New to the Forums and asking for some insight....

[SycoAlexio]

I have been playing shmups for a long, long time, about 18 years(I'm 30 now ), but I have just discovered(yes, true story) about scoring methods in game like Armed Police Batrider, Battle Garegga, etc.
I did, for a long while, credit feed a lot of shmups, and then came to the realization that I was in no way fulfilled at all(cue sad yet ironic music), and as I am now watching other people wreck scores and 1CC, I am invigorated to do better for myself...
I suppose what I'm really asking is for people to recommend good games to start 1CCing with. I'm a huge fan of all platforms of shmups(say, NES and onward), and would love some recommendations. As of right now, I'm balls-deep in Dreamcast shmups, and I LOVE the TG-16/Turbo-Duo, so any other systems(including MAME) recommendations would be highly appreciated.
More to the point: What games have you all 1CC'ed first? I would love some responses. I just joined today, and have been scouring the forums, and find it extremely helpful and enlightening, so for someone like me, who is coming back around to a new reason for shooting the core, please help me out here.
Thank you very much.
-SycoAlexio

[Shepardus]

Imperishable Night was my first 1CC. Cho Ren Sha 68k and Blue Wish Resurrection are good starting points, as is Armed Police Batrider's Normal Course.

[SycoAlexio]

I appreciate it. I just found Cho Ren Sha and am enjoying it very much.

[Stevens]

Balls deep in DC shooters? Sturmwind is your horse. It was my first 1 CC.

Pros:

- Amazing graphics. Impressive what a determined dev can squeeze out of the magical white box. I wonder what we would have seen out of it if had the system had a natural lifespan.

- Soundtrack is also very good.

- Scoring system is pretty straight forward.

- Accessible difficulty.

Cons:

- Scoring system is broken - you can milk some enemies infinitely.

- On your first few runs you may not be sure what you can crash into and what you can't.

- Can be expensive.

Truthfully none of the cons are deal breakers as far as I am concerned. The game offers more than enough content (16 stages. 80 minutes start to finish although there is a short play mode) and plays well enough to make up for the negatives I listed.

[SycoAlexio]

Thanks, bro.

[Squire Grooktook]

The games that first got me into shmups were Gradius III on super nes (arcade version is an entirely different beast), G-Darius, and Einhander. Gradius III was probably my first 1cc (or Axelay).

When I got back into shmups a few years ago (had forgotten about them when I got into 2d fighting games) my first new 1cc was G-Darius.

Also Cho Ren Sha 68k is my favorite shmup of all time (on hard mode) <3

[captpain]

DoDonPachi is how I learned to see the matrix

[LordHypnos]

Different people have different perspectives on this question, of course, but I'd say that, more than anything else, find something that you really enjoy playing. Even if it's hard, just stick it out (as long as you keep finding it enjoyable), it will be far more rewarding than picking based on how easy the game is.

Personally, I used to just try to clear easy games / modes, but they either took only a few hours (e.g. BWR+ Heaven difficulty), or else were just not really as fun as some of the harder games that I had played (Touhou kind of fits here for me, even though I know they are well designed games), and I couldn't bring myself to keep playing them long enough for the clear, because they still take a certain amount of investment.

My first (and only) "real" arcade clear ended up being Mars Matrix, and I enjoyed every second of that game in spite of the brutality. It just struck all the right chords with me. You should try to find something like that was to me where you want to put in another credit no matter how hard the game murders you. That's my opinion, anyway.

I will say, though, that my first clear ever was Sturmwind (the apx. 30 minute mode called "arcade"), and I did quite enjoy that, but that was before I had played any other shooters, so it was pretty hard for me at the time. Probably someone with any experience could clear it with an hour or two of stage practice (You can take a lot of hits, but not IMHO, in a bullet sponge kind of way), so it probably fits into the BWR+ heaven category of just not really taking any investment nor being terribly satisfying.

[Jonst]

I agree it would be better to play something you really enjoy rather than going for a quick fix clear, however a quick fix is encouraging to carry on and progress learning these games. Dux 1.5 (dreamcast) could fit your criteria, it's gorgeous fun, simple and really easy, you could probably clear on your first or second play through and it's also pretty cheap... Check it out!

My first 1cc of these games back in 2010 (I think) was deathsmiles followed a while later by akai katana. The feeling of those 1cc's is incredible and always worth chasing as long as you enjoy whatever game... There is a list of people's 1cc's in the high scores thread and some have them linked to their sig (like me)...and Finally, welcome!

[Shepardus]

I appreciate it. I just found Cho Ren Sha and am enjoying it very much.

Good, if you didn't like it that would mean there's something horribly wrong with you. By the way, in case you didn't know, if you sit in the middle of the three spinning powerups for about two seconds you can get all three at once instead of having to choose one. It's probably the most useful mechanic that isn't obvious.

I forgot to mention, Crimzon Clover: World Ignition's novice modes might also be a good candidate for a first 1cc (Arcade difficulty is another story though).

[horaceappleton]

Radiant Silvergun got me into the genre, and was my first clear. After that, Ketsui caught me until I managed to clear the first loop. Neither of those are typical first-serious-shmup recommendations, but each one clicked for me, and that was enough. I think getting "serious" about this genre has mostly to do with finding a game that you find totally compelling.

[SycoAlexio]

Thanks for all the recommendations, y'all. Now I have quite a bit to go on