Dankest survival with self-imposed restrictions!

[ARF]

These types of runs are so cool! A great way to add replay value to your favorite STG without needing to become a top level scoreplayer!

Here's a short list of ways of restricting regular play, (certain methods depends on each individual game and its mechanics)

No bomb: often attempted in combination with no miss/death, which is basically the bread and butter for survival superplay!
No focus: restricts the use of slow movement in games which has that
No vertical movement: this is a standard survival challenge, commonly makes certain patterns impossible and in some cases makes 1cc humanly impossible, but don't let that stop you from trying to get as far as you can!
No shot: also commonly makes some parts impossible, in 2hu it also usually restricts the amount of extra lives you get, so it is often super difficult to clear!
Increased speed: playing with more than regular fps! common values in 2hu seem to be 75, 90, 105 and 120fps (over the regular 60fps). Usually done by people who are already superplayers and want to impress other superplayers by showing how super they are, players have reported increased reaction speed from playing at 90fps before dropping back to 60!
No horizontal movement: possibly *the* most useful restriction run, you'll be amazed by how scrubby secondaries trying this challenge can go from struggling with easy mode 1cc's to competitive lunatic scoring in less than 1 month! How is this even possible??? Well, since you can't simply sidestep aimed bullets anymore, you have to instead learn super high level bullet manipulation to avoid getting cornered at the bottom of the screen, forcing you to think outside the box, at the same time leveling up your bullet reading to supeplayer-tier, but that's not even all, you also get the option to reach the PoC making you able to score high unlike when playing with no vertical movement. Basically, no horizontal is the hyperbolic time chamber practice for STG players, dwarfing even the benefits of higher fps practice! Here's some 2hu no horizontal dankness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7nyz8faO94
Additional goals (besides regular scoring) but not outright restrictions are also fun to add, such as low score, low graze, high graze or most times circling the bosses sprites etc.

You can also use any or all of the restrictions at once, in Touhou 14 Double Dealing Character it is even possible to 1cc hard difficulty without ever moving the character! It does requires bullet RNG manipulation and high level shot control, it is as far as I know, TAS only at this point.

So how do YOU play you're favorite STG when not scoring?

[Lord Satori]

Oh those are neat. Gensokyo.org has a replay section (that they stopped updating with new games for basically no reason at all wtf) with achievements like that.

[doom_]

No horizontal movement: possibly *the* most useful restriction run, you'll be amazed by how scrubby secondaries trying this challenge can go from struggling with easy mode 1cc's to competitive lunatic scoring in less than 1 month! How is this even possible??? Well, since you can't simply sidestep aimed bullets anymore, you have to instead learn super high level bullet manipulation to avoid getting cornered at the bottom of the screen, forcing you to think outside the box, at the same time leveling up your bullet reading to supeplayer-tier, but that's not even all, you also get the option to reach the PoC making you able to score high unlike when playing with no vertical movement. Basically, no horizontal is the hyperbolic time chamber practice for STG players, dwarfing even the benefits of higher fps practice! Here's some 2hu no horizontal dankness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7nyz8faO94

Okay, I'm on it. I'll be back in a month.

[KAI]

Smashing your hands with a hammer is the best self-imposed restriction.

[Skykid]

Smashing your hands with a hammer is the best self-imposed restriction.

I'd recommend that for removing "dank" from your vocabulary.

[ProjectAKo]

this reminds me of shrinemaiden.org almost 10 years ago when I basically popularized this alternate ruleset stuff

[Nameschonvergeben]

Are there any highlevel replays for most times circling the bosses sprites in IN?

[The Armchair General]

You can also use any or all of the restrictions at once, in Touhou 14 Double Dealing Character it is even possible to 1cc hard difficulty without ever moving the character! It does requires bullet RNG manipulation and high level shot control, it is as far as I know, TAS only at this point.

Can you link a video of this?

[Captain]

Play with only one hand.

No autofire.

[Shepardus]

Play with only one hand.

No autofire.

Good practice for an eventual doubleplay.

Low-score runs can be fun to watch. Here's one for Mars Matrix which was also featured on the STGWeekly episode, and here's a 0-point playthrough of Giga Wing 2.

Weapon/gimmick restrictions in games with multiple weapons in the player's arsenal, or revolving around a central gimmick, are relatively common among self-imposed restrictions. For example, here's a sword-only run in Radiant Silvergun (this is by the same player who did the 0-point clear of Giga Wing 2). I've also played around a bit with no-dragonshot or dragonshot-only runs in Dragon Blaze. I've reached 1-5 in both though that was quite a while ago when I was still working on my first 1-ALL.

[Ghegs]

Speaking of weapon/gimmick restrictions, I've done some no-pod runs in R-Type and Pulstar. That's fun.

[gs68]

SC92 Recca, bombs only.

Which is incidentally the best way to play Zanki Attack.

[Perikles]

No horizontal movement: [...]

There's a ZX Spectrum shmup by the name of Chronos which is so terrible that it can easily be beaten this way. "Enemies" of all geometrical shapes and forms will fly towards you, but outside of a few turrets on the ground that shoot laser beams there's not a single projectile fired at the player. So if you want to you can just vertically tap once in a while and get through the game this way. You will lose a handful of lives due to the aforementioned turrets, but you get so many extends it doesn't even matter. Game also not only loops indefinitely (without ever changing the difficulty, of course), but even has the guts to mock you after finishing the "final boss" that it never ends. I suppose this presents an interesting self-imposed challenge: do you die from an aneurysm before the game crashes after God knows how many loops or vice versa?