Hey shmuppers, what is this technique?

[BadMouth]

The technique looks close to smashing into enemies and appearing invincible.

I first saw this on videos of Psyvariar 2:The will to Fabricate



I took it as a gameplay element including "buzz" that I didn't understand.
I play the game like a regular shmup, dodging bullets and trying to shoot the enemies from afar (although I do spin).

With the upcoming release of Ikaruga on Steam, I was looking for a good video to demonstrate the polarity aspect which adds a different dimension to the gameplay.



Seems to be something similar going on.

Are they just getting real close to the enemies, but not letting the hit box touch them?
Is the idea to stay close to enemies to avoid bullets from other enemies or is there something else at play?

My ship goes boom whenever I attempt anything resembling these. 

[opt2not]

I'm really not sure what you mean...  from the looks of it, they're getting really close to the enemies so that their rate of fire is quicker. In that Ikaruga one, he knows exactly where each ship spawns so he's probably destroying them before the bullets get too unmanageable?

These types of shmups usually have tiny hit-boxes for your character/ship, so if you're precise with positional placement, you can get really really close to objects without going --boom--. Usually their hit-boxes are in the center-of-mass of your ship, the fuselage mainly.

[spoot]

In the Ikurga one he's making sure to get the chain up.  Kill three brown in row, kill three white in row, etc.

[rpgposer]

Some shmups have a "bullet grazing" bonus, which you get by letting the bullets just miss the hitbox.  I haven't played psyvariar 1 or 2 as of yet.  I have been hung up on Battle Garegga for years.