July 2020 Shmup Club - UN Squadron

[SaturdayDevelopment]

Do the different characters play different or are they all the same?

Greg has the quickest damage recovery (the time between taking a hit and when the health bar recovers).
Shin's main weapon powers up faster (requires fewer pickups).
Mickey can use multiple special weapons at once.  I haven't been able to take advantage of this, but I think Mickey can do things like fire off a mega crush and then switch to another special weapon and use that while the mega crush is still active.

[Gamer707b]

Too bad I don't own this. I played it at the arcades and on Snes but never had a copy myself. Oh well. Maybe I can join next month if I have the game.

[Geardo211]

Hopefully I'm not too late. I loved this game as a kid. I played it on normal difficulty, and I was on my first credit with five lives when I got to the ceiling boss. He took all of those and a continue, however I think this is one of the few schmups I could 1cc if I kept trying. I used Gates and the Crusader to clear everything up to the desert carrier. By that point I had saved enough for the Efreet. I didn't run as many convoy attacks this playthrough as I have in the past either. I also had never changed the controls before, and putting the weapon select on the R trigger made things a lot easier. Clusters and Phoenix always clear the way, but I found the gun pod and napalm pretty useful this time. Mega Crush is great for the brief invincibility. I never used the Laser or Super Shell, and the Bullpup only on the last R-Type looking boss. I still love this game, and listen to the soundtrack frequently on my way to work. It's definitely classic Capcom. I never saw this in the arcade, but I played it's sequel Carrier Airwing a few times. This cabinet would make a great addition, but it seems pretty rare. I haven't delved into arcade emulation but I think these two games would be a great reason to.

[MetalFRO]

Definitely not too late, Geardo211, welcome to the squadron! Looks like really good progress so far! And yes, the ceiling boss is a huge challenge. I haven't managed to reach it yet, though I feel like I'm getting closer to achieving that. That stage is really ridiculous, though, so even getting to the boss will be difficult, not to mention getting past it. That might end up being the big challenge for the month.

[MetalFRO]

Been a few days since I've had a chance to play. Been busy with life stuff, and a big upgrade at work. Anyone make further progress, or have new insight to share?

[SaturdayDevelopment]

I've been focusing on the arcade version, and I just started getting to the cave level (where I promptly die).  My scores are steadily going up with the progress (I'm currently circling 250K), so I haven't been uploading any pics.  I'll try to post a final score by the end of the month.

[Geardo211]

Finally got my 1cc with a final score of 677,800. Still playing normal difficulty with Greg. Plowed through everything up to the SR-71 Blackbird with the Crusader. Had to grind about 8 supply convoys to have enough for the Efreet with a few basic power-ups. Anyone who can beat this with another jet is a beast. Ceiling boss still got me for 4 lives, but the napalm/gunpod combo got me through. The last level is actually pretty easy. The miniboss goes down fast if you park in front and below of it and blast it with the gun pod. I ran out of specials on the R-Type boss, so I had to go inside, but whatever works. First 1cc of any schmup, and this is one of my favorite SNES games so it's fitting. Hopefully I can keep the momentum up in future playthoughs.

[MetalFRO]

Great job, Geardo! I didn't even think about the napalm for the ceiling boss, but that's a great idea, to take out all those pesky ground enemies that get in the way. If I manage to make it that far this month, I'll have to give that a try! Also, extra congrats for getting that far with Greg. He doesn't power up quickly enough for me, and I end up losing a lot of lives just because my Crusader isn't powerful enough to take out the big planes in that first aerial stage fast enough to not get too much on screen, and get overwhelmed.

[Geardo211]

I park right behind them so my time between shots is reduced. I only use bombs on the Stealth Bomber when he first approaches, so don't be afraid to use your clusters if you need some breathing room earlier on.

[zoydo]

Hey Geardo211.

Good work, congrats on the 1cc!

[Geardo211]

Thank you much. Now to work on my camera skills...

[EZ Racer]

This is one of the most intense yet exhilarating games I've played in a long time. Now that I'm starting to get some consistency on the early levels, I'm really getting into this, and I love the music on the forest stage, even though I have yet to clear it.

[MetalFRO]

This is one of the most intense yet exhilarating games I've played in a long time. Now that I'm starting to get some consistency on the early levels, I'm really getting into this, and I love the music on the forest stage, even though I have yet to clear it.

Yeah, the music is something I've surprisingly taken to. I remember thinking the sound of the music was initially off-putting, when I played it years ago, partially due to my preference for Sega Genesis sound for games of this type. However, most of it is so well composed, and the "instrument" set they use ends up working really well for it, I think. Definitely one of the things about the game I've grown to really appreciate.

[EZ Racer]

No pics, but stoked about recent progress. Through mission 6 on 1 credit, and admittedly after continuing, finally took down the battleship.

[MetalFRO]

I managed to reach the final boss in the arcade version, though I didn't quite clinch the victory. I think I'm close, though! The arcade version is noticeably easier than the SNES version, at least on the default difficulty when running it on the MiSTer FPGA hardware. The slowdown I'm experiencing in a few spots should be accurate to the arcade, at least as far as how it's emulating the CPS1 hardware. I am using autofire that's built into my arcade joystick, but otherwise, all the DIP switch settings are default in the US ROM set. It's also shorter. Each stage is pretty short, with the exception of the "cave" stage, and the bosses go down pretty quickly. Enemies are generally less spongy. It also has a set stage order, and many of the levels we see in the SNES version are like "remixed" takes on the arcade levels. It's an interesting contrast to what we got on console.