What's your favorite weapon/power-up in a shmup?

[Axelay]

Blade with claw shreds enemies thunderforce 4
Rail gun thunder force 4. Somebody insert sound clips of the woman saying that sHit

Green balls in super aleste love freezing them on enemies and watching them light up yellow , then boom!
(Sounds dirty)
Macro missiles in Axelay are sexy .

And I love the piercing laser in gradius IV

[Stevens]

Under Defeat's blue missile. Palpably heavy projectile weapon; a flying brick. Smashes heavy targets to scrap, nearby zako shatter like glass. Tricky setup, big payoff.

Poetic. As far as I'm concerned there is only one power up in that game.