SHMUPs and Bullet Hells -

[StraightShooter2]

Can anyone give tips on clearing SHMUPs or Bullet Hells on 1 life or 1 continue (without cheating)?

Some games I'm thinking of off the top of my head are Crimzon Clover, DoDonPachi Ressurection, Ikaruga, Danmaku Unlimited 2 and 3, and DariusBurst Chronicle Saviors.

 

[bigoogabaloogas]

git gud lol
serious answer: try and try until you've become autistic enough to clear them since the game you've listed probably have different mechanics; only played 2hu so I don't know how different other bullet hells are.

 

[Exorbital Columnations]

Meth.

 

[Frank D'arbo]

Shumps were like my 3rd ever genre I showed interest in as a kid. While I'm not Japanese great, I can tell you this:

• Pay Attention to where the enemies come from and their attack patterns
• Pay attention to your ships hitbox
• Use bombs sparingly, only when appropriate, don't worry about the extra bomb bonus until you master the level
• Practice, like seriously, Practice all the time, but also learn to keep your cool and have fun.
• Also meth helps like the poster above me, or at least Adderall

Right now I'm playing Radiant Silvergun, Deathsmiles, Great Ragtime Show, and other CAVE stuff

 

[Finder of Games]

I'm gonna guess you're probably pretty shit at shmups overall if you're asking for tips on a handful of different games there, but let me throw out some of the more general advice:

• Learn your hitbox.
• Being at the bottom of the screen is not always the best option. Don't be afraid to use all of the screenspace.
• Learn your hitbox.
• Use a wired controller/control device (stick, pad, keyboard or whatever).
• Learn your hitbox.
• If you've got a display capable of it, and a game capable of displaying it, set graphics to Tate, which is just japanese for vertical, with Yoko being horizontal (a lot of shmups, particularly the ones you listed still go by tate/yoko so just roll with it). I find that the removal of huge ugly borders with dumb marquee art and bezels helps me focus better on the game.
• Learn your hitbox.
• Don't be afraid to bomb if you have to, trying to 1cc score is for after you've learned the game.
• Learn your hitbox.
• Don't feel like it's all lost if you lose a 1CC run. Keep trying. If you just give up and run through the same first 3 levels on repeat and ragequitting when you fuck up on a boss right after, you're just gonna burn out on your attempts. Go through the game. You need to learn it all anyway. If possible, use savestates to practice hard parts, and skip past shit you've already got down.
• Learn your hitbox.

Of course, since you mentioned no Touhou titles in your list, I'm gonna guess you don't like it, so I'll skip recommending Shoot the Bullet and Double Spoiler for movement practice. So I went and grabbed hold of ProMeTheus' guide to jamming out on DoDonPachi (not Res). It was written in 2010, so cut it a bit of slack for maybe missing some more modern amenities, and making copious use of older tourney terminology. But it has excellent advice for both score running, and 1CC. A lot of just great overall advice and tips and tricks, stories about his experiences, and more. Here's a link to an old japanese guide to beginner STG/shmup play, on the off chance you know any Japanese.

Lastly, although PMT mentions it in the enclosed .pdf, let me stress:
Pick one game. You'll never pick up the full extent of what you need if you keep starting over on a bunch of games. Learn how to play one game in a mindset of 1CC, and you'll find a lot of mechanical skill transfers over to others, and you'll have an easier time going forward.

Good luck, scrubshit.

 

[BrunoMattei]

Hot take, maybe, they all basically play the same. I like the genre but when you play several of the standouts like DoDonPachi, Raiden, R-Type, Gradius, Ikaruga, and something like Mars Matrix you realize that all of the games generally blur together. The designs are different from game to game obviously but essentially they all play alike per their sub-genre. You could play DoDonPachi and there's no real reason to play the sequels because it's just more of the same but the bullet hell patterns are different. Which leads to the games appealing to an extremely niche audience that are turbo autists (no offence) that play and play and play until they can one credit run the games.

Every now and again you get something that's really different like Monolith: https://store.steampowered.com/app/603960/Monolith/

Or Hydorah:

Hydorah - Locomalito

Hydorah (Locomalito, 2010). Video game. Horizontal shmup. Straight to the heart of classic shmup players.

locomalito.com

Hydorah isn't radically different but it's just different enough to make it worthwhile to fans of Gradius. Think of Gradius with a branching path system.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I player Touhou a decade ago (nothing fancy, just managed to clear medium without continue). I think I'll recommend 8 for being pretty easy while still being danmaku.
You basically need to concentrate on very few specific points at any given time.

 

[Merried Senior Comic]

Isn't being a troon a prerequisite to being good at bullet hell games?

 

[SSF2T Old User]

Literally the only shoot-em up I've been able to finish from start to end in my entire lifetime. And yes, I take that accomplishment with pride.

 

[Penne Dreadful]

Isn't being a troon a prerequisite to being good at bullet hell games?

Score-running shmups has a whole lot of similarities with speedrunning, which should answer your question.

 

[Reverend]

I lack the dexterity of a ADD junkie on redbull mainlining 4loko to be able to complete 1 level of these death trap games. How anyone finds them interesting is the same crew that enjoys DDR.

 

[Frank D'arbo]

How anyone finds them interesting is the same crew that enjoys DDR.

Fuck you I enjoy both

 

[BrunoMattei]

View attachment 2240056
Literally the only shoot-em up I've been able to finish from start to end in my entire lifetime. And yes, I take that accomplishment with pride.

Way better than Lifeforce.

 

[Exbein]

Can anyone give tips on clearing SHMUPs or Bullet Hells on 1 life or 1 continue (without cheating)?

Some games I'm thinking of off the top of my head are Crimzon Clover, DoDonPachi Ressurection, Ikaruga, Danmaku Unlimited 2 and 3, and DariusBurst Chronicle Saviors.

no longer have the hand-eye coordination and autism to finish games in 1cc, but here's some advice

danmaku games are all about movement, so it is all about where you need your ship to go, not where your ship/chara is currently. what I mean is that you don't look too much at where your ship/chara currently is, but where it is going.

your hitbox in danmaku games are very small, usually just a big glowing ball of pixels surrounding your ship/chara.
don't be afraid to graze yourself against bullets, as long they dont hit your hit box, you're fine.

Also, still waiting for other cave shmups to come to steam

 

[RoboticRichardSimmons]

Steam Hearts for the PC Engine CD/Sega Saturn is a game where anime girls are infected by a disease that can only be cured by the MCs cum. It has animated cut scenes and really great gameplay.

 

[Megaroad 2012]

I'm a fucking beast at Battle Garrega and Ketsui, but my fave is probably U.N. Squadron/Area 88 on SNES. I know there are better ones but I have feels for this particular one (I still have the entire U.S. Viz run of the comics too).

Super fan of the Darius games. This super collection I bought in Japan years ago rarely leaves my switch, play it a lot (somethings suspicious about LRG's release of this collection because mine came on one cart.... not two like they're doing). Really hyped for G Darius HD port that is apparently coming, one of my fave soundtracks and the boss fights are really cool.

Thunderforce a close second naturally. IV was pretty mind blowing graphically and musically when I was a kid.

R-Type Legends 2 griefing me right now but I finally got through the main course the other day on r-typer.

Recommend the Capcom Arcade Stadium. Port of Carrier Airwing finally (U.N. Squadron/Area 88 spritual sequel), Gigawing and Progear make it worth it, with Progear being a blast to finally play.

Holding out on the M2 collections of ESPRade and Aleste coming out over here but idk anymore, better just import I guess.

 

[Calandrino]

To finish any arcade game on one credit you have to pick one you really love and doesn't feel like torture to play a ton. You're not going to knock out five of them over a slow weekend unless you're a savant so pick your battles, especially if you have a job or loved ones or whatever and you have to not play video games 16 hours a day.

Also, you have to not be a huge gay pussy quitter who gets discouraged and gives up like a faggot. Take breaks. If you snort a bunch of Adderall and play for hours and you're worse than when you started, that's normal and does not mean that you are incurably shit. You have to go to sleep and let your brain run as a background thread and figure the game out until it feels natural. It's not like grinding in an RPG or even a checkpoint-heavy-infinite-lives action game where you can beat your head into it nonstop until you win. Sometimes you can mysteriously become better if you don't play for a week or two.

If something seems flat-out impossible, check "Your Game 1cc" on YouTube. Sometimes there are tricks that make things easy that you would never figure out in a million years.

Finally, for best results, consider transitioning to your preferred gender identity.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

@StraightShooter2 which SHMUPS have you 1CC in the past? That would be a good clue to know where you're at.

 

[Yukari Yakumo]

I'm trying to 1cc Sapphire Panlogism (Touhou fangame) but the best I've done was make it to Stage 5's boss on Easy modo.