I have been enjoying Mushi Futari 1.5 Original mode right off the bat.  I tried Ultra once or twice and was annihilated before the end of Stage 1.  Haven’t touched Maniac or arrange or novice stuff really.  When I got into Mushihimesama 1, I tended towards the Maniac mode.  It was the first Cave game whose scoring system I learned and got good at.  I shuffled Original mode off to the side for the time I spent nailing down a better Maniac route.

It was only untill long after did I play and 1cc Mushihimesama’s Original mode.  And I’m glad that I did, it’s great fun.  It may have been because of the other shooting game experience I got in the meantime that let me appreciate Original mode more-so.  Because now I see how Mushi1 Original feels like a Toaplan game.  The systematic sweeping mechanic is put well into play — when you get to the edge of the screen and have to carve back through the bullet patterns.  That hypnotic sweeping of aerial destruction.  And to be honest, Futari’s original mode feels like that but on lots of steroids.

I was trying to clear Mushi1 Orig. with Lx 4+ but hit a wall at getting Lx4.  I think I was pretty close, if I had just focused and pinpointed my run a bit more.  Soon after my curiosity of Futari, followed the wait for the game.   I decided on getting a US Cock-Box 360.  Pretty glad I did to be honest.  I got most of the retail shmups, RE5, Tales of Vesperia and Star Ocean 4.  AND FUTARI, BITCH.

I hyped up Futari to myself a lot and I’m really enjoying it.  I jumped right into the scoring system of 1.5 Original.  My initial plan was to play the first two stages with the scoring mechanic in mind, then the rest of the stages for survival.  It didn’t take long for me to start playing the whole game with scoring in mind, pinpointing parts where I needed to ignore it.  I started using the practice mode fairly soon and it’s pretty damn handy, running  St. 4 and 5 alternatively and their bosses with the rank at an ideal run setting.  Been hitting the first extend right before the last set of icicle blockades in st. 2.  The first two stages remain fun because of the scoring, unlike Mushi 1′s first 2 stages.

The game has been pumping the adrenaline a little bit too which is always good for playing a shmup.  All the stages are pretty cool.  Been trying to play maybe a half hour+ a day at least.  I’ve already cleared with all the character types except for Abnormal Reco.  Abnormal Reco is actually pretty fun I think, but hard to score or survive with.  Her A-Shot Option Lock is really powerful and if you know the enemy positioning you can just take care of business close range.  Some patterns are hard to fight close range, though.

Tonight I had a pretty crisp run, not dying untill right before Larsa.  Then once again for Lx3, 324mil.  Beating my last score by 30mil.  It might be hard to get those extra points, the top score on the shmups board is 400mil but I’m gonna go for it.  Still having a lot of fun with the mode.

I still have to create my Live account and get some scores on there. >_>