Yo, slight retcon here. Mudprints' newer content is being rebranded and moving to a new channel called Tengokuno. Most likely because his series bullet heaven is getting all mucked up because bullet heaven is now becoming a genre (Vampire Survivor like games). You can still find his older content on the channel I showcased, but if you want the new hotness check out Tengokuno on youtube!
Still feels weird calling them bullet heavens since there was a bullet hell series I played a while back called Bullet Heaven. But, the name stuck I guess. I'd still prefer Survivor-like.
this video fucking ROCKS my guy. i dropped off of shmups after patchouli pwned me in eosd but just watching this gets me pumped up to try again after i get some good sleep. ill be following your future works eagerly
I love this trend youtube has recently where it recommends a random video from a random youtuber and its the most passionate essay about some niche with awesome production and dry humor idk youtube but keep it this coming also my guy, awesome video, going to definitely catch a few of these games, i was here at 300 subs. See you at 300k
thanks for the kind words! i think electric underground really understands the values that alot of "hardcore gamers" and just people who really care about the medium have. he's a really big inspiration for this vid
oh lmao, yesterday i was just searching for bullet hell games to play as i completely mastered the bullet hell sections of Toby Fox's undertale and deltarune and that left me craving more but also harder stuff, and i went hunting online for "real" bullet hells but I didnt know where to start as it seemed like it was impossible to get my hands on any touhou game before the 10th one, which i was afraid would be a late game to start on, and the entire touhou franchise as a whole left me extremely fucking confused, so this video came out at the right time for me and was also a great watch!
yeah touhou can be pretty hard to play without a little bit of tinkering. glad you could take something away from my video. touhou 10 is actually a soft reboot of the franchise, so it isn't too bad of a starting point
A cool undervalued thing about Touhou games is how they are (mostly) accessible for bullet hell beginners and just plain sane for an average player. Rather than "quarter-munching" or over-accomodating to vets, ZUN actually knows how to make a smooth difficulty curve where your knowledge builds up over time, while also rewarding players' survivability with more resources to push forward towards 1CC.
Agreed, Touhou has a much more streamlined onboarding for newer players compared to the older arcade games. modern devs have the advantage of not having to make money off of quarters so their difficulty curve can be as forgiving or harsh as they want, so their design is completely unfiltered. I think the arcade design is really interesting too, especially when black labels are put out to stop the superplayers from demolishing their games and bankrupting them. but i guess ZUN doesn't really need to worry about that, he just wants some beer.
Great video and good recommendations for getting started! I wish more people would get into shmups, but you need to have a lot of tolerance for loosing over and over again to enjoy them
Back when I was a wee little baby, I used to play this shareware version of a shmup called "DemonStar", which was super easy to play as. Ever since then, I havent properly played shmups, except for one time I played Bullet Hell Monday on my android phone. Thanks to this video, now I might actually go and try out other ones in the wild! Amazing and underrated video, subbed
I have heard my fair share of Touhou music remixes and fallen completely in love with Japanese Hardcore Techno(J-core) to the point of spending ~60$ on a single Gensou Hardsound CD. Because of this I have been interested in playing Touhou and bullet hell games for a while. I have actually purchased and cleared Mushihimesama on steam after seeing a review on youtube a while back. I come back to it every once in a while and I do want to eventually get a 1CC. I just wish I had more time for gaming, as Fighting games, Rhythm Games, and Shmups all take big time dedications to get to the level I want to be at.
i feel that dude, the more arcadey my tastes in games become, the more time its gotta take for me to be satisfied. buying an actual gensou hardsound cd is dope, i hope one day i'll be able to go to comiket to actually buy some of the touhou remixes straight from the source
I found this video a few days ago, and it reminded me I bought Crimzon Clover on Steam a long time ago but I never really played it for more than an hour. After watching this I decided to try practicing it on Novice mode and I just got my first 1CC on it which is my first 1CC ever so I'll take it lmao. Anyway thanks for the vid, I'm gonna try some of the harder difficulties now.
Definitely do a video on ZeroRanger, it's incredibly beginner friendly with a gracious checkpoint and lives system, but still allows for perfection for the hardcorists. It also happens to have a great story, music, and art.
Bullet heaven 2 I think is a good place to start for bullet hell games similar to Touhou has alot of levels slowly increasing the difficulty until you get used to things
never played it before but it looks awesome! lots of accessibility options and references to other games is just what some people might need. 4 players sounds like a blast too
@@wutsmyname101 I highly recommend it though it’s my first bullet hell that I finished so I’m biased bullets themselves are pretty and pretty funny game as well
A series i'd also reccomend to beginners who are interested in Touhou is Len'en. It's completely free, so no need for pirating or torrents or buying the game from steam then breaking DRM to translate the games. It's also got a lot more accessibility, with optional modes to make the game a lot easier. For example, where touhou only has Extra mode, Len'en also has easy extra, and you can play every difficulty either unmodified or on "Light" mode, which gives you max lives and basically negates powerloss.
@@wutsmyname101I just want to say and maybe warn you that Len'en is like a niche community within a community in a community... so like the largest channel has a little over 1k subs The community is more focused on the story and basis inspirations, rather than the actual gammaplay. It gets alot of unwarranted hate from 2hu fans, but even the fans would honestly say the gameplay isn't its strong suit.. But I would say give it a try! ^u^
I'd highly recommend Picayune Dreams. Not really a typical bullet hell, but definitely close enough. I'd say it's more accessible gameplay wise than other bullet hell games, yet it has a very interesting aesthetic and mechanics
Graze Counter GM is also pretty good. Multiple playable characters with different styles, a relatively laid back easy mode to ease yourself into the game, no real game over unless you choose to stop, and you can even add to your default lives. The game also is based around the mechanic of grazing, making it a great training ground for graze heavy games like Touhou. Also the soundtrack is like half eurobeat. Go listen to it. Only just got recommended this video, I hope I’m not too late to the party for suggestions. I also just learned Thunder Force V’s soundtrack is getting rereleased by SEGA, it lives in the shadow of its predecessor but it’s a game I absolutely recommend checking out.
Like many other Bullet Hell Monday fans in this comment section, I’d say Bullet Hell Monday is a great shmup, especially for beginners. It’s decently intuitive, especially with missions that task you with scoring high, utilising bombs to cancel bullets for items, getting high destruction rate and maybe even No Miss/No Damage No Bombing (NMNBing) a stage. (I’d still recommend looking up a bullet hell guide/tutorial tho as it will help you understand the missions better) The chapters have shorter goals with similar difficulty to most shmups and it’s free on Mobile! (with IAPs for most shot types unfortunately, but you can spend AP to rent them or get by without them. Steam has those shot types, but costs money) Also the eurobeat soundtrack is 🔥🔥🔥
xD I totally with your statement about Ikaruga, thats how I got introduced to Bullet hell and oh boi does it get difficult on the 2nd stage onwards the 1st is basically bait for newbies. I never completed the game (also because I did not spend that amount of time into grinding the skill to do it)
@wutsmyname101 Nope. Len'En as a whole is a touhou inspired series, down to the one man dev team. RMI, the third game of the series, has the gimmick of playing as a team of two characters instead of one. You swap between them when you get hit, spend a bomb, or flashbomb - a mechanic in all of the games where you can fill up a meter through grazing, and then press the bomb key while unfocused to use a small bomb. It can't exactly be a death bomb, but it still offers a moment of invincibility outside of clearing some bullets. The character you aren't currently playing as will hang out at the bottom of the stage, and can collect power at an increased value, and can collect souls, another gimmick powerup item. The character not being currently played often has some additional properties. For example, in the Team of Yabusame and Tsubakura, Yabusame will move on their own to collect powerups, but Tsubakura has the standard behavior of slowly following the player controlled character. Tsubakura, lazy as they are, grants the ability to collect souls using the controlled character so they don't have to do any of the work. If your okay with downloading a game not on steam that needs a second download for an English translation, I'd recommend trying the series out! 1 and 2 are fairly standard, 3 I covered already, and 4 is... well... a very strange game. From easiest to hardest, 3, 2, 1. In my opinion. I haven't played 4 because it's a strange game and there might be a remake of it eventually.
Very cool video, hope you got a chance to play more zero ranger cuz it's insanely good. The Ikaruga callout, based. The game journalist psychosis around that game is bizarre. I tried getting into it not long after 1CCing most of the touhou games on normal and found it insanely difficult. I can only assume the journalists heaping so much praise on it were pumping 50 credits per clear, playing on easy, and just high off the "elegance" the game's art and mechanics exude.
its really a testament to how good ikaruga's design is. i think good art can be enjoyed even at surface level, but its kind of disheartening to think most people credit munch through it or downplay the genre cause one game is so tightly designed around a strong and flashy mechanic
I've been playing Rabbit & Steel recently. It's not an entirely pure bullet hell and it's more there to meld genres with MMO raiding, especially in multiplayer where it's more emphasized. But it's majority half is definitely one and if you don't know bullet hell gameplay you won't get far.
@@IkaraPopsicle I actually recently got a mouse controlled shmup, and tomorrow I’ll be alone at the house, it would be possible, although not with touhou
First time watching your content. About the touhou segment, cringe, but I agree on most opinions. Blue Revolver and zerorangers are good for a new player, angel at dusk is sick, good segmet Cave sections, alright. good notes on WL and BL, Good notes overall Good comments on M2 ports. Same on Ikaruga and silvergun Great comments on 1CC and how they works, best segment of the video. Good bomb / lifes section Decent selection for the music, stg ost are great Wholesome on shmup niche YT Channels, check them out! About the inputs, good notes. tate and yoko Great comments on touhou games and being jank, suggesting patching them was great. Talking about western bullethell games / roguelikes was also informative You didn't go over the actual gameplay of STGs but you did pretty well. Overall this is probably one of the best shmup-oriented video.
thanks for your feedback! im hoping people who try the games out eventually look at some survival 1cc or scoring footage for their game of choice. i feel like just broadly talking about actual gameplay might sound redundant as i think most people have a general idea on what theyre getting into. i'll be sure to get into the nitty gritty if i cover a single game or series though
and if you want a retro style touhou game there is seihou, but it's really hard to find, but I recommend the third game (or the last game) of the series (banshiryuu) unfortunately only available through piracy
The seihou series is still important to put a spotlight on as it is a sister series to Touhou in a way as Reimu, Marisa, and Yuuka appear in it. I have yet to play them, but Magic Girl Crusade is a bop.
@@appleando752 Seihou 1 specifically is a bit of a pain to set up. Also Uwabami Breakers should also get a spotlight as ZUN composed the final boss theme and said theme also appears in SSIB. It’s called “A Drunkard’s Lemuria.” A doujin collaboration game made around early Touhou and Seihou, this too is only available through the seven seas.
I start with pixel indie game, not related to bullet-hell genre but that how its start... pixel indie game platforming, bullet-hell, simulator or whatever have become more popular due online game not giving what a game should be: fun, away from reality but most importantly, stress free...
I guess a good difficulty escalation would be Aerofighters -> Raiden -> Ikaruga -> Touhou Shoutouts to every Contra game & Metal Slug 3 specifically for being absolute bs too
@@ivycious7488 true. Contra & Metal Slug 3 are technically easier, but they takes way longer than any Touhou game to beat, which means you have to keep your focus for longer, which is hard.
Oh and also (making a separate comment just for soundtracks to check out) some other soundtracks to check out: -Lords of Thunder -Border Down -Ibara (this game’s biggest claim to fame is when Cool&Create mashed up Show Time and Fly to the Leaden Skies) -Rabi Ribi (technically a metroidvania with shmup patterns but I still count it) -Metal Slug -Ginga Force & Natsuki Chronicles (also scored by Yasui) -Zero Wing (unironically, this game has a great soundtrack) -Blast Wind -Hyperduel -Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire (shares a composer with Lords of Thunder) -Star Parodier -Akai Katana (composed by the late Ryu Umemoto, an underrated and goated PC 98 composer, RIP) -Flame Zapper Kotsujin -Illumination Laser (mentioned it in another comment but I gotta say it again for the people in the back) -Burning Force -Broken Thunder (which was pretty much legally distinct Thunder Force, that also flopped so hard that they reused some of the music for the final sections of Segagaga, composed by the same dude who composed Thunder Force V, Blast Wind, Hyper Duel, etc) -Metal Black (composed by ZUNTATA) -Exceed 2nd and 3rd (famous game remixer SSH composes for Exceed 2nd Vampire Rex and all of Exceed 3rd) -MUSHA (Aleste) -Super Aleste aka Space Megaforce -Cho Aniki -Area 88/UN Squadron -Aero Fighters 3 Individual songs I’d say are a must from any of these games are: -Violent Moon (Illumination Laser) -Intersect Thunderbolt (Exceed 3rd) -Theme of MUSHA Aleste (MUSHA) -Full Metal Goddess (Broken Thunder/Segagaga) -Dual Moon (Metal Black) -M.R. (Rabi Ribi) -Intrigue (Metal Slug 5) -Auzal (Lords of Thunder) -Boss (Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire) -Mother Brain (Star Parodier) -Aniki 02 (Cho Aniki) -Sarinuka Sands (Burning Force) -The Justice Ray Part 1-5 (this is a final boss theme that spans multiple different games, starting from Blast Wind and Thunder Force V) -Open Your Eyes (Zero Wing) -Gallant Gunshot (Ginga Force/Natsuki Chronicles) -“Endless Train”, sometimes typoed as Endress Train (Ibara) -Purple Town (Border Down, song is exclusive to Dreamcast version) -Nehanmon/Nirvana Gate (Akai Katana) -Into the Last Battle (Flame Zapper Kotsujin) -Stage 1 (UN Squadron) -Show Me What You’ve Got! (Aero Fighters 3) -Amazonas (Super Aleste) -Black Rain (Hyperduel)
I’ll drop in to recommend QP Shooting Dangerous. It’s super beginner friendly with a bunch of mechanics like being able to pick from a dozen or so bullet patterns and being able to take 3 into a stage with you, your “bomb” being a temporary power up that you’re knocked out of if hit instead of losing a life, bullets are erased if you kill the enemy that made them, and a conquest mode that lets you save after each stage instead of having to do them all in one go. It’s on Steam, give it a shot
The game that brought me into bullet hell is Just Shapes and Beats. It's probably one of the easy bullet hells and from there I moved onto Touhou, I'm still trying to get better at this genre of games.
This is going to sound crazy, but I'd unironically suggest Touhou 15 as a beginner freindly game. Sure it's widely considered the most difficult game in the series, but Pointdevice modes is a perfect tool for a more "into the deep end," "learn by doing" approach. Quick and snappy restarts, you can spend as much time on each section as you need to, you can even step away from the game and come right back to where you left off. Add in a character whose bomb gives a permanent shield that blocks 3 potential deaths, and you've got a more slower paced way of learning the basics, with a strong sense of satisfaction when you finally beat the final boss after days or weeks of slowly making progress bit by bit.
i actually agree to some extent. i think for people who have grown with a more modern mentality of difficulty (progress until you hit a wall, then chip away at it) pointdevice mode is a great introduction. you just kind of have to know the person will stick with it before you can recommend a bonkers game like lolk.
i spent wayyy too long attempting to reach doremy in that game (stage 3, normal) and instead could easily bombrush almost to kanako in th10/mof (stage 6, normal) (there are 6 stages in almost all touhou games)
No "The void rains upon her heart" ? Its prety good game and decent start point, you should try it Also "Sin & Punishment: Star Succesor" is realy good, best TREASURE studio game in my opinion
so far the only bullet hell i've played is Notebook Wars, which has a pretty unique style. I like it, but its later levels on Notebook Wars Ultimate have me stumped... especially that dang boss on level 93!
oh yeah definitely. its a more modern approach to progression which is probably more familiar to most gamers today. should absolutely be in more shmups
A good bullet hell shooters for beginners that i would recommend is Touhou 15 : Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom it is a great choice for beginners since it contains simple patterns which are easy to dodge
Try bullet hell monday sure there is a bit of grind but overall its very fun (mostly recommend the normal one for starters and black for more advanced players)
great video, but you should also explain that whole "dodging rain" thing is something players should not do, instead they should dodge without actually dodging ikaruga (at least the normal difficulty) is challenging but it's also my 2nd 1cc, maybe it's because I watched a bunch of guides on the game (you should for any shmup you're having difficulty with) but it's not the worst shmup for a beginner I can absolutely vouch for zeroranger, and if you want another game that bridges the gap between a typical action game and a shmup hop on hellsinker
Oh for sure, initially I had a whole section about avoiding bullets, talking about micro and macro dodging and where you should be looking at the screen. During editing I felt like it was a little outside of the scope of the video (more of an introduction to shmups) so I cut it out. Games wise, I wanted to showcase a list of games that are intuitive for casual runs, and if they eventually want more than a survival 1cc they could look into scoreplay or harder games
Great introduction video! BUTT! you should be "shot in the leg" ;) for not mentioning indie darlings Crimzon Clover and Rolling Gunner! Especially as a Cave fan since they take huge inspiration from them and Rolling Gunner is even made by former Cave developers if i remember correctly and CC being made by a the Cave Super Player Clover-Tac (Clover = Cave lover). And mentioning Boghog without highlighting the awesome Shmup Gunvein that he made in collaboration with NGDev. All joke aside I just wanted to point out more awesome Indie Shmups if your viewers hasn't found them yet. =) I'm a big Shmup fan but I probably never will touch a Touhou game since I'm not into the mysteriously flying Gothic Lolita and lackluster backgrounds that series has going. I'm more into the arcade style games with awesome Airplane/Spaceship designs and backgrounds with huge explosions and coin or star pick ups flying all over the screen.
@@CarlHammarstrom you’re absolutely right, although I can’t vouch for rolling gunner myself (just haven’t played it yet, not into many horizontals) Crimzon Clover and Gunvein are absolutely dope. To be honest I was just scared the medal vomit on cc would kill the bitrate on the video, but in retrospect it’s literally a bullet hell video so that should’ve just been expected for all the footage. I love touhou but yeah presentation can be lacking in some aspects. Where it truly shines presentation wise is music and in bullet patterns. Religious and supernatural theming with soundtracks as melancholic as they are badass makes it so the ps2 menu in the background just becomes part of the ethereal vibe
Highway Hijinks! its a game being worked on by who mixed the sound for the video actually. you can wishlist it on steam and its also coming out on mobile
Dude ok this one is personal, i'm TRYING to get into it and i'm grinding through them slowly but like... just lemme play another 1k hours of terraria real quick I'm trying to get back into osu too i also need to finish ultrakill yume nikki has been almost finished for about 4 months... i also gotta play through lisa..... bruh i haven't even played half-life 2 still...........
@@wutsmyname101 I KNOW THATS THE THINGGG, I've got so much stuff in my line up, literally some of the most historically important games ever and i'm sitting here playing the same 3 games for thousends of hours because i'm still not done with those either
i actually showcased a couple shmups that many wouldn't consider danmaku. i kind of used bullet hell as a blanket term for shmups in this video, but im well aware of the separation between the two and i really like both types of games so i wanted to show them off a little. call it clickbait, call it seo optimization but you gotta agree it makes for an attractive title.
@@wutsmyname101 Check out Illumination Laser too, underrated game on the same system. Underrated music too, it’s very memorable. Violent Moon (plays for Stage 6) might be one of the greatest stage themes in SHMUP history
i'd recommend thprac for touhou since the games have pretty barebones practice tools shmups wiki has information on the well known ones as well as a video index. just watch survival clears instead of world records cause the latter won't be any good for 1cc also akshually some of these developers don't make bullet hell (konami, irem, toaplan, arguably psikyo)
This is some great info, I definitely should’ve pointed towards shmup wiki at least towards the end. Also yeah a lot of these devs don’t actually make bullet hell but i kinda used it as a blanket term for the sake of the title. Bullet Hell sounds much more elegant than shmup.
While not bullet hell, since you talk about regular shmups in this video I have to mention Hydorah. It's a love letter to classic games in the genre, but it stands on it's own merits despite that. The original version is freeware, and it also has an updated rerelease called Super Hydorah for PC and consoles
oh yeah, i'd definitely say they're beginner friendly bullet hells. they would be pretty brutal too, but the melee mechanic makes vasara much more approachable
I tried Touhous none of them are good kek. They are almost the easiest series, because you need to worry only about not being hot and boss will fly towards your fire. lol
Yo, slight retcon here. Mudprints' newer content is being rebranded and moving to a new channel called Tengokuno. Most likely because his series bullet heaven is getting all mucked up because bullet heaven is now becoming a genre (Vampire Survivor like games). You can still find his older content on the channel I showcased, but if you want the new hotness check out Tengokuno on youtube!
Still feels weird calling them bullet heavens since there was a bullet hell series I played a while back called Bullet Heaven. But, the name stuck I guess.
I'd still prefer Survivor-like.
Thank you, I am a touhou fan, I will now go into more schmup games
this video fucking ROCKS my guy. i dropped off of shmups after patchouli pwned me in eosd but just watching this gets me pumped up to try again after i get some good sleep. ill be following your future works eagerly
Pache is definitely a run killer. I wish you good luck and mad reflexes in your plays!
@@wutsmyname101Yeah... Even after beating eosd Pache still beats me up
I love this trend youtube has recently where it recommends a random video from a random youtuber and its the most passionate essay about some niche with awesome production and dry humor
idk youtube but keep it this coming
also my guy, awesome video, going to definitely catch a few of these games, i was here at 300 subs. See you at 300k
youtube algo has been really good for promoting smaller channels lately, so im really glad this video was able to find some people!
this thumbnail fucks unbelievably hard
Here before this blows up. Or not.
Awesome video, my guy! I think this is an introduction even most schmup fans can take something from.
This is a really great primer on a deep subject, top to bottom in just over 15 mins. Also Electric Underground is the GOAT!
thanks for the kind words! i think electric underground really understands the values that alot of "hardcore gamers" and just people who really care about the medium have. he's a really big inspiration for this vid
oh lmao, yesterday i was just searching for bullet hell games to play as i completely mastered the bullet hell sections of Toby Fox's undertale and deltarune and that left me craving more but also harder stuff, and i went hunting online for "real" bullet hells but I didnt know where to start as it seemed like it was impossible to get my hands on any touhou game before the 10th one, which i was afraid would be a late game to start on, and the entire touhou franchise as a whole left me extremely fucking confused, so this video came out at the right time for me and was also a great watch!
yeah touhou can be pretty hard to play without a little bit of tinkering. glad you could take something away from my video. touhou 10 is actually a soft reboot of the franchise, so it isn't too bad of a starting point
this is severely underrated, i love you
🥰🥰🥰
A cool undervalued thing about Touhou games is how they are (mostly) accessible for bullet hell beginners and just plain sane for an average player. Rather than "quarter-munching" or over-accomodating to vets, ZUN actually knows how to make a smooth difficulty curve where your knowledge builds up over time, while also rewarding players' survivability with more resources to push forward towards 1CC.
Agreed, Touhou has a much more streamlined onboarding for newer players compared to the older arcade games. modern devs have the advantage of not having to make money off of quarters so their difficulty curve can be as forgiving or harsh as they want, so their design is completely unfiltered.
I think the arcade design is really interesting too, especially when black labels are put out to stop the superplayers from demolishing their games and bankrupting them. but i guess ZUN doesn't really need to worry about that, he just wants some beer.
Great video and good recommendations for getting started! I wish more people would get into shmups, but you need to have a lot of tolerance for loosing over and over again to enjoy them
Back when I was a wee little baby, I used to play this shareware version of a shmup called "DemonStar", which was super easy to play as. Ever since then, I havent properly played shmups, except for one time I played Bullet Hell Monday on my android phone.
Thanks to this video, now I might actually go and try out other ones in the wild! Amazing and underrated video, subbed
This video is important.
I'm always scared when I see this kind of video poped on my feed but yours is very well done, amazing work my dude! 👍
glad you liked it!
I have heard my fair share of Touhou music remixes and fallen completely in love with Japanese Hardcore Techno(J-core) to the point of spending ~60$ on a single Gensou Hardsound CD. Because of this I have been interested in playing Touhou and bullet hell games for a while. I have actually purchased and cleared Mushihimesama on steam after seeing a review on youtube a while back. I come back to it every once in a while and I do want to eventually get a 1CC. I just wish I had more time for gaming, as Fighting games, Rhythm Games, and Shmups all take big time dedications to get to the level I want to be at.
i feel that dude, the more arcadey my tastes in games become, the more time its gotta take for me to be satisfied. buying an actual gensou hardsound cd is dope, i hope one day i'll be able to go to comiket to actually buy some of the touhou remixes straight from the source
I found this video a few days ago, and it reminded me I bought Crimzon Clover on Steam a long time ago but I never really played it for more than an hour.
After watching this I decided to try practicing it on Novice mode and I just got my first 1CC on it which is my first 1CC ever so I'll take it lmao.
Anyway thanks for the vid, I'm gonna try some of the harder difficulties now.
was looking for bullethell, thanks for sharing!
Holy moly, great video
Definitely do a video on ZeroRanger, it's incredibly beginner friendly with a gracious checkpoint and lives system, but still allows for perfection for the hardcorists. It also happens to have a great story, music, and art.
Bullet heaven 2 I think is a good place to start for bullet hell games similar to Touhou has alot of levels slowly increasing the difficulty until you get used to things
never played it before but it looks awesome! lots of accessibility options and references to other games is just what some people might need. 4 players sounds like a blast too
@@wutsmyname101 I highly recommend it though it’s my first bullet hell that I finished so I’m biased
bullets themselves are pretty and pretty funny game as well
Great video, amazed eXceed music wasn't mentioned
agh, you just reminded me to pick up a steam key for 3rd. never got to pick it up before they took em down
awesome video! keep up the good work!
Great editing and very useful info for a beginner!!! Awesome job! Also blue revolver just released double action!
i just got to try the new update today! i'm hoping to 1cc sometime in december, cause school is kicking my ass atm lol
just beat zero ranger and was looking for something to scratch the same itch. this was great thank you!
A series i'd also reccomend to beginners who are interested in Touhou is Len'en. It's completely free, so no need for pirating or torrents or buying the game from steam then breaking DRM to translate the games.
It's also got a lot more accessibility, with optional modes to make the game a lot easier. For example, where touhou only has Extra mode, Len'en also has easy extra, and you can play every difficulty either unmodified or on "Light" mode, which gives you max lives and basically negates powerloss.
looks like i gotta check out these len'en games, seems a coupple of its fans hopped on the vid
@@wutsmyname101I just want to say and maybe warn you that Len'en is like a niche community within a community in a community... so like the largest channel has a little over 1k subs
The community is more focused on the story and basis inspirations, rather than the actual gammaplay.
It gets alot of unwarranted hate from 2hu fans, but even the fans would honestly say the gameplay isn't its strong suit.. But I would say give it a try! ^u^
The game I must always recommend for beginners is the mobile series Bullet Hell Monday!
There's also been PC ports that got released on Steam (which are paid releases, but iirc Bullet Hell Monday Black is free)
@@FyterMakesMusic Oh my gosh, how did I not know that!
I checked it, the free one is Finale, I got it!
I'd highly recommend Picayune Dreams. Not really a typical bullet hell, but definitely close enough. I'd say it's more accessible gameplay wise than other bullet hell games, yet it has a very interesting aesthetic and mechanics
Good work, mate!
:D
Thanks for reminding me of Ikaruga!
Great video!
Graze Counter GM is also pretty good. Multiple playable characters with different styles, a relatively laid back easy mode to ease yourself into the game, no real game over unless you choose to stop, and you can even add to your default lives. The game also is based around the mechanic of grazing, making it a great training ground for graze heavy games like Touhou.
Also the soundtrack is like half eurobeat. Go listen to it. Only just got recommended this video, I hope I’m not too late to the party for suggestions.
I also just learned Thunder Force V’s soundtrack is getting rereleased by SEGA, it lives in the shadow of its predecessor but it’s a game I absolutely recommend checking out.
Like many other Bullet Hell Monday fans in this comment section, I’d say Bullet Hell Monday is a great shmup, especially for beginners. It’s decently intuitive, especially with missions that task you with scoring high, utilising bombs to cancel bullets for items, getting high destruction rate and maybe even No Miss/No Damage No Bombing (NMNBing) a stage. (I’d still recommend looking up a bullet hell guide/tutorial tho as it will help you understand the missions better) The chapters have shorter goals with similar difficulty to most shmups and it’s free on Mobile! (with IAPs for most shot types unfortunately, but you can spend AP to rent them or get by without them. Steam has those shot types, but costs money)
Also the eurobeat soundtrack is 🔥🔥🔥
Bloody good wee video! Have a sub.
Amazing stuff man
xD I totally with your statement about Ikaruga, thats how I got introduced to Bullet hell and oh boi does it get difficult on the 2nd stage onwards the 1st is basically bait for newbies. I never completed the game (also because I did not spend that amount of time into grinding the skill to do it)
haha yeah, its a little unfortunate how the most popular shmup is the one most likely to turn people away from the genre
Directions unclear, Played Len'En 3: Reactivate Majestic Imperial, the bullet hell with mario kart double dash mechanics.
That sounds super sick. is it any similar to shippu mahou daisakusen?
@wutsmyname101 Nope.
Len'En as a whole is a touhou inspired series, down to the one man dev team.
RMI, the third game of the series, has the gimmick of playing as a team of two characters instead of one.
You swap between them when you get hit, spend a bomb, or flashbomb - a mechanic in all of the games where you can fill up a meter through grazing, and then press the bomb key while unfocused to use a small bomb.
It can't exactly be a death bomb, but it still offers a moment of invincibility outside of clearing some bullets.
The character you aren't currently playing as will hang out at the bottom of the stage, and can collect power at an increased value, and can collect souls, another gimmick powerup item. The character not being currently played often has some additional properties. For example, in the Team of Yabusame and Tsubakura, Yabusame will move on their own to collect powerups, but Tsubakura has the standard behavior of slowly following the player controlled character. Tsubakura, lazy as they are, grants the ability to collect souls using the controlled character so they don't have to do any of the work.
If your okay with downloading a game not on steam that needs a second download for an English translation, I'd recommend trying the series out!
1 and 2 are fairly standard, 3 I covered already, and 4 is... well... a very strange game.
From easiest to hardest, 3, 2, 1. In my opinion. I haven't played 4 because it's a strange game and there might be a remake of it eventually.
another len'en fan found in the wild? good to see you!
LETS GOO LEN'EN !!!!!
Very cool video, hope you got a chance to play more zero ranger cuz it's insanely good. The Ikaruga callout, based. The game journalist psychosis around that game is bizarre. I tried getting into it not long after 1CCing most of the touhou games on normal and found it insanely difficult. I can only assume the journalists heaping so much praise on it were pumping 50 credits per clear, playing on easy, and just high off the "elegance" the game's art and mechanics exude.
its really a testament to how good ikaruga's design is. i think good art can be enjoyed even at surface level, but its kind of disheartening to think most people credit munch through it or downplay the genre cause one game is so tightly designed around a strong and flashy mechanic
Very good vid!
I may not have an interest in bullet hells, but I do love listening to people talk about their niches.
Great video
awesome
realm of the mad god
I've been playing Rabbit & Steel recently. It's not an entirely pure bullet hell and it's more there to meld genres with MMO raiding, especially in multiplayer where it's more emphasized.
But it's majority half is definitely one and if you don't know bullet hell gameplay you won't get far.
The thumbnail gave me confusion
Hearing shmup and beat em’ up in the same sentence gave me confusion because I started to think about shmeat
@@Nzargnalphabet 😧
@@wutsmyname101 😈
@@Nzargnalphabet touhou but the controls are your c-
@@IkaraPopsicle I actually recently got a mouse controlled shmup, and tomorrow I’ll be alone at the house, it would be possible, although not with touhou
"You cant fxxk me" mentioned, this video is instantly 10/10
For me it was Batsugun that really got me into STGs.
batsugun is awesome but ngl when i first played it i laughed my ass off seeing iceman for the first time
Also, great video!
ah, yes
the Touhoutale genre
/j
2015 was an odd time to be a touhou fan for sure
man pls play zeroranger, it's really the best shmup of all times (you should also play the dev's next game Void Stranger)
Nice video, if you like those games may I reccomend Demonizer, Ganablade, Gun Wings, Danmakai, Caladrius Blaze, Cosmo Dreamer and Kamui.
I used to play them 2hus back before the meme-wars. Those where the days...
[insert old man rambling]
First time watching your content.
About the touhou segment, cringe, but I agree on most opinions.
Blue Revolver and zerorangers are good for a new player, angel at dusk is sick, good segmet
Cave sections, alright. good notes on WL and BL, Good notes overall
Good comments on M2 ports. Same on Ikaruga and silvergun
Great comments on 1CC and how they works, best segment of the video.
Good bomb / lifes section
Decent selection for the music, stg ost are great
Wholesome on shmup niche YT Channels, check them out!
About the inputs, good notes. tate and yoko
Great comments on touhou games and being jank, suggesting patching them was great.
Talking about western bullethell games / roguelikes was also informative
You didn't go over the actual gameplay of STGs but you did pretty well.
Overall this is probably one of the best shmup-oriented video.
thanks for your feedback! im hoping people who try the games out eventually look at some survival 1cc or scoring footage for their game of choice. i feel like just broadly talking about actual gameplay might sound redundant as i think most people have a general idea on what theyre getting into. i'll be sure to get into the nitty gritty if i cover a single game or series though
and if you want a retro style touhou game there is seihou, but it's really hard to find, but I recommend the third game (or the last game) of the series (banshiryuu) unfortunately only available through piracy
Retro Touhou... The PC98 era is right there.
@@appleando752 oops, i realized my comment makes no sense 😓
The seihou series is still important to put a spotlight on as it is a sister series to Touhou in a way as Reimu, Marisa, and Yuuka appear in it.
I have yet to play them, but Magic Girl Crusade is a bop.
@@appleando752 yeah
@@appleando752
Seihou 1 specifically is a bit of a pain to set up. Also Uwabami Breakers should also get a spotlight as ZUN composed the final boss theme and said theme also appears in SSIB. It’s called “A Drunkard’s Lemuria.” A doujin collaboration game made around early Touhou and Seihou, this too is only available through the seven seas.
GRAHHHHHHH ZERORANGER MENTIONED
I start with pixel indie game, not related to bullet-hell genre but that how its start... pixel indie game platforming, bullet-hell, simulator or whatever have become more popular due online game not giving what a game should be: fun, away from reality but most importantly, stress free...
I guess a good difficulty escalation would be
Aerofighters -> Raiden -> Ikaruga -> Touhou
Shoutouts to every Contra game & Metal Slug 3 specifically for being absolute bs too
You REALLY seem to overestimate touhou's difficulty
@@roihu3m at max difficulty though?
@@WoobertAIO Touhou games on Lunatic are still pretty doable compared to alot of arcade shmups (I haven't played UFO on Lunatic yet though, lol)
@@ivycious7488 true. Contra & Metal Slug 3 are technically easier, but they takes way longer than any Touhou game to beat, which means you have to keep your focus for longer, which is hard.
@@WoobertAIO Contra is probably on the easier end for a clear on both arcade & NES. Plus Raiden II/DX are their own beasts in difficulty.
good video!
I'm a minute in, I encountered "the list" and I'm repulsed by lack of "Raprtor: Call of the Shadows" on it, mend your mistake ;)
Oh and also (making a separate comment just for soundtracks to check out) some other soundtracks to check out:
-Lords of Thunder
-Border Down
-Ibara (this game’s biggest claim to fame is when Cool&Create mashed up Show Time and Fly to the Leaden Skies)
-Rabi Ribi (technically a metroidvania with shmup patterns but I still count it)
-Metal Slug
-Ginga Force & Natsuki Chronicles (also scored by Yasui)
-Zero Wing (unironically, this game has a great soundtrack)
-Blast Wind
-Hyperduel
-Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire (shares a composer with Lords of Thunder)
-Star Parodier
-Akai Katana (composed by the late Ryu Umemoto, an underrated and goated PC 98 composer, RIP)
-Flame Zapper Kotsujin
-Illumination Laser (mentioned it in another comment but I gotta say it again for the people in the back)
-Burning Force
-Broken Thunder (which was pretty much legally distinct Thunder Force, that also flopped so hard that they reused some of the music for the final sections of Segagaga, composed by the same dude who composed Thunder Force V, Blast Wind, Hyper Duel, etc)
-Metal Black (composed by ZUNTATA)
-Exceed 2nd and 3rd (famous game remixer SSH composes for Exceed 2nd Vampire Rex and all of Exceed 3rd)
-MUSHA (Aleste)
-Super Aleste aka Space Megaforce
-Cho Aniki
-Area 88/UN Squadron
-Aero Fighters 3
Individual songs I’d say are a must from any of these games are:
-Violent Moon (Illumination Laser)
-Intersect Thunderbolt (Exceed 3rd)
-Theme of MUSHA Aleste (MUSHA)
-Full Metal Goddess (Broken Thunder/Segagaga)
-Dual Moon (Metal Black)
-M.R. (Rabi Ribi)
-Intrigue (Metal Slug 5)
-Auzal (Lords of Thunder)
-Boss (Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire)
-Mother Brain (Star Parodier)
-Aniki 02 (Cho Aniki)
-Sarinuka Sands (Burning Force)
-The Justice Ray Part 1-5 (this is a final boss theme that spans multiple different games, starting from Blast Wind and Thunder Force V)
-Open Your Eyes (Zero Wing)
-Gallant Gunshot (Ginga Force/Natsuki Chronicles)
-“Endless Train”, sometimes typoed as Endress Train (Ibara)
-Purple Town (Border Down, song is exclusive to Dreamcast version)
-Nehanmon/Nirvana Gate (Akai Katana)
-Into the Last Battle (Flame Zapper Kotsujin)
-Stage 1 (UN Squadron)
-Show Me What You’ve Got! (Aero Fighters 3)
-Amazonas (Super Aleste)
-Black Rain (Hyperduel)
You sir, are a scholar and a gentlemen. I would add Eschatos and especially Bio-Hazard Battle.
I’ll drop in to recommend QP Shooting Dangerous. It’s super beginner friendly with a bunch of mechanics like being able to pick from a dozen or so bullet patterns and being able to take 3 into a stage with you, your “bomb” being a temporary power up that you’re knocked out of if hit instead of losing a life, bullets are erased if you kill the enemy that made them, and a conquest mode that lets you save after each stage instead of having to do them all in one go. It’s on Steam, give it a shot
Also try out Bullet Heaven 2, though it might be a bit too easy, but i might be wrong
The game that brought me into bullet hell is Just Shapes and Beats. It's probably one of the easy bullet hells and from there I moved onto Touhou, I'm still trying to get better at this genre of games.
just shapes and beats is such a cool and unique game. glad it brought you into the genre!
This is going to sound crazy, but I'd unironically suggest Touhou 15 as a beginner freindly game. Sure it's widely considered the most difficult game in the series, but Pointdevice modes is a perfect tool for a more "into the deep end," "learn by doing" approach. Quick and snappy restarts, you can spend as much time on each section as you need to, you can even step away from the game and come right back to where you left off. Add in a character whose bomb gives a permanent shield that blocks 3 potential deaths, and you've got a more slower paced way of learning the basics, with a strong sense of satisfaction when you finally beat the final boss after days or weeks of slowly making progress bit by bit.
i actually agree to some extent. i think for people who have grown with a more modern mentality of difficulty (progress until you hit a wall, then chip away at it) pointdevice mode is a great introduction. you just kind of have to know the person will stick with it before you can recommend a bonkers game like lolk.
i spent wayyy too long attempting to reach doremy in that game (stage 3, normal)
and instead could easily bombrush almost to kanako in th10/mof (stage 6, normal)
(there are 6 stages in almost all touhou games)
how about len'en or seihou?
I’m planning to release a touhou only video in the far future, so I will be sure to mention them there as they’re definitely related.
I used to love playing Raiden X when I was a kid
No "The void rains upon her heart" ? Its prety good game and decent start point, you should try it
Also "Sin & Punishment: Star Succesor" is realy good, best TREASURE studio game in my opinion
sin and punishment is one of my favorite series!
Aww no Hellsinker, Sora and Suguri.... still I highly recommend Blue Revolver.
so far the only bullet hell i've played is Notebook Wars, which has a pretty unique style. I like it, but its later levels on Notebook Wars Ultimate have me stumped... especially that dang boss on level 93!
The simple answer: (You) don’t.
Move along, these are not the droids you’re looking for
rabbit and steel! :D
I started with super galaxy squadron
Protocorgi is also a good sideways beginner shmup (it's not bullet hell, but then again neither is R-Type.)
Kinda wish the pointdevice mode of Touhou 15 wasnt a one-time only thing.
oh yeah definitely. its a more modern approach to progression which is probably more familiar to most gamers today. should absolutely be in more shmups
@@wutsmyname101 funnily enough I also had a blast with impossible spellcard, I think I should give a try to the shoot the bullet ones
A good bullet hell shooters for beginners that i would recommend is Touhou 15 : Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom
it is a great choice for beginners since it contains simple patterns which are easy to dodge
😧
@@wutsmyname101 shocking right?
that you forgot this one in the video :D
Try bullet hell monday sure there is a bit of grind but overall its very fun (mostly recommend the normal one for starters and black for more advanced players)
Touhou yes
Start with skyforce either on the phone or consoles
3:20 try to ignore the what
for your sake, it is much better that you do not know
great video, but you should also explain that whole "dodging rain" thing is something players should not do, instead they should dodge without actually dodging
ikaruga (at least the normal difficulty) is challenging but it's also my 2nd 1cc, maybe it's because I watched a bunch of guides on the game (you should for any shmup you're having difficulty with) but it's not the worst shmup for a beginner
I can absolutely vouch for zeroranger, and if you want another game that bridges the gap between a typical action game and a shmup hop on hellsinker
Oh for sure, initially I had a whole section about avoiding bullets, talking about micro and macro dodging and where you should be looking at the screen. During editing I felt like it was a little outside of the scope of the video (more of an introduction to shmups) so I cut it out.
Games wise, I wanted to showcase a list of games that are intuitive for casual runs, and if they eventually want more than a survival 1cc they could look into scoreplay or harder games
no bullet heaven 2 in this video 😭
Theres a really fun set of mobile games called bullet hell monday, and its recently gotten on steam
yessss those games are sick. i remember playing em wayyy back in middle school on mobile. sat right next to the touhou boss knockoffs
Great introduction video! BUTT! you should be "shot in the leg" ;) for not mentioning indie darlings Crimzon Clover and Rolling Gunner! Especially as a Cave fan since they take huge inspiration from them and Rolling Gunner is even made by former Cave developers if i remember correctly and CC being made by a the Cave Super Player Clover-Tac (Clover = Cave lover). And mentioning Boghog without highlighting the awesome Shmup Gunvein that he made in collaboration with NGDev. All joke aside I just wanted to point out more awesome Indie Shmups if your viewers hasn't found them yet. =)
I'm a big Shmup fan but I probably never will touch a Touhou game since I'm not into the mysteriously flying Gothic Lolita and lackluster backgrounds that series has going. I'm more into the arcade style games with awesome Airplane/Spaceship designs and backgrounds with huge explosions and coin or star pick ups flying all over the screen.
@@CarlHammarstrom you’re absolutely right, although I can’t vouch for rolling gunner myself (just haven’t played it yet, not into many horizontals) Crimzon Clover and Gunvein are absolutely dope. To be honest I was just scared the medal vomit on cc would kill the bitrate on the video, but in retrospect it’s literally a bullet hell video so that should’ve just been expected for all the footage.
I love touhou but yeah presentation can be lacking in some aspects. Where it truly shines presentation wise is music and in bullet patterns. Religious and supernatural theming with soundtracks as melancholic as they are badass makes it so the ps2 menu in the background just becomes part of the ethereal vibe
@@wutsmyname101 I'm not very into Hori Shmups either but Rolling Gunner is an exception. So give it a try! I think it's on sale on steam right now!
Whats the name of the roguelite racing game at 7:13?
Highway Hijinks! its a game being worked on by who mixed the sound for the video actually. you can wishlist it on steam and its also coming out on mobile
Dude ok this one is personal, i'm TRYING to get into it and i'm grinding through them slowly
but like... just lemme play another 1k hours of terraria real quick
I'm trying to get back into osu too
i also need to finish ultrakill
yume nikki has been almost finished for about 4 months...
i also gotta play through lisa.....
bruh i haven't even played half-life 2 still...........
bro you gotta get on lisa those games are so good
@@wutsmyname101 I KNOW THATS THE THINGGG, I've got so much stuff in my line up, literally some of the most historically important games ever and i'm sitting here playing the same 3 games for thousends of hours because i'm still not done with those either
if the video is on danmaku shmups why did you show tatsujin and sengoku blade/tengai? they play nothing like danmaku
i actually showcased a couple shmups that many wouldn't consider danmaku. i kind of used bullet hell as a blanket term for shmups in this video, but im well aware of the separation between the two and i really like both types of games so i wanted to show them off a little. call it clickbait, call it seo optimization but you gotta agree it makes for an attractive title.
Great video! You remind me of FunkE
thats some high praise. love that guy, hope he uploads soon
holy shit only 185 subs? im claiming my old ticket
might be a loooooong time before its worth anything
Have you tried Beat Da Beat ?
nope, but it looks dope! might pick it up since its so cheap on steam
Another bullet hells? I still have 18 more scenes to clear in Touhou 14.3 (no items).
get to capturing those spellcards broski
yoo I have 18 more mainline touhou games to at least clear on easy mode
Sir, you forgot Cho Ren Sha 68k.
shi yeah you right
@@wutsmyname101
Check out Illumination Laser too, underrated game on the same system. Underrated music too, it’s very memorable. Violent Moon (plays for Stage 6) might be one of the greatest stage themes in SHMUP history
Would like to shout out Ether Vapor
Give me the Shinobu figurine.
If you want it, then you'll have to take it. But you already knew that.
i'd recommend thprac for touhou since the games have pretty barebones practice tools
shmups wiki has information on the well known ones as well as a video index. just watch survival clears instead of world records cause the latter won't be any good for 1cc
also akshually some of these developers don't make bullet hell (konami, irem, toaplan, arguably psikyo)
This is some great info, I definitely should’ve pointed towards shmup wiki at least towards the end.
Also yeah a lot of these devs don’t actually make bullet hell but i kinda used it as a blanket term for the sake of the title. Bullet Hell sounds much more elegant than shmup.
I’ve honestly only played Touhou
While not bullet hell, since you talk about regular shmups in this video I have to mention Hydorah. It's a love letter to classic games in the genre, but it stands on it's own merits despite that. The original version is freeware, and it also has an updated rerelease called Super Hydorah for PC and consoles
LMAO Gigyas101
What about vasara 1 and 2, are they not beginner friendly or are they not really bullet hells in the first place?
oh yeah, i'd definitely say they're beginner friendly bullet hells. they would be pretty brutal too, but the melee mechanic makes vasara much more approachable
i commented something the other day and now the comment is gone idk what happened to it.. :(
sorry about that, i can't find it in "held for review" so youtube must've just randomly deleted the comment :(
@@wutsmyname101 ah okaa ima resend it
@@wutsmyname101 oka so i resent my comment around an hour ago and its gone again
I tried Touhous none of them are good kek. They are almost the easiest series, because you need to worry only about not being hot and boss will fly towards your fire. lol
so then, which series would you recommend?
BulletHells which hader than Touhou still too hard for me.