How many of you can actually 1cc...

[finisherr]

How many of you can actually 1cc any of these shmups?

When I was a lot younger (and i mean 6 to 11 years old) I used to play shmups on Sega Master System and arcade platforms. Loved them. However, for one reason or another, I got distracted by games such as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II. Shmups were unconsciously put on the backburner...until now. I recently played Gradius III and loved it, compelling me to research more about this type of game. Then, I stumbled across more modern bullet hell type shmups. I've been having a lot of fun playing these games, but find that it's nearly impossible for me to 1cc any of them. I end up getting through the 1st or 2nd stages without a life lost, but eventually, my ass starts getting handed to me.

Which brings me back to my original question. How many of you can 1cc these games? Is it common? If so, I'd like to know which games you can see 1cc so I can build my skill on those first. I'm kind of expecting a flood of trolling sense I'm new to this board, but it would be cool if a little restraint was exhibited. Thanks.

[Ghegs]

There's actually a thread where people list their 1CC's, so I guess you could see what games are most commonly mentioned and go for those.

My first 1CC back when I got into shmups was Thunder Force V. Back then it was just hard enough that I had to improve my meager skills and keep practicing in order to clear it, but not too hard to make it feel too frustating, nor too easy to make the achievement feel meaningless.

Best way to proceed: Find a game you like and just keep playing it. Practice, check the strategy threads, ask for advice and have fun with it. The clear will come eventually.

[KennyMan666]

I've 1CC'd 17 shmups, ~13 of which could be considered bullet hells. None of them arcade games, however, most of them indie shmups.

Imperishable Night is considered by most people with bullet hell experience to be fairly easy, so I definitely recommend giving that a serious spin. For arcade games, Espgaluda is often touted as a very beginner-friendly one. Try that one, too.

[Skykid]

:puts hand up:

I have 1cc'd a few shmups, many of which I never thought I would be able to a few years ago. Just takes practice.

My biggest problem is sticking with stuff. I'd get more in the way clears if I didn't keep getting distracted from one thing to another.

[MauJustice]

Forget about difficulty, just find a game that you have fun with because you're going to be spending a lot of time with it, learning the game inside and out.

[hwl]

I'd suggest starting with DonPachi, as it's both a good intruduction to bullet hell (in the later stages) and quite easy to 1cc (first loop); I started getting into shmups more seriously just about 2 months ago and it took me about 2 to 3 weeks to 1cc to stage 2-2 of Donpachi. I'm still having major problems with it's successor and more modern bullet hells though. If you want a 1cc really badly, it's important to train that specific game regularly imo. Also take a look at the Strategy section of this forum, particularly these two threads: GD: How to practice shooting games & ST: Full Extent of the Jam - Playing Shmups Competitively. They both provide lots of very useful information. Oh, most important: Have fun!

[finisherr]

I've been playing Dodonpachi for about a week now and getting up to the 4th stage on 1cc. Can't seem to get past that though. I've also been playing ESP Ra De and Progear in that time. I'm finding Progear to be slightly more manageable. I actually beat that one in 3cc but I don't feel satisfied!

[KennyMan666]

Alright, let me nitpick: "4th stage on 1cc" and some other things you've said is misuse of the term - 1CC stands for "one credit clear". "_cc" is not short for "_ credits".

[Klatrymadon]

I've 1CC'd most of my favourites, aye. As has been said, the best thing to do is to stick to one game for a wee while and practice in a modular, methodical way until you feel confident enough to attempt a single-credit run. Not everything is as intimidating as it first appears, either - if you play a few credits of G-Darius each day for a week or so, for example, you should be well on your way to clearing it...

[Travellinman]

I'm playing Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 Original and Black Label Original on Xbox 360 since November 2009 and still the best I can manage is to get past the stage 3 boss. I've improved vastly, however. I love this game more than every other bullet hell shooter (and I've bought and played a LOT of them since I discovered how much fun Futari is).

Trav

[Icarus]

What is this "1CC" you speak of? Is it edible? o_O

[Skykid]

What is this "1CC" you speak of? Is it edible? o_O

Go away you, you've 1cc'd just about every shmup in existence.

[Special World]

I've 1CC Futari BL Original, Deathsmiles, DSIIX, and Eschatos Advanced Easy.

Basically just the easier things. Working on everything else.

[chempop]

Yeah in my youth SF2, MK, and VF took over my gaming interests, especially at the arcade and when the first ports hit consoles. About ten years ago I was in the same boat as you, had just rediscovered this genre in the form of Mars Matrix and then Radiant Silvergun (found in a friends basement). After the whole DC era died down I was looking for more options and then found Mame and the likes of Raizing and Cave.

For a long while these games seemed impossible to beat, but that didn't stop me from trying again and again. I'd often increase default lives from 3 to 5, and play on easy, it helped. I could almost beat some of my games that way haha.

Then about 2 years I got a 360 and PS2 (both japan region) and a few cave games. Deathsmiles and Mushihimesama got me hooked in a mean way. 6 months after that I got a proper arcade stick and I've been kicking ass ever since. In about 1 year I've 1CC about a dozen of these "impossible games", though generally they are usually the ones on the easier side of things. Some of the harder ones take silly time to practice, like DOJ for example, I wouldn't start with that one.

And yes, my friends think I've lost my mind when they see me play these games.

[hipgnosis]

Have 1CC'd Mushi Futari BL and 1.5 Original. Also 1CC'd Deathsmiles recently which was pretty easy though. Working on a couple of games at the moment (DDP, Eschatos Original Normal, Muchi Pork). Hopefully I'll get a new 1CC this year, it's always an awesome feeling.

[DragonInstall]

Any shmup I've bought I 1cc the game.

err list would be

Ikaruga
Gradius V
Espgaluda
Espgaluda II BL
MushiFutari
MushiFutari BL
DoDonpachi Dai Fukkatsu
Deathsmiles
Akai Katana Shin / Arcade / Zetsu

I usually don't put much time into a shooter unless I buy it. Which means emulators I rarely put much effort. I don't know why, but I tend to care about games more when I own them.

[blackoak]

chempop, how important do you think the arcade stick was to your progress? like OP, I'm a more or less a shmup newbie, and I've been having a hard time adapting to the Hori Fighting Stick SS for Sega Saturn that I recently acquired. In games like Gradius I/II I find I still have much better control with a d-pad. Was it just practice/muscle memory, or did the "right" stick with the right amount of throw etc make a huge difference for you? Very curious.

FWIW, I have 1cc'd a number of the classic MD horis, but am just wading into verts and more modern stuff.

[rancid3000]

Definitely start reading strategy guides, learn the scoring system in the game you are playing to get to the extends, and watch replays. Best advice as someone else said is to not get distracted. Find a game you like and stick with it until the end. I have major distraction issues when it comes to games =/

I'm playing Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 Original and Black Label Original on Xbox 360 since November 2009 and still the best I can manage is to get past the stage 3 boss. I've improved vastly, however. I love this game more than every other bullet hell shooter (and I've bought and played a LOT of them since I discovered how much fun Futari is).

Trav

Some slightly off topic advice would be to watch replays, get a little better at scoring to be able to get to the extends, and make sure to use bombs if you need to. Futari has rank. The bullets will pick up in speed if you're scoring really well, your stage counter is jacked up to 9999, and if you haven't used bombs. If you bomb the rank will go down, making the bullets slower. Sure your score will take a hit but if you are going for survival that is not a problem.

[chempop]

I'll be completely honest about the whole stick thing. When I got my first stick (a Hori Saturn VF 3-button) I played garbage with it. Being discouraged, I put it away and continued playing with a pad. Later on I got the best money can buy, HRAP EX-SE for 360 and noticed a big difference compared to the Saturn stick but It still felt extremely awkward, but I was determined to start using a stick. It took several months before I felt comfortable with it. What made a bid difference for me was changing my whole setup around and having the stick directly in front of my TV, then it really clicked.

Since then I've been collecting various sticks for all my consoles, and even the not so great ones I can now play just fine with. If you get used to a so-so stick, it can work just fine, but learning to use one in the first place is difficult on a crummy one. Does that make sense?

If your wondering, I've used these sticks:

Saturn:
Hori Real Arcade VF 3-button (decent)
Japanese Sega Virtua Stick (awesome)

PS1/2:
Mayflash USB/PS1/2/3 (crap)
Hori Fighting Stick (decent, probably like your Saturn one)
Hori Tekken 5 Anniversary (surprisingly good)

Dreamcast:
Blaze Dual Stick (child's toy)
Agetech (supposedly good, but mine has issues)

360:
HRAP EX-SE (perfection incarnate)

Lmk if you have questions about any not those.

[finisherr]

Also, Mame OS X won't let me save my game state in Dodonpachi. Has anyone found a way to save this game using mac mame emulation without any hiccups?

[louisg]

I'm pretty casual about shmups, and I've mostly just 1cc'd the more mellow console games like Thunderforce III, MUSHA, Nexzr, and Axelay. For arcade games, I've 1c'd to the final boss on RayForce, Souky, Under Defeat, and GigaWing (and maybe GW2 but I don't recall), but haven't cleared them. I came very close on Soukyugurentai. Some of these I've cleared on their easy setting with the default number of lives. I've cleared Darius Gaiden on normal, 3 lives, with autofire, but the legitimacy of that is debatable

IMO, clearing an arcade shooter is a feat. A lot of people here have done it, but it takes a good amount of dedication and certainly isn't trivial. Putting to much emphasis on 1ccing can actually be counter-productive.. for me at least: I do the best when I relax.

[finisherr]

Also, Mame OS X won't let me save my game state in Dodonpachi. Has anyone found a way to save this game using mac mame emulation without any hiccups?

***ahem***

[-Bridget-]

Ah geez. 1ccs... which ones have I done, danged if I even remember.

Most notable one for me was the original Mushihimesama, all modes (after about a year of me playing the game all the damn time).

Futari, cleared SOME of the modes, certainly NOT freaking Ultra. Mostly I want to clear God mode in that while still scoring well.

And some others.... Ketsui DS, Shikigami no Shiro 2, various older (non-danmaku) shmups, uhhh.... oh I have no idea of the rest.


I always think that 1ccing something isnt THAT big of a deal... it sorta depends on the player. For me, getting a high score is always much more important.

[evil_ash_xero]

I've only 1CC'd a few. I don't really try for it, since I think it's usually out of my reach. I've mostly 1CC'd old easy shmups like MUSHA and TF III, or some of CAVE's easier offerings, like Futari 1.5(normal) and BL, and DS.

I've always been mad at Galuda for having that ridiculous boss at the end, keeping me from beating the game.
DoDonPachi seems semi-possible, and especially Akai Katana.

I don't know how people are able to beat these games, sometimes. It's out of my reach, definitely.

[pablumatic]

I'm only a casual shoot-em-up fan. I mostly play just for fun and to see if I can actually beat them. Which is how I treat the rest of my video game collection.

I have 1cc'ed a few though. Easy ones, of course. Thunder Force III, U.N. Squadron SNES (on hardest difficulty), and Omega Five. Although if you read reviews about Omega Five you'd have assumed it was the hardest game ever created.

[Vyxx]

Also, Mame OS X won't let me save my game state in Dodonpachi. Has anyone found a way to save this game using mac mame emulation without any hiccups?

MAME doesn't like cheaters.

[finisherr]

Also, Mame OS X won't let me save my game state in Dodonpachi. Has anyone found a way to save this game using mac mame emulation without any hiccups?

MAME doesn't like cheaters.

Have you ever considered being a comedian? I hear the money's good.

[Vyxx]

Also, Mame OS X won't let me save my game state in Dodonpachi. Has anyone found a way to save this game using mac mame emulation without any hiccups?

MAME doesn't like cheaters.

Have you ever considered being a comedian? I hear the money's good.

Have you ever considered buying the games? I hear piracy is stealing

[ebarrett]

I don't really try for it, since I think it's usually out of my reach.

I don't know how people are able to beat these games, sometimes. It's out of my reach, definitely.

"Try again, fail again, fail better"?

[Sapz]

I think I've managed a decent amount. As long as you have a control scheme that lets you input movements as quickly and accurately as you need them, you're all set, I think.

If you're starting out with shmups (especially of the bullet hell variety), I'd recommend ESPGaluda or the original Dodonpachi as initial goals. DDP was my first arcade 1cc. They're still tough for beginners, but if you're willing to put the time in to clear them, they'll be incredibly rewarding. Don't give up!