SotM February 2023: Dragon Blaze

[gusmoney]

Dragon Blaze by Psikyo is our Shmup of the Month for February 2023. Twenty-eight short days to get your best score in.

Name​	Stage​	Character (Quaid, Sonia, Ian, Rob)​	Platform (Arcade / PS2 / Switch / PC / PS4)​	Score​
1) opt2not	1-5	Sonia	Arcade (PCB)	432,500
2) mjmjr25	1-4	Quaid	Switch	422,600
3) Tagan	1-4	Quaid	Switch	413,800
4) ShootTheCore	1-4	Quaid	Arcade (MAME)	377,500
5) mmsadda	1-3	Quaid	Arcade (PCB)	287,100
6) Neodogg	1-3	Quaid	Switch	246,000
7 ) Ralfakick	1-3	Quaid	Switch	206,700
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10)

 

[mjmjr25]

Awesome - thanks for hosting. Time to relearn the timing of tech bonus!

 

[wataru330]

Throwing the dragon into bosses for 1-hitter quitters, sounds really rewarding. Never played this one.

For $8, seems like a good time. Works w/ flip grips on Switch. Let’s get Bonus Career!!!

 

[mjmjr25]

Put in 45 mins last night. Re-learning.

Gemheads are a little safer in this one.

Game gets stupid hard on 1-3.

Tech bonus on red dragon is still the easiest (for me). The others are like a 30/70 success to suicide ratio, need to work on it.

Don't watch all clear videos on this. Unless you want to spend 300 hours doing save-state memorization. These guys live at top of screen drop dragon / recall before you see the enemy. Most don't fire their main weapon until stage 4 and beyond, just launch/recall/launch/recall.

 

[mjmjr25]

Tough game, getting something on the board to get things rolling.

273,600 - Tagan - Quaid - 1-3 - Switch
257,500 - mjmjr25 - Quaid - 1-3 - Switch

 

[Atro]

Sorry. Cant participate this month guys.

Looks like a fun game tho.

 

[Neodogg]

Tough game, getting something on the board to get things rolling.

273,600 - Tagan - Quaid - 1-3 - Switch
257,500 - mjmjr25 - Quaid - 1-3 - Switch

View attachment 62530

I think there should be a new rule, you can only submit a score if you have an account...screw this getting my ass kicked by a kid 2 months in a row!

I realized I have this on the Psikyo switch compilation, put in a couple credits last night trying to see how the different characters played. Also need to read up on the scoring mechanics....

Sorry. Cant participate this month guys.

Looks like a fun game tho.

is it because it's not on Saturn?

 

[mjmjr25]

Bob, he's a "kid" (15), but been playing shooters since 5yo, so no shame there. If my 12yo daughter beats you...yes...shame. She's scoring around 130K right now, but picking it up quick.

Scoring:

• Your dragon shot destroys most enemies on a single launch. Some larger enemies like the multi-turreted hovercrafts will require a more precise hit.
• Dragon shots will release gold (200pt) and silver (100pt) coins.
• Your dragon can shoot completely independent of you. If you're shooting, he's shooting.
• You can set him up opposite you and he'll stay there if you don't recall him.
• Killing enemies with dragon also builds your magic meter (power shot)
• Killing a popcorn enemy with a bullet will get you 100pts. Killing a popcorn enemy with dragon shot will get you 100 for the kill and usually 2 gold, 1 silver (500 more). IE, 6x more pts using dragon launch than your main gun for a kill. Larger enemies = more gold.
• Dragon launch into enemies is the main key to scoring.

Aside that:

• Finding gemheads just like in Gunbird 2 is key, you can get about 10K out of gemhead. They go off screen faster than in GB2, so once you spot it ideally you launch your dragon into it to keep it positions and pouring out coins.
• Lastly Tech Bonus. In each bosses 2nd form they will release a massive bullet pattern. Then turn, flash, and present a flashing circle on their center. Launch your dragon into that for a 20K kill bonus (in addition to the normal 10K boss kill). There is always a path to get close to do the Tech Bonus, but it is definitely trial and error.

 

[Neodogg]

oh snap...I didn't realize the dragon would come back to you. I thought it was like a special bomb...this changes things

 

[wataru330]

You gotta press throw button again, to call it back.

 

[opt2not]

You can also press and hold the dragon button when it’s on the way back to you to get it to stop. Release to let it continue to return.

 

[Atro]

I think there should be a new rule, you can only submit a score if you have an account...screw this getting my ass kicked by a kid 2 months in a row!

I realized I have this on the Psikyo switch compilation, put in a couple credits last night trying to see how the different characters played. Also need to read up on the scoring mechanics....


is it because it's not on Saturn?

It's because I dont have one

These ng.com shmup series are a pretty damn good excuse to give those games some use.

 

[ShootTheCore]

Cmon NeoDogg - let the kids play. This is all just for fun and sharing shmup love anyway-no money or egos should be on the line here.

Here’s my first crack at Dragon Blaze

ShootTheCore - Rob - MAME - 268,400

 

[mjmjr25]

Some strategy and other tips.

Only bullets kill you (not contact with enemies). When you hit an enemy you will power down, but you'll get a power up opportunity within 3-5 seconds, so it is rarely impactful. It is easier to score in early stages by not fearing enemy contact.

Your dragon can do magic when separated from you. This is helpful with larger enemies in later stages that are spewing enemies.

Ian is fastest, but weakest bomb. If you don't bomb to clear screen and avoid death; Ian's speed is a huge advantage when screen is filled.

 

[mjmjr25]

Tagan - 302,800 - Rob - 1-3 - Switch
mjmjr25 - 269,300, - Quaid - 1-3 - Switch

I've gotten things figured out since these runs below but haven't snapped a pic yet. Getting to 1-4 consistently and mid 350's. Progress is strong, feeling like stage 6 is possible. I need to forget scoring and focus on survival after stage 3 and I should be able to get further.

 

[ShootTheCore]

Started focusing on achieving Technical Bonuses against the bosses and finding the hidden Golden Heads as per the advice in this thread. Great scoring advice @mjmjr25 ! Finally made it to the fourth stage too.

ShootTheCore - 1-4 - Quaid - MAME - 377,500

 

[Neodogg]

Dogg - 1-2 - Quaid - Switch - 148,800

There’s a lot of shit going on on the screen, probably need to crowd control better…

Fun game. I swear I’ve died so many times just staring at the bullet coming at me just like people can’t avoid a telephone pole while driving because they are just staring at it.

No ego here @ShootTheCore all tongue n cheek, if they can beat me great.

Thank for the tips Mike, will try to implement them..

 

[mjmjr25]

For Tech Bonus, it is always in the boss 2nd form and always at same spot, usually after 5th bullet pattern is released (I think).

Until you memorize them you can bomb to make the path to the tech spot easy to get to. In time (at least for some of them) you'll see the natural path and not need to bomb.

Quaid's bomb clears all bullets, whereas Ian's bomb only does a straight line in front of you.

A lot of "pros" don't shoot during boss 2nd phase to keep some clutter off the screen. Just dodge and wait for the tech spot to appear, one hit kill.

 

[Neodogg]

Small improvement…

 

[mmsadda]

MmSadda - 1-3 - Quaid - 287,100 - PCB

Totally had a 300k+ run through most of 1-4 on my first credit after putting the PCB in... And realized I forgot to take a pic right after turning the cab off 🫠

 

[ShootTheCore]

Glad you didn't forget to snap a pic!

 

[mjmjr25]

Steady progress:

416,100 - mjmjr25 - Quaid - 1-4 - Switch
337,900 - Tagan - Quaid - 1-4 - Switch

 

[ShootTheCore]

Looks like I'd better get back to work!

 

[mmsadda]

Glad you didn't forget to snap a pic!

Oh, it wouldn't have topped your score, but might've put me ahead of Tagan (at least at that point.)

I've got some catching up to do, anyhow

 

[Neodogg]

Finally got to stage 3, got an adapter coming so I can use a stick with the switch, hopefully that helps but I’m too greedy with the coins…