Raging Blasters | Normal 1CC | PC
I got my Normal mode 1CC in Terarin's Raging Blasters tonight. Really excellent game! Quickly became one of my favorite shmups I've played so far. It took me about four days of practice, and I loved that I could tell I was getting better and learning the stages.
I had a pretty bad run where I was regularly hovering at 1 extra life but made it to the final boss. Who then proceeded to crush me. But then on my next attempt I had a really fantastic run and went in with 5 or 6 lives. Didn't die at all on the final boss since I had the right weapon pick-up.
I couldn't nab a screenshot of my final score screen fast enough before it disappeared. I scored around 2.5 million.
I love the caravan mode too. I play it before and after doing runs. I'm excited that the developer announced a sequel coming in 2027. I'll definitely play more of his games too in the meantime.
My understanding is that Raging Blasters got released on Switch and has some updated graphics. Unsure if there are more changes. I'd like to pick it up when it's on sale and play through it there and see what's different.
Raging Blasters isn't perfect though. Some bosses, like the wiggly arms boss, aren't particularly fun or interesting. Just bullet sponges. This was a problem in Image Striker too. But more of them are good in Raging Blasters, so he's clearly improving as a designer. Also, I wish there was a stage select for practicing and going for personal bests for each stage. Seems a bit like a surprising oversight. (Edit: the developer did end up adding a training mode but accessing it is a bit non-obvious: "On the SELECT GAME screen, enter the controller button L R L R L R to move to the training screen.")
I've come to realize that my favorite shmups so far are the Hudson-era caravan-style games like Raging Blasters, Soldier Blade, and so on.
I'm going to check out Hard mode soon and see how that compares.
Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1464550/RagingBlasters/