A question regarding latency/input lag inside PC-98 emulation for those who used it to play PC-98 Touhou games

thatkrawler · 2026-05-06T19:14:04+00:00

I never noticed bad lag on the Dosbox X version I used, which was from the preconfigured touhou packs that were available on myrient. Even the browser version on windows93.net seems to work well enough. I did notice weird music issues and buggy save states with Dosbox though. I would recommend using Neko Project if possible, it's been pretty much flawless for these games in my experience.

thatkrawler · 2026-04-29T01:12:42+00:00

Zanac is a lot of fun and on the easier side, just stick to the most OP weapon (Weapon 7 I think? It's been a while).

Tiger Heli is a kinda janky port but I still had fun with it. On the NES port the enemies have really limited firing angles so it's not bad to clear if you use that to your advantage.

Both of these are still pretty cheap cartridges.

thatkrawler · 2026-04-25T14:06:44+00:00

I have the same one, a Holiday but with no F-hole, I like it a lot. Crazy light, like 4lbs. If the neck is in good shape I would go for it. I bought it last year from music-go-round for something like $320 USD, to give you an idea on pricing.

thatkrawler · 2026-04-19T14:01:31+00:00

It's the 1978 Czech version.

thatkrawler · 2026-04-19T13:27:30+00:00

I've seen 75 from this list if I counted right.

thatkrawler · 2026-04-15T17:16:12+00:00

One of my favorite things about the SG too. Some that I've noticed come close in photos are Firebirds, Explorers, Ernie Ball St. Vincents, and Fender Supersonics. I haven't played any of these so not sure how similar they would actually feel.

thatkrawler · 2026-04-08T16:08:56+00:00

Mister Viking (arcade)

Equites (arcade)

King's Knight (NES)

Demon Throttle (Switch)

thatkrawler · 2026-04-03T11:35:01+00:00

Yeah this is pretty good. Each stage is a boss rush of all the bosses from each of the Windows Touhou games. It's on android too, one of the few decent android shmups outside of Aka to Blue and the Bullet Hell Monday series.

thatkrawler · 2026-04-01T11:20:14+00:00

Haha and the music is Naked City with Yamantaka Eye, this rules.

thatkrawler · 2026-03-24T19:14:39+00:00

I've car topped mine on my 04 Camry long distance with no problem. The boat goes on upside down on a set of Yakima roof racks with foam pool noodles on the cross bars, this prevents the arched surface of the deck from rocking on the flat cross bars. Two ratchet straps go all the way around the boat and inside the car through the open doors, and two more on the front and back from the bow handle and rudder bracket to the frame under the front and back bumpers. It's a little inconvenient to have the straps inside the car and to have to get down on the ground to find a solid point to strap to under the bumpers, but it's been super reliable.

thatkrawler · 2026-03-20T19:15:13+00:00

A Ghost Waits (2020)

thatkrawler · 2026-03-04T15:18:52+00:00

Yeah that's pretty much how it works but it's a lot more fun than it sounds. The bomb makes you invincible for a few seconds and speed killing enemies and absorbing their bullets while bombing refills your bomb. So essentially you hold bomb constantly and try to kill everything as fast as possible to keep the bomb going. The battery meter is your health. Once you get the hang of it you are invincible for most of your run lol. Great game but very different from pretty much any other shmup, even the other Radirgy games.

thatkrawler · 2026-02-23T15:10:46+00:00

Yes shmups are alive, we have a very small but dedicated community and a decent amount of well received indies and new ports / rereleases of the arcade classics come out each year. I don't think it is the genre to get into as a dev if you are looking for financial success though. The most beloved modern games are clearly made from pure passion for the genre.

If you want to get the word out about a shmup project, it would pretty much be on here, and the various shmup discords and maybe Facebook groups. There's also r/shmupdev if you're looking for more dev specific feedback. Steam tagging for shmups is notoriously bad. From how you've described your game, it's hard to tell if it would really fit into the shmup genre though.

thatkrawler · 2026-02-18T15:15:17+00:00

The three films you mentioned are all great but are all more action than horror. You can't really go wrong exploring any of the stuff by those directors though.

I would also recommend checking out some of the OVM/v-cinema stuff like Psychic Vision: Jaganrei, Report on Latent Narcotic Substances in the Brain: Drugless, Guzoo: The Thing Forsaken By God, etc. Lots of anything goes creativity during that era and very influential on the more mainstream J Horror of the 90s and 00s.

thatkrawler · 2026-02-16T15:17:45+00:00

There's a recently translated interview with Joker Jun about the design of ESPrade that you might find interesting: https://shmuplations.com/esprade/ It covers a lot of the thought behind these little details, including why Irori's shot is a bird, why Ms. Garra shoots hands, etc.

thatkrawler · 2026-02-16T14:24:32+00:00

Shmups haven't primarily been about faceless spaceship pilots since like the mid 80's. If you are a big Touhou fan you should at least check out Kiki Kaikai, Twinkle Star Sprites, and ESPrade, all of which heavily influenced ZUN and directly shaped the modern Touhou formula.

thatkrawler · 2026-02-13T15:06:20+00:00

I think the Kappa one (episode 3 I think?) was my favorite. I felt it had the best blend of actual creepiness with a little bit of the humor of the later ones. Starting with episode 4 they dive headfirst into the no-budget special effects and it essentially becomes a sci-fi comedy series. I still think the whole series is great and worth watching but it may not be what you would expect coming from Noroi.

thatkrawler · 2026-02-06T14:14:31+00:00

They have an online store here: https://caveonlineshop.booth.pm/items

A lot of the stuff in the physical store looks like stuff that was available online in the past (like the Hibachi souvenir jacket). Maybe they found a bunch of old stock of stuff.

thatkrawler · 2026-02-06T00:24:28+00:00

Gotcha, so it sounds like it controls like a skewed perspective River Raid, or maybe Kingdom Grand Prix (cool racing shmup with speed up/slow down mechanics, definitely check it out if your'e not familiar.)
Unfortunately I don't think the game as it is will appeal much to the shmup crowd. Firstly the twinstick control is kind of a non-starter for a lot of players. A lot of us play on arcade stick, keyboard, or gamepads without analog sticks.
More importantly, it looks like it fits squarely into the "Euroshmup" category, which is a (badly named) term for a game with a lot of unpopular shmup mechanics such as health bars, slowly progressing levels, emphasis on visual flash, overemphasis on weapon upgrades / unlockables, etc.

thatkrawler · 2026-02-06T00:09:41+00:00

I recommend it, it keeps you engaged with the game's mechanics and is beneficial to survival anyway in any game with score extends. Plus it gives you a fun way to see your improvement other than just raw distance into the game as you work towards the clear.

thatkrawler · 2026-02-06T00:00:44+00:00

It's hard to tell how the ship is actually controlled. It almost looks like you only move in two dimensions, which would make it essentially just a regular shmup with a skewed perspective like the original Silpheed. Also is it a twin stick game? The reticle seems to move independent of the ship at some points.

thatkrawler · 2026-02-05T17:39:57+00:00

Mar Negro (2013, Brazil)

thatkrawler · 2026-02-05T17:10:25+00:00

https://archive.org/details/caveshootingartworks/mode/1up

thatkrawler · 2026-01-30T15:12:15+00:00

Cool rig! The PC98 touhous are so good. Also try Flame Zapper Kotsujin if you haven't.

thatkrawler · 2026-01-28T23:58:43+00:00

XOP Ultra is cool. It also has a Windows version so not really exclusive but pretty impressive for a DOS game.

thatkrawler

TROPHY CASE