Excellent work Zach Keene and Turrican for his cool chart & quotes!
It would be interesting to see the whole list of the 336 shooters, in alphabetical order with their earned score values.
I see that DonDonPachi has won again.
It is the best manic / bullet storm vert shooter, with the most powerful, devastating firepower to ever grace the monitor cathode ray-tube, but I just can’t accept it as the King of shooters.
It’s interesting that the shooters placed in the next 3 positions are all developed by Treasure.
I don’t know but something just doesn’t look right, Mars Matrix in 5th place?!
Come on guys what were you thinking? I don’t understand what people find so special about this game? No seriously, it’s just an average vertical shooter, with an irritating weapon system and not nearly powerful enough.
I’m happy to see Mushihimesa in the list. Unlike the views of some other members, I find Mushi, with its incredible hand-drawn graphics, catchy soundtrack (Especially the Boss music, perfectly suited for a battles against gigantic bug Bosses!) & cool gameplay, to be one of the pinnacles of the shooting realm!
I’m unhappy with the fact that Thunder Force V didn’t make it into the list. It’s a shame really that the Guardian’s Mechanical armies remained in the shadow for this year.
Rev. Stuart Campbell wrote:Guardians Knight wrote:You need to spend some time with them to appreciate them, TFV is great once you've got to grips with changing speed and weapons and number 4 is cool too once you get over the difficulty factor.
I don't hate them for being hard, man. I hate them for being dull, ugly and soulless rubbish. There are games I don't like, but understand other people liking. The Thunderforces, on the other hand, are a constant bafflement. That dedicated shmup fans could place them above classics like Raiden DX, Gradius Gaiden and Giga Wing is nothing short of astounding. (If you like stuff that resembles TF3, say, then Aero Blasters is 10 times better.) I can only attribute it to nostalgia.
Aero Blasters better than the Thunder Force series?! Holy Cow!!
Savage! That’s sacrilege!
You’ll burn in the fiery pits of shooting Hell and be tormented there for all of Eternity, with no polarity shield or Raiden’s Thermo Nuclear Bombs!
BulletMagnet wrote:Then again, Guwange made it back too, so all those Untold Legions of Evil Unthinking Rabid Intolerant Cave Fanboys have apparently unleashed their unbridled fury as well.
That’s poetry!
louisg wrote:No, it really isn't. No aspect of that game stands out.
Here's what stands out:
- Well-paced and varied level design
- You don't go back when you die like most horizontals with similarly good level design (more preference than anything)
- Lots of weapons good for different situations
- The game balance errs in favor of the player-- there are no situations where you might as well just restart if you die
- Jammin' tunes
- Varied bosses-- not just cores =)
You might also try Thunderforce AC, which is a remix of 3 that features levels (I think?) from 2.. it's a bit more challenging as well. If you compare Thunderforce 3 to any game that's similar, you'll find it's done better than most.
Some excellent points there louisg, couldn’t have expressed them better!
Yes, Thunder Force AC combines levels & elements from both TFII & TFIII and is also available for the SNES under the title “Thunder Spirits”. It suffers from some pretty heavy slowdowns however.