Sumez:
I was under the impression that you could 1-CC the game consistently: maybe I could be of inspiration? Anyway:
...On the first run, I collected some powerup that automatically completes the diamonds in the intended order (...a star worth 10 pts.?) on ST 4, while I was actually panicking because I was missing the green and cyan blue diamonds. I saw the door and entered it while barely avoiding a dumb death on the Isaac robot boss.
From that point onwards, I simply played a ultra-conservative game, using the fairy to clear the trickier parts of each level. The fairy from the ST 6's secret room never disappears, so even when I died I could recover more or less easily by using the fairy to save my butt.
Frankly, I think that the fairy as a special power-up it may break the game's balance in favour of a player who knows the stages' layouts. It certainly gives protection against sudden further deaths if you die and need to recover power levels. Even so, I dropped 3-4 lives along the way: ST 10 is still a nightmare, for me.
On the second run, I think that I was consistently doing small combos and triggering more stars, and thus increasing the chances of getting more tiaras and other power-ups. I don't think that I was being "just" lucky, but in the spur of the moment I simply wasn't thinking about exactly I was doing right, just riding the results to get the big final prize.
I *did* screw during the final part of level 40 and ended up fighting the Boss Dragon/Monster 4-5 times, killing the bastard on the second-to-last life and almost yelling and punching the wall to release the tension (a "fuck off AT ONCE! I win, today!" certainly passed through my lips).
...so, I guess that I was lucky twice. I don't see myself becoming consistent and reproducing 1-CC runs at whim. I honestly feel that I was able to finally get this result because I had enough time and mental energy to put all the single-stage knowledge into a cohesive run. Anyway, in both cases I was feeling *overwhelmed* during the last two islands, though I managed to keep focus long enough.
If I were a videogame design professor, I'd give the reverse-engineering and mining of all "secrets" in this game as a master thesis to a student, or something. It is actually clear that nothing really happens at random, but I think that there may be some mechanics that are simply too specific to be discovered just by trying really, really hard. It is sometimes a challenge to believe that Taito came with this game in 1988, while shmups were still stuck at that "kill the Bydos! Shoot the giant fish!" drivel
And now a tangent (this post is, like, 2 pages in word? We all know that nobody reads my delirious rants, anyway):
My two cents (of zenny coins, of course) on the general matter of hardcore ga(y)ming are as follows.
Please forgive me if I sound patronising, annoying or anything unpleasant. I am probably going off a general tangent in the points below: I just wanted to write down some general observations passing through my head today (I am on official holidays - plenty of time to ruminate aimlessly).
1. When I was a kid (1991-1993), I played the bootleg with the ugly protagonist sprite for 2+ years and scraped a 1-CC (say: 1 hour every day, so 600+ hours?). Learning again the first 6-7 islands was not too difficult this time around, because even after...3 decades or so, some muscle memory was there. I definitely remembered the all the basic moves and more advanced strats, as well as the boss strategies;
2. I am having time to play games again, but not so much time. So, I am playing each title with save states, mental and written notes on strategies and techniques. Furthermore, I play a title until I get the 1-CC (or else). Some might say that I am "training on" or even "working with" videogames, but I prefer it this way: I may clock up to one hour in the evenings, some more during the weekends, and I force myself to learn something new every day (even just "that was a fuck up: tomorrow I should avoid it", on bad days).
3. I'd simply say that I "try hard and follow the plan with religious-like zeal", but this time around I also spent 70-80 hours over three months, on this game (and 20 hours since Monday, or something like that...). Volume of hours and methodical practice with a plan can do wonders, I guess (and save states: practicing single-stage runs and full runs afterwards does wonders for me).
I 1-cc'ed a bunch of old grudges recently, but I honestly believe that most of them would qualify as cellar dwellers/bottom pit games in a virtual "difficulty chart of arcade games" (say,
Thunder Fox). Lots of late '80s/early '90s titles were easy to 1-CC, and modern use of save states can vastly decrease time requirements (you focus on the trouble sessions, figure them out, then practice runs).
I am simply using tools that I didn't have as a kid to pierce through games: I am an old bastard after a silly prize, after all (i.e. "resolve all those grudges!")
(did anyone read until this point without rolling their eyes? I would be amazed).
"The only desire the Culture could not satisfy from within itself was one common to both the descendants of its original human stock and the machines [...]: the urge not to feel useless."
I.M. Banks, "Consider Phlebas" (1988: 43).
Battle City on horse steroids. 
Early 80s console simplicity channeled through big honkin' 1990s arcade brass balls. Buttery-smooth handling, lovable chibi-deathmachine style, moreish like crack!
), comes ACA The New Zealand Story. Crossposting from main chat forum's ACA thread, as is my wont at these bullseye crossover occasions. 
Each stage is a little self-contained killbox to explore at constant peril and time pressure, with controls simultaneously BB-cuddly (the jumping is so cute) and razor-sharp (blast those varmints, PVT! 
)
Fly like an Eagle, fly like a Tomcat more like. 
