Shmup with balanced weapon pick ups

[Squire Grooktook]

I'm curious what the best games are in terms of balancing multiple weapons.

Note that I mean that there are multiple, distinct weapons that are switched between by picking up power ups or whatnot.

Examples that come to mind for me:

-Biometal

The two highest level replays I've seen (a no miss of hard, and a no miss no GAM use run of hard) use different weapons primarily (laser and spread). The laser and spread both have pro's and cons in different situation. Spread can point blank for big damage, and can manage a whole crowd at once, while laser can instantly assasinate high priority targets. The wave gun is probably inferior to the other two, but only because it doesn't do much that the laser doesn't already do better.

-Flame Zapper Kotsujin

Less experience with this one, but from what I can tell Yellow (straight) is great for bosses and Red (spread) is great for stages. The replays I've seen switch weapons a few times without crashing and burning, so I assume that it's balance is decent.

-Outzone

Not counting the super weapons (always be balling), the choice between spread and aim shots seem legit for many situations. Important choice if you're recovering.

-Image Fight

I'm not sure I even know all the ship attachments, but a lot of them are extremely important in different situations.

[BulletMagnet]

Someone who shmups at a higher level than me would probably dispute some of these, but off the top of my head...

- The pre-V Thunder Forces might qualify to some extent, at least from what I've played of them.

- Harmful Park, which uses a similar system, might be an even better example, since different weapons are required to take advantage of scoring opportunities in different places.

- You'll probably wind up using most everything Radiant Silvergun gives you at some point, though some folks have attempted sword-only runs and such.

[Kino]

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[Special World]

To me, Gate of Thunder is the epitome of weapon balance. But those aren't distinct powerups or anything; you have them all at the same time.

[MathU]

I'm not sure Image Fight is quite as balanced as you might think it is. While it's true that the ring weapon makes stage 4 a breeze by cutting through the walls you have to shoot through like butter, in most situations (including the stage 4 boss) I would rather have the forward-shooting blue laser that arcs 90 degrees to hit other enemies automatically: it's one of the best damage-dealing weapons in the game because it shoots two separate beams straight forward instead of one and the 90-degree arcing is super useful for curving around walls and hitting stuff without you getting too close. The other forward-shooting red and blue laser with two projectiles is nearly the same thing without the 90-degree arcing. Weapons like the diagonal- and horizontal-shooting beams seem useful but the reality is you can fit their function easily with good red pod usage. The Raiden-style spread shot you can find in the non-simulation stages is okay for dealing with the popcorn enemies if your pods aren't up to speed but it struggles with the enemies with more health unless you get dangerously close to point-blank fire. The homing missile weapon is also okay for popcorn enemies but it doesn't do very good damage for destroying larger ones quickly. The ball weapon that bounces off walls just feels like one of those troll pickups you find in games like Ghosts 'n Goblins.

Overall, I'd say that Image Fight's main shot variety is somewhat balanced but there are definitely weapons that outshine others and some you just don't want at all in most situations. If you get the wrong main shot power-up at a bad time it's often better just to dump it to go back to your basic forward-shooting peashooter. If you can manage to hold on to the 90-degree arcing laser from the first time you see it in stage 3 though (very tricky considering the stage's boss), it can really help you tackle the other stages in the game.

The other thing about Image Fight is switching main shot power-ups can be risky because you have to ram your ship into a bullet or a weak enemy to get rid of what you're currently using. Image Fight is pretty dominated by skillful red pod usage while the main shot power-ups are basically just little helpers that can give you a hand every now and then.

[chempop]

Tatsujin-Ou. I used to think Red 100%, but after getting to know the first 4 stages rather well, there are good methods to use any of the 3 weapons depending on play style and section of the stages.

[iconoclast]

Strania

[DJ Incompetent]

Strania

[NeoStrayCat]

Strania

This, as well, but yeah, I would think its balanced, in the right way if you know what you're doing, but may end up having a bad run if ended up picking the wrong weapons in tough situations. But its manageable if you know the layouts.

[trap15]

That's the point of balanced, imo. If all weapons are equally useful in all situations, not much point in having a weapon system is there? So yes:

Strania

[Squire Grooktook]

That's the point of balanced, imo. If all weapons are equally useful in all situations, not much point in having a weapon system is there?

Good point, and that's one way of balancing it.

On the other hand, you could balance the weapons so that they aren't "bad" for any particular situation, but just require different tactics. For example, in Biometal stage 5 I prefer to use the spread shot to take out the turrets on the walls, but players more comfortable with fast movement speeds might prefer to stick with the laser so that they can gun down the tanky enemies that follow.

[Lobinden]

I'm not an expert on weapon balance, but the weapons In Raiden 2/DX seem to be balanced, and much more so than in its successors.