Hardest. Shooters. Ever.

[Bydobasher]

Well in level 4 on the boss you're almost forced to get way to many speedups which then ruin any chance you have of surviving the rest of the game

That part is exceedingly difficult, I agree. One must be as careful about the powerups in that section as about the barrage of fire from the boss and of course the walls themselves. I wouldn't say it's unfair though.

And I have 1CC'ed R-Type 2, many times.

[Salem Witch Trials!]

wow, nice work! was it on mame or playstation or arcade or what? do you have a replay? I'd love to see it if ya do.

[Bydobasher]

Playstation and MAME. I don't have a replay on hand -- and I'm not sure how to make one -- so you'll have to take my word for it for now.

I never spent enough time with the arcade machine to get very far with it. Unlike the original R-Type, there weren't very many R-Type 2 machines to be found in my city, and they didn't stick around very long either. I guess it just wasn't the moneymaker that its predecessor was.

So I managed it for the first time on either Playstation or MAME a couple of years ago, which was the first time I had really gotten an opportunity to spend some serious time with the game. I'm sure I'm not the only person around here who can beat it; I distinctly remember a handful of people on the last incarnation of these boards that could do so.

[ave]

Mmh.. the hardest shooter? I have played some real hard shooters since I began to play 2D-Shooters, but I think XMULTIPLY, Hellfire, Super R-Type and that Biometal-Gust-thing in Dezaemon 2 were the most difficult ones.

XMULTIPLY is nearly scary but pretty cool presentated with nice graphics, bgm and so on... but why is it THAT hard? I'd have to no-death-run it, but its too hard (I die on Boss 2, so it may is one of these "very hard"-games).

Bullet-Sprayers aren't that hard, I think. Of course, DonPachi and Mars Matrix aren't easy... but I reach later levels than in those oldschool-games like hellifre (UNFAIRNESS IN ITS ELEMENT) or XMULTIPLY.

Has anyone ever completed XMULTIPLY? I will never do... but once, I nearly cleared Hellfire. I was in the 5th stage (is it the final one?) with more than 1m points and about 15 ships. So i gotta get killed straight away by those rockets coming from above and below, WTF? It took all the 15 ships untill it just said "game over - continue? 9"

BLAH

[Bydobasher]

Yes, I've beaten X Multiply. I only did it once, on MAME a few years ago. I didn't like the game enough to do it again.

As with R-Type 2, I'm sure there are others here who have beaten it; certainly there were on the old boards....

[ave]

Wow, congrats
I tried it a few times on Mame, too. But I don't have a gamepad for my PC, so I decided to try to clear it later on the Saturn (it's on one of those arcade gears-packs, isn't it?), but there it is quite expensive and hard to find complete, so I will play it in february or later when I gotta get some christmas-money

[Salem Witch Trials!]

I don't have a replay on hand -- and I'm not sure how to make one -- so you'll have to take my word for it for now.

I believe ya. Your name is "bydobasher" after all. But if you ever feel like making a mame replay, just go to the game you want to play, don't double click it to play it. Go up to the file menu and hit "play and record input". To watch it just hit playback input in the same menu and go to wherever you saved the input.

By the way, I 1CCed Metal Slug 3 last night

[Bydobasher]

I don't have a gamepad for my PC, so I decided to try to clear it later on the Saturn (it's on one of those arcade gears-packs, isn't it?)

Yes, it's on both Saturn and Playstation in a bundle with Image Fight -- a game I like very much.

I actually prefer using my keyboard to a gamepad, unless the gamepad is really good. (And I prefer a gamepad to a joystick unless the joystick is really good.) I customize the keys -- I like for my hands to be in roughly the same position as when I type -- but the one thing that's especially nice about a keyboard is that it's precise. The gamepad has to be well-made to lend the player the same feeling, and a joystick even more so.

Salem Witch Trials! -- Thanks for the replay information. I suppose your instructions are for MAME32? I'm on Linux nowadays, using XMAME without a GUI, so I'd have to figure out some other way....

Did you really 1CC Metal Slug 3? I can't tell if you're joking or not....

[AWJ]

I'm on Linux nowadays, using XMAME without a GUI, so I'd have to figure out some other way....

xmame.x11 -rec [filename] [gamename]

xmame.x11 -pb [filename]

You don't have to specify the game name when playing back; MAME can figure it out on its own (it's embedded in the .inp file) The location of .inp files is specified in your xmamerc; IIRC it defaults to ~/.xmame/inp.

[Bydobasher]

Thanks for the info. I never knew about those options -- although admittedly, I've never looked for them either.

[DEL]

aventus - Both Loops of X Multiply have been 1CC'd by my old shooting partner KAC and myself back in the day. The shoot'em up brothers ARC and ARM did both loops of R Type II (well, one of them did it, I can't remember which one?).

[Bydobasher]

We can always count on DEL for these kinds of accomplishments.... (I've never had the nerve to even look at the second loop of R-Type 2!)

You're amazing man. Is there anything old-school you haven't totally owned???

[chtimi-CLA]

The shoot'em up brothers ARC and ARM did both loops of R Type II (well, one of them did it, I can't remember which one?).

Yace of shmup.com finally did it recently too.

[captain ahar]

Silsteel on X86k. its like fuzzy shooting on snes, with a slow bullet meter.

[SheSaidDutch]

Aldynes [PCE]- Completely kicks my ass.

[lawnspic]

Rayxamber II for the PCE CD was near suicide inducing as far as difficulty

[Ayanami]

One shooter that owns me for no reason is Shippu Mahou Daisakusen. Have not played it in a while though....

[Bloodreign]

Aldynes [PCE]- Completely kicks my ass.

You're not the only one, I've made it to stage two before I gave up in exhaustion from work earlier that day, I'll have to work on it sometime and get better.

[SheSaidDutch]

Aldynes [PCE]- Completely kicks my ass.

You're not the only one, I've made it to stage two before I gave up in exhaustion from work earlier that day, I'll have to work on it sometime and get better.

I had to use save states on afew spots on level 1!

Level 2 I survived alot longer (without savestates) I got the that turrican boss.

[captain ahar]

honestly, i am positive its been mentioned, but nemesis 90 kai.

hardest gradius on msx, and still hardest on x86k. konami's the king.

[Damocles]

One shooter that owns me for no reason is Shippu Mahou Daisakusen. Have not played it in a while though....

*cough*Miyamoto*cough*

*shrug*

[MJR]

Since I just were talking about Saint Dragon on the other thread, I should mention that Saint Dragon (arcade version) is one of the most demanding & taxing & exhausting Shmups, ever.

I remember the horror when I was playing the 3rd level first time back in '88.. I was like: "wow.. someone is supposed to beat THAT?!"

I did beat it once on raine with autofire and bazillion credits-- I am still trying to complete it on 1cc, I still get my ass handed at me; totally, completely thoroughly, defeatingly, humiliatingly.

And it is THE PCB I am looking forward to get (hint)

[Vincere]

Mmh.. the hardest shooter? I have played some real hard shooters since I began to play 2D-Shooters, but I think XMULTIPLY, Hellfire, Super R-Type and that Biometal-Gust-thing in Dezaemon 2 were the most difficult ones.

Am I the only one to think Super R-Type is easy as hell? I mean, I 1cced it in 3 days, 2 times. It's the easiest R-Type I've ever played.

[MJR]

Mmh.. the hardest shooter? I have played some real hard shooters since I began to play 2D-Shooters, but I think XMULTIPLY, Hellfire, Super R-Type and that Biometal-Gust-thing in Dezaemon 2 were the most difficult ones.

Am I the only one to think Super R-Type is easy as hell? I mean, I 1cced it in 3 days, 2 times. It's the easiest R-Type I've ever played.

I second that opinion. The only hard thing about it was the frustration when you had to start the level from the beginning all over again.

[sameluckraida]

Strato Fighter owns me in the later levels, Dragon Spirit, too.

[Flare]

I saw this thread and immediately thought of Gaiares and Hellfire. To me they were truly insane.

I still remember reading Ed Semrad's review of it in EGM back in the day. It stuck in my mind the fact that he thought Hellfire was too hard for him. At that moment it occurred to me that perhaps they didn't really complete every game they had up for review.

[DEL]

Bydobasher - Sorry for the late reply, Saint Dragon got away from me, although my friend ARM managed to 1CC it within 3 weeks in a north London kebab shop! I agree with MJR though, its a nasty one!!!

Flare - Hellfire (PCB) was one of my all time favourites. There were 2 arcade versions: 1 Player and 2 Player. 1 Player Ver had 1 loop only with restart points, and 2 Player Ver had 2 loops and was much easier due to its die & re-appear nature.
1CCing the PCB 1 Player version is not easy.

[Bydobasher]

No worries. I don't think I've visited this place since I last posted anyway.

I was never able to beat Saint Dragon either, although I didn't spend as much time with it as others. I always preferred Dragon Breed -- which isn't too difficult as Irem games go.

[Icarus]

As much as I hate to admit it, Great Mahou Daisakusen is my nemesis. I love the game to bits, one of my faves, but the Items System makes the game oh-so-really-f**king-hard, and I'm affected by Gold Fever more in Great Mahou than I am in any other game.

Don't think I'll be breaking 10mil any time soon... -_-;;

[Alpolio]

For me it would be Gradius III (arcade, not that SNES port). You take a hit and your ship putters along at 5mph while armed with spit balls. That's tragic when taking on an end level boss.