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RF Generation Message Board | Gaming | Community Playthroughs (Moderators: techwizard, singlebanana, wildbil52, GrayGhost81, Disposed Hero, MetalFRO) | Shmup Club January 2022 - Air Zonk 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. « previous next »
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Author Topic: Shmup Club January 2022 - Air Zonk  (Read 11389 times)
Corkman
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« Reply #15 on: January 18, 2022, 08:02:30 PM »

 
   Yeah, I hear that. I think I'm going to practice using a Stage 5 save state on the PC Engine Mini.

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Golem
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« Reply #16 on: January 18, 2022, 11:48:04 PM »

On Spicy, the game seemingly gives you enough points from the penultimate boss that you always have 9 lives going into the final boss. It's a little nuts.

On the final boss itself, I've found that regular charge shots work best. If you time it just right, it can shoot down the missile volley. And the act of charging seems to shed the green spinny things that latch onto Zonk.

Tonight, I got my first clear of stage 5 on its own (using a state at the stage 5 title card). Took me something like 3 hours of practice across multiple sessions. Now onto stage 4!

EDIT: It's the next day now. Here's my Spicy 1CC:


After clearing, my thoughts would be:
-Boxing glove and lightning are great because they eat bullets.
-The screen-clearing bomb is great because it eats bullets.
-Spike Ree seems to be the most powerful friend because its green fish projectiles sit on enemies and do successive damage.
-It's weird that the final boss literally maxes out your lives.
-Probably the best implementation of the rear fire thing from Image Fight that I've seen in a shmup.
-You can cause slowdown with busy effects (screen bomb) or lots of projectiles (the card weapon), but this comes at the cost of flicker, which makes it harder to track projectiles and enemies. Kind of an interesting tradeoff.
-I have a hard time coming up with any thoughts on this game. Optimistically, this means that I don't get the game. Cynically, this means its positive reputation is owing to its production value.
-Using save states, this took me about 8 hours of practice.

Would you rather play Air Stonk or Air Zork?
« Last Edit: January 21, 2022, 11:25:57 AM by Golem » Logged

MetalFRO
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« Reply #17 on: January 27, 2022, 05:12:01 PM »

Good thoughts, and congrats on the Spicy 1CC! I got my Sweet 1CC on stream a few days ago, I just need to push the Twitch Highlight to my YT channel so I can post it. Regarding your thoughts:

- Bullet eating is a big strategy, and that's one reason why copious use of the charge attacks is practically mandatory. Because the smiley faces show up based on the number of targets you eliminate, bullets appear to factor into that, so any of the weapons or charge attacks that you can use to exploit that are helpful, as is dropping bombs. Even the default shot's charge can clear bullets, so if you die, you're not stuck w/o some ability to clear bullets.
- The bomb is OP in some ways, though I've found that its bullet clearing is sometimes inconsistent. There have been a couple times I dropped a bomb and still got picked off.
- Spike Ree is powerful, yes. He cuts through the 1st stage boss like a hot knife through butter. I haven't tried him on later stages, because I'm following the pairings suggested by Ed from Studio Mudprints, but it might be interesting to see how he fares against other bosses.
- Yes, this is very weird, and it makes me think that either they designed it that way because they knew the final boss fight was kind of unfair, so it was a "late in development" way of compensating, rather than balancing the difficulty better. That's my supposition, anyway.
- The damage from the rocket boots is a GREAT feature that definitely makes the game more strategic than you might think upon initially playing it. I noted on the very first podcast episode that there was a bit of that with the original Gradius, where the Vic Viper's flame out the rear of the craft could damage enemies, but it's really well implemented here, as you said.
- I actually like the slowdown aspect, and have used that to my advantage a few times, but you're absolutely right - the flicker can make things difficult, so it's definitely a balance.
- I think I kind of understand what you mean. I feel like the reputation is partially deserved, because it is fun, and has a lot going for it, but I feel like maybe the hype is greater than the game itself. But then I don't have nostalgia for it, and I feel like the console had better shooters, even around the time of its release and prior.
- You certainly have an easier time adapting to these games than I do! I think my Sweet clear probably took me 10-12 hours, some of that time spent playing Spicy, then moving down to Sweet just to try and get the clear.

Air Stonk vs Air Zork? I'm not sure I quite get the context here slick
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Corkman
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« Reply #18 on: January 31, 2022, 07:30:54 PM »

 
  Here's my last attempt on Spicy below. 842620 pts at the Stage 4 boss.

  I found myself not liking this game the more I played for a Spicy 1CC. The big hit box, the power up reset each stage and the bullet sponge enemies on Spicy all led to some frustrating deaths.

  But, I'll definitely come back to it again because I love the general gameplay and how nonsensical and wacky it is.

 

 


* air zonk 2.jpg (112.52 KB, 640x508 - viewed 189 times.)
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MetalFRO
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« Reply #19 on: January 31, 2022, 10:45:02 PM »

Very nice! Any other final thoughts on this game?
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Golem
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« Reply #20 on: February 01, 2022, 02:14:47 PM »

Air Stonk vs Air Zork? I'm not sure I quite get the context here slick

Just some goofy wordplay. :b I also totally forgot about the jet thruster damage in Gradius!

I found myself not liking this game the more I played for a Spicy 1CC. The big hit box, the power up reset each stage and the bullet sponge enemies on Spicy all led to some frustrating deaths.

But, I'll definitely come back to it again because I love the general gameplay and how nonsensical and wacky it is.

I wasn't too keen on the gameplay. I think there's too much bullet eating going on, which kind of blurs what the challenge is. There's also a ton of powerups and lots of friends, and in general variety kind of irks me. I would prefer it if it was catered to a few specific powerups. For instance, the cards and missiles overlap as spread weapons, and the boxing glove and electric staff overlap as slim, powerful weapons. But I think that's a matter of taste.

On the other hand, I like the powerup reset. It helps make each stage easier to learn. It gives you a fixed state for beginning each level. When you credit feed R-Type stage 7, it can be pretty rough starting without a force pod. In Air Zonk, though, credit feeding works the same as beginning the level from scratch. This lends the game a certain amount of fairness or ease of learning. It's like the antidote to Gradius syndrome.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2022, 02:18:08 PM by Golem » Logged

FauxMacho
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« Reply #21 on: February 03, 2022, 04:30:53 PM »

I ended up not having much time for Air Zonk this month. I did get to about the end of the 2nd to last level or beginning of the final level on a credit on Sweet. I never got a great feel for my hit box, and pairing that with the claustrophobia of many of the tougher boss battles made it hard for me to learn the game, to learn from my 'mistakes'. I often saw my metallic skeleton carcass arcing off screen before I ever noticed a bullet coming at me. I did enjoy on a surface level the many weapons and matchups with allies.
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