Shmups |OT| Intense firepower and hypnotic beauty

Game discussion, news, impressions, sales, events, hardware, and analysis.
Post Reply
Grisham
DPadder
 

Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2026 4:56 am

Post by Grisham »

Image

News and discussion about shmups.
 

POSTREACT(ions) SUMMARY

Coffee (1)
DoDonPachter
Strength (1)
Bullet Club
User avatar
DoDonPachter
DPadder
 

Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2026 6:07 am

Post by DoDonPachter »

Well I’m glad we got this thread up and running 🌝👌
 

POSTREACT(ions) SUMMARY

Strength (1)
Bullet Club
User avatar
Stifler's Mom
DPadder
 

Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2026 7:17 am

Post by Stifler's Mom »

Yeah...
 

POSTREACT(ions) SUMMARY

Spiders
DPadder
 

Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2026 9:30 pm

Post by Spiders »

Super interesting video of player’s experience with what i may consider “The GOAT” shmup.

@dodonpachter we had convos about strict chaining and DOJ… I’d be really curious what you thought about this!

 

POSTREACT(ions) SUMMARY

Psyduck (1)
DoDonPachter
User avatar
DoDonPachter
DPadder
 

Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2026 6:07 am

Post by DoDonPachter »

I’ll watch it on the way home from work today 🤓👌
 

POSTREACT(ions) SUMMARY

User avatar
DoDonPachter
DPadder
 

Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2026 6:07 am

Post by DoDonPachter »

Alright Spiders,

I had to turn it off after 10 minutes when he said he thought “the devs put a difficult mountain in stage 2 just to have a mountain” and “I was not feeling any joy in stage 2”

Sounds like the guy took two months to learn a 50-60 million survival clear (on black label no less) and wanted to critique a “masterpiece” that isn’t a masterpiece in his estimation.

Masterpieces aren’t gonna be for everyone, as a rule. He is wrong when he says you “have” to engage with chaining. You don’t, and chaining is pretty open ended (which he admits) even in higher scoring runs 700+ million.

The “problem” with chaining shmups and routing is that players can know they can look up highest-level chain routes, so it creates a atrong sense of dread and aversion knowing you’ll be spending weeks learning a “throwaway” route while you learn DOJ. But that’s not unique to DOJ, all players hoping to 1ccs-for-score are faced with that “problem” as they learn the game.

No one is recommending DOJ because it’s a masterpiece of a survival 1cc. It’s not a masterpiece because it offers the best survival run 1cc in the business. Yet, the guy is judging it as such. DOJ is known for its supreme difficulty and strict chain timing. It’s a game for shmup veterans. It’s not aimed at the tourist who puts in a survival run and then walks on to the next game for their next video. 🤷‍♀️

Final impressions: a 10 out of 40 minutes watched.
 

POSTREACT(ions) SUMMARY

Brain (1)
Spiders
Spiders
DPadder
 

Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2026 9:30 pm

Post by Spiders »

His impressions are what my impressions were as a novice and talking to you was enough for me to “get that I don’t get it”.
He doesn’t make videos like that but I get your point, and I think that’s something I’m seeing with that new school players — score play is like a fun DLC mode. It’s probably part of the scene moving to Discord and YouTube… I can think of a couple of guys like Maz and Aquas who will play one game dedicated and push their PBs.

I got to dig up some of your old blog posts — 1CC tourism, Ship of Theseus… a lot of stuff you talked about years ago I think applies here.

I appreciate the insight and you taking the time! I love thinking about this shit.
 

POSTREACT(ions) SUMMARY

Heart (1)
DoDonPachter
Post Reply