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

[Whiskers]

I like Sonic Wings 3.

I'd never put it in a Top 25 list, but it's perfectly serviceable for what it is. It's short (8 stages in 10 minutes!), fast, fun, simple to understand, has branching paths, and doesn't overstay it's welcome.

I’ve seen reviews criticising Video System/Psikyo saying that their stages are too short. I disagree. IMHO, it’s a nice change if you’re playing a lot of Cave with their ultra-long final stages. Gotta keep your burnout in check, folks.

I’ve also read a reviewer throwing shade at S1945 and S1999 because the ships are flying into space. Really? Are we going to ignore the infinite ammo and transforming bosses?

[Faith]

Actually if you like shorter STG Emerald Blue is one of the best I feel (11~ minute TLB clear lol) with a lot of Cave influence too!~

[Nahar]

I just 1cc'd 1942 on the NES. It's a bad shmup, honestly, even if it has some good ideas here and there.

[Sturmvogel Prime]

This will be a "Triggerhearted" post.

First off, TH Enhanced 2025-26's Story Mode with Exelica. Looks like she's the new "High scoring" character since Faintear's laser was nerfed.
No Miss, 1 Bomb used, Final Score: 468,049,338


Also, 1st Place on Leaderboards with Crueltear on Normal difficulty.
Took a few hits, but I've managed to finish it without continues.



Meanwhile in the 2023 re-release.
Final Score: 268,607,412
Character used: TH32 Crueltear
Difficulty: Normal
Auto-Anchor: On

[Angry Hina]

Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams this time on hard:

https://youtu.be/tQ2IK0-7bbQ
1,164,380 pts. (it was the 4th place on the leaderboards... are these international?)

Was a much more fun hard run compared to Cotton 100%, which I like in normal more.

[locoBro1196]

Somehow I managed to clear Ketsui (1-ALL, M2 version for PS4). I've been playing this in a very intense manner since early march, but on and off since around 2010...yeah it's been a long and mostly painful journey.

Definitely the hardest 1-ALL I've ever completed. Hardest shmup? Possibly, for sure it felt harder (specially in the later stages) than DDP DOJ original. In terms of frustration, only Pulstar comes close, I think. I can't really remember since it's been a while, and honestly these are entirely different types of games.

Really awesome game, more of an experience than a game TBH. It really stays with you. I'll always remember how both Stage 4 and Stage 5 feel like hell on earth, that's where most of practice time went into. And what the hell were Cave thinking of when designing the mid-boss for Stage 3 and getting the extra life out of it? Finding a proper routing for that can drive a player insane.

The winning run went extremely well, I made it no-miss to Trafalgar (first time it happened), thereafter lost most lives in the bowels of hell that is stage 5's second half but managed to survive the Evacaneer fight with one in store.

Anyway, I love Ketsui, but I'm quite glad to finally put it behind. But before doing that, I may give another shot to the X360 version, which is the one I first got all those years ago...

[ForeverGnomed]

Somehow I managed to clear Ketsui (1-ALL, M2 version for PS4). I've been playing this in a very intense manner since early march, but on and off since around 2010...yeah it's been a long and mostly painful journey.

Definitely the hardest 1-ALL I've ever completed. Hardest shmup? Possibly, for sure it felt harder (specially in the later stages) than DDP DOJ original.

Really awesome game, more of an experience than a game TBH. It really stays with you. I'll always remember how both Stage 4 and Stage 5 feel like hell on earth, that's where most of practice time went into. And what the hell were Cave thinking of when designing the mid-boss for Stage 3 and getting the extra life out of it? Finding a proper routing for that can drive a player insane.

Man, I've been doing the same with Ketsui, also in the same time frame, and also with some on and off time with it in past years. I've used the M2 port for practice in the past, but this time I mostly played it via its PGM cart on a candy cab. Congratulations on the clear! I almost made it - I did 1CC it for the first time about 2 weeks ago, but with a big CAVEAT/ASTERISK being that I set the starting ship stock to 5 (and like most clears, I found myself at the end with no lives/no bombs left, hah). I stopped there - Ketsui is so dang tough that I don't know how many more hours I'd have to put into it for a 3-stock clear - so I'm satisfied for now But of course I'll return to it again, because that real 1CC clear dangles like a carrot - it's too good of a game to not reach the ultimate goal.

It truly is a great game - my personal favorite shmup. It has such great patterns - really dynamic, fair, and fun to dodge - the aesthetics are fantastic - and despite being, as you mentioned, perhaps one of the toughest shmups, I think it has the most consistent and fair difficulty of any that I've played. I just followed it up with DOJ, a game I haven't spent much time with, and I was able to do a 1CC, (5-stock again) with about a week of casual play (granted also, black label version). That mid-boss extend in Ketsui's Stage 3... Haha - yeah, that's an interesting one - It may actually be my favorite extend in any CAVE game - it's really cool when you've learned it and can get it most of the time, but whew, I still get whomped often. But I like that you always have to work for it, making it always rewarding - a dopamine hit every time. Stage 5 really is a friggin' gauntlet of difficulty (but again, fair), and I can often get there with many lives and resources - and then before I know it I'm exhausted of everything, hahah.

So yeah this post covers my two most recent clears too - Ketsui and DOJ with the asterisks. I think I'll keep pushing at DOJ though - the 3-stock seems really obtainable. And I just started EspGaluda, which I think will come quickly - it's just that last boss pattern that I have to push past - otherwise I'm right there.

A little side note too: I did the clear of Ketsui while on the phone (with earbuds) the entire run just talking nonsense and laughing with a good friend, hah. It really is true - when you're not so tied up in the intensity of wanting something so bad - those nerves are calmed down and you may find yourself just casually making the most insane dodges and moves one after another after another and just having a good time without the stress shakes and frustrations - I couldn't believe some of the moves I was making, hahah

[locoBro1196]

Man, I've been doing the same with Ketsui, also in the same time frame, and also with some on and off time with it in past years. I've used the M2 port for practice in the past, but this time I mostly played it via its PGM cart on a candy cab. Congratulations on the clear! I almost made it - I did 1CC it for the first time about 2 weeks ago, but with a big CAVEAT/ASTERISK being that I set the starting ship stock to 5 (and like most clears, I found myself at the end with no lives/no bombs left, hah). I stopped there - Ketsui is so dang tough that I don't know how many more hours I'd have to put into it for a 3-stock clear - so I'm satisfied for now But of course I'll return to it again, because that real 1CC clear dangles like a carrot - it's too good of a game to not reach the ultimate goal.

It truly is a great game - my personal favorite shmup. It has such great patterns - really dynamic, fair, and fun to dodge - the aesthetics are fantastic - and despite being, as you mentioned, perhaps one of the toughest shmups, I think it has the most consistent and fair difficulty of any that I've played. I just followed it up with DOJ, a game I haven't spent much time with, and I was able to do a 1CC, (5-stock again) with about a week of casual play (granted also, black label version). That mid-boss extend in Ketsui's Stage 3... Haha - yeah, that's an interesting one - It may actually be my favorite extend in any CAVE game - it's really cool when you've learned it and can get it most of the time, but whew, I still get whomped often. But I like that you always have to work for it, making it always rewarding - a dopamine hit every time. Stage 5 really is a friggin' gauntlet of difficulty (but again, fair), and I can often get there with many lives and resources - and then before I know it I'm exhausted of everything, hahah.

So yeah this post covers my two most recent clears too - Ketsui and DOJ with the asterisks. I think I'll keep pushing at DOJ though - the 3-stock seems really obtainable. And I just started EspGaluda, which I think will come quickly - it's just that last boss pattern that I have to push past - otherwise I'm right there.

A little side note too: I did the clear of Ketsui while on the phone (with earbuds) the entire run just talking nonsense and laughing with a good friend, hah. It really is true - when you're not so tied up in the intensity of wanting something so bad - those nerves are calmed down and you may find yourself just casually making the most insane dodges and moves one after another after another and just having a good time without the stress shakes and frustrations - I couldn't believe some of the moves I was making, hahah

Thank you! I totally get what you mean. I was very stuck with DOJ (original White Label version), it took me a long while to finish it, nearly a month, but what really helped was completing the Black Label version beforehand. I strongly suggest you go for that first (on default settings) since overall it's an easier clear mainly thanks to the ready availability of the hypers, and the experience will definitely have a positive impact on when you decide to finally tackle DOJ WL.

I still consider DOJ BL my absolute Cave favorite (and my #1 overall shmup as per my recent voting). From gameplay to graphics, sound, whole atmosphere, it's got the perfect learning curve, getting the perfect balance between brutal and fair, and not much of a rank issue to worry about. It's either you learn to dodge and manage the resources or you go home. Something which it shares with Ketsui.

I love Ketsui too (#5 overall in the voting), and yeah...that 1cc feels far more rewarding after all. Just like all my previous Cave clears, I enjoyed the whole ride from beginning to the end far more than getting the actual clear. And if I was able to do it, I'm sure anyone can! I just got lucky enough to have the time to work towards that clear.

And I absolutely get your last point, you are 110% correct that the game is better played when you are relaxed...I find this more important than with any other Cave clears. My winning run was a bit of a miracle in that I didn't lose a life until the 5th stage mid-boss, but I had quite a few other runs where I made it to the final patterns of the very last boss and in all of them I had been losing lives in stage 2 or 3, or not getting the extend from stage 3 or 5 and then stopped caring...and somehow the run was much better than if I was going "by the book" trying things like going no-miss to the end of stage 4, or something like that.

[KoopsMagoo]

Finally got Thunder Dragon 2 down earlier today. It's been a three month ride and while it could've ended up better in terms of score, I'm just happy to finally get the clear. Magnificent game in every way.

https://youtu.be/cxo2vRfmGQ0?si=KBpUBYUHrLr-iGof

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I finally beat Stage 4 of the Android-based Aka to Blue danmaku stg title on a 1CC with 81,801,397 points overall on 4/11/2026. Wow, what an incredible stage with so much micro-dodging to deal with the slow-moving barrage of bullet patterns!

----------
Not to mention that Aka to Blue is a ferocious battery guzzler/drainer with it's high-priority CPU usage with the Android platform as it is (if the graphic detail is set at it's highest setting -- there are four graphical settings to choose from with each higher setting that increases the battery drainage issue that much quicker -- it seems like an attached 20,000mAh portable "power bank" setup would solve the pressing battery drainage issue for good with it's consistant supply of 5v @ 1 amp "on the line," power-wise).
----------

All that's left to do is try for a 1CC of Aka to Blue's Stage 5.

Too bad that the Android and Apple based platforms (i.e. smart phones and tablets) don't allow the use of a proper dedicated arcade stick setup with the Aka to Blue stg as it is with the touch-screen interface in place (aside from the Exa-Arcadia release of Aka and Blue Type-R with it's dedicated arcade stick support from the "get-go").

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Creamy Goodness]

I tried to enjoy AKA to Blue, but I could not get past the touch screen controls. It became more frustration than it was wortg.

[1000Eyes]

I can't really imagine Aka to Blue w/o the touchscreen tbh, as it is built around it. The scoring system is really simple in that game, but it is built around the specifics of touch screen movement: point blanking is different when you finger moves by flicking and dragging, so instant snaps and slow micro dodging is core, but any other type of movement like gradual speed changes is really hard. The bomb mechanic of Blue in that game is cool too, an Ibara style swivel that requires you to stop moving for a sec to deploy it. All these possibilities are different from our usual stick n buttons and keyboard setups. Would have to rebuild the game system from the ground up if they ever port it.

[glenjamin]

The arcade version does feel really good if you ever get the chance to play it

[Nahar]

Did a 1CC of Raiga Stratofighter today. Didn't enjoy the game that much, honestly.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

For games that loop twice and don't have a way to end in loop 1 (like where Dodonpachi's loop 2 has requirements that can be missed and cause the game to end after loop 1 if you don't meet one of them), it's technically only a full 1CC if you clear the entire game, as in both loops. A 1CC of the first loop is still good though and is usually considered a 1CC for the purposes of including on people's 1cc lists, same goes with Batsugun Special where it's an easy first loop clear but much more difficult to clear all four or five loops it has.

Raiga's got a unique final level that's only seen in the second loop that's pretty cool.

[Faith]

For games that loop twice and don't have a way to end in loop 1 (like where Dodonpachi's loop 2 has requirements that can be missed and cause the game to end after loop 1 if you don't meet one of them), it's technically only a full 1CC if you clear the entire game, as in both loops

:(



:D

Cho Ren Sha 68K 2-ALL!~

Fk fk fk the 2nd loop and fk fk fk the TLB too! How much HP does it have???

For 1-ALL took 3 attempts to get... 2-ALL think about 30? Those revenge bullets are such poor taste, especially since need to be super close to enemy to seal them and the worst part is actually the revenge bullets don't come from enemy death but come from death explosion... so enemy can die, then you get many boom boom boom from that one enemy and each boom spit out revenge bullet!!! But the worst, worst is... why the revenge bullet use exact same graphic as one of the most common bullet in the game?????

Usually for STG with revenge bullet, it use a unique color or graphic style so that you can see what is going on... here it just add to one big hyper mess because you don't know which is revenge bullet and which is not, so just look like huge bullet vomit. Super super bad visibility. This really is the worst!

So Faith strategy: no-miss and score well first loop, then 2nd loop stop caring about 3x power-up collect and just keep going for bomba and 1UP ~_~"...

Run went quite well until Stage 4 then I think took first death there, but manage recover... then Stage 5 things really fall apart and keep losing extends there and make entry into Stage 6 really rubbish, so lose some more extends there lol. At least still managed reach TLB with 8 extends I think lol.

Then lost about 6 to that joke fight. Playing Windows ver so no practice too!

But did manage set game run 55 FPS instead of joke 60 FPS... tried 60 originally but could not get past 2-3, too hard do 3x power-up collect at 60 FPS!!

[Angry Hina]

So, I've now completed the much-praised Gley Lancer on normal. Didnt liked it that much. Written a bit about it here: viewtopic.php?p=1596182#p1596182

https://youtu.be/HI_H72wPupg

[Lethe]

Cho Ren Sha 68K 2-ALL!~

Try hard mode next, that's where the premier dodge/route mix begins.
If you do, don't get discouraged if loop 1 seems oppressive, loop 2 has actually always felt easier to me. Bomb whenever in doubt, just get past things and you can catch back up later on.

[Faith]

Try hard mode next, that's where the premier dodge/route mix begins.

Hard? Only see Impossible? No intention for impossible; it really may as well be impossible -_-"... only thing Faith hate more in this world than revenge bullets (and self, but that another story)... is revenge bullets with RNG. I just tried few rounds, and there is no pattern. The revenge bullet can shoot either at your ship, or left to ship, or right to ship... 100% RNG. Problem with that is, it create many situation where dodging is impossible... because you can kill a big enemy... it shoot 10 wave of revenge bullets (all RNG)... and they overlap and create impossible to dodge situation. Joke.

Had even a few times, where boss baboom... and forced bomba because the 10 wave of revenge bullets all overlap because they don't come from a single source. Some spawn from left side of boss, some from middle of boss, some from right side of boss... all with RNG direction. Feel not balanced.

Managed reach Stage 0 of Impossible and quit because can feel getting very angry at all RNG crap.

Problem with creating this kind of heavy RNG is there is very high risk of really creating impossible situations... and had even one run where super ultra unlucky Stage 5 had to 5x bomba in a row!!!

and you can catch back up later on.

That is the other problem... it is almost impossible to recover too! Because the RNG bullet is so long, it create many situation where collecting 3x power-up drop is very, very dangerous. Die one time in 1st loop and it is game over (especially at Stage 4 onward)... will have very few opportunity to do 3x power-up and then your choice is either pick up bomba and have underpower ship or pick up shot upgrade and have no bomba and die... or even worse is when 1UP spawn and you collect 1UP just to die 3 seconds later because ship shot power is joke and bomba long time ago finish already!!!

[Lethe]

That's the fun part for me. The suicide bullets can only aim at fixed angles in an arc around you, there's a whole game to anticipating where it's safe to be and then navigating what really happens. Of course lots of parts can be made completely reliable as well, you just need to find the right order to attack enemies in.

I think my first hard clear was something like an 8 miss, guessing at least 3 would have been chain deaths in loop 1 stage 0.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Comet Striker DX: Very Hard difficulty, no miss clear (with Cpt. Bone):

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2758175154

I've been playing this one a whole bunch lately, very fun game. The bonus characters are way easier to use than the default, and I think Cpt. Bone is in the running for the strongest character in the game for several reasons:

• He's tied for the largest health pool with the default character
• His shot goes fullscreen, allowing you to hit enemies way further away at a distance and often from outside of rooms
• His shots have piercing and rebound off of walls to deal additional damage, meaning he can hit many nasty shielded enemies and get tons of bonus damage on various enemies and bosses, seriously his shot trivialized several of the hardest rooms in the game

His shot damage is slightly lower but it fires so fast and the bonus rebound damage racks up alarmingly fast that he actually tends to wildly outdamage other characters except perhaps the 1 HP secret character.

[Faith]

His shots have piercing and rebound off of walls to deal additional damage

Congrats!! This part though... that bouncing shot somehow very visually messy for me to track >.<!~

Maybe it is not as bad as when playing game own self... but when watching your run... many moments it mess up my vision trying to see what is going on haha. Very cute game! Thank you for sharing!!~

[CIT]

I cleared Sonic Wings 2!

I found this by far the hardest game in the series, super fast bullets and lots of RNG elements.

Now that I've 1cc'd the entire series, this is my personal ranking: SW3 > SW2 > SW Special > SW Renunion > SW1

Guess I need to move on to some Psikyo games now...

[Mero]

Zunzunkyou No Yabou, 1st Loop clear

https://youtu.be/uuVifyY58qQ

Like Playgirls 2 this was a game that I saw on oxtsu's list years and years ago. Not that hard but I can still mess it up, I was doing fine until I forgot to press the bomb button near the end. I had a run that was 1st loop no miss but I didn't record that.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Maybe it is not as bad as when playing game own self... but when watching your run... many moments it mess up my vision trying to see what is going on haha. Very cute game! Thank you for sharing!!~

Thanks! The colours I don't find interfere with the mostly green/yellow enemy shots that much, but that's basically what his disadvantage is. They could have made the bones a bit darker or transparent I think, but it's a minor visual setback that's more than made up for by his insane damage output. The other 5 characters including the starting character don't have this issue.

[Angry Hina]

Now that I've 1cc'd the entire series, this is my personal ranking: SW3 > SW2 > SW Special > SW Renunion > SW1

Reunion > SW1 ?! I thought Reunion is more or less shit?

[CIT]

Reunion > SW1 ?! I thought Reunion is more or less shit?

It's pretty trashy, and scoring is completely broken, but I had a surprising amount of fun with it.

[Faith]

Assault Shell Original Full 2-ALL with Type-G1!~



Total game time 5 hours, and 2-ALL clear took only one attempt after getting 1-ALL for first time >.<"... but, definitely had a lot of fun! TLB was main obstacle to 1-ALL, but luckily, TLB is mostly same (I think bullets maybe just a little bit more dense?) in 2-ALL compare to 1-ALL x_x!~

Second loop introduces... and no-one will guess this! Revenge bullets! But at least with this game, they are very, very clear, so adapted fast!

Overall, definitely recommend this game... even though on Steam all achievements broken and this developer has some worst communication habit in the entire world. Really look forward to Assault Shell 2, but info from developer has been super poor during this whole Early Access period. Despite that... I still went to buy it, to support the developer. But really hope that the developer can just take a bit of time to communicate with players. I think most will agree... rather delay game by few days, and have better communication with player who buy it @_@"...

Edit to add on: Just cleared Void Arrange too. This mode is just completely crazy. Do you like Hyper? Do you like Crimzon Clover Double Break? Well here... we have Void Stand AKA Triple Break!!! Just completely COMPLETELY INSANE >.<!~ So like Crimzon Clover, your break gauge have the main bar and sub bar which you can use to do Single and Double Break... but to get to Triple Break, bar will start empty once go into Double Break... so need to carefully route enemies and SP weapon use to charge up bar as fast as possible before Double Break expire... then when you activate Triple Break... this is just ultimate definition of deleting enemies and bosses >.<"... but the more you do this, the more game rank go up... and of course during this time enemy bullet patterns are very mean. But the thing I love most is during time Void Stand is active... whole screen goes dark, with purple hue... and enemy bullets all go into ultra high contrast. Almost like a night vision?

This is just... ultra cool!!! This is definitely an easy STG... and Faith will say this is probably the easiest 2-ALL anyone can complete... but, would be lying if didn't say had insane crazy amount of fun with this game lol... going into breaks (called Hyper Stand for 1st, Blank Stand for 2nd, and Void Stand for 3rd) is just so satisfying. This game definitely has the 2nd best Break/Hyper feel (Crimzon Clover obviously still best) for me... and really think will be spending more time with this game. Want to try push max rank in Void Arrange and score it better too!

[stellar_light]

Not a clear because this is only the boss in isolation (NOT THE FULL RUN I AM NOT DOING THE FULL RUN) but I finally got an Inbachi practice win after over a hundred hours!! Despite being less than three minutes long it still felt just as intense and demanding as any other big CAVE grind, although at least nowhere near as demotivating with how fast it is to pick up another shot at it. Being able to learn the fight in MAME with the 2 frame latency of shmupmame dramatically speeds up the learning process--you can practice hundreds of resets of the final on MAME within the span of an hour compared to 360 where you'd only be able to get a couple dozen attempts in within that same span (dear lord I cannot imagine enduring that unskippable 30 second intro every time). Again this is only practice and several people have already done this, but I do think that if more players were up for the time commitment and gave it a serious shot that we'd see more training wins. It's a crazy boss but it's honestly more learnable than it looks and the amount of valid hyper routes available is shockingly flexible; the set-up I chose allows me to mitigate the second half of pattern 1 and skip the scariest parts of pattern 2. I included some notes in the description and comment section going over my strats for this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rm38aT9Jmo

[Faith]

That's the fun part for me.

So recently needed time away from main PC because travel... and decided bring CRS along but I travel with Mac so forced to use PX68k instead of Windows ver... and... what a world of difference -_-"... even at same FPS, the 68000 emulator version of CRS play much slower than Windows EXE one. There is actually a lot of hardware slowdown for 68000 version... but Windows version have zero slowdown. Find that there are now many, many parts much easier to do especially with busy screen >.<!~

Especially St 6 & St 0 bosses are much easier in 68000 emulator lol and with that slowdown revenge bullets easier to dodge.

Zzzzz.

Overall, still prefer Windows EXE because scoreboard and replay are nice... I do not think 68000 version have that? Also 68000 version not seem to have Quick Restart button? So because of this maybe will finally try Impossible again on 68000 X_X!~

Funny thing is, even some "emptier" area when have sudden enemy or explosion appear, slowdown can be quite aggressive. So not just boss. So really Windows version put player at big disadvantage... not only from the default 60 FPS but also from lack of hardware slowdown... you combine these two... it makes the overall "feel" of Windows EXE like +30% faster @_@!~