Ikaruga S++ tutorials

[MAZ]

Hi folks! Some of you may know me from Twitter, for those who don't (arguably the majority of you) I am a shmup player that is devoting is limited playtime almost entirely to Ikaruga... from september 2019
Long story short, I went from trying to barely clear the game on easy to going to S++ every Chapter. Yep, the game dragged me this much! So why am I posting here? I am doing YouTube video tutorials (more or less) about S++ every Chapter. If you visit my YT channel, you will find every stage bar the fifth wich is a work in progress
Here I will post the last one I did, but feel free to check the other ones and give me feedback, both positive and negative

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6mKVAA1XY0

Sincerely hoping these vids will help in enjoying the game to its fullest potential

MAZ

[M.Knight]

It's been a long time since I played Ikaruga so I am kinda rusty, but I have to say that those video are very useful resources!
And you can see how even Stage 5 which is supposedly much easier to chain still has some technical tricks going for it.
Thanks a lot!

[Xer Xian]

Just watched all of your videos - I think they might be the only ones with embedded comments on tips and tricks, so it's a most welcome resource indeed.

But more than that, I must say that you are a hell of a player, man! Congrats It takes some dedication to reach your proficiency in a matter of just a few months. Are you an experienced shmup player? Well, very impressive either way. Your Ch4 is the best of the bunch, I guess it's either your favorite chapter, or the one you put most time into (or likely both). It shows. Are you only doing single chapters or you also started full runs? Do you have any specific goal you want to accomplish?

Again, congrats!

[MAZ]

Thanks a lot for the compliments! In particular to Xer Xian, coming from a player of your calibre, I am honored!
Well, I started to play shmup on an exclusive basis from dec 2018, and the first month and a half was devoted to get a survival-only clear of Ikaruga on easy mode. Then I played other games (mainly R-Type I&II, Darius Gaiden and Thunderforce IV) for survival 1cc till sept 2019 when I decided to return on Ika for a Normal clear. Since I was really worried by the Tageri and Ubusunugami boss fights, I decided to have at least A rank routes for every Chapter. But I was so dragged in the scoring mechanics that things excalated quickly in a spectacular fashion
Long story short, I am sitting at roughly 300+game hours, I just got my first proper Normal 1cc but since it was full of mistakes (23,5 mil score) I will not upload it. I am currently aiming at a 28 mil score and ultimately I hope to reach a 30 mill score. After that, who knows!
As for the vids, if you follow the upload progression (3-1-2-4-5), you can witness a skill increase, with 3 having even a death and a chain drop, 1 having a cheesy route for the final part, 2 having slow time for bonus enemies spawning and 4 and 5 being pretty solid even from a superplayer standpoint (I hope). Increasing my score for Chapter 4 from 6mil to 7mil took almost a month of playing the stage exclusively!
For any other question, feel free to ask

[Xer Xian]

As for the vids, if you follow the upload progression (3-1-2-4-5), you can witness a skill increase, with 3 having even a death and a chain drop, 1 having a cheesy route for the final part, 2 having slow time for bonus enemies spawning and 4 and 5 being pretty solid even from a superplayer standpoint (I hope).

I don't know if they are quite in the superplayer territory yet, but yes, they're solid. They certainly show a good execution of intermediate patterns (occasionally bordering on advanced, such as chaining of a few outer enemies in 4-2) and some steady, confident ship control. In general, they show a very promising player that has a lot of potential. 28-30mil? Put in the work, and you'll get there and beyond. The road will not be without bumps and frustrations, but your signature tells me you are well aware of that

P.S. - When you've got a score you're starting to feel good about (btw, 23.5 is already very decent), remember to post it on the Ika scoreboard here. Also, if you ever hit a roadblock with some strat and think you might use some help, feel free to PM me or open a new thread (there should still be other skilled Ika players around here)