DoDonPachi Saidaioujou - Expert Mode 15.3 Billion ALL Clear

Check out this video if you want to see this replay in HD with commentary:    • STG Weekly #43: Dodonpachi Saidaioujou   Expert Mode aka Ultra Mode aka Strong Style. Expert Mode is quite difficult, I'd say it's probably on par with Mushihisama's Ultra Mode. Luckily good hyper management makes it a lot more doable. Expert Mode only gives you 1 bomb per life and the patterns have been buffed by quite an amount. However in order to compensate for it somewhat you've been given the strong shot and laser and your own hitbox has been reduced. The first two stages are all about keeping the rank at a minimum, this is important for both survival and scoring. That is why I never want to have more than two hypers at the same time until after the stage 2 midboss. Bombing on that midboss also reduces the rank. If I hadn't died I would normally have taken a hit after the stage 3 midboss to reset the rank back to zero. Stage 3 is all about timing the cancels and killing boats before they can enter the screen. The death was pretty unfortunate. Ideally you want to have a level 10 hyper for the boss because if you shotgun it after the first phase you can skip both the second and last phase of the fight. The stage 4 boss is extremely difficult, however there is a way to make it a lot easier, this involves bringing a level 6 hyper into the fight. However in order to do this you have to beat the stage without dying, autobombing or losing the chain, which is not the easiest thing in the world to do. The hyper allows you to skip the hardest patterns. I afterwards milk the last phase for additional hypers that I need in stage 5. You want a level 8 hyper for the first midboss. It's possible to do it with a level 7 but you'll have to shotgun the boss a bit more. The cancel from the second stage 5 midboss was quite bad, ideally you want to get a level 7 hyper from it so that you have a level 8 at the fourth midboss so that you don't have to dodge quite so much of its scary pattern. It's also quite possible to get a level 10 hyper from the second midboss. I messed up at the part where I autobombed because I went to the left too early and didn't kill the last medium ship. No miss stage 5 boss was completely silly that thing is completely ridiculous. Most Expert players die on it once.