I DID IT! Share your latest 1CCs/other triumphs here...

[CIT]

Single loop clear for Sonic Wings Reunion (Switch)



Despite the horrendous looks I found this game surprisingly enjoyable. The character and music variety is really cool.

[Faith]

Once again, massive GG for the CC Arcade Unlimited clear! Even with TYPE-Z I still get my butt kicked on AC Original. :oops:

Thank you very much! Arcade Original is already a very tough challenge, and I think it is normal, most people will play it with Type-Z. Even for me, I still did not clear it with any other ship. Part of it is because I was very excited to play on Arcade Unlimited, and now it is hard to go back to Original because routing is completely different and it will start messing with brain >.<!~

That is one thing about Crimzon Clover: the different modes play super differently. It is not just change in difficulty, but core gameplay is different too.

[Faith]

Small update on my adventures in Arcade Unlimited @_@"...



New high score PB (4+ trillion) and... 3-miss! This really should have been a 2-miss, but lame death in Stage 4.

Nonetheless, really proud to have finished this mode now with 3 extends in stock at end.

Now my 6th Arcade Unlimited 1CC, and one I can sleep very well with!

But this is also weird, because... I have noticed this one thing during my time with many STG's: my performance is best with headaches.

Today is a bad day. I have a history of headaches, migraines, etc. But today is something else. Really not feeling good.

But even my hubby noticed this... every single time I complain about head feeling bigger than the sun... those are always the days I get 1CC or set big new PB and etc.

My brain is weird @_@"...

I think part of it is... when I feel like this... brain goes into survival mode. Easier just to focus on that one task, and everything else is thrown away.

[stellar_light]

Got a Futari Black Label God Mode clear! No TLB because I am not remotely close enough to even begin entertaining the idea of doing it all deathless (I went into the final boss with three lives and finished on my last life and bomb and it's hard for me to imagine spending any less resources than that) but this was surprisingly doable otherwise. Black Label's balance changes make this a weirdly uneven experience in many ways--I wouldn't call it easy by any stretch, but there were absolutely some concessions to help you out here compared to my main reference point 1.5 Futari Maniac: BL gives you ridiculous amounts of slowdown for extra leeway and reaction time for bombing (playing the 360 port may have contributed to this?), an overpowered weapon that sweeps most boss phases in only 1-2 patterns, and incredibly generous score extend thresholds letting you consistently get 60% of the way to the second extend by the end of stage 2. It feels downright surreal sometimes, I always struggled to clear the stage 4 mid-boss in 1.5 Maniac without a bomb whereas in God I've never once been in danger during that fight, and there's other patterns that play out similarly like the last phase of the stage 3 and 4 bosses.

So Black Label is definitely stomping over the intended design and pacing sometimes, but it's still a blast from start to finish! I appreciate that they skip the formalities and jump straight to testing you as soon as stage 1 starts, which is a breath of fresh air given how often CAVE earlygames let you auto-pilot through them if you're only interested in survival. There's so many creative patterns and these are definitely some of my favorite boss fights I've experienced in a bullet hell, especially Larsa which has such a fun rhythm to it. Really happy I played this, I think it's going to sit pretty firmly in my CAVE top 3 now.

[To Far Away Times]

Futari Black Label God Mode is super duper mega hard.

I was able to make it to stage 2 on one credit with a bit of practice.

It’s hilariously difficult, but that’s the whole point, right?

Good job.

[Faith]

Futari Black Label God Mode is super duper mega hard.

I was able to make it to stage 2 on one credit with a bit of practice.

It’s hilariously difficult, but that’s the whole point, right?

Good job.

Usually for these kinds of expert difficulties... the difficulty actually comes not from knowing what to do... but rather... knowing what not to do.

They also tend to be very very routing heavy with less leeway to deviation from the route.

Also, in my experience, another problem is... when you need to spend this many hours training, it is easier to pick up bad habits along the way and make even more mistakes with time. This ties in with the "knowing what not to do" part. Your memory also becomes very fragile. It is easy to accidentally do something different, and then not know why the run is suddenly going worse after so much progress. But yes, that is indeed the whole point. It is a challenge for those who can overcome all these limitations through strength and perseverance!~

Got a Futari Black Label God Mode clear!

Congrats with this!! I really need to stop spending so much time on Crimzon Clover and finally get on Mushihimesama @_@!~

[stellar_light]

Thank you both!

Ironically enough, Futari BL God Mode has a surprising amount of flexibility to it for a basic clear--the incredibly generous slowdown and microscopic hitbox allows you to map out your next move in advance more thoroughly than you might be able to in some other games which gives a really unique pace to it I like working with. My route for most of the stages never solidified too rigidly beyond making sure to time specific bullet cancels correctly for score towards the extends, and as the stages go on they keep giving you more and more cancels that'll allow you to get out of a bad situation if you can weather it for just a little bit longer. It's definitely preferable to be able to follow an ideal route for where you'll activate each cancel, but you're not entirely doomed if something goes wrong since Reco's incredible range in Black Label can compensate for positioning mistakes which is nice.

That playstyle hits some roadblocks in stage 5 though which is ~1/3rd of the run. I never figured out how to route most of the lantern cancels correctly and usually tried taking them head-on when I could and bombing when there was no getting out of it. It's virtually required to hit certain cancels after the mid-boss to get the extend correctly, but those ones are at least relatively safer to do because you can position yourself for them when there's less enemies on-screen. Again, only speaking for a standard clear, I imagine it's an infinitely different beast if you're going for Spiritual Larsa.

[stellar_light]

Got clears in Saidaioujou (Type A-Shot, no TLB) and Espgaluda 2 (Ageha, no Shin Seseri) this week! These games feel like polar opposites lol

Spoiler

SDOJ is a game I bounced off of the several times I tried it and I think what was mainly holding me back is that I kept trying to treat it like a standard DDP or CAVE game where you can mix together micrododging and macrododging as an equal balance that usually ensures your safety when executed properly. In SDOJ you can micrododge sometimes but it's a serious risk with the massive hitbox so I macro'd as much as I could during stages, all the popcorn in this game leave a huge mess and you need to be willing to adapt your route at any moment. I normally main Type-C in these games but its slow movement speed just doesn't cut it here--you need to be doing fast sweeps and keep up the pressure constantly or you will get walled. The resource management on Type A-S is very lenient but you will die with so many bombs in stock because of stray popcorn bullets that it is maddening, the input lag on the 360 port doesn't help either although you kind of get used to it. It's still not one of my favorite DDP entries but I've definitely learned to appreciate it much more now, there's plenty of interesting macrododging challenges that don't get pushed to the same level in most other CAVE games so I appreciate how unique it feels in that regard. (Maybe this is a sign I should put some more time into Dangun Feveron....)

I absolutely love Espgaluda 2 though. I usually get put off by the length of these longer games but this one flies by--despite being nearly 30 minutes the run is beautifully dense with constantly interesting mechanical decisions and routing, and while the patterns are intense you have more than enough tools to work with. I really liked Espgaluda 1 but 2 pushes it so much further, I'm always trying out different routes for particular patterns and it's so rewarding to see how well it pays off. It's one of CAVE's trickier single loop clears for sure but also one that I felt like I had some of the most room for experimentation on. I do need to give a shout out to this unbelievably in-depth video guide on the game, it was massively useful and helped me figure out how the game worked much sooner than I probably would've otherwise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHZ088RtIjQ

[Faith]

Got clears in Saidaioujou

Spoiler

Fk. Every time I see a screenshot of SDOJ, even if just the scorecard... I really want to play this game. Where is it on PC!!!1!~

The graphics really speak to me in every way @_@"...

So many lovely colours... so vibrant... ahh!!! Just the whole art style, I love it so much!~

[pegboy]

Got my first same! same! same! clear. 3.77 mil:
https://youtu.be/ivMcU1q7tRM?si=6Mud-S-QGaASJccE

[Randorama]

Shameless self-promotion: Here is a squib about Flying Shark (read here). The shorter review without the "personal experiences" waffling will appear here in one week's time. I played the game quite a bit before writing up the squib but did not push beyond the second loop: I do not have the stamina to play more than 40 minutes, these days. Next target might end up being Slap Fight, though I need to make up my mind about "gaming goals" once "Real Life" has stopped being an issue.

[Angry Hina]

Ghost Blade HD (Switch) is now also on hard with the green ship, which I ultimately rated as the stronger ship for the harder parts of the game compared to the blue one.

https://youtu.be/_W8z5laUAdA

After my run through with the weakest ship in the game (purple) on normal, I had already suspected that I would soon be able to get to "hard." But it was a bit trickier this time. You get showered with projectiles from the larger enemies' circular suicide bullets. This made it even more micro-dodging-oriented. That's not exactly my strongest point in the genre.

I also had to use a trick. I had already figured out how to avoid the biggest hassle with the third boss, and you can do something similar with the hardest, final boss. Otherwise, you'd probably need three lives to beat it if you're not that good at micro-dodging. With this trick, you can complete it even without extra lives and an empty bomb bay.

I'll probably save myself the trouble of trying it again, including defeating the boss.

According to the Switch, it took me 35-39 hours.

I actually really enjoyed it. What's interesting is that the game hardly requires you to memorize anything.

[blazinglazers69]

Got a 2-ALL, No Miss, No Slowdown, for Super R-Type.

Full run is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPLF_z1Pf1M

Commentary is 2 hours here with various topics if that's your thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMvhVGowqSg

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Got a 2-ALL, No Miss, No Slowdown, for Super R-Type.

Crazy impressive. A 2-ALL as it is is brutal, and a no-miss with the no-slowdown hack? Insane run, well done!

[blazinglazers69]

Got a 2-ALL, No Miss, No Slowdown, for Super R-Type.

Crazy impressive. A 2-ALL as it is is brutal, and a no-miss with the no-slowdown hack? Insane run, well done!

Thank you dude. In the past as I've gotten better at shmups I've focused more on quantity and getting through a ton of shmups each year. Now I'm kind of getting to the point where I wanna really sink my teeth into the games I'm playing and focus on fewer, more challenging clears.

[LordHypnos]

GG Aleste II Normal Difficulty 1cc!

Spoiler