What are the most coveted world records?

[XoPachi]

Straightforward question. That recent Ketsui WR from Moglar just has me wondering what are the genre's most sought after records now and throughout it's history.

It *seems* like Cave, Raizing, and offshoots of similarly scoring titles tend to stand above most. Just at a cursory glance anyway.

What games do you think deserve more grinding? Either because you see huge scoring opportunities people miss or think the mechanics aren't appreciated as much?

[pegboy]

I think the "consensus" #1 world record in shmups is probably DoDonPachi. Factor in the "controversy" over the glitch scores and just all the hype and mystique about it and it's surely got to be #1?

That said, I have to wonder what the most competitively played shmup is in Japan throughout history and to this day. What shmup has the largest set of active players, and elite level players chasing records?

[EmperorIng]

In answer to pegboy's question, I don't know how easy it is to quantify this, but it feels like the players I see actively pushing for top scores today are in Battle Garegga, Batrider (maybe, there seems to be a new announcement of a solo WR every few weeks according to plasmo), DoDonPachi and maybe DaiOuJou.

I wish I could give an honorable mention to Dimahoo/Great Mahou Daisakusen because it also seems like there are a (relatively) large group of players pushing for new wr's in that game.

I mean for the most part the wr competition is a solitary endeavor as there are few games with more than one person trying to make a stab at the top. At mid-tier competition you will see more activity of course - e.g. the people who've gotten into Castle Shikigami this past year+.

I mean, who is going to match gus' Futari Ultra scores other than maybe Chubow one day? Unless someone puts in probably a decent 6 months or more, they won't get to a level that can sort of compete.

What games do you think deserve more grinding? Either because you see huge scoring opportunities people miss or think the mechanics aren't appreciated as much?

So many games! Just the act of scoring itself can be fun. Look at what AKO has done discovering new techs and getting WRs in a bunch of underplayed older shmups.

I myself would love to see people finally dive into and take Takumi games seriously again, especially Giga Wing 2 now that Dreamcast emulation issues are a thing of the past. Failing that, there are all of these Alfa System Shikigami games (especially with the upcoming steam port of Shiki 2) that can and WILL revive interest in scoring in the game and offer a perfect clean new slate for people to push to the top. I know come December that is what I will be doing.

[Rastan78]

Moglar's hunt for the WR was very inspirational and I hope it gets more people pushing for high scores in their game of choice. I think the choice of game is personal, and a player will get farther playing something they really love than something associated with prestige.

I tend to be most impressed with the players that specialize in a game for a long time and continue to push farther when there isn't really anyone competing with them. Something like Koizumi in Detana Twinbee or Daimyojin in G Darius. Even though Garegga is much more popular, Kamui definitely fits this category of player. In those cases, it's the love for the game really shines through and makes their achievements even more special.

[XoPachi]

I can't really score myself. I do the bare minimum to get my extensions to hopefully see the end of a first loop in a game. Anything greater is beyond my abilities. Its really shocking what folks like Moglar and Kamui are able to do.

[davyK]

DoDonPachi is the daddy really isn't it? I think the world is ready for an M2 treatment of that game with the glitch as an optional fix and blue label as a bonus item.

Even a 2-ALL of that game is saying hello to elite level.

I'd imagine Futari and its modes is probably well contested too - but I'm biased as I love that game and it's what got me into modern shooters. Even though I have yet to 1CC original (I haven't yet played it in my proper set up with me sitting up close) I still love playing for score in the first two levels - getting those big cancels at the icicle section.

[CStarFlare]

Honestly I don't think Futari has had anyone pushing WRs for years aside from Gus, who's uncapped the counterstop via Xenia to keep pushing. I don't think I've see any updates to Maniac or Original in years. The only person I've noticed playing Maniac at a high level lately is currently scoring in the low/mid 800ms, which is still 200m short of WR.

As Ing mentioned Batrider and Great Mahou have gotten a lot of activity lately since people started focusing on character records and that's been cool to watch, but I don't know if there's really much competition in Batrider or if people are just pushing their categories on their own. Garegga definitely still has people playing aside from Kamui and is probably the game where there's been the most people publicly trying to push the envelope on well-established scores.

I'm not sure how many people are actually trying to set WRs in DDP even now that the glitch is in the open - DOJ does seem to have had more activity there than the OG does, but I don't pay specific attention to it.

I suspect some of the golden age Touhous still get more attention than most of the classic arcade games; a scan through Royalflare shows several 2021 records though there's so many categories in those games it's not really an apples to apples comparison.

edit: thread needs plasmo

[davyK]

You have a point there @CStarFlare.

Futari may have got exposure during that GDQ run et al but it could be that many of the WRs are sewn up. I have a natural bias toward the game.

I'm guessing most Cave games have a natural cachet when it comes to hold WRs.

I don't know enough about Touhou.

Battle Garegga is probably another candidate.

[XoPachi]

I'm actually very surprised Touhou was not mentioned among the first posts. I definitely assumed there was an unmistakable level of competition for it. But despite its popularity, I have to admit that I actually dont think I've ever seen talks about world record progression for Touhou like I do other games. I usually only see clears but not exactly talks of hardcore scoring runs.

But I avoid the franchise like Covid. So I'm most likely just ignorant.

[ZPScissors]

I'm actually very surprised Touhou was not mentioned among the first posts. I definitely assumed there was an unmistakable level of competition for it. But despite its popularity, I have to admit that I actually dont think I've ever seen talks about world record progression for Touhou like I do other games. I usually only see clears but not exactly talks of hardcore scoring runs.

Probably because of how few Touhou scorers there are in the arcade shmup community specifically

[gray117]

Depends how you measure it. I'd kind of consider it like 50% competitors and 50% general regard/reverence - skewed more towards the more niche genre fans, but also taking into account some degree of more popular appreciation/interest.

But yeah in those terms probably garegga - I feel with the m2 port it kind of garnered enough accessibility and attention to highlight it amoungst players, and it's got good cross cultural appreciation, despite being a bit 'grim' in tone.

But it's all so niche there's probably such slim margins in terms of regard or coveted-ness... A newer port and a bit of exposure could swing things in favour of ddp.