Reasons why Donpachi is one of the best choices for a shmup TAS:
1) (the most important reason) It has a larger hitbox than Cave's later games, so you can't weave through arbitrarily tight gaps. Even TAS can't go through these bullets!
2) It has untapped scoring potential. The scoring system is based on chaining, but it is stricter than its sequel - it often isn't possible to fully chain a stage, so it makes for an interesting optimization problem. There are chains even WR level play may be missing. (See the link below!)
3) It's possible to play this game in two player mode and reach the second loop. (In most other Cave shmups it counts as using a credit to activate player 2 and you can't reach second loop.)
4) It has an interesting 'plays on hardest difficulty' choice - playing the Hong Kong version of Donpachi! Check this out:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?p=362577#p362577
'The Hong Kong version is by far the hardest of the versions. Finishing both loops of this version is probably as hard as a 2-all in ketsui or doj. The safe spots that work in the other three versions have been removed and some enemies bullets move way faster. So fast in fact, it seems like they instantly hit you.'
'No one I know of has 2-all'd the HK version of donpachi. In fact, my replay only gets to 1-5. If I had lots of time to practice, I might get to 2-4 but it gets pretty hopeless at that point. As I said earlier, the hiding spots don't work and everything is unfotunately more difficult.'
No one has ever publicly 2-ALL'd Donpachi Hong Kong version. That's pretty tough!
(There's also the ability to change the difficulty from normal to very hard in the operator configurion, though I'm not sure what it does since no one ever touches it.)
5) It's really hard to find very high level play of Donpachi. The best I can find is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7iJbWnWjJQ which is a mere 36.5mil compared to the WR of -84- million! There is also no Superplay DVD of this game, and when the game was most popular sites like youtube simply didn't exist yet.
These goals (hardest difficulty 2-ALL, 2 player 2-ALL, maximum score 2-ALL) are probably mutually contradictory, but they would all be great to see for different reasons :)
Videos/sources:
The Donpachi mystery - A small interview with SOF-WTN (talks about scoring of Donpachi with the WR holder)
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=50386
Comes with a possible route demonstration for loop 1:
"If you follow the captions and optimize the route here and there a bit, it gives you 25 milllion points for the first loop only. Now add SOF-WTN's 10mill chain to it and you slowly approach the elusive 40mill points. The replay is still a work in progress and very rough. Please excuse the many mistakes I made and enjoy!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_2F5FiaMLc&feature=youtu.be
Donpachi Rank Is Silly, shows off how dense the bullets get if you no miss deep into loop 2
Link to video
Joined: 5/30/2009
Posts: 135
Location: Top of the pops
Based on this I don't feel as though dodging will be too problematic in a TAS. Chaining in the second loop maybe still be another matter, although hopefully not to the point that a no miss no bomb becomes infeasible. That would definitely be a highlight, along with seeing what chains are possible with perfect manipulation. One place I've wondered about is the beginning of stage 5, where the way the blue planes circle around gives the impression that precision killing could theoretically extend the initial chain all the way up to the dead zone before the large yellow craft appear for probably 3 million+.
Another major consideration is which ship to use. Type C makes a lot of chains waaay easier for human players, but may limit options at superplay level because of its spread. Type B can do everything A does on paper, and maybe allow for some fun kills by swinging its side guns around, but its laser might be too sluggish late in the second loop (even though it's not that much stronger than the main shot in this game).
At last, Donpachi has the replay it deserves - a 2-ALL that 'counterstops' the game (achieves the maximum score that the game can track). This is WR by a large margin.
Link to video
Joined: 5/30/2009
Posts: 135
Location: Top of the pops
One of life's great mysteries has been uncovered. I thought I'd have to wait a lot longer to see it :o Incredible replay, even stage 1 gets systematically demolished. The timing in this game is so strict it can only have been a nightmare to learn, but it's so great to watch it all in action. Just in time for the 20th anniversary!
