>>11795082
Gradius is peak shmup kino. It was born perfect, and every sequel builts upon its predecessors. Also play Nemesis Kai on x68000.

Also if you ever need to ask, "how should I 1CC this" then you should do it. Play shmups that you find fun, and find yourself returning to even though you can't get past stage 3. Once you had your fun, you can decide if you want to 1CC or not.
I have only 1CC'd Gradius 2 and that was just a random run.

Shmups are fun without the whole 1CC goal. As long as you don't credit feed, you will experience the true nature of them.