Raiden high score #2

Got the JP PS1 port about a week ago, right when I got my JP 360 - and this is all I have been playing. It's a fantastic port, feels like its a perfect recreation of the arcade, right down to the need to actually credit up before you play.

I had been playing with the 1 player ship and decided to give the second player ship a try after my umpteenth run this morning and beat my previous high score by like 100K instantly. I died at the middle of the fifth stage, but seeing as how I had never played that stage, I was pretty happy with the result. I know that there are a ton of cheap moments, like tanks firing from the side fields, but I really don't care. I like hard, old-school shmups and this fits the bill perfectly.

VIDEO: Mushihimesama HD promo - Cave

Here is the first preview video for Mushi HD for the JP 360. It's a graphical HD version of the first Mushi title, with the added bonus of the 1.5 Matsuri version Cave sold as a special pcb last year.

I'm hoping that the original arcade visuals will still be in the port, but with the full original game plus Matsuri 1.5, this is a must get - already have a pre-ordered copy on hold with rancor at Tokyo Shmups!

Japanese Kit Kat addiction - thanks rancor!

I'm not much of a guy for sweets - especially chocolate. If I snack, its usually something salty, but after I bought a few things from rancor on the shmups forum from his site, Tokyo Shmups!, he sent in the box a couple green tea Kit Kats and I was immediately hooked.

I bought these from Asian Grocer.com and they came lickity split. The dark chocolate ones beat the hell out of the ones we get here in the states and the other two flavors are just stellar as well. They are about half the size of American Kit Kats and its seems to be a perfect ratio for chocolate to wafer cracker. Plus, Strawberry Tart? You knew that was gonna be good even before I told you so.

Check out rancor's site in the sidebar and get yourself some shmup goodness and get started on that Kit Kat addiction!

Twin Cobra high score #5

I finally sent my Twin Cobra pcb and my Battle Garegga pcb out for repair and got them back on Friday, tested them yesterday and set this new high score on Twin Cobra with the first credit I had played in over a year! 1,187,790, dying finally at area 177.

I made it about 85% through the game, which felt good. I'm sure it helped that I was playing the shit out of Raiden and Raiden II that morning as I just got Raiden Project for the JP PS1. I should really buckle down and credit feed the last section in the game to get some practice in on it. Such a good game - Toaplan forever!

VIDEO: DoDonpachi Daifukkatsu Black Label Arrange - Ketsuipachi - WR sinmoon

This is a video of the current WR on DoDonpachi Daifukatsu Black Label Arrange aka Ketsuipachi. I'm still learning this game and it is a bit strange using the bullet cancelling/hyper mechanic. I keep coming back and watching this to get little tips on scoring and everytime I do, I find myself watching pretty much the whole thing. He gets about 75% of his score on the TLB, which is kinda of a bummer that its weighed so heavy, but really, its still a fun game and I don't imagine I will ever get close to doing what sinmoon does here.

Battle Garegga T3-Kamui VHS Superplay

What is this obsession I have with dead formats? I think it has something to do with the fact that since they are no longer producing massive quantities of VHS tapes or records or cassette tapes, I know that whatever is left in the world is pretty much all there will ever be and sooner or later, more will be lost to the ravages of time.

What ever the reason, I have been on a tear buying up all the VHS stuff I wanted superplay wise and converting them to DVD. So far, I have been lucky in getting great copies of great runs and this tape is no exception.


It's a super nice Doujin release by T3 Kamui, who is the current WR holder with Gain, a score just north of this playthrough (J111,620 -> K,720,100).

It's still a great run and has a good intro playing over the arrange OST. It's also the one that was on Superplay.co.uk and the footage is as grainy as that tape shows as well, leading me to believe that the transfer was just rough or the tape itself was a bit worn before they did the transfer. Bought from rancor over at shmups and my new favorite guy in Japan. And the green tea Kit-Kats he sent along with were so good, I ordered a case of them and a few other flavors from Asian Grocer.com

Dodonpachi Saidai-Oujou 2nd Location test

Wow - this looks amazing and amazingly hard. EOJ has posted some of his thoughts on Cave-STG, specifically that the bullet patterns are reminiscent of Ketsui and that the difficulty is mega hard on Expert. Like Mushihimesama Ultra hard. Which is awesome.

This video shows a Type-C Expert run and you can see just how difficult it is. I'm hooked. I don't think it'll be a day one purchase, but I may pony up for this sooner rather than later.