12th Annual Top 25 Shmups of All Time - Discussion Thread

[Nifty]

Discussion Thread

Talk about your own list, other lists, or others talking about other lists here, in order to keep the vote thread pristine. Voting queries can be brought up here or sent to me personally.

Past results:
11th Annual Top 25 Results: through 2013
10th Annual Top 25 Results: through 2012
9th Annual Top 25 Results: through 2010ish
8th Annual Top 25 Results: through 2009
7th Annual Top 25 Results: through 2008
6th Annual Top 25 Results: through 2007
5th Annual Top 25 Results: through 2006
4th Annual Top 25 Results: through 2005
3rd Annual Top 25 Results: through 2004
2nd Annual Top 25 Results: through 2003
Inaugural Top 25 Results: through 2002

To link directly to your ballot (or any other post):

1. On the post in question, look at the upper right where the date stamp is. (I hope this is consistent across all themes.)
2. Right-click on the little sheet of paper to the left of the Posted: text and copy the link address.
3. Make a link in your commentary post using that destination.

[Mero]

I've hardly played much in 2014 so my list is basically the same as last year apart from a few positional changes, Akkanvader is my only new entry.

[EmperorIng]

Interesting choice though; single-screen shmups are never represented. Of the single-screens I've played, Akkanvader/Space Invaders '95 is one of my favorites.

I find myself playing lots of new shmups between each vote, so my list always seems to have 6 or 7 games swap in and out. E.G., this past year is the first time I've played or given any serious time to Raiden/2, Mars Matrix, Strikers 1945 II, Exed Exes, and more.

I'm hoping people vote for more horizontals this year; these lists are always too heavily skewed towards vertical shooters (and a particular type of vertical, lol).

[Some-Mist]

I'm hoping people vote for more horizontals this year; these lists are always too heavily skewed towards vertical shooters (and a particular type of vertical, lol).

Progear is my absolute favorite, so that'll always have a heavy weighting, but that's probably not the type of horis you're talking about.

I'd definitely like to see that one higher this year tho

[Strikers1945guy]

Gotta go with Ibara as my favourite true Shmup but Twinkle Tale gets second place for having a special place forever in my heart
The main reason I still own my MD haha

[TransatlanticFoe]

Got a 360 and PS2 this year, so a few new considerations (which I previously hadn't tried faffing around with the emulation solutions for) to come in for me.

I'm hoping people vote for more horizontals this year; these lists are always too heavily skewed towards vertical shooters (and a particular type of vertical, lol).

What sort of horis do you mean? The usual names like R-Type and Gradius (which personally I've never been able to enjoy), or something different?

[LordHypnos]

I'm still far away from being able to vote this year (A very liberal tally puts me at about 1/4 of the list), but I'd like to remind people of how dangerously low Mars Matrix was last year. Needs more hype!

[EmperorIng]

What sort of horis do you mean? The usual names like R-Type and Gradius (which personally I've never been able to enjoy), or something different?

I guess the fact that the list usually contains 2-3 horis, tops. It could use more.

I would obviously vouch for Darius Gaiden (or G-Darius for those inclined) as being some of the most fun/best. And a lack of a Tecnosoft shooter on last year's list is a crying shame. Bring on Lightening Force!

[Mortificator]

I wouldn't mind making separate lists for vertical scrollers and horizontal scrollers, which I view as separate, but related, genres.

[Some-Mist]

Gotta go with Ibara as my favourite true Shmup but Twinkle Tale gets second place for having a special place forever in my heart
The main reason I still own my MD haha

you've also got battle garegga twice which I'm all for

[trap15]

Biggest change in my list is the additions of Judgement Silversword and Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX, though their placings are quite high.

[Icarus]

Small change in my list, knocking Hyper Duel out of the top 25 and adding Crimzon Clover (#8, NESiCA/World Ignition version) and Battle Bakraid (#21). Been enjoying both games over the past few months, enough for them to enter my list again.
Otherwise every other game is in the same position as last year. And yes, that is Pink Sweets in 4th. :3
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 0#p1079840

[spadgy]

It's this time of year again? Great, and thanks for putting the effort in with organising this. It's a great asset for the forum, and a great community event, and I appreciate it's no small task.

I feel my list might change a fair bit this year. I played 54 shmups in 2014 (out of 180 games total; I was dull enough to write them all in a list as I went along) so that's informed me more, and I also sense my tastes are changing a little.

[Erppo]

Same as last time, I wrote some comments back then but no need to copy those again. Most notable adjustment is moving Ikaruga to top tier after actually spending some time with it and learning to understand it better.

[Strikers1945guy]

Gotta go with Ibara as my favourite true Shmup but Twinkle Tale gets second place for having a special place forever in my heart
The main reason I still own my MD haha

you've also got battle garegga twice which I'm all for

Fixed it oops
Reevaluated my interests as well. Man i love the Strikers 1945 games

[Herr Schatten]

No major changes for me this year. V-V claimed a spot on my list, and I dropped Space Invaders Extreme 2 for that, even though I think it's still a brilliant game.

It's nice to see that Biohazard Battle gets some more love this year.

I really enjoy reading other peoples' lists, especially the ones that have some kind of 'personality' if you know what I mean. Like Professor Ganson's for example.

[iconoclast]

I didn't play much last year so my list is mostly the same. The biggest difference is that I moved Crimzon Clover up to the top tier because Yotsubane made a bunch of major improvements to the game with the arcade release (probably because it was an arcade release). I also put Daioujou above Saidaioujou after spending a ton of time with White Label, as that improved my opinion of the game significantly. I still suspect Saidaioujou is the better game overall, but I'll give DOJ the nod for now since I have spent a grand total of zero seconds playing SDOJ's Expert mode and Version 1.5.

[TransatlanticFoe]

New additions for me are mostly through getting a 360, realising that my previous dislike for Garegga was through playing a weird ROM version, and managing to get a matching Bakraid ROM for the MAME version I was using.

Serious love for Triangle Service this year. DeltaZeal is pretty much my favourite new discovery and I put more time into Trizeal as a result.

Need to spend more time with Eschatos and Ginga Force this year, with Deathsmiles and Espgaluda II on the 360 shopping list. Garegga on the Saturn shopping list...

[Kollision]

I knocked off TF3, Zero Wing and Section Z from my previous list in favor of Wings of Wor, Silpheed (SCD) and Judgement Silversword.
Also replaced Delta with the original R-Type, since I haven't really played Delta in depth...

Other than that I just grouped some of the choices in order to make my tiers more clear.

[pokemon123]

Can't vote yet since I only started playing shmups last year(which consist mainly of touhou and a few cave games +plus crimzon clover, exceed and blue wish resurrection.

Excited to see this years results though.

I feel like futari will take quite a drop IMO unless I screwed up the voting system.

[jepjepjep]

That was hard to narrow down my last few spots. I feel slightly guilty for not including any Psikyo games, but I leaned towards what I've been playing the most this year, or want to play these days.

[Hardbody]

Id like to see Ketsui snag the Num 2 spot ahead of Futari. Feel like Ketsui has gotten more love then any Cave game this year. Or maybe just by me.

[Jaimers]

First time making a list this year so that was interesting. It ended up becoming a bit of a mix between arcade and doujin games.

I guess I should explain the more obscure titles a bit more.
Magical Singular Day -Absolution- is a game made in Danmakufu that could pass off as a actual Cave game. Extremely frantic gameplay with a very good and fun scoring system.
In Sora you fight enemies with tons of weapons and you can dash through certain bullets. Very good music and atmosphere and very fun to play.
Phantasmagoria Trues is another Danmakufu game which has probably the most content I've ever seen in a doujin. It's all very well designed too with tons of fun patterns and crazy mechanics.
And Stella Vanity is a lot like Crimzon Clover.

I think they definitely deserve a mention at least.

[FRO]

It took until 2007 for TFIV to surpass TFIII, only to have both ousted the following year and never return. That hurts my heart.

[God]

The game I'll be watching this year: R-Type Leo.

It's never made the HM list yet but it was very close last year. Just a few votes away. If it does break on through it'll be a Past Honorable Mention forever. Up there in shmup Valhalla hangin' with the greats.

People are talking about wanting more horis, more variety. Show 'em some love.

Me, I've spent a lot more time with Gradius Gaiden and ho-ly shit. That's a game and a half.

[Pretas]

It took until 2007 for TFIV to surpass TFIII, only to have both ousted the following year and never return. That hurts my heart.

Probably because TFVI released in 2008 and soured many people on the series. What a disappointment that was.

Much like Silpheed: The Lost Planet, it's not exactly a bad game, but such an aggressively bland and mediocre one that it's arguably worse than if it was unplayably awful.

[Cagar]

Alright, I didn't vote for it because it's still a demo, but a game that will more than likely end up in my top-3 whenever (if ever) it's released:

FINAL BOSS

Consider this as a huge honorable mention from me.
Great artstyle, Great music, Great pacing, Great variety, Great stage-design and difficult old-school scoring balance.
I seriously have hard time thinking of bad things in the game, so I can't help but be honest and say that it's one of the best shmups that I've ever played. (if not the best!)
So yeah, if I might ask everyone.. Please give that demo a go. I won't spoil anything, but please spend some time with it if it doesn't click right away, and I can promise that eventually you'll be blown away.
I'm more than glad that I did at least!

The devs are super humble too!

post scores and provide feedback etc etc.

[Nifty]

Just to clarify, there's no "official release" rule, anything with playable content should be acceptable.

[LordHypnos]

Aw, looks like Mars Matrix really is falling off the top 25 this year There's like 2 people who have voted for it only

[EmperorIng]

This past year has finally see me play it, so I am definitely voting for it (lotzo fun); however, it would be disappointing to see it drop off the lists. A good game deserves recognition.

I encourage people to boot up mame and try it out.