What are your top 3 proudest shmup clears/milestones?

[ACSeraph]

I was adding something to my 1cc list a few minutes ago and it occured to me that most of the entries on the list didn't excite me all that much when I got them. But that's not to say there weren't some specific clears/runs that were major milestones in my shmupping career.

I'd love to hear what everyones personal top 3 shmupping moments are. What were the things you worked the hardest for? What were the things that caused you to grow the most as a player?

Mine would be:

1. Triggerheart Exelica True Ending 1cc (using Exelica)

- This was my very first clear and took an insane amount of work. This is what made me into a shmup player.

2. Caladrius No Miss Score Optimized 1cc (using Lilith Default)

- The first time I cleared Caladrius at all was also a big stepping stone, but getting a world class score for the first time really forced me to grow a lot, and learn to deal with my weaker, easily frustrated side. I improved the score further later, but I'm most proud of the first run where I accomplished it.

3. Darius II 1cc ABDGLQV

- I still think this is probly the most difficult game I've ever cleared. This game taught me to push through intense frustration and never give in. If any game tempered my endless will power (and made me a stubborn asshole) it was this one.

Looking forward to hearing about what achievements caused others to grow in the genre.

[Kaiser]

1. Battle Bakraid Advanced Clear
Primarly because it was the replay to demonstrate my dodging skills live properly. Took about 6 months of many random breaks, total playtime including normal clear from the past, is around 50-60 hours since I began playing shmups.
Part 1 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cELqvQAUzXQ
Part 2 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTGwRYSn7zA

2. Armed Police Batrider Advanced Clear, the first one back in 2007
Lots of memories with this one, whenever STGweekly Bakraid will happen, i'll gladly join to comment on those things.
However, I can only share the random half-blind clear I had in 2011 on youtube for laughs. But yeah, this clear is what got me into shmups proper, it started out as a rivarly between me and destructor (an another polish player), destructor was unable to get past Grubby, he said I could try topping him by beating the game on advanced, so I did, after 60-80 hours of gameplay, he was amazed.
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpQnxbd3JiI

3. Mushihimesama Arrange on PS2
Easily the most consuming one when I was starting out still after the batrider clear in 2007, took me around 6 months to beat it (I was a complete shmup noob at the time), 1 month of getting to TLB, 5 months of many random breaks and failed TLB runs. ALL clear run was a no-miss until TLB, only to lose 3 lives on TLB, was proud of it and infact the pic of the score is still floating around online.

[ciox]

Psyvariar Revision: started playing with a keyboard like japanese players with a stick, got level 31 on Earth which is very close to the absolute max (33), still never cleared because scoring is too much fun

Ikaruga: taming stages 3 and 4 in Ikaruga, especially 4 which looks and feels impossible to survive in let alone score, made other shmups feel easier, my stage grades are SAAAS atm

Bakraid: this game, i'm ok at it, should render some plays to video but i can't find a good solution, nothing attaches to shmupmame3 properly except fraps, and fraps lags to the point of ruining everything, i heard something about enabling frameskipping though, maybe it helps

[Squire Grooktook]

Darius Gaiden 1 life clear

This was the first shmup I got into after getting back into the genre.


Mountain of Faith - Lunatic 1cc

Nothing much to say. First (and so far only) Touhou Lunatic clear.


Cho Ren Sha 68k hard mode 2-all

One of my favorite pc shmups. No hard mode clears out there prior, so I had to figure it out for myself.


NON SHMUP:

Contra 3 hard mode 1 life clear

My favorite run and gun shooter ever.


Ghouls and Ghosts (Daimakaimura) 1 life clear

Second favorite run and gun shooter ever.


Rogue Legacy 3 life clear

This was the most excitement I have ever had in a video game. When I beat the last boss, I stammered aloud "oh my god" in disbelief. This game is amazing.

[Ruldra]

Gradius V - 1st loop clear
I had just discovered this forum, saw all the talks about 1cc's and not credit-feeding, and I was like "Can I really do it myself?". Picked Gradius V and went at it for a month straight. It was my first proper clear and what got me started with the 1cc mindset.

Varth - Podless 1cc
Cleared this game and thought about doing a podless run next, but quickly gave up because it was almost impossible. Then STGT comes along and sikraiken makes it clear that he's going for a podless ALL. If I wanted a shot at the top score I'd have to go for it myself. I sighed, started playing like crazy and did it on the final day of the week. Didn't beat sik's score in the end but I have to thank him for pushing me to accomplish this.

I have a whole bunch of other clears but the two above are the most memorable to me.

And for a non-shmup milestone:

Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom - 1cc
I'm a huge fan of D&D and have a special love for their arcade games. During my teens I played them a lot but the thought of beating them on a single credit was completely out of my realm of possibility. After I learned how to properly play arcade games I gave this one another try, and I wanted to do it the proper way. No savestates, no checking out youtube for strategies, and only credit-feeding at certain points for practice purposes (and even then 2 or 3 credits at most). Took me much longer to beat it than usual but it felt far more satisfying.

[Pteriforever]

-- Leiria -Stargazer-: Normal NM (At the time, this was the top score!)
-- Trigonometry Wars 3 Redux (White Label): 1-all NM (+2-4)
-- XOP Black Ultra: Advanced Original 1cc

[Jonst]

Predictably, all of my cave clears have been my proudest/milestone moments,it's hard to pick just 3,but here are mine...

Akai katana shin. This was the first game I really studied a game in terms of watching replays to push score and study boss patterns and stuff.I played the game heavily anyway because I really love everything about it (still do,although shin is now my least favourite mode) I could get far enough without watching replays,but they really helped me to nail it! I was literally shaking when I pulled of that first clear,it just felt awesome,especially after putting in the work!

Espgaluda. Game is pretty easy until the final stage (as everyone says) it felt possible to clear from quite early on but that final boss form was driving me insane and made it seem impossible.I didn't find out for ages about the laser trick! I had played the game on and off for year seriously,just as I would get close,I would just get too frustrated with it and give up,but when I came back to it,it took about 3 tries.nailed it,but havn't touched it since.still a great game though.

Mushihimesama futari 1.5 original. This was a game I never thought I would ever clear,but with gradual improvement came the belief that it could be possible to clear...so,with sheer determination,grit and a couple of weeks of solid practice,I got the clear,and man,it felt great! This goes the same for the original mushi or dodonpachi...

[CStarFlare]

Espgaluda Arrange is probably the hardest game I've 1cc'd.

Getting the #1 spot on Pink Sweets Arrange Score Attack's leaderboard. Not sure where that stands now.

Conquering the forum's Harmful Park scoreboards was exciting, especially when I doubled what was the old #1 score.

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

SDOJ
Mushi Matsuri 1.5 Maniac Max
I kind of want to say Ibara for the last one since so many people talked about it like it was an impossible task before I cleared it

[Weak Boson]

1. Futari God mode. This game was one of the first shmups I played seriously, and getting the Black Label Original clear felt like a huge challenge. But even while working on that I would occasionally dip into practice mode just to experience the final boss in God mode and imagine what it would be like to make it there in the real game. So even just getting there was a super intense moment, never mind actually beating it!

2. Psyvariar Revision. I used the roll button, but again, this was a game I started when I was new to the genre, so making any progress in the game any way felt awesome. I've improved my score after getting the first clear and have beaten it a few times now, but now when I play it it's without the roll button. So far my best is reaching the final stage with about 54 million, so I should be able to get a proper 1CC if I make a real push. (Stage 1 best level: 32)

3. Score Rush Godlike with Bareknuckleroo. Never would have expected multiplayer in a shmup to be this fun, but it's such a blast, and beating it on this difficulty setting took some concentration.

[LordHypnos]

Well, I don't have a lot yet, and most of them are from just one game, but I guess I'd say my top 3 are probably:

Getting to stage 5 in Mars Matrix. That 4th stage boss was such a bitch. Nothing was more satisfying than finally coming up with a strategy to conquer it. Also the end of the 4th stage. That's really a pretty big wall (Not just for me, a lot of people end up giving up after failing to clear the 4th stage over and over). Probably would be my top accomplishment if I were ranking these

Making it to Stage 6 in Mars Matrix: This was mostly just super frustrating, because I knew what I had to do at each point along the way for a really long time, but just couldn't manage to do it all in one run. So close to the clear now, but yet so far still.

Zero Rei forum high score: This probably doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as MM stuff, but I had a lot of fun trying to figure out how to get up to 1.8 million points and listening to the awesome BGM music. Plus, not everyone can brag about having the highest score in a game on these forums! Usually when I go back to it now I only get 1.6 - 1.7 million though.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Touhous- kind of cheating here since there's a lot of them, but these are what got me back into the genre. Each first 1cc on a game or difficulty felt great. Obviously I'm talking more about my Lunatic 1ccs for being clears on the hardest difficulty, but I had to work hard for it from Normal to Hard to Lunatic. Sadly I haven't played the series in a while, but I do want to go back to it someday.

Mushihimesama Futari Black label Original- This was my first Arcade 1cc. Even if it's an easy clear, it still felt great. I haven't played the game in a long time though, so I probably wouldn't be able to clear any of the modes until I relearned them. Would have put God Mode on here if I had actually gotten it, but I quit playing when I was so close and have never gotten back to it to relearn it.


Raiden Fighters Jet 360 Normal Difficulty- I wasn't really serious about these when I first got the game, because it felt impossible to me(and this wasn't even Arcade difficulty). Obviously referring to the full run and not the normal course, though the All3 felt nice as well, but the 12 stage All was nice. Of course, almost no one plays the mode because going through all the stages of the game instead of just the 5/6/7 depending on your route in the normal course mode, then it doesn't help the mode's cause that you don't get any of the mission briefing bonuses(which removes most scoring incentive to not die since you don't lose points for it, though my clear still no missed to Phase 2), and it is a 360 exclusive mode. I'd really love to do it on the Arcade difficulty, but at the moment it also feels impossible for me because all the Quickkills that work on Normal difficulty don't work on the arcade difficulty due to higher boss health it seems.



Other ones I wanted to consider were

DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu - first Arcade 2-All, but it was only Omote and it wasn't even really a good clear with lots of autobomb and Hypers, so I didn't put it up there. If I had gotten ura it probably would have been if I cleared.

Triggerheart Exelica- It was nice to get the true ending Normal difficulty clear at the time and I think I had even gotten All Bosses. Only thing that made it not be up there is that it wasn't a no miss like it could have actually been and I ended up on like my last life instead.

And ones that would have likely been up there if I had actually gotten them

Judgment SilverSword Hard and Special 1ccs with Default Ship- would have needed both. I just couldn't manage them though, but they are quite doable, I just couldn't not mess up enough to do it though. I did clear all modes with the secret ship, but I wanted to do it with the harder one. I'll probably revisit this if I get a controller or stick with turbo cause all the mashing really isn't good for me.

Muchi Muchi Pork 1.01 2-All - I haven't practiced up on this, so I really have no chance and I haven't played much since the 2-4 run but have played some. I'm not even all that consistent though, so I've only looped the game twice. It's a really fun game that I should revisit, but it's not on my list to do so at the moment.

Various Konami games- I really like these, I just don't play them much because it's also pretty frustrating. Very much love/hate, and although I do want to clear most of them, I've never even cleared one.

[KAI]

Ibara 1CC/Arrange at max rank
Radirgy 1CC
Darius Gaiden No Miss

[Jonst]

Kai,why was radirgy a special clear? Just curious...

[KAI]

I know the game it's piss easy, but it was my first TATE clear.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Score Rush Godlike with Bareknuckleroo. Never would have expected multiplayer in a shmup to be this fun, but it's such a blast, and beating it on this difficulty setting took some concentration.

That was a seriously fun time. I remember we had so many frustrating attempts come close to the clear, it was so awesome when we finally nabbed it. I think we're still the top Godlike score on the leaderboards too. I'd still like to get a couple other people together and go for a 4 player clear to maximize scoring!

For me:

* Futari 1.5 Original - It was my first shmup import when I learned about Cave and playing arcade shmups (my only experience with bullet hell was 1CCing a lot of Touhou games and I didn't know 1CCing was a thing except for the way to see the good endings). Even with Palm Abnormal, I had the game for almost a year I think before it finally clicked and I was able to beat it. Still probably my favourite shmup, plan on working on God & Ultra soon.

* Giga Wing - the first 1CC I ever got in MAME. It was a game I saw in an arcade a while ago I wanted to try but I figured it was a quarter muncher... I was so wrong.

* Salamander 2 - the only 2 Loop game I've come close to clearing (2-5), during an STGT.

Special mention to Formation Armed F and Terra Force for being 1CCs I got without ever having seen or played then before. I was just going through random games in MAME and enjoyed these both quite a bit. Nichibutsu made some fun shmups back in the day.

[mastermx]

I have very few clears. But Ikaruga has got to be the hardest and most satisfying I've gotten so far. I spent hours to get the clear on that game.

[Weak Boson]

Score Rush Godlike with Bareknuckleroo. Never would have expected multiplayer in a shmup to be this fun, but it's such a blast, and beating it on this difficulty setting took some concentration.

That was a seriously fun time. I remember we had so many frustrating attempts come close to the clear, it was so awesome when we finally nabbed it. I think we're still the top Godlike score on the leaderboards too. I'd still like to get a couple other people together and go for a 4 player clear to maximize scoring!

Oh I am so up for that! It's a great game and needs great scores to match.

[blackoak]

hmmm, hard to say. probably the three most memorable:

armed police batrider advanced 1cc - at the time, not many here had cleared it, so I felt really good about that. did it all on the pcb too, just playing a credit or two a day, a really nice and enjoyably slow pace to learn the game. consistency > grinding, for me

dimahoo 1cc - did a lowrank clear with Birthday. it was really fun coming up with the strategies myself since there weren't many videos of it online

dodonpachi daioujou 1-ALL - live at CAX last year, not a great clear, nor my first of the game, just a rush to be playing in front of others like that)

Runner up would be my Air Gallet 1cc, which really wasn't that hard, but was a fun challenge to do in a single week.

[To Far Away Times]

1. DoDonPachi DaiOuJou Black Label - This one took a really optimal run, one that I likely won't be duplicating any time soon. This game pushed me to my very limits, I don't think I could beat a game harder than this. Very proud of this one.

2. Mushi Futari 1.5 Original - I could reach stage 5 pretty consistently but I could never kill the boss. And I think the thing that made this one special for me was the run itself. I had a pretty bad run up to the stage 4 boss. I used my last bomb, had no lives left, and actually tried to suicide into one of the Stage 4 boss' bullet patterns. After failing on my suicide attempt I said "Fuck it, I'll see how far I can go stress free with no bombs or lives left," and I went into this totally magical run in where I was in the zone (I've only ever been in "the zone" once or twice before in anything) and 1CC'd the game. It's like time really does slow down. The focus. The concentration. The decision making. It was incredible.

3 Touhou 08: Imperishable Night - This is one of the easier 1CC's out there, but this was the first game where I really sat down and learned how to play shmups and went for the 1CC. It took me a few weeks, but I learned that you didn't have to have superhuman skills to beat these games. Then you catch that high of 1CC'ing a game. This is what really got me into the genre.

[EllertMichael]

Game Tengoku - The Game Paradise: Cleared it on my first credit ever. Only game I've ever been able to do that with. (*almost* cleared Illvelo on my first ever credit, but died on the last boss) Never touched it again.

Mushihimesama Original: One of my biggest problems is not sticking with one game but jumping around between titles a lot. Spreading myself too thin as it were. So when I hunkered down with just this game for a solid week and was able to get the clear it was a nice feeling.

Batsugun: Nothing special to clear the first loop of Batsugun, but it was one of my first 1cc's (maybe THE first?) and I still have fond memories of it. Plus I love the game.

[Frenetic]

"I'd love to hear what everyones personal top 3 shmupping moments"

Ummm, I'm going out of the box for this one.

Attending my first shmupmeet:
I can remember reading this thread http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=21974 and was lurking it for a better part of a year. From going to playing these games alone and then reaching out to people who were also interested in this solitary type of games. It was really fun meeting other people into these games for the first time and witnessing their expertise and enthusiasm for the genre.

"hey, i'm in the OC too. i really don't have much in the way of shmups, just an HRAP 2 w/dreamcast, etc. but am enthusiastic and willing to chip in for snax/drinks, etc.

--f"

Holding my first shmupmeet:
Going from moving out and getting candy cabs in my small apartment to planning a shmupmeet and having so many from the shmup community come and contribute was just amazing. I remember thinking my apartment was too small, I didn't have enough games, etc. but moving forward and realizing the event with the attendees' help was really special.
http://imgur.com/a/C5GdA#19

Founding STGWeekly:
When Aquas and I were about to go live with the first episode we were talking about what we were wanting to do, and wondering if people would watch--when we both held our breath and went "here goes" when we went live on twitch for the first time--it was just so eerie creating something. Then we started doing the 2nd, 3rd, episodes and finding our footing... I can liken it to when I was talking to my best friend at the time about starting a band, then trying to find places to practice, and booking and then playing shows. After 60+ episodes and Awesome Game Replays--what a long strange trip it's been. All of your positive comments, criticism, and contributions have made the show what it is today. When I held Shooting Gameside vol. 9 in my hands and my eyes glossing over the Japanese characters that described The Shooting Game Weekly...

I just got back earlier from Anime Expo where we have many from the shmups forum community helping out with having shmup setups in the entertainment hall. I just met someone from the Touhou community who asked if we could share space, then someone from Touhou Con and we are already thinking about doing panels on how to play Touhou/have Touhou setups...We're going to be presenting in one of the largest Live Programming rooms...I sincerely hope there will be many more milestones to come...

I encourage each and everyone of you to get out there, meet fellow shmuppers in real life, start your own local scenes, and create your own special shmup personal milestones.

[CptRansom]

--Hellsinker: Even cheesing it with Minogame, this gave me a headache for quite a while (and in retrospect, only playing full runs was probably a mistake). When I got to the TLB and the screen exploded for the first time, I was overwhelmed with adrenaline on a level I hadn't experienced since...

--Mars Matrix: To this day, the only STG I've ever actually put a significant amount of time (more than ~10-15 hours) into learning. It was an uphill battle and an absolute bitch to finally clear, but when the last boss finally went down, I remember laughing because I was so excited that I forgot to pick up the last couple cubes.

--Perfect Cherry Blossom, Lunatic/Phantasm: My first and only Lunatic clear. PCB was one of the first STGs I got into back in 2009, so it felt pretty damned good to come back to this one a year ago and beat it after just a couple days of practice (and Phantasm on my 7th try).

[fakeXsound]

Nothing amazing from me...

1. DDP DFK 1CC
2. Batsugun Special 1CC
3. Psyvariar 2 1CC

[chempop]

Likely to change once I give it more thought, but off the top of my head:

1) Battle Garegga 1CC (Golden Bat) and Letter Score (Gain) - I had been struggling with the game for YEARS, using my NiGHTS 3D pad is not ideal for me but I manage well enough. I happen to catch a live stream of Alamone's shmup meet where member BER was the first guest at the event. He sat down, popped in a credit of Garegga, and proceeded to play in a way I had never even seen or heard of. Skipping all stage 1 bomb fragments, ignoring the flamingos alltogether... I honestly though he hadn't played the game before, boy was I wrong. By the time he defeated Glowsquid I felt like my world had been turned upside down, I soon switched to Golden Bat and quickly got the clear. Then I returned to Gain and followed up later that week with my first Garegga letter score. Now to get the Letter score 1CC.

2) Ibara 1CC + Letter Score - With much coaching from Softdrink, I basically made this game my bitch. Back when I was somewhat of a CAVE noob I bought the PS2 port and just couldn't cope, so I sold it off. Years later I decided to give it another try, this time on PCB. I got hooked! It took maybe a week to get the 1CC, my goal was to fill the scoreboard with clears, but half way through the battery died on the board so my scores were erased! I set a new goal to reach the letter score which took a lot of practice, and eventually got the letter score 1CC. I still consider it one of CAVE's easiest games for the simple fact that the final boss can be hadou spammed.

3) Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 Maniac +300mil 1CC - Not super impressive, but it was one I worked so hard to get. It's still 10th place on the scoreboards here, and for such a popular game that's got to mean something.

Honorable mention: Akuu Gallet 1CC, Dangun Feveron 1CC, ESPG2 1CC, DOJ-BL 1ALL, DDP 2-4, Cyvern 2-4

Non gameplay related proudest shmup moments/milestones (good idea Frenetic) :

1) Rediscovering gaming and the shmup genre - I took about 4 years off from gaming during high school ('96-00), and then got reintroduced with the Dreamcast. Games like Mars Matrix and Gigawing got me back into the genre, and then a miracle happened, I found Radiant Silvergun in a friend's basement (which he basically gave to me).

2) Going to Japan - As soon as I got off the plane the friend I was visiting brought me to a 10Yen arcade so we could credit feed Ikaruga. I went shopping for shmups in Akihabara, watched lots of players in the arcade (mostly DDP and Shikigami no Shiro), and slept in while the xbox launch was happening (Ooops). I remember being rather disgruntled about Shiki being one of the big games for Xbox in japan, but it not being localized for the US.

3) Delving into candy cabs and hosting shmup meets - It had been over a decade since my Japan trip and I was still without a candy cab. The opportunity eventually presented itself and I pitched in for a group buy. Owning my first cab (blast city) was a total adventure, it's hard to explain just how intense it was for me, but a +10 year itch had finally been scratched. I took nearly ever piece apart to give it a proper cleaning and that's when I realized just how awesome this hobby was. A couple years thereafter, I was up to 3 cabs lol, they really are adictive. Recently I've hosted meets which even people from out of state have attended! It's pretty nuts to have a group of people all together who speak this language and have committed a chunk of their lives to such an interesting, and above all, exciting form of entertainment.

[pestro87]

1 ) Hellfire 1-ALL - I got this as a kid during the mid-90's on the Mega Drive port. I forget if it was on Easy or Hard (probably Easy...). This is without a doubt my most memorable clear thus far.

2 ) Ginga Force - Score Attack - Hard - #1 on the leaderboards and STGWeekly - Initially I reached #1 with all three ship types but I believe that I am currently #1 with Type B and C. It was also awesome to be on STGWeekly for the Ginga Force episode! I went back and improved my scores quite a bit since the episode though.

3 ) Battle Garegga 1CC and letter score with Golden Bat - Finally....

[Kiken]

Under Defeat 2 All
It took roughly 2 years for me to get through the entire game on a single credit (starting with the DC release in 2006 and getting the clear sometime in 2008). Just a hell of a lot work and perseverance (plus there were very few little high level play videos available then).

ESPGaluda All Clear No Miss
I've only done this once or twice (sure, I've SCCed the game numerous times). It's still the only Cave game where I've managed a No Miss run.

Giga Wing 2 All Clear
Although this game could be considered easy in comparison to most of the danmaku genre, it was my first all clear in this sub-genre and what really got me into playing these games aggressively for score.

[Gaia]

mushihimesama original 1CC - my first 1CC, and while not the hardest ever, was very thrilling. Bomb spammed the final boss as I knew I was moments away from the 1CC and I could barly see straight I had so much adrenaline pumping. I realized after that I much preferred faster bullet patterns, opposed to slow dense patters, sooo

Gunburd 2 1CC with Tavia - Many times now, love this game, love Psikyo. My furthest is 2-3 actually.

Ibara 1CC and letter score - both happened at the same time. I'm sure I could have low ranked 1ccd Ibara with a poor score but after almost mastering the first level route I just couldn't play the rest purely for survival. Anyone on the fence about this game really needs to learn the mechanics and give this an honest try.

[Dale]

Vulgus
When I finally took the top spot on MARP. I still want to see the 4th loop before I retire though.

Espgaluda
This was my first 1cc of a purchased modern shmup. I sucked back then it took about a year to 1cc this and when I finally did cussed at the final boss and yelled YES over and over again jumping up and down.

Demolition Gunner Extra
Probably not that impressive but I 1cced shooting god mode, it just sounds really awesome.

[BulletMagnet]

1) Plugging in console

2) Placing disc in tray

3) Pressing power button