Raizing's vertical STG Battle Garegga hit Japanese arcades 25 years ago

February 3, 2021 2:43 PM

...and if you have any fondness for shoot'em ups (or any videogames at all, really) watch this exhibition by T³-Kamui, the world's best Battle Garegga player, attempting to beat her world record, with superb English commentary courtesy of Softdrink_117 and Frenetic. (via GSK)
posted by Bangaioh (9 comments total)

I couldn't actually watch that, it was just too stressful.
posted by fnerg at 3:15 PM on February 3, 2021

It's not live, I don't know any of the people involved, and I've never personally played this game before - but my stomach still collapsed into an atom when the game crashed. What a stressful moment.

Great video. I've never had the focus or reflexes to be any good at SHMUPs (I mean, holy shit that hand speed) but I love the idea of 'em. And in general it's a pleasure to watch somebody do something they're very, very good at.
posted by ZaphodB at 3:58 PM on February 3, 2021

About a year ago, Hardcore Gaming 101 did a podcast covering the game, getting into the intricacies of why the game is generally held in high esteem (And how it has the nickname "Battle Greg").
posted by Darkest Timeline at 4:10 PM on February 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

I love stuff like this, in the weird overlap between "this person is extremely good at something" and "the something in question is a bit obscure and nerdy" — I always have a hard time judging, as an outsider, the scale. For example, I know esports are a thing but there's a range of popularity in there, and I have to assume that a somewhat obscure game from a quarter century ago doesn't draw a huge amount of attention compared to something like Street Fighter or whatever.

This assumption is supported by the fact this video has like 2800 views, but on the other hand they managed to find some dudes to comment on it who clearly know a lot about what's happening, so there's gotta be some group of weirdos (and I mean that in the most positive way) out there who've spent a huge amount of time working out the intricacies of this game.
posted by axiom at 4:43 PM on February 3, 2021

Won't spoil it here but the thing that happens at 32:00 is hilarious; worth watching from about 31:00 for context.

I've never had the focus or reflexes to be any good at SHMUPs (I mean, holy shit that hand speed) but I love the idea of 'em. And in general it's a pleasure to watch somebody do something they're very, very good at.

Yes same. The final 2 bosses at from about 1:01:00 are just full of "how on earth did you dodge that" moments; I could never even.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 5:58 PM on February 3, 2021

Very good eponysterical posting
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:00 PM on February 3, 2021

Interesting, never seen that game before. Just based on the name I was thinking "Galaga". Turns out it is more like a relative of "1942", or a much hyped up and advanced version of it? My favourite in this genre was always Xevious, but that was tame and also very much a memorisation game, the Battle Greg seems to be an entirely more subtle and complex thing...
posted by Meatbomb at 8:52 PM on February 3, 2021

Very good eponysterical posting

For those who are less familiar with late 90s N64 shmups, see Bangai-O.
posted by zamboni at 7:41 AM on February 4, 2021

Replay of the 2019 world record:

Battle Garegga (T3-神威, 20.95mil ALL, Gain)

It's been a very long time since we last had an update from Kamui, who by her own admission was effectively retired from the active record chase.
[...]
As is the norm now, she's very kindly offered both the complete WR replay and a very (very very very) detailed commentary script for the Special Demonstrations Project

posted by Bangaioh at 10:42 AM on February 4, 2021