My very first 1CC... well, almost anyway.

Titus Andronicus · Post by **Titus Andronicus** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 6:48 pm

Inspired by a topic here I decided to try Twin Cobra II, well I booted up Mame and gave the game a go (expecting an ass-kicking like most shumps tend to give me, particularly on the first try). To my surprise I managed to live through the first three levels without dying and some time later I found myself facing the final boss, playing on my last life and having a score of somewhere around 6.000.000-7.000.000. I felt kind of proud really and as the boss started to flash red in a "hey, I'm about to go explodey"-kind of way, I could almost smell my first 1CC getting closer and closer...

And that's when my finger slipped. Onto the windows-key. Back to the desktop. Balls.

I made a very frantic but ultimately futile attempt to get Mame back on screen but before I could manage to do that I heard the sound of green death-beams followed by the sound of my ship going up in flames. Balls.

I fed another credit and killed the boss with one or two shots of the primary weapon.

So right now I'm frustrated as hell since I don't really want to play through the game again (it took like 40 minutes or something), but I know I won't feel entirely satisfied until I do it, so here goes.

Anyhow, I didn't post this to brag about my mastery of Twin Cobra II (or, rather, un-mastery, as it turned out), I just wanted to vent some anger and frustration.

Happy gaming.

snap monkey · Post by **snap monkey** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 7:10 pm

I had a very similar moment yesterday with Prehistoric Isle 2. Last form of the last boss, my last life, don't hit the bomb button in time and bump into something stupid, pop in another credit and two seconds later he's down. It's so close to a clear but defintely not a clear, so I'll have to go back and try again. You should too.

Also, I recommend investing in a USB controller for MAME, you'll have a lot more control than with the keyboard and won't risk hitting other stuff. They can be had for cheap.

Titus Andronicus · Post by **Titus Andronicus** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 7:37 pm

Yeah, on my other computer I use a good gamepad for playing SNES games and such. A shame it's only a crappy PII 400 Mhz, it won't run that many arcade games at a playable speed.

Anyhow, I just cleard the game in one credit (no slipping this time!), it didn't start off good though: I had lost two lives before the end of stage 3 due to stupid mistakes and lazy playing. I almost quit the game when I lost my second life, I figured I was too frustrated to play at that moment. Good thing I didn't quit! =D

Well, now I have can make a list over games I've 1CC'd

shame it wasn't a harder game than TC II but everyone has to start somewhere. Guwange next... I've gotten pretty far in that one using only one life.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:28 pm

That's why I'm using an older version of MAME, so I can have buttons 1,2, and 3 mapped to Z, X, and C. The stupid Windows button on my keyboard gives me grief if I'm using newer MAME versions too.

That's if I'm not using my PS2->USB adaptor :]

Super Glob · Post by **Super Glob** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:50 pm

Titus Andronicus wrote:A shame it's only a crappy PII 400 Mhz

And it plays TCII at full speed (100% when you press F11.).
My old computer which was just a bit more powerful would have struggled.

If it's running at full speed well done!
Your first 1cc should give you some confidence for when you try to 1cc other games.

Titus Andronicus · Post by **Titus Andronicus** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 9:58 pm

Super Glob wrote:
Titus Andronicus wrote:A shame it's only a crappy PII 400 Mhz
And it plays TCII at full speed (100% when you press F11.).
My old computer which was just a bit more powerful would have struggled.

If it's running at full speed well done!
Your first 1cc should give you some confidence for when you try to 1cc other games.

That's my other comp (the one with a good gamepad), which is around 1000 kilometers away. This one is a P3 800 Mhz with a good amount of RAM. Most games run fine on it, Gunbird 2 is the only game I've tried that it really struggles to run.

Btw, right now I kind of regret saying that I'd take on Guwange next, that game is in no way easy past the third level. Well, better grit my teeth and hone those ninja reflexes.

Super Glob · Post by **Super Glob** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 10:01 pm

Titus Andronicus wrote:Yeah, on my other computer...

Just noticed, sorry.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 10:15 pm

Keep playing. Aside from the small mistake, it's obvious that you can 1-cc the said game, so it's a matter of when, not if...

Tomtom · Post by **Tomtom** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 8:51 pm

Wow, congrats. I haven't played that one much, but it doesn't seem like a very easy shmup. So keep plugging away, you'll get there soon. And a USB pad does help with those things, I've found. No CTS and a lot better control

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 4:22 pm

Well, now I have can make a list over games I've 1CC'd shame it wasn't a harder game than TC II but everyone has to start somewhere. Guwange next... I've gotten pretty far in that one using only one life.

Shit, I thought TWII was a swine (on the Saturn anyways). Congrats man.

zaphod · Post by **zaphod** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 7:41 pm

umm, a p3 800 ain't gonna run twin cobra II at full speed my 1.1 ghz computer cant' run tthe famn thing at full speed in MAME.

uwfan · Post by **uwfan** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 3:46 am

wow your right its pretty easy.

I just 1CC it on like my 4th go.

Titus Andronicus · Post by **Titus Andronicus** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 5:58 am

Wow, is my face red.

I mean, really, really red. Skin-condition red.

I thought I got through that game a wee bit too easy. Seems my comp only manages to run TCII at 60-75% of the normal speed. Well at least I'm not afraid of admitting my mistakes, I mean, come on I'm new at this!

Anyhow, better hit a game I can beat fair and square, which right now is Strikers II (runs at full speed, I've checked!). Really, really great game and I've managed to reach the boss of the 7:th stage on one credit. So close, but still so far since the last level is the mother of all bitches. The last level usually eats up two or three credits alone, well the end boss does most of the eating to be true.

Well, three cheers for me and my fairly miserable first posts on the forums

Daigoro · Post by **Daigoro** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 8:53 am

heh, thats cool.

at least you found out your mistake and admitted it.

how can you tell if the game is running full speed or not? im allways curious about how faithfull the games are i play through MAME.

im with ya though. ive never 1cc'd a shmup and ive been playing them for a loooong time. im currently trying to settle down on one vert shmup that i like enough to devote the 100+ hrs (est. time) to actually accomplish this feat.

good luck.

uwfan · Post by **uwfan** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:17 am

Daigoro wrote: how can you tell if the game is running full speed or not? im allways curious about how faithfull the games are i play through MAME.

press F11 on your keyboard while game is running.

Titus Andronicus · Post by **Titus Andronicus** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:22 am

-> Daigoro

Press F11, current FPS and speed percentage is displayed top-right. Very handy I've learned

Earlier today I tried my luck at DonPachi. Jesus ape-shit Christ. First three levels... lost one life. So far so good. The rest of the game... not so good.

Once again, back to Strikers II. Can't wait for my copy of Star Soldier on the PSP though.

zaphod · Post by **zaphod** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 7:49 pm

some hints.

if the music or sound stutters, then the game is probably not running full speed.

that should be your first clue...

Daigoro · Post by **Daigoro** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:43 am

F11, thanks.

but how do i compair FPS and speed to the original if i dont know what the original runs at? (sorry if thats a dumb question)

zaphod wrote:some hints.

if the music or sound stutters, then the game is probably not running full speed. that should be your first clue...

obviously.

Titus- if i remember correctly, you dont beat Donpachi untill you do a few loops of it... someone correct me if im wrong. that would make it a bit tougher i think. not that ive had much Donpachi experience.

i have been sampling Dodonpachi lately though. im liking it a lot, but im bad at it so far.

more practice for me! (my new Sanwa mod is going to be getting a good breaking in here)

zaphod · Post by **zaphod** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 10:37 pm

the display tells all. it tells you the current fps, the fps it shoudl be, and the speed percentage. it will alos say the current frameskip.

iIf it says "auto-0" then you are getting full frame rate.

or if it says frameskip 0 and gives you something hovering around 100-99% then you are getting full speed.

Titus Andronicus · Post by **Titus Andronicus** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 8:32 am

Yeah, as far as I understand it you only really beat Dodonpachi after clearing the second loop. That should be easy.

Note subtle irony above.

Anyhow, my life is in ruins now by the way. I'm stuck with a P2 400 Mhz until next year. Which means no shmupping for me, not on the PC anyway. Got my hands on a copy of XII Stag for the PS2 yesterday though, gonna give it a go right now actually.