I DID IT! Share your latest 1CCs/other triumphs here...

[Nate]

Played on an AES with my original cart! This is a photo taken of my Amiga 1080 at just after midnight Jan. 26, 2018 after legitimately 1CC'ing (one life) on normal (level 4) difficulty. I started from stage four - to me this doesn't diminish the accomplishment (say what you like - I give a fuck) but someday I'll do the full eight; for now I am "at peace" with this dirty little devil of a game.

[LordHypnos]

Under Defeat (X360) 1-ALL get!

whew! what a load off my mind!

I actually even managed to get a video of it (coming soon)

Next stop: Blue Revolver, I think. Although I might want to try to get a vid of Triggerheart Exelica first, now that I can capture X360 footage.

[Stevens]

You have done well! Knew you could do it. Congrats.

Any plans for loop two?

[LordHypnos]

You have done well! Knew you could do it. Congrats.

Any plans for loop two?

Thanks
Not right now, I don't think. 26 minutes is already a pretty long game for my endurance levels.

[Stevens]

Fair enough.

I don't seem to remember wanting to jump right into the second loop either. Regardless I'm really glad you finally cleared it. There isn't anything else quite like it.

Look forward to your video.

[LordHypnos]

Fair enough.

I don't seem to remember wanting to jump right into the second loop either. Regardless I'm really glad you finally cleared it. There isn't anything else quite like it.

Look forward to your video.

In the youtube thread You get to see my stage 5 cheesy star-force like "don't kill enemies too fast so that you don't have to fight as many enemies" strategies. Well, I got them from Hydeux's 1 sissy video mostly (except I left two spiders alive instead of one).

[Stevens]

Fair enough.

I don't seem to remember wanting to jump right into the second loop either. Regardless I'm really glad you finally cleared it. There isn't anything else quite like it.

Look forward to your video.

In the youtube thread You get to see my stage 5 cheesy star-force like "don't kill enemies too fast so that you don't have to fight as many enemies" strategies. Well, I got them from Hydeux's 1 sissy video mostly (except I left two spiders alive instead of one).

Haha. I didn't even know that was a viable strategy.

[Stevens]

Under Defeat - 2nd Loop - Hard

Died on stage four in a spot where I have died on more than one occasion. Then on stage five I died at a spot where I have never, at least according to memory, died before.

Reached the boss with two bombs and spent them both on phase two. Dodged a half star burst attack in the corner and survived the final phase without bombs.

Spoiler

OH YEAH. Thought I was done after that 2nd death. Feels good to have held it together - especially after I was out of bombs.

[LordHypnos]

^Nice!

[EmperorIng]

Good job, Stevens. I'd been reading your posts on your progress with Under Defeat over the last week or so, so I knew it was only a matter of time.

[Stevens]

Thanks guys!

I did engage the two tanks at the start of the last stage, but that avoidance strategy is in my tool box now Hyp and will no doubt help me in the future. Thanks again:D

After playing on default earlier this week and seeing how much easier it felt I decided 2nd loop/hard is going to be my new default settings. I'm ready to start trying for the ALL. My hope is that by playing it on its hardest setting 75% (just an estimate) of the time the runs I do on default will seem easy by comparison. Since that is pretty much what happened the other day.

Pretty certain the lynch pin in an ALL attempt will be the 1-5 boss.

[mimiroru]

in spite of years of rust from not playing shmups regularly, i managed to clear touhou 3 on lunatic (as reimu) within a week or so of practice, and the consistency is even returning. while i'd like to start playing regularly again, my current laptop has issues with the remap program i use. since PoDD doesn't have a focus button i can play it comfortably without remapping. i also don't have regular access to my 360 for other shmups. but overall it feels nice to be able to play at a half-decent level again.

[Stevens]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Under Defeat - ALL CLEAR



I must have yelled "I did it" close to twenty times in the immediate aftermath. I cannot begin to describe how good it feels to have finally done it.

[CloudyMusic]

Congrats!

[Jonst]

Congrats Stevens!

[LordHypnos]

OMG! You did it! I knew you would eventually. Congrats!

[KAI]

No-missed the great thing route on DBAC vanilla, will try doing the same with EX.

[Klatrymadon]

Cleared Darius II (two-screen ver.) on the lower Z/Bio Strong route. Finally taking out Grand Octopus without losing everything was exhilarating. What a pig.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Under Defeat - ALL CLEAR

holy shit

Also Darius II is a brutal clear, enemies just rush in from everywhere in Darius games

[Klatrymadon]

Yeah, it's definitely demanding towards the end (I can't stress enough how erratic the Grand Octopus fight can be - you've got to always be at the right point in your 'herding' pattern or it's over), though thankfully Bio Strong is a very cheeseable boss.

Followed this up this morning with a quick and dirty 1CC of the Euro version, Sagaia. It's a vastly truncated iteration that's much easier throughout, except for perhaps at the last zone (my final zone was O), and I'm pretty sure the tougher bosses (if not all of the bosses) have about half their original health.

[Despatche]

Reminder that Darius and Darius II were intended for difficulty A, which was raised to difficulty B when players at loctests demanded it.

In both games, difficulty A makes enemies and bosses slightly easier to deal with, and there are more powerups. You'll notice in II, some of the "powerup formations" don't drop powerups; this is why. In difficulty A, all powerup formations drop something. I don't even like playing difficulty B anymore because it feels "wrong".

As you can imagine, difficulty D is a complete nightmare in both games. You get basically nothing in powerups.

[EmperorIng]

What dumb loketesters Darius II is already brutal. I am impressed with myself that I managed a clear some time ago, but it definitely was not easy. I used to play it exclusively on lower difficulty, because the lack of power-ups dropping is indeed bullshit (and that you'd never get to full power otherwise), but I told myself I had to do it on defaults just once... Funnily enough, I managed to clear Darius, but not Darius Extra. Darius is hard to dedicate too much time to in large chunks, so re-teaching myself the game fizzed out with the normal clear. I come back to it every now and then to give it another go.

With Darius II, the only arcade Darius I haven't cleared is G-Darius. This is a disgrace, because the game is so marvelous. Need to clear Darius Force one day as well, because that game is secretly one of the best shooters on the SNES - its only pitfall being its non-boss enemies suck, visually.

[Despatche]

Funny enough, I think the story actually goes that only Darius II's difficulty increase was from the loctest? I know that one for sure, but the Darius increase might have just been from Taito playtesting. Darius Extra was from player feedback, of course, and it has the same difficulty routine as the original game.

[Klatrymadon]

Thanks, Despatche - I appreciate the details regarding these alterations and the provenance of the series' Extra versions. I'm playing these on defaults in MAME (it pains me to say I've never played either of the first two on a cab), but I'm assuming difficulties A to D are what MAME designates as "Easy - Hardest"?

I notice there's also an on/off toggle for something called "Difficulty Enhancement" in the dip switch options, which is turned off by default. I haven't had a chance to see what effects that has, yet.

[mycophobia]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Under Defeat - ALL CLEAR



I must have yelled "I did it" close to twenty times in the immediate aftermath. I cannot begin to describe how good it feels to have finally done it.

congrats dude

[BrianC]

Reminder that Darius and Darius II were intended for difficulty A, which was raised to difficulty B when players at loctests demanded it.

In both games, difficulty A makes enemies and bosses slightly easier to deal with, and there are more powerups. You'll notice in II, some of the "powerup formations" don't drop powerups; this is why. In difficulty A, all powerup formations drop something. I don't even like playing difficulty B anymore because it feels "wrong".

As you can imagine, difficulty D is a complete nightmare in both games. You get basically nothing in powerups.

Reminds me of Star Force where the default difficulty is named something like Easiest (which isn't easy at all) and ever other difficulty is insane in comparison, IIRC. The Wii version was set at Medium or something by default. ouch.

[M.Knight]

Reminder that Darius and Darius II were intended for difficulty A, which was raised to difficulty B when players at loctests demanded it.

Where was that explained? If it was in an interview, I would love to read it.
That there was an easier difficulty setting in the game makes sense in hindsight, given the waves that do not give powerups even though they look like they should, and the extra firepower you can see being used in the attract demo.

[copy-paster]

1 ssy'd 19EkkusuEkkusu!




Final boss = final pushover? HAHAHAH Fuck no.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Nice! I was actually shown 19XX for the first time at a meet yesterday and that's actually my fave shot type, love that quick movement speed.

Is it best to use the plane's specialty weapon or is there an advantage to using the spread shot with the Shiden, etc?

[copy-paster]

Is it best to use the plane's specialty weapon or is there an advantage to using the spread shot with the Shiden, etc?

Shinden's special laser can kill bosses really fast, but I always use the spread shot. Pointblank rules.