The Non-Shmup 1CC Thread - Share Your Triumphs Here!

[bcass]

I noticed we didn't have one of these for the gaming section, so I'll start us off with my All-Clear run for Daimakaimura (arcade ver. on MAME):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4AUwlo-9X0

This took me about a month of practice in the evenings after work. Absolutely brutal game, merciless even for a game of its era. Killing the last two bosses on the 2nd loop was nerve-racking.

[BIL]

There is one actually - it needs more love <333 Bumped it a couple months back.

^^^ DISREGARD ABOVE PLS ;3

Excellent going on the Dai clear, that one's a landmark!

[bcass]

That one seems to be just for lists, I made this one to be a mirror to the 1CC thread in shmups chat:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=38341

[Sima Tuna]

I posted my Huntdown 1ccs on the other thread. Hoodlum Dolls (1lc), Misconducts (1cc) and Heatseekers (1cc) cleared. No 1. Suspects are the only ones left. I'm pretty sure Stevens said he cleared Huntdown Arcade on all routes.

I doubt I'll be clearing Okinawa Rush's arcade mode, since it doesn't have lives. One death ends the 1cc. And there are instant kills in the game.

[BIL]

That one seems to be just for lists, I made this one to be a mirror to the 1CC thread in shmups chat:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=38341

True, true. I'll migrate my dedicated posts over here, and update my list over there, if that's ok.

The Ninja Warriors Again [SFC/1994 Natsume] The release of the brilliant Ninja Warriors Once Again inspired me to upgrade my crummy, SCURRED ol' Ninja SFC 1CC with a more authoritative face & ass smasher, plus get a Kunoichi 1CC up. Two halves of an immortally challenging brawler masterclass. We don't talk about Kamaitachi!



[Writeup + Replay, NINJA] [Writeup + Replay, KUNOICHI]

I tried to really attack the game in both cases, and was quickly reminded of what an absolute pressure cooker its smaller playfield creates! Although TNWOA's enemies are every bit as assholic, the wide playfield and powerful combos facilitate escape, nudging the focus from raw survival to high-performance style. Either way, these are games for attackers - they'll humiliate the weenies! Use them i-frames!

Saigo no Nindou [AC+PCE/1988+1990 IREM] Also got a Saigo no Nindou 1LC up, plus 1LCd the lovely PC Engine conversion for comparison - ending a long-held grudge, with this being the lone member of my IREM Hellscroller Trilogy (alongside Holy Diver and Metal Storm) to remain un-1LCd. Been haunting my ass since 2013 - when I first raised the banners of Biruford, and summoned the Super Task Force to cast down Edmond The Mad, in a fierce Internet Dance Battle for the soul of Off Topicshire.

[Writeup + Replay, ARCADE] [Writeup + Replay, PC ENGINE]



I hope I did okay Jesus ;-;7

Spoiler

Saigo is hands-down the deadliest of the three, as you'd expect with it being an arcade game (not that Holy Diver and Metal Storm would be at all out of place in a cab), but its ultra-lean runtime takes the strain off, even as the brutally high bang/buck yield piles it on. Three minutes in and hell is raining down (st3/VALLEY OF TSUKI), eight and you're in the most convincingly merciless one man war I've seen in any videogame, period (st6/BATTLE OF RONIN). Twelve, either your or the last boss's corpse is hitting the floor. Game is 99% a sustained withering barrage of RNG terror and an eternal test of adaptive strategy, though you'll want a Ninja Pit Killer for the legendarily unfortunate endgame pratfall. The last boss is a legit motherfucker, fortunately!

Messed about with overdubbing the PCE conversion with the arcade soundtrack - very basic effort, tbh those PCE zako explosions are annoying and need pitch-shifting down. Still, I got a kick out of it, the OST being a weakness of the conversion. The pulsing lurking bloodlust of Stage 3/MOON is amazing once again. You must play this game with decent bass! Them low frequencies are 110% murder.

Neo Slugs:

Metal Slug (1996, Nazca) One life clear. A relatively easy, uncommonly generous arcade game, absolutely excellent for it. Does get a bit tight towards the end, but it's nothing a little rehearsal can't overcome. [Writeup + Replay]

Metal Slug X (1999, Nazca/SNK) One life clear. Longer and harder (bwaaa!) than the original, though it has roughly the same difficulty curve - just one notch tougher. Relatively forgiving until the last stage, which clamps down, and the last boss, a real killer who all but demands aggressive shutdown tactics. [Writeup + Replay]

Metal Slug 3 (2000, Nazca/SNK) One life clear. For the most part, MS3 isn't all that much harder than MSX. The infamous Final Mission is the big threat - a gauntlet longer than all its previous stages combined, bringing a punishing endurance challenge. A perennial love-or-hate, make-or-break feature among fans. Overall, I am not regret - when it comes to Nazca, especially their farewell gig, I'm willing to indulge a little. [Writeup + Replay]

Metal Slug 4 (2002, Noise Factory) One life clear. Casuals tend to scorn MS4 for its "licensed ROMhack" graphical pastiche. Aesthetically glum, for sure, but where stage design is concerned, this easily competes with Nazca's masterworks. The curve is arguably improved - ultimately about as tough as MSX+3, but much steeper. [Writeup + Replay]

Metal Slug 5 (2003, SNK Playmore) One life clear. My least favourite Neo Slug, though that's not saying much - it's still got Nazca's immortally satisfying engine, and after two lukewarm opening stages, it delivers a very good third and final, and an outright excellent fourth. [Writeup + Replay]



Contra AC duo, inspired by pegboy's herculean Contra series 1LC:

Contra (1987, Konami / US ver) One life clear @ max difficulty (Very Difficult). The JP and US versions are near-identical, bar an odd nerf to the second and final discus-throwing miniboss - he has to be fought head-on in JP, while you can cheese him from below in US. Max difficulty is the way to go, imo - a compact and super-replayable run/gun rampage, well-suited to time trialling. It's actually not dramatically different, but certain bosses that are pushovers on defaults will give a much warmer time. [Writeup + Replay]

Super Contra (1988, Konami / Japan ver) One life 2ALL. While not always for the right reasons (aim lag takes a lot of adjusting to), this is as balls-hard (and balls-rewarding) as oldschool Contras get. Short and relentless. JP ver has two loops, the first more or less a gimme... the second an utter killer, which despite both adding up to only around ~15minutes, gives this a strong endurance aspect. Notably, you can stock up to a whopping four bombs for the final stretch, a definite silver lining. [Writeup + Replay]

Super Contra (1988, Konami / US ver) One life clear @ max difficulty (Very Difficult). The US version's max difficulty basically chucks you straight into Japan's second loop. While it sounds easier, there is a hidden cost - you won't have more than two bombs for the brutal final stage. I prefer the US's more compact experience, ultimately. [Writeup + Replay]



Neo Non-Slugs:

Cyber-Lip (1990, SNK) One life clear. Some schoolboy errors here and there - the controls need working around - but it's a fine simpler run/gun time, barring that. Great personality and setting, between the bumbling enemy bots and 'orrible aliens. [Writeup + Replay]

Magician Lord (1990, ADK) No damage clear. Chunky hitbox VS aggressively pursuing, shooting, respawning enemies - wasn't expecting to love this one as much as I did. Once you get the basic stage layouts down, and learn to go progressively longer without damage, it really breaks open. Slaughtering the boss rush a highlight. Protip passed down from legend: stick to Elta (base form) and keep him powered up - the other forms have some flash here and there, but they can't compete with his raw power and wide shot. [Writeup + Replay]

NAM-1975 (1990, SNK) One life clear. For my money, the most genuinely excellent of the Neo's early titles. Simple, intense, razor-sharp Cabalesque. Ironically for a launch title, all I was left wanting was slightly beefier graphics - though with its intensity, the supremely practical compact sprites are much appreciated. [Writeup + Replay]



Special thanks to CHRIS HELPER, the Angel of Saigon

Spoiler

SNK Pre-Neo:

Ikari (1986, SNK) One life clear. For the most part, a game deserving of its iconic stature. Unfortunately, the last quarter is way over-reliant on memorise-or-die trap tiles, cramping its strong suit of freeform yet harshly punishing tactical rotary shooting. Even so, it's worth seeing through - the memo's pretty basic, and nowhere worth missing out on its better parts over. [Writeup + Replay]

Dogosoken (1986, SNK) One life clear. The de facto Ikari II is more of a companion piece than a direct sequel, with its (still unusual to this day) emphasis on topdown sword slashing. Once the sword appears at the second boss, get it and keep it - as the flyer boomingly instructs, the remaining game is expressly designed around its deflect mechanic. Hiding from MG nests will bring only misery; banzai-charge the fuckers down, batting their own flak back at them! Arguably superior to its more iconic predecessor, with none of the endgame memo traps. All three Ikaris (including the finale, Guevara) are harshly idiosyncratic affairs, with absolutely none of Search And Rescue or Shock Troopers' user-friendly polish... but if you like either bookend, you should give Dogo a go-go. [Writeup + Replay]



Roundup: Tecmo, Technos, Namco & Aicom

Argus no Senshi (1986, Tecmo) One life clear @ Rank 2/4 (Normal, one above default). Legendary journey, legendary game. Despite the intense one-hit kills, its tenor is quite close to the "compact action man" sidescrollers that flourished on FC/NES; fans of those who don't mind a little added pressure should jump in. Arguably, this is the Ninja Gaiden to Green Beret's Castlevania - similar dimensions and feel, expertly leavened for more flexible yet just as hardcore action. Flawless controls and nonstop pace - it's actually relatively long at ~30minutes, but unfailingly graceful throughout. [Writeup + Replay]

Double Dragon II: The Revenge (1988, Technos Japan) One life clear, full defaults (Normal Difficulty, Normal Timer, Tatsumaki Assist OFF). The US operator's manual apparently suggests Hard Difficulty + Timer... which gives enemies trivially more HP, and you trivially less time... and Tatsumaki Assist ON, which is some weak shit. Stick with the board defaults, imo - the Tatsu timing isn't too strict (a joke compared to the FC's infamous knee bazooka input), and it's more satisfying when it breaks motherfucker's necks in one shot. All this aside - a simple but violently satisfying early brawler, and a strong improvement on its lovably dog-eared predecessor. Same no-nonsense pace and runtime, better moveset, nastier bosses. Much of it revolves around a single BNB combo - sidekick into Tatsu - but landing it amidst nastier crowds / on deadlier foes is deceptively, rewardingly finessed. Great story - no, seriously! [Writeup + Replay]



Genpei Toumaden (1986, Namco) One credit clear (this game doesn't give extra lives). Technically done at defaults, though I learned post-clear that the early three-way junction is considered a difficulty select, of sorts. I'd cleared the lowest and easiest. However, when I gave the upper paths a shot, I soon found myself back on my usual route, due to going for the harder optional exits. So it may be swings and roundabouts. The game itself is famously offbeat, and sometimes handles a bit sloppily - though the designers compensate well. Some annoying minor quirks aside, a trip worth taking for those wanting a memorably oddball coinop ARPG. [Writeup + Replay]

The Lord of King (1989, Aicom) One life clear. A notably easy arcade clear; really more like a moderately tough console outing. That said, a lot of the easiness comes from its very generous extend rate and resources - a one life clear is a bit trickier, though still relatively lightweight. Excellent axe-battling mechanics - the anti-air and Actraiser II-style touch of death combos are especially great. Unfortunately, it's got quite a bit of native input lag (5f in MAME, ACA feels similar) - nowhere enough to spoil, but it does demand a bit more concentration than it would otherwise. [Writeup + Replay]

[Randorama]

Double post. Should we post 1-CC's and short commentaries, here?

[bcass]

Double post. Should we post 1-CC's and short commentaries, here?

Sure. Or just videos if you're not feeling creative on the literary front!

[bcass]

Nice list BIL. Plenty on there that is on my todo list. Ninja Spirit especially being one that I've wanted to do for years now.

[BIL]

Cheers bud! Saigo, Daimakaimura and Argus no Senshi (aka Rygar - like the preceding two, there's some regional differences) are my current action sidescrolling triple crown. Saigo and Dai have a fairly similar tone, as far as volatility goes. No two credits ever play quite alike, they're total desert island material imo. Though they of course handle about as differently as two sidescrollers can!

Still, with Dai cleared you've got an excellent shot at IREM's game. Intense but fairly short, and deceptively generous on checkpoint recovery. Sadly, any recommendation of it must address the infamous Ninja Pit, which is less a legitimate challenge, more an 11th-hour howler to be excised with total prejudice. Happily, you can do just that - once memorised, it fades into irrelevance, while the game's other 99% only gains. The Pit's total rote is seriously the least threatening part of the otherwise ruthlessly volatile endgame.

[bcass]

Here's some of my older 1CCs ~

Shinobi [Arcade] [Hard] 1CC All-Clear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5qnAotjoEQ

Wardner [Arcade] No-Hit 1CC No-Miss All-Clear [Solar Sword]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbR5VCK5sFw

Snow Bros. [Arcade] 1CC All-Clear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2DLJyo-9no

Vigilante 1CC All-Clear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfTKQQbS7y8

Quite tame compared to Daimakaimura but I will be adding to this list from now on as I like to have a non-shmup game to be playing in parallel with a shmup that I'm attempting to 1CC.

[copy-paster]

Have a plan to do nomiss ninja gaiden nes, neo slugs clear completion, and 1cc some castlevanias (my main focus would be X68K nomiss loop 1).

[chum]

In recent years I've become more interested in 1ccing arcade games that aren't shmups, and often playing for score as well.

Pig Newton 7.8 million
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVDrhMPQROE
Since this game is endless, it's not a "1cc" but it's probably my most satisfying accomplishment in a non-shmup arcade game? So it's definitely a triumph!
The game is a tactical, random masterpiece that never fails to excite me! 7.8 million took about 1 hour 40 minutes, you get 1 extend and then it's game over on your 4th death.

Power Drift in 6:58 Course B
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn9ABSNQ-AA
This is a wonderful racing game and one of my favourites. Probably the most effort I ever put into getting a time in one of these! Got a ton of 7:00s and 7:01s. It was a cool learning process!
This game is really underrated and could use more love! The graphics are simply unbelievable for an 80s game (like OutRun!) and there's 5 courses packed with fun to pick between.
It's a bit floaty and difficult to control on Keyboard, and there's a lot of tactical gear shifts involved. I just got this one done a few days ago and I'm still trying to figure out how to shave off a few more seconds!

Naname de Magic - 621k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giaCT1Hju9A
A very difficult game to 1cc. I've played other puzzle games that are harder to optimize (including my favourite, Money Puzzle exchanger), but the AI in this game is ridiculously hard, so you need to get very competent before you stand a chance to 1cc, as the last 3 or 4 enemies are vicious. There is also a lot of luck involved.
To score, simply speedrun the game and beat every enemy as fast as you can for big bonuses.
It's a wonderful game that captivated me for months. No idea why it's so underrated.

Sailor Moon - 1.6 million
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmrgoQiwNu0
It's a difficult game to be consistent at, but I did not find the difficulty to 1cc it match its reputation. I learned to kind of half-score it, It's very difficult to get a high score, after all. The main difficulty of scoring is to isolate each enemy and only fight them 1 by 1 without wasting too much time since the time available to use for scoring is limited on many stages. If you hit more than 1 enemy with an attack, you are wasting score because each individual healthbar is a scoring resource; if you hit 2 enemies with 1 attack, both lose HP, but you get the same score you would've had from hitting just 1 enemy. The timer is already very strict on stage 3 if you expect to be able to hit all enemies 1 by 1, without ever using crystals. Not to mention the difficulty of doing this without dying. However some stages like 4 and 6 have lenient timers that allow you to milk all the enemies more easily.
It has some flaws, mainly some crappy bosses, but it's probably the most fun Bmup overall due to the awesome aggressive enemy design and scoring mechanic.

Mr. Driller - 950k -autofire used
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfigOBlrLkU
Like Naname de magic, the main point here is to speedrun the game for a higher time bonus. As an addition to that you need to not drop any Air Capsules and there is a frame perfect trick which can allow you to collect 2 Air Capsules instead of 1 in screen transitions. Other than that is simply a tiny bit of score variance from block luck. The balancing in the game is a bit bad, as early on you can drill through all X blocks to collect Air Capsules. About halfway through the game, you need to start solving some puzzles here and there, but the game does have a somewhat peculiar balancing in that regard. It's still a ton of fun and really addicting, though.
Without autofire you won't score quite as high because your times will be slower.

Final Fight - survival clear -autofire used
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgKP3lO6Id4
It's just a survival clear, but it was so difficult that I would call it a triumph. It took a ton of practice and attempts to get this one done! Amazing game too, it grew on me for sure. At first I found it a bit stiff, but once you learn its intricacies, it feels great.
Autofire helps a lot with Cody, as it makes his shifting easier, and removing the need for mashing is nice since this is quite a mash-heavy game at times.

Cleopatra Fortune - 163k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUTYZZhVY_o
Cleopatra is a pretty easy 1cc, and you can even counterstop the game by using a predictable pattern, as the game always has the same rng Seed if you time out the menus. However, it would be no fun to play like that after all, so let's use random seeds instead. The method of getting 163k was not easy to learn!

Burning Force - 4.4m
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbeyJHXdF78
This was my first clear of the game, but the score still ended up being kinda decent, maybe? I don't actually know... It's a tough game and I don't particularly like it very much, but the music kicks ass and is the best thing about it. Perhaps not so much a "triumph"... but I get very happy when I heard the ending and credits music, so it felt great to beat it.

edit:
Pulirula - 479k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcWZE4xBSDA
If I'm not mistaken the WR is 509k and I imagine the about half the difference comes from optimizations and the other half from getting more magic drops
I lost an important 50/50, but got 1 random magic drop so I was able to use all the most important magics.
However if you get another random drop and win 50/50 I imagine that's at least another 10k, maybe even more. I never expect to get so lucky so I never truly routed additional magic spots or tested which magic type is better on a bunch of random spots (magic type is based on your score digit). I had 2 more spots in mind I would use magic on if I got so lucky, without knowing if those are truly best runner ups. There aren't any high score videos or INPs so enemy/animal optimizations are self found and some seemingly unscorable screens I just haven't bothered to look hard for a score solution... Maybe there is something.

I'll leave it at that for now, perhaps I will come back to this thread in the future and add more triumphs

[BIL]

Some very interesting stuff there, as expected of you. I can't believe I've not heard of Pig Newton, just on the name alone.

[Randorama]

OK with text bcass, and let's agree that I will proceed slowly, and that my memory is not to be trusted...

BUBBLE SYMPHONY [Taito 1994] (Players: Rando & the Waifu)

I completed my Ph.D. in 2011, and moved back from Australia to Italy in September. The waifu and I were in that phase of our lives: money was running out, I found a job back in Europe (Hungary), and we needed a temporary solution to organise the next step of life. We quickly did the marriage practices, because they would guarantee us the simplest & easiest way to move around the world together, VISA-wise.
We went to my hometown, which was still reeling from the 2009 Earthquake and the (perennial) economic crisis, and we were living in the basement of my grandparents' 2-floors villa until the end of December.

I decided to spend some money on the Saturn port of this game (and a few puzzlers...Konami's Tokimeki and Puzzle Taisen, the Puyo's) rather than on two weeks worth of groceries, as anyway we had to lose some weight and the atmosphere was generally dreadful (Winter in the mountains, in a town still full of debris). A bit of fun & colour were more important than excess calories. The old Saturn and the big-ass CRT tv were still working fine, so we went for this option.

The waifu had to spend quite a bit of time getting accustomed to the Saturn pad; I was using the joystick, after a long period only using keyboards to play. We spent most of the three months in Italy slowly inching towards the 2-player completion, and landed a few 1-CC's (no fancy scores, just survival) around Christmas. I don't remember which worlds we would play, but I remember that we always selected the easiest route, according to guides.

1-screen platformers are often delightful to play in couples (or pairs, of course), because you can approach most stages according to a precise division of labour and render the game(s) much easier. Once we found our feet in synchronising attacks, it was a matter of simple execution (of course).

The game is also a joy to play: colourful, ultra-cute illustrations and characters/animations, a simple but pleasant musical theme, loads of options, not as long as the first title, etc. Co-op gaming can be a bliss, when players actually co-operate.

...We played again the game a few days ago and it beat the shit out of us very quickly. Ack, time is implacable for everyone.

DOUBLE DRAGON [Technos 1987] (Players: Rando)

Everybody knows Double Dragon, and everybody has played the arcade version at least once. My first experience with the title was in Winter 1987-1988, when I was in 3th grade and I started going to my uncle's arcade.

I recall that there were three boards of the game, and nevertheless it was common to queue, to play the game. This meant that I could observe what other players were doing, and I could also ask questions to people regarding mechanics and strategies: a few times, directly to the players during their credits (some guys were happy to answer).

It took me something like 2 months of practice to get the 1-CC: as a fourth grader, last stage was really a challenge, especially the infamous first part. Still, I remember that I was close to a heart attack during and after my first 1-CC, and my father and uncle did not believe in my feat.

Interestingly, the "village bar" in the village where my maternal grandparents lived actually had a copy - but I only discovered this fact later on, November 1988 or so. I write "village bar" because at least in Italy, "bar" is a term used for places where people can drink booze but also quick coffees, get snack food, and if there is enough space play games or any other "social activities". Many moons ago, it was common that big enough bars had a small room with cabs, foosball tables, billiards and so on.

I kept playing the first entry of the series for score, when I would visit my grandparents. I still remember going to and from the small bar, with st. 3's theme ringing in my ears whole traversing dark woods during cold winter nights to reach my grandparents' place, a 2-floor villa outside the village. Spooky stuff indeed.

DOUBLE DRAGON II [Technos 1988] (Players: Rando)

Double Dragon II was somewhat of an obscure title, back in the day. My uncle bought a copy in September 1989, and he was not particularly convinced that he could break even on the board. Most people simply found the commands too awkward, even if my uncle had a translated version of the marquee on the cab ("read here before you play"). Kunio-kun was already a distant memory for everyone, apparently. I think that my credits saved my uncle from a financial loss, in the long term, but I don't remember any other people playing the title.

I remember struggling a lot myself, but after practicing quite a bit, I became used to the style. I did have to learn that the simplest combo (back kick+roundhouse kick) is simple but time-consuming: for a while, I had no idea on how not to time-out on st. 3. I then discovered the other combos, and its was problem solved.

St. 4 took me forever, anyway. Birru-sensei has discussed the game somewhere else, at length, and I am too lazy to retrieve the links (shishio, if you're reading this: I will edit the posts if you can send me the links ). My own experience is that I had to spend around one month only to learn how to handle the stage up until to the final room, then another month to learn how to deal with the Abores and the other bosses before Willy, and then I was close to giving up when I fought the doppelganger the first time. By this point, it was January 1990, if I recall correctly.

The doppelganger took me another month or so, as I had to improve my tatsumatsu mastery and positioning during the fight, simply put. I remember that I was absolutely shaking the first time I completed this, also because I eventually nailed a 1-LC. The ending depressed me a lot, and I don't doubt because I was an easily impressionable kid. Still, to these days I do feel a chill when reaching the final fight, given how the whole final sequence is designed to be a creepy, sad "end of times" fight.

FUNKY JET (Players: Rando, a good friend of mine and then Rando all by himself).

This game has been an interesting grudge match, in my arcade career. I played this title together with the King of Dragons guy, though at a later stage (summer of 1992? Memory is hazy, as always). We somehow found the game difficult, so we would be able to 1-CC it no more than 1 time out of 5 attempts, from what I can recall. Never scored a clear by myself, dammit.

Fast forward to 2013: a lazy summer in Sweden, my first experience of the Midnight Sun in Stockholm, and a period in which I started thinking that maybe I could go back to playing some videogames, at least during the summertime.

I spent quite a few dusky, starless nights playing this title in its various revisions, and cursing the programmers because the game is actually easy to 1-CC if players can manage to handle the final boss rush without losing power-ups...easier said than done.

One great triumph of life was 1-CC'ing each of the revisions in sequential turn, a whooping 21 years after I played the title the first time (and, like, 5 different countries and 7-8 cities later...). I remember talking about with the aforementioned friend of mine, who admitted that he also spent quite a few sleepless nights playing "our" old titles, when he discovered emulation back in 2000 (i.e. 22 years ago).

Time flies, people!

KING OF THE DRAGONS (Capcom, 1991) (Players: Rando & a good friend of mine)

King of the Dragons is one of those rare Capcom titles that is simply not designed to be difficult. Elf and Mage make the game a walk in the park for just about anyone with decent gaming skills; the other three melee characters offer more intriguing challenges, but don't require very strict mastery of the mechanics as in cases such as Knights of the Round or Magic Sword.

Still, I had fun for ages playing this game with a then friend of mine. We would mostly meet on week-ends, playing this game and TumblePop (a DECO classic!) on these huge cabs with giant screens and connected seats, and then head over to a board gaming club to do very nerdy things like playing dice-and-pencil RPG's.

We played the game for a period long enough that we could 1-LC it with any combination of characters, and at some point we were keeping a list of all permutations that we had to try out ("OK, you take the dwarf, I take the cleric!"). The game has a rank system that makes spacing and crowd management interesting, but not particularly difficult. Fun fact: as everybody and their dog could do well on this game, my uncle decided to max out the difficulty...a general agreement among our arcade crowd was that the game is actually better at higher difficulty settings

ROLLING THUNDER (Namco, 1986) (Players: Rando)

I remember playing this title in 1990, when my uncle re-installed the board at half the price and in an older cab (some survivor of the early 1980's wars, I guess). It should be an "old" version, as I remember that the game gave you 180 seconds per stage but was generally buggier and meaner, unlike the other revisions.

I believe that what completely sucked me in the game was the main theme and its Ipcress-esque feeling. It's obvious that the game was inspired by the campiest aspects of the Bond franchise and similar spy stories, but the dark edge to the OST reminded me of the less zany and definitely more realistic spy classics of the '60s and the '70s.

I remember that it took me forever (or probably one month) simply to master the move set and find a "solution" to stages 4 and 5: the game revolves so much around precise approaches and set pieces, that clearing certain bottlenecks is near impossible without knowing the right approach. Case in point, I became stuck on stage 8 (i.e. 2-3), as I never figured out how to deal with the final jumps and enemies.

In 2001 to 2003 (memory is hazy, sorry), I obtained a copy of Namco Museum Encore and cleared the version on that collection after, well, finding videos showing how to handle stage 2-3 and the rest of the game (I even blogged about this, somewhere). I proceeded to clear the other versions except for the 120 seconds one on MAME, as this time limit is simply too steep and annoying.

This is possibly the first decades-old grudge match I solved in my favour, arcade-wise. I will always cherish the title and its brilliant style, but I believe that I had a rather lengthy rejection phase after the first 1-CC, since at some point I was being driven nuts by the very strict approach that the game requires.

TUMBLE POP (Data East, 1991) (Players: Rando & a good friend of mine)

Tumble Pop is a nice, zany and enjoyable 1-screen platformer from DECO in which you play as a sort of garbage cleaning man armed with a giant vacuum cleaner. The World (and the Moon!) has been overrun by hordes of evil monstahs controlled by Dr. Metal-plate-on-his-face, so you must vacuum-clean the bad dudes and shoot them to oblivion.

The game has a lot of DECO-ness, in that you fight a few set enemies across the different world locations (but with palette swaps), the enemies feature voice samples originating from other DECO games and in some cases are cameos (e.g., you fight Chelnov-like enemies on the Moon stage), the game mechanics are a bit awkward but lot of fun once you master them, there are tons of hidden bonuses, and so on.

I 1-CC'ed this around the same period I 1-CC'ed The King of Dragons, also in tandem with my dear friend. Tumble Pop is fun but long (1 h or so), so we would have these mini gaming marathons in which we would clear first one then the other game, often with small crowds enjoying our performances. I could easily clear it by myself and I still can: it's easy, after all.

Still, the game is chaotic but relatively well-designed, so 2P games can be tons of fun. I had the pleasure to also play it in team with other people (including the waifu), and so I have been enjoying its vacuum-cleaning wackiness for decades, by now

[Randorama]

Double post, sorry.

I think that I will slowly add entries to the post above and add comments when new edits are up, unless someone wants to say "omg!!1!N0es! Do it in a different way!!1!".
I think that I will organise the entries around companies, as the gaming histories for each title are sometimes really complex (e.g., the Bubble Symphony entry).

I am resigned to the fact that I will spend the rest of this month working on hideously tedious tasks (checking references and basic facts on upcoming articles, for work), so I will spam a lot on the forum as an antidote for being bored to death and therefore risking of performing poorly at the desk

[bcass]

Cool story. Some resonant points in there.

[Sumez]

Damn, a Bubble Symphony co-op 1CC is something I would love to even have the chance to experience.

Of the three "main" Bubble Bobble games with the classic gameplay (BB, Symphony, Memories), despite all being designed around 2 players supporting eachother, Symphony feels to me like the one most designed with co-op play in mind, with several of the game's myriad of secrets pretty much requiring help from a second player.
It's the only game in the series where you can actually transform into humans mid-game and keep playing in this form, which is always something I found amusing.

[Randorama]

I actually don't think that we reached the real ending, though we completed the four keys and beat hyper drunk (we were able to turn the characters into humans a few times, though).
Still, the co-op experience tends to be overlooked in many discussions of arcade games, for reasons that may rather obvious (shmups are a "lone wolf" genre, fighting games are vs, etc.).
I played and 1-CC'ed plenty of games in co-op mode, and in some cases the experience centred on rather modest games, I believe (e.g., Funky Jet and Tumblepop?).

I am very tempted to design some Darius-like scheme of titles I could add to the list, and you guys decide the route. If Bubble Symphony is zone A, we could go to Zone B (Funky Jet) or Zone C (Tumblepop). I accept requests, if I happen to have played the game (range: arcade, with Taito, Capcom and maybe DECO being my wider portfolios? I 1-CC'ed some Konami and Sega, a few Namco, Jaleco and other minor companies).

[Sumez]

Metal Slug, Out Zone, and Capcom's D&D games are the first games to come to my mind when I think of great co-op arcade games outside of Bubble Bobble and its ilk. Blood Bros. might be a good one too, but I haven't played it "seriously" with a friend before. However Wild Guns Reloaded in four player is a blast that I feel lucky to have tried.

[pegboy]

Contra: Legacy of Whore. This is actually the game that sparked my furious hatred of these youtube cheaters and their "longplay" bullshit. I looked up many videos of this after failing over and over again and EVERY FUCKING ONE OF THEM IS FAKE. Especially these mother fucking fuckheads like NintendoComplete and Shadowserg that claim to not use cheats, their videos are completely useless and fake.

[dan76]

Some friends and I are going to start a classic arcades scoring comp in the next few weeks. Stuff like Mikie, Burger Time, Lady Bug etc. Would that be of interest to anyone here?

[Randorama]

Sumez: I will return to co-op experiences in due time.
I have lots of 1-screen titles to talk about, but some bmups and games from other genres will also receive some time.
I actually played a lot of co-op (friends, and sometimes relatives too!), and my first shmup 1-CC (thundercade) was a co-op with my father, go figure

Dan: great news. I hope that you guys have fun.
My schedule is too tricky to join the compo, but I would be delighted otherwise.

Random message:

Guys, please post more of your stories and achievements (while being on-topic, of course).
I'd like to read them, if any other motivation is lacking.

I think that I will proceed slowly (one edit/game per week?) and focus on arcade games, though at some point there are some console-only titles that I would like to discuss.
My memory lane is long and full of potholes, but the ride might be interesting.

[Randorama]

Bump with a double post - because the fans said so. I will let the readers discover what new gem I have added my memories about, in well-written prose of course!

[BEAMLORD]

Probotector (NES) 1-loop clear. Didn't even know there was a 2nd loop until clearing the first today

The final stage was surprisingly easy, first time I've ever even reached it. I won't be attempting a 2 loop clear, so I'm happy to put this classic to bed for now.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

Nice! It's a true landmark game, easily one of the NES's most essential.

[BEAMLORD]

Thanks. Indeed, great example of that taught, deliberate type of gameplay I find typical of the best games of the 8 bit times.

[xxx1993]

Cleared Sin and Punishment: Star Successor on Normal! Unfortunately, I fucked up on the fight with Deko at the end of Stage 6…

[BloodHawk]

Just finished a 1CC of Contra arcade on very hard (with autofire though). It wasn't a 1LC as I had to take advantage of a couple of those extends given from all of the points off the stage 4 boss popcorn.

Big thanks to BIL though as I used his 1LC video as a guideline. I haven't kept a list or anything, but I am pretty sure this is my first "non-shmup" arcade 1CC. Run-times taking less than 10 minutes definitely helped.

[BIL]

Congrats, it's a great little gauntlet! Autofire doesn't change much tbh, other than the fourth boss, which becomes a bit of an endurance test with his massive V.Hard HP. Those sorts of things are lame anyway, though.

[Randorama]

Rolling Thunder is up.