虫姫さまふたり ~ Mushihimesama Futari - Ultra Mode ALL Clear

Guess it was about time that I did this. Turn on captions to see extra commentary.
Crazy mode, definitely one of the hardest shmup clears out there.
Ultra is the hardest mode in the game and is quite notorious for being extremely difficult.
While the bullet patterns are pretty difficult, the real hard part of the mode is the amount of perfection required from the player. You can only make a few tiny mistakes before it becomes impossible to clear.
The final boss, Queen Larsa, is an absurdly difficult final boss. A lot of her patterns are borderline impossible to dodge and the fight is also really long.
You need all five extra lives in the game to beat her safely and it basically comes down to resource managing your way through the fight as best as possible.
It's possible to beat her with 4 lives if you're good. I got extremely lucky and managed to beat her with 3 lives lmao.
It's always been a bit of a dream for me to beat the Ultra Mode of both Mushi games ever since I started playing shmups. I never imagined that I would actually be able to do it. Needless to say I'm quite happy that I managed to get this.
Super thanks to Zaarock for recording the run for me.
Go check him out: / zaarock

[@abbywilberg1087]

I remember that video like "HARDEST BOSS EVER" and it was queen larisa. I watched that video in like middle school.

[@ReticularTunic7]

Abby Wilberg Same, I watched this when i was 7

[@lancecurry7538]

*HIVAC FROM KETSUIPACHI:* Allow me to introduce myself...

[@LinieEber]

*Double Hibachi from DoDonPachi DaiOuJou Death Label:* Allow us to introduce ourselves~

[@lancecurry7538]

*HINA FROM SAI-DAIOUJOU:* I heard someone was bragging...

[@God-ch8lq]

fun fact: mushihimesama futari is quite beginner friendly on the lower difficulties it's intended that if you manage to 1cc a certain difficulty, the one above it is a fair challenge for your skill level also, aki is harder, like WAY harder: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5_UYn-Pjt2sqpI

[@tfwmemedumpster]

"Stage 1 is one of the hardest stages in the game" Off to a good start i see

[@awe9217]

You know, if a game still looks hard after Jaimers plays it, then certainly, it's a near-impossible game.

[@FluffyFoxGames]

I agree. It's so satisfying to watch him play these games. It's like a puzzle

[@_arkhea]

@Baxi the bullets are their life force, which is called levi-sense, and it is toxic to humans, but not to other koju (the monsters). It's all explained in the first game. That's why your 'ship' doesn't get hit by the bullets but you do. It's also the reason reco becomes the princess, she's the successor to the guy from the first game that keeps the monsters at bay from destroying the human settlements since they're the only ones to be able to resist/navigate the bugs' life force. Or something to that effect. If you go and look for the cave game lore, you'll find a surprising amount of detail in them.

[@Leylite]

10:38 - I like how in the middle of all these descriptions of how aggressive the player has to be to clean up enemies, and what specific steps to take to make the stage less of a complete mess, there's the casual statement "There are some invisible enemies to the right that you have to kill." In the "by the way" sort of manner. I mean, by the time the player is playing on Ultra they already know about them, but still, that stands out as being pretty mean above and beyond all the other nonsense going on.

[@tubenachos]

Soundtrack is amazing damn

[@mikan636]

The OST is absolutely incredible. Really want to get into bullet h3ll games like these.

[@sakesaurus]

you should start with easier games, but yeah it has its appeal

[@HollowProject]

sorry it's been a year, but what can you recommend?@@sakesaurus

[@ChalkTeacher]

I love stages 2, 4 and 5 so much. I wish they could bring Futari to steam already.

[@aleandropiccione9055]

Me too, but Steam didn't get it yet

[@denno445]

still waiting

[@jessefuterman9598]

Still waiting

[@HollowProject]

still waiting

[@DigitallezSTG]

Still waiting...

[@josuejimenez7045]

This is what i think when someone says about "dark souls" is the hardest game ever... Can't believe how the hell you did it, is amazing...

[@azza5332]

Dark Souls doesn't even scratch the surface of Danmaku. Dark souls allows you to fuck up with a chance to recover health, Danmaku is make one mistake and you're dead then it's game over and you start all over again, while having to retain pattern information and muscle memory for the previous stages you cleared. Although both games require you to read enemy patterns and train muscle memory, Danmaku restricts you to very small areas requiring fast reaction times, whereas Dark Souls gives you room to breathe. So you're right to think that way.

[@KluorpivhlanderP]

Dark Souls is very hard true.. but def not the hardest game, not even close in any shape or form LOL... it's pretty hard in a modern-games category, but wait till you get into library of NES, SNES, Sega, etc games, they'r much much more punishing, and ofcourse shmups and bullet hell games too... And again if it's a modern game doesn't mean it's easier, it all depends how one develops and designs it...

[@KluorpivhlanderP]

@ART com Suffer Time And 'Difficulty' can be VERY different and not the same thing for every game, different learning curve, complex character controls, level design... Game can have simple controlls and not convoluted learning curve, like for e.g.: 'Super Monkey Ball' has very simple concept on both controls and level design, etc how your main guy plays, moves.. But levels can get insanely difficult, especially if you play it more than 'just' to get through the game successfully, and i mean getting 100% in a game in this case... Also for example, 'Streets of Rage' games, 2 and 3 especially, they can really become hardest game ever, to master, and get through especially on hardest & Mania difficulty, let alone trying to speedrun it with no death like some ppl do and manage it... And enemies not being predetermined in how they act, move, so pretty much RNG-based more or less, which makes a game even more crazier in difficulty... :)

[@johanncross]

*This is absolutely inconceivable.* If what i see here is how it actually is... then this is one of the most impressive achievements i could ever lay my eyes on.

[@BuyMeThingsnow]

You must've felt pretty alive after/during that final pattern survival.

[@HansAlRachid]

I get that Mushihimesama is not necessarily considered CAVE's best series or anything like that, but damn I have a soft spot for these games. Something about the visual style of both the bullet patterns and especially the enemies and levels is just so fun to look at. They resonate with me a lot more than, say, Dodonpachi ever did, despite the masterpiece it may be.

[@usernameRika]

I think Futari is widely considered their best game.

[@HansAlRachid]

It is? Huh, I always thought people were more into DaiOuJou or DaiFukkatsu - well hey, I love that game, neato!

[@dibby1045]

Daioujou, ketsui, and futari seem to be tied in terms of their favorability amongst the community from what i've seen.

[@BknMoonStudios]

@@dibby1045 Yeah, I see a lot of people place Futari very high in terms of critical reception. Mushi 1 used to be seen less favorably because of some weird scoring issues and some of the TLB patterns, but it has become a lot more popular thanks to the Steam/Switch port. I've heard many people say they used Mushi 1 as the bridge between casual SHMUPs and bullet hell.

[@taprusthe3rd496]

Wow congrats, I must say that this is quite probably one of the greatest feats any shmup players can do, at least I thin, so hum, keep up the good work I guess!

[@Detonexploder]

YATTA

[@perfectmaid16z76]

@@sparklehunting i am latter, but...

[@perfectmaid16z76]

YATTA

[@cristixyz]

and just when you thought people were done replying to this

[@Missmay123p]

@@cristixyz YATTA

[@Tyrnn]

And to think I was happy to clear a couple stages of Space Invaders. That's some intense skill there. Thank you for sharing!

[@AndrewBlechinger]

Ironically, the slow down parts work the same way as Space Invaders, but in reverse. It's so the game can render that many bullets!

[@wolftuxedo4301]

This is why I love danmaku games, and play so much Touhou aswell. Its so nice to look at all the danmaku patterns. :D

[@MMXWW]

Usually watching Jaimers play difficult shmups makes them look easy, but this one still looks hard lol Also, holy shit! That performance on Larsa was sick!

[@painovoimaton]

This game has such an excellent soundtrack. Stage 5 music is fucking amazing. Generally it's also just visually very pleasing.

[@Emuser012]

I thought you had done this already but I guess not. Congrats on joining the Ultra cool kids club. Also, jesus the Emperion 2nd form nmnb. Knowing you didn't have fullest resources for the final bosses made the end more tense. I personally don't think I'll have the patience to also clear this, getting to Emperion after a month of playing was my limit.

[@BareKnuckleRoo]

It was only a matter of time. Jaimers is a beast. :D Always amazing to come and watch this. 2nd form is actually the easiest IMO. It looks crazy but as long as you move the way you're being herded and watch the aimed shots fired at you, you actually have very big gaps to move through. It's also visually much easier to "read" than some of her other attacks that just spew clouds of bullets like phase 1, second attack.

[@Dante...]

I can't imagine this being humanly possible without the slow down!

[@ulqi]

I think the slowdowns are made by the developers

[@DigitallezSTG]

Most of the games developed by Cave are made with the slowdowns in mind

[@tohg7.859]

im impressed with your courage jaimers, it took me 15 continues to beat ultra mode with abnormal palm.

[@TheSeraphim17]

Love the captions. Thanks for taking the time to add them.

[@circle3565]

"Stage 1 is one of the hardest stages in the game" Wait that's not how that works--

[@kylestubbs8867]

Fun fact: The player character in this version is Queen Larsa's son. So she's ruthless in _that_ sense too.

[@SirenRabbid1687]

Congratulations on the clear! You are truly god at this sort of thing.

[@neoxaquas]

Super well done! Good job Jaimers. The comments were a nice touch. Hopefully some new challengers approach. I for one am enticed.

[@neontetra1000]

If you are a mere mortal like me , I highly reccomend Novice Ultra mode. It's a fun mode to no miss, no bomb. And you can see Larsa at the end!. To anyone getting into shmups playing for score is ten times more fun and is the proper way to play, novice modes allow scoring tech to be learnt.

[@BoltTheEmolga]

Think about it this way - you are the only person on the internet to beat Larsa with 3 lives.

[@BoltTheEmolga]

@Donhimesama Daifutari Would def be interested in seeing it when/if you find it

[@mEEEEE1934]

good lord, the wait for a new video was not in vain

[@SlazRabbit]

Congrats! This sure is one of the hardest achievements in shmups. I too have this game on 360 and it's one of my fav games for a reason. I also played the PCB on request at A-Cho once, though I'm not that good. I can fair pretty well in Original and Maniac mode but never got past the first stage properly on Ultra. Yeah, seems like one of the harder first stages in these kind of games.

[@tasogare0no0umi]

I love your videos because you also have annotations that describe your process/reasoning. Seriously my favorite shmup youtuber!

[@Linkeh24]

Well done, absolutely incredible run! Having no experience with this game, it feels like the slowing down and speeding up of bullets would get me a lot, too.

[@Wrswest]

I really like the fact you have both a player view and score view so we can see both you points and your sick dodges in fabulous close-up. EDIT: Okay, I have to ask, why is the only bullet colour in this game purple?!

[@noteblockcvl2260]

to make it easier to tell apart from player fire, bg or coins

[@explosivemodesonicmauricet1597]

@@noteblockcvl2260 A lot of CAVE shumps use single or duo colour for their bullets tho.Blue and Purple.

[@holsri]

What an amazing play. I find myself returning to this video again and again. Where the hell can I get this game? I swear it was on Steam but now it's not.

[@JaimersSTG]

Thanks! Besides arcade this only ever got an Xbox 360 port.

[@holsri]

@@JaimersSTG What a shame. This game looks the most fun out of pretty much any non-Touhou shmup I've seen. I feel like I have discovered a forgotten art.

[@douk3395]

Xenia kinda works

[@DiogoMontoia]

This seems like quite the achievement, congratulations! bought the steam version of Mushihimesama and im still experimenting with the game, maybe some day :D

[@gyppygirl2021]

I need to get back to playing it, myself. Still on Novice Original because I'm bad at shmups...

[@petragon1708]

Molly Renata im even worse

[@punx665]

Also I really like shmups(strikers, raiden, gradius,ikaruga) but those cave ones have just too much colors for my eyes - it just hurts!

[@yushis]

Those rocks are literally the "Welcome to ultra bitch!" of the entire mode.

[@daringspino3446]

I like how they made the secret TLB 10 times easier than the TLB itself. (The requirement is hell though)

[@ARWINGx1]

Up until I saw this, I thought that whenever a "bullet" touches ANY part of the player's ship, it'd be destroyed. But after seeing the "core" (like on the lower right screen), and testing my theory on Strikers 1945 III/1999, I noticed that they'd pass through the wings... harmlessly

[@F1areon]

Yeah, the gimmick with these kinds of games is that it’s just the glowy hitbox you need to squeeze through the bullets; as long as enemy bullets don’t hit that, you’re fine.

[@ARWINGx1]

@@F1areon I can imagine that on, say R-Type Final (1 & 2), using the bigger ships would've been detrimental, and that there wouldn't be any point in using anything but the smaller ones. But the Hitboxes seems to apply on that game too. (Or at least the first one, that I saw elsewhere on YT)

[@F1areon]

@@ARWINGx1 The actual hitbox in this particular game is only like 4 pixels big, at most. The bullets would have to hit... basically RIGHT in the center for them to kill you.

[@Pimpeaux]

Annotations are going away soon. You gonna preserve the commentary with some closed captions?

[@TotalTech_]

Dark Souls: I am the hardest game ever. NO ONE can match me Mushihime-sama Futari: Hold my beer

[@mikan636]

I hate how so many people sleep on these games They think Dark Souls is hard when that doesn’t even compare to how extreme these types of games are. I wish these were brought to the west so it can actually be played and I can see some people rage.

[@Nox-Eldar]

Ones a 3rd person hack and slash and the other is a shump top down shooter, They are two completely different games. Both games are great btw

[@angelgt4455]

OMG you are a true legend

[@sueken22able]

Im good until I get to the stage 4 boss then the continues starts to rack up. Awesome play btw.

[@CStarFlare]

I've never seen someone clear this after dying twice before the final boss. Crazy. Now that you've cleared both Mushi games, which TLB has a worse final attack? Mushihimesama's looks like more a of a clusterfuck to me and seems to almost require the offscreening/bombing trick, but I'm nowhere near the level of either.

[@JaimersSTG]

For Larsa's final you just bomb a few times and you're done. Aki's final requires a complicated strategy that's pretty hard to execute and eats at least 3 lives.

[@DiceDsx]

Someone is saying this is a TAS, from the way the character wiggles after the final boss. Is this true?

[@CStarFlare]

He's joking. The movement at the end is Jaimers feeling excited and fooling around, it signified nothing.

[@khlothostonney5760]

i think owning this game is much harder than dodging those bullets. it costs 684 dollars on amazon currently!

[@goddamn518]

I MUST play this game!

[@theanti-person9113]

This makes touhou lunatic look like a joke...

[@davidmadera009]

tell that to touhou 15 and touhou 2, even larsa is easy compared to those touhou, but as the other guy say, a lot of pattern are mor easy than touhou on hard

[@davidmadera009]

plz, i have my 1cc run ultra on mushihimesama on steam

[@ashtonleach9866]

When that moment you realise that if DDP SDOJ had Touhou difficulties, Lunatic Inbachi is impossible.

[@ashtonleach9866]

She's not impossible now. Some have rekt her.

[@Square_Air]

+Lord Sithis Don't even give davidmadera009 the time of day. His main input on any shmup video consists of "touhou is harder" and "I've cleared everything". He even claimed to have have cleared DOJ: Death Label. smh. While I have no doubts that he has certain games he is proficient in, I would question the validity of his claims.

[@Epicwindow3]

smfh i cant even see the bullets during the last 3 seconds of larsa nice mlg clutch

[@trifortay]

Jaimers and Gus: *makes ultra look easy* Me playing it: "AAAAAAAAHHHHH MAKE IT STOP, GOD IT HURTS"

[@LinieEber]

Its actually not too bad. The hardest part is to understand what the game wants you to do. After that it goes pretty smooth.

[@dousuketoby1731]

The bosses look like they have some supermove guaranteed to hit you if you don't kill them fast enough... all of them and that's crazy... especially the 3rd boss with how they just flooded the screen

[@noahlovotti7722]

One exception is the 4th boss which shoots something that looks like maniac mode difficulty lol

[@Square_Air]

Congrats on the clear!

[@mmKALLL]

Holy shit that last phase. Excellent work.

[@miraclechild_502]

wow...this gameplay is jaw dropping...awesome game

[@harpiespore6145]

So Queen larsa is extremely difficult even for final stand to dodge these bullets.

[@kuma_kuma]

ボスの音楽が盛り上がる！

[@SuperTurboCrash]

At 6:30 he goes right through a wave of bullets. Do the bullets actually have smaller hitboxes than the sprite itself? It almost looks like it skips forward a few frames, so maybe he just got real lucky with the hit detection?

[@BareKnuckleRoo]

Doesn't look like luck was involved in that dodge. It's one of the relatively easier attacks in Ultra - he skims the edges of a few bullets then goes in between two bullets in the wave, but nothing unreasonable there. Cave's games usually are programmed so the bullets only have a hitbox at the center of their sprite (aside from rarer special attacks that have full hitboxes). 90% of the bullets you see only have a collision hitbox at their center, so you can touch the outsides of them. Also, in Mushihimesama Futari, the player's own hitbox in Ultra is significantly smaller than in Original or Maniac mode, so that allows even more ridiculously tight squeezes to be possible.

[@fujineetomori]

You have more confidence in your hitbox than I do to myself

[@peterraes9352]

i just watched this and i'm baffled by the fact this is supposedly the xbox 360 version as there is so MUCH more detail in this. I have yet to see 1 youtube video coming close to this ,i have tried vga and hdmi connections and found vga to actually perform best and i do not come close as to what i'm seeing here. How did you get the picture this sharp and clear please?

[@JaimersSTG]

Zaarock recorded this for me, so you'd have to ask him. Check description.

[@DChap]

My eyes don't even know how to look at this, let alone play it.

[@plagapong]

LOL Queen larsa has 3 health bars for REAL???

[@fernandotorresgarcia7318]

TRUE AND RAINBOW KINGDOM DENSETSU iii SPECIAL /TRUE AND RAINBOW KINGDOM LEGACY 3 SPECIAL

[@knight7794]

if this game had keyboard support and practice mode for all the bosses attack patterns, would you still consider it harder than touhou?

[@JaimersSTG]

I don't use keyboard so yes. There's a boss practice mode in this port which is good enough.

[@TechiesUnofficial]

I think a couple of bullets went pass that flying ship, but I could be wrong.

[@DenpaCake]

Holy shit dude, congrats

[@DenpaCake]

Also, are you going to try 1.01? :D

[@minks36]

incredible skills dude 👌

[@EverlastMsg]

Dude you got so lucky at the very end😬

[@ShaneC87]

26:30 Does anyone know what's being said?

[@shibumizaku1218]

I can't catch the first half of what Larsa says, but the second bit seems to translate to something along the lines of "Stupid, is it not?" or "You're stupid, aren't you?". Without actual punctuation and knowing the first half of what they say, I can't tell which one it's supposed to be. Though I'm guessing the second one.

[@roolph5818]

Steve Boutilier Black Label TLB Opening Dialogue??

[@kuroviper15]

yep, larsa is a bad mother to Palm. U_U

[@DJIncompetent]

Great respect, sir!

[@balneor]

Wow. So that means you're the first western player to clear it? Or is it another version? I'm not sure.

[@balneor]

I see.

[@esper4605]

28:53 omg

[@lancecurry7538]

Question... is it possible to dodge that final pattern that Larsa has going?

[@JaimersSTG]

It's dodgeable until two waves start overlapping. The very start of the phase starts with the overlap, which makes it tricky.

[@lancecurry7538]

@@JaimersSTG | So it's only possible to No Miss that phase if you were holding onto your entire bomb stock, I suppose?

[@lancecurry7538]

@Donhimesama Daifutari | Gengetsu?

[@Teragat]

How is this even possible

[@rockhyde7775]

I want a Nintendo Switch port of this, please. I’m hoping Live Wire puts out more games, especially ports of CAVE games!

[@aleandropiccione9055]

How can I play Mushihimesama Futari? Steam doesn't get it, and I don't know how to play it

[@DigitallezSTG]

It has been ported to arcade and xbox360 only

[@dolbyTube21]

研究されてるなぁ、凄い。

[@retrogamingindo4238]

Xbox 360? mind if u show your setup?

[@Nickkelz]

Has any western player cleared this before?

[@ChaoticEnigma1]

2 others. Gus(fxnj on KZbin) who cleared with counterstop. The counterstop clear vid doesn't seem to be on KZbin and just a normal clear. Bananamatic

[@Nickkelz]

Thank you for the reply. Should have guessed Bananamatic.

[@Zaksporebrainiac]

does this version have the other variation of larsa's TLB?

[@werewook]

Congrats !

[@oceanz8892]

Where is the video? Why my screen turns all purple?

[@eighthball4678]

Would you say this is the hardest clear ever? If not then what is the hardest?

[@Square_Air]

According to Bananamatic, the difficulty of getting a low scoring clear in Futari Ultra is slightly overrated. It's still absurdly difficult though at points. I would say an Inbachi clear of DDP Saidaioujou, 2-ALL of DDP Daioujou White Label, and a 2-ALL of Parodius Da! are the most insane clears I can think of off the top of my head. Special mention goes to DDP DOJ Death Label of course.

[@AndrewBlechinger]

I think Mon got an Inbachi clear on SDOJ?

[@serraramayfield9230]

@@AndrewBlechinger Nobody ever has; I think MON gave up That says something considering he was the first to clear DOJ Death Label

[@Dukstless]

What is even the (excuse) plot of this game. What is Larsa riding in phase 1. danmakus make more sense incontext.

[@spencertang5155]

Reco was accused of killing aki from the first game by his mother queen Larsa. She initially sent palm to retrieve her, but after encountering her palm changed his ways and now both seek to stop Larsa’s rage.

[@deputyhobbs9683]

Rain with water I can see well.

[@brandonsantisteban9626]

after watching this video.... I have a question.... Is touhou the hardest danmaku game ever yet? The final boss was insanely hard...The only difference either both games is Touhou doesn't slow down the bullets and it never completely fills the screen like mushihimesama, maybe for a good fps performance.

[@thorshammer7883]

And they say Touhou is hard.

[@shibumizaku1218]

What are the 'mostly bad reasons' that they're considered hard? I've never touched a Touhou game in my life, so I don't get what you mean.

[@thorshammer7883]

Shibu Mizaku Look it up for yourself.

[@shibumizaku1218]

Kinda hard to look something up when you don't know what 'mostly bad reasons' you're looking for.

[@vgmaster20000]

Damn, that attack was pretty tense.

[@jcconnat1627]

Thx for your tips

[@realmchat6665]

Amazing play, amazing game. Cave rules.

[@fyrionheart6995]

My favorite shmup :)

[@mikigirl18]

what is the difference between this and the normal mushimehimesama?

[@sonicbhoc]

This is the sequel.

[@JuanPablo-mp3td]

How I can play these game?

[@lordgargamel4124]

Whats with the green explosions?

[@MaskedNinjaYT]

Awesome 👌

[@xvjk5007x]

KZbin: "Ouch! My bitrate!!"

[@peace4myheart]

I love bullet hell and have many of these games for the XBOX360. Too bad I can't beat any of them on 1CC. =(

[@bonggzilla]

Choo Choo MotherTrucker gutgud

[@cktken3336]

Oh so it’s “Mushihimesama- Bombing and pointblanking wont work this time lol”

[@Djclyve]

Might as well walk outside during a rain storm and dodge raindrops

[@ef1265]

xbox 360?

[@gcavrubio]

Hey, great video. Thank you for the comments o/

[@fernandotorresgarcia7318]

TRUE AND RAINBOW KINGDOM DENSETSU SAGAS FOR NINTENDO SWITCH OUTRIGHT GAMES

[@alejandrovaldez9848]

That’s a lot of bullets.