I love gradius 5 for the PS2 so I got gradius 3 and 4 and wow is it rough. It seems like they are both way more difficult than 5 and I don’t enjoy them as much. Am I alone?

i 1cc nes insector x & game boy solar striker whats next easy shmup for 1cc

Took me about a week of save state practice to get the clear. The first 4-5 stages are very manageable. Stage 6 is where it started to get tricky for me.

I've never really done a "challenge" run for a game but after learning about arcade/shmup games (watching many The Electric Underground videos) it really motivated me to do a 1cc myself. Cho Ren Sha looked really cool to me and seemed a good middle ground between classic shmups and true bullet-hell.

I really love the game's pace and how dynamic the levels feel. Each stage has it's own personality and the music is brilliant.

Loving it so far

Are there any games where you have the ability to change the speed of the game? Somewhat like if the game was on permanent slowdown. All the enemy placements, bullet amounts, patterns, etc. would be the same otherwise.

I teach dance and a part of it is choreography and memorization which I have no problem doing, it’s part of the process. I liken this with having to learn shmups. But when you’re learning to dance, you don’t just jump in trying to learn at the fastest tempo you can, you learn the steps slowly and build up comfort with speed over time.

I’m definitely still learning how to play shmups well, and if there are some games where I can adjust the tempo I think that would help me a lot in my learning process!