August 2021 Shmup Club - Galaga 88-90-91

[MetalFRO]

I started out with the PC Engine version tonight, playing via the MiSTer FPGA, so I can use my arcade stick. Throwing down the gauntlet early, with 128,700 points!

[ReddMcKnight]

IMPRESSIVE!

You came prepared.

And yet...not enough.

[img width=700 height=393]https://i.ibb.co/Zcz9LzF/IMG-20210804-001324.jpg[/img]

[Christapp76]

Hi - Count me in on this one

Will be playing on the PC engine mini console

Chris Tapp76

Hopefully should have more time this month to play than I did with project starship


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FauxMacho]

Alright let's go!

261,490 on the Switch port.

For me it's about surviving to about 140k points with lives intact, then the real run begins.

[MetalFRO]

Just so everyone knows, Ed from Bullet Heaven played earlier this evening, and got over 700K points, so we all have a lot to shoot for, pun inteded!

[Golem]

Got the clear on route 1! Took me 6 hours of practice. Really enjoying it so far!
https://i.imgur.com/dSwetLd.png
427,540

I went back and recorded a playthrough, although the score isn't as good:


There are a few key strategies for clearing route 1 on Galaga '88 on PCE. I am curious if these will bear out on the higher routes or on the arcade version.

For single-screen stages:
Start towards the center, offset so that you are aligned with the inside curve of the left enemy wave. Here's a screenshot of the position: https://i.imgur.com/j6IzUir.png

If there are enemy waves on the left and right, dodge towards the left edge of the screen (do not cross the middle). If there are enemy waves on just one side, dodge to the side without enemies. Dodge slowly so that you very slightly kite bullets and dive-bombing enemies in your wake.

As you dodge, leave enough room to dodge a last-second dive-bombing enemy. You will want to have a tile or so of free space against the closest edge of the screen. If an enemy divebombs, dodge away from it, not towards it.

If an enemy wave has started entering the screen, do not try to fly under it in order to shoot out enemies. You should stay safe by staying on the opposite side of the screen. Moving under an enemy wave that is already on its way in is just asking to get point-blanked.

As you start a stage, the first meteor you destroy will have a capsule. This sucks. Make sure to kill it the instant you enter the stage--you don't want the capsule hanging around for you to accidentally pick up at an inopportune moment. I dodged the first capsule by crossing the middle. This seemed to work well enough for me, even if there were two enemy waves entering simultaneously.

You have a few guarantees that power this strategy:
1.) Enemies will only loop once as they enter the stage.
2.) If enemies come from one side of the screen, they will not start coming from both sides of the screen again.
3.) If enemies come from the right side of the screen, the next wave will come from the left. If enemies come from the left side of the screen, the next wave will come from the right.
4.) Once enemies swap from two waves at once to one wave at once, the first wave will come from the left.

Again, this only applies to route 1 on the PCE version. I don't know what happens on higher routes or in different versions.

I was playing on the Turbo Mini, so replaying stage 1-15 was really helpful. That was the first stage that moved too quickly for me to react on sight. I basically figured out everything above by setting a save state at 1-15 and grinding stages 1-15 through 1-17 over and over.

Also, don't forget that Turbo Views covered this game! youtube.com/watch?v=uqwh078fjuc

And a question: what determines if you can re-capture a ship to get the dual ship? Half the time I free a captive ship, and it stays red and tries to kill me.

[shaggy]

I'm enjoying this game.  I like how the turtles explode into fireworks and how two enemies can merge and become stronger.  Redd said he couldn't pause the game, I'm playing on a Turbo Duo and the manual says to press Run to Pause but that didn't work for me but pressing Select did so give that a try.  For those without a manual, the Blue capsules that look like gems  will warp you to a higher dimension up to warp 4.  Collect 2 capsules and at the end of the next round you will warp.  This is the key to higher scores as you get more points, and didfferent enemies, in higher warps.  Shooting the blue rocks give out bllue capsules along with shooting the "bodyguards" whichever eneies those are.  This also appears to be the way to fight bosses and at the end of the first warp there was a boss.  I ended up getting to stage 6 out of 29 so far.  I'll post a screenshot soon.

[MetalFRO]

And a question: what determines if you can re-capture a ship to get the dual ship? Half the time I free a captive ship, and it stays red and tries to kill me.

Excellent job with a clear so fast! If you want to get a higher score, you need to make sure to get warp capsules and go to the highest/hardest path. As to your question, if you take out the capturing enemy while it's swooping down at you, your captured ship will return. If you destroy it when it's in formation at the top of the screen, your ship will swoop down at you, but if you survive to the next stage, it's supposed to return to you at that point. I haven't managed to get that far yet, in terms of not dying after I shoot down the capturing ship while it's in formation, so I can't vouch for it personally, but that's my understanding.

[Golem]

As to your question, if you take out the capturing enemy while it's swooping down at you, your captured ship will return. If you destroy it when it's in formation at the top of the screen, your ship will swoop down at you, but if you survive to the next stage, it's supposed to return to you at that point. I haven't managed to get that far yet, in terms of not dying after I shoot down the capturing ship while it's in formation, so I can't vouch for it personally, but that's my understanding.

Awesome! This clicked instantly. This makes recoveries feasible.

Are the different paths are called dimensions? That's what the ending of the second path/route/whatever makes me think.

As for going for the highest path, so far I have gotten a lot of use out of the difficulty curve by starting at the bottom. Notes after a dimension 2 clear (youtube.com/watch?v=jxsvT47bOAU):

-Dimension 1 is characterized by tricky, low-entering waves (these waves enter the screen below the halfway point). These make it easy for enemies to point-blank you when they enter the screen. Dimension 2 does not have low-entering enemy waves (!!!).

-This is offset by the enemy set in dimension 1, which seems to be the easiest of the bunch.

-Dimension 2 is characterized by the freakin throwing star enemies: https://i.imgur.com/OzFVaZk.png
These enemies start life as a bubble. You can kill them as they enter the screen to make life easier, or you can let them graduate to the throwing star phase for tons of points. They seem to give you more points the higher they are on the screen when you kill them. (Is that right?)

-You don't have to fully kill the throwing star enemy. If you hit it once, and it reaches the bottom of the screen, it will perish (without giving you points).

-To enter dimension 2 by stage 4, you need to let the small cyan enemies mature so that you can farm them for capsules. (If you're not sure what I mean, see the beginning of my playthrough.) Stages 1 and 2 do not have meteors that you can shatter for easy capsule pickups.

-The left-right-left-right rhythm of enemy waves seems to be broken in dimension 2. It's a little hard to tell, since enemies can enter from the top of the screen. I think this is a benefit to learning dimension 1 first, since your learning will be simpler if you start there.

-In clearing dimension 1, I ingrained the instinct to leave a tile of free space against the edge of the screen. This has stayed useful.

-The boss in dimension 2 seems to be the same as the boss in dimension 1, just with a different appearance.

-An average dimension 2 clear should come out to 700,000 points or so, maybe just under.

-If you take just one capsule, you won't warp. It's great to have some leeway on this.

And just for kicks, my favorite moment:
[img width=172 height=354]https://i.imgur.com/0HytJkN.gif[/img]

[4_T_en]

Am I the only one struggling with a bit of the gradius syndrome on this one? If I lose my big ship, and I can't regain it very soon after, it feels like my whole run falls apart. I don't know how many times I have restarted because through some dumb mistake I don't get it on the first stage.

[Corkman]

Am I the only one struggling with a bit of the gradius syndrome on this one? If I lose my big ship, and I can't regain it very soon after, it feels like my whole run falls apart. I don't know how many times I have restarted because through some dumb mistake I don't get it on the first stage.

Yeah, I know what you mean. It's becoming more of a habit to get the big ship in the first stage. But, whenever I forget, I just reset.

I find that the runs are pretty short (at my beginner skill level) so it's not too big of a deal to lose a ship or lose the big ship.

It seems to me that the PCE version is easier than the Switch version. I would have thought the taller aspect ratio of the Switch/arcade version would have helped give me more time to dodge. But, the PCE version seems to have more room left or right to dodge. Plus, the enemies are coming in hot on the arcade version compared to the PCE version.

[Normatron]

Finally had time for a few rounds and I don't think I did horrible, hoping to get farther into it.

[MetalFRO]

It seems to me that the PCE version is easier than the Switch version. I would have thought the taller aspect ratio of the Switch/arcade version would have helped give me more time to dodge. But, the PCE version seems to have more room left or right to dodge. Plus, the enemies are coming in hot on the arcade version compared to the PCE version.

I would have made the same assumption, about the taller screen being better for anticipating enemy movements! I haven't got around to the arcade version yet, but I guess I'll have to anticipate that change when I do.

@Normatron - are you playing that on a RetroFreak console? That's awesome! I'm curious as to how well that handles TG16 & PCE stuff.

[Golem]

It seems to me that the PCE version is easier than the Switch version. I would have thought the taller aspect ratio of the Switch/arcade version would have helped give me more time to dodge. But, the PCE version seems to have more room left or right to dodge. Plus, the enemies are coming in hot on the arcade version compared to the PCE version.

I would have made the same assumption, about the taller screen being better for anticipating enemy movements! I haven't got around to the arcade version yet, but I guess I'll have to anticipate that change when I do.

I think Image Fight is pretty good at highlighting this distinction across its platforms. It's balanced for the arcade TATE aspect. On the NES port, they widened the screen, and the game is easier. On the PCE port, they kept the TATE width and chopped off the top of the screen. You have less warning when hazards come onscreen, making the game harder.

FRO, you asked on Twitter about randomness in shooters recently. Putting Galaga '88 right after Project Starship X works well to highlight how both games are random in different ways.

In Project Starship X, the level blocks you encounter are random. However, with enough experience (and maybe rote memorization), you can predict everything that happens within a level block. The knowledge challenge here is to recognize what block you're in as soon as possible, so that you can then queue up the according tactics. Once you know what block you're in, there are no surprises.

In Galaga '88, each level layout is fixed. However, enemy attacks appear randomized. There are three things that seem to be random:
-When an enemy shoots during the entrance wave
-When an enemy divebombs out of the entrance wave
-When an enemy descends from the swarm at the top of the screen
If I'm wrong about this, please call me out! But, if I'm not wrong, then this means you must adapt in the moment as each individual enemy advances. You can memorize stage layouts, but the activity within each stage will be different each playthrough.

Other notes after clearing dimension 3:
-Balloonies (as they are seemingly called) block shots, so that you can't hit enemies behind them. And the more you hit them, the more area they block. This is tricky, dynamic, and interesting.
-The low-entrance enemy waves from dimension 1 are back.
-The distinction between the triple ship and dual ship seems interesting. The triple ship hitbox is only slightly bigger, but that slight amount really matters. On the other hand, it's surprisingly easy for enemies to slip between the dual ship's dual shots.
-Regarding stages 3-23 and 3-24, the entrance carrier enemies will divebomb you! This happens on dimension 1 as well, but I never noticed for some reason. I had to memorize it here.
-3-27 and 3-28 are killer. I never got consistent at these, even when grinding them from a save state. Balloonies make these waves dense by way of their health and size. These two levels took me the longest time to find a decent strategy for, and it took me roughly 5 and a half hours to get the clear.
-For the bosses, you want to trap them against the edge of a screen. Use your shot to pressure them to the edge. Then, only dodge away from the edge of the screen. If you dodge towards the edge of the screen, you'll set the boss free.

Here's the clear:
Score: 866,600 (normal mode)
[img width=475 height=408]https://i.imgur.com/VQRYQyD.png[/img]

[MetalFRO]

Great thoughts, Golem! Also, I hope you don't mind, I edited your post so the video would post inline, so folks can watch your clear. You can do this in the future by encasing 'url' in square brackets (minus the single quotes), and making sure the link is http vs https, and has the watch= and other stuff after that, to signal the specific video. I'll have to scope that Project Starship X vlog entry when I have a few minutes to sit down and read through it - looks like you've really compiled some very useful information!