After long while I finally decided to make my contribution to this topic

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Darius series :
First I’d like to point out that the
Darius ranking that features Smraedis’s scores is actually New Version, which isn’t tracked by JHA btw. I don’t know about his other scores since I’ve haven’t found any replays, but I’m 100% sure his X score was done on New Version. Would you have a source for his scores by the way ? I don’t have any doubts about the player (far from it!), just curious to know where you found those scores. I’m in the process of trying to find out what are the best scores for Old version, it’ll might take some time since the system11 ranking unfortunately mixes up the two versions but I’ll come back to you when I do.
In the meantime here’s my best score for upper V Zone (4,459, 610) in New Version done one and a half year ago :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROHD4-UoU7o). I think It’d be good to distinguish upper V/Z from their lower counterparts (just like it’s done on the wiki), as they have different scoring potential and are basically completely different routes though both Vs and Zs zones are exactly the same zones
For
Darius II I think It’d be great to add all the different routes to the ranking, as its usually the case for every
Darius game. I think it’s also best to replace «
Darius II/
Sagaia » by
Darius II since
Sagaia is a different game (more on that later)
For
Darius II here are my best scores :
Upper Z (3,032,070) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEDBO8Bcw4QUpper V (3, 254, 950) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPYyopfeYYAZone W (3, 458,460)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enZGF09F_lEZone X (3, 166, 060):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWi3TNli-YIZone Y (3, 148, 720) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSesKAd7rQ8Lower Z (3, 296, 130):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QGlmLUvEaALower V (2,897,290) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKAdx6HlTesDon’t know if there’s any better community scores, at least I haven’t found any.
Triple-screen version :
Upper Z (2,821,010) by Smraedis
Upper V (2,626,030) by Dumpling :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T538AXWglzwZone W (2,980,300) by saucykobold :
https://www.restartsyndrome.com/board.p ... 3%20Screen)%20-%20Zone%20W
Zone X (2,624,204) by Chinopolis :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw8Dg2ZMN1oHaven’t found any scores for other zones, guess those are free
As you seem to also keep track of some internationnal versions I’d like if we add
Sagaia V.1 & V.2. While both Sagaia games use the exact same sprites (except for the Taito laser attack on
Sagaia V.2’s N boss), music, game mechanics, etc, they have different stage layouts, boss behaviors, etc, and should be treated as different games. Like for
Darius II two screens I haven’t seen higher scores than mines among community members so here are my scores :
Sagaia V.1 :
Zone M (2,555,170) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v77XCjmDaRAZone N (2,560,920) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn2BcpS33BYZone O (2,536,670) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaoaE9WNxlUZone P (2,261,520) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv9-I4vYucISagaia V.2
Zone M (2,730,720) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ifWkNL3Vw8Zone N (2,622,680) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVotOHscAGgZone O (2,564,940) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Cl_I0y450Zone P (2,461,840) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSFfaRQ7m1YGradius series :
I’ve also noticed that you’ve listed a
Gradius score that was done on the Sega Saturn Deluxe Pack version, that version has some gameplay differences with Arcade though (I’ll create a topic explaining all the differences I’ve noticed when I have time).
In any case that score was beaten a few months by the great skalt711, who 3-ALLed the game (1,109,400) earlier this year, and at max speed :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHA7vhtMkF4We could also add rankings for the US and World (sometimes called UK) versions of
Nemesis. None really seems to play those versions but here are my humble scores, hoping it will encourage other players to have a go at it and beat me
Nemesis US (471,500) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myrfzdv87RUNemesis World (450, 200)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcJuE5atTvsSame for
Gradius II which features scores done on the Deluxe Pack. While those ports aren’t bad by any means their scores don’t exactly compare to the arcade versions in my opinion, and I feel they should be separated. You can always keep a chart for Deluxe Pack version and PSP (they’re supposedly the same) since there seems to be many players playing those.
Here’s the update for
Gradius II Arcade :
- DaringSpino 34’s great 2-ALL (1,267,600) done with Type 1 half a year ago :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAmHriOSJCg- My humble 2-1 (449, 000) done with Type 3 half a year ago :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG3s_K7_8Rg- As Saucykobold played on the Deluxe Pack I’d replace his Type 3 score by rs9’s recent 2-8 (923 000) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BNeQrSViUgAnd here are the best community scores on the Deluxe Pack & PSP ports just in case :
- Skalt711’s 2-1 done with Type 1 (423,400) a year ago :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdOnOWNCOfw- Haven’t found any Deluxe Pack scores for Type B, I know Skalt711 cleared it but he didn’t take note of his score.
- My even more humble 1-8 (495,600) done with Type 3 half a year ago :
https://hiscores.shmup.com/photos/16409 ... .31.31.png- Type 4 is Saucykold’s 3-4 (1,776,000).
Btw there’s three different versions of
Gradius II/
Vulcan Venture (western name), this has to do with the moai infinite and extend setting. From what I known
Vulcan Venture’s versions 1 & 2 are exactly the same as
Gradius II’s versions 1&2 gameplay-wise, the third version on which pretty much everyone plays (which has the 20k-every 150k extend setting) was exclusive to Japan. The old System11 rankings forbade anything but the third, but I’d be interested to track down the best community scores on those earlier versions (if there are any…) when I’ll have the time.
To end up with the Gradius series I’ll add my 1-7 score (325 410) done a few montswith the not very popular Type A :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0du7pajk0VkThat type is actually quite good, it’s just that if you take it learning fire stage recovery becomes pretty much mandatory

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Last but not least I’d like to add Lyv’s
Sengoku Blade Hagane run, as it’s the highest score done without starting from a savestate (997, 200) :
https://www.twitch.tv/khaaos8/video/835970545 (run starts at 5:13:33).