Very good video. Something that people always forget to mention when trying to improve any skills, and it's one of the most important processes, is sleep, because it is in your sleep that your brain will memorize what you tell it what's important by repetition, the brain will see that skill as something necessary and it will like rearrange the "room" to make sure that skill is done correctly. You can look for yourself experts explaining this process better than myself. And boy have i seen that process with my eyes, i have very bad eyes i see very bad, and glaucoma on the right eye which causes me double vision, but i decided to prove myself that i can at least do 1cc on shmups. So i picked up the thunder force series because it looks great, forget TF2 it's terrible with those top down stages, i 1cc TF3, but oh man TF4 got me stuck for around 3 weeks, and here is where I'm getting at, a few hours after playing when i was getting sleepy and sometimes momentarily fell asleep i was (my brain was) in the game, reacting to the levels even though it's been hours after playing. and i am certain that you have gone through the same during those days of grinding. i learned this when i was trying to learn the king of fighters so i learned about sleeping after training any skill, and the amazing thing is that my fingers where twitching while sleeping, at least on those moments when you fall asleep and i could feel that. And yeah i finally beated TF4 saturn with no slow downs, last day before i beated it i failed, i sat down for a long time thinking "maybe i won't be able to do it", and the next day i did it, but in my 41 years I've never done something so hard in a game, never got stuck for so long, and i play hard games. Maybe if i had better eyes i could do much better, and that is actually what i wanted to prove as an act of rebellion for having this curse, that i would be better if not for this...But danmakus are going to be hell, maybe even impossible, and dodonpachi is my favorite 😢. Sorry for the long bible, but i felt like telling you about sleep and my experience with seeing Thunder force with my eyes closed 😂.

@TheElectricUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Awesome comment my dude!!! Having good sleep is critical!!

@HybridianXIX

2 ай бұрын

This is very good advice in general, i'm also trying out KOF. Thanks!🔥🔥

Now you have to follow this up with an episode on how to prevent burnout and set a good pace for yourself. I've noticed that many players push themselves too hard from the get-go and lose sight of the simple joy of playing shmups. As you said, they can't be all fun all the time because they're difficult games, but there must exist a happy medium where you counteract the frustration with some simple fun. You pointed out having side games as a way to alleviate frustration, varying up your practice is a good one too so you're not stuck grinding the same couple of savestates too much.

Thank you thank you - In part 4 could you cover removing shards of glass from between your knuckles? And fixing bedroom windows also?

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

Ahh yes shmup first aid, very important!

Sir!? I needed this. Thanks a ton for the great content and sharing your thoughts and experience. I announced on steam what my goal was with Gunbird 2 and then proceeded to get my butt handed to me ad infinitum. Needless to say, I ended the session discouraged. Then I found this. Every part of this video has helped me. I'm glad I announced my goal earlier. Now I'm committed!

@TheElectricUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

Hell yes!!!! I m really glad my video was helpful!

Ah this is fun. I was regretting missing the Patreon Topic Stream because I wanted to propose this very topic (more or less), and you just posted this vid! Btw, I agree with every single point you made and I am adopting every single trick and tip you mentioned, with the exception of self-imposed time deadline 'cause I personally tend to dislike time deadlines

I took a break from shmups a couple months ago and I was thinking to come back. This is an amazing timing. Thanks for the amazing video as always!

Just found your channel and this was the first vid I came across. Enjoyed the background and reading recommendations as well as the strategy. It's always been a challenge for me going beyond the 1CC as there are so many games of the genre going way back to the old 90s style shooters I love, that I never put enough time into a single one. I've always played more for the enjoyment of the experience and eventually enough to the point of a 1CC, but was always a bit weary of turning the game into a technical exercise to where I can't simply enjoy it any longer as I used to. At least the classics like Gradius Gofer etc. which I just love playing for the music and nostalgia of it. With the newer Danmaku games the focus is even more on scoring so I've been slowly working my way up to improving my overall scores in them and learning the tricks, specifically DDP and Garegga. So this was a good watch and I'm sure I'll pick up more good info as I check out more. Great channel glad I found this one.

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

That s awesome!!! I m glad you found the channel as well :-)

One huge tip I got from watching earlier videos helps in learning cave games particularly (in mame) the ability to use ‘slider controls’ to underclock the game CPU to literally play the game at your own speed to learn patterns etc - this even corrected out-of-sync audio in deathsmiles 👍

That "breaking out of a glass prison" analogy is great :D reminds me a lot of how in weight training, you have to train towards your limit, otherwise you'll never make any progress.

I don't think my skill ceiling will ever be high enough to play DoDonpachi AND Guwange at the same time, but it's a cool challenge I want to see a Japanese superplayer take on.

One interesting thing about this topic is that players improve and they don't notice. One day when they woke up the right way, their minds are clean of bad thoughts and they feel amazing so when they play they demolish their record both for scoring and survival. Three weeks later they had a bad day, their mind is full of preoccupations and then they play and get as far as that other day, they turned an exception into the norm yet when that happens they think they did not improve "because I didn't go farther/score more". Players need to acknowledge when that happens.

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

Oh yeah the slow and steady grind is huge!

*My Motto:* *Worse than always losing, is always winning ;)* *There is nothing more boring, than always winning !!* *And if you lose, you still have something to look forward to, at some point ;)*

I just picked my sticks back up and started to play some more shmups for the first time since February or so (changed jobs and then lockdown threw me for a bit of a loop). Before that I had spent some time trying to grind CCWI Boost, and made some progress but probably fell a bit hard on the reset syndrome and burned out a bit. Not sure what grind I’ll end up trying to dedicate to now, will likely bounce around a few games just having fun with it till something seems desirable. Don’t really have a wealth of shmup accomplishments but I did get the Master++ ranking in the CCWI Time Attack on a pretty steady grind of 1-2 hours a day mostly of runs, and learning to at least *mostly* enjoy the process was huge. Got a nice video comment that another player had used my run as reference in also getting the achievement, which was a very welcome boost in dark times.

Another wonderful video in this series, very inspiring 😍

Time to watch this video 100x over

Thank you for these videos. They help a lot! ❤

the fear of getting stuck can really be a problem. what I did is coming back to some games I took time off from making lots of progress. so if the game loses the fun and you can't dedicate yourself enough to keep you going changing direction a for a time is a good option aswell. I agree that grinding only one game is the most efficient way of learning imo. what I recommend is generally play games with a similiar style. like hyper based games if you playing one or other stuff. imo the feel of clearing is amazing, but you know as soon as you got it there are new things available to you now. climbing up the ladder.

Just letting you know that these videos have been helpful. I've always been pretty bad at shmups and last year I found your videos when I started trying to get better. I don't exactly have a goal aside from just practicing all aspects and improving. Eventually I'll go for a 1cc, but I'm still pretty happy just getting to level 4 without dying on a few games. Definitely getting better but my nerves always get me when I realize I'm doing great hahahha. I definitely noticed where I'm at with skill now when a friend came over and we were playing Espgaluda. He just hugged the back of the screen the whole time as I'm zipping around speed killing everything in between waves of bullets. Keep up the good work, love your videos!

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

I m really glad to hear that!

Thank you so much for your how to shmup videos, especially this one. They gave me the advice and inspiration I needed to getting my 1st CC. I've always had a passing interest in the shmup genre, but have always felt this crushing intimidation. I decided I needed to go full in if I was to personally achieve this goal. I chose a shmup that interested me, G-Darius. Bought the pcb, learned to solder and built the open source minigun, paired w/ an ossc, built an arcade stick, and practiced almost daily for a month. Overall about a 3 month journey and I feel damn accomplished. I want more! Congrats, you roped another person into this genre.

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

Helll yes!! This is what I love to see happen!

Guwange (pronounced Gwang not Goo-wang-gey) is hotness. Thanks, I needed this. I'm at a bit of a stuck point in this Twinkle Star Sprites Clone known as Touhou 3? I'm having trouble thinking of ways to practice the game beyond "just playing it to death". It's not one of those games that can be routed as well as you want it to, and even randomness in earlier CAVE shooters have some semblance of consistency that i don't see in Touhou 3. I understand so many subtle things about that game but the dodging aspect is what curbs my chances of loving the game more. I want to love the game, I can't complete that love if I can't even play on Lunatic without a broken desk and shattered mirror. That shmup first aid video idea from that other commenter better be a thing!

Honestly, I appreciate how much time and effort you put into the genre. It's so awesome seeing someone so passionate about something. Since I got into the genre about a month or two ago, I've watched soooo many of your videos haha. I've fallen in love with the genre and I can say you have been a big contributor too that. The game I've grinded the most so far is crimzon clover and I can 1cc novice no problem, now working on that arcade 1cc! on another note, the grind of SHMUPS reminds me of the melee grind haha

@TheElectricUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

I m really happy to hear that ☺️ yes the shmup grind is like the melee grind for sure ha, it takes some time to get past the initial difficulty curve

Thanks for the videos, you've given me some inspiration to start playing again. I always imagined shmups as like trying to climb a mountain, weight lifting, learning kanji or cycling. If you tried to climb Mt Everest (1cc / 2all) with no training, equipment or patience you are bound to fail. You need to put in effort every day and practice small parts of the game. You need to be kind to yourself too, otherwise you are going to burn out. Every mistake is a learning experience. Of course when you watch a superplay you can't see all those thousands of mistakes. I'm too harsh on myself and I don't practice that's why I've never cleared a game.

@TheElectricUnderground

3 жыл бұрын

I m glad to hear your feeling inspired! One thing to know is that the genre can be painful to learn at first, but it becomes insanely fun as you spend more time with it :-)

@darkjapan

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheElectricUnderground Thanks for the reply! I have been playing on and off ever since I bought Ikaruga when it came out for GameCube. I ended up meeting a lot of great players at Stunfest in 2014. Seeing SPS 2-all Ketsui and Hattori double play Ikaruga live was pretty amazing. But sadly I never gave myself the chance to get good. I inspired Blinge to start playing and he has gone on to get some nice 1ccs. I'm kind of a good case study of how not to play lol

I'm still trying to 1CC Donpachi. I've gotten many things of the 1st and 2nd stage down to a science, in order to get extra lives. But man it is a difficult game to finish. I've been going at it for close to 2 years.

@mukabout4243

3 жыл бұрын

@ SxIdierman - A testament to good game design that people would actually want to replay this game for years to achieve perfection! 👌 ohh and there’s of course MAME and ‘save states’ (mmmmm save states 🤤)

My tips would be to try different things if your route is not working, try the other side of the screen etc. Secondly.. don’t try too hard just pick a game you really like and play it as much as you can and you will get better. Third.. keep an eye on that hitbox

I wasn’t playing shmups for about a month and then I played ketsui again because normal games were getting a bit boring and got into it. Somehow I got further than I did last time. The thing I noticed is I wasn’t using bombs last time. Now it isn’t that cool to use a bomb because then I can’t say I no bombed it but you know using a bombs and clearing the game is better than not. It’s also just more reasonable to do than not using them.

Imagine :" The Replay Room" Like Picture frames with the Most legendary replays .

@TheElectricUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

That would be cool!

Sometimes time off from the genre can work wonders.

I've beaten 15 of the all time hardest games made. Quotation marks. My point is for each person has a different measure on it. How I beat games like ghosts and ghouls and ikargua...I studied online videos and proceeded from there. Its 70 percent visual and 30 percent application.

I like your way to explain. Thank you for your vids! ^^

Thank you^^

Been practicing the fuck out of Crimzon Clover I plan on mastering it and then going hard on all the cave games I can get my grubby hands on. Lol

Sorry wich game is in the right Side.

@TheElectricUnderground

4 жыл бұрын

Guwange!!! I m going to start playing it :-)

@JuanRoosterbeard

4 жыл бұрын

The Electric Underground gracias!

Wasting your time with shmups when you should be selling those art prints.

These are games that were designed to eat Japanese people's money you are talking about. Cave's games are straight up cheap. I've never 1cc'd any of them to this day and I own the whole damn console catalog from PS1 Donpachi to Ketsui on PS4. I been playing these games since the 2000s. I honestly think whoever make 2-ALL videos definitely cheated somehow.

@TheElectricUnderground

2 жыл бұрын

The fact that the game is trying to eat your money is what makes them great though!! It's a real battle of wills between yourself and the game.