Homebrew Game Club Shmups Competition 2023

[dvertov | 205]

Hi all! Our picks for the December 2023 Homebrew Game Club podcast episode are three short-format, scoring-focused shoot ‘em ups. In the spirit of these games, we are hosting a high score tournament on our Discord server through December 18. Scoring will be grand prix style with 10 points awarded for each first place, 9 for second place, 8 for third, etc. Whoever has the highest overall scoring rank across all three games is the winner.

Overall winner gets their choice of two prizes: an HBGC pint glass (as seen here) OR the chance to pick a game we will cover for an upcoming numbered episode.

Added 11-28-23: To make this more competitive, whatever prize the overall winner doesn’t pick will be awarded to one other participant from the tournament, drawn at random. Participants must submit scores for all three games to qualify.

You can find free ROMs for all three games at these links:

• Omega Blast (Mega Drive / Genesis)
• Flight of Pigarus (Master System; play the 5 minute version)
• Dangan GB2 (Game Boy Color; play at normal difficulty)

Contest rules are as follows: 

- This contest is open to any member of the HBGC Discord server. (If you're not a member yet, here's an invite link.)

- HBGC podcast hosts will participate in the tournament but are ineligible to win.

- Submitted scores cannot be achieved via use of save states, slowdown, or other external tools to make the game easier.

- Post photos of your score to our #16-shmups Discord channel or send them to me via DM and I will add them to the leaderboard.

- Photo evidence is encouraged, but the honor system applies here, so if you weren’t able to get a photo we’ll still accept the score. Note however that tiebreakers will be decided in favor of scores with photo evidence.

Leaderboard is viewable here.

Scores must be submitted by 11:59pm UTC on Monday, December 18 to be eligible. Good luck! 

Edited November 28, 2023 by dvertov
Added runner-up prize information

[Gloves | 11,779]

Hmmmm. Shmups, eeehhhh? 

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

I'm there.

[dvertov | 205]

Edited the rules to specify we're playing Dangan GB2 at the normal difficulty setting.

[dvertov | 205]

Edited to add info about a random draw for the runner-up prize! 

[dvertov | 205]

Only one week left to enter the HBGC 2023 shoot ‘em ups tournament! Scores are due next Monday, Dec. 18 at 11:59pm UTC. I've updated the scoreboard to show current overall leaders across all games. @WhiteHat94 is currently on top, but only one point separates our top two players. Also remember the runner-up prize is awarded by random draw among all participants, so you can get a prize just for entering!

[dvertov | 205]

Folks, just a reminder that you have around 24 hours from the time of this post to submit scores for the HBGC shoot 'em ups competition! WhiteHat94 has a solid overall lead on our scoreboard, but don't forget we've added a second prize tier you can win just by entering. Also, if you're not into pint glasses, we just released a couple of new mugs you can request instead, including the "We're Not Rebranding" mug pictured here. (All of this stuff is also available to buy at our online store -- you won't get it in time for Christmas, but you might be able to have one in hand after the holidays to quaff down any leftover egg nog.) Happy shooting!

[dvertov | 205]

Just updating this thread to say the leaderboards have been updated to show the overall tournament rankings as well as rankings for each specific game. Congratulations to WhiteHat94 for winning the overall competition, and to Wiedo for earning the random draw runner-up prize. WhiteHat94 selected a pint glass, so Wiedo gets to pick a game for us to cover on an upcoming episode of the podcast.

The full podcast episode about these games is available here or via most podcast apps (Apple, Spotify, etc). Thanks to everyone who participated!