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Gimmick! is hand's down the most impressive FC game I've ever played.

There are unique sprites that only appear once in secret areas (limted cartridge space, what's that?), slopes, and a seemingly real physics system based on momentum like Sonic the Hedgehog.

Also great music and sprite work.

It feels a generation ahead of it's 8 bit contemporaries.

That game is perfection.

Well, I went back and upgraded my Contra Spirits 1CC to a 1CC without any farming.

I had an excellent stage 4 and 5 which made all the difference. Stage 6 I did pretty decent at the roulette and got the brain most of the time. I kept the flame thrower closely guarded as it makes a huge diffence on the final boss and the very last section. I ended up finishing the game with four lives in reserve.

So that's three Contra games down in about a week, and its time to take a break from 1CCing games and playing something a little more relaxing.

And that, they did! https://exa.ac/en/games/gimmick-exact-mix/?v=0f177369a3b7

The REALISTIC ANOTHER WORLD never die

After playing the Aleste collection a lot lately, I'm going through most of the other games in the series trying to crank out any other 1CCs I can manage, and just got the Super Aleste 1CC today after a few tries.


Even though it's about the 10th 1CC I've had in the game over the years, I just can't get enough of Konami's Scramble, and recently did it on my new little MAME cab I built.

Nice; the 'Aleste' game I come back to the most is Spriggan but Super Aleste can be an occasionally fun time as well. I never 1cc'd it.

Scramble is too hard for me, especially with those weird arcs for the missiles. Glad to see it keeps reeling you back.

Spriggan is my favorite of the Aleste games (though I've not played the brand new one yet). Or I guess M.U.S.H.A would be but I don't think its a part of the series for whatever reason, even though Spriggan and M.U.S.H.A. seem pretty closely linked.

Super Aleste is cool too. They got a lot out of the SNES hardware, that game feels fast and responsive like a Genesis game. Very solid Compile gameplay right there.

Which Spriggan game is it that you guys are really into? I tried out Spriggan Powered on SNES and really did not see much appeal in it, but I constantly hear people saying the Spriggan series are some of their favorite Aleste-related games, so I'm curious which one it actually is.

And yeah, Super Aleste is pretty impressive for what it is, and does feel a lot more like a good, snappy Genesis shmup in everything besides the music.


Again, I'm curious which Spriggan is the favorite for a lot of you guys out here.

Scramble is definitely something that takes some getting used to the missile trajectories and timing to get good at, since there's really no bullets to dodge, technically, it's mostly maneuvering around obstacles and destroying stationary objects, but it's always kept pulling me back in over the years to where I've almost gotten it down to a science and I think I've 1CC'd it on every platform it actually came out on (dedicated cab, X360, GBA, PS2, PC) Still haven't got to play the Vectrex version, but I'm planning to check that out in the next few weeks when a friend brings Vectrex his out to my place.

The whole game is only about 10-12 minutes long usually, so it's just a really nice short game to play with, but you have to master each section pretty well to get through it all.

The original vertical oriented Spriggan for PC Engine. Very Compile-esqe in its gameplay.

Spriggan Powered, the side scrolling SNES sequel, is best left in a rubbish bin.

Yeah I tried Spriggan Powered on the snes precisely once and didn't like it.

Seirei Senshi Spriggan on the PC Engine has a bit of the dna that would go on to make Sorcer Striker/Mahou Daisakusen, even if it still has some of those annoying/dumb Compile quirks (unbalanced weapons, too long, etc.).

Spriggan Mk 2 on the PC Engine (a sequel despite having nothing to do with the first - not even orientation!): I haven't spent more than a credit or two, and my impression is that it's basically a Euroshmup (regen health, whackamole waves, long cutscenes I don't give a shit about). Maybe more time with it on the Mini is in order. Maybe. My time is precious.

Making good progress with Arcade Classics Anniversary collection, just got a 1CC of Thunder Cross [JP].

I've been messing around on easy mode for a long time, I don't know why I didn't go for full defaults a lot sooner. I didn't die right up until the final boss but wasn't prepared for a slightly longer fight, that guy usually goes down in seconds. My strategy throughout the game is to use boomerang for everything, switching to the twin shot for the final stage which becomes a joke once you can shoot backwards. The super weapons are avoided, they're actually kind of annoying and enemy shots can easily get obscured in the conflagration. I know if you keep getting the [?] items while carrying the super weapons you can get 1-ups but the game gives you enough extends anyway so there doesn't seem to be an advantage.

So now I'm interested in the much-hated [US] vers. It seems balanced in a real interesting way to me, much easier to recover and to share weapons in co-op and no rear shot for the final stage. Of course, there's those really annoying mines that show up throughout the game but watching replays, it seems like you're given enough bombs and extends to blunder past all of them. I would like to see an expert co-op play where they bomb past all the mines in the game, I don't think there's ever more than 6 mines on a stage and your Lil' Babies are restored at the beginning of each one.

Oh, Thundercross is a good one.

I've been meaning to put some more time into that one and its sequel.

Good job!

Good job! I'm in the same situation, I've 1cc'ed it dozens of times (only the Arcade version), it's such a fun game and its length makes it perfect for a quick credit.




Nice, I really like this one but never got the 1cc, I should definitely try harder.

I just got the 1cc of Zanac Neo using the Knife Edge and I really liked this game. In fact, it might just be my favorite compile game that I have played so far. I like how easy it is to recover between the ability to instantly refill your main shot by using the cubes the game spawns for you upon death and by shooting the Eye Eyes to max out your sub weapon again. Also, more importantly I enjoy the simple additions to the scoring system that this game introduced such as a chain that only drops when you fail to kill an enemy/item box, and especially the charge shot that you can use on large groups of enemies for a decent bonus.

I do find it a little strange how many extends the game gives though. It feels like you can die almost constantly and still get the 1cc, so I guess the emphasis was meant to be focused almost entirely on scoring.

Okay that's weird. You do not get extends in this game, even on easy mode. No idea what version Replay Burners is playing.

There's a setting in the standalone ACA Thunder Cross's US version menu which Yandex translates as "There Is No Extend [ON/OFF]" - maybe that's the variable?

Spoiler: show

Definitely not an option in the anniversary collection vers. So what's the "real" full defaults?

I wonder. As shown above, in ACA Thunder Cross's US version, extends are enabled by default. If you want the "No Extends" setting, you need to manually flip it to "On." An operator's manual might clear this up... or it might reveal something along the lines of Double Dragon II, whose PCB defaults to "Normal" difficulty and time, but recommends operators set them to "Hard," while also enabling "Easy" hurricane kick, presumably so 80s kids would die extra-fast while spamming the flashy, hellishly punishable spinneh-mah-winneh. Those cheeky, money-grubbing cunts! :O

I'm inclined to think that's Thunder Cross USA's factory default, above. Hamster are usually pretty good about sticking to them. Besides DD2, see also their SNK and Tecmo stuff generally defaulting to "Easy," which going by Ikari, Ninja Gaiden and other games' operator manuals is indeed the boards' default DIP position (and needless to say, not "Easy" at all... Tecmo's English-language manuals refer to the settings as "Normal," "Special1," "Special2" and "Special3").

What a weird incentive to buy separately over the compilation. I do quite fancy Life Force [JP] though.

Finally got the normal mode 1CC in GG Aleste 3. Unlike in most runs, I didn't screw up the laser whip midboss in stage 6. Instead, I killed the stage 6 boss by crashing into him. I played stage 7 really defensively then, thus managing to regain my powerups during the course of the stage, so I arrived at the final boss in decent shape. Lost another life there due to his Garegga-like entrapment attack, but managed to kill him with the next one.

Absolutely fantastic game. One of the best non-bullet hell experiences ever.

I think I'm going to work on GG Aleste 2 next. That's the only one left in the collection I haven't cleared yet.

Good luck, it's much easier than 3 but will probably still take a few runs to get a few of the parts down. There's lots of stuff that comes from behind you and/or swoops very low on the screen pretty quickly, but nothing exceptionally crazy

At last I've cleared P-47 Aces with Swordfish with a really good score of 3.98m, beating ShadowWraith's long standing community record for the game. Been close to getting this for months now, so glad it finally happened. Not even close to done with this game, but done with this ship for now! Only higher scoring replay I know of this game is the old WR video from rgboo with the Thunderbolt ship.

https://youtu.be/JZlb52fv8Qg

Just started playing shooters a few weeks ago and ESP Ra.De. Arrived yesterday. It’s just a baby step but I picked up my first 1CC on Super Easy (almost no miss, one stock lost). Glad to be getting smacked around in Arcade Plus now. Game feels really good to me, probably going to dedicate most of my shooting time to this one and maybe I’ll get my first real 1CC in the not too distant future.

I watched my own replay of GG Aleste 3 to see which of my three deaths would have been avoidable. Turns out it's all of them. In that 1CC run I somehow managed to get through a couple of dangerous situations unscathed, but lose my lives to easily dodgeable attacks. The stage 6 boss was even more hilarious than I remembered. Not only did I deal the killing blow by crashing into him, I also gained an extend from doing so. That's not something you see very often outside of a Raizing game.

I haven't cleared GG Aleste 2 just yet, but I think I got to what I assume is the final boss (huge Eddie from Iron Maiden head inside a wall). You weren't kidding, there's a ton of stuff coming from behind. Other than that, the game isn't too difficult. The N weapon with its bullet-canceling powers seems way overpowered, though. Coming from GGA3, I'm surprised how primitive the game is in comparison, as this came out at roughly the same time as SMS Power Strike II.

I discovered shmups later in my gaming life. Never played them as a kid. It's really only been since covid started that I've actually been practicing seriously with save states and making some practice. In the last few months I've managed a few easier ones:

-GG Aleste 1 and 2: I really like Compile. They're beginner friendly and approachable, but still challenging. Although there's a little bit of Gradius syndrome with many of their games, the GG games don't suffer it from badly. I'd go as far as saying these are some of the most beginner friendly games out there. I also find them very cute. They feel like "mini shmups" considering they were built for Game Gear. All I had to do was practice playing straight through and committing a few boss patterns to memory.

-MUSHA: This one took some practice. I find with this game that you can really hug the back of the screen a lot of the time unlike more modern bullet hell stuff where you wanna be up a little more positioned forward. What I loved apart from this game apart from the music and look was the ability to control both your ship speed AND your options arrangement. I mostly used them in reverse--especially going out to the sides to take out all the little guys that swoop down while my main gun shot larger stuff in front of me. I mostly used the green and orange weapons. I find the orange weapon is the best generally except for the missile cloud stage where the missiles take so much damage that they don't die fast and can be a hazard to run into.

In general, it's good to stay back with the orange weapon since the black holes it creates can suck enemies right in front of you. At the last level of the game I would inevitably die, so at that point I would switch my options to fire forward to have more adequate fire power. The only time I consistently used the blue defense weapon was the mid boss in the cloud stage since I found the bullets tricky to dodge with your fat gundam ship. Definitely used a lot of save state practice on the final boss since my nerves were always rattled after repeatedly slogging that far only to die to those bouncing green balls. Very satisfying 1cc and probably my favorite shooter on the Genesis.

-Blazing Lazers: Can definitely tell this is an earlier shooter. The first 2 levels get pretty boring once you know what you're doing. I found that the lasers worked great on the bubble stage and the level 7 boss, but I didn't like the gap between shots when there's lots of little stuff on screen. In general, the spreadshot combined with shield were my go to. Stage 7 took a bit of practice and I found that using shields and bombs were more effective for me rather than grabbing power upgrades to take out all the little turrets. Dodging for me was a bitch in this game since the energy rings at your side always get hit with that awful ping sound. This is VERY different from modern shooters where grazing is often a scoring feature. As such, I found myself mostly using lots of speed, macro dodging, and bomb clears rather than every trying to squeeze my T H I C C shielded ship through anything. Weapon I seemed useless. Weapon IV was fairly good when combined with F and ESPECIALLY with the secret 8-way shot, but I needed the shield more because I suck. It takes a long time to build the weapon powers up and I did find that the laser was more effective that the spread shot at lower levels when you're trying to recover.

I struggled quite a bit with stage 9 since going back to checkpoints without a power-up was an automatic death sentence. Lots of people seem to have this grievance. The SOLUTION I found was to simply focus on blasting the changing power ups that appear throughout the game. When they turn flashing and you collect them, they clear the screen but ALSO prevent you from going back to a checkpoint upon death--so it was crucial for me to farm them as often as possible. The spread shot again worked best for this where I could let the changing power up float down the screen about 1/4th of the way, shoot it out of the corner while holding my ship in the center for the enemies, and then rushing up to grab it. This was a little tricky and made some of the earlier stages a little more fun. I farmed several flashing orbs and used shields to avoid death all the way to stage 9. Then the repeat level 7 boss hit and underpowered me. The waves of enemies before the final boss used 5-6 of my checkpoint negater things and I was able to use the pew-pew default shot to beat the (fairly easy) final boss. Ultimately, my lack of dodging skills and firepower was compensated for by playing defensively and good resource management.

For speed I used 2-3 for most of the game and speed 1 on the level 7 boss to squeeze past his spread shots.

-Thunderforce III: My first traditional horizontal 1cc. The actual gameplay is extremely easy, but it's a "memorizer hell." By that I mean, you can memorize a Cave boss's pattern but still have a very hard time with it. With TF III, once you've memorized when stuff will pop up above you or behind you or when random rocks will jump (lol) it's a walk in the park. Just save state practice each level to memorize them and it's a breeze.

Currently, I'm taking a break from shooters and playing Castelvania Aria of Sorrow for the first time which is a blast. My next 1cc will be Gun Nac. After grinding for awhile on Blazing Lazers, I made it to the final boss in Gun Nac on my first try which is further than I've ever made. That was really encouraging and really showed me that I'm actually learning.

Got the 1CC in GG Aleste 2. Nice little game, even if it's a bit simplistic and the difficulty is all over the place. (Stage 2 is easier than stage 1, stage 4 is easier than stage 3, etc.) Can't say I care much for those bonus levels, though.

In my latest run I had stage 4 weirdly glitch out on me. Stage started normal, then right after the start of the stage most background graphics and sprites suddenly turned into garbled garbage. Luckily, the enemy bullets and most of the enemies weren't affected, so the stage remained fully playable. At the boss, everything turned back to normal again. I had this exact same thing happen in the exact same stage once before during a previous run. Anyone ever experienced this too?

Yep. Happened to me too. I assumed it happened for me because I was emulating. A bit disappointing if that happened with the new collection.

The fact that the glitch happens in both the new collection and in normal emulation points to it being a bug in the original game. After spending some more time with both GGA and GGA2 I suspect that the latter may have been a very quick job, probably without a lot of quality assurance happening.

While the first game is so easy that I literally beat it on my first try ever, you can still see that quite a lot of thought went into the design of the stages and bosses, making them both well-crafted and quite original. In the second game, on the other hand, you have backdrops that are as pretty as they are disjointed and serve little more purpose than being tapestry. Bar two, the bosses and midbosses are little more than bullet sponges with next to no strategy involved. And during the stages you basically have the same three enemy formations over and over.

I cleared one loop of Tatsujin Oh! I did a ton of practice over the past few weeks to prepare, and during this evening's stream, I got the clear! This is definitely harder than Truxton II.

Oh my, what an achievement, congrats!
I'm glad you got it, this game is so insane.