October 2018 Shmup Club - 1942

[MetalFRO]

Welcome aboard, nupoile! Glad to see you jumping in. And don't worry about your score, just do the best you can, have fun with it, and discuss with us here. That's what is most important in this context.

@EZ Racer - I'm not worried about pausing, or use of turbo. This isn't a competition, so much as just a fun way to explore these games. If it were a real contest, we'd probably have to play sans turbo, unless the platform the game is on specifically had that built in (like the TurboGrafx), or the game itself has a turbo fire option, like the Sega Saturn version I played last night. Good start, though! Your score is pretty similar to my first run last night:

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/xqgRCWy.jpg[/img]

After a few attempts, I was able to get over the 100K mark, though several runs in between were pretty short because of targeted bullets, and also finding myself back into a corner with an unavoidable bullet headed my direction. So I can say, as a matter of strategy, try and avoid the bottom corners!

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/4H2ZLW5.jpg[/img]

It seems like there's a fair bit of randomness to the game. I tried a thing where I always started the game by leaving the plane in the default location to start with, and the enemy waves don't come in predictable patterns. It's always different. So that definitely adds to the challenge of the game, because there's a layer of unpredictability, in terms of where enemies will present, and especially how far spread out a particular enemy wave will be. One thing I found quite surprising is the scoring system in the game. It's quite complex, for such an early game in the genre! Per the Nineteenforty Wikia entry:

Scoring

Small planes are 30, 50, 70, 100, 150, or 200 points each.

The small red planes that fly formations of five or ten are 100 points each. Shooting all the planes in the five-plane formation awards 500 bonus points. Shooting all the planes in the ten-plane formation awards 1,000 bonus points. In both cases, when the last plane of a formation is destroyed, a power-up marker appears and is worth 1,000 points when picked up.

Occasionally a small airplane comes slowly out of the lower left or lower right hand side of the screen and flies towards the top. When hit, it turns into a special figure which awards 5,000 points when picked up.

Medium size planes are 1,000 or 1,500 points each.

Large bomber planes start at 2,000 points each. The score for each consecutive bomber destroyed without the player dying is 500 points more than the previous one, up to a maximum of 9,000 points. When the player’s ship is destroyed, the score for the bombers is reset back to 2,000 points.

There are four boss planes. They appear at the end of stages 26, 18, 10, and 02 :

The stage 26 boss plane is worth 20,000 points.
The stage 18 boss plane is worth 30,000 points.
The stage 10 boss plane is worth 40,000 points.
The stage 02 boss plane is worth 50,000 points.
For all enemy planes that require more than one hit to kill, each hit on them gives 100 points.

At the end of each stage a bonus is awarded for shooting down percentage and for unused loops : 100% = Special bonus 50,000 points (in older revisions, the game displays 10,000 points bonus but 50,000 points are actually awarded).

95-99% = 20,000 points
90-94% = 10,000 points
85-89% = 5,000 points
80-84% = 4,000 points
70-79% = 3,000 points
60-69% = 2,000 points
50-59% = 1,000 points
Under 50% = 0 points
Unused loops are 1,000 points each.
Finishing the final stage awards 10,000,000 points.

The growing point bonuses for destroying the large bomber planes just might be the first legitimate score multiplier in the history of the genre. It's not as sophisticated as later systems would be, naturally, but it was quite innovative for its time, and really adds a depth to the scoring that was unprecedented at that time, as far as I'm aware. In addition, the fact that you get points for destroying the red plane groupings AND an additional bonus for picking up the "Pow" icon, as well as the end level bonus, based on the percentage of enemies destroyed, really opens up the scoring. And the "unused loops" or rolls is an important element that many shooters would emulate years later, by granting end level bonuses for not using bombs, notably in the Raiden series. Color me surprised, as to how much depth this game actually has underneath its fairly simple exterior.

Also, the graphics, for their time, are actually pretty good. Upon its original arcade release in 1984, it showed a progression from something like Xevious, or Capcom's previous game, Vulgus, if only slightly. The other thing that surprised me about the arcade game is how fair the hit detection is. You can really graze bullets and enemy planes pretty close, and come out unscathed. It certainly adds a level of minor realism in a 2D game that can't really replicate the excitement of a real dogfight, the same way a more modern game can, such as Crimson Skies.

[Dingo]

Thanks for the guide on the scoring @metalfro ! I am trying to think of the best way to play. I guess buying it individually from the "capcom arcade cabinet" would be best. It is amazing how many browser based versions (or replications stating to be) 1942 there are just while searching if a legitmate PC version existed. I played one for a few minutes just to get the feel of the general game again. Either way I will post up some impressions and screens when soon enough.

[Deadman]

I'm a huge Shmup collector and sometime player but I'm going to put some time into 1942 this month.   Possibly on both the NES and the Xbox collection.   Looking forward to it.

[Crabmaster2000]

I havn't beaten this for NES yet so count me in too. I gave it a first go tonight and was doing pretty well, but then my game glitched and locked up on level 16. I'll clean my cart and give it another go tonight. Hoping I can beat all 32 levels this month.

Initial impression is that this game might have the worst music and sound effects in any game I've ever played in my life. The military drumming with the whistle blowing is super grating and never changes at all. Occasionally the sounds from my bullets even seem to get removed in favor of the whistles which makes it a bit challenging to keep a shooting rhythm going when I'm trying not to exceed my onscreen bullet limit. The Roll move is almost never helpful so I was banking the points from them on nearly every level, but on 2 separate occasions I had no escape and was able to use it to fly to safety.

I like shooters with simple powerup systems like this. I get it right away and I don't have to build back up too far if I die and lose them. Also your ship is nearly as powerful with the default setup as it was with the fully powered shot. The big bomber ships that come in from behind get destroyed at the same point on the map regardless of how powered up I am. Seems almost like the power up just increases the spread of your shot and not the actual damage output. The first time I got the two little planes on my side it freaked me out and I drove into an enemy. I was panicking to avoid the ships that were spinning violently towards me. The first boss is alright, but then it's just the same thing every time. A little variety would have been nice.

Visually this game is rough too. The water is fine in terms of being able to differentiate between enemies/projectiles and the background, but after a while it starts to strain the eyes. Mesmerizing almost. I hate the land areas though as it really obscured my view of enemies and the few times I died I never saw what hit me, which could either be because objects where blending into the background OR (and more frustratingly) enemies flicker for long periods so they occasionally become actually invisible. Very lame.

Possible scoring tip: If you died during a boss battle you will respawn right at that fight. After killing the boss plane the level is immediately over so you get the 100% enemy kill bonus. Might be worth exploiting for anyone going for a highscore.

[MetalFRO]

Welcome aboard, Deadman and Crabmaster2000! I look forward to your thoughts on the game

I havn't beaten this for NES yet so count me in too. I gave it a first go tonight and was doing pretty well, but then my game glitched and locked up on level 16. I'll clean my cart and give it another go tonight. Hoping I can beat all 32 levels this month.

Initial impression is that this game might have the worst music and sound effects in any game I've ever played in my life. The military drumming with the whistle blowing is super grating and never changes at all. Occasionally the sounds from my bullets even seem to get removed in favor of the whistles which makes it a bit challenging to keep a shooting rhythm going when I'm trying not to exceed my onscreen bullet limit. The Roll move is almost never helpful so I was banking the points from them on nearly every level, but on 2 separate occasions I had no escape and was able to use it to fly to safety.

Can you speak to what the on-screen bullet limit is? I was having trouble with my NES last night, and couldn't get my cart to boot up, so I haven't got into that version yet. On the Sega Saturn port (via Capcom Generations 1), it has 2 rapid fire options: a low-speed option, via the L shoulder button, that seems to fire a rate of around 3 rounds in a volley, spaced out slightly, but I think the maximum you can have on screen at any time from that is around 4 or 5 rounds. The high-speed option, via the R shoulder button, spits out a volley of 4 rounds, in much more rapid succession, and I think you can get as much as 6 or 7 on screen at once, even with the spacing between volleys.

I like shooters with simple powerup systems like this. I get it right away and I don't have to build back up too far if I die and lose them. Also your ship is nearly as powerful with the default setup as it was with the fully powered shot. The big bomber ships that come in from behind get destroyed at the same point on the map regardless of how powered up I am. Seems almost like the power up just increases the spread of your shot and not the actual damage output. The first time I got the two little planes on my side it freaked me out and I drove into an enemy. I was panicking to avoid the ships that were spinning violently towards me. The first boss is alright, but then it's just the same thing every time. A little variety would have been nice.

This is a good observation, and despite the flack the Micronics NES port takes for being somewhat shoddy, I think that was probably an accuracy they retained, as I'm noticing the same thing in the arcade version. Also, I'm curious to know if your rate of fire can increase if you get right up behind a bomber, as I'm seeing that in the arcade version.

Visually this game is rough too. The water is fine in terms of being able to differentiate between enemies/projectiles and the background, but after a while it starts to strain the eyes. Mesmerizing almost. I hate the land areas though as it really obscured my view of enemies and the few times I died I never saw what hit me, which could either be because objects where blending into the background OR (and more frustratingly) enemies flicker for long periods so they occasionally become actually invisible. Very lame.

Possible scoring tip: If you died during a boss battle you will respawn right at that fight. After killing the boss plane the level is immediately over so you get the 100% enemy kill bonus. Might be worth exploiting for anyone going for a highscore.

Yeah, the graphics in the NES are pretty poor, and it's one of the things, along with the grating sound, that put me off playing it much, and is the reason why it's only been within the last year that I added it to my NES collection. I can deal with low quality graphics and sound, though, so I still plan on putting time into that version this month. I was unaware of the boss battle respawn, that's a very good tip! I haven't got far enough to even see a boss yet, so I don't know if that works in the arcade version, but I might have to try that. Do you know what the extend counter(s) might be, Crabby? In the arcade version, I believe the standard is 20K for your first extra life, and then every additional 80K after that. So it probably would be worth sacrificing a life at the boss for that 100% completion bonus, since there's no life stock bonus calculation.

Latest score from last night:
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/gOcWyPX.jpg[/img]

[MetalFRO]

Correction from my last post - even with the heavy rapid fire, it looks like your plane can only shoot 3 shots at any given time, so there can only be 4 on screen at once, mostly when the last shot from a previous volley of 3 is exiting the screen. So the limitation is real, and you can really tailor your approach to either shoot as much as you can, or snipe enemies as they approach, and pelt incoming squadrons that are more clumped together. Tonight's high score:
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/egiRUGD.jpg[/img]

[Crabmaster2000]

Was able to finish it off tonight and holy cow does it get intense near the end. The game doesn't really change until around the 7th to last stage. Assuming you can beat the first stage with no deaths you should be able to make it to the 7th to final stage at the very least. Once you get there though some of the enemies start shooting 3 or 5 bullets at once instead of single ones and just the sheer number of ships on screen gets ridiculous. I was actually quite thankful for all the slow down as the extra reaction time likely saved my life more than once, and I was definitely using my R-Loops far more often in these stages to the point I'd run out and be wishing for more. On top of that it seemed like there was only one special item drop in each of these stages instead of 2 like the preceding ones and because of the staggering number of on screen enemies it was far more likely to miss hitting the whole fleet to actually obtain them.

When I got the 11th to final stage I rolled the score over and during the second run of the score you no longer collect extra lives. I was extremely confident I was going to finish the game at this point, but when I noticed I wasn't gaining lives anymore I got a bit worried. I had 9 lives stocked up at this point, but once I hit the 5th to final stage those lives where dropping off at an alarming rate. I was down to one extra life when it was all said and done. The fortunate news is that if you can get past the 2nd to final stage the last one is a gimme. There are still a decent amount of enemies, but they don't shoot in this stage so there is a lot less to keep track of on screen and it was a really good cool down from the previous 6 stages. I know I complained about the boss variety before, but given the difficultly spike in the late stages I was pretty happy I knew how to deal with the bosses further into the game. They were almost like a safe zone at that point.

To answer some of your questions from above.

Rate of Fire for NES version: 3 shots on screen at once
Extend counters for NES version: 20,000, 80,000, 160,000, 320,000, 400,000, 480,000, 720,000, 800,000, 880,000, 960,000

You posted above that 100% completion rate gives a bonus of 50,000 points. I'm assuming that's the arcade scoring. The NES version actually gives you 100,000 points so it's definitely worth dying at the bosses and respawning to go for the 100% completion if you are aiming for a highscore. In the last boss fight though when I died it put me back far enough that I had to deal with several enemies so maybe just don't do it on the final boss. It also doesn't seem like you get any bonus points for finishing the game like in the arcade version.  

I ran into one glitch during the game too. Normally when you get to the boss and have your extra fighters they are removed from the battle and given back to you as you start the next stage. I entered the boss battle with one of my two extra fighters remaining and he left the screen prior to the fight like normal, but the bullets where still shooting from him as if he was still there. Gave me some extra fire power without the extra target which was nice. He came back and behaved like normal as soon as I started the next round though.

Even though the highscore in the pic says 990,050 my actual highscore is 1,433,550 because of the rollover.

[img width=700 height=525]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1978/45092924071_d95ea451b5_o.png[/img]

[img width=700 height=525]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1901/44181848015_2966e4551b_o.png[/img]

[MetalFRO]

@Crabmaster2000 - you are a beast! "Congratulation" on finishing the NES version, and for such a high score! It seems like the extend values are in line with the arcade version, although I'd have to check to see if there's a gap between 160K and 320K. I was under the impression that it was every 80K, but I could be wrong. I haven't scored enough points yet to say more definitively. Once I reach 240K, I'll know if I get another plane, and that will confirm whether or not my theory was right.

[Crabmaster2000]

The sound effect for when the bigger enemy planes explode sounded super familiar and I havnt been able to place it, but I think I figured it out. When you blow up a big ship it sounds like the floppy drive on my old 486 PC

[Crabmaster2000]

I played through most of 1943 tonight out of curiosity. This is a sequel done properly. It's better and more interesting than 1942 in every conceivable way. 

[MetalFRO]

I played through most of 1943 tonight out of curiosity. This is a sequel done properly. It's better and more interesting than 1942 in every conceivable way. 

I've always felt this way about 1943, and have been guilty of writing off 1942, perhaps unfairly. I still think the sequel is objectively a better game, but I'm coming to appreciate the original for how innovative it was in some ways, this early in the life of the genre.

[MetalFRO]

This was last night's result:
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/9PoqHLo.jpg[/img]

So it appears I've hit my initial goal of 250K points, and then some! This is only 6 stages in, of 32 total, so I have a long way to go. My survival goal is to try and at least see the game's halfway point, but progress is likely to be slower to get there than what I've done so far, because the game really ramps up in difficulty. My next point goal is to reach 500K. Hoping to hit that by the end of next week!

[Golem]

Damn, congrats Crabmaster, and great notes Fro.

Here's my best after fiddling in the arcade version for an afternoon (autofire on):
[img width=224 height=256]https://i.imgur.com/y1ZXJeS.png[/img]

POW types
-Brown - four-bullet shot
-Red - points
-White - bomb
-Gray - options

I think the four-bullet shot helps against big planes, but I don't think the extra spread is meaningful for hitting more targets. The options, on the other hand, are amazing--extending your range by half a plane on either side helps a lot.

The roll has an interesting bit of commitment: you can move horizontally when you roll but not vertically.

From what I've seen, most of the enemy craft are tiny gray and green planes.

Gray planes - These guys come in two varieties.
If they fly straight, they'll swerve towards you. I don't know exactly how this works. Sometimes they fly into your line of fire, safely away from you, and sometimes they fly into you.
If they come in at an angle, they flip around and fly back to the top edge of the screen.

Either way, I like to hang at the bottom with gray planes.

Green planes - They fly in a circle. I try to stay in the middle of the circle so that they fly around me, "the eye of the storm" as it were. I find it difficult to read the space outside of the circle.

Between the gray and green planes, I get the impression 1942 takes place in the middle of an air show.

Fro, it's interesting that you note the level design is random. It certainly feels random. You don't get setups composed of a few different enemies, or even setups composed of a few different lines of enemies. Instead, you get a squad of one enemy type, only each enemy in the squad is offset a little. They aren't in lines, but instead, noisy "clouds". (Only the red planes bother to fly in an organized pattern, one after the other.) So, it's more difficult to line yourself up to shoot down a squad, and you have a constant need to read each squad as it comes in to assess its particular formation.

An interesting comparison is Darius, where the organized elements and noisy elements are more clearly separated. You get neatly lined-up squads alongside individually-placed turrets or hopping moonmen or what have you. In 1942, the squads themselves both have an element of organization and noise (they spawn near each other, but not in a line).

Also...

The sound effect for when the bigger enemy planes explode sounded super familiar and I havnt been able to place it, but I think I figured it out. When you blow up a big ship it sounds like the floppy drive on my old 486 PC

[EZ Racer]

So it's nowhere near Crabmaster's run but I did complete the game earlier today on NES. Unfortunately, by the time I had my camera ready to take a pic of the game end screen, it had already cycled back to the title screen. Pretty happy with a score of 1,174,450 though.

I wish I would have had this as a kid, because I think I would really have enjoyed it once I took the time to get good at it (I think I remember renting it once or twice, but didn't put much time into it)

I tend to agree with Crabmaster that the game doesn't throw much at you until deep in the run. For me, it seemed like there was a difficulty spike at Level 11 (about 2/3 through the game), and while most of the backgrounds didn't bother me too much, the backgrounds on Level 4 to the end seemed just sadistic.

Overall, I feel like the game is really enjoyable. To me, it seems more like a reflexes and reactions shooter than one where the key is precise patterns and memory.

Positives-
1) I love the balance here, as there's almost always a good way to escape enemy fire, and very rarely are there cheap deaths.
2) The enemies are programmed to be recognizable by type easily, giving you a better chance at maximizing score.
3) The controls and speed of your plane are well done, as you can usually put the plane where you want without overdoing your movements.
'
My nitpicks so far (Reminder, NES version):
1) no matter how many shots you're firing (2, 4, or 6 depending on power-ups), the entire shot disappears as soon as one bullet hits something.
2) No boss variety, and it's really anti-climatic having a boss on the 2nd to last stage but not the final stage.
3) The R-flips reset to 3 upon the completion of a level. I feel like if the game gives incentive not to use them by giving bonus points, how many you have not used should roll over (but that's also me griping because I never use them).
4) While most of the game doesn't have slowdown issues, the last 6 levels or so suffer major slowdown.
5) I consistently have to mute my TV because the soundtrack is one of the worst in the NES library (said it before, but Silver Surfer's soundtrack fits surprisingly well with this game)

Something interesting that came up for me as well. I just have the NES version, so that's what I've been playing. However a friend of mine has the PS2 Capcom Classics and according to him, after trying my NES version, he said he noticed a significant difference in difficulty.

Good luck to you MetalFro on reaching 500K, and everyone else on reaching their PB's as well.

[Normatron]

so I got a chance to play the NES version of this game and did great but since I did not sign up for that version of the game I am stuck with almost breaking my controller over the PS2 version. I dont get it. why am I so bad at this game?