May 2020 Shmup Club - Fantasy Zone

[shaggy]

Well, died right at the start of level 4.  Got this score:

[img width=700 height=933]https://i.imgur.com/E2H5eTX.jpg[/img]

[MetalFRO]

Stage 4, good progress! Looks like you're acclimating to the game nicely

[shaggy]

Stage 4, good progress! Looks like you're acclimating to the game nicely

After watching one of your streams I picked up a few tips but I can't get over how quickly it moves but have gotten a bit used to it.  I'm still not really digging the game and I think it's for three reasons: the game ends so quickly to me, I can't pause the game because I'm playing on the SMS and the pause button is on the system(my finger needs to take a rest!), and I like shooters more like Life Force and Gradius.

[petezilla]

Hello, I finally got involved with a shmup club! Super Fantasy Zone on the mega drive was one of the first games I played, didnt even realise you had to destroy the bases for a long time...
Cleared the game on switch with a score of 2,334,300.
https://twitter.com/petez.../1259118178082230272?s=20

7 way shot is definitely your friend through the later levels.

[FauxMacho]

Way to go petezilla, awesome stuff.

My best so far is 130360. I can get to level 5, once so far have I faced the bracket of snowmen, but didn't get past that.
I haven't worked out to much strategy, I need to get some more time into the game. I'd love to clear it by the end of the month though.

Playing the Sega Ages Switch version.

[petezilla]

I wanted to check out how may loops the game has and how that effects the game, looks like it'll just loop more or less infinitely! Have a peek at this madness

[MetalFRO]

@shaggy - looks like you need one of these things: https://segaretro.org/Rapid_Fire_Unit

@petezilla - welcome to RF Generation, and great job on the clear! Looks like yours is currently the score to beat, at least on the arcade version. I'll have to scope that video after work

@FauxMacho - thanks for jumping into the play-through! Great progress so far, getting to stage 5 already. That snowman boss can be difficult, but very doable. I haven't made it that far on an arcade conversion yet, but have found it to be reasonable on the TurboGrafx version.

Great stuff, everyone!

[MetalFRO]

I got close to a clear again last night, though I struggled a bit with the boss rush. Pretty sure I'll crack it, though. One thing that always gets me is the random nature of the way the seeds that the stage 2 boss shoots out will fall down - there's no telling how that will space out, and sometimes, it seems as though there's no legitimate place to squeeze through, so you're just out of luck.

[FauxMacho]

So I've put in a LOT of time the past few days and got a clear this afternoon!
 
I got 4,248,380 on the Switch version. I play on the default 'New' version.

I think the end scoring bonus is related to how much Gold you still have. I cleared with $193,600. I've seen some videos with $300k+ get a 6 million point bonus. My 2nd lap was a bit of a gaff on my part. I should have stocked up on lives immediately. instead, I died prematurely in the second level and that was the end of the run. I believe I made it to final stage without losing a life on the first lap.

@MetalFRO on that second stage boss I had more success when I started moving around more. By bombing when you are moving forward the bombs travel farther, so I surge toward the boss, throw bombs at it and move back. Then I think just coincidentally, it's easier for me to find gaps since I'm already moving. I only need reaction time to stop in the right place, instead of needing to react to start moving to a gap and then stopping in it. I know we are playing different versions though, and I saw on your stream you go for Big Wings and I use Jet Engine.

[petezilla]

wow, we got to much the same point but you pretty much doubled my score!
I'm spending too much on 7 ways.

Stage 2 boss can be a bit rng..

[MetalFRO]

@petezilla Yeah, the stage 2 boss RNG can be brutal. Maybe moving around will help the seeds not to cluster too much, so it's worth a try. But I've noticed that sometimes, they're so close together, it's nearly impossible to find an opening.

@FauxMacho - great job on the clear, and what a score! Interesting that the money ties into the endgame score bonus, but it makes perfect sense. If I manage to get good enough to no-miss one of the versions, I assume I'll find that to be worth the effort, with what my final score is likely to be. Looks like we have some good competition going this month, which is awesome!

[shaggy]

@shaggy - looks like you need one of these things: https://segaretro.org/Rapid_Fire_Unit

@petezilla - welcome to RF Generation, and great job on the clear! Looks like yours is currently the score to beat, at least on the arcade version. I'll have to scope that video after work

@FauxMacho - thanks for jumping into the play-through! Great progress so far, getting to stage 5 already. That snowman boss can be difficult, but very doable. I haven't made it that far on an arcade conversion yet, but have found it to be reasonable on the TurboGrafx version.

Great stuff, everyone!

You know, I do have one somewhere.  I just don't know where.  And that would be cheating!

[FauxMacho]

I went back for seconds last night and furthered my score to 4,532,700. I only bought two extra lives, only buying a life when I lost a life. Originally I would buy lives as soon as I could but as I got better that wasn't needed.

For the 2nd stage boss, explore using a bomb like the Flash (Smart?) Bomb. This bomb would work well for any segmented boss like the twin dragons/arms and the snowmen. Ideally for the snowmen I blast it all away with the 7way in mere seconds, but if I only have the twin shooter there is an interesting strategy. The next row of snowmen can only shoot when the two smaller ones directly in front have been eliminated. So try to kill every other snowman, then kill the rest. Do this a little slowly so all those tiny bullets move past before the next row starts shooting. By doing this and focusing equally on dodging, it becomes much more manageable and you'll find yourself always with a path through the bullets and never trapped.

I'm loving the Sega Ages release. The only other one I have is Virtua Racing. The rankings are great for getting motivation for improving, and the top 50 have replays so you can watch how the best play.

[MetalFRO]

Thanks for the tip on the snowman boss, FauxMacho! I know I had seen something like that before, but I didn't know the specifics. I'll have to explore that, for sure. Great score - you're definitely the one to beat now!

@shaggy - it's not cheating at my age; it's saving myself from the inevitability of carpal tunnel 

[MetalFRO]

Looks like Nefarious Wes decided to jump in, and provided a score via Twitter:


https://twitter.com/nefar.../1261196622936956932?s=21

He played the TurboGrafx version, and got a clear!


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