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

[trap15]

Does anyone have a definite theory on how bullets are aimed in this game? The way some of the stationary turrets shoot is downright bizarre, and popcorn seems to fire kinda-static bullets half the time.

My feeling is that they do an "angle granularity" transformation on the angle between the player and enemy. So the angle can only change in steps of, say, 30 degrees. This gives an impression of almost leading the player, and is generally really confusing for a player to figure out. This was more common in older games like Hishouzame, but Psikyo loved sticking to old game conventions.

[Nasirosuchus]

Got the 1CC for Metal Slug 2 a few minutes ago. A fun game but the last mission is very tedious and frustrating. I had to practice it for a week, find exactly what I wanted to do, and then have everything go perfectly. I died once in mission five and once on the second form of the last boss. Luckily, he dropped three heavy machine guns right after I lost the tank so I was able to finish him off.

[ACSeraph]

Sometimes when I'm not busy posting on shmups forum I try hard:



Caladrius Blaze:
Default Character Very Hard Difficulty Boss Rush Unofficial World Record Get!

Tired after all the runs and practice tonight, so I'll get the Normal Default WR tomorrow I think, then intend to move into Evolution Very Hard and get the Default WR in that too.

(Also people found a way to cheat in Caladrius? Moss really needs to wipe these scores...)

Spoiler

This game is my bitch

[CWM]

I always thought a majority of patterns were aimed at the player, but there are some static patterns as well. Psikyo popcorn enemies are frustratingly lethal! Congrats on the 1ALL; I can't imagine how you survived those horrific final stages and the final boss.

Thanks. Another weird aspect of this game for me was actually that I did better at the later stages than the earlier ones. In particular, I can pretty consistently no-miss no-bomb 1-6 and 1-7, but need to bomb multiple times in the desert stage if it comes up as stage 4.

Grats on your clear as well.

Does anyone have a definite theory on how bullets are aimed in this game? The way some of the stationary turrets shoot is downright bizarre, and popcorn seems to fire kinda-static bullets half the time.

My feeling is that they do an "angle granularity" transformation on the angle between the player and enemy. So the angle can only change in steps of, say, 30 degrees. This gives an impression of almost leading the player, and is generally really confusing for a player to figure out. This was more common in older games like Hishouzame, but Psikyo loved sticking to old game conventions.

That seems to be true from a few tests, and I feel kinda dumb for not noticing it myself. In my defense, relatively sparse and fast bullets make it harder to see than in DOJ, for example. It doesn't explain some of the popcorn shots, some of which I'm pretty sure are just static and specifically placed to counter the kinds of "sweep diagonally" maneuvers that are so effective in Cave games. Turrets also have a turning speed that limits their aiming capabilities (which can be abused in some cases), and I find that the first shot they fire often follows different rules then the following ones.

I don't know if Psikyo did all of this to make the firing patterns more confusing, but if they did, it worked spectacularly well against me.

[ProjectAKo]

(Also people found a way to cheat in Caladrius? Moss really needs to wipe these scores...)

Spoiler

This game is my bitch

Considering how the game is all client-sided it's gonna be virtually impossible to stop that kind of cheating. This is why I wouldn't put much faith in global electronic scoreboards where no one has to demonstrate their knowledge of a game.

[Cee]

Just got the 1cc on Satazius on insane difficulty, bunch of stupid deaths though so i'l keep playing until i get a run/replay i'm happy with.

[DKA_Darius]

Raiden IV replay: https://mega.nz/#!wRYBwbaQ!WlO3sCmsi1gU ... HShn5_jkVs

Spending about 30 hours
Original diffcutly, Arcade mode
very very hard to 1cc loop 2,using the ME-II, I got a mistake in the stage 2 of 2-3 BOSS, but after that I was quite lucky to avoid so many fatal bullets

[Weak Boson]

Hey, I just cleared the light mode of Raiden IV arcade mode on normal difficulty. So many rungs bellow true arcade difficulty, but an important step along the way nonetheless.

It was one of those runs where you get past the stage 3 boss and realize "yep, I'm going to clear this!" No miss until stage 5 as it happens.

[copy-paster]

I got my first-ever Konami clear

Congrats dude, Life Force IMO definitely more frantic and fast-paced than Salamander even they're a same game. I suggested you should try the "wait-off" mode (perhaps you owned Salamander Deluxe Pack right?) and enjoy the more action.

Also congrats to all for your try hard

[Perikles]

Speaking of Konami: I just cleared two loops of the arcade version of Gradius! As the gods would want it I even was recording for the first time since I got MAME. The run can be found here (second entry from the top, I don't know how to directly link to it and I'm tired as all hell). I'd be very grateful if someone could tell me if this input works, I've never recorded anything before (Japanese Gradius, ShmupMAME 4.2). It's got some awful mistakes throughout, I died undescribably stupid in 1-7 a few times in a row and I slammed into a bullet in 3-2 that I overlooked amidst all the confusion and nervosity. I'm nonetheless immensely happy with this, I always wanted to clear two loops of this game.

[Squire Grooktook]

Woo, finally got a solid score + clear.

Pretty happy with this run, though sadly the replay desynced. 3 shitty runs successfully recorded, and the fourth good credit desyncs on the first stage

Oh well, it was super fun and intense, and I think I got a lot out of the game. May come back to it casually from time to time and try to record a better score, but I think I'll take a break from it for now. Might focus on Battle Garegga.

[EmperorIng]

Congratulations Perikles; I don't think I have it in me to clear two loops of anything let alone a Konami game. These Salamander games I feel actually get very mean with how their colored backgrounds sometimes make it easy to forget where bullets are in the confusion, but that might be my sour grapes.

I got my first-ever Konami clear

Congrats dude, Life Force IMO definitely more frantic and fast-paced than Salamander even they're a same game. I suggested you should try the "wait-off" mode (perhaps you owned Salamander Deluxe Pack right?) and enjoy the more action.

Also congrats to all for your try hard

The Deluxe Pack won't be with me for much longer, I'm afraid. Which is why I am trying hard to see if I can't 1ALL Salamander 2 before I ship off the game. And I wouldn't dare to play any of these games without slowdown, that would be suicide.

[Blinge]

Congrats ol' Squire, Seraph et al!

[Perikles]

Congratulations Perikles; I don't think I have it in me to clear two loops of anything let alone a Konami game. These Salamander games I feel actually get very mean with how their colored backgrounds sometimes make it easy to forget where bullets are in the confusion, but that might be my sour grapes.

Thanks! We desperately need more Konami love on this forum, that's for sure. In case you're interested in a Konami game/port that throws manageable loops at the player: how about the PCE versions of Gradius & Salamander, the SFC Gradius III or one of the 32-bit renditions of Jikkyo Oshaberi Parodius (the SFC version is quite a bit harder particularly on the second loop whether one wants to believe it or not)? I'm sure you'll be able to clear multiple loops on those.

I will admit that I'm a sucker for marathon runs from time to time, though. My record was either the MD Hellfire on the default Easy setting or Slap Fight Special (probably the latter), I had four- or five-hour-long credits with them. It took 13 loops to finally counterstop Slap Fight Special and while it was a delightful endeavour I never touched the game afterwards.

I do concur with your statement regarding the arcade Salamander, by the way. Not a huge fan of the fourth boss, luckily he got toned down in Life Force. I still need to get back to all three games to get better scores, my current results are rather lamentable. There's no excuse for me not to try to get a 2-ALL in Salamander 2, that game is just great.

[ProjectAKo]

I watched your replay and it works all the way through. Nice one, almost got the site record with that. As for Konami, I want to learn how to 2-ALL Detana Twinbee at some point.

[EmperorIng]

In case you're interested in a Konami game/port that throws manageable loops at the player: how about the PCE versions of Gradius & Salamander, the SFC Gradius III or one of the 32-bit renditions of Jikkyo Oshaberi Parodius (the SFC version is quite a bit harder particularly on the second loop whether one wants to believe it or not)? I'm sure you'll be able to clear multiple loops on those.

I will admit that I'm a sucker for marathon runs from time to time, though. My record was either the MD Hellfire on the default Easy setting or Slap Fight Special (probably the latter), I had four- or five-hour-long credits with them. It took 13 loops to finally counterstop Slap Fight Special and while it was a delightful endeavour I never touched the game afterwards.

I do concur with your statement regarding the arcade Salamander, by the way. Not a huge fan of the fourth boss, luckily he got toned down in Life Force. I still need to get back to all three games to get better scores, my current results are rather lamentable. There's no excuse for me not to try to get a 2-ALL in Salamander 2, that game is just great.

Ha, I think the only game I've played for 4 hours+ straight was either Civilization IV or Resident Evil 4 (rule of 4s?). I bet after 4 or so loops you become a zen shooting god.

The PCE port of Salamander does look interesting, and more manageable than the arcade original. Too bad it doesn't have the rockin' Life Force soundtrack, but I am impressed by all the Konami PCE outings in terms of capturing the arcade originals.

Speaking of my efforts to conquer the inconquerable:


Finally, after owning this game for 2+ years! ~Score submission~

I made it to 2-4 EDIT: 2-3 (got ahead of myself ), something I didn't think I'd manage. The final boss was a sloppy clear, with me panicking and shooting my options at him on my last life... I was truly scared like I was never scared before. The second loop didn't catch me off guard like Life Force's new hazards, so a lot of my progress was repetition of first-loop strategies.

I will say that Salamander 2 is a fine game with lots of nice setpieces, but I prefer Life Force, as it's shorter and there is practically no down time. Playing Salamander 2 dozens of times over the past week or so made those long slow intros to stages 1 and 4 grate on my impatient Viper/Lord British pilot's nerves. Especially since i kept on dying at the penultimate boss's laser spam attack. I think I can see why some people dislike the game, but it has a good level of quality to it.

Next goals: Metal Black and possibly Gradius! This is my year baby; 1CCs and 1ALLs left and right.

[copy-paster]

Speaking of my efforts to conquer the inconquerable:


Next goals: Metal Black and possibly Gradius! This is my year baby; 1CCs and 1ALLs left and right.

Man, you made me happy. Clearing Salamander 2 is like a holy task.
Wow I didn't know you can pass until 2-4, I only made it to 2-3 and receives all stupid deaths. 2-5 and 2-6 is like playing danmakus with Konami's usual hitbox, that was ridiculous. I agree that S2 had some best level design and enjoyable whether they're casual or super players.

For Cerberus/that spewing lazers boss, I first deal it with some luck but after playing over again I can create some patterns to beat it quickly. Also good luck to clearing Metal Black and first Gradius!

The final boss was a sloppy clear, with me panicking and shooting my options at him on my last life... I was truly scared like I was never scared before.

New sign maybe?

[Perikles]

I watched your replay and it works all the way through. Nice one, almost got the site record with that. As for Konami, I want to learn how to 2-ALL Detana Twinbee at some point.

Thanks for letting me know! I painfully realised that I'm only a few points off the first place and plan on changing that. I'm unfortunately still struggling with 2-1 and 2-2, I usually mess up somewhere and screw myself over. I really need to incorporate a few of the crazy techniques (like that one) in order to squeeze more points out of the first loop, at least.

A 2-ALL of Detana!! TwinBee? That's something I'd love to see. I'll honestly concede that I'm terrible at TwinBee games (with the possible exception of Pop'n; I'm just unable to juggle all those bells) but I'm really interested in seeing some runs of that, Detana!! is insanely difficult. Is there some video on Nico or elsewhere that shows a 1-ALL or a 2-ALL? I've never seen any decent footage of that game. Keep us informed about your progress once you start with the game, that's going to be fantastic.

I made it to 2-4, something I didn't think I'd manage. The final boss was a sloppy clear, with me panicking and shooting my options at him on my last life... I was truly scared like I was never scared before. The second loop didn't catch me off guard like Life Force's new hazards, so a lot of my progress was repetition of first-loop strategies.

Excellent job! It's indeed an entirely new experience to have a final boss in a Konami game that possesses the audacity to actually fight back.

Ha, I think the only game I've played for 4 hours+ straight was either Civilization IV or Resident Evil 4 (rule of 4s?). I bet after 4 or so loops you become a zen shooting god.

DEL said it best when he mused:
"Its all about 12 hours on 1 credit and then putting your fist through the screen."

The PCE port of Salamander does look interesting, and more manageable than the arcade original. Too bad it doesn't have the rockin' Life Force soundtrack, but I am impressed by all the Konami PCE outings in terms of capturing the arcade originals.

It's also sorely missing the incredible announcements we get to listen to in Life Force, I adore cheesy voice acting in light-hearted shooters. More games need Acid Flames!, Bio-mechanical brain attacks!, Violent antibiotics! or the incentive to SHOOT Abaddon!.

[ProjectAKo]

Ah, thanks for pointing out that 6 hour gradius video by the way. I wasn't able to find any good superplayish vids on youtube (because I was searching in english ), maybe I'll study that so I also stop failing at gradius so much. Just playing casually once in awhile I have yet to pass 2-2...

[microfolk]

Aww yissssss
This is my first CAVE 1-all, and while I understand it's one of their easier one I'm still proud about this run since I managed to no miss the entire 4th stage and the 5th stage boss. I then proceeded to drop 14 bombs during the whole 6th stage because I know the stage well enough to do it in one life but the tension was killing me and I didn't want to take any risk. I'm an happy scrub!

[Stevens]

You're all inspirational. Great work!

[ACSeraph]

Finally got the Cladrius Blaze Evolution Very Hard clear with Lilith Default last night.

The last 3 stages were "blind" in that difficulty which affected the score routing a bit, and two major scoring mistakes deaths on boss 3 and 5 really hurt the final score, but despite this it's still the unofficial WR for default because according to the leaderboard I'm the first default player to ever clear it.

Currently I'm sort of collecting default score records in the various modes of Caladrius I didn't get around to before. I killed off the (boring) 1.10 normal record a couple days ago too. And need to get around to solidifying my Boss Rush presence. But I may continue with Evolution Very Hard for a bit, because I'm pretty sure if I do it without mistakes I can take the overall World Record beating out even the custom players.

[EmperorIng]

I wouldn't mind a Caladrius port to PC at this point; you might find some healthy competition then.

This is my first CAVE 1-all, and while I understand it's one of their easier one I'm still proud about this run since I managed to no miss the entire 4th stage and the 5th stage boss. I then proceeded to drop 14 bombs during the whole 6th stage because I know the stage well enough to do it in one life but the tension was killing me and I didn't want to take any risk. I'm an happy scrub!

Hey, a clear is a clear right? I think if I had that many bombs in any game I'd spam them for shits and giggles.

===

Pop pop pop, watching Bacterian drop. Uwaaaaaaaa!~



Is Gradius supposed to be an easy game? Why else would I clear the loop? ~Score submission~

Still, I managed to not die at the usual choke-point (the volcano stage), and maintain the momentum until I died at the electric field on the final level. Luckily, rank dropped down enough after death that I was able to clear the rest of the stage with a paltry speed-up as my only assistance. I was terrified of accidentally ramming into the ceiling during the final boss though. I was treated to a lovely rendition of Challenger 1985 for my troubles. The second loop's aggressive enemies proved too much for me (which makes impressive Perikles' two-loop spectacular), but I can finally knock a Gradius game off my goal list.

[trap15]

Yeah, Gradius 1 is pretty easy. Gradius 2 and onward though...

[BIL]

The final boss was a sloppy clear, with me panicking and shooting my options at him on my last life... I was truly scared like I was never scared before.

I wish I could concede DOOM the point, with it being such a great line, but Gofer scared me a lot more when I got a Game Over on Gradius II's Moai stage with headphones on. edit: "GEEEHHHEHEHEHE" yeah fuck you Gofer

You're on a roll Mr. ING! Pls take down PROJECT GUN FRONTIER 2 so we can get another ALL on the board, people will realise it's a pushover yet! ;3 Ok not really but it's doable 4 REAL

Got the 1CC for Metal Slug 2 a few minutes ago. A fun game but the last mission is very tedious and frustrating. I had to practice it for a week, find exactly what I wanted to do, and then have everything go perfectly. I died once in mission five and once on the second form of the last boss. Luckily, he dropped three heavy machine guns right after I lost the tank so I was able to finish him off.

Good job! MS1 and MS2/X get hard to stick with for the 1CC, I find... very rear-loaded difficulty balance, though it's thankfully not outright irritating like MS3's.

Gotta love MS boss battle item RNG, haha. My personal favourite was getting two consecutive turds on MS3's final boss, plinking away with the handgun for an eternity, then having a Super Grenade appear the instant before he finally exploded.

[EmperorIng]

Yeah, Gradius 1 is pretty easy. Gradius 2 and onward though...

Gradius 2 is very dickish. So many things seem to move erratically (and I'm not a huge fan of the teleporting fire bird boss at the outset), and the shot just feels slow. It has many great levels but many of its recoveries feel down to luck.

You're on a roll Mr. ING! Pls take down PROJECT GUN FRONTIER 2 so we can get another ALL on the board, people will realise it's a pushover yet! ;3 Ok not really but it's doable 4 REAL

I've made it to the final boss (and died stupidly). I usually can't seem to make it past the dung-beetle (Gisshin?) without a stupid death occurring; the fight seems to go on forever. I watched many replays and looked at the ST to figure out half-decent strategies for stages 5 and 6. 5's little parasite things are quite possibly my least favorite thing in the game. I'd like to be able to ALL Ho Lee Chan's Wild Ride 2: Electric Boogaloo sometime very soon though.

Makes me wonder what Takatsuna Senba did after the Dino Rex trilogy (or is it the Gun Frontier trilogy?).

[Squire Grooktook]

Gradius II introduces the concept of unwinnable recoveries to the series. Crystal Stage is near impossible/luck shit, and I've never seen anyone recover the checkpoint at the gunwall boss on the last stage without getting a lucky blue crystal (even with that, it's insanely tough).

Still a fun game. The Moai stage and Volcano are hype as shit, and there are some great moments scattered throughout. It's just a bit un-even in terms of level design and difficulty balance IMO. It's not that difficult a clear though, there's just quite a few stretches where you're not allowed to die.

[SMC]

The problem with Gradius 2 is the peashooter's onscreen bullet limit, which is much harsher than the first game. In Gradius 1 you can pretty much always have a constant stream of fire, but you actually have to time your shots in 2, which obviously makes recoveries harder. It's the same in 3, you can't just hold autofire or you'll miss everything.

[Blinge]

UNFFFF Finally did it.

Got my precious 25mil in Ikaruga ^O^

would've been 26 if I could just stop choking on the final boss.

[dannnnn]

Gradius II introduces the concept of unwinnable recoveries to the series. Crystal Stage is near impossible/luck shit, and I've never seen anyone recover the checkpoint at the gunwall boss on the last stage without getting a lucky blue crystal (even with that, it's insanely tough).

If we're talking the first loop then there's nothing even remotely "unwinnable" in any Gradius game, much less II which is one of the easier entries in the series.

Here's a vid of ZEUS recovering on the two checkpoints prior to the gunwall on the second loop. There's also a Type-A vid where he recovers here on the thirteenth loop.