What Do You Think are the 20 Best Indie/Dojin Shmups?

[Mark_MSX]

Hey everyone,

Pretty soon I'm recording an ep/vid about the best indie shmups and wanted to hear more people's opinions, rather than just expressing my own. Plus I'm sure there are a ton of really great indie shmups I'm not even aware of.

Cheers!

[Shepardus]

There was a vote for this, but that was quite a while ago: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=41071

[clippa]

I don't think I'm qualified to judge the best, but of the ones that I've played, Blue Revolver and Exceed 3rd, Neko Navy, Black Bird, The Hurricane of the Varstray, Jet Buster, Blue Wish Resurrection, Dokingan, Mecha Ritz and Steel Vampire are some of my favourites so far.

[Mark_MSX]

There was a vote for this, but that was quite a while ago: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=41071

Awesome! This is really helpful.

[Stevens]

Valkyrius deserves mention.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4936 ... ius_Prime/

[Special World]

I'm not even sure what indie means anymore. I mean, literally yes, but it's hard for me to pick out if this or that is an indie developer.

That being said, Cho Ren Sha definitely kills, and Eschatos and Ginga Force are top of the shelf, if Qute counts.

[clippa]

Yeah, Eschatos is amazing. I decided Qute weren't indie for some reason.

[EmperorIng]

Looking at that link, it's crazy to think how many indie shmups have proliferated since 2012. I mean, Jamestown (while a fine game) was often lauded as one of the best indie shmups because let's face it - at the time it was one of the ONLY high-profile indie shmups (ok, it had good pixel art too).

In some ways the landscape for shmup releases is better than it's ever been, especially for smaller dev groups.

[blackoak]

Jamestown remains the best designed co-op shmup experience afaik. Would have loved to see a sequel. It remains fun with any new group of players, really hitting its stride at 3-4 people. The 1p balancing is admittedly mediocre though

Mecha Ritz for the music/pacing

Blue Revolver and Zero Ranger have similarly high levels of polish imo

Monolith, surprisingly well-executed roguelike shmup

...those are the ones that immediately come to mind for me

[Stevens]

Jamestown remains the best designed co-op shmup experience afaik.

I would rank Score Rush a close 2nd, but Jamestown with 3/4 is a lot of fun.

[Mark_MSX]

Jamestown remains the best designed co-op shmup experience afaik. Would have loved to see a sequel. It remains fun with any new group of players, really hitting its stride at 3-4 people. The 1p balancing is admittedly mediocre though

Mecha Ritz for the music/pacing

Blue Revolver and Zero Ranger have similarly high levels of polish imo

Monolith, surprisingly well-executed roguelike shmup

...those are the ones that immediately come to mind for me

I've never heard of monolith, I'll have to check it out Thanks for the feedback.

[Krushal]

There's one game that the shoot-em-up VIDEO content providers definitely shouldn't cover, but surely you would be free to TALK about: G-wange Dash (forum thread). Was still able to find it recently, but I won't post a link. Enough drama there for a discussion, especially if you could find someone that was around back then.

P.S.
I find the topic title change a bit weird. It sounds like you're taking submissions for an updated top-20, but there are no voting rules/guidelines, schedule etc.

[Mark_MSX]

There's one game that the shoot-em-up VIDEO content providers definitely shouldn't cover, but surely you would be free to TALK about: G-wange Dash (forum thread). Was still able to find it recently, but I won't post a link. Enough drama there for a discussion, especially if you could find someone that was around back then.

P.S.
I find the topic title change a bit weird. It sounds like you're taking submissions for an updated top-20, but there are no voting rules/guidelines, schedule etc.

Yeah sorry this is a vague thread with a vague title, I'll try and come up with a better title.

[blossom]

When I think doujin, for whatever reason I tend to think free games. So I don't think anyone should be surprised when I mention Eden's Aegis. Its scoring system is simple and compelling, being a mixture of Mushihimesama's rapidly dropping chain and Esprade's bullet cancelling. I feel it's the perfect gateway for someone to play the genre for score.

[Shepardus]

When I think doujin, for whatever reason I tend to think free games.

Which is funny because doujin games are usually not free, at least when distributed through doujin conventions. That said, Eden's Aegis is good, or so I've heard (I've hardly played it myself).

I've gotten some good doujin shmups from DLsite, namely Cambria Sword, ring^-27, Stellavanity, Battle Traverse, and Ten and Till. I think those are all worth a mention but some of them are easily overlooked.

Kenta Cho's games (ABA Games) are freeware classics. Kaikan is another good freeware game.

I'm hoping Touhou only hasn't been mentioned because it's so obvious.

Honestly I think pretty much any shmup released in this day and age that isn't a rerelease of an older game is some degree of indie/doujin.

[clippa]

Battle Traverse, and Ten and Till

Oh yeah, they're both great fun, forgot about those. I was just thinking about ten and till the other night. Love the chunkalicious graphics on that. Hitbox is so small in that game too, very forgiving to new players. I'll have to play through it again.

[Mark_MSX]

When I think doujin, for whatever reason I tend to think free games.

Which is funny because doujin games are usually not free, at least when distributed through doujin conventions. That said, Eden's Aegis is good, or so I've heard (I've hardly played it myself).

I've gotten some good doujin shmups from DLsite, namely Cambria Sword, ring^-27, Stellavanity, Battle Traverse, and Ten and Till. I think those are all worth a mention but some of them are easily overlooked.

Kenta Cho's games (ABA Games) are freeware classics. Kaikan is another good freeware game.

I'm hoping Touhou only hasn't been mentioned because it's so obvious.

Honestly I think pretty much any shmup released in this day and age that isn't a rerelease of an older game is some degree of indie/doujin.

When I think doujin, for whatever reason I tend to think free games.

Which is funny because doujin games are usually not free, at least when distributed through doujin conventions. That said, Eden's Aegis is good, or so I've heard (I've hardly played it myself).

I've gotten some good doujin shmups from DLsite, namely Cambria Sword, ring^-27, Stellavanity, Battle Traverse, and Ten and Till. I think those are all worth a mention but some of them are easily overlooked.

Kenta Cho's games (ABA Games) are freeware classics. Kaikan is another good freeware game.

I'm hoping Touhou only hasn't been mentioned because it's so obvious.

Honestly I think pretty much any shmup released in this day and age that isn't a rerelease of an older game is some degree of indie/doujin.

Yeah these are some really great picks! Definitely wanted to look into these more, as I've heard of them before.

[Krushal]

Honestly I think pretty much any shmup released in this day and age that isn't a rerelease of an older game is some degree of indie/doujin.

When I think doujin, for whatever reason I tend to think free games.

I have the same views. I mean Touhou is a computer game empire (STG-wise) and it's pretty much one guy.


Just posted my recommendations on another thread.

[beam]

Devil Engine
Mecha Ritz
Steel Vampire
Soldier Force (this one is tricky, it seems Hudson asked the developper to turn it down)
Solid State Survivor
Nomltest: the best Space Invader upgrade ever made
Zen-Ichi
Life Fortress Volcabamba
Kaikan
Bullet Hell Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?pn5daexwc6r14w8
Crimzon Clover WORLD IGNITION
Mogura Rebirth 1 & Mogura Rebirth 2
Hitogata Happa
Gundemonium Recollection & GundeadliGne

[chum]

Double Spoiler
Fairy Wars
Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream
Shoot the Bullet
Phantasmagoria of Flower View
Perfect Cherry Blossom
Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
Crimzon Clover World Ignition
Imperishable Night
Flame Zapper Kotsujin
ring^-27
Undefined Fantastic Object
Gundemonium Recollection
Mountain of Faith
Aero Chimera
ChoRenSha 68k
Mecha Ritz
Lilian Fourhand
Quantized Blaze
Torus Trooper

[Mark_MSX]

Thanks for the list man! This is really helpful