Glad you stuck with it! Yeah, it's got that old-school rough around the edges feel, but enough modernity and a lovely wide shot when maxed that it's hard not to enjoy when it clicks. Don't worry about the occasional % increase. You get a ton of extends without needing the rare 0% damage bonus which is frankly RNG based. Some waves have enemies travel offscreen almost instantly which can result in taking 1 or 2 % damage without you even having done anything wrong! My goal in a level is generally to aim for 10 - 15% damage, that's pretty safe to go for and it's not unusual to clear with as low as 8% showing sometimes. Even 25% is manageable honestly. The game simply isn't tight enough for a full 0% run to be doable!

It's a bit of a marathon for sure! ^^;; Recovery if you die is pretty brutal if you die at one of the later planets in particular. I've had one run that no-missed to loop 2's last stage then straight up chaindeathed away 13 or so extra lives in a row.

@@BareKnuckleRoo well this run made up for those chain deaths👍

Wow you did it again haha

@@colour_thief Yeah, haha, I couldn't resist having something to show for it on KZfaq. I also cleared Get Star. I really got into it after that game meet. :)

Thanks!

It's a really fun game. Hamster's Arcade Archives release of it seems pretty darn solid! It's pretty charming, and I like how the music inside the comets sounds like a Legend of Zelda dungeon. :) I haven't really been working on DFK too much lately, I'm currently trying to 1CC Donpachi!

@@BareKnuckleRoo Tears of joy the day Donpachi is announced for Switch. Yep, this Arcade Archives release looks really well done.

Hahah, thank you, I appreciate the kind words. It's such a strange and wonderful game. I'd had it on my list of games to play that I'd stumbled on, but only had the chance to properly try it a year and a half or so ago, and I was hooked. Its incredibly wide shot at max power feels very modern for the time it was made. There's a lot of great games out there that aren't as popular perhaps as they deserved to be so even if it wasn't considered influential on the genre, that's nothing against the game itself. The funny part was the weeks I was going for the counterstop, I went over to a game meet and they were playing another 1986 Taito game (actually developed by Toaplan) called Get Star. It was a blast playing on a couple of cabs with games from the mid 80s going, and getting the counterstop that night live in front of a group of friends, but I couldn't resist going back and doing it again for the sake of recording it. I got hooked on Halley's Comet and wrote a game guide for it detailing powerups and mechanics, check it out as a primer if you're interested. It's easy enough to learn the game all on your own though, there's nothing seriously obtuse in terms of mechanics, it's very well designed that way: shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=69440

@@BareKnuckleRoo "Its incredibly wide shot at max power feels very modern for the time it was made. " That's the thing, everything feels so modern for the time this was released. I'm seriously impressed after trying the arcade archives release.

@@dr_ubo Yeah, the only complaint I have with the arcade archives release is their autofire options are too fast. The game needs 10 hz, tops, to maintain a perfect combo of damage and coverage.

@@BareKnuckleRoo Makes a lot of sense actually, it is still a good addition though.

Thank you!

The Engrish is charming and delightful. The damage percentage not repairing seems like a strange thing initially, but when you think about it, it makes sense. You're fighting a glorious, hopeless battle against an overwhelming, seemingly (well, literally) neverending army. There's simply no time for the planets to repair themselves because the attack is relentless, and even though it seems doomed, you're still fighting as the glorious defender! Also it keeps someone from hogging the arcade machine forever. Even playing well it's inevitable you'll slowly rack up damage on the planets so eventually, even if you hit the counterstop and keep going, you'll be forced off the machine. ;) Infinite looping games are a bit silly, I'm a bit glad the counterstop coincides pretty much with a 2 loop clear (if you score aggressively).