Haha it is for sure.

If you want an easier time of it, I suggest the setup I use personally, as it basically covers the screen in YOUR bullets, and they go through enemies, so a single shot can clear basically the whole screen of enemies.

Hawk Wind - Sends bombs up or down depending on your position. Your options will ALSO send bombs up or down, based on THEIR OWN position. This works extremely well with the F.Option which I will explain below.

Tailgun - I choose this because there is a single point in the game where I actually switch from Laser over to Double, in order to enter one of the bonus stages. This is a bit advanced though, so really you don't need to worry about this one.

Twin Laser - Shoots through enemies. It's moderately powerful, but the screen-clearing nature of it is invaluable for the levels themselves, as well as the bonus stages. More bullets - better!

F.Option - This gives you (up to) 4 options, two below and two above. As mentioned above, with Hawk Wind this will have bombs going both up and down basically at all times, so you won't really have to worry too much about the "ground" enemies, as the bombs will take care of them. Also, arguably the best part of this Option is that you can use it's secondary fire to literally cover the entire verticality of the screen. Once you have gotten all the powerups you need (including shield, etc.), you can roll them back around until you are on the Option spot again (it will be blank). You can then press and hold A to extend your options out from your ship to cover more ground. This is huuuuuuge and makes much of the levels in the game much easier.

Reduce - Make yourself smaller! Everything is easier to dodge when you are half your normal size. Further to being smaller, normal bullets from enemies will only take a portion of your health rather than killing you, so you actually have a "shield" AS WELL as being smaller! (note that running into an enemy will still kill you straight up, as well as larger bullets, e.g. from bosses).

Full Barrier - You want your full shield as quickly as possible, so don't tarry with having to upgrade it twice, go straight to full power with Full Barrier, now in a store near you.


With the setup above, this is how the game should play out:

Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely try that out. Problem is I struggle to even get more than 1 or two option shooters on the screen. One thing I hate about this game and shmups in general is the one hit and you're starting all over. But I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

Updated score for Gradius. Still incredibly hard but I did get a bit further. - 64,300. See above post.

 

Getting there! Good job bud!

Gradius iii - 817,000 - 1 loop
488,700 - 1 loop 
330,100
324,200
301,400




Bust-a-Move - Round 54 - 11,677,870
6,720,630
4,564,390


 

Got Gradius 3 in the mail today, so I can stop playing on the smelly old emulator and play with my SNES controller! Time to put in some work!

Damn....I guess you could say "the gloves have come off".

I don't call my Youtube Channel "Gloves Off Games" for nothing! ;P

 

first month in a long time that ive lost interest in competing. I def didnt vote in the poll for bust a move and space shooters arent my cup of tea. and the fact that i know i could play hours a day and not touch that gradius score kills it. Not in the mood to point spam bust a move. Would rather see it played straight up.

ill submit scores but i doubt ill be trying to improve much this month

My new Logitech gamepad came today!

I tried some Bust-a-Move and couldn't come close to the current scores. Then I tried Gradius III and couldn't even beat the first level. Haha, I suck at this month's games.

I'm looking forward to Donkey Kong Country next month.

Gradius III is incredibly hard. Bust a Move is fun but it's all about clearing as many marbles as you can in one shot.  I can't wait for DKC myself - one of the few games I am really good at.

What kind of rules can we expect for a game like DKC? I don't recall it having a scoring system, nor was it very difficult that I can remember. How will a "score" be determined?

It could be progress/one life (good luck with that). But I don't know how a tiebreaker would be determined.

 

You guys will find out soon enough

Lol so mysterious! I like it.

FYI, I updated my Gradius III high score on the first page with the following score (643,700):



EDIT: Updated again with a new high score: 966,100

Updated my score on bust a move

Updated score: 64,300

First time getting through the speed stage! Made it to the spider boss guy and died. After taking my updated picture I noticed my username wasn't in the picture. Whomp... Whomp... I should be able to get it again though

After practicing one run each night for the last week or so, I've updated my score for Bust a Move on the first page. I got greedy on Round 23 and died on what was otherwise an amazing run:



27m+ points.  

point farming...not impressed  

beat the game. that would be more impressive. You obviously should be able too since you point farm on the first quarter.

Oh I've beaten the game since this started a few times. I'm just playing over and over again trying to figure out how to gain the most points on each level. The game WITHOUT point farming is quite easy. I'd argue that doing what I'm doing is more difficult.  
 

You get an extra bonus point in the standings with a completed game score.

The game isnt easy on 1 life. You get fucked by marble randomization easily on some levels. Ive gotten to close to 30th stage. Score only around 4+ million. I fully understand teh point system. There are 2-3 levels that build your score up. Point farming is lame imo. You are sitting there anti playing the game for points. I really wish the rules were altered for this game. Its just not playing the game in the spirit it was created.


I think you're the only one really playing right now lol. Competition for 1st is pretty much over. No one seems to want to try.

I'm ok competing with myself if that's the case; I love a good challenge. Like I said, I'd never considered myself good at the game before, but now I'd say I have a solid understanding of it, and appreciate the chance to play it. 

It's an arcade style game with a high score system that very clearly leans towards huge chains. I'd argue that it's against the spirit of the game to simply want to get to the end, without at least attempting to obtain a high score. In this our views simply differ, and that's ok with me.  
 

No one is saying get to the end without trying for a high score. You are simply adding marbles and marbles and trying to make a long chain that wasnt part of the level to begin with.

The spirit of the game is getting a high score with what your given. just piling up marbles spamming to get points is lame.