Favorite/Best Shmups Discussion

[flatuswalrus]

14 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

Yeah Deathsmiles is great though it's a tad on the easy side until you get to the last stage.

Yeah I think for me that is its only downfall. It is great to have something in that genre that is easier for folk who do not like the usual hard game-play but I love it so much I wish it was harder to suit me better (I am selfish).

14 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

One game I forgot on my list is Harmful Park for the Playstation, that game is so good.

I have not played that one. I looked it up and at a glance it looked like just some cutesy game that was a little 'meh' but I watched a quick game-play video and it looks really fun. I will definitely add it to my list of things to play.

14 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

It is expensive but if people didn't pay those prices then they wouldn't be sold at those prices and it's one of those games that get those prices because it is just that good. Now I am not saying it is worth the price of admission but it is worth quite a bit. I keep thinking of selling my copy but then I always decide against it, I have had my copy since it came out so there will be no selling it now.

Oh yeah of course, pretty much everything is worth what people are willing to pay. My gripe is not so much the price but people saying it is rare when it is not, that really annoys me. If your copy has been in your possession for that long I cannot image getting rid of it.

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah it's cutesy but it's the best cutesy shmup I have played, the gameplay is 100% solid.

Yeah MUSHA isn't a super rare game but it's also no super common either. It ain't Super Mario World or Sonic common, it's more like a medium rare game and the reason you see them for sale is the price, people want to make that money. Like I said, I have been tempted to sell my copy because of that price tag, if it were only a 50-100$ game that thought wouldn't even enter my mind.

[Rincewind]

I've not played a wide variety of them but for me the ones I always go back to are.

R-Type (playing the arcade version but remember completing it on the spectrum)

Silk Work (only because it's awesome in 2 player)

[flatuswalrus]

1 hour ago, Rincewind said:

Silk Work (only because it's awesome in 2 player)

Do you mean Silkworm? If so, I really enjoy that one. To me it is a more sophisticated version of the earlier and awesome Choplifter (without the prisoners) which I loved very much growing up.

[Rincewind]

Yes definitely meant that not silk work "a game where you bind silk to make clothing" haha

SilkWorm but I could never play as the jeep always had to be the helicopter

[flatuswalrus]

1 hour ago, Rincewind said:

Yes definitely meant that not silk work "a game where you bind silk to make clothing" haha

SilkWorm but I could never play as the jeep always had to be the helicopter

Someone should make a home-brew Silk Work game, on the Vectrex. & why would anyone want to be a crumby jeep when you can be a chopper?!

[garbanzo]

I've been playing a lot of Psikyo games lately on my Switch. They're good fun. Fast and challenging.

I'm not a big fan of bullet hell games, but Touhou shmups have a nice rhythm to them that I really like, even though I'm not particularly good at them.

I also like 90s Stuff like Blazing Lazers, Super Star Soldier, Truxton, Dogyuun, Cyber-Core... 

I really want to try Deathsmiles II, but I'm having a hard time getting it working...

[LaunchRoo]

I've always enjoyed playing Gorf.  (Mame version is about 90% authentic)..i spent lots of small change on the arcade game way back in 1981 and still think it's a great shoot 'em up.

[Lordmonkus]

This thread over on the shmups forums should be of interest to this discussion.

https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=64197

[garbanzo]

Haha, might as well be a list of Cave shmups. At least there are a couple Psikyo games on there...

[Lordmonkus]

There is a lot of Cave games in there but the honourable mentions list has other stuff plus some more Cave stuff, lol.

[Zombeaver]

1. Esp Ra. De.
2. Armed Police Batrider
 

...then in no particular order:

Mushihimesama
Espgaluda
Espgaluda II
Dodonpachi
Einhander
Gradius V
R-Type Delta
R-Type Final
Gunbird 2
Dangun Feveron
Batsugun
Guwange
Deathsmiles
Thunderforce IV
Thunderforce V
Cyvern
Gley Lancer
Gunbird 2
Radiant Silvergun
Dimahoo
Gigawing
Darius Gaiden
Mars Matrix
Jamestown
Truxton 2
Raiden Fighters Jet
Dominator (C64)
Enforcer: Fullmetal Megablaster (C64)
SWIV (C64)
Cho Ren Sha (x68k)
Dragon Blaze
Ikaruga
Terra Diver
Hyper Duel
Dogyuun
Cybattler
Philosoma
Grind Stormer
Agony (Amiga)
Battle Squadron (Amiga)

I'm forgetting a bunch because this is from memory. Would have to look at my library once I got home to list more.

...also I've never understood why that board has such an obsession with Battle Garegga. That game is super overrated. Hope you like tiny, barely visible bullets on a bunch of brown backgrounds

[flatuswalrus]

12 hours ago, garbanzo said:

I've been playing a lot of Psikyo games lately on my Switch. They're good fun. Fast and challenging.

 

Psikyo really did make some gems, I think my favourite out of might be Dragon Blaze.

12 hours ago, garbanzo said:

I also like 90s Stuff like Blazing Lazers, Super Star Soldier, Truxton, Dogyuun, Cyber-Core... 

 

I have Truxton II ranked at number 51 on my favourite Arcade games. I think it undeservedly gets a rating that is too low.

12 hours ago, garbanzo said:

I really want to try Deathsmiles II, but I'm having a hard time getting it working...

 

I am hanging out to play that so much but I think it might just be a matter of it has not been emulated properly yet.

9 hours ago, LaunchRoo said:

I've always enjoyed playing Gorf.  (Mame version is about 90% authentic)..i spent lots of small change on the arcade game way back in 1981 and still think it's a great shoot 'em up.

I do not know exactly why I laughed at that, maybe because it is primitive compared to a lot of the other shooters being discussed. Though it is a shooter nonetheless and a good one at that. I love old school games like Gorf I guess shooters are just a genre which I am always drawn more towards the 1995+ ones. I do like Gorf however, I think it put an interesting little spin on Space Invaders. I could just do without the bright blue background stages, haha.

8 hours ago, garbanzo said:

Haha, might as well be a list of Cave shmups. At least there are a couple Psikyo games on there...

That is because Cave is the king of shmups. Failure to recognise that fact carries a penalty of death, or so I heard.

8 hours ago, Zombeaver said:

I'm forgetting a bunch because this is from memory. Would have to look at my library once I got home to list more.

 

That is a ridiculously good memory off the top of your head!

8 hours ago, Zombeaver said:

...also I've never understood why that board has such an obsession with Battle Garegga. That game is super overrated. Hope you like tiny, barely visible bullets on a bunch of brown backgrounds

 

I completely agree, here is some of what I wrote about it on my list here:

It is described as a bullet-hell shooter but its only resemblance to any kind of hell in my eyes is the difficulty in sighting enemy bullets, which is the one fatal flaw I mentioned above. I love the dark, gritty look of the game which has a lot of browns, greys and other earthly hues. Though the issue is that a lot of the enemies bullets are of a size and colour which clash with said background colours. Some of the enemy bullets are tiny in size, especially compared to the average shmup. They are also often a light brown or very dull yellow which makes them blend into their surroundings. I know one could view this as an element of challenge, but I do not consider that a good challenge. Unless it is a hidden puzzle type game you should be able to see what is happening on the screen with relative ease. You should only really die in a shmup if your skill and reaction time is not sufficient. I find even in the most chaotic of bullet-hell shooters that when I get hit I always saw it coming, it is just that I did not react in time. All they had to do to combat this was to make the enemy bullets a fluoro/neon type shade like in most shmups, just as they did in its 1999 sequel Battle Bakraid. They could have done this without increasing the bullet size too so as not to take away too much from the current look of the playfield. Battle Garegga is superior to Battle Bakraid in every way except for this one issue. No game should result in someone who has 20/20 vision wondering if they should be going to LensCrafters to have their eyes checked.

 

Edited March 28, 2019 by Dane

[garbanzo]

Finally got Deathsmiles II working last night! I wasn't expecting the Christmas theme, that really threw me for a loop. I didn't get to play much, but it was good fun.

What shmups are worth getting for the Switch these days? I have Psikyo Collection I & II, and Sine Mora EX. I prefer buying games on carts so I can resell them later...

[flatuswalrus]

10 minutes ago, garbanzo said:

Finally got Deathsmiles II working last night! I wasn't expecting the Christmas theme, that really threw me for a loop. I didn't get to play much, but it was good fun.

 

That great. Was there anything in particular you had to do to get it working with MAME?

[garbanzo]

Not MAME. It's a Taito Type-X game. Basically a PC-based arcade system. But you need to set up launchers to run the games, and they're finicky.

Look into Game Loader ALL RH. it's the key to everything.

 

[flatuswalrus]

4 minutes ago, garbanzo said:

Not MAME. It's a Taito Type-X game. Basically a PC-based arcade system. But you need to set up launchers to run the games, and they're finicky.

Look into Game Loader ALL RH. it's the key to everything.

 

Ah okay. I will just leave it then as although I am limiting myself I am trying to only really have MAME and RA emulating everything. Thank you for letting me know though. I will just wait for it to be done on MAME, even if it takes years, haha.

[Zombeaver]

9 hours ago, Dane said:

It is described as a bullet-hell shooter but its only resemblance to any kind of hell in my eyes is the difficulty in sighting enemy bullets, which is the one fatal flaw I mentioned above. I love the dark, gritty look of the game which has a lot of browns, greys and other earthly hues. Though the issue is that a lot of the enemies bullets are of a size and colour which clash with said background colours. Some of the enemy bullets are tiny in size, especially compared to the average shmup. They are also often a light brown or very dull yellow which makes them blend into their surroundings. I know one could view this as an element of challenge, but I do not consider that a good challenge. Unless it is a hidden puzzle type game you should be able to see what is happening on the screen with relative ease. You should only really die in a shmup if your skill and reaction time is not sufficient. I find even in the most chaotic of bullet-hell shooters that when I get hit I always saw it coming, it is just that I did not react in time. All they had to do to combat this was to make the enemy bullets a fluoro/neon type shade like in most shmups, just as they did in its 1999 sequel Battle Bakraid. They could have done this without increasing the bullet size too so as not to take away too much from the current look of the playfield. Battle Garegga is superior to Battle Bakraid in every way except for this one issue. No game should result in someone who has 20/20 vision wondering if they should be going to LensCrafters to have their eyes checked.

Yep, agreed! It's an otherwise nice looking/sounding game but that honestly ruins the whole thing for me.

9 hours ago, Dane said:

That is a ridiculously good memory off the top of your head!

I love muh shmups haha! I think it's because it's one of the few genres that have remained almost completely unchanged for 30+ years, and it's one of the few remaining genres that represents essentially pure gameplay. Little, if any, story and generally no cutscenes - just you, your hand eye coordination and manual dexterity, and a million glowing dots to dodge and space ships to shoot. I appreciate that in today's gaming world. If you take a look at your average RPG released today and one released 30 years ago, they bear very little resemblance to one another. Take your average shmup released today and compare it to Dominator on C64, released in 1989 - the skill set required and gameplay of both are nearly identical; and you can jump into basically any game in the genre spanning that period and acclimate yourself almost immediately.

I did forget some other noteworthy stuff though, as I knew I would

Baryon (DOS)
Battle Bakraid
Catalypse (C64)
Fantasy Star Soldier (PCE CD)
Gekirindan
Guardian Force
Harmful Park (PSX)
Highway Hunter (DOS)
Katakis (C64)
Raiden Fighters
Raiden Fighters 2
Raptor: Call of the Shadows (DOS)
Shienryu
Super Star Soldier (PCE)
Twin Cobra II
Tyrian 2000 (DOS)
UN Squadron (SNES)
Viper Phase I
X-Out (C64)
Zynaps (C64)

[garbanzo]

You said it well, Zombeaver. There's something very fundamental about the genre that just works, and there isn't much need to improve upon it. Sometimes games come along with unique mechanics like Ikaruga or Dimension Drive, but for the most part, it's just dodge and shoot.

I especially like the fact that you can play for just a few minutes, or lock in for several hours. Whatever suits your mood at the time.

In fact, I'm leaning more and more towards only collecting shmups. There are so many to explore, and so many arcade ports with little differences to try out. Of course, I might have to hang on to a few non-shmups that focus on dodging bullets, like the Contras and Metal Slugs and Ikari Warriors of the video game world...

I really need to dig more into shmups from old PC systems. DOS, Amiga, C64, X68000... There's got to be some great stuff out there. I see a few on your list, so that's where I'll start.

[flatuswalrus]

11 hours ago, garbanzo said:

I really need to dig more into shmups from old PC systems. DOS, Amiga, C64, X68000... There's got to be some great stuff out there. I see a few on your list, so that's where I'll start.

 

Same, I have always unintentionally avoided shmups outside of the arcade. I know on average the arcade would definitely have the best but there would be some gems out there I am sure on home consoles and handhelds. I guess when you keep running into stuff like this though it is no wonder the arcades looked like paradise compared.