🧚‍♂️ ESP Ra.De. ~ Espgaluda ~ Espgaluda II // 1CC Compilation 🧚‍♂️

1 credit clears of the whole ESP trilogy by Cave. These are survival clears with no emphasis on score.

00:00 ESP Ra.De. (J-B 5th) / エスプレイド
22:50 Espgaluda (Ageha) / エスプガルーダ
50:30 Espgaluda II (Asagi) / エスプガルーダII

The ESP Ra.De. clear is from a couple of months ago, the other two were done just recently. I had cleared Espgaluda before, but hadn't played it in a while, so I forgot that the final phase of the final boss is immune to kakusei (slowdown mode). So if you're watching these runs for tips on survival, just keep in mind that what I do at the end of Esp 1 is useless :)

All three games are excellent in their own ways. I wish more shmups would take cues for their setting from ESP Ra.De. instead of reusing the same old space military stuff. Espgaluda is a nice example of how a bullet hell doesn't need to super hard to be lots of fun. And Espgaluda II is just full of that late era Cave goodness, with Futari-like big cancels.

Of the three, ESP Ra.De. was by far the hardest one to clear. I don't want to say it's because of the hitbox, but it's at least partly because of the hitbox :) Having the shining indicator in M2 thankfully helps somewhat. There's also lots of tough sections in the later part of the game and you really want to have some resources saved for the last boss.

Espgaluda is quite breezy for the most part, but you really need to practice the final fight. It just goes on for a long time and puts your dodging endurance to the test.

Espgaluda II seems very difficult unless you go for a safe resource clear like I do here. Asagi can melt the bosses if you have enough kakusei, so it becomes a game of "survive the stage, save up your gems and barrier energy, then use everything on the boss". You still need to play skillfully and have your route planned out, but I imagine it's a very different experience if you try to beat the final boss normally.

I've been familiar with ESP Ra.De. and Espgaluda for a while, but I only got into Espgaluda II very recently. I was happy to get the clear and thus complete the trilogy (in the survival sense, as I still have scoring to explore). It's a very cool part of Cave's legacy.

ESP Ra.De. is played on the M2 ShotTriggers version on PS4 called ESP Ra.De Psi. The others are played on Mame. I own Espgaluda II on Switch, but currently have no means of recording Switch footage. Live Wire, if you're listening, please release it on Steam alongside Mushi and DDP Resurrection! I would be very happy to buy it again just to have it on PC.

#shmups #bullethell #espgaluda #esprade