The worst shmup hardware ever!

[ArugulaZ]

Cast your vote, folks! Here are some candidates...

ATARI 2600: This system had a few good titles under its belt, like the magnificent Megamania and Millipede, but the hardware wasn't designed for large amounts of enemies, and sprites generally can't exist on the same horizontal plane, resulting in tons of flicker.

NES: I love the Nintendo Entertainment System. It may very well be my favorite game system of all time, but man is this thing not cut out for this genre. Flicker is rampant and the low clock speed often results in slowdown. Even the good titles had to be pared down to work on the machine, and there are a whole lot of bad ones.

GAME BOY ADVANCE: The system is pretty powerful for its time, handling large numbers of sprites with ease. Nevertheless, the small screen size and an equally tiny number of buttons limit its horizons. I remember being pretty excited I first played Invader, but I can scarcely imagine returning to it.

VIRTUAL BOY: Ow ow ow my lord ow ow ow my fricking eyes ow ow ow...

[evil_ash_xero]

I don't see how anyone can top the Virtual Boy. It's just annoying.

But I'll toss one in. The SNES. It's slowdown is pretty well known. There are some great shmups on it though, so people worked around it. But it does have problems with this genre.

[pegboy]

Pretty much every Nintendo system after the SNES was pathetic. I'd say the N64 was probably the worst, with it's piss poor 3d graphics and lack of any good games.

[ApolloBoy]

and lack of any good games

???

[noobsaibot21]

and lack of any good games

???

Lack of good games? Sure, it wasn't exactly stuffed with Shmups but it did kind of play host to a number of high quality games (some of which were legendary advancements in innovation)

[blizzz]

The N64 has two of the best rail shooters of that generation, or really of all time. Starfox 64 / Lylat Wars and Sin & Punishment are both awesome games. There may not be any decent traditional Shmups, but the huge amount of must have exclusive titles makes it one of the best consoles of all times in my opinion. Also there's Bangai-O.

The worst hardware for shmups would be the Wii U, which just doesn't have any shmups. And in my opinion the absolute worst are phones. I have no idea why anyone wants to play a shmup (or any other game) with a *** touch screen.

[BuckoA51]

The worst hardware for shmups would be the Wii U, which just doesn't have any shmups.

Quick, someone is WRONG on the internet*

http://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/wii ... xtype_plus
http://uk.ign.com/games/nano-assault-neo/wii-u-142952

*Wrong about there not being any shmups

[Strikers1945guy]

The worst hardware for shmups would be the Wii U, which just doesn't have any shmups.

Quick, someone is WRONG on the internet*

http://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/wii ... xtype_plus
http://uk.ign.com/games/nano-assault-neo/wii-u-142952

*Wrong about there not being any shmups

Well to be fair those are.... bad lol.

[BuckoA51]

That's a matter of opinion, Nano Assault is quite polished but lacks a certain something, Xtype is actually quite addictive though very minimalist.

[Monstermug]

IOS devices top's my list. Controls are just impossible for most games let alone shumps. Motion control devices and shumps just do not mix imo.

[Crafty+Mech]

Cast your vote, folks! Here are some candidates...

ATARI 2600: This system had a few good titles under its belt, like the magnificent Megamania and Millipede, but the hardware wasn't designed for large amounts of enemies, and sprites generally can't exist on the same horizontal plane, resulting in tons of flicker.

Asteroids was a pretty good port on the 2600.

[BuckoA51]

Been playing with my ZX Spectrum this afternoon.. I nominate that Though to be fair Zynaps is kinda fun.. for 10 minutes.

[Shatterhand]

Cast your vote, folks! Here are some candidates...

ATARI 2600: This system had a few good titles under its belt, like the magnificent Megamania and Millipede, but the hardware wasn't designed for large amounts of enemies, and sprites generally can't exist on the same horizontal plane, resulting in tons of flicker.

Asteroids was a pretty good port on the 2600.

River Raid, Demon Attack, Chopper Command, Laser Gates, Planet Patrol, Stargate, Subterranea, Zaxxon .......

[Pretas]

The incredibly failure-prone PCB that runs G-Stream 2020. Fujino got royally screwed over on that deal.

Also, any PCB with suicide batteries (looking at CPS2).

[evil_ash_xero]

I don't play Atari anymore, but I can't really list it because I think it had good shmups for it's time. River Raid, Asteroids, and Vanguard were some that I played a lot, when I was little.

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

I'm going to go with Virtual Boy but probably any of the early handhelds that left trails after graphics would be shit as well because it garbles things together.

Anyone who whines about shmups on the 2600, I kinda have to think you weren't around at the time and are judging based off finding them and comparing them today because at the time the shooting games on it fricking ruled. Like, glued to the shit all day then take a Polaroid of the screen to mail in for a patch, ruled.

[Crafty+Mech]

I'm going to go with Virtual Boy but probably any of the early handhelds that left trails after graphics would be shit as well because it garbles things together.

Anyone who whines about shmups on the 2600, I kinda have to think you weren't around at the time and are judging based off finding them and comparing them today because at the time the shooting games on it fricking ruled. Like, glued to the shit all day then take a Polaroid of the screen to mail in for a patch, ruled.

Totally remember taking pictures of 2600 games on the TV to send in for a reward of some kind. Except regular film so had to wait for a couple weeks until the pictures came back.

[kamiboy]

Phones are always the answer to any question relating to the worst platform for playing games.

[Josh128]

I'm going to go with Virtual Boy but probably any of the early handhelds that left trails after graphics would be shit as well because it garbles things together.

Anyone who whines about shmups on the 2600, I kinda have to think you weren't around at the time and are judging based off finding them and comparing them today because at the time the shooting games on it fricking ruled. Like, glued to the shit all day then take a Polaroid of the screen to mail in for a patch, ruled.

Games like Phoenix, Demon Attack, Air Sea Battle, Snoopy were really enjoyed by me as a 6 year old! Thinking back, I never noticed any slowdown and flicker either!

I'd have to say the original Gameboy was one of the most poorly suited- monochrome, bad screen blur, slowdown occuring more readily than even the NES. It did have R Type and Gradius, but yeah...

[Skykid]

and lack of any good games

???

My brain collapsed. What a comment.

Pretty sure the N64 had - and still has - some of the finest games ever written to its name.

[dink]

Pretty much every Nintendo system after the SNES was pathetic. I'd say the N64 was probably the worst, with it's piss poor 3d graphics and lack of any good games.

I'm one of the few that agrees with you wholeheartedly.. It made me completely give up on console gaming after the genesis/snes era. Luckily theres enough 2d stuff to keep me happy, though.

[yxkalle]

SNES? N64? Please... May I say Sega Gamegear with its horrible ghosting? Original Gameboy had a pretty bad screen too.

Does anyone remember the Tiger Electronics Game.com?

[mvsfan]

no, yxkalle. I remember the tiger handhelds from the 80s that were 1 game on a handheld. i played them as a kid but nowadays theyre shite. they really dont have much replay value unlike the nes or master system.

[d3vak]

I remember the tiger handhelds from the 80s that were 1 game on a handheld.

Oh yeah...




Can anyone explain why the Virtual Boy's display had to be purely red?