What are your top 3 shmups from the 16-bit era?

[Herr Schatten]

1. Apidya
2. Biohazard Battle
3. Gynoug

[Austin]

Tough decision. I'll have to go with the ones I go back to the most frequently (in no particular order):

Raiden (arcade)
Super R-Type (SNES)
R-Type (arcade or PCE)

[bikingjahuty]

1. M.U.S.H.A.
2. Thunder Force IV
3. Gun Nac

[Gamer707b]

I love 16-bit shooters so I had to bring this back

Thunder Force 4
Super Aleste
Axelay
These are games I can always go back to. TIMELESS!!!

[Creamy Goodness]

1. Soldier Blade
2. Thunder Force 3
3. M.U.S.H.A.

[bigbadboaz]

LOL at the early philosophical discussion. Everyone who's been around gaming knows this kind of topic is intended for the corresponding console generation.

TFIV
Gate
Blazing Lazers

And damn, picking those three made it obvious that that IS too small of a window. Needs to be six at least. Real hard to eliminate shit like Pulstar NGCD, Axelay, Space Megaforce and MUSHA.

[sunnshiner]

Games I really enjoyed BITD-

Gaiares
Gynoug
Apidya (playing with a Mega Drive pad allowed a second button for weapon select- my friend had an Amiga and I had a Mega Drive which was handy!) I went back and played it recently and it still holds up today I reckon.

But, yeah, there are a few more Mega Drive shmups I could've added to that list (Thunder Force IV, Truxton, Bio Hazard Battle) and I also quite enjoyed X-Out on the Amiga too.

[MJR]

This question cannot be narroved into single sentence, for the reasons explained above (what is 16-bit? Whole architecture of the console? Can it be PCB arcade game? Can it be Neo Geo? Played now or played back in the day? Can we talk about 16-bit "period of time"?)

As for Snes and Megadrive, I only enjoyed shmups that were arcade conversions, and it's mostly same for PC-Engine. That means Top 3 were Truxton and Hellfire, and Gradius III

On PC-Engine, Cho Aniki is my favourite, but it's not because of the gameplay, it's because of the bonkers atmosphere. Otherwise it's arcade conversions again, meaning R-type, Mr.Heli. So that's another Top 3 there.

As for period of 1987-1993, my top 3 shmups were all arcades (R-type, Truxton, Dragon Breed).

My top 3 favourite shmups I played at home, that were 16-bit but not arcade ports or console games, were Battle Squadron, Xenon 2 and Starray for Amiga. (I used to have Apidya as original few years ago, it's really well made, but I dislike the theme and the gameplay is insufferable without autofire).

I've seen the love for gunhead / soldier blade and Thunderforce, but for some reason I never really got into them, even though I tried to play them a lot.

[To Far Away Times]

Thunder Force III
Sapphire
M.U.S.H.A.

[pablumatic]

Really late to this thread, apparently, but I'll add mine in here too.

R-TYPE (arcade)
Thunderforce III
U.N. Squadron/Area 88 (arcade)

This era was the peak of shooters for me so I feel really limited here. So many great games from the 16-bit gen.

[Starfighter]

I haven't played that many shmups from the 16-bit era come to think of it but out of the ones I have my favorites are:

Darius Twin (SNES)
Empire of Steel (MD)
Super Aleste (SNES)

[Vexorg]

My favorites from that era:

Raiden DX (Arcade, own the PCB)
Thunder Force IV (Genesis)
Blazing Lasers (TG16)

[Jonpachi]

- Soldier Blade (PCE)
- Slap Fight MD (MD)
- Thunderforce IV (MD)

[Martinov]

If we're talking about the home market and counting the PCE as 16-bit, then probably:

Thunderforce IV
Slapfight M.D.
Lords of Thunder

Super Aleste, Parodius, Soldier Blade, Thunderforce III, R-Type and probably a few more that skipped my mind miss out by a mere whisker.

[nZero]

Soldier Blade
Axelay
Raiden (PCE/TG16)

[jehu]

Nexzr (PCE-CD)
Elemental Master (MD)
Battle Mania: Dai Gin Jou / Trouble Shooter 2 (MD)

Honorable Mentions: Slap Fight MD, Eliminate Down, Biometal, Axelay, TFIII, Gate of Thunder, Soldier Blade

On any given day the list of three might be replaced with any of the HMs. Tried to stick to games without arcade counterparts (with a few notable border cases).

[Koa Zo]

Undead Line
Star Parodier
Super Aleste

If I could only play 3, those would be the 3

[evil_ash_xero]

Thunder Force IV
M.U.S.H.A.
R-Type III

Unless I think of anything else, I would roll with these. Thunder Force IV is definitely my favorite. Spriggan vs M.U.S.H.A. was tough, but I gave it to Aleste.

[Shatterhand]

1. Apidya
2. Biohazard Battle
3. Gynoug

I am never surprised how our taste is so similar

If we're going for home games only:

1. Apidya
2. Gokujyou Parodius (SNES port )
3. Soldier Blade

[Gamer707b]

I was just thinking that this thread could be a 8 and 16-bit shmup discussion. I know we have a lot of chats about bullet hell here, so figured it would be nice having a place to chat about the 8 and 16-bit era.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Probably

1. Soldier Blade
2. Gate Of Thunder
3. Thunder Force IV

I hate to not include Axelay and Elemental Master. I probably should revisit Last Resort.

[Kollision]

Axelay
Darius II
Silpheed

[Herr Schatten]

1. Apidya
2. Biohazard Battle
3. Gynoug

I am never surprised how our taste is so similar

Now, five years later I would actually modify my list slightly, and replace Gynoug with Nexzr.

[Bydobasher]

Fun question. When I think "16-bit" I'm envisioning SNES, GEN, TG16 . . . so I'll exclude arcade titles, Neo Geo, and computer games (e.g. Amiga or X68000, with all due respect to Apidya in particular!). That being said:

1. Salamander conversion for TG16
2. Gradius III conversion for SNES
3. Blazing Lazers

If I exclude Konami's arcade conversions, then maybe this:

1. Blazing Lazers
2. Axelay
3. MUSHA

My honorable mentions are a trio of GEN side-scrollers I've always liked: Eliminate Down, Gaiares, Gley Lancer.