The ten most important shmups of all time

[Fighter17]

I was always wondering about it for the last two weeks. What do you think are the ten most important shmups of all time? These games paved the way for the shmups of the past and the persent. These games had a lasting effect on the shmup world forever. Without these games, the shmup world will be a totally different place.

Some games that are very important to the shmup world:

Raiden: Simple at best
Gradius: Its famous power up system
R-Type: Remember everything
Batsugun: The start of the bullet hell shmups
DoDonPachi: Bullet Hell at best


But really, what do you think are the ten most important shmups of all time?

[Fenrir]

I think it's going to be a hell of a thread, but if it were for me I'd be really careful: many milestones came from the home computer market as well - for example, I think that IO on C64, or Xenon, made the history of SHMUPs as we know them.
Of course there's R-Type, Darius and all their counterparts, but we should define WHAT is a milestone.

For example, first multi-scrolling shmup? First pseudo-3d shmup? I'd mention Silpheed on MCD for being probably the first shooter to enter in the 3D category, together probably with Starblade Alpha? First power-upped Shmup? First shmup to kickstart the parody genre?
Backing up from consoles, I'd even mention Microcosm as the first *real* "first person" shooter to take advantage of new digital technologies (followed by Novastorm and whatnot) - all inherited by sweet "FP" shmups like Aquaventura... in other words, mentioning only consoles in this thread would be a big mistake.

[Fighter17]

I think it's going to be a hell of a thread, but if it were for me I'd be really careful: many milestones came from the home computer market as well - for example, I think that IO on C64, or Xenon, made the history of SHMUPs as we know them.
Of course there's R-Type, Darius and all their counterparts, but we should define WHAT is a milestone.

For example, first multi-scrolling shmup? First pseudo-3d shmup? First power-upped Shmup?
Or then again, I'd even mention Microcosm as the first *real* "first person" shooter to take advantage of new digital technologies (followed by Novastorm and whatnot) - all inherited by sweet "FP" shmups like Aquaventura... in other words, mentioning only consoles in this thread would be a big mistake.

Any shmup from any system is allow. When I mean the most important shmup of all time, which shmups that we feel cause a huge dent in the world of shmups (to me, R-Type cause push the memory game to its limits). There were many milestones in the shmup world, but some of them didn't have a lasting appeal (Salmander was the first shmup with both vertical and hozi scrolling stages, but it wasn't really a huge effect in the future).

Think about it.

[CIT]

- Space Invaders
- Galaga
- Defender
- Xevious
- Starforce
- Gradius
- Zanac
- R-Type
- Dodonpachi
- Gigawing

[system11]

This one is going to work better as a debate with suggestions, than a vote. I'd actually like to know what Stu Campbell would say to this one, I'm not sure he actually reads the board though since the .. interesting threads.

For my 2p, I'm going to mention a couple:

Space Invaders - obvious really. If anyone says this one doesn't count, I'm afraid I'll have to ban them for gross lack of sense.
Galaxian - this brought enemies that move out of formation, but more than that, it was in colour.
Scramble - possibly the first to give players ground and air attacks.
Zaxxon - first isometric shooter.
Gyruss - first stereo soundtrack in a shmup, and in the running for first stereo arcade game - not 100% on that second part, but I'd think it's likely it was the first with stereo amps on-board. Star Wars used a seperate amplifier board.
Gorf - I believe this was the first (or pretty damn close) multi section shooter.
R-Type - genre defining, MAYBE first charging weapon.
Image Fight - very likely the first shooter where moving your ship changed weapon fire direction, seen in variations ever since.
Raiden - another which is simply a genre defining game (although similar games did predate it).
DonPachi - first clearly identifiable father of what we now call manic shooters.

Corrections welcomed to the above, it's all from memory.. Now - I've stayed away from home machines, because I don't think they've had any crucial important titles. Home machines pretty much always copied what the arcades had, or tried to - and I don't think home games ever had the influence to affect anything other than games on the same platform.

[Zweihander]

I'd like to nominate Ikaruga. In the 20+ years of shmup history, we've learned to avoid collissions with bullets. Ikaruga forces us to unlearn for about half an hour.

[ROBOTRON]

Galaxy/Galaga
Thunderforce series
Asteroids
Zanac
Viewpoint
Soukyugerentai
Einhander
Radiant Silvergun
RType Series
Gradius Series

EDIT:

Defender/Stargate
Phoenix
River Raid
Turmoil
Demon Attack

[llabnip]

I want to think more about it... but the obvious first choices are:

Space Invaders - Rumor has it that there was a shortage of the Japanese 100 yen coin when this was gaining popularity. I still play this from time to time and it remains addictive (mostly on the Space Invaders DX pack for the Saturn and the Atari 2600 rev which is outstanding). SI was the first video game I ever played (well... I may have played one of those TV-Pong devices the year before). It was at a local roller-skating center. I wasn't very good with roller-skates and was a bit awkward in social situations, so when I saw the green phosphor glow I was fascinated - and it saved me from skating embarassment. All of my spare change went into that machine. SI isn't the reason I started down the path of loving shmups... it's the reason I started down the path of loving video games.

Galaxian - Enemies swooping down, more bullets, a sense of forward motion and color... this proto-shmup paved the way for Galaga and the proper verts to follow. Still as addicting as it was in 1979 when I used to play it at this little beach-side hamburger joint as a kid. I've got about 6 different versions of this for various home consoles and I play several times per week. As a wild guess, I've probably played 5000 games of Galaxian in the past 25+ years. I expect to play that many in the next quarter century.

Personal anectodes aside, these are cannonized as the ones that primed the pump for what was to come. Anyone who doesn't have one or both of these on their list should really... reconsider.

[fl0w]

space wars

[undamned]

Space Invaders - got the ball rolling as far as verts.
Galaga - scrolling backgrounds and much more creative paterns for a vert.
Defender - the leader of hori's (has the "warp" button come into modern games?).
Gradius - interesting powerup methods and bosses.
R-Type - took hori's to the next generation of games w/ top graphics.
Raiden - took verts to the next gen w/ monster bosses and incredible power ups.
Dodonpachi - the definitive manic shooter and a chaining/scoring system that is rock solid.

There are others that have neat gimmicks like Gigawing with it's "reflect" system, or Ikaruga's ability to take bullet hits, as long as they are "the right kind." But those are all gimmicks and not necessarily earth shattering breakthroughs. Even Radiant Silvergun, although an amazing feat for gaming at large, is merely a conglomerate of mostly existing ideas.
-ud

[Marc]

Again, votes for

Space Invaders
Galaxian
Scramble

And some personal additions:

Gradius: The power up bar ws a first, and it's a concept that's obviously stood the test of time - even if it's mainly a Konami thing.

R-Type: First 'charge' weapon or not, it was the first example of a 'pod' and it's sheer style and impact can't be underestimated.

Dragon Breed: Was this the first shooter to let you dismount your steed/craft? And the idea of being able to shield yourself from scratch was pretty novel at the time as well.

Batsugun: First instance (I ever saw at least) of completely OTT firepower, a level up system, and manic bullet patterns.

[FRO]

[quote="Marc"]And the idea of being able to shield yourself from scratch was pretty novel at the time as well.quote]

I believe St. Dragon has that honor of being the purveyor of that concept.

[it290]

Was Gradius the first to have options? Not counting stuff like the twin ships from Galaga, that is.

[sven666]

space war

indeed.. it all started with a shmup and it will end with a shmup

[AWJ]

How can you include Raiden but not Twin Cobra? The original Raiden wasn't much more than a twitchier, dumbed-down TC clone. Remember, the toothpaste laser and the two kinds of bombs didn't appear until Raiden 2--the original basically just had TC's red and green weapons plus missiles.

[AWJ]

Was Gradius the first to have options? Not counting stuff like the twin ships from Galaga, that is.

1942 and Tiger Heli had side-fighters... but I think Gradius was the first to have options that trailed behind you.

[system11]

I believe St. Dragon has that honor of being the purveyor of that concept.

Well - both in the same year..

I'd suggest Irem were probably the first - they have a history of innovating around that time, and Jaleco very much had a history of cloning.

[Alpolio]

You guys are forgetting Moon Patrol. It was the first shmup to use parallax scrolling.

[AAA]

For my 2p, I'm going to mention a couple:

Space Invaders - obvious really. If anyone says this one doesn't count, I'm afraid I'll have to ban them for gross lack of sense.
Galaxian - this brought enemies that move out of formation, but more than that, it was in colour.
Scramble - possibly the first to give players ground and air attacks.
Zaxxon - first isometric shooter.
Gyruss - first stereo soundtrack in a shmup, and in the running for first stereo arcade game - not 100% on that second part, but I'd think it's likely it was the first with stereo amps on-board. Star Wars used a seperate amplifier board.
Gorf - I believe this was the first (or pretty damn close) multi section shooter.
R-Type - genre defining, MAYBE first charging weapon.
Image Fight - very likely the first shooter where moving your ship changed weapon fire direction, seen in variations ever since.
Raiden - another which is simply a genre defining game (although similar games did predate it).
DonPachi - first clearly identifiable father of what we now call manic shooters.

apart from one or two of the titles this gets a resounding YES vote from me

[undamned]

You guys are forgetting Moon Patrol. It was the first shmup to use parallax scrolling.

I actually thought about that, but saw that more along the lines of silkworm, which, afaik, is not a true shmup.
-ud

[Thunder Force]

very briefly, but noting that a "most important" list is not necessarily the same as "most innovative" list in all cases.

(ten in no order)

Xevious - influential breakthrough shooter.
Galaga - evolution created this perfect beast. power-ups and the first shmup with perfect gameplay.
Space Invaders - origin of the species.
Robotron 2084 - earliest manic intensity.
Scramble - a template for horizontal shmup design.
Tempest - brilliance in abstraction.
R-Type - force and beam and stage designs.
Gradius - a milestone.
Batsugun - ushered in the modern era.
Ikaruga - revitalised the genre in the west, and challenged people's notions of what a shmup can be.

honourable mentions: space war, defender, psyvariar.

[thesuperkillerxxx]

river raid belongs on that list, if only for sheer exposure.

[system11]

You guys are forgetting Moon Patrol. It was the first shmup to use parallax scrolling.

I actually thought about that, but saw that more along the lines of silkworm, which, afaik, is not a true shmup.
-ud

This is very much a discussion that's swallowed a bomb, and given the detonator to a monkey.