12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

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Shepardus
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by Shepardus »

That's quite different from the results here. Quite surprised to see Thunder Force III and IV so high up, and absolutely no sign of Yagawa in the top 15.
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pokemon123
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by pokemon123 »

yeah the list is far more different than I thought it would be.
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Xyga
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by Xyga »

It's kind of outdated. Also the scope was slightly different, based on "your top 10 favorite shmups of all time".

Nostalgia factor is big I believe, IIRC members didn't necessarily vote for the shmups they actually play the most or for scoring/competition, also it's a smaller community and a lot of irregular/n00b players or more generally retrogaming-oriented individuals participated to the vote.

For instance this is PROMETHEUS's vote:
1. DoDonPachi DaiOuJou
2. Ikaruga
3. Mushihimesama Futari
4. Ketsui
5. Mushihimesama
6. DoDonPachi
7. Guwange
8. Gradius V
9. Espgaluda
10. Pulstar
And the vote from a guy with a '2' post count;
1- Thunderforce III (megadrive)
2- Axelay (sfc)
3- Last resort (neo geo)
4- Gate of thunder (pc engine)
5- Xenon II (amiga)
6- U.N Squadron (sfc)
7- Agony (amiga)
8- Thunderforce IV (megadrive)
9- Z-out (amiga)
10- Parodius (sfc)
Maybe we'll do another one with stricter rules one of those days (no n00bs ! :mrgreen: )
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EmperorIng
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by EmperorIng »

I think if people are honest about the qualifications (be familiar with half the games) that's a pretty good sifter.

Of course you can debate what "familiar" is, but I think a bit of vagueness-by-design is healthy for this type of competition.

It's nice to see the results. Good to know there's another Exed Exes fan out there. 8)
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professor ganson
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by professor ganson »

EmperorIng wrote:Good to know there's another Exed Exes fan out there. 8)
Love the bee theme so much. Gameplay is fun as well, though it didn't crack my top 25.
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by Cagar »

Yeah the reason why I don't like this poll is that people who don't even play shmups these days have the same priority in votes.
Kind of reminds me of democracy.
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by professor ganson »

Cagar wrote:Yeah the reason why I don't like this poll is that people who don't even play shmups these days have the same priority in votes.
Kind of reminds me of democracy.
Why would someone vote or even come to shmups chat if they don't play shmups at least casually/on occasion? Seems like an odd reason not to like the poll, but maybe I missed something.
Bonus!
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by Bonus! »

The problem with the current format is that 25 entries is quite the number. You could probably get a more representative list if you asked all voters to pick their 10 favorite games (that should be a lot easier to come up with than your personal top 25), and then compile a top 25 based on those results.
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by ncp »

I leave for a couple years and you people let Dodonpachi drop to 5th? Get it together, people.
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Obscura
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by Obscura »

Bonus! wrote:The problem with the current format is that 25 entries is quite the number. You could probably get a more representative list if you asked all voters to pick their 10 favorite games (that should be a lot easier to come up with than your personal top 25), and then compile a top 25 based on those results.
Incorrect; that would exacerbate the problem the list currently has, where the most played game ends up on top no matter what.
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by God »

EmperorIng wrote:I think if people are honest about the qualifications (be familiar with half the games) that's a pretty good sifter.

Of course you can debate what "familiar" is, but I think a bit of vagueness-by-design is healthy for this type of competition.
Honestly I don't qualify but vote anyway.

My excuse is: as written, you have to have a major hard-on for the bullet hell sub-genre to qualify. And I just don't. So I vote for classic hories and everybody talks about them not getting enough love anyway.

You can hate hories and qualify but you can't hate bullet hell...

Actually, it's completely circular if you think about it.
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evil_ash_xero
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by evil_ash_xero »

I didn't even know we still had these lists!

They should really be stickied. I always miss them.
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Special World
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by Special World »

all praise futari black

eschatos deeeeefinitely needs to be in the top 25 though, hopefully with the steam release more people will be able to play this incredible game
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evil_ash_xero
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by evil_ash_xero »

These lists are all over the place. :lol:

It's more of like "what have you been most interested in, this year?", rather than a rock solid "best of". But with forum members voting, that's how it's gonna be.

Futari is great. So, I'm not going to complain. Not my favorite shmup, but it's HIGH quality. Definitely an all-time great.

I still like Galuda II better, and stand by the statement that the people that can't get into it are WEAK.
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Squire Grooktook
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by Squire Grooktook »

My list always tends to shift a bit, because my tastes evolve pretty quickly. I've already written out a list in preparation for the next poll, and it's almost entirely different from the last one lol.

Bit of a preview of part of it (because I don't have the text file on this computer):
Spoiler
[25]Rayforce
[25]Cho Ren Sha 68k
[25]Eschatos
[25]Ikaruga
[25]Mecha Ritz

[20]Battle Garegga
[20]Armed Police Batrider
[20]Dangun Feveron
[20]Touhou 10: Mountain of Faith

[15]eXceed 2nd Vampire Rex
[15]Bio Metal
[15]Elemental Master
[15]Alltynex Second
[15]Dragon Blaze
[15]Darius Gaiden
[15]Darius

[10]...
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CWM
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by CWM »

Obscura wrote:
Bonus! wrote:The problem with the current format is that 25 entries is quite the number. You could probably get a more representative list if you asked all voters to pick their 10 favorite games (that should be a lot easier to come up with than your personal top 25), and then compile a top 25 based on those results.
Incorrect; that would exacerbate the problem the list currently has, where the most played game ends up on top no matter what.
I thought that was by design? The methodology explicitly weighs a game's mere appearance on a list more than its actual weighted score. If you wanted a list that tried to account for both popularity and quality, then the simplest way is probably to do a fixed-scale rating for each game (let's say 1-10 to keep things consistent) and then use Bayesian averages as scores.
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Shepardus
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by Shepardus »

Squire Grooktook wrote:Bit of a preview of part of it (because I don't have the text file on this computer):
Together we shall put Cho Ren Sha in its rightful place after it fell out of the honorable mentions this year!

I've been thinking about what I want to vote for, the first few are pretty clear to me but after that it gets a lot harder to order them. It also gets hard for me to think of more than ~15 games to include without also thinking of more than 25 that I can't decide between.

Curious to know why MoF is your favorite Touhou, is it because of the lack of grazing or other milking?
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evil_ash_xero
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by evil_ash_xero »

When did RayForce start getting all up in the list? It's a great game. I just remember it always being a good bit lower. And Ibara in the top 25 is new to me, as well.
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EmperorIng
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by EmperorIng »

I think a lot of newer members started playing the game (and realized how great it was), since I don't recall it even making the cut a few years ago. It's a deserved spot if you are going to have some Taito representation. Taito's overall record with the genre is a little spotty, given how many games they pumped out in their prime and how wildly different/weird a lot of them are, but at least we acknowledge when they hit it out of the park.
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by Mania23 »

Awesome!, Darius Gaiden got honourable mention!. Great game!. Really good fun, especially two player co-op :)
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Squire Grooktook
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Re: 12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Results

Post by Squire Grooktook »

Shepardus wrote:Curious to know why MoF is your favorite Touhou, is it because of the lack of grazing or other milking?
Yeah, not a fan of Grazing as a scoring mechanic (I don't loathe it with the burning passion that Cagar does, but in general I lean away from it).

Other then that, it seems to have some of the best balance of RNG in the franchise. Lots of chaotic, confusing attacks that are different each time, but it doesn't vary in difficulty as wildly as some of the stuff in EOSD. Boss patterns in general are really top notch IMO, has a near perfect balance of reflex/sight reading and subtle, nuanced tactics.

Also struggling against that final attack on lunatic is probably one of my favorite gaming moments ever.
RegalSin wrote:Japan an almost perfect society always threatened by outsiders....................

Instead I am stuck in the America's where women rule with an iron crotch, and a man could get arrested for sitting behind a computer too long.
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