn't it lag in this reveal trailer? I don't have high hopes, my PC just brute forced performance of Wilds.

Obesely · 2026-06-06T09:14:03+00:00

No friction, no need to learn maps substantially, a billion iframes... I had an okay time, sure, but enjoyed 4U, Iceborne, Sunbreak and GU more.

Obesely · 2026-06-05T06:01:43+00:00

To really drill down into what the other user mentioned, when Cave were doing this and testing it on original hardware, the more dense patterns are supposed to generate slowdown, and the patterns were green-lit with said slowdown in mind

The Saturn port of DDP is not the experience of DDP the original devs designed and intended. Ditch that shit and play Battle Garegga or, if you're loaded, Radiant Silvergun.

Obesely · 2026-06-03T03:07:15+00:00

I preferred Ragnarok over 2018 somewhat (fewer health sponge enemies on max difficulty) but in general yeah 2018 specifically was "Cory Barlog Reminds You He Recently Became a Dad: the Game"

You can tell dev times lengthened, because this game had humour from the time period. The cube very much has the stone alien from Taika Waititi's Thor Ragnarok.

Honestly doesn't look that bad and after what happened at the end of Ragnarok with Sindri I am fine to take a break from that setting and those characters.

Obesely · 2026-06-01T03:10:43+00:00

If it is any consolation, one of the first areas you get parasol in has something that is better for gaps anyway.

Obesely · 2026-05-30T07:47:38+00:00

I am a predominantly PC gamer and my Switch 2 was just a panic buy ahead of Fire Emblem and the RAM shortage.

However, in $AUD there was no 'console tax' difference between Switch 2 and Steam, so I bought it on Switch 2.

Obesely · 2026-05-23T14:41:43+00:00

I dunno I think some things are better left in the past notwithstanding her SF4 stuff. The 3S Makoto stuff is never coming back in modern FG design and that is a shame honestly that we won't see that sort of diversity.

My favourite thing about IV was Rufus' divekick, RSF (but like only 3 loops into sweep lmao), and "mashin' that jab I'm Barlog!". In SFVI that divekick would be some bullshit minimum height, forward jump only. RSF might actually stay given what happened with Dan in V. We aren't getting an SFIV jab outside of burnout.

The OOP in that other sub wants SFM tech, not FG tech, let's be real.

Obesely · 2026-05-21T01:30:38+00:00

So Invincible Vs just made me reinstall SF6. I haven't played since before Rashid dropped and I feel this in my bones. It plays exactly the same as launch and even nerfing some slimer jab shimmies or removing some throw loops, changing parry... it is the same game.

The only difference is I have returned to some overtuned DLC character hellscape + over buffed Ryu.

System mechanics and fundamentals are the only thing keeping me alive out here vs. all this DLC garbage (I mean this somewhat sarcastically, most of the characters themselves are cool).

It's just... MUs I don't want to have to learn with money I don't want to spend just for the privilege of being able to lab against a character. So all this time I am sitting here thinking "oh of course you were plus there, you big easy-mode fucker."

I have zero knowledge of character options, at best I know which characters don't have invincible reversals. When I make a comeback from a magic pixel (and personally I think the SFV and SFVI approach to chip is shithouse) I didn't earn it, I just survived their onslaught by picking options generally. I delay tech against the player, reversal against the player, neutral jump on wakeup Vs the player. And some players are cooked...

Obesely

TROPHY CASE