Best SHMUPS Stories?

This is the main shmups forum. Chat about shmups in here - keep it on-topic please!
User avatar
Flycast
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu May 04, 2023 8:05 pm
Location: Europa

Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by Flycast »

Hello!
I know that is not the main part of a SHMUP game, probably is the least important...but...what are the games that put an unusual effort on the Story? Lore? World Building, Characters etc. ?

[feel free to delete this topic if it's useless]
Playing Now: Gleylancer
Playing Now: Strikers 1945 II
________________________

New account name: Lemnear

I'm a Barbie girl in a bullets world.
Steven
Posts: 2874
Joined: Tue May 11, 2021 5:24 am
Location: Tokyo

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by Steven »

R-Type
User avatar
Anonymous Goldfish
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2022 8:59 pm
Contact:

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by Anonymous Goldfish »

one time i found copy of 360 Akai Katana at a dollar general
Image
User avatar
DMC
Posts: 1127
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:41 pm
Location: Sweden
Contact:

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by DMC »

My favourite STGs in terms of building an atmospheric world are Einhänder, Soukyugurentai, and Thunder Force V. A mix of melancholic mood, ambiance, large-scale battles, and impending doom.
User avatar
jehu
Posts: 398
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2021 3:15 am
Location: NYC

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by jehu »

Gun Frontier and Battle Garegga began the 'brothers unite to save the world' trope that has since become a staple in global artistic production.

The Brothers Karamazov literally wouldn't exist without them, so I'm quite thankful for Senba's ingenuity and Yagawa's willingness to copy his much more talented predecessor.

The lizard men in Frontier Gun & were a bit uninspired as villains, though, you have to admit. I think the gold rush motif could have given rise to much more interesting baddies: like the evil Monster Cable Co. using child slave miners to procure the metal to coat their overpriced components, or bereaved divorcees trying to stop their rugged frontiersman ex-husbands from making 24K cock-rings and copulating with one another in the gunships, or maybe Mecha Mark Twain and the ghost of King Midas trying to bring about a universal 'gilded age.'

I could think of more, but I'm clearly very busy.
User avatar
XoPachi
Posts: 1300
Joined: Thu May 03, 2012 8:01 pm

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by XoPachi »

I kind of like Ketsui's plot.
The idea of an arms dealer becoming so grotesquely powerful that they themselves become a bigger threat to the Earth than the faction the player's side is warring against is a neat angle. I like that the mission cannot in any way be traced back to them or they will surely escalate tensions to apocalyptic scales. So the pilots blow themselves up along with the smuggled prototype copters at the end to make it look like a coup within EVAC. It's all very desperate.
The muted color scheme and calmer music always played into the more somber nature of the game's premise to me.
Last edited by XoPachi on Fri May 19, 2023 11:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
xxx1993

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by xxx1993 »

I really like Sol Cresta's Dramatic Mode.
User avatar
PerishedFraud ឵឵
Posts: 536
Joined: Fri Jul 19, 2019 9:36 am
Location: To escape from our Utopia

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by PerishedFraud ឵឵ »

Metal Black

ZeroRanger

Spoiler
Divine Sealing
Image
Fun Over Victory| Shitpost Central | Shmusic Archive | Old Account | tuckfouhou@gmail.com
User avatar
Lander
Posts: 848
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2022 11:15 pm
Location: Area 1 Mostly

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by Lander »

Fantasy Zone II

Image
XoPachi wrote:I kind of like Ketsui's plot.
The idea of an arms dealer becoming so grotesquely powerful that they themselves become a bigger threat to the Earth than the faction the player's side is warring against is a neat angle. I like that the mission cannot in any way be traced back to them or they will surely escalate tensions to apocalyptic scales so the pilots blow themselves up and the smuggled prototype copters at the end to make it look like a coup within EVAC. It's all very desperate.
The muted color scheme of the game and calmer music always played into the more somber nature of the game's premise to me.
Yeah, and the Fly It Like You Stole It chip-chasing playstyle synergizes nicely with that sense of deathwish desparation too; all around one of CAVE's more holistic works.
xxx1993

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by xxx1993 »

No mention of DonPachi? In the first game, it turns out that you’re being forced to fight your own comrades, who are actually willing to let you win, and that their deaths are required to form the DonPachi Corps. Then come the second game, when you are called to fight off an alien invasion, except it turns out your commanding officer Longhena had actually tricked you into killing your comrades again, and then you must go after him and his ultimate weapon Hibachi.
User avatar
PerishedFraud ឵឵
Posts: 536
Joined: Fri Jul 19, 2019 9:36 am
Location: To escape from our Utopia

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by PerishedFraud ឵឵ »

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: and it solves all of the world's problems somehow
Image
Fun Over Victory| Shitpost Central | Shmusic Archive | Old Account | tuckfouhou@gmail.com
User avatar
To Far Away Times
Posts: 1661
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2012 12:42 am

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by To Far Away Times »

From the sacred texts:
Spoiler
Narrator: In A.D. 2101, war was beginning.

Captain: What happen ?
Mechanic: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What !
Operator: Main screen turn on.
Captain: It's you !!
CATS: How are you gentlemen !!
CATS: All your base are belong to us.
CATS: You are on the way to destruction.
Captain: What you say !!
CATS: You have no chance to survive make your time.
CATS: Ha Ha Ha Ha ....
Operator: Captain !! *
Captain: Take off every 'Zig' !!
Captain: You know what you doing.
Captain: Move 'Zig'.
Captain: For great justice.
User avatar
KAI
Posts: 4646
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2010 5:24 pm
Location: Joker Star Galaxy, Argentina
Contact:

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by KAI »

The story of the games developed by Milestone/Klon/RS34 are interconnected between them, and I think the series has the best lore on the entire genre.
People often say that Taito made some of the darkest shmup stories out there, but Radirgy, Karous and Illvelo have literally bad ends on all their entries.
Spoiler
ImageImage
ImageImage
And the upcoming Radirgy 2 is apparently giving answers to some huge cliffhangers on that milestoneverse.

Kinda sux that until now all localizations of these games have been really bad and are full of mistranslations. Hoping at least Illvelo Swamp and Radirgy can get a good treatment if they ever get localized.
Image
User avatar
Lander
Posts: 848
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2022 11:15 pm
Location: Area 1 Mostly

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by Lander »

To Far Away Times wrote:From the sacred texts:
Spoiler
Narrator: In A.D. 2101, war was beginning.

Captain: What happen ?
Mechanic: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What !
Operator: Main screen turn on.
Captain: It's you !!
CATS: How are you gentlemen !!
CATS: All your base are belong to us.
CATS: You are on the way to destruction.
Captain: What you say !!
CATS: You have no chance to survive make your time.
CATS: Ha Ha Ha Ha ....
Operator: Captain !! *
Captain: Take off every 'Zig' !!
Captain: You know what you doing.
Captain: Move 'Zig'.
Captain: For great justice.
Dang it, I was betting on
Spoiler
Blast off and strike the evil Bydo Empire!
:)
User avatar
Flycast
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu May 04, 2023 8:05 pm
Location: Europa

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by Flycast »

DMC wrote:My favourite STGs in terms of building an atmospheric world are Einhänder, Soukyugurentai, and Thunder Force V. A mix of melancholic mood, ambiance, large-scale battles, and impending doom.
Thunder Force V is on my list of "must play". Einhänder got that dark color scheme of FFVII in some way...
xxx1993 wrote:I really like Sol Cresta's Dramatic Mode.
Looks fantastic :shock: is a cinematic-shmup!.
xxx1993 wrote:No mention of DonPachi? In the first game, it turns out that you’re being forced to fight your own comrades, who are actually willing to let you win, and that their deaths are required to form the DonPachi Corps. Then come the second game, when you are called to fight off an alien invasion, except it turns out your commanding officer Longhena had actually tricked you into killing your comrades again, and then you must go after him and his ultimate weapon Hibachi.
I LOVE DoDonPachi (and DonPachi). Is colorfoul, fun to play and is so Nietzsche-like in how thin is the line bewteen good & evil, in total contrast with the vibrant colors of the game.
To Far Away Times wrote:From the sacred texts:
Spoiler
CATS: All your base are belong to us.
Ahahahahah i can't get this game seriously...in the (beatiful) cover art looks like the pilot is under LSD..then is confirmed after you discover that the villain is called CATS ! (really? how someone that is called Cats can be a bad guy?).
Then Cats says his famous non-sensical quote just to confirm that is all bad trip!


However, i think that Blazing Star plot is the most disturbing and unique plot of the genre.
A war between humans that ended in a race for super-bio-computer-weapons (Brawshella), that INSTANTLY ended in the annilation of the WHOLE humanity.
There are no winners, there are no humans or animals anymore, those are extinguished...there are only cyborgs with extreme body modifications, under the control of Brawshella.
Also the team of protagonists are cyborgs that recovered the memories of their human life, but they are not human ,no more.
They fight only for the fact that they remember what they were, but there's technically nothing to save...if not for their free will (negated by Braswella).
Is deep, sad and with an unsettling final boss...

PS: Never played Ketsui nor Illvelo.
PPS: why R-Type?
Playing Now: Gleylancer
Playing Now: Strikers 1945 II
________________________

New account name: Lemnear

I'm a Barbie girl in a bullets world.
User avatar
Lander
Posts: 848
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2022 11:15 pm
Location: Area 1 Mostly

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by Lander »

R-Type is rad because it went from Go Kill The Baddies to thoughtful existential introspection on the nature of our species and its creations (namely, the Bydo), yet managed to execute those ideas without burying the player in text or talking heads.

In particular, Delta and Final both have back halves that manage to speak volumes via their stage, encounter and enemy design while using little in the way of explicit storytelling. Though textual lore is also available if you want to dive deeper.
User avatar
BareKnuckleRoo
Posts: 6162
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:01 am
Location: Southern Ontario

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Omega Fighter has the best story, just check out that ending when you beat the game... and then loop 2 appears. :D
User avatar
Nose Laughin
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat May 13, 2023 9:16 pm

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by Nose Laughin »

There's Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga, with the loops plot in the first and how the Stone-Like in the second ties the two together.
Steven
Posts: 2874
Joined: Tue May 11, 2021 5:24 am
Location: Tokyo

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by Steven »

Apparently this is the story of Tatsujin

Image
User avatar
Flycast
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu May 04, 2023 8:05 pm
Location: Europa

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by Flycast »

Lander wrote:R-Type is rad because it went from Go Kill The Baddies to thoughtful existential introspection on the nature of our species and its creations (namely, the Bydo), yet managed to execute those ideas without burying the player in text or talking heads.

In particular, Delta and Final both have back halves that manage to speak volumes via their stage, encounter and enemy design while using little in the way of explicit storytelling. Though textual lore is also available if you want to dive deeper.
I need to dive more if there's more to read, also for other games that got a lot of lore.

I don't understand why and how EVERY protagonist of a Shoot'em Up is already the most badass pilot in the universe, even if he/she/it has never defeated the main villains... it's a paradox, they should become Legends AFTER winning the war and not before :lol:
Playing Now: Gleylancer
Playing Now: Strikers 1945 II
________________________

New account name: Lemnear

I'm a Barbie girl in a bullets world.
User avatar
Jeneki
Posts: 2501
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 4:56 pm
Location: Minnesota, USA

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by Jeneki »

Welcome to violent city!

The Earth was really hollow!
Typos caused by cat on keyboard.
User avatar
cj iwakura
Posts: 1729
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 2:28 am
Location: Coral Springs, FL

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by cj iwakura »

Castle Shikigami 1 has unreliable narration that plays with the endings. You think one route is perfectly normal, then find out in another route that
Spoiler
the bosses are just acting in a facade and have completely different personalities.
Image
heli wrote:Why is milestone director in prison ?, are his game to difficult ?
User avatar
XoPachi
Posts: 1300
Joined: Thu May 03, 2012 8:01 pm

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by XoPachi »

Bit of a tangent, but does anyone else ever differentiate between a game's actual plot vs how the game is presented?

Like Crimzon Clover very clearly does not care to tell you a story. It's boisterous and bombastic with a blistering arcade pace that stays very consistent. It's a great looking game, but you're not meant to take in the sights and it doesn't feel like your ship is fighting for anything.

Then there's Axelay. It doesn't have a story beyond "aliens attack". But I always liked how serious it takes itself and triumphant it always feels. The plot is just enough for the typical context, but it makes me feel like I was just told a powerful epic when I finish it. It's paced and bold like something meant to be more storied. And even the opening feels like the start of an unparalleled adventure.
User avatar
Specineff
Posts: 5752
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 12:54 am
Location: Ari-Freaking-Zona!
Contact:

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by Specineff »

No love for G-Darius?
Don't hold grudges. GET EVEN.
User avatar
Flycast
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu May 04, 2023 8:05 pm
Location: Europa

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by Flycast »

XoPachi wrote:Bit of a tangent, but does anyone else ever differentiate between a game's actual plot vs how the game is presented?

Like Crimzon Clover very clearly does not care to tell you a story. It's boisterous and bombastic with a blistering arcade pace that stays very consistent. It's a great looking game, but you're not meant to take in the sights and it doesn't feel like your ship is fighting for anything.

Then there's Axelay. It doesn't have a story beyond "aliens attack". But I always liked how serious it takes itself and triumphant it always feels. The plot is just enough for the typical context, but it makes me feel like I was just told a powerful epic when I finish it. It's paced and bold like something meant to be more storied. And even the opening feels like the start of an unparalleled adventure.

I agree your entire post! (also if i've never played Crimzon Clover or Axelay, but Axelay looks nice with that weird horizon effect)
Specineff wrote:No love for G-Darius?
I don't know the full story of Darius :(
Playing Now: Gleylancer
Playing Now: Strikers 1945 II
________________________

New account name: Lemnear

I'm a Barbie girl in a bullets world.
xxx1993

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by xxx1993 »

Oh, trust me, Flycast, you’ll like the Dramatic Mode of Sol Cresta.
User avatar
Flycast
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu May 04, 2023 8:05 pm
Location: Europa

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by Flycast »

xxx1993 wrote:Oh, trust me, Flycast, you’ll like the Dramatic Mode of Sol Cresta.
As i said, looks fabolous on that side. Is like in the olds mecha anime, where the protagonists and the antagonists talks to each other from their respective mecha before and during the battle.

Is something that i wish to see more often :(

C'mon how is possible that in every other game, when the Boss ship comes, the enemy pilot/s , have NOTHING to say to the protagonist? (and vice versa). Really?
Nor allies , enemies or your mother base during the whole game...
Some dialogue should contribute to not making you only a soulless pawn.
Playing Now: Gleylancer
Playing Now: Strikers 1945 II
________________________

New account name: Lemnear

I'm a Barbie girl in a bullets world.
xxx1993

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by xxx1993 »

At least in DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou and Raiden V you had characters that were actually speaking to you, the player... Sho Tendo's not just like your typical super robot anime protagonist, he also has a little bit of Maverick to him whenever he clutches his pendant and begs his father to ask for his help.
User avatar
ZacharyB
Posts: 571
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2006 6:16 am
Location: Queens NY
Contact:

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by ZacharyB »

A lot of them have really nice vignettes, if not stories.

I like Mars Matrix (ancient witch takes control of Mars colony), Rayforce (defeat AI which took over the entire planet Earth, both figuratively and physically)... R-Type's bleak outlook.

I thought the red gems/Carnassians in Raiden were really cool, although I'm not sure that they're really aliens. Seibu's other work, Viper Phase 1, seems to be a political thing.

Even Mushihimesama is kinda cool, for all its mysticism.

Border Down's simulations, and then, the real thing (I think the music really makes it, though).

Ikaruga/Radiant Silvergun are also good. I think Ikaruga is a better fable/epic, though. The time loop in Radiant Silvergun is cool.

There are so many. Even the way Gradius V loops.
User avatar
BareKnuckleRoo
Posts: 6162
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:01 am
Location: Southern Ontario

Re: Best SHMUPS Stories?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Serious response this time!

Giga Wing: Plot's given as pre-stage cutscenes that are quickly skippable if you're just playing for score. Every character has a good and bad ending depending on if you manage to 1CC, and then 2 player coop also has a storyline for each character pairing! In a few endings the giant Medallion (or rather the being controlling it) is hinted at having been responsible for the world's World Wars.

Drainus: Again, plot that doesn't intrude on the gameplay, fleshed out with collectable recordings that add to the story's intrigue. It's officially a 2 loop game in the story, and much like Donpachi/Dodonpachi, the loop is tied directly into the story. It's a pretty good story, I enjoyed it a lot.
Post Reply