How to get into Shmups?

Try getting Crimzon Clover next.

For playing - I tend to hoard bombs way too much and end up dying out with full stock on hand. That's dumb. Try to direct your focus on your immediate area as much as possible and not to let the entirety of the screen enter your though process. Try to get used to moving as little as possible so that you become acclimated to your hitbox.

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>>381267940
Mushihimesama has a Novice mode for beginners, so if you're really struggling with the regular Original or Maniac then you might want to give Novice a try.

Touhou games have difficulty options so how hard it is will vary. It seems like a good entry point to shmups, particularly the danmaku/bullet hell type.

Deathsmiles is on Steam, I always like to recommend that for beginners. It's a horizontal shmup (as opposed to Mushihimesama being a vertical shmup, for example) but the difficulty is relatively low so it's good for just starting out.

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>>381268907
Any tips on how to become good at these games?

What's the general opinion on Akai Katana? Art is quite nice but it looks like it's only available on Xbox 360, any chances of this getting a steam release like other Cave games?

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>>381270175

>>381267940
>Mushihimesama as your first shmup
My god. Well, at least it should look impressive.

If you want to stick with it, then I would suggest first learning how the power-ups work and then learning to at least focus on your ship. There is a lot happening on the screen at any one time, and so it can be overwhelming.

For power-ups, if I recall correctly, you want to string together matching colors for a more powerful gun. That is, if you have the red gun, then you want to pick up red power-ups and avoid the blue/green ones. Or wait for them to change to red. Grabbing multiples in succession will power up the gun, three times from what I remember. If you grab a different color, it changes your gun to that color type at the same level, so isn't useful for powering the gun up.

Past that, you'll want to focus more on your character/ship than on the enemies if you find yourself dying. Like I said, there is a lot to follow, and it is generally easier to just pay attention to what's going on immediately around the character rather than what's happening at the top of the screen. Just holding the fire button should do a decent amount of damage to anything you are fighting, after all. More focus on your character lets you react better, and get more used to moving around and avoiding incoming fire. Or, at least, it will give you a better idea of what happened when you suddenly died.

>I tend to hoard bombs way too much and end up dying out with full stock on hand.
I think that Mushihimesama has an auto-bomb feature, where it will drop a bomb and give you invincibility if you get hit, instead of dying.

I haven't played Novice mode, but as >>381268907 says, it's a good idea to get better at the game.

Stop playing danmaku trash. That's your problem.

>>381267940
>>381271663
Mind you, Mushihimesama wouldn't be my first recommendation for a new shmup player. The biggest problem is that there is just so much stuff happening, and it is hard to tell the enemies from just background animation, and background animation from incoming bullets. You can, but it takes some time. If you want something (relatively) easier, then go to GOG - make an account if you need to - and get Tyrian 2000. It's a free game, so no money is involved. It's a far less bullet-hell game, plus it offers ship upgrades which means taking more hits, moving faster, getting more firepower, etc. It's a fairly good game and might be good to ease yourself into the genre with less trouble.

>>381270175
>What's the general opinion on Akai Katana?
Haven't played it myself.

>any chances of this getting a steam release
Only if they actually remember it.

>>381267940
Don't. They're only fun for a few hours until you're done with them forever.

>>381271663
>My god. Well, at least it should look impressive.
Why the surprise? Is it too hard for beginners?

Also, nice tips thanks.

>>381271745
>>381272070
What do you guys mean exactly? Could you expand on your answers?

Might as well ask.

Do any of you remember this very hard shmup about a spaceship coming back to earth and finding that everyone is dead and aliens or something are attacking? Other than that i remember there was a crab boss and before the bosses the game gave you three very obscure tips on how to defeat the boss. There were multiple endings, one was about resetting time to the beggining of the game with the hopes of finding another solution to save earth. And the three tips before the final boss were only ''Be praying''

>>381267940

mushi is not a really good first game because you have to play agressively (hugging mobs) instead of a safe, defensive approach

I recommend the altynex series (kamui/alltynex second); they're pretty dated graphic wise but they're simple and easy to 1cc/play for score

>>381272261
I'm the bottom quote, what I mean is, do you really thoroughly enjoy playing these games? They might get a little tense at times but I swear all of my friends tried getting into shmups, and give up soon after because its just not fun. Obviously theres a few exceptional games, (Einhander, imo) but its not a genre with a ton of replayability. Don't expect to find a whole lot of fun in the genre. Could be different for you of course, maybe me and my pals all just happen to not like these games too much.

>>381272613
Well, I like challenging games and from what I see, most Shmups are really really challenging, am I wrong?

This video is what made me interested in the genre:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmyDrJJaLoo

>>381272261
>Is it hard for beginners?
Yes.

Or more specifically, the art and animation looks great but it can sometimes get confusing with what is background and what isn't. It's especially a problem with a bullet blends into the background too well, or something in the background moves into the foreground and it's easy to mistake it as just still a background detail. Plus, it is a bullet hell, and those can be notoriously harsh if you aren't used to them.

On the other hand, if something about the game attracts you, then certainly stick with it. The #1 way to improve is to continue to play, and if the game is interesting enough to keep playing, then that will be a far bigger factor than trying to hunt down and practice with another title which you just find boring.

>>381272309
A quick search brings up Viewpoint Neo-Geo and Darius as two possibilities, although I've not played either so I'm not familiar with them.

>>381272951
They look pretty challenging, but they're a lot easier than they look. It could be the appeal of it all. Trust me, you could ace that given a few hours of shmup experience

>>381272951
You do realize that you can just play Touhou on PC, correct?

And that probably isn't as interesting as it might look. Tastes differ from person to person, of course, but those massive bullet wave patterns mostly just require very, very careful and very, very precise and slow movement. Sure, it is a challenge, but most of the challenge comes from making sure you are within a few pixels of safe space.

Myself, I generally prefer something like KAMUI or Danmaku Unlimited, over what I've played of Touhou. Sure, it can be fun (Touhou tends to change up the specific game and scoring mechanics, so all the games are not identical) but it's not one of my favorite titles.

KAMUI:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLHCETCZWRM

Danmaku Unlimited 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7Nfekv3V4s

>>381272261
I often see people attack danmaku whenever shmups come up, don't think too much of it if you like that style of game. Though it might be hard to get into, there's not much to learn and your final challenge is always precise execution of movement and keeping your cool under pressure.
Personally I don't like any shot clearing or ignoring mechanics, so I just stick to playing 2hu, usually without using bombs. But main reason why I like it is music.

>>381273069
Sorry, it wasn't either of them.

But I also remembered that it was from a top down perspective and it was definitely on PC (and probably only PC). I will try and see if I remember something else.