17th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Discussion Thread

[Jeneki]

Yep, in the words of Gunbird 2, "vote now or you'll be sorry!"

Also the less votes the more ... interesting the results will be. Don't let whackos like me get our way, hehe.

[Nifty]

I've some good news - the number of votes has now managed to exceed that of last year without needing an extension! The less good news is that that's still some ways below where I'd previously felt properly comfortable. In the spirit of optimism, I'm going to choose the option of extra time again.

[6t8k]

(vote)

Thanks for hosting this again, Nifty.

As is apparent, I'm firmly rooted in the more classic, non-danmaku STG. Though there are some tentative movements at work to explore Cave.

Seeing beyond one's nose, I'm plagued by the trivial trouble that I simply can't help but assume that I'll love some games that are not on my ballot (yet). It's just that I haven't gotten around to playing them, or playing them enough to the point of feeling comfortable to include them.

So for the future I can well imagine I) a few arcade originals replacing console ports, and II) a few more Cave titles finding their way into my ballot.

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e: Removed Chelnov (MD) at OP's request and put Axelay in its place.
The lines have to be drawn somewhere, thus I can certainly follow the reasoning, but it is still my considered opinion that there lies no inherent problem in considering Chelnov / Atomic Runner a shmup in the mould of Gradius and Kiki Kaikai.

• Considering that on one hand, the classic Contras are not qualified, but on the other hand the Kiki Kaikais are, then I see no logical reason why Chelnov should naturally be out of the question

• The developers themselves said that their goal was to design a "forced scrolling STG with a sense of gravity"

• "Scrolling platform shooters" are not on the red off-limits list—while "platform shooters" are, the platforming in Chelnov is not the predominant gameplay aspect and the game plays completely different to a classic Contra. Most notably, not only is there forced scrolling, your character also moves along the scrolling field on his own; you have to hold left to stay where you are.

[Nifty]

-~=Two days of extension now remain=~-