Long time player of shmups, but not a frequent poster. I put together a list intended to help people discover otherwise unknown shmups and this list is especially targeted at newer players to help steer them towards achievable 1CC's. This "easy and awesome" index combines quality ratings together with
difficulty ratings to help others discover worthwhile shmups that may have been otherwise lost to time. For example if you are just starting out you might not have heard of Twin Cobra II or Magical Chase before, but I hope this list will encourage you to check them out.
I'm probably one of the older players here but without giving anything away some of these games were beaten upwards of 15 years ago so some memories may be slightly fuzzy.
All difficulties and quality rankings are based on a 1-10 scale and the entire scale was used, with 5 being average. Games that have a quality rating of 8 and above I generally hold in really high regard as top tier games. I certainly am not a super player like some of you guys who can 2-All CAVE games and what not. I used DOJ Black Label as a base line for the hardest game I can beat (a 10 on the 1-10 scale) and blind 1CC's as the easiest (a 1 on the 1-10 scale). I also tried to take execution into account as well. A game with heavy memorization and strict death punishment but easy execution like R-Type 1 will rank lower than something like Giga Wing which also requires consistent reflexes on top of route precision. Generally speaking, if you frequent this forum, you probably know how to practice these games.
I used generally well known, well regarded, and modestly difficult games like like Mushi Futari Black Label and Deathsmiles as the baseline for an average "5"
difficulty.
I used save states to practice for most games if they were available in MAME or other emulators. For example, R-Type took me three days to 1CC with save state practice. At my "kuso" level of skill I generally expect most games will take four days of 2 hours+ per day of save state practice to memorize. That is about a "5" in
difficulty. Though various factors may also affect the final
difficulty ratings (R-Type basically requiring a one life clear bumps it up a couple points). "1's" were generally blind 1CC's. DDP DOJ, the only "10" in my ratings so far, took me 60 hours with focused practice. All final runs were done clean without save states. Much like learning an instrument, I firmly believe in trying to use the most efficient practice possible until you are ready to perform the real thing. Not all games have save state practice available like X-Box 360 only ports and that may affect
difficulty ratings as well. I also generally used auto fire when available. I understand there will be some disagreements about this, as I was initially was hesitant as well. However, over time auto fire has become the Japanese arcade standard to the point where it is generally expected, and therefore, I feel it is generally acceptable to use. I have notated the games where auto fire was used.
I hope this list is useful to you. There is the Japanese rankings available
here but I always wished I had a resource like this starting out.
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R=Shmups:&Platform& Quality Rating &Difficulty&Routing Required?&Vertical/Horizontal?
R=Akai Katana Slash&360&9&6&Low&Horizontal
R=Armed Police Batrider Normal Course&AC&8&6&Low&Vertical
R=Arrow Flash Auto fire&GEN&5&2&Low&Horizontal
R=Astebreed&PC&4&1&Low&Vertical/Horizontal
R=Axelay&SNES&8&5&Low&Vertical/Horizontal
R=Batsugun&AC&8&7&Med&Vertical
R=Batsugun Special&AC&8&4&Med&Vertical
R=Battle Bakraid Normal Course&AC&8&6&Low&Vertical
R=Blast Wind&SAT&4&4&Low&Vertical
R=Blazing Lasers&PCE&3&4&Low&Vertical
R=Blazing Star autofire&AC&8&5&Med&Horizontal
R=Blue Revolver&PC&5&3&Low&Vertical
R=Blue Wish Resurrection Plus&PC&6&2&Low&Vertical
R=Coryoon&PCE&4&2&Low&Horizontal
R=Cotton&PS1&5&4&Med&Horizontal
R=Crimzon Clover Original with Type-Z&PC&8&3&Med&Vertical
R=Darius Burst&PSP&7&3&Low&Horizontal
R=Darius Burst Another Chronicle&AC&7&2&Low&Horizontal
R=Darius Gaiden Auto fire, V route&AC&5&4&Med&Horizontal
R=Darius Gaiden Extra, V route&AC&6&4&Med&Horizontal
R=Darius Twin ACDFHKL &SNES&3&4&Med&Horizontal
R=Dark Spirits&NDS&1&1&Low&Horizontal
R=Death Smiles&360&8&5&Low&Horizontal
R=Death Smiles II Arcade&360&2&4&Low&Horizontal
R=Death Smiles Mega Black Label&360&8&5&Low&Horizontal
R=DoDonPachi 1-ALL&AC&7&6&Low&Vertical
R=DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu 1.5 1-ALL&360&5&4&Low&Vertical
R=DoDonPachi Daioujou Black Label 1-ALL&AC&9&10&High&Vertical
R=DonPachi 1-ALL&AC&6&4&Low&Vertical
R=Edens Aigis&PC&4&2&Low&Vertical
R=Edens Edge&PC&4&2&Low&Vertical
R=Elemental Master&GEN&7&3&Low&Vertical
R=Eschatos Original - Normal&PC&9&9&Med&Vertical
R=Espgaluda&AC&8&6&Med&Vertical
R=Final Soldier&PCE&2&2&Low&Vertical
R=Fireshark&GEN&6&1&Low&Vertical
R=G. Darius top route&PS1&8&5&Med&Horizontal
R=Gaia Seed&PS1&1&1&Low&Horizontal
R=Gate of Thunder&PCE&7&4&Med&Horizontal
R=Genetos&PC&4&1&Low&Vertical
R=GG Aleste&GG&4&1&Low&Vertical
R=GG Aleste 2&GG&4&2&Low&Vertical
R=Giga Wing&AC&8&9&High&Vertical
R=Gleylancer&GEN&7&3&Low&Horizontal
R=Gradius 1-ALL&NES&4&4&High&Horizontal
R=Gradius II 1-ALL&NES&5&5&High&Horizontal
R=Gradius III 1-ALL&SNES&6&4&High&Horizontal
R=Harmful Park Normal&PS1&3&1&Low&Horizontal
R=Ikaruga Easy&360&7&3&Low&Vertical
R=Lords of Thunder&PCE&5&2&Low&Horizontal
R=M.U.S.H.A.&GEN&8&3&Low&Vertical
R=Magical Chase&PCE&7&2&Low&Horizontal
R=Metal Black&AC&7&5&High&Horizontal
R=Metal Torrent&NDS&2&1&Low&Vertical
R=Mushihimesama Original&AC&10&5&Low&Vertical
R=Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 Original&360&10&8&Low&Vertical
R=Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 Black Label Original&360&10&5&Low&Vertical
R=Mushihimesama Matsuri Edition Original &AC&10&4&Low&Vertical
R=Nemesis&GB&4&2&Low&Vertical
R=Nemesis II&GB&5&2&Low&Horizontal
R=Neogeo Heroes Ultimate Shooting&PSP&5&4&Low&Vertical
R=Otomedius Excellent Normal&360&5&3&Low&Horizontal
R=Psychic Storm&PCE&1&1&Low&Vertical
R=Raiden Fighters 2 Operation Hell Dive&AC&7&6&Low&Vertical
R=Raiden Fighters Jet ALL1&AC&6&4&Low&Vertical
R=Rayxanber III&PCE&3&3&Med&Horizontal
R=R-Type 1-ALL&AC&10&7&High&Horizontal
R=R-Type Delta&PS1&9&6&High&Horizontal
R=R-Type Final - Final A&PS2&4&4&High&Horizontal
R=R-Type II 1-ALL&AC&8&8&High&Horizontal
R=R-Type III The Third Lightning 1-All&SNES&7&8&High&Horizontal
R=R-Type Leo &AC&6&6&High&Horizontal
R=Sagaia/Darius II ABDGLQW&GEN&7&5&Med&Horizontal
R=Shienryu Explosion&PS2&1&1&Low&Vertical
R=Shikhondo&NSW&4&2&Low&Vertical
R=Solar Striker&GB&2&2&Low&Vertical
R=Soldier Blade&PCE&3&2&Low&Vertical
R=Space Invaders Extreme&PSP&7&3&Low&Vertical
R=Space Invaders Extreme 2&NDS&4&2&Low&Vertical
R=Space Megaforce&SNES&6&4&Med&Vertical
R=Spriggan&PCE&7&3&Low&Vertical
R=Star Parodier&PCE&6&1&Low&Vertical
R=Star Soldier&PSP&3&1&Low&Vertical
R=Steel Empire&3DS&2&1&Low&Horizontal
R=Super R-Type 1-ALL Default - Easy&SNES&4&6&High&Horizontal
R=Sylphia&PCE&1&2&Low&Vertical
R=Thunder Spirits&SNES&4&2&Low&Horizontal
R=Thunderforce AC&AC&6&2&Low&Horizontal
R=Thunderforce III&GEN&9&3&Med&Horizontal
R=Thunderforce IV&GEN&8&8&High&Horizontal
R=Thunderforce V&PS1&8&5&Low&Horizontal
R=Thunderforce VI&PS2&4&4&Low&Horizontal
R=Touhou 06 normal&PC&9&6&Low&Vertical
R=Touhou 07 normal&PC&9&5&Low&Vertical
R=Touhou 08 normal&PC&8&4&Low&Vertical
R=Touhou 09 normal&PC&4&3&Low&Vertical
R=Touhou 10 normal&PC&5&3&Low&Vertical
R=Touhou 11 normal&PC&7&9&Med&Vertical
R=Touhou 12 normal&PC&5&4&Low&Vertical
R=Touhou 13 normal&PC&6&3&Low&Vertical
R=Touhou 14 normal&PC&5&3&Low&Vertical
R=Triggerheart Exelica True Ending &PS2&6&6&Low&Vertical
R=Trouble Witches Neo! Heart Pounding&360&9&7&Med&Horizontal
R=Twin Cobra II &AC&7&2&Low&Vertical
R=Twinkle Star Sprites&AC &5&3&Low&Vertical
R=Verytex &GEN&3&2&Low&Vertical
R=Xexex 1-ALL&AC&9&7&High&Horizontal
R=Zanac Neo FC Custom&PS1&4&3&Low&Vertical
I encourage you to make your own list using the criteria that makes sense to you. I'd especially like to hear from some of you who are really good at these games.