Good shooters on US PS2?

[Special World]

People on these forums sometimes say that Playstation 2 is one of the best consoles for scrolling shooters, but I've always considered it to have a rather weak selection. When people say that, do they just mean the Japanese PS2? Or are there a ton of shooters I just don't know about? All that comes to mind is:

Gradius V
Shikigami 2 / Mobile Light Force
Raiden III (eh)
R-Type Final (meh)

I know there are a lot of good PS1 shooters, but just speaking about those games actually made for PS2... what am I missing?

[Pretas]

Aside from retro compilations and the Gradius III/IV pack, there's not much for the US PS2 besides what you listed. The selection really opens up when you include Japanese and European releases, though many of the Euro versions were handled by sleazy budget publishers and are gimped in some way.

[Special World]

Are there any truly noteworthy retro compilations? I love Midway Arcade Treasures 1 and 2, and I think Taito Legends 2 is pretty cool, but the Capcom Collection I played didn't entirely thrill me. Is there anything I'm missing? I'm a huge fan of good retro collections.

[Pretas]

The Atari and Intellivision collections on PS2 both have a very large selection of games, but they suffer from poor emulation and/or awkward controller mapping.

The Atari compilation, as well as Sega Genesis Collection were both handled by retro emulation plaguebearers Digital Eclipse. The best that can be said about their work is that it's slightly better than DotEmu's.

[professor ganson]

Not a shmup, but there's a good Contra on US PS2.

There's also Midway Arcade Treasure packs which includes versions of Robotron, Defender, etc.

I guess the Tecmo Classic Arcade Compilation which includes StarForce was an exclusive for Xbox. Not sure why that wasn't on PS2.

Presumably there was a Namco release of some sort with Xevious, but I can't think of what it was called if there was one.

[Pretas]

I guess the Tecmo Classic Arcade Compilation which includes StarForce was an exclusive for Xbox. Not sure why that wasn't on PS2.

There was a differently named Tecmo compilation released on PS2 a year earlier as a Japanese exclusive.

Not a shmup, but there's a good Contra on US PS2.

Shin Contra and Neo Contra are both good.

Presumably there was a Namco release of some sort with Xevious, but I can't think of what it was called if there was one.

Namco Museum 50th Anniversary, which got a Greatest Hits reprint. Unfortunately, it also bears the marks of Digital Eclipse.

[shmuppyLove]

Some decent stuff for PS1 as well, which of course you could play without any issues on PS2.

[cj iwakura]

There's Project Sylpheed, though it's not as good as the Sega CD one.

[professor ganson]

I guess the Tecmo Classic Arcade Compilation which includes StarForce was an exclusive for Xbox. Not sure why that wasn't on PS2.

There was a differently named Tecmo compilation released on PS2 a year earlier as a Japanese exclusive.

Not a shmup, but there's a good Contra on US PS2.

Shin Contra and Neo Contra are both good.

Presumably there was a Namco release of some sort with Xevious, but I can't think of what it was called if there was one.

Namco Museum 50th Anniversary, which got a Greatest Hits reprint. Unfortunately, it also bears the marks of Digital Eclipse.

Neo Contra isn't bad, while Shattered Soldier is outright good.

That's interesting about the Tecmo compilation. I didn't recall a PS2 release. Do you know whether it had a tate option for StarForce? The US Xbox version was lacking that option and it really suffered as a result.

Yes! Namco Museum 50th Anniversary rings a bell. I think I had that at one time but I don't recall much about it. Seems like earlier (PS1) and later (PS3) Namco collections were superior.

[Lawfer]

R-Type Final (meh)

I dont understand why everyone seem to dislike R-Type Final, its definitly not as good as the best (Graaaaadius V), but its a great STG still.

[Special World]

I loved R-Type Final back in the day. Tried to get back into it recently and it was slow as hell and felt terrible to play on a moment-to-moment basis.

[EmperorIng]

Are there any truly noteworthy retro compilations?

Taito Legends 1/2
Capcom Classics Vol. 1/2

Some good shooters on that pack. Taito Legends 2 contains an arcade-accurate port of G-Darius and a fairly good port of Darius Gaiden. Also has RayStorm and Metal Black, though the latter isn't fully accurate.

Capcom Classics 2 has 1941: Counterattack, Side Arms, and Varth: Operation Thunderbolt. 1941 and Varth are very good games. You have some novelty shooters like Chariot and Eco Fighters on there as well.

Considering how cheap these compilations are, they're a worthwhile pickup imo.

[professor ganson]

Found this after some searching:

Tecmo Hit Parade on J-PS2 does have the image gallery. It is the second of two options on the title screen

You're probably aware that PS2 version only has 7 games as opposed to Xbox version with 11 games.
There is also no tate opion for any of the games. The emulation seems spot on, afaik. All the original arcade dip-switch options are present.

That's a shame there was no tate option for StarForce. I remember finding the chopped version on Xbox really unfortunate.

[SuperDeadite]

To correct the first post, in the USA

Mobile Light Force 2 = Shikigami No Shiro
Castle Shikigami 2 = Shikigami No Shiro 2

[EmperorIng]

Whoa, that would mean him buying Silpheed, and he should definitely not do that.

[mehguy]

Gradius V
Shikigami 2 / Mobile Light Force
Raiden III (eh)
R-Type Final (meh)

Actually shikigami 1 was called mobile light force 2. Shikigami 2 was released here as it's proper name.

[mehguy]

People on these forums sometimes say that Playstation 2 is one of the best consoles for scrolling shooters, but I've always considered it to have a rather weak selection. When people say that, do they just mean the Japanese PS2? Or are there a ton of shooters I just don't know about? All that comes to mind is:

Sorry for making double post today. People do refer to the jap ps2 when it comes to shooters. Many ps2 shmups didn't make it over in North America.

[Jeneki]

But Silpheed has the Treasure logo therefore we must automatically worship it, even if we've never played it.

[Pretas]

Ever since the game's release, it's been well-recognized even among Treasure devotees that Silpheed: The Lost Planet is a subpar effort. It's why it still sells for peanuts compared to Gradius V.