Gunbird 2!

[Cowutopia]

THIS IS THE HARDEST GAME IN THE WORLD!!!
Well, next to Ikaruga, that is.
I'll be on the boards after X-Mas

[Triple Lei]

884,600 - Triple Lei / Marion 1-7 (arcade)

Man!!! I mean, wow! I still didn't beat the game, but it was a wonderful experience. After dying for the first time on the 1-5 boss (still a bit too early IMO), I found that 1-6 was a LOT easier! Namely, those spinny, spread-shot firing enemies. So I guess this means that, for me at least, losing a life on 1-5 is a good thing! Now that means that I could do those fancy dodging techniques in that vid I posted. If I die, that's ok since I only need two bombs to beat that boss. If I dodge... I dodge and I look good! Either way, it means glory... the only thing that keeps me playing arcade games.

Ah, now about that 1-6 boss! I wasn't able to find that "safe spot" as described by Bern-D (though I did try for maybe half an hour at home), so I just dodged the first wave of the 2nd form with my old way... Mode-7's way. Then I actually dodged the next wave! It was slower than was shown on that other vid I posted, but I dodged it in the same way I had imagined, finding that right hole between a certain pair of bullets. But I dodged it! This means a that you do not have to find that "safe spot" so you stay within the double lasers to ultimately dodge the 2nd wave (i.e., so the boss is still in the middle)! It was still moving toward the center as it was firing the 2nd wave, but I was able to compensate for that and dodge it. Of course I did die again on that snake pattern, but meh...

I had a relatively lengthy 1-7 time too. I made it all the way to the mid-boss, where my game finally ended after that cross pattern. I guess I have to study Mode-7's vid some more, since I wasn't prepared for that other attack. And I'm not Tavia, so I have to dodge that stuff... ugh.

Best of all, at least two other guys (who were fairly good GB2 players themselves, getting up to 1-4), were there to witness my glory! Which means that 1) I'm unquestionably the best player at my arcade (finally at better than the crazy Tavia guy with the even crazier dodging skills), and 2) people can now match the face with "3XL!" Good thing too, since it's finals week, and I won't get to play at the arcade for a good couple of days...

[BER]

Originally posted by Triple Lei
After dying for the first time on the 1-5 boss (still a bit too early IMO), I found that 1-6 was a LOT easier! Namely, those spinny, spread-shot firing enemies. So I guess this means that, for me at least, losing a life on 1-5 is a good thing!

Save yourself a life. There is an easy way to dodge those
gits at higher ranks. All of their bullets aim at you. Just
start at one side of the screen and move slowly to the
other side. When you encounter the first two sets in 1-6
(beginning of the stage and before the jars), it's
difficult to cut back to the other side. I can give you my
timing techniques if you want them.

At the end of 1-6, cutting back is easy, and you don't need
to do it at all in 1-7. Amazing how they become more docile
as the game progresses.

Originally posted by Triple Lei
so I just dodged the first wave of the 2nd form with my old way... Mode-7's way. Then I actually dodged the next wave! It was slower than was shown on that other vid I posted, but I dodged it in the same way I had imagined, finding that right hole between a certain pair of bullets. But I dodged it! This means a that you do not have to find that "safe spot" so you stay within the double lasers to ultimately dodge the 2nd wave (i.e., so the boss is still in the middle)!

Whatever works! I've seen it done on a Stage 2-6 video.
I'll have to learn how to sidestep like that sometime...

Originally posted by Triple Lei
Best of all, at least two other guys (who were fairly good GB2 players themselves, getting up to 1-4), were there to witness my glory! Which means that 1) I'm unquestionably the best player at my arcade (finally at better than the crazy Tavia guy with the even crazier dodging skills), and 2) people can now match the face with "3XL!" Good thing too, since it's finals week, and I won't get to play at the arcade for a good couple of days...

Hehe, you're making me want to visit your arcade sometime.
Here in my university arcade, I'm still some mysterious,
unknown player. Too many good fighting game players there
to notice my humble efforts. Ah well, that's why I have you
guys. :)

I have finals this week and next, too. But today, I played
six games, all of them dismal performances. Never seen the
1-6 boss in any of them. I doubt I'll want to return to the
arcade for the remainder of the semester, and the arcade
closes during the winter break, so I'll have to wait until
late January to crack some new highs. I hope to be in good
shape by then.

[BER]

All right, danhaigh wanted to know how I perform these
cutbacks, so here goes.

For the first scene, I would start from the left and move
slowly to the right. When the fourth enemy arrives, I'm
already at the right side. There are three bullets that
determine my fate:

Enemy number.  Part of formation.  Bullet position.
#4 (img)       1-way               ...
#5 (img)       2-way               Left one
#6 (img)       5-way               Second from the left

Bullet #4 signals me to cut to the left. I want to move
so I can dodge bullet #5, and stop befure I run into bullet
#6. Then I resume tapping the joystick to the left. This is
the basic idea of cutting back to the opposite side. It's
difficult here because enemies alternate sides when they
appear, so bullets come at you from wide angles--those are
tough to see.

Now I have to cut back to the right. I can be less
attenative here, because the enemies are loosely grouped.
Their bullets won't clutter up the screen as much, so I
can dodge them easily.

The second scene is more about positioning yourself
properly. When I see a group of three green-headed enemies,
I should lead their bullets to the left side as best as I
can. This way, I minimize the number of bullets on the
right side, which I will use to dodge the blue enemies'
bullets.

The stray bullets still pose a threat. I just make sure I
don't run into the fourth large bullet in each five-way
shot. Cutting back to the left is done as described
earlier. If this all goes wrong, I would use a bomb.

Now, let's see it in motion! (Ask me if you want to see
it again.)

http://www.shmups.com/beepreying/BE...e1-6_marion.avi

Maybe I'll create progress videos now that I can rely on
my computer to do so. Yeay!

[Triple Lei]

Thanks for the explanations! I had previously experimented with direction tapping method, but I didn't know where to begin, or how far my taps should go. My method is a bit different (the main difference being the longer left / right movements and less tapping), so I just made my own video, going all the way up to the four statues:

http://members.directvinternet.com/j...ge1-6(3XL).wmv

wmv format for crap quality but small file sizes! 1.73 MB for 57 seconds. I decided to lower picture quality in favor of smoother motion, which is why it looks pretty blurry. Still very watchable, however. IMO. I do have a "good" DivX version, but it's 12 MB, and I don't think Bern-D is open to hosting requests.

Get it get it get it!

(I still have to work on dealing with the upper-left statue, though... help! )

[BER]

Originally posted by Triple Lei
My method is a bit different (the main difference being the longer left / right movements and less tapping)

I used to make those longer sweeps, but I was uncomfortable
improvising my dodges and cutbacks. I think the tapping
method is safer, because it takes better advantage of the
enemy's firing behavior--their patterns aim, so it's
sufficient to move over a little bit. It also means I have
to make fewer cutbacks, which are difficult to do.

I liked the way you dealt with those green-headed guys
after the flowers, by the way. That should help me further
reduce the number of stray bullets at the bottom of the
screen.

Originally posted by Triple Lei
I don't think Bern-D is open to hosting requests.

Hehe, malc would chop my head off if I host your videos.
malc gave me some web space on shmups.com, but his host
only allows 2 or 3 GB of transfer. I'm unsure how popular
Gunbird 2 videos are, but I don't want to think about what
would happen if I exceeded my bandwidth transfer limit. :)

Originally posted by Triple Lei
(I still have to work on dealing with the upper-left statue, though... help! )

Use danhaigh's method: smash them with your yo-yo! At this
point, you should have enough charge energy to break both
statues and weaken the mid-boss.

Edit: Okay, I learned how to dodge its patterns. Most
likely, you'll have no time to be at a particular part of
the screen, so I can't give you move-and-forget tactics.
For the first wave, just move left. For the second wave,
you can find openings created by the third and fourth
rings. Move to the left to enter the larger opening. For
the third wave, tap the joystick to the left twice to
dodge that two-bullet clump. For the fourth wave, wait
until the bullet from the third wave leaves, then tap
once to the left. You'll enter a lane which you can move
up and finish off the blue statue before it leaves.

I recommend you do this only if you're way out of
position to destroy it with your yo-yo or if your charge
meter isn't up to Lv. 2. Otherwise, it's safer to smash
it.

Always helpful to see it in motion. A small movie which I
will re-upload upon request:

http://www.shmups.com/beepreying/BE...e1-6_marion.avi

[Triple Lei]

1,004,500 - Triple Lei / Marion 1-7 (arcade score)

This was a pretty good game overall. Though I didn't beat it (I got up to the red form of the mid-boss), I chained well enough to earn the extend at those left-to-right orange guys in 1-5, and I learned how to dodge that second screen-filling burst by the 1-5 boss. (my friend totally freaked out when he saw me dodge it ) And although I am sure I will probably die at least once at the 1-6 boss, I no longer fear it (too much). I still have to work on being able to dodge and stop in time, while destroying the left... uh, thing.

I want to beat this game already!


Oh yeah, thanks Bern-D for the movie. I actually did dodge it! Surprising how simple things really are...

Any tips on destroying the lower-left statue without the yo-yo to destroy it outright? I'm sure I dodged it once with a mindless left-right-left movement, but I'm afraid it's not that reliable. Or is it? Or... do I just have to study that vid more in VirtualDub? (how do you do that frame-by-frame thing anyway? )

[Punky Skunk]

Lower left statue. I move right as the bullets "fan" out. Recenter on the statue and continue.

[BER]

Originally posted by Triple Lei
1,004,500 - Triple Lei / Marion 1-7 (arcade score)

Very good... I have to defeat the Medicine God to get my
million points.

I made a wee bit of improvement myself. Perhaps my last
score for the year:

1,074,600 - Bern-D / Alucard 2-1

Cleared the loop with one life and no bombs remaining, but
I wanted to blow up 2-1 with five bombs. At least I've
regained consistency. Maybe next semester, I'll pull
through.

Originally posted by Triple Lei
Any tips on destroying the lower-left statue without the yo-yo to destroy it outright?

I tap to the right, then when I'm inside the pattern, I
keep tapping to the left. For the first two waves, I focus
on looking for openings. But for the last two waves, one
tap to the right and two quick taps to the left suffices
for me. Once you figure out how sensitive your taps should
be, you should be fine. I doubt a video would help you
here, but if you'd like one anyway, let me know.

Originally posted by Triple Lei
(how do you do that frame-by-frame thing anyway? )

Simple. Don't play the movie, and push right to move one
frame ahead and left to move one frame behind.

[Triple Lei]

1,070,400 - Triple Lei / Marion 1-7 [Verified]

I died at that dog, ugh. There was this time he seemed invincible... when exactly is that?

Anyway, it looks like I'm going to be able to actually finish my goal of beating this game by the end of the year. That's still over a week, though hopefully it'll be by the end of today!

I think I've got my bomb distribution and stuff all figured out:

[list=1][*]1-5 boss: I should have 4 or 5 bombs left. I've decided to bomb 3 times: the first full-screen burst, the scattered bullet burst, and the second full-screen burst. Kinda wasteful, but I still lose at least one life in 1-6, so I'm not taking any chances. I also power down right as I deliver the finishing blow.[*]1-6 statues: Even though the lower-left (green) statue's pattern is easy enough to dodge, I'm still going to use the yo-yo if and only if it is the first statue. I realized I'm not going to be able to reach the top statues otherwise.[*]1-6 boss (first form): I'm not going to copy the videos exactly (!!!) - when the right blue spinny thing fires that spiral wave, I'm just going to attack the boss directly, since I always, always get hit by those stray bullets at the end.[*]1-6 boss (second form): I absolutely need to have at least 1 bomb for the 2nd form (dying at the first form would be okay I guess). It just became a lot easier when I knew which beam it fires first, allowing me to successfully sneak in those yo-yos.[*]1-7 start: Bomb if necessary, though in my practice runs, I can sometimes get through without one. I also purposely powerdown after those circly-spinny brown guys so I can more easily collect the gems from the gemhead. I keep a floating power up capsule or two on the screen and collect it at the midboss. (pretty neat, eh? © 2002 Triple Lei )[*]1-7 midboss (first form): I absolutely CANNOT dodge that X-like wave... so I guess I'll need to bomb. (help!)[/list=1]