Congrats and the clear and fantastic commentary! I agree that Deathsmiles is a great beginner shmup and an amazing introduction to Cave games. It was one of the first shmups I played, but back when I was starting out the Castle level and Jitterbug were too difficult for me. I came back to it after clearing a few other games and it felt a lot easier. My go-to shmup for beginners is Crimzon Clover, because I think it has the best-designed Novice Mode. It teases a lot of what is great about shmups and feels like an accomplishment when you get the clear. Then again I really like that game so I might be biased. 😅
Crimzon Clover is an excellent beginner shmup! Really good novice mode for sure My first ever shmup clear was Darius Gaiden, just because I loved the art, music and gameplay enough to push through. I think one of the most important elements in a beginner clear is how excited you are about the game, almost regardless of difficulty!
@@GojiGuy Oh yeah Darius Gaiden is so cool and some of the routes are very approachable. I agree, playing a game you really like is the most important and also means you're more likely to stick with it!
Thank you king for this great vid!!!!! I am a beginner shmup player myself ( just got into them a couple months ago) and I agree that deathsmiles is great for beginners! My first and only 1cc was Touhou 8 Imperishable Night on Normal (with the harder final level) and honestly I feel like I will 1cc this much easier. Touhou 8 is great because you can practice individual bullet patterns (called spell cards) instead of having to practice the entire boss or entire stage like I believe you have to in this game's practice mode, but overall i think this game will be easier. Thanks again!
Okay i have no idea how you do the house scoring trick. I either lose my power up before i get to the house or the house just turns to skulls and not crowns. Could you explain how to do this in detail please?
You have to trigger hyper mode at the right time and then you need to kill enemies with the correct shot type to generate crowns and collect those crowns. Once you get enough crowns you will start generating gold crowns. At this point, destroying the in house generates a huge bonus! What I mean by correct shot type is either rapid or focus fire. Tap or hold. Each enemy responds differently.
That was awesome!!! I really like shmups but I am not brilliant at them. In this I get beat up on the castle. I will be studying this to improve. Thank you Sir! 😊😊😎👏
I think Cosmodreamer and Likedreamer are one of the best beginner shmups because you can break down the sections on practice mode and have quite a lot of options to set up a difficulty which is just right for you (casual/maniac/expert, different shots and different enhancements which will determine how much autobomb will help). But if only cave is an option the deathsmiles series seems to be very approachable! I recently cracked part 2 and your commentary will be a huge and necessary resource to make it through part 1. P.S. What I wanted to ask: how did you set up your controls? I use a PS4 Dual Shock Controller and the left/right shooting buttons really confuse me.
I haven't tried cosmo/like dreamer I'll have to give them a shot. As for controls, I play on stock but on PS4 DualShock I'd recommend: Square - left shot Triangle - right shot X - left rapid Circle - right rapid R1 - bomb L1 - left shot + right shot Or something like that.
@@GojiGuy Thanks a lot. It's really smart to put all the shots on the thumb buttons - shoulder buttons with all the switching don't work well here, as I have painfully experienced.
Yes there is! Make sure when you kill enemies they drop GOLD CROWNS not GREY SKULLS. To do this, you need to determine whether and enemy should be killed with rapid shot or normal shot. For example, the eyeball monsters will drop gold CROWNS only when killed with rapid.
Deathsmiles is my favorite shmup series of all time. No other shmup series even comes close.
Congrats and the clear and fantastic commentary! I agree that Deathsmiles is a great beginner shmup and an amazing introduction to Cave games. It was one of the first shmups I played, but back when I was starting out the Castle level and Jitterbug were too difficult for me. I came back to it after clearing a few other games and it felt a lot easier.
My go-to shmup for beginners is Crimzon Clover, because I think it has the best-designed Novice Mode. It teases a lot of what is great about shmups and feels like an accomplishment when you get the clear. Then again I really like that game so I might be biased. 😅
Crimzon Clover is an excellent beginner shmup! Really good novice mode for sure
My first ever shmup clear was Darius Gaiden, just because I loved the art, music and gameplay enough to push through. I think one of the most important elements in a beginner clear is how excited you are about the game, almost regardless of difficulty!
@@GojiGuy Oh yeah Darius Gaiden is so cool and some of the routes are very approachable. I agree, playing a game you really like is the most important and also means you're more likely to stick with it!
Thank you king for this great vid!!!!! I am a beginner shmup player myself ( just got into them a couple months ago) and I agree that deathsmiles is great for beginners! My first and only 1cc was Touhou 8 Imperishable Night on Normal (with the harder final level) and honestly I feel like I will 1cc this much easier. Touhou 8 is great because you can practice individual bullet patterns (called spell cards) instead of having to practice the entire boss or entire stage like I believe you have to in this game's practice mode, but overall i think this game will be easier. Thanks again!
Okay i have no idea how you do the house scoring trick. I either lose my power up before i get to the house or the house just turns to skulls and not crowns. Could you explain how to do this in detail please?
You have to trigger hyper mode at the right time and then you need to kill enemies with the correct shot type to generate crowns and collect those crowns. Once you get enough crowns you will start generating gold crowns. At this point, destroying the in house generates a huge bonus!
What I mean by correct shot type is either rapid or focus fire. Tap or hold. Each enemy responds differently.
That was awesome!!! I really like shmups but I am not brilliant at them. In this I get beat up on the castle. I will be studying this to improve. Thank you Sir! 😊😊😎👏
I think Cosmodreamer and Likedreamer are one of the best beginner shmups because you can break down the sections on practice mode and have quite a lot of options to set up a difficulty which is just right for you (casual/maniac/expert, different shots and different enhancements which will determine how much autobomb will help). But if only cave is an option the deathsmiles series seems to be very approachable! I recently cracked part 2 and your commentary will be a huge and necessary resource to make it through part 1.
P.S. What I wanted to ask: how did you set up your controls? I use a PS4 Dual Shock Controller and the left/right shooting buttons really confuse me.
I haven't tried cosmo/like dreamer I'll have to give them a shot.
As for controls, I play on stock but on PS4 DualShock I'd recommend:
Square - left shot
Triangle - right shot
X - left rapid
Circle - right rapid
R1 - bomb
L1 - left shot + right shot
Or something like that.
@@GojiGuy Thanks a lot. It's really smart to put all the shots on the thumb buttons - shoulder buttons with all the switching don't work well here, as I have painfully experienced.
Love this game, and all cave games. Good video.
Thank you!
Love it!
Do also try Cotton Reboot if you haven't already.
Cotton Reboot is great! I've got to spend more time with it for sure
Nice guide. Gotta admit the deathsmiles bosses are some of cave's worst though
I find it very hard to get to 1000 power up score on the first stage at max rank, is there some kind of trick to it?
Yes there is! Make sure when you kill enemies they drop GOLD CROWNS not GREY SKULLS. To do this, you need to determine whether and enemy should be killed with rapid shot or normal shot. For example, the eyeball monsters will drop gold CROWNS only when killed with rapid.