Favorite Music in Shoot em ups

[KimagureMachibuse]

Does not have to be a limited number of choices or to a specific port of a game can be as many as you'd like to put down
here are only a few of my favorite BGM's

Gradius III Arcade Aqua Illusion Stage 2
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B9GMla82i ... 28&index=5

Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius The Pachinko Payout Comes Fast and Furious ~from Gradius~​(Stage 7 Zabu ~ Big Core)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh5TzApWeuk

Sexy Parodius Eagle Sabu Theme (Take Care from Gradius II)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f99YhspLlQE

Parodius Da! PC Engine Neon Core Theme https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qpkQ3bNVJ ... 9&index=17

DRAGON SPIRIT 008 Area 4 (Grave Yard) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DythU6_zV ... SV&index=8

DRAGON SABER 011 渓谷 AREA 5 (arcade game music) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XBG99AAct ... T&index=11

Space Invaders Extreme 2 -AUDIO ELEMENT - 08. Revenge of the Invaders
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CWVVtG6O0 ... yo&index=8

Darius Gaiden (Arcade) - 10 - Tranquilizers https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0HqUlYqTZ ... z&index=10

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

I've literally copied this from my signature

[To Far Away Times]

Thunder Force IV - Metal Squad

Cho Ren Sha 68K - Pleasure Trip

Mushi Futari - Stage 3

Thunder force III - Haides

[MidnightWolf]

Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer

Soldner X2: Final Prototype

R-Type Final 2

Pretty much anything from those games is great.

[Skyknight]

Battle Bakraid in general, but especially "Steam Syndrome" and "Battle Logic".

[RileyYeo]

Lords of Thunder

Awesome metal soundtrack.

[XoPachi]

This is hard to condense. :c

I like RF2's swamp stage I think between this and Red Eye's theme, those are my favorite in the trilogy (and that's a LOT of music I like too)

They kinda went sicko mode with DFK Black Label's whole soundtrack. Vertex left an extremely good initial impression.

Metal Squad is a common pick, but I like Strike Out the most of Thunder Force 4's songs.

Scorched Earth Tactics ended the boss music game for me. Instantly in your face. That's what I like.

Maelstrom had a similarly powerful theme.

Man, this genre just has the best boss music honestly. God...

I still don't think Cave quite topped Red Bee for their TLB's. It's just good no bullshit pacing. It's not "epic". It's not dance music. It's wastes little time. It's just hot blooded and as straightforward as that entry's Hibachi. It's like a really sudden anger that doesn't have any lengthy build up, warning, or words. It's just simply go time.

Also, the whole of Radirgy. My god it's so nostalgic.

[blazinglazers69]

Super Aleste/Space Megaforce's OST is really chill and unique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjogLf9 ... 0Y&index=7

The whole CRS68K ost as well. Awesome chip tunes.

Ooh, also the Eschatos ost. Even my fiancee being in another room notices how catchy it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWZ6pqz ... JI&index=2

Lastly, on the flip side, I have to say Toaplan consistently makes my least favorite music. It's all super tinny and abrasive sounding. Like the games but the music is always very meh. Batsugun's not bad, but Outzone, Fireshark, Tatsujin, it's all just...rough.

[kuze]

Pretty much anything by Manabu Namiki is fire.

One of my favorite tracks of his:
Thunder Dragon 2 (Arcade) - Fly to Live I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Riv7VZI-k7A

Trap15 also found some cool unused music in P47 Aces which I've really been digging lately:
P-47 Aces Unused Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Zs_oXOvyw

[Steven]

Literally the entire Thunder Force V soundtrack.

Lastly, on the flip side, I have to say Toaplan consistently makes my least favorite music. It's all super tinny and abrasive sounding. Like the games but the music is always very meh. Batsugun's not bad, but Outzone, Fireshark, Tatsujin, it's all just...rough.

Mega Drive Zero Wing is amazing. That version specifically was done by what's-his-name that did the Gleylancer OST. I always forget his name for some reason, though...

Oh, and Koshiro's music for Slap Fight MD, if you want to count that as a Toaplan game even though Toaplan didn't make it.

And how the fuck did I forget Tatsujin Ou? When I played that game for the first time a while ago, I caught fire and had to stop drop and roll in the middle of Mikado because the music was so incredible that I caught fire and had to put myself out. Okay, not really, but Tatsujin Ou's music is really that damn good. Lots of Toaplan music is super grating though... even if I do kind of like Teki-Paki's soundtrack somehow.

[el_rika]

Thunder Force III - ending theme
Deathsmiles - castle

[MidnightWolf]

Just one more i thought of:

Air Buster: Trouble Speciality Raid Unit - Boss Music

I love the way it starts off all jaunty and happy, then suddenly turns all psychotic and "I'ma kill you now!" when the boss changes into it's second form. Always made me chuckle, that did.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I just bought the preorder for the OST for the GG Aleste games that recently got announced. I'm looking forward to it, they're some of the best music on the Game Gear.

Air Buster: Trouble Speciality Raid Unit

I hadn't heard of this one. Kaneko's made some great games like Cyvern, this one really sounds good. The bosses look really detailed too, I'm digging the mech designs.

[PerishedFraud ឵឵]

Imagine posting Air Buster and choosing the boss theme over the seaside front arrange or freaking out of gravity!
(fun fact btw, i've spotted several references to air buster in cambria sword. neat)

[Necronom]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czzT5KD ... v3&index=4

Guwange already has a superb soundtrack, but the arrange one is even better

[Eyvah_Ehyeh]

For me, two shmups stand out with music that I can enjoy even when not playing. The first one is Jamestown. The other is UN Squadron for the SNES. So banging awesome.

[Vexorg]

A few of my favorite tracks from various shmups:

Gradius III - In the Wind (In general the Gradius games have some of the best soundtracks out there)
Radiant Silvergun - Evasion
Raiden 2 - Tragedy Flame (Stage 2)
Ikaruga - Butsutekkai (Boss theme)
Border Down - Snow Fox
Jamestown - Lost Temple of Croatoa Suite (another somewhat obscure game with one of the best shmup OSTs out there)
Blazing Lasers (Gunhed) - Stage 1
Eschatos - Point of No Return
Battle Bakraid - Steam Syndrome (railroad stage)

[chum]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV_oRuCJShM

[Creamy Goodness]

Literally the entire Thunder Force V soundtrack.

Lastly, on the flip side, I have to say Toaplan consistently makes my least favorite music. It's all super tinny and abrasive sounding. Like the games but the music is always very meh. Batsugun's not bad, but Outzone, Fireshark, Tatsujin, it's all just...rough.

Mega Drive Zero Wing is amazing. That version specifically was done by what's-his-name that did the Gleylancer OST. I always forget his name for some reason, though...

Oh, and Koshiro's music for Slap Fight MD, if you want to count that as a Toaplan game even though Toaplan didn't make it.

And how the fuck did I forget Tatsujin Ou? When I played that game for the first time a while ago, I caught fire and had to stop drop and roll in the middle of Mikado because the music was so incredible that I caught fire and had to put myself out. Okay, not really, but Tatsujin Ou's music is really that damn good. Lots of Toaplan music is super grating though... even if I do kind of like Teki-Paki's soundtrack somehow.

A lot of Toaplan's music is hard to listen to, but it is interesting how in a few instances the music is noticeably improved on the console ports. MD Zero Wing is a good example. Twin Cobra on the PCE I feel also blows the arcade's OST out the water as well. MD Same! Same! Same! sounds very similar to the arcade, but is a little less abrasive.

[Sima Tuna]

The stage music to Gradius II. I don't know if I like Gradius II at all, or if I just love the music so much I keep playing it.

[Steven]

A lot of Toaplan's music is hard to listen to, but it is interesting how in a few instances the music is noticeably improved on the console ports. MD Zero Wing is a good example. Twin Cobra on the PCE I feel also blows the arcade's OST out the water as well. MD Same! Same! Same! sounds very similar to the arcade, but is a little less abrasive.

I really like PC Engine Tatsujin's music. I'd pay a decent amount of cash for someone to somehow create a custom Tatsujin PCB that has a PC Engine soundchip and reprogram the game to have the PC Engine music. I don't know if that's even possible, but I don't see why it wouldn't be, but if it is I definitely want it.

[o.pwuaioc]

Seconding all the Konami games. They really knew how to make good VGM.

I also want to give a shout out to Metal Black, which, although isn't rife with melodies, doubles down on ambiance and really goes well with the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9q1iKTBSco

Upon listening to it separately from the game, it reminds me a lot of SNES RPGs.

For those loving Lords of Thunder, Gates of Thunder also rocks, although it's hard to hear the music in either due to the awful SFX. Still, I'd rather take GoT's explosions than LoT's crystal cacophony.

Gleylancer also has a good OST:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y9lvbLltZ0

It's got a weird trance OST, but I remember back in the day actually putting the PS1 Centipede game in the CD player and playing the tracks. I wish more games allowed for that.

[RuySan]

Apidya, Z-Out, Battle Squadron, Blood Money, Xenon 2. Yes, first Amiga shmups and then all the rest The Amiga and its sound composers were on a league of their own.

As for other systems, honourable mention to Gleylancer. I love that soundtrack.

[DenimDemon]

https://youtu.be/3K2PDLhcYz8

[Valtele]

Ibara - Like a Rolling Stone
favorite track from probably my favorite CAVE game IBARA. I really like how they merged steampunk, militaristic themes from BATTLE GAREGGA with anime aesthetics that perfectly fit the CAVE game. of course, thanks to Yagawa the game is often called a spiritual successor to BATTLE GAREGGA. This is the best or one of the best-looking STGs for me personally. we really need extended version of this track tho
Espgaluda - Huge Battleship Erinyes [ARRANGE]
an amazing arranged version of the "Huge Battleship Erinyes" track from Espgaluda OST. somehow this game feels special to me, maybe for its fine mixture of violence and fantasy themes.
original song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU2MAj_fpJ0...
and of course, this sounds just too good:
Akai Katana ~ Battou (抜刀) (Select)

[To Far Away Times]

^^^
Espgaluga and Akai Katana have really great soundtracks.

I haven't seen the stage select music from DFK BL mentioned yet

[Sima Tuna]

Darius Gaiden made an impact on me when I was a kid. I remember hearing those otherworldly noises and being impressed by the total audiovisual package. That might have been the first time a shmup really caught my attention for its music. I didn't play a lot of shmups as a kid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smfG_-nZ7Go

[XoPachi]

Darius Gaiden made an impact on me when I was a kid. I remember hearing those otherworldly noises and being impressed by the total audiovisual package. That might have been the first time a shmup really caught my attention for its music. I didn't play a lot of shmups as a kid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smfG_-nZ7Go

Zuntata is in my opinion the most distinct sounding musical talent in all of gaming.

[dark]

Everytime I played a new cave game over the years I'd think "this music is really cool!" and then I'd play the game so much I'd get sooooo burned out on it DDP DOJ and Ketsui have some amazing music though, especially in the first three stages.

[davyK]

Mushi and Mushi Futari
Parodius series
Darius Gaiden