copy-paster wrote:
oh my god G-DARIUS and CHO REN SHA have joined the gang!
Finally! Two of my favourites, I've been voting for both of them for years....
Lethe wrote:
ZeroRanger way up at #12.
I still haven't played this, so I don't have an opinion on this game yet. But for ZR to be #12 on this list is shocking to me. That's an incredible result!
DMC wrote:
Is there a cute em up resistance?
Yes.
DMC wrote:
Seems M2 have boosted Darius and Mahou Daisakusen, so bring us Brave Blade HD next! People don't like juggling bells or medals or what? They prefer to shoot enemies one at a time at a very constant pace?
Indeed, yes!

Mahou is another of my favourites -- definitely my favourite Raizing game -- and one reason is there's not so much
stuff on screen....
NMS wrote:
I'm happy to see Cho Ren Sha 68k in the top 25, and I wasn't expecting Kotsujin to reach the HMs but that's cool too.
I actually didn't realize CRS had never made the list before . . . for some reason I thought that it had. But
Kotsujin on HM is a huge surprise -- maybe a bigger surprise than ZR at #12!
seiatsu wrote:
Most surprising is that GG Aleste 3 didn't make the cut at all...even as an honourable mention.
I didn't vote for it -- though I considered it strongly -- but I would have bet money it was going to make HM. Just too new I guess....
Square_Air wrote:
Nope. Rayforce is getting done dirty and deserves to be higher, I wasn't aware it was slipping that fast. This used to be a stable top 10 pick, but in recent years it started falling off with this being the lowest placement for it in many years. I know this one has come and gone in the past, and I have no doubt that it can spring back, but unfortunately, it seems like these older arcade titles are starting to lose some relevancy without a recent enough quality port.
I don't enjoy Rayforce as much as I used to, but your point about the older titles falling off is well taken. 1993's Rayforce
is one of the oldest titles on the list, and while we've probably been in this place for a few years already and I just hadn't noticed, it's still surprising to me. 1987's R-Type is
by far the oldest title -- the only one from the '80s. Man, over half of my list is from the '80s!
Square_Air wrote:
Just wanna give a shout out to the few people who help pitch in votes for this masterpiece [Robotron]. I can't imagine this ever getting much traction since many people here dismiss golden age shmups entirely, but I have to mention it a bit for being the game that made me really reconsider that era. While there have been countless clones and spiritual successors, nothing has ever managed to touch the raw intensity and speed of Robotron, IMHO. I'm still constantly amazed by how forward thinking this game was with its enemy design and chaining mechanics for scoring. With the multiple modes people play like marathon, tournament, VKE (Vid Kidz Extreme), etc, there's multiple ways to play and compete. Robotron: 2084 is shooter insanity boiled down to its purest essence.
This has always been a favourite of mine. It didn't make my list only because I consider it an overhead run'n'gun, and not a shmup. But there is
nothing as feverishly immediate as Robotron. It's awesome.
Kobayashi wrote:
I had a regret: I didn't even put an honorable mention to Gekirindan, one of Taito's finest shmups.
Yes! I've always enjoyed this game, and I like it no less than the better-regarded Rayforce or Darius Gaiden.
Herr Schatten wrote:
Sengoku Strider wrote:
I feel like I'm missing something about Darius Gaiden. I own it on Saturn, I like it fine, but it never blows my socks off in a "one of the 10 best of these things ever made" kind of way.
I'm in the same boat. Unlike earlier Dariuses, which I thought fairly run-of-the-mill except for the novelty factor, I can see that they really tried to improve a lot with Gaiden, and of course I like huge mechanical fish as much as the next guy, but nevertheless Darius Gaiden never really struck me as exceptional in any way.
I've always liked the game, and I especially enjoy the music and also being able to play it with a friend. I consider it the first game in the series that is really good to play (with apologies to anybody who enjoys the older arcade and console titles). I like it about as much as Metal Black actually -- maybe a bit less, because I appreciate Metal Black's distinctive character. But for me, Darius series has always been about the extravagant G-Darius....
copy-paster wrote:
Sadly CRS downloads are no longer available on developer's current site. No idea why he pulled it off really.
Weird! It would be one thing if the entire site went down, but for the site to remain without the downloads . . . I don't understand.
psykom1 wrote:
I'm surprised there's no Gradius III, or any Parodius on these lists.
Well, G3
did make HM list. That's pretty good. But on Gradius, here's my gratuitous rant:
What do you all see in Gradius Gaiden?? 
I don't enjoy Cave-style games, particularly, but I understand other people do, so whatever. (Though I
do want to give Crimzon Clover a shot at some point....) However, I
love side-scrollers, I love Konami -- and I love Gradius. The original game and G2 are both on my list this year, and I have been known to vote for both G3 (SNES) and G5. I even enjoy the monochrome Gameboy games (very much in fact)! But I had another go at Gaiden the other day, and it just feels
flat to me. On PSX, I think Einhander, R-Type Delta and G-Darius are all greatly superior -- maybe Thunderforce 5 also. I don't know, it's inexplicable....

Anyway, very interesting as always, thanks to all for their contributions -- and especially thanks to Nifty for pulling it all together.