Easiest arcade shmups that noobs can 1cc or complete easily?

[Cagar]

Dodonpachi daifukkatsu 1.5
thanks to autobomb

[pestro87]

Mushi 1.5 Original (No MAX). Even DTP should be able to clear this on his first credit.

[ratikal]

Gradius 2 NES
Kingdom Grandprix
Deathsmiles 2 (Level 1)
Batsugun SP if you are going for one loop
R-Type Leo

[Zengeku3]

Most 1-alls by Cave should be achieveable. I personally found DOJBL 1-all easier to achieve than Espgaluda.
Also, if you are willing to experiment with non-arcade things, I must recommend Touhou games. They are pretty forgiving when played for survival but I find that the style of dodging teaches you how to improvize better. At least in my opinion. Playing one of these suckers on Normal mode should be a very achieveable 1cc for most people. Skip easy unless you really need to.

If you don't want to play those for some reason then I guess just stick with arcade games and look for games that you think look fun rather than things that are just easy. In addition to 1-alls, you could also as mentioned try out Espgaluda, Mushihimesama Futari Black Label Original (or just 1.5 original really) or you could try out Akai Katana.

But again, don't think too much about what games are the easiest. Look into what sort of stuff you find fun instead. Look up gameplay vids of what has been suggested here and pick the one you could best picture yourself enjoying.

That's what I did, I learned how to play Touhou Lunatic because i thought the patterns looked badass and i wanted to be the guy dodging them. Same thing for arcade games, got into them because i found some super plays of some that made me go 'wow, these are cool' so i ended up jumping straight into some rather hard games just because they looked more fun heh. So yeah, uhmm. Choose something cool instead of something that's just easy yeah?

[mice]

ThunderCade, only 1cc I've done...I think.

[broken harbour]

Mushihemesama Futari on Xbox 360, 360 Mode, Novice, on Normal was my first ever 1cc.
I did it on my.... 3rd attempt if I recall correctly. I haven't tried Black Label DLC yet, but i remember Serraxor saying it was the easiest 1cc ever.

Gaia Seed - Japanese PS1 Title, very easy, and hated by alot of ppl on this board, I found it interesting, but 1cc'd it on my second attempt.

Ignore alot of the advice in this thread, it seems that some have played a game for so many years that it seems easy to them (Darius Gaiden is super hard). I was into shmups in the early 90's, and only in the last 6 months or so have gotten back into them, and frankly, I'm probably below average skill. But I find them fun and will continue to get better.

[Zengeku3]

Well i'm still a newb even after all this time so my advice should be useable.

[Jeneki]

If we are talking console games, Deathsmiles IIX is even easier than the first game on level one, and both Otomedius Gorgeous and Otomedius Excellent are extremely easy (at least for me).

Otomedius was in arcades as well. And yea, I would say this is the easiest arcade clear I've ever had.

Also try Bakraid or Batrider on the normal course.

[Ruldra]

Another vote for Gerikindan. Pick the Fire Shark ship on the 2P side to make things even easier for you.

Armed Formation F is another easy shmup.

[Cuilan]

Deathsmiles, Deathsmiles 2, Otomedius (arcade version), Trouble Witches AC

None of these can be considered easy when playing for score though.

[Pretas]

Otomedius was in arcades as well.

Gorgeous was, Excellent wasn't.

[Jeneki]

The arcade release was just "Otomedius". "Otomedius Gorgeous" was the 360 version, with an additional game mode by the same name.

[shmuppyLove]

DeathSmiles
Batsugun Special 1st loop

I know they're eary because I've done both of these

[tinotormed]

Thunder Force AC. You could easily go for a 1cc after playing a few hours. And once you're good enough, an easy 1 life clear is completely possible.

[Jonst]

Mushi 1.5 Original (No MAX). Even DTP should be able to clear this on his first credit.

This might be a stupid question,but...what is no max?

[Mero]

I would suggest Sonic Wings 3 as an arcade stg that is genuinely mega easy (first loop), pick the Kohful & River plane, take a bit of time to work out what the easiest route is and you can't go wrong.

If you choose Mars as the final stage (which you should be doing because it's the easiest) you've even got a decent chance of triggering a joke boss that only fires easy attacks at you (until it's about to time out).

[1up]

Guwange arrange on xbox360
Deathsmiles
Dodonpachi resurrection novice on xbox360

And i remember some shmup on snes being a breeze. I think its rtype 3

[pestro87]

Mushi 1.5 Original (No MAX). Even DTP should be able to clear this on his first credit.

This might be a stupid question,but...what is no max?

No worries. The right column in the picture below has the MAX versions of each shot type (just to be clear - so No MAX means that you have selected a shot type from the left column ). MAX means that you start off the game fully powered up but the bullet patterns are more difficult and the bullets travel a lot faster. They also added auto-bomb but you start out with one bomb in stock. You can read more about the differences here

[Jonst]

Thanks! I've never noticed that before shows how long since I've played it!

[ilitirit]

I consider any arcade shmup I've 1CC'd to be easy hahaha. Here are some older ones.

Silkworm (1986, Tecmo) (last stage is infinite)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K17aJ9A2z6o

Hyper Dyne Side Arms (1986, Capcom)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjFY0QQ8EKE

Terra Force (1987, Nichibutsu)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCjLNijBuPw

Airwolf (1986, Kyugo) - Loops forever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li-Vbm_K3pg

Varth: Operation Thunderstorm (1992, Capcom)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUOhkoddGLk

[Sinful]

I'm new to the genre and the first two games I've 1cc'ed, er, make that "no miss," are; Gradius III SNES & Gradius II NES. I may of done the same for LifeForce or Salamander NES, if not come close too it? But either way, it's an easy game to 1cc or no miss too. .. Add Parodius NES too, if you can handle the slowdown + that dancer taking for freakin ever. ... Guess Gradius Gaiden too once you got the bosses in boss rush figured out... Heck, all home version of Gradius should be pretty do-able (ie. in the ports for PC-Engine & SNES, the lazers have a massive hitbox size + it's so much easier to whip around the corners. The Arcade team realized it was to powerfull after Graidus 1 & made it weaker, while the team for the home consoles decided to break it even more by making it retarded powerfull, lol).

Other games that games I'm playing/played that seem easy, are; Viper Phase AC (New Version, at least. The orginal should be tougher due to weaker weaponry. Which is why I assume the new version is easier? Unless they did attempt to balance it for better weaponry and failed still?), Taito's Gekirindan AC, and Twin Cobra II/Kyukyoku Tiger II AC (/Plus on Saturn).

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

Fire Barrel and Strikers 1945 II.

[Ed Oscuro]

Psychic Storm for PC-Engine is truly easy, far beyond the level of "easy" one can talk about in relation to games like Armed Formation F or Kingdom Grandprix (which I would kind of quibble with due to the ease of being tripped up by the racing element).

[trap15]

Strikers 1945 II.

This isn't the shmups joke thread, man!

Seriously, Strikers 1945 II is not easy in the slightest.

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

Strikers 1945 II.

This isn't the shmups joke thread, man!

Seriously, Strikers 1945 II is not easy in the slightest.

I find it to be the easiest of the Strikers games, with the original being the hardest, 1945III second hardest, and 1945II being the easiest. I can't reach the second loop yet, but my best is 1-8, so I believe that with enough practice, a beginner can easily clear it.

[Bonus!]

Then clear it, champ! I find it quite fascinating that there are so many people who denounce Death Smiles or Espgaluda as easy, "apart from that final stage". However, if you can't clear a game, I don't think you're in any position at all to call it easy. It's part of the design of STGs that the game gets increasingly difficult, and this does include the last boss.

[NTSC-J]

Here's a very handy list of almost all notable STGs ranked by difficulty, as compiled by the Japanese STG community. Note the helpful links to ALL-clear videos next to most games.

Their top 10 easiest games:

10. Nemesis (1-ALL)
9. Captain Tomaday
8. Gekirindan
7. Batsugun Special Version (1-ALL)
6. Storm Blade (1-ALL)
5. Slap Fight (1-ALL/Area 100)
4. Asuka & Asuka
3. Fire Barrel (1-ALL)
2. Night Raid
1. Karous (Easy)

[AntiFritz]

Here's a very handy list of almost all notable STGs ranked by difficulty, as compiled by the Japanese STG community. Note the helpful links to ALL-clear videos next to most games.

Their top 10 easiest games:

10. Nemesis (1-ALL)
9. Captain Tomaday
8. Gekirindan
7. Batsugun Special Version (1-ALL)
6. Storm Blade (1-ALL)
5. Slap Fight (1-ALL/Area 100)
4. Asuka & Asuka
3. Fire Barrel (1-ALL)
2. Night Raid
1. Karous (Easy)

Wonder why pink sweets isn't even listed.. Same with Ibara BL.

[NTSC-J]

Pink Sweets (with infinite lives bug) is at rank 15. (The easy games I listed were in ranks 1-3, btw).

No Ibara BL, though.

[Bonus!]

NTSC-J,

thanks a lot for sharing this link. Almost all the titles are given in Japanese, and the translations by Google aren't always helpful. Thus, I'm wondering whether this list has been translated into English and posted here before? If not, it might be a worthwhile project, and one that shouldn't take too much time for someone who knows his STGs and Japanese. Then this list could be put into a sticky thread and serve as a great resource for this forum. Would you be up for this task?