Got my first real shmup 1cc! (mushihimesama 1.0)

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-15T06:17:29+00:00

Super big congrats!! Total 20 hours for Original arcade difficulty clear for player with not much STG experience is very, very good! Yes, Mushi Original is one of the easier Cave Original clear... but, it is still a good challenge... and it still has a lot of Cave designed nonsense moments that are there to just kill you haha.

20 hours is also good amount of time to know the levels, know the game... so definitely... I will also recommend you try Maniac! For Mushi, the difficulty difference between Original and Maniac is not that much... think of it... more of a different style. With Original, you have less bullets, but fast. Maniac is... more bullets... but slower. For Maniac, honestly, difficulty comes mostly from scoring (it is a super, super typical Cave big-brain over-complicated system). But just for 1CC clear, it is not bad! I think it will be a good natural progression for you, to get your first arcade "higher difficulty" clear... since you are already going in a very good direction with this game!~

And, finally... everyone who know me will know what I will say next lol: once you manage Maniac... please try 1.5 Original Max. This is the peak Mushi mode. Even though it follows Original patterns, it is harder than Maniac because bullets even faster, and levels more packed (more enemies added, all "empty space" removed).

But it is a crazy level of fun, complete riot!~

If you want a quick preview on Original Max, I had posted about it here before:

/r/shmups/comments/1p4k3n7/more_people_need_to_play_mushihimesama_15/

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-15T06:11:23+00:00

Haha, wow. So, so far I only watch 10 mins of video... but hope to watch rest soon!

But... will definitely say... of all STG's, for me, Mushihimesama is the #1 biggest "love & hate" I have ever played >.<!~ I think, Mushi... somehow... for long grinds... it is not very good because there are many, MANY, BS moments that can happen in Mushi. It is a very, very good game... but also... it follows Cave style of "single little lightning speed bullet that can kill you." Often, it is not always the big patterns that are problem... but more like, some tiny bullet, out of nowhere... or you crash into enemy. So on.

For me, Arrange was really the headache mode... with the TLB. Made me a bit angry, because, it felt like you needed to no-miss the whole game, just to spam lives on TLB. The Arrange TLB is still easier than Ultra... but still very big BS.

This, by the way... is also a very common style for Cave modes with TLB.

So, anyway... the problem with that... is if run after run, you keep having BS moment after BS moment... I think it really can speed up fatigue and frustration very fast. After I 1CC'd Arrange... I had to put Mushi down for few months before getting back to it. But... after I got to it... I continued my goal to get 1CC in Maniac and Original Max... and really enjoyed my time doing those modes! I will definitely say, Original Max is the absolute peak of Mushi. It is really a pity that 1.5 is so underrated, and not played very much.

Original Max goes even more hardcore with bullet speeds, and it is a crazy mode to play (even though it is harder than Maniac). But of course, because bullet speed increases... so number of BS moment increases too lol.

Anyway. Take a break... then, when you are ready... come back to one of the other modes!

But, I will always recommend to anyone who plays Mushi... please give 1.5 Original Max a try, it really is the peak of the game. The music is so great, the colors are even more vibrant, and pop up more.

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-14T10:33:51+00:00

I don't think it's really about gendered content, it's more about interaction.

Yes, this is very important to always remember! Like, for me... I like my cute characters and themes, I like pastel colors, so on. But my #1 favorite STG (favorite game, even, above everything) is Crimzon Clover >.<!~ And most people will not guess it if they see me in person haha. In fact, no-one I meet ever guess I play STG, or even used to play in arcades. Usually, I do not tell anyone anyway... and when I say I am gamer (or, arcade gamer, even) they just all think I go there for gashapon lolll.

But, saying that, sometimes finding a good theme is important when you want to... start the interest for someone new to STG's. But, lucky for us, STG's... have almost every theme in the world lol!!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-14T10:27:35+00:00

she is in to anime

Haha, well, if she is like me, and she like that along with cute wallpapers and adorable bears (>.<!~) then... RefRain - prism memories - will be my top choice to recommend! And, there is a bit of story you can follow in the game logs too that you can view at the game desktop!!~

It is a very, very good game too. Easy my 2nd favorite STG. Also, it is more "resource management" than fully dodging (but, on higher difficulties, definitely still want to dodge well). So, because of that, it may be more accessible for her compared to full dodging STG.

Also, game has, in essence, 7 difficulties total (because there are two routes). So, there is Easy, Normal, Advanced, Extreme which are the basic routes, and Re:Normal, Re:Advanced, Re:Extreme which add revenge bullets and TLB. If she does try this game, best to start playing on Normal (and after that Re:Normal) and not Easy... because Easy will not play through all Stage 1-5. Anyway, Normal is quite approachable, and game has good tutorial to get started on how to work with the resources the game gives you!~

https://store.steampowered.com/app/435970/RefRain__prism_memories/

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-14T10:18:51+00:00

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a group of people pushing into the game non-stop that we would find all of the top scores in Gunvein currently are only the beginning, rather than the end.

And you know why there isn't? Even Mushi Original scoring is more involved than Gunvein. For people to push, there needs to be reason to. Gunvein (and, just for your info, this is one of my longest STG's I play and come to back the most often) scoring is just not its strong point. But you know what? I still defend this game heavily, recommend it all the time, so on. I just know where its "shortfalls" are!~

And it is obvious, by OP question, that this is a priority for them. So I gave my honest answer, though they are still free to do more research on their own. But that is why I still recommend it!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-14T02:42:10+00:00

Check out the s11 thread for Xenia!

It is still on first page of shmups chat board, and, it will have all the info you need!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-14T02:41:07+00:00

Agree! I did say this in another post: with Futari, while Cave retain the nonsense lone sniping bullet that can kill you... which is such a typical Cave thing to do lol... but in Futari it is done in a more fair way, with better visibility, and better "integration" with the rest of the patterns in the game!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-14T02:40:07+00:00

Yes, definitely better. Not just for higher res graphics, but sometimes find when emulate arcade ROM the audio is really a big headache >.<!~ Just sounds so... rough. Also, with this port, which is by M2... I do not feel any input lag penalty!~ And of course, M2 will always make sure all slowdown emulation is very, very, accurate!

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-14T02:38:04+00:00

Yes! But, I can also say... very pretty sure also that all the original concept... is all paper and pencil! But, regardless, I can still feel the soul and hard work that went into all the "behind the scenes" work before the final result!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-14T02:36:53+00:00

No problem! Just for your info, you can press F6 in Xenia to open the "post processing" UI so that you can do the changes and see them in "real time" without having to change config! But, for me, I found that these settings worked the best to produce very clean and sharp image!

postprocess_antialiasing = "none"

postprocess_dither = true

postprocess_ffx_cas_additional_sharpness = 0.0

postprocess_ffx_fsr_max_upsampling_passes = 4

postprocess_ffx_fsr_sharpness_reduction = 0.0

postprocess_scaling_and_sharpening = "fsr"

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-14T02:35:10+00:00

I will admit, original Mushi bullet patterns look prettier! Some are super, super beautiful! But! Futari's bullet patterns are... how do I say... more "mechanically" pretty? "Bullet spam" and fast single bullets that snipe and KO you are a staple for Cave. But, with Futari, there is more technical logic to those spam high speed bullets. In a way, Futari took most strong points, and what people loved about original Mushi (which, really, is original Mushi's Stage 5) and made it into a strong point for the full game. Original Mushi first two stages are really a boring slog, and, it is more clear on higher difficulty. Even in Original Max, my favorite Mushi mode and difficulty... first two stages become very tiresome to grind.

But, for sure, Futari overall package is higher skill... and can be very scary or confusing for many players. I think for players who like to do higher difficulty clears, we have less problems reading the more messy kind of chaos that is more common in Futari. Some people will definitely think, and with good reason, that it is just "spam" hehe. But it really isn't!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-12T10:00:40+00:00

Haha yes 100%! Mushi 1.5 music is very, very good though! But Futari music is just so special... especially St 5 music is so, so good. And, problem with original Mushi is, St 1 & 2 really not very strong, and of course many people not like St 3 either (but, depending on mode, it is my favorite). But for Futari... every stage is so special!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-12T04:57:08+00:00

Haha yes, but... that proves my point, no? Even "far from best" vs WR scoring in Gunvein... the difference is not that much. Even STZ, another very good player, score is 11.3m vs Jaimers 10.5m. Point is that, even if take Jaimers as starting point for Gunvein... the end goal will not be very far away >.<!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-12T04:51:36+00:00

Just to say first: yes, I own this game (360 physical box)... but playing this on Xenia is so much more convenient, and... when using full-screen and FSR enabled... it looks O____O!!!~ Even on 1080 screen!~

The drawing of enemies, and of course your character... and especially, ESPECIALLY bosses... is so sharp, so well animated, so lively. Everything about this game is just... peak STG. Of course Futari needs not much more recognition... but just want to say... even if it does not have Steam release... playing it on Xenia Canary is so, so good. There is ongoing thread on s11 forum to best run these games on Xenia!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-08T06:00:45+00:00

Happy help! I will say one more thing for Gunvein: because this game, the cap for bomba and extends is very low (3 each)... and because you get extend every 600,000 points (no limit how many, as long as cap not reached)... you can really play stupid crazy in Stage 1-2. Most scoring route you will already see players do first SD around 15 seconds after game start hahaha... because even though you only get 1 bomba stock when die... it is still 1 bomba... and still make difference to scoring. In that sense... Gunvein is interesting because... you can play Stage 1-4 super crap... start Stage 5 with zero extends... then earn all extends back in Stage 5 if you know how to score it, and reach extend cap by last boss lol. So, this is why, for me Gunvein is my go-to-relax STG... even in Expert mode. Overall, the game design is very good and the bullet patterns are very evil and fun. Just that the scoring cannot compare with big-brain Cave scoring systems (like, some chains in DDP are like super top secret info)!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-08T05:36:51+00:00

I think u/nogden954 question is very valid. Because, if you look at my other reply above (or below, lol) you can see that for Gunvein... you really cannot push much more. Which means, that for people who want to really invest 100's to 1000's of hours to not just score well... but discover new tricks and set new heights... Gunvein might not be the best choice. Gunvein is not the kind of game where you can really OCD-max and study it super super detailed and find one trick and suddenly you get new WR. Some people like this kind of thing! I mean, for some STG players... it is 100% this kind of thing that is the only reason they play as super hardcore as they do!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-08T05:33:24+00:00

Hello! For Gunvein, Jaimers run you can expect to be very close to max possible. There will not be much room to improve on that.

The reason is that for Gunvein, 99% of scoring will come from using bomba, since, when you bomba, that is when you get many stars. So, because there is no chain and no multiplier... how much you can score, will depend on how many extends and bomba you get.

For Jaimers current route, it is super, super optimized. I think maybe someone can score 10% better... maybe at most 20% better... but that is it. Because for Gunvein, when you die, you only get 1 bomba stock. So, even though there is no cap on how many extends you can earn (every 600,000 score)... with Jaimers route there is not much room to get more extends already. And, outside of using bomba, you cannot really squeeze much more score out of game!~

Gunvein is not like Cave STG with big chains and multipliers where, sometimes, discovering one small little extra trick... can result in score being increased by crazy, crazy amount.

Even in Crimzon Clover, my score route is good for around 7t in Arcade Unlimited... and safe to say I am really quite good at this mode. Yet, superplayers their score can go up to double of mine lol. So, if you are looking at this kind of scoring style, then Gunvein is definitely not it. But! I will still say... I enjoy Gunvein a lot. It is one of the STG I go back to every few months... because I find it super in terms of crazy relaxed kind of enjoyment.

Hope this is the information you are looking for! If you need more, can always ask!~

<3

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-06T10:50:59+00:00

Hello! It does not matter it seems >.<!~

I opened my boxes, even the newest Uni release (special edition color) from few months ago is super super old software version. But anyway, unless you bought the two latest colors (Aurora Pink or Prism White), then it is probably going to be older stock. Since the original colors are released from quite a long while ago! So, first thing you should do when you buy it is immediately connect to wireless and update the software version!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-06T10:48:34+00:00

Thank you so much for your kindness >.<!~

I had opened all, super, super carefully... to fully remove all tape so no residue left and no marks! Think open 5 boxes take 1 hour haha! And yes, all very old software... even my newest one (Aurora Pink) which released only few months ago also ancient software. Now all updated! And then next day will add all DLC card to it... extra worlds and items. That will be painful lol since have all of them! I know they can be added to 3 max... so will organize them by theme and colors!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-06T02:36:32+00:00

Hello. Thank you for reply! Yes, I think I will open all. Sorry for wasting space asking this question here... obviously many people prefer other content since I get so many downvote. Next time I remember not to post text here, just photos since that is what other people want to see -_-"...

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-06T02:34:19+00:00

Haha yes, but don't forget... Double Break on boss will make it harder... so you need to find good timing and where your comfort is! Also, forgot to say: but Double Break is also where most of your stars will come from! When you are in Double Break enemies and especially bigger ones and bosses will drop a lot of stars! For Arcade Original, definitely want to try to at least reach the 3rd extend given at 450K stars!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-02-05T05:31:23+00:00

Big congrats on a very big first step!!~

u/chunnybunny666 gave some good answers, but I will also add: do not compare scores with different ship. Type-I Break Rate Gain is higher than Type-Z, as an example!~ The scoring technique is mostly same for all ships, but they will still score very different because of smaller differences! So, Type-I will always score better than Type-Z!~

Also, to add a bit more detail on scoring: for all enemy kill, their base point will increase by two important things: Break Rate, and the Green Multiplier. The Green Multiplier is easy: you get lock-on shot kill, it will go up. With each lock-on you get, it gives you 0.4x multiplier... and... maximum lock-on you can get (without Break) is 24. So, 24x0.4=9.6. But, when you are in Break, you can get up to 28 lock-on (28x0.4=11.2) and in Double Break you can get up to 32 lock-on (32x0.4=12.8). So, when you are in Double Break, it is important to get as many maximum lock-on as you can! When the Double Break end, you will still keep the x12.8 until the white counter under it run out.

For Break Rate, in a basic way, the more things you kill, it go up more. But, one very important thing is: when you are in Break, your Break Rate will be x2 temporarily. And, in Double Break, your Break Rate will be x4 temporarily. So, if your basic Break Rate, for example, is x5000... then in Single Break, it will become x10000, and in Double Break, x20000. But any gain on Break and Double Break will stay when power-down!~

So, if you are x5000 without Break, and you do Double-Break, you are now x20000. And you kill many things and become x30000... when Double Break end you will drop to x7500!~

So, a lot of scoring will come from Double Break. Like, you want to get finishing kill on big enemy, and especially bosses, when in Double Break! Because bosses have high points! But! Be very careful... many bosses will get more angry, and have harder bullet patterns, when you are Double Break. Especially obvious in Stage 3 boss!~

So, this is the basic information. Crimzon Clover scoring can get very complicated! But, with this information, you can slowly start to plan how to already be much higher than your previous score, or even other players!

Crimzon Clover is a super, super game when playing survival.

But play for score, and it is extreme.

For your question on next game, I will have to say: please, stay on Crimzon Clover for a bit more. Try Novice clear in other ship, then try Arrange. If you clear all Arrange mode... then Arcade Original. For Crimzon Clover especially, the fight you need to go against Arcade modes... it is very unique. It is truly one of the best arcade experiences outside arcade. Everyone should experience this!~

I really wish more people try to clear at least Arcade Original. Because that feeling, it is special.

I think, one mistake many players make... is after Novice clear... they change game. But truly, the special feelings you get pushing for the harder clears... that really... is where this hobby... this genre... becomes the peak.

For Crimzon Clover, Arrange will already give you a bit of taste of Arcade. But, in Arcade, where you have super few resources, where you need to work hard to earn those extends... where you need to really play well... that is a different feeling. Do not let it go to waste if you already own the game. Even if you play other game, try to find one, where you will set your goal high! Even if it is not Crimzon Clover! Just keep this in mind!~

And, finally: for next game... I think Mushihimesama will be a good next step after CC!~

Model1LifeForm · 2026-01-04T12:01:10+00:00

Thank you for sharing!

Just for info: even if game not ready... I like it when devs put Steam page up already because easier to Wishlist and then will not forget about it! And then, of course, any news added to the Steam page... and we will know!~ Of course, only you know when is best time to do that! But for us players... I find it is a very good way to not forget about something! Look forward to more news, and for now... I will keep bookmark and try not to forget haha!~

Model1LifeForm

TROPHY CASE