Easiest SHMUPs to play...

[Wyrmnus]

Kay. So I need me a break from trying to 1CC DFK 1.5 since I ALMOST just beamed the controller at a Vintage HDTV. Fucking game and its horrid difficulty scaling.

Anyway. What are some STGs I could play that are real casual friendly? Chances are I may have played some of em, but lay em on me regardless. I need to accept the fact that I may just very well be unable to fully make that trek into Normal difficulty modes. My mental discipline is just that untrained atm.

Maybe with this therapy I'm gonna be attending for my anger management perhaps I could learn some patience and improve. Help a struggling gamer out!

[Squire Grooktook]

Thunder Cross 1 and Gradius III (SNES) definitely come to mind. The original Dodonpachi is a much easier 1-all than any of the sequels. Touhou on normal or even hard is pretty forgiving imo too.

[CStarFlare]

Harmful Park
Any of Compile's PC Engine games

[KAI]

Karous
Spriggan

[EmperorIng]

Thunder Force III, IV, and V are very friendly in terms of difficulty. Same with Gley Lancer, MUSHA, and Super Aleste.

RayStorm is also a good game to chill out to.

[ookitarepanda]

Deathsmiles and Winds of Thunder are great for starting out, even if they are both horizontally oriented.

[Laurel_McFang]

Twinbee is fairly friendly.

[ACSeraph]

[To Far Away Times]

Mushi Futari 1.5 BL Original and Deathsmiles.

[matrigs]

Night Raid

and when it comes to caves:

Mushi Futari BL Original (by far the easiest)
Dai Fukkatsu 1.5 C-Strong

[Squire Grooktook]

Darius II

I laughed.

[Kiken]

Zanac Neo... not particularly difficult and hands out extends like candy.

[Illyrian]

My signature is custom made for this situation.

[Jonst]

Zanac Neo... not particularly difficult and hands out extends like candy.

It does,but it takes a year to play through!

[Kollision]

Darius II

I laughed.

Maybe he was talking about the 16-bit ports?

[tinotormed]

Coryoon for the PC Engine should give you a while to playthrough.
X.X's games (Blue Wish Resurrection, Eden's Edge & Aegis) on either Heaven or Original may give you a head start.

[Mortificator]

The Game Boy Gradius and TwinBee games.

[Eaglet]

Axelay, Musha Aleste, R-Type Leo, Deathsmiles and Super Aleste are all easy but Batsugun Special takes the cake no questions asked.
So easy it's not even fun.

[Zeether]

Gun Nac, everyone can clear it because it throws tons of bombs at you. MUSHA is easy too if you use the water subweapon at full power.

[hdd60311]

DariusBurst is a good choice.

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

Mushihimesama Cave Matsuri Ver 1.5 Original Mode (non-max), Espgaluda (research how to attack final boss) and Deathsmiles Megablack easy route non-scorewhore clear (though the latter is the least fun by a wide margin). DFK 1.5 Bomb Mode basic clear is not difficult at all though. It's a tiny step up.

[Oniros]

Under Defeat HD, Jamestown.

[Xyga]

Fire Barrel

[Deca]

Everything on my 1cc list

[Ruldra]

Gekirindan
Armed Formation F
Hyper Duel
Storm Blade

[KAI]

Illvelo
Thunder Force VI

[Sel Feena]

Arrow Flash on Genesis. Actually kind of relaxing thanks to its mild difficulty, not much concentration required to play through.

[Eno]

Lords of Thunder on the default difficulty is almost ridiculous. I forgot which, but IIRC there's one version where the sword is more powerful than usual, making a joke of most bosses.

That said, I find Compile games quite pleasant to play casually.

[Gespenst]

Silpheed: The Lost Planet. Some weapons are so OP that the rest of the game is a cakewalk.

[superstarsiro]

My signature is custom made for this situation.

what if you change signature? somebody is going to be confused