I thought Dodonpachi was supposed to be an easy 1CC @_@

[Special World]

At least by Cave standards, anyways. Started playing it recently in MAME, using savestates every so often so that once I reach the end I can loop it and then practice on the harder stages. Not using savestates as a measure of progress or scoring skill, obviously. I'm on the fifth boss, trying to one life clear him, and it's going bad. Not nearly as bad as the 5th stage was, mind — those stupid clumps of aimed shots never seemed to end -_-

Did I totally hear wrong when I thought I heard this was an easy Cave 1CC? Or is this just easy in Cave land?

So far all I've 1CCed from Cave is Deathsmiles and Mushi Futari Black Original, so this is a pretty big step up... I've been playing Cave games for a good while but this is the first time I've ever decided to *practice* them as best I can. Sure is rough going...

[broken harbour]

Did I totally hear wrong when I thought I heard this was an easy Cave 1CC? Or is this just easy in Cave land?

Easy according to 'the internet'. When I hear people say crap like "Oh yeah DOJ is like sooooo easy, and I pwned Ketsui blah blah blah" I think it's Just a bunch of internet e-penis stroking.

[Special World]

Well I mean, those I would have never believed. But Dodonpachi at least puts on an easy face for its first 3 levels. The first 3 levels and the last 3 levels are like playing totally different games.

[Special World]

Side note: While I think some of Cave's later games are absolutely gorgeous, I really wish they would have stuck with the pure sprite style they used in Dodonpachi. This game looks amazing, and the bosses look a ton better than those weird 3D model style sprites Cave would go on to use later.

[broken harbour]

Its true, I've gotten close to a 1cc in DDP, but also never done it myself. The 2nd half to me feels kind of like Batsugun, in that there's heavy memorization, combined with some pretty fast bullet patterns. Also, I find the bullet colors sometimes blend into the background too much.

[Squire Grooktook]

The last 3 stages have some pretty tricky patterns, but I think the easy part is mostly due to how many resources and bombs it gives you. If you no miss/no bomb the first 3 stages and do decent for the rest, you should have enough resources just to cheese through everything to a much greater degree than you would other Cave shmups.

[Special World]

The last 3 stages have some pretty tricky patterns, but I think the easy part is mostly due to how many resources and bombs it gives you. If you no miss/no bomb the first 3 stages and do decent for the rest, you should have enough resources just to cheese through everything too a much greater degree than you would other Cave shmups.

A lot of my problems are probably because I'm savestating and not just dying, so I have 3 bombs that I try to use sparingly instead of the massive stockpile you get after dying a few times...

But I'm doing this for the practice, so whatever, right?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

DDP was one of the tougher 1CCs for me. It gives you a ton of resources, but the level difficulty jacks up considerably in stage 4, and stages 5 and 6 are extremely rough. Considering it's a stage longer than other Cave games adds to the trouble, I still haven't managed to loop DDP.

I'd say Espgaluda, Futari, even the original Donpachi (and its end of stage bomb refills) are easier, at least they were for me.

[Kollision]

But Dodonpachi at least puts on an easy face for its first 3 levels. The first 3 levels and the last 3 levels are like playing totally different games.

^this

you'd better be well prepared to deal with things when stage 4 starts, otherwise....

KEEP YOUR FINGER ON THE TRIGGER, ROOKIE!

[Special World]

It also can't be healthy for somebody of my skill level to try no-miss no-bombing the 5th boss -__-

I guess maybe that's not even normal for good players? But like... the bosses don't seem so bad in this? Compared to the stages at least.

[Special World]

Cave games: when savestating your way through a boss feels like an accomplishment

KEEP YOUR FINGER ON THE TRIGGER, ROOKIE!

Inspirational post, and duly noted.

[Bonus!]

The stage 5 boss is really tough. I was somewhat relieved when I saw a superplay where that guy lost a life there, making me realize that this really is a pretty brutal game.

[Squire Grooktook]

The last 3 stages have some pretty tricky patterns, but I think the easy part is mostly due to how many resources and bombs it gives you. If you no miss/no bomb the first 3 stages and do decent for the rest, you should have enough resources just to cheese through everything too a much greater degree than you would other Cave shmups.

A lot of my problems are probably because I'm savestating and not just dying, so I have 3 bombs that I try to use sparingly instead of the massive stockpile you get after dying a few times...

But I'm doing this for the practice, so whatever, right?

Yeah, I imagine a loop would be quite difficult and would require thorough routing of the last three stages.

That being said, if you quit save stating practice and just go for a bomb spam 1-all without caring about score or how much you die, than a 1-all should come a fair bit sooner than it would for some of Cave's later shmups (Ketsui, Doj, Sdoj, etc.) under the same circumstances.

[Special World]

It's nice when you get a chance to appreciate that superplayers are human beings and not robots bent on conquering the human race.

More thoughts on DDP's graphics: The fire bullets in stage 6 are totally unnecessary and make me wanna barf, they're like a Joss Whedon special effect or something from the end of The Dead Hate the Living. I guess they're kinda unintentionally hilarious though. If I had been playing this game for the last 15 years they'd probably be my favorite part of the whole game just for how dumb they are.

[Blinge]

It also can't be healthy for somebody of my skill level to try no-miss no-bombing the 5th boss -__-

Lol nope, that boss is a real cunt. I've cleared the game a few times and practiced NMNB-ing that boss for obscene amounts of time; still struggle with it.
In a full run just think of it like tax, try and learn the boss enough so you can get through and only pay a 2 bomb tax, for instance.

[Special World]

And nah Grooktook, I'm savespamming to loop the game so I can see what the second loop is like. There's no reason for me to want to do this because I'm not even good enough to beat level 4 of the first loop but... I want to anyways?

You can loop it just by beating it while losing less than 2 lives, right?

[Special World]

It also can't be healthy for somebody of my skill level to try no-miss no-bombing the 5th boss -__-

Lol nope, that boss is a real cunt. I've cleared the game a few times and practiced NMNB-ing that boss for obscene amounts of time; still struggle with it.
In a full run just think of it like tax, try and learn the boss enough so you can get through and only pay a 2 bomb tax, for instance.

I actually got bizarrely close to beating him once or twice, but then I gave up and savestated him whenever there was a break in the action.

[trap15]

More thoughts on DDP's graphics: The fire bullets in stage 6 are totally unnecessary and make me wanna barf, they're like a Joss Whedon special effect or something from the end of The Dead Hate the Living. I guess they're kinda unintentionally hilarious though. If I had been playing this game for the last 15 years they'd probably be my favorite part of the whole game just for how dumb they are.

Unbelievable amounts of same.

[Squire Grooktook]

You can loop it just by beating it while losing less than 2 lives, right?

I think so? If I remember correctly there's like 7 or so possible requirements, and you only need to get like 2 of them. So 2 lives and a certain score, or 2 lives and get all golden bee's, or get all golden bee's and get a chain of 300 or something like that. You can mix and max any of them I think.

[Special World]

In that case wikipedia might have dicked me, because it said you only needed to meet one requirement :O

[trap15]

Never ever trust Wikipedia for anything game related or niche in any way.

[Kollision]

KEEP YOUR FINGER ON THE TRIGGER, ROOKIE!

Inspirational post, and duly noted.

You know I was just quoting the best speech from the announcer of Donpachi, right?

[Special World]

@trap15: I didn't really *trust* wikipedia, I just got the idea for looping while I was reading the Dodonpachi page

@Kollision: Never played Donpachi. I knew you were obviously quoting some shmup...

[Emuser]

One does not simply 1cc Dodonpachi.

[Lilium]

It is an easy 1cc if by 1cc you mean a 1-all. 2-all is a much more taxing ordeal because of how difficult 2-5, 2-6 and the TLB are. I'll give you some advice tho.

Try using C-S ship. Or C-L ship, that one is good too. They have great screen-coverage which really helps with dealing with the popcorn enemies. In my opinion, trying to clear through 1-5 with A-L without having a good grasp on how to do it is similar to playing 2-5 with C-S without having a good grasp on how to do it.

So definitely play that. Other than that, apply memorization and watch replays. The 1-5 boss is easy if you know how to do it. There's a trick to all of its most difficult attacks, i'd recommend watching Erppos videos on the game. They have proved helpful to me.

Good luck beating the first loop, it really isn't too terribly difficult.

[guigui]

I just had my first 1CC on DDP with C-Laser this weekend, and am not a shmup expert by any means.
It took me about two months of training at about 4 or 5 credits per day.
By comparison, my Radiant Silvergun 1CC was a lucky one and took me more than one year, never could do it again.

As said earlier, secret in DDP is BOMBING. Spend as few possible in stages 1-3, never die with a bomb in stock, and bomb your way through stages 4-6.
Actually, I cleared the game and dont even know stages 5 and 6 maps ! And so what ? Just bomb when you see you'll get hit.
Also, be sure to score enough to get the second extend at 20 millions, after all, that's six more BOMBS.

[drunkninja24]

Yep, the name of the game on the latter stages is bombing. as mentioned, if you can nmnb the first 3 stages, don't be afraid to let loose on a bomb if you're feeling overwhelmed.

[chempop]

Did not read whole thread, but use C-Shot if it wasn’t been mentioned. Bomb liberally.

[To Far Away Times]

DDP still has quite a bit of challenge to it, but you get a lot of resources. Plan to use each and every bomb, pick C-Shot, and familiarize yourself a bit with the levels. Stage 5 is harder than Stage 6.

I know this goes without saying in shmups, but especially in DDP above all others, don't die with bombs. Ever. A "wasted" bomb on a dodgable pattern is better than a bomb lost by dying.

[Bananamatic]

Never ever trust Wikipedia for anything game related or niche in any way.

but you do need only 1 requirement