Love shmups, never 1cc'd a game

[Darkseed]

I feel like such a failure everytime I see some of you guys casually saying you 1cc'd this game or that game.

I've loved playing shmups for the last 27 years of my life yet the only game Ive ever beaten without continuing is Thunder Force 3 (when I was 13) and thats because we couldnt afford many games so I had to milk that game for all it was worth.

So how the hell do you guys do it? Especially with the vertical bullet hell games. Is there some secret besides just raw reflexes? Do you just play that one game til you know it like the back of your hand? Is there some sub system to follow? Help!!

[Jockel]

What? You have 1cc'd Thunder Force III and are claiming to never have 1cc'd a game?

Try Mushi Futari Black Label > Original > Reco for a really easy 1cc.
Or if you want it piss easy, go with Blue Wish Resurrection.

Learn to hoard bullets and to bomb in the right moment, will help you a lot.

Batrider is also very doable, if you are going for the normal course.

[ZOM]

'nother vote for a piss-easy 1CC through BWR.
Really, I suck at the genre and the only 1CCs I have are Thunderforce 3-6, Dragon Spirit & Saber were my first, and a bunch of easier console stuff like Cyber Core on the PCE (and compile stuff). I'm a big RAIZING fanboy, guess how many of their games I 1CCd? Yeah, none.
Just so you know, you're not the only pew-pew laz0r afficionado with a meager 1CC list; pretty sure a good 50% of this forum's members are the same.

Also, the only "secret" there is is practicing and memorizing.


EDIT: oh, and try a few compile shmups and you'll be surprised(or not, lolz) how fast your 1CC list grows.

[gs68]

1941: Counter Attack. With a life meter system that refills completely at the start of each new stage (and gets longer on some stages), as well as many opportunities to get full refills, it shouldn't take long.

[clp]

why is practice such a foreign concept on this board? thats literally it practice , memory , watch super-plays , use the stretegy thread , trial and error . Personally i dont think all these "beginner friendly" modes on recent games are good for anything apart from getting people interested in easy shmups .

[Darkseed]

Yes Blue Wish is pretty easy (and fuckin fun too) compared to others but even with that game, at best I have to continue by the third stage. I guess my love for the genre comes from just gawking at the art style and I also find shmups to have some of the most awesome music pretty much across the board. These things distract me in a good way.

I guess I'll just knuckle down with Mushi for now.

[Jeneki]

Especially with the vertical bullet hell games. Is there some secret besides just raw reflexes?

Raw reflexes are always important, yes. However bullet hell games seem more about training your eyes to follow complex patters, so you can analyze on the fly which spot is safe and minimize the need for "oh crap" reflex dodging. It takes time to adjust your brain to thinking this way, so just keep practicing.

Try swiching between note hell rhytym games and bullet hell shmup games; I find that playing one helps me follow patterns in the other.

[clp]

The other thing is defining fun , fun for me is the sense of satisfaction you get after working hard on something for however long this applys to everything but everyone is different .

[Darkseed]

Especially with the vertical bullet hell games. Is there some secret besides just raw reflexes?

Raw reflexes are always important, yes. However bullet hell games seem more about training your eyes to follow complex patters, so you can analyze on the fly which spot is safe and minimize the need for "oh crap" reflex dodging. It takes time to adjust your brain to thinking this way, so just keep practicing.

Try swiching between note hell rhytym games and bullet hell shmup games; I find that playing one helps me follow patterns in the other.

Nice. Never thought of that but it makes sense. Any recomendations besides Zillion Beats (if that even counts)?

[shadowbringer]

some suggestions:
- try to play various shmups, they will demand certain virtues from you more, while others will be demanded less. You may then choose to stick to a game you like, and dedicate more time into getting better at it.
- if you're going to 1cc a game, instead of playing for score, try to learn when/where do you have more difficulties on it, so you can bomb the difficult parts and have more resources (lives/bombs), increasing your chances of beating the game.
- you may watch videos of other people playing the game, and see how they get past certain parts that you find to be too difficult for you (for example, in order to spare more bombs). Then, you decide if you should change your gameplay for these parts, depending on your current abilities. (example: does the player in the video get past that part by having better reflexes, or hand-to-eye coordination, or something else that's not your speciality? Or does the player make that attack easier by anticipating it and luring it away?)
- finally, understand that while practice is the way to get better at the game you're playing, that doesn't mean that you should grind yourself over the game, just to get better at it. Self-improvement is slow, nearly imperceptible, and there's not much benefit from replaying the game over and over, because most of the abilities that are demanded in order to beat it, won't be exercised as effectively. There's a difference between playing harder, and playing smarter, and the latter will come to you with practice, gradually, if you respect your own pace. If you feel your abilities have reached your limit, push them, but do realize that if you don't succeed, you may try again later, not necessarily now.

I hope these suggestions can help you. Feel free to disregard them, if they aren't.

[EinhanderZwei]

I can understand the OP's feelings... Reading how much people have 1CCd any Thunder Force game from the first try makes me wanna play Crysis...

[Smraedis]

Play some harder game for a while, then go to an easier game, and that always feels good, it could help you make less mistakes too.
You also have to remember that the top players weren't great when they started out.. I know I wasn't.

[Burningvigor]

Omega 5 is a 360 arcade download shmup. Its really easy compared to most shmups and the gameplay is pretty good for the price. I 1cc'd the game after 2 gameovers. Now its pretty much 1cc with any of the 4 chars in that game

Trigger Heart is also a game thats not too hard to 1CC. Ikaruga is another game thats not hard to 1CC also. All of which are on xbox live arcade as well.

But Cave shooters are ones I can never 1CC. Let alone get to the last level with 1CC.

[Dragoforce]

Practice, train and practice some more.

[gs68]

The misconception that "danmaku" shooters are automatically way harder than shooters of lower bullet density is easy to do away with if you bother to analyze patterns and look for gaps to safely pass through instead of thinking "I have to squeeze in between this and that".

Omega 5 is a 360 arcade download shmup. Its really easy compared to most shmups and the gameplay is pretty good for the price. I 1cc'd the game after 2 gameovers. Now its pretty much 1cc with any of the 4 chars in that game

I can't get past stage 2, and I've had the game for maybe the length of half a semester. Thanks a lot, you just made me quit Omega Five.

[Darkseed]

Ikaruga is another game thats not hard to 1CC also.

WAAAAATTT!!

[sjewkestheloon]

If you have Mushi Futari I second the BL Original Reco suggestion. I even did it!

It's a perfect training shmup as it contains all of the factors that make bullet hell games punishing but loosens up with some nice slowdown and an abundance of bombs and extends. You can comfortably use two or three bombs on stage 3 and 4 bosses and have enough left over to bomb the crap out of Larsa for a quick but low scoring clear. The beauty is that you won't be totally burnt out on that game so you can then work on score or pop in 1.5 for a more classic play experience.

The best thing I learnt from this one is tapping past aimed bullets. As soon as you get that down you turn massive bullet swarms into a harmless stream that passes just past you.

Other than that my other arcade 1cc is Gunbird which is a fair challenge but took me a long time to get.

Edit: by the way my sig is self mockery at the fact that it took me so long to 1cc Gunbird that it will forever stay so. I even refuse to increase my running total.

[EinhanderZwei]

Play some harder game for a while, then go to an easier game, and that always feels good, it could help you make less mistakes too.
You also have to remember that the top players weren't great when they started out.. I know I wasn't.

I've tried this - I switched to TFIV (a harder), then back to TFIII, and still I suck ass on both. I know that I am not the greatest shmupper ever, and I will never be. I gave up 1CCing anything, so for now I mostly play for just saying 'yeah, I've beaten this son-of-a-bitch' and... and that's all

Life sucks

[evil_ash_xero]

People on here talking about 1CC Batrider and Ikaruga like it's easy?

Damn guys...

Well, I did beat Futari BL. But I was fully aware that wasn't that big of an accomplishment when I did it, so it was kind of hollow.

[Burningvigor]

I always thought the concept of Ikaruga is what made it easy. Half the bullets you absorb so you're never really in a tight spot because you just change colors. Comboing in that game is not fun imo. I dont like memorizing too much and having to plan a layout for the level hitting 3 whites 3 blacks is just not fun.

Reason Omega 5 is easy to me is the fact that you dont die in 1 hit. It takes 3-4 hits to die and every level has 2 points where you recover full life. The hitbox is a bit awkward though.. as im still not 100 percent sure where it is. I think its the chest and head part.

[Jockel]

People on here talking about 1CC Batrider and Ikaruga like it's easy?

Batrider's normal course IS easy. Really.
It's even easier than clearing MFBL Original.
On Ikaruga however i agree, it's anything but easy.
Plus you just HAVE to play it for score, and then it's 10 times harder.

[Ebbo]

I always thought the concept of Ikaruga is what made it easy. Half the bullets you absorb so you're never really in a tight spot because you just change colors.

Although I think chaining can actually make some parts (i.e. chapter 4) of it alot easier than simply playing it like a regular shooter. Still hard to 1cc, though.

[RoninBuddha]

shienryu explosion = 1CC: the game

[Tigershark]

i've never 1cc'd a game and I'm probably one of the older members here (I remember when Space Invaders and Misile Command were in the arcades).

I love them though and will keep on playing. I think I read somewhere that dodging bullets can send you in a Zen like state which is good for avoiding the funny farm later in age!

[Skykid]

Ikaruga is another game thats not hard to 1CC also.

WAAAAATTT!!

lol, that's bullshit man.

[cul]

Try Mushihimesama futari, arrange mode in maniac or original, 1CC'd at the first try, and I can't even go further than the third level in 1.5 maniac with 1 credit (got the game for less than a week though).

[Burningvigor]

Im just weird I guess. I mean I honestly used to just pop a quarter in the arcade when I dropped by and beat it for fun. I find gradius, espgaluda, triggerheart and many other shooters to be 10x harder. Something about Ikaruga clicked with me I guess. I never enjoyed it that much either, as the combo system never intrested me much.

[Voxbox]

Batrider's normal course IS easy. Really.

Yeah, if you know what you're doing that is. With ship teams, random last bosses, and extra bosses showing up here and there, it seems quite challenging at first. Practice and look up strategies though, and it shouldn't take more than a week to 1CC normal. Bakraid (normal course) is even easier I think.

[ZOM]

Bakraid (normal course) is even easier I think.

Damn, correction: I DID 1cc a raizing STG.(totally forgot about that one)

[Deathgeese88]

It sounds like most Cave games are harder than other bullet hell games? I guess that means I shouldn't get too discouraged playing DDP. I've made good progress (I just recently got to level 4 on 1 credit), but MAN that game is hard.