MAME ROW #112- Mars Matrix: Hyper Solid Shooting

thelostsoul

@pjft Thanks for this how to play, it will come in handy when i play more. What I am most impressed is, that it needs only a single button. Some may not like the overloading buttons and want a single purpose button. It is weekend now. :-)

obsidianspider

The "one button for everything" definitely takes some getting used to, and I'm still not able to get past the first boss, but it's been fun figuring things out. One thing I noticed is that it seems like you don't die/take damage from touching enemies themselves, only their projectiles. Once I figured that out it helped quite a bit as I didn't have to avoid as much.

22,696,500 for now

pjft

@obsidianspider Well done, great to see you picking it up as well :)

I took some more stabs at it today and the scoring system still baffles me a bit, as well as the mosquito power. It’s not natural to me that killing bad guys does not add to the score but only what you pick up, as well as the fact that the power cannot be immediately triggered when you’re in a bind.

I still lost the same place where I died the other day (beginning of level 2), but this time around I got 68,317,120. I think those very large golden cubes are the ones that make the difference.

obsidianspider

MAME ROW #113 is now live

thelostsoul

I hope there is still time. Had to solve some problems here and wasn't very motivated to play anything.
Got 2'9109'2310
If someone still want play it, then lets do.

Use the shield to collect bullets and try to hit enemy with it. If they die from this counter attack, they split into many of those gold collectibles.
Second advice, try to collect as many of those gold. I think they will raise the score multiplier for killing enemies.

pjft

@thelostsoul Oh, wow, congratulations!

I'm off this week, traveling for work, but I'll try to submit a new score next week if I have the chance :)

Well played! :)

thelostsoul

@pjft Thanks, I was a bit surprised myself imagine a Pikachu suprise meme here.
Good idea, we still can play after the "official" competition is over. I think this wouldn't hurt anyone.

pjft

@thelostsoul Deal!

Hope all is well with you. :) I'll get back to you next week. For context, what stage did you make it to?

thelostsoul

@pjft The score is from stage 2 early phase. I make progress, 3'5... now. ;-)

I think the key is to counter enemies with that block thing (release the block early, before it explodes). If you hold the button and collect bullets, then you can release it to shoot enemies. It will shoot in opposite direction of where you fly. That creates a lot of collectible gold. This is highly risky, but rewarding too. Edit: And thank you, everything fine here now.

thelostsoul

LOL, I had a good run.
Once you get it and don't play safe, you get a lot of points. I died in stage two, maybe midpoint. Collecting the gold will get you exp. and that makes you stronger (I think). Some special enemies will spawn again, if you kill them fast enough. These are the one shooting a lot in a clockwise. You can get a lot of gold there. I had a row of 4 of them in stage one. Shoot fast enough, before they disappear. I also play with that blue ship.

8'8777'3560

pjft

Wow.

So, here I was, giving it my best, thinking I was having a fighting chance against your previous score (the 2,XXXX,XXXX) and was going to post my 2,3432,3580 when I see that your latest one was 8,XXXX,XXXX :P

I give up for now :D

The blue ship is indeed better for my play style, I feel, thanks for the tip!

thelostsoul

@pjft :D I have a big grin now, feels good.

IanDaemon

@thelostsoul I play and I die. I play and I die. I play a lot, but that doesn't mean I get any better. XD

IanDaemon

@IanDaemon Shooting for 0008,8800,0000. Got it.

pjft

@IanDaemon it's not as easy as it s... No, wait, it doesn't even sound easy at all!

IanDaemon

@pjft said in MAME ROW #112- Mars Matrix: Hyper Solid Shooting:

@IanDaemon it's not as easy as it s... No, wait, it doesn't even sound easy at all!

OK, so I tried five times last night and got 0000,192x,xxxx. I just don't understand the scoring. ... Yeah that's it. I'm not bad at the game or anything. XD

pjft

@IanDaemon As discussed previously, the score is based on collecting those golden thingies, not on destroying baddies. I also think there's some "chaining" mechanism of collecting those in sequence within a certain timeframe - it may increase the score you get.

Also, collecting and deflecting bullets against enemies will have them drop some of those golden thingies, so that's as much as I know as well. :|

thelostsoul

@IanDaemon @pjft I was about to explain this too, but now you did it for me. ;-)
Really important is it to collect those golden barrens or what it is. And use the shield to absorb enemy bullets to form a storm, which you release before it explodes. If you release the bullet storm towards enemies, then they give you a ton of those gold, which is the key to get high scores I think. Also there are a few enemies which will spawn at given points again and again if you kill them fast enough and combined with the shield storm (I just call it storm) the points get high. And make sure you kill the boss, because after some time the boss leaves the room. And the points look so high, because it gets much higher over time. Because the EXP from first level will give you much more points in next level (I think).

What I mean by that is after level 1 I had something like 2xxx... and quickly in level 2 it got higher and higher and even when I did not make it to the boss, I had 8xxx...

IanDaemon

@pjft said in MAME ROW #112- Mars Matrix: Hyper Solid Shooting:

@IanDaemon As discussed previously, the score is based on collecting those golden thingies, not on destroying baddies. I also think there's some "chaining" mechanism of collecting those in sequence within a certain timeframe - it may increase the score you get.

Also, collecting and deflecting bullets against enemies will have them drop some of those golden thingies, so that's as much as I know as well. :|

I'm also just playing "one quarter, three lives" and trying over and over. So my scores may not be in the same league. That's fine with me. XD

VictimRLSH

@IanDaemon That's how I always did it in the arcades. Your money goes further, and you eventually master the game. You can beat some surprisingly hard games that way. I was able to clear Mercs and even NARC on one play, but it took a LONG time to get there.

Although saving state before a boss fight and playing that fight over and over even if you win until you have it down pat really helps with the bullet hell shooters. I can get about 5 million on Donpachi on one play because I trained hard on the boss fights.