10 Most Played Shmups Survey

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Mark_MSX
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10 Most Played Shmups Survey

Post by Mark_MSX »

Hi Everyone,

In the survey, I am collecting data from as many players as possible to determine what shmups seem to be the most popular for players to play. The metric to understand what shmups are the most played is actually really simple - hours played. So for this list rank the 10 shmups that you have spent the most hours playing. #1 is the most time played, #10 is the least time played (but of course these are all still supposed to be the top 10 shmups played, on a hour basis).

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... sp=sf_link
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BareKnuckleRoo
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Re: 10 Most Played Shmups Survey

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Did MAME used to have playtime statistics per game listed somewhere or am I misremembering?
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To Far Away Times
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Re: 10 Most Played Shmups Survey

Post by To Far Away Times »

It did. Or atleast Mame32UI had it at one point.
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BareKnuckleRoo
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Re: 10 Most Played Shmups Survey

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Maybe they removed it then... at least I can't find it in any more recent builds I use for the life of me. Oh well, I estimated rough playtime, should accurate enough for the sake of shmups science~.
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XoPachi
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Re: 10 Most Played Shmups Survey

Post by XoPachi »

This is actually quite difficult. Hard for me to really recall the top 10 most played games of anything for me. Gonna have to think about this. 3 for sure, but 10...man.
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To Far Away Times
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Re: 10 Most Played Shmups Survey

Post by To Far Away Times »

Same.

I know DOJ is my most played. An older version of MAME kept track of my hours and it was 60+.

Mushi Futari is probably second. No idea on actual hours though.

And after that I really don't know. Some of these games I haven't played in 8 years or more.
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Sengoku Strider
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Re: 10 Most Played Shmups Survey

Post by Sengoku Strider »

Fortunately Switch gives you a rough amount of time played for every game. The blessed Wii U gives you the exact amount. But what that's taught me is that estimates based off memory are often, if not usually well off. Some games will be more prominent in memory, and maybe played over a longer span of time, but often that still adds up to far less game time than something that didn't stand out quite as much.
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Square_Air
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Re: 10 Most Played Shmups Survey

Post by Square_Air »

Submitted. I estimated my list goes something like this:

01. Gunbird 2
02. Warblade
03. Cho Ren Sha 68K
04. Dangun Feveron
05. Batsugun
06. DoDonPachi DaiOuJou
07. Gunbird
08. Perfect Cherry Blossom
09. Sorcer Striker (Mahou Daisakusen, I don't play Sorcer)
10. Espgaluda


GB2 is my #1, and nothing else can quite compare except for Warblade which I played so much as a kid in the 2000's, long before I ever really got into shmups. CRS68K, Batsugun, DOJ, PCB, and Espgaluda were all very formative for me when I was new, so lots of excess hours were spent making the same mistakes in these.
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clippa
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Re: 10 Most Played Shmups Survey

Post by clippa »

Yeah, I know I've played certain games for ages in mame and on console, but I just put my most played games on steam in order since I'd just be guessing at my play times otherwise. At least on there I've got the cold hard numbers.
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Sengoku Strider
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Re: 10 Most Played Shmups Survey

Post by Sengoku Strider »

Square_Air wrote:GB2 is my #1, and nothing else can quite compare
Same. Taking on that game is a serious endeavour. I've sunk dozens and dozens of hours into it and I'm not even good enough to be challenging normal difficulty yet. I might well be going at it for a couple of years.

But it's not like that's the only tough mountain to climb in shmups; that game keeps me coming back simply because of how utterly satisfying it is to shoot things in it. The audio response from both shooting & hitting your target, the crunchy zako explosions, the super gratifying chime when you chain coins, it's a masterclass in audio design. That's its greatest strength to me.

The animations are the apex of pixel art as well, they packed so much in that you'll still be noticing new little touches & details on your 200th, 300th run. Add in all the different characters to keep any given session from getting stale, the well-done voice acting, the number of different types of challenges routing presents, even the cheerful Japanese supermarket soundtrack (redone version) grew on me.

If this site runs the top 25 this year, I'll almost certainly place it #1 overall.
Wittischism
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Re: 10 Most Played Shmups Survey

Post by Wittischism »

I submitted mine. The last three on the list were honestly tossups but still fairly honest.
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