Strikers 1945 II scores & strats

[Takumaji]

Here we go again...

Strikers 1945 II Hiscore List

(Position - Player - Score - Loop/Level - Plane - Version)

1 - VNM - 1,967,400 - 2/6 - Hayate - original pcb

2 - BBH - 1,388,800 - 2/2 - Hayate - PSX

3 - Fran - 1,166,900 - 1/8 - Hayate - Mame

4 - Kiken - 974,300 - 1/8 - Hayate - Saturn

5 - twalden - 836,100 - 1/7 - Hayate - Mame

6 - Tak - 776,600 - 1/7 - Hayate - PSX

7 - kaos - 775,300 - 1/7 - Hayate - Saturn

8 - too_short - 773,300 - 1/7 - Pancake - Saturn

9 - Amano Jacu - 716,200 - 1/7 - Hayate - Mame

10 - whitey- 566,900 - 1/6 - Hayate - original pcb

11 - moonwhistle - 503,200 - 1/5 - Pancake - PSX

12 - Abasuto - 471,300 - 1/5 - Pancake - Mame

13 - The Chief - 462,000 - 1/5 - Pancake - original pcb

14 - LoneSage - 411,000 - 1/4 - Pancake - PSX

15 - roke stAr - 325,100 - 1/3 - Hayate - PSX


Settings: 1 credit/3 lives, normal diff., 1st extra ship 600k.
Versions: Original pcb, PSX/2, Saturn, Mame - choose one.


Gentlemen, start your consoles.

[SNKJorge]

This should be awesome.
Are there any cool secrets on this game btw?
Some boss strategies would be cool too.

[The Chief]

http://users.adelphia.net/~thechief47/images/Strikers1945IIHS.jpg

Original PCB

[das roker]

I'm going to give it a run on my DC using Bleemcast

It's going to be pathetic so I'm sure no screenshot will be needed

some of these bullet patterns are unfair and too fast

edit:

308,300 1-3 Hyate

need practice

I've only had this game for 3 days

[Takumaji]

Hiscore table has been updated.

I will c&p a couple of nice gameplay infos/strats from the all about shmups thread, specially VNM's boss hints are really helpful.

[Amano Jacu]

First try to get contact with the game and all the ships:

452200 Hayate 1-5 MameOx

[LoneSage]

Nice scores, fellas. Looks like I’m going to have to start training if I want to get past my old million point mark.

[das roker]

I have to take my hat off to Jorge and Chief as they both used the pancake to get their scores

[Takumaji]

I have to take my hat off to Jorge and Chief as they both used the pancake to get their scores

heh, yeah, guess my score would be much lower with a different plane... Hayate simply is the shit with those auto-drones.

The pancake is cool, it's just that it's a bit tricky for me to tap through tight bullet sprays with it.

Played it again last night, reached 1/8 but the end boss killed me again... even with VNM's and other ppl's tips, the fucker still bites my ass...

[das roker]

I like how straight forward the game is

no bullshit gameplay calls back to the days when gimicks weren't used in shmups

just blow everything the fuck up and dodge every bullet you see

[SNKJorge]

I have to take my hat off to Jorge and Chief as they both used the pancake to get their scores

The Flying Pancake is just awesome.
He is not as strong as he is on Strikers 1945 Plus, but still good.

[Amano Jacu]

Hey Tak, my best score was 452200, the one you posted was my second higest score and the last one I made with the P38 (Lighting iirc), that's why it was in yellow ;)

Anyway I'll give a more serious try today or in the following days, I know I can do much better.

[twalden]

I usually use the Flying Pancake but I'm switching to Hayate now since I realized it makes stage 7 easier. The stage 7 boss still owns me and always will :mad:

Flying Pancake - stage 1-7 816,100
Hayate - stage 1-7 836,100
Playing on Mame

http://members.arstechnica.com/x/ebm/strk1945pt2.JPG

[Takumaji]

Nice scores there guys, keep 'em coming!

@Amano: your score entry has been fixed.

@twalden: there goes my fourth place... congrats! I see from your score that you died on the 1/7 boss, and that usually is my prob as well. There are tips for beating him in the big shmups thread, some of them are really helpful... I was too lazy to dig them out and post them here last night, will do that tonight... ...I guess.

[Abasuto]

Used pancake. No idea why, but I do better with this plane.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/Abasuto/strikerscore.jpg

[The Chief]

I have to take my hat off to Jorge and Chief as they both used the pancake to get their scores

Thank you, I play with a variety of planes but have always found the Flying Pancake to be my style.

Looks like I'm going to have to break out the PCB again as competition is stepping it up :glee:

[Amano Jacu]

There's no way in hell I can let Abasuto beat me, and I passed the Chief too!

583400 1-6 Hayate MAMEoX

Too close to that damned extra life :mad:

[Takumaji]

Good work, Amano. Hiscore table has been updated.

Here are some general tips and boss strats, originally posted by Fran and VNM in the All About Shooters thread:




one thing about strikers and psikyo games in general...

DO NOT pick up more than 2 - 3 power ups,
unless you are the incarnation of the shooters god or something...

every extra power up means difficult goes up of 1

you have been warned




Level 1-5: It kind of depends on how full your bar is entering the level. I usually have a level 2 available. I lay that just after the tank comes into view, then go right. After its first set of shots cross over to the left side of the screen, it should die and there should be a nice pattern hole to fly up through. This can also be done with 1-2 level 1's.

At the place where the turrets pop out of the rooves, point blank the 2 on the left, as they die, leave a level 1 in line with the turret above them. Go right, and lay a level 1 just to the right of the small hole in the ground underneith the 2 turrets on the right. You can dodge the turret fire to the left or right from the center of the screen.

The 2 large ships before the fortress. Start at the right, pretty much follow the edge of the screen left to avoid its 2 spreads, then do it right for the 2nd ship. If you are getting close to a level 2, hold fire so you get a level 1 and let your drones kill anything left on the screen.
Fortress: Lay a level 1 at the ourside edge of the 2 forward turrets, so they will be destroyed quickly and also damage the larger back turrets. I start off center right after laying the 2nd lv.1 then swoop left, lay another lv.1 to kill the left back turret faster, go right, kill stuff. You can milk this midboss for a while if you work on it, just laying level 1's on one side then the other.

Boss:
Lay a lv.1 if you have it. Start up close, then back off before it starts to fire. dodge right, through the holes in its first pattern. Tap dodge through the next spread. Dodge to the left during the aimed fire/spread. Dodge to center during the following pattern of claw shots (I find a bouncing movement works well). Go up through the hole in the center of the next pattern before the main gun fires and beware of shots from small planes. The boss should die soon, the spiral attack, just try not to get cornered. I start up right, dodge left, then dodge right through the 2nd release.

1-7 boss: Lay 1-2 level 1 charge shots in front of the boss, go on top of its head. When it begins to fly, tap up a bit and stay still. Next, go down to bottom of the screen, tap right throught the scatter pattern. Go to the right and up near the boss, as the mines explode, tap down the side of the screen and you should avoid all fire. Now, another scatter pattern to tap through, then go to the center of the screen, halfway up, the boss will fire its lasers, after they fire, go to the bottom, then right. It should die now. If you want to make it easier, lay a few more level 1's.

1-8 boss, if you're playing in tate, the largest safe spot for the 3rd form's fast scatter attack is a bit to the right of the center of the screen. It's pretty easy to get there, then dodge left for the next pattern and return for the 3rd scatter. Ex_mosquito uses a different safe spot on the right and left edges where the color changes, but I find it harder to line up.

[Abasuto]

When you say the game increases in difficulty with more power ups. Does that mean the enemies shoot more bullets,more enemies or they take more shots to kill ?

[Takumaji]

When you say the game increases in difficulty with more power ups. Does that mean the enemies shoot more bullets,more enemies or they take more shots to kill ?

PS- my score wasn't updated. :cool:

Increased dificult means that you will have to inflict considerably more damage on the bosses to destroy them, that and the bigger enemy ships/tanks become harder to kill, just not the small ships that attack in formations. Some bullets sprays also come out faster, and some of the smaller kamikaze ships will drop an additional bullet.

Oh, and the score table is up-to-date now. :)

[Abasuto]

1 - VNM - 1,967,400 - 2/6 - Hayate - original pcb


That score is insane.

[das roker]

325,100

pales in comparison to the rest of yous

back to the drawing board

:crying:

[Takumaji]

Updated.

Abasuto, yeah, VNM's score is very cool... but... between my skills and this score, there's mr. mission-8-I'll-bullet-spew-you-to-death boss, and even tho I'm getting better at finding the safe spot without too much delay, he kills me everytime.

[jro]

'K, I'm a little late to the party- finally getting around to picking this up, and I have a question: is there a difference, performance-wise, between the PSX and Saturn versions? I'm happy to buy the Saturn version if it's better, but the PSX version is much cheaper.

Recommendation? :conf:

[Takumaji]

Gameplay-wise, they are identical as far as I know, so if you have a good offer for a s1945ii PSX version, you should probably pick it up.

[jro]

Gameplay-wise, they are identical as far as I know, so if you have a good offer for a s1945ii PSX version, you should probably pick it up.

Exactly what I needed to know, thanks, Tak!

[SNKJorge]

That score is insane.

It looks like the world record is: 3,421,900

According to Gemant's site..

[whitey]

After my first couple plays....

whitey- 433,000 - 1/4 - Hayate - Original PCB

I'll try and work on this crap score over the weekend.

[Takumaji]

Updated.

How someone can score over 3 mill. on one credit is beyond me. The 2nd loop is stick-bitin' difficult, the dive bombers and bullet patterns become highly aggressive, and don't get me started on the bosses... definitely made for the ultra-manic shmup freak with a hand-eye coordination like a Shaolin monk.

My personal goal is to beat the 1st loop and perhaps the 1st mission of the 2nd one, anything else would be just wishful thinking... :)

[whitey]

After my first couple plays....

whitey- 433,000 - 1/4 - Hayate - Original PCB

I'll try and work on this crap score over the weekend.

Got a little better afer a few more plays....

whitey- 566,900 - 1/6 - Hayate - Original PCB

[Takumaji]

And another update.

Today, I finally broke my own hiscore and reached 800,600 pts. (died during the 1/7 boss battle), but because I have no digicam, I'm thinking of switching to the mame version to be able to make screens of my score entries. So, take this as an "unconfirmed" score...

Thinking of my run of today, the deaths were avoidable, I just made the mistake to take a quick look at my current score, and after breaking the 800k barrier, I got nervous and lost my last life shortly before the boss exploded, he already was flashing red, dammit.

[VNM]

Thank you for the compliments about my score, it was a lot of work :) I've been stomped by Ex Mosquito lately with his 2-ALL, crazy... For the 2nd loop, you really have to play like a machine, loose plans just don't work.

I don't play anymore, but I'll try to answer questions.

[Amano Jacu]

http://members.lycos.co.uk/amanojacu/fotos/strikers3.jpg

713300 Hayate 1-7 MameOx

Finally got the extra life that made me boost quite a lot my score ;)

[LoneSage]

12 – AER – 391,200 – 1/4 - Shinden - PSX

I felt like such an idiot; if anything, overconfidence is my weakness. I made it pretty far without dying and then before I knew it I had messed up. Ah well, always able to try again, I know I can do way better.

[das roker]

I can't remember it exactly, but I'm 100% sure it was 329xxx

I'm guessing it was 329200 using hayate

I've been playing it in tate mode, now I can't go back

[LoneSage]

12 – AER – 391,200 – 1/4 - Shinden - PSX

I felt like such an idiot; if anything, overconfidence is my weakness. I made it pretty far without dying and then before I knew it I had messed up. Ah well, always able to try again, I know I can do way better.

Holy crap, I just used the Flying Pancake on just my first run...got an even 411,000 and got to 1/4 again. Good thing you didn't put up my old score yet, Tak.

I won't post anymore until I get something more worthy :mr_t:

I've got nothin but respeck for the FP now.

[BBH]

just a random note that I don't think has been mentioned yet - the US PSX version's "Original 1" mode differs slightly from the arcade version. Because the screen is shrunk, the same safe spots won't apply. :( I don't think I ever found an easy pattern for the first part of the 1-7 boss (on the cannon). Overall I'd say this mode is tougher, so I'll never understand why I was able to get my highest score this way. I'm soooo inconsistent at this game. :( Maybe once I'm done with my little diversion into Raiden Fighters 1 and Raiden Fighters Jet, I'll start picking this up again in MAME and try to beat my old high. Or at least try to 1 credit the first loop again, christ. That's still the only time I've done it (not counting the one arcade machine I played on that was set on 5 lives). I'm much better at doing the first loop of Strikers 1999 ;)

Also, I always seemed to have better results with the Shinden than the Flying Pancake. Maybe I just liked the fact that the super shot did huge damage quickly, but yeah... I'd rank it as #2 behind the infamous Hayate.

[Takumaji]

Updated.

Yeah, most strategic movement infos do not apply to the original 1 screen mode. They work with original 2 because the level has the original size, but the extra scrolling which is needed to make it work in yoko mode leads to very tricky situations in some cases.

Perhaps I should add a "screen mode" column to the hiscore list.

What mode(s) do you console/mame players prefer?

About the Pankcake, I love it, it's just that it's slightly too quick in some situations. However, tapping through fast scatter bullet attacks is easier with it... I wish I could use Hayate in normal game and the Pancake in boss battles... :)

[Amano Jacu]

Damnit, I died again right at the beginning of the 7th stage:

http://members.lycos.co.uk/amanojacu/fotos/strikers4.jpg

Managed to improve score, but very slightly :crying:

716200 Hayate 1-7 MameOx

[moonwhistle]

I was trying to use various planes and it just seems that the Pankcake has an easier time surviving. With very strict collision detection Psikyo games seem to reward inaction rather than action so a homing primary seems essential. I'd like to able to play better with Mosquito or Folke.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-9/829380/Picture052.jpg


503200 Pancake 1-5 PSX

[Takumaji]

...and another update.

moonwhistle, the inactivity you're talking about is just one side of the coin. While some bullet patterns can be overcome by standing on safe spots or tapping, it's quite important to know which enemy plane/ground unit to attack first in later levels. This requires you to a) memorize certain enemy or bullet patterns, and b) take initiative and play offensively to some extend.

For example, some of the bigger enemy planes release two vertical streams of bullets while hovering in the middle of the screen, thus limiting your movement to a small area to the left or right. In this case, trying to sneak past all those criss-cross bullets on a per-reaction basis is possible but considerably more difficult than attacking and destroying tougher enemies before they get nasty.

Anyway, you're right tho, a good homing weapon comes in handy in most situations, another reason why I love my Hayate... :D

[Kiken]

Finally decided to Tate my TV for a bit, and figured I'd give Strikers 1945 II a go (between all the rounds of Gunbird 2). Only got to play it once this afternoon due to some guests coming by... and I played rather miserably (2 totally stupid deaths).

Kiken
Saturn
Arcade screen format
Ki-84 Hayate
Stage 1-8
974,300 points

[Takumaji]

Updated.

Nice score there, Kiken. The hunt for the top-3 is on!