IKARUGA

[Xer Xian]

Steam - AC Normal - MAZ - 35.771.300m - 230c

Steam - Double Play Prototype Easy - Innocent Treasure - 38,231,070

Great job guys

After you've got the top spot and you're still at it pushing for more - that's hi-score chasing in its purest form.

Keep'em coming !

[Innocent Treasure]

Steam - Arcade Normal - Innocent Treasure - 30,403,450 - 168c



https://youtu.be/oe4SMezKsTE

After all the practices & researches with other categories and emulation. I finally got my first 30M pts on AC Normal.

The run itself is very scuffed. Quite a lot of unfortunate chain breaks and stupid deaths but I'm satisfied enough with the PB.

Anyways I forgot to screenshot and save the actual run to replay so I only have the downloaded version. You can still see my name on Steam's leaderboard (currently ranked 31 XD ) though

[Xer Xian]

Well well well.. after nibbling the game around its corners, now we finally got to see you munching on its core.. and wow, that was quite a feast! Congrats on the 30+mil score !!

And definitely, the score doesn't really do justice to the level of skills you've managed to reach at the game. This doesn't look like your "average" first 30mil run at all - it could be mistaken for a run from a world-class player that is getting back to the game from a long hiatus and drifting from a perfect execution here and there due to being rusty.. really some incredible stuff there.

Now you can't be happy with that, right?

[Innocent Treasure]

Well well well.. after nibbling the game around its corners, now we finally got to see you munching on its core.. and wow, that was quite a feast! Congrats on the 30+mil score !!

And definitely, the score doesn't really do justice to the level of skills you've managed to reach at the game. This doesn't look like your "average" first 30mil run at all - it could be mistaken for a run from a world-class player that is getting back to the game from a long hiatus and drifting from a perfect execution here and there due to being rusty.. really some incredible stuff there.

Now you can't be happy with that, right?

Honestly speaking I’m actually contented with the current score. My consistency with Ikaruga and shmups in general has never been good in the first place. As many silly mistakes as I made throughout the video, that was still my best performance compared to my other 27-28m runs where I always ended up losing nearly all lives or just straight up lost the 1cc.

Maybe when I managed to achieve my other score goals in other categories I might reconsider pushing my current boundary again, but for now I’m going on a consistency detour as mentioned at the end of the video’s description

[Innocent Treasure]

Steam - Arcade Hard - Innocent Treasure - 25,756,930 - 157c



https://youtu.be/zt8AYzZfG2E

Just did a mock-practice full-game run today. The score is solid but nowhere near my goal of getting Steam WR.

Speaking of the run I'd almost zero practice at Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.

Chapter 3 was the one I practiced the most, yet I somehow forgot to implement my own 59c Bunretsu pattern. Shigi was also slower than usual.
https://x.com/Rei4mu/status/1949038714270953536 (my Hard Shigi speedkill)
https://x.com/Rei4mu/status/1958368122970480683 (my 59c Hard Bunretsu on GC)

Chapter 4 was better as I was able to implement my improvised pattern effectively, though I died too much on relatively easy parts.

Chapter 5 was where nerves got me the better so I made some major slips up.

I failed to beat the TLB and that's the worst of all.

[Xer Xian]

Oh wow, finally someone gives Hard mode a try.. congrats man !

Actually, calling that run of yours just 'a try' is definitely an understatement - I watched it and got the same feeling as your previous run on Normal.. on most parts it looks like something you'd expect from a skilled player who has 1000+ hours at the game under the belt. Well, it's even more impressive considering it's hard mode. My favourite parts were.. all of them but I particularly enjoyed Uzura (Ch3 boss) and the 4-2 section (the flower) - notwithstanding the misses, the precision and steadiness of hand on display there is just exquisite.

Thanks for the short clips showing your adaptations of the recent Shigi and bunretsu strats to Hard mode - I've yet to compare them but they certainly look like an improvement to the old ones. Super interesting !

Now I'm kinda getting used to see super strong first entries for different game modes from you every month or so - what's next ? Or will you focus on reaching your goal on hard mode ? 32+ million is a lofty one indeed.. you'll have to surpass me Plasmo and me first Good luck !

[Innocent Treasure]

Oh wow, finally someone gives Hard mode a try.. congrats man !

Actually, calling that run of yours just 'a try' is definitely an understatement - I watched it and got the same feeling as your previous run on Normal.. on most parts it looks like something you'd expect from a skilled player who has 1000+ hours at the game under the belt. Well, it's even more impressive considering it's hard mode. My favourite parts were.. all of them but I particularly enjoyed Uzura (Ch3 boss) and the 4-2 section (the flower) - notwithstanding the misses, the precision and steadiness of hand on display there is just exquisite.

Thanks for the short clips showing your adaptations of the recent Shigi and bunretsu strats to Hard mode - I've yet to compare them but they certainly look like an improvement to the old ones. Super interesting !

Now I'm kinda getting used to see super strong first entries for different game modes from you every month or so - what's next ? Or will you focus on reaching your goal on hard mode ? 32+ million is a lofty one indeed.. you'll have to surpass me Plasmo and me first Good luck !

You’re actually not wrong on this.
My Steam playtime displayed 800 hours, but considering that the game frequently wiped out my cloud save along with the time I invested in emulation, the total playtime might amount to 1k hours. Well it’s no surprise considering I’ve been playing this game religiously for nearly 2 years

It’s a test run in the sense that it’s the first time I actually did a full-game scorerun on Hard. Beforehand I did a few practice runs for Chapter 1 & 2, with the furthest being a game-over at Chapter 3 with a score of 12m pts. On the contrary, I spent most of my time trying to perfect Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 (which I still haven’t managed to accomplish in practice yet ); hence the steadiness of the route compared to earlier chapters.

As for now I’ll focus on Arcade Hard before moving on to other niche categories. The actual score I’m trying to surpass is the “unofficial” 33.1m pts Hard run on Bilibili by the top player of Chapter 1-4 on the Steam leaderboard. It’ll be another treacherous path but I’ll surpass both Plasmo’s and yours PBs along with that “WR” someday

[Kobold]

Here is my Ikaruga score and the run uploaded on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wqc440_UOQ

Played on Normal mode, steam version.
This was my first scoring shmup so it was definitely an interesting way to play shmups, compared to playing for survival like I had done for the year before starting Ikaruga. Its a lot of fun, but its always hard to say where exactly your score is "good enough",

[Innocent Treasure]

Here is my Ikaruga score and the run uploaded on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wqc440_UOQ

Played on Normal mode, steam version.
This was my first scoring shmup so it was definitely an interesting way to play shmups, compared to playing for survival like I had done for the year before starting Ikaruga. Its a lot of fun, but its always hard to say where exactly your score is "good enough",

What an incredible run! 29.8m pts before end of TLB was serious madness I wish to accomplish some day. Guess that's settled then, my next score goal will be to topple that score of yours with a 30m pts (before) and maybe 34m pts (after) if no miss.

One of my most favorite part must be the second generator section in Chapter 2. Otherwise everything else in your run was just as advanced as that of mine while also being way more error-free than I can ever be it made me jelly

If you're unsure what to do next I think you can go for 34m pts and maybe surpass mr.Xer Xian. With your level of proficiency you can replicate the 147-148c pattern of 4-2 without much problems and inconsistency. Or maybe you can join me and go for Hard Mode scoring

[Kobold]

Unfortunately I will not be playing Ikaruga for the time being, I have decided to start scoring DOJ white label. And who knows how long that is going to take. But maybe, after that, I could return to Ikaruga, but no promises.

Good luck with beating my score though

[Xer Xian]

Hey there Kobold, welcome to the forum ! If you ask me, there's no better debut than submitting a great score for Ikaruga Yeah, 32.3 million is absolutely more than good enough, you snatched the 4th place on the scoreboards just like that, huge contrats !

I just watched your run and enjoyed it a lot - I definitely didn't expect to see a showcase of nearly all of the most advanced strats of the game I thought mr. Innocent Treasure was being cocky there about you surpassing me but actually you're already ahead of me in some sections (e.g. the bunretsu) I also liked your execution at the 4-2 'flower' section, it's a sensible middle step between basic 'inner-only' enemy chaning and full-blown inner+outer chaining, nicely done. But again, all of the run was a pleasure to watch.

Well, good luck on your next goals for DOJ, here's hoping you were not just a bright shooting star here on the 'karuga boards but a recurring meteor instead !

[MAZ]

Steam - AC Normal - MAZ - 36.141.400m - 230c

Lost some chains in Stage 1 for little less than 200k, under 4.1m I sometime restart at Ch1. The rest of the run was flawless. I DID IT!

Replay link: https://youtu.be/mtPgb45iKHs?si=ECCO-4ARSAV5nOwD

[Xer Xian]

Spoiler

YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD YOU REALLY DID IT 3 6 M I L L I O N WHOOAOOOH

Well done in reaching the ultimate Ikaruga milestone !!! Pure awesomeness man

In a way I knew it all along you'd get there, but somehow when I saw the score breakdown this morning I had to double check to see if it was real.
I think that getting 36 million is that insane of a goal that you just never truly know if you have it in yourself to manage no matter how hard you try.
A feat which just a handful of japanese players managed to pull off in the nearly 25 years since the game is out, it takes a near perfect-play to achieve.

The level of dedication and confidence you need to muster up is such that at some point you may easily start second-guessing yourself or question if it's really worth it. But you never did back down, no matter how many reset hells you had to endure, the inconsistency of the routes due to bad rng or tiredness, the several heart breakes of gutting good runs near the very end, and all of real life happenstances, no matter all of that you've never faltered in your determination across multiple years

You've striven to improve every little nuance of your routes till the very end. You've been incredibly methodical in taking notes of all your attempts and tracking improvements and shortcomings. And most important of it all, you've always kept a positive attitude in the face of all the tough breaks the game threw at you.
A true inspiration to us all. I bow to you my friend, mad respect.

Awaiting a proper YT upload, I have watched the run this morning from your Twitch vods and it's as beautiful as only absolute mastery can be, achieving a near-perfect execution in an effortless flow. A performance to be saved and savoured for many years to come.

[MAZ]

XER, reading your post was really heartwarming. I can proudly say that you are a friend in real life and that you cheered and supported me during those years like no other. Not just the player, but the human being behind the nickname. The RL person that made a lot of sacrifices: time, sleeping, phisical effort, mental focus, stress, the many dead ends of optimizing an already super optimized game, the whole package
I was lucky that the passion for Ikaruga burned like very few fires in my life, a fire that was the propellant for this gargantuan endeavour of mine. But this goal would have not been possible without the many cool people I met among the shmup community, both "in the West" and in Japan. Even in a solo genre like STG, no man is an island after all. And after being my "Ika sensei" in the early years, YOU were my first supporter. Talking to you about the few small victories and most importantly about the crushing, countless defeats (believe It or not, even with victory achieved those pair of Stone-Like chockes still sting a bit lol) was a big part in keeping my strenght of will unwavered and my mind focused.
Thank you very much my friend

[Xer Xian]

It really was incredible following your progress all these years and I feel privileged that you've chosen to share the journey with me.

But you know, your old Ika sensei has still something to teach you..

Spoiler

i.e. never let your guard down and think you're the greatest of all
I hereby submit my last effort, freshly achieved inspired by your great example

Naomi - AC Normal - XER - 36,166,666 - 271c

Spoiler

No, i didn't do that

Spoiler

Remember: never trust your old Ika-sensei

[MAZ]

The April's Fool Day vibes are off the chart lol

[Juju Kenobi]

Steam - AC Normal - Juju Kenobi - 31.703.130m - 211c

New PB during my training for Speedons 6.
Pretty happy with that run. I'll probably need to improve my routes to beat that score.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGHMNo6jB24

[Xer Xian]

Wow that's a 1,5mil jump from your previous effort to what is now a really impressive score, congrats Juju !

I just saw the run and I must say that it was a very competent play all around, you managed to keep your chain going throughout all the stages while pulling off nearly all the upper-intermediate patterns of the game, not an easy task for sure! Also some very sharp reaction there like on Ch3's corridor guys before Shigi (aided by a liiitle stroke of luck as well since making your way through that section with the double-shot can sometimes break your chain - but it was the only possible recovery there after all), and some wise decisions to be commended like on the ladder guys on 4-3 choosing not to overreach to get (or break!) them all and on 5-1 when you correctly prioritized getting a full bar for the upcoming bosses at the cost of one chain on that last chougenbou.

A performance that bodes well for your participation at the event, good luck

[Innocent Treasure]

GC - Arcade Hard - 36,111,280 - Innocent Treasure (emulator withs savestate )



This is mostly a experimental run with the chaining patterns I've been studying on Hard for months. It seemed like a 36m AC Hard is quite humanly possible, albeit it required flawless execution just like 36m AC Normal too

For now I have neither the precision nor the consistency to pull it off, but it would be such a phenomenal shmup score if someday somebody pulled it off right? It's a wet dream that I'm not sure if it will ever come true, but a man can dream