October 2019 Shmup Club - n2o Nitrous Oxide

[MetalFRO]

[img width=625 height=550]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-061/bf/U-061-S-07390-A.jpg[/img]

October 2019 marks the first month where we as a Shmup Club take on something that most people wouldn't consider a shmup. Let's call it, "shmup-adjacent" for now. However, it's a game that is rooted in concepts from some early progenitors of the genre, and carries those ideas forward to a more modern context. Not only that, but it takes the visuals to the next level, with psychedelic color kaleidoscopes, and a good use of light and shade, to help set the mood. Top it off with an intense 90's techno soundtrack, and you get a game that, while it might not fit the textbook definition of a shmup, certainly has a lot of ideas that it borrows from many shooting games over the years. It's n2o: Nitrous Oxide, a PlayStation exclusive!

Climb aboard your ship, and get ready to cruise through twisting tunnels, filled with all manner of giant, mutated space bugs, seemingly all bent on your destruction. Power up with special weapons, like flame walls and bouncing bombs, and rotate 360 degrees around the environment, to line up and target enemies. Don't forget to grab the coins when you see them! Find red mushrooms, and gather them to give your craft some shield protection. Join the RF Generation Shmup Club in October 2019, as we play n2o: Nitrous Oxide for the PlayStation!

Participants:
MetalFRO
Addicted
Crabmaster2000

High Scores:
1.
2.
3.

[Link41]

I believe this game is also on Steam.

[MetalFRO]

I believe this game is also on Steam.

I had no idea, but you're absolutely right!
https://store.steampowere...364840/N2O_Nitrous_Oxide/

$4.99, which is a great price! Anyone who doesn't have a PlayStation/PS2/PS3 hooked up, and wants to join in, this will be a great way to do so! Looks like the specs required to run it are minuscule, so almost anything above a potato should run it these days

[Crabmaster2000]

I've had a copy of this sitting on my shelf forever. I'll dust it off and give it a go next month.

[MetalFRO]

Excellent! Link41 - will you be joining in the fun?

[MetalFRO]

First score of the month! I really enjoyed playing this tonight, and am glad we're playing it this month. It's been way too long since I put any serious time into it.

One thing to note: because the game's soundtrack is Redbook audio, once the game is loaded, you can open the PlayStation, and replace the game disc with any audio CD. I'll be doing that a lot, because I'm streaming the game, and don't want my channel to get a copyright strike, so I'll be featuring a bunch of indie artists and old stuff that won't get my channel flagged.

[MetalFRO]

Looks like I forgot to post my high score from around a week ago, but it's around 800K. Playing this last night, because I stream, I decided to take the suggestion that I got on stream, and try it via PS3. Turns out, not only does that eliminate the resolution changes when you pick up powerups (which throws off the RetroTINK I use to hook it up via HDMI, for streaming), but it still allows for taking out the game disc, once loaded, to throw in another audio CD. So that's how I'll be playing it through the rest of the month, most likely, as it will make streaming the game a lot more pleasant experience.

[MetalFRO]

As I was experimenting, I realized that I had completely forgotten about the "Brake" feature of the game! Holding down the L1 button will give you a brief brake, to slow down your ship for a half second, which allows you to do things like more accurately target an enemy, shoot a coin to increase its value, or shoot the mushrooms enough times to turn them red, so you can get a shield. The braking depends on which ship you choose, so play around with it, and figure out which you like, and learn how to strategically use that brake to your advantage!

[Crabmaster2000]

Here's my first attempt from yesterday:

[img width=640 height=480]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48897366432_be015d5ff5_z.jpg[/img]

I had never looked into what style of game this was before. Immediately got Tempest 2000/Beamrider vibes from it. Wasn't sure how well it was going to feel, but was pleasantly surprised. I don't know about watching someone else play this game without getting noxious, but it was easy to get the hang of it. It's a shame you're worried about the soundtrack getting you in trouble. It's absolutely not something I'd listen to outside of the game, but while playing it's very easy to just fall into the zone with it and just kind of forget how much stuff is happening and how hectic the game actually is. Very relaxing for such an intense game. The firewall is a super cool weapon. Feels great every time unleashing one of those down the corridor and wiping out every bug.

I was messing around with the jump and brake a bit, but I think you're right and I need to master the brake a bit more to improve my score.  My daughter was helping me choose the colors on the ships and really enjoying that. I'll have to mess around with the different ones available and see how they feel. Thanks for encouraging me to try this one out, I've had it forever and kind of forgot about it. Was a nice surprise.

[MetalFRO]

I managed to up my score again! One thing I need to say about scoring - focus on shooting and collecting the coins during the level. When you get done, skip the firewalls, and go for the points - that's where the real scoring happens. The score you earn during any given level will usually pale in comparison to the bonus you'll earn from cashing in the coins. Later levels offer more opportunities for points, but the coin bonus cash-in is the best. Especially when you trigger a bonus stage, and can rack up even more coins.

[MetalFRO]

I'm a little over 100K points away from the Twin Galaxies high score holder for N2O! I'm not sure how much time I'll have to beat this, before the end of the month, but 996,950 seems like an attainable score to beat, given my progress so far. The person who has the score, currently, looks like she could easily have broken a million, if it weren't for a couple unfortunate, rapid-fire deaths in a couple places, especially in Stage 9. I think I'm going to attempt to do this!

Here's the Twin Galaxies entry for the game, complete with a verified video of the run:
https://www.twingalaxies.com/showthread.php/176785-playstation-n2o-nitrous-oxide-points-normal-996-950-angela-stefanski

[MetalFRO]

Well, I managed to pull it off! I got over 1 million points in N2O, and have submitted my score to Twin Galaxies for consideration

Here's the video with the run. I can't time stamp it to embed, but it starts around 40:30. 1,041,490 points!