Hardest. Shooters. Ever.

[J-Manic]

I just finished playing Sol Divide (PSX version). I've had the game for about two years now. It's just been sitting on my shelf, so I decided to bring it out tonight. Now I know why it was sitting there in the first place.

This game is brutally hard for me. I couldn't get passed the 3rd stage! And is it me, or are the characters on the screen way too big for a shmup? The hitbox is huge! I didn't even have time to dodge those fast bullets. Too rediculous for me. It's a shame too. Psikyo had a cool idea going, but ruined it. I hope they don't forget about this game, and make a sequel to it, with corrections of course.

[Dale]

Gaires or anything horizontal tends to give me trouble with the exception of the Thunderforce games and Zero Wing. Other than that Galaga(Try playing it till the end) also I suck at GradiusV still love it but i,m dreadful can,t get past level 2.

[doctorx0079]

Other than that Galaga(Try playing it till the end)

Okay, I gotta ask. What do you mean by "the end"??

[Fenrir]

Well, one of the worse scars of my youth has always been Project X on Amiga. It's probably been the shmup I played most, since I found it impressive at the time it hit the shelves. It was fairly popular among my friends as well, BUT! With just 1cc, of course, 80% of my friends never managed to finish the FIRST level.
I, as an hardcore player, managed to finish the second level just once, then got after the insane bonus level that scrolled so fast that you had to follow the voice "go up" "go down" because you couldn't possibly see where you were going, then I saw the first screen of the third level and died.
the power-up buildup was so long and hard that once you reached the maximum (plasma x3, lateralx3, satellite x2) there were hopes to go ahead. Once you died and started back from plasmax1 and lateralx1, you were fXKX'd up. That's unfairly hard, alright.
Agony too, I found it fairly hard, just because you had just 1 kind of shot with 3 different widths, but its strength never changed - but monsters became harder and harder

On new gen, I'd say Ikaruga and Darius G are fairly unrelaxing.

[Zeether]

Image Fight-can't get past the first level, and I never will

Mars Matrix-I keep getting killed so much, how the hell can someone 1cc this game?

Parodius-because I died in level 2 when the showgirl came in

AC Gradius III-I hit a wall and lost my pretty lasers in level 1 because a sandlion and a bunch of bullet-spewing walkers boxed me in

R-Type II-****IN' FISH ON LEVEL 2!!!

Armed Police Unit Gallop-Those gay tanks on level 1 always seem to kill me with their homing missiles.

[Eight One]

Has any of the UPL shmups been mentioned?

I mean:

XX Mission (easy to get overwhelmed since your fire rate is slooooow)

Fire Mustang (The 'rank' goes from first to fourth gear in time flat. Add that you get three bombs per credit)

Black Heart (See Fire Mustang, without the bombs )

Strahl (cheap deaths from all kinds of directions)

Oh! We certainly can't forget the Nichibutsu shumps either-especially Terra Cresta and UFO Robo Dangar. It's easy for the bosses to level you because you don't shoot (and in most cases) or move fast enough.

[The Coop]

Hellfire (Genesis)- That game on "Yeah Right" is a nightmare. Took a lot of practice to be able to beat that setting and only continue three times.

Rayxanber II- Hard as hell. The stages are bitch, but the bosses are pretty simple to figure out (though it's not as easy to actually put your strategies into action).

Image Fight- I'm honestly not sure I'll ever get to see the ending on this game (for Saturn).

[futurebiblehero]

Gradius III is the only game I've ever yanked out of the system and punched (I was twelve). The odd thing is, is that I never did the same with Gaiares. I was honored just to progress.

While I'm rediscovering the genre somewhat and admittedly not that great, Gunbird 2 kicks my ass. I was cocky, coming off of my first 1CC with Psyvariar 2 and decided I'd move on and try the same. My ego has yet to recover.

[Vincere]

I'VE GOT AN IDEA!!!

Instead of just talking about the hardest shooters ever, let's do something about this shit. I think we should each take one of the games that is the bane of our existence and see if we can 1CC it. The first time I played through Metal Slug 3 it took me 64 credits, and I always thought of it as one of the hardest games I had ever played. So Monday I decided that I would 1CC it. I've always liked finding stuff that I suck at and trying to 1CC it. This is the same thing that inspired me to 1 credit Mars matrix, r-type leo, esp.ra.de and some others, but metal slug 3's the hardest one I've tried yet. Now some of these hard games people have listed are definitely within the realm of possibility. Others, even if they are possible, are just hard because they're badly made and unfair (r-type II, etc.). So if anyone else wants to participate, take some monster of a game and play it until you get it. I figured that in a "hardest shooters ever" thread, rather than just saying "geez these are hard", we should try to go out and conquer some of these bastards

Great, but it's been 9 moths straight that I play Battle Garegga for score and completion and I always fail at stage 6. I have two things fo achieve before I die :

Beating Battle Garegga
See Slayer live

Slayer is done so I can die half in happiness but the first one is doom.

[Gorecki]

For me, Raiden III is the toughest bast I've played. On my first ever credit I managed to get to the level 3 boss, but now it's a miracle if I can beat the level 2 boss. I know it shouldn't be that difficult, which is why it's frustrating me so much. Every time I load up the damn game I think "right, this is the credit that takes me to level 4", and I'll then proceed to get smoked about 20 seconds into level 1.

[Dale]

Other than that Galaga(Try playing it till the end)

Okay, I gotta ask. What do you mean by "the end"??

The end of the final level, level 255.

[zlk]

Other than that Galaga(Try playing it till the end)

Okay, I gotta ask. What do you mean by "the end"??

In the arcade, if the difficulty is not set at hard, after stage 256 the game says "stage 0" and no enemies come out.

[Dale]

Oops nevermind.

[Meyers07]

The nomination for hardest shooters ever!

Vertical

Number One: Summer Carnival '92 Recca (Famicom).
It's so fast, so intense, and so unforgiving experience! Even if you done it, the credits bill it as "Super Hard Shooting Game!

Number Two: Any shmup by Cave (DoDonpachi, Ketsui, Mushihimesama, etc.)
The second loop is reserved only for superhuman hands and theoretically nigh-impossible with staggering requirement. Add in a true final boss with 0,001% chance of perfect dodging. Videos of someone trying to besting the final boss is anywhere on YouTube.

Number Three: Raiden Fighters Jet
Story: In order to be qualified as a certified pilot for a dangerous real battle mission, you must pass the simulation battle. Intentionally hit is a requirement for the test level (Level 40), with a requirement of remote-controlling medals to join together so you can unlock strips from the previous games. Also you must score quickshot on medium-sized planes in Level 40, and not getting hit in Level 40. Once done, you must not shot-down once in Real Battle Phase 1 so your target would not escape and drop the bomb somewhere in the city...
Phase Two, you must not lost all your current lives. Add in Phase 1 and Phase 2 has enemies showering the screen.

Number Four: Strikers 1945 series
Small sized bullets showering you, and not continuing is a requirement for high-score and rank.

Horizontal

Number One: Gradius
Stripping your cool spacefighter out of its upgrade everytime you getting it. You got it? And awkwardly placed checkpoints and powerups.

Number Two: Darius Gaiden (the only game this poster played)
Pixel-based (as opposed to hitbox) bullet detection, and enemies hailfiring, storming the screen with bullets.

Number Three: Metal Black
I can say this is nigh-impossible without continuing. The Newalone system is staggering, and the reward for beating the final boss is an ending straight out of Gainax proportions and all just a dream.

Number four: R-Type
Checkpoint system for itty bitty mistake you done.

[Damocles]

Entire list.

This isn't going to be pretty.

[Udderdude]

That was certainly worth bumping a three year old thread.

[xris]

This is something I've wanted to mention lately.. F' Last Resort!
I've tried.. This game has beaten me.
( can i say how much i've enjoyed Shock Troopers though. off topic, but awesome!)

[Plasmo]

Lol bumping a super old topic with a gamefaqs like post.

Second place: ALL cave games
fourth place: the entire 1945 series

Lul wat?!

And I can't even believe the ridiculousness of the "horizontal" list. But seeing someone mention Darius Gaiden in here certainly is sad...

An advice: Why don't you play the games before you rank them in difficulty? I know they still look all the same to you, super impossible 2d shooting games with millions of bullets...

[Ed Oscuro]

I agree that the ending of Metal Black is like something Gainax. But I've never seen anything by them, and I'm happy for that.

@_@

[Gespenst]

Zillion Beats on Impossible. Try it.

[Skykid]

Entire list.

This isn't going to be pretty.

[Dragoforce]

Lol of the day! The new members certainly add a lot to the forum

[BIL]

Metal Black's difficulty is overrated by novices. Learn to play at max beam level before hitting the bomb button, and nothing will be able to get near you. And even at peashooter levels you can do fine, not that you should be there often with all the powerups around.

In factory-fresh terms, Black Fly > old shoes > Vic Viper, R9 and Silver Hawk.

[Dragoforce]

Metal Black is a memorizer from start to finish, not that hard once you know when the snipers appear.

[Jockel]

Lol of the day! The new members certainly add a lot of crap to the forum

[EinhanderZwei]

My list (surprisingly, it's NOT original ):

- R-Type 1
- Thunder Force IV
- Gaiares
- MSX Gradius 2

[BIL]

Metal Black is a memorizer from start to finish, not that hard once you know when the snipers appear.

No doubt about that. But its particularly "cheap" reputation is due to people underrating the ship, once the levels are memorised. The shmups.com review is a good example: whines about no Options, bombs or multi-directional firing, while glossing over the main gun's enormous hit area. Once you know the general area of the screen to be in (dead center, 90% of the time), the ship can handle anything the game throws at it.

[Klatrymadon]

while glossing over the main gun's enormous hit area

Aye, it's big enough to make memorisation of the levels a secondary concern, really. As long as you haven't bombed at an inopportune moment, your gun will protect you from a good percentage of the sneakier fly-right-up-your-arse enemies.

Pity it's utterly hideous.

[Momijitsuki]

Lol of the day! The new members certainly add a lot of crap to the forum

The Touhou series is the hardest, harder than anything Cave or Psycho has ever made. I mean look at all of those bullets and those patterns and those colors. ZUN is a god of some sort for being able to make the hardest games. It's funny how every lousy arcade shmup company is copying him. Not to mention his games actually have STORIES and not some stupid throwaway plot like Don Don Pechi. And instead of stupid SHIPS and AIRPLANES ZUN uses all HUMAN characters that actually look ATTRACTIVE and powerful. You guys don't know anything about hard shmups! I can't even beat Touhou on Easy! That's how hard it is!

*runs away laughing maniacally*

[EinhanderZwei]

Lol of the day! The new members certainly add a lot of crap to the forum

The Touhou series is the hardest, harder than anything Cave or Psycho has ever made. I mean look at all of those bullets and those patterns and those colors. ZUN is a god of some sort for being able to make the hardest games. It's funny how every lousy arcade shmup company is copying him. Not to mention his games actually have STORIES and not some stupid throwaway plot like Don Don Pechi. And instead of stupid SHIPS and AIRPLANES ZUN uses all HUMAN characters that actually look ATTRACTIVE and powerful. You guys don't know anything about hard shmups! I can't even beat Touhou on Easy! That's how hard it is!

*runs away laughing maniacally*

WT flying F was that?