Different strategies bewteen playing 1 player and 2 player

Jedah Doma

Chroma Ma' Doma!,
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Jun 5, 2004
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My cousin came in town and got hooked on Dodonpachi-Dia-Ou-Jou. He already loved Ikaruga, and this was right up his alley. I had only played the game one player before that, and noticed a big difference when playing. Now while this might be common knowledge to other members already, I never really noticed it until now. It's always nice to have a second player, but in Donpachi, it seemed so much harder. Since space is so limited when bullets fly around you in one player, in two player you have to play differently in order to avoid stray bullets aimed at your partner.

In Gradius V we never had that problem. There was so much more space to fly in that I didn't have to play differently. Enemies shoot bullets the same way for the most part. Bosses did the same patterns with random bullets and it was much easier with two players.

So, in the end, have any of you noticed these kinds of difference in gameplay within shooters?
 

Takumaji

Master Enabler
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Playing shmups in 2P can be big fun and rewarding if both players know the game and play as a team with covering fire, proper upgrade sharing, etc., but IMO, playing with one of those upgrade-eaters who aimlessly waste credit after credit is a pain in the ass, no matter how good the game actually is.
 

Kiken

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Apr 22, 2004
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Jedah Doma said:
My cousin came in town and got hooked on Dodonpachi-Dia-Ou-Jou. He already loved Ikaruga, and this was right up his alley. I had only played the game one player before that, and noticed a big difference when playing. Now while this might be common knowledge to other members already, I never really noticed it until now. It's always nice to have a second player, but in Donpachi, it seemed so much harder. Since space is so limited when bullets fly around you in one player, in two player you have to play differently in order to avoid stray bullets aimed at your partner.

In Gradius V we never had that problem. There was so much more space to fly in that I didn't have to play differently. Enemies shoot bullets the same way for the most part. Bosses did the same patterns with random bullets and it was much easier with two players.

So, in the end, have any of you noticed these kinds of difference in gameplay within shooters?

The problem is that Cave doesn't design 2-player shmups. They design single-player shmups and then throw in the 2-player option out of some sort of "tradition".

On the other hand, Ikaruga takes on a whole new aspect in 2-player mode. Chaining becomes even more dynamic and precise.

Gradius V (and Gradius Gaiden) in 2-player becomes a massive study of players-vs-rank. Since the rank moves up at the same rate as in single-player, you actively make the game even more difficult by escalating it beyond its single-player ceiling. Psikyo shmups are very much in the same boat, since with 2 players, the rank increases much faster.
 

Kiel

All About Shooters Mod., If you fuck with me, I'll
20 Year Member
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Psikyo shooters can be very fun in 2 player mode especially Dragon blaze and Strikers 99.

Dragon blaze is a lot more manageable with two people doing their dragon attacks just as enimies are appearing on screen.
 

shirt

Andy's Clothes Designer
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Dec 21, 2003
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I found DDP to be ridiculously easy with 2 players. Other than pissing time I don't see any reason to at all as a Cave shooters' main objective is a high score.
 

Vincere

No longer Tristesse
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Dec 26, 2003
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The fact is that some shmups that were almost too hard in 1 player become far more doable in 2 player mode. I just can take examples from my saturn colection:

Layer Section, which is actually easy as hell in 2 player mode until last stage, believe me. I played it with a friend of mine, and none of us knew the game well. And my friend never play shmup so find out the efficiency of our team. Anyway, we managed to reach the last level each party and sometimes the last boss. LS is too easy 2-player gameplay wise.

Souky, which is hard as hell in 1-player mode, is more easy as well in 2-player mode. You just have to be careful due to the higher amount of explosions around. But it's more enjoyable to reach the later stages with a friend. I seriously can't reach stage 4 boss alone in 1cc but it becomes doable with someone aside.

But there's also some games that are not made for a 2-player mode. Take Cotton 2 for instance. It's a really great game (IMO) alone but this 2-player mode ruins the enjoyable side of the game. It become unplayable and useless.

Finally, I noticed some hard times in shmups in 2-player mode that weren't there in 1-player mode, and I think about some games particularly. take Mars Marix. With some training, it's quite easy to reach stage 4 in 1cc at least. It's easy because all along the game, the enemies just keep firing at you. So there's always room to avoid the murderous waves of bullets. It's not like they always spread their bullets all over the screen like in Dodonpachi or Battle Garrega. So, in 2-player mode, as there's 2 ships, the CPU fires randomly at one or another ship, and it becomes really confusing.

There's many differences between 1-player and 2-player game IMO, but I don't like playing with someone else if you ask me because it's not made for.

Just my 2cents.
 
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