:noooo: Details below. Painful. Funny though. Mihara said a year or so ago that a "Ketsui port would be impossible..." yet, they spent all this time/effort on it. http://shmups.system11.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12328 One of the most difficult last bosses in the history of gaming will remain in the arcades.
@sven: More on YJ I'm sure. It would reach thousands until someone dumped it. Well, getting to him is no piece of cake either. He only appears at the end of the 2nd URA (secret) loop. To access this loop, you must no bomb, no miss the first loop (5 stages) with a score of 120 million or higher. I think you can bomb up to 6 times, and you will enter the "normal" 2nd loop. It is a hard game, that is for sure. There's a full run play of it on super-play as well. That's the only video I've ever seen of someone actually making sense out of Doom's patterns.
Holy mac that's a long way to go and playing it in arcade must be mega frustrating, not to mention exspensive. There are always freaks who play through it, i am gonna look for the full movie. Edit: Full run 642.1 MB!
If you're feeling adventurous, you can hunt down a copy of the INH Insanity DVD. It's an even more impressive play, has both ship types, CD soundtrack, design & strategy booklet. Kind of pricey at roughly 7000 yen though. You might find one at shmups used if you're patient. In an interview w/ one of the players on the above DVD (which you can find here), one of them said he practiced about 3 hours a day for 7 months to defeat Doom. I've been practicing. I got to just before the last boss on 1 credit (first loop, of course). One day I will clear it.
