Progear - 1CC (1-ALL, Ring/Nail, 29.5mil to 2-2)

1 Credit Clear of the first loop of Progear. This run clears the first loop with 27,686,070pts using Ring/Nail (forward gunner formation). It gameovers in loop 2 stage 2 with 29,475,870pts. Progear (or 'Progear no Arashi' to use its full title) was developed by Cave and published by Capcom on the CPS2 arcade hardware in 2001. It was Cave's first attempt at a horizontal shooter, and they did a fine job with it. The central mechanic of the game is bullet cancelling. When an enemy explodes, any nearby bullets will be cancelled into either rings or jewels, depending on whether you used wide shot or focus shot respectively. Jewels are what you want for score, but the exact jewel you get depends on the highest value ring you've collected. Therefore, the basic gameplay loop is to cancel enough bullets with wide shot to escalate up to diamond rings, then cancel bullets with lock to get diamonds, then repeat the process. When a bullet is converted into a jewel, any nearby bullets within a certain radius will also get converted - this means you can set up some spectacular chain reactions like the planes at the end of stage 1, or the gondolas near the end of stage 5. The cancel radius increases with jewel value, so this is most effective with diamonds. Overall, I had a very fun time learning this one. The game seems intimidating at first due to the high bullet count, but once you map out your bullet cancels it's actually quite approachable. There are several ways to handle each section, and the routing is pretty flexible overall. It basically just depends on how far you want to push your score. The game is quite generous with extends (1st at 3mil & every 4mil thereafter) so it naturally encourages proper scoring, and the big jewel cancels are also very satisfying to pull off so it works out really nicely. Stages have some interesting and fun challenges, and there's some very unique boss patterns in there as well. It's just a very well designed game. Presentation-wise the game is a little bit of mixed bag. The spritework and overall aesthetic are good, but the soundtrack is pretty weak, and the shrill sound of jewel collection can be a little harsh on the ears. The audio is an unfortunate blot on an otherwise very solid game. The 2nd loop is accessed if the game was cleared with 2 bombs or less used, or if the sum of deaths + bombs used is less than 8. The main difference in loop 2, along with the addition of revenge bullets, is the introduction of checkpoints. Dying in a stage now sends you right back to the start of the level, which really is as mean as it sounds. I haven't learned any loop 2 stages so I just flailed until I bled out. Still a pretty decent run overall. Didn't nail everything correctly, but I'm happy with 25mil+ for the first loop, and also pleased to get a no-miss no-bomb of the last boss on video. This run was played on MAME, but if you're looking for an official release, Progear is included in the Capcom Arcade Stadium, which is out now on all modern platforms. Check it out. If you want to learn more about the game's various subtleties, check out the excellent page on the shmups wiki: https://shmups.wiki/library/Progear_n... Shooting Game Never Die.