Favorite Cave shoters. rank 'em.

zero.otaku · Post by **zero.otaku** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 5:46 pm

I am only ranking the ones I've played, so any omissions from my list are reflective of that rather than my opinion on their quality or lack thereof.

1. Dodonpachi

2. Progear

3. Guwange

4. Dodonpachi Daioujou

5. ESPgaluda

6. Mushihimesama

7. ESPRa.De

8. Dangun Feveron (in all reality, I probably think Donpachi is the better game, but I just really love the whole look and feel of Dangun [especially the bosses!])

9. Donpachi

PsikyoPshumpPshooterP · Fri Jan 20, 2006 6:03 pm

1. Ketsui
2.Dangun Feveron
3.Guwange
4.Donpachi
5.DDP DOJ/DDP
6.Progear
7.Mushi
8.Esp Ra De
9.Espgaluda

Post by **nZero** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 8:26 pm

1) ESP Ra.De. - I like the graphical style, I like the music, I find all of the characters readily accessible to play with and I like the mixing up of the first 3 stages for variety. It's fun to play to see the game, it's fun to play for score with the secondary shot, the story tries to pull you in, the characters are great... I just like this game. Shame about no home port.

2) DoDonPachi - The gameplay design, art style, and music all seem advanced over DonPachi. It's easy to get into just to sit down and shoot, and to move on to trying picking up stars and bees and crap, but it's also got the chaining system when you really need some humbling. Plus it's hard to top the laser bomb for sheer cool factor.

3) ESPGaluda - I actually have no idea what makes this game so great. Maybe that the way the difficulty is balanced means progress is quick in coming no matter what you're experimenting with. Not to say it's easy in the traditional sense. Rockin' soundtrack, pretty artwork, absolutely fantastic console version available.

MOSQUITO FIGHTER · Post by **MOSQUITO FIGHTER** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 9:23 pm

DOJ is #1. All others are 2 or less.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Fri Jan 20, 2006 11:57 pm

As of right now:

1. Guwange: Everything in this game is just so perfect, control, music, and graphics. The bullet patterns were great for a guy like me.

2. DoDonPachi: The game with 100 bullets on screen at once. The game which I belive made Cave famous in the shmup world. Gameplay was just gold, which was unbelieveable. Even today I give this game some play time thru MAME. Now I need the Saturn version of this game.

3. ESPGaluda: Soundtrack, graphics, and a very damn perfect PS2 port made this game kick ass. The game was a little on the easy side, but it was just so damn fun.

Zweihander · Post by **Zweihander** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 3:09 pm

1. ESPGaluda. I love the versatility of the scoring system. It's a tad less formulaic than DDP, and requires a constant judgement call; i.e., which enemies would be worth killing in Kakusei mode, which enemies you should just kill normally, etc... along with a killer soundtrack oln par with DDP. ...and female-Tateha's a cutie. >_> <_<

2. Mushihime-sama. Yeah, I know. "Mushi over DDP, wtf?!" ..I guess I'm a tad biased toward this game, since I was an insect nerd as a kid and this game is a dream come true. Decent scoring system, with a primary focus on sheer wanton destruction. My only complaint is the soundtrack... Cave slacked off on this one. I also can't really enjoy the game unless I'm playing on Arrange Mode, seeing as I have "bombing pride", and just don't know when to use them-- and the bullets go too fast for me in Original mode. >_< But overall, another Cave classic.

3. Dodonpachi Dai-Ou-Jou. Classic.. very unforgiving combo system, and a versatile bombing mechanic-- allowing one to bomb for bullet-coins or just sheer destruction. (can't forget Hyper mode!) ..and of course, a classic soundtrack. (namely, the Arrange version.) My only reason for placing DDP so low is I personally get very frustrated with the game... particularly, the said unforgiving Combo system. Can't stand it when I lose a high combo by means out of my control.

While on the subject... who was responsible for the quality of Mushi's port? Did Taito port it, or did Cave port it themselves? All I know is Mushi's port was far inferior to the Arika ports of Galuda and DDP....

DeusFNL · Post by **DeusFNL** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 11:06 pm

I not as die-hard, and I too haven't played Ketsui and a bunch of other ones but:

1. Progear. I don't know why, but like somebody else mentioned, the design is nice. Also it helps that while it's challenging, I never felt like I couldn't find a way in the bullet patterns. Umm, did I mention I like the designs?

2. While I barely had a chance to play it, I can safely say that Espgaluda II (thx to Ramus) was incredibly fun. I think the whole Matrix style slow-down system is the most original thing I've seen in a shmup since Ikaruga's system. It was so good, it actually made me smile...

3. EspRade: Probably more to do with it being the first Cave shmup that I played. Prob. what got me into shmups. Still holds up remarkably well to their other games IMO.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 3:24 am

bloodflowers wrote:
bloodflowers wrote:Mushihimesama
Espgaluda
Donpachi

I will have Ketsui shortly, played it at Casino in London and liked it enough to pay for one. I don't know where it would fit in the above list, yet.
Happy I bought Ketsui (thanks Whitey) - sadly my eternally loved Donpachi will have to lose its third place, to Ketsui. It's a shame this game will probably never be ported.

Well, Arika's head has expressed interest in a PS3 port, forget the name of their dev who writes the blog. Bah. Anyways, congrats on your satisfied Ketsui purchase, more confirmation that I need to play it.

edit: Now I remember, Mihara. Duh.