Recca (NES/FC) - Full Run on Hard Mode

Summer Carnival '92 Recca (烈火) for the NES/Famicom, but this time playing the Hard Mode (sometimes called the "Second Quest")! This was played using the legit Famicom cartridge on a real NES using a adapter.
Stage Listing:
00:00 - Start
00:27 - Area 1
05:17 - Area 2
09:44 - Area 3
12:29 - Area 4
17:32 - Area 5
23:13 - Area 6
34:06 - Area 7
42:42 - Final Boss + Ending
In order to play hard mode, you must first clear the game on normal. Then, on the "to be continued screen", reset the system. When the games comes up again, the title screen will have changed. Now, selecting "normal game" will let you play a re-arranged version of the game that is much longer, and quite a bit more difficult than the regular game.
In my opinion, hard mode should have been the default game all along, it's much longer and way more epic. The new stages are absolutely crazy with the amount of stuff they toss at you, and the action barely lets up the entire playthrough.
Several areas of the game will likely require some routing and planning in order to make it through, as a single death usually turns into many chain deaths. This can very easily happen in parts of stage 5 and especially in the final stage, where a single death in the wrong spot will usually lead to a game over unless you have a full stock of ships to brute force through it

[@EndymionMkII]

Previous video Recca impressed me, but the Hard mode?
I'm speechless and mind blown, not only how the mode is accesssed but how this game pushes the absolute limits of the Famicom/NES and shows the foundations of what would later become the Danmaku/Bullet Hell genre of shooting games, and after reading a bit more by my own and on the comments, that the director and creator of Battle Garegga is who is responsible for Recca?
It makes absolute sense.
Holy hell what an amazing game.

[@BlueSavior25]

You mad lad, you actually did a run on Hard Mode!

[@Peter_1986]

That super-annoying boss at 33:50 becomes much easier when you realise that the arms take turns firing lasers in a specific order - left-center, right-center, left, and right.
Repeat.

[@LTF1975]

Impressive. Well Played.

[@Ducilios]

Hard to believe this is on the NES.

[@dr_ubo]

Low key the most influential console shmup ever.

[@PEG]

Yup, it's especially relevant when you see the developers behind it, like Shinobu Yagawa, who would go on to develop games like Battle Garegga and several CAVE games.

[@dr_ubo]

@@PEG Precisely the reason I say it. Most people don't even know how influential this is. This was Yagawa going HAM on a console and changing what we expected from shmups. When Garegga was being developed, people in Japan referred to it as the "upcoming Arcade Recca game". Bullet Hell wouldn't be what it is without Greg. All the Yagawa staples (except rank) were born here... different option formations, speedy movement, different gamestyle approaches, even the aura and the aura bomb. Did I mention this was the first shmup EVER with an "Ura" loop? Yes. Pink Sweets is basically Recca 2. To this day I'm fascinated by thinking that this game was released on the NES of all places. Can't imagine what being a kid in the 90s in Japan was when this came out.

[@PEG]

@@dr_ubo You said it better than I could!

[@Peter_1986]

​@@PEG I think that the scariest part in this entire game is that part at 15:25, when the missiles start raining down from the top at lightning speed.
Every single time I get to that part I find myself staring at the screen like "oh my GOD...!".

[@DaVince21]

This game looks absolutely bonkers and I can barely believe it's an NES game.

[@Emillll]

So I finally beat Recca on normal mode and on my first try on hard mode, got to 40:45. Honestly I wasn't ready for all the bullets in Stage 7 and I realized after a few deaths that I need to just hold the energy ball and not fire.
By the way, is there are foolproof strategy for the final boss? He is very unpredictable. I throw a bomb at him at the start and hide behind the explosion but sometimes he just moves down and hits you anyway. I got lucky that he didn't hit me in my normal clear but I don't want to depend on luck.

[@PEG]

For the final boss you want to set max speed and try to have level 3 homing weapon. Drop a bomb as soon as it appears and try and stay away and hit with the homing weapon. Focus 100% on dodging the attacks. If you die, simply try and kamikaze attack the boss until it dies. When your ship explodes on death it does a ton of damage in the vicinity, so that is your best bet to try and kill it if you die.

[@Peter_1986]

@@PEG I always kamikaze the final boss, and just shoot at him as much as possible and try to dodge whatever attacks that I notice.
This is very effective if you have a few extralives, kind of like tanking Fire Man in "Mega Man".

[@Alexaphex]

gg

[@Peter_1986]

The part between 15:20-15:34 is a nightmare.

[@m4zadaamta192]

Muito bom mais um inscrito com like vamos se Fortalecer tmj!

[@bansinhphutram3773]

shit... is this the default speed, not change the setting at all?
thought the gradius 3 snes was so fast but... these, on nes...

[@PEG]

Yes, it really plays this fast.

[@Peter_1986]

The enemies are this aggressive both on Normal Mode and Hard Mode, they just appear in more overwhelming numbers on Hard Mode.
The game does however give you a lot of good weapons, such as the protective orb that can be used as a bomb, as well as different types of firepower - my favourites are blue F and red S, they are awesome, and blue B is great for bosses.
Also, you can actually use the red weapons without detonating the bomb, so it's a good idea to use red S as much as possible if you can do that safely.

[@PiroKUSS]

@@Peter_1986 Don't forget revenge bullets (is that what they're called?).

[@Peter_1986]

​@@PiroKUSS They are often called "kamikaze bullets", and sometimes "ricochet bullets".
I think that the term "suicide bullets" is sometimes used as well.
"Revenge bullets" would certainly work.

[@senorbolainas8439]

This game exploits all the capabilities of the NES.