List of recommended XBLIG shmups

[DJ Incompetent]

2,352,457,800 - Loop 65
Score didn't post to leaderboard. I think I broke yer game, guy.

It became the soul of 4chan, so I happened to record the final minutes of whatever max rank circle of hell I was in. Twitvid is uploading it now (@DJIncompetent). I'm going to bed.

[mjclark]

2,352,457,800 - Loop 65
Score didn't post to leaderboard. I think I broke yer game, guy.

It became the soul of 4chan, so I happened to record the final minutes of whatever max rank circle of hell I was in. Twitvid is uploading it now (@DJIncompetent). I'm going to bed.

Astonishing and amazing!
So will Game Type loop indefinitely?
And what on earth does "It became the soul of 4chan" mean?

[DJ Incompetent]

No idea how that game just doesn't crash. It was just totally fast-forward gif image board madness for me. Nothing made sense by loop 40. There was only heart attacks and scoring system extends abuse.

http://www.twitvid.com/UDNXJ

[kid aphex]

I can't believe there's more talk on these boards about Game Type than Orbitron ... Help

[kccttzj]

Orbitron: Revolution, what a great game.

Orbitron Revolution: Visually stunning and very nicely presented but frustratngly underpowered and hard to see what's going on a lot of the time 5/10

I don't think the ship is underpowered at all. Once you get used to looking at the map, and paying closer attention to enemy placement, you can start attacking enemies as soon as they appear on screen (if not before), and they're destroyed pretty quickly. If you take into account how powerful the wave bomb, power shot, and the explosions from killing the orange enemies are, the game is pretty fair, I think. Difficult, but fair.

It is a bit difficult to see what's going on at first, but that's nothing new to the genre. You adjust, eventually. It didn't take me long to adjust to OR.

[MommysBestGames]

I was delighted to see that art from Orbitron (image of a female with a red helmet) is being used as the art that serves as the link to the Indie Games store on the Xbox dash (at least in the US). They had a FortressCraft screen up before which wasn't as pretty as this new art from Orbitron. Hopefully it will get them some new downloads. Also shows MS is still paying attention and updating things for XBLIG.

[mice]

(at least in the US)

http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/100265.aspx
We in Europe are still waiting for the downloadable games part of the dash to be as good as in the us.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The verizontal danmaku title of Redshift is up on both the Japanese & USA XBL sites for a mere 80 MSP. Runs at a sliky-smooth arcade spec 60fps framerate with some novel twists 'n' spins. Plus a stylized font tribute is evident as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[sideshow]

Awesome thread. Made several purchases.

[Moniker]

Added Redshift and Birth Order to the OP. Haven't been keeping up with XBLIG scene - have I missed anything noteworthy?

[Kollision]

you might want to check:
The Great Paper Adventure (seems dull, but has infectious music)
Pixelosity (seemed decent)
EchoSpace (brilliant idea, but there's no scoring in it )
You're All Diseased! (arena, infectious music)
Hypership Still Out of Control (more of the same)

[daliscar]

Bored with the Sine Mora trial I scrolled to the end of the alphabetical Indie Shooter list and found
Tester Phase One (a collaboration between the WispLisp and Score Soldier guys with bullet reflecting and challenges)
Crescendo Symphony (weirdly like a cross between Game Type and Deathsmiles and also has the honour of being the first Japanese game on XBLIG)
Ignition Force (mad time attack shit)

and
A Weird Game Where A Baby Shoots Bullets Out Of Its Navel While It's Tethered To A Rubber Duck except that one doesn't actually look much good.

[Moniker]

Thanks for the recs, chaps. I'll check those out once I'm done unravelling the secrets of the Enki... Esp looking forward to the game from the Wisp-lisp guy.

[Rozyrg]

Damn, looks this thread kinda fell behind.

Anyone here tried Overdriven? It's got some obvious flaws; but I think it's pretty excellent otherwise. Great music and sfx, cool explosions, (overall) not-bad graphics and a nice sense of speed.

Some things do mystify me though, like the combo counter which can go into the thousands (especially during boss fights); but seems to have very little impact on your score...hmm.

[Sizone]

Just a message for anyone who was thinking about it: DO NOT BUY MEGA SHOOTER 11.

Its design philosophy cashes in on one thing: NES nostalgia. But it manages to only capture the really awful things about NES games, like two frame sprites? Think the bats were the best enemies in Ninja Gaiden? Then this game is for you. It's like some one set about to make a NES style shooter, but their only inspiration was a 50-in-one cart.

[Rozyrg]

DO NOT BUY MEGA SHOOTER 11.

Didn't even know about this game before; but now it's DEMO TIME!!

It's pretty quirky, yeah; but I think that goes in it's favor as much as it does against it. You're abysmally slow and weak starting out, the freezing shots are annoying, etc.; but then there are cool touches like the warp/powerup zones that just warm my heart. Aside from the seriously blah design for the player ship, I absolutely love the graphics, too.

IMO, you could do much much worse with 240 MSP. Lord knows I have before. >_>

[Alfred]

Overdriven was 240 MSP, Now it's 80 MSP

[malchitos]

DO NOT BUY MEGA SHOOTER 11.

Didn't even know about this game before; but now it's DEMO TIME!!

It's pretty quirky, yeah; but I think that goes in it's favor as much as it does against it. You're abysmally slow and weak starting out, the freezing shots are annoying, etc.; but then there are cool touches like the warp/powerup zones that just warm my heart. Aside from the seriously blah design for the player ship, I absolutely love the graphics, too.

IMO, you could do much much worse with 240 MSP. Lord knows I have before. >_>

It's in my Que to buy(along with Neon Prime)...but I just can't make myself snag it. If it would drop to 80 MSP I would. I was the same with Orbitron:Revolution and the Radiangames titles. I always have 240 MSP set aside for Snops Attack, They Bleed Pixels, and Chronoblast for when they finally release.

[malchitos]

Yaw might wanna give Neon Prime and Echo + a go. Neon Prime is a decent enough Galaga/Glaxian type game...little laggy, but I think better than Mega Shooter 11. Echo + is a Geometry War like arena shooter, it's pretty fluid and filled with options and modes.

BTW I still say Score Rush and Infinity Danger are the best shmup training tools.

[Moniker]

Damn, looks this thread kinda fell behind.

Well, yes and no. I check new shooters every now and then. Haven't seen anything I'd consider actually buying, hence no updates. Although there are a few on the list presently that are probably beneath my present standards. I'll check out Neon Prime and Overdriven.

Echo+ is quite competent, but I can't think of a single reason to get it over Geo Wars or one of the radiangames. Maybe there's something more unique in the trial-locked modes?

[Jeneki]

Oddly enough, I'd find a complete list of all XBLIG shmups useful, even if it does include less-than-recommended ones (perhaps having the recommended ones marked or color coded as needed).

[MommysBestGames]

The very attractive "Snops Attack!" is out now, 240 MS points. Vertical scrolling, Looks pretty, controls well, on the easy side.
Worth giving the demo a spin to see if it fits your liking. Being discussed in the dev section, but I think others will find it useful to know here (main chat) as well.

US marketplace link: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Produ ... 0258550be8

[Op Intensify]

Well, someone played Crimzon Clover!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Yeah, that XBLIG Snops Attack! does have that unmistakable Crimzon Clover vibe/tribute, doesn't it? Sure is a stunning beauty running on a proper low-res 15kHz arcade monitor in 240p format, indeed, with an UVc setup. And them iconic Moai heads featured on the second stage, a classic nod towards the Gradius series easily. Plus, that silky-smooth arcade-spec 60fps framerate is heavenly. With the upcoming first update, SA! should be even better. Considering that it took a year and a half to create SA!, whatever it takes to get the job done.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[malchitos]

Aeternum is pretty good. Kinda hori touhou inspired...I like how the bullet patterns sometimes flow with the music.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Produ ... 0258550c43

Grid Space Shooter came out of nowhere and I love it. Very hectic arena shmup with lots of power ups. I also noticed you can dissect other ships piece by piece. Don't let the pictures fool ya, this one moves very fluid and looks very "new school retro?"
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Produ ... 0258550c8c

I'm on the fence about Overdriven....It's not as polished or fluid as the others but it's likable. If I have any points left after Chronosblast I may grab it too.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Produ ... 0258550b58

I know it's sad but these and Snops Attack are the only ones worth mentioning. I find myself playing Snops Attack, Aeternum, and Grid Space Shooter more than I ever did Sine Mora.

[MommysBestGames]

Grid Space Shooter came out of nowhere and I love it. Very hectic arena shmup with lots of power ups. I also noticed you can dissect other ships piece by piece. Don't let the pictures fool ya, this one moves very fluid and looks very "new school retro?"

Great recommendation!
I passed it up based on the vague, Geometry Wars looks. I don't generally like abstract designs, but I do enjoy Warning Forever (probably because it has *some* structure, something more than just single blocks, single boring circle enemies, etc).
Grid Space Shooter has the 'break things apart on big ships' appeal similar to Warning Forever, especially on the bigger ships. Give the demo a try. It even has an asymmetrical coop player option which is interesting. The second player controls a smaller helper ship that has infinite lives and simply respawns on death.
The single player is really smooth, and interesting with waves of pretty different enemies, and some bigger ships coming in. I played to the demo time out, bought it, and played till level 1-8 or 1-9. Seems like a pretty good amount of interesting content. It's pretty visually busy at times, and is an "arena shooter" which I don't usually go for, but I liked this one.

[malchitos]

Pester Came out today...decent enough. It's like a game programmer in the mid 80s went into the future and found out how Shmups evolved. Then went back to his own time and made a game incorporating those future concepts into a game system from that period. Lots of modern mainstays....even a duel play stick mode which is maddening. But those who hate the "Gradius Complex" may dislike it...the once you die you lose everything and have to claw your way back...though this one strips ya just a bit with each loss of life.

These are the guys who did "Super Killer Hornet" but I don't remember liking that game as much,

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Produ ... 0258550c96

[malchitos]

The single player is really smooth, and interesting with waves of pretty different enemies, and some bigger ships coming in. I played to the demo time out, bought it, and played till level 1-8 or 1-9. Seems like a pretty good amount of interesting content. It's pretty visually busy at times, and is an "arena shooter" which I don't usually go for, but I liked this one.

same here...but since Warning Forever I've began to develop a taste for them....not to mention twin stick controllers we have now....it's like this generation of systems were made for Arena Shmups.

[MinuteFong]

Chronoblast is a must and has already got forum members on the leaderboard

9.5/10: relentless and brutal with decent ship options and meaty graphics, seriously hard on Normal, I can't handle Hell . A steal at 80 MSP.

PS there's a list of all (good and bad) indie shmups on the Facebook shmups group (see the 'List of XBOX 360 Games' doc) - feel free to add any that are missing!

[nZero]

Oddly enough, I'd find a complete list of all XBLIG shmups useful, even if it does include less-than-recommended ones (perhaps having the recommended ones marked or color coded as needed).

Browsing XBLIG again thanks to this and all of the recent Chronoblast talk. I wouldn't mind if the OP were more comprehensive, it's hard to find things via the dashboard sometimes. Also found this older thread, anything worthwhile there?