Shmup Goals 2016

[Perikles]

I just take the liberty to create this honourable thread for this year. Here're the ones for 2013, 2014 and 2015.

I'm simply going to keep the old format, all credit goes to Aquas:

Personal Favourite Achievements of 2015: As the name suggests, post the stuff you're the most proud of here, whether you're an Easy mode survival player or a Lunatic scorerunner. Anything that stands out to you is what you want here, no matter how silly it may be!

Personal Biggest Screw-ups of 2015: Did a Power-up carrier pick you off or ram into you and ruin the GOD RUN? Whatever comedies/tragedies pop up most clearly to mind go here! These don't have to be specific occurrences but can be generalities as well in your gaming endeavors.

Favourite Achievements by Others of 2015: Whether it's a long-time goal achieved by a close friend or a new WR set in one of your favourite games (or both at the same time!), you can post whatever stuff you enjoyed seeing other people do this year here!

Goals for 2016: What do you have your eyes set on achieving next year? List all the clears, scores, and crazy challenges you want to achieve next year here. Be ambitious!

[OPTIONAL] CHALLENGES TO OTHER PLAYERS: The fun one. Throw down the gauntlet and challenge someone else to something! This might be to beat one of your scores, or a race to a certain clear, or whatever you like. Remember to keep it a little friendly, but on the other hand, go totally nuts!

Alternatively if you want to be lazy then just post your goals for the year as usual. Are you ready? Your mission starts now.

[Perikles]

Personal Favourite Achievement of 2015:

- Cleared both loops of R-Type I & II right before the end of the year! Took me a lot of practice and adaptation of my initial strategy in case of the former while I had to drill problematic spots in the latter with an intensity I never had to exercise before but it was not only worth it, but a hell of fun, too! Also very glad with my unexpected Gradius 2-ALL even though I would've wished for a few more points (see next category).

- Technically an achievement that occured in 2016, but I'm way too happy that I got a 2-ALL in Gradius II (up to 3-8, even!) to not mention it here.

- Wrapped up my 16-bit business, now I've cleared every single HuCard/PCE CD/MD/MCD/SFC shooter, got over 250 1CCs in the process. There are a few more PCE scores I'd like to improve upon, but that's about it. These are the clears/loop performances I'm particularly proud of: R-Type III 2-ALL including a miraculous recovery, 5-ALL in Gradius III SFC, V-V 2-ALL, Aero Blasters PCE (hardest 16-bit shooter out there in my opinion) & the slightly less difficult MD port, Legion, Battle Squadron, Rayxanber II, Gradius II PCE 2-ALL (technically 2016). Not 16-bit, but the Famicom Gradius 6-ALL was also immensely satisfying.

- Cleared a not insignificant amount of arcade titles in a fairly timely manner (Darius, Forgotten Worlds, Image Fight, Raiden et al.). Very content with my Raiden score.


Personal Biggest Screw-ups of 2015:

- Missing the first spot in Gradius arcade by a dinky amount of 8,000 points.

- Botching what could've been a perfectly fine R-Type II 2-ALL by failing at the last possible moment. Luckily I was able to get the clear the next day (even though it required a few more hours of grinding).


Favourite Achievements by Others of 2015:

It's been a great year, thus I hope I didn't miss anything (without any specific order, just off the top of my head):

- My comrades in Irem Ironics not only did an excellent job, but also patiently endured my complaints about all these games. I probably had as much fun with all the nagging as I did playing.

- I want to mention you once again, Kollision, for your tireless work on so many different shooters – not only did you manage to crush some savage games, but you also helped me out with your advice. I'm really grateful for your Violent Soldier video, that helped me out a lot. I also have to sincerely thank you for your insistence that I should install MAME, that turned out to be a great idea.

- saucykobold resumes to be an incredible player. I cannot understand how you manage to muster the patience and willpower to destroy three loops of Raiden DX, that's just unreal. You're without a modicum of a doubt the strongest player regarding old-school shooters on this forum.

- ProjectAKo's determination to get the WR in Sonic Wings 2 despite the random nature of the game. Immaculate precision and execution throughout, my undying respect to you, good sir. Also a stunning performance during the STGT!

- It was also highly enjoyable to see pegboy's hard work on Strikers 1945 II paying off at the end of the year, I knew you would be able to beat this monster of a game! And let's not forget your fabulous clears on all those SNES games as well as your awesome 2-ALL on Salamander 2 with the Vic Viper (which seems to be a lot harder than it is with the player 2 ship), that's an outstanding achievement!

- Sir Blinge's Gun Hohki clear – so great to finally see a good replay on that game. I'll definitely try to best your score next year!

- BIL for being the keen observer and extraordinary penman he is – there is no one else out there who can write about (and play! Your Alien Soldier, Super Shinobi and Contra Spirits clears in particular are the epitome of sublime gaming magnitude) action platformers just like you.


Goals for 2016:

Tackle all those classic arcade shooters you've been meaning to beat for a while now!

- Finally get that Gradius III arcade clear, dammit. Just play the darn game over a long period of time so that you don't burn out on the crystal stage again, Perikles. You can do it!

- 2-ALL all of those arcade games: Life Force, Salamander 1 & 2.

- Clear all of these (1 loop will suffice for now, arcade versions): Gun Hohki, Section Z, Twin Cobra, V-V, Xexex, X-Multiply.

- Get a 2-ALL or, better yet, a 3-ALL in Gradius Gaiden. Maybe clear R-Type Delta on Bydo difficulty.

[copy-paster]

Goals for 2016 :

- (Main Task) 1CCed Garegga, arcade Parodius DA!, Batrider, G-Darius.

Personal Favourite Achievements of 2015 :

- Recorded my first gaming run ever.

- Cleared Guwange, R-Type Delta, R-Type 1LC, Batsugun vanilla (easy mode)

[chum]

(individual run) achievements

GFW: 105.94m in B1 L
StB: 2.229m in 10-1


screw-ups

Misplays of B1 L score, I guess. If I had beasted stage 3 it could've certainly scored 107 million, and that is without doing more than 4 sweeps on Break Canopy. Unless someone shows me otherwise I will not consider sweeping every other wave (and dodging the other one) on Break Canopy to be realistic. Every third wave sweep is already insane and something few people would be capable of learning, let alone pulling it off when it counts.


others

Yu-suke scoring 3.643b in PCB with ReimuB on the very last day of 2015, finally overtaking Naya's SakuyaB run and setting a new overall WR. PCB Lunatic has reached such absurd heights I bet players of the old days never would have dreamed of it... although it doesn't seem like anyone else can get anywhere near close to Naya and Yu-suke yet they sure set one hell of a standard.

Since I haven't actually seen the run yet I'll give a more personal mention to Cactu's EoSD LNN 462m run. I watched it live and felt a lot more nervous than I ever do playing games on my own. Pretty crazy achievement.


goals

1.825b all categories combined in GFW, so a 1m~ average improvement per category compared to my former total score goal. Currently I think it is at 1.808b, so it seems feasible while playing at my usual modest pace. Also to get the remaining 3 WRs I don't have, or at least take Extra

More StB WRs, Try to compete with Ia more, and 68 million total score

Learn to score in PCB (figure out SpoilerAL)

Clear some more arcade games (GB2, etc)

get a new computer


challenges for others

GFW, StB, DS scoring


2015 goal was play gfw and get others interested I think, I outdid my expectation on the former, and the latter went better than expected as well. I also spent time playing DS and StB and made a lot of progress there, which I had not initially expected, so that's great. other games were mostly ignored but I made some time for Batrider and some other stuff.

[ProjectAKo]

Goals for 2016: New WR in shmups no one plays???

Goals for others: Get a western WR or actual WR. Go full shmoop on your favorite game.

[Bananamatic]

Goals for 2016: beat sdoj expert hibachi

nothing else, unless my 360 breaks or some shit

[Squire Grooktook]

I had a lot of fun clears and achieves in 2015, hard to pick a fave. Rayforce and Ikaruga 1cc's are pretty high up there (both felt incredibly exciting and cathartic) but my CRS68K high score is something I'm also very proud of.

Hmmmm 2016...I don't like to pressure myself too much. I just go where the winds takes me :3


Oh yeah, Blinge getting his Ikaruga score was pretty great. And Perikles has done loooots of great stuff this year.

[professor ganson]

My goal is to continue the huge task of familiarizing myself with the PC Engine shmup library. I hope I will also take some time to play some Saturn and PS1 shmups, not to mention the new Darius game on PS4.

Mainly I'm just hoping to keep my foot in the door with shmups. Very likely my focus gaming-wise will be on srpgs, traditional jrpgs, and pokemon-style stuff.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Goals for 2016: beat sdoj expert hibachi

nothing else, unless my 360 breaks or some shit

Where's the Ultra related goals, what happened to counterstop and/or clear?



Goals:

Clear Mushihimesama Original (already happened)
Clear Mushihimesama Maniac(already happened)
Clear Mushihimesama Arrange

Try to get decently far into Mushihimesama Ultra as well as the 1.5 Max Modes.

Try to learn 1.5 Original Max and Futari BL Original scoring(which probably won't happen).

Actually return to Futari and actually learn God Mode enough to go for a TLB clear. Maybe 1.5 Maniac too, but probably not.

Maybe spend some time actually trying to learn Deathsmiles MBL level 999. Some of what that mode has is great, while some of it makes me not want to bother.

Try to Lunatic No Miss No Bomb(no borders brokenn, trance, whatever extra gimmick if the game has it or all last spells capped if IN, but I don't care which game it is) at least one Touhou game. Wouldn't be surprised if I didn't even bother playing these though


Finally get a 1-All at least in some Konami games. I do like most of their shooters, but I just don't play them enough to get a clear.

Actually play more Judgement SilverSword and seriously go for that Hard clear default ship.

Maybe actually try learning Unlimited/Demonic in Gundemonium Recollection, as well as Hitogata Happa Allemande/Doomsday, but I'd need some good replays for routes cause it's very hard to plan around all the suicide bullets in Demonic and getting a good start on Hitogata's 2 harder modes is quite tough. No plans for Gundeadligne though, Demonic seems way too broken a mode to even try attempting without Nagi.

Try to route Hitogata Happa's Destiny 13 on Nobilmente, though I don't think it's very likely. Try to clear Solo Voyage on Nobilmente with a few other dolls(only done it with Fool, but quite a bit of the dolls are just not possible due to way too low damage or their playstyles)

[x91]

Personal Favourite Achievements of 2015:
CCWI Type-I Arcade Original Clear

Personal Biggest Screw-ups of 2015:
Didn't get that clear in time

Favourite Achievements by Others of 2015:
Too many to recall them one by one, you guys are doing great

Goals for 2016:
Strikers 1945 Shinden 2-ALL (optional w/ 1.8mil)
Go back to Ketsui and give it more (better if beat my old record)

- OR -

Set Chinese STG League Season 3 up & running.

[Hagane]

Not much to say of 2015 since I've been completely out of the genre for a good while.

For 2016 I'll get back to Sengoku Blade and try to finally nail that damn 2-ALL. Even if I don't beat my previous score, I just want to get that out of the way. I'll probably go for some easier stuff before to get me back in shape, after I get the Shadows Over Mystara Thief no shopping clear I'm working at right now, with which I'll be dropping beat'em ups for a while.

[KAI]

Favourite Achievements by Others of 2015:
Keeping this forum alive.

Goals for 2016:
Fap less, play more. Ibara C

Challenge to other players:
Go play some Ibara and Milestone.

[Bananamatic]

Where's the Ultra related goals, what happened to counterstop and/or clear?

i don't even play daily, no way i'd get 2 big goals like that in a year with that little playtime
it can wait for 2017 or 2018

[Jonst]

Personal favourite achievements of 2015:
Quite a few clears, but my favourites were, mmp arcade at the beginning of the year, followed by blinge's challenge to me to clear progear… i hadn't planned to clear doj this year, but that happened, so was an unexpected highlight! especially as i struggled with seemingly hating the game, turns out, i quite like it now!… breaking away from cave's iron grip over me to clear raiden fighters 2, and finally clearing fast striker, as i couldn't beat the final boss years ago… so a pretty good year for gaming!

Personal biggest screw ups of 2015:
can't complain on the whole. Not playing enough games other than shmups. Nowhere close to trying to write anything for an akai katana guide with acseraph, talked about in 2014 i think, sorry man!

Favourite achievements by others:
Stevens - finally clearing a cave game and his total domination of all things under defeat!
Blinge - metal slug 3 clear and beating his previous ikaruga high scores, nice work mate!
Shepardus - Batrider advanced clear, there may be others but i can't remember them right now…
Anyone that struggled with a game and overcame it, and cleared.

Goals for 2016:
To clear any mode of ibara, play other types of games… clear anything I'm into at the time.

Challenge to other players:
Stevens - clear any mode of akai katana… and maybe espgaluda 2 arcade.
Lordhypnos - clear under defeat

[CptRansom]

Personal Favourite Achievements of 2015: I did okay in TRP-STGT when I kinda-tried, I guess?

Personal Biggest Screw-ups of 2015: I didn't really do much with STG this year. Or last year. Or the year before that.

Goals for 2016:
-Finish all DBCS CS Mode stages/substages with preset ship.
-Clear every route in DBCS AC Mode with every ship and get a respectable (for me) score with each ship relative to its respective top scores.
-Assuming I actually finish those, I'd like to finally get an Ikaruga 1CC even if it's just on Easy. I have no interest in scoring.
-Assuming I finish that, Futari or SDOJ. Something with those. Or Eschatos. I've got too many options.
-Figure out how to stream so that it doesn't look like I'm using a potato. I don't know if it's my streaming program (XSplit) or my internet connection (Uverse - pretty budget-tier tbh), but it sucks. Also, get a mic I guess. I won't inflict my ugly fat face on anyone with a webcam; you're welcome, world.

[vvv_stg]

Personal Favorite Achievements of 2015: started playing shmups. They're so good. I've not actually cleared that much so far, but I've learned all the basics, and looking forward to having a lot of fun.

Personal Biggest Screw-ups of 2015: spent too much time thinking about shumps and not enough time actually playing. Also, not nearly enough time trying to understand the superplays.

Goals for 2016: Ketsui 1-ALL with a decent score. Thwack me if you see me playing other shmups for too long, or if I submit a clear with bad score.

[Strikers1945guy]

Achievements for 2015

- Letter score in Ibara
- Watched and loved all the STG weekly shows
- Avoided playing touhou

Goals for 2016

- Letter score Pink Sweets without the infinite lives trick
- Beat my letter score in Ibara
- Buy a Saturn & Garegga as the PCB is so damn expensive now

[Strikers1945guy]

Where's the Ultra related goals, what happened to counterstop and/or clear?

i don't even play daily, no way i'd get 2 big goals like that in a year with that little playtime
it can wait for 2017 or 2018

Just go full GUS

[gimebe]

Personal Favourite Achievements of 2015: Eschatos Original Hard 60-million run (technically 3 hours into 2016), which was two million above my goal of barely scraping above Jaimers's world record. I didn't think I had a chance in Original Hard and considered settling for an easy mode Normal score instead until a week before.

Personal Biggest Screw-ups of 2015: Playing Gunnail and Sand Scorpion. Getting way too pissed off and playing inefficiently.

Favourite Achievements by Others of 2015: Pazaizy's 1.6 billion DOJWL run. DKA's 5.8 trillion score in CCWI Original.

Goals for 2016: Go for the 2-ALL in Ketsui and score 6 billion in Boost. Secondary goals are 38-39M in Eschatos Normal, and a picking up a new game. Working on my mindset/routine and practicing more.

[LordHypnos]

Well, I really did jack shit in 2015, in terms of shmups, so nothing to be proud of there. Going to set my goals a bit milder this time around.

1-ALL of Under Defeat
one other clear...probably Eschatos
Keep in practice with Mars Matrix
Don't stop playing shmups for half a year straight

Challanges to Others:
Mars Matrix, as always. Nobody in particular though.

[Icarus]

Things I did in 2015:
• Battle Garegga: E.44 ALL, Bornnam (ABC)
http://www.twitch.tv/icarusfw/c/5949252 (23/1/15 - F.8 potential)

• Route building in DBACEX
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... vWHkfF8ZhF

• Shooting Skill Test (Shooting Love 200X): 470,010, 9.90 rating (Perfect Rating)
http://www.twitch.tv/icarusfw/c/6714276 (19/5/15 - missing approx 50k fro Tank Rush, over 500k potential overall)

• Pink Sweets: D.06 to Stage 7 MIDBOSS, Lace (A)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OVPeHzJJX8 (27/3/15 - G.5 potential, haven't played since end-May)

• Battle Bakraid: 50.8mil to Stage 6 BOSS, Normal, Flame Viper (C)
http://www.twitch.tv/icarusfw/c/6589220 (23/5/15 - chain route testing)

• Shooting Skill Test (Shooting Love 200X), Recycling Speedrun: 100 cans in 3:47.18
http://www.twitch.tv/icarusfw/c/6714300 (19/5/15 - seeing how quickly and accurately I can do the 100 can recycling trial, aiming for 3:30.00 or lower)

• Trizeal Remix: 4.10mil ALL
http://www.twitch.tv/icarusfw/c/6370730 (21/3/15 - four days of practice, 4.5mil potential with refinements)

• XIIZEAL: 7.18mil to Stage 7 BOSS (Rapid Side ON)
http://www.twitch.tv/icarusfw/c/6423268 (29/3/15 - casual fun game, score gained after fifth session of practice, 9mil+ potential)

• Restreaming Wasshoi in Tokaigi 2015, and enjoying the hype around the event. That was fun.

• Met up and hung out with everyone at Stunfest. Also doing some guest commentary at the event for Batrider and Eschatos.

• Being on STGW again. Always a pleasure.

• I also started playing riichi mahjong more frequently…
http://www.twitch.tv/icarusfw/v/22469551
http://www.twitch.tv/icarusfw/v/22469702
http://www.twitch.tv/icarusfw/v/24593553

• …and started playing beatmania IIDX for the first time.
http://www.twitch.tv/icarusfw/v/29291446

Things I messed up in 2015:
• Completely burned myself out after Stunfest, and took a long break, only returning to STGs with the release of Dariusburst CS.
• Haven't played Pink Sweets since end-May.
• Goals made but never met.

Other people's achievements I liked in 2015:
• Too many to list. Good stuff from everyone both in Asia and the Western communities.

Goals for 2016
• No major goals set, because I never seem to stick to them. (Aside from routing DBACEX and getting good scores in all AC routes.)
• Play whatever comes to mind, and just have fun doing it.

(Optional) Challenges to other players
• I can't be the only one here capable of getting a letter in Pink Sweets without infinite lives, right? :p
• Score D or higher in Garegga WITHOUT using Gain or Miyamoto >:3
• Put in some competitive scores, and get these scoreboards moving.

[Kino]

.

[Eaglet]

Personal Favourite Achievements of 2015:
Western records with all ships except for Gain in Garegga.

Personal Biggest Screw-ups of 2015:
Didn't play that much. As usual.
Fucked up a D with Grasshopper.

Favourite Achievements by Others of 2015:
Too many to count.
AKo deserves special acknowledgement.

Goals for 2016:
D scores with all Garegga ships.
Miyamoto E score.
Bornnam and Golden Bat F scores.
Gain Western Record.

Succeed in recording a great strategy streaming session with ICR and Plasmo.

CHALLENGES TO OTHER PLAYERS:
Play more Garegga.
Play other ships than Gain and Golden Bat.
To AKo: Beat my Grasshopper score.

[city41]

2015 achievement
-- 1cc'd Espgaluda, strictly survival/sissy clear

2016 goals
-- 1-all DDP DOJ BL, survival/sissy clear
-- 1cc Jikkyou Parodius (Saturn)
-- get into the scoring side of shmups

[CWM]

Given that I've basically started playing shmups in January 2015, I'm pretty satisfied with my progress in general.

Personal Favourite Achievements of 2015:

- CC:WI Novice Original with Type Z, first clear ever.
- Every mainline Touhou on Normal, more or less in release order. SA in particular was a big roadblock.
- Espgaluda, first Cave 1cc.
- DOJBL 1-ALL, had to learn this one very thoroughly, which made the clear all the more satisfying.
- Strikers 2 1-ALL, fuck you Psikyo.
- PCB Lunatic, this was the first game I cleared on Normal, felt like the end of a long journey.

Personal Biggest Screw-ups of 2015:

- Game overed on the 1-8 boss in Strikers 2 an innumerable amount of times. Was ready to start punching walls.
- Got to the final boss of PCB Lunatic with a character that's not overpowered (MarisaA) with 5 lives in stock, game overed on final pattern. Haven't done as well since.

Favourite Achievements by Others of 2015:

Just went to check the date on iconoclast's DOJWL 2-ALL and ended up watching the whole thing again. So that, and Pazaizy's 1.6B in the same game. Mad respect.

Goals for 2016:

- CC:WI Arcade Original with Type Z (almost there, game overed on EX2 today with 1 trillion), then with all the other ships, and try to get at least 2 trillion with Type I.
- PCB Lunatic with a non-overpowered character and in general try to learn the game properly for survival.
- Spend some time with a Raizing game, leaning towards Batrider at the moment, given that I can't see bullets in Garegga.
- Play Ketsui, get a 1-all at the very least.
- Play a hori of some sort, probably Darius Burst.

CHALLENGES TO OTHER PLAYERS:

Why are there no CC:WI Unlimited clears on youtube? A shameful display indeed.

[Shepardus]

Why are there no CC:WI Unlimited clears on youtube? A shameful display indeed.

There's one from Wasshoi in Tokaigi done by GFA2-ISO, and there's of course the superplay DLC, but none from forum members as far as I know. I too like to see more clears. Hell, I'd try it myself but I'd be way out of my depth as I'm not even close to clearing Boost or Original.

Personal Favourite Achievements of 2015:

• Finally got that Cho Ren Sha 68K 2-ALL. It may not be the most difficult thing I've done but I love the game and I'm proud of it. Since I first did it in October I've gotten two more 2-ALLs, including a 4-miss run which I think is about as good as I'm going to get in terms of survival, and gotten up to 4-6 in Hard mode.
• Counterstopping the original version of Battle Bakraid (the run I have uploaded to YouTube isn't a clear but I did it again and cleared later), and getting 72m in Normal Course in the Unlimited version.
• 1CC'd Battle Garegga and Armed Police Batrider (Advanced Course and Special Course).
• 1-ALL'd Dodonpachi Daioujou Black Label, Dodonpachi, and Donpachi.
• Finished clearing all Touhou extra stages except Touhou 15 and the PC-98 games. (I haven't bothered recording my PoFV replay so that one's missing from the playlist)

Personal Biggest Screw-ups of 2015:

• Didn't focus enough on Battle Bakraid to get a satisfactory score in Advanced Course or even clear it. I still haven't put in the time and effort to actually learn the last two stages...
• Didn't play much besides shmups. As a result I feel like I've missed out on a bunch of stuff.
• I've gotten exactly nowhere in making my own game. Why make a shmup when there are so many to play?

Favourite Achievements by Others of 2015:

• Pazzy's 1.6b 2-ALL of DOJWL. Seriously awesome stuff, I didn't think I'd ever see a western player push the game as hard as you have.
• ciox's 92m in Battle Bakraid. The routes and tricks you've come up with are truly impressive, and I really ought to focus more on innovating like you have. I'm confident you'll reach 100m sooner or later!
• STG's 2-ALL of Progear no Arashi. Such a close run and an impressive game to clear!
• fufufu's DOJWL run at Wasshoi in Tokaigi 2015. That had me at the edge of my seat for the entire run, I don't think I've seen anything as suspenseful since.
• SOF-WTN breaking his DDP record, increasing it to 754m. I never thought it'd be done, yet here we are.
• SPS continuing to push DOJWL on the Matmouse stream day after day, getting ridiculously close to the WR. A real inspiration.

Goals for 2016:

• Cho Ren Sha 68K Hard 2-ALL.
• Clear Battle Bakraid Advanced Course with Flame Viper S with a score of at least 80m. Flame Viper B seems to be the way to go for top-tier scoring, but I stubbornly don't want to switch until I've pushed my routes for S (shamelessly ripped off from yk) as far as I can.
• Get into scoring something else. I'm not sure what yet, but most of my clears in the past year have been focused on finding what I would like to push myself on. I've still got a few games left to try out (aka 1-ALL/1CC), namely Progear, Ketsui, Dangun Feveron, and Dragon Blaze, but after that I want to spend more time focusing on one or two games.

Challenges to Other Players:
Poast you're (Battle Bakraid) scoars. I want to see more counterstops (or would-be counterstops since the Unlimited version doesn't counterstop) this year. 64m really isn't terribly high in Bakraid, the counterstop is much easier than it is in many other games with counterstops (which explains why Raizing released the Unlimited version so soon after the original release). It is, however, enough to convince me that you understand the scoring system and that amazing sense of flow and continuous tension that Battle Bakraid produces under its shower of shrapnel and extend items. You can get 64m through scoring well on the first 5 stages, or some mistakes on the first 5 stages and making up for it in Cloud or later stages.

The entry barrier that is Axebeak is annoying to learn if you don't know what you're doing, but I'll happily teach anyone to do it consistently with Flame Viper A/C/S (you'll have to ask ciox for tips with Type B), and after that it's a pretty clear path to learn basic chaining routes (far easier than full-chaining DDP or DDPDOJ at any rate). Just learning the proper technique for Axebeak (that's one stage, for heaven's sake) is nearly enough to propel you into the top 10 of any route; that goes to show how ignored the scoring in this game is, which is a real shame as Battle Bakraid is a totally unique game that is difficult to appreciate by just watching videos and not actually trying it for yourself.

[Feedbacker]

Personal Favourite Achievements of 2015:
- 1-ALL'd DOJ BL and WL

Favourite Achievements by Others of 2015:
- Fufufu DOJWL run at Wasshoi
- new DOJWL western record by Pazzy
- new DOJWL Type-B world record by SPS

Goals for 2016:
- 1.000.000.000 pts in DOJBL
- being less obsessed with DOJ and playing something else (Ketsui probably)

[Zaarock]

Goals for 2016: New WR in shmups no one plays???

Goals for others: Get a western WR or actual WR. Go full shmoop on your favorite game.

but also

Personal Favourite Achievements of 2015:

• Routing & testing Final Boss -Raw Label- for score
• Routing Imalice 0.2 for score (not super challenging, but one of the most fun I had)
• Got a couple more people into versus STG
• Discovered some really cool doujin devs
• Worked more on Vanquish RTA & tech than any shmup. Not sure if I'll have time for the speedrun anymore since single runs take so long.

Personal Biggest Screw-ups of 2015:

• Failed Battle Traverse very hard 1cc by burning myself out
• Didn't play Hellsinker

Favourite Achievements by Others of 2015:

• Too much to list. Great & active year for shmups. Keep it up everyone.
• Degica bringing shmups from bigger devs to PC

Goals for 2016:

• 1CC/score radiant silvergun on ST-V hardware
• 1CC RayForce
• Explore STG from more developers [again]
• Increase exposure for exceptional doujin STG
• Get more people into versus STG (senko no ronde, acceleration of suguri, etc.)[again]

Challenges to Other Players:

Post you're (Hellsinker & Battle Traverse) scores. people keep saying they're good games but where the score. Battle Traverse seemed to prove people don't actually want new Cave stg unless it has the brand on it (unless BT is bad, which I'm still not seeing since jaimers and others seem into it).

But mostly just what AKo said, try really getting into your favorite game rather than flocking to those which seem very competitive (this is usually a crapshoot anyway, people play cave games on different years. new games die quickly unless they're exceptionally popular)

[Stevens]

Personal Favourite Achievements of 2015:

1 LC of Under Defeat's 2nd loop:D
Mars Matrix clear

Finally getting a Cave clear. Which wouldn't have happend if Jonst didn't challenge me to clear AK since that was my initial introduction to Cave.

Also meeting with local shmup/retro game players monthly since June has been kind of awesome. There is a small but solid group here in NYC.

Personal Biggest Screw-ups of 2015:

Having two runs of Under Defeat end in the exact same spot with the exact same score in my quest for 5 million.

Favourite Achievements by Others of 2015:

Has been said, but the people here keeping this place alive.
Shmups on Steam!

Goals for 2016:

Under Defeat 5 million/ALL
Espgaluda 2 Black Label

Accidentally just came into possession of the following games via Taito Legends 2:

Metal Black
Gun Frontier
Darius Gaiden
Gekirindan
Grid Seeker

I'm adding them cause I really want to broaden my horizons a bit and play things I haven't played before.

Not shooting related - I would like to play through Fur Fighters and/or MDK 2 again.

[OPTIONAL] CHALLENGES TO OTHER PLAYERS:

Get into that shooter you have always wanted to play but haven't. Mine is Progear, lately though I've been wanting to try Ketsui at some point.

Under Defeat - 1st loop if you've never played it, and if you've cleared the 1st loop then the 2nd.

[KoopaTGR]

Personal Favourite Achievements of 2015:
Clearing a crapton of arcade STGs in my second year of playing (look at my list!) including but not limited to: Batrider Advanced, Bakraid Advanced, Salamander 1 and 2 and TwinBee Yahhoo!
Batrider was the game I spent hours on at the end of 2014 (getting into the genre), and after clearing Training and Normal with no savestate practice and hours of playing, seeing others' strategies for Advanced inspired me to clear that!
Taking part in TRP-STGT and Death Roulette: No Refuge.

Personal Biggest Screw-ups of 2015:
Raging too hard at times.
Getting close to the end of some games and not trying harder.

Favourite Achivements by Others in 2015:
DonPachi counterstop, Batrider Advanced clear by Shepardus (wanna try a low rank Bakraid Advanced clear?), DOJWL first Western 2-ALL and Western World Record, Bakraid scores by ciox and Shepardus, shmups on Steam, pegboy's massive SNES and Strikers II conquest and many more!

Goals for 2016:
Learn to score something. (YGW, Cave, CCWI, Darius, Qute preferably)
Play more Dariusburst and learn to counterburst!
Play more console and doujin STG! (incl. Touhou)
Play more Garegga (I've gotten up to Black Heart II twice!)
1cc something that isn't a shmup!