![Raiden [Playstation 1] - Stage 7 No-Miss Practice Run on General mode (The Raiden Project) @psymagearcade](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UL6uUpYnwhE/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded October 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
This is some footage of me practicing Stage 7 of Raiden on the PS1 port on the highest difficulty, which is slightly harder than the original arcade game. I used a few planned bombs, but my goal was to do a route that makes survival consistently doable, especially in the first half where the zakos are pretty wild.
Also, the Stage 7 boss is trivial if you're willing to speedkill it.
This is some footage of me practicing Stage 7 of Raiden on the PS1 port on the highest difficulty, which is slightly harder than the original arcade game. I used a few planned bombs, but my goal was to do a route that makes survival consistently doable, especially in the first half where the zakos are pretty wild.
Also, the Stage 7 boss is trivial if you're willing to speedkill it.
![Raiden [Playstation 1] - Stage 7 No-Miss Practice Run on General mode (The Raiden Project)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UL6uUpYnwhE/mqdefault.jpg "Raiden [Playstation 1] - Stage 7 No-Miss Practice Run on General mode (The Raiden Project)
This is some footage of me practicing Stage 7 of Raiden on the PS1 port on the highest difficulty, which is slightly harder than the original arcade game. I used a few planned bombs, but my goal was to do a route that makes survival consistently doable, especially in the first half where the zakos are pretty wild.
Also, the Stage 7 boss is trivial if youre willing to speedkill it.")
![Ghost Blade HD [PC] - First Normal 1CC (Ghost)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Un4Z-HKuvoU/mqdefault.jpg "Ghost Blade HD [PC] - First Normal 1CC (Ghost)
I was not originally planning to do this video. However, after getting to the last boss on one credit a few days ago out of nowhere, I figured I could get this 1CC with a little bit more effort.
As far as the game itself goes, its a bit of a mixed bag. The scoring is pretty fun despite being pretty derivative of CAVE. The graphics are great with high resolution backgrounds and enemy design, and the music and sound design are fine. Its got your standard arcade mode as well as a training mode for practicing stages and even a score attack mode, calling back to the days of the caravan shooter which is uncommon for bullet hell games.
Unfortunately, the bullet designs dont have much rhyme or reason at times IMO, and bullet visibility sucks compared to most bullet hell games. Its too easy to lose track of bullets with everything so cluttered especially in later stages. Half the time, I couldnt even tell why I died. I think part of the problem is the tech orbs not being transparent enough, because theyre green like some of the bullets are albeit darker.
These issues are less noticeable on Easy mode, where you can focus more on scoring because the bullets patterns are less difficult and slower to begin with.
It wasnt the smoothest run by any means, especially in stages 4 and 5, but I got the job done even if the scoring wasnt that great. In less than 9 hours on Steam, Ive gotten 1CCs on both Easy and Normal modes, so thats not too bad.")
![Graze Counter GM [PC] - First 1CC 1,364,737,200 pts (Standard Original -Type 3 ship)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VCBjMR3km4U/mqdefault.jpg "Graze Counter GM [PC] - First 1CC 1,364,737,200 pts (Standard Original -Type 3 ship)
00:46. Stage 1
3:27. Stage 2-A
6:32. Stage 3
9:51. Stage 4-A
13:26. Final Stage
17:50. Final Boss
Graze Counter GM is a bullet hell doujin shmup developed by Bikkuri Software and published by Henteko Doujin/Sanuk Inc. at the beginning of 2023 on Steam, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. This is an expanded version of the original Graze Counter that was released on Steam several years ago, with new ships and modes included.
The gameplay is a cross between the grazing gameplay of Psyvariar and the Castle Shikigami series with bullet hell shmups like Crimzon Clover. You can graze bullets to build up your Graze Counter, which allows you to activate a laser shot that cancels bullets and builds up your Break meter, which functions similarly to Crimzon Clovers break system when filled up and activated.
As far as the runs goes, this game is mostly really easy outside of the Stage 3 Boss and the last boss battles on Stage 5. This run was mostly a cakewalk until the end of Stage 5 despite it being my second full run playing it. The last two boss battles almost killed my run, as I lost several lives and was down to my last one once I finished. I still need to learn those patterns better, though I have started to get better after this run. Also, I didnt realize until after filming this that you can go in between the power-up pickups to grab all three like in Cho Ren Sha.
The Type 3 ship feels like a homage to the classic Raiden ship, as it has slow movement, wide spread, and even a similar sprite. It is very good for grazing but not so good for certain boss battles that require some quick reaction times to dodge certain attacks.")
![Gun Frontier [Arcade] - 1CC Full Game Playthrough (Good Ending)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Vl7eh-W7bIE/mqdefault.jpg "Gun Frontier [Arcade] - 1CC Full Game Playthrough (Good Ending)
Gun Frontier was an arcade shmup created by Taito and originally released in 1990. This was the first of two shmups produced by Takatsuna Senba, the other being Metal Black in 1991. This is one game that has haunted me for many years. Whenever I first played Taito Legends 2, this was the game that beat me down the most. Even worse, I had no turbo fire back then. But after getting a lot of 1CCs under my belt and learning more about the games rank system, I decided to come back to this one for the 1CC and Im glad I did.
One of my biggest shmup achievements so far, if not the biggest. Extremely proud of how this run went. I only had two deaths on this run, one on the Stage 2 Boss and one in the canyon section of Stage 5.
I may create a discussion video talking about this game in the future. Not only is this a hard shmup, but it is ahead of its time in many ways.
Autofire was used, 30HZ (technically 29HZ due to a GP2040CE bug) and 10HZ in particular. Tapping of a non-turbo fire button was used extensively as well.
00:00 Intro
00:17 Stage 1
02:16 Stage 2
05:59 Stage 3
09:30 Stage 4
12:46 Stage 5
20:19 Final Stage
21:54 Ending")
![Vulgus [PSP/Arcade] - First Loop 1CC 186,600 pts (Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WZ9swkEfSnI/mqdefault.jpg "Vulgus [PSP/Arcade] - First Loop 1CC 186,600 pts (Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded)
0:07. Stage 1-1
2:33. Stage 1-2
5:59. Stage 1-3
9:15. Stage 2-1 (2nd Loop)
Vulgus came out in 1984 and was the debut video game for one of the biggest developers in video game history: Capcom. Before that, they had only made a single medal game for Japanese arcades called Little League. This game predated 1942 by about several months, with the latter being more well-known today because it did better in arcades, got home ports, and spawned several sequels.
If someone were to see a single screenshot of this game in action, it would be easy to assume that this is a Xevious clone. The ship looks kind of similar to Solvalou and parts of the second area look similar on initial glance. The levels even blur together like that game in terms of its transitions. However, this game does not use a second plane of play and lacks the ground bomb as a result. In its place is a secondary missile shot which can pierce through enemies but is in limited supply. You can gain more of them by grabbing the POW pickups. Gameplay-wise, it feels like a cross between a fixed shooter like Galaga in terms of enemy movement and scoring and a more traditional vertical shmup from around this time like Star Force or Xevious. Its not hard by arcade standards and may even be a decent introduction to classic shmups due to its fair difficulty and briefness.
The biggest way to score is killing as many enemies as you can in a row with the missile shot that I mentioned earlier. You get bonus points for each extra enemy in a row that you kill with it. Also, some enemy formations give you a nice bonus for killing them all even without the missile. Bigger enemies are also worth more points than the smaller ones. Its simple but works.
I did this run using the Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded compilation on PSP, played on PPSSPP. This version does included remixed sound, which I enabled in the settings. The alternate soundtrack is a remix of the original song but is pretty solid and preferable to me over the original. Autofire was enabled via in-game settings.")
![Gunvein [PC/Switch] - Intense 1CC 4,950,647 pts. (Type C)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Xgv-hl4P-KY/mqdefault.jpg "Gunvein [PC/Switch] - Intense 1CC 4,950,647 pts. (Type C)
Gunvein is a bullet hell shmup published by NGDev and developed by Boghog, a member of the shmup community. It came out back in November of last year on Steam and recently, the game got ported over to the Nintendo Switch. This is NGDevs first time publishing an original game that was developed originally for PC, as they have been known in the past for creating games for older consoles in limited quantities.
Honestly, this has to be among the very best western shmups ever made. There was a time when Japan had an obvious stranglehold on the arcade shmup market, but that is no longer the case. This game holds its own with the heavy hitters like CAVE and Psikyo just fine. Gameplay wise, its like the love child of SDOJ, Crimzon Clover, and a Raizing shmup like Battle Garegga. This is one of the few shmups that encourages aggressive usage of bombs, as its a significant part of the scoring and not just meant for defensive purposes. The lock on shots for the Type A and Type B ships are reminiscent of Crimzon Clover, but Type C has a chargeable mini bomb in its place that makes it a very interesting ship, which Ill discuss soon enough.
You also have a hyper system that involves holding the Bomb button for a few seconds, giving you some brief invincibility frames at the beginning of it and increased damage for 4-5 seconds after activation. This is surprisingly useful for survival, but it costs you fragments that you gather throughout the stages to make your bombs. Speaking of fragments, you get those from filling up that Ready meter at the top right of the screen and using your lock-on shot at certain parts of the stages marked by a star.
As far as presentation goes, its excellent for an indie shmup. The graphics are top notch, though I did scale back the effects and darken the background slightly to maximize bullet visibility (not that it was bad in the first place though). Its also a bit more demanding hardware-wise on PC than your typical indie shmup on Steam because of the bells and whistles of the graphics. The soundtrack done by Exemia is a great fit for the game and the chaotic action that it presents.
This run was done on Intense difficulty, which is Gunveins equivalent of a Normal mode. As this difficulty, the game is quite challenging and comes close to matching the difficulty of a Cave game. The difficulty curve for the most part is pretty gradual outside of the Stage 3 Boss and Final Boss being big spikes, but the game is faster-paced than most shmups. I chose Type C because that ship does the best damage and is also the fastest, making it ideal for speed-killing enemies as soon as they get on screen. Type Cs bomb is not the best for doing damage, but it does have some extra i-frames after it is done firing off. Also, you need to be at a distance from enemies in order for it to hit them with that bomb.
While this run considering only of the main campaign, this game even has a Roguelike mode, which adds level ups granting you power-ups and messes with the layouts of stages considerably. I have not spent any time with this mode, but I may do so at some point. This may be a selling point for anyone looking for a roguelike shmup.
If you love shmups and havent played this game yet, I highly recommend it.
Also, shout outs to @morsalty and @clippa because their runs were very helpful to me early on for learning how the game worked when it first came out.
00:21 Stage 1
03:33 Stage 2
06:58 Stage 3
10:53 Stage 4
14:43 Stage 5
18:02 Final Boss
#gunvein #shmup #shmups #ngdev #arcadegames #bullethell #danmaku #steam #switch #nintendoswitch #indie")
![Alpine Ski [Arcade] - First Time Getting To Loop 8! 187,904 pts.](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YhC1hQHT6zQ/mqdefault.jpg "Alpine Ski [Arcade] - First Time Getting To Loop 8! 187,904 pts.
Ive played a lot of Alpine Ski, but I would always get stuck on Loop 7. But recently, I had a breakthrough run that was good enough to get me to Loop 8 and a new high score of 187,904 points!
Ill be posting a much bigger discussion video soon about this game, so be on the lookout for that.
This run was done on the MAME Current core in RetroArch.
00:00 Intro and Loop 1
02:05 Loop 2
04:02 Loop 3
06:09 Loop 4
08:09 Loop 5
10:07 Loop 6
12:16 Loop 7
14:14 Loop 8")
