Getting good at shmups
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whisper2053
Shigen's Fitness Trainer
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Self loathing? :P
whisper2053
Shigen's Fitness Trainer
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moreorless
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I would mention that a lot of the games that are talked about here are intended for players who've had years of experience with shoot em ups.
I'd echo the comment made earlier and suggest you start off with some older titles to build up your skills. If your playing mostly bullet hell games right now you might find that R-type(besides R-type itself and sequals try Pulstar and Axelay) style games that focus more on memory are actually more to your liking, they were ultimately aimed far more at mainstream audience than bullet hell titles.
I'd echo the comment made earlier and suggest you start off with some older titles to build up your skills. If your playing mostly bullet hell games right now you might find that R-type(besides R-type itself and sequals try Pulstar and Axelay) style games that focus more on memory are actually more to your liking, they were ultimately aimed far more at mainstream audience than bullet hell titles.
NeoGeoNinja
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Markell.
Don't play fucking Pulstar. Especially if you live in a multi-story building.
I'd suggest that Blazing Star was a bit more friendly when trying to get into shoot em ups tbh. Maybe try Raiden &/or Raiden II as well. In general, shmups aren't all that easy going in the later stages because... that isn't the point of them. But some, like those above, will start off much more realistically...
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I don't know where you're getting the idea that save states are bad - they're hands down the best way to practice certain sections. What you should avoid is credit-feeding.
SHOGUNATE_LSD
War Room Troll
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The good old way. You die, hit the reset button and start over 
Save states are good for practicing certain areas. You don't always want to spend 5 minutes of going through tricky stage just to get the part you're having trouble with !!
Save states are good for practicing certain areas. You don't always want to spend 5 minutes of going through tricky stage just to get the part you're having trouble with !!
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Obviously play the game if you have it. But if you seriously want to get good at a game, save states are the way to do it most efficiently. There's no way around it.
Chempop
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I pretty much only play single credit runs. Once in a while I continue if it's a matter of practicing a final boss pattern a few times, pretty rare though. Save states are a shortcut, but absolutely not mandatory. Just keep track of where you die and try different strategies so you aren't constantly making the same mistakes.
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basing the difficulty of the game on how soon you die is a pretty lazy difficulty system. developers just didn't want to bother creating a 2nd loop for true masochists.
Chempop
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??? It was a joke, you crash into the first enemy to get a full hadou so you can max your medals faster. Plus Ibara has a second loop, you just have to select Extended mode by holding down when you press start.
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The good old way. You die, hit the reset button and start over
I used to throw/attempt to smash the pad as well in my youth but it got rather expensive.
aoiddr
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Having a decent joystick to play with is also important. I changed out the LS-32's my cab came with with Seimitsu LS-56's. The difference is like night and day. It was so easy to do fine twitch moves in Deathsmiles after I made the switch. And in Parodius Da...no more accidentally hitting the ceiling and dying.
Chempop
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I'm a pretty big advocate for LS-56 as well but truth is most of the best players in the world use LS-32 and JLF - pure arcade stock style. Hell, the Futari Ultra counterstop was done with a stock 360 pad on an untated small crt. It really comes down to what you are used to and comfortable using.