1P side (when it matters) and Japanese version should be assumed if nothing is specified. Autofire can be assumed when relevant, unless otherwise stated.
Breakdown by dev:
- Toaplan: 16
- ZUN: 10
- Konami: 5
- Cave: 4
- Irem: 3
- Others: 12
Now that I have a few rarer clears that don't have a lot of discussion when it comes to their difficulty, I also included a list of subjective difficulty ratings if that can help whoever is reading this, using the same scale as the
Japanese wiki and
Perikles' lists: big number is harder. Difficulty grows exponentially: the gap between a 25 and a 15 is much higher than the one between 15 and 5, for example.
The rating is taking into account my specific ship/character and conditions (autofire most of the time, unless it's stated). For the few no-miss clears I got, the rating is not specific to that: it's the rating for a clear, no matter how many lives you lose in the process. The no-miss just happened. For the few ratings with a dash ( - ), it's there to separate first and second loops (or more). The first rating is for the highest number of loops, the following number is the previous number of loops, etc.
It's not the ideal formatting but I'm lacking space.
The rating only reflects survival and scoring doesn't matter, although sometimes it goes hand in hand.
A few notes on top of that:
- Cho Ren Sha 68k: easier on the Sharp X68000 because it's generally slower and has slowdown. Around 7 for 1st loop (I did clear it like that before doing the Windows port), no idea about a 2-ALL but probably around 16.
- Deathsmiles: Just too many things that can influence difficulty, I'm talking about playing the game with a majority of lv. 2 stages and an occasional lv. 3, and no optional stage.
- FixEight: Very dependant on character and I won't clear with each one. I think Cull is considered to be the best one, so other characters can be rated higher. Also, I remember reading that the non-Japanese versions were substantially easier, don't know by how much.
- Flame Zapper Kotsujin: I didn't clear Normal or Hard mode, no idea about the rating but probably not that much lower. Mania mode is absurd, without kidding it's probably at least in the low 30s.
- Hellfire: 2P version without checkpoints is a tad easier because some checkpoints are genuinely dreadful and a big chance of game over (this is more of an issue for multi-looping). Another difference is the possibility to fire more quickly in 2P (thanks ZPS for the info) but I'm not sure if that makes a huge difference. 14 for that one.
- Hishouzame stops being harder at loop 4 which is why I stop the rating there. Technically doing a 23-ALL is harder than a 4-ALL, but it's mainly about consistency and stamina, and a 23-ALL probably wouldn't be higher than 26 at any rate. The extra points are there for the consistency needed, and the fact that you really need to learn some checkpoints because you'll probably die, unlike a 4-ALL where you can realistically hope to no-miss. Also, Flying Shark is a tad easier, but not that much. I would say -1 point for 1-ALL and -2 points for 2-ALL, but I can't really confirm how higher loops go.
- Mr. Heli: PCE version is much easier than the arcade game, don't let that rating fool you if you try the arcade version. There's also an "arcade" mode on PCE, which is slightly harder than normal mode but still much easier than the real arcade game.
- R-Type is much lower than in most other ratings but I stand by that.
- Same! Same! Same! 2P: First of all, the 1P version of the game is much, much harder. Didn't clear that one yet but it's probably close to Tatsujin Oh. In the 2P version, the 2P side has increased firepower which makes it just a bit easier, but it didn't feel that game-breaking. You can substract one point or two I guess. Fire Shark is also apparently slightly harder than Same3 2P, but still very far from 1P. All versions that are not the 1P set should probably be somewhere close to 15-20.
- Shippu Mahou Daisakusen: actually reaching the second loop is a bit more challenging than a basic 1-ALL, I would say that doing it is worth a 9 in difficulty.
- Slap Fight: not that much of a difference with autofire, only that you can speedkill a few tricky bosses, but stages are done the same way. Probably around 6 with auto. There's a trick to skip the first 1/3 of the game or so but it doesn't really change the rating. The beginning is pretty simple, actually pulling off the trick is harder than doing the beginning the normal way.
- Time Pilot: You can cheese the game by farming lives in the first stage (there's no timeout), I assume you don't abuse this. I played this game a long time ago and don't remember if the loops are that much harder (there's nothing impossible), so it's only a rating for the first loop.
- Touhou 8: A and B routes are pretty much the same. Normal mode rating would be something like 6.
- Touhou 10 is pretty much free if you use the glitch to be overpowered. I obviously assume that you don't use it, otherwise you can put the rating at 1.
- Zero Wing: Recovery is very hard on the 1P set but for 2P it doesn't seem much of an issue because you instantly respawn with the weapon you had before dying and 1 power up, and if you're lucky you can get a 10-up to bruteforce your way (you can also get it in 1P but it matters less because of the impossible checkpoints). At first glance I would say around -4 points for 2P but I would need to actually try a run to be sure. Also, there's a trick to skip stages 6 and 7, the rating assumes you don't use it.
Figured I might as well just post my few non-STG arcade 1cc I remember.
No autofire can be assumed if nothing stated:
Autofire in Cabal just tears the game apart (it was done for Calice), I should try to do it without auto.
Combat school difficulty mainly comes from the final mission.
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