Please rate these game's difficulty

[Professor Jones]

Hi everyone,

I've never been a shmup specialist and I've always considered myself pretty weak in that domain (although I enjoy them), but after playing DDP for a while I noticed that my bullet dodging skills got a little better. Now I want to try to 1CC an arcade shmup, but I don't know which one I should tackle. So I need your help, please rate these game's difficulty on a scale of 1 to 10 (considering only the difficulty of surviving, not scroring) :

Batsugun
Parodius Da
Gokyuju Parodius
Battle Garegga
Armed Police Batrider
DoDonPachi
Guwange
Dangun Feveron
19XX

Also if you have any advice that would help me get better at bullet dodging (maybe a particular game or way of practicing) please let me know.

Thanks !

[BulletMagnet]

Welcome - your first order of business here might be to fix the typo in the thread title.

As for the games, rating most shmups in order of difficulty is tricky, since different titles offer different types of challenges, which various players have various degrees of skill with. Then there are the "technical" questions ("Normal" or "Special" version of Batsugun? "Normal" or "Advanced" course on Batrider?) - off the cuff I'm tempted to name DoDonPachi as the easiest overall of the Cave titles, and Batrider (Normal course, anyways) as a bit less intimidating than Garegga, but that's about as far as I'd take it. My advice is to find the game you enjoy playing most and could see yourself practicing without getting tired of/frustrated with it, and stick with that for starters.

[AntiFritz]

Hi everyone,

I've never been a shmup specialist and I've always considered myself pretty weak in that domain (although I enjoy them), but after playing DDP for a while I noticed that my bullet dodging skills got a little better. Now I want to try to 1CC an arcade shmup, but I don't know which one I should tackle. So I need your help, please rate these game's difficulty on a scale of 1 to 10 (considering only the difficulty of surviving, not scroring) :

Batsugun
Parodius Da
Gokyuju Parodius
Battle Garegga
Armed Police Batrider
DoDonPachi
Guwange
Dangun Feveron
19XX

Also if you have any advice that would help me get better at bullet dodging (maybe a particular game or way of practicing) please let me know.

Thanks !

I'm only familiar with ddp, guwange and dangun and id say ddp is fairly easy (gives you quite a few bombs to work with). Dangun has really fast bullets which might be a challenge compared to ddp.

[Moniker]

Batsugun Special. I think trying to rate a shmup's difficulty is probably a fool's errand. But that's a good one for a first 1-ALL (it was mine) and for just general practicing. Beyond that, just play what you love, and the clears will follow.

[Ruldra]

19XX is definitely the easiest of the bunch. If you're gonna ignore scoring then you shouldn't take long to reach the final levels.

Batsugun Special is also good for beginners.

[Elixir]

Hardest to easiest.

Battle Garegga
Dangun Feveron
Armed Police Batrider
Parodius Da
Gokyuju Parodius
Guwange
DoDonPachi
19XX
Batsugun

As per http://www.wikihouse.com/stg/index.php? ... 0%EC%CD%F7

[hwl]

Batsugun Special is indeed an easy 1-ALL.

[Professor Jones]

Thanks for the replies ! That japanese wiki is great, I made my own list out of it and I just got to get going now ! I guess garegga and batrider will have to wait...

When they mention DOJ white version, I guess they refer to the regular one (as opposed to the special black version) ?

[Eaglet]

I guess garegga and batrider will have to wait...

*in Batrider announcer voice*
No!

They are both some of the best games ever made. To me Garegga is the best shooter ever made. An incredibly deep system coupled with awesome aesthetics and music. A true challenge...
Batrider is just awesome and loads of fun. I think you'll be able to appreciate it even if you don't have that much experience with the genre.

[Professor Jones]

These two games are my favorite shooters, I love the visuals, the music and pretty much everything about them (in fact I just bought a garegga pcb and it was quite expensive) but I said that they will have to wait because they might be too hard for me right now.

[Erppo]

That list has all kinds of dumb in it so I wouldn't count on it too much. For example, it lists P47 Aces as hard as a DOJBL 2-ALL and many people cleared the first one in the last STGT.

Batrider also has the Normal course, which is one of the easiest clears of those listed. Garegga will also drop many places if you use one of the secret ships (and I certainly wouldn't place it at the top even with the normal ships).

[Professor Jones]

Well I'd be glad to hear some tips that would make garegga and batrider easier, as I really need them.

[Elixir]

These two games are my favorite shooters, I love the visuals, the music and pretty much everything about them (in fact I just bought a garegga pcb and it was quite expensive) but I said that they will have to wait because they might be too hard for me right now.

They're referring to White Label's second loop, followed by Parodius Da's second loop.

For 1ccing, it isn't really a concern.

[Kollision]

Batsugun Special easy?
You guys are insane.

I agree with Ruldra, go for 19XX and then Parodius Da!

[BulletMagnet]

When they mention DOJ white version, I guess they refer to the regular one (as opposed to the special black version) ?

Yeah, "white label" is just another name for "regular" DOJ.

Well I'd be glad to hear some tips that would make garegga and batrider easier, as I really need them.

Have you checked the strategy threads for them here on the forum? They're linked (along with many others) in the Strategy section's index.

Batsugun Special easy?
You guys are insane.

If you count a 1-loop clear as a "1CC" then it's not too hard - even I've done it. Getting through all the loops, on the other hand, is another story.