Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
The reaction to my recent Rayman video showed me that there are still blind fanboys for AAA gaming out there. Some of them insisted that I had to buy the Rayman 30th Anniversary Collection no matter how bad it is. But in this video, I explain why that mentality is completely unhelpful. These AAA gaming companies need to earn our respect. It's not the other way around!
00:00 AAA Gaming Fanboys Exist?
01:22 Blind Loyalty Hurts Gaming
02:53 Force Them To Earn Your Respect
The reaction to my recent Rayman video showed me that there are still blind fanboys for AAA gaming out there. Some of them insisted that I had to buy the Rayman 30th Anniversary Collection no matter how bad it is. But in this video, I explain why that mentality is completely unhelpful. These AAA gaming companies need to earn our respect. It's not the other way around!
00:00 AAA Gaming Fanboys Exist?
01:22 Blind Loyalty Hurts Gaming
02:53 Force Them To Earn Your Respect
![Wexew Mexem [PC] - 1CC with Commentary 7,253,110 pts. (Free Bullet Hell Doujin Shmup)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/84LaKVMczoE/mqdefault.jpg "Wexew Mexem [PC] - 1CC with Commentary 7,253,110 pts. (Free Bullet Hell Doujin Shmup)
https://zakichi.itch.io/wexew-mexem
Wexew Mexem is a freeware doujin shmup that came out earlier this month on itch.io. It was created by Zakichi, who is known for creating Kaikan, Vastynex, and Zakesta to name a few of his previous shmups. Many of his games pay tribute to older, more famous shmups to one extent or another, and this game is no different.
This game pays quite a bit of homage to Exed Exes and Vulgus in its presentation, two old school Capcom shmups. The mock poster art on the side is a reference to the Exed Exes poster art. The honeycomb like tiles in the background are also an obvious tribute to that game. The big bugs that swoop down are reminiscent of some of the enemies in Vulgus, as well as the swirling circles that drop down occasionally.
However, this game stands out from Zakichis previous works because of its emphasis on scoring. The High Point Mode is pretty much your Hyper, and the bulk of your scoring will come from cancelling bullets while in this mode. Also, enemies killed while in this mode leave behind food, usually fruits, that you can pick up for even more points. You can enter this mode once youve filled up the bar on the left by picking up enough Woops left behind by enemies.
You also want to make sure your multiplier is as high as possible, which is measured by the bar on the right side of the screen. This bar builds up the same way as the High Point Mode by collecting the Woops. However, if you let any of them fall to the bottom of the screen, your multiplier goes down.
Its a good thing that the scoring is really fun because the level design seems to be secondary for the most part. The actual stages are really similar to each other outside of the bullet patterns getting denser and the enemies being more plentiful. The bosses do not show much variation outside of the last boss. Thankfully, the action is pretty exciting despite that, especially in later stages as plenty of enemies and bullet fly around. It also helps that the game is pretty short, making this shortcoming more forgivable and easier to play again for a higher score.
As far as the commentary goes, I tried to react to each level one by one instead of doing a completely scripted commentary all in one take. There are plenty of things happening on screen and it was a bit tough to keep up at times. I know there are a few moments that could have been better, but this is actually my first real shmup commentary since my last two 1CC commentaries covered a racing game and a run and gun.
#shmups #itchio #freeware #freegames #doujin #zakichi")
![Galaga 90 aka Galaga 88 [PC Engine] - Fourth Dimension 1CC 1,082,070 pts](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8XEm-BFtY8E/mqdefault.jpg "Galaga 90 aka Galaga 88 [PC Engine] - Fourth Dimension 1CC 1,082,070 pts
00:31. Stage 1
00:55. Stage 2
01:25. Stage 3 (Galactic Dancing 1)
02:06. Stage 4
02:34. Stage 5
03:00. Stage 6
03:28. Stage 7 (Galactic Dancing 2)
04:13. Stage 8
05:37. Stage 9
06:18. Stage 10 (First Boss)
06:47. Stage 11
07:09. Stage 12
07:29. Stage 13
07:55. Stage 14 (Galactic Dancing 3)
08:51. Stage 15
09:10. Stage 16
09:34. Stage 17
09:57. Stage 18 (Galactic Dancing 4)
10:51. Stage 19
11:14. Stage 20
11:32. Stage 21
12:00. Stage 22 (Galactic Dancing 5)
12:40. Stage 23
13:12. Stage 24
13:41. Stage 25
14:28. Stage 26 (Galactic Dancing 6)
15:19. Stage 27
16:29. Stage 28
17:57. Stage 29
18:15. Final Boss and Ending
Galaga 90 is the American release of the PC Engine/Turbografx 16 port of Namcos Galaga 88, which was originally an arcade game that came out in 1987 in Japan. The Japanese PC Engine port came out the next year while Galaga 90 came out in 1989 in the U.S.
Galaga 90 might start out looking like a Galaga remake in the first few stages, but it does a lot more than the original game. One, you start off with the option to use the double ship at the very beginning if youre willing to sacrifice a spare life. Two, you can get a triple ship if your double ship gets captured by a Boss Galaga, giving you a lot of firepower with about the same hitbox at the double ship. Three, once you get beyond the initial stages, theres a bit of variety in the level design, as this game introduces new enemies as it goes on, has a couple of boss battles, and even some autoscrolling sections.
On top of all that, this game has a rank system based on dimensions. You can hop to another dimension by gathering two blue capsules before you get to a Galactic Dancing stage. Warping to another dimension grants you a nice point bonus but makes the next stages harder. Once you get to the fourth and last dimension, the rank maxes out. You can game this system for survival early on by waiting to gather these capsules until after the first boss, making that fight a lot easier because it gives you an easier boss. One other thing about these capsules is that they have generous invincibility frames when grabbing them. I utilized that to my advantage in later stages whenever I could.
The key to playing this game is mastering misdirecting not just the bullets but also the enemies. Since this is a fixed shooter, you do not have a lot of room to do this so you need to tap dodge pretty carefully to avoid getting stuck in a corner. Also, getting the triple ship is important as you can mow down rows of enemies pretty quickly with it, even later on in the game. Youll even get a red capsule at the end of Stage 25 to get a triple ship so make sure you grab it if youre down to double or single ship.
Also, the last boss is extremely hard if you do not have at least the double shot. You need to be able to do a lot of damage quickly in order to survive him.
This is actually my first Namco shmup 1CC ever. Also, it is only my second PC Engine shmup 1CC, as the only one Ive done prior is Blazing Lazers, my first ever shmup 1CC.
#galaga #namco #shmups #pcengine #turbografx #turbografx16 #retrogaming #arcadegames #classicgames")
![Choplifter [Sega Master System] - First Loop Playthrough](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9UoTaZWEOWc/mqdefault.jpg "Choplifter [Sega Master System] - First Loop Playthrough
Choplifter was originally a horizontal shmup created in 1982 by Dan Gorlin for the Apple II, but was ported over to many different systems after that. Eventually, Sega did a remake of the game for arcades in 1985. Then, they developed and released a port of that remake for the Sega Master System in 1986 in North America, one of the first games released on the system in that region.
To call this a horizontal shmup may be a bit misleading. This game has very little to do with arcade shmups from this time period. Its probably closer to a euro shmup in some ways. For instance, this game has inertia in the movement, probably to better simulate the movement of a helicopter. Thats normally a no-no for arcade shmups. Also, the main goal of this game is not to kill the enemies but to rescue hostages. Just about all the scoring in this game comes from doing that. Last, the game does not auto scroll.
However, despite not being a traditional shmup, this game still succeeds because of its focus on rescuing hostages and being a rudimentary 2D helicopter simulator. Its designed well enough to know what it is and what it is not. This game is also very fair for the most part especially in the first loop, outside of a little bit of RNG. The movement does feel believable for a helicopter and moves reasonably fast once you get going. You also get a minimum of three lives for each stage, meaning that you can screw up in one stage a little bit and not necessarily have it affect you later on. Plus, you can get an extend per stage if you rescue 20 hostages.
Speaking of rescuing hostages, the goal of each stage is to rescue 40 hostages. Whenever you bring them back to base, you get points and the bonus multiplies by two with each consecutive hostage dropped off. At the end, you can get a 100,000 point bonus if no hostages die during the stage. You can still get this bonus even if you die once or twice. Unfortunately, if even one hostage dies, that end of stage bonus almost entirely disappears, which is a bit harsh but encourages clean play for scoring.
As far as this port goes, it does make some changes compared to the arcade version. One, the city level is cut from this version. You get the first three stages (desert, sea, and cave), and those repeat again with some small variations before you get the short ending screen. The game does loop infinitely after that ending though. Two, the fuel gauge is gone, so players dont have to worry about that in this port. There are other differences as well, but those are the main ones I can think of. Obviously, the graphics are scaled down going from arcade to console, but the results are very impressive for an early Master System game. The parallex scrolling on Stage 1 is excellent and a great showcase of what the system could do. The music and sound effects dont stand out a whole lot but get the job done.
00:00 Intro
00:19 Stage 1
03:19 Stage 2
06:28 Stage 3
10:29 Stage 4
14:00 Stage 5
17:00 Stage 6
20:49 Loop 2")
![Darius Gaiden [Arcade] - The Game That Got Me Into Arcade Shmups](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9mK4CY9JFEE/mqdefault.jpg "Darius Gaiden [Arcade] - The Game That Got Me Into Arcade Shmups
In this video, I discuss my earliest experiences playing Darius Gaiden over a decade ago as well as coming back to it again recently to get my 1CC of it. Its part discussion and part review, but more of a discussion about the game and its impact on me as a shmup player. This game may have gotten a lot of other shmup players into the genre, not just myself. Definitely one of the genres all-time classics.
00:00 Intro
01:24 Finding Out About Darius Gaiden
03:47 First Impressions
08:41 How It Got Me Into Other Shmups
10:15 Coming Back To It Years Later
The background footage is one of my recent 1CCs of the ABDHLQW route, done with 25HZ autofire.
All music used comes from the Darius Gaiden OST:
Zuntata - Visionnerz
Zuntata - EEG
Zuntata - Axon
Zuntata - FAKE
Zuntata - Burst Out
Zuntata - Reflection
Additional Viewing:
Morsaltys 1CC Commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuPs-RTEs2U
Kamadomas Survival 1CCs with Commentary Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTD9TmkCwZ25LHmv4VsqwV25NnCqSG2HY
Shmups Wiki page for the game: https://shmups.wiki/library/Darius_Gaiden
#arcadegames #1cc #retrogaming #classicgaming #shmups #shootemups")
![Alpine Ski [Arcade] - Six Loop 1CC 177,109 pts.](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AZvCHoaLGhA/mqdefault.jpg "Alpine Ski [Arcade] - Six Loop 1CC 177,109 pts.
This is a new personal best for Alpine Ski, a game that Ive been playing on and off for a while now. Recently, I beat my highest scoring run that I posted last year after doing the commentary video on the game.
Played on the MAME Current core in Retroarch. Controller of choice was my Qanba Crystal modded with a T-Spin for WASD keys and Sanwa buttons.
00:00 Intro
00:19 Loop 1
02:13 Loop 2
04:15 Loop 3
06:20 Loop 4
08:38 Loop 5
11:04 Loop 6
13:31 Loop 7")
