>>11998253
>I hate how the definitive way to play shmups is universally agreed upon by both players and developers to be save states and copying other players
People recommend this because of two reasons:
A) It's the most time-efficient way to learn and practice a game. That said, you DON'T HAVE to use savestates or look at other players' recorded runs seeking tips and strategies, but know that it'll take you a lot longer to learn, specially if you also don't use the Stage Select option most arcade shmups ports have.
I personally recommend at least using the stage selector so you don't have to deal with the boredom of having to play the earlier stages you've already learned every time you want to practice the latter ones.

B) The people recommending it assume you want to play shmups competitively against other players.
Excuse me if you already know this, but shmups are played in mainly two ways: against the machine and against other players.
The players who play purely for their own enjoyment without other players' being in the equation don't have to care about the most cost/time-effective ways to learn.
While the ones that play against each other (indirectly by trying to one-up each others' scores on leaderboards and hi-score lists) absolutely need to use whatever advantage they can to improve more effectively so the remain competitive. I.e. Pretty much all of them are practicing with savestates and copying superplays, because otherwise it would take them AN ETERNITY to not just get to that level but also discover a ton of stuff on their own.
Also, japanese and top players COPY EACH OTHER all the time and have done so since forever even before the internet was invented. E.g. By looking at whoever is currently playing the arcade cabinet they're waiting on.

P.S. Play however you want because games are for fun. Just because some players' fun requires competing against other each it doesn't mean yours must too.